365 days of gratitude

The first day after the clocks spring forward always leaves me feeling like I’m jet lagged without having had the benefit of a holiday.

I’m not grateful for that but I am grateful that today was a lazy Sunday with little that had to be done so that it didn’t really matter that body time and clock time were out of sync.

Word of the day

Dysania – the state of finding it difficult to get out of bed in the morning; being too tired to get up.

Rural round-up

Promising results from biodiversity stocktake of North Canterbury irrigation scheme – Emma Dangerfield:

Freshwater mussels have been found during a stocktake of land and waterways within the Waimakariri Irrigation Limited (WIL) scheme. 

More than 200 sites of biodiversity interest were discovered, and CEO Brent Walton said the stocktake had provided WIL with an overview of sites which could be further developed to enhance Waimakariri’s biodiversity values.

“WIL shareholders are committed to improving the environment and this process has provided us with some key areas of potential for further development.” . .

Rogue cattle and local officials create biosecurity risk:

A ho-hum attitude to wandering stock in Northland highlights continuing ignorance around biosecurity, says Federated Farmers Northland provincial president John Blackwell.

This week in Northland local council officers found wandering cows and placed them in a nearby paddock without telling the farmer who owned the property, John says.

The farmer found his own heifers the next day socialising with the lost stock. . .

Sustainable Whanganui celebrates 10 years with talk by farmer and conservationist Dan Steele –

Floods, river rescues, evacuations by helicopter and honey extraction are all part of the working life of Blue Duck Station owner and manager Dan Steele.

He’s the guest speaker as Sustainable Whanganui Trust celebrates its 10th anniversary on October 14. The talk is open to the public and starts at 2pm in the Harakeke/Education Room at the Whanganui Resource Recovery Centre in Maria Pl, next door to the Fire Station.

Blue Duck Station had two major events in close succession this year. In February 14 young whio (rare and endangered blue ducks) were released there . .

A great docking day after rain with # 1 docker @farmingwomennz pic.twitter.com/6t709ULrVu

— Ian @ Te Kopae Farm (@tekopaenz) September 28, 2018

New resource launched to help measure farm abusiness performance:

A new resource designed to help farmers measure their farm business performance has been launched by the Red Meat Profit Partnership (RMPP).

The Key Performance Indicators (KPI) booklet includes detailed descriptions of 16 core KPIs, some example calculations and resources for farmers who are considering how improvements can be made to their farm business.

The KPIs, which were developed in conjunction with a group of industry professionals and farmers, include lambing percentage, ewe flock efficiency, calving percentage, fawn weaning percentage, gross farm revenue per effective hectare and live weight gain. . .

NZ merino prices jump as Australian drought dents supply of luxury fibre – Tina Morrison:

(BusinessDesk) – New Zealand merino wool prices are being pushed up as drought in Australia prompt farmers across the Tasman to cull stock, reducing the amount of the fine premium wool available for sale.

Eighteen-micron Merino wool, considered a benchmark for the fibre, sold at $28.90/kg at this week’s South Island auction. That was up from $22.40/kg at the same time last year and the five-year average of $16.70/kg for this time of year, according to AgriHQ. . .

Jumping gracefully into the weekend like…. #FridayFunday #SheepFarming pic.twitter.com/Rs2j67zKWY

— Sheep Farmers (@sheep_farmers) September 28, 2018

Wool surfboard is ‘a drop in the ocean’ of potential composite product uses – Terry Sim:

WOOL will replace fibreglass in revolutionary surfboards to hit the Australian market next year. The boards will be released in Australia in February next year under the Firewire Surfboards brand ‘Woolight’. . .

Passably Acceptable

Passably acceptable –  sorting his thoughts into appropriate & inappropriate & thinking today is probably a good day to be quiet. – Passably Acceptable © 2016 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.

 

For campaign or not?

Jacinda Ardern hired an advertising company to photograph her trip to New York

In the past, New Zealand Prime Ministers have had a staffer from their offices take photos, but Ardern had a crew of three from agency Augusto’s New York office.

They have been used on social media and Ardern told the Herald on Sunday some would also be used for campaign purposes.

This morning the Prime Minister’s office clarified that the images would be used for “stock footage and social media content that the government would be using in the future”, which they said is inside the rules. . .

Stock footage and social media content for government use is in the rules for the party leader’s fund, campaign material is not.

So who is right – Ardern who says that the photos will be used for campaigning, or her staff who say they won’t?

Mutter mumble #%$**&^%$!

It’s that time of year again.

It was getting light around 6am until this morning. Now we’ve lost an hour ant it’s dark until nearly 7am.

It wouldn’t be so bad if there was both sufficient light and warmth in the evening. But we’ve only just passed the spring equinox, there was fresh snow on the Kakanuis a few days ago and it’s still too cool and dark too early at the end of the day.

Another cool night expected about central and eastern parts of the North Island, and inland parts of the South Island https://t.co/Yjbq0jxdqz ^PL pic.twitter.com/mw0Js8VMKz

— MetService (@MetService) September 29, 2018

In another few weeks when the sun has moved further south it will be lighter, and hopefully warmer, at both ends of the day.

Until then I will resent the lost hour in the morning – and those getting up earlier to milk, shear, muster, nurse or any of the other worst hat requires early starts will lament the cold, dark, later dawn even more.

Sun comes up at the perfect time to get the cows in, nothing highlights the urban/rural divide like daylightfknsaving. pic.twitter.com/4b6MqCcqcf

— Paul Singh (@Saarbo1) September 28, 2018

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.

When told the reason for daylight saving time the old Indian said, “Only the government would believe that you could cut a good off the top of a blanket, sew it to the bottom and have a longer blanket.

September 30 in history

1207 – Rumi, Persian mystic and poet, was born (d. 1273).

1399  Henry IV was proclaimed King of England.

1744  France and Spain defeated the Kingdom of Sardinia at the Battle of Madonna dell’Olmo.

1791  The Magic Flute, the last opera composed by Mozart, premiered at Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna.

1791  The National Constituent Assembly in Paris was dissolved; Parisians hailed Maximilien Robespierre and Jérôme Pétion as incorruptible patriots.

1813  Battle of Bárbula: Simón Bolívar defeated Santiago Bobadilla.

1832 Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis, American labour activist, was born (d. 1905).

1860 Britain’s first tram service begins in Birkenhead, Merseyside.

1861 – William Wrigley, Jr., American businessman, founded Wrigley Company, was born (d. 1932).

1878 – The ‘Great Flood’ of 1878 killed at least three people and thousands of animals as it swept across the southern South Island.

1882  The world’s first commercial hydroelectric power plant (later known as Appleton Edison Light Company) began operation on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin.

1888  Jack the Ripper killed his third and fourth victims, Elizabeth Strideand Catherine Eddowes.

1895  Madagascar became a French protectorate.

1901 Hubert Cecil Booth patented the vacuum cleaner.

1903  The new Gresham’s School was officially opened by Field Marshal Sir Evelyn Wood.

1904 – Waldo Williams, Welsh poet and academic, was born (d. 1971).

1906  The Real Academia Galega, Galician language’s biggest linguistic authority, started working in Havana.

1921 Scottish actress Deborah Kerr was born (d 2007).

1924 US author Truman Capote was born (d. 1984).

1927  Babe Ruth became the first baseball player to hit 60 home runs in a season.

1931  Start of “Die Voortrekkers” youth movement for Afrikaners in Bloemfontein.

1932 – Anthony Hawkins, English-Australian actor, was born (d. 2013).

1933 – Barbara Knox, English actress, was born.

1935  The Hoover Dam, was dedicated.

1935 US singer Johnny Mathis was born.

1938  Britain, France, Germany and Italy signed the Munich Agreement, allowing Germany to occupy the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia.

1938  The League of Nations unanimously outlawed “intentional bombings of civilian populations”.

1939  General Władysław Sikorski became commander-in-chief of the Polish Government in exile.

1943 Marilyn McCoo, American singer (The 5th Dimension), was born.

1943 Ian Ogilvy, British Actor, was born.

1945  The Bourne End rail crash, in Hertfordshire killed 43 people.

1949  The Berlin Airlift ended.

1951 – Barry Marshall, Australian physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate, was born.

1954  The U.S. Navy submarine USS Nautilus was commissioned as the world’s first nuclear reactor powered vessel.

1955  Film icon James Dean died in a road accident aged 24.

1957 US actress Fran Drescher was born.

1962  Mexican-American labour leader César Chávez founded the United Farm Workers.

1962  James Meredith entered the University of Mississippi, defying segregation.

1965  General Suharto took power after an alleged coup by theCommunist Party of Indonesia. In response, Suharto and his army massacred over a million Indonesians suspected of being communists.

1965 The Lockheed L-100, the civilian version of the C-130 Hercules, was introduced.

1966  The British protectorate of Bechuanaland declared its independence, and became the Republic of Botswana. Seretse Khamatook office as the first President.

1967  BBC Radio 1 was launched and Tony Blackburn presented its first show; the BBC’s other national radio stations also adopted numeric names.

1968  The Boeing 747 was shown to the public for the first time at the Boeing Everett Factory.

1970  Jordan made a deal with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) for the release of the remaining hostages from theDawson’s Field hijackings.

1972 – The new Christchurch Town Hall opened.

1975  The Hughes (later McDonnell-Douglas, now Boeing) AH-64 Apache made its first flight.

1977  Philippine political prisoners, Eugenio Lopez, Jr. and Sergio Osmeña III escaped from Fort Bonifacio Maximum Security Prison.

1979  The Hong Kong MTR commenced service with the opening of its Modified Initial System (aka. Kwun Tong Line).

1980  Ethernet specifications were published by Xerox working with Intel and Digital Equipment Corporation.

1982  Cyanide-laced Tylenol killed six people in the Chicago area.

1986 Martin Guptill, New Zealand cricketer, was born.

1986 Mordechai Vanunu, who revealed details of Israel covert nuclear program to British media, was kidnapped in Rome.

1989  Foreign Minister of West Germany Hans-Dietrich Genscher‘s speech from the balcony of the German embassy in Prague.

1990 The Dalai Lama unveiled the Canadian Tribute to Human Rights in Ottawa.

1991  President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti was forced from office.

1993  An earthquake hit India‘s Latur and Osmanabad district of Marathwada (Au rangabad division) leaving tens of thousands of people dead and many more homeless.

1994  Aldwych tube station (originally Strand Station) of the London Underground closed after eighty-eight years of service.

1999 Japan’s worst nuclear accident at a uranium reprocessing facility inTōkai-mura, northeast of Tokyo.

2004 The first images of a live giant squid in its natural habitat were taken 600 miles south of Tokyo.

2004 – The AIM-54 Phoenix, the primary missile for the F-14 Tomcat, was retired from service.

2005 – The controversial drawings of Muhammad were printed in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.

2006 the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Constitutional Act that proclaimed the new Constitution of Serbia.

2009 – The 2009 Sumatra earthquakes  killed more than 1,115 people.

2016 – Hurricane Matthew became a Category 5 hurricane, making it the strongest hurricane to form in the Caribbean Sea, since Hurricane Felix in 2007.

2016 – Two paintings by Vincent Van Gogh with a combined value of $100 million, Seascape at Scheveningen and Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen, were recovered after having been stolen on December 7, 2002 from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

2017 – Titus Zeman, a Slovak Roman Catholic priest, was beatified by Pope Francis in Bratislava.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia

365 days of gratitude

The almost flat route or the steep one?

The first was very, very tempting but the second one won.

There was a lot of puffing going up but it felt good to get to the top and that feeling of having exerted myself has lasted all day.

The exercise endorphins are still flowing and i”m grateful for that.

Word of the day

Monad – a single unit; the number one; an indivisible and hence ultimately simple entity, such as an atom or a person; a single-celled organism, especially a flagellate protozoan, or a single cell; a flagellated protozoan (as of the genus Monas); a monovalent element or radical; any of the four chromatids that make up a tetrad in meiosis.

Saturday’s smiles

They were the first to attempt to colonize Mars.

They landed with grass seeds to plant and horse, sheep and cattle embryos.

But the grass wouldn’t grow and none of the calves would survive.

The horses and sheep were doing well, but there not enough to meet their needs. So they sent a message to earth asking for more sheep and horses and a replacement for the cattle and grass.

They particularly wanted an animal that could be used as meat in place of beef.

Earth radioed back asking if venison would be satisfactory and it was.

Finally a space shuttle arrived with the needed supplies. The bill of lading was rushed to the leader of the colony who then spoke to his consul, “We got everything we asked for. They sent mare zygotes and doe zygotes and little lambs and ivy.”

Rural round-up

Five things to know about the future of farming – Eloise Gibson:

Sir Peter Gluckman issued a flurry of reports in his last few months as Prime Minister’s science adviser. His final report to Jacinda Ardern made some striking points about the future of farming. Eloise Gibson digested the five main issues.

Methane matters

Don’t be fooled by anyone implying that methane doesn’t matter much in the scheme of things – cutting methane is crucial to New Zealand’s efforts to slow climate change. That, in essence, was one of the key messages from Gluckman’s final report to Jacinda Ardern.

Whether to ignore, eliminate or “stabilise” methane, the single biggest climate impact from cattle farming, has been major feature of debate about New Zealand’s proposed Zero Carbon Bill. . .

American farmers don’t need subsidies – Garland S. Tucker III:

Margaret Thatcher is said to have quipped, “The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” New Zealand has discovered that this result may not be all bad. In the mid 1980s, New Zealand faced bankruptcy. The tab for years of socialistic policies had finally come due. The Labour government was forced to act quickly and drastically to cut expenditures. 

The New Zealand economy was — and still is — heavily dependent on agriculture. Farmers and farm prices had been subsidized for years through a multitude of government programs. In 1984, the government eliminated over 30 subsidy programs, not gradually, but overnight. The ruling Labour Party predicted an economic disaster. They foresaw a mass exodus of farmers and fully expected to be forced to reinstate some type of subsidy program . .

Think he’s trying to tell me it’s smoko time … pic.twitter.com/m4mBAaSTYc

— Sally Rae (@sallyrae8) September 26, 2018

Central Otago shearer to receive recognition – Pam Jones:

Central Otago’s shearing industry will honour one of its own in a double-billing today.

Alexandra woolhandler and shearer Pagan Karauria will not only be recognised as a Master Woolhandler at the annual New Zealand Merino Championships, but will also feature in a film about the shearing industry being launched in Alexandra.

Karauria is profiled in the film She Shears, which is about five women working in the shearing industry. It will screen at the Otago Daily Times Theatre in the Central Stories Museum and Art Gallery this afternoon at 4pm.

She will be present for the screening and take part in a question and answer session afterwards. . .

Teddies, a trophy and Trans-Tasman rivalry – Pam Jones:

It features shearing and woolhandling royalty, alongside “teddy bear” novices.

And there is also some “good old-fashioned” transtasman rivalry to boot, as Australasia’s best compete at this weekend’s New Zealand Merino Shearing Championships in Alexandra.

Up to 200 shearers and woolhandlers were competing at the two-day event, including Damien Boyle, of Australia, who had won the event’s open shearing category seven times, event organising committee member Graeme Bell said. . .

NZ export log market hurt by US trade war with China: – Tina Morrison

(BusinessDesk) – New Zealand’s export log market took a hit from the trade dispute between the US and China as the declining value of the yuan crimps the buying power of the country’s largest log market.

The average price for New Zealand A-grade export logs dropped to US$133/JAS from US$141/JAS in August, and US$145/JAS in July, and is now the lowest since June 2017, according to AgriHQ’s Forestry Market Report for September. . .

Renewable diesel – an opportunity for the forest industry:

Most people in New Zealand are not aware that technology has been commercialised in the United States for the production of fully drop-in renewable diesel made from cellulosic feedstocks. This renewable diesel is a direct substitute for mineral diesel and meets all of the New Zealand specifications other than density (kilograms per litre). But it makes up for that by having a high energy density per kilogram so that the amount of energy per litre of fuel is equal to, or in some cases better than, that of fossil fuel diesel. . .

One of those days 🙄 pic.twitter.com/4eMFw2piZV

— DairyMan (@dairymanNZ) September 26, 2018

Cavalier to sell scouring interest, focus on carpets: – Gavin Evans:

Sept. 27 (BusinessDesk) – Cavalier Corp is close to selling its stake in New Zealand’s only wool scourer as part of a plan to reduce debt and free up capital to invest in carpet manufacturing.

The firm owns 27.5 percent of Cavalier Wool Holdings, alongside global giant Lempriere Wool, Accident Compensation Corp and Direct Capital. The scourer, known as CWH, operates plants in Napier and Timaru with a combined capacity of 100 million kilograms annually. . .

King Salmon braced for ‘disappointing’ fish farm relocation decision –  Pattrick Smellie

(BusinessDesk) – New Zealand King Salmon hopes it will be allowed to move around half of nine square hectares of its Marlborough Sounds fish farms to better locations, but is braced for a “disappointing” outcome for both the company’s growth and environmental outcomes.

Speaking to BusinessDesk at the Aquaculture New Zealand conference in Blenheim, NZKS managing director Grant Rosewarne expressed frustration at the likelihood of a “sub-optimal outcome”. . .

Coromandel dairy farmers lead the way through new genetics:

In 1995 Andrew and Maree Palmer saw the value of being part of CRV Ambreed’s progeny testing programme so jumped on board and haven’t looked back.

Andrew and Maree have had a hand in developing many generations of daughter proven sires.

Today, they’re still part of the herd improvement company’s progeny testing programme and reckon they’re doing their bit to strengthen the value of the national dairy herd. . .

Energy use unsustainable with renewables

Current trends of energy use won’t be sustainable when New Zealand relies only on renewable energy:

. . . Energy Research Centre co-director Michael Jack said the infrastructure and market structures needed to change.

“Wind is variable. It’s only generating when the wind blows.

“Solar is generating during the middle of the day, when there’s less demand for it.

Hydro generation is more reliable, except when droughts decrease river flows, but the chances of getting new hydro schemes through the consent process are remote.

“What you need to do is either shift your demand to those time when the renewables are being produced or somehow store those renewables for use at later times,” he said. . . 

Improved technology could provide better storage, but is unlikely to come up with something affordable in the near future.

He said if changes were not made, the switch to completely renewable energy would be costly.

Of course it will be costly and that will hit poorer people hardest.

This is another reminder of how ill-advised the government was to rush into the ban on oil and gas exploration.

Apropos of which, this week we learned that not only did the government rush into the ban, it’s also going to be rushing the select committee process:

PEPANZ says it is undemocratic and deeply unfair for the select committee considering changes to oil and gas legislation to have its consultation period slashed to just four weeks.

“Given the strong public interest and enormous ramifications of this decision, it’s crucial this process isn’t rushed,” says PEPANZ CEO Cameron Madgwick.

“Our industry doesn’t want a Block Offer this year if it means an undemocratic process. This means there should be no reason now for urgency.

“There has already been a shocking lack of consultation since the surprise announcement was made in April. To now slash the consultation time doesn’t seem fair, open or transparent to the communities, workers, and iwi directly affected.

“Given some of the outrageous comments from relevant MPs in the debate tonight, we have little confidence in a fair hearing from the Environment Select Committee. This is especially so in such a short timeframe which gives so little time for MPs to consider evidence and write a properly informed report.

“The legislative changes in the bill involves serious economic and environmental issues and go even further than expected. There needs to be proper scrutiny of the impacts through a normal four to six month select committee process.

“The entire process has been a disgrace with no warning, no consultation and the Government trashing their own expert advice on the devastating impacts of this policy.”

Why the rush?

Because the decision is made and the government has no wish to hear the facts submitters will put up to prove the economic, environmental and social damage the ban will do.

 

 

 

Saturday soapbox

Saturday’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

Science is not a religion nor a belief system. It is a method of continually breaking your old assumptions. Stop saying you believe in it and start utilising it.

Hat tip: Utopia

September 29 in history

522 BC – Darius I of Persia killed the Magian usurper Gaumâta, securing his hold as king of the Persian Empire.

480 BC  Battle of Salamis: The Greek fleet under Themistocles defeats the Persian fleet under Xerxes I.

61 BC  Pompey the Great celebrated his third triumph for victories over the pirates and the end of the Mithridatic Wars on his 45th birthday.

1227  Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, was excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX for his failure to participate in the Crusades.

1364  Battle of Auray: English forces defeated the French in Brittany; end of the Breton War of Succession.

1547 Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes  was born (d. 1616).

1650 Henry Robinson opened his Office of Addresses and Encounters – the first historically documented dating service – in Threadneedle Street, London.

1717  An earthquake struck Antigua Guatemala, destroying much of the city’s architecture and making authorities consider moving the capital to a different city.

1758 Horatio Nelson was born (d. 1805).

1810 English author Elizabeth Gaskell was born (d. 1865).

1829  The Metropolitan Police of London, later also known as the Met, was founded.

1848  Battle of Pákozd: Hungarian forces defeated Croats at Pákozd; the first battle of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.

1850  The Roman Catholic hierarchy was re-established in England and Wales by Pope Pius IX.

1862  The first professional opera performance in New Zealand was put on by members of ‘The English Opera Troupe’ and the Royal Princess Theatre Company in Dunedin.

1864  American Civil War: The Battle of Chaffin’s Farm.

1885 The first practical public electric tramway in the world opened in Blackpool.

1907 The cornerstone was laid at Washington National Cathedral.

1907 US singer Gene Autry was born (d. 1998).

1911 Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire.

1913 US film director Stanley Kramer was born (d. 2001).

1916 John D. Rockefeller became the first billionaire.

1918  World War I: The Hindenburg Line was broken by Allied forces. Bulgaria signed an armistice

1932  Chaco War: Last day of the Battle of Boquerón between Paraguay and Bolivia.

1935 US musician Jerry Lee Lewis was born.

1936 Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was born.

1941  World War II: Holocaust in Kiev German Einsatzgruppe C began theBabi Yar massacre.

1943 Polish president Lech Walsea was born.

1943  World War II: U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Italian Marshal Pietro Badoglio signed an armistice  aboard the Royal Navy battleship HMS Nelson off Malta.

1947 – The Licensed Victuallers’ Association’s decision to bring local beer prices into line with those in the rest of the country provoked determined resistance from the West Coast Trades Council, which represented most union members in the region.

1951 Michelle Bachelet, former President of Chile, was born.

1954  The convention establishing CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) was signed.

1956 English athlete Sir Sebastian Coe was born.

1957 20 MCi (740 petabecquerels) of radioactive material was released in an explosion at the Soviet Mayak nuclear plant at Chelyabinsk.

1961 Julia Gillard, Australian politician, Prime Minister of Australia, was born.

1962  Alouette 1, the first Canadian satellite, was launched.

1963 The second period of the Second Vatican Council opened.

1963  The University of East Anglia was established in Norwich.

1964  The Argentine comic strip Mafalda, by Joaquín Salvador Lavado, better known by his pen name Quino, was published for the first time.

1966  The Chevrolet Camaro, originally named Panther, was introduced.

1975  WGPR in Detroit, Michigan, becomes the world’s first black-owned-and-operated television station.

1979  Pope John Paul II became the first pope to set foot on Irish soil.

1988 Space Shuttle: NASA launched STS-26, the return to flight mission.

1990  Construction of the Washington National Cathedral was completed.

1990 The YF-22, which later became the F-22 Raptor, flew for the first time.

1991  Military coup in Haiti.

1992  Brazilian President Fernando Collor de Mello resigned.

1995 The United States Navy disbanded Fighter Squadron 84 (VF-84), nicknamed the “Jolly Rogers”.

2004 The asteroid 4179 Toutatis passed within four lunar distances of Earth.

2004 – The Burt Rutan Ansari X Prize entry SpaceShipOne performed a successful spaceflight, the first of two required to win the prize.

2006  Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907 collided in mid-air with an Embraer Legacy business jet, killing 154 total people, and triggering aBrazilian aviation crisis.

2007  Calder Hall, the world’s first commercial nuclear power station, was demolished in a controlled explosion.

2008  The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell  777.68 points, the largest single-day point loss in its history.

2009 An 8.0 magnitude earthquake near the Samoan Islands caused a tsunami .

2013 – More than 42 people were killed by members of Boko Haram at the College of Agriculture in Gujba, Nigeria.

2016 – Eleven days after the Uri attack, the Indian Army conducted “surgical strikes” against suspected militants in Pakistani-administered Kashmir however Pakistan denied such allegations.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia

365 days of gratitude

Remember when toll calls were expensive and reserved for matters of great moment?

Thankfully that’s no longer the case and most of us can talk to family and friends around the country and further afield without even thinking about the cost.

Today I received three calls from friends in distant places and I’m grateful for each and all of them.

Word of the day

Eutrapely – the quality of being skilled in conversation; conversational skill; wit; urbanity.

Rural round-up

NZ farmer confidence slides into negative territory– Rabobank:

New Zealand farmer confidence has eased from the previous quarter and is now at net negative levels for the first time since early 2016.

The third quarterly survey for the year – completed earlier this month – has shown net farmer confidence has fallen to -three per cent, down from +two per cent recorded in the June 2018 survey.

The survey found a fall in the number of farmers expecting agricultural economy conditions to improve in the coming 12 months (down to 20 per cent from 26 per cent last quarter) as well as those expecting conditions to worsen (23 per cent from 24 per cent previously) while an increased number of New Zealand farmers were expecting the performance of the agricultural economy to stay the same (54 per cent from 46 per cent last survey). . .

Room for improvement despite progress on M. bovis awareness:

Survey shows room for improvement despite progress on M. bovis awareness

More than half of sheep and beef farmers have made changes to reduce the risk of their stock becoming infected by Mycoplasma bovis (M. bovis), according to research by Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ).

57 per cent of farmers recently surveyed reported they had taken precautions against the disease while 71 per cent of farmers feel that they have a high level of knowledge on how to protect their stock from M. bovis.

Around a third of farmers surveyed (34 per cent) said they had implemented a buffer zone between them and their neighbours’ stock, as well as communicating with their neighbours about stock on the boundary. . . 

A jigsaw with bits missing – Annette Scott:

Mycoplasma bovis had a head-start on officials trying to eradicate it but Nait is helping them catch up.

While Nait is not perfect it has enabled the eradication attempt that otherwise might not have been possible, Ministry for Primary Industries intelligence group manager Alix Barclay says.

That head-start has, over time, meant changes to the design of surveillance and how it is implemented, Barclay said.

The intelligence team is responsible for tracing the disease, surveillance, targeting of sampling, data management and the diagnostic laboratory systems. . . 

Nice work @AllianceGroupNZ selling @PureSouth lamb at over $50 per kg through @QualityNZ at high end retail in Delhi. @NZinIndia @MPI_NZ pic.twitter.com/CDlZGbnK7p

— Mike Petersen (@tepunamike) September 25, 2018

Westland Milk’s payout at low end of guidance; cuts 2019 forecast – Rebecca Howard:

(BusinessDesk) – Westland Milk Products has cut its forecast for the 2019 season due to weak global butter prices and announced a farmgate return near the bottom end of guidance.

New Zealand’s third-largest dairy company said its final milk payout for the 2018 season was $6.12 per kilo of milk solids, less a 5 cent retention. That delivered a net average result for shareholders of $6.07 per kgMS. The cooperative had forecast a payout of $6.10 to $6.40 and the retention enabled it to report a pre-tax profit of $3.3 million for the 12 months ended July 31. . .

Tatua Financial Results for the Year Ended 31 July 2018:

The Tatua Board or Directors and Executive met on 26 September 2018 to consider the financial results for the 2017/18 season and decide on the final payout to our Suppliers. We are pleased to report that Tatua has had a good year and has achieved record Group revenue of $357 million, and earnings of $127 million.

Our focus on growing our value-add businesses has contributed significant additional revenue and our bulk ingredient product mix has served us well. . .

Selling bulls but keeping semen rights – Alan Williams:

Te Mania Stud is looking for sons of its sale-topping Australian sire to move the Angus breed forward.

Starting this year the stud is keeping a 50% interest in the semen of all the bulls it sells.

“This keeps us protected if one of the bulls comes through with brilliant traits and we can get that semen back to use through our dam line,” stock manager Will Wilding said.

The deal involves only semen sales. There’s no income-share when buyers use the bulls for physical mating.

Semen from Te Mania Garth was brought from Australia and used to breed the top-priced rising  . .

2019 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards entries open October 1st:

With less than a week until entries open in the 2019 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards, organisers of the regional competitions are gathering in Rotorua for the annual conference to fine tune processes and launch events.

General Manager Chris Keeping says the conference is an opportunity for the many volunteers from around the country to come together after a busy winter season. “The conference will be a busy few days, bringing everyone up-to-date with the changes made to the entry criteria and visa requirements,” she says. . .

It's a charmer of a morning for shepherding pic.twitter.com/uDvSPxLbcp

— Richard Brown (@Brownsvilleted) September 25, 2018

On the brink of innovative Ag technology acceptance: A Kenyan farmer’s perspective – Gilbert Arap Bor:

Farmers have good years and bad years. Here in Kenya, however, the good years never have seemed quite as good as they should be and the bad years have felt worse than necessary.

That’s because we can’t take advantage of a tool that farmers in much of the developed world take for granted: GMO crops. In many countries, they’ve transformed farming, helping farmers contend with weeds, pests, and drought. In my country, we’re still languishing in the 20th century, waiting for the arrival of this 21st-century technology.

We may in fact be on the brink of embracing innovative technology for agriculture, but the long and winding road to this welcome destination has been full of frustration and false starts. We’ve been at it for an entire generation. Africa already faces plenty of problems: poverty, climate change, a poor infrastructure, political instability, corruption and more. So the failure of Kenya and most other African nations to take up GMOs is especially painful because this problem is almost entirely self-imposed. . . 

 

Support person not action

The leaked report on the investigation into allegations that then-Minister Meka Whaitiri assaulted a staff member don’t reflect well on her :

. . . David Patten, the Wellington lawyer who conducted the inquiry for Ministerial Services, the employer of ministerial staff, found on the balance of probabilities that the staff member’s version was the more likely explanation.

He found that Whaitiri did not pull or drag the press secretary outside from the foyer of the building where the meeting was taking place.

But he found it more probable that Whaitiri approached the staffer from behind and grabbed her by the arm and that Whaitiri spoke in a raised voice to the staffer.

In evidence to the inquiry, the staff member said Whaitiri had blamed her for missing the media standup with the Prime Minister.

Having a paddy because she missed the stand-up is bad enough by itself even without any grabbing and raised voice.

“It was during … the break so I’d gone out into the hallway, gone to the bathroom and I’d just gone out into the hallway into the vestibule for a bit of a breather and that’s when she came over,” the staff member said.

“She grabbed me by the arm and pulled me outside and said she needed to talk to me and when we were outside she raised her voice.

“I wouldn’t say yelled but she did raise her voice to me and asked me if I knew what I was doing in my job and did I realise I’d missed a media opportunity and that that was embarrassing to her because it was her electorate.”

The staffer originally told the inquiry that Whaitiri had pinched her arm but changed that to grabbed.

“It was hard and it scared the living daylights out of me,” she said.

In other parts of her evidence, she said: “She was definitely angry, and was definitely mad that I had screwed up. It scared me a lot and I didn’t want to return to that [work environment].” . .

Patten’s finding in the draft report is: “The photographs taken by Morag Ingram on August 30 2018 of [the press secretary’s] upper right arm showing a bruise on that arm … are consistent, in my view, with someone being approached from behind and grabbed by a
right-handed person“. . .

In the urgent debate Labour MPs did a lot of defending and supporting Whaitiri without condemning her actions.

It is possible to do both, especially when this is the party that purports to stand up for workers. It’s the party that purports to abhor violence.

Its actions, in this instance, don’t reflect its words.

Political blood is thicker than water but that is no excuse for putting loyalty to a colleague before the principles of fair treatment of staff and not showing that in supporting her they also condemn the use of physical force.

How strident would Labour be if a National minister mistreated staff?

They wouldn’t accept the loss of ministerial warrant as sufficient punishment. They’d be calling for the MP to resign altogether.

Quote of the day

Any place that anyone can learn something useful from someone with experience is an educational institution. –  Al Capp who was born on this day in 1909.