The Weekender 05/07/2009

Golfer Danny Lee is in a tie for eighth place in Maryland on the PGA Tour.

The NZ Warriors continued their bad run of form with a 28-14 thumping by the Brisbane Broncos this weekend. The faith of their fans that they can make the playoffs is being sorely tested.

The NRL's greatest points scorer, Hasem El Masri has announced he will be retiring from league at the end of this season.

The Southern Steel kept their hopes of a finals spot alive (in the ANZ trans-tasman netball champs) with a 55-48 win over the NSW Swifts. The Canterbury Tactix didn't do the Waikato/BOP Magic any favours when they were thrashed by the Melbourne Vixens 63-35 - it's likely that the top spot will be determined by points differential.

NZ men's beach volleyball pair of Kirk Pitman and Jason Lochhead beat Germany to be guaranteed to finish at least fifth of the nine teams at the world volleyball champs in Norway.

Josh Coppins has found some consistency in the MX1 series to close the gap to third place to 13 points.

The Junior Tall Blacks team have been hosting the under-19 men's basketball championship in Auckland this week and despite punching above their weight and doing very well, they didn't manage any wins. They pushed Croatia hard, losing 79-72, and also got very close to a huge upset, but losing 66-64 to Argentina.

The first Ranfurly Shield defence of the season was this weekend and was as one sided as the organisers would have expected as Wellington beat Wairarapa-Bush 90-19. 

A few storms have been moving around the country this week and Kaitaia was hit by a tornado yesterday damaging around 20 homes. The twister hit land at Ninety Mile Beach and left a path of destruction as it headed south east & through Kaitaia. I heard someone say it was like the movies but then the report I've just read said that the damage is mostly tiles and roofs off - maybe not so much like the movies! Canterbury is having heavy snow falls right now with around 15-20cm forecast for the Canterbury foothills. Last week 500 people were cut off or evacuated around the East Coast, and the tiny township of Waihi Village (on the shores of Lake Taupo) was evacuated, throwing a spanner in the works for the signing of the Treelord deal. Last Sunday there was an amazing thunder storm over Waikato, Auckland and Northland with well over a thousand lightning strikes detected.

The so called "Treelord" deal was finished off yesterday with around $450m being transferred from the crown to North Island iwi yesterday at a ceremony near Turangi. Now they will need to work out exactly who gets what. 

The political story of the week has been to do with government spending on transport. Treasury released details on the governments spending and Labour had a field day gloating that National had spent twice as much as Labour in travel. National responded with a few things, John Key told ministers that free flights would no longer cover spouses, we were told that you couldn't really compare an established government on their way out, with a new government trying to establish international relationships, and we found out that John Key's first-class flight to the APEC meeting in Peru was booked before the election by Labour!! All of those comments were relevant but then the truth came out.

It turned out that Treasury made a mistake, and the final figures showed that National had spent less in both domestic and international travel than Labour over a similar month range last year. How about a citizen initiated (binding) referendum that Labour have to be quiet for the next two years?

Finally the police and the Korean businesswoman have dropped the complaint against former National MP Richard Worth, they destroyed him & now won't give him a chance to respond in court.

A paraplegic man was shot dead by police in Christchurch last Sunday night, after he fired off more than 100 rounds from his shotgun and .303 down his street. He had indicated to his family that he was suicidal but suicide-by-cop is not a fair way to do it! A member of the armed offenders squad and a member of the public suffered moderate injuries.

Iconic kiwi clothing company (at least in yachting circles!) Line 7 has gone into receivership blaming the economic hard times and the volatile kiwi dollar.

New equipment has been installed at Auckland Airport to allow air traffic controllers to see exactly where planes on the ground are in the fog. The technology exists so the planes can land and take off, but now there is more control over movement on the ground to get the planes through faster. The new equipment means Auckland is the leader in fog and bad weather technology in the Southern Hemisphere.

1: # holiday park in NZ is Te Anau Top 10 Holiday Park

2: months in court for an 18 year old driver, cancels his $52,515 in unpaid fines
3: NZ deaths associated with the swine flu outbreak, the cumulative total for NZ is now 961 (mostly in Auckland 202, Wellington 292, & Christchurch 234)

4: cases of potentially lethal measles have sent health officials scrambling in Christchurch

7.5: degC national average temperature for June - down 0.7 degC on the June long term average, -8.9 degC was the lowest temperature for the month at Hanmer Springs

50: jobs are to be lost from the Pacific Brands clothing factory in Palmerston North

87: % of migrants felt settled in NZ after six months with 93% satisfied with life here
500,000: $ haul of pseudoephedrine was intercepted by police and customs

Aucklander Joseph Sinel (1889-1975) led a visionary and exuberant life as a founder of the Industrial Design movement in America. An Elam graduate, NZ Herald apprentice, graphic artist, product designer, advertising creative, brand pioneer, mixed media maestro, inspirational teacher, lover of fast cars and California; a disciplined bohemian and above all, strikingly modern.

Lost

Steve took his new wife camping for the first time. At every opportunity, he passed along outdoor-survival lore. 

One day they got lost hiking in the deep woods. Steve tried the usual tactics to determine direction - moss on the trees (there was no moss), the direction of the sun (it was an overcast day). 

Just as his wife was beginning to panic, Steve spotted a small cabin off in the distance. He pulled out his binoculars, studied the cabin, then turned and led his wife right back to their camp. 

"That was terrific," she said, impressed. "How did you do it?" 

"Simple," he replied. "In this part of the country all TV satellite dishes point south."