Sideswipe

Scott from South Auckland Line Markers spotted this sign outside Moon Motors in Mangere and wonders if it's garlic before or after the bash?

Keeping it gangsta in Ponsonby, Daniel helps Andrew Stevenson with a few definitions ... "To 'roll on doves' is to drive in a car with 20 inch rims on the tyres. To 'rock Prada' is to wear clothes and clothing accessories made by Prada, and to 'throw bows' is to do drive-by shootings with a bow and arrows."

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The British Ministry of Defence has paid for a former RAF senior aircraftwoman to become a pole dancer, reports the BBC. Stephanie Hulme, 23, was funded to take up the profession after completing five years' service. Her training was carried out through an RAF resettlement and training programme which reportedly cost more than $5000 over four weekends. Under defence regulations, servicemen and women are entitled to retraining through a grant programme after they have completed five years' service. A spokesman added: "The point of making this grant available is to improve their employment opportunities once they complete their service. What they choose to do is a matter for them as long as it is legal."

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A reader just back from Shanghai, China, passed a parlour whose English name was "The Gifted Blindman Massage Centre". It's not a gimmick to placate customers, as many Chinese believe that blind people's sense of touch is heightened. But the English sign above one Chinese restaurant left her nonplussed: in large letters it announced itself to be the "Lie Fallow Restaurant". Images of barren and unappealing paddocks came to mind. But the restaurant was bulging with happy-looking diners.

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Cutting-edge cow research: Animal welfare professors at Britain's Bristol University, preparing for a conference next month on Compassion in World Farming, said they will present research to show that cows experience pain, fear and happiness; can form friendships in a herd; are good problem-solvers (with encephalograph-measured brainwaves suddenly active when they searched for a path to food); and can hold grudges against other cows for months or years. (Source: The Australian)