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Afternoons for Monday 21 May 2018

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Short Story Club

On Thursday we discuss Pip Adam's short story The Woman, the Girl

Pip just one the Acorn Foundation Prize for Fiction at the Ockham NZ book awards, so we're giving away a copy of her winning book The New Animals to the writer of the best email about The Woman, the Girl.

So read it and email us before 3pm on Thursday! Jesse@radionz.co.nz

1:10 First song

1:15 Hate speech and the internet

Hate speech is hardly anything new...but what is new is the ability for it to spread like wildfire and remain relatively anonymous thanks to modern technology.

Tomorrow, Internet NZ is hosting a panel session on Hate and the Internet. It's part of this year's Speaker Series.

Massey University's Pro Vice-Chancellor Paul Spoonley is on that panel in Wellington and tells us more about the issue. 

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Photo: supplied Internet NZ

1:25 Eradicating the Moth Plant from Auckland

The moth plant smothers and kills plants up into the canopy, and prevents the establishment of native plants. It's originally from South America, it multiplies at an alarming rate and is a particular problem in Auckland

One of the people leading the charge against the moth plant is a teacher at Mt Albert Grammar school - Mike Ashby, who has co-opted his students to find out just how many moth plants there are around their school grounds, and how fast they are spreading. And the news is not good.

1:35 Why "does anyone object?" has been scrapped from weddings

The Royal Wedding this weekend went off without a hitch.

But there was one line in the ceremony that really got our attention - "does anyone object"? Outside of movies and soap operas, where it's now become something of a trope, it's not often heard at weddings.

We ask marriage celebrant Erin Marmont why "speak now or forever hold your peace" is usually scrapped, and why it would be used in the Royal Wedding.

Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (R) and US actress Meghan Markle (L) stand at the altar together before Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby (C) in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, in Windsor, on May 19, 2018 during their wedding ceremony. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / Owen Humphreys

Photo: AFP

1:40 Great album - Close Your Eyes by Bic Runga 

2:10 TV: Linda Burgess critiques the Royal Wedding coverage

2:20 Toy libraries and children's development 

Toys are an essential part of helping kids grow and learn. But not everyone is able to buy the latest toys and teach children how to play with them. 

That's where toy libraries come in. There are nearly 200 around the country where kids can go, like a regular library, to explore what's on offer. 

Next week is Toy Libraries Awareness Week as President of the Toy Library Federation of New Zealand, Trudi Amos, explains. 

A child plays with toys at a kindergarten or early childcare centre.

Photo: 123RF

2:30 Strange Fashion trends in history

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Photo: Instagram

Have you seen the new thong or seam jeans? Would you wear them? It got us thinking about strange fashion trends in history - there have been plenty of strange short and long lived trends. Angela Lassig, a dress & textile historian  takes us through other unusual fashion looks, from underwear as outwear, bustle knickers and meat frocks.

Satirical print - “Laceing a dandy” Published in London, January 26th, 1819 by T. Tegg, 111 Cheapside,

Court Robe - circa 1750. British Silk, metallic thread. Collection: Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Garments from Comme des Garcon’s Body Meets Body, Dress Meets Body collection (Spring/Summer 1997) on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Spring 2017 exhibition, Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between.

Bordaloue (lady’s chamber pot) 1757-8. Collection: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Vivienne Westwood’s corset with print based on the François Boucher oil painting 'Daphnis and Chloe' c. 1743. From her Autumn/Winter collection 1990

Vivienne Westwood’s bustle knickers, Spring/Summer 1995 collection

Front cover of Melbourne’s The Sun newspaper featuring Jean Shrimpton in a mini-dress, 1 November 1965

Madonna performing in Japan on April 13 1990 on her Blonde Ambition tour, wearing John Paul Gaultier’s cone bra/corset outfit

Open Shirt – Limited Edition – Mr Harry, 1992 Pip Culbert (Artist) Cotton and buttons Pip Culbert Open Shirt Mr Harry

Naomi Campbell’s famous fall wearing Vivienne Westwood’s towering ‘Super Elevated Gillie’ shoe on the Paris runway in 1993

Lady Gaga in her ‘Meat Dress’, designed by Franc Fernandez for her appearance at the 2010 MTV Video Music Award

Dita Von Teese wearing a 3D-laser printed dress, designed by Michael Schmidt and Francis Bitoni, 2013

3:10 Vera Tobin: why we love a good plot twist

In our every day lives, surprises are not always welcome; the bill that comes out of the blue, 19 lollies in a package that was supposed to have 20. But we love surprises in the books we read and the films we watch. 

Vera Tobin is a professor in cognitive linguistics and is fascinated by our fascination with unexpected plot twists. She reveals what's going on in our brains when stories take us in unexpected directions in her book,  Elements of Surprise: Our Mental Limits and the Satisfactions of Plot.

She refers in the interview to this famous test of our attention.

3:35 Voices

3:45 The Pre-Panel Story of the Day and One Quick Question

4:05 The Panel with Alexia Russell and Stephen Franks