KEY POINTS:
Young women in bikinis stole the limelight from the other big story from the latest round of Advertising Standards Authority decisions. A. Elliot complained about a television ad for Weetbix. "I am a dairy farmer and when I saw this ad I was horrified. In the advert there is a shot of a boy who puts his head between cows to push them along - imitating a rugby scrum. In my view this is extremely dangerous. The boy is putting his life in danger by doing so and OSH would have a field day if there was an accident and a child was killed ... Cows should always be treated with respect and purposefully putting your head in between them could have a catastrophic effect. Even the calmest of cows can kick up for no reason ... If someone copied the ad thinking it was a good idea for rugby training, I am very concerned they would be hurt ... " The complaint was not upheld.
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New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, who has written tirelessly on the brutality in Darfur, lamented that Americans still seem less concerned about the rapes and murders of thousands of children there than about the plight of the "Pale Male" hawk evicted from a ledge on a luxury high-rise in New York City, and pointedly suggested that Darfur's victims adopt a puppy as their symbol. Kristof imagined a picture of a lovable, tortured Darfur dog as having a better chance of bringing in donations and a demand to stop the killing.
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Murray started running the 5km Loaded Hog race at the Auckland Viaduct 12 years ago but, sadly, it may be no more if the new owners decide to cancel it. "Apart from sharpening my pace for my marathons, it is a great fitness boost for many workers in the city, with their 6pm race on Tuesdays from August to May, followed by a hot shower at the Tepid Baths, a cold beer, then home for dinner about 7.30pm feeling relaxed after the day's stresses are chased away. If it is cancelled after 14 years, do you know of another Viaduct bar willing to take it over?"
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Janine Boult has a follow-up to our story from Friday about fans of television's Jericho sending vast quantities of nuts to CBS. "Things have got much bigger," she says. "Today they delivered a shipment of 10,000lb (4535kg) of peanuts to the Manhattan office of CBS and what has started as a few disgruntled fans is turning into something huge. As the New York Times states ... "At the same time, the Jericho call to arms doubles as a referendum on universal suffrage, charging that the Nielsen ratings system, which takes only passing notice of digital video recorders and new ways of watching television, is no more reliable than American voting machines."
