Thursday 28 March 2024

HAPPY NORTHER

I thought that it'd be a horrible day today as I woke up to grey skies and drizzle but the sun is now out and it all looks good for Norther.

Norther lasts for four days beginning today - Maunder Thursday where Northlanders wander aimlessly and talk in a rambling manner - more than usual anyway. Good luck with trying to get a tradesman around for odd jobs on Maunder Thursday that's all I'm saying.

Tomorrow is OK Friday which to be honest is just like any other Friday up here where people are looking forward to a weekend of fishing, swimming, going for walks, surfing or gardening. A special greeting is used when meeting people who ask "How's it going"? The appropriate answer is "OK".

Saturday, Norther Saturday, is a biggie. Up north people on average are pretty sensible and don't waste time going to churches and talking to mythical beings.

On the local Neighbourly site where the Onerahi Community Church posted an Easter Greetings message it elicited these responses:


No, on Norther Saturday we'll be doing those other things I mentioned. Geoff and I will drive to Dargaville to go rail-carting. Should be fun.


Norther Sunday, like Norther Saturday won't be wasted on church going. Northerners will have a lie-in and maybe during the day watch old films on TV if the weather packs up which unbelievably does happen in the 'winterless north'. if there are no musicals, operas or Busby Berkely dance films on then maybe watching 'Oppenheimer' is on the cards. We might as well prepare ourselves for the doomsday apocalypse that a Trump presidency will bring the world. Robert and the Christians (a good name for a band) will be pleased and will say that they were proved right.




Norther Monday is always a bit of an anticlimax but a good chance for Northerners and visitors who might have over-indulged on Norther Sunday. A bit of rest and detox is usually on the cards and a chance to finish off all the Norther treats that weren't consumed.

Norther treats are:

  • Warm and quite happy buns
  • Carob or ethical chocolate nuts
  • Welsh rarebits
  • Lashings of Champagne and methode traditionelle wines

How's your 'Souther' shaping up?


 

Wednesday 27 March 2024

THE 'BEST BOOK IN THE WORLD' ...

 ... has just been hijacked by none other than Donald J Trump the worst human being in the world.


Trump has tried to cash in on the Bible in the past by claiming that his crappy (and ghost-written) book 'The Art Of The Deal' was surpassed in popularity only by the Bible and also in his staged tableau of holding the Bible up to deflect from the fact that he had threatened military action against protesters in Washington.


Now this self-aggrandising idiot, in another attempt to raise money has released a Trump Bible'

TRUMP IS SELLING GOD BLESS USA BIBLES TO RAISE FUNDS


Trump released a video on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday urging his supporters to buy the “God Bless the USA Bible,” which is inspired by country singer Lee Greenwood’s patriotic ballad. Trump takes the stage to the song at each of his rallies and has appeared with Greenwood at events.

“Happy Holy Week! Let’s Make America Pray Again. As we lead into Good Friday and Easter, I encourage you to get a copy of the God Bless the USA Bible,” Trump wrote, directing his supporters to a website selling the book for $59.99.

“All Americans need a Bible in their home, and I have many. It’s my favorite book,” Trump said in the video posted on Truth Social. “I’m proud to endorse and encourage you to get this Bible. We must make America pray again.”

Billing itself as “the only Bible endorsed by President Trump!” the new venture’s website calls it “Easy-to-read” with “large print” and a “slim design” that “invites you to explore God’s Word anywhere, any time.”

Besides a King James Version translation, it includes copies of the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance, as well as a handwritten chorus of the famous Greenwood song.
        - The Washington Post


Just what all Bibles need - copies of the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance. How come they didn't include these before (Robert probably hand-wrote those in himself in his own copy)?

What's next? Advertisements for McDonalds. KFC and Amazon? Donor pledges for Donald Trump? Centrefolds of scantily clad nuns and saints? Maybe Trump is on to something here.

I wonder what the 'Bible Belt' redneck state Americans will think of this? I guess that the “easy-to-read” with “large print” and a “slim design” catering to them kind of sums them up and tells us that it will be successful.

Alleluia!



Tuesday 26 March 2024

HEY TALIBAN, WHERE YOU GONNA RUN TO?*

 OK, I admit that the last two posts were fillers consisting really just of a cartoon with a tiny bit of narrative but I couldn't write anything too grand after my sulky comment on the third to last post:


I'm over that now and anyway the guilt trip I offered to the other bloggers failed to get any travellers so ... here's a new post that is topical and there is a connection to one of the other bloggers.


For some reason I thought that Robert had made some sort of comment in support of the Taliban. On checking again I realised that it was Richard who started the thread and Robert and I responded to that.


Never mind, I'm sure that Robert will support the Taliban when he realises that they are adopting the good old values and disciplines of his religion as practiced back in the Bible days and not the watered down namby-pamby Catholic Church values and disciplines of today.

"What are those values and disciplines?" you may ask.

Well, as luck would have it yesterday one of the Taliban leaders obliged by suggesting that it's about time that women got stoned to death in public again (one assumes that they have been getting stoned to death in private up to now).

See:

VOA (South and Central Asia) reports:

TALIBAN CHIEF DEFENDS STONING WOMEN FOR ADULTERY

Yes, you read that headline correctly and I suggest that you click on it and read the article.

If you don't here are the highlights:

The leader of Afghanistan's fundamentalist Taliban government has said it is determined to enforce the Islamic criminal justice system, including the public stoning of women for adultery.

"Our mission is to enforce sharia and Allah's Hudud [law]," said Hibatullah Akhundzada in an audio clip Taliban officials said was from his latest speech. 

"You may call it a violation of women's rights when we publicly stone or flog them for committing adultery because they conflict with your democratic principles,” said the Taliban chief.

"Just as you claim to be striving for the freedom of entire humanity, so do I. I represent Allah, and you represent Satan," Akhundzada said.

He criticized Western human rights values and women's freedoms, saying Taliban religious scholars would persistently resist the West and its form of democracy in Afghanistan. "Thanks to these scholars, such a democracy was evicted from this land," the Taliban leader said.

Taliban authorities have since publicly flogged hundreds of Afghans, including women, for theft, robbery, and committing "moral crimes" in sports stadiums in the presence of thousands of onlookers. At least four men have also been publicly executed after having been convicted of murder by Taliban courts.

 

"You may call it a violation of women's rights when we publicly stone or flog them for committing adultery" this turkey said. Well, yes, I do think that it is a tad disproportionate to the 'crime'. If Robert's God does exist maybe he can drop a boulder or the roof of a temple or something on to this silly cunt's head.







* HEY TALIBAN, WHERE YOU GONNA RUN TO?

You can accept that reference to apply to either the song 'Day-O' as sung by Harry Belafonte or 'Sinner-man' as sung by Nina Simone. Both are excellent and among my favourites.

OCCAM'S RAZOR

 

And this one also reminded me of Robert throwing God in to explain everything.



AI

 


This cartoon reminded me of something Robert said about turning into a robot.

I guess, with his spelling, that's quite likely when he signs his name.

Monday 25 March 2024

CELEBRATION

 


The Old Girl's off to USA and UK today and will be back after 6 weeks sometime in May.

This means that I get the office - my study back for nearly 2 months.



It means that I won't have to make do with the dining table to do my very important blogging.


Imagine the good posts coming your way now.


Of course I'll miss her, especially things like the fruit flan she made to go with the semi-sweet Pol Roger Champagne that her work gave her.




Saturday 23 March 2024

A-WIMOWEH, A-WIMOWEH ...

 .... sorry, not that.


We had an Alsynite Spinaway 300 rotary roof ventilator installed in the roof yesterday.


"A Spinaway, a Spinaway ..."

The blurb on the internet tells me that:

The Spinaway 300 is suitable for almost any residential building. Manufactured from quality aluminium, the Spinaway will expel hot air from your ceiling space during warm Summer months and expel damp air from your ceiling during cooler months, reducing moisture and minimising the risk of mildew.

Sounds good to me.

At the height of summer the roof temperature in the attic was well over 50 degrees on most days - the hottest since we've lived here (the HRV heat exchanger system monitors temperature in the roof space and the house).


This photo of the panel was taken in the hot February 2019 but this summer it was way higher.

We have things stored up there since I had the attic ladder installed and laid down some flooring so The Old Girl was a bit concerned that things would melt. A bit dramatic I know but it's probably not good for wiring and other things if it gets too hot up there. She said that she was worried that the house might explode!


Well, the roofer came yesterday and installed the ventilator without any problems. He told me that ours was just one of four that he was installing in the area which underlines the fact that conditions are hotter than in previous years and we are not alone in our concerns.

It rained overnight and this morning so I went into the attic to check for water leaks but everything is sound and dry. He installed it in a spot that is sheltered by the chimney so we shouldn't have any problems with the next big storm we have.

Temperatures are dropping now that it's spring but - better safe than sorry.





Now, just in case that earlier 'A-wimoweh' reference has fixed a tune in your head here's the song for you.