Do their parents care?

Today’s ODT reports:

A recent increase in groups of people as young as 13 intent on trouble in central Dunedin has members of the public and the police concerned. . .

What are children doing out and unsupervised late at night?

Where do they get the alcohol which fuels most of the trouble?

Do their parents know where their children are?

Do they care?

Meat’s the new tobacco

Lord Stern, who last month suggested we should all become vegetarian for the good of the environment, has an ally in Peter Singer, a professor of bioethics at Princton University.

Writing in the New York Daily News under the headline, Make meat eaters pay: Ehicist proposes radical tax, says they’re killing themselves and the planet, he says:

. . . the reasons for a tax on beef and other meats are stronger than those for discouraging consumption of cigarettes, transfats or sugary drinks. 

First, eating red meat is likely to kill you. Large studies have shown that the daily consumption of red meat increases the risk that you will die prematurely of heart disease or bowel cancer. This is now beyond serious scientific dispute. When the beef industry tries to deny the evidence, it is just repeating what the tobacco industry did 30 years ago.

There is a lot of evidence which suggests too much read meat is bad for the health. But eating moderate servings of lean meat a few times a week is not generally regarded as dangerous and insufficient protein, iron and B vitamins, of which red meat is a good source, can be.

Singer uses examples of animal cruelty to further his argument then gets to the environment:

Third, industrial meat production wastes food – we feed the animals vast quantities of grains and soybeans, and they burn up most of the nutritional value of these crops just living and breathing and developing bones and other unpalatable body parts. We get back only a fraction of the food value we put into them.

This is a valid criticism but he is talking about the United States. In New Zealand almost all sheep, cattle and deer are pasture reared and much of the land on which they graze is not suitable for cropping.

The clincher is that taxing meat would be a highly effective way of reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and avoiding catastrophic climate change. . .

. . .  So let’s start with a 50% tax on the retail value of all meat, and see what difference that makes to present consumption habits. If it is not enough to bring about the change we need, then, like cigarette taxes, it will need to go higher.

Singer appears to miss a vital difference between cigarettes and meat. People who stop smoking don’t have to replace the tobacco with anything else. People who stop eating meat have to replace it with other food.

A 50% tax on meat would not only increase the price of meat it would increase the demand for alternative food sources which would become more expensive, at least in the short term until the supply increased.

If a lot more grains and cereals were needed to replace meat, there is no guarantee that production methods would be without negative environmental impacts.

Singer’s suggestion would add to world hunger and associated health problems with no guarantee of helping the environment.

November 23 in history

On November 23:

1644  Areopagitica, a pamphlet decrying censorship, and written by John Milton was published.

1859 Billy The Kid, American outlaw, was born.

1869  the clipper Cutty Sark was launched – one of the last clippers ever to be built, and the only one still surviving.

1887  Boris Karloff, British actor, was born.

1888 Harpo Marx, American comedian, was born.

1889 The first jukebox went into operation at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco.

1936  The first edition of Life was published.

1947 A civic funeral was held for the 41 victims of Ballantynes fire.

1949  Sandra Stevens, British singer, member of pop group Brotherhood of Man, was born.

1955 The Cocos Islands were transferred from the control of the United Kingdom to Australia.

1963 The BBC broadcast the first ever episode of Doctor Who, starring William Hartnell.

 

The eleven faces of the Doctor

1976 Apneist Jacques Mayol is the first man to reach a depth of 100 m undersea without breathing equipment.

1990 The first all woman expedition to the south pole (3 Americans, 1 Japanese and 12 Russians), set off from Antarctica on the 1st leg of a 70 day, 1287 kilometre ski trek.

1992  Miley Cyrus, American actress and singer/songwriter, was born.

1993  Rachel Whiteread won both the £20,000 Turner Prize award for best British modern artist and the £40,000 K Foundation art award for the worst artist of the year.

Whiteread’s House.

 

Sourced from NZ History Online and Wikipedia.

Victorian Fete

Oamaru’s Victorian Heritage celebrations began 19 years ago with a fete in the historic precinct organised by a few volunteers.

It’s grown into the Waitaki District’s biggest annual event run over several days, culminating in the fete which attracts thousands of people. . .

. . . some of whom are in to Morris dancing . . .

. . . others of a more competitive nature come to claim the title in the world stone sawing championships:

(In case you’re wondering why the Oamaru hosts the world championships, it’s the only place which holds them).

Lachrymae

It’s Benjamin Britten’s birthday.

Leaving like a jet plane

Minties, fruit chews and milk shakes are now being made in Thailand and moro bars, Eskimo lollies and jet planes will soon be made in Australia.

I’m not opposed to the shifting of production to other places per se.

If something can be done as well or better for a cheaper price somewhere else it is better for the business and the consumer if it is done there.

But I do have reservations about the manufacturing of anything we eat in places where hygiene standards might not be as high as they are here.

Australia has similar standards to ours, but I am less confident about Thailand.

Next time I need a sugar fix I’ll have to choose jaffas, pineapple lumps, chocolate fish, pinky bars and boxed chocolates which will still be made in the Cadbury factory in Dunedin.

Steampunk

Imagine a world were men are men, women are gorgeous and guns are shiny and desirable  . . .a glimpse of the future as imagined by a late Victorian explorer and adventurer.

This explanation of the work of artist Greg Broadmore, from Weta Workshop, greets visitors to the Steampunk exhibition at Oamaru’s Forrester Gallery.

Steampunk is tomorrow as it used to be. The punk is a rebellion against the present day preference for plastic and the disposable way of life.

For many it is a search for where society might have gone had it taken the wrong turn at the end of the Victorian era, an alternative Victorian future.

The exhibition includes a selection of work from Broadmore’s fictional universe’ of Dr Grordbort’s exhibition which will be touring China later this year and works from other artists who are part of the Victorian League of imagineers.

Works include a time machine by Chris Meder;   Teapot a young a very cheeky kakapo made almost entirely from parts from an old Welger bailer;  Helen Jensen’s dirigible and Donna Demente’s St Lucy Tomorrow.

Outside the gallery is Dugal and Meg Armor’s portable marshmallow toaster:

Donald Patterson’s steam tractor:

And:

The ODT has a photo of Ian Clark and his steam powered beer tankard which is also part of the exhibition.

Lunch with the PM

I lunched with the Prime Minister on Friday.

It was an intimate gathering – just John Key, Deputy PM Bill English, MPs Jacqui Dean, Eric Roy & Michael Woodhouse . . .

. . .  National Party President Peter Goodfellow, board member Kate Hazlett, a hundred and something others & me.

One of the privileges of being a member of a political party is the opportunity to chat to MPs and to listen to them talk more freely than they do in public with the media present.

No-one was giving away state secrets, but we did get some of the stories behind the stories and enjoyed the banter between John & Bill.

After lunch I indulged in a little retail therapy. The shop assistant at my first stop asked me what I’d been doing. When I told her I’d been lunching with the PM, she said, “Gosh you’re lucky, he always seems like such a lovely bloke.”

I agreed with her on both counts.

P.S.

John took the opportunity while in Duneidn to visit the Forsyth Barr stadium which is under construction and to which the government has contributed $15 million. While there he and Michael were recorded by the ODT doing the stadium’s first Mexican wave.

November 22 in history

On November 22:

1574 Discovery of the Juan Fernández Islands off Chile.

1718 Pirate Edward Teach (best known as “Blackbeard“) was killed in battle with a boarding party led by Lieutenant Robert Maynard.

1808  Thomas Cook, British travel entrepreneur, was born.

1819  George Eliot, (Mary Ann Evans) British novelist, was born.

1859  Charles Darwin‘s book On the Origin of Species was first offered for sale, in London.

1899 Hoagy Carmichael, American composer, was born.

1890 Charles de Gaulle, President of France (, was born.

1913 Benjamin Britten, British composer, was born.

1914 Peter Townsend, British Equerry and air pilot, was born.

1919 – Máire Drumm, Irish civil rights activist, was born.

1928 The premier performance of Ravel‘s Boléro took place in Paris.

 

Ida Rubinstein, the inspiration behind Bolero. Portrait by Valentin Serov.

1932 – Robert Vaughn, American actor, was born.

1939 General Bernard Freyburg took command of the New Zealand Expeditionary force.

1943  Billie Jean King, American tennis player, was born.

1943  Lebanon gained independence from France.

1958  Jamie Lee Curtis, American actress, was born.

1963  US President John F. Kennedy was killed and Texas Governor John B. Connally is seriously wounded by Lee Harvey Oswald.

1975 Juan Carlos was declared King of Spain following the death of Francisco Franco.

1977 British Airways inaugurated a regular London to New York City supersonic Concorde service.

1998  British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher withdrew from the Conservative Party leadership election, confirming the end of her premiership.

1995 Toy Story was released as the first feature-length film created completely using computer-generated imagery.

2005 Angela Merkel became the first female Chancellor of Germany.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.

Another march for democracy

While assorted groups marched for democracy in Auckland, people were marching in Oamaru for a similar cause:

They were part of the street parade in the Victorian Heritage Celebrations.

Waitaki Mayor, Alec Fmailton, Mayoress Heather, the Queen of Victorian Oamaru and celebration committee chair, Sally Hope travelled by horse drawn carriage:

Also on parade, though not necessarily in support of votes for women were foot soldiers of Alf’s Imperial Army:

Emergency services were represented with an ambulance . . .

. . . a fire engine  . . .

. . . and a policeman:

There was steam power . . .

. . . and pedal power:

And if Donna Demente’s car was a few decades ahead of the Victorian era, what it lacked in historical authenticity was more than compensated for by its artistry:

Quote of the week

“This Government has the capacity to make its own distinctions between good advice and bad advice,” says English.  ”Advice we disagree with is bad advice; advice we agree with is good advice.”

- Bill English quoted in the NZ Herald’s Political Diary.

Did you see the one about

Thought for the day - Quote Unquote has a new angle on paper, scissors, rock. Whilte you’re there you might enjoy NZ farmer letter of the year – an answer to the problem of travel perks.

Worlds apart - Progressive Turmoil on the differences in mobile phone use in different countries.

Chicken Fever hits parliament - Audrey Young spots a chook and comes up with some answers to the question of why the chicken crossed the road.

Spam journalism # 63 and Much ado about nothing - Macdoctor points out the difference between smaller increases and cuts.

Goff loses chess game to analogue computer - gonzo Freakpower gets satirical.

Work/life balance – it’s not about the pets - The Hand Mirror finds the paid/ unpaid work balance leaves little time for life.

Saving the minghty kauri - Over the Fence on the fund to fight kauri die back.

Supply and demand or what? – Anti Dismal on what matters.

One thing to keep in mind - The Visible Hand on the real issues.

What’s in the water - Alison Campbell at Sciblogs on the dangers of water births.

Trickle down carbon sequestration - Daniel Collins at Sciblogs shows tree planting in the wrong place may compromise water supply.

Greens revealed as biggest spender in Mt Albert by-election - Liberation shows money doesn’t buy votes.

Berlin wall series:  Poland,  Czechoslovakia and Bulgeria , - by Liberty Scott.

Big Boys toys - Frenemy is truck spotting.

Moo pooh for biofuel?

Algae which grows on ponds of human waste water in Christchurch is being turned into bio oil.

If it works for human waste it must work for animal waste too.

Could  moo pooh biofuel be produced from the effluent from dairy sheds?

Were those the days?

The ball was leather, the goal posts were freshly felled trees, the shorts were longer and the referee, Bruce Rowland,  wore street clothes:

It was rugby as it used to be, played under 1905 rules in uniforms of the era as part of Oamaru’s Victorian Heritage celebrations.

It attracted a large crowd of spectators and St John ambulance volunteers were on hand to deal with the injured:

The referee summoned the police, who were also attired in Victorian uniforms, to deal with an unruly player but behaviour on and off the field was generally seemly.

Some of the players were more oldie than golden but anything they lacked in youth was more than compensated for by enthusiasm.

The ODT’ reported: long on shorts and short on breath.

EU removes dairy subsidies

Break out a celebratory bottle of milk, the European Union has removed subsidies on dairy products.

Trade Minister Tim Groser said:

“International dairy prices have shown a marked improvement across the board in the last three months, reflecting a more positive outlook in international dairy markets.

“In response to this market improvement, the European Union has been gradually scaling back its export subsidies since late October. The removal of remaining export subsidies sends an encouraging message to the international dairy market and I welcome that.

“I will continue to make the point in my international contacts that it is important not to revert to subsidies as a response to market conditions.

“All countries with dairy industries have an interest in a healthy international market. This is a positive development toward that end,” Mr Groser said.

That is very good news. However, let’s not forget the dairy produce which the Eu stockpiled when prices fell.

Releasing it will increase the supply which could dampen prices.

Phil Clarke sees this from the British point of view:

One thing that will be crucial is the rate at which butter and skimmed milk powder stocks are released from intervention in the EU. Last week the commission only went so far as to say it was following things closely and would not do anything to hinder recovery.

But EU dairy body Eucolait is worried that, if the commission leaves it too late, many food processors will switch out of dairy fat and into vegetable oil – and the opportunity to reduce stocks will be missed.

It’s a difficult balancing act, but one the commission has to get right if the dairy sector is to enjoy any kind of stability.

It’s tempting to say the sooner they get rid of the stockpiles the better, but flooding the market with dairy produce which has been stockpiled would depress prices.

November 21 in history

On November 21:

164 BC Judas Maccabaeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family, restoresdthe Temple in Jerusalem. This event is commemorated each year by the festival of Hanukkah.

1694 Voltaire, French philosopher, was born.

1783 Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent, Marquis d’Arlandes, make the first untethered hot air balloon flight.

1787 Samuel Cunard, Canadian-born shipping magnate, was born.

1863 Maori surrendered at Rangiriri.

1877  Thomas Edison announced his invention of the phonograph, a machine that can record and play sound

1905 Albert Einstein‘s paper, Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?, was published in the journal “Annalen der Physik”. This paper reveals the relationship between energy and mass. This led to the mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc².

1920 In Dublin, 31 people were killed in what became known as “Bloody Sunday“.

1922 Rebecca Latimer Felton of Georgia took the oath of office, becoming the first female United States Senator.

1929 Marilyn French, American feminist writer, was born.

1936 Victor Chang, Australian physician, was born.

1941 Juliet Mills, British actress, was born.

1945  Goldie Hawn, American actress, was born.

1948  George Zimmer, American entrepreneur, was born.

1977 Minister of Internal Affairs Allan Highet announced that ‘the national anthems of New Zealand shall be the traditional anthem “God Save the Queen” and the poem “God Defend New Zealand“, written by Thomas Bracken, as set to music by John Joseph Woods, both being of equal status as national anthems appropriate to the occasion.

 

New Zealand Historic Places Trust blue plaque at the site of the first performance in Dunedin.

1995 The Dayton Peace Agreement was initialed at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio, ending three and a half years of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.

Computer fails Churchill’s speech

Winston Churchill’s fight on the beaches  speech might have stirred the hearts and minds of the people to whom it was addressed, but it failed to impress a computer marker.

David Wright, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors (CIEA), an umbrella body for exam boards and other organisations, said that Churchill’s speeches to the nation in 1940 had not impressed the computer. It criticised his repetition of the words “upon” and “our” and did not identify “broad, sunlit uplands” as a metaphor.

The computer didn’t think much of the prose of Ernest Hemingway or William Golding either.

The idea that a computer could mark an English essay doesn’t altogether thrill me. But its assessment of Churchill’s speech and the other writers’ work makes me feel much better about the arguments I have with the grammar checker on my PC.

Hat Tip: Society of Authors’ newsletter.

Heart of stone

Two weeks ago large blocks of Oamaru Stone were delivered to Takaro Park.

Day by day they’ve been transformed by artists taking part in the stone carving symposium which is part of the Oamaru Victorian Heritage Celebrations.

 

The sculptures are for sale during a silent auction which takes palce this weekend.

 

 

Sport talk

Last week I didn’t know the All Whites were playing a test to decide if they got to the World Cup or not.

Nor did I know about the NZ Match racing champs and that Tiger Woods was playing golf in Melbourne.

You’re welcome to educate me on what’s happened in sport since then or will be happening in the coming week.

My attention will be on Victorian sports – the national penny farthing championships tomorrow and the world stone sawing championships on Sunday – all part of Oamaru’s Victorian heritage celebrations.

Places, buildings, people

The programme for Oamaru’s annual Victorian Heritage Celebrations is so full we’re spoiled for choice and I hadn’t planned to attend the annual *Forrester and Lemon Memorial Lecture.

However, the chair of the local branch of the Historic Places Trust which organises the lecture, was at Wednesday’s races and promised much of it.

She was right. Sir Neil Cossons, who was Chairman of English Heritage, the United Kingdom Government’s principal adviser on the historic environment, delivered a fascinating lecture on recycling heritage buildings.

He spoke of the importance of the relationship beween buildings and places if they are to be enjoyed by people.

He also promised a case of champagne if anyone could help them with the challenge of finding a new use for an old building with ceilings only 6 foot 4 inches high.

Among the audience for the lecture were people taking part in the pre-conference tour for the Australasian Engineering Heritage Conference which starts in Dunedin on Monday.

*Forrester and Lemon were the architects repsonsible for most of Oamaru’s beautiful Victorian buildings.