Fit To Fly...Again.

It's said that you can't keep a good man down.
The same goes for a foul-mouthed giggling racist, it seems.
Paul Henry was seen this week in a cameo appearance on Air New Zealand's latest in-flight safety video. (Why our national carrier would use someone considered a racist in India, the world's second most populous country, is beyond me!) The clip features another burnt-out hack, fitness freakazoid Richard Simmons. And such is the power of social networking that this video is currently one of the most-viewed in the world! [here's the clip... PH appears at about 2'30".]
But now the real shock! Paul Henry is taking to the air again - and I'm not meaning for Air NZ!
I thought this could only have been an April Fool's joke but sure enough: Henry will soon be back on-screen after brokering a deal with TV3 AND will also rejoin RadioLive as the new 4pm-6pm weekdays host from July (the same slot he held in April 2005 and again in 2007 - the one vacated by Maggie Barry last year).

BITE me!!!

The former TVNZ Breakfast host fell on his sword last October following a string of callous and racist remarks, and hundreds of complaints. I can't imagine Henry toning it down for TV3. In fact, they'll probably have grabbed him for that very reason: mark my words, he'll be as obnoxious as ever - and loving the controversy.
MediaWorks (owner of TV3 and RadioLive) has so far given no details about which programmes he'll be involved with. I look forward to that announcement...so I can select which ones to avoid!

Food In Ya Face!

For those who don’t cook, microwaving a frozen meal might be a regular dinner option.
But for busy folk on a budget, the Big Brother of US supermarkets - Kraft - has teamed up with Intel to develop facial recognition Meal Planning Solution technology (or MPS)!!!
MPS scans your face and, based on what it finds there, recommends different dinner options. If you're exhausted from a long hard day, you just swipe your loyalty card and the kiosk will spit out ideas based on your buying history. The machine also dispenses a small sample of Kraft product, that you can munch on while shopping for the recommended Kraft ingredients. Ah yes, of course, there's always a "Krafty" hook, isn't there! And naturally, MPS will offer buy-in to other companies, for their products to be among the suggested meal options.
The Minority Report-type technology has already been demonstrated at several big US food shows, and is part of Intel’s "Connected Store" concept.
MPS seems to be the type of totally unnecessary technology we're told we simply can't live without! Nothing like computerised intrusion into a very basic human activity. Perhaps what's really needed is technology that makes healthier recommendations. If a teenager shows up with greasy pizza written all over his face, the machine could provide a food alternative that won’t give the guy heart disease by the time he’s 50!

A Moose In Da Hoose?

$100,000 says there are still moose living in Fiordland!
NZ clothing company Hallensteins has put up the bounty for anyone who takes a picture of the elusive moose in its southern habitat.
The campaign was inspired by Ken Tustin, a moose hunter who has searched for moose for more than 30 years and written two books on the subject.
In 1910 ten young Canadian moose (mooses? meece? mice?) were released in isolated Fiordland, in hopes of starting a future sporting resource. Over the years, several were shot by hunters: the last confirmed kill was in 1952. No confirmed sightings since, and it was thought they'd died out.
But the debate's continued for the last 50 years and Tustin thinks he may have snapped a photograph of a juvenile moose on an automatic camera he set up.
< Add this latest pic to his pile of evidence - over the years, Ken's found footprints, an old antler, teeth marks on branches higher than where deer could reach, and got a blurry image on camera with the help of a documentary team. He's even had DNA testing done on hair follicles found in 2001/2002, which he claims proved to be from a moose.
He estimates up to 20 moose could be wandering around the area, but that's a total guess.
Hallensteins' six-week photo bounty launches on April 10. The answer to the $100,000 question may just be lurking under the canopy of 500 square km of impenetrable Fiordland bush... right beside the UFO landing pad.