Sideswipe: February 9: What is that huge fungus?

Greg is looking for your shroom knowledge: "Approximately 400mm high and 300mm wide, growing on a fallen tree by the walkway on the estuary on the Mahurangi side of Snells Beach. I can't find a reference to it anywhere. Can anyone put a name to it?"

Wellness industry appropriates day-dreaming

In early July 2020, Google Trends reported a peak in searches for "manifestation", which is often described as a way of willing your goals into existence. In the past 22 months, the website Life Coach Directory has had a 450 per cent rise in potential clients searching for manifestation techniques. On TikTok, the hashtag #manifestation has 13.9 billion views. It is part of the huge wellness market, which is worth about £1.1b. Teacher Jennifer Doyle tells the Guardian, it's all about positive thinking. "I always had impostor syndrome, but manifestation has helped me believe more in my life and its possibility. I break my goals down and put action into them until I start to notice things popping up." Each morning, she writes down 10 things for which she is grateful, before spending time visualising her goals, then writing her next steps in her journal.

Polite home invasion

An intruder gave $200 to the owners of a New Mexico home as a "reimbursement" for the window he broke when forcing his way in, according to a Santa Fe County Sheriff's report. The man slept, drank beer, ate shrimp and bathed inside the Santa Fe property. When the homeowners returned to the property in the afternoon, they found the man in their house with a duffel bag and an AR-15 scoped rifle. The homeowners reportedly told police that the suspected burglar was "extremely embarrassed and apologetic" when confronted by them.

Lunch with an audience

There is such a thing as too prepared

Bloomberg News published a headline titled "Russia invades Ukraine". The big problem with the story? Russia has not invaded Ukraine. "We prepare headlines for many scenarios and the headline "Russia Invades Ukraine" was inadvertently published around 4pm ET today on our website. We deeply regret the error. The headline has been removed and we are investigating the cause. Remember, text in the Content Management System is a gun: you draw, you shoot.