In Manurewa's main drag, a few sets of footprints jumped up at Stephen Holden. "Overall there are 68 sets of Olympic Champions in the main street," he said.
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Title of astronaut cannot be bought
Bad news, billionaires. On the same day Jeff Bezos blasted off on Blue Origin's inaugural crewed spaceflight, the US Federal Aviation Administration updated its definition of a "commercial astronaut". IFLscience.com explains: "Amazon's ex-CEO and fellow rich-guy-who-went-to-space Sir Richard Branson may not be considered astronauts. According to the programme's first rule change since 2004, astronauts must be part of the flight crew and make contributions to space flight safety. To be granted "commercial astronaut wings" by the FAA, personnel must reach an altitude of 80km above the Earth's surface. Actual "space" is the imaginary boundary 100km (62 miles) above sea level. Though Bezos and Branson did meet that, the new definition also requires travellers to have contributed to human space flight safety. Did their missions achieve this? Well, that's up for debate. It could be argued the launches may eventually lead the way towards technological developments that make it easier and cheaper to launch satellites and astronauts in the future, but it could also be argued that these feats were little more than ticks on a billionaire bucket list."
A winter Twitter challenge . . . #MakeASongCooler
Stand By Your Fan
Polar Eclipse of the Heart
Highway to Hail
Chilling in the name of
Dis-pear…and then devoured!
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Kindness of strangers
A reader writes: "I want to acknowledge a wonderful young man who helped me this morning while walking my dog after a heavy storm in Takapuna. I was walking down the grass embankment right beside the yacht club when my feet went from under me and I landed heavily on my back and head, throwing off my hat and sunglasses. I was shocked and hurt and lying in mud when this wonderful young man who was doing maintenance nearby ran up the bank to help me. He secured my dog and gave assistance. I am in my mid-70s and was in great pain with the impact. He then drove me home. I wish I knew who you are, you wonderfully-brought-up young man. Thank you!"
