Weekend edition: The best of the week's reads

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Three derelict phone boxes

A collection of some of the best reads from the BBC News website this week, with an injection of your comments.

"It won't be long before they disappear from our streets forever," Carol Franklin said on Facebook. There are, in fact, fewer than 10,000 traditional red telephone boxes still on our streets, many of them little used. They were decommissioned in the mid-1980s when they were replaced by an aluminium-framed counterpart. Many of these symbols of Britishness are being renovated in a yard in Surrey. Zach Elsbury perhaps summed it up best. "The graveyard of an icon" he wrote.

Grey cells of genius

Image source, Science Photo Library

"Einstein is just God's way of making the rest of us feel insignificant," wrote Srijan Tiwari on Facebook. "Clone the genius," chimed in Cedric Ngugi. Aside from that "genius" title, Einstein was bilingual, musical and even - it has been suggested - autistic. Although he was cremated the day after his death, his brain had been removed and it is now thought there are probably slivers of Einstein in attics across America.

Extreme queuing

Image source, AFP

"Poor old Venezuelans" emailed Patricia Lockwood. That's because its citizens are forced to queue, often for hours, without even knowing what is on sale. Goods such as coffee, sugar and soap, which are in severely short supply, have been regulated. In other words, the government tells producers what they can charge but with inflation running at 60% and a plummeting currency, many are making a loss.

Dream job

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
A number of 'spotters' attend sporting events

"Call it import and export," wrote Aziz Merchant. He's referring to Dan Dobson's work for a gambling company where he supplied up-to-the-second data from tennis matches using a modified game console controller hidden inside his shorts. At 22, he was travelling the world with friends, earning good money and watching the best in the business play the sport - until he was arrested by police in Australia.

Ballot exchange

Image source, Thinkstock

"If everyone bothered voting they'd see that their votes mean something in their own area," posted Kevin Symonds. He was responding to our piece on the voters heading online for the chance to exchange their ballot paper crosses. Those who feel their vote will not have an impact in their own constituency under the first-past-the-post system can vote on behalf of another member of the electorate in a constituency they feel their vote might matter. The question is, can you trust them?

Enjoyable reads from elsewhere

The economists' manifesto - Financial Times

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