But with all fairness in this modern day of gaming First Person Shooters (FPS) are almost two a penny ; it is arguable that we are sitting in a saturated market full of gaming screens where there are big guns protruding into the screens …
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Killzone 3 – The Review {Gaming} | Frost Magazine
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Michael Jackson’s family has arrived more than hour late for the pop singer’s funeral, keeping 77-year-old Elizabeth Taylor and other celebrities waiting on a hot summer evening.
A police escort ushered the motorcade of 31 cars, including Rolls-Royces and Cadillacs, to Forest Lawn Glendale on Thursday.
The motorcade from their Encino compound departed more than a half-hour after the funeral was to begin.
The planned start of the service came and went as the crowd of about 200 awaited the arrival of Jackson’s parents Joe and Katherine and the singer’s children.
Other mourners included Barry Bonds, Macaulay Culkin and the Rev.
Temperatures hovered at 90 just before sunset, with some mourners fanning themselves with programmes for the service.
The air was scented with smoke from a devastating wildfire that was about 10 miles distant from the cemetery. Al Sharpton
The delay meant that the 77-year-old Taylor and others were kept waiting on a muggy night at which temperatures hovered at 90 just before sunset, with some mourners fanning themselves with programs for the service at Forest Lawn Glendale. The equipment raised the possibility that the footage would be used for the Jackson concert documentary “This Is It.
A large, blimp-like inflated light, the type used in film and television production, and a boom camera hovered over the seating area placed in front of the elaborate marble mausoleum. Nearly double the number of media credentials, 435, were issued to reporters and film crews who remained at a distance from the service and behind barricades.”
About 250 seats were arranged for mourners over a green surface.
“Can you please put these flowers on his grave?” she told him.
Maria Martinez, 25, a fan from Riverside, California, who was joined by a dozen other Jackson admirers at a gas station near the security perimeter, gave a handful of pink flowers to a man with an invitation driving into the funeral. . Martinez said she picked them from a nearby park.”
The man consented, adding, “God bless. I’m not going to be able to get close, so this is as close as I could get to him.
Michael Jackson will share eternity at Forest Lawn with the likes of Clark Gable, Jean Harlow and W.”
Glendale police said all was going smoothly early in the evening and there were no arrests. Fields, entombed alongside them in the mausoleum that will be all but off-limits to adoring fans who might otherwise turn the pop star’s grave into a shrine.C.
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Animal rights activists are calling for Manawatu SPCA’s chairwoman to quit or be removed from her position because of her connection with live animal testing.
Debbie Chesterfield manages Massey University’s small animals research breeding facility in Palmerston North.
Protesters outside The Plaza shopping mall in the city on Saturday claimed her Massey role was in conflict with promoting animal welfare. More than 150 people signed it, spokeswoman Kali Sandbrook said.
Save The Beagles and the National Anti Vivisection Campaign promoted a petition calling for Ms Chesterfield’s resignation from the SPCA.
Testing on animals was a difficult area for the RSPCA, she said.
Ms Chesterfield couldn’t be reached for comment yesterday, but RSPCA national chief executive Robyn Kippenberger said the organisation was aware of Ms Chesterfield’s day job.
Ethics approval was required for any university experiments and there were SPCA animal welfare representatives on animal ethics boards, she said. The RSPCA national council did not see fit to oust her when she first became involved, Ms Kippenberger said.
Ms Kippenberger said Ms Chesterfield’s perceived conflict of interest had been raised before. They voted her chair.
“Her committee seem to be happy to have her.
That case was cut and dried, she said.”
The RSPCA national council’s decision was before Ms Kippenberger’s tenure, but she was aware of a case since then, when a poultry farmer who used caged birds had her SPCA appointment blocked. Ms Kippenberger said she did not personally approve of animal experimentation, but she was prepared to concede some good did come out of it in terms of medical and scientific knowledge. Ms Kippenberger said she did not personally approve of animal experimentation, but she was prepared to concede some good did come out of it in terms of medical and scientific knowledge. .
“It’s a hard one.”
Animal testing had reduced in the past 20 years, she said. She’s been on that committee for quite some time.
Massey’s research capability was also important for Palmerston North, Ms Kippenberger said. Protocols had also been tightened.
“If you’re concerned about animal welfare, then you’re not involved in live animal testing,” she said.
However, Ms Sandbrook said the issue was straightforward Ms Chesterfield should go.” The public expected SPCA to care for animals, she said.
“She shouldn’t hold any position with SPCA.
“That was the whole point [to highlight her day job].
“That was the whole point [to highlight her day job].”
THE THREE Rs
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Insect bites sting ACC for millions
– Sunday, 01 March 2009
Mozzies are costing taxpayers money.
BITES AND stings from mosquitoes, bees and other creepy crawlies have cost taxpayers more than $11 million over the past four years, as Kiwis troop to their doctors suffering from allergic reactions, infections and rashes.
Victims can claim compensation from ACC if the symptoms from a bite or sting are bad enough to be deemed an injury. And payments are on the rise. They also cover hospital treatment, often necessary if the area becomes seriously infected. The payments cover everything from doctor's appointments to antihistamine tablets, antibiotics and ointments, and adrenalin injections for the severely allergic. That's more than double the $1,496,957 it paid in the year up to June 2004. In the year to June 2008, ACC paid out $3,302,523 in insect bite claims.85m. The total over the four years from 2004 was $11. Bites from fleas, ticks and flies racked up almost $50,000 last year, while bedbugs were the least costly, with just five claims totalling $184 last year.
The stingers bees, bumble bees and wasps top the payout lists, with spiders second and mosquitoes third.
Auckland GP Jonathan Fox, head of the Royal New Zealand College of GPs, said while most people won't go to the doctor with an "ordinary" bite, some need treatment for allergies. Another $2m in claims were attributed to "unspecified" creatures. I have seen some really unpleasant infected legs, and things like that, from infected insect bites. "But probably the most common thing we see is infection.
"If untreated, infection can be quite debilitating."
Any kind of bite or sting anything that breaks the skin can lead to cellulitis and other serious skin infections, said Fox. [The rise in ACC payments] may be a reflection of that that families have been taking children with infected insect bites to the doctor more often, knowing it's going to be covered by ACC. In areas such as South Auckland there have been major campaigns to try and cut down on skin infections. ."
ACC spokeswoman Stephanie Julian thought the increase could be due to a computerised system, and public awareness.
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‘Clip-on’ theatres to boost surgery
By REBECCA PALMER Saturday, 28 February 2009
Two "clip-on" theatres will be used to boost the number of operations carried out at Hutt Hospital until its expansion is finished.
The operating theatres, being made off-site, will be erected next to the day surgery unit on the first floor of the emergency department and theatre block by October. That expansion will double the number of permanent operating theatres from four to eight, increase the size of the emergency department and add a new intensive care unit.
They will be used until 2011, when Hutt Valley District Health Board's $82 million revamp is due to be complete. "Without them, we would have no hope of meeting the new Government's requirements for increased elective surgery.
Acting chief executive Michael Hundleby said the two temporary theatres were needed to provide extra space until then. It would be used for day surgery. .5 million, including more than $1 million worth of medical equipment that would be transferred to the permanent operating theatres once they had been built.
It would cost about $2. Because most of the construction would take place off-site, there would be "minimal disruption" to the hospital and its neighbours, Mr Hundleby said.
The temporary theatres would then be removed and sold. Last year its staff performed 8092 operations, of which 3954 were elective (non-urgent) the most procedures it had ever done.
The hospital had been designed to care for about 25,000 people a year but was now coping with more than 40,000.
Mr Hundleby said that, for the past few years, the district health board had been using the national mobile surgical bus and private hospitals to supplement its operating theatres. The board expects to perform even more surgery this year and for demand to continue increasing."
Health Minister Tony Ryall said this week that he planned to talk to both Hutt Valley and Capital and Coast district health boards about the possibility of an elective surgery "super-centre" for the Greater Wellington region. "But both these options have become increasingly hard to access.
Mr Hundleby said that, while Hutt Hospital's expansion would double its number of operating theatres, it was already time to start planning beyond that.
Three Auckland health boards have already put together a proposal for extra operating theatres there.
A Health Ministry report made public this week says the country needs 26 extra operating theatres by 2026, in order to meet surgery targets and increased patient numbers.
Hutt Valley DHB was keen to work with other health boards on a proposal for another four theatres for the Greater Wellington region, he said.
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Minister orders action on truants
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
The Government is demanding urgent action on truancy amid revelations that officials have little or no idea how many thousands of children cut class each day.
Education Minister Anne Tolley is instructing staff in her ministry to survey schools immediately to gauge national truancy rates and brief her on the fight against non-attendance.
Officials admit the latest national truancy figures up to 30,000 children each week are nearly three years old.
A biennial week-long survey of schools to collect crucial truancy figures, to have been held last year, was ditched while a new electronic attendance tracking system was implemented in some schools.
They could only guess how many children were absent on any given day, and had not delivered on reduced truancy targets, one said.1 per cent of the 750,000 primary and high school pupils were truant each week.
The last survey, in 2006, showed up to 30,000 children 4. It brought claims that the government was fighting a losing battle against a "truancy tidal wave". They are thought to represent a hardcore of young offenders before the youth justice system.
A further "lost tribe" of 2500 long-term truants are not even enrolled. Only about 250 of the 2700 schools are believed to use it.
The electronic tracking system will provide more accurate data, but problems have delayed its implementation.
"If that information had come out, we would have known what the attendance and non-attendance picture was," a ministry official said. Just a handful of schools took part in a trial of the new system late last year and the data was of little use, officials say. . "So we share the disappointment. We have nothing else"."
The ditched survey was "the only information we have nationally on attendance.
"This means the last solid data we have is from 2006.
Mrs Tolley said she was surprised and disappointed that Labour had not demanded last year's truancy survey, which would have provided up-to-date non-attendance figures."
Getting more children back in class was a priority, especially when an estimated 150,000 pupils were failing. That is unacceptable and I will be directing officials to undertake a survey as soon as possible so we can understand the true size of the truancy problem and work with schools and communities to ensure that more children are regularly engaged in school.
Labour education spokesperson Chris Carter said "snapshot" surveys did not provide accurate truancy information as figures were easily skewed by one-off events.
Results from this year's survey would not be available till 2010. "At no point was I asked about it.
He had not been responsible as minister for ditching the survey."
The electronic system would eventually provide a much clearer picture."
The electronic system would eventually provide a much clearer picture. "We know there is a truancy problem. No one's disputing that. But telling us how many kids are away isn't solving the problem."
Ministry senior manager Tina Cornelius said the electronic tracking system, which is not compulsory, was likely to replace the biennial survey, depending on schools' uptake.
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Dash for blood saves unborn baby
By FINBARR BUNTING – Sunday, 11 January 2009
RARE CASE: Natalie Wong’s particular family of antibodies meant there were only a few suitable blood donors in the country to save her unborn child.
When doctorstold Natalie Wong her unborn baby urgently needed a life-saving blood transfusion, they also told her there were only seven suitable registered blood donors in the country.
It was during a routine scan at Waikato Hospital last month that Wong, 22, discovered her baby needed help.
But with much of the country on holiday, finding one of those seven was a difficult task.
Professor Peter Stone, of the maternal foetal medicine department at National Women's Health, says the particular family of antibodies Wong has meant there were only a few suitable donors in the country. The antibodies in her blood were attacking the red blood cells in her baby's blood, which meant the baby could suffer cardiac arrest.
After receiving a call from the Blood Service on Monday, Pratt drove the 60km to Napier Hospital, just making the 11am deadline.
One of those was 62-year-old Auckland real estate agent Barry Pratt, who was on holiday in the Hawke's Bay. .
"I managed to give them a pint of blood which wasn't too polluted with pinot noir. "We [were] told that there were seven people in the country who have the same kind of blood that Natalie does and this guy was the only one willing to come back from his holiday."
Wong and husband Steve, 23, say they are very grateful for Pratt's help.
The intrauterine transfusion operation was successfully performed on Thursday. We are very happy," Steve says.
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Habitat house is Christmas gift for hard-up mum
By TAMMY BUCKLEY – Sunday, 14 December 2008
Hard-luck mum-of-five Margaret Morunga has been given the ultimate early Christmas present -her own home.
Instead of spending Christmas in a cold state house, Margaret and her children will be opening presents in their new four-bedroom home, thanks to Habitat for Humanity; a global charity that helps low-income families to own homes.
For Margaret it is a dream come true. It's a security thing," Margaret told .
"It's anyone's dream to have a home.
"I'm very grateful.
Margaret and her five children aged between 16 and eight were handed the keys to their new home last weekend and she said they couldn't be more happy. It was a gift knowing that we were chosen in the first year (to get the house) and now it's a gift that we are in it."
The family also got numerous household items from Noel Leeming, who sponsor Habitat, and who provided volunteers to help build the home. This is my Christmas present.
"It was the phone call we were waiting for.
Margaret's dream began last Christmas when Habitat called her to say she would receive one of three homes the charity was building in west Auckland.
The youngest of eight, Margaret left school at 14 with limited literacy and worked as a seamstress and caregiver before having her first child at 21."
Home ownership was something Margaret never thought she would achieve.
The 28-year-old was a stay-at-home mum to her and her partner's children until 2000, when she left the relationship after years of domestic abuse.
The 28-year-old was a stay-at-home mum to her and her partner's children until 2000, when she left the relationship after years of domestic abuse."
So Margaret enrolled in the Waitakere Adult Literacy course.
"From that time I just wanted to better myself.
"There are still a lot of adults who deny they've got these issues.
"When I was young my dad taught us hands-on, not reading and stuff, but for my kids I wanted to do better."
She graduated from the course and studied to become a teacher aid, finishing in time to start building her new home in May."
"It's like they are ashamed but there's nothing to be ashamed of.
But Margaret doubled that, dedicating 1043 hours to building her new home.
Part of the conditions of Habitat is that families must pay monthly mortgage payments and that each family invests 500 hours of labour.
Margaret said helping build the house meant she could now do her own DIY and fix things.
"Because I had the time I wanted to be part of it," she said.
"It does mean more than just a house.
"It does mean more than just a house. My daughter is going to appreciate the walls better because she plastered them. .
"My goal is to look for work and pay as much as I can off my mortgage."
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Habitat house is Christmas gift for hard-up mum
By TAMMY BUCKLEY – Sunday, 14 December 2008
Hard-luck mum-of-five Margaret Morunga has been given the ultimate early Christmas present -her own home.
Instead of spending Christmas in a cold state house, Margaret and her children will be opening presents in their new four-bedroom home, thanks to Habitat for Humanity; a global charity that helps low-income families to own homes.
For Margaret it is a dream come true. It's a security thing," Margaret told .
"It's anyone's dream to have a home.
"I'm very grateful.
Margaret and her five children aged between 16 and eight were handed the keys to their new home last weekend and she said they couldn't be more happy. It was a gift knowing that we were chosen in the first year (to get the house) and now it's a gift that we are in it."
The family also got numerous household items from Noel Leeming, who sponsor Habitat, and who provided volunteers to help build the home. This is my Christmas present.
"It was the phone call we were waiting for.
Margaret's dream began last Christmas when Habitat called her to say she would receive one of three homes the charity was building in west Auckland.
The youngest of eight, Margaret left school at 14 with limited literacy and worked as a seamstress and caregiver before having her first child at 21."
Home ownership was something Margaret never thought she would achieve.
The 28-year-old was a stay-at-home mum to her and her partner's children until 2000, when she left the relationship after years of domestic abuse.
The 28-year-old was a stay-at-home mum to her and her partner's children until 2000, when she left the relationship after years of domestic abuse."
So Margaret enrolled in the Waitakere Adult Literacy course.
"From that time I just wanted to better myself.
"There are still a lot of adults who deny they've got these issues.
"When I was young my dad taught us hands-on, not reading and stuff, but for my kids I wanted to do better."
She graduated from the course and studied to become a teacher aid, finishing in time to start building her new home in May."
"It's like they are ashamed but there's nothing to be ashamed of.
But Margaret doubled that, dedicating 1043 hours to building her new home.
Part of the conditions of Habitat is that families must pay monthly mortgage payments and that each family invests 500 hours of labour.
Margaret said helping build the house meant she could now do her own DIY and fix things.
"Because I had the time I wanted to be part of it," she said.
"It does mean more than just a house.
"It does mean more than just a house. My daughter is going to appreciate the walls better because she plastered them. .
"My goal is to look for work and pay as much as I can off my mortgage."
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Christchurch council may have to repay tenants $1m
By CHARLIE GATES – Thursday, 27 November 2008
Thousands of social housing tenants in Christchurch are awaiting about $1 million in refunds.
The administrative mess follows this week's High Court decision to overturn a controversial 24 per cent rent rise.
The High Court ruling means tenants are likely to be reimbursed for the extra rent they have paid to the Christchurch City Council since the July 1 rise.
The supplement increase could now have to be paid back to Work and Income and the remainder repaid to tenants.
Some tenants have received increased supplements from Work and Income during the period, complicating the issue.
"It is just really complicated.
Sharon Torstonson, executive officer of the Council of Social Services that won the High Court challenge, said the process would be complex. .
Christchurch City councillors Chrissie Williams and Helen Broughton warned the repayment process would involve a "huge administrative adjustment". It would be really unfair if they repay the whole lot to the tenants and expect them to pay back Work and Income," she said.
"Work and Income will work closely with the council to establish how our mutual clients may be affected by the High Court ruling.
Work and Income deputy chief executive Patricia Reade said the process would require close collaboration.
"This matter may be subject to an appeal by the council so we will continue to monitor the situation closely. Until any changes come into effect, Work and Income clients can be assured that their accommodation supplement payments will continue as usual," she said."
Social housing tenant Graham Reed has stopped his rent payment to the council until the issue is resolved."
Social housing tenant Graham Reed has stopped his rent payment to the council until the issue is resolved. "I have just stopped my automatic payment until I get a correct rent figure from council. I am pleased for all the tenants," he said. They have to pay the money back. I think tenants should stop payment straight away and ring up council asking what their new rent will be.
"No decision has yet been made."
Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said "a decision on whether to appeal will be made by the council and will take into account staff recommendations".
The rent rise was designed to raise $2. It is entirely premature to discuss amount or timing of repayments to tenants," he said. An estimated $1m may have to be returned to tenants.7m a year in extra revenue and the council collected the raised rent for five months before the High Court ruling.
"I do not agree with the decision and that leaves us in a position of what do we do now.
"I do not agree with the decision and that leaves us in a position of what do we do now. We should give the social housing to Housing New Zealand and let them deal with it," she said.