Yeah I'm not going to let it get between me and takeaways ha ha.
Seriously though as well as being a single data point it was self-reported and I noticed it changed depending on the interlocuter - from memory they told the local paper that the secret is going to church.
Ah I didn't see it. Thanks for the link, interesting.
On a casual read through: "satellite" is misspelt, "fibre" is randomly capitalized in the section on fibre quality, typo "team" for "term" in the ethnicity section, and in the employment status section "less" should be "fewer". 😊
I used to know a sprightly 100 year old who still lived alone in their own home. Their longevity advice was "don't eat too many takeaways"! Bet they had a low anticholinergic burden though 😃
That's another plus about organizations, while they may also think you have to do whatever they say, they're more realistic about what that is because it has likely already been tested in court.
Yeah New Zealand has a few references to British India. The Coromandel Peninsula is named after the Coromandel Coast in East India.
No, that’s what she’s trying to make you do!
I mean I mentioned it because it's working on me!
Wait why aren't you going to be around in 50 years? Live to 100 go on I dare you.
So you should, "entrepreneurship" is a Big Kids word! 😄
I hear you on the pay cheque. Preferably from a large organization.
As far as I can see being an author in NZ is not what to do if you want money, it's more a side thing done by people who already have good jobs.
It got me interested in her other work! Turns out I've actually seen one of her documentaries, it's this thing about a Maori family who breed horses in the Ruakines, plays on Maori TV sometimes.
Relevant to OP article though, found this in a review of her book:
As she tells her story, she very clearly identifies the cause of the suffering of those involved in adoption, the archaic 1955 Adoption Act. A policy formed on an ideology that total disconnection between adopted children and their biological parents was essential.
“In all, I had over seventy interactions with government departments. The result was always the same. Yes, they had my files. Yes, any staff member could read those files. But no, I had no right to them.”
If that was her experience, then going forward, feeling like you were being obstructed in an OIA process would reopen a few old wounds. Especially when now here she is at uni and trying to undertake academic research.
I think many people don't realise these days how bad adoption in NZ was, you sort of have to hear about it from the old timers. Teenage"unmarried mothers" were taken to special facilities and when they gave birth their babies were taken, even against their will/without consent in some cases, and never allowed to know who their parents were or why they were adopted or even what their own ethnicity was.
True, true, the only way to make money seems to be self publish and for that you need space for a garage full of books!
I'm not sure what it's like these days but NZ was always so small we don't really need an agent for local publishers, though.
My thoughts are that there are no villains here.
a) being annoyed at being overworked is understandable. (Writing what you really think/personal opinions in an institutional email is crazy though - save it for ftf).
b) wanting access to information for a major research project is also understandable and it's not her fault they are overworked.
c) she's an ex journalist and filmmaker and her current research seems to be about the web of lies and ommissions surrounding historical closed adoptions.
The only way anyone has ever got any traction on institutional "secrets" - everything from baby theft adoptions of the 1960s, child abuse in boarding schools in the 70s, the "Unfortunate Experiment" killing women at National Womens in the 80s, etc etc has been by being a "bitch" and pushing the authorities for information they don't want to part with.
OTOH as an ex journo she knows talking to the media about this will create a bit of buzz around her forthcoming research.
I looked it up, it's this research here so depending on how it's written up I can definitely see it potentially benefiting a subset of society.
That said, the bar for PhD research is it has to make an original contribution of new material to its field - that's for the universities to gatekeep. PhDs only have to be "of benefit to NZ" above and beyond that if they are getting direct funding from the Government (or other funding body with that requirement).
But either way a PhD is literally a piece of research so anyone undertaking one has to, well, research all the relevant info to the very best of their ability.
I think the issue here is whether their staff are funded to the level to meet these OIAs and if not, their manager should have requested her to apply for funding to cover it. Which is hard to know without knowing what the level of access actually was.
There's a wikipedia article on her and she seems to mainly be a film maker/journalist not an academic, and is now involved in adoption activism around people who weren't allowed to know who their real parents are. So the request about her name kind of makes more sense to me in that context.
Yeah I was kind of mentioning this stuff more because one day your parents will get old.
Statins have benefits that typically outweigh the side effects, and confusingly they seem to protect people from dementia as well as causing issues with memory and cognition. It's nothing to regret, just worth knowing it's a factor.
You actually don't have to, most publishers want to pick the illustrator themselves so they just want you to send them the words part.
Diet can do it too, e.g vitamin D deficiency also causes cognitive decline, and if doctors find out someone is eating 50% butter and puts them on statins (anti cholesterol) that causes reversible cognitive decline as well.
Bizarrely, with elderly people you also have to watch out for "silent" UTIs - they don't hurt so the person might not realise they have one and it causes really marked signs of dementia, eg they say really dementia-ish things. Antibiotics clears it up. I saw this one first hand and it was such a relief to actually figure it out and get the person back to normal.
Photo Friday!
Theme: cooler than expected
Rules: no NSFW and has to be a snap you took yourself.
I think we should make themes optional so if you have a pic you want to post that doesn't fit, you still can, what does everyone else think?
Photo Friday!
Hi everyone, can we do a Photo Friday?
@[email protected] used to post them, but I haven't seen them for ages and @[email protected] said it'd be okay.
Theme: Something you like!
Rules: no NSFW and has to be a snap you took yourself.
Gathering water is a top priority if trapped in the New Zealand bush, but dining on native edible plants can provide additional energy and sustenance to survive. Words: Mieke Couling You’d be a bit silly to enter the bush unprepared to face unfortunate circumstances, but if you ever do find yoursel...
Stumbled on this and thought it was worth a share. I had no idea you can eat gorse!
We're marching for the forests, the ocean, climate and the unique wildlife of Aotearoa. And we march for democracy and Ti Tiriti.The fast track bill is the m...
Cool short video about unique Archey's Frog
Brylie and Nikita investigate the threats to this special creature's survival and travel into the Coromandel Forest to catch up with Dr Ben Bell who is monit...
Was just talking about how cool New Zealand's rare frogs are and wanted to share. These frogs evolved to have no ears, so they also have no croaking noises (what's the point if the mates you are trying to attract are deaf) which is unique!
NB: There probably is a bit of "political" content insofar as some of the people are talking about threats to the frog and opposing its habatat destruction but I think this still belongs in general?
NZGeo: Batfly
It's an ant! It's a spider. No—it's BATFLY! A blind, wingless species of fly that lives on and with New Zealand short-tailed bats in strange symbiotic relationship. Similar animals infesting bats in South America and elsewhere are blood-sucking parasites—the vampire's vampire—but the New Zealand ver...
These blind wingless flies are vegetarian and can only travel on a rare species of bat who prefers to walk.
New Zealand Geo: Batfly
It's an ant! It's a spider. No—it's BATFLY! A blind, wingless species of fly that lives on and with New Zealand short-tailed bats in strange symbiotic relationship. Similar animals infesting bats in South America and elsewhere are blood-sucking parasites—the vampire's vampire—but the New Zealand ver...
This is a really good read about one of my favourite weird animal facts!
New Zealand’s plants and animals are globally unique and underpin primary production and tourism. The government’s fast-tracking proposal threatens to erode the natural capital the economy relies on.
Temperatures are set to dip across New Zealand, with sprinkles of snow possible in the Canterbury and Otago high country.
Koya tribe in Andhra Pradesh's Papikonda hill range move from traditional Indian Bison horns to palm leaves to craft their flute, Permakore, as a gesture of conservation. Koyas use Permakore to call villagers to hunt, celebrate catch, and mark the start of the agricultural season. The palm tree is d...
The kahukura red admiral butterfly has been voted in by nearly 17,000 bug lovers.
The kahukura red admiral butterfly has been named New Zealand's Bug of the Year today, after nearly 17,000 bug lovers voted for their favourite insect.
Twenty bugs were vying to be New Zealand's favourite, with 11 of the 20 nominees listed as at-risk, endangered or declining.
The competition - run by the Entomological Society of New Zealand - was created to give bugs the same kind publicity seen in the popular Bird of the Year race.
The winning insects receive research funding and promotion about their conservation.
A family in Kannur preserves a megalithic relic, urging urgent measures to protect other monuments from destruction.
Aotearoa Daily Kōrero 31/12/2023
Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!
Anyone can make the thread, first in first served. If you are here on a day and there’s no daily thread, feel free to create it!
Anyway, it’s just a chance to talk about your day, what you have planned, what you have done, etc.
So, how’s it going?
An ambitious Brazilian plan launched at the COP could help
Once believed to be extinct, black-footed ferrets are among the most endangered animals in North America. The Great Plains Zoo and Butterfly House and Aquarium have been working for decades alongside the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to conserve black-footed ferrets.
Brazil plans to propose a "huge" fund to pay for the conservation of tropical forests at the United Nations COP28 climate change summit that begins later this month in Dubai, the country's top climate negotiator said on Thursday.
Guys I just discovered the town equivalent of Bashford Antiques!: This Louisiana Town Runs Largely on Traffic Fines. If You Fight Your Ticket, the Mayor Is Your Judge.
Fenton, population 226, brings in over $1 million per year through its mayor’s court, an unusual justice system in which the mayor can serve as judge even though he’s responsible for town finances.
Via @[email protected]
Villagers in Erode, Tamil Nadu celebrated Deepavali with no sound to protect birds in nearby sanctuary. For 22 years, families have bought children clothes and sparklers, not crackers. This year, seven villages upheld the respectful tradition, ensuring thousands of birds remained safe and blissful.
The pūteketeke Australasian crested grebe has won Bird of the Century 2023.
Pūteketeke won, no surprise there. I think what most of us were waiting for was the 2nd spot which goes to North Island Brown Kiwi.
According to the article the second choice of the Pūteketeke crowd was the Rockhopper penguin, so I think that means it's a legit win for the kiwi?
Dong Thap works hard on conserving red-crowned cranes | Environment | Vietnam
The People’s Committee of the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap has approved a project to conserve red-crowned cranes in the Tram Chim National Park in the 2022 – 2032 period with an estimated total budget of over 184 billion VND (nearly 7.6 million USD).
