Blue skies, a beach, a pool, good food, and family and friends. So much to be thankful for.

Still some snow on Southern Alps. Lovely views on flight down to conference this morning.

Related to last week’s posting Greenflame» Blog Archive » Election resources – 2011, there’s a joint church leaders’ release just out detailing their vision for New Zealand society. See Leader’s vision / Features / Anglican Taonga – Anglican Taonga.

Interestingly, no Catholic presence in the signatories, though an election related statement from the Catholic church can be found here: The Catholic Church in Aotearoa New Zealand | Bishops’ Statements | A Statement for the New Zealand General Election 2011.

We’ve pretty much played Settlers of Catan and its expansions to death (though recently we’ve been playing the Settlers of America Trails to Rails variant a bit). However, there looks like there’s a new update coming out that explores the impact of exploitation in the game, giving it a bit of an ethical twist. Could be interesting.

You can read about it at See Oil Springs of Catan explores the tragedy of the commons, while there’s more about the scenario at Tragedy of the commons – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

For another game with an ethical dimension see Terra | Board Game | BoardGameGeek.

With the general election approaching a number of different groups have started producing resources for churches etc. A couple of recent ones just out include:

• Resources for the General Election, Centre for Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago, New Zealand. Includes an introduction to thinking about faith and politics, and resources on:
• ‘Is there a New Zealand identity?’
• ‘Working for Families’ (on families and relationships)
• ‘AA – Alcohol and Advertising’
• ‘Justice, Judgment and Jails’ (thinking about crime and punishment)
• The Spring edition of the PCANZ Spanz magazine looks at the election and the wellbeing of children and families – See Spring 2011 | Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand (Available there as a PDF file)
• Resources from the Salvation Army’s Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit (SPPU): General Election – The Salvation Army New Zealand, Fiji & Tonga Territory
• New Zealand Christian Network – 2011 Voting referendum; Election questions 2011; & Useful Election resources

Some other resources from around the place – church and non-church – (and from past elections) include:

• Referendum on the voting system | Referendum 2011
• The New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services have a number of publications from the 2008 election on their web site – haven’t seen any 2011 ones yet. Click here for publications in their database.
• Old, but still useful, CASI resources
• Before You Vote (2005) (PDF)
• Holding an Election Meeting (2005) (PDF)

Updated

I’ve now added links to all the major political parties web sites. Will see if I can find some blogs later to add (any suggestions?).

• National Party
• Labour Party
• Green Party
• ACT Party
• Maori Party
• Mana Party
• United Future Party
• New Zealand First (NZ First also have the web site nzfirst.tv, which made me smile as the ‘.tv’ bit means ‘Tuvalu’.)
• Progressive Party (for the sake of completeness)

(Click on pictures for larger image)

Rymill Park

Cacti & Succulent Garden

Adelaide Cityscape looking over Torrens Lake

Some recent photos from my current Australian meaderings…

(Click on photos for larger images)

National Rhododendron Gardens – Melbourne

Vose Seminary – Perth

Bicentennial Conservatory – Adelaide Botanic Garden (looks like something out of Stargate SG-1)

Amazon Waterlily Pavillion – Adelaide Botanic Garden

Palm House – Adelaide Botanic Garden

Foot bridge across River Torrens looking towards University Oval – Adelaide

View from the same bridge

(More panorama photos to follow)  

NZ On Screen have a selection of Anzac Day short films available for viewing over on their web site:

Anzac Day Collection – Collection | NZ On Screen

From their overview:

This collection brings together 24 titles covering Kiwis at war. Iconic documentaries and films tell stories of terrible cost, heroism and brotherhood. Each title raises fundamental questions about our identity. Dr Chris Pugsley muses, “It is sobering to think that in the first half of the 20th Century the big OE for most New Zealanders was going to war.”

Amazing what you can do with No. 8 fencing wire

The Marvelous Anti Gravity Vehicles of New Zealand

After the bustle of Christmas with it’s excesses, simpler foods are looking like better options for the new year period.

2010 was marked by my quest to create the perfect poached egg (and the odd coddled egg too). I’ve tried various different ways from cookbooks, TV chefs, web sites and word of mouth but the following link seems to have the methods that’s worked best for me:

Poached Eggs 101: How To Poach Eggs Perfectly Every Time @Not Quite Nigella

Related to that, check out Soft Boiled Eggs, Parmesan Chive Soldiers @Not Quite Nigella

I’m now on the lookout for some egg coddlers, though my new ramekins will do at a pinch.