- trashy information -

"Ansell provides a list of 'do's and don'ts' of using Ansell condoms on their package insert," Judy Dent from the Northern Territory writes. "The last 'don't' on the list is 'Don't return used condoms to the distributor through the mail'. Who would, and why? Someone must have, to prompt Ansell to include that message on the list."

With CityRail introducing its new timetable this week, we wonder if it will ever be able to match this: "In Japan the trains run on time," note Judy and Graham Quintal, of Beecroft. "We were travelling on a local train between Shimonoseki and Ube. The train pulled in to a station and a sleeping passenger stirred and woke. As we looked for a station identification sign, the passenger simply looked at his watch, and without even a glance at the platform, stepped off the train. If only we had as much faith in Sydney train timetables."

"The whole English language he/she (or is it s/he?) thing looks a bit silly" from where Thomas Paterson sits, and he sits in Mexico City. "I'm learning Spanish. I have no idea why bras are masculine and streets are feminine. My brothers are masculine, my sisters are feminine and my siblings (all of them) are masculine once more." It could be worse, Thomas. In Icelandic, gender changes according to tense, which is why Icelandic poetry is so "rich". True?

-from the Sydney Morning Herald, Column 8, 29 August 2005