365 days of gratitude

You approach a fuel station and hesitate.

Is the fuel tank on the left or right?

In modern cars you don’t have to guess.

There’s a little arrow by the bowser icon on the fuel gauge which tells you.

It’s one of the little things which make modern life a little easier and I’m grateful for it.

Word of the day

Idem – something previously given or mentioned.

Our Wahine – 125 extraordinary women

The 125th anniversary of women¡s suffrage takes place this year and today is International Women’s Day.

To celebrate that artist Kate Hursthouse has launched Our Wahine an illustrated history of 125 extraordinary women.

To celebrate the 125th anniversary of Women’s suffrage in New Zealand, Kate will be illustrating 125 women from New Zealand’s history between March and September 2018. The text is being researched and written by Kate’s mother Karen Brook. This mother/daughter passion project aims to create a visually exciting and accessible overview of the role of New Zealand women throughout history.

You can follow it on Facebook and Instagram.

Thursday’s quiz

Your challenge should you wish to accept it is to pose the questions.

Anyone who stumps everyone will win a virtual case of black boy peaches.

Rural round-up

Meat companies must be clear about their purpose – Allan Barber:

When I heard KPMG’s global agribusiness head, Ian Proudfoot, on the radio stating the move away from meat to alternative proteins was happening permanently and quickly and meat companies needed to wake up, I wondered whether I had strayed into the Pop Up Globe to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Surely if meat companies need to wake up to alternative protein, this implies their whole business model is broken and farmers should be sitting in front of their horoscopes looking for a magical answer to the inevitable question “what the hell do I do now?”

Proudfoot’s justification for his opinion is US meat processor Tyson Foods’ announcement it has become protein agnostic and intends investing heavily in alternatives to meat. . . 

Awatere Valley farmers make a dent in “scourge of the high country” – Pat Deavoll:

For over half a century hieracium has been the curse of the high country, engulfing native tussock land and destroying the grazing potential of areas such as the Mackenzie Basin, Central Otago and the Canterbury high country.

Most high country runholders would say the weed continues its spread with little sign of abating, but a small enclave in the Awatere Valley, Marlborough thinks otherwise.

“Yes I think it’s on the decline here,” says Jim Ward, manager of Molesworth Station. . . 

Fonterra launches cutting-Edgar technology taking health and safety into 22nd century:

Fonterra and Beca have partnered to develop a breakthrough virtual reality health and safety training technology. The cutting-edge solution lets employees navigate the Co-operative’s manufacturing and distribution sites without the need to set foot on site and will help substantially reduce onboarding times.

The new technology will place Fonterra at the forefront of global health and safety innovation and is part of a business wide commitment to become a world leader in risk mitigation. . . 

Gotta love Southland one minute your in a drought with a cover 1642 growing 6 kg/dm a day the next your in surplus with a cover of 2581 and growth of 107 kg/dm a day. @NickTempler #431am #southland pic.twitter.com/ehdQNrGhCu

— Anieka Templer (@AniekaNick) March 5, 2018

‘M. bovis’ hurts all down the chain – Sally Brooker:

Mycoplasma bovis is affecting people all along the cattle supply chain.
Oamaru-based Whitestone Livestock Ltd principal John Cheesman said the bacterial disease was ”a real bloody issue”.

M. bovis was identified for the first time in New Zealand in late July on farms near Glenavy owned by the Van Leeuwen Dairy Group.

”It’s not really affecting the Waiareka saleyards as much as farmers’ and everybody else’s confidence to buy animals from this district and any other district,” Mr Cheesman said.

Environmental issues No. 1 focus:

Reducing on-farm environmental footprints is the top priority at Lincoln University.

Speaking at the Lincoln University Dairy Farm’s summer focus day, which was held at the Ashley Dene Research and Development Station on February 22, Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences dean Prof Grant Edwards said managing environmental concerns was the No1 focus.

”How can we progress our farms to maximise production within environmental limits?” . . . 

New study finds more omega 3s in milk from grass-fed cows – Hope Kirwan:

A new study shows milk from grass-fed cows has more of a nutrient linked to heart health than conventional and organic milks.

Organic Valley collected 1,163 samples over three years of their Grassmilk, a product line of milk from 100 percent grass-fed cows, and had their fatty acid content analyzed. The study compared the omega-3 fatty acid levels in the milk from grass-fed cows to conventional and organic milk. Researchers found that milk from grass-fed cows had 147 percent more omega-3s than conventional milk and 52 percent more than organic milk.

Omega-3 fatty acid has been shown to prevent heart disease and help control chronic conditions like arthritis. . .

Today we had a brilliant time meeting the March #MillenniumFarmers!

You could say that their reading habits have helped them become the successful leaders they are today – this is barely a quarter of them.

What ones have you read and what was the key message you took from them? pic.twitter.com/8hlVcK289M

— Millennium Farming (@TheY2KFarmer) March 7, 2018

Amy Adams Finance and #3

National Party leader Simon Bridges has appointed Amy Adams as Finance spokesperson and promoted her to number three.

“Amy is an incredibly experienced former Minister, serving as Associate Minister of Finance as well as holding a range of important and challenging portfolios, from Social Housing to Justice and Environment, which she handled with real diligence and focus.

“She has chaired Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Select Committee, has a background in commercial law and is a talented and hard-working member of the National Party caucus.”

Adding to her qualifications for the post are her experience as a former lawyer and current partner in a farm.

She also understands the importance of the economy.

New National Party Finance Spokesperson Amy Adams has signalled a strong focus on ensuring the continued success of the New Zealand economy and says she will fight hard against Government policies that will slow New Zealand down.

“New Zealand currently has one of the strongest economies in the western world. That’s not an accident. That’s a result of the hard work of New Zealanders backed by the strong economic plan of the previous National-led Government,” Ms Adams says.

“New Zealand succeeds best when we are open and connected with the world. I’m looking forward to getting out and meeting with and listening to successful exporters and employers in the weeks ahead.

“National will be advancing new economic and social policies ahead of the next election, but first we have to stop the threat posed by Labour’s economic mismanagement.

“Many of the Labour-led Government’s planned policy changes will sacrifice our economic success and make it harder for New Zealand businesses to compete and succeed.

“These changes are bad for all of us. Slower business growth means less investment, fewer job opportunities, and lower wages generally than would otherwise be the case.

“Already businesses are less confident now than they were six months ago, despite the world economy steadily strengthening over this time.

Ms Adams singled out Labour’s overseas investment changes, employment law changes, and proposed new taxes as things that would ankle-tap the country’s medium-term economic performance.

“In Select Committee National MPs are constantly hearing how the Overseas Investment Bill will chill foreign investment. That’s bad for housing construction, bad for the regions, and bad for our economy overall.

“And now the Government’s Tax Working Group is clearly looking to design a more redistributive tax system that removes any incentives for New Zealanders to work hard and get ahead.

“The Government needs to focus on the quality and quantity of their new spending. They are continuously ramping up expectations. I’ll be keeping a close eye on their approach to spending taxpayers’ money.

“This Government needs to heed the lessons of success and stop trying to introduce policies that will only take us backwards and damage the economic security of all New Zealanders.”

National isn’t in to identity politics so won’t be making a fuss about the fact that two women and two Maori occupy its top three places.

Quote of the day

As a rule, indeed, grown-up people are fairly correct on matters of fact; it is in the higher gift of imagination that they are so sadly to seek. –  Kenneth Grahame who was born on this day in 1859.

March 8 in history

1126 Alfonso VII was proclaimed king of Castile and Leon, after the death of his mother Urraca.

1495 John of God, Portuguese-born friar and saint, was born (d. 1550).

1655 John Casor became the first legally-recognised slave in what became the United States.

1702 Anne Stuart, sister of Mary II, became Queen regnant of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

1722 The Safavid Empire of Iran was defeated by an army from Afghanistan at The Battle of Gulnabad, pushing Iran into anarchy.

1748  – William V, Prince of Orange, was born(d. 1806)

1775 Thomas Paine’s “African Slavery in America,” the first article in the U.S. calling for the emancipation of slaves and the abolition of slavery was published.

1777 Regiments from Ansbach and Bayreuth, sent to support Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, mutinied in the town of Ochsenfurt.

1782 Gnadenhütten massacre: Ninety-six Native Americans in Gnadenhutten, Ohio, who had converted to Christianity were killed by Pennsylvania militiamen in retaliation for raids carried out by other Indians.

1817 The New York Stock Exchange was founded.

1844 King Oscar I ascended to the throne of Sweden-Norway.

1856 Bramwell Booth, the 2nd General of The Salvation Army, was born  (d. 1929).

1859 Kenneth Grahame, English author, was born (d. 1932).

1909 – Beatrice Shilling, English motorcycle racer and engineer, ws born(d. 1990).

1911 International Women’s Day was launched in Copenhagen by Clara Zetkin, leader of the Women’s Office for the Social Democratic Party in Germany.

1917 The U.S. Senate votes to limit filibusters by adopting the cloture rule.

1921 Spanish Premier Eduardo Dato Iradier was assassinated.

1924 The Castle Gate mine disaster killed 172 coal miners near Castle Gate, Utah.

1929 Frank Borzage’s Street Angel, a silent picture with a recorded musical soundtrack, screened at Wellington’s Paramount Theatre – before this silent movies had been accompanied by live music.

1936 Daytona Beach Road Course held their first oval stock car race.

1937 Juvénal Habyarimana, President of Rwanda, was born.

1939 – Lidiya Skoblikova, Russian speed skater and coach was born.

1942 – World War II: Imperial Japanese Army forces captured Rangoon, Burma.

1943 Lynn Redgrave, English actress, was born  (d. 2010).

1945 Micky Dolenz, American musician (The Monkees), was born.

1946 Randy Meisner, American musician (The Eagles)

1947 Mike Allsup, American musician (Three Dog Night), was born.

1957 Egypt re-opened the Suez Canal after the Suez Crisis.

1963 The Ba’ath Party came to power in Syria in a Coup d’état by a clique of quasi-leftist Syrian Army officers calling themselves the National Council of the Revolutionary Command.

1966 – A bomb planted by young Irish protesters destroyed Nelson’s Pillar in Dublin.

1974 Charles de Gaulle Airport opened in Paris.

1978 The first-ever radio episode of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams, was transmitted on BBC Radio 4.

1979 – Philips demonstrated the Compact Disc publicly for the first time.

1980 The first festival of rock music kicked off in the Soviet Union.

1984 – Ross Taylor, New Zealand cricketer was born.

1985 A failed assassination attempt on Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah in Beirut killed at least 45 and injured 175 others.

2004  A new constitution was signed by Iraq’s Governing Council.

2010 – The stolen body of Tassos Papadopoulos, 5th President of Cyprus, was discovered in a cemetery near the capital.

2014 – Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The aircraft was believed to have crashed into the Indian Ocean off the coast of Australia with the loss of all 239 people aboard.

2016 – A total solar eclipse occurred, with totality visible from Indonesia and the North Pacific.

2017 – The Azure Window, a natural arch on the Maltese island of Gozo, collapsed in stormy weather.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia