My Picks for Top Tweets: 29 August 2017

by | Aug 29, 2017 | Tweets | 18 comments

There’s a lot of suffering going on in Texas still with the ongoing heavy rain. It looks like it could be the weekend before it stops, but there will still be standing water to deal with at that point. Twitter is full of tweets of the sights, and many heroic rescues.

 

Kim Jong-un is acting up again – he wants the world’s attention back on him so has sent a missile east over northern Japan. His excuse is the annual South Korea/US war games. Kim insists they’re invasion practice.

In New Zealand, we’re celebrating one of our top kayakers, Lisa Carrington, who won four medals at the world champs – 2 golds, a silver, and a bronze. She won the two gold medals only an hour apart! She’s an incredible athlete, and I can’t wait to see her at the Olympic Games next year.

She’s third from the left in the tweet below. The pic was taken when she was one of the pair who won the gold medal K2 Women’s 500 metres.

 

 

Cat Tweets

Paging the Hastie family! Don’t you think this gorgeous wee thing looks like April when she was a kitten?

 

As you can see, I’ve found a new cat account. Every few tweets, there’s a Bible verse for good measure, which is probably why I’ve never come across it before. However, I can live with that because the pics are worth it!

 

There’s a bit of an attitude going on here!

 

It’s so tiny!

 

Awww!

 

Now that’s a cat who’s in charge of life.

 

Poor kittehs!

 

There are already lots of cat tweets today, but I had to put this one in …

Dog Tweets

Now that’s what I call a size differential!

 

This is so sad, but it has a happy ending.

Reptile Tweets

Does anyone know what sort of lizard this is? Whatever it is, it seems to have a lot of personality. (Yes, I know that’s just me projecting my human emotions onto an animal, and that doesn’t work!)

Other Animals Tweets

Pandas are so cool. We had a couple visiting in NZ at Auckland Zoo about 30 years ago, and I went to see them. They were wonderful! As such a small country, I don’t think we’ll ever be able to afford to have pandas again.

 

Otters are another one of my faves, and these are especially cute.

 

Flora Tweets

I don’t know what these are, or if they can be eaten, but I like the way they look. Sort of like a cauliflower?

 

Political Tweets

The revolting Ted Cruz is calling for federal aid for Texas. Yes, that would be the same Ted Cruz who voted against any going to New Jersey or New York when they were hit by hurricane Sandy in 2012. Rep Pete King is calling him out …

 

Politicians only have power as long as people vote for them. Personally, I think they should go through a proper legal process and not get rid of Trump via a Kangaroo Court. But, the GOP must start to show some integrity re Trump.
(Via Ann German.)

 

The fake news bots are at it again!
(Via Ann German.)

 

Ha! Is that the president of Finland refusing to shake Trump’s hand? 🙂 (They did shake hands.) Actually, this visit is significant because Finland borders Russia but is not a member of NATO. Aligning themselves with the US by visiting sends a strong signal to Putin.
(Via Ann German.)

 

Architecture Tweets

This home changes with the seasons!

Human Rights Tweets

This is big news. Fortune magazine is reporting that the “Unite the Right” protestors were discussing using vehicles as weapons before the Charlottesville rally.
(Via Ann German.)

Scenic Tweets

Another Bucket List location.

 

A climber’s dream!

 

If I went to this place, I could just sit and watch the waterfall and the fish for ages.

 

Wow!

 

So sue me! I’m a sucker for waterfalls!

Weather Tweets

An interesting tweet from Ann German showing how huge the city of Houston is. Every little thing is bigger in Texas!

 

New Zealand’s known as the country that regularly has four seasons in one day, but I get that isn’t usual. Anyway, there’re always people who have a great response, whatever the situation. (Texas usually gets around 1.3 metres/50 inches of rain annually.)

 

Funny Tweets

Austria used to have an empire. Now there are people in the US who don’t even know they exist.

 

There are some jobs where English is a prerequisite, and making signs is one of them …

 

I wonder if it was at this franchise?


I’m not sure that creator of this sign has a very good grasp of English either …

 

Perhaps they want more business? This is what happens when you have a profit-centred health model. 🙂


And saving the best one for last!

 

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18 Comments

  1. rickflick
    rickflick on 29th August 2017 at 2:55 pm

    He He!

    Reply
  2. Ken
    Ken on 29th August 2017 at 3:16 pm

    Maybe cheese biscuits are just really popular there!

    Anyway, I’ve met Lisa Carrington, who is as nice as she looks.

    Reply
    • Heather Hastie
      Heather Hastie on 30th August 2017 at 7:52 am

      I’ve always thought she looks like a really nice person – I’m glad to know she is.

      Reply
  3. Jenny Haniver
    Jenny Haniver on 29th August 2017 at 3:32 pm

    The lizard looks like a Mediterranean house gecko. I’ve never seen a lizard with such an expressive face.

    Love the video of the panda. It seems that baby pandas have a penchant for making it well-nigh impossible for workers in their enclosures to get anything done, and they love the leg-grabbing. Here’s another: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3tNgwQwKK4. What a mess. What fun!

    I have a special fondness for mangled signage, misidentifications, mistranslations, and malapropisms, and “Now hiring smiling feces” tickles my admittedly puerile funny bone, the next one, too. In that regard, here’s a site with some good ones – http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?cat=6. Language Log, archive for “Lost in Translation”

    Reply
    • Heather Hastie
      Heather Hastie on 30th August 2017 at 7:51 am

      I really like mangled signage too. However, when I see it in real life, I can’t buy from the store concerned. It worries me somehow.

      When I worked for the Waikato District Health Board, part of my job involved statistical analysis of all incidents involving patients. It never ceased to amaze me how bad the spelling of some educated health professionals was e.g. someone who had been a nurse for 30 years and still couldn’t spell paracetamol, and I don’t mean just a little bit wrong – parrasitemolle.

      Reply
  4. Diane G.
    Diane G. on 29th August 2017 at 6:19 pm

    That expression on the Finnish President’s face…

    😀 😀

    Reply
  5. ratabago
    ratabago on 29th August 2017 at 7:13 pm

    The hala fruit is from a species of Pandanus, sometimes called the coastal Pandanus, sometimes Tahitian screwpine. It was once an important food in Micronesia, might still be.

    Reply
    • Heather Hastie
      Heather Hastie on 30th August 2017 at 7:42 am

      Thanks for that. Do you know of any more common fruit it’s related to?

      Reply
      • ratabago
        ratabago on 30th August 2017 at 8:47 pm

        AFAIK they are not closely related to any common fruit. They are monocots, so they are kind of distantly related to bananas, dates, and coconuts. But that is a sufficient distance that I might as well claim they are related to wheat, barley, and oats, or to vanilla beans.

        So, some Pandanus tivia:
        There is another Pandanus with fruit that is sometimes eaten, Pandanus utilis, aka the common screwpine. But their fruit is unpalatable, and needs to be cooked. Rodents like them, though.

        Pandanus may well be more important as a source of fibres than of food. Fibres from the leaves turn up in string and rope, baskets, clothing, mats and sails. The leaves are also used for thatching.

        Some Pandanus have leaves that are important flavourings. The best known of these is pandan. It is used in India and Sri Lanka to flavour rice and desserts. It is also used in Malaysian and Thai cooking, including pandan chicken (yum). These leaves are also used as traditional medicines, and extracts might have some effect reducing fever.

        Somewhere buried in my book collection I have a couple of books on wild foods in Australia. They both recommend cutting the young “fronds” out of the hearts of the crowns of coastal Pandanus and boiling them as a substitute for cabbage. I’ve never tried it. Given how sharp and nasty the surrounding full grown leaves are I doubt it would be worth the effort except in emergencies.

        Reply
        • Heather Hastie
          Heather Hastie on 31st August 2017 at 4:45 am

          Thanks so much for that! Very interesting!

          Reply
  6. Lee Knuth
    Lee Knuth on 30th August 2017 at 4:27 am

    Peter King is a member from Congress who supported Trump for President and whose conservative views on many subjects I disagree with. However, his stance on funding for Texas disaster victims is one on which we agree. LI suffered with Sandy so we identify with their plight.

    Reply
    • Heather Hastie
      Heather Hastie on 30th August 2017 at 7:40 am

      It shocked me the number of senators who opposed funding for Sandy.

      Reply
  7. Federico Bär
    Federico Bär on 30th August 2017 at 6:09 am

    On mountains:
    At the foot of a giant in the South American Andes Range, we had a chat with a group of Austrian (not to be confused with Australian :-)) alpinists – at that time: andinists. I wondered what had brought them to travel 12.000 kilometers to climb a mountain, since they live in a country covered by mountains. I liked the reply of one of them, now quite obvious to me: “Our tallest summit, the GrossGlockner, is only 3.800 meters high, the Aconcagua here, almost 7.000. This is is not our first challenge, and it will certainly not be our last one”.

    A more interesting part of the conversation was his explanation why only four or five of their group of twelve had reached the top. However, it seems that often the last few tens of meters may prove unsurmountable to even the most experienced climbers. On top of it [pun intended], it is of no use trying again without first returning to base and start a new ascent. Isn’t that curious?
    .-

    Reply
    • Heather Hastie
      Heather Hastie on 30th August 2017 at 7:37 am

      We have quite a few mountaineers in NZ because of the legacy of Ed Hillary, and they’re a mad bunch! They get quite obsessive about the mountains they climb and the way they do it.

      Reply
  8. Mark R.
    Mark R. on 30th August 2017 at 6:10 am

    I loved the dog’s story; animals can really bounce back since they know what it means to be loved and cared for.

    I remember once wanting to plant some ivy next to a house so it would grow all over it like the one shown. Apparently, plants do a lot of damage to houses they grow on. Makes sense as they need to grab hold and I’m sure over time the bricks/mortar/wood would become compromised. Sure looks cool though! And I bet it takes a real long time for any serious damage.

    Funny when you mentioned New Zealand was known for having 4 seasons in one day, I was reminded of a Crowded House song by that name. I knew Crowded House was from Australia, but after googling, I found that the band’s founder, Neil Finn, is a New Zealander. Learn something new every day! And if you don’t know the song, check it out, it’s a good’n. Here’s a live version from ’09: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeYEyCDRHmE

    Reply
    • Heather Hastie
      Heather Hastie on 30th August 2017 at 7:33 am

      The band and the song’s well known and popular in NZ, and it’s referring partly to our weather. A lot of our top bands end up in Australia because they can make a lot more money there because of the bigger population.

      Reply

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