Word of the day

Hypozeuxis – a rhetorical term for an expression or sentence where every clause has its own independent subject and predicate;  the use in a parallel construction of successive clauses each complete with subject and verb (eg I came, I saw, I conquered).

Rural round-up

Mānuka genes could help fight myrtle rust – scientist:

Mānuka tree genetics has the potential to help the myrtle plant family develop resistance to myrtle rust, a scientist says.

The airborne disease has spread to Te Puke, meaning there are 46 infected properties across Northland, Waikato, Taranaki and the Bay of Plenty.

The Ministry for Primary Industries said it was no closer to containing the spread, which affects all members of the myrtle plant family – including pōhutakawa and mānuka. . .

Steady progress with Primary Growth projects – Allan Barber:

It is eight years since the Primary Growth Partnership programme was announced by the then recently elected National Government. At the end of 2016 there were 20 projects under way and just two completed, but 30^th June sees the completion of FarmIQ, the largest of the red meat sector programmes. This seems to be an appropriate point to evaluate the success of PGP, in particular the six meat and two wool programmes which have been allocated total Crown and industry funding of $342 million.

The key point about PGP is its funding structure, with the taxpayer and industry putting up approximately half each, thus ensuring industry commitment to a better than even chance of a successful outcome. Nevertheless, as a general principle, the larger the amount of money invested, the greater the difficulty of measurement and the wider the potential for missing the target. . . 

Impassioned plea for rural health research funding:

The head of the national rural health group today made an impassioned plea for the government to consider much-needed rural research.

Michelle Thompson, chief executive of the Rural Health Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand (RHAANZ) says there is a strong feeling that rural health outcomes are poorer than urban health outcomes but until they have the hard data they can’t be sure whether there is a difference or understand the scale of the difference.

Earlier this year the RHAANZ presented its five most urgent priorities to government, one of which included comprehensive rural health research support. . . 

Cartel’s gonna cartel – Eric Crampton:

Canada’s dairy cartel continues to impress. After Canada negotiated increased access to Canadian markets for European cheesemakers, the dairy cartel managed to do this:

Under the terms of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), Canada has agreed to allow nearly 18,000 additional tonnes of European cheese to be imported tariff free.

But CBC News has learned that when Canadian officials briefed their European counterparts on how they would allocate the quota for importing this new cheese, not everyone around Europe’s cabinet table felt Canada’s approach lived up to the spirit of the negotiations.

A European official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak, characterized the state of things as a “row.” . . 

Beef and Sheep sector outline key priorities in their 2017 Manifesto: “Blueprint for partnership with the New Zealand Government”:

Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) and the Meat Industry Association (MIA) are presenting the sector’s priorities to all political parties ahead of this year’s General Election.

The two organisations, who represent New Zealand sheep and beef farmers and meat processors, marketers and exporters have outlined in a manifesto a set of key priority policy areas on which to base a stronger partnership with government. 

MIA Chief Executive Tim Ritchie said the sheep and beef sector is our second largest goods exporter and a significant contributor to the New Zealand economy. . . 

Launch of Māori Kiwifruit Growers Forum an industry first:

The Māori Kiwifruit Growers Forum was officially launched yesterday in Tauranga, representing a first for the kiwifruit industry.

The forum has been created to advocate for the interests of Māori growers in the sector and is a partnership between Māori kiwifruit growers, Te Puni Kōkiri and Zespri.

Minister for Māori Development, Hon Te Ururoa Flavell attended the launch at Te Hua Whenua Orchard in Welcome Bay. . . 

Finalists selected in NZ Sheep Industry Awards:

Leading farmers, scientists, a retired sheep breeder and a ground-breaking stock trading company are among the finalists selected in this year’s Beef + Lamb New Zealand Sheep Industry Awards.

This year’s Awards feature five people-related categories in which finalists were selected by a team of judges representing the farming and agribusiness industries.

These “people” awards sit alongside the Supplier of Year Award, where processing companies nominate a top supplier and four genetics awards, in which the top three animals in each category are selected through the Beef + Lamb New Zealand Genetics evaluation. . . 

Kiwi entrepreneurial spirit on show at Fieldays:

From dairy to blueberries and from milk to beer, agribusiness diversification is the hot topic at this year’s National Fieldays according to ANZ’s Managing Director Commercial & Agri Mark Hiddleston.

Visiting Fieldays this week, Mr Hiddleston said many producers were looking outside their main business for ways to make their operations more profitable and resilient.

“In just half an hour I met three different dairy farmers who either have, or are in the process of, looking at other forms of milking. That might be diversifying to milking sheep or goats, or moving into something entirely different, such as hops to support the craft beer industry,” Mr Hiddleston said. . . 

Resurgent New Zealand Dollar Lowers Wool Prices:

New Zealand Wool Services International Limited’s Marketing Executive, Mr Nathan Arthur advises that the rise in the New Zealand dollar generally saw corresponding lowering of local wool prices in most areas apart from fine crossbred fleece and some targeted coarser types.

Of the 7,930 bales on offer 56 percent sold. . . 

The value of a good rural school:

The integral role that a school plays in a local community is heightened in rural locations where it becomes a focal point for social activity and where a real sense of ownership is instilled among parents.

With more people seeking out lifestyle properties where they can raise their families away from the pressures of a fast-paced city, the educational opportunities on offer are very much part of the decision-making process. A good rural school is a key driver for a tree change lifestyle.

It’s not just a matter of reading, writing and arithmetic. The small country school takes on a life of its own. It’s usually a Civil Defence base, often its swimming pool is available to families after-hours via a key system, the principal will know all the children by name and will sometimes be teaching, and pet days are part of the school calendar. . . 

A farmer’s tan from Agri 67

Friday’s answers

Teletext gets my thanks for posing the questions and can claim a virtual batch of florentines by leaving the answers below should all of us remain stumped.

No need to censor happy thoughts

This excerpt from Holly Walker’s memoir is a very sad reflection on the madness of modern life:

One Friday morning, about three months after my return to work, I held a drop-in clinic for constituents in Petone. Parliament was not sitting. When the clinic was over, I met Dave and Esther, fed her, and took her for a walk around our local park while she slept. It was a beautiful day, and I felt a rare sense of ease and wellbeing, so I took a picture and tweeted it, saying something like “What a perfect Petone day.”

A few days later, one of the Green Party’s press secretaries rang me up. A press gallery journalist, herself a working mother with young children, had seen my tweet and thoughtfully passed on that, to parents with children in daycare who would like nothing more than to be out walking with them on a sunny Friday afternoon, an MP posting a tweet like this was not a good look. The press secretary gently suggested that I might like to be sensitive to this. I took the feedback meekly, thanking her and agreeing to be more judicious in future. I could see how a mother with her own kids in daycare could look askance at that. . . 

When did it become wrong to share a little moment of joy?

There are times when your own troubles make it difficult to appreciate another’s simple pleasures.

There are times when it would be insensitive to share your happy times with someone directly.

But those are times when you’re speaking or writing to someone personally.

Tweets go to the world, with a maximum of 140 characters which provide only a snapshot. They aren’t personal communications and should not be taken personally.

Parenthood is tough. Throwing work – paid or voluntary – into the mix makes it tougher. But if someone is so ground down they can’t  let someone they don’t know delight in the good times with their baby, it is they, not the sharer who has the problem.

If anyone, public figure or not, has to censor their happy thoughts, then the world really has gone mad.

 

Quote of the day

Any kind of creative activity is likely to be stressful. The more anxiety, the more you feel that you are headed in the right direction. Easiness, relaxation, comfort – these are not conditions that usually accompany serious work. –  Joyce Carol Oates who celebrates her 79th birthday today.

June 16 in history

1487  Battle of Stoke Field, the final engagement of the Wars of the Roses.

1586 Mary, Queen of Scots, recognised Philip II of Spain as her heir.

1738 –  Mary Katharine Goddard, American printer and publisher, was born (d. 1816).

1745  British troops took  Cape Breton Island,.

1745 – Sir William Pepperell captured the French Fortress Louisbourg,  during the War of the Austrian Succession.

1746  War of Austrian Succession: Austria and Sardinia defeated a Franco-Spanish army at the Battle of Piacenza.

1755  French and Indian War: the French surrendered Fort Beauséjour to the British, leading to the expulsion of the Acadians.

1779  Spain declared war on  Great Britain, and the siege of Gibraltar began.

1815  Battle of Ligny and Battle of Quatre Bras, two days before the Battle of Waterloo.

1821 Old Tom Morris, Scottish golfer, was born (d. 1908).

1829 Geronimo, Apache leader, was born  (d. 1909).

1836  The formation of the London Working Men’s Association gave rise to the Chartist Movement.

1846  The Papal conclave of 1846 concluded. Pius IX was elected pope, beginning the longest reign in the history of the papacy (not counting St. Peter).

1858  Abraham Lincoln delivered his House Divided speech in Springfield, Illinois.

1858  Battle of Morar during the Indian Mutiny.

1871  The University Tests Act allowed students to enter the Universities of Oxford,  Cambridge and Durham without religious tests, except for courses in theology.

1883  The Victoria Hall theatre panic in Sunderland killed 183 children.

1890 Stan Laurel, British actor and comedian, was born  (d. 1965).

1891 John Abbott became Canada’s third prime minister.

1897  A treaty annexing the Republic of Hawaii to the United States was signed.

1903  The Ford Motor Company was incorporated.

1903– Roald Amundsen commenced the first east-west navigation of theNorthwest Passage.

1904  Eugen Schauman assassinated Nikolai Bobrikov, Governor-General of Finland.

1904 Irish author James Joyce began a relationship with Nora Barnacle, and subsequently used the date to set the actions for his novel Ulysses; traditionally “Bloomsday“.

1911  A 772 gram stony meteorite struck the earth near Kilbourn, Columbia County, Wisconsin damaging a barn.

1912 Enoch Powell, British politician, was born  (d. 1998).

1915  The foundation of the British Women’s Institute.

1922  General election in Irish Free State: large majority to pro-TreatySinn Féin.

1923 Baby farmer Daniel Cooper was hanged.

1924  The Whampoa Military Academy was founded.

1925  The most famous Young Pioneer camp of the USSR, Artek, was established.

1929 Pauline Yates, English actress, was born.

1930 Sovnarkom established decree time in the USSR.

1934 Dame Eileen Atkins, English actress, was born.

1937 Erich Segal, American author, was born  (d. 2010).

1938  Joyce Carol Oates, American novelist, was born.

1940  World War II: Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain becomes Premier of Vichy France.

1939 Billy Crash Craddock, American country singer, was born.

1940 – A Communist government was installed in Lithuania.

1948 The storming of the cockpit of the Miss Macao passenger seaplane, operated by a subsidiary of the Cathay Pacific Airways, marked the first aircraft hijacking of a commercial plane.

1955 Pope Pius XII excommunicated Juan Perón.

1958  Imre Nagy, Pál Maléter and other leaders of the 1956 Hungarian Uprising were executed.

1961  Rudolf Nureyev defected at Le Bourget airport in Paris.

1963   Vostok 6 Mission – Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space.

1967  The three-day Monterey International Pop Music Festival began.

1972 Red Army Faction member Ulrike Meinhof was captured by police in Langenhagen.

1972  The largest single-site hydro-electric power project in Canada started at Churchill Falls, Labrador.

1976 Soweto uprising: a non-violent march by 15,000 students in Soweto turned into days of rioting when police open fire on the crowd and kill 566 children.

1977 Oracle Corporation was incorporated as Software Development Laboratories (SDL) by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates.

1989  Imre Nagy, the former Hungarian Prime Minister, was reburied in Budapest.

1997 The Dairat Labguer massacre in Algeria; 50 people killed.

2000 Israel complied with UN Security Council Resolutiwen 425  and withdrew from all of Lebanon, except the disputed Sheba Farms.

2010 – Bhutan became the first country to institute a total ban on tobacco.

2012 – China successfully launched its Shenzhou 9 spacecraft, carrying three astronauts – including the first female Chinese astronaut, Liu Yang – to the Tiangong-1 orbital module.

2012 – The United States Air Force’s robotic Boeing X-37Bspaceplanereturned to Earth after a classified 469-day orbital mission.

2013 – A multi-day cloudburst centered on the North Indian state of Uttarakhand caused devastating floods and landslides becoming the country’s worst natural disaster since the 2004 tsunami.

2013 – The 2013 Baga massacre started when Boko Haram militants engaged government soldiers in Baga.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia