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Weirdest question

I was thining about the weirdest question I have ever been asked at the reference desk recently...

And the winner goes along the lines of:

Dene: "Hello reference desk Dene speaking".
Caller: "Hello, yes I'm wondering how many people have died".
Dene: Silence........."Pardon? Died where? During a war... The road toll....".
Caller: "No, I was just wondering how many people have died....ever".

But stranger still, a quick Google search managed to find a site that had worked it out based on a long complicated formula. I gave the guy the figure, and he was satisfied.

That brings me to my next weirdest question. The same guy rang back a week later and asked how many people have died in the past week so he could update his figures.

Air New Zealand

Air New Zealand have announced that they are substantially cutting flights on the Dunedin to Brisbane route, as planes have been 50-60% full and their margins have been too low.

I have traveled on the Dunedin to Brisbane route more than 10 times in the last 3 years, and there has never ever been a flight that is 50-60% full. On average they have been at least 90%, and mostly full.

I would like to see Air New Zealand provide these figures.

I would also like to see how Air New Zealand justifies the high cost of flights out of Dunedin. They are always substantially cheaper elsewhere, and when sales are on they never include Dunedin.

I also note in another article that unlike QANTAS, Air New Zealands profits will not be majorly effected this year. Please explain why they are cutting flights.

Air New Zealand also say that flights "may return next year". Rubbish. They are softening the blow - THERE WILL BE NO INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS THIS TIME NEXT YEAR.

As hard as (most) of the residents try, Dunedin is looking more and more like a backwater every day.

Air New Zealand needs to change it's name to Air Profit - It is an embarrassment to have a monopoly like this have New Zealand in their name.

QANTAS Slash Jobs

QANTAS slashed jobs today in a bid to protect profit. Apparently they have downgraded their profit forecast to somewhere between $100 Million and $200 Million.

What right do big companies like this have to make multimillion dollar profits like this when everyone else is expected to do it tough?

TV Gap Period

On 612 ABC Brisbane today there was a discussion about television around the Easter period. Apparently the number of viewers dramatically reduces, as everyone is away on holiday, so programmers run repeats and shows that don't rate that well. Basically they put a load of crap on t.v.

So, how is that different to normal programming?

Blogging...

Isn't it funny how blogging is one of those things you never get around to... but when you do, you end up posting several posts all at once... then nothing for a few months.

Banks

Woo-hoo. My bank passed on a 0.10% interest rate reduction. Now what am I going to do with all the extra money - $6.00 a fortnight?

I thought about going out for a meal, but then that's 6 months worth gone right away.

Twitter

Everyone loves Web 2.0 toys - so check visit Hairy Goat Media on Twitter: http://twitter.com/HairyGoatMedia

Global financial crisis hits Hairy Goat Media

That's right, Hairy Goat Media has been struck down by the global financial crisis. As a result all posting had been suspended pending bailout from government authorities.

US President Obama has just announced a 100 billion dollar bailout of Hairy Goat Media. The money arrived in the mail today - Hairy Goat is back!

Australian police

I don't want to say anything... well that could get me arrested... but obviously anything can these days.

The Australian Police force should be ashamed about what they consider a worth prosecution. In a time when murders, rapes and child abuse can't be solved because of not enough man hours, you see something like this in the news:

• Child abuse charges for 'laughing baby' video
• Simpsons' sex toon is child porn

And police wonder why they have little respect in the community. I wonder how much it has cost to prosecute these cases. These two men have had their lives ruined for doing what millions of people do every day.

What next - Assault on a plushy!

Firefox Chrome Registration Error

I thought I'd use my blog to pass on answers to annoying problems I've had, and how I managed to fix them. So here's the first "installment".

For a month or so, every time I started Firefox I received the following error:

Firefox could not install this item because of a failure in Chrome Registration. Please contact the author about this problem.

If I clicked on "OK" the message repeated several times. Then Firefox would work as normal. Nothing serious, but really annoying.

To fix the problem I simply right clicked the Firefox icon, and then selected "Run as administrator". No more errors!

It seems that there had been an error installing some add-ons, and all it required was Administrator access to fix the problem.

How to Speak Like a Kiwi

Milburn - capital of Victoria
Peck - to fill a suitcase
Pissed aside - chemical which kills insects
Pigs - for hanging out washing with
Pump - to act as agent for prostitute
Pug - large animal with a curly tail
Nin tin dough - computer game
Munner stroney - soup
Min - male of the species
Mess Kara - eye makeup
McKennock - person who fixes cars
Mere - Mayor
Leather - foam produced from soap
Lift - departed
Kiri Pecker - famous Australian businessman
Kittle crusps - potato chips
Ken's - Cairns
Jumbo - pet name for someone called Jim
Jungle Bills - Christmas carol
Inner me - enemy
Guess - vapour
Fush - marine creatures
Fitter cheney - type of pasta
Ever cardeau - avocado
Fear hear - blonde
Ear - mix of nitrogen and oxygen
Ear roebucks - exercise at the gym
Duffy cult - not easy
Amejen - visualise
Day old chuck - very young poultry
Bug hut - popular recording
Bun button - been bitten by insect
Beard - a place to sleep
Sucks Peck - Half a dozen beers
Ear New Zulland - an extinct airline
Beers - large savage animals found in U.S. forests
Veerjun - mythical New Zealand maiden
One Doze - well known computer program
Brudge - structure spanning a stream
Sex - one less than sivven
Tin - one more than nine
Iggs Ecktly - Precisely
Earoplane - large flying machine
Beggage Chucken - place to leave your suitcase at the earport
Sivven Sucks Sivven - large Boeing aircraft
Sivven Four Sivven - larger Boeing aircraft
Cuds - children
Pits - domestic animals
Cuttin - baby cat
Munce - usually served on toast

Weird Animals...

This months installment of weird animals should be called "Creepy Crawlies to Scare the Pants Off a Kiwi".

The spider in this photo is a Huntsman Spider. Isn't he cute - not. This particular one was living under our kitchen sink.

Huntsman Spiders have 8 eyes, and can have a leg span of up to 30cm. Pretty big and scary!

They do bite, but only cause a small amount of pain and are not harmfully to humans. Huntsman don't use a web to catch their prey, but hunt them down - hence the name Huntsman.

They are actually good to have around the house (I am told!) because they eat insects you don't want inside.

But if the spider in this picture appeared in my house, I would be grabbing a cricket bat or can of spray - I'd rather have bugs than this any day!

I Know Almost Everyone Has Seen It...

But I couldn't resist adding it! I'm parched as!

News Flash

Research shows that smoking while pregnant harms your baby.

Ok, so it's not new, and everyone knows this fact.

So why do so many Australian women smoke when they are pregnant. I see it almost on a daily basis.

And every second car has someone smoking in it, with children in the back.

How can people be so stupid when they know the damage it's doing?

If you smoke while pregnant you should be charged with child abuse.

All Things Rugby - Union and League

I feel sorry for Brisbane sports fans - particularly those who are fans of the funny shaped ball.

You see two Saturday nights in a row I have been to a packed Suncorp Stadium - the first for the Bledisloe Cup, and the second for the Broncos vs Storm NRL semi-final.

I feel sorry for those home fans who paid a couple of hundred dollars to get to see both games - and see both home teams lose.

Ok, when I reflect on a glorious victory by the All Blacks, that feeling soon disappears!

I'm back!

After months of frustration I've finally ditched Vodafone, and have a landline ADSL2 connection installed. And the 24 megabits is great!

The Vodafone connection has been so bad I haven't been able to get on here to post anything - but as of today Vodafone are gone!

It's Cold!

We've lived in Australia for just over a year, and it seems we've become acclimatised already.

Today was cold - 17 degrees. The heater's cranked up tonight, as it's supposed to get down to around 5 or 6 degrees.

Coming from Dunedin it seems really odd - 17 degrees would be more than you could hope for at this time of year! 5 or 6 would usually be the high!

The Greatest Day in NZ Sport?

Yesterday was perhaps the greatest day of all time in New Zealand sport - at least it's the greatest day in a long time. Kiwi's quickly jump all over their sports stars when they don't perform, so I thought I would recognise the great achievements of Saturday 16th August 2008.

Firstly, New Zealand won 5 Olympic medals in one day for the first time ever - 2 gold (1st Olympic gold in track and field in over 30 years), 1 silver and two bronze. It's certainly our greatest ever Olympic day.

While in South Africa, the All Blacks kept the Springboks scoreless in a test at home for the first time ever. It's hard enough winning in SA, without even considering keeping them scoreless.

And to top it off the New Zealand Warriors had a win in the NRL propelling them into finals contention.

I can't think of too many other days that would rate higher in NZ sport! It's a great day to be a kiwi!