Irrigation companies unite

Five irrigation companies which use water from the Waitaki River have joined together to make the most of their collective strengths.

After a decade of battling to protect their rights to water, lower Waitaki irrigation companies have formed a collective to pool financial resources and knowledge.

The new Waitaki Irrigators’ Collective Ltd has just appointed a policy manager – Elizabeth Soal, of Dunedin – and plans to take a more proactive approach to issues that will affect them all.

The collective brings together the Lower Waitaki Irrigation Company, Morven-Glenavy-Ikawai Irrigation Company, Maerewhenua District Water Resources Company, North Otago Irrigation Company and Upper Waitaki Community Irrigation Company, representing interests on both sides of the river.

The collective irrigates about 61,000ha in North Otago and Waimate . It will:

• Set up to protect members’ existing water rights and reliability by negotiating-bargaining with or lobbying interested parties who could influence or restrict existing rights
• To facilitate through research and best practice efficient, sustainable use of water
• Where efficiency and development result in surplus water, expand the area under irrigation
• Educate the wider community on the benefits of irrigation to the local and national economy, including reliable supply of water
• Support the interests of other irrigators and extractors whose interests do not conflict with the collective’s North Otago/WaimateWater companies pool resources

This is a very sensible initiative. It’s far better for the companies to work with each other than separately and at odds with each other as has sometimes happened in the past.

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No frills, no fluff, just news

TV3 has started broadcasting early morning news again, no frills, no fluff, just news.

I like that in theory but it doesn’t fit my with morning routine in practice.

Television has pictures which mean you need to look at them at least some of the time and that’s not easy to do when doing other things which need to be done at that hour of day.

And when the pictures are rarely more than the faces of the interviewer and interviewee there’s not a great deal of difference between that and radio.

TV1′s morning business half hour is similar to TV3′s new morning news and both are much better than the chit chat and advertisements which take up most of the time on TV1′s Breakfast programme.

But if I’m not looking at the pictures I might as well be listening to the radio.

Open and closed

Today isn’t Otago Anniversary Day – that’s a couple of days away on the 23rd.

That is the date on which the John Wickliffe arrived in Port Chalmers with the first settlers.

But our provincial holiday is a nominated day which means people can choose to take it today, the closest Monday to the actual date, or any other day they see fit.

Some businesses observe today, some prefer to tack an extra day’s holiday on to Easter and some take it on another day.

That means confusion reigns today. Government agencies, council offices, banks, shops and other businesses with which we might want to interact will be open and some will be closed today, the Tuesday after Easter and whichever other day they choose.

Had the captain of the John Wickliffe been able to foresee the confusion the date of his ship’s arrival would cause, he might have chosen a better one – but which would that be?

March 21 in history

On March 21:

717 Battle of Vincy between Charles Martel and Ragenfrid.

1188  Accession to the throne of Japan by Emperor Antoku.

1413 Henry V became King of England.

1556 Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer was burned at the stake.

1788 A fire in New Orleans left most of the town in ruins.

1800  Pius VII was crowned Pope in Venice with a temporary papal tiara made of papier-mâché.

1801 The Battle of Alexandria was fought between British and French forces near the ruins of Nicopolis in Egypt.

1804 Code Napoléon was adopted as French civil law.

 

1811 Nathaniel Woodard, English educationalist, was born  (d. 1891).

 

1821 First revolutionary act in Monastery of Agia Lavra, Kalavryta, Greek War of Independence.

1844 The Bahá’í calendar began.

1844 – The original date predicted by William Miller for the return of Christ.

1857  An earthquake in Tokyo  killed more than 100,000.

1863 George Owen Squier, American inventor and Major General in U.S. Signal Corp, was born (d. 1934).

 

1871 Otto von Bismarck was appointed Chancellor of the German Empire.

1871 – Journalist Henry Morton Stanley began his trek to find the missionary and explorer David Livingstone.

1904 Forrest Mars Sr., American candymaker, was born  (d. 1999).

1905 Albert Einstein published his theory on special relativity.

1913 Over 360 are killed and 20,000 homes destroyed in the Great Dayton Flood in Ohio.

 

1918 The first phase of the German Spring Offensive, Operation Michael, began.

1919 The Hungarian Soviet Republic was established becoming the first Communist government to be formed in Europe after the October Revolution in Russia.

 

1928 Charles Lindbergh was presented the Medal of Honor for his first trans-Atlantic flight.

1933 Construction of Dachau, the first Nazi Germany concentration camp, was completed.

 

1935 Shah Reza Pahlavi formally asked the international community to call Persia by its native name, Iran, which means ‘Land of the Aryans’.

1936 – Margaret Mahy, New Zealand author, was born.

1937 18 people in Ponce, Puerto Rico were gunned down by a police squad acting under orders of US-appointed PR Governor, Blanton C. Winship.

 

1943 Vivian Stanshall, English musician, artist, actor, writer, Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, was born.

1945  British troops liberated Mandalay, Burma.

1945 Operation Carthage – British planes bombed Gestapo headquarters in Copenhagen but also hit a school; 125 civilians were killed.

1945 Rose Stone, American musician (Sly & the Family Stone), was born. 

1946  Ray Dorset, English Musician (Mungo Jerry)

1946 Timothy Dalton, British actor, was born.

1950 Roger Hodgson, English musician, former member of Supertramp, was born.

1951 Russell Thompkins Jr, American singer (The Stylistics), was born.

1952  Alan Freed presented the Moondog Coronation Ball, the first rock and roll concert, in Cleveland, Ohio.

 

1960 Massacre in Sharpeville: Police opened fire on a group of unarmed black South African demonstrators, killing 69 and wounding 180.

1963 Alcatraz closed.

1964 Gigliola Cinquetti won the ninth Eurovision Song Contest for Italy singing “Non ho l’età” (“I’m not old enough”).

1965 NASA launched Ranger 9, the last in a series of unmanned lunar space probes.

1965 – Martin Luther King Jr led 3,200 people on the start of the third and finally successful civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.

1968 Battle of Karameh in Jordan between Israeli Defense Forces and Fatah.

1970 The first Earth Day proclamation was issued by San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto.

 

1974  Rhys Darby, New Zealand Comedian, was born.

1980  US President Jimmy Carter announced a United States boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan.

1980 – On the season finale of the soap opera Dallas, the infamous character J.R. Ewing was shot by an unseen assailant, leading to the catchphrase “Who Shot JR?”

1985 – Canadian paraplegic athlete and humanitarian Rick Hansen began his circumnavigation of the globe in a wheelchair in the name of spinal cord injury medical research.

1990 – Namibia regained its independence after 75 years of South African rule.

1999 Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones became the first to circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air balloon.

 

2003 Race Relations Day was celebrated in New Zealand for the first time.

2006  Immigrant workers constructing the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, The United Arab Emirates and a new terminal of Dubai International Airport joined together and riot, causing $1M in damage.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia

Word of the day

Lunarist – someone who believes the moon affects the weather.

Did you see the one about

Americans call it experience not failure -  Peter Kerr calls for a change in thinking in New Zealand.

Some perspective -  Adolf at No Minister on what kills how many.

There’s glory for you! - Andrew Geddis at Pundit on a legal and literary mixup.

Party manifestos to be displayed in plain packets with government health warnings – Newsbiscuit on new rules for public protection. While there you might also enjoy Pay study shows women now 88% as good as men - a satirical take on pay equity.

Doesn’t work if you’re self employed though –  Something Should Go here Maybe Later on meetings as an alternative to work. While there you should see the footprint of my car will raise a smile.

And congratulations to the Hand Mirror on three years of Hand Mirrorness.

Politics of religion and sport

Sundays used to be different.

If you wanted or needed to shop your only option was a dairy, petrol station or for an hour or two the duty-pharmacy.

All other businesses closed and there was no organised sport.

Most people went to church in the morning and entertained themselves by themselves or with family and friends in the afternoons.

Back then, when I was growing up, if there was a memorial service it would have been Christian and mono-cultural.

Including other religions and cultures as Friday’s service for the Christchurch earthquake victims and survivors did is an improvement.

But not everyone was happy with that. A letter to the editor of the Press (print edition) yesterday complained there wasn’t anything for the non-religious. Perhaps they missed Dave Dobbyn singing Loyal and Malvina Major singing You’ll Never Walk Alone.

I might not have been listening to every word but I don’t recall any reference to religion in the adresses by Prince William, Bob Parker and John Key.

There are complaints too that the deed for the Government’s charity for earthquake recovery could be mixing politics, sport and religion:

Concerns are rising that the government’s flagship charity for victims of the Christchurch earthquake may be blurring the barriers between church and state and slanted toward rebuilding sports stadiums. . .

. . .  The charity’s trust deed, filed with the Charities Commission, includes a specific objective for “the advancement of religion” and unusual clause allowing for spending on “sports grounds.”

Further publicity material from the Appeal, which has raised $17.8 million to date, specifies funds raised would be invested in religious areas including “places of worship, books, clothing, artefacts, musical instruments,” and sports facilities, including stadiums.

It is sensible to keep the Trust deed as wide as possible to draw in funds from individuals and bodies which might give for some purposes but not others and also enable the funds to be used to meet a wide variety of needs.

The Trust won’t be promoting religion but it might help religious groups – which have been very active in helping their congregations and the wider community – rebuild and re-equip. I don’t have a problem with helping people who help people nor do I see anything subversive in allowing them to buy a new organ or guitar.

As for sport, Mark Weldon who is heading the fund raising said:

 Asked whether Appeal funds would be ploughed into rebuilding AMI Stadium, Mr Weldon said:

“That hasn’t been discussed, but what we’re focussing much more on the local hockey and rugby clubs. School sports are being knocked on the head. The latest data I’ve got says of 91 sports fields in Christchurch, 46 are unusable.”

When I was a trustee of the Otago Community Trust we used to analyse the areas donations went to. Sport was always the biggest. We’d debate that and always came to the conclusion that sport wasn’t only about sport it was about health, social well being, education, socialisation, entertainment and even crime prevention. As one trustee said – kids in sport aren’t in court.

If people are concerned about the politics of religion and sport with this charity there are plenty of other charities to donate too. I prefer to give with an open heart and trust the money will be used where it is needed.

Big moon rising

Last night a “super full  moon” rose in the east, as moons super and not so super do.

Or at least I presume it did.

We had a cloudy sky so I wasn’t able to view the “perigee moon” the biggest in almost 20 years:

“The last full Moon so big and close to Earth occurred in March of 1993,” says Geoff Chester of the US Naval Observatory in Washington DC. “I’d say it’s worth a look.”

Full Moons vary in size because of the oval shape of the Moon’s orbit. It is an ellipse with one side (perigee) about 50,000 km closer to Earth than the other (apogee): diagram. Nearby perigee moons are about 14% bigger and 30% brighter than lesser moons that occur on the apogee side of the Moon’s orbit.

“The full Moon of March 19th occurs less than one hour away from perigee–a near-perfect coincidence¹ that happens only 18 years or so,” adds Chester.

A perigee full Moon brings with it extra-high “perigean tides,” but this is nothing to worry about, according to NOAA. In most places, lunar gravity at perigee pulls tide waters only a few centimeters (an inch or so) higher than usual. Local geography can amplify the effect to about 15 centimeters (six inches)–not exactly a great flood.

The Moon looks extra-big when it is beaming through foreground objects–a.k.a. “the Moon illusion.”

Indeed, contrary to some reports circulating the Internet, perigee Moons do not trigger natural disasters. The “super moon” of March 1983, for instance, passed without incident. And an almost-super Moon in Dec. 2008 also proved harmless.

This morning the sun rose in the east, as it does, albeit an hour later than I’d like it now that autumn is bringing a chill to the start of each day.

March 20 in history

On March 20:

43 BC Ovid, Roman poet, was born (d. 17 AD).

1600 – The Linköping Bloodbath.

1602 The Dutch East India Company was established.

1616 Sir Walter Raleigh was freed from the Tower of London after 13 years of imprisonment.

1737  Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke, King of Thailand, was born (d. 1809).

1739 Nadir Shah occupied Delhi and sacked the city, stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne.

1760 The “Great Fire” of Boston, Massachusetts destroyed 349 buildings.

1815 After escaping from Elba, Napoleon entered Paris with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his “Hundred Days” rule.

 

1834 New Zealand’s first flag was chosen.

1848 Ludwig I of Bavaria abdicated.

1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe‘s Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published.

1861 An earthquake completely destroyed Mendoza, Argentina.

1883 The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property was signed.

1888 The premiere of the first Romani language operetta was staged in Moscow.

1913 Sung Chiao-jen, a founder of the Chinese Nationalist Party, was wounded in an assassination attempt and died 2 days later.

1916 Albert Einstein published his general theory of relativity.

 two-dimensional projection of a three-dimensional analogy of space-time curvature described in General Relativity.

1917 Vera Lynn, English actress and singer, was born.

1922 The USS Langley (CV-1) was commissioned as the first United States Navy aircraft carrier.

1937 Lois Lowry, American children’s author, was born.

1939  Brian Mulroney, former Prime Minister of Canada, was born.

1942 General Douglas MacArthur, at Terowie, South Australia, made his famous speech regarding the fall of the Philippines, in which he says: “I came out of Bataan and I shall return”.

1948 With a Musicians Union ban lifted, the first telecasts of classical music in the United States, under Eugene Ormandy and Arturo Toscanini, were given on CBS and NBC.

1950 Carl Palmer, English drummer (Emerson, Lake & Palmer), was born.

1956 Tunisia gained independence from France.

1957 David Foster, Australian woodchopper, was born.

1958 Holly Hunter, American actress, was born.

1979 Keven Mealamu, New Zealand rugby player, was born.

1980 The Radio Caroline ship, Mi Amigo foundered in a gale off the English coast.

 

1985 Libby Riddles became the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

 

1987 The Food and Drug Administration approved the anti-AIDS drug, AZT.

1988 Eritrean War of Independence: The Eritrean People’s Liberation Front entered the town of Afabet, victoriously concluding the Battle of Afabet.

1990 Imelda Marcos, went on trial for bribery, embezzlement, and racketeering.

1993 An IRA bomb killed two children in Warrington, Northwest England.

1995 A sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway killed 12 and wounds 1,300 people.

 A wanted poster.

1999 Legoland California, the only Legoland outside Europe, opened in Carlsbad.

2003  2003 invasion of Iraq: In the early hours of the morning, the United States and three other countries begin military operations in Iraq.

2004 Stephen Harper won the leadership of the newly created Conservative Party of Canada, becoming the party’s first leader.

2005 A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit Fukuoka, Japan, its first major quake in over 100 years. One person was killed, hundreds are injured and evacuated.

2006 Cyclone Larry made landfall in eastern Australia, destroying most of the country’s banana crop.

2006  More than 150 Chadian soldiers were killed in eastern Chad by members of the rebel UFDC seeking  to overthrow Chad president Idriss Deby.

2006 Chris and Cru Kahui, New Zealand murder victims were born.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia

Blue & Gold with Red & Black

Matches in any sport between teams from the right side of the Waitaki and Mainlanders from the other side are different.

It’s a bit like family. We’ll support each other against anyone else but the rivalry when it’s one of us playing the other is extra keen.

The good start the Highlanders have made to the season and the Christchurch earthquake have ensured a good crowd at Carisbrook when they meet the Crusaders tonight.

I won’t go so far as to say I’ll be cheering for the red and black team, my heart will as always be with the blue and golds. But tonight more than any other time I’ve watched a team from my side of the Waitaki against another, I really won’t mind which one wins.

Tonight it’s not blue and gold against but with red and black.

Word of the day

Quadrivial – having or being four roads meeting in a point,  concerning a four-way junction; of the quadrivium; leading in four directions.

A week of it

A week of it  by Dinah Hawken features as this week’s Tuesday Poem.

Poems chosen by other Tuesday poets linked in the side bar include:

How I find the time to write by Renée Liang.

Everything is for a very short time by Jennifer Compton.

After Brain Trauma by Orchid Tierney.

Tooth by Siobhan Harvey.

Saturn’s Riddle by Fiona Sampson.

Men Briefly Explained by Tim Jones.

Things by Fleur Adcock.

After the Funeral by Helen Lowe.

Perspective  by Alicia Ponder.

Autumn Day by Anna Livesey.

Through A Dream by Colin Webster-Watson.

Matsuo Basho by Matsuo Basho.

Vicarage Kids by Ruth Arnison.

Abseiling At the Ellice St Quarry by Laurice Gilbert.

 Martyrdom of Friend James by Catherine Bateson

Health passports for disabled

The Health and Disability Commissioner is trialling “health passports” for disabled people that tell health professionals about their needs and issues.

I hope it succeeds for the sake of the disabled people and their caregivers.

Our son Dan had multi-disabilities and couldn’t communicate which made him totally dependent. I wrote an account of what he needed and when he needed it which went everywhere with him. It saved a lot of time on his many admissions to hospital, helped family and friends who used to look after him to give us a break and meant if something happened to me there was an up to date record for whoever took over his care.

The passport would be a more formal record which would be helpful to health professionals and make it easier to give continuity of care to people with disabilities.

Canada Geese from protected to pest

Minister of Conservation Kate Wilkinson’s announcement that permits will no longer be required for the shooting of Canada Geese is a welcome one.

“As the population of Canada geese continues to increase so does their risk to aviation safety and the damage they inflict to pasture and crops,” Ms Wilkinson says.

“The current status where the geese populations are managed as a game bird is not working.

“Farmers have been getting increasingly frustrated with these birds fouling pasture and damaging crops.

“They also pose an aviation hazard due to their large size and this change will allow for the birds to be more effectively controlled where they pose a risk to aircraft safety.”

Ms Wilkinson says there are tens of thousands of Canada geese across the country and recreational hunting opportunities will remain.

“I expect Fish and Game to continue to work with landowners to assist with managing populations around the country.

“The geese are well established and on top of that farmers will have an incentive to provide hunting access to reduce their goose control costs.”

Fish and Game isn’t happy:

But Fish & Game is calling the decision an “own goal” for Federated Farmers, which lobbied for the change.

“The small group within Federated Farmers who lobbied the minister so hard on this issue will probably spin this as a win,” says chief executive Bryce Johnson.

“Ironically though, the minister’s decision will foist the considerable expense of goose control onto their membership and, indeed, all farmers if the expected push for ratepayer-funded regional councils to take responsibility for control happens.”

This just shows how little Fish & Game knows about farmers, many of whom are forced to fund the organisation through hunting and fishing licences.

Federated Farmers is pleased that Canada Geese have been removed from the protected species list and can now be regarded as the pest they are.

“Federated Farmers has long been campaigning for the Canada Goose to be declared a pest. It’s not native, it spoils the environment and is even an air traffic hazard,” says Donald Aubrey, Federated Farmers game and pest animal management spokesperson.

“Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson’s announcement was inevitable, the population was getting out of control. For example, South Island Canada Goose Management Plan in 1995 set a population limit of 20,350. In 2008 that figure was 35,000.

“We applaud her for having the courage to make this decision after five years of consideration and following extensive lobbying by Federated Farmers.

“The Canada Goose was introduced to New Zealand as a game bird and has provided many landowners with nothing but trouble. It puts huge pressure on the environment, damaging crops, spoiling waterways with excrement and outcompeting native birds for resources.

“It adds thousands of dollars to the costs of doing business in the South Island especially.

“This ruling finally allows farmers to defend themselves against Canada Geese.

Christchurch Airport also supports the change in the birds’ status:

Christchurch International Airport Ltd (CIAL) has come out in support of the change in protection status of Canada Geese.

“This bird is a hazard to aircraft,” said CIAL Chief Executive Jim Boult. “Canada Geese are large and cumbersome birds which can cause a great deal of damage if they collide with aircraft.”

Jim Boult pointed out that the Canada Geese population had steadily increased in Christchurch city over the last few years, which raised the risk of bird strike to aircraft. “We want to keep the population of Canada Geese to manageable levels, which will help keep the airspace as clear as possible.”

Fish and Game’s management of the species allowed the bird population to grow.

Airports, councils and farmers can now declare open season on the pest to make airspace safer and reduce the negative impacts the birds have on the environment through pollution of waterways, competition with native species and damage to crops.

Can only prove non-science wrong

Before we drilled for water we employed at water diviner.

He wandered around the paddocks with a forked stick which pointed down at a spot where he told us we’d find water.

When the driller turned up we told him that and he laughed and said we’d wasted our money. “The trouble with water diviners is that you can only ever prove them wrong,” he said. “If they’re right without the backing of science you don’t know if it’s just luck.”

This applies also to anyone who says they can predict earthquakes.

Ken Ring has terrified people in Christchurch by warning there could be another big earthquake this weekend. Some are so scared they’ve left the city.

David Winter took a scientific approach to his predictions and showed them for what they are here and here; his account of being on TV here and the Campbell Live interview here.

The full moon will be very close to the earth tonight, but David shows that lunar phase is a very poor indicator of earthquake strength.

I have a great deal of sympathy for the people who have found Ken Ring’s prediction the last straw and have left the city for the weekend. Emotion beats facts and their fear is understandable.

And I applaud those like Keeping Stock who is visiting friends and whanau in spite of it; and Nick Smith and the Skeptics :

The minister and the Skeptics Society are planning to have lunch in the Sign of the Kiwi, one of the tallest and oldest buildings in Christchurch, at noon this Sunday, the day Ken Ring predicted another earthquake would hit the city.

The minister, who has a background in earthquake engineering and a PhD in geotechnical engineering, told NBR he had been taken aback by the number of people taking Mr Ring seriously.

So will there be an earthquake in Christchurch this weekend?

Who knows? There might be and there might not be, there is no credible scientific method of predicting that.

March 19 in history

On March 19:

1279  A Mongolian victory in the Battle of Yamen eneds the Song Dynasty in China.

1687 Explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle, searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, was murdered by his own men.

1813 David Livingstone, Scottish missionary and explorer, was born (d. 1873).

1821 Richard Francis Burton, British explorer, diplomat and author, was born (d. 1890) .

1839 Bees were introduced to New Zealand.

1848 Wyatt Earp, American policeman and gunfighter, was born (d. 1929).

1853 The Taiping reform movement occupied and makes Nanjing its capital.

 The Heavenly king’s throne in Nanjing

1861 The First Taranaki War ended.

 

1863  The SS Georgiana, said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, was destroyed on her maiden voyage with a cargo of munitions, medicines and merchandise then valued at over $1,000,000.

1865  The Battle of Bentonville started.

1866 A hurricane caused major damages in Buenos Aires.

1906 Adolf Eichmann, Nazi official, was born (d 1962).

1915 Pluto  was photographed for the first time but is not recognised as a planet.

1916 Irving Wallace, American novelist, was born (d. 1990).

1916 Eight American planes took off in pursuit of Pancho Villa, the first United States air-combat mission in history.

1918 The U.S. Congress established time zones and approved daylight saving time.

1921 One of the biggest engagements of theIrish War of Independence took place at Crossbarry, County Cork. About 100 Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteers escaped an attempt by more than 1,300 British forces to encircle them.

 1921 Tommy Cooper, Welsh comedy magician, was born (d. 1984).

1921 Italian Fascists shot from the Parenzana train at a group of children in Strunjan (Slovenia): two children were killed, two mangled and three wounded.

1931  Gambling was legalized in Nevada.

1932 The Sydney Harbour Bridge was opened.

1933 Philip Roth, American author, was born.

1933 – Renée Taylor, American actress, was born. 

1936 Ursula Andress, Swiss actress, was born.

 

1941 The 99th Pursuit Squadron also known as the Tuskegee Airmen, the first all-black unit of the Army Air Corp, was activated.

 

1944 Said Musa, Prime Minister of Belize, was born.

1944 World War II: Nazi forces occupied Hungary.

1945 A dive bomber hit the aircraft carrier USS Franklin (CV-13), killing 724 of her crew.

1945 – World War II: Adolf Hitler issued his “Nero Decree” ordering all industries, military installations, shops, transportation facilities and communications facilities in Germany to be destroyed.

1946 Jayforce landed in Japan.

1946 French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion become overseas départements of France.

1946  Ruth Pointer, American singer (Pointer Sisters), was born.

 

1947 Glenn Close, American actress, was born.

1952  Warren Lees, New Zealand Test wicket-keeper, was born.

1953 Ricky Wilson, American musician (The B-52′s), was born (d. 1985).

1954 Willie Mosconi set the world record by running 526 consecutive balls without a miss during a straight pool exhibition at East High Billiard Club in Springfield, Ohio.

1955 Bruce Willis, American actor, was born.

1958 The Monarch Underwear Company fire left 24 dead and 15 injured.

1962 – Algerian War of Independence ceasefire took effect.

1965 The wreck of the SS Georgiana, valued at over $50,000,000 was discovered by then teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence exactly 102 years after its destruction.

1969 The 385 metres (1,263 ft) tall TV-mast at Emley Moor, collapsed due to ice build- up.

1972 India and Bangladesh signed a friendship treaty.

1982 Falklands War: Argentinian forces landed on South Georgia Island, precipitating war with the United Kingdom.

1989 The Egyptian Flag was raised on Taba, Egypt announcing the end of the Israeli occupation after the Yom Kippur War in 1973 and the Peace negotiations in 1979.

1990 The ethnic clashes of Târgu Mureş began.

2002 Operation Anaconda ended (started on March 2) after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters with 11 allied troop fatalities.

2002 – Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth on charges of human rights abuses and of election tampering, following a turbulent presidential election.

2004 Konginkangas bus disaster: A semi-trailer truck and a bus crash head-on in Äänekoski, Finland. 24 people were killed and 13 injured.

 

2004 A Swedish DC-3 shot down by a Russian MiG-15 in 1952 over the Baltic Sea was recovered after years of work.

2004 Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu were shot just before the country’s presidential election on March 20.

 Chen and Lu minutes before the shooting incident

2008  GRB 080319B: A cosmic burst that was the farthest object visible to the naked eye was briefly observed

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia

Friday’s answers

Thursday’s questions were:

1. Who said: “And I promise I’ll never do it again. That’s the one good thing about me. I never do the same wrong thing twice.”?

2. What does pachyglossal mean?

3. It’s mensonge in French,  mentira in Spanish and teka in Maori, what is it in English?

4. Instruments which are struck, shaken or plucked belong in which section of an orchestra?

5. Which husband and wife edited Metro and North and South respectively in the 1980s?

Points for answers:

David got two with a bonus for reasoning.

Andrei got three with a bonus for extra musical explanation which earns him an electronic bunch of flowers.

Adam got 1 1/2.

Answers follow the break:

Word of the day

Lachrymose – tearful or given to shedding tears or weeping; inducing tears, sad, mournful.

We Remember

The front page of today’s Press is printed in Canterbury’s colours, red and black, and headlined WE REMEMBER.

It goes on to say:

Today New Zealand pauses to remember the lives lost in the Christchurch earthquake on Tuesday, February 22.

We ponder the broken homes, destroyed livelihoods and profoundly changed lives.

The greater anguish is the loss of treasured ones to a force of nature which highlighted the preciousness of human life.

Today we recall ordinary lives, valued people, those close to us. We persevere and in doing so we honour them.

A list follows of those who died in the quake whose names have been released so far.

Inside the paper has a programme of the service:

12:00 Woolston Brass Band.

12:10: Lament by lone piper.

12:15 Arrival of official party.

12:30 Putatara (conch shell) sounded by Ben Brennan to signal the start of the service.

Mihi Whakatau Ceremony.

God Save The Queen.

12:51 The silence led by Very Reverend Peter Beck, Dean of Christchurch.

Tributes: Bob Parker, Prince William.

Reading: Sir Anand Satyanand.

Address: Prime Minister John Key.

Song: Loyal by Dave Dobbyn.

Address: Phil Gff.

Reading: Ralph Moore, Deputy Taskfroce Leader, Christchurch Urban Search and Rescue team.

Psalm 23.

Song: You’ll Never Walk Alone – Dame Malvina Major.

The lighting of the Flame by Sam Johnson and Patsy Te Are.

Hymn.

Gathering prayers.

The Lords Prayer.

Readings by representatives of Christchurch Christian churches.

Prayers of many faiths.

Song Pie Jesu by Dame Malvina Major.

Reflection by Right Reverend Victoria Matthews.

Verses of consolation by various leaders.

Benediction by Christchurch Cathedral choir.

National Anthem led by Timua Brennan and Laurence Munday, Dame Malvina Major and Hayley Westenra.

Placement of floral tributes and Recessional.

Woolston Brass Band.

Ribbon borrowed – again – from Scrubone at Something Should Go Here Maybe Later.

Good and bad news in clean-stream snapshot

A newsletter to shareholders from Fonterra chair Sir Henry van der Heyden says there’s good and bad news in the dairying and clean streams accord snapshot: 

• Good news is we’re making headway.
  • Full compliance with effluent rules up 5% to 65%
  • 99% of farms have nutrient budgets
  • 85% of stock excluded from waterways
  • Less than 2% of farms need crossings bridged or culverted
• Bad news is there’s been a 1% increase in significant effluent non-compliance from15% to 16%.

Fonterra said  the slight increase in significant non-compliance with regional council dairy effluent rules was unacceptable, but believed its Every Farm Every Year inspections regime was a concerted effort to turn this result around.

Today’s Dairying and Clean Streams Accord snapshot for the 2009/10 season shows significant national non-compliance rose by 1% to 16%, despite considerable improvements in Northland, Auckland, Hawkes Bay, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago.

Fonterra Group Director Supplier and External Relations, Kelvin Wickham said Every Farm Every Year was a concerted effort to address non-compliance by identifying farms at risk and ensuring remedial plans were put in place.

“The programme got underway nationally in August so it was never going to change last season’s results. But what is encouraging is that the compliance message is getting through and farmers are taking it seriously. That’s also evident in the snapshot results for full compliance which rose 5% to 65% last season.”

He said Fonterra’s Sustainable Dairying Advisors have completed 1188 consultations with farmers keen to ensure their on-farm effluent infrastructure is able to cope with the year-round demands put on it. Farms are referred to the advisors if the Every Farm Every Year inspection identifies properties at risk of non-compliance, but Mr Wickham said some farmers had also proactively sought advice ahead of their farm’s assessment.

“Our initiative is beginning to have a positive impact with farmers willing to accept advice and to spend the money needed to improve their effluent systems. By the end of this season we expect to have 1,000 remedial plans in place. Since August, 252 farms have already completed their plans and a further 582 are underway. There are no quick fixes but farmers are working hard to get it right and in many cases a significant investment is needed to ensure systems are compliant 365 days a year.”

Mr Wickham said good progress was being made on other Accord targets and Fonterra was this year highlighting the work of five farmers who were contributing to this progress.

Work done by these farmers who have put the Dairying  Accord into action can be seen here.  Their work includes improved fertiliser management, fencing waterways and tree planting.

“Across the country there is a lot of good work going on unnoticed and while we know there’s more work to be done, it’s also appropriate to acknowledge the real efforts being made.”

The snapshot showed 85% of farms nationally now have stock excluded from waterways and in Northland, Canterbury, Otago and Southland 90% have been excluded. Less than 2% of farms required bridges or culverts for waterways. Nutrient budgets had been adopted by 99% of farms but the challenge now was to work towards full management plans where nutrient inputs and outputs are measured and managed.

“The results show a lot of good effort has gone in from farmers, regional councils and organisations like DairyNZ and Every Farm Every Year is stepping up the effort in the key area of compliance.”

Farms working through remedial plans include those which could pass a compliance spot check, but farmers still accepted the work had to be done.

“Every Farm Every Year assesses whether an on-farm system is fit for purpose 365 days a year. This is about risk assessment and mitigation, not compliance monitoring. It’s not enough for a farm to comply 90% of the time. Year round compliance is what we are looking for and that’s where we are heading.”

Mr Wickham said risk factors being identified on farms mirrored those identified in the Dairying and Cleans Streams Accord snapshot.

“We know effluent storage capacity, irrigation systems and feed pads or standoffs are all potential trouble spots. Without adequate storage farmers can’t defer irrigation in wet conditions and Every Farm Every Year helps them recognise that. They are also recognising the value of effluent as a source of nutrients and can see the money spent on upgrading systems has a relatively quick payback through better grass growth and productivity.”

He said new tools like the Massey University effluent pond storage calculator were invaluable for ensuring individual farms had storage matched to soil types, herd size, production days, yard and feedpad areas and irrigation capacity. DairyNZ had also successfully established a new industry code of practice to ensure the design and installation of effluent systems meets set standards. Positive working relationships between regional councils, Fonterra and DairyNZ also meant farmers were getting good information and practical programmes such as open days.

“There is a lot of commitment out there and both Fonterra and our farmers are taking sustainability very seriously. There’s a way to go, but the effort is going in and we are starting to see some promising results.”

Agriculture Minsiter Minister David Carter said farmers are slowly taking heed of the need to lift their game to prevent pollution.

Mr Carter says that while progress could be faster, the message is gradually getting through to those farmers who have struggled with effluent compliance, and are now looking to their industry bodies and regional councils for support

“For example, in Canterbury, the ‘Check it, fix it, get it right’ initiative has been working to provide information and advice to farmers on adopting good effluent management practices.

“In the 2009/10 dairy season, 59 percent of Canterbury dairy farms were fully compliant with their dairy-shed effluent discharge conditions, up from 43 percent in the previous season. Significant non-compliance fell to 8 percent from 19 percent in the previous season.

“This initiative is now being rolled out throughout the North Island, and Southland.

The 2009/10 Snapshot shows progress has been made on four of the five targets set by the Accord.

Mr Carter also notes that Fonterra’s Every Farm Every Year checks of effluent management expects to have about 1000 farms on remedial plans by the end of the current dairy season.

“It’s encouraging that many of those farmers did not wait to be checked, but got in touch with the co-operative to ask for the plan.

“While it can’t be directly attributed to those initiatives, Environment Waikato has reported that significant non-compliance has more than halved in the season-to-date, with just 11 percent of farmers in serious breach of regional planning rules.”

“There is now a good deal of education, training and technological innovation underway in the dairy sector, all aimed at maintaining productivity while reducing environmental impact,” says Mr Carter.

Farmers in our area are taking the Accord very seriously. Most are motivated by the determination to keep the water they drink and swim in clean.

For the few for whom that carrot isn’t sufficient there’s the stick of severe and costly consequences of falling foul of regional council requirements. There’s also the knowlege that Fonterra has lost patience with the minority who are deliberately or carelessly polluting waterways and tarring all dairy farmers with their dirty brush.

The full snapshot is here.