Reporter’s diary

Press, 31 October 1981, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Exhibition today AFTER the recent appeal in the diary, the organisers of the Christchurch Exhibition seventy-fifth anniversary exhibition, which is being held today and tomorrow at the Philatelic Centre in Worcester Street, were almost showered with items from the 1906 event. A print of the film from the opening ceremony, and the furi-fair area in Hagley Park, which operated for the exhibition.

should be a highlight. The film was so popular in 1906 that admission to its screen; ings had to be limited. The original exhibition seals have been re-released with only the dates changed (pictured). The publicity copies of the sheet are unperforated, but these for public sale will be, so the office copy is being hoarded by the compiler of this week’s diary. The sheet will be sold at the exhibition for $1.20. Synchronised scare A GENTLEMAN who resides in Suffolk, England, might interest. New Zealand farmers. He is Mr Fossygent, a mechanical man with a 12volt battery for a heart, which is activated by a photo-electric cell. When dawn breaks over the fields he whirrs into action, swinging his arms about and turning his body in a manner calculated to put the local birds off their crop breakfasts. The secret, his inventors claim, is the frequency of his arm-waving. Mr Fos-

sygent is synchronised to imitate the wing speed of birds of prey like the kestrel. Already he has increased crop yields at the inventors’ farm. Farmers are queuing up to buy similar models, and 14 have been ordered by a local airport, to clear the runways of birds. Rotten's luck JOHNNY Rotten and the other two surviving members of the original punk rock group, the Sex Pistols, may be teaming up again thanks to the taxman, it has been reported from London. (The fourth 1 Pistol, Sid Vicious, is an ex-Pistol, because he died of a drug overdose in New York in February, 1979). The reason behind that thinking is that the Inland Revenue people have just sorted out the outrageous band’s financial affairs, and is demanding £400,000 ($880,000) in back taxes. The Sex Pistols “swindled” several million pounds out of record companies in 1977. It has been suggested around

the office that, the band could easily raise the money by simply threatening to play again.

Splat!

WHILE the 20c piece remains unchanged, those electronic machines which the young and young-at-heart keep inserting their money into are’ getting more advanced. A new video game in Hong Kong reaches new heights of computerised -greed. When a game is completed, a sign flashes on the screen: “Sensor detects another coin in your pocket. Please insert it.” That hasn’t reached Christchurch .yet, but one that has is called “Crazy Climber.” The idea is .to manoeuvre a figure up the side of a skyscraper. There are several obstacles, however. One is a giant bird. Beware of the king-sized .droppings . . . Naughty pixies!

THE NEWLY-constituted Garden Ornament Board (G. 0.8. caused a stir in

Christchurch this week. Its three “founders” explained its aims on a radio talkback show. It seemed that thoughtless gardeners were placing their ornaments with complete disregard for conceptual design principles, or the neighbour’s china frog. Worse, some didn’t even bother to get permission for the placement of their ornaments in the public view. Not to worry, however. The board’s 60 inspectors were ■scouting the metropolitan area checking for “unlicenced artefacts.” It seemed that the inspectors were “liaising” rather a lot with other Government departments — well, the word “liaisings,” was used a lot on the talkback. In between the “liaisings,” one might have heard a local lawyer giggling . . . The scores of people who later rang the radio station, and the Chief Post Office, worried about their “unlicenced artefacts,” obviously didn’t listen that closely. The point was that bureaucracy has gone mad and we are over-administered. Got it?