365 days of gratitude

There was a time when the Ranfurly Shield stayed stubbornly with one team.

Auckland had held it for ages when they challenged North Otago and for a few glorious minutes the score line was North Otago 5 – Auckland – 0.

The former scored no more points and Auckland added 359 by the time the final whistle blew.

Then Canterbury won the shield and staved off multiple challenges.

But in recent years challengers have managed to win and the shield has had several different homes.

Today, for the second time in recent years, it has come back to Otago.

Last time the team held it for little more than a week.

This time it will stay on the right side of the Waitaki River for at least the summer, and fingers crossed, maybe a bit longer.

However, long it’s in the hands of the blue and gold team, we’ll enjoy it while it lasts.

Tonight I’m grateful to be on the winning side.

Word of the day

Mogshade – shadows cast by trees.

Saturday’s smiles

A pianist was playing in a night club, getting a few requests and some tips.

Towards the end of the night, a man walked up with a wad of bills in his hand and asked the pianist to play a jazz chord.

She played an A Major 7.

He said, “No, no. A jazz chord.”

She did a little improvisational thing, but he didn’t like that either.

“No, no, no! A jazz chord. You know, ‘A jazz chord, to say, ah love you.'”

Rural round-up

Grabbing life by the horns:

October 8th- 14th marks Mental Health Awareness Week. Co-op farmer Wayne Langford knows what it’s like to suffer from mental illness. He’s the man behind the YOLO (You Only Live Once) farmer blog. He shares his story about owning up to his illness and how the YOLO project helped him cope with depression.

“I was pretty down in the dumps – I referred to it as a rough patch, my wife called it what it really was – depression. We were lying in bed one morning and she said, “well, what are we going to do? Because we can’t go on like this.”

Most people who knew Wayne Langford knew this about him. He was 34, married to his wife Tyler and the father of three boys. He was a 6th generation dairy farmer who owned and ran his Golden Bay farm. He was a proud Fonterra supplier and was the Federated Farmers Dairy Vice Chairman. . .

Farm produce holds up trade deal:

New Zealand trade negotiators are trying to get their European counterparts to recognise Kiwi agricultural exports are small-fry in comparison to the regional bloc’s farming sector.

The second round of free-trade negotiations between NZ and the European Union is under way in Wellington with 31 European officials in the capital to discuss a deal politicians say they’re keen to fast-track. . . 

Kaitiakitanga and technology benefiting farmers, environment:

An innovative approach to monitoring farm effluent runoff is reaping financial rewards for farmers with bonuses for farming excellence.

Miraka, a Taupo-based milk processor with more than 100 suppliers, is offering bonuses to farmers who meet the five criteria set out in its Te Ara Miraka Farming Excellence programme – people, the environment, animal welfare, milk quality and prosperity. . .

Farmers build rapport amid Mycoplasma bovis heartache – Tracy Neal:

Despite the fact they are not out of the woods yet, cattle farmers are starting to consider life after Mycoplasma bovis.

Finding that pathway will be helped by a special Beyond Bovis seminar in Hamilton later this month – held in conjunction with the Waikato A&P Show.

The government is working to eradicate M bovis and so far more than 43,000 cows have been culled. . .

High country station to host agricultural workshops – Yvonne O’Hara:

There is a shortage of young people wishing to work in the agriculture sectors, and industry consultant John Bates, of Alexandra, is developing a programme to help address the problem.

Lincoln University owns Mt Grand, a 2127ha high country station near Lake Hawea.

Profits from the farm help fund postgraduate and graduate scholarships.

It is also a teaching facility for university students studying environmental and ecological degrees. . . 

 

British artist Evelyn Mary Dunbar (1906-1960), who highlighted the work of the Women's Land Army during WW2 #womensart pic.twitter.com/7DGTKKCVv1

— #WOMENSART (@womensart1) October 9, 2018

PGG Wrightson expects FY19 operating earnings to match prior year’s record – Rebecca Howard:

(BusinessDesk) – PGG Wrightson expects full-year operating earnings to be on par with last year’s record, including earnings from the seed and grain business that it is selling to Danish cooperative DLF Seeds.

The company said it expects its operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to June 30, will be approximately $70 million. In August, it said its operating ebitda was a record $70.2 million in the year ended June. . . 

Virgin beefing up for transtasman battle –

Weeks out from its breakup with Air New Zealand, Virgin Australia says it ready to roll out its “full armoury” in what is shaping up as a three-way battle over the Tasman.

The Australian airline is also trying to establish more of a market presence here after being quiet for much of the alliance with Air New Zealand that stretched more than six years but will end on October 28 after the Kiwi carrier opted to quit the partnership.

Virgin has since upped its marketing and following a search for a New Zealand beef supplier the airline today announced Hinterland Foods from Moawhango in the Rangitikei District had won the “Got Beef” campaign and would supply its meat to the airline for in-flight meals. . . 

Very happy to have won the Nikon-Walkley Contemporary Australian Life – for ‘Not A Farmer’s Wife’ @abcnews
Also in the running for Press Photographer of the year which is announced on 22nd Nov in Brisbane. Thanks @walkleys @Nikon_Australia @statelibrarynsw pic.twitter.com/SGNVhQzw7C

— matthew abbott 🔥🌏 (@mattabbottphoto) October 11, 2018

Culinary taonga threatened species

Sandwich sliced bread  and therefore  the culinary taonga – cheese and asparagus rolls and club sandwiches made with it – are in peril:

Sandwich bread sales in Dunedin could soon be toast.

A spokeswoman for Foodstuffs, which controls New World, Pak’n Save and Four Square, said its shoppers preferred toast bread to sandwich bread.

Demand for sandwich bread had continued to fall in recent years.

“People like a thicker, more generous slice, but we think that another factor is that there are so many other options for sandwiches available today. From ciabatta and seed-studded loaves to flavoured wraps, pita breads and crackers.” . .

Crumbs! Bread makers and retailers must be crackers if they think sandwich sliced bread is toast.

Some people might like a thicker more generous slice but I swapped from Vogel’s to Burgen bread when the former dropped sandwich slices which the latter still produces.

As for fancy breads, wraps and crackers, they have their place, but that is not encasing the cheese roll filling or asparagus, with or without the addition of Whitestone Windsor Blue cheese; or for making club sandwiches.

Cheese rolls are generally only found on the right side of the Waitaki River, asparagus rolls and club sandwiches feature at lunches and teas and suppers further afield.

Wherever they’re found, and feature, they will be lost if thin sliced sandwich bread can no longer be sourced and part of our culinary heritage will go too.

That would be really crumby

 

Two taxes missing

On Monday Jacinda Ardern told us fuel companies were fleecing us.

Yesterday we learned two taxes were missing from her numbers:

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s calculation of how much extra tax Kiwis are paying at the petrol pump on Monday did not include the recent excise tax or Auckland’s Regional Fuel tax.

National Leader Simon Bridges said the Prime Minister has got this “badly wrong,” and has made a “staggering mistake.”

But a spokesman for the Prime Minister said her comments were “based on the most accurate information Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) had compiled at that time.” . . 

Between October 27, 2017 and September 28 this year, petrol prices have risen 39c, according to MBIE data – Ardern said just 6.8c of that increase was due to “taxes and levies.”

That 6.8c increase is made up of a 1.77c increase in Emissions Trading Scheme (EST) taxes and 5.04c of GST over the same period, MBIE data shows.

But the 10c a litre Auckland Regional Fuel Tax and 3.5c a litre fuel excise tax, introduced on September 30, were not included in the “taxes and levies” side of Ardern’s equation. 

What’s worse: a Ministry that doesn’t know what almost every motorist could have told them, or a Prime Minister and staff who don’t ensure the numbers are right, which means right up to date?

https://twitter.com/MatthewHootonNZ/status/1050654480096608256

 

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.

You can’t protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness – Jonathan Safran Foer

October 13 in history

4 Nero ascended to the Roman throne.

1307 Hundreds of Knights Templar in France were simultaneously arrested by agents of Phillip the Fair

1332  Rinchinbal Khan, Emperor Ningzong of Yuan became the Khagan of the Mongols and Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, reigning for only 53 days.

1773 The Whirlpool Galaxy was discovered by Charles Messier.

1775 The United States Continental Congress orders the establishment of the Continental Navy (later renamed the United States Navy).

1777  British General John Burgoyne’s Army at The Battles of Saratogawas surrounded by superior numbers, setting the stage for its surrender which inspired  France to enter the American Revolutionary War against the British.

1792  The cornerstone of the United States’ Executive Mansion (known as the White House ) was laid.

1812 War of 1812: Battle of Queenston Heights – As part of the Niagara campaign in Ontario, United States forces under General Stephen Van Rensselaer were repulsed from invading Canada by British and native troops led by Sir Isaac Brock.

1843 Henry Jones and 11 others founded B’nai B’rith (the oldest Jewish service organization in the world).

1845  A majority of voters in the Republic of Texas approved a proposed constitution, that if accepted by the U.S. Congress, would make Texas a U.S. state.

1862  Mary Kingsley, English writer and explorer, was born (d. 1900).

1884 Greenwich, was established as Universal Time meridian of longitude.

1885 The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) was founded in Atlanta.

1892  Edward Emerson Barnard discovered D/1892 T1, the first comet discovered by photographic means, on the night of October 13–14.

1904 Wilfred Pickles, English actor and broadcaster, ws born (d. 1978).

1915  The Battle for the Hohenzollern Redoubt marked the end of the Battle of Loos in northern France, World War I.

1917  The “Miracle of the Sun” was witnessed by an estimated 70,000 people in the Cova da Iria in Fátima, Portugal.

1918  Mehmed Talat Pasha and the Young Turk (C.U.P.) ministry resigned and signed an armistice, ending Ottoman participation in World War I.

1923  Ankara replaced Istanbul as the capital of Turkey.

1924 – Roberto Eduardo Viola, Argentinian general and politician, 44th President of Argentina, was born (d. 1994)

1925   Lenny Bruce, American comedian (d. 1966)

1925 – Margaret Thatcher, former British Prime Minister, was born (d. 2013).

1934 Nana Mouskouri, Greek singer and politician, was born.

1941 Paul Simon, American singer and musician (Simon & Garfunkel), was born.

1943  World War II: The new government of Italy sided with the Allies and declared war on Germany.

1946  France adopted the constitution of the Fourth Republic.

1959 Marie Osmond, American entertainer, was born.

1962 The Pacific Northwest experienced a cyclone the equal of a Cat 3 hurricane. Winds measured above 150 mph at several locations; 46 people died.

1968 Carlos Marin, Spanish baritone (Il Divo), was born.

1969 Nancy Kerrigan, American figure skater, was born.

1970 Paul Potts, British opera singer, was born.

1972  An Aeroflot Ilyushin Il-62 crashed outside Moscow killing 176.

1972  Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashed in the Andes mountains. By December 23, only 16 out of 45 people were still alive  to be rescued.

1975 Dame Whina Cooper led a land march to parliament.

1976  A Bolivian Boeing 707 cargo jet crashed in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, killing 100 (97, mostly children, killed on the ground).

1976  The first electron micrograph of an Ebola viral particle was obtained by Dr. F.A. Murphy.

1977 Four Palestinians hijacked Lufthansa Flight 181 to Somalia and demanded the release of 11 members of the Red Army Faction.

1983 Ameritech Mobile Communications (now AT&T) launched the first UScellular network in Chicago, Illinois.

1990  End of the Lebanese Civil War. Syrian forces launched an attack on the free areas of Lebanon removing General Michel Aoun from the presidential palace.

1992  An Antonov An-124 operated by Antonov Airlines crashed near Kiev.

1999 – The United States Senate rejected ratification of theComprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

2010 – The 2010 Copiapó mining accident in Copiapó, Chile came to an end as all 33 miners arrived at the surface after surviving a record 69 days underground awaiting rescue.

2013  – A stampede broke out on a bridge near the Ratangarh Mata Temple in Datia district, Madhya Pradesh, India during the Hindu festival Navratri, killing 115 people and injuring more than 110.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia