KEY POINTS:
Popular Science magazine's "10 Worst Jobs in Science" include the divers who scrub the walls of pits of sewage, toxins and nuclear waste; the elephant vasectomist (wielding a1.2m-long laparoscope to deal with the 30cm-wide testicles); carcass-preparers who ship cat, frog, shark and even cockroach bodies to be studied
in science classes; the whale researcher who admitted she was "surprised" at "how much you could learn about a whale through its faeces", and the volunteers who lie still for up to 21 days to study the effects of weightlessness (for $2000 a week). (Source: News of the Weird)
Yvonne Berridge reckons there has been lots of talk on Shortland Street recently about safe sex - "some of which my 8-year-old daughter overheard. As she knows the word sex but not its true meaning I was a bit aghast when she asked me what safe sex was. Before I could answer she added: 'Is that like to stop you falling out of bed?' "
Police are looking for a man who attempted to disguise himself as a tree and rob a bank in Manchester, New Hampshire. Officers say he used duct tape to attach tree branches to his body as a form of camouflage. He then walked into the Citizens Bank and demanded money. He had no weapons, yet managed to escape with an undisclosed amount of cash. (Source: wbztv.com)
Michael Yelland writes: "My mother, aged 92 and bedridden in a rest home, was sent a promotion recently by Jerry Clayton BMW Takapuna to try the M Sport of the new BMW 3 series. Wow! What a generous offer. She not only doesn't have a current driver's licence, she's never had one."
Inspired by the Live Earth concert, Luke from Kerikeri looked up the website and liked the idea of LED traffic lights throughout New Zealand. A reader responds: "Luke will be pleased to hear that in Waitakere City we are already well advanced with the conversion of ordinary traffic light bulbs to LEDs. Not only do they use a lot less power, they last a lot longer, are brighter, and using LEDs is cutting down on the labour required to frequently replace the old-style bulb."
