KEY POINTS:
The Idol franchise finds more ways to make money - the 10-day preparation camp will cost delusional stage mothers/fathers $4000.
A teenage reader wishes to publicly but anonymously (very wise) admonish his parents for their unreasonable attitude towards household fruit consumption. Sideswipe predicts a legal career. He writes: "While most parents would be thrilled to have their teenage sons voluntarily eating fruit, two brothers' decision to eat half of a rapidly expiring pineapple did not go down well. Also not well received by the parents was the older brother's decision to make his own lunch, which included piling three pieces of fruit into his lunchbox along with a fresh salad and snack bar. First, a note was left on the fruit bowl banning the boys from eating fruit without first asking, soon followed by a further note requesting the replacement of what they had eaten. When the replacement was not forthcoming, a 'fruit ration' chart was put in place. The brothers did not approve so in protest destroyed it. Parents duly responded in the logical way you would expect of any rational, mature adults and locked up every piece of fruit in the house in the garage fridge, all the while subjecting the boys to fortnight-long silent treatment for their failure to be obedient. The fruit remains locked up to this day, untouched and presumably rotting away. Meat pie from the dairy anybody?"
* * *
Eric Stricket of Massey writes: "On Tuesday morning I was walking through the Takapuna Beach carpark when a sudden commotion broke out. A group of young men, who had just finished a stint on the water in outrigger canoes and were packing their car ready to go, were at the centre of the fuss. The cause of the commotion? A big seagull had swooped down and grabbed a set of car keys, resulting in the bird being chased and the keys being dropped into the ocean, never to be seen again."
* * *
Israeli newspapers published pictures of Defence Minister Amir Peretz watching military manoeuvres through binoculars - with the lens caps still on. Peretz was inspecting troops in the Golan Heights with the Israeli Army's new chief of staff, General Gabi Ashkenazi. According to the photographer, Peretz looked through the capped binoculars three times, nodding as the general explained what was in view. (Source: Ananova.com)
* * *
In the latest Business Week magazine, American wine critic Robert Parker is less than charitable towards New Zealand wine. He writes: "The cool-climate wines of New Zealand have long been popular with wine critics. But to me the pinot noirs are often too vegetal and green, the sauvignon blancs reminiscent of cat pee and the chardonnay is grotesquely over-oaked. This is a country of young wine producers where everything remains a work in progress, but for now the wines do not translate to quality in the bottle."
