Rock Around The Clock

Rudy Pompilli, was born on this day in 1924 or 1926 (Wikipedia says sources agree on the date but not the year).

Pink Panther

Henry Mancini would have been 86 today.

I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself

Dusty Springfield would have been 71 today.

Peter Ustinov on Queen Mary

Peter Ustinov would have been 89 today.

Spike Milligan – English language inflation

Spike Milligan would have been 92 today.

It rained

We got 15 mls of very welcome rain last night.

The near-empty irrigation dam shows how much it was needed.

Now the pressure is off the irrigation and we might be able to stop watering for the season.

Last night’s fall brings us to a total of 27 mls – just over an inch in old money – for the month and about 50 mls this year, though still only 336 mls in the last 12 months which is well under the annual average of around 500 mls.

While the rain made a big difference to us because we’re irrigated, it wouldn’t have done much more than lay the dust on dryland farms and it was localised.

Totara, about 10 kilometres as the crow flies from us, received only 9 mls and our hill block at Waianakarua about 20 kms away got only 4 mls.

The downpour came with a thunderstorm which brought a lot of water in a very short time. We don’t complain about rain here so this is an obesrevation not a moan – it also brought a flood inside the conservatory which took three buckets and seven towels to mop up.

Memo to self: clean the spouting before it rains again.

Two tonne of urea could help save a life

An email from a friend asked me to spread the word about a TradeMe auction to help fund potentially life-saving cancer treatment.

The email said:

Hello friends

 

I know you are all busy people.    If you could take a few minutes to search the website mentioned below and to place a bid you would be really helping our friend Jane who is a real kiwi battler.  

 

Jane is fundraising for her own cancer treatment.  Its not some obscure drug treatment, its a drug that she would be getting on national health if she lived in Australia or the UK.  This drug has worked wonders and is giving Jane a good quality of life.   If you are not in a position to bid on any of these great offers from Jane’s friends and family, then please forward to any of your friends or work mates who might like a South Island holiday, golfing packages or some collectible art.   Any donation no matter the size will help.

 

 

. . .  The auction will close on Trade Me on Saturday 17th April – this Saturday – so you will have to be quick.

She attached this message from Jane:

It gives me much pleasure to make the fundraising auction live! Many thanks to friends and family who have helped me and to businesses who have donated – enjoy!

Go to: http://www.janewebdesign.co.nz and don’t forget to forward on to your own contacts.

Background
In December 2003 I lost my kidney to cancer. Exactly five years later, I was told that the cancer had spread to several locations throughout my body.

Kidney cancer of this type does not respond well to traditional treatments such as chemotherapy or radiation. My only viable option is a very expensive targetted drug therapy, which is not subsidised by government or covered by my health insurance. So far I have responded very well to this drug but because of the huge cost I am obliged to fund raise.

I have every reason to live and this drug gives me the quality of life to enjoy my two beautiful daughters and many wonderful friends. It was friends and family who provided the inspiration for this ‘on line auction’ web site which gives you the opportunity to place a bid for an incredible range of New Zealand art and fashion, specialist services and leisure time in some of the loveliest parts of the South Island.

I would like to thank all the many businesses and individuals who have supported me through their generous donations to this auction.

Jane Egerton

Items up for auction on TradeMe include art work, accommodation vouchers, a round of golf at Michael Hill’s course and a day with Burton Silver.

Jane’s cause has also been taken up by Jamie Mackay on the Farming Show where two tonne of Urea is being auctioned with the proceeds going to fund Jane’s treatment.

Know a rural woman who deserves to be pampered?

Rural Trader is looking for a special rural woman who deserves a pampering.

They’re inviting rural blokes and children to explain in 100 words or fewer why the special woman in their lives deserves a little pampering.

The winner will get a pamper package from Rodney Wayne and Life Pharmacy.

Details are here.

If you’re enetering and want to share why the lovely rural woman in your life deserves to be pampered you’re welcome to leave a comment here.

Supermarket silliness

They had been for a run and called in to the supermarket on their way home so one could buy a bottle of wine.

They were both 25, the one buying the wine had a licence to prove that but the woman serving her wasn’t going to let her buy the wine because her friend didn’t have any proof of age with her.

Surely, if she’d been going to supply someone under 18 with alcohol the minor wouldn’t have been at the counter with her.

And what happens if parents are buying alcohol with their children in tow?

Is this what the law requires or is the supermarket being over cautious?

April 16 in history

On April 16:

1178 BC; The calculated date of the Greek king Odysseus‘s return home from the Trojan War.

 

73 Masada, a Jewish fortress, fell to the Romans after several months of siege, ending the Jewish Revolt.

1071 Bari faell to Robert Guiscard, ending Byzantine rule in Italy.

 

1346 The Serbian Empire was proclaimed in Skopje by Dusan Silni, occupying much of the Balkans.

1521 Martin Luther‘s first appearance before the Diet of Worms to be examined by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and the other estates of the empire.

 

1582 Spanish conquistador Hernando de Lerma founded the settlement of Salta, Argentina.

1682 John Hadley, British inventor, was born.

1728 Joseph Black, Scottish chemist, was born.

1746 The Battle of Culloden was fought between the French-supported Jacobites and the Hanoverian British Government.

1780 The University of Münster was founded.

1799 Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Mount Tabor – Napoleon drove Ottoman Turks across the River Jordan near Acre.

1853 The first passenger rail opened in India, from Bori Bunder, Bombay to Thane.

1862 American Civil War: The Battle at Lee’s Mills in Virginia.

1862 American Civil War: A bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia became law.

1863 American Civil War: The Siege of Vicksburg – ships led by Union Admiral David Dixon Porter moved through heavy Confederate artillery fire on approach to Vicksburg, Mississippi.

1865 Henry George Chauvel, Australian general (, was born.

1867 Wilbur Wright, American aviation pioneer (, was born.

1889 Charlie Chaplin, English actor, writer, songwriter, composer, and film producer, was born.

1892 The New Zealand Rugby Football Union was founded.

1910 The University of Queensland was founded, with the names of the members of the first Senate published in the Queensland Government Gazette.

1912  Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly an aeroplane across the English Channel.

1917 Lenin returnedto Petrograd from exile in Switzerland.

1918 Spike Milligan, Irish comedian, was born.

1919 – Gandhi organised a day of “prayer and fasting” in response to the killing of Indian protesters in the Amritsar Massacre by the British.

1921 Peter Ustinov, English actor, was born.

 

1922  Kingsley Amis, English author, was born.

1922 The Treaty of Rapallo, pursuant to which Germany and the Soviet Union re-established diplomatic relations, was signed.

 

1924 Henry Mancini, American composer, was born.

1925 The St Nedelya Church assault in Sofia – 150 people were killed and 500 were wounded.

 

1924 Rudy Pompilli, American musician (Bill Haley & His Comets), was born.

 

1927 Pope Benedict XVI, born Joseph Alois Ratzinger., was born.

1939 Dusty Springfield, English singer, was born.

1941 World War II: The Italian convoy Duisburg, was attacked and destroyed by British ships.

1941 – Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians threw the only Opening Day no-hitter in the history of Major League Baseball, beating the Chicago White Sox 1-0.

1943 Ruth Madoc, British actress, was born.

1943  Dr. Albert Hofmann discovered the psychedelic effects of LSD.

1945 The Red Army began the final assault on German forces around Berlin.

1945 The United States Army liberated Nazi Sonderlager (high security) Prisoner of War camp Oflag IV-C (better known as Colditz).

 

1945 – More than 7,000 died when the German refugee ship Goya was sunk by a Soviet submarine torpedo.

1946 Syria gained independence.

1947  Texas City Disaster: An explosion on board a freighter in port caused the city of Texas City to catch fire, killing almost 600.

 One of Grandcamp’s anchors Texas City Memorial Park

1947 Bernard Baruch coined the term “Cold War” to describe the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union.

1953 Queen Elizabeth II launched the Royal Yacht HMY Britannia.

1963 – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. penned his Letter from Birmingham Jail while incarcerated in Birmingham, Alabama for protesting against segregation.

1963 Jimmy Osmond, American pop singer (The Osmonds), was born.

1972 Apollo programme: The launch of Apollo 16 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

1987 British Conservative MP Harvey Proctor appeared at Bow Street Magistrates’ Court charged with gross indecency.

1990 The “Doctor of Death”, Jack Kevorkian, went through with his first assisted suicide.

1992 The Katina P. ran aground off Maputo, Mozambique. 60,000 tons of crude oil spilt into the ocean.

2003 The Treaty of Accession was signed in Athens admitting 10 new member states to the European Union.

 

2004 – The super liner Queen Mary 2 embarks on her first trans-Atlantic crossing, linking the golden age of ocean travel to the modern age of ocean travel.

2007 Virginia Tech massacre:  Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 and injured 23 before committing suicide.

Students gather to mourn after the shooting.

2008 Democratic senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama participated in the final Democratic primary debate of 2008.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia