On Monday, this Fulton Hogan machine blocked the entrance to a Wilson car park in Takapuna.
It really is a dirty job ...
"The dirtiest job I had to attend to was due to the failed design of a large 'hopper' that stored millions of dollars of banknotes once the cash was deemed to be in too poor a condition to be recirculated by the Reserve Bank," writes Chris. "The coarsely torn cash was locked solid in the hopper after being cut down to tiny dots of dirty colours from the shredders on the floor above. The agitator inside the drum could not make it drop into the chute and flow into the furnace. As a junior at the engineering firm which designed the contraption, it became my task to visit the bank each afternoon and shovel in the cash remnants from the bin into the furnace. The filth of the lucre justifies the saying. The inks, fingered body oils, heat, dust and heavily serrated edges of the remnants affixed itself where it wanted, especially hair, exposed orifices, even my coveralls and inevitably in my pockets. The mental anguish of seeing so much unattainable money was sufficiently torturous in itself. Over time I collected a bag's worth to use as confetti. I mean, what spells good feng shui for a prosperous marriage, rice or real money?"
Courting chaos
A Manhattan court stenographer with a drinking problem jeopardised the outcome of more than 30 cases by repeatedly typing 'I hate my job, I hate my job,' instead of the trial dialogue. Officials are rushing to repair the damage caused by Daniel Kochanski, 43, with 10 cases going through the appeals process potentially able to claim crucial evidence is missing.
Dr Gruber, is it really you?
Neil writes: "In last Friday's Herald letters page a Dr Hans Gruber wrote a letter in support of Kim Dotcom. Perhaps you can assure us that it was really from a genuine Dr Hans Gruber who lives on the North Shore? And not in fact the German supervillain played by Alan Rickman in the very first Bruce Willis Die Hard film?
Darn it, that sounds like bliss
Caroline Carroll came to NZ in 1964 as "a 10 Pom". In those days the criteria to be accepted into the country were very strict; nothing less than 40 wpm typing and 80 wpm shorthand. "All prepared I went along for an interview with a shipping company. The interview was going well - then the lady asked me the strangest question: 'Do you like knitting?' I almost thought I had come for the wrong job. Her explanation was that we work when the ships are in port, typing the manifests of cargo going on board - no containers in those days - and when there are no ships in port, we sit and knit. Wow, I thought, I have found my dream job."
Dream job: Knitting while you wait for the ships
Music: This Demis Roussous music video in which he wafts around atop a champagne cork...
Picture this #1: The hi-tech public toilets of Taipei ...
Picture this #2: Click. Nothing. Click. Nothing...
Picture this #3: Nice illustration of Mr and Mrs Cambridge in NZ by Hayley Heartbreak...
Video: The A to Z of Dance...
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