KEY POINTS:
Geoff from Waikato writes: "A business colleague and I were stuck between Newcastle and Sydney on a slow bus. We had spent Saturday cruising around Lake Macquarrie on a launch and the three-hour plus trip back was starting to wear a bit thin. The boredom was broken by an SMS message care of Telecom Virtual NPC telling me that my beloved Waikato team had WON against Canterbury . Waikato 33 Canterbury 20! Suddenly the bus trip wasn't so bad. I was looking forward to getting back to our Sydney hotel to celebrate, however a quick call to a Waikato mate, who happened to be stuck in a pub full of Mainlanders in Ashburton, confirmed I'd been duped. Did anyone else get this same incorrect text I wonder? If I had shouted the bar that night, do you think I could have rightly claimed the expense from Telecom?"
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Paris Hilton recently said that she wants to have kids, starting next year. Closer magazine reports that Paris apparently wants to adopt "four blonde girls". A source said, "Paris has been saying: 'You don't need a husband to have babies.' There are babies in orphanages around the world, and she's hoping to find four girls with blonde hair and pretty eyes. She's been telling people, 'I want a brood of little mini versions of me. I'll raise them to be the most famous women in the world'."
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At a gathering at the Beehive, to launch the NZ Digital Content Strategy, Archives Minister Judith Tizardshowed she's on the cutting edge of current social networking trends. "In a few years there'll be a whole generation of young adults who have grown up digital," she said. "They're the text message, YouTube, FaceBook and Third Life kids". Sideswipe assumes that'll be the new, previously unheard-of version of Second Life, the hugely popular virtual world. (Source: Eggs Benedict and Two Flat Whites blogspot)
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Marcus Felson, a professor at the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University, has concluded that lighting is effective in preventing crime mainly if it enables people to notice criminal activity as it happens, and if it doesn't help criminals to see what they're doing. Bright, unshielded floodlights - one of the most common types of outdoor security lighting - often fail on both counts, as do all-night lights installed on isolated structures or on parts of buildings that can't be observed by passers-by (such as back doors). A burglar who is forced to use a torch, or whose movement triggers a security light controlled by an infrared motion sensor, is much more likely to be spotted than one whose presence is masked by a blinding glare. In the early seventies, the public-school system in San Antonio, Texas, began leaving many of its school buildings, parking lots, and other property dark at night and found that the no-lights policy not only reduced energy costs but also dramatically cut vandalism. (Source: The New Yorker)
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The Ephemera Collection - part of the Special Collections unit at Central City Library in Lorne St - is calling on all heritage-minded people to send them their political leaflets, fliers and posters. The collection now includes a comprehensive set of Exclusive Brethren leaflets, which were in demand even before staff had them catalogued. Send material to the Ephemera Collection, Central City Library, PO Box 4138, Auckland 1, or drop it off at the library.
Today's Video Webpick:It's lowbrow Friday, so for your viewing pleasure two damn funny clips - one of a racehorse with a great name and another of a very hungry kitten. Watch racehorse here and watch hungry kitten here. Scroll down for both. These are the very best online videos from Ana's online magazine Spare Room.
