Two Cambridge mates say they may turn their unusual method of trimming hedges into a business, after they suspended a ride-on mower from a crane to do the job.
And:
They wanted to film the stunt, put it on the internet and see how many hits it got, but in the end had no video camera.
Friggin’ muppets :-)
This is one of the things I love about New Zealand: an at times complete aversion to doing things by conventional means.
Two New Zealand zoos want to import up to 20 tumour-free Tasmanian devils.
Wellington Zoo’s Simon Eyre says New Zealand wants to assist in protecting the vulnerable marsupial in any way it can.
He says the Wellington and Auckland zoos are likely to take animals born in the population free of the facial tumour disease.
As you may (not) have heard, the Tasmanian Devil species as a whole has been suffering from a deadly facial tumor disease, which has made quite a few of them even uglier than there were originally.
Given that they are kind of a Tasmanian icon, having starred in such critically acclaimed shows as Disney’s ‘Looney Toons’, this is obviously a very bad thing.
So it’s a nice gesture that some New Zealand zoos are offering to import some of the non-infected specimens, in order to preserve them in the good old shaky isles.
Sounds like a good plan. However, just as a warning: if one of these little bad boys manages to escape, I seriously fear for the future of the rest of New Zealand’s wildlife.
Honestly, they’re not called devils for no good reason. They’re aggressive, heartless, cold-blooded killers. They have very few redeeming characteristics, other than that they are unique to a certain geographic location. And of course the Looney Tunes thing.
So, goodbye to any remaining Kiwi birds.
And, goodbye to ….
(Well I’m stumped actually, NZ doesn’t have much tough wildlife, does it?)
Anyway, if you don’t believe me, then watch the following clip.
The life of being an advocate for a minority sport in New Zealand isn’t always an easy one. The most common response to “Oh, I can’t, I’ve got ice hockey tonight” seems to be “oh, you can play that here in New Zealand?”
…
That’s why this weekend’s double-header test match between Australia and New Zealand is big. Super big. It’s not just the fact that Australia is the traditional rival for New Zealand in so many sports (in ice hockey Australia was one of the first teams New Zealand played in international competition, a complete whitewash that finished up 58-0 to Australia in 1987, a score of astounding proportions in the sport where scores of more than 10 are very unusual. The two teams were much closer when they played in the Division II World Champs in Australia in 2008 when the score was 4-2 to Australia).
Did anyone know that Australia or New Zealand even had an ice hockey team?
Ever met an ice hockey player?
Nup, me either.
And what the heck happened in 1987? Did the Might Ducks Ice Blacks forget to come back on after the first period?
Still, I dunno about anyone else, but I’ll be keeping a close eye on the results. Nothing better than adding another entry into the list of sporting event Australia can claim ascendancy over Kiwis at, right?
And I would just like to note, for the record, that New Zealand has SIGNIFICANTLY more snow and ice than Australia.
Just saying.
Is there an equivalent of bowling underarm in ice hockey?
Prime Minister John Key will this week announce a significant breakthrough in his drive to turn international trans-Tasman flights into domestic ones, a move expected t cut airfares and reduce travel times.
FLYING from Australia to New Zealand will become almost as cheap and easy as domestic travel under a plan to bring the two countries a step closer to a common border.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and NZ Prime Minister John Key will this Thursday announce new efforts to streamline trans-Tasman travel, potentially scrapping departure taxes, duplication of quarantine, customs and security checks and allowing planes to land at domestic terminals.
All sounds pretty positive, and as our glorious manager-in-chief says, it’s “moving into decision-making territory”. That can only mean it’s heading into the final committee and ready for cost-benefit analysis, risk-assessment, and an ROI evaluation. All in all, it’ll probably be in place by 2015.
But anyway, anything to make flights cheaper is fine by me. I might even get to pop over to see a couple of footy matches next year if this is not all completely speculative.
When the All Blacks, the country’s global ambassador embodying all the values New Zealanders hold dear, continually implode when the eyes of the world are watching, it hints at there being some kind of fragility in the national psyche.
Now I’m far from an expert on such things, unlike others, but these were my initial reactions:
There’s more to life than the form of the All Blacks. Hard to believe I know.
Nobody much in Australia, apart from alumni public school boys, gives a fig about the Wallabies, apart from at World Cup time. We love a good World Cup, even in tiddlywinks. And we’d better friggin’ win it.
Be careful what you wish for. The endless over the top “aren’t we shit hot” attitude that Aussies carry on with when they win something is cringe-worthy. Even before they yobs start the “Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi!” business. Olympic swimming events are the worst.
Artistic types interviewed for articles like this always babble on about nobody being aware of the weirdo art house film producers that the general public simply MUST be aware of. They can be safely ignored.
Measuring your place in the world based on rugby World Cup results is insane. Rugby is now a fully-fledged professional sport. Sport is now big business. The World Cup’s structure means that the “best” team doesn’t necessarily win. Get over it.
However, don’t greet the useless turds at the airport with cheering etc, for god’s sake.
Something does have to be done about the Black Caps. Vettori’s far to placid to captain an international cricket team (though he does however happen to be one of the best offies in the world who actually BOWLS). They haven’t been the same since Stephen Fleming retired. He had a bit of that bad-arsed bastard streak in him, I think.
Are New Zealanders simply too well mannered and friendly to win at sport? I’m thinking this is possible the case. It’s okay to offend people – look where it’s got the Aussie cricket team.
There’s more to life than the form of the All Blacks. Hard to believe I know.
Stop being such sad-sacks. Isn’t the best mountain biking in the world enough for you people?
As you’ve no doubt heard, Australia’s biggest rock band, AC/DC, are coming to New Zealand early in 2010. And their concerts have sold out in record time, which frankly surprises me a bit.
I mean, their music isn’t really anything remotely like anything any of the Finns have done, now is it?
Would they play AC/DC is an elevator, dentist’s waiting room, or supermarket?
Exactly.
Convict rock: Australia's finest.
Sadly I’m probably not going to see them, as it’s a minimum 4.5 hour drive and I’m a lazy git, but I should probably give myself a kick up the date and buy some tickets (there are still some available). I mean look at the old geezers; they’re not going to be shaking things all night long for a heck of a lot longer, now are they?
Got an overgrown hedge? Maybe you could buy an electric trimmer? Perhaps hire someone to do the job?
