"Why is it referred to as CCTV or video 'footage'?" asks Dave. "NZ began converting to metric in the early 1970s (starting with temperature). Feet and inches (and other imperial measurements) have largely slipped from the current generation's vocabulary. The vast majority of CCTV 'product' or 'data' is just that, recorded as bits and bytes [not tape], and certainly nothing that can be measured with a linear measurement like feet or metres. Then I ran into 'mileage' as a measure of distance travelled, or to be travelled, usually by vehicles. 'Kilometreage' just doesn't sound quite right! Maybe one day we'll just say 'distance'.
Bra strap awareness
The #ShowYourStrap Breast Cancer awareness campaign started by Marks and Spencer in the UK has seen women post glimpses of their bra on social media. However, survivors have criticised the hashtag for sexualising the disease. They say having the disease "is not about showing your bra strap or looking sexy, it's people dying". In response, a new hashtag has started - #ShowYourScar encourages women to post pictures of their post-mastectomy chests.
Graffiti for clever Dicks - and Osamas and Robs and Rogers too
1. During the search for Osama bin Laden there was a rock beside the road between Tokoroa and Whakamaru which had the message "Osama bin Loggin" sprayed on it.
2. The "Rob Muldoon before he robs you" originated in the United States during the Nixon era, when it was "Dick Nixon before he dicks you". Later in New Zealand it became "Roger Douglas before he rogers you". Voters were too late in every case.
3. Along the Desert Road there was a billboard campaign encouraging people to take rest breaks to prevent fatigue. This billboard had the statement "I can't drive tired", to which someone had kindly attached a can of V.
4. Ken writes: Over 70 years ago, in the same RAF ablutions, I saw a memorable, rather touching piece. Cold, cold, cold and numb, Cold as the fringe of an Eskimo's bum, Cold as the fish in a limpid pool, Cold as the end of a polar bear's tool Cold as Charity and that's bloody chilly But not as cold as our poor Willy He is dead, poor lad, he is dead ...
New Zealand Sux, Australia Nil
Truda writes: "The original source of this legend came from a response to Steinlager's huge billboard campaign in London in 1990 which trumpeted this beauty. Q: What do you call a sophisticated Australian? A: A New Zealander. The next day, the phrase 'NZ SUX' (as in 'sucks') was scrawled on the billboard, followed a day later by immortal brilliance - 'AUSTRALIA, NIL'.
"Maybe boarding up the top would have been a better idea?" wondered Michelle of this slide at One Tree Hill Domain. "I checked for a pile of kids at the bottom. All clear so far."?
Adding to Graffiti: Martin Adlington writes: "The practice of altering ads with clever graffiti is called adbusting or culture-jamming.The best instance of this I have ever seen was sprayed in letters a metre high on the outside of a wall around a cemetery in Brisbane: "Welcome to Marlboro Country". Perhaps I need to explain in this PC day and age that Marlboro is a brand of cigarettes, and their main advertising slogan was "Welcome to Marlboro Country" alongside a cowboy on a horse in the American west. The cowboy died of lung cancer a few years ago." See more here.
Business owner takes his own revenge on tagger...(Spotted by Jason Dawson @WebTaniwha on the corner Fifth Ave & Tramway Rd in Hamilton)
Picture this:What people in 1900 thought the year 2000 would look like, reveal some wonderful illustrations: "swashbucklers riding on giant seahorses, anyone? But others are actually surprisingly accurate visions of our current era, including farming machines, helicopters, and what looks like a precursor to the new robot vaccum, the iRobot Roomba vacuum".
Video: A reader writes: "I saw Hamish McDouall on TV, local Wanganui lawyer and councillor and remembered he was a big winner on Sale Of The Century in 1989...Check out the phone he won...and we think phones are over priced now!
