The Weekender 14/12/2008

Welcome along! I am off on a road trip to New Plymouth this afternoon, so I'm getting in early with the Weekender!

Sport

Hayden Roulston who has signed with top Swiss team Cervelo will be riding in the next Tour de France.

It's not really related to NZ, but the US women won the under-20 World Cup this week beating North Korea. Last month in NZ it was the North Korean's beating USA in the under 17 World Cup!

NZ golfer David Smail is doing well in Japan with a $170,000 pay day when he was tied for second in the Nippon Series Cup.

In rugby league news, the fallout from the world cup is complete with Ricky Stuart quitting as Kangaroos coach. There was really no option after 'body-checking' and swearing at the refs the morning after the game. Big Mel Meninga is a contender to take over.
In other big league news, there will be two referees controlling the NRL games next year.

Wesh rugby winger Shane Williams believes Europe is closing the gap on the southern hemisphere. He must mistakenly think that because the IRB felt sorry for the Northern hemisphere and gave him the player of the year award (I mean seriously, if it was purely on form how could you go past Richie McCaw?). He must have ignored the results of the latest tours.

Paige Hareb made it to the third round in the Billabong Pro surf tour this week. She was eventually beaten by a double world champ but she put up a great showing for her first time.

The first cricket test against the West Indies is well on it's way (for a draw?). The Black Caps chose to bat first and reached 365 in the third day after day two was rained out.

NZ News

One day we might have a weekender with no political news in it - but this isn't that day. This week the 122 MPs (including 33 noobies) were sworn into Parliament.
It turns out the lull in things happening down in Wellington was waiting for that ceremony! Government switched into hyperdrive and seem to be following through on their promise of a 100 action plan. It's even to the point of running the House under urgency and working through till midnight and on Saturday!
They have pushed through a number of things already: The government will fully fund the breast cancer drug Herceptin - bringing us in line with other countries and something that Labour strangely avoided. They have made changes to Kiwisaver - and then more changes for a boost for low income earners. They introduced Tax cuts and repealed the R&D; tax credit introduced by Labour. Parents of truants will be fined $300 for the first offence and $3000 for subsequent wagging. New workers in small businesses can be sacked within 90 days - bringing NZ in line with most other countries.
Wow. Bill Ralston is worried his years of cynicism at politics may be ruined. The government really is doing the things they said they would. I'm sure I remember Labour promising Tax cuts in the 2002 election campaign, and then in 2005, but they never delivered anything till October. But this government isn't just ramming everything through. While Labour complains of U-turns, National was quite quick at saying they were wrong and building new state houses would be better than just repairing old ones. Action AND common sense - who would have thought.
National continues to find 'surprises' left by Labour, with the District Health Boards carrying a deficit of $150m rather than the stated $111m. The border security is under threat from an out of date IT system close to collapse. Things are going badly with "Project Protector" the navy's $500m project where most of the money has been paid but they have only received 1 of the 7 ships.

This week more news came out, about how the Japanese climber survived on Mt Cook by digging a snow cave. But unfortunately there has been another death there. Two Australian brothers were negotiation a dangerous ridge when one fell into a crevasse. The other brother was lucky to be alive after two horrific nights high on the mountain. But the search was called off for the brother that fell and he is assumed dead.
Two fishermen were swept to their deaths on Auckland's west coast yesterday.

The police have received their tasers this week & they will be distributed in Auckland and Wellington.

A judge quite rightly took exception to a teenager who was making a court appearance for a drink-driving charge, when she turned up wearing a "Miss Wasted" t-shirt. She was told to go home and change.

The Rutherford Foundation has awarded two scholarships Auckland students, with Racheal Shaw to take a closer look at the mentality of birds and George Gordon looking at connecting information from independent electronic sources. Lord Rutherford is our kiwi of the week!

The Tagger-killing court case ended this week. It has had a fairly high profile recently. A man chased some taggers with a knife and one of the boys ended up dead. The other tagger said he was attacked, but the man, Bruce Emery said it was an accident. The jury agreed and Bruce Emergy was found not guilty of murder but guilty of man slaughter.

The Numbers Game

6.8%: decline in house prices last month (since last year), but there are signs of a 'slight' recovery (no decrease on last month)
7: babies have died while sleeping with their parents (the story had no time frame!)
9: % rise in prices by state owned Genesis energy
26: years minimum jail time for murder, rape and attempted murderer Liam James Reid
29: councils have confirmed they will switch off lights for Earth Hour next year
56m: $ bid by Australia for the football World Cup

Finance NZ Dollar

GBP 0.3647 (+0.0026)
EUR 0.4086 (-0.0100)
USD 0.5451 (+0.0126)
AUD 0.8265 (+0.0025)

The Weekender NZer of the week

Ernest Rutherford
Rutherford was awarded a scholarship in 1894 which enabled him to attend Cambridge.
Known as the "father of nuclear energy", Rutherford was awarded the Nobel prize for chemistry in 1908, for the discovery that elements are not immutable, but can change their structure naturally, from heavy elements to slightly lighter.
This natural radioactive decay of atomic nuclei not only changed scientific thinking, but was the basis for radiocarbon dating that proved the Earth's age.
His second major discovery, in 1907, that some particles shot at paper-thin sheets of gold leaf bounced off, revealed a nuclear structure of mostly empty space, with electrons orbiting an incredibly dense nucleus at the centre.
He went on to split the atom, in 1917, by converting nitrogen atoms into oxygen, forcing the transformation and creating the nuclear age.

(taken from the NZ Herald)

Joke of the Weekender

Old Goats
A group of Americans were traveling by tour bus through Holland. As they stopped at a cheese farm, a young guide led them through the process of cheese making, explaining that goat's milk was used. She showed the group a lovely hillside where many goats were grazing.
"These" she explained "are the older goats put out to pasture when they no longer produce." She then asked, "What do you do in America with your old goats?"
A spry old gentleman answered, "They send us on bus tours!"

Weekender Photos

Check out my photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/dunwich42
Next week, photos of Christmas lights!

Darren Harrison: darren@harrison.gen.nz
The Weekender: mailed weekly (Sunday nightish)
Website: www.dunwich.co.nz/weekender/
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