NZ facts and figures
Walked into work this morning, which was really nice. It was so clear today that once I got up to my floor, not only could you see the Western mountains, but you could see the ones all the way to the north – which you don’t see very often.
The Press is doing a special section this week on New Zealand statistics. Today is 2006 population stats. NZ had 4,027,947 people in it last year (26,940 of whom were originally born in North America). 68,123 departed and 82,732 arrived. It was the lowest level of home ownership in 10 years (743,952). There are 2,027418 Christians (with Anglican being the largest denomination. The 2nd largest grouping is no religion with 1,297,104. There were 430 civil unions last year; 197 female, 151 male, and 82 male-female. There were 28,245 deaths last year and 59,193 births. The median age of marriage last year was 30.4 for women, and 32.6 for men, continuing a 2 decade increase. The median age for women to get knocked up was 30.3. The population was split ethnically as; 2,609,589 European, 565,329 Maori, 429,429 New Zealander (no – I don’t know what this is), 354,552 Asian, and 265,972 Pacific Peoples.
In Canterbury there were 521,832 people; 267,147 women and 254,685 men, with 113,919 owning homes. The largest demographic was the under 15 category. And there were 64,893 20-29 yr-olds.
Speaking of Canterbury, the crusaders won the Ranfurly shield from Waikato (who had only had it a week) 33-20. Yay!
Scary headline for the day; US has drafted plans to take out the entire Iranian military in 3 days. ehhh….
My dad sent me the chronicle! (And a Lair maintanence shirt) So I got the sunday funnies for 3 weeks (which include a great bizarro and my all-time favorite rhymes with orange. It features a doctor looking down at a small child hiding behind her mother. The doctor says, “Please tell Emily the snake pin on my lapel means I am a doctor. I am not a Slytherin.”) It also has a travel section of postcard put-downs from famous writers. Highlights include,
“The Australian book of etiquette is a very slim volume” – Paul Theroux
“Romans park their cars the way I would park if I had just spilled a beaker of hydrochloric acid on my lap” – Bill Bryson
“California is a place in which a boom mentality and a sense of Chekhovian loss meet in uneasy suspension” – Joan Didion
And my personal fave, “San Francisco: Hollywood pretending to be New York” – Jules Siegel
The pink section also includes the fall arts preview (I will be missing Tori Amos, Interpol, and the download festical (Waaah!) (“The funky music festival that once spanned diverse sounds and styles takes a decidedly gothic turn this year with the Cure, AFI, Kings of Leon, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, She Wants Revenge, Metric and the Black Angels. Black nail polish not required, but recommended.”) Yeah – four of my favorite bands. Ack!
And under the SF Opera season is Samson and Delilah starring Olga Borodina and Jose Cura. Hmmm… now where do I know them from? 😉 (They were my Carmen and Don Jose in 1996-97 when I sang with them.)
Went to the library today (I gave up on Marconi – I just didn’t care anymore). Got the Meaning of Night by Michael Cox and the Act of Roger Murgatroyd by Gilbert Adair (finally!) I’ll let you know how they go.
Tags: Travel
jwdmeow
Maybe I can enlighten you as to what a “new zealander” is. I am one. (Not that that helps!) In the last census we were given the opportunity for the first time to identify ourselves as simply New Zealander – to many of us, especially the third or fourth generation ones, it is no longer of great consequence that our ancestors came from Scotland and so we don’t feel the need to be “European Somethings”. Or in my children’s case, they are far more “new Zealander than they are quarter British, quarter Malaysian Chinese and half New Zealander (and of that half, three grandparents were from New Zealand and the fourth was an American soldier)…so who are my kids? They are New Zealanders!
That makes sense. It’s like Americans identifying themselves as American instead of 6th generation Irish. I just couldn’t figure it out, since it seems that most people still consider themselves European – even if they (and probably one or two generations) were born here.
I like to think of Americans as mongrel dogs…they always say that mongrels are much smarter than pure breds. Go, Darwin!
I’m (on Dad’s side) Hessian? (before a unified Germany)/English and on Mom’s Irish/English. But that’s more-or-less. My maternal grandfather’s grandmother was a Native American, and who knows how many other things are thrown in?
So you’re half all that, plus half whatever on your dad’s side. He has ancestors from England, Scotland, Prussia (before a unified Germany), and who-knows-where?
Several friends of mine who are actually from Africa find it insulting that American blacks call themselves “African Americans”.
The only Americans I know who have been here for generations who still consider themselves affiliated with a particular country are Irish. Well, maybe some Italians. There may be more who cling to “the old country”, but I don’t know them….
Sounds like NZ definitely has the right idea.
I think a lot of ethinicities do it. The Russians in SF were close knit, as are the Phillipinos, Koreans, Chinese and Japanese. (We used to have an Asian mafia at PO because all the asians stuck together so much).
I think once you’re a 4th or 5th generation American you still try to claim some kind of heritage, because we like to cling to (re-create?) our differences and traditions and whatnot. Just saying you’re American is boring.
Well, I have to disagree. If we were all just Americans, there would be fewer real or imagined divisions. Rachel the New Zealander got it right.