Nigel from New Zealand

On Upworthy.com I've just seen a report on the Stop And Frisk policy in NYPD. I guess that Michael Bloomberg gets out and about in the city he's mayor of, so I wonder, how often does he himself get stopped and frisked? has it stopped him from committing crimes?

I bought a rolling suitcase that said it had "in-line skate wheels". I thought that meant the wheels would be durable but after a few months I was dragging a bag with a broken wheel. What's a reasonable expectation for the durability of a skate wheel?

Cusson's "Morning Fresh" brand dishwashing liquid entered the market years ago in small bottles with small dispenser holes because we 'only needed half as much'.

Recently I've found that I need more than one squirt of the detergent to wash the dishes.

Has 'Morning Fresh' been watered down or had its effectiveness compromised in some other way?

I don't suspect that nuclear power contributes to 'greenhouse gases' but I've been assured that hydro power is neutral on warming because it takes energy out of rivers and puts that energy into power lines. My query is because I think nuclear power puts out energy into power lines without taking it out of another part of the global climate.

I'm travelling on a OneWorld Alliance Round The World (RTW) ticket that I bought in New Zealand from QANTAS in January. The website of OneWorld Alliance says I am entitled to 'TWO 23kg pieces' of luggage, and in January that's what QANTAS allowed me to take from Auckland to Los Angeles. American Airlines then carried me to Toronto and British Airways conveyed me from Toronto to London -- still with 2x23kg. However last month for my next flight with British Airways to Istanbul the clerk pointed out that my ticket has only '23kg' on it so I was charged excess baggage.

I chose to buy this RTW ticket rather than one from Star Alliance because OneWorld on its website offered a more generous baggage allowance.

I have contacted QANTAS and asked for my ticket to be corrected (to 2x23kg) but the only answer QANTAS has given me is that I need to take it up with British Airways.

For the rest of my travel I will fly with several more airlines in the OneWorld Alliance. I don't want to argue with each one of them; I want my ticket amended to bring it in line with what is promised on the OneWorld Alliance website.

Can you tell me how to contact Oneworld Management Company Ltd on the Internet, as at least one of the alliance's members seems to be failing to live up to the standards of customer care that OneWorld Alliance would like us to expect? An e-mail address and/or Skype name would be appreciated!

I found a coin under a bed in a guest house in Turkey. The coin is about the size of NZ five cent coin (or an old English sixpence). It looks 'silver' (rather than copper or gold). On one side it has a large digit '1' with small capital letters 'COM' under it. (There is also a small geometric design.)

On the other side I can read the date 2008 and there may be a picture of an eagle in front of the sun rising behind a row of hills. Any lettering is too small for me to decipher. I've looked in an on-line dictionary but 'com' doesn't rate a mention as a word on its own. Can you tell me where this coin is from (apart from 'the floor under the bed')?

Last year when visiting the UK, I got good cell phone service (at a very nice price) from Lebara (UK).

I am now visiting the UK for a second time and have again enjoyed Lebara -- until my credit ran out!

In January I got my SIM and I paid for my credit at a stall in St Pancras Station but since the start of April that stall has not been there. So I've tried to top-up on-line but I haven't been able to do it. Is Lebara's website difficulty an indication that it's going out of business?

I'm a member of QANTAS's Frequent Flier programme. I recently booked to fly from London to Turkey and back. If I flew with British Airways, I would get QANTAS points. If I fly with Turkish Airlines I save £3 but get no QANTAS points.

Is there a simple way to compare the value for money that I can get?

I've heard of names for islands like Mann, Skye and Wight, but I haven't heard the name for the biggest island in the British Isles. Can you tell me, and can you give me a link to a website that supports what you say?

I'm travelling eastwards from New Zealand to the UK before 17 January. Along the way, I'd like to learn something about clowns in Canada. This question is part of my research to plan my travel.

People who are scared of clowns don't need to waste time answering the question, thanks.

My dentist has told me that I should use a soft toothbrush because brushing with a hard toothbrush has been making my gums recede, exposing the roots of my teeth.

I should have been using soft toothbrushes for years--so who are hard toothbrushes made for? Won't hard toothbrushes injure everyone?

Last night I heard someone talking about his home state. He said it's worst on all the scales of measurement--child abuse, domestic violence, harbouring nuclear weapons...

Apparently the USofA has more Weapons of Mass Destruction than Iraq ever had.

From Australian Associated Press.

Boy, 7, mistaken for trespasser and shot

May 10, 2009, 6:02 am

A seven-year-old boy who was allegedly shot in the head by a couple who thought he and three other people were trespassing on their property died on Saturday, authorities said.

Donald Coffey Jr died on Saturday morning at a Houston hospital, less than two days after the boy was struck in the head by shotgun pellets, Sheriff's Corporal Hugh Bishop said.

Sheila Muhs and her husband, Gayle Muhs, both 45, were charged with second-degree felony counts of aggravated assault in the shootings on Thursday. They were being held at Liberty County Jail with bail set at $US25,000 ($A33,123) each and had not yet retained a lawyer, Bishop said.

Bishop said the district attorney could upgrade the charges to murder on Monday, but investigators were "still trying to get the circumstances behind the incident".

The boy, his five-year-old sister, their father and a family friend were off-roading near a residential area about 65km northeast of Houston when they were shot after stopping so the children could go to the bathroom.

Authorities said the couple fired after they mistakenly thought the group was trespassing on their property.

Bishop said the area includes a dirt road, trees and overgrown brush and that it wasn't uncommon for people to go off-roading there. The Houston Chronicle reported that a sign in front of the suspects' home reads: "Trespassers will be shot. Survivors will be reshot!! Smile I will."

Liberty County Chief Deputy Ken DeFoor said Sheila Muhs fired a 12-gauge shotgun once, then handed it to her husband, who also fired once.

DeFoor said Sheila Muhs then called 911 and told the dispatcher: "They're out here tearing up the levee, so I shot them."

DeFoor said the levee belonged to the subdivision and was not private property.

Bishop said there was no indication the unarmed victims did anything threatening toward the Muhs.

Donald Coffey Sr suffered a pellet wound in his right shoulder and his daughter, Destiny, suffered a wound to the elbow. The family friend, 30-year-old Patrick Cammack, was in serious condition on Saturday with a head wound, Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Centre spokeswoman Alex Rodriguez said.

He said he'd be back after three days and three nights, and he was executed on 'Preparation Day' -- the day before 'a special Sabbath', so was that special Sabbath the Passover on a Friday (followed, as normal by Sabbath on the last day of the week)? In the original Greek manuscripts Matthew 28 starts with "After the Sabbaths were over..."

I've seen it in New Zealand cities: Auckland, Tauranga, Wellington, Christchurch. When my uncle from Sydney was visiting, he admired the sign as if he hasn't seen it in Australia.

Is the sign only used in New Zealand or has it been seen in other places?

Last time I asked this question it was deleted. (Is there a moderator who doesn't like mention of zips? If I was sent a message saying it didn't conform to Q&A guidelines, I didn't read that message. (I delete a lot of stuff from Yahoo Answers because some of my contacts post a lot of questions.)

Pastor killed in US church shooting

March 9, 2009, 6:16 am -- AAP (Australian Associated Press)

A gunman walked down the aisle of a church during a Sunday service in the US state of Illinois and killed the pastor, then stabbed himself and two others as parishioners wrestled him to the ground, authorities said.

The man walked into the sprawling brick First Baptist Church in Maryville shortly after 8am and briefly spoke with Pastor Fred Winters before pulling out a .45-calibre handgun and shooting Winters once, said Illinois State Trooper Master Trooper Ralph Timmins.

The gun jammed before the man could fire again, Timmins said. The attacker then pulled out a knife and injured himself before churchgoers subdued him. Two parishioners involved in the struggle also suffered knife wounds, Timmins said.

Timmins said officials don't know if Winters and the suspect knew each other.

"We don't know the relationship (between the gunman and pastor), why he's here or what the circumstances came about that caused him in the first place to be here," Timmins said.

Winters was pronounced dead at Anderson Hospital, said spokeswoman Natalie Head.

Two people who were wounded at the church were flown to another hospital, Head said. Timmins said the gunman had been taken to a local hospital before being flown to another in St Louis. His condition was not immediately known.

The Rev Mark Jones, another pastor at First Baptist, said he briefly saw the gunman but did not recognise him.

"We have no idea what this guy's motives were," Jones said outside the church. "We don't know if we'll ever know that."

Winters, a father of two who had led First Baptist for nearly 22 years, was the former president of the Illinois Baptist State Association and an adjunct professor for Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, according to the church's website.

"Our great God is not surprised by this, or anything," Nate Adams, executive director of the Illinois Baptist State Association, said in a statement. "That he allows evil and free will to have their way in tragedies like this is a mystery in many ways. But we know we can trust him no matter what, and draw close to him in any circumstances."

Maryville is about 30km northeast of St Louis.