KEY POINTS:
Shock tactics: A billboard in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou has caused outrage by featuring what looks like a man hanging by the neck from a rope. It's really a mannequin, but from street level, residents thought it was a real suicide. The billboard was an attempt to
profit from the global financial turmoil and reads: "It's better to invest money here than put it into the stock market". (Source: Ananova.com)
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Fraser Hinton is a strong believer in the power of procrastination. "This belief was reinforced recently when booking flights to Australia with Air New Zealand for next March. I noticed on the Air New Zealand website there was a sale on flights to Australia so decided to book early and take advantage of the reduced airfares. A few hours later I booked the same flights for my friend only to discover his return flight was 20 per cent cheaper than mine! In the wise words of Mark Twain: "Never put off till tomorrow what may be done the day after tomorrow just as well."
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A reader writes: "While an employee at a medical centre where the practice manager worked offsite, I had been particularly successful in persuading patients with outstanding debts to complete a direct debit form and in that way they could pay the practice the money gradually and relatively painlessly. Quite chuffed with my efforts, I was then assessed by the practice manager on my work performance. Imagine my astonishment when she told me she could not give me 100 per cent for trying as some of the patients didn't have the money in their accounts when she had applied to action the direct debit. It would appear that on the miserable wages I was paid I was expected to somehow make sure the patients had money in their bank accounts. Needless to say, I no longer work there."
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A Croatian pensioner has been ordered to pay court and police fees and received an official warning after she fell off her bicycle. The 69-year-old woman admitted causing a traffic accident, although no one else was involved. The court said that she had failed to "adjust the speed to road conditions" and ordered her to pay a quarter of her weekly pension in fees. (Source: AFP)
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An Amtrak train running to San Diego from Los Angeles ran out of fuel about 24km from the station. That stretched the two-and-a-half-hour trip into four hours for the train's 83 passengers. "It's not uncommon for trains to run out of fuel here," said a spokeswoman. (Source: Reason.com)
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Today's Webpick: Eight years on, the infamous Budweiser 'Wassup' ad is remade to satirise the Bush Administration. Very funny. Watch it here.
These are the very best online videos from Ana's online magazine Spare Room.