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The Weekender 14/06/2009

Submitted by weekender on Mon, 15/06/2009 - 09:54
Welcome to this week! The cold series of frosts from last week ended just in time for the great Waikato winter Fieldays weather to arrive. It's actually been a lot warmer - double digit temperatures for overnight lows, but a wet week designed for Fieldays gumboots. 

Sport

It has been a great week for transtasman netball with the ANZ champs kicking into high gear. Last weekend the Waikato/BOP Magic had a top of the table clash with the Melbourne Vixens and the Magic won 55-48 - there are few things better than seeing Irene van Dyk smiling (ok she always does) and Aussie Sharelle McMahon disappointed! This weekend the Canterbury Tactix beat the Queensland Firebirds 53-46 in Christchurch, and the Magic thrashed the Central Pulse 67-35.

Emirates Team New Zealand has been doing well in the coastal race series in Marseille. NZL380 has been consistent and a third place in the third round has given them a 12 point lead in the competition. 

So, the Black Caps made it through to the Super 8 stage of the Twenty20 Cricket world cup, but they didn't do so well in their first game. Pakistan had an easy win over the Black Caps after Umar Gul took five wickets. 
The White Ferns have done better in the women's world cup Twenty20 tournament with a 52-run win over the West Indies as they head towards the semis.

The All Blacks started their international season on Saturday night - and they'll be wishing they hadn't. The first game of the French tour was in Dunedin and France were deserved winners 27-22. Both teams were without a number of key players and the All Blacks have lost more to injury from the game.

The Warriors beat the Newcastle Knights 13-0 at Mt Smart Stadium in the NRL this weekend, it was the second home game in a row where they haven't conceded a point and the game leads into a bye for them next week. 

The game of the week was without a doubt the All Whites performance against football world champions Italy. Italy were treating the soccer match as little more than a training exercise but the All Whites weren't. Anyone thinking about the game beforehand was expecting a goal fest & wondering how the All Whites would take a thrashing but the (mostly) amateurs from NZ lead 1-0, then 2-1 and finally 3-2 up until the 67th minute when Italy subbed on four players and eventually won 3-4. For NZ to score 3 goals against a hugely defensive team like Italy is amazing - they did very very well.

Virtually unknown kiwi golfer Doug Batty has qualified for next week's US Open at Bethpage in New York. 

NZ got two world cup medals in Kayaking this week with Erin Taylor getting a silver in the K1 1000 and Teneale Hatton with Lisa Carrington coming third in the K2 1000.

NZ News

The by-election for Mt Albert was this weekend. The electorate that Helen Clark left vacant has long been a Labour strong hold, and to the surprise of the media (but no one else), that has continued with David Shearer winning by 9,187 - almost 1,200 less than Helen Clark won by last year. Only 47.6% of enrolled people voted.
The other political news is that National MP Richard Worth has resigned from Parliament. There was really no other option after John Key basically asked him to quit. The whole thing seems to have been an effective smear campaign from Labour, especially obvious when this week the name of the woman (who accused Richard Worth of inappropriate behaviour) was announced. She was a fairly high level Labour party member and both her & her husband have an 'interesting' history.

A man was convicted of shinning a green laser at the cockpit of a plane approaching Wellington airport early last year - he said he did not intend to harm anyone. Last month a man was convicted & sentenced to 300 hours community work for shinning a green laser at one of the Interisland ferries and temporarily blinding crew.

A Canterbury man was not happy when he found out his son's car was being used for boy racing - so he sold it at a giveaway price. The police commended him for being so responsible. 

A man snatched two expensive rings from a store in Christchurch this week but he didn't count on the public. A member of the public spotted it & alerted the shop owner and they both gave chase. The man also attempted to snatch a woman's bag as he was running! Then another man joined the chase, they flagged down a passing courier van and the men caught the offender in a nearby property and held him for the police. Go the public!
A group of residents caught some boy racers for the police in Oropi after they were fed up with what they'd been doing on their cul-de-sac street. The residents had organised themselves and when the time came they used their cars & trailers to block off the street and hold the boy racers till the police arrived.

The Numbers Game

0.41: % of the vote at the last election for the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party - who were in a huff because TVNZ didn't invite them to the parties debate for the Mt Albert by-election
2: Auckland robberies with the first netting $3,000 but the police have arrested a man
12: th best city in the world to live in - is Auckland (according to the Economist) - all NZ celebrated by eating a jafa
25.5: % increase in patronage for the Overlander passenger trains between Auckland & Wellington - Toll were going to shut it down in 2006
43: cases of swine flu confirmed in NZ, along with the first (three) cases contracted in NZ - all the others so far have been from overseas travellers
63: more charges and a bill of $400,000 for fugitive William Stewart now that he is back in custody
9,515: votes (at the general election) for the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party - less than what Helen Clark won Mt Albert by

Finance NZ Dollar

GBP 0.3914 (-0.0009)
EUR 0.4593 (+0.0105)
USD 0.6435 (+0.0168)
AUD 0.7926 (+0.0025)

The Weekender NZer of the week

Te Rangi Hiroa/Sir Peter Buck
AOTEAROA ANTHROPOLOGIST

Peter Buck's achievements are astonishing for their diversity: pioneering and internationally renowned anthropologist, the first Maori medical doctor, a politician, administrator, soldier, sportsperson and leader of the Maori people. Through exploring the cross-cultural advantages of his birth and exercising a self-taught scientific rigour, Buck extended the edges of knowledge.

Joke of the Weekender
Kidnapped
Most Friday nights at the Naval Station in Bermuda, we would assemble at the officers club after work. One Friday, Rick, a newly married ensign, insisted he had to leave at 6 p.m. We all tried to talk him into staying, but he'd promised his bride he'd be home by six. I offered to call home for Rick. 
When his wife answered the phone, I said, "Rick has been kidnapped. Put five dollars in small, unmarked bills in a plain brown paper bag and throw it in the door of the officers club." Then I hung up. 
A short time later, a waiter brought a grocery bag to our table. In it were Rick's baseball glove, a tennis racket and a teddy bear. Attached to the bear was a note: "Rick can play kidnapped until 7 p.m. Then he must come home."

Weekender Photos

I have some new photos! Here are a bunch of semi-random photos from the past few months. There are also a few family weekend photos in another album.


Darren Harrison: darren@harrison.gen.nz
The Weekender: mailed weekly (Sunday nightish)
Website: www.dunwich.co.nz/weekender/
{If these just fill up your junk mail, then send me an email & I'll take you off the list | The Weekender is not a verified news source, sometimes it's even just an opinion}


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