The thread of learning something new every day
-
<p>I always thought Piwakawaka were just holders of visiting spirits. I know when my mother in law died, we were going around her garden picking flowers and things and this piwakawaka followed us the whole time and everyone attributed it to that.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But doing some searching it looks like the predominant legend is predicting the death of a male. The bit I was told was the aspect of being a messenger from the dead.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Chris. You're fucked.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Crucial" data-cid="491633" data-time="1432191717">
<div>
<p><span style="font-size:12px;">But doing some searching it looks like the predominant legend is predicting the death of a male. The bit I was told was the aspect of being a messenger from the dead.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Chris. You're fucked.</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>Bugger - better have another beer then. :)</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Crucial" data-cid="491414" data-time="1432071525"><p>Cool. <br><br>
The Karerearea should be our national bird. The Kiwi is a pathetic wuss in comparison. <br>
Much more regal as well. Here's a photo I took earlier in the year. <br><img src="http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/05/19/7d1c3718baa860a20f65682868e3e99e.jpg" alt="7d1c3718baa860a20f65682868e3e99e.jpg"></p></blockquote>
I dunno on the kiwi being too much of a wuss. I've seen doco footage of one putting a world of hurt on a possum. -
<p>She lays the egg then says righto, fuck that, I've done my bit now I'm off out with the girls, and the bloke sits on the egg for the entire incubation time.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Apparently, kiwi divorce can happen.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Ok, laughing hysterically at this description about kiwi mating from <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='https://www.kiwisforkiwi.org/about-kiwi/kiwi-facts-characteristics/kiwi-life-cycle/mating/'>https://www.kiwisforkiwi.org/about-kiwi/kiwi-facts-characteristics/kiwi-life-cycle/mating/</a></p>
<p> </p>Mating behaviour
<p>With no colourful plumage or a beautiful song to attract his mate, the male kiwi has developed the strategy of persistence. He follows her about, grunting. If uninterested, she may run away, or use her greater weight and size to see him off. However, if she is interested, mating takes place, three or more times a night during the peak of activity.</p>
<p>The male taps or strokes the female on her back, near the base of her neck. She crouches low with her head stretched forward and resting on the ground. Because the female is the larger bird, the male needs her full co-operation. He climbs onto her back, which can be difficult with no wings or tail to help him balance. Often he will grasp her back feathers in his beak to help his balance.</p>
<p>The kiwi female calls the shots during mating. If she loses interest she may wander away, leaving the male in an undignified heap on the ground.</p>
<p> </p> -
<p>holy fuck, i am a kiwi!</p>
-
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Mokey" data-cid="491725" data-time="1432241739">
<div>
<p> </p>
<p>The kiwi female calls the shots during mating. If she loses interest she may wander away, leaving the male in an undignified heap on the ground.</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>Usually outside a bar on Courtney Place or similar - in my experience! :)</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Chris B." data-cid="491631" data-time="1432190907">
<div>
<p>Fantail hasn't got me yet - but it will be a test - maybe now I know this theory it will be like having a bone pointed at me. I'm going to work on the (slightly discriminatory) theory that it's not applicable to pakeha. But, if I sold my house to your Nan - with its trained fantail - could that be murder? </p>
<p> </p>
<p>A pair of them nested right outside my office window last spring...was pretty cool watching them raise the chicks.</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>My Nan's long dead, and no it had nothing to do with me not being able to close the other door and window on time.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I think other cultures can adopt (not adopt) things as they see fit. I wouldn't dare step in a cemetery with food in NZ, but if I was in Mexico attending a Day of the Dead celebration I'll happily chomp down on a burrito in the cemetery - after all, they're not my ancestors.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Nepia" data-cid="491755" data-time="1432261510">
<div>
<p>My Nan's long dead, and no it had nothing to do with me not being able to close the other door and window on time.</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>In theory, you could accuse the fantails of slacking on the job - if they're going to be harbingers they've got to be consistent about it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Closest I've come to seeing a ghost was at the end of the 6th form when I got a job with the council mowing roadsides and cemeteries. I stopped for lunch in a cemetery one day - out in the countryside and glanced over my shoulder and there was a white figure looming about 20 yards away. I didn't stop for a second look and bolted. I ate my lunch on the other side of the fence that day.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Some people might wear crucifixes to ward off ghosts, but based on that experience I reckon a big lawn-mower and a pair of ear-muffs will effectively ward them off. Once you've got a mower fired up it just seems highly unlikely that the undead are coming for you.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In any case, I'm pretty sure I just saw one of those big spooky marble statues out of the corner of my eye.</p> -
Everyone's bigger than me
-
I whiff of many things
-
<p>I normally do what my whiff tells me!</p>
-
<p></p><p></p><blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">[b][url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Dowd_%28politician%29#Hendogate]James Patrick Dowd[/url][/b] (born 5 March 1951) is a British Labour Party politician, who has been a member of parliament (MP) since 1992, first for Lewisham West and since 2010 for Lewisham West and Penge.<br><br>
[b]Hendogate[/b]<br><br>
On 20 January 2014, Dowd made a speech in the House of Commons during a debate on the Intellectual Property Bill, stating that he had asked for Worcester Sauce whilst eating a meal at the Hare and Billet pub in Blackheath and that he was provided with Henderson's Relish.[5] Dowd used Henderson's as an example of "parasitic packaging", implying in the debate that it was attempting to pass itself off as Lea and Perrins.[6]<br><br>
Henderson's Relish is well known within Sheffield and parts of Yorkshire and has been manufactured there for over 100 years. Dowd upset supporters of the sauce; the Sheffield Central member of parliament, Paul Blomfield, offered to bring a bottle to Parliament and invite Dowd for a meal with him using it – an invitation accepted by Dowd.[7]<br><br>
Simon Freeman – the managing director of Henderson's – jokingly stated that he would order "an internal investigation to find out how it got out of Yorkshire";[8] a local newspaper, the Sheffield Star, launched a Twitter campaign with the hashtag #Hendogate to defend Henderson's, attracting support locally.[9] Dowd later stated his "amazement" at the backlash his comments had caused, which he said included threats of violence.[10] The assistant manager of the Hare and Billet – Adam Beaston – claimed that Dowd branded Henderson's a "blatant copy" of Lea and Perrins at the time but that he warned the MP that such a view would be "blasphemy in Sheffield".[11]</blockquote> -
<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Bridge_(Lake_Havasu_City)'>http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Bridge_(Lake_Havasu_City)</a>
-
<p>Might not be parasitic packaging in the 21st century, but I reckon it was in the 19th. According to Wiki</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">
<p> </p>
<p>It is best known as the maker of Lea & Perrins brand of <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worcestershire_sauce' title="Worcestershire sauce">Worcestershire sauce</a>,<sup><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lea_%26_Perrins#cite_note-1'><span>[</span>1<span>]</span></a></sup> which was <strong>first sold in 1838 </strong>by <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wheeley_Lea' title="John Wheeley Lea">John Wheeley Lea</a> and <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Perrins' title="William Henry Perrins">William Henry Perrins</a>,<sup><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lea_%26_Perrins#cite_note-2'><span>[</span></a></sup></p>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">
<p>It was Henry Henderson who first began manufacturing his own special type of sauce back in the <strong>latter part of the 19th century</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p><span><span style="font-size:10px;"><span> <img src="http://i.guim.co.uk/static/w-700/h--/q-95/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/11/3/1257250494862/Lea-and-Perrins-Worcester-001.jpg" alt="Lea-and-Perrins-Worcester-001.jpg"> </span> <img height="388" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02006/hendersons_2006213i.jpg" width="620" alt="hendersons_2006213i.jpg"></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span><span style="font-size:10px;"> </span></span></p> -
<p>I have a bunch of mates who would like to share info, news, photos etc amongst ourselves without using facebook or any related methods (it's all above board, honest!!). I want everyone to be able to contribute without needing one person to upload all the stuff at any time. How might I best go about this?</p>
-
<p>Meet down the pub?</p>