And what plans for the major blip in the NW cycleway when crossing Carrington Road. With all the infrastructure at Waterview going in, why hasn't that been fixed? It seemed the perfect opportunity to have continued this flush with the motorway, rather than having to terminate in side roads and necessitate a dismount at the Zebra crossing. At Patiki road and Te Atatu they have done wonderfully well tunnelling under the roads. Its a shame they haven't done this at both St Lukes and Carrington Roads when other works at these sites would have allowed this. Have I missed something?

I attended another fantastic event facilitated by the Auckland City Council, The Buddy Walk, at Tahaki Reserve on Mt Eden: a fundraiser and fun-filled event celebrating and supporting people with Down Syndrome and the organisations that support them. Such a vibrant and positive event, with lots of free experiences for kids of all ages and abilities (even my age and ability). The Council's presence was muted, but it was well run and organised and a triumph. Most of all it was fun!

It's actually quite surprising they don't seem to be able to quote a grams-per-day usage

Really?
This whole area is extremely problematic to be precise about.

How many cannabis users can accurately report how many grams per day they use? Its like asking people to report back how many grams of alcohol they have consumed versus how many bottles of beer they have consumed. Most will have a fair idea of the number of joints they have smoked.

Mg of marijuana per joint will vary from joint to joint, user to user. Users frequently share joints. Tinnies will be smaller and larger depending on the vendors meanness or generosity....then there is the strength of the marijuana: the concentration of THC varies markedly from skunk to bush weed, the efficiency of the method used to administer the marijuana etc etc.

So being overly precise in this area would be a nonsense. Surely the best we can do is to guestimate in reasonably broad terms.

Fantastic project and great end result Sacha! Any possibility of posting or linking to a good "How to" guide for those of us who missed out in participating this year?

Anyone else thing ACT should officially rebrand as the Tea Party?

Flash-mob and Pop-up have to be the most in vogue and over used concepts....

There seems to be a pop-up flash-mob haka plank teapot on every red-stickered quake affected corner of this fine land! Makes me want to take a leaf out of Mr Plastic Fantastic's book (JK not the Tuppawaka) and "Smile and Lie".

Clearly, you are not apprised of Whaleoil's astonishing foray into the land of the gossip queens

I won't thank you for bringing this into my realm of consciousness! I get more than my quoto of gossip and schadenfreude from unintentional glimpses of the TVNZ "news"!

Its all just a bit insignificant surely!

Speaking of schadenfreude...I just love it when Winnie the Pooh comes unstuck and especially in such ironic circumstances. He really is the Court Jester of NZ Politics!

David Fisher's tremendous story about the battle between Affco and ACC in Wairoa. It's the story of corporate welshing, hired PR, tame politicians, pig-ignorant radio blatherers and one kid's wrecked life.

Great to see an unbiased and thorough examination of this issue. ACC is a big easy lumbering juggernaught of a target which never fails to raise the ire of the uninformed (especially radio talkback knee-jerkers and Sunday Star Times readers, yawn). I have never quite understood why Kiwis are so quick to line up and take pot-shots whenever ACC is in the media, regardless of the veracity of the claims against it. It is not a perfect scheme, but it is streets ahead of the alternatives and remains light years ahead of anything other countries have. Speak to anyone who has had similar injuries to those sustained by the chap at the centre of this issue, and you will soon learn how comprehensive the ACC scheme is. If this same set of affairs had happened in the US, the company, AFFCO would have faced law suits totalling millions and millions of dollars; the victim of the shooting would have had to sue to pay for his rehabilitation (and sell his soul to the lawyers), denying him fast and optimal treatment, and would not receive the unlimited life-long rehabilitation he needs and will get under the ACC scheme. Sadly it is this type of uninformed ACC bashing that skews and shapes public opinion about the scheme and threatens its existence at the hands of a National government (should those feckless wonders get in).

Perhaps Bill could have taken the moral high ground - or his editor exercised some real live editorial judgment - and declined to set the stage for another round of shit-flinging.

Pardon me but aren't we all just SICK TO DEATH of the predictably boring shite-flinging that our national politics has settled into. What happened to policy and issue-based debate rather than the boring, demeaning, and cancerous ad hominem attacks our politicians seem hell-bent on stooping to on both sides of the house. Is this because they are both so centrist that there is little difference of note between their politics that they have nothing to debate other than who is shagging who and who forgot to pay tax on what? Bunch of arse. The only light in all this boringly predictable quagmire of feculence is good old Tim Shadbolt - if only he were in Parliament - at least he has the courage to stand up for what he believes even if it means going against his political leanings and threatening to supporting those smarmy-veneered marshmallow puff National goons!

Sod them all, I'm voting McGillicuddy Serious Party in.

Hard News?

Such were the batting heroics yesterday, it would be easy to forget how… the real and important issue of the day in cricket slipped under the radar in recent weeks. Not a jot was mentioned recently about how South African cricketing hero Herschelle Gibbs was able to abuse the racial heritage and degree of evolution of his Pakistani hosts, have this broadcast to an international audience via stump microphone, and receive only a paltry suspension such that he missed but one test match and 2 ODIs before being allowed back to play these same opponents? In a world where taking diuretics results in a season’s stand down, how can such vile and archaic attitudes be met with such diluted consequences and go unnoticed. No wonder international sport has such problems in this area.

Don’t get me wrong, our victory over Australia is amazing and I can barely remove the grin from my face today, but I couldn’t help thinking is this Hard News or a Woman’s Weekly cum Sports Café feel good piece?