Phrase THIS II: Kicking the bucket

Have you ever heard the phrase, “kicked the bucket”? What does it actually mean? Yes, that they died, but how the hell does that make any sense?

Now if you’ve just shouted at the screen an explanation of the phrase, first off – check around the room to make sure no one is looking at you funny. Then, give yourself a brownie point. However, you may not be correct – because, you see, there are three commonly accepted explanations for the humble phrase, and no definitive proof over which is the correct explanation.

Allow me to elaborate;

The Music Box [Nicole Atkins]

In the second part of our Ladies Outside Live series, it’s off to the good old U.S of A. This singer-songwriter ranges from pop rock to blues with a hint of country, and backs it all up with one of the best voices in the business.

This is Nicole Atkins, live in an alley somewhere, singin' her song, The Tower.

News in a Minute: Thursday 7 February 2013

Welcome to Thursday 7th February 2013, the time is Seven, roughly.

This is News in a Minute, where we show you all the ingredients for the news in three easy steps.

First off, our headline story - which is something terribly important and relevant to your daily lives. Today, New Zealand's almost award winning, third most popular folk construction company, Mainzeal Property and Construction halted work after being placed in receivership yesterday. Now the boring and dull accountants will do a stock take of the business before deciding if it can run itself back into the black or if it is a basket case that needs to be liquidated. The company got screwed over after it had to repair leaky buildings it took massive shortcuts on when building them during the nineties, funny that.

Ahem, moving on, we now get to the meat of the news: filler. Today's flavour is world news but other options include weather and sport. First up, Iran has reportedly put a monkey into space. Well, almost everyone agrees that they managed it - it's just debatable that they were able to safely return him to Earth or not. At the same time they were engaging in the space race, Iran also unveiled a medieval style finger chopping machine. Excellent juxtaposition by the Iran News Agency there.

In other world news, back Home they finally found the King, who has been lost since 1485. Richard III was found hiding under a carpark by archeologists from the University of Leicester. A Palace spokesperson claimed he was not lost, but had merely been misplaced.

Finally we will follow One New's example and end with a fluff piece. Look! Some cute animals!!

And there we have it, that was today's news in three easy steps. Thank you for reading and remember:

Better Living everyone!

Super Numbers

After watching Super Bowl XLVII, the Dinosaurs and Dandelions sports department breaks down the numbers from yesterday’s game;

• Just before halftime, Baltimore kicker Justin Tucker attempted the first fake field goal in the games history. The play was unsuccessful.
• Baltimore won their second Vince Lombardi trophy with the victory, and promptly lost the trophy during their post-game celebrations.
• 14 percent was the increase in Chicken Wing prices, thanks to a shortage of chickens. The weather also caused a shortage in carrots and celery. Luckily, Canada had a surplus of wings due to ice hockey’s shorter season this year.
• 34 minutes was the length of the power outage that held up the game and absolutely definitely wasn’t caused by Beyonce.
• 300,000 online orders were placed with Domino’s Pizza during the Super Bowl.
• 50 million cases of beer were estimated to be consumed.
• 108 million people watched the game, making it the third highest rating TV programme in American history – after Super Bowl XLVI and Super Bowl XLV.
• Over a billion chicken wings were consumed, according to the National Chicken Council.
• The Ravens won the match, 34-31.

A review of a bridge...yes, seriously.

As you well know, we here at Dinosaurs and Dandelions are the undisputed leaders in bridge related news in the North Massey-Westgate area. So when the "Westgate Pedestrian and Cycle Bridge" was officially opened last week by the NZTA and Auckland Transport, we were all over it - well maybe not all over it, but we certainly walked across it.

The bridge is yellow.

The Music Box [Lykke Li]

In this edition of The Music Box, we're heading to Sweden for some catchy, indie-pop goodness that’s sure to get your feet a shufflin’ - so if you feel you got to dance, don’t be shy, there’s plenty of room up front! This’ll also be the first of a three part special featuring ladies singing live in the great outdoors. I call it: Ladies Outside Live, or LOL for short.

First up singing outside somewhere, is the delightful Lykke Li, [backed by the boys from Bon Iver] performing her song, Dance. Dance. Dance.

Now that I have pants on, we may begin.

Good morning.*

And welcome back, we have missed you.

You may have surmised from the activity around the place that this blog is in danger of becoming fully active again. And you would be correct. Much like White Island, we are ready to begin spewing forth a load of hot air again. However, unlike White Island, GNS Science doesn’t seem interested in monitoring us – more the pity, they might have learnt something.

White Island: Bring to a boil then simmer for 15 mins.