Posts by Islander
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Anon, thank you. And thank you Kerry Weston for a most poingant insight too-
Grant Dexter. you stack up against these most strong & vital women
like inorganic toxic sludge. -
Frankly Grant, Jeremy's accurate summation of human (indeed *all*) life is the point of opposing your inane (basic dictionary def: empty, void, silly, senseless) and baseless-in-reality contention that *human life* begins at conception - only the potential for human life starts then.
Read Peter A's extremely good posts again.
Recognise that many of my female relatives shed concepti (what you inanely think of as 'human babies') every so often *without even noticing*.
Sheesh. All others, please ignore the emphases. When I think of how Grant & his like have attempted to stymie stem-call researxh - and how that could help other of my relatives - because of their fatuous (to my way of thinking) beliefs, I grow asterisk prone...
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A writer remembers...Bassett & the London flat fiasco-
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Cloning people we wish to honour seems a way more rational response than giving them tarnished (via 'the queen is the fount of al honours') wee glitteries which mean buggerall to most of us:
hmm, lessee- list of possible honourees:*Shrek the Sheep?
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"Why would anyone pay +$4?" asks Graeme-
mainly because they dont have a choice?
I live in a relatively remote area: I shop at what is also the mail agency (saving an additional trip) for bare essentials - papers,onions, that kind of thing. O, and a litre of milk a week....which costs $2.95.
OK, I guess I could choose not to be addicted to my large morning flat white-made-with-real-fullfat-milk - but hey, I've tried every known fullfat real milk substitute and they all taste like - well, not the same.
And that's the only time I use milk (and also the only time I drink coffee...) Cheese: dont get me started on cheese! (strokes her dear little cheese-hutch wherein several snooze, maturing...) -
Garlic was a good one to bring up (Sue Kedgley and imported stuff.) For a while I could *not* source NZ garlic in local shops (and the Chinese import was substandard - went off really quickly, and had all the oomph of garlic powder.) So I tried online - and yes! Available, and really good quality, and I'm happy to pay extra & p&p to get excellent ANZ garlic. As are family (one member discovered fine organic garlic at a farmers' market, which isnt an option where I live)
and friends, who shared a gift from NZ Garlic Growers - we're about to order 10kg.Cheap stuff is one thing but importing it has downstream effects where there is a local equivalent - we all know this. In this instance, the local equivalent is the superior product; people have voted with their purchasing power - especially (in my case) with the aid of the 'net. Which is another factor to consider maybe...
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Kia ora! Hey, I wore a hoodie today!
So did I yesterday.
And the day before-
and so do I almost every day when the cold time comes around (and sometimes during summer, when the wind's a wee bit brisk.)
And so do most of my whanau from the toddlers to the juveniles to the Great Gran-
the support of Hoodie Day -to look askance at the demonisation of reenagers - is a Really Good Idea but it does fall somewhat flat in a cold weatherzone...-really different part of the thread: waaay back in the early 1960s, when the old New Brighton pier still existed, there was a small insalubrious amusement arcade - the machines paid out in pennies
(which I think the customers were supposed to recycle through 'what the burler saw' type machines). A schoolmate & I discovered a machine that would disgorge *shillings'worth of booty* if you hit the same trigger each time after inserting tuppence...whoa! we milked that thing for *weeks* (and then the amusement arcade abruptly closed...)Note for other generations: a shilling was roughly worth $10 then...
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Really, George Darroch? Quote sources for this please-
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Andrew - as you've already realised from comments here I am sure-
feminists are *not* against men (but most are against patriarchal
insititutions.) Some of my best feminist friends are men...especially in my own family!Which brings me to menarche (sorry.) I menstruated at 11, one of my sisters was earlier, 2 later; we have Maori ancestry as well Pakeha, and from the odd discussion over the years, as well as reading, Polynesian females do menstruate earlier than some other human groups.
The problem, always, is that of fecundity: an 11yrold is simply *not* able to be a good parent ( and 2 of my sisters birthed babies from 11yrolds - yep, both children were of Polynesian ancestry.) The *huge* pressure to conform to tween/teenage "norms" - aforesaid "norms" invented and pushed by money-seeking adults-can wreck young lives (and not only those of the females, babies - but also of -in some instances- of extremely young fathers-
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I love whistlers!I well remember 'If I were A Blackbird" and others...I whistle myself but cherish a long dead friend of mine who must've had a syrinx - he could return song phrases to tui! (not kidding.)
Well done Ronnie -and you for bringing this to our attention (if Ronnie ever wants a night at Okarito, we can guarentee 10+ locals at $20 each, and free board & meals (*really* good!))