Plane spotters
"Last week the last remaining Qantas jumbo 747, registration VH- OEJ departed Australia for the final time. It is headed to the aero plane graveyard in Mojave Desert in the USA," writes Aarti Prasad from Titirangi. "After 50 years of service and great memories for many, the "Queen of the Skies" retires leaving one last iconic message in the form of a drawing of the famous kangaroo in the Pacific Ocean. With a heavy heart we say farewell old Queen."
Have a wee slice
It's long been known that urine is sterile and a great fertiliser. For engineer and environmentalist Louise Raguet, it's also the secret ingredient to making a great loaf of bread. To make Boucle d'Or Goldilocks bread she regularly harvests the golden waste from female urinals in Paris to fertilise her wheat. Raguet hopes to "break taboos over excrement" with this venture — and push for more environmentalism. "It's a neglected liquid, usually dismissed as waste." Urine contains substantial amounts of nitrogen, potassium and other nutrients that plants extract from the soil and could replace chemical fertilisers and avoid the pollution they cause, she says. Raguet dilutes the urine 20 times before applying it to her wheat and says it doesn't affect the taste of the bread.
Life lessons
1. Find yourself a good person to be in a relationship with. Looks will fade but that personality will be there forever. As you age your friends will pair off and you will find yourself hanging out with them less and less. They will have kids or move away and you will find yourself either alone or with your partner during 99 per cent of your free time. Humans do not do well being isolated and alone. Finding a healthy relationship is so important and no one really talks about it or just tells you to focus on your career. Having someone in your corner who always has your back will make life that much easier. Find someone with the same goals in life that you do and hold onto them….hard.
2. Maintain your friendships. In 20 years you will be so grateful for those people who saw you through marriages, children, illness and health. People who will go for a trip with you, love your kids, remember you as a young person.
3. You don't have to have kids and buy a minivan and live that life. It's totally fine if you don't. You might even be happier and a lot wealthier in the end. You're not weird or broken because you want to live a less "normal" life. A lot of us do it you just don't see us marketed to on TV.
4. Do not be a doormat in submission, but hold the door open in kindness.
5. Don't pluck your eyebrows too thin.