NEW POST - THE MUSIC CURMUDGEON

The Music Curmudgeon, indoors as it's raining has been watching British comedy programmes on YouTube and saw something that spurred him to write a new post.

JUG JUG TO DIRTY EARS

KNOW THY PARTNER

I'm aware that my recent posts have been of a high standard and with quite thrilling content that could pose a health problem for some if not all of my readers who, let's face it are getting on a bit.
In the interests of public safety I thought that I'd tone things down a bit for the next few posts.

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PART ONE - KNOW THY PARTNER

People in relationships should take enough interest in their life partner to know what they like or hate in food, drinks, entertainment, comforts etc.

When I say 'life partner' I'm being generous in the application of this meaning anyone who one cohabits with. Robert of course would apply a much narrower interpretation and exclude gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and unmarried people who he believes all should be stoned to death.

No doubt Brunei is his holiday destination of choice.

One test of how well one knows one's partner is knowing how they like their tea of coffee to be made. The ideal strength, milkiness and/or sweetness must be known and actioned when making a 'cuppa' for the partner. If this isn't known or the offered brew is lacking then this shows lack of attention, care and love and is intolerable.

There are a surprising number of people out there who don't deliver on this.

I CRIED LIKE A BABY

Christchurch Memorial service today on RNZ live stream.

LET IT GO!

Do you remember the great series of TV ads of Vogel's bread - 'Homesick Kiwis'?

Here's the New York one:

VOGEL'S AD - NEW YORK

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So why refer to this you might ask?

Well today after some activity - tennis in the morning, loading up a trailer with tree trimmings and taking to the landfill, swimming in the afternoon - I thought about preparing my evening meal.

I had something in mind, having kind of planned it a few days before.

LEEK AND POTATO PIE.

Last week when shopping for vegetables I bought the usual - capsicum, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, corn, potatoes, garlic, spring onion and some other things but added a nice big stalk (?) of leek.

We didn't use this over the weekend and on the morning of The Old Girl going back to Auckland on Tuesday we agreed that we'd chop it in half with her taking half to the apartment and using it in a stir-fry during the week and I'd find something to cook my half in as well.

Well today I remembered LEEK AND POTATO PIE. 

I looked up a recipe on the internet, wrote down the ingredients and instructions and went to the kitchen to assemble and prepare.

I found a potato, butter, cheese, pastry (frozen), and egg, herbs and was almost ready to go. I looked for the half a leek. No luck. Half a leek was nowhere to be found. I had in my mind the idea of a delicious LEEK AND POTATO PIE for my dinner and what happens? NO LEEK!

Bummer!

I made other arrangements - my mind said pie so I found some frozen mince mixture and made a small mince pie and had that with mashed potato which was delicious but ..... no LEEK AND POTATO PIE!

Tonight when FaceTiming with The Old Girl I asked her about the leek which she at first denied taking the whole thing away and tried to tell me that she had only taken half but, on intensive questioning she 'remembered' taking the whole thing. A WHOLE LEEK!

She laughed about it and said I'd get over it and then said - "LET IT GO".

Women!

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This cartoon sponsored by Richard (ofRBB) - you can blame him.

I'M SORRY - I WAS WRONG

Simon Bridges believes that New Zealand spy agencies' balance between privacy and security has tipped too far towards privacy, and should be revisited and is calling for a Royal Commission of Enquiry following the Christchurch terrorist attacks.

The Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) and the Security Intelligence Service (SIS), which have been criticised over an apparent lack of monitoring of right-wing extremists, will face some sort of inquiry - as well as the police, customs and immigration.
However, the terms of reference for the inquiry are yet to be established.
Both the SIS and GCSB have confirmed in written statements that they had no intelligence themselves or from any of their partners about the Australian man who's been charged with the shootings.
A 28-year-old man has been charged with murder, and more charges are likely, after a lone shooter killed 50 people and injured dozens at two Christchurch mosques on 15 March.
National Party leader Simon Bridges said yesterday New Zealand's security risk had "changed" and a review of security legislation was needed to make sure people were kept safe.
He said a decision made by the former National government in 2013 to abandon Project Speargun, a more intrusive regime which would have scanned internet traffic coming into New Zealand, should be reconsidered.
"I think we were overcautious in 2013/14," he told Morning Report today.

           - RNZ

A couple of years ago when the GCSB Bill was being debated I was in Auckland and went on the anti-bill rally. See:

LISTENING POST


GCSB

Admittedly my motive was driven by the unhealthy way that John Key's government was trying to rush through the bill but nevertheless I put my 'vote' towards a more liberal approach to government and public supervision.

I was wrong.

Unfortunately we have many people who hide behind political correctness and personal freedoms to foment and ferment their agendas of hate and intolerance. They are the winners here.



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POPPYCOCK

Richard (of RBB) is obviously missing being a schoolteacher and being able to obfuscate students. An example is in his latest post where he put up an arithmetic test (not a mathematical one), where the answer depended on a belief in the dodgy principal of BODMAS.

According to BODMAS rule, if an expression contains brackets ((), {}, []) we have to first solve or simplify the bracket followed by of (powers and roots etc.), then division, multiplication, addition and subtraction from left to right.

To him and other Bodmasters this is fine if the mathematical formula was written down wrong - i.e. without brackets but to me, a purist, it's poppycock - POPPYCOCK (Pack Of Piss Poor Yobbishness Causing Obfuscation Contaminating Knowledge).

The brackets are essential otherwise the formula can be thrown away and started again.

I didn't get where I am today without knowing about mathematics having achieved an 'R' at university in the subject.

"I DIDN'T GET WHERE I AM TODAY WITHOUT  ...."

NEW POST - THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON

The Religious Curmudgeon has a new post:

HERE

ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE

WAIMARIE SMITH - PARADISE

I was up early this morning. It's another lovely day and the forecasters say we have another week of mid-20s weather before Autumn starts to show.

I did some gardening before it got too warm, chopping out some scrappy ferns and flax and felling an unhealthy punga that was obscuring the view from the bedroom window.

I was hot after this so went for a long swim as the tide was well in due to the full moon influence.

The Old Girl has gone for a walk, probably around Reotahi. I'm making a fresh loaf of bread so left her to go on her own.

I hope that you are having a nice day too.

NEW POST - THE CULTURED CURMUDGEON

Spurred on by Richard (of RBB) The Cultured Curmudgeon wrote a new post:

BLEAK HOUSE

AT LAST .... A GOVERNMENT WITH BALLS

Well it took a horrible tragedy but at long last, and long overdue, New Zealand has seen fit to ban unnecessary firearms and to bring some sense back into the regulations over firearms.

RNZ - BAN ON ASSAULT RIFLES

I'm proud of our Prime Minister, this government and the opposition who supported this. Well done.

After our Northland shooting of 18 months ago I ranted in my blog about the ineffectiveness of government in controlling guns:  HERE    and    HERE

It's good to see that something has been done and hopefully all the naysayers - and there are a lot of the pricks - won't get in the way of the implementation of the new regulations and we can make our society safer.