The Weekender 09/08/2009
Submitted by weekender on Mon, 10/08/2009 - 01:30
Well we were told the cold winter weather had ended and it was a nice warm (sunny?) run to summer, but last night was pretty cold!
Sport
Danny Lee has continued his patchy professional golfing form this week. For a couple of days he was right up there on the leaderboard with the likes of Tiger Woods in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Ohio, but over the past two days he has dropped off the pace.
The All Blacks had a break this weekend (as the Springboks beat the Wallabies) but the Air NZ cup continued on. Canterbury beat Auckland 22-16 to ensure Auckland remain on the bottom of the table, Waikato welcomed back it's All Blacks including captain Liam Messam to beat Manawatu 30-22. The Magpies were hoping for better but Wellington beat Hawke's Bay 13-21, Tasman beat North Harbour 19-15 and Southland won the battle of the south over Otago 26-19. Northland beat Taranaki 29-16.
Sailors Hamish Pepper and Craig Monk retained their no 1 spot overnight in the Star world champs in Sweden but finished 25th in the final race to end the champs with silver. Teenagers Alexandra Maloney and Bianca Barbarich-Bacher won the women's 420 world champs crown in Italy.
The Tall Blacks (NZ mens basketball team) lost their final European game beaten 91-102 by Finland.
NZ News
A group of eight people in Taranaki have been charged with rioting after they started throwing rocks towards a lone policeman - neither the policeman nor his car were damaged.
The political news this week was headlined by the result of the Phillip Field trial verdicts. The former Labour MP had numerous allegations against him and was finally kicked out of the Labour party and then lost his electoral seat in the last elections. The trial lasted more than 14 weeks, and the jury took several days to decide that he was guilty of 26 of the 35 criminal charges relating to when he had Thai nationals do work on his properties, in return for immigration assistance.
The extra sad thing about this case was that this was the first New Zealand MP who has been charged, and the first to be convicted, of bribery and corruption.
The spending by MP's continue to cover the headlines with Bill English saying he will now only claim the regular $24,000 housing allowance rather than the $47,000 he is entitled to, and that he would pay back what he had so far claimed. Labour's second biggest spender, Chris Carter (behind leader Phil Goff) has also been in the news lots claiming "malicious misinformation" despite the verified amounts he has spent - $57,137 on airfares, $14,476 on surface travel & $10,667 on Wellington accommodation. All this as someone who is in opposition and was warned by colleagues about his spending!
1: # destination for Australians in now New Zealand having overtaken England
5.9: Richter scale aftershocks continue around Fiordland
7: kiwi fire-fighters (& 22 Aussies) got a standing ovation at Vancouver after they spent a month relieving Canadian officials
8: th best husbands in the world ranking for kiwi men - Aussies were worst!
12: years of 'Big Boys Toys' has ended with the recession causing the cancellation of this years event
23: hour Telethon is in full swing right now - raising money for needy kiwi kids
25: year high on numbers of people travelling by bus and train - 58.6 million trips in Auckland
92: % of smokers support a ban on smoking in cars carrying preschoolers
160: ml of rain was expected in the Westland Ranges in the deep south
Finance NZ Dollar
GBP 0.4038 (+0.0074)
EUR 0.4750 (+0.0103)
USD 0.6735 (+0.0112)
AUD 0.8041 (+0.0118)
The Weekender NZer of the week
Richard Pearse
FIRST FLYER
On or about 31st March 1903 reclusive New Zealand farmer Richard Pearse climbed into his monoplane at his Waitohi property and flew for about 140 metres before crashing into a gorse hedge. "Mad Pearse": self-taught inventor, prophetic designer, trail blazing aviator, and eccentric visionary, a modern-day Icarus from down under who, against incredible odds, ingeniously sought the sun and pioneered powered flight.
http://www.nzedge.co.nz/heroes/pearse.html
Need a Pen?
A patient at the dental office where I was a receptionist stopped by my desk to pay her bill. She began rummaging through her purse, as so many patients did when they had a check to write.
"Do you need a pen?" I asked, offering her the use of mine.
"Yes, thank you," she replied. She took it, put it in her handbag and proceeded to pay in cash.
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/
{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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