Colin Graham of Howick spotted this near Awhitu Peninsula on Auckland's West Coast. "Who do we need to be wary of?" he asks. "The man, the cat or both?"
New Zealand militarism as seen from Norway
Olive just read the following paragraph in a book (The Bat) written by Norwegian Jo Nesbo. It reads: "Did you know that way out there, in New Zealand, live the most stupid people in the world? They live alone on an island, with no neighbours to bother them, just a load of water. Yet that nation has participated in just about all the major wars there have been in the twentieth century. No other country, not even Russia during the Second World War, has lost so many young men proportionate to the population. The surplus of women is legendary. And why all this fighting? To help. To stand up for others. These simpletons didn't even fight on their own battlefields, no sir, they boarded boats and planes to travel as far as possible to die. They helped the Allies against the Germans and the Italians, the South Koreans against the North Koreans and the Americans against the Japanese and the North Vietnamese. My father was one of those simpletons." And it's happening again, says Olive: "Nobody ever learns, nothing ever changes."
Mugabe pulls rug from under security personnel
Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe, who was snapped falling at an event in Harare by a photographer and subsequently turned into a meme, has fired at least 27 of his security staff for allowing him to trip over a carpet. The two dozen-plus members of the presidential security and advance team were handed suspension letters this week after photos showed them seemingly not assisting the 90-year-old president. Initially there was denials that he'd even fallen - "Nobody has shown any evidence of the President having fallen down because that did not happen," Information Minister Jonathan Moyo told the state-owned Zimbabwe Herald.
"Have you got the morbs?" Some 1880s slang that is due for a comeback.
