KEY POINTS:
Laal Bhullar snapped this while on tour in Rajasthan, India.
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A Kiwi story from South Korea: "Korea has a system of bongo trucks - some sell fruit and veges, fish, or eggs, and one collects old computers or cameras. We had a camera that broke
and wasn't worth getting repaired. So, being recyclers, when my friend Dick heard the loudspeaker, he raced out with the camera. An hour later he staggered back in. The truck had gone by the time we got there so he went looking for it. No luck. As he was coming back into the building the management asked what he was doing. He mimicked the loud hailer, then he banged the camera against the wall to show it was broken. Some new customers sent him to the department store on the 4th floor. He found a repairman. Then the restaurant owner and his customers took him upstairs to get an English translation. No joy there. Finally, he gave up. As he stood there explaining to me all his endeavours in the recycling of one broken camera, he suddenly struck his head with the palm of his hand. RECYCLING! They would have understood that! It's the same in English as Korean."
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Unintentionally amusing metaphors written by high school English students:
* Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two other sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.
* McMurphy fell 12 storeys, hitting the pavement like a paper bag filled with vegetable soup.
* Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long it had rusted shut.
* The plan was simple, like my brother Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.
* She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
* The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a lamppost.
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Jacqui writes that her story is on a par with the person wanting beef nachos and being told they only had mince: "A girl I worked with got ID'd a few months back when buying beer at an Auckland supermarket. Firstly she's 28. And secondly it was ginger beer. Still giggling about it now."
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The explanation offered for why you can claim back a charitable donation and not childcare costs ("Because your $10,000 to the SPCA is a gift for which you receive no tangible benefit, but which benefits society, but the $10,000 for childcare buys valuable services for your family, not for society at large.") is a remarkably narrow-minded viewpoint, says Shane. "Isn't it much more valuable to have another active person in the workforce? This person would be earning wages, paying taxes, and contributing to the economy? If you want to get picky, I find it quite easy to get offended that people donating money to their church can claim their 33 per cent back, but the mandatory 'donations' to my children's free education are unclaimable."
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In Kinokawa, western Japan, Tama, a 9-year-old cat, works as master of an unmanned train station. The tortoiseshell, born and raised at Kishi Station, wears a formal uniform cap of Wakayama Electric Railway and calmly watches passing passengers. The company feeds her in lieu of salary. Tama was born from a stray cat and kept by the owner of the grocery next door. The station went unmanned in April 2006 as the line was losing money. Tama rose to national stardom in January 2007 as the railway company formally appointed her the "stationmaster". Her appointment boosted the number of passengers using the line that month by 17 per cent from a year earlier. The stationmaster is set to appear in a French documentary film about wonder cats from around the world.
Today's Webpick: An insanely good break dancer. Watch him pop and lock here.
These are the very best online videos from Ana's online magazine Spare Room.
