Sideswipe

New jersey for the not-so-victorious Lions.

A reader writes: "Entering Wellington into boutique search engine at http://crusty.com gives the Earthquake Commission asking if we're "ready for a major quake" as the first result ... followed by a real estate ad from Australia (it's not just our beer they're selling there). The third result is Wellington's official tourism site, presumably in full damage control mode."

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A patient at the eye department of Auckland District Health Board's multi-million-dollar Greenlane Clinical Centre, noticed two clocks in the patient reception area. "The clocks are on adjacent sides of a pillar and less than a metre apart. They showed a discrepancy in the time of about 10 minutes and when I queried this I was told the staff commenced work by the 'slow' clock and finished by the 'fast' one!"

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Is there a limit to Telecom's dislike of its customers, a reader wonders. "On Friday 29th June I received an overdue notice advising action within 7 days, but it was dated 22nd June! Sure enough, on the very next working day, the phone is disconnected. Funny when you think that Telecom spend millions trying to get us to like them."

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More on handbags: "I left my handbag in a restaurant in Remuera recently. Returning the following day to see if it was still there, I was handed my wallet, complete with all my cash and credit cards and contents. Apparently, it was only the very nice handbag the 'honest' thief wanted."

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Already neck-deep in controversy over nudity and inane sexually explicit prattle on their late-night version, the Big Brother reality television franchise looks to be in for another pounding after contestant Glenn Dallinger allegedly boasted about bashing a kangaroo to death. This attempt at big-noting went horribly wrong and sparked an internet campaign among animal welfare groups to get him booted off. "Animal wildlife protection groups were on a mission to evict Glenn and we did it," the president of the Australian Wildlife Protection Council, Maryland Wilson, told AAP. "This sends a clear message in our view that Australians want their wildlife protected and they don't want this bimbo, this ... young man, to get away with it." RSPCA national president Hugh Wirth said it was too early to say if animal cruelty charges would be pursued.