The Weekender 20/12/2009

Welcome to the last Weekender for the year! I'll take a break over Christmas & you'll hear from me again at some point in January!

Sport

Both the NZ men's & women's hockey teams have done great qualifying for the Commonwealth Games, Champions Trophy and the World Cup.

The NZ Breakers kept their playoff hopes alive with a 77-68 away win against the bottom-placed Tigers in Melbourne. They have a 9 win - 9 loss record. During the week they lost 89-80 to the Townsville Crocodiles. They seem to have swapped from earlier in the season & are now losing all their home games & winning the away games.

The Wellington Phoenix (who drew with Adelaide this week) may have some troubling times ahead with the Asian Football Confederation head ordering Australia to dump the team by 2012. Luckily that decision isn't up to him & the order would have to come from Fifa who hopefully will help the Phoenix, especially with the All Whites showing up in South Africa for the World Cup!
Auckland City's fifth placing in the Club World Cup soccer tournament has netted over $2m for club soccer in NZ. They came fifth after upsetting African champs TP Mazembe 3-2.
And finally for soccer, despite the All Whites great results this year they have dropped five places in the FIFA year-end rankings to No 82, but we still lead Oceania (now that Australia - ranked 21 - is in the Asian confederation).

Richie McCaw became the first person to win the NZ rugby player of the year for the third time. He also won the Kelvin R. Tremain Memorial trophy in 2003 & 2006. Waikato Chiefs captain Mils Muliaina was named the Super 14 player of the year.
The Wallabies continue to grab the headlines we are more used to seeing about NRL players, with Wallaby Kurtley Beale charged this week with assault after a family birthday party.

The Black Caps got very close to beating Pakistan & getting a series victory this week, but the rain at Napier washed away their chances. The Black Caps were chasing 208 in 43 overs for the win. They made it to 90 without loss, due to a cracking 60 off 62 by BJ Watling before the rain started & the test stopped.

NZ News

Land Information Minister Maurice Williamson, this week announced his decision on the often heated debate on the spelling of Wanganui. Maori activists have long protested for the name to be changed to Whanganui (with the "h"), while public opinion (well 75% of it) wanted the traditional (and earliest documented spelling) of Wanganui kept. Maurice's final decision was basically a compromise that everyone seems happy with! Government buildings should use Whanganui and everyone else is free to choose. While both sides are claiming victory & expecting their spelling to be used, Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws did note that his council suggested that solution earlier in the discussions and it was rejected by both iwi and the geographic board.

Two girls aged 18 & 15 were sentenced to a minimum of 17 years after killing their neighbour, retired teacher 78 year old John Rowe. The ailing man had given the teenagers oranges over his fence & a short time later they returned targeting his house for a burglary.

The Auckland Regional Transport Authority have worked with Google Maps to add a public transport layer for Auckland. Currently only buses are covered but trains & ferries are expected to follow.

One of Auckland's unsolved murders, that of Marie Jamieson back in 2001, was finally solved this week. A couple of years ago, the law changed and Police were able to take DNA following convictions for theft, rape & arson, including Joseph Reekers when he stole an $8.20 roll of salami in June last year. His DNA matched a previous unidentified sample from the Marie Jamieson case, and this week he admitted her murder. The police had basically already tracked him down as the suspect through great detective work but the DNA confirmed it.

Coca-cola is trying to trademark the phrase "World Famous in New Zealand" based on it's L&P; product. At least one kiwi, Tony Coombe, is opposing the claim at an Intellectual Property Office hearing.

This week saw the final sentencing related to the Icepak Coolstore explosion just out of Hamilton last year, which killed fireman Derek Lovell. The Icepak company, it's co-director Wayne Grattan and Mobile Refrigeration Specialists were ordered to pay fines between $30,000 and $56,000 and the companies to pay $95,000 and $175,000 in reparation.

Prime Minister John Key and Maori party co-leader Pita Sharples jointly announced this week that the Tino Rangatiratanga flag is now officially the symbol of Maoridom & will fly on the Auckland Harbour Bridge, at Parliament and at Premier House on Waitangi Day. However the flag which is most known as the symbol of the Maori party is causing conflict among Maori themselves and they have questioned whether it will ever fly at Waitangi.

The Numbers Game

82: % wining ratio for the All Blacks over the past 10 years - our nearest rivals have low 60's winning percentages
93: year old woman was saved after a heart attack, when her hairdresser got worred after she didn't show up for a regular appointment
99: birthday for the oldest living All Black Eric Tindill, he's also the oldest living Black Cap!
100: year old kiwi butter was found in good condition by workers at Scott Base, Antarctica
300: Waikato hospital computers caught a virus this week
2,300: jobs created by the government's economic stimulus package - they estimate
2,500: km gliding record for two kiwis, flying out of Christchurch & flying up & down the country for 15 hrs
90,000: people were left without working cellphones on Monday after Telecom's new XT network had a software fault affecting those south of Taupo
45m: $ contributed by the government to the Global Research Alliance on agriculture greenhouse gases
560m: $ deal between Sanzar and News Ltd for the next 5 years of Southern Hemisphere rugby - up 20% on the last deal, so that means more money for the NZRU
2.2b: $ Transmission Gully State Highway 1 upgrade from Wellington to Levin is going ahead

Finance NZ Dollar

GBP 0.4408 (-0.0056)
EUR 0.4967 (+0.0000)
USD 0.7120 (-0.0137)
AUD 0.8004 (+0.0049)

The Weekender NZer of the week

Ernest Rutherford
ATOM MAN
The creator of modern atomic physics and forerunner of the nuclear age, one of the greatest scientists of the twentieth century. Awarded the Nobel Prize in 1908. The man who "tunnelled into the very material of God": inventor, experimenter and Nelson farm boy.
http://www.nzedge.co.nz/heroes/rutherford.html

Joke of the Weekender

Ice Capades
A mother's four-year-old daughter was attending her first performance of the Ice Capades. She was so mesmerized that she wouldn't budge from her seat even during intermission, watching the activity while the ice was cleaned. 
At the end of the show, she exclaimed, "I know what I want to be when I grow up!" 
The mother envisioned her on the ice in another 15 years, starring in the Ice Capades. 
She was brought back to earth when the daughter continued, "I want to be a Zamboni driver!"

Weekender Photos

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