Sideswipe: Two wheels good

In Hoi An, Vietnam, "primitive vehicles" are bikes. Sent in by David Dowsett.

Not easily distracted

Maree followed two young women along Ash St, Avondale."To the girl in the navy Bluebird and her friend in the burgundy station wagon ... it is not cool or funny to drive side by side going less than the speed limit while talking to each other on your mobiles! Where are the cops when you need them?"

Woolly tales

Roger was chatting to his mother while she knitted a jersey. "She reckons it takes about 10 plus balls of wool for an average jumper," he says. "I looked at her balls of wool and each one is about 100m long, so that means the average jumper has about a kilometre of wool in it! Holy Toledo, that's a lot of wool to be carrying around on your back."

Scrub up and be hired

Unemployed Dutch women are being offered a $2400 makeover and membership to a dating agency, to get them off the dole by finding them a husband. Single jobseekers will be given a new hairstyle and outfit, and tips from a life coach on how to attract a new partner (or a job). They will also get social and presentation skills and a place on the exclusive matchmaking service, boosted by a professional photograph of their new image. The thinking behind the scheme, organised by three councils, is that finding love helps to get the unemployed off state benefits by improving confidence, ambition and motivation. (Source: Timesonline.co.uk)

Deaf to pollution

A device that should have warned workers at Denver International Airport about a sewage pump malfunction had been turned down, so workers didn't hear it when it went off. They also missed a visual warning on a computer screen. As a result, 1.2 million litres of raw sewage and industrial waste spilled into local streams. (reason.com)

Attitude has its merits

A reader writes: "As a new Aucklander, who was born and raised on the West Coast, I am treated with contempt by most people from down south. I'm not even worried if this is published, because they will never read the Herald as it's an Auckland paper. However, my wife and I have found this attitude to be a huge benefit in the end - it keeps family and other undesirables from visiting too often. Seriously, it is like an urban force-field which protects us."

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Today's Webpick: Kittens in top hats are cute, but grown-up cats are mean. Go here.



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