19 Comments

1. 

   rickflick on 20th August 2017 at 2:44 pm

   That was pretty intense. I think I’ll go to bed now. 😉

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     Heather Hastie on 20th August 2017 at 2:52 pm

     Thanks Rick. 🙂

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2. 

   Jenny Haniver on 20th August 2017 at 3:54 pm

   Thanks for posting that gif of the elephant trash collector. I think it’d be a hit in elementary schools to teach children the virtues of picking up after oneself and properly disposing of trash. The rossia pacifica is too cute for words; and that macropinnia microstoma is truly a wonder. I find that clicking through the image goes to an article with a video. That sent me a-Googling for transparent animals and I found this http://www.kickvick.com/transparent-animals/ with very nice photos of some. Pippa is, shall I say, quite fetching.

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     Heather Hastie on 20th August 2017 at 4:02 pm

     Oh wow! There are some cool creatures in that link! They all deserve a tweet, so I tweeted the article. 🙂

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3. 

   nicky on 20th August 2017 at 7:14 pm

   NZ Fifteen’s rugby is very dominant over the last few years, they are reigning world champions (WC every 4 years), They won it twice in a row and won it trice in total (1987, 2011 and 2015), the only team to achieve both feats. Their title win percentage is 37.5%, South Africa 33,3% (they only started WC rugby in 1995), Australia 25%, and England 12.5%. None of the other rugby greats (France, Ireland, etc) ever won.
   In club rugby NZ teams are dominant too: of the last 7 annual Super15 (previously Super 12 and Super 14) played by clubs from NZ , SA and Australia, it was won 5 times by a NZ team, including this year, where the most successful club ever, the Crusaders from Christchurch beat the Highveld Lions from Joburg (admittedly helped by a -justified- red card for the Lions, giving the Crusaders a one man advantage for more than half the match, stifling the Lions’ famous come-back-from-behind act).
   I mean everybody expected NZ to win that match against Australia, at least here in SA.
   I console myself with the fact that in the attractively fast World Sevens rugby (played annually, and by more countries), SA is dominant at present. Only Fiji and England came even close this year.
   There is also a women’s 15 World Cup going on right now, NZ hasn’t lost a match yet and are serious contenders for the title. Only England and France are the other teams that haven’t lost a match yet. Hong Kong is considered the weakest team. SA isn’t even playing.
   NZ women have won it 4 times in a row (1998 to 2010), but the present holder of the title (2014) is England (two titles and 4 times runner up) . France was 3rd in five of the seven cups played. Canada (runner up in 2014 and 3 times 4th) and the USA (won the first one in 1991 and twice runner up) are also considered very strong teams.

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     Heather Hastie on 21st August 2017 at 12:46 am

     It’s nice to have someone else do the showing off for me, especially when it’s not even another NZer!

     Don’t know whether you will have heard yet – Colin Meads died a few hours after last night’s test. I’ll have to give him a mention tomorrow.

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       nicky on 21st August 2017 at 5:10 am

       Colin Meads is a bit before my time, but he was a legend. I think he died of cancer, but he must have been in his eighties. (my beloved wife died exactly one year ago from cancer, she was only 27, you can imagine).
       No, I’m not one of those SA’ns (I’m only a permanent resident to top it) that support the All Blacks because of Apartheid heritage in SA’n rugby. I think nearly all of that belongs to the past now. I’m a staunch ‘Bok’ supporter (and if Madiba can be, why can’t I?), one has to support one’s adopted country. However, in 15’s rugby NZ is simply the best over the last 7 years or so. I do not think any rugby fan will deny that.

       [Again on the final between the Lions and the Crusaders, I still think the Lions would have won if not for the red card for Kwagga Smith (as said, justified, probably not intentional, but definitely very dangerous. Some are of the opinion that, since not intentional, a yellow card (= 10 minutes sin bin) would have been more appropriate… spilled milk). NZ teams have the reputation of coming back strongly in the last 30 to 20 minutes or so, and the Lions act is to outdo them in that particular field. They did come back quite strongly, but not enough to win, not against a great team like the Crusaders]

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         Heather Hastie on 21st August 2017 at 6:20 am

         I think the Lions might have won that game without the red card too. They played better on the night. The Crusaders (which is my favourite NZ team) didn’t play to their potential. I think the Crusaders are the better team, but the Lions played better in that game.

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         Heather Hastie on 21st August 2017 at 6:29 am

         I think the Lions might have won that game without the red card too. They played better on the night. The Crusaders (which is my favourite NZ team) didn’t play to their potential. I think the Crusaders are the better team, but the Lions played better in that game.

         I’m so sorry about your wife. Being so young makes it so much sadder – your life together had only just begun, and the loss of your plans and dreams for your future together is heartbreaking. Your children must be very young too.

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4. 

   nicky on 20th August 2017 at 11:17 pm

   Sarah Champion was right, apparently the Sun made her sound Trump-like, losing nuance, but she is definitely nuanced.
   I think that ‘grooming’ for rape, which includes beatings, threats and torture, of vulnerable non-muslim girls (‘white’, Sikh, or other, often ‘problem’ children) by Muslim gangs is a serious and rampant crime problem. I think it is a more serious (one of several) problem with Islam in Europe than ‘Islamic terrorism’.
   It has become so serious and rampant because the authorities turned a blind eye for fear of being branded islamophobe or racist. Note, one could say that ‘intersectional feminists’ are actually rape enablers here.
   Champion is right, because sticking one’s head ‘struthiously’ in the sand only exacerbates the problem. Of course Islam plays a role, after all, non-muslim women are sluts and whores, or at any rate fair game. It is a state of mind -promoted by Islam- that needs to be addressed.

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   • 

     Heather Hastie on 21st August 2017 at 12:49 am

     I agree.

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5. 

   Lee Knuth on 21st August 2017 at 12:12 am

   Calla Lilies are so prevalent in California. They grow all over and now you can get them in n various shades.

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     Heather Hastie on 21st August 2017 at 12:52 am

     I’d forgotten about the different colours being available – the coloured ones are very expensive here.

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       Jenny Haniver on 21st August 2017 at 6:24 am

       I think you can grow them from seeds. Perhaps you could order some of the colored varieties or one of your readers could send you some. Seeds shouldn’t be too expensive. Gosh, those colored ones are stunning.

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         Heather Hastie on 21st August 2017 at 6:31 am

         I think it would be illegal to send me seeds from overseas unfortunately. We have extremely strict bio security regulations.

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     nicky on 21st August 2017 at 5:32 am

     Those lilies,-or probably a closely related species- are common in marshes here too. They are called Arum lilies here. There is a little toad, not bigger than the last digit of your pinkie, and lily-white with a hidden orange belly, that lives exclusively in Arum lilies. Unsurprisingly called the Arum lily frog ( Hyperolius horstockii) . There is an even smaller toad, the ‘microfrog’ Microbatrachella capensis, also living in arum lilies, but I’ve never seen that one.
     I built a little pond in my garden to help the frogs in dry years (eg. 2008). It attracts many frogs , including the cape river frog with their soothing tik tik tik at night, but not yet Arum lily frogs in my Arum lilies 🙁 .

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       Heather Hastie on 21st August 2017 at 6:23 am

       I think Arum lillies and Calla lillies are different, but I’d have to check. My mother’s the gardener – I just remember stuff she’s said.

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6. 

   nicky on 21st August 2017 at 1:09 pm

   Just checked it Zantedeschia aethiopica: Arum Lily aka Calla Lily, they are the same.
   They originate in southern Africa, so the ones in Big Sur California must be escaped aliens.
   Lee, you say they “grow all over”, are they not (yet) considered invasive aliens?

   [The Cape Floristic Region suffers a lot from invasive aliens: Port Jackson (Acacia saligna), Black Wattle (Acacia mearnsii), Red Eye ‘Rooikrans’ (Acacia cyclops), several Queen of the Night cactus (Cereus sp.), Thorn Apple ‘malpit'(meaning ‘mad pit’ since having psychodysleptic effects when ingested, highly toxic) Datura stramonium, gum trees (Eucalyptus sp.), Pine (Pinus sp.) and Seringa, Persian Lilac (Melia azedarach) are but a few well known ones of the many dozens of listed invasive plants.]

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     Heather Hastie on 21st August 2017 at 1:12 pm

     Thanks for saving me job! Very interesting stuff. Cheers Nicky.

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