KEY POINTS:
The children may squirm and bawl, but for this Santa's sake let's hope his newest clients don't bite. From this weekend pets can get their photo taken on Santa's knee at any Animates store. In previous years the pet supplies retailer has had more than 1500 pampered pets take up the opportunity including turtles, great danes and goldfish. Animates has three stores in Christchurch, two in Wellington and one each in Tauranga and Palmerston North.
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A reader called cheap and cheerful clothing franchise Supre in search of a pair of braces ... this is how the conversation went:
Customer: Hi, just wondering if you guys have braces at all?
Supre girl: Like bangles? Oh yeah, we have heaps, like gold ...
Customer: No, no, not bracelets, BRACES ...
(long pause)
Supre girl: Ohhh! Like ones for your teeth? Um, no we don't, sorry.
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The Wallet Test - an experiment to test honesty - found that females are more honest than males. A hundred wallets were dropped in front of hidden cameras. Each contained $2.10 in cash, a fake $50 gift certificate, some miscellaneous items and a clearly written ID card identifying the lost wallet's rightful owner. Of the females tested, 86 per cent returned the wallets and 14 per cent kept them. Of the males tested, 61 per cent returned the wallets and 39 per cent kept them. Age and honesty were also tested and young people proved to be twice as dishonest as the 30 to 49-year-olds and over three times as dishonest as the 50-plus age group. Bravely, the experiment looked at race and honesty too. (More at wallettest.com)
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An American airline passenger with a "medical condition" attempted to mask the odour of her flatulence by striking matches. Instead, she caused a bomb panic, and the plane made an early landing. The passengers and five crew members were taken off the plane, together with all the luggage, to go through security checks again. Bomb-sniffing dogs found spent matches. The flight took off again, but the woman was not allowed back on the plane.
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Fans of Shortland Street are being asked to name their favourite characters and actors and most memorable moments of 2006 in television chat site Throng's inaugural Shortland Street Fan Awards. Those who love to hate the show can answer questions about the character one would most like to kill off, biggest letdown and dodgiest moment. Votes can be cast online at throng.co.nz (sister site of Idolblog.co.nz) and results will be published there on December 29.
