KEY POINTS:
While on holiday in Seattle, a reader came across this sign in the toilet of a very stylish wine bar and wondered if Americans really need to be told not to drink the toilet water?
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Tourism in Dunedin needs a bit of a shake-up, say the organisers of a seminar in the city. The seminar's speakers, a nutritionist, a psychologist, a life coach and a magazine editor, were looking for the Octagon, so they popped into the city's tourism i-Site to ask directions. The man who appeared to be in charge brought a map. "Where are you from?" he asked. Auckland, said the life coach. "Ah, you pronounce it differently up there," said the i-Site rep. "You don't pronounce the D at the start." Hmmm. The sad part was that the 60-plus locals at the Dunedin event were so delighted that their town had been included in the programme, they begged the visitors to do more in the city. No one ever brings events here, they said. And they wonder why.
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Revenue-gathering tip: Sitting at the intersection of Remuera Rd and Broadway one morning, Mark Hancock saw seven vehicles run red lights in the space of five minutes. If a policeman sat there for an hour and issued tickets fast enough (say one every three minutes), he could make $3000 ($150 per ticket) easily before breakfast, he says.
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On Friday, a reader asked: "Why, if I choose to give $10,000 to the SPCA, can I claim $3333 back. But if I pay $10,000 to my childcare provider, I can claim only $310?" Another reader responds: "Because your $10,000 to the SPCA is a gift for which you receive no tangible benefit, but which benefits society, but the $10,000 for childcare buys valuable services for your family, not for society at large."
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A reader writes: "Last night I was driving home from work along Lake Rd to Devonport when I passed through a breath-testing checkpoint. Later, my 17-year-old brother was stopped by police at the same point. He was given a verbal warning for speeding - on his skateboard."
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To the reader who was quoted on Wednesday as asking for merino and being told by the shop assistant that they only had wool, I once went into Spirit'd bar in Glenfield and ordered a plate of beef nachos. The young lady behind the bar politely replied: "Sorry, we've only got mince."
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For those concerned about the decline of standards in education, one teacher trainee recently posted this on a social networking website: "im at auckland uni studying a batchular of education specalising in prymary. i love it!"
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Today's Webpick: They human race really are a bunch of monkeys. Watch it here.
These are the very best online videos from Ana's online magazine Spare Room.
