Word of the day

Xenotopia – an uncanny or unsettling landscape; an ‘out-of-place place.

Word of the day: "xenotopia" – an uncanny or unsettling landscape; an 'out-of-place place' (Greek xeno-, strange/different; topos, place). pic.twitter.com/6hozcZ9YAx

— Robert Macfarlane (@RobGMacfarlane) August 27, 2017

Sir Colin Meads’ funeral

Sir Colin Meads’ funeral is being live-streamed on the All Blacks’ Facebook page.

Rural round-up

Proposed water tax would hit hard, says farming family – Nicki Harper:

The Gray family has farmed on the Ruataniwha plains for more than 100 years and invested heavily in environmental mitigation in recent times.

They say Labour’s proposed water levy policy on commercial water users would hit them hard financially.

Leicester and Margaret Gray and their sons Phillip and Callum and respective families farm 1009 hectares, of which 360 hectares is cropped under irrigation, the remainder is sheep and beef.

Trading as Gray Brothers, they grow and irrigate sweetcorn, peas and green beans for McCains as well as maize and carrot seed, and take pride in their farming practices. . . 

Rift for town and country – Kerre McIvor:

When I was a kid, going to stay on farms with our country relatives was a real treat.

I can still remember, at the age of 7 or 8, the thrill of seeing a lamb being born, on a cold crisp Canterbury morning. In my memory, the amniotic sac was a beautiful, rainbow colour and I can remember feeling both awestruck and completely grossed out.

At another rellie’s farm, I became a dab hand at dodging shitty cows’ tails and putting on suction cups and hosing down the milking sheds after the cows had made their way back to the paddocks. . . 

Sara Addis: Winemaking is art and science –

Trinity Hill winemaker and winner of the North Island NZ Young Winemaker of the Year, Sara Addis, hopes her recent win will open a few industry doors. She chats to Mark Story.

What does your win mean for your career?
For me personally, it means so much as it proves to me I have got what it takes to be a winemaker. Career-wise, hopefully my win will help open some exciting new doors in the future and I look forward to seeing what they are. I’m still a student so hopefully, once I graduate, my win will be another string to my bow. My long-term goal is to work down in Central Otago, where my partner Lachy is from, but I’d also love to do some more harvests in France. . . 

Bride horse brings the X-factor – Jill Herron:

Muddy boots, an oil skin vest and a vintage lace wedding dress would seem an odd sort of a work outfit for most people…not for Zara-Lee Macdonald.

The mismatched get-up is necessary as part of preparations for launching her new business, Inspiring Weddings.

Macdonald, originally from Winton, is training Maggie, a seven-year-old Percheron mare, to be a “bride horse” and having the horse well used to fluttering dresses is essential.

Maggie, and a shire horse called Max, will be available as part of the wedding planning service, for the role of carrying the bride – and the groom if he so desires – to the aisle, posing for photographs and adding “x-factor” to background scenes. . . 

World-first technique to ease world avocado shortage :

A world-first innovative plant growing technique that is set to double Queensland’s avocado production and smash the global shortage of avocado trees has received a $636,000 grant through the second round of the QLD Government’s Advance Queensland Innovation Partnerships program.

QLD Innovation Minister Leeanne Enoch today predicted the initial ‘matched’ investment of less than $1.5 million could return $335 million a year for the state’s economy across the production and supply chain. . .

‘Wow, no cow’: the Swedish farmer using oats to make milk – Tom Levitt:

Adam Arnesson, 27, is not your usual milk producer. For starters, he doesn’t have any dairy cattle. Our first photo opportunity is in the middle of one of his fields of oats.

Until last year all these oats went into animal feed, either sold or fed to the sheep, pigs and cows he rears on his organic farm in Örebro county, central Sweden.

With the support of Swedish drinks company Oatly, they are now being used to produce an oat milk drink – tapping into the growing market for dairy alternatives across the country. . . 

Almond milk: quite good for you – very bad for the planet – Emine Saner:

Sales of the non-dairy milk alternative are on the rise. But the super-healthy nuts – mostly grown in drought-hit California – need millions of litres of water to be produced. Think twice before you pour it on your cereal.

Snoop around the contents of an “eat clean” aficionado’s grocery basket and chances are, among the organic cauliflower and mountain of avocados, you will come across a carton of almond milk. A few years ago, those avoiding cow’s milk because of lactose intolerance or for ethical reasons were drinking soya, but health scares have seen a rising demand for alternative plant “milks”, including rice, hemp and – most popular – almond. This week, Waitrose said almond milk had overtaken soya as its customers’ preferred dairy alternative.

Almonds are one of the healthiest foods you can eat. The nuts (or seeds, if you are a botanical pedant) are packed full of vitamins, minerals and beneficial plant chemicals, as well as protein, healthy fats and fibre, and eating almonds is associated with a lowered risk of heart disease and Alzheimer’s, among other conditions. . . 

About the $158,000

Winston Peters has admitted to a mistake he said was fixed:

Some media contacts have called to alert me about a possible story about superannuation.

“From what I can glean it is about the following:

• In early 2010 I applied for superannuation, in the company of my partner, and in the presence of a senior official at the Ministry of Social Development.
“In July of this year, I was astonished to receive a letter from the Ministry to advise there was an error in my superannuation allowance and a request that I meet with them.

“I immediately contacted and met the area manager of MSD.

“It was unclear on both sides how the error had occurred leading to a small fortnightly overpayment.

“Suffice to say, we agreed there had been an error.

• Within 24 hours the error and overpayment had been corrected by me.
• I subsequently received a letter from the area manager thanking me for my prompt attention and confirming that the matter was concluded to the Ministry’s satisfaction.

“I am grateful to the Ministry for their courtesy and the professional and understanding way they handled this error.

“Like the Ministry I believed the matter had been put to rest.”

Newshub reports that in typical Peters fashion he refused to answer questions on the issue when it was first raised with him.

A transcript of the conversation is here.

The Social Development Ministry says it cannot comment until it gets a privacy waiver from Mr Peters.

If his past behaviour is any guide he probably won’t give it.

But on the face of it, this appears to be a mistake although it’s not clear whether it was the Ministry’s mistake of Peters’.

If it was his, it’s not a good look for a man who wants to be a Minister. If it was the Ministry’s they need to improve their systems.

Whoever made it, no-one is saying it was deliberate and Peters has paid back whatever he was overpaid.

The Taxpayers’ Union has congratulated him for doing that but adds:

But while we’re on the subject of repaying public funds – that $158,000 of taxpayers’ money NZ First illegally spent in the 2005 election, can we have that paid back too?”

He has in the past said he paid the money to charity. Whether he did or not, and there are doubts over that,  the money wasn’t owed to any charity, it was owed to the public purse from which it was wrongly taken.

UPDATE:

Newsroom reports:

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters took higher superannuation payments than he was entitled to for seven years – while living with his de facto partner – and has been required to pay back $18,000 to the state.

Peters filled out forms when he turned 65 that qualified him for the single person’s superannuation rate, which is about $60 a week higher in this case than a person would receive if declared to be living with a partner, which he was. . . 

The application form asks:

Do you live alone?
I live with my partner Go to question 32
I live with other people Go to question 28

Questions 32 – 36 ask:

What is your partner’s full name?
What is your partner’s date of birth?
Day Month Year
Is your partner:
Male Female
What is your relationship status with your partner?
Tick one of the following boxes
Married In a civil union In a relationship

Are you living at the same address as your partner?
No Yes Go to question 38
Where does your partner live?

At the very best getting the answers to those questions wrong was very, very careless.

Quote of the day

For your own good is a persuasive argument that will eventually make a man agree to his own destruction. – Janet Frame who was born on this day in 1924.

August 28 in history

489  Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths defeats Odoacer at the Battle of Isonzo, forcing his way into Italy.

1189  Third Crusade: the Crusaders began the Siege of Acre under Guy of Lusignan.

1511  The Portuguese conquered Malacca.

1542 Turkish-Portuguese War (1538-1557) – Battle of Wofla: the Portuguese were scattered, their leader Christovão da Gama captured and later executed.

1609  Henry Hudson discovered Delaware Bay.

1619  Ferdinand II was elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

1640 Second Bishop’s War: King Charles I’s English army lost to a Scottish Covenanter force at the Battle of Newburn.

1749 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer and scientist (d. 1832).

1774 Elizabeth Ann Seton, American-born Catholic saint, was born (d. 1821).

1789  William Herschel discovered a new moon of Saturn.

1810  Battle of Grand Port – the French accepted the surrender of a British Navy fleet.

1828 Leo Tolstoy, Russian author, was born (d. 1910).

1830  The Tom Thumb presaged the first railway service in the United States.

1845 The first issue of Scientific American magazine was published.

1859  A geomagnetic storm caused the Aurora Borealis to shine so brightly it was seen clearly over parts of USA, Europe, and as far away as Japan.

1862 American Civil War: Second Battle of Bull Run.

1879  Cetshwayo, last king of the Zulus, was captured by the British.

1884 Peter Fraser, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, was born (d. 1950).

1898  Caleb Bradham renamed his carbonated soft drink “Pepsi-Cola”.

1901  Silliman University was founded in the Philippines,  the first American private school in the country.

1906 John Betjeman, English poet, was born (d. 1984).

1913 Queen Wilhelmina opened the Peace Palace in The Hague.

1914  World War I: the Royal Navy defeated the German fleet in the Battle of Heligoland Bight.

1916  World War I: Germany declared war on Romania.

1916 – World War I: Italy declared war on Germany.

1917  Ten Suffragettes wre arrested while picketing the White House.

1924 Janet Frame, New Zealand author, was born (d. 2004).

1924 The Georgian opposition stages the August Uprising against the Soviet Union.

1930 Windsor Davies, British actor, was born.

1931  France and Soviet Union signed a treaty of non-aggression.

1937  Toyota Motors became an independent company.

1943  World War II: in Denmark, a general strike against the Nazi occupation started.

1944  World War II: Marseille and Toulon were liberated.

1948 Danny Seraphine, American musician (Chicago), was born.

1951 Wayne Osmond, American singer (The Osmonds), was born.

1953  Nippon Television broadcast Japan’s first television show, including its first TV advertisement.

1954 Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme were convicted of murdering Parker’s mother Honora.

1955  Black teenager Emmett Till was murdered in Mississippi, galvanizing the nascent American Civil Rights Movement.

1961 Motown released what would be its first #1 hit, “Please Mr. Postman” by The Marvelettes.

1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr.gave his I Have a Dream speech.

1963 Emily Hoffert and Janice Wylie were murdered in their Manhattan flat, prompting the events that led to the passing of the Miranda Rights.

1964  The Philadelphia race riot began.

1965 Shania Twain, Canadian singer, was born.

1988 Ramstein airshow disaster: three aircraft of the Frecce Tricoloridemonstration team collided. The wreckage fell into the crowd killing  75 and seriously injuring 346.

1990  Iraq declared Kuwait to be its newest province.

1990 The Plainfield Tornado: an F5 tornado hit Plainfield and Joliet, Illinois, killing 28 people.

1991  Ukraine declared its independence from the Soviet Union.

1991 Collapse of the Soviet Union – Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party.

1992 Canterbury’s “Big Snow“.

1996  Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales divorced.

2003  An electricity blackout cut off power to around 500,000 people living in south east England and brought 60% of London’s underground rail network to a halt.

2011 – Hurricane Irene struck the United States east coast, killing 47 and causing an estimated $15.6 billion in damage.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia