Reporter’s diary

Press, 16 November 1981, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Aptly named

VARMINT THINGS is the name of a pet store in Houston,. Texas. The store sold a raccoon to a young woman who had no luck with it. The animal died the next day, and the store refused to give her another. Laurence Wayne, a Justice of the Peace, heard the case and ordered the store to give her a new raccoon when offspring are produced again, in about a year. The woman is so grateful that she plans to name her new pet after the Justice. To the rescue A HOME BUILT air boat is being tested on Manakau Harbour to see if it could provide a backup to Auckland Airport’s crash rescue hovercraft. The amphibious boat was built by a former sharemilker, and its three hydraulic rubber wheels allow it to travel in or out of the water? Rescue officials are holding off on their praise of the craft. They want to see how it goes with a .cabin and patient equipment, and check, its performance in adverse weather.

Greenhouse effect

A NEW scientific study, relying partly, on evidence from the Antarctic, seems to show that the often-debated “greenhouse effect” theory of carbon dioxide pollution may be correct. Columbia University scientists have detected strong new evidence of a warming of the earth’s climate. The theory says that a buildup of gas in the atmosphere — caused by the burning of coal, oil, and other fossil fuels — could warm the earth enough to turn it into a kind of greenhouse. Ice at the poles could melt enough to cause flooding of lowland seaside areas by rising oceans. The study’s Antarctic evidence shows that the typical summer ice pack on the continent has decreased by about 35 per cent, or 2.5 million sq km, from 1973 to ,1980. The ice cover was also found to be considerably lighter than shown in 1957 and 1966 atlases, and in ship reports from the 19305. On the other hand,., there., has been no shrinking of the Arctic ice pack. Although there was a slight average increase in summer 1 surface tempera-

tures in that melt area from 1974 to 1978, autumn and winter temperatures in the same area have dropped by 5 deg C since the 19305. Theorising continues. Housewife wages THE DAILY slog of a housewife is worth about $454 for a seven-day week, according to a British insurance company. The Legal and General Company’s survey shows that a housewife does enough work to be worth $24,062 a year; employment agencies’ average fees were used to work out a chart that follows a housewife’s average work day. Over, a week, the housewife can be a cleaner, childminder, cook, car driver, shopper, laundress, seamstress, nurse, gardener, dishwasher and household budget clerk. Chimes

A COURT case , in a small English village has townspeople on the edge of their seats. In Twyford, everyone has been on edge for four years because of a dispute over the church dock. When the pubkeeper moved to the village in 1975, he and his

family enjoyed the quiet of the Buckinghamshire evenings. What they didn’t know was that things were not normally that quiet. The clock was just out of order. When it started again, it chimed every 15 minutes all night long. The pubkeeper and his family had trouble sleeping, even though many villagers liked the sound. The pubkeeper wants the clock silenced between 11 p.m. and 8 a.m., but he would compromise on hourly chimes. For the vicar, the church wardens and the parish council, there is no compromise. The court action continues.

Masked man WHOSE FACE would you want to wear if you wanted to cover your own? Americans in Boston have chosen their least favourite politician, Richard Nixon, as the most popular mask face. Boston’s Little Jack Horner Joke and Magic Shop has sold 800 masks with the disgraced former President’s face -since May, compared with much lower sales for likenesses of President Reagan and Elvis Presley. Only the mask of an anony-

mons man with big eyes and a bandit bandana over his nose sells as well as the Nixon model.

Too late

CARLOS Mazzini never considered himself to be a statistic, but he was the perfect example of a New York City mugging trend the other day. Apparently, someone is mugged in the city every five minutes. Mazzini was waiting for a train at the Times Square underground station when he was attacked and beaten by two men. They took all his money and anything else that looked worth while. As Mazzini staggered off for help, he was'approached by another man who demanded his wallet. The second would-be attacker went away in disgust when he heard Mazzini’s sad story. . R/d of the beast THE HORSE was a good prospect, but not after it did what it did. Good Prospects, the horse. Prince Charles bought with the insurance money after the death of his previous horse, will be sold. It threw Prince Charles twice earlier this year.