When noise makes you wanna go postal
The sound of people chewing, slurping, tapping, or humming can drive some people into a rage and it's not just a matter of being oversensitive to other people's bad manners. Misophonia describes the unreasonable emotions that well up inside some of us when we hear certain repetitive noises being made. There are no official criteria for misophonia and those who experience it often find it difficult to be taken seriously. While previous studies suggested that it could affect 20 per cent of the population and say the condition is associated with obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety, new research from Newcastle University in the UK has found evidence changes to the brain's frontal lobe are responsible. (Source: Newscientist.com)
Blame it on the bank account
To the reader who was charged a $3 fee: "This has nothing to do with a third party able to go into a bank with my account number and authorise my account to be charged a fee based on their deposit and everything to do with knowing and understanding what kind of bank account you have. ASB makes it clear if you have a Streamline account [I have one too] that this internet-based online account is charged fees for manual [i.e. branch] transactions. You need to make it clear to any purchasers that the account is for internet transfers only."
