Wow, it's like, wow, y'know?

'It's, like, absolutely amazing, like, all the things and all that and New Zealand's got a really team spirit, like, in our own area, which is nice'

Team spirit in young and old

- Rhythmic gymnast Teegan Metcalfe, 14, the youngest NZ competitor at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Dominion Post, 16 March 2006

So when brown stuff comes out of your kitchen taps, you taste it?

'Creative plumbing' delivers beer

A woman said she thought she was in heaven when she turned on the kitchen tap to find a plentiful supply of beer. Haldis Gundersen was planning to do the washing up when she made the unusual discovery at her apartment in Kristiansund, west Norway. But two flights below, workers in a bar faced the more disappointing realisation that water was flowing from their beer taps. A worker had connected a beer barrel to the apartment water pipe by mistake.

"I turned on the tap to clean some knives and forks, and beer came out," Ms Gundersen told Reuters news agency. "We thought we were in heaven." But the beer was flat and tasted odd, she said.

- BBC News, 13 March 2006

Doesn't Australia have a law against blasphemy?

The Aussies take notice of the ever-talented vocal stylings of New Zealand's very own singing sensation, Wing. She's covered AC/DC, bless her.

Hells Bells, it's a one-woman Kiwi-Chinese cover band

- SMH.com.au, 7 March 2006

A voting slip big enough to keep you warm at night

The voting slip bigger than The Times
From Martin Penner, for The Times in Rome

Italians go to the polls next month faced with voting slips measuring up to 1.5m across.

Standing proud at an average width of 65cm, the voting cards will be broader than an open copy of The Times and only slightly less high. Giuseppe Pisanu, the Interior Minister, admitted that in areas where many parties are standing they could reach 1½.

"I know some people have been ironic about this but I would like to point out that in the United States they are even longer," he said at a presentation press conference, emphasising that the size was the result of a new electoral law.

"It’s like a bed sheet," opposition leader Romano Prodi said as he unfurled a facsimile of the new card on television this week.

- The Times, 10 March 2006

And you think YOU need a drink?

'The best drink of my life was the wine I gulped up from a roadside puddle in Crete. The wine was squirting from a bullet hole which had punctured a pigskin full of wine, on a dead donkey lying alongside a dead Cretan where I too was lying wounded while being shot at from a German machine gun'

- LtCol (Retd) Haddon Donald, Letter to Army News, 7 March 2006

How many countries have you visited?

I've linked to this before, but it cropped up in conversation at work this week, so I thought it'd be worth a repeat. Just click the boxes for each country you've visited, and it'll generate a nice map for you. I've only managed 23 so far - here's my map.

Visited countries map

Google's plans for New Zealand

A glimpse of a Google whiteboard brainstorming session reveals the fate of our little nation at the hands of the internet megacorporation... (see bottom right)

Google whiteboard

[Courtesy of Alpen]

Um, now that you mention it...

"You might remember me ... I was captain of England when they were crap."

- Cricinfo reports on former England captain Nasser Hussain's opening line at the British Asian awards

The majesty of the democratic process in Massachusetts

The General Laws of Massachusetts
PART I. ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT

TITLE I. JURISDICTION AND EMBLEMS OF THE COMMONWEALTH, THE GENERAL COURT, STATUTES AND PUBLIC DOCUMENTS

CHAPTER 2. ARMS, GREAT SEAL AND OTHER EMBLEMS OF THE COMMONWEALTH

Chapter 2: Section 28. Muffin of commonwealth
Section 28. The corn muffin shall be the official muffin of the commonwealth.

Chapter 2: Section 30. Cat of commonwealth
Section 30. The Tabby cat shall be the official cat of the commonwealth.

Chapter 2: Section 33. Soil of commonwealth
Section 33. The Paxton Soil Series shall be the official soil of the commonwealth.

Chapter 2: Section 38. Bean of commonwealth
Section 38. The baked navy bean shall be the official bean of the commonwealth...

[continues...]

[Courtesy of Louwrens]

Now that's hospitality

A nice story, this: refugees from the Congo arrive in Palmerston North - and are greeted at the airport by the mayor. Ah. Warms the heart, it does.

Refugees promise hard work and pride

- Manawatu Standard, 3 March 2006