And finally it seems that media are waking up to this.  Last year $183 millon was lost in reported scams by people in NZ.  That is reported scams.  Actual loss could br 3 or 4 times higher.

However one "expert" suggested that banks should stop contacting their customers to avoid confusion.  And when banks see these scams occurring what should they do?  Send a letter?

People just need to be much more careful when they get emails, texts and phone calls out of the blue.   Never click a link to solve a problem.   Never give out personal information to a random caller - if they are actually calling from your bank, credit card company etc they will already have your information so thy won't need you to give it to them !

Somewhat late, but that's ok, we are too engrossed in our books to notice.

The mind works in mysterious, and sometimes suspicious ways.

Many years ago I found a book in a 2nd hand shop by Tom Neale, called An Island To Oneself.  It is about the times he spent living alone on deserted Suvarov Island...in the book his 2 times there, but in the real world he went back a 3rd time. It made an impression on me, it resonates with others who crave solitude. When we lived on Waiheke Island there was no Public Library then, just a Community Library of donated books, and we donated a lot of our books, and this must've been one of them. 

On a motorcycle forum I'm on someone started a thread - Hermits, Recluses, Lookouts and lighthouse Keepers, asking if anyone had done it. A few live off the grid, but a true life alone is rare these days.  I mentioned An Island To Oneself, and someone said he had the book, and read it at least once a year.  So that set me on the trail to get my book back...I found a hardback on Amazon - $1,200 US !   Even paperbacks are 2 or 3 hundred.  A local women runs a Book Fair at the community hall, and other places as well....she keeps her books in one of the storage containers at work, and at the moment lives in the back yard in her truck. I had a look for it in the hall but didn't find it, and asked her, that I guess she didn't know every book she had,  but, did she have it. Half an hour later she gives it to me....she has a box labelled Russia and Pacific, I just saw Russia and moved on. She charges $3 per book, I gave her $4 for the prompt service.

So, just by thinking about it, my book has found it's way back to me. I am going to loan it to a friend, well she won't say we are friends, she shuns humans and leads a live of few friends. One of her daughters asked what would be her perfect life, and she just drew a picture...an island with one palm tree, and the stick figure of herself. So, this book is destined for her.

I do have some slight connection to the book too. The company A B Donald had interests in the Cook Islands and others, and they had a boat, or others that traded their products around the islands, and Tom was a friend of the skipper, and used the boat to get to Suvarov....and bought many of his supplies from the Donalds store.  In the mid '80's I worked for one of the Donald's, and he knew all about Tom Neale, and went to the islands aboard the same boat, with the same skipper.  Then on Waiheke I worked with a woman from Raro, and I mentioned Tom Neale - ''Oh, Uncle Tom !  He used to come and visit us in Glenn Innes.''  And she told me he went back a 3rd time, and had married in Raro and had kids, which is not in the book.

Sounds just charming; insisting on 'tenants who vote National'




https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/better-...risis-hero


"Bennett says his rentals are often the cheapest on the market, and it isnÔÇÖt realistic for the Government to expect his ÔÇ£entry level homesÔÇØ to be ÔÇ£four or five starÔÇØ quality.

A business owner quoted in Stuff: "We had to cancel my mother's 84th birthday party because people couldn't get to Whitianga"

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3008474...ighway-fix

"One day we will look at Ardern as one of our best leaders."


I think he's probably right. While as imperfect as any PM, she nonetheless in some respects did an excellent job of being leader. Unconventional in comparison to those who've gone before her.

And I really don't think we yet fully comprehend the impact of that hug. Most women & many men understand on an instinctual level that when someone is in huge pain & suffering massive trauma, you just hug them & AFAIK, never before has any leader of any country done such a thing.

It came from a visceral level, as did the actions of the terrorist - but where his actions were so very warped & twisted with hatred that he was able to see  a small child only as 'enemy' & murder him, the hug came not from hatred but from love & empathy


https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/30084878...st-leaders


"Not in the same pantheon as Richard Seddon or Peter Fraser for their impact on the country, but high up on the next tier. She brought in a universal child payment for parents; ushered in Fair Pay agreements for workers; healthy home standards for renters; winter energy payments for a million Kiwis; New Zealand History into the curriculum; free school lunches and period products for students, and a policy foundation for climate action.

I saw this earlier today https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/elon-musks...4PNOMXBRQ/ about Starlink. Obviously some people haven't yet heard about it so having an article is good, but why does the beginning of what is an otherwise good article assume all readers are ignorant? Eg  ".... The lights were also seen above Warkworth earlier in the year ... ". The lights are above us everywhere all the time although are mostly unable to be seen with the naked eye. The newest chains do put on a good show when they're in the right place at the right time in a clear sky. We've seen the most recent chain three times in the last two weeks around 7pm-ish.

I use https://www.heavens-above.com/StarLink.a...&alt=0&tz= to see what is where. For those who haven't seen it before, it's overwhelming to see just how many satellites there are, but also great to select just the most recent and follow its orbit to see when it's going to go over where you are. The dusk times on a recent chain are the best to view while the sun is reflecting off them.

I fully understand the astronomers' perspective of "pollution" of the clear sky view, but if we want universal internet coverage we need to accept that it's happening.

Bouncy scoots.
I don't know what they're saying, but this sure looks like fun.

OSH would not need laxatives if we started this locally.

Any  Press Reader users here?
I have been using Press reader for a few years and have noticed a change,  I could use it long time with out having to go to my local library to log into the hotspot.
But now it only seems to last for about 5 days before it needs topping up at a hotspot.
I have it on my Android phone but I find its better on a tablet (iPad) as you can zoom in for easier reading.  I used to be able to use it on a PC which was handy for back issuses to read when ever but now I can't seem to make that work and keeps asking for payment.
Which defeats the object of being free when it is no cheaper than trying to buy a magazine.
So is anyone up to date with the current press reader format?

I saw this mentioned in a nature programme I watched just recently and thought that it is the sort of information that you just could not do without, so I looked it up and found nine drawings on how to wrap a pigeon prior to dropping it from an aircraft. The method was used by the Royal Airforce. I knew it was the completely useless piece of information that you just needed to know:

https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk...ment/11573]Method of Wrapping Pigeons for Dropping from Aircraft ┬À IBCC Digital Archive (lincoln.ac.uk)

Bastards!

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/a...nline-shop


"The online shop Book Depository is due to close at the end of April, vendors and publishing partners have been told. This comes after the booksellerÔÇÖs parent company┬áAmazon┬áannounced it had decided to ÔÇ£eliminateÔÇØ a number of positions across its Devices and Books businesses.
The Gloucester-based bookseller was founded in 2004 by Stuart Felton and Andrew Crawford, a former Amazon employee, with the mantra of ÔÇ£selling ÔÇÿless of moreÔÇÖ rather than ÔÇÿmore of lessÔÇÖÔÇØ. It aimed to sell 6m titles covering a wide variety of genres and topics, as opposed to focusing solely on bestsellers. While originally a rival to Amazon, it was acquired by the retail giant in 2011, causing some in the publishing industry to worry about the┬átightening of the American companyÔÇÖs ÔÇ£strangleholdÔÇØ┬áon the UK book trade.
According to the trade magazine┬áthe Bookseller, an email sent out to vendors and publishing partners explained that Book Depository will be closing, and that the last date customers will be able to place orders is 26 April. ÔÇ£Over the coming weeks we will complete a winding down of the business, including discontinuing our listings as a marketplace seller and closing our website,ÔÇØ Andy Chart, head of vendor management, wrote.


 In total, the company was planning to make just over 18,000 people redundant, Jassy added. Amazon has not shared how many jobs will be lost specifically at Book Depository."