Posts by Islander
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O glory be! Songs in sign & other languages all at once!
A long time ago, I invented the kind of people I wish we (some of us anyway) could become- people who held kindliness, strong pacifism*, deep intelligence allied with wisdom, knowledge & understanding, who live in & by the sea (no! I'm not talking about bloody cetaceans!) and who
think the purpose of life is to create & love & enjoy & help- in every which good & enjoyable way. Not all of them talk: not all of them talk the same language: not all of them talk with their tongues or hands.
Your daughter sounds a paid-up citizen - and yourself-*they have bloody good & emphatic mindbombs for the - others-
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Ian MacKay - cicadas will stop clapping/singing/stridulating when there are, temporarily, not enough males around; when there is a perceived predator, or when either temperature or barometric pressures drop (that later applies to a lot fish also, including salmon.)
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I'd love to hear results Lucy - varroa isnt a big problem on the Coast (it hasnt surfaced yet at all) and we have other environmental factors that could be somewhat significant. Cheers. n/n Insectlover
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Zippy- YEP! Our closest rellies (chimps, bonobos) use their *own* signs/gestures, as well as sounds (and some smells): these communications are engrained in us as hominoids-that's a really wellworthwhile idea to be taken up by - medical communicators?
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Kia ora Lucy - I'm going by a quite old article from the ODT?The CHCH Press? written by Pat Quinn entitled "Museum Pieces" (a lot of my library is in storage so I cant get at later, more authoriative stuff.)
You're totally right about the importation of Euro crop/eco system thing - but it is interesting that some native bees are wandering outside norms, eh? -
Jackie, life is shit a *lot* of the time, but other than that, you're absolutely right. I've met a lot of people round the world, and the ones who have it easy-easy are...shallow. And they expect to always have it easy (and, covertly, think there is something wrong/bad/deserving-of-their-fate about those who dont.)
Adding to the 'writing things down'- my nurse sisters advise in those sort of circumstances, as well (because not everyone has a partner/support person)
*having your cellphone on record
*asking for a hospital support person (most of the major hospitals have 'em) to be with you before anything like that is conveyed, and
*having the medical people send you a written copy of the diagnosis/prognosis (or asking your hospital/other support person to request it.
In A&E or an ICU this can be difficult, but it *can* be arranged. -
Good info Hilary - I note, sadly, that no West Coast consultation is planned at all. And we do have a substantial diffabled population (especially including people with mental handicaps - a hangover from the Seaview days...)
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We have at least 32 species of native bees: all of them -as far as we know-are solitary.
They contribute significantly to native plant fertilisation along with birds and wind etc.. Some will collect kiwifruit pollen (and maybe assisting fertilisation, and a couple species that go to native broom, also go to lucerne and sweet clover. Other native bee species have been seen visiting barassica spp. & carrot flowers.Introduced honey bees arnt common here in Big O (most of the hives are in rata or kamahi-rich areas) but I have noticed a large increase in bumble bees over the last couple of years...the cicadas, sadly, sang their dying yesterday. Today, they are completely silent.
Wasps are currently rare (there are wasp years here, like rat years, and both dependent on unusual availability of food cocommitant with a drop in human control measures.) Ladybirds are uncommon at any time (but waua! Were they exceedingly common in the tobbaco fields in Motueka decades ago!) However, I think (no photographic evidence) that the little Japanese/Asian damsel fly has made it this far south-
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O, I'd prefer the Cloudy Bay (makes mental note to check it out...)
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Do you know I became 'Keri Hulmeova' on the cover of that CS edition (and I think I have the only copy in NZ?) And I could definitely *read* some of it? (All editions have kept the Maori - Finnish, French,Dutch, whatever, but it was so reassurring to read it in the CS version. You know, it could've been a Landrover maintenance manual they'd translated otherwise.)
Them, raising glasses with? My lovely heathen Latvian neighbour Andris says- Piss.