KEY POINTS:
A reader writes: "Last night my wife asked me if I had any ideas of what I might like for a birthday present. I thought I'd have a look at Ferrit.co.nz and went to the 'Gift Grabber' section and selected ...
Recipient: Husband
Occasion: Birthday
Interest: Gadgets
How much: Up to $100
And this (see picture) was the number one suggestion ...
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Cartoonist Troy Walker created a comic strip in 1991 about a sponge with a personality. Bob Spongee had eyes, legs and arms. He lived on Apple St with his wife, Linda, and their daughter, Bubbles. In 2002, he learned about Nickelodeon's cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants, who lives underwater in the fictitious city of Bikini Bottom. "I sold the Bob Spongees [homemade toys] all throughout northern California. It obviously fell into the hands of one of the producers of the show. It's a clear pattern of duplication," said the 40-year-old cartoonist, who has filed a lawsuit in San Francisco against the creators of SpongeBob SquarePants.
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A reader from Piha has a story along the lines of the Pacific Island man who was mistaken for staff at the petrol station and the Indian man mistaken for a waiter at the restaurant, but with a celebrity twist. "A friend of mine is not much of a sports fan. She does love gardening, however, and was at a garden centre in Auckland a few years ago to buy a few large bags of potting mix. She pushed the trolley out to her car and realised the bags were too heavy for her to lift. She looked around and saw a nice young man walking past, and thinking he worked there she asked him to put the potting mix in her car. He never skipped a beat, and lifted the bags into her boot for her, and took the trolley back to the store. She was just getting into her car when a passerby said: 'Did you get his autograph?' It turned out it was Jonah Lomu (while he was still in the All Blacks) who had loaded her car for her! She didn't even know who he was."
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From TVNZ publicity: "TVNZ's in-depth political discussion programme Agenda screens its 100th episode this Saturday (at 8.30am on One.) Over the past two years, Agenda has earned a reputation as the country's most influential political programme and one that sets the news agenda for the week." Oh, so that's where the new agenda for the coming week comes from. Imagine the power the show would wield if it was on at an hour when anyone could actually watch it.
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Readers have several theories on the old pole at the intersection of Customs St East and Fort St in yesterday's Sideswipe. One says it's a leftover from the trolley bus wire poles - "I am from Wellington and this is remarkably similar to the trolley bus poles of the capital city." Another suggests it looks very much like the poles that used to support the overhead wire system for the Auckland trams: "It's the right height and the tramway poles had ornate ironwork at the top. It is remarkably similar to the Motat Western Springs tramway."
