Marriage Lines

Happy birthday Richard Briers – 76 today.

I have vague memories of listening to Marriage Lines on the radio but don’t recall watching it on TV.

Y chromosome evolving faster

A new study shows the Y chromosome is evolving faster than the rest of the genetic code.

Could it be that those genes which make people men are just working harder to catch up with the second X chromosome  which makes other people women?

I’d never do it but I’d like to

If I’d been asked to name the best film ever when I was a child I’d have had no hesitation in saying The Great Race.

I found it on DVD and watched it again a few years ago and was reminded of one of the reasons I’d liked it so much – the food fight.

The idea of throwing custard pies and other squishy dishes really appeals, but the thought of wasting good food and the mess that would have to be cleaned up afterwards would stop me trying it.

It will stay as one of the items on the list of things I’d like to do but won’t and because of that I’ll have to keep  getting my food fight fun vicariously through films.

Vet grad scheme extended

Agriculture Minister David Carter has announced an extension to the  voluntary bonding scheme for vets to cover all practices that deal with production animals.

The scheme, launched last year, encourages new graduates to stay in an eligible practice by providing a taxable payment of $11,000 for every year, up to five years, that they are working in the practice.

The scheme was originally aimed at practices in specific rural areas. Since then, 20 vets have been accepted into the scheme.

From this year, all practices that deal with production animals like dairy and beef cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry will be eligible, providing the vets receiving the funding will spend most of their time working with these animals.

This is a sensible move.

The difficulty of recruiting graduate vets to work with production animals is widespread so it makes sense that the incentive applies wherever vets are needed.

January 14 in history

On January 14:

83 BC Marcus Antonius, Roman politician, was born.

1129 Formal approval of the Order of the Templar at the Council of Troyes.

1301 Andrew III of Hungary died, ending the Arpad dynasty.

1514  Pope Leo X issued a papal bull against slavery.

1539 Spain annexes Cuba.

1639 The “Fundamental Orders“, the first written constitution that created a government, was adopted in Connecticut.

1724 – King Philip V of Spain abdicated the throne.

1761  The Third Battle of Panipat was fought in India between the Afghans under Ahmad Shah Durrani and the Marhatas. The Afghan victory changes the course of Indian History.

1784  United States Congress ratified the  Treaty of Paris with Great Britain.

 Benjamin West‘s painting of the delegations at the Treaty of Paris: John Jay, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Laurens, and William Temple Franklin. The British delegation refused to pose, and the painting was never completed.

1814  Treaty of Kiel: Frederick VI of Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden in return for Pomerania.

1875 Albert Schweitzer, Alsatian physician, Nobel laureate, was born.

1886  Hugh Lofting, English author, was born.

1891 Bob  Fitzsimmons won the world middleweight boxing title.

 

1904  Sir Cecil Beaton, English photographer, was born.

1907 An earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica killed more than 1,000.

1934  Richard Briers, English actor, was born.

1938Norway claimed Queen Maud Land in Antarctica.

Territorial extent of Queen Maud Land

1940  Sir Trevor Nunn, English theatre director and film director, was born.

1941  Faye Dunaway, American actress, was born

1943  Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill began the Casablanca Conference to discuss strategy and study the next phase of the war.

 Free French leaders Henri Giraud and Charles de Gaulle in front of Roosevelt and Churchill at the Casablanca Conference, January 14, 1943

1943 – World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first President of the United States to travel via aeroplane while in office when he travelled from Miami, Florida to Morocco to meet with Winston Churchill.

1950The first prototype of the MiG-17  made its maiden flight.

1952 NBC’s long-running morning news program Today debuted, with host Dave Garroway.

1967  The Human Be-In, takes place in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, launching the Summer of Love. Between 20,000 to 30,000 people attended.

 Poster advertising the ‘Human Be-In’ designed by Michael Bowen.

1970 Diana Ross & The Supremes final concert appearance at The Frontier Hotel- Las Vegas

1972 Queen Margrethe II of Denmark ascended the throne, the first Queen of Denmark since 1412 and the first Danish monarch not named Frederick or Christian since 1513.

 

1994  Samir Patel, American spelling bee winner, was born.

1998  Researchers in Dallas, Texas presened findings about an enzye that slows aging and cell death (apoptosis).

1999 Toronto, Mayor Mel Lastman was the first mayor in Canada to call in the Army to help with emergency medical evacuations and snow removal after more than one meter of snow paralysed the city.

2004 – The national flag of Georgia, the so-called “five cross flag“, was restored to official use after a hiatus of some 500 years.

2005  Landing of the Huygens probe on Saturn’s moon Titan.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.

Folsom Prison Blues

It’s 32 42 years today since Johnny Cash performed at Folsom Prison.

Paddington Bear doesn’t do decorating either

Happy birthday Michael Bond – 84 today.

In light of the previous post, this clip of Paddington Bear’s decorating seemed appropriate:

Stripping as therapy

In preparation for alterations and refurbishment we’ve been stripping wallpaper.

It reminds me of my teenage days when sun sense hadn’t been invented. We sunbathed at every opportunity, often got burnt and a few days later our skin would start peeling.

Sometimes we’d sit in a circle each one peeling the back of the person in front. The challenge was to get the longest piece of skin off in one piece.

There’s a similar feeling of triumph when you manage to get a ceiling to floor strip of wallpaper off in a single piece.

It feels good, even therapeutic, which is more than I can say about the next step – returning the walls to a respectable state again.

One of my student flats was a pigsty when we moved in. The landlord said if we cleaned it he’d pay for the materials for us to paint it.

Passing quickly over why we agreed to paint his flat for free, a very few minutes after I started painting a wall my flatmates looked at my work and said, “How about you be the gofer.”

Eyeore wisely pointed out that we can’t all and some of us don’t. I can’t and don’t do painting or papering.

Stripping walls may be a kind of therapy but I’ll be leaving the rest of the work to professionals.

Holidaying Hays have new pet

The Hay family has been holidaying in Kurow for several years.

Last summer their pet dog accompanied them.

They’re back again this year with a new pet:

Someone with more knowledge of sheep breeds is welcome to correct me, but it look like a merino ram:

If it is and anything like Sputnik, the merino ram our neighbours had in lieu of a lawn mower when I was a child, I’d advise to approach it with caution.

January 13 in history

On January 13:

1605 The play Eastward Hoe by Ben Jonson, George Chapman, and John Marston was performed, landing two of the authors in prison.

1607  The Bank of Genoa failed after announcement of national bankruptcy in Spain.

1610  Galileo Galilei discovered Ganymede, 4th moon of Jupiter.

1785 John Walter published the first issue of the Daily Universal Register (later renamed The Times).

1822 The design of the Greek flag was adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus.

1830 The Great fire of New Orleans, Louisiana began.

1842  Dr. William Brydon, a surgeon in the British Army during the First Anglo-Afghan War, became famous for being the sole survivor of an army of 16,500 when he reached the safety of a garrison in Jalalabad.

Remnants of an Army by Elizabeth Butler

1847  The Treaty of Cahuenga ended the Mexican-American War in California.

 Campo de Cahuenga, scene of the signing of the Treaty of Cahuenga, January 13, 1847

1885 Alfred Fuller, Canadian businessman, The “Fuller Brush Man”, was born.

1890 Thomas William Murphy or ‘Torpedo Billy’, became the first New Zealander to win a world title in professional boxing.

1893 The Independent Labour Party of the UK had its first meeting.

 Portrait of ILP leader Keir Hardie painted at the time of the foundation of the organisation in 1893.

1893 – U.S. Marines landed in Honolulu from the U.S.S. Boston to prevent the queen from abrogating the Bayonet Constitution.

1898  Emile Zola’s J’accuse exposed the Dreyfus affair.

1911  Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, Premier of Queensland, was born.

1915 An earthquake in Avezzano, Italy killed 29,800.

1926 Michael Bond, British writer, was born.

1939 The Black Friday bush fires burnt 20,000 square kilometres of land in Australia, claiming the lives of 71 people.

1942 Carol Cleveland, English actress and only significant female performer in Monty Python’s Flying Circus, was born.

1942  Henry Ford patented a plastic  automobile, which was 30% lighter than a regular car.

1942  First use of aircraft ejection seat by a German test pilot in a Heinkel He 280 jet fighter.

1953 Marshal Josip Broz Tito was chosen as President of Yugoslavia.

1958  Moroccan Liberation Army ambushed Spanish patrol in the Battle of Edchera.

1964  Hindu-Muslim rioting broke out in the Indian city of Calcutta – now Kolkata – resulting in the deaths of more than 100 people.

1964  Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II, was appointed archbishop of Krakow, Poland.

1966  Robert C. Weaver became the first African American Cabinet member by being appointed United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

1968  Johnny Cash performs live at Folsom Prison.

1970  Shonda Rhimes, American screenwriter/creator Grey’s Anatomy, was born.

1985 A passenger train plunged into a ravine at Ethiopia, killing 428 in the worst rail disaster in Africa.

1990 L. Douglas Wilder became the first elected African American governor when he took office in Richmond, Virginia.

1992 – Japan apologised for forcing Korean women into sexual slavery (Comfort women) during World War II.

1993 Space Shuttle programme: Endeavour headed for space for the third time as STS-54 launched from the Kennedy Space Center.

2001  An earthquake hits El Salvador, killing more than 800.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.

Des O’Connor & Dave Allen

Happy birthday Des O’Connor – 77 today.

My strongest memory of his show in the 1970s was him singing Everybody Loves Somebody.

Rather than inflict that on you I”ve chosen his interview with Dave Allen.

Tuesday’s answers

Monday’s questions were:

1. What’s the longest street in the world?

2. Where are the McDonald Islands?

3. Name the novel about infertility written by Ben Elton and the film which was based on it.

4. The flag of which islands has a sheep on it?

5. Who said, “Nobody will ever win the Battle of the Sexes.  There’s just too much fraternizing with the enemy.”?

Felicity gets a point for honesty – after all anyone could google the answers and not say.

Andrei gets 2 plus a half for logic for his answer to #1.

Mark D gets 2.

PDM gets 1 with a bonus for humour for #1 and another for trying for #5. (one day the answer will be Mae West).

Paul gets 2 1/2 (Inconceivable was the book but he didn’t name the film) plus  bonuses for humour for # 1, & 4.

Gravedodger gets 2 1/2 (Inconceivable but missed Maybe Baby); another half for being in the right area for #2 and a bonus for humour for #1.

Tuesday’s answers follow the break:

NZ & Fiji mending fences

New Zealand and Fiji have agreed to improve diplomatic relations.

A media release says:

Foreign Minister Murray McCully met his Fijian counterpart, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, in Nadi on Friday and Saturday.

A number of issues of bilateral interest to both countries were discussed in a positive and constructive atmosphere. The face-to-face meeting followed ongoing communications between the two Ministers over recent months.

The Governments have agreed to an additional Counsellor position being established for Fiji in Wellington, and for New Zealand in Suva, with approval in principle for Deputy Head of Mission appointments in each capital to follow soon.

The two Foreign Ministers agreed to keep in close contact and to meet as necessary in future.

The tone is cautious but any warming has to be an improvement on the icy relationship which has been operating for the past few months.

Fiji has big problems. As one of their closest neighbours we have a responsiblity to help if we can and it’s diffcult to do that if we’re not talking to each other.

Our roads would be safer if:

People who drive slowly would let others pass.

People who drive slowly wouldn’t speed up when others could pass.

People in the vehicles behind slow vehicles would pass when they could or keep back far enough to allow others to pass them.

People wouldn’t try passing when they can’t see what’s coming the other way.

Passing lanes didn’t end on the brow of a hill or blind corner.

Arrows on the road now and then (especially after rest areas in isolated places) showed drivers they should be on the left hand side of the road.

January 12 in history

On January 12:

475  Basiliscus becomes Byzantine Emperor, with a coronation ceremony in the Hebdomon palace in Constantinople.

1729 Edmund Burke, Irish statesman, was born.

1777 Mission Santa Clara de Asís is founded in what is now Santa Clara, California.

1808 The organizational meeting that led to the creation of the Wernerian Natural History Society, a former Scottish learned society,wais held in Edinburgh.

 Robert Jameson, founder and life president of the Wernerian Society

1848  The Palermo rising takes place in Sicily against the Bourbon kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

1863, Swami Vivekananda, Indian philosopher, was born.

1866  The Royal Aeronautical Society was formed in London.

1872  Yohannes IV was crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, the first imperial coronation in that city in over 200 years.

1876 Jack London, American author, was born.

1893 Hermann Göring, German Nazi official, was born.

1895 The National Trust was founded in the United Kingdom.

1906 Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman‘s cabinet (which included amongst its members H. H. Asquith, David Lloyd George, and Winston Churchill) embarks on sweeping social reforms after a Liberal landslide in the British general election.

1908 A long-distance radio message is sent from the Eiffel Tower for the first time.

1911 The University of the Philippines College of Law was formally established; three future Philippine presidents were among the first enrollees.

 1915 The Rocky Mountain National Park was formed by an act of U.S. Congress.

1915  The United States House of Representatives rejected a proposal to give women the right to vote.

1916 Pieter Willem Botha, South African politician, was born.

1917  Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Indian spiritualist, was born.

1918 Finland’s “Mosaic Confessors” law went into effect, making Finnish Jews full citizens.

1932 Hattie W. Caraway became the first woman elected to the United States Senate.

1932 Des O’Connor, British television presenter, was born.

1941  Long John Baldry, British blues singer, was born.

1945  Maggie Bell, Scottish singer (Stone the Crows), was born.

1946  Cynthia Robinson, American musician (Sly & the Family Stone), was born.

1951 Kirstie Alley, American actress, was born.

1952  John Walker, New Zealand middle distance runner, was born.

1954 Queen Eilzabeth II opened a special session of the New Zealand Parliament in its centennial year. It was the first time New Zealand’s Parliament had been opened by a reigning monarch

 

1964 Rebels in Zanzibar began a revolt known as the Zanzibar Revolution and proclaimed a republic.

1967  Dr. James Bedford became the first person to be cryonically preserved with intent of future resuscitation.

1968 Heather Mills, British activist and model, was born.

1970  Biafra capitulated, ending the Nigerian civil war.

1974 Melanie Chisholm, British singer (Spice Girls), was born.

1976 The UN Security Council votes 11-1 to allow the Palestine Liberation Organisation to participate in a Security Council debate (without voting rights).

1991 Gulf War: An act of the U.S. Congress authorised the use of military force to drive Iraq out of Kuwait.

1992 A new constitution, providing for freedom to form political parties, was approved by a referendum in Mali.

1998 Nineteen European nations agree to forbid human cloning.

2004 The world’s largest ocean liner, RMS Queen Mary 2, made its maiden voyage.

2005 Deep Impact launched from Cape Canaveral on a Delta 2 rocket.

2006 The foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany declare that negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program have reached a dead end and recommend that Iran be referred to the United Nations Security Council.

2006  A stampede during the Stoning the Devil ritual on the last day at the Hajj in Mina, Saudi Arabia, killed at least 362 Muslim pilgrims.

2007  Comet McNaught reached perihelion becoming the brightest comet in more than 40 years.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.

Where’s Whaleoil?

A TV3 news story says Whaleoil blogger Cameron Slater is mocking another suppresion order.

Clicking on both Whaleoil and Gotcha led to an error message.

Is that just a conincidence?

Monday’s Quiz

1. What’s the longest street in the world?

2. Where are the McDonald Islands?

3. Name the novel about infertility written by Ben Elton and the film which was based on it.

4. The flag of which islands has a sheep on it?

5. Who said, “Nobody will ever win the Battle of the Sexes.  There’s just too much fraternizing with the enemy.”?

Literary blogging

It’s not quite writing from beyond the grave, but Katherine Mansfield has joined the blogosphere.

K M Today is a blog developed by the Katherine Mansfield Society.

It selects daily extracts from Mansfield’s letters and private writings, and allows readers to post comments in response. Each extract is annotated with instant ‘cloud tags’, enabling the reader to view at a glance who/what is being described.

 In a media release, Society chair Dr Gerri Kimber, says:

. . .  the blog will bring to life the innermost thoughts and feelings of a quintessentially modern woman and writer. 

“The courage that Mansfield showed at a time of great fear – exiled abroad by the TB which would eventually result in her death, and facing life without her husband – is present in every entry. The letters and fiction that she wrote at this time have justly inspired generations of writers.”

Too much weather

The problems cold, wet weather pose for holiday makers when it’s supposed to be summer are minor compared with the freezing conditions in Britain. 

While most news reports focus on the impact on people, Phil Clarke looks at the impact on agriculture.

However, he notes it’s not all bad news for business – sales of UHT milk are booming.

Back in New Zealand,  although it’s been unseasonably cold, Northland, the east coast and some inland areas are very dry.

We were happy to get 12 mls of rain in North Otago yesterday. Farmers in Central Otago also welcomed steady rain but the ODT reports that orchardists weren’t so happy.

There’s too much winter in Britain and not enough summer in New Zealand – altogether too much weather.

January 11 in history

On January 11:

1569 First recorded lottery in England.

1571 Austrian nobility were granted freedom of religion.

1693 Mt. Etna  erupted in Sicily, Italy. A powerful earthquake destroyed parts of Sicily and Malta.

1786 Joseph Jackson Lister, English opticist and physicist, was born.

 1787  William Herschel discovered Titania and Oberon, two moons of Uranus.

1807  Ezra Cornell, American businessman and university founder, was born.

1846 Ruapekapeka pa was occupied by British troops. Debate raged as to whether the pa was simply abandoned by its defenders or captured by the British.

1857 Fred Archer, English jockey, was born

1878 Milk was first delivered in bottles.

1879  The Anglo-Zulu War began.

1885 Jack Hoxie, American actor, rodeo performer, was born.

 

1915 – Robert Blair Mayne, British soldier, co-founder Special Air Service, was born.

1919 Romania annexed Transylvania.

 Transylvania highlighted on a map of Romania, with the counties’ boundaries.

1922 First use of insulin to treat diabetes in a human patient.

1934 Sir Charles Antony Richard Hoare, British computer scientist, was born.

1935 Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly solo from Hawaii to California.

1938  Arthur Scargill, British politician, was born.

1946 Tony Kaye, British piano and organ player (Yes), was born.

 

1946  Enver Hoxha declared the People’s Republic of Albania with himself as dictator.

1949 First recorded case of snowfall in Los Angeles.

1957 The African Convention was founded in Dakar.

1962 An avalanche on Huascaran in Peru caused 4,000 deaths.

1964 – United States Surgeon General Dr. Luther Leonidas Terry, M.D., published a report saying that smoking may be hazardous to health - the first such statement made by the U.S. government.

1972 East Pakistan renamed itself Bangladesh.

 

 

 

 

1986  The Gateway Bridge, Brisbane in Queensland was officially opened.

1996  STS-72 launched from the Kennedy Space Center marking the start of the 74th Space Shuttle mission and the 10th flight of Endeavour.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.