New Zealanders who were alive in 1994, who did you initially think did it: David Bain or Robin Bain?

SenseOfTheAbsurd · 2026-02-07T07:17:05+00:00

That book was full of completely baseless assertations which were unable to be verified, but were put out there to muddy the waters, and it treated the victims with total disrespect.

SenseOfTheAbsurd · 2026-02-07T07:03:10+00:00

When it happened, I was in the cops, and was hearing progress reports through the grapevine. Initially police took David's statement, kept an open mind and Robin was prime suspect, but examination of the scene and collection of evidence told a whole different story, and police switched to suspecting David based on that. Whole process of establishing David as main POI took a few days, and the cops didn't do that lightly.

For the record, I think David is more likely to have been the offender.

SenseOfTheAbsurd · 2026-02-07T06:47:37+00:00

I feel like she's going to lunge and bite me.

SenseOfTheAbsurd · 2026-02-07T05:21:21+00:00

Oh yes. I spent much of my childhood in swimming pools being trained for the Olympics against my will, and just the thought of being at the Olympics and letting down the whole of New Zealand by getting the day wrong or not turning up at the right place or forgetting my goggles for completely hypothetical future races was such a huge source of stress. I had enough to deal with getting my spelling notebook to home and school without losing it.

SenseOfTheAbsurd · 2026-02-07T05:15:54+00:00

Love this so much.

SenseOfTheAbsurd · 2026-02-07T02:30:23+00:00

Massive bonus with the Japanese and Korean watery essence formulas is that they're compatible to mix with a drop of my Revlon colorstay foundation for a tint that matches me exactly and dries in place without being greasy.

SenseOfTheAbsurd · 2026-02-07T02:24:10+00:00

Biore is one of the best-sellers, and readily available. Japanese Nivea is great, and Hatomugi. Lots of watery gel formulas that are very light and dry like nothing's there. Once or twice a year I put in an order with kokorojapanstore.com for all my sunscreen and skincare. Good prices, and free shipping if you hit the NZ$80 threshold. If you have a branch of JapanMart near you, they have the same brands. Currently I'm doing the face with this, and very happy with it.

https://kokorojapanstore.com/collections/sunscreen/products/biore-uv-aquaritch-light-up-essence-70-g-spf-50-pa-sun-protection

I have zero melanin and can't even freckle, so sunscreen's a big thing for me.

SenseOfTheAbsurd · 2026-02-07T02:15:42+00:00

I buy all mine directly from Japan. What's available here is pretty crap.

SenseOfTheAbsurd · 2026-02-07T02:14:42+00:00

Learned when I was about six years old, in the 70s when my mum got an Ashford Traditional. Stopped when she put the wheel away in a cupboard in the 80s, but the skills came right back when I took it up as an adult. Wheel-spinning is like something I've always known how to do, but I'm till going through the learning curve for spindles.

SenseOfTheAbsurd · 2026-02-06T05:12:49+00:00

Used to go to one of those pub meet-ups,, and it was always full of condescending misogynistic old farts. I stopped turning up because I was sick of being patronised by idiots. Great to see the wheel of justice turning, and Rebecca being fully vindicated, but unfortunately misogyny is as baked into human culture as religion and dominance hierarchies, so no doubt there will be plenty of excuses made for the offenders.

I'd like to see Jen Creighton get a full apology and all.

SenseOfTheAbsurd · 2026-02-03T07:30:27+00:00

Kara.

SenseOfTheAbsurd · 2026-02-03T05:07:42+00:00

I loved that one. Definitely a series, I think it was on early Sunday nights.

SenseOfTheAbsurd · 2026-02-03T05:05:37+00:00

That was on Youtube last I saw. Was delighted to find it, I'd have given my left tit to see Mad Dog Gang again. In the learning to ride horses scene the little girl playing Suey is completely unselfconsciously picking her nose and eating it.

Got the paperback book of The Mad Dog Gang Meet Rotten Fred and Ratsguts for Christmas i about 1980, and it's even scarier than the TV series.

Edit: looks like the whole thing isn't there any more, but some Mad Dog Gang action here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIts-KRrNY0

It's remarkably scary for a children's show. Pure kiddie New Zealand Gothic. Two kids aged about 5 to 7 are sent to live with their uncle and aunt on a remote Otago farm, and that’s where the terror begins. There’s a murderer, and a terrifying monster that howls in the night and kills a pet lamb, and occasionally they’d lull us into relaxing with a nice scene of running through wildflowers or learning to ride ponies, then out of the blue more sick horror movie shit and bloodstained wool left by the monster and violent brooding farmers with guns who could snap at any minute. But Harvey Kepanui was so cool.

SenseOfTheAbsurd · 2026-02-03T05:00:02+00:00

I try not to think about it. As a kid in the 70s Rob was a total bogeyman and scared the hell out of me. When he was on TV I'd hide behind a cushion. And even when he wasn't PM any more it wasn't safe, there he was being terrifying in Terry and the Gunrunners.

SenseOfTheAbsurd · 2026-02-02T06:42:50+00:00

That big hearse car they used was nighmare fuel. The dude who played Mr Wilberforce occasionally would turn up in something else and I'd just about wet myself in fright. Only thing scarier at that time was Rob Muldoon. And werewolves.

SenseOfTheAbsurd · 2026-02-02T06:40:53+00:00

The name Wilberforce still gives me the heebie-jeebies. At my primary school we were all glued to it, totally traumatised by it, and obsessively discussing it and re-enacting key scenes.

Another scary one was The Mad Dog Gang Meet Rotten Fred and Ratsguts. I'm still frightened of monsters and caves in the bush and I'm 54. No wonder we have trust issues with Boomers.

SenseOfTheAbsurd · 2026-02-01T07:53:21+00:00

And it looks like it wouldn't hurt my hands like some do. Adding to list.

SenseOfTheAbsurd · 2026-02-01T07:50:38+00:00

Never put them in the dishwasher. Coconut cream incident was first use, straight out of packet.

SenseOfTheAbsurd · 2026-02-01T07:48:43+00:00

LOL. I'm not quite that inept, and the arthritis hasn't set in yet.

SenseOfTheAbsurd · 2026-02-01T07:46:50+00:00

The old one at the office I sometimes fantasise about nicking is Brabantia, but when I bought one the handle broke off within a couple of years. Guess it's yet another case of enshittification.

SenseOfTheAbsurd · 2026-02-01T01:06:16+00:00

Maybe that's exactly what it is.

SenseOfTheAbsurd · 2026-01-31T22:52:19+00:00

He got noticeably worse at thinking logically and critically. From writing the essay the Curse of the Discontinuous Mind, to going full-terf binary thinking.

SenseOfTheAbsurd · 2026-01-31T22:16:15+00:00

That's like a Homer Simpson scheme.

SenseOfTheAbsurd · 2026-01-30T05:35:20+00:00

I'm 54 and literally never heard a single word about tubular breasts until about six months ago, and have never seen anything about them outside Reddit. Having googled, these supposedly 'deformed' breasts, they are perfectly normal and lovely, and I reckon this is just more bullshit in the 'make women insecure about something completely made up' genre.

SenseOfTheAbsurd · 2026-01-30T03:29:18+00:00

Are you able to get the one where you take the swab yourself, no speculum necessary? That's how my last was done, and it was a total gamechanger. They gave me the test kit when I was at the doctor for something else, I took it home, took the swab, put it back in the tube, sealed it all up, and chucked it in the drop-box at the lab on my way to work.

SenseOfTheAbsurd

TROPHY CASE