Chemical weapons

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Its free or open to a donation or regular payment.Have a look at my blog below
" My new Clog, Fake Mink Rug" as it has a bit more about it.

Truancy Shmooancy

There was a front page article in a recent newspaper The Manawatu Standard about a truancy officer who is cleaning up Feilding by getting kids back to school.click to read article
In their zeal to make children's lives better (questionable!) they are riding roughshod over the rights and needs of homeschooled children.They are doing the same thing in Levin and (I'm not sure, Palmerston North?)
I wrote a letter to Talia Shadwell,the Education correspondent for the Manawatu Standard asking for an opportunity to get together and to point out a different side of the argument
Heres what I wrote:

 Hi Talia
I read your front page article on truancy.Wanted to know if you wanted to expand the debate. One little known aspect is that homeschooled children are being approached on the street and questioned-enough for my homeschooled daughter to not even venture out during school hours. No one considered their story; and there are more than a few homeschoolers in this region-its more like in the hundreds in the Manawatu Horowhena.I also include a  post on truancy from my blog for your information at.http://hilldogg-visionary.blogspot.co.nz/2013/02/go-on-truant.html
Ok hopefully you will be interested.
With regards
Duncan Hill

No response. So if you could write to her asking to reconsider it may bring about a response

talia.shadwell@msl.co.nz

17th September update: Talia Shadwell has left the job so I've made some intial contact with the new Education reporter Lucy Townend, Let you all know how I get on.
Duncan

GCSB protest poster

As a part of the protest against the proposed changes to the law,I did this woodcut poster. Its carved by hand and printed by hand to show that people really have a big gripe about this-and this is 'people art' at its roots.Printed on hard wearing recycled Kraft paper 190gram (that means like light card) I loved doing it, I am going to do more. So spread the word, pass it on. They are available from me for $20 signed. plus $5.90 postage in a cardboard tube anywhere in NZ. I can do more than 10 for $15 each. Its a work of art in its own right for your wall, but equally needs to go on your local building or workplace to stop this insanity!

The Origin of the title Fake Mink Rug

Fake Mink Rug-the name of my Clog- came from a funny and informative conversation with Thomas, a German 'woofer' (WOOF-Workers On Organic Farms) staying with us.He introduced me to the cool German idea of compound nouns (I believe compound verbs are used also) which allow very specific words to be made by joining words to nuance the meaning in a very detailed, sic German, precise way.
Here's an extreme example, which even the Germans are finding tiresome and unwieldly:
"Grundstücksverkehrsgenehmigungszuständigkeitsübertragungsverordnung" 
which means "regulation governing the delegation of authority pertaining to land conveyance permissions"
Anyway I was asking someone in my family to put away the Fake Mink Rug-when I heard Thomas titter.And when I asked him what was so funny he said it sounded like one of these German 'tapeworm' words.I guess it should really be Fakeminkrug to be consistent.