Spare Room Be our guest…

Sexuality as strategy: The LA Times reckons aspiring presidential couples are campaigning with calculated outbursts of PDA and proves it with a steamy slideshow. Let’s hope there’ll be no snogging at the Mt Albert RSA next year.

Want to go where it has only rained three times in the last five weeks? Check out these gorgeous waterfront cottages at Mapua, near Nelson. Bookings available for September. Why stay in a hotel when you could stay here…

Shoulder pads making a comeback: Karen Walker can design unflattering pinafores and clothes out of bush shirt material and people still buy them, so why not outfits with “exaggerated shoulders”…

Food miles: This story in the New York Times says “eating local joins recycling, biking to work and driving a hybrid as a realistic way that we can, as individuals, shrink our carbon footprint and be good stewards of the environment.” But then along comes some research done by Lincoln University (yes, our Lincoln)

A hobbit by name and nature: I am shorter than people from every nation listed in this interactive story. But they only make comparisons to “the world’s tallest nations” — from the Dutch to the Brits. I would have come off much better if China, Korea and Vietnam were allowed to play. How does your height measure up?

Sometimes I find myself perplexed by emoticons: The only one I know is the colon alongside a right soft parenthesis to form a cheery smile, but the graphic above shows a whole new level of creative punctuation. For more check out this Mental Floss post.

Spammer gets 30-years in the slammer: Likely to be beaten up by other lesser computer criminals.

Military hand signals revealed.

Top 10 Reasons Why Your Boss Doesn’t Pay You More: This is so true…

”Simply put, most people suffer from low aspirations. Here’s the logic: If you ask for more than you want, you can always retreat down to a lower figure. Of course it’s wise to not make an unreasonable request (unless you REALLY want to leave your job, and a fat increase is the only thing that would keep you there). If you do your homework, you’ll be able to back up your price with researched facts. When challenged, don’t retreat without getting something in return.”

The other nine here.

Human bowling in Japan…