KEY POINTS:
A plastic fantastic version of pretty boy winger Doug Howlett has been launched just in time for the World Cup. (Actually it's a wrestling action figure named "Carlito" from a dubious toy line called WWE Ruthless Aggression, but doesn't it look like the Dougster?)
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On a recent trip to Malaysia, retired Boeing 747 captain Peter Dawson thought that Malaysian Airlines had the jump on Sir Richard Branson and his proposed flights into space when he checked the flight data screen. The plane was apparently flying at an altitude of 64,373km - a huge jump from Branson's planned 112km. Though there was no feeling of weightlessness, Dawson thought another couple of glasses of sauvignon blanc might do the trick.
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Don't tell Mum - give Dad a hoe this Father's Day, says a press release from the Child Fund. "Forget the usual undies, socks or ties - this Father's Day, show your dad you care by giving a hoe to a father living in a developing country. Child Fund New Zealand's 'Gifts that Grow' catalogue offers a range of meaningful gifts you can buy on behalf of your dad."
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Roosevelt Sims was in the middle of a diabetic shock. But officials on an Amtrak train thought he was drunk. So they put him off the train in the middle of a national forest in Arizona, 3km from the nearest road. He was found several days later, dehydrated and disoriented, a few kilometres from where the train left him. Amtrak officials said the train's crew was just following the railroad's policy. (Source: Reason.com)
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Pam Moore of Rotorua went to a local supermarket to buy frozen berries for a dessert and looked carefully at the country of origin on each brand. "All the packaging had the same information, which I felt was distinctly unhelpful: 'Packed from NZ and/or imported ingredients.' Makes you wonder why they put anything on it at all!"
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Rest easy, Mission Bay ratepayers, the unsightly tree-planting double-up will be fixed: Ed Chignell CEO of Treescape writes: "Much as we advocate the greening of our cities, Treescape cannot take credit for the urban forest recently planted on a Mission Bay verge. We don't have any street tree-planting contracts in that part of the city." Cameron Parr from Auckland City Council says the tree was planted there by mistake by another contractor. "This had been picked up by our arborist a couple of weeks ago and the contractor is scheduled to remove and replant in the right place. "
