Sideswipe: Signs flush with unnecessary info

Unnecessary public toilet signage.

A reader writes: "Telecom advertises that it has 97 per cent coverage with its XT network. I can't get service in Tauranga Bay, Leigh, Arkles Bay, parts of Army Bay or Tiri Island, despite Zoe Bell being dumped in the Hauraki Gulf! Can other people advise where they don't get coverage - might be able to get Telecom to revisit its claim! (Telstra, 2degrees and Vodafone all work in these places!)

* * *

A shopping centre in China's Shijiazhuang city has built a carpark with spaces 1m wider, designed especially to suit women drivers. The women-only carpark is also painted in pink and light purple. Officials told AFP news agency the carparks were meant to cater to women's "strong sense of colour and different sense of distance".

* * *

A series of photographs identified as the customised undergarments of the man who tried to blow up a Detroit-bound plane with the explosives last week has been published by ABC News: "A singed pair of underwear with a packet of powder sewn into the crotch is all that remains of al Qaeda's attempt to down an American passenger plane over Detroit." Xeni Jarden of Boing Boing.net comments: "What better way to round out this scorched and shitty decade than to gaze thoughtfully into the charred, soiled underpants of a stranger."

* * *

Noun of the Decade 2000-2009: glitch, news cycle, freedom fries, spider hole, friendly fire, chatter, hope, truthiness, surge, Auto-Tune. Verb of the Decade: I.M, outsource, download, punk'd, swift boat, Google, text, blog, go rogue, crowdsource. (Source: New York Times)

* * *
Highlights from Regret the Error's Best of 2009. This from the British Medical Journal: "During the editing of this Review of the Week by Richard Smith, the author's term 'pisshouse' was changed to 'pub' in the sentence: 'Then, in true British and male style, Hammond met Ian Hislop, editor of Private Eye, in the pub and did a deal.' However, a pisshouse is apparently a gentleman's toilet, and (in the author's social circle at least) the phrase 'pisshouse deal' is well known. (It alludes to the tendency of men to make deals while standing side by side and urinating.) In the more genteel confines of the BMJ editorial office, however, this term was unknown and a mistake was made in translating it into more standard English. We apologise for any misunderstanding ... caused."

* * *

A reader writes: "Regarding the text books Wendy's child has finished with. I belong to NZ South Pacific District of Kiwanis International - a service club focused on children. We collect text books, reading books, computers, desks, in fact anything that can help with children's education. We pack all this into a container and send it to Vanuatu [for] schools throughout the islands. The need is ... never-ending." They would welcome Wendy's books.

* * *

View today's Herald cartoon