June 2010
The Weekender 27/06/2010
Submitted by darrenh on Sun, 27/06/2010 - 20:35Welcome to the home of the All Whites Football team!
Sport
The All Whites journey came to an end this week, but they did amazingly well. If there was one story of the week it would be how NZ 'won' a shock 1-1 draw with Italy. Shane Smeltz put us into the lead (from a slightly off side position) and Italy caught up with a penalty after a blatant dive in our box. And then we held on for the rest of the game. What a game.
The All Whites left the tournament unbeaten (three draws against top teams) and finished third in their group - ahead of the current world cup holders Italy! We are immensely proud of what our team has accomplished & it was well worth a couple of 2AM starts this week to watch the games.
As an indication of how far New Zealand came, after early reports of how NZ didn't even deserve to be at the World Cup, many people from the coach Ricky Herbert & captain Ryan Nelsen to a huge number of people in NZ, were all disappointed at not progressing through to the next round - that in itself speaks volumes.
Last week Ryan Nelsen was name World Player of the Week by the Goal.com website. My player of the tournament was goal keep Mark Paston who played so well.
The All Blacks continued their good start to the international season (pre-season?) with a 29-10 win over Wales here in Hamilton last night. Wales never really threatened & got a consolation try near the end of the game. The match was the fortieth win for Richie McCaw as captain, surpassing Sean Fitzpatrick as NZ's most successful captain.
It has been confirmed the Sonny Bill Williams will play for the Canterbury in the national champs and for the Crusaders in the Super 15.
Hosea Gear got himself a hat-trick for the NZ Maori as they beat England 35-28 & continued their centenary rugby celebrations. It was only a second string English team but that is the second win for the Maori's in the last three meetings against the English.
And finally for rugby, NZ won the third junior world rugby title in a row after thrashing Australia 62-17 in the final. Julian Savea was the fourth kiwi in a row to be named the IRB junior player of the year.
Swimmer Nick Ferrif won the 100m breaststroke convincingly in the Oceania Champs in Samoa on the second day. On the first day NZ won nine medals including four golds for Andrew McMillan getting two in 200m freestyle & 200m butterfly, Samantha Lee won the 50m butterfly sprint, and Dylan Dunlop-Barrett won the men's 1500m freestyle.
In the trans tasman netball league, the Waikato/BOP Magic secured their spot in the top four, and the Southern Steel also joined them after the Firebirds were beaten by the Perth Fever. So with the regular season ended the table was: NSW Swifts 26, Adelaide Thunderbirds/Waikato-BOP Magic 18, Southern Steel 16, Queensland Firebirds/Northern Mystics 14, Melbourne Vixens 12, West Coast Fever 8, Central Pulse/Canterbury Tactix 2.
The New Zealand Warriors beat the Roosters 20-18 after Kevin Locke scored in the dying seconds but then he left the field in agony. The Warriors were down 8-18 with six minutes to go before Manu Vatuvei started a come back.
Brent Tate is leaving the Warriors & heading to North Queensland. He has said that he is only leaving to be closer to family.
Juliette Haigh & Rebecca Scown won the coxless pair gold medal at an international meet in Munich.
NZ News
One of NZ's major wine brands has been renamed. Montana Wines has become Brancott Estate with the name change being rolled out globally in Sept/October. The change is due to the brand's 'American' name where Montana would have been associated with the state, and the NZ region of Marlborough would have been associated with the cigarettes.
This week had the shortest day of the year - so summer is on it's way, right?
0.6: % GDP - the economy has been growing - if slowly - for the last year
30.5: % support for Labour, a big drop after their credit card scandals - John Key has 49.6% support as Prime Minister, followed by Phil Goff on 5.1% (& Helen Clark on 4.9%!)
1,480: bureaucrat jobs were cut last year as the government tries to reign in spending - 500 more to go over the next year, that's only 5%. Labour tripled the number of bureaucrats during their three terms
10,000: kms of NZ roads were filmed & assigned ratings, there were no 1 star or 5 star roads, 39% were 2 star, 56% were 3 star & 5% were 4 star
240,000: $/year will be the salary of the new Auckland Supercity mayor
Finance NZ Dollar
GBP 0.4745 (-0.0022)
EUR 0.5778 (+0.0072)
USD 0.7144 (+0.0086)
AUD 0.8178 (+0.0070)
The
Weekender NZer of the week
Sir Harold Gillies
AESTHETIC RECONSTRUCTOR
The introduction of more ferocious weapons and trench warfare in the First World War resulted in devastating injuries. A new type of surgery was needed. Rhinoplasty, skin grafts, and facial reconstructions have been practised for centuries. However, it was New Zealander Sir Harold Delf Gillies who standardised these techniques and established the discipline of 'plastic surgery'.
http://www.nzedge.com/heroes/gillies.html
Computer Repair
An office technician got a call from a computer user. The user told the tech that her computer was not working. She described the problem and the tech concluded that her computer needed to be brought in and serviced.
He told her, "Unplug the power cord and bring it up here and I'll fix it for you."
About ten minutes later she showed up at his door... with the electrical cord in her right hand.
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
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The Weekender 20/06/2010
Submitted by darrenh on Sun, 20/06/2010 - 15:33Welcome to a cosy winter's day all you All White supporters!
Sport
Well no one expected it but the All Whites got New Zealand's first point in the Football World Cup. The kiwis played well at the start of the game but looked to be a little outclassed by Slovakia in their first World Cup game. Slovakia went ahead early in the first half and as the game got closer & closer to the end it looked like there was no hope. But after three minutes of injury time, Shane Smeltz managed to chip a kick towards the Slovakian goal and towards the head of Winston Reid for the 1-1 draw. The draw that felt like a win all over New Zealand, all week! Suddenly everyone is excited and there are reports about Italy (!) being a little scared. The game against World Champions Italy is early tomorrow morning & I'll be watching, just like the almost 750,000 (!) were last game - that's almost as many at 11:30pm as watched the All Blacks at 7:30pm!
The All Blacks continue their international season and farewelled Dunedin's Carisbrook stadium when they beat Wales 42-9. It was quite a close first half but the All Blacks ran away in the second half with Dan Carter getting 2 penalties, a try & a conversion to kick off the half.
As for other internationals... as the tri nations gets closer everyone is practising. Australia lost their second test against England 20-21 and the Springboks won a scrappy 29-13 game against Italy.
This weekend saw the NZ Maori take on Ireland - and win 31-28. That helped their centenary celebrations over in Rotorua!
The Waikato/BOP Magic were in danger of missing out on the playoffs for this years ANZ netball Champs after losing three of the last four games, but they've found some form again, last night beating the second placed Thunderbirds 53-44 to make the playoffs in the final game.
The State of Origin has been the rugby league of the week! NSW "former" assistant coach, legend Andrew Johns got a little carried away in his team talk and made some comments that were considered racial slurs by NSW player Timana Tahu - so he walked out of the NSW team. The talk also fired up Queensland & the target of the comments, Greg Inglis who took only three minutes to score and help the Maroons to a 34-6 game win, taking out the series for a record five straight times.
NZ decathlete Brent Newdick has got passed the 8000 point mark for the first time after he placed sixth in an international meet in the Czech Republic.
NZ News
Manukau Mayor Len Brown has been in the news lots this week. While it's getting a bit boring this has all been about politician spending. A while ago he was found to have some personal spending on his credit card. He cut up his card on TV weeks ago but the story continues. A few weeks ago Mr Brown had 48% support for the new Auckland Super City mayors job, followed by John Banks with 37%. In an unscientific survey the Herald thinks around 13.6% of Brown's supporters have switched to someone else, with Brown & Banks now quite close.
In Labour credit card misuse's, Labour leader Phil Goff returned from China and Shane Jones, Mita Ririnui and Chris Carter have been demoted. However Chris Carter retains his ethnic affairs portfolio but he did require an extra meeting with Phil to apologise to the country.
The navy announced this week their first woman commanding a ship. Lieutenant Alexandra Hansen has taken control of the HMNZS Pukaki, a new inshore patrol vessel. Women are 22% of the regular navy force.
Alastair McWhannell was found guilty of manslaughter this week. Back in March he was operating a bridge swing when he was distracted by a woman he had met over the internet, and didn't tie the rope correctly for first year vet student Catherine Peters.
New Zealand Post has won an award for the people management category at the World Mail Awards.
National and the Maori Party have repealed the Foreshore and Seabed Act. The act which made Labour very unpopular when they put it in, was disliked by almost everyone but for different reasons. The new legislation will mean foreshore and seabed will be removed from Crown ownership and will become a public place with public access guaranteed.
There are new kiwi fruit around, and they are red. I haven't seen any yet but they apparently have an exotic flavour and a creamy texture.
7: months home detention, 100 hours of community service and indefinite loss of licence for a Mount Maunganui woman caught drunk driving for the seventh time - she got off lightly because her adult daughter is mentally ill
186: "please explain"'s send to former Labour ministers Mita Ririnui & Parekura Horomia regarding their credit card spending
391: person increase in unemployment benefit numbers since January - a lower than expected increase after seasonal work ended
3,500: people may miss out on getting in to University next year as Uni's limit numbers to those funded - rather than taking more people like they've done over the recession
35,000: $ fine for Michael Laws who gave an on air tirade about the parents of a boy killed in a trail bike accident
107,000: $ fine for a Canterbury timer company after an employee was killed in a forklift accident
3.6m: $ owed by author Alan Duff, still. After failing to pay any of his creditors, two years after pleading with them to give him until now to pay
757m: $ owed in fines dropping from $800m in the past year
Finance NZ Dollar
GBP 0.4767 (+0.0020)
EUR 0.5706 (+0.0003)
USD 0.7058 (+0.0153)
AUD 0.8108 (-0.0016)
The
Weekender NZer of the week
Sydney Smith
THE SCIENTIFIC DETECTIVE
In a media age populated with forensic crime thrillers such as CSI, Roxburgh's Sir Sydney Smith (1883-1969) was the original. A forensics pioneer, he achieved world renown through the application of science to justice. From the edge of an Otago goldfield to the telling edge of a murder weapon, Smith learnt to read the stories of dead men - and in doing so changed the way crime was investigated and solved.
http://www.nzedge.com/heroes/smith.html
Found Cell Phone
When a customer left his cell phone in my store, I scrolled through his saved numbers, stopped at "Mom" and pushed send. His mother answered, and I told her what happened.
"Don't worry," she said, "I'll take care of it."
A few minutes later, the cell phone rang. It was "Mom."
"Martin," she said, "you left your cell phone at the convenience store."
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}
The Weekender 13/06/2010
Submitted by darrenh on Sun, 13/06/2010 - 19:42How are you all going this fine week.
Sport
The game of last week was undoubtedly football. The Football World Cup in South Africa attracted all the news last week with the All Blacks first test almost passing unnoticed. The All Whites kick off their campaign on Tuesday. Vice captain Tim Brown has made a remarkable recovery from his broken shoulder and after surgery and a quick recovery he has flown to South Africa to rejoin the team. Tim's shoulder was broken during the game against Australia on May 24th.
I know it can happen anywhere but TVNZ staff were burgled with more than $100,000 worth of equipment taken while they were having dinner.
The All Blacks kicked off their international season on Saturday with a test against the Irish. The Irish weren't helped getting one of their stars sent off, but the All Blacks looked really good in the first half and at the start of the second half, clocking up a point a minute through to the 52nd minute, before the coaches made lots of substitutions to give a few new players a taste of test matches. They seemed to lose momentum and the Irish picked up some momentum but despite the Irish getting three late tries, the result was a comfortable 66-28 win.
In other rugby news, Sonny Bill Williams (former NRL star and Kiwis player) has announced he is leaving behind a $6m contract in France to play rugby in New Zealand. He is likely to play for the Crusaders next year and will be aiming for a spot in the All Blacks for the Rugby World Cup.
The NZ Maori beat the NZ Barbarians 37-31 in Whangarei on Saturday. Both teams were fully of players who didn't quite make the All Blacks & were trying to show they should have.
The Junior All Blacks beat Samoa 77-7 at the junior world champs in Argentina to remain at the top of pool A.
In netball the Waikato/BOP Magic beat the Central Pulse 58-52 but considering the quality of the opposition the win won't impress any one.
A kiwi motorcyclists died on the infamous Isle of Man TT circuit this week. Paul Dobbs was the second kiwi to die at the track with has claimed 229 lives since 1907.
Valerie Vili turned around a couple of recent results when she beat Belarussian Natalya Khoroneko-Mikhnevich (did I spell that right?). She won by 13cm & now leads the Diamond Race in the women's shot put (as if I even know what that is).
North Shore swimmer Melissa Ingram won silver in the final meet of the Mare Nostrum series in France today. She finished second to Britain's Elizabeth Simmonds in the 200m backstroke.
The Warriors always do better when Manu Vatuvei is on the field and this afternoon he was. And they beat the Newcastle Knights 32-24.
NZ News
Cop killer John Skinner was found guilty of murdering a police officer this week. Sergeant Don Wilkinson was killed with a high powered airgun during a covert police operation in September 2008. He was also found guilty of attempting to murder another officer and his co-accused was found guilty of manslaughter. In addition the police have frozen about $1m worth of property & cash as they prepare charges of manufacturing P.
MP's spending has been under the spot light again this week with Labour MP's Shane Jones and Chris Carter feeling most of the heat. The two MP's were having to answer lots of questions from their spending habits back when Labour was in power and they were ministers. Shane Jones was found to have bought a number of dodgy movies at various motels. Both MP's will be facing the music when Labour leader Phil Goff returns from China.
Auckland city is having reliability problems with its hybrid-power buses which were the much trumpeted future of inner-city public transport. Two of the three buses, which cost twice as much as new diesel alternatives, have had turbine faults and are awaiting parts from the USA.
The government is about to repeal the foreshore and seabed law that Labour put into place, however Prime Minister John Key has noted that the Maori Party will have the power to veto the proposal.
A story hit the headlines this week about how Rocky Horror Picture Show creator Richard O'Brien had tried to get residency to New Zealand, but his application had been declined. Upon "actual" investigation by reporters (as opposed to the earlier made up article), it was found that he hadn't actually applied. John Key said that his chances of being granted citizenship would be greatly improved if he actually for it. Incidentally there is a statue in Hamilton of Richard's character from the 'Show' - "Statue bro?" "Yeah it is!" (if you don't get this, go watch "Boy").
0.7: % fall in food prices last month - for the first time in six years
1: # most peaceful country in the world is NZ according to the 2010 Global Peace index
1: # New Zealand newspaper is The Herald on Sunday, taking out both the best weekly newspaper & the best news paper - according to the Qantas Media Awards
1: death on the roads over Queens Birthday Weekend, the lowest in 54 years. It was ruined with two road deaths on Tuesday
4: years jail for a Wellington woman for a $2m fraud - she paid back just under half, but $250,000/yr isn't bad
5.3: richter scale earthquake was felt across the lower North Island yesterday morning
3.2m: $ bill to clean up after floods in Whakatane
Finance NZ Dollar
GBP 0.4747 (+0.0101)
EUR 0.5703 (+0.0091)
USD 0.6905 (+0.0193)
AUD 0.8124 (-0.0033)
The
Weekender NZer of the week
Archibald Hector McIndoe
NO ORDINARY SURGEON
Motivated by a desire to be more than just an ordinary doctor, Archibald Hector McIndoe pursued greatness and became much more than an ordinary surgeon. Appointed plastic surgeon to the Royal Air Force in the midst of World War II, McIndoe brought plastic surgery to the forefront of burns treatment and became a pioneer of what is more commonly known today as 'therapeutic community'.
http://www.nzedge.com/heroes/mcindoe.html
Happy Songs
A retired man who volunteers to entertain patients in nursing homes and hospitals went to Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn and took his portable keyboard along. He told some jokes and sang some funny songs at patients' bedsides.
When he finished he said, in farewell, "I hope you get better."
One elderly gentleman replied, "I hope you get better, too."
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}
The Weekender 06/06/2010
Submitted by darrenh on Mon, 07/06/2010 - 20:49Hi everyone. This weekend was Queens Birthday weekend, so since I was away on holiday the weekender is late! The Forgotten World Highway is a great trip if you get the chance but this weekend has been very wet just about everywhere I think!
Sport
New Zealand lost out to Australia 24-19 in the final rugby seven's tournament, which gave the title to Samoa for their first world series win.
Team New Zealand continue their dominance after a come from behind win over Synergy from Russia in the Louis Vuitton Trophy regatta in Italy this weekend.
The Warriors hung in with the NRL leaders St George Illawarra for most of the game but eventually couldn't overcome losing Brent Tate with a broken jaw. But the final score was 22-20 and the Warriors are going to have a uphill battle over the second half of the season.
Table Dragons 20*, Panthers 18, Sea Eagles/Wests Tigers/Titans 16, Rabbitohs*/Broncos/Roosters*/Raiders* 14, Eels/Warriors 12, Knights*/Sharks 10, Bulldogs/Cowboys* 8, Storm 0 (* All 12 games except for 13 for Dragons & 11 for all others)
In other league news, league sensation Israel Folau has signed a four year deal to switch to Australian rules, for an estimated $AUD 1m per year - about double what he could have earned under the salary cap rules at the Broncos.
The All Whites lost their final World Cup warm up game 3-1 against Slovania.
The BOP/Waikato Magic have a lost a couple of games now, the most recent 55-54 to the Firebirds and are now under pressure if they are to make the payoffs.
Table: NSW Swifts* 20, Adelaide Thunderbirds 16, Waikato/BOP Magic* 14, Queensland Firebirds/Southern Steel*/Northern Mystics 12, Melbourne Vixens 10, West Coast Fever 6, Central Pulse/Canterbury Tactix 2 (* 10 games, all other teams 11)
NZ News
If you haven't seen it already, the movie "Boy" is an absolute classic example of 1980's New Zealand small town life. In great news, it has just become the biggest local movie of all time after overtaking the World's Fastest Indian. On a sad note, one of the co-producers of the movie died after collapsing outside an Auckland TV station today. Merata Mita received the New Zealand Order of Merit during the 2010 New Year's honours list.
John Key has announced that Kiwibank won't be sold while he is Prime Minister. There had been quite a bit of speculation of the past few weeks, but the announcement should clear things up.
Apparently there were hundreds of protesters around the country expressing outrage and anger over the clashes last week between Israeli armed forces and the Gaza-bound ships. It also seems like a safe bet to say the "Global Peace" and "Justice Auckland" groups who organised the demonstrations are strangely quiet when Israel is continually attacked by weapons smuggled in by ship.
There have been a few knighthoods handed out this weekend. Sir Richard Taylor for his special effects at Weta Workshop, and Sir Peter Leitch - Giddy, it's your old knight, the Mad Butcher!
The top kiwi speller made it to the National Spelling Bee semifinals in the US but was knocked out with Phytoplankter when he used an "o" instead of an "e" at the end. Tom Winter was a 13 year old from Burnside High.
1: recorded road death for Queens Birthday Weekend - with 12 hours to go - the lowest toll for more than 50 years
4: km/h over the speed limit will result in prosecution as the police drop their leniency over the long weekend
5: c/L drop in petrol over May
10: % support is what the Greens are aiming for in the next election - in other news McGillicuddy Serious are aiming for 95%
27: % increase in cyclists in Auckland over the past year
56: % reduction in burglaries in Hamilton following a drive by the police & 200 arrests
100: drivers have been caught under the new drugged driving law
138: mm of rain in 24 hours this weekend for Whitianga - they had 29.4mm in just one hour
200: % wetter May for Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury, Eastern Otago, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty, Hawkes' Bay and coastal Wairarapa
700: trips made on the automatic Northern Gateway motorway without paying by the worst offender - he faces $26,500 in fines if he doesn't pay up
40,000: $ fine for TV3 consumer affairs programme Target after they wrongly accused an Auckland cafe of selling dodgy food
600,000: tickets for the Rugby World Cup have been applied for - the organisers are 'very happy'
Finance NZ Dollar
GBP 0.4646 (-0.0058)
EUR 0.5612 (+0.0073)
USD 0.6712 (-0.0083)
AUD 0.8157 (+0.0135)
The
Weekender NZer of the week
Peter Hall
Flight Lieutenant Peter Francis Locker Hall died last week in England aged 88. He was credited as shooting down eight German aircraft while based in Britain with the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
Read more about him here: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10647252&ref=rss
Wedding Blessing
At a wedding ceremony that I was performing, I raised my hand to give the final blessing.
The bride misunderstood my gesture and surprised me with a high-five.
Not wanting to exclude the groom, I offered him a high-five, too.
I was finally able to get my blessing in, amid the laughter of the guests.
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}
