KEY POINTS:
The latest National Bank ad campaign is a great example of how to deceive consumers using graphics. The ad compares the yearly after tax return if you invested $100,000 in a bank deposit and in a National Bank Call Fund (both with an interest rate of 8.10 per
cent). If you look at the 3D bar graph, the numbers spell out the return, a mere $725 difference, but the bar graph used to illustrate their point is more than twice as tall. Cheeky beggars even try to elongate the proportion further by chucking their iconic black horse rearing up on its hind legs.
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Alex Farrell writes: "When I was about five we had to write a story about who our heroes were. As this was in the mid eighties, I created a colourful booklet about my hero Michael Knight of Knight Rider, Superman, and my great grandfather who was an Anzac (soldier) who fought at Gallipoli and survived, but who lost an eye in the process. What my 5-year-old brain couldn't quite comprehend was dates and actual history, and I happily scribbled away what I truthfully thought had happened, accompanied by vivid crayon illustrations, that my great grandfather fought one on one with Hitler in a sword fight, and nasty old Hitler cut my great grandfather's eye out! Happy Anzac day NZ!"
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A reader writes: "To the woman sitting in Bay 2, Main Stand at the V8 Supercars in Hamilton on Sunday afternoon wearing protective earmuffs more suited to a workman operating a jackhammer, and her husband wearing foam earplugs on a cord, get your kid some protective headwear! If the noise of the V8s racing was SO loud, surely your little boy of about 7 or 8 also deserved some hearing protection!"
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You can't have your cake and Honda too: Staff at the Honda factory in Swindon, UK, say they have been banned from eating cakes and fruit in their smoking rooms. It's alleged that the company is concerned about the potential damage traces of fruit acids can do to car paintwork and crumbs in their mechanical systems. A Honda spokesman told bbc.co.uk: "Our overall objective is to always deliver the highest quality product and we cannot compromise on achieving this." A worker said: "They've barred things like fruit or any product with a biscuit in it so it's got to the ludicrous state where a Mars bar is okay but a Twix bar, because it has a biscuit base, isn't allowed."
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A Patient reporting for an appointment with dentist Norman Rubin in New York said Rubin was in the otherwise-empty office, passed out, drooling, with a gas mask on his face. (Rubin later told the New York Post that it was, after all, his lunch hour. (Source: News of the Weird)
Today's Webpick: An amateur music video, by a New Zealander, mocking Heathrow's problem-plagued Terminal 5 has become an internet hit. Created by New Zealand bridegroom Tim Soong, whose luggage was lost by British Airways in 2006. Watch it here.
These are the very best online videos from Ana's online magazine Spare Room.
