Posts by Jeanette King
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E te rangatira, e te maunga teitei rawa, Madiba, haere atu rā ki ō tūpuna, mātua kua wehe ki te Pō. Haere i runga i te aroha me te rangimārie kua whakatipuria e koe i tō oranga. He pou herenga waka koe, e kore koe e warewaretia. Nō reira, haere, hoki, moe mai rā.
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Done! Thanks Russell!
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Hi David,
I've never been particularly in favour of 'upper houses' in NZ because I think our population is so small that it would be a lot of expense for, perhaps, little benefit. But this idea has some simplicity and elegance. And only 24 people! But I wonder what the time commitment would be and whether there would be any recompense. Did your grandfather indicate whether being one of these juries would be a fulltime job? And would the jury members get paid (particularly relevant for the younger ones ...). -
Kia ora David. Didn't think I could find a piece of writing that was both hilarious and deeply inspiring at the same time. Wonderful to know there's someone like Paul in this world, and also admire your friendship with him. Really perked up my Sunday afternoon. Thank you.
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As a sort of aside, I’d be interested to know what the crowd and the council think of bike lanes which go between sidewalk and parked cars.
This arrangement seems to work well in The Netherlands where it's very common. Passengers opening doors on to red painted bike lanes instead of the kerb of the footpath would be very aware that there's likely to be a bike coming, and look before they open, whereas drivers tend to think that they're opening a door on to a roadway where a car won't be coming that close to them, so they mightn't always look for a cycle. Overall I'd think it was much safer.
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I'm a commuter cyclist with an 'old-fashioned' Dutch Gazelle bike. I bought it last year and it has revolutionised my biking. I always wanted to bike to work more often than I had been able to manage (7.7km each way) and thought I was just lazy, until a trip to The Netherlands last year made me realise that what I needed was the proper bike for what I wanted to do with it - not the 'racing' bike or 'mountain' bikes that I had - their names alone are a cue to what they're designed for. I needed a commuter bike. So, in Christchurch, on the flat with my 3 speed hub gears and a basket front and back I wear whatever I want to wear to work on my bike. The only restriction is that any skirts I buy need to be able to let me move my legs (pencil skirts not so good). I don't wear gloves in summer.
In winter I wear boots and in the wet a wonderful Water off a Duck's Back trench style coat which is totally waterproof and has nice reflective material on the cuffs, collar and belt (which can be folded away). The nice thing also about this design is the shoulder room. This all keeps me pretty nice and dry. In winter, fingerless then full gloves, scarves, etc as it gets colder. I find I need to keep some cardigans and suit type jackets at work that I can put on when I get there as I would get too warm with them on underneath my coat when biking. I'm currently ordering another similar wet weather coat (couldn't resist the idea of red). I don't generally wear anything 'hi-viz' except for a Ground Effect light shower-proof jacket which I wear in autumn/late spring.
I now cycle to work every day with my handbag and backpack nicely tucked away (no hot, sweaty back after being hunched over on my 'racing' bike with a backpack on). I use my 'one less car' cover like a shower cap over my rear basket to cover my backpack and handbag from the wet. I'm horrified to see most other cyclists down here on bikes with *no* mudguards - fine in the lovely summer we've had, but how many will be out cycling in the wet that's now here, I wonder (many of the people I've seen do look like commuters rather than people wanting a serious workout).
My husband and daughter have also bought similar bikes (a Gazelle and a Princess Pashley respectively). My daughter has even crocheted a lovely skirt guard and is always looking at ways to pimp her ride. We all bike to work every day and are annoyed when we have to take the car or bus for some reason!
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Thanks for this Graeme. I'd never given much thought to how they determine the size of the electorates. Very interesting and useful information. It helps to partly explain why the number of people who actually vote in the Māori electorates seems really low, and that's because there are proportionately more under 18 year olds in Māori electorates (i.e. non voters) than in most other seats.
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I recall being told by a Tūhoe friend that they found out they were related to Selwyn and met up with him in the Whakatane RSA once when he was touring through ...
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Hard News: This Is Not A Complicated Issue, in reply to steve black,
Ngā mihi ki a koe, Steve - while Te Reo and NZSL are official languages de jure, English is a de facto official language of NZ - so powerful and ubiquitous it doesn't need the power of the law to consolidate its position. Tēnā tātou katoa!
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Up Front: A Real Character, in reply to Kracklite,
There are often fewer women than male characters in movies, and, when they do appear, women characters are often just foils for storylines which revolve around male characters and their interests. As Kracklite notes, the Bechdel test is a pretty good indication of whether in any book/film/TV programme/etc women are treated as people with independent lives worthy of interest. Just three simple tests - a surprisingly large number of movies fail to pass even the first or second step.
1. The movie has to have at least two named women in it
2. Who talk to each other
3. About something besides a man
BTW, passing or failing this test doesn't make any judgement on whether the movie is 'good' or not, just how well rounded and complete the female roles in the movie are.