First day of Winter; first winter fire. Oshi has the prime spot by the woodburner. Ares is on a chair by me. Sasha prefers things a little cooler. 🐈 🐶
Those who don’t live in a monarchy might find this calendar of upcoming 21-gun salutes in Wellington amusing. Locals might find them interesting too. @herself : do you hear these across the harbour in Eastbourne?
Back in the early oughts I wrote articles on stuff. I just rediscovered a link to one on my old blog. The WiseWomen mailing list and website was a great place for women web folk, managed and paid for by @dori . Unfortunately the domain has new owners and is now junk. 😒
If you enjoy a big laugh, are even faintly interested in language, spelling, writing, then treat yourself to The very logical reasons why we should make English spelling less logical. 15 minute video.
I forgot to watch the Budget so saw only the last 10 minutes. 😒 However, it seems the Government is putting money to mental health, child wellbeing, trains, Māori, education, climate change, hospitals … in other words, the right things. 👏
The quail are fine, but it feels like the universe is out to get them. Overnight some uncontrolled dog tried to dig under the cage. There’s a print of a big-dog paw in the freshly disturbed dirt. Too many folks around here don’t control their dogs closely.
Looks like we have a few days coming up that’ll fill the water tank, give the garden a good wetting and be fairly windy but no too cold.
Kiwis: I love the wall dots from HappyMoose and now the price has dropped a heap:
we used to charge $29.95 for a set of four 15x15cm wall dots. Now you’ll pay just $19.47.
Here’s a not great photo of my latest lot above my bed.
Sunset’s gift.
Tom Scott’s latest NZ video: Testing A Zip Line That Goes Round Corners (5 mins) is another good one.
I had fun with Rotorua’s Canopy Tours zipline through native forest in 2013, (no corners). Photo: Me dangling from a zipline after finally unclenching my hands from the rope.
Overnight gales opened up the quail runs and I feared the worst at dawn when I saw the problem. Glee was sitting just outside and scuttled back in when I approached. Fliss was nearby and fortunately easy to catch. The other two hadn’t escaped. Whew! Secured now.
Neanderthals: Meet Your Ancestors is a brilliant documentary, full of science, motion capture, 3D printing, laser scanning, genetics, forensic reconstruction. If you like science, watch it. I’ve seen Episode 1 so far. Via RNZ Saturday Morning
Two new pest traps installed:
- Peanut butter on mousetrap inside catproof box for inside the Cat Palace.
- Egg inside weasel / stoat trap.
🤞
The dogs have reason to be glad I use Keyboard Maestro.
This Micro Monday I’d like to suggest you follow these folks currently in Aotearoa New Zealand 🇳🇿. Because they’re Kiwis, so you know they’re good. 😇
This is very disturbing — look at the videos: Samsung’s Creepy New AI Can Generate Talking Deepfakes From a Single Image.
NZ’s first known war dog to receive posthumous medal 🐶
Ceaser left this country … in February 1916.
The dog carried a satchel on his back which contained writing paper and bandages.
“He dug an air-hole so the trapped man could breath, … and saved that man’s life.”
Whew. Now I’ve made 100 days for my longest move streak I can relax if I break it.
Cropped and auto-enhanced, but these two quail photos are from the NatureWatch Camera I just set up, using a Raspberry Pi Zero. Very happy with these results. Now to work on placement. I’d like to get wildlife rather than just the quail. This may be Fliss.
Excited that @brentsimmons has put up an early version of the NetNewsWire 5 RSS reader. It’s been a long time since I last used it but it feels great to have it back on my Mac. Congratulations Brent!