Did you know

24,767 PEOPLE tried to vote at the last election only to find that they had not enrolled. 7.6% of New Zealanders who are eligible to vote have not bothered to enrol. Are you enrolled for the local body elections?

‘THE ESSENTIAL characteristic of a nation is that its individuals must have many things in common and must have forgotten many things as well’ – French philosopher Ernest Renan.

AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY  researches have estimated that the  anaesthetic gases released by a New Zealand hospital have the carbon footprint of 500 return flights to London 

A 1906 NEWSPAPER reported that ‘in a splendid run’ Mr Herb Scott drove a 16 horse power Reo car from Palmerston North through the Manawatu gorge to Martinborough, with rain most of the way,  in 4½ hours. With the return journey taking only 3¾  hours.

‘A LIFE WITHOUT fame can be a good life but fame without a life is no life at all’ – Clive James 

AUSTRALIA  HAS the highest  gambling losses of any country in the world. These equate to an annual $1,000 per person for every man, woman and child.  Pokie machines are the  main culprit and a major operator of these, Australia Leisure and Hospitality, is 75% owned by Woolworths providing a profit of two billion dollars a year. 

‘THEY SAY SUCH nice things about people at their funerals that it makes me sad to realise that I’m going to miss mine  by just a few days – author Garrison Keillor

NEW ZEALAND’S ELCTRICTY is 59% hydro provided, 17% geothermal, 14% gas, 5% wind 3% coal and 2% bio fuel. Wind power provides only 

690 MW which on a world scale is infinitesimal. China is the world leader in wind power producing 221,000 MW followed by USA 96,000 MW, Germany 59,300 MW and India 35,000MW 

THE SIMPLE ACT of opening a bottle of wine has bought more happiness to the human race than all the governments on earth’ – James Harrison

THE BASE UNIT of time is the second, which was once defined as 1⁄86,400 of an average day. However vagaries in the Earth’s rotation made it difficult to measure precisely. It is now defined as being the time taken for a caesium atom to vibrate 9,192,631,770 times. – I’m sure that you are pleased to know that. 

AS A 4 th JULY PROMOTION an Alabama Ford dealer offered a free King James Bible, an American flag and a shotgun with every car sold. 

The deadline for the August issue is 4pm Wednesday July 31 st