Spotted plotting this week – or just having a cuppa at Three Kings’ Orvieto’s cafe - not a hundred miles away from Epsom: David Cunliffe, leftish blogger Chris Trotter, and Matt McCarten. ********* This comment will probably come back to bite us in the proverbial when we set foot in a Kiwi hotel, but what does this statistic say about our so called rugged character: the NZ Herald reported that a travelbug survey of 11,000 people carried out by Trade Me found that 32% of respondents revealed that their greatest hygiene fear was discovering unwashed sheets, followed by an infestation of bedbugs (24%) and dirty toilets (15%). Most of those afraid of germs were aged between 18-29. Imagine the dread, the pent up horror as these guests open their hotel room and instead of relaxing, gingerly peel back the covers to see if there’s anything other than pristine, starched sheets on the bed... Honestly.
********* ‘If you were told about an organization that started from scratch just over four months ago and had already expanded into more than 1,500 towns and cities all over the world, wouldn’t you be impressed? Thought so’. Check out how clever the originators of the Occupy Movement were in devising their branding, slogans and other design material. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/21/arts/design/elements-of-style-as-occupy-movement-evolves.html?ref=global-home ********** For women who are neither Miss nor Mrs there was a minor celebration this month. On November 10th Ms, the name not the mag, had her 110th birthday. The word was what some called a marriage-neutral moniker for women and it gained popularity with Wimmins Lib in the ‘60s and 70s. No such invention – first proposed in the Massachusetts Springfield Republican in 1901 – was necessary for men, with their one size fits all Mr. ********** New Zealand's obesity rate third highest in the OECD at 26.5 per cent in 2007, according to a report from the organisation. It rated Mexico at 30 per cent in 2006 and the United States leading with 34.3 per cent of its population classed as obese in 2006. All of this alarmed health professionals and the Greens but not National. Two years ago, Education Minister Anne Tolley announced that schools will no longer be required to act as what she called ‘food police’. "As part of the National Government's commitment to reducing compliance for schools, I have decided to remove the clause in National Administration Guideline (5) which states ‘where food and beverages are sold on schools' premises, to make only healthy options available'. That flies in the faces of evidence and what other countries are doing. Hungary recently brought in a tax aimed at soft drinks and snacks; France is considering doing the same. And Denmark has brought in its ‘fat tax’, with the aim of increasing life expectancy. According to the Financial Times, the tax will increase the price of a burger by about $0.15cents and that of a pack of butter by $0.50. There’s money in fat but not as we know it – the revenue will go to the Government. One nutritionist had a simpler answer though. He suggested dropping the value added (GST) tax on healthy food such as fruit and veges… Didn’t we hear that in the election campaign somewhere? ********** Why our brains make us laugh He who laughs last usually has to have the joke explained. But then why bother? After all, nothing kills humor faster than analysis. That sentiment has long dogged humor studies, a field often disparaged as an affront, even an existential threat, to its subject matter. It’s just a joke: Don’t overthink it. Read more… http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2011/11/20/why-our-brains-make-laugh/l0OWxVcnRpzfyIheFgab5N/story.html ********** How the Brain Strings Words Into Sentences Distinct neural pathways are important for different aspects of language processing, researchers have discovered, studying patients with language impairments caused by neurodegenerative diseases. Read more… http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111128171220.htm ********** And how about that Christmas gift for Mum? Sigh... just what she wanted.
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