The Weekender 23/02/2009

Some may call me a day late, some might quote obscure Lord of the Rings lines about me being right on time, but today is my birthday & last night was my brothers 40th party so I didn't quite make it to the computer after that. This will hopefully be the news in brief!

Sport

Danny Lee still hasn't turned golfing pro but has won his first major tournament in Perth this weekend. The world No.1 amateur who misses out on the $582,000 winners cheque won the Johnnie Walker Classic on the European tour, and will turn pro after the US Masters in April.

Hayden Roulston finished second by centimeters in the seventh stage of the Tour of California cycling race.

NZ teams did badly in the second round of the Super 14 and here are the results. Force 16-10 Cheetahs, Hurricanes 22-17 Highlanders, Waratahs 11-7 Chiefs, Stormers 27-24 Reds, Brumbies 18-16 Crusaders, Bulls 59-26 Blues, and Sharks 25-10 Lions. Perhaps this Super 14 has reverts back to being so even the home side is most likely to win!

The NZ Breakers thrashed the Adelaide 36ers 131-101 to cruise through to the semi finals.

NZ News

An 85 year old man was bashed quite badly walking from the RSA to his car last week, and following a public out-cry the police quickly tracked down a man & made an arrest. The war vet was 'ecstatic'.

An arson did some work on Ruapehu the other week badly damaging a number of the ski operation buildings & causing millions in damage (mostly to two snow groomers).

John Key has no problem with a cannabis advocate sponsoring a drugs event because he has clearly stated that his government will never legalise the drug.

Qantas has left the country. However the Qantas subsidary Jetstar is basically taking over everything Qantas was doing in NZ - except for Rotorua!

The Numbers Game

1: # world debating champs for the NZ team - beating England by 6-1 after they just beat us last year
5: c/L drop in petrol - after going up 6 c last week...??
6: years longer expected life span for NZers compared to 25 years ago
18: years since NZ's birth rate was as high as it is now
31: players in the 4 Australian Super14 teams who weren't born in Australia, compared ton 17 non NZ born players in the 5 NZ teams
70: mils of rain forecast overnight for Fiordland
100: th class win for shearer John Kirkpatrick
345: m long Queen Mary 2 is berthed in Auckland
478.30: $ average lost to gambling by NZers last year down by $1 from last year & dropping from the 2003-04 high of $502
10,000: $/yr cash or student loan write-off is being offered to young doctors to stay in NZ
1.79m : $ loss from the David Beckham visit to Auckland

Finance NZ Dollar

GBP 0.3437 (+0.0066)
EUR 0.5101 (+0.0114)
USD 0.6550 (+0.0188)
AUD 0.8537 (+0.0137)

The Weekender NZer of the week

Sir Keith Park.
Yes this is twice in a row. He deserves it.
Anyone who hangs around me long enough will hear me at some point talk about Sir Keith Park's pivotal role in World War 2. Peter Jackson has joined a campaign to get Sir Keith permanently honoured in London.
For goodness sake, the German's called him the "defender of London". RAF Marshal Lord Tedder said: "If ever any one man won the Battle of Britain, he did. I don't believe it is realised how much that one man, with his leadership, his calm judgment and his skill, did to save not only this country, but the world."
http://www.sirkeithpark.com/
Or search for "sir keith park" on Facebook.

Joke of the Weekender

Pillar Interruption
The Sunday School teacher described how Lot's wife looked back at Sodom and was turned into a pillar of salt.
Suddenly Jimmy interrupted. "My mom looked back once while she was driving," he announced triumphantly, "and she turned into a telephone pole!"

Weekender Photos

Check out my photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/dunwich42

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