American, writes the most delightfully engrossing back country set thrillers, involving game wardens and sheriffs, with a bit of homespun domestics thrown in for good measure.

He has written lots of novels, and is still going, so with luck I will not run out of entertainment to keep me amused between science fiction doorstops.

Wonderful stuff, recommended. 

R.I.P. Alexi Navalny, a very brave man brought down by scum.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68315943

Reportedly the last photo of Navalny alive

https://old.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/1...lny_alive/

The man himself:

https://i.redd.it/lwetvfc6gyic1.jpeg

https://i.redd.it/rhe4p24cgzic1.jpeg

BBC coverage:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68320268

Wainuitech

I am using a Brother Printer MFC-L27130DW. I am trying to scan a document into Thunderbird to email,  and not having much success.

I think I have exhausted my efforts and would appreciate some help if you have the time please.

And about bloody time,too. Absolutely outrageos that he's been imprisoned for so long simply for telling the world the truth which America found inconveninet.

https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/02/15/aus-l...n-assange/

"Australia's House of Representatives has ramped up pressure on the United States and Britain to end the prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange by passing a motion calling for the Australian citizen to be allowed to return to his home country.
Independent lawmaker Andrew Wilkie moved the motion on Wednesday one week ahead of Britain's High Court of Justice hearing Assange's appeal against extradition to the United States on espionage charges.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was among the 86 lawmakers who voted for the motion that called on the United States and Britain to bring the "matter to a close so that Mr. Assange can return home to his family in Australia".

The motion was opposed by 42 lawmakers including most of the main opposition party that unsuccessfully proposed amendments.
Leaders of both the government and the opposition have publicly stated that the United States' pursuit of the 52-year-old had dragged on for too long.
Assange has been in London's high-security Belmarsh Prison since he was arrested in 2019 for skipping bail during a separate legal battle. Before that, he spent seven years inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden to face allegations of rape and sexual assault. Sweden dropped the rape investigation in 2019 because so much time had elapsed.

Assange's brother Gabriel Shipton on Thursday welcomed the lawmakers' vote, adding that his notorious sibling could potentially be extradited to the United States next week.
"That means all the ties to his family, his lifeline that are keeping him alive inside that prison will be cut off and he'll be lost into a horrific prison system in the United States," Shipton told reporters at Parliament House.
"This show of support from the Parliament is at a crucial time and now gives the government a real mandate to advocate very, very strongly for a political solution to bring Julian Assange home," Shipton added.
Wilkie, who authored the motion, argues the extradition should be dropped.


Assange's plight is seen as a test of Albanese's leverage with the administration of US President Joe Biden.

American prosecutors allege he helped US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal classified diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks later published, putting lives at risk.
Australia argues there is a disconnect between the US treatment of Assange and Manning. Then-US President Barack Obama commuted Manning's 35-year sentence to seven years, which allowed her release in 2017."

This time at a super bowl parade, but only one death thankfully.

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-us-canada-68300903


"Shifting briefly away from the news conference in Kansas City, a local law enforcement source has told the BBC's US partner, CBS News, that the shooting does not appear to be terror related.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/dunedin-su...fjEAi5lufY

Didn't take them long.


Jack Tame  interviewing Louise Upston."National, report last time they were in govt shows they said trial periods of 90 days was fundamentally wrong"... & she hasn't read it.
Traffic light sanction system for beneficiaries..."Little evidence sanctions work"

She won't say what happens to those  whose benefits are cut altogether....the report says that compounds social harm.


https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/3501789...s-benefits

"It is the first week of a brutal four-week sitting block and the House is sitting under urgency to get through the National-led government's agenda, which means legislation does not undergo scrutiny in a select committee. 

• The House has been debating a change in legislation that will┬átie benefit increases to inflation rather than wage growth. Opposition MPs say the change will leave beneficiaries worse off and increase child poverty.
  
• Parliament this morning┬árepealed the Three Waters legislation, but the Opposition says the Government's alternative plan Local Water Done Well will cost people more. "
  

Came across these - two very different aspects of human nature.


https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/campu...ago-alumni

"A University of Otago alumnusÔÇÖ estate has bequest $3.8 million to support students and research.
The Alumni of the University of Otago in America received its largest donation ever from the late radiologist Dr John Stewart.
The first initiative established through the gift was the John M. Stewart Scholarship which was to be awarded for the first time this month.
The scholarship would support undergraduate Health Sciences students.
Dr Stewart graduated with a Bachelor in Medicine and Bachelor in Surgery from the university in 1966.
After completing internships and residencies in New Zealand and beginning his career in Australia, Dr Stewart moved to the United States accepting a dual position at the Medical College of Wisconsin and the Milwaukee County general Hospital.

Later he moved to Caribou, Maine where he worked at Cary Medical Centre for 35 years.
Dr Stewart was diagnosed with cancer in 2004 and took part in several cancer research trials.
His daughters, Alison and Hermione said Dr Stewart was passionate about cancer research in particular and it was the main reason he wanted to give to the University of Otago.
Going through medical trials for years was not easy for him.
However, he never complained because he knew participating in them would potentially help others.

ÔÇ£He had no desire to buy expensive clothes or cars, he just wanted his money to go on education, learning experiences, and items that lasted.
"I know he would be happy to know that his gift would be going towards students of any background that are hard-working, studious and focused on their study," Alison said.


Applicants for the scholarship were to be enrolled in at least their second year of undergraduate study towards a Health Sciences professional programme.
The scholarship would waver annual tuition fees for up to five years of study."



https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty...2JQ2JO5BM/

"A Maungatapu man who admitted just over $50,000 of tax evasion offences has been jailed for a year.
Kiri Haggie, 55, who earlier pleaded guilty to four counts of tax evasion, one count of making a false statement and two counts of failing to furnish tax returns, was sentenced in Tauranga District Court yesterday.

He was also ordered to pay $50,394 in reparation to Inland Revenue.
The offences were committed over five tax years between April 1, 2006 and March 31, 2011 while Haggie was operating a painting and plastering business, with $50,394 of PAYE and GST being evaded. Haggie, who was adjudicated bankrupt in 2006, initially denied the charges.


His lawyer, Glenn Barnett, said Haggie got into financial difficulties and when Inland Revenue contacted him, he effectively "buried his head in the sand", which was compounded by his low level of literacy."

I have 5 jpg files where I took screen shots from a link supplied by SWMBO they are the useful bits without intermiable adds.  can I now merge these?  They are of a recipe that sh wants to use.  If all else fails I could print, trim and join them them then scan the results.

From your secret admirer. And here's a card worth reading...

https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/02/13/valent...bhB2CyFytk

:heart: :heart: :heart: