KEY POINTS:
Bruce Buchanan noticed this sign on the new Esmonde Rd on-ramp: "I know English is a living, breathing and constantly changing language, but I think Transit New Zealand should run some of its suggestions past someone before inflicting new words on the unsuspecting public." Sideswipe can't help but agree.
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It was delicious, said the villager who ate one of world's rarest creatures: Attenborough's long-beaked echidna, named after the famous naturalist, is a primitive mammal that lays eggs and lives in Papua New Guinea. Only one specimen, found in 1961, has ever been seen by scientists. Fears that it had been driven to extinction have been compounded by a tribesman who told conservationists he had recently eaten one. Unaware of how rare the echidna was, he said he had trapped one in a snare and eaten it in the jungle. (Source: Times Online)
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Worried parents have forced Chinese teachers to rethink their plans to teach students how to waltz. The parents believe that if the students are allowed to dance with a partner, they may fall victim to puppy love and their grades will drop. Xinhua News Agency reports that educators are now revising the dance steps to allow students to dance solo or together in large groups.
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An international point of view on the prime ministerial shopping trip backs up Sideswipe readers' contention that our PM's footprint is very light. George Valentine writes: "A Brit, I lived for a number of years in Saudi Arabia. The country is governed by the House of Saud (the royal family) and there are 7000 men who claim to be princes, and between them and their families they drain the country of one-third of its oil income for their own ends, leaving much of the local population living in poverty. Whenever these princes wished to travel to London, New York or wherever for a shopping trip, they would wait until there was a Saudi Airlines flight going to their chosen destination. They would then swan up to the airport with their entourage, have all passengers on the flight thrown off and commandeer the flight for their own purposes."
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Flynn Dawson, 6, is going to spend some time living down accusations he's made an ass of himself. While having his picture taken with his cousin Taylor Dawson, 9, out back of Nana's in Te Atatu Peninsula, he got pranked by a donkey. His mum says the photo was a total fluke.
