KEY POINTS:
Before anorexia there was this trend ...
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A reader writes: "I was almost home, driving down Gillies Ave just on dusk, when I saw a kid on the side of the road throw something at my work truck. I braked hard, which locked up the wheels, and I skidded about 10 metres to a halt. I saw kids run up a driveway so I followed and was approached by the parents (who at the time had no idea what was going on). I then demanded an apology from the kid who threw the object. The mother said that her apology should be sufficient but I still wanted the kid to apologise. She then told me he was traumatised by the whole event. Just made me think: who was the victim here?"
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Prince Harry's soldiers have shown solidarity with him - by buying ginger wigs for Iraq. The idea is to confuse insurgents into not knowing which of the 12 men in their troop to attack, reports the Sun. It comes after soldiers snapped up Spartacus-style "I'm Harry" T-shirts also designed to fool the enemy. The wigs will be banned from operations. Army chief General Sir Richard Dannatt has decided Harry will be sent out into the open in Maysan province, despite fears he will be a target for bombers and snipers. (Source: Ananova.com)
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Pete Walker of Tauranga writes: "Our infant had had a terrible cough during the day and in the wee small hours, after being woken by her cute but worrying cough, my wife dreamily took her into the kitchen to apply a little Vicks to help soothe the cough. As she applied the "mixture" on our daughter's pyjamas, she became aware that the "mixture" was a little sticky. She turned on the light and, to her amusement, our daughter was now sporting a very artful application of Vegemite! Needless to say, Vegemite does not appear to help to soothe coughs."
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A British academic says that children's books, including Harry Potter, demonise overweight youngsters by portraying fat characters as mean and unpopular. Many popular children's stories - from Harry Potter to the Billy Bunter series - depict overweight youngsters as greedy and unpleasant, claims Professor Jean Webb of the University of Worcester. Dudley Dursley in J.K. Rowling's best-selling Harry Potter series was singled out as one example of how overweight characters were portrayed as bad. "Dudley is a fat little rotter and his fatness is presented as a moral failing."
