KEY POINTS:
A reader writes: "Here's a photo I took this morning from my office kitchen window of the top of the Victoria St carpark building. It's the kind of graffiti I like, the kind that gives you the warm fuzzies inside. What I want to know is whether it is directed to someone in particular, or is the artist declaring their love of everyone? Maybe they love the carpark building?"
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The over-literal UK Trading Standards people have ordered Welsh Dragon Sausages to be renamed Welsh Dragon Pork Sausages, in case anyone buys them expecting them to be full of juicy dragon meat. Jon Carthew, 45, who makes the sausages, said he had not received any complaints. "I don't think any of our customers believe that we use dragon meat in our sausages. We use the word because the dragon is synonymous with Wales." (Source: Times Online)
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A Texas high school football team has adopted the haka as a pre-game ritual, reports the Wall Street Journal, which calls it a "Tonga war dance". The reporter provided a colourful account: "At the sound of a tone blown over a large conch shell, 17-year-old senior defensive tackle Alex Kautai threw off his helmet, freeing a mane of curly black hair. He shouted several sentences in a foreign tongue and waved his arms as 93 visibly agitated teammates gathered behind him on the sidelines. 'Ka Mate! Ka Mate! Ka Ora!' (We're going to die! We're going to die! We're going to live!), they chanted in unison as the fans went wild. For the next 60 seconds, the players acted out an ancient battle in which a big, hairy man saves the life of a Maori chieftain. With each phrase, the players slapped their thighs, arms or chests. They stomped back and forth, symbolically thrusting and jabbing at the enemy. At the end, Mr Kautai jumped in the air and landed on one foot, his right fist in the air and his tongue lolling out of his mouth as he sneered fiercely." The reason for the haka? A growing population of immigrants from Tonga - the Journal says 4000 people of Tongan descent are believed to live in the town of Euless.
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In a story about compulsive buying disorders, the Washington Post reported a 62-year-old "shopaholic's" therapeutic conversation with herself: "I would say [to the jewellery she felt compelled to buy]: 'You are so beautiful, I can't live without you, I love the way you sparkle.' The jewellery would say back: 'You need me. You look pretty when you wear me.' I would say: 'I do need you. I can't possibly think of being without you. But something has to change. I need to stop this. I can't afford a penny more."' The patient blamed her compulsion on her relationship with her mother. (Source: News of the Weird)
