I'm currently in New Zealand - hence the smaller number of posts recently - and I came across the following example of a "best before" date on the lid of a jar of marmalade:   Not only does the manufacturer ("Pams") have the uncanny ability to nominate the expiry date right down to the last day (20 December, 2012 in this particular case), but they can even time it to the minute - 4:51p.m.! You might think that's impressive, but of course it's completely meaningless. If they'd said "end...