KEY POINTS:
Emma Thomas spotted this real estate blunder on allrealestate.co.nz.
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A reader writes: "Like many people, I scratch my head at ' baby on board' signs in cars. These signs originated in 1985 at a US child-safety-oriented company as a way of letting parents inform drivers around them that extra care should be taken to protect the small inhabitants within. But if you really think about it, when did anyone alter their driving when confronted with a silly yellow sign? Most Auckland drivers don't slow down for orange lights! When I confronted a friend about the sign she had in her car her reply was, 'If I get in an accident the fire brigade will know to check for children'.
Really? Just to make sure, I spoke to a firefighter friend who confirmed the obvious: 'We look in any crashed vehicle for occupants, no matter how small'.
The last word goes to a quote from a US 'Bad Fads' website: 'By 1990, few drivers believed that anyone heeded them as a safety measure or as a source of humour and thus abandoned their use'."
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Dutch criminals of the most dreadful kind are being pacified through a novel way - the scent of oranges. A study has found that criminals in the Netherlands become less aggressive and have fewer fights when exposed to the scent. According to the Rotterdam police, criminals, many of them violent drug pushers, are more soothed and more compliant when the fragrances are spread through cell air vents. "It's amazing, fighting in the cells has been dramatically reduced and we are using 10 per cent fewer sedation drugs, the Telegraph quoted the head of police social services, Herma Heester, as saying. Rotterdam has one of the highest crime rates in the Netherlands, especially for violent drug-related crimes. (Source: thaindian.com)
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Life's necessities: In January, Taser International introduced the Taser MPH, a combination dart-firing weapon and MP3 music player. (Source: News of the Weird)
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Topless in Howick, from Friday's Sideswipe, reminds me of a shameless hussy who used to reside in Bulls, says Sue from Taupo, "always behind a net curtain but with changes of clothes (eg a Santa hat and red bikini with white fur for Christmas). She now resides in Sanson, Manawatu - in the front room with no curtain. Again her clothes change with her mood. I suspect there have been a few near accidents as drivers check to see if she is for real."
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After reading the list of band name/book title mash-ups in Friday's Sideswipe, the Busch and Gardiner families came up with a few of their own: 2 Catch 22pac, Katchafire in the Rye, Danny the Champion of the Netherworld Dancing Toys and Where The Wild Things R Kelly.
Today's Webpick: These three videos arrange 471 people from around Britain according to: Age (A person of every age between 1 and 100), Love (48 couples arranged by length of their relationship) and Home (73 households in descending order of yearly income). Watch it here.
These are the very best online videos from Ana's online magazine Spare Room.
