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Home / New Zealand

<i>Sideswipe</i>: Wednesday

Ana Samways
By Ana Samways
Sideswipe - ana.samways@nzherald.co.nz·Other·
26 Aug, 2008 04:00 PM3 mins to read

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This sign at the Pakuranga Palmers Garden Centre is rather overstating the obvious. Surely this isn't an OSH regulation?

This sign at the Pakuranga Palmers Garden Centre is rather overstating the obvious. Surely this isn't an OSH regulation?

Ana Samways
Opinion by Ana SamwaysLearn more

KEY POINTS:

With so many rainy weekends and all the football ground closures, the Ellerslie AFC thought it amusing that the sprinklers at Forrest Hill AFC's home grounds came on mid-game on Saturday. "Maybe they were worried that the sun may dry out the pitch and force a mud-free game of soccer," writes a reader.

* * *

I know what John Key's hidden agenda is, writes Cherie. "And lo and behold, it is to do with Kiwibank (sort of). An article in the Herald on August 6 states: 'Kiwibank remains a small bank, with only about a 2.5 per cent share of the market.' The advertising hoarding on the side of Downtown has an electronic counter with the words 'Kiwis joining the movement to Kiwibank'. Late last week the counter was at 326,000. Based on a 2.5 per cent market share, that means there are more than 13 million people in New Zealand. So that's John Key's secret agenda - he's already brought in 9 million people (National voters presumably), and once he's in power will use them to carry out his nefarious plans (using their own money to buy back the railways from the Government, privately funding a decent public transport service in Auckland etc.)"

* * *

Malcolm noticed the same sprinkling overkill at Seymour Park in Royal Oak. "The soccer fields there looked freshly cut and nice new white lines marked out," he writes. "And the sprinklers were on across all the fields."

* * *

When it comes to defacing historic signs, good grammar is a bad defence. Two self-styled vigilantes against typos who vandalised a hand-painted sign at Grand Canyon National Park that was more than 60 years old were sentenced to probation and banned from national parks for a year. They had removed an extraneous apostrophe and added a comma to the sign. Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson pleaded guilty on August 11 for the damage done on March 28 at the park's Desert View Watchtower. Deck and Herson, both 28, toured the United States this spring, wiping out errors on government and private signs. An affidavit by National Park Service agent Christopher A. Smith said investigators learned of the vandalism from an internet site operated by Deck on behalf of the Typo Eradication Advancement League.

* * *

Blimey, says Gary Stewart of Waitakere. "I'd love to be in a position to not notice an 'extra' $69.95 for nappies I didn't buy on my shopping bill. I wouldn't have found this out at home - my Eftpos would have been declined on the spot!"

* * *

Today's Webpick: Michael Phelps's victory by .01 of a second in the 100m Butterfly left 2nd place getter Milorad Cavic from Serbia bereft, but exclusive unseen footage reveals Phelps may not have been such a good sport about his win. Watch it here.

These are the very best online videos from Ana's online magazine Spare Room.

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