Sunday, June 12, 2011

Green light


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Sleepy kitten plays invisible harp


YouTube link.

Fearless dog retrieves ball from giant spider


YouTube link.

Australian presenter's joke leaves Dalai Lama puzzled

While interviewing the Dalai Lama on Friday, Australian Channel Nine presenter, Karl Stefanovic's gag about His Holiness walking into a pizza shop didn't go as well as probably hoped.


YouTube link.

Biologists sneak up and dig holes for nesting turtle who had flippers eaten by sharks

Leatherback turtle “Clover” has a very unfortunate history. She has been nesting in the Juno Beach area of Florida since 2003. When Loggerhead Marinelife Center biologists first found Clover, she was missing a rear flipper from what appeared to be a shark attack. This caused her a manageable amount of difficulty nesting.

When Clover returned in 2005, she was missing a portion of her other rear flipper. Finally, in 2007, Clover returned with no rear flippers. All of these injuries appear to be due to shark bites. She has scars on her front flippers that resemble shark jaws as well.

The action doesn't really start until 1:55.

YouTube link.

Sea turtles use their rear flippers to dig the chamber in which they place their eggs. Because Clover doesn’t understand that her rear flippers are missing, she tries to nest normally. When it comes time to drop her eggs, they end up on the surface of the sand behind and underneath her. Without assistance, Clover crushes her eggs in an attempt to camouflage her nest.

When LMC biologists find Clover, they dig her egg chamber for her by sneaking up behind her as she is “digging” and removing the sand for her. Biologists have helped Clover nest six times so far this year. They caught this amazing video of Clover nesting.

Crane falls on house in hot tub mishap

A crane crashed into a house in Shoreview, Minnesota after it tipped while lifting a large hot tub into the back yard.



Fortunately no one was hurt.

The action doesn't really start until 1:45, at which point the camera starts filming the ground.

YouTube link. There's a short video showing the aftermath here.

The Ramsey County Sheriff's Department says they were told a computer malfunction caused the crane to topple.

With additional news video.

Jesus appears on restaurant wall

Alex Tadros and Scott Diehl spent Memorial Day weekend painting the interior of Tadros' restaurant, the Martins Creek Inn. Diehl used a sponge technique to give the walls a nice, soft look with a light brown shade.

A job well done. But it wasn't until Tadros invited a couple of friends over to see the paint job that anyone realized the Lower Mount Bethel Township eatery suddenly had a new attraction: an image on the dining room wall that looks very much like the classic picture of a bearded, long-haired Jesus.



"One of [my friends] said, 'You have something on the wall,'" Tadros recounted. "The other one says, 'It looks like Jesus.'" Egyptian native, Tadros, who is a Coptic Christian, says the image reminds him of the famed Shroud of Turin, which bears the image of a man and is supposed by many Christians to be the burial shroud of Christ. "The eyes, the nose, the chin, the hair, the beard," he said.

"When I saw it, I thought, 'I've seen this picture.'" Tadros has owned the restaurant for seven years is pleased to have this image of his faith as part of the décor. "He's in my life all the time," he said. "I believe in Jesus. I always praise him. I want to show people he is the life. A lot of people are away from Jesus, they don't know him. But God is always around."

Doctor drove for three miles with body on roof of van

After fatally striking a lawn mowing contractor, the driver of a van continued on for another three miles with the body on the roof of his vehicle in Wichita, Kansas. The victim, an unnamed 32-year-old man, was working with a weed-eater when he was struck at about 7:15am. The force of the impact threw the victim onto the windshield and then the roof of a Toyota Sienna XLE.

But the motorist, a 67-year-old doctor, did not stop. Witnesses who saw the minivan driving with the victim on the roof called 911. Someone followed the minivan to a house. The house is about three miles from where the minivan hit the worker. One neighbour said he saw a vehicle pulling into the driveway "pretty quickly" with what looked like a person on top.



For a time on Friday, police blocked off the street in front of the house, and crime scene tape surrounded the driveway where the grey-and-tan minivan still sat. While officers investigated and documented the scene, the victim's body remained atop the minivan, covered with a blanket. Later the body was removed.

The minivan had damage on the driver's side front bumper and headlight assembly. The hood was caved in. The windshield was smashed in, broken through in at least one place and densely cracked. The driver, named as Mohammad Sarrafizadeh, was booked into jail on a charge of leaving the scene of a fatal accident, but was later released after paying a bond.

Dogs given dedicated access points for jumping in canal

Dedicated access points for dogs have been installed on the Itchen Navigation to help prevent disturbance to wildlife along the waterway. Dogs getting in and out of the water have trampled vegetation, eroded the bank and disturbed wildlife, a wildlife trust says.



The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust has put in two "dog dips" along a 10.5 mile section. The swimming points have been installed in Shawford and near Allbrook. The trust is asking dog owners to encourage their pets to use the access steps into the water.

Ali Morse, Itchen Navigation project manager for the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, said: "We hope the dog dips will reduce bank erosion and make the Navigation an even better place for wildlife."


YouTube link.

The Itchen Navigation was created in 1665 as a waterway that commercial barges could pass through. It is a noted area for wildlife, including water vole, otter, salmon and kingfisher.

Women on train fined for not having credit card used to buy tickets

An elderly lady and her daughter have been hit with a bizarre £308 train ticket fine. Great grandmother Susan Oliphant and daughter Sandra Holmes were travelling from Newcastle to Devon to see relatives who had flown in from around the globe. A family member had bought the tickets as a gift via the website www.thetrainline.com.

Their problems began when they were confronted with an inspector on the train. Susan, 79, and Sandra, 55, were told their tickets were not valid because they were not able to produce the credit card used to purchase them in Devon. The rule was spelled out in small print, they were told, and meant they were now liable for fines of £154 each.



Given the tickets had been fully paid for, the inspector advised them to appeal in the hope of the fines being waived. Yet their appeal was turned down, leaving the mother and daughter facing a possible court summons if they do not pay. Susan, of Monkseaton, North Tyneside, said: “I’m on a pension now and I’m coming up to 80. It’s a lot of money and it’s very unfair. We told them they could see the credit card when we arrived, but they wouldn’t have it.”

A spokesman for www.thetrainline.com said: “As part of the booking process, however, we do advise rail passengers who are travelling with Print Your Own tickets that they must travel with the credit card the tickets were booked with. Regarding their Unpaid Fare Notices, thetrainline.com does not issue penalties; this is controlled by the train operating company which, in this case, is Cross Country.”

Nurses toaster banned for health and safety reasons

Hospital workers have had their toaster taken away for health and safety reasons. Discontent has spread across the orthopedic nursing staff at Cheltenham General in recent days since the appliance was removed from their kitchen. Employees were told the toaster was banned by top management because it had become a fire risk and set off the alarm too often.

Nurse and department fire warden, Ricky Newton, of Ormer Road, said: "They say it's for health and safety, but I don't think that can be right and it shows contempt for the staff on the part of the managers. It isn't a fire hazard at all. I should know because I've been here for years and we haven't had a toaster fire yet. Not everybody eats toast on their break, but a high percentage do, and it's not right to take it away for no good reason."



He added there had been no problem with toasters setting off the kitchen's fire alarms. Mr Newton, 50, has worked at the hospital for 14 years and said the ban had harmed morale. He said staff went through about three loaves of bread each day and toast served as an important snack to keep them going through their shift.

The kitchens also have coffee percolators, fridges and cookers. While those in the orthopedic department are left to have non-toast snacks during their breaks, the other departments appear to have escaped to be able to keep their device. Mr Newton said: "It just seems like we are being victimised. I don't know why we are the only ones who cannot have toast because if it's a health and safety risk for us, it must be everywhere else." Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was unable to comment.

Bingo caller carries on despite woman collapsing with suspected heart attack

A bingo caller refused to stop a game despite a woman collapsing with a suspected heart attack, according to witnesses. Staff continued to call numbers as an ambulance was called to Gala Bingo in Freshfield Road, Brighton. Players shouted for the caller to end the game as the woman was being treated but said they were told it was “policy” to carry on.

Aaron Casey, 22, was playing with his mother Joanne Wheeler, 43, on Wednesday at about 7.30pm when the woman collapsed during the second game. The hairdresser said: “A customer shouted help but we thought she shouted house.



“Half the bingo hall was saying stop calling. There was a weak pulse and at one point one of the customers said she was dead. I will never go to Gala Bingo again. I am ashamed at how they treat their customers.” A South East Coast Ambulance Service spokesman confirmed paramedics were called to the bingo hall.

He said: “It was reported that a patient was unconscious and needed medical attention. She was taken to Royal Sussex County Hospital. However her condition is not known.” A spokesman for Coral, Gala Bingo’s parent company, said their “duty of care” was always with the customer. The company said they carried on so people did not try to crowd around the woman.

PANZ appointment

 PANZ is pleased to announce that Sarah Ropata, Senior International Advisor at Creative NZ, has been appointed Project Manager for the books and literature sector of the Frankfurt Guest of Honour programme.

Sarah has been a great support to the industry in her role at CNZ, and was a key driver in gaining government support for the Frankfurt initiative. She has strong knowledge of the industry and is a natural for this position. She will start formally in mid-July but will be doing some time with us before that.

Caleb’s Crossing - "a brilliant read"

I know it seems contrary but often when an author wins a major literary award it puts me off reading them. I fear the work is going to be too dense and desperately highbrow, designed to please judges rather than ordinary readers like me.
Geraldine Brooks won a Pulitzer in 2006 for her novel March but I decided not to hold that against her and I’m glad as her latest novel, Caleb’s Crossing (Fourth Estate, $39.99) is a brilliant read.

The Australian-born author has taken a little known piece of history and turned it into a fascinating piece of fiction. Set mostly on the island of Martha’s Vineyard where Brooks now lives for part of the time, the story is inspired by the life of Caleb Cheeshahteamuk, the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College back in the 1660s. When she began her research Brooks found records of him scarce and so has used her novelist’s skill to imagine what it must have been like to be plucked from a traditional life in the wilderness and schooled in the classics as he was.

The story is narrated by a spirited and quietly rebellious girl called Bethia Mayfield who is a minister’s daughter growing up in an English Puritan settlement on the island. Her life is one of hard work and heartache. As a female she is not offered anything more than the most basic education although she thirsts for knowledge and listens to her brother’s lessons whenever she is able. “Women are not made like men,” her father tells her. “You risk addling your brain by thinking on matters that need not concern you…It is not seemly for a wife to know more than her husband.”

One day while Bethia is out searching for shellfish she encounters a young native Wampanoag Indian who shows her a better hunting spot. The pair go on to form a bond, run wild together over the island and Bethia starts to try to convert this “salvage” as they are commonly known, to her own religion and teach him English.
What she begins her father continues believing that, once educated, Caleb will help tame the rest of his people and break the power of their spiritual leaders the pawaaws. Soon Caleb is in Cambridge studying amidst the colonial elite and Bethia too is there but her fate is quite a different one.

Although set centuries go there is much here that will resonate with the modern reader - the way English settlers buy land from Indians who don’t share their concept of ownership, the racial prejudice and greed, the drive to force everyone into a single way of thinking, the narrow-minded view of women. While Caleb may have been the inspiration for this novel Bethia is its triumph and the way she manages to make a life within the constrictions of her era is the real meat of the story. Her voice and the language she uses seem completely of the time and credible.

So yes Brooks has a Pulitzer to her name but that doesn’t mean Caleb’s Crossing is inaccessible, dry or pretentious in any way. If you love historical fiction then you will warm to this book. It is written with suppleness and grace, wears its research lightly and at heart is a beautiful love story. Whether Caleb’s Crossing is destined to win prizes I’m not sure but it ought to win Brooks many more fans.
Nicky Pellegrino



Footnote:
Nicky Pellegrino is a succcesful Auckland-based author of popular fiction, The Italian Wedding was published in May 2009, Recipe for Lifewas published in April, 2010, while her latestThe Villa Girls, was published in April this year.

She is also the Books Editor of the Herald on Sunday where the above review was first published on 12 June, 2011 as was the Booklover column below:




Booklover - Sarah Quigley

Sarah Quigley is a novelist, poet and critic whose latest book, The Conductor (Vintage, $39.99) is currently on the NZ fiction bestseller list. 

The book I love most is…....... The Book of Disquiet, by the Portuguese writer Fernando Pessoa. He was almost unknown in his lifetime but after he died in 1935 a trunk was found containing thousands of poems, letters and journals. This book is a selection of those: a semi-fictional diary almost like a novel. I read it very slowly, over about a year, so it felt like dreaming. It’s beautiful, poetic, and memorable. The best translation I’ve come across is by Margaret Jull Costa.

The book I’m reading right now is…............. Poles Apart, by Gareth Morgan and John McCrystal, about climate change. It’s topical, incisive, and accessibly written.

The book I’d like to read next is…...... a collection of Chekhov’s letters, sitting half-read on my breakfast table. I’ve been travelling for the past month and had to leave it behind, so I’m looking forward to getting back into it. The letters reveal an intelligence and humour that feel incredibly modern, in spite of being written over a hundred years ago.

The book that changed me is… Dodie Smith’s I Capture The Castle. I read it when I was quite young and it was the first time I realised fictional characters could be as colourful, complex and engaging as real people.

My favourite bookshop is….... I love too many to choose one! Unity in Auckland, Scorpio in Christchurch, City Lights in San Francisco, Daunt Books in London. And any good independent bookshop that’s fighting the battle against chain stores.

The book I wish I’d never read is..............… Stephen King’s On Writing. I kept reading hoping it was going to get more interesting and less self-regarding, but it never did. When I finished I left it in a rubbish bin at Heathrow!

Update...

Yesterday the embryologist called with GREAT news! We have 10 embryos that have 6 to 8 cells, the other 5 embryos have 5 cells. So it looks like 10 of them are doing really good and the other 5 are just doing ok. Our doctor is very impressed with our numbers and seems very hopeful. Tomorrow I go in for the embryo transfer at 12:15. I'll post an update as soon as I can. Thank you for all of the support and prayers!!! We are truly greatful.

THE WELLINGTON BOOK



You are cordially invited to the launch of a new illustrated book celebrating all things Wellingtonian.

The Wellington Book has been created by Nigel Beckford, Michael Fitzsimons, Jess Lunnon and Sandi MacKechnie and published by FitzBeck Publishing.

This book is designed to appeal to visitors and locals alike and is a visual feast that is colourful, quirky, funky and mildly educational.

UNITY BOOKS, 57 WILLIS STREET 
JUNE 23, 6.00-7.30 PM



Here is the publishers take on it:



Capital Of Cool Gets Book To Match

The Wellington Book celebrates all things Wellingtonian in 120 gloriously illustrated pages.
The book is the brainchild of Fitzbeck Creative directors Mike Fitzsimons and Nigel Beckford.

Concluding that existing tourist books did no justice to the city’s creative reputation, they resolved to create something that captured the city in a way no camera ever could.
They drew up a list of their favourite Wellington haunts and worked with two young illustrators, Sandi MacKechnie and Jess Lunnon, to bring their vision to life.

Each picture was painstakingly built up in layers over five months with all four contributing ideas and elements.
The result is a visual feast that is colourful, quirky, funky and mildy educational.

The book captures the real Wellington - from the hardy dog walkers of Lyall Bay to tooting in the Mt Vic tunnel, hair-raising landings at the airport and glorious summer days on Oriental Parade.  
The book is designed to appeal to locals and visitors alike and would make a great gift.

An accompanying calendar and t-shirt is available to complete the experience.
The book will be available next week in bookshops and also online at: www.thewellingtonbook.co.nz.

The book is already generating a lot of interest through twitter and facebook and has been warmly welcomed by Tourism Wellington in a year when the city is expecting a record numbers of visitors.

Contact us



The Real Solution Is To Phase Out Electricity

Germany is phasing out their nuclear reactors because they're afraid of 9.0 earthquakes and repeated, 25' tidal waves hitting them. Unfortunately, it's going to whack their carbon emissions and electricity generation just a tad.
Stephan Kohler, head of the German Energy Agency, told SPIEGEL that one significant side-effect of the phase out could be that the country will fail to reach its emission reduction goals. "Large energy companies are now turning more to cheap lignite (brown coal) to replace atomic energy and less to natural gas, which is more efficient but also more expensive," Kohler said ...

In addition, the removal of atomic energy from Germany's power mix and the resulting need to invest billions in the development of alternative energies and a new power grid could result in higher energy bills. "The phase out of nuclear energy is not going to be free," Rainer Brüderle, Merkel's economics minister until recently, told SPIEGEL. Brüderle, who is now floor leader for the Free Democrats, Merkel's junior coalition partner, added that "we have to be honest with the people. We will all have to pay, the power customers, the taxpayers."
The environmentalists are overlooking the most obvious solution.


Or are they?

THE SMELL OF SUMMER GRASS

Pursuing Happiness
Perch Hill 1994-2011
Adam  Nicolson – Harper Press – Hardback - $54.99

Reviewed on Radio NZ National’s Nine to Noon programme with Lynn Freeman today, 13 June 2011

I love the cover of this handsome hardback book, back and front, you can almost smell the summer grass.  Stunning photographs by Jonathan Buckley. And the endpapers too are most appealing, a hand-painted map of Perch Hill the semi-derelict Sussex farm that Nicolson rebuilt and turned into a successful organic farm.

We know Adam Nicolson from his newspaper columns and from nearly 20 other books especially  Sissinghurst: An Unfinished History where he told of the remaking of the home farm at the Kentish Castle where he grew up and where of course his famous grandmother, Vita Sackville-West, created her most admired garden which is now administered by the National Trust and attracts thousands of visitors every year. Just as an aside if you are in the UK anytime do be sure to visit this place. I have been there in all seasons and believe me it is truly spectacular.

This new book starts in 1992 in London at a time of great personal crisis in the author’s life. At the time he was tormented with guilt over the failure of his first marriage, he had also abandoned a business, was in a catastrophic financial state and had failed to complete a book he was working on. Then to cap it all off he was walking on his own one summer night from Mayfair to Hammersmith, where he was living with Sarah Raven, who would become his second wife, and who plays a major role in this book. On the way he was mugged by three youths who sprayed bleach into his eyes to immobilise him. He subsequently experienced a significant breakdown.

As a result of this they decided to leave their metropolitan life and eventually they found Perch Hill Farm and bought it in 1994 for 432,000 pounds. The buildings were pretty awful but they were won over by the breathtaking scenery and the thought they could turn it into something that would support them income-wise. How they did that is what this delightful book is all about. During this time of course everything changed for British small farmers with the foot-and mouth outbreak, the hunting ban, new regulations in the building and health & safety regulations and of course a couple of major economic downturns. He discovers that farming is often muddy and cold and incredibly hard work, plagued by planning regulations and with constant battles against thistles and ragwort. As he says “a farm doesn’t work without rigour.’ An understatement methinks.
In all of this Nicolson writes with disarming honesty, he is often both quite funny and touching too, as he takes us on the journey that he and Sarah share. He introduces her as “the woman for whom, a few months before I left my wife. That is a phrase which leaves me raw.”
Sarah Raven sounds a remarkable woman with her baby daughters, born at their Perch Hill home, the design and development of her stunning gardens which have made her into one of Britain’s celebrated garden experts with several books and a TV programme and a column in the Daily Telegraph to her name. She also runs sought after courses at Perch Hill in a beautifully converted 1940’s cowshed and their open days now attract over a thousand people.

This book then is a charming and delightful read, one that celebrates the importance of holding onto your dreams.
Oh and I should have mentioned that Perch Hill, just in Sussex, is only 15 miles from Sissinghurst, just in Kent.

A PAIR OF POETS

MILLWOOD GALLERY
invites you to
A PAIR OF POETS
JENNY BORNHOLDT AND DINAH HAWKEN


They will read from their recently published volumes
TUESDAY 21ST JUNE      6.00 – 7.00pm














MILLWOOD GALLERY
291b TINAKORI ROAD, THORNDON
Please RSVP (acceptances only) by Saturday 18TH  June to
04 473-5178 or millwoodgallery@xtra.co.nz
Celebrating 30 years   1981 - 2011

Fried Chicken and Mixed Greens, Please

Organic sprouts killed 29.
Health authorities in Germany have finally been able to show that the pathogens which caused the deadly EHEC outbreak came from sprouts at an organic farm in the Uelzen district.
Secular Apostate has the lowdown on how it happened.

We all love a literary spat. But let's not forget about the books

If it's not Callil resigning from the Booker jury, it's Naipaul condemning women writers. All great fun, as long as we separate the debate from the reading

If you are a woman who writes books, or writes about them, or reads them with anything more than a casual interest, these are tricky times. Last week saw the culmination of the 16th annual Orange prize for fiction, an award that, as most know, is open only to women. The Serbian-American writer Téa Obreht, with her novel, The Tiger's Wife, became, at 25, the prize's youngest-ever winner; it is only the third time that the Orange has gone to a debut novel. 
From 2005 until last year, there was also a separate prize for new writers, and while its discontinuation can't be taken as a cause for Obreht's victory – she might very well have won anyway – it could explain why this year saw so many first-time authors grace both longlist and shortlist.

It's never a bad thing when a comparatively unknown figure wins a major prize, when the idea that such plaudits exist in part to introduce the reading public to new voices is backed up by hard cash (the Orange nets its winner £30,000). And, well into its second decade, with the prize's significance established, the arguments surrounding its right to exist have lost some of their sting. It can sometimes seem, indeed, that the impassioned argy-bargy of a few years ago over a prize that excluded half our novelists has been subsumed by the realisation that a publishing and bookselling industry in desperate straits needs all the attention-grabbing devices that it can get.

And yet there was something very healthy about that debate, or at least it feels like that in the light of the last few weeks. For what are we left with otherwise? A judge, Carmen Callil, resigns from a jury, the International Man Booker, because she does not support its choice, Philip Roth. She makes some immoderate remarks and soon the chatter revolves around whether Roth is a misogynist and, by implication, Callil his feminist nemesis (neither charge stands much scrutiny).

Meanwhile, on her blog and in the Guardian, the commentator and critic Bidisha is busy tallying how many awards go to men and how many to women, concluding that "a man does a shit in a potty and it is called a work of genius; a woman produces a work of genius and it's treated like a shit in a potty".

In all this, everybody has a point – perhaps even Naipaul, because what are writers without the occasional unhinged outburst? But the tenor and content of the debate have become frighteningly basic and automatically adversarial; stand in the middle scratching your head and you risk being accused of colluding with the wrong side. Rarely, though, does the conversation lead in the direction of the page; rarely do the books we are actually talking about get much of a look-in. It seems beyond banal to point out that literature is a broad enough church to accommodate writing by both genders, all races and religions, every class background.
Are we, therefore, just vying over the spoils, the public acclaim, the cultural status? Maybe, and maybe quite rightly. But let's be clear that's what we are doing and let's separate it from what we do when we read a book

Robert McCrum in The Observer yesterday

Has Keri got a bone to pick with VS Naipaul!

VS Naipaul's remarks about Jane Austen and other female writers have finally stirred a fellow Booker prize winner – who has been silent for decades – into action. Keri The Bone People Hulme, who lives on the South Island of New Zealand amid sheep and fisher folk, has told her New Zealand audience: "VS Naipaul is a misogynist prick whose works are dying. He accurately foresaw their relevance three decades ago: 'They will not survive me.' As he ages, his nasty behaviour - and judgments - become ever more wince-making. Many thousand women writers both outrank and will out-survive this slug." The language of literary criticism clearly has a different register in the Antipodes, but Hulme's indignation was shared by many of the guests, some in ebullient spirits, at a gathering prior to the Orange prize.

Téa's Tiger feat walks away with the prize

And so to London's Festival Hall for the 16th year of the Orange prize, Britain's popular and reader-friendly prize for fiction. Orange's global reach now rivals Booker and the international shortlist, from Aminatta Forna to Nicole Krauss, reflected that. True to form, the favourite, Emma Donoghue's Room, was pipped at the post. The Tiger's Wife by Serbian-American Téa Obreht is a powerful account of the Balkan war, a novel acclaimed by prize chair Bettany Hughes as the work of "a truly exciting new talent". Among the onlookers, Tim Waterstone was talking up the appointment of James Daunt to the ailing book chain and Obreht's publisher, Weidenfeld, celebrated its good fortune. Obreht is the youngest-ever winner of this important trophy. For her, in a changing marketplace, the future's bright.

Reclusive novelist points the bone at fellow prizewinner

New Zealand Herald - Monday Jun 13, 201

New Zealand author Keri Hulme. Photo / Supplied

New Zealand literary recluse Keri Hulme has taken to blogging to criticise fellow Booker Prize winner V.S. Naipaul - calling him a "misogynist prick" and a "slug".

The author of The Bone People lashed out at Naipaul after he made remarks about Jane Austen and said men were better novelists.
Hulme, who lives in the South Island, published the comments on Beattie's Blog, the Observer newspaper reported.
"V.S. Naipaul is a misogynist prick whose works are dying. He accurately foresaw their relevance three decades ago: 'They will not survive me'. As he ages, his nasty behaviour - and judgments - become ever more wince-making. Many thousand women writers both outrank and will out-survive this slug."
Naipaul, who has won a Nobel Prize for Literature and is a knight, has been called "a master of modern English prose". He made his comments about women novelists last month during an interview with the Royal Geographic Society.
He won the Booker Prize in 1971 for his novel In a Free State. Hulme won the prize in 1985 with The Bone People

CARTE BLANCHE - The new James Bond novel

In 2004, best-selling thriller writer Jeffery Deaver won the Crime Writers' Association Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for his book Garden of Beasts,  and spoke in his acceptance speech about his life-long admiration of Fleming's writing and the influence that the Bond books had had on his own career.
Corinne Turner, Managing Director of Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, was in the audience and explained, "It was at that point that I first thought James Bond could have an interesting adventure in Jeffery Deaver's hand."

Well all you James Bond fans out there I am happy to tell you that that is exactly what Bond has had, an interesting adventure, although that is a significant understatement. It is more of an epic adventure I'd say and I am sure Ian Fleming would be delighted with Deaver's handling of his great creation, 007.

This is a ripper of an adventure running to 432 pages which I enjoyed enormously. Bond is still in his early 30's, six foot tall and weighing in at 170lb.A three inch scar runs down his right cheek.He is a veteran of the Afghan War, has been recruited to a new organization. Conceived in the post-9/11 world, it operates independent of MI5, MI6 and the Ministry of Defence, its very existence deniable. Its aim: To protect the Realm, by any means necessary.
He still has his Bentley and Jaguar cars, is enormously attractive to women, is an expert marksman and highly skilled in unarmed combat. He is in other words the James Bond we know of old but the difference is that this new title is set in contemporary times, in a post-9/11 world. It is also the digital age and the gadgets that he now has available to him are quite remarkable.
Set in London, Serbia and Cape Town.

Jeffery Deaver's Carte Blanche has been released in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, France the Netherlands, Russia, the Czech Republic and Korea. It will also be available in France on June 1; in the Czech Republic and this week it will be published in the USA and Canada and Israel on June 15 with Spain to follow on June 26; and Poland on June 29.
James Bond it would see is alive and well.


Carte Blanche - Jeffrey Deaver - Hodder & Stoughton - NZ$39.99


www.jeffreydeaver.com
www.ianfleming.com

THE MODERN PANTRY COOKBOOK

Anna Hansen
Ebury Press - NZ$69.99

Author/chef/restaurateur Anna Hansen was born in Canada but grew up in New Zealand. Ultimately she became a pastry chef at the Sugar Club in London before becoming a founder member, with Peter Gordon, of the award winning Providores. After several successful years there she  set up her own restaurant, The Modern Pantry, in 2008. This then is her book filled with recipes for her trademark quirky, original flavour combinations. 
As she says in her introduction, " My larder is global.There are no culinary boundaries in my kitchen." 
The recipes in the book reflect that philosophy - they are fresh, reasonably simple and full of marvellous flavours.
Annie and I will be in London next month and we will be going along to The Modern Pantry in Clerkenwell where I am planning to have the cafe's signature dish, sugar-cured prawn omelette.

Meantime here is a dish from the book which I have made at home and which the publishers have kindly allowed me to reproduce on the blog:

Lemongrass-Braised Cherry Tomatoes

These are absolutely delicious and go with just about anything.
Make sure you use any leftover juices as a salad dressing, or add
them to a stew, curry or soup.

Serves 4
500g cherry tomatoes,
preferably vine-ripened
and still on the stalks
1 lemongrass stalk
a small knob of fresh
ginger, sliced
2 garlic cloves, fi nely sliced
1 red chilli, split lengthways
100ml verjus
1 tsp soy sauce
100ml extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp demerara sugar

Gently wash the cherry tomatoes, being careful not to break
them off the stalks. Using a pair of scissors, cut them into
lengths of four or fi ve tomatoes.

Trim the top and bottom of the lemongrass stalk and remove
the outer layer. Place the stalk on a chopping board and crush
with a rolling pin or other suitable implement. This technique
will yield far more fl avour than simply chopping it up, as it
bursts open all the juice sacs. 
Split the lemongrass stalk down the middle and place in a roasting tin just big enough to hold
the tomatoes. Scatter the ginger, garlic and chilli into the tin
also, then lay the cherry tomatoes on top and sprinkle the
verjus, soy sauce, olive oil and demerara over them. Place
in an oven preheated to 140°C/Gas Mark 1 and cook for
approximately 20 minutes, until the tomatoes just begin to
yield to the heat and their skins split.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray. These
are best made a few hours before you plan to serve them,
allowing time for the fragrant juices to mingle and be
absorbed by the tomatoes.

Yummy !

The Smell of Summer Grass - Adam Nicolson - Harper Press

What a gorgeous cover. Delightful story too.
I will be reviewing this title around 10.35 am with Kathryn Ryan this morning on Nine to Noon, Radio NZ National.

AN EVENING WITH PAMELA STEPHENSON-CONNOLLY



  • She’s a New Zealander, married to Billy Connolly
  • She writes a regular ‘Sexual Healing’ column for The Guardian.
  • She’s been a psychotherapist for many years
  • She’ll dispel the myths, guilt & mystery surrounding sex.
  • She’s a lively presenter who will be frank & entertaining.

TUESDAY 14 JUNE
Wine & nibbles in the bookshop from 6pm.
Pamela speaking at 6.30pm

Entry $5 at the door

THE WOMEN’S BOOKSHOP
105 Ponsonby Road,Auckland, NZ
 ph 3764399

Salman Rushdie says TV drama series have taken the place of novels

Booker-prizewinning novelist to write sci-fi drama for television, citing The Wire, The Sopranos and Mad Men as an inspiration

Salman Rushdie
Salman Rushdie, who is to begin writing for TV. Photograph: Sipa Press/Rex Features

Salman Rushdie is to make a sci-fi television series in the belief that quality TV drama has taken over from film and the novel as the best way of widely communicating ideas and stories.
"It's like the best of both worlds," said the novelist in an interview with the Observer. "You can work in movie style productions, but have proper control."

The new work, to be called The Next People is being made for Showtime, a US cable TV network. The plot will be based in factual science, Rushdie said, but will contain elements of the supernatural or extra-terrestrial. Although filming is yet to begin, a pilot has been commissioned and written. It will have what Rushdie described as "an almost feature-film budget".
Showtime has announced that the hour-long drama will deal with the fast pace of change in modern life, covering the areas of politics, religion, science, technology and sexuality. "It's a sort of paranoid science-fiction series, people disappearing and being replaced by other people," said Rushdie, 63, best known for Midnight's Children and The Satanic Verses. "It's not exactly sci-fi, in that there is not an awful lot of science behind it, but there are certainly elements which are not naturalistic," he said in the interview, which will appear in full in the Observer later this month.

The idea that Rushdie might create a television show came from his US agents who suggested that he would have more creative influence than with a feature-film script.
"They said to me that what I should really think about is a TV series, because what has happened in America is that the quality – or the writing quality – of movies has gone down the plughole.
"If you want to make a $300m special effects movie from a comic book, then fine. But if you want to make a more serious movie… I mean you have no idea how hard it was to raise the money for Midnight's Children."

Deepa Mehta, an Oscar-nominated director, is currently making a film version of Rushdie's 1981 Booker Prize winning novel, under the title Winds of Change, that will be co-scripted by the author. "I'm in this position where, for the first time in my writing life, I don't have a novel on the go, but I have a movie and a memoir and a TV series," said Rushdie, who is working on an account of the most famous and troubled era of his life – the period when his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses put him at the centre of a dangerous international controversy.
In 1989, Tehran radio broadcast a fatwa, or religious edict, from the Ayatollah Khomeini, the spiritual leader of Iran, which called the book blasphemous and put a price on the author's head. Rushdie lived through the next decade in hiding.
The former advertising copywriter's first novel Grimus, was partly science fiction and his novels since have often been described as examples of the vivid literary school of "magical realism".
Full story at The Guardian.

E-books are the next chapter for getting kids to read

By Molly Guthrey 

mguthrey@pioneerpress.com


Nine-year-old David Olson reads "The Heroes of Greek Myths" by Farley Court on his Kindle in his bedroom in Somerset Township, Wis., on Tuesday evening. He says he reads for about two hours each evening before bed. (Pioneer Press: Chris Polydoroff)



Like many boys, David Olson wanted a Nintendo DS portable video game system for his 9th birthday.His parents got him an e-book reader instead."When I tell people we got him a Kindle, they look confused," says Tim Olson, the boy's dad. "They ask, 'Was he all right with that?' "Oh, yeah. He was. He is.
"I used to read 50 minutes a day. Now I read maybe 120," says David, who just finished third grade in Osceola, Wis. "I don't know why I read more now. I guess I've just gotten in the habit of reading two hours a night, sitting in bed, curled up in a ball, reading with the Kindle light on."
Just in time for summer vacation, digital reading devices have begun trickling down to kids.
Or at least, more parents are now saying "maybe."
(Which we all know usually means "yes.")

For Mary Knox, the tipping point was when her employer, the St. Paul Public Library, began loaning e-books two months ago. She figured it was time to finally start using the Nook Color from Barnes & Noble that Grandma had given her 8-year-old son for Christmas.
"My child has never been alive without the Internet. He is a native," says Knox, a library associate in Youth Services at the Central Library. "He will read these things in a different way than I ever have: If he is reading on his Nook Color and comes across a word he doesn't know, he can click on it, and it connects him to a dictionary. He's in the second grade now. I can't imagine what the world will be like by the time
he goes off to college, but as his parent, I consider reading online as part of his digital literacy. It's a tool, and I want him to have as many tools as possible."

When Amazon debuted the Kindle just in time for the holidays in November 2007, it sold out in 5-1/2 hours.
Back then, there weren't many e-books available for kids. That's slowly changing, especially with the recent advent of the Nook Color and its ability to display children's picture books. But some of the most popular series for kids are not currently available as e-books, including "Harry Potter" and "Diary of a Wimpy Kid."
"Parents should look up the big books for kids this summer, the best-sellers on Amazon, as well as any required reading for school, to see which ones are available and on which device," says Eileen Wacker, a children's book author, as well as a mom, who has gone digital.
Wacker, who has four children ages 7 to 13, recommends different devices for different levels of reading.
"I would go for a Kindle for an older child who is reading chapter books with no illustrations," she says. "There are so many more books available, it's easy on the eyes in the sun (it is not backlit like a computer screen), and it's an allowable device in many schools because it's so much like a regular book. The Nook Color is a great option for younger kids.
"But if you have the budget, I'm going to make a big play here and recommend going for the iPad for the family," she says. "It's the most exciting reading device out there. Kids love it, and you can download the Kindle app for iPad. Also, have you heard of something called iTunes? Once Apple decides to start competing with Barnes & Noble and Amazon in terms of selling books, this could be the way to go, especially since Apple makes it so easy to sync everything."

One Minnesota reading specialist says it might not be necessary for families to buy dedicated reading devices (which can range from $99 to $250 or more) to get kids started.
"You may already own what you need. There is not a monolithic approach to reading digitally," says Scott Voss, a reading specialist at Apple Valley High School who has used digital readers in class and is working on a doctorate in reading research with an emphasis on digital research from the University of Minnesota.
"There are e-readers like the Amazon Kindle, the Sony e-reader and the Barnes & Noble Nook, which is a good chunk of the market," says Voss, who is also president-elect of the Minnesota Reading Association. "But my daughter, who is in the second grade, has an iPod touch she uses to download free 'Archie' comics.

There are also ones you can buy for $1.99 to $6.99 a book.
"I ran into a gentleman who reads extensively off his iPod. He downloaded the Stieg Larsson trilogy, 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,' so that's 1,800 pages of text," Voss says. "There are also cellphone novels (a literary genre first developed in Japan), that people download to their phones to read during commutes- - books with content specifically written and designed to be read off a cellphone instead of paper.
"My point this that there is no single format or platform that is universal for reading this way."
Full piece at Twin Cities.com.

A Little Bit About The Sarah Palin Emails

First off, our Monks of Miscellaneous Musing have a great post on the topic.

Second, the whole thing is sick and insane. What's wrong with these people? They are positively out of their minds with hate for Sarah Palin.

Lastly, where are the Rev. Wright emails? She's a private citizen, he's a private citizen. She's a public speaker, he's a public speaker. She's been involved, indirectly, with the presidency, he's been involved, indirectly, with the presidency. Yes, I know, these emails are from her time as a public servant, but so what? Why was Barack Obama's crazed, racist mentor not subjected to this kind of scrutiny?

It's enough to make me support Sarah Palin for president, just out of spite.
It's that time of year again. Baby raptors are cracking their way out of eggs all over the northeast! This is the view from a red-shouldered hawk nest about 70 feet up a huge old oak tree.



Buff Orpington, Sicilian Buttercup, and Buff-laced Polish. The chickens have been really enjoying their new back yard this spring, and must be doing well with their foraging, as they've nearly stopped eating their grain, but continued to lay about an egg a day.


I snapped this photo in my neighbor's yard, and all I can think when I look at it is, "Benjamin Franklin." Ever since I heard that he wanted the turkey to be our national symbol, I've thought there was some real merit in that suggestion. Even though I'm an avid raptorphile, I'm just not a fan of bald eagles, and have no real interest in them.

Landmark US library set to close

Troy, Michigan's public library – celebrated by numerous celebrated writers – will shut unless a dedicated local tax is voted in

Dr Seuss's letter to Troy library readers
Dr Seuss's letter to Troy library readers. Photograph: Troy Library

A library "is a space ship that will take you to the farthest reaches of the Universe, a time machine that will take you to the far past and the far future," wrote Isaac Asimov 40 years ago, celebrating the opening of a Michigan library which is threatened with immediate closure.

As funding cuts hit libraries across America, famous supporters of the public library in Troy, Michigan, have helped draw attention to its case – a "particularly graphic example" of budget cuts, according to the American Library Association. As well as Asimov's letter of support, Charlotte's Web author EB White also penned a missive celebrating the library's opening, in which she wrote that "books hold most of the secrets of the world, most of the thoughts that men and women have had", while Theodor Geisel – Dr Seuss – exhorted the "children of Troy" to "Read! Read! Read!". A four-page, handwritten letter from the British illustrator Edward Ardizzone retells how he grew up in a house of books, Kingsley Amis urges children to "use your library, remembering that, whatever else you may not have, if you have books you have everything", and astronaut Neil Armstrong writes that "How we use the knowledge we gain determines our progress on earth, in space or on the moon. Your library is a storehouse for mind and spirit. Use it well."

The letters were solicited in 1971 by Troy children's librarian Marguerite Hart, who asked dozens of famous names to tell the town's children about the importance of libraries, receiving 97 replies. They were recently rediscovered by the library's head of public services Phillip Kwik, who posted them online where he says they "went viral", receiving over 25,000 hits in a month. "The letters are a living reminder of the need for a public library," said Kwik. "They reflect a time, in the US, when despite what was going on, we were a more compassionate nation. We understood the benefits of public institutions, education, and libraries in improving ourselves, our neighbours, our communities and the world. Something in the letters speaks to every one of us, and engender thoughts of a better, more informed, and more tolerant society."


Troy library has lost 14 staff since last July and had been scheduled to close in May, but a potential reprieve has been offered by a special election on 2 August which will propose establishing a dedicated local tax, or "millage". "Troy library is under threat because the city of Troy does not have the revenue to fund it any longer," said Cathy Russ, the library's director. "Currently, the library is scheduled to be open through Tuesday, August 2, the date of the special election," said Russ. "I am told that if the millage fails, 'the library will close immediately'. While I think the library will be open on Wednesday, August 3, I can't guarantee that it would be open for very much longer after that, if the millage fails."


Troy's library is not the only one struggling. Nineteen US states reported cuts in state funding for public libraries over the last year, according to the ALA's annual report, with cuts at the state level often compounded by local spending reductions. A survey of librarians by Library Journal found that 72% said their budget had been cut, while 43% reported staff cuts. The magazine described the situation as "a brutal grasping by money-starved government officials for the low-hanging fruit of library budgets".


"All across the United States, large and small cities are closing public libraries or curtailing their hours of operations," said the Pulitzer prize-winning poet Charles Simic. "'The greatest nation on earth', as we still call ourselves, no longer has the political will to arrest its visible and precipitous decline and save the institutions on which the workings of our democracy depend ... Their slow disappearance is a tragedy, not just for those impoverished towns and cities, but for everyone everywhere terrified at the thought of a country without libraries."

Russ agreed. "Libraries across the US have had to deal with budget cuts, there is no question about it. And some of the smaller libraries without dedicated millages are facing closure," she said. "It saddens me that an institution that is designed to help everyone, regardless of background, age, economic situation, is under such threat these days."