The Good Oil: Billboard burglars

Mitsubishi put up a billboard near Wellington's Basin Reserve to advertise the highly desirable Lancer Evolution VI. The display featured two cars - one accompanied by the word "scary," the other in police livery with the words "real scary." But somebody cut the cars, printed on vinyl, out of the billboard. So Mitsubishi put the display up again. That disappeared, too. Mitsubishi gave it another go - only this time replacing "scary" and "real scary" with "funny" and "real funny" and adding, "Whoever stole our billboard please give it back.." Marketing boss Ross Cameron said someone in Wellington has "unique wallpaper. They obviously have good taste in cars too, but our insurers are less than impressed."

Wishful thinking

A race driver we know once lost 5kg in an endurance sports car race in Europe. Fireproof clothing, combined with a hot day and the heat the engine throws off, makes the driver sweat like a pig. So why are British motorsport fans so keen on a hanging air-freshener in the shape of a Formula One driver in his overalls that gives off a sweaty smell? Because, for about $3, they can hang it on the rearview mirror and think they're in the company of a post-race Michael Schumacher or Jaques Villeneuve.

Cars take back seat

The car is one of the great inventions from the point of view of mobility, but it takes a back seat to things like paper or the printing press, according to a new book. Author John Brockman polled scientists, writers, philosophers and artists for nominations and next month will publish a list of 114 in The Most Important Inventions of the Past 2000 Years.

The most popular was the printing press. Paper, invented in China in AD 105, and "which allowed thoughts to be preserved and sent around the world," was up there too. The Thermos flask was mentioned ("Where would anglers be without it?") but penicillin didn't get a look in, nor did the internal combustion engine. Television got two votes and the atomic bomb three. Double-entry book-keeping (invented by a Franciscan monk in 1494) got one vote. So did the French discovery of 1853, Aspirin. Plumbing and soap cropped up, so did the radio, distilled alcohol, national flag and Gatling gun.

One respondent wanted hay recognised: "Without feed in winter you could not have horses in any cold climate, and without horses you could not have urban civilisation." Another voted for reading glasses because "they have prevented the world being ruled by people under 40."

Insurance miles

An insurance company in Texas is testing a new pay-by-the-mile car insurance scheme, designed for low-mileage motorists. Progressive Corp fits its customers' cars with a secure "black box" system that records how many miles the car is being driven and by whom. The black box has its own communications system. Once a month it dials the company's main computer, which calculates an insurance premium based on the actual time the car is on the road and the risk level for each driver, and bills the car's owner.

We are the world

* A report by Britain's Royal Automobile Club reveals that younger people are twice as likely to have been driven by someone high on drugs than someone over the drink-drive limit.