365 days of gratitude

Oh bliss, the clocks have gone back. The sun was up when I woke this morning and I’m very, very grateful.

Word of the day

Emend – make corrections, improvements and revisions to a text; improve by critical editing; alter.

Lesson Plan

Nothing is teaching you a lesson, or teaching someone else a lesson. There’s only this: who do you want to be? & are you being that? Lesson Plan © 2018 Brian Andreas – posted with permission.

You can buy books, posters, cards, ornaments and more and sign up for a daily dose of whimsy like this by email at Story People.

Rural round-up

Plaque honours irrigation pioneer – Sally Brooker:

The man who brought water to Waitaki farmland has been honoured with a plaque alongside Bortons Pond.

Sid Hurst, who died aged 97 in July 2016, is now officially commemorated as a “Visionary Farmer and Irrigation Pioneer; Champion of the Waitaki”.

The plaque site was chosen for its significance to the Lower Waitaki irrigation scheme, which Mr Hurst instigated. Bortons Pond, just west of Georgetown, is where water diverted from the Waitaki River is held for distribution to thousands of hectares of drought-prone land. . . 

Farmers want clarity – Annette Scott:

The effects of the Mycoplasma bovis response are being felt by a Cambridge farmer whose farms are under Primary Industries Ministry Notice of Direction.

“We are under movement restriction with three properties.

“We were told we were suspect and slapped under restriction on March 5.”

MPI said there are no properties under Restricted Place Notice in the North Island but there might be some on Notices of Direction, effectively a stock movement restriction. . . 

https://twitter.com/GPEC1292/status/978859934048837634

New animal welfare regulations will reinforce New Zealand’s high global standing:

The introduction of regulations to support compliance with New Zealand’s animal welfare legislation will add further weight to New Zealand’s animal welfare standards, according to Beef + Lamb New Zealand.

Dave Harrison, General Manager Policy and Advocacy of Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) said: “World Animal Protection has given New Zealand an ‘A’ ranking on its Animal Protection Index, one of only four countries to achieve that standard.

“This reflects the fact we have some of the highest animal welfare standards in the world, and it is important that these high standards are maintained’” says Harrison. . . 

Central Hawke’s Bay Dairy Farm Wins East Coast Ballance Farm Environment Awards:

Parkhill Dairy Farm at Ashley Clinton has won the East Coast Ballance Farm Environment Awards -entered by owner Andrea Barry and manager Craig Pennell. The win was announced at an awards dinner at the Napier Conference Centre on Wednesday night (March 28). They will host a field day in April.

Parkhill was one of the first three dairy farms converted by Andrea and her late husband Peter Barry in 1994. Andrea Barry is proud of the work that has been done and is still being done on Parkhill. . . 

This is one of the best bits of lambing kit I've ever bought! 400ml of clean colostrum, milked out and stomach tubed into two lambs in under 5 minutes. #colostrumisgold. #lambing18 #sheep365 pic.twitter.com/zeA7iLRW2w

— Pauhla Whitaker (@overtownfarm) March 27, 2018

Record investment into mouse threat :

THE largest investment into mouse-related research ever made in Australia was announced by the GRDC today.

The GRDC is injecting more than $4.1 million into mouse control research, development and extension initiatives in response to the increasing prevalence of mice in many key grain-growing regions of Australia.

GRDC managing director Steve Jefferies says the GRDC recognises the enormity of the mouse problem and the severe impact it has on our growers’ businesses, their families, their communities and the broader industry. . .

Time for all you little cows to put on your little cow PJ’s and get to bed. Good night. Peace. pic.twitter.com/tRXOEPYZ72

— NYFarmer (@NYFarmer) March 28, 2018

MoP sets new rules for equality

The Ministry of People (MoP) has issued new rules for equality.

People Minister Julie Strictly-Gentle said she had been concerned for sometime that the movement for equality had all been one-sided.

”Everyone has been focused on getting young people of the female and/or ethnic kind into top executive and governance roles. No-one has even considered the importance of ensuring there are plenty of old white men in non-traditional roles,” she said.

“It distresses me that almost everyone accepts an old white man at a sitting at a board table. We won’t have true equality until it’s just as acceptable to have him on his hands and knees scraping play dough off the floor.”

“Previous Ministers have focused on only half the job, trying to help young women of many cultures into the board room with their hands on the levers of power. I see it just as important to help old white men into eco-friendly rubber gloves with their hands in the nappy bucket.

Consultation on the new rules will finish at midday today.

Sunday soapbox

Sunday’s soapbox is yours to use as you will – within the bounds of decency and absence of defamation. You’re welcome to look back or forward, discuss issues of the moment, to pontificate, ponder or point us to something of interest, to educate, elucidate or entertain, amuse, bemuse or simply muse, but  not abuse.

Easter is meant to be a symbol of hope, renewal, and new life. – Janine di Giovanni

April 1 in history

527 Byzantine Emperor Justin I named his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne.

1293 Robert Winchelsey left England for Rome, to be consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury.

1318 Berwick-upon-Tweed was captured by the Scottish from the English.

1340 Niels Ebbesen killed Gerhard III of Holstein in his bedroom, ending the 1332-1340 interregnum in Denmark.

1572  In the Eighty Years’ War, the Watergeuzen captured Brielle from the Spaniards, gaining the first foothold on land for what would become the Dutch Republic.

1789 The United States House of Representatives held its first quorum and elected Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania as its first House Speaker.

1815 Otto von Bismarck, 1st Chancellor of Germany, was born (d. 1898).

1826  Samuel Morey patented the internal combustion engine.

1854 Hard Times begins serialisation in Charles Dickens‘ magazine,Household Words.

1857 Herman Melville published The Confidence-Man.

1865 American Civil War: Battle of Five Forks – In Siege of Petersburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee began his final offensive.

1867 Singapore became a British crown colony.

1873 The British steamer RMS Atlantic sank off Nova Scotia, killing 547.

1875 Edgar Wallace, English writer, was born (d. 1932).

1887 Mumbai Fire Brigade was established.

1891 The Wrigley Company was founded in Chicago.

1908 The Territorial Force (renamed Territorial Army in 1920) was formed as a volunteer reserve component of the British Army.

1912 The Greek athlete Konstantinos Tsiklitiras broke the world record in the standing long jump jumping 3.47 meters.

1918 The Royal Air Force was created by the merger of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service.

1924 Adolf Hitler was sentenced to five years in jail for his participation in the “Beer Hall Putsch“.

1924 – The Royal Canadian Air Force was formed.

1932  Debbie Reynolds, American actress, was born.

1933 The recently elected Nazis under Julius Streicher organised a one-day boycott of all Jewish-owned businesses in Germany.

1937 Aden became a British crown colony.

1938 – Ali MacGraw, American actress, was born.

1939 Generalísimo Francisco Franco announced the end of the Spanish Civil War, when the last of the Republican forces surrendered.

1941  The Blockade Runner Badge for the German navy was instituted.

1944  Navigation errors lead to an accidental American bombing of the Swiss city of Schaffhausen.

1945 World War II: Operation Iceberg – United States troops land on Okinawa in the last campaign of the war.

1946 Aleutian Island earthquake: A 7.8 magnitude earthquake near the Aleutian Islands created a tsunami that struck the Hawaiian Islands killing 159.

1946 – Formation of the Malayan Union.

1948  Cold War: Berlin Airlift – Military forces, under direction of the Soviet-controlled government in East Germany, set-up a land blockade of West Berlin.

1948 Faroe Islands received  autonomy from Denmark.

1949  Chinese Civil War: The Communist Party of China held unsuccessful peace talks with the Kuomintang in Beijing, after three years of fighting.

1949 The Canadian government repealed Japanese Canadian internmentafter seven years.

1949 – The twenty-six counties of the Irish Free State became theRepublic of Ireland.

1954 President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorised the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.

1955 The EOKA rebellion against The British Empire starts in Cyprus, with the goal of obtaining the desired unification (“enosis”) with Greece.

1957 BBC Spaghetti tree hoax broadcast on current affairs programmePanorama.

1961 Susan Boyle, Scottish singer, was born.

1965 TEAL became Air New Zealand.

1969 The Hawker Siddeley Harrier entered service with the RAF.

1970   President Richard Nixon signed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law, requiring the Surgeon General’s warnings on tobacco products and banning cigarette advertisements on television and radio.

1973 Stephen Fleming, New Zealand cricketer, was born.

1973  Project Tiger, a tiger conservation project, was launched in the Corbett National Park, India.

1974 – ACC began operating.

1976 Apple Computer was formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

1976 Jovian-Plutonian gravitational effect is first reported by the astronomer Patrick Moore.

1978 – Thermal insulation was required in NZ homes.

1979  Iran became an Islamic Republic by a 98% vote, officially overthrowing the Shah.

1980  New York City’s Transit Worker Union 100 began a strike lasting 11 days.

1981 – The New Zealand Film Archive was launched.

1987 State Owned Enterprises came into existence.

1989 Margaret Thatcher’s new local government tax, the Community Charge (commonly known as the ‘poll tax’), was introduced in Scotland.

1992 Start of the Bosnian war.

1997 Comet Hale-Bopp is seen passing over perihelion.

1999 Nunavut was established as a Canadian territory carved out of the eastern part of the Northwest Territories.

2001 An EP-3E United States Navy surveillance aircraft collided with a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Shenyang J-8 fighter jet. The crew made an emergency landing in Hainan, China and was detained.

2001 – Former President of Federal Republic of YugoslaviaSlobodan Milošević surrendered to police special forces to be tried on charges of war crimes.

2001 – Same-sex marriage became legal in the Netherlands, the first country to allow it.

2002 The Netherlands legalised euthanasia, becoming the first nation in the world to do so.

2004 Google introduced  Gmail – a launch met with scepticism on account of the date.

2006 The Serious Organised Crime Agency, dubbed the ‘British FBI’, was created in the United Kingdom.

2009 – Croatia and Albania joined NATO

2011  – After protests against the burning of the Quran turn violent, a mob attacks a United Nations compound in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, resulting in the deaths of thirteen people, including eight foreign workers.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia