KEY POINTS:
Mark Turf writes: "Recently my children spent a Tuesday at home because of their second 'teacher only' day of the school year and it's only June. If you couple this with the mysterious 'five-day' Easter weekend that hit working parents out of the blue in March, teachers are
well on their way to cutting a full week from our children's school year."
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More on Whitcoulls: "My experience with Whitcoulls isn't that great either," writes another reader. "I was after a particular book for my wife as a present. I rang all the local branches but they didn't have it but would order one for $50+. I declined as I needed something quicker. Later that day I called into one of the Whitcoulls branches I had rung earlier to get some wrapping paper when I spotted the very book I was after. On special for $9.99! So I bought the book but I was really annoyed so went to their website, got the feedback email and emailed them. Never heard a thing."
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A teacher in Lund, Sweden, has confiscated a boy's birthday party invitations because he hadn't invited all the students in his class. According to school rules, if a student plans to distribute invitations at school, he or she must invite the entire class, or none at all. Alternatively, invitations can be sent to all the boys, or all the girls, but leaving two students out is not acceptable.
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A British mother wanted to use a picture of her son as a baby on top of his 21st birthday cake, but staff at the cake decorators Asda refused because it showed the child's bare bottom. They claimed that the photograph - which featured Gail Jordan's son David as a 5-month-old baby and lying on his front - could be pornographic, and insisted on covering his backside with a star. A spokesman for Asda said: "We have a policy, as do many other retailers, of no nudity, whatever the age of the subject." (Source: Telegraph.co.uk)
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Michaelwould like to point out in reply to Katie's comment on the Spider Man brand and knock-offs (last Friday's SideSwipe) that using "Spioer Man" or "Spader Man" is also illegal use of the trademark. The actual image of Spider-Man, used in the knock-offs, is also trademarked.
Today's Webpick: A very close call for this idiot in a Toyota Prius who tries to cross the train tracks when the barrier arm is down and surprise, surprise theres a train coming! He/she nearly stomped out their carbon footprint completely. Watch ithere.
These are the very best online videos from Ana's online magazine Spare Room.