Looking out over Lake Rotorua from Mt Nongotaha.
Single lane stop and go around roadworks on the Desert Road. Which was open today because rain stopped the road closure intended to let them repair this bridge. Lucky for us.
Taihape’s humorous loo signage.
Doing all my Internetting before a 7 hour scheduled power outage.
Middle of the night. There’s a loose pipe banging and the house is shaking a bit in the wind. But the last, long, shake was definitely an earthquake. Only a 4.0, but not helping me get back to sleep. Sigh. 〰️
The latest new house on the block is a Totalspan steel frame build. So glad we can't see this new house from our place, thanks to a hill. We've had so many go up around here lately.
Looks like today will be an indoor day and that the water tank will be full again.
Enjoyed the first session of the Te Reo Māori course I'm doing this year with Te Wananga o Aotearoa. 3 hours in the evening — not my best time of day, but I managed. Tonight we learned the short and long vowels: a e i o u and ā ē ī ō ū.
Cosmic Rays are heading our way
This is … interesting …
… radiation from deep space is not only intensifying, but also doing so faster than previously predicted. …
Galactic cosmic rays come from outside the solar system. They are a mixture of high-energy photons and sub-atomic particles accelerated toward Earth by supernova explosions and other violent events in the cosmos. … The sun’s magnetic field and solar wind combine to create a porous ‘shield’ that fends off cosmic rays attempting to enter the solar system.
… Cosmic rays penetrate commercial airlines, dosing passengers and flight crews …. Some research shows that cosmic rays can seed clouds and trigger lightning, potentially altering weather and climate. …Cosmic rays will intensify even more in the years ahead as the sun plunges toward what may be the deepest Solar Minimum in more than a century.
Via SpaceWeather.com, 05 March 2018.
Ahhh, what a way to start the day, with Rare Kenya Silver Tip white tea:
From the Kenyan plantations in Africa this is a most delicate tea — the uppermost bud carefully hand picked for brewing.
I enjoy watching short science videos while I eat breakfast. The new Nature League is already great:
Brit …goes through characteristics of life on Earth, including importance of carbon.
Safe journeys, kuaka
A few Kuaka visit our beach every year, but now it’s time for them to leave: 🐦
With the changing of the season, the first godwits have started leaving … for their long flight to Alaska.
… their 17,000km-long migration to the breeding grounds in the Arctic tundra is the longest known non-stop journey for any bird.
In fact, I think I haven’t seen any on the beach for a while now.
Patterns in the sand at the Waiorongomai Stream.
Down at Waikanae for dinner.
Friday morning breakfast videos
Ahhh, Friday morning videos to watch while I eat breakfast (today: quail eggs, ham, black rice and cheese):
- Physics Girl: What is the Magic Russian Diamond?
- Emily Graslie: Water beetle HYPE. Learn more about these adorable little scuba divers.
- Braincraft: You know that distracting half-of-a-conversation you overhear? And you absolutely must know the other half? That's called a halfalogue. 👀
- NativLang: I animated the tale of "Ancient" Chinese! Here's how scholars pieced together what it sounded like... using a unique linguistic tradition older than Western proto-language reconstruction!
When about 50 Canada Geese fly right overhead. 🐦
There's a flock of about 50 Canada Geese (and a rabbit) just hanging out in the next paddock but one. 🐦
It took me several hours of reading about 500 pages of PDF and writing 4,000 words over 3 blog posts to work out my response to the Council’s Long-Term Plan proposals which I can now express in 1 word: NO!
Nice to see Royal Spoonbills around after the storm. 🐦
Really enjoyed Black Panther tonight. Themes of leadership, loyalty, responsibility, culture were so interesting. And of course the tech was glorious. Loved the surprises. Loved that women had such powerful roles. 🎥