Pecking Order

Posted by Salient & filed under Columns.

  • Amount of government money the maker of Maori porn film “Anal Mana” said he was given while interviewed on TV show Eating Media Lunch : $100,000

  • Percentage of the National Party staff emailed by National Party researchers asking whether they knew the name of this programme for use as an example of political correctness gone mad : 100
  • Number of indigenous porn titles available at United Video Courtney Place : 0
  • Amount of money that would resolve a pay dispute between radiation therapists and the Health Ministry which has caused 250 strikes since last June : $150,000
  • Amount of money the Health Ministry spent last year on new offices : $6,400,000
  • Percentage of voters who agreed that John Key would be the next Prime minister on a stuff.co.nz online poll : 37
  • Percentage of voters on the same poll who agreed that John Key would be the next Prime minister if votes cast from Parliament were removed : 55
  • Amount foreign investors have paid to own New Zealand businesses, assets and property from August to November 2005 : $15.8 million
  • Number of the 194 applications for these purchases that were refused by the Overseas Investment Office : 4
  • Number of people with criminal convictions that were accepted into Wellingtons police college last year : 8
  • Months that an Idaho man has checked out his library’s copy of The Joy of Gay Sex, to prevent others from seeing it : 7
  • Number of additional copies that the library has received unsolicited since this was first reported : 7
  • Number of dead bodies in the Victoria University graveyard : 0
  • Ratio of overspent public money in 2005’s election by The National Party, Act, United Future, Greens, NZ First and Labour respectively : 1:2:6:7:13:68
  • Minimum number of weapons companies Mayor Kerry Prendergast’s husband owns : 1
  • Number of times President Bush has declared an event or outcome not to be “acceptable” in 2006 : 42
  • Number of times he said this the previous three years combined : 33
  • Ratio of the number of people worldwide who are overweight to the number who are undernourished : 5:3
  • Number of dominoes that a wayward sparrow toppled just before a Dutch world-record attempt in November 2005 : 23,000
  • Hours later that the sparrow was executed : 1.5

SOURCES: 1,2 The Hollow Men, pg 171; 3 Salient Research; 4,5 The Press Jan 11 2007; 6,7 Dom Post, Feb 1; 8,9 Stuff.co.nz, Nov 13; 10 Dom Post Nov 13; 11,12 Nampa Public Library , Nampa, Idaho; 13 Salient Research; 14 Salient Research, to nearest ratio; 15 Salient Research; 16 Harper’s Magazine; 17 World Health Organi- zation (Geneva)/Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Rome); 18 Harper’s Magazine; 19,20 Endemol NV (Aalsmeer, The Netherlands)

Comments are closed.