Hotel technology has finally caught up with the replace-the-vodka-minis-with-water trick. A hotel guest noticed a sign on their fridge which read: "Dear guest, For your convenience, your room has been fitted with a computerised tray. Products removed will automatically be added to you bill."
Country's farming stock: thebeginnings
"Some years ago my husband, who went to Flock House [in Bulls] in the 70s, attended a reunion," writes Pauline. "While exploring the old buildings, his mates discovered some original interview reports [obviously before political correctness]. Some of the comments: 'Physically soft, not too bright - should fit in well, would benefit from time away from his father, have you met the mother?' Incidentally, all of the boys referred to went on to become successful farmers."
Bruno Lawrence was a colourful character in the New Zealand music/arts scene in the 70s and 80s, just how colourful is revealed in this brilliant piece of writing by one of his best friends, John Dix: "David Gapes came down for a fortnight and one day during a clean-up he found a partly-buried statuette under the house. It was Bruno's Best Actor Award for Smash Palace at the Manila Film Festival. When I told him, Bruno, feigning appreciation, said, "Oh, I was wondering where that got to." " Read the full story here at AudioCulture...
Fathers' new role
Ever heard of dad feminism? It's a term used to describe men who have multiple epiphanies about the problems and stereotypes women face, once they have a daughter. "A friend with young daughters said he has trouble going to strip clubs because the strippers are someone's daughter," said a Reddit user on one thread about how daughters changed men's views of women. And it's a sentiment shared further up the food chain. The US National Bureau of Economic Research found that when a legislator has a female child, it "increases the propensity of a member of Congress to vote liberally on women's issues, particularly reproductive rights". Better late than never? Or, why did it take this long? This concept is skewered by Mallory Ortberg, who writes: "Now I know what women are: different versions of my daughters, running around the planet in all sorts of different faces and hairstyles. If every woman in the world is sort of like my daughter, then that makes me everyone's dad, sort of. And we should all be nice to my daughters."
A reader from Helensville writes:
"If anyone else got a parking ticket in Freemans bay yesterday, they should check the ticket carefully. I have a parking ticket for a time when my car was on the other side of town. The lady next to me also got a ticket for a time when she was not there.
