KEY POINTS:
Vegetarian art shows there's more to vegetables than just nutrition.
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In light of Anna Devathasan and Jenny Suo discovering that Ribena ("contained four times the vitamin C of oranges") had no detectable Vitamin C, other New Zealand school kids have been taking the claims of
a number of other products to task and doing similar tests.
So far the following discoveries have been made:
* Kiwi shoe polish contains no detectable traces of Kiwi.
* Tiger balm is totally tiger-free.
* No horses were identified in any brand of horseradish purchased from major Auckland supermarkets.
A spokesperson from the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology has said they are excited about the recent interest in science, and the international exposure of New Zealand's scientific might. They believe this will reverse the brain drain in the scientific field and attract quality scientists. (By work colleagues Adele Bindon and Dave Bousfield.)
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A reader writes: "Have you seen the brochure put out by Michael Boulgaris to advertise his new real estate company? It appeared in my letterbox today. It has lots of lovely pictures of Michael's adventures down south. But I was most intrigued to see that "Michael rode his horses all over the mountain ranges. And thought himself, quite the cowboy." (Complete with pretty pictures of him in a Drizabone and Akubra.) Just what the real estate industry needs - cowboys!"
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The latest celebrity hypocrite: John Travolta has a few lofty ideas on global warming ... "I'm wondering if we need to think about other planets and dome cities," said the 53-year-old actor while promoting his new film Wild Hogs. Travolta went on to encourage his fans to "do their bit" to tackle global warming. All a bit rich considering Travolta's love of jet travel. Although he readily admitted: "I fly jets," he failed to mention he owns five, with his own runway. Clocking up at least 30,000 flying miles in the past 12 months means he has produced an estimated 800 tons of carbon emissions - nearly 100 times the average Briton's tally. (Source: ThisIsLondon.com)
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A husband in Arlington, Texas came home from a card game to find his wife rolling around with another man in a pickup truck in the driveway. Caught in the act with her lover, his wife cried rape and the husband pulled a gun and killed the other man with a shot to the head. But last week a grand jury handed up a manslaughter indictment - against the wife - and decided not to charge the husband with murder, the charge he was arrested for by police. Texas law allows a defendant to claim justification if he has "a reasonable belief that his actions are necessary, even though what they believe at the time turns out not to be true".
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A reader writes: "I'd like to point out that although your correspondent Kevin O'Sullivan is correct that whitu is the Maori translation for seven, I have worked with the owner of the 00WHE2 plate and his name is ... Whetu!" So not a mistranslation, but a play on words.
