Bummock – a large quantity of drink, purposely prepared for a festival or special occasion; a Christmas party given by landlords to their tenants.
Rural round-up
31/12/2018Westland Milk loan heightens PGF slush fund suspicions – Jenny Ruth:
(BusinessDesk) – Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones’s $3 billion Provincial Growth Fund has the laudable aim of enhancing development opportunities in the regions.
But National’s Paul Goldsmith’s dogged unanswered questioning inevitably raises the spectre that the fund may be little more than Jones’s slush fund.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, which administers the fund, describes the fund’s aims as “to lift productivity in the provinces. . .
South Canterbury farm extensively damaged by vandals – Mark Quinlivan:
A South Canterbury couple has been left devastated after vandals caused “extensive” damage at the dairy farm they sharemilk on at Glenavy.
Tracy Thompson and her partner, Brent McEwan, were shocked to find thousands of dollars worth of vandalism and graffiti in one the Pike Point Rd farm’s dairy sheds on Friday morning.
“It’s just devastating,” an emotional Thompson told Stuff on Friday. . .
Rural Health Alliance revitalised – Mike Houlahan:
Reports of the Rural Health Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand’s demise have proved premature and the advocacy organisation has restructured and refocused on its work to improve the wellbeing of people who live outside the major cities. RHAANZ put itself in self-described “hibernation” in mid-year after it failed to secure financial support from the government. A registered charity, RHAANZ had done considerable work on rural mental health and suicide prevention, as well as and supporting the recruitment and retention of rural health professionals.
November flood aftermath lingers for Otago farms and businesses:
Farmers and business owners in Otago are still picking up the pieces after November’s floods.
Widespread flooding in the region inundated farmland near the Taieri and Waipori Rivers, and caused issues for Middlemarch, Henley and communities in the Clutha district.
The downpours came during the one of the wettest Novembers on record.
The effects are still being felt particularly hard by the Tap and Dough Bistro in Middlemarch which had sewage knee deep flow through the restaurant during the deluge. . .
Bee farmer seeks compo over bees ‘cooked’ while being couriered – Jonathan Mitchell:
A bee farmer is demanding compensation from New Zealand Post after queen bees were “cooked” while being couriered.
Gary Milne runs Southern Sun Queen Bees in Horowhenua and has been breeding the bees for more than two decades.
He said a recent courier trip turned into a nightmare after 27 of the 100 queen bees were dead on arrival. . .
Since the industrial revolution, businesses have been built on a linear ‘take-make-waste’ model. But as pressure on resources grows, there is a need to shift to a more ‘circular’ economy.
The circular model seeks to maximise the lifecycle of materials, optimise usage, and re-use materials.
NZAgbiz is a Hamilton-based company whose business model has been circular since its inception in 2008. A Fonterra business unit, NZAgbiz manufactures livestock nutrition products using primarily Fonterra ingredients and has recently won a commendation at the prestigious 2018 NZI Sustainable Business Network Awards for its work. . .
Quote of the day
31/12/2018I don’t believe in magic. I believe in hard work. – Richie McCaw who celebrates his 38th birthday today.
December 31 in history
31/12/2018400 Vandals, Alans and Suebians crossed the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gaul.
1229 James I of Aragon the Conqueror entered Medina Mayurqa (now known as Palma) consummating the Christian conquest of the island of Majorca.
1491 – Jacques Cartier, French explorer, was born (d. 1557)
1599 The British East India Company was chartered.
1687– The first Huguenots set sail from France to the Cape of Good Hope.
1695 A window tax was imposed in England, causing many shopkeepers to brick up their windows to avoid the tax.
1720 Charles Edward Stuart, pretender to the British throne, was born (d. 1788).
1759 Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease at £45 per annum and started brewing Guinness.
1853 Sir George Grey left New Zealand after finishing his first term as Governor.
1857 Queen Victoria chose Ottawa, as the capital of Canada.
1869 Henri Matisse, French painter, was born (d. 1954).
1878 Elizabeth Arden, Canadian businesswoman, was born (d. 1966).
1879 Thomas Edison demonstrated incandescent lighting to the public for the first time.
1904 The first New Year’s Eve celebration was held in Times Square(then known as Longacre Square) in New York.
1908 Simon Wiesenthal, Austrian Holocaust survivor, was born (d. 2005).
1909 Manhattan Bridge opened.
1923 The chimes of Big Ben were broadcast on radio for the first time by the BBC.
1937 Sir Anthony Hopkins, Welsh actor, was born.
1941 – Sir Alex Ferguson, Scottish football manager, was born.
1943 John Denver, American singer and songwriter, was born (d. 1997).
1943 Sir Ben Kingsley, English actor was born.
1943 Pete Quaife, English bassist (The Kinks) was born.
1946 President Harry Truman officially proclaimed the end of hostilities in World War II.
1951 The Marshall Plan expired after distributing more than $13.3 billion USD in foreign aid to rebuild Europe.
1955 The General Motors Corporation became the first U.S. corporation to make over $1 billion USD in a year.
1960 The farthing coin ceased to be legal tender in the United Kingdom.
1963 The Central African Federation officially collapsed and split intoZambia, Malawi and Rhodesia.
1965 Nicholas Sparks, American author, was born.
1980 – Richie McCaw, All Black captain, was born.
1983 – The AT&T Bell System was broken up by the United States Government.
1991 All official Soviet Union institutions ceased operations by this date and the Soviet Union was officially dissolved.
1992 Czechoslovakia was dissolved, resulting in the creation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
1996 – On New Year’s Eve around 4000 people made their way to the remote location of Canaan Downs, Tākaka, to take part in the first Gathering, a two-day festival for electronic dance music fans.
1998 The European Exchange Rate Mechanism froze the values of the legacy currencies in the Eurozone, and established the value of the eurocurrency.
1999 Boris Yeltsin resigned as President of Russia, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President.
1999 – The United States Government handed control of the Panama Canal (as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone) to Panama. This act complied with the signing of the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaties.
2004 The official opening of Taipei 101, the tallest skyscraper at that time in the world, standing at a height of 509 metres (1,670 ft).
2007 – Bocaue Fire: Seven people were injured when a fire resulted in the explosion of several fireworks stores in Bocaue, Bulacan, Philippines.
2009 – Both a blue moon and a lunar eclipse occurred.
2011 – NASA succeeded in putting the first of two Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory satellites in orbit around the moon.
2014 – A New Year’s Eve celebration stampede in Shanghai killed at least 36 people and injures 49 others.
2015 – A fire broke out at the Downtown Address Hotel in Downtown Dubai, United Arab Emirates located near the Burj Khalifa 2 hours before the fireworks display was due to commence. 16 injuries were reported.
2017 – Starting date of Valletta as European Capital of Culture
Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.
365 days of gratitude
30/12/2018We joined several thousand people at the Kurow races today.
The dress code went from fully frocked-up flash to shorts and jandals summer casual.
My first and only bet was on a horse that finished towards the rear of the field but I was happy to consider the $20 it cost as the price of entertainment.
The crowd was good natured, entertainment was provided for children, and families were having fun.
It was a good, country race day and I’m grateful for the fun it provided.
Word of the day
30/12/2018Frowst – a warm, stuffy atmosphere in a room; lounge about in a warm, stuffy atmosphere; offensive or musty odour; fug; extra time spent in bed on a Sunday.
Action Plan
30/12/2018Rules for making the world: 1. Stand up & do the thing you see needs doing. 2. That’s it. (If it was easy, we’d be having a different conversation.) © 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.
One of lots of smile and thought-provoking mini stories in his new book Theories of Everything.
Sunday soapbox
30/12/2018Sunday’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.
Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves.
The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day – Edith Lovejoy Pierce
December 30 in history
30/12/201839 Titus, Roman emperor was born (d. 81).
1066 Granada massacre: A Muslim mob stormed the royal palace in Granada, crucified Jewish vizier Joseph ibn Naghrela and massacred most of the Jewish population of the city.
1460 Wars of the Roses: Battle of Wakefield.
1834 – Church Missionary Society printer William Colenso arrived in the Bay of Islands on the schooner Blackbird with New Zealand’s second printing press.
1835 Charles Darwin left New Zealand after a nine day visit.
1865 – Rudyard Kipling, English writer, Nobel laureate, was born (d. 1936).
1875 – A.H. (Sir Alfred Hamish) Reed, publisher, author, entrepreneur, and walker and mountaineer, was born (d. 1975).
1916 The last coronation in Hungary was performed for King Charles IV and Queen Zita.
1919 – Lincoln’s Inn in London admitted its first female bar student.
1922 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formed.
1925 – Ian MacNaughton, Scottish actor, producer, and director, was born (d. 2002).
1924 Edwin Hubble announced the existence of other galaxies.
1927 The Ginza Line, the first subway line in Asia, opened in Tokyo, Japan.
1928 – Bo Diddley, American singer and musician, was born (d. 2008).
1931 Skeeter Davis, American singer, was born (d. 2004) .
1937 – Noel Paul Stookey, American folk singer (Peter, Paul & Mary), was born.
1939 – Glenda Adams, Australian author and academic, was born (d. 2007).
1940 California opened its first freeway the Arroyo Seco Parkway.
1942 – Michael Nesmith, American singer and musician (The Monkees) was born.
1944 King George II of Greece declared a regency, leaving the throne vacant.
1945 Davy Jones, English singer (The Monkees), was born (d. 2012).
1946 – Patti Smith, American singer-songwriter and poet, was born.
1947 King Michael of Romania was forced to abdicate by the Soviet-backed Communist government of Romania.
1947 Jeff Lynne, English musician (ELO), was born.
1948 The Cole Porter Broadway musical, Kiss Me, Kate (1,077 performances), opened at the New Century Theatre and was the first show to win the Best Musical Tony Award.
1950 Bjarne Stroustrup, Danish computer scientist, creator of C++, was born.
1953 The first ever NTSC colour television sets went on sale for about USD at $1,175 each from RCA.
1959 Tracey Ullman, English actress and singer, was born.
1961 – Bill English, New Zealand’s Prime Minister, was born.
1965 Ferdinand Marcos became President of the Philippines.
1975 Tiger Woods, American golfer, was born.
1993 Israel and the Vatican established diplomatic relations.
2004 A fire in the República Cromagnon nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina killed 194.
2005 Tropical Storm Zeta formed in the open Atlantic Ocean.
2006 Madrid’s Barajas International Airport was bombed.
2006 Deposed President of Iraq Saddam Hussein, convicted of the executions of 148 Iraqi Shiites, was executed.
2009 – The last roll of Kodachrome film was developed by Dwayne’s Photo, the only remaining Kodachrome processor at the time, concluding the film’s 74-year run as a photography icon.
2011 – Owing to a change of time zone the day was skipped in Samoa and Tokelau.
2013 – More than 100 people were killed when anti-government forces attacked key buildings in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Sourced from NZ History Online, Te Ara, Encyclopedia of NZ & Wikipedia.
365 days of gratitude
29/12/2018Our one year-old great-niece is visiting.
Her delight in new discoveries like bumping down the stairs on her bottom, climbing up a pipeworks slide her father made for her and throwing a ball for the dog is contagious and for that I”m grateful.
Word of the day
29/12/2018Ambilaevous – clumsy; butter-fingered; having equally bad ability in both hands.
Quote of the day
29/12/2018Men are apt to mistake the strength of their feeling for the strength of their argument. The heated mind resents the chill touch and relentless scrutiny of logic. – William Gladstone who was born on this day in 1809.
Saturday’s soapbox
29/12/2018Saturday’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.
My New Year’s resolutions are: 1. Stop making lists. B. Be more consistent. 7. Learn to count.
December 29 in history
29/12/20181170 Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II; he subsequently becomes a saint and martyr in the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic Church.
1427 – Army of Ming Dynasty started withdrawing from Hanoi, put an end to the domination of Đại Việt.
1508 – Portuguese forces under the command of Francisco de Almeida attacked Khambhat at the Battle of Dabul.
1721 Madame de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XV of France, was born (d. 1764).
1800 Charles Goodyear, American inventor, was born (d. 1860).
1809 William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, was born (d. 1898).
1835 The Treaty of New Echota was signed, ceding all the lands of the Cherokee east of the Mississippi River to the United States.
1876 The Ashtabula River Railroad bridge disaster left 64 injured and 92 dead at Ashtabula, Ohio.
1880 Tuhiata, or Tuhi, was hanged in Wellington for the murder of the artist Mary Dobie at Te Namu Bay, Opunake. Tuhi wrote to the Governor days before his execution asking that ‘my bad companions, your children, beer, rum and other spirits die with me’.
1890 United States soldiers kill more than 200 Oglala Lakota men, women, and children with 4 Hotchkiss guns in the Wounded Knee Massacre.
1910 – Ronald Coase, English-American economist, author, and academic,Nobel Prize laureate was born (d. 2013).
1911 Sun Yat-sen became the provisional President of the Republic of China.
1911 Mongolia gained independence from the Qing dynasty.
1930 Sir Muhammad Iqbal’s presidential address in Allahabad introduced the Two-Nation Theory and outlines a vision for the creation of Pakistan.
1931 – The floating dock broke its moorings in Wellington harbour.
1936 Mary Tyler Moore, American actress was born.
1937 The Irish Free State was replaced by a new state called Irelandwith the adoption of a new constitution.
1939 First flight of the Consolidated B-24.
1940 In The Second Great Fire of London, the Luftwaffe firebombed the city, killing almost 200 civilians.
1941 – Birth of Ray Thomas, British musician (The Moody Blues).
1949 KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut became the first Ultra high frequency (UHF) television station to operate a daily schedule.
1953 Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, was born.
1972 An Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 (a Lockheed Tristar) crashed on approach to Miami International Airport killing 101.
1975 A bomb exploded at La Guardia Airport in New York City, killing 11 people and injuring 74.
1989 Václav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia – the first non-Communist to attain the post in more than four decades.
1996 Guatemala and leaders of Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union signed a peace accord ending a 36-year civil war.
1997 – Hong Kong began to kill all the nation’s 1.25 million chickens to stop the spread of a potentially deadly influenza strain.
1998 Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologised for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed over 1 million.
2003 The last known speaker of Akkala Sami – died, rendering the language that was spoken in the Sami villages of A´kkel and Ču´kksuâl, in the inland parts of the Kola Peninsula in Russia extinct.
2006 – UK settled its Anglo-American loan – post WWII loan debt.
2012 – A Tupolev Tu-204 airliner crashed in a ditch between the airport fence and the M3 highway after overshooting a runway at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia, killing five people and leaving three others critically injured.
2013 – A suicide bomb attack at the Volgograd-1 railway station in the southern Russian city of Volgograd killed at least 18 people and wounded 40 others.
2017 – 2017 Bronx apartment fire 12 people were killed when an apartment building in the Bronx, New York was accidentally set alight.
Sourced from NZ HIstory Online & Wikipedia.
365 days of gratitude
28/12/2018Domestic duties don’t feature high on my list of favourite things to do but I do get pleasure from having done them.
Tonight I’m grateful for the satisfaction of jobs ticked off the domestic to-do list.