Chinese dancers performs during a ceremony to celebrate budget carrier AirAsia’s inaugural flight to Shanghai, in Shanghai, China on Wednesday Feb. 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

HERE ARE THE things we learned, loved and shared today.

THINGS WE LEARNED:

#CHILD BENEFIT: A new report by an expert group examining child and family income support payments has called for a two-tier system in which families would need to be means tested or below a certain income to receive the full payment. Such a two-tier system could save around €200 million a year, the group said.

#MARRIAGE EQUALITY: Kerry County Council has followed a number of other local authorities in showing support for same-sex marriage – with  a motion tabled by Labour Councillor Gillian Wharton-Slattery today being carried by a vote of 18 to seven.

#REDRESS: The redress scheme being set up to help victims of the Magdalene Laundries may be expanded to include women held in other institutions – such as Bethany House in Dublin and Summerhill Training Centre in Waterford. The chairman of the Bethany Home Survivors Group, Derek Leinster, described conditions in the home as “horrific”.

#PISTORIOUS: The bail hearing of South African athlete Oscar Pistorius has been adjourned until tomorrow morning. He stands accused of pre-meditated murder in relation to the shooting dead of 29-year-old model Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine’s Day.

#BUDGET 2014: Transport Minister Leo Varadkar has said that the estimated €1 billion less that Ireland has to borrow as a result of the promissory note deal is not automatically ‘an extra billion euro’ to spend in the next Budget. “I think before we start talking about how we are going to reallocate that billion I think we need to make sure first that we meet our budget targets,” he said.

Naked Museum visitors look at pictures of the show “Nude Men from 1800 to Today” during a special opening to friends of nudism at the Leopold Museum, Vienna, Austria. The show opened its doors from 19 October 2012 to March 4 2013, looking at how artists have dealt with the theme of male nudity over the centuries. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

THINGS WE LOVED:

• Haven’t you always wanted someone to review the sartorial choices of the characters on The Cosby Show one episode at a time? Wish granted.
• This Buzzfeed list of 14 classic albums reimagined as books is simply fantastic.
• And here’s something we didn’t expect to write today… “BREAKING: Michael Healy-Rae reveals the latest on sushi“*

*maybe

__++

THINGS WE SHARED:

• Fredrick S Southwick tells how he lost his left to a medical error – and why nobody should have to experience such preventable harm.
• Check out the story of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak’s early foray into phone hacking…
• Welcome to the future: they’ve only gone and made paper made from stone. In a bid to save the 4 billion trees that are felled annually to satisfy our global paper lust, Italian company Repap has made a new paper product from calcium carbonate (which is in plentiful supply) which is naturally white (so it doesn’t need to be bleached). And it’s even waterproof.

Male panda Yang Guang eats bamboo in a bid to bulk up ahead of breeding season at Edinburgh Zoo.
Picture date: Wednesday February 20, 2013. (Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

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