Sideswipe: January 31: Apology for ill-timed recipe

Barbeque brand Weber has apologised after sending customers a meatloaf recipe just hours after musician Meat Loaf died. The poorly timed recipe was emailed out as part of the company's weekly Friday newsletter. But unbeknownst to the grilling giant, Mr Marvin Lee Aday, 74, died on Thursday night in Nashville, Tennessee, after reportedly falling seriously ill with Covid-19. "In today's email we highlighted a grilled meatloaf recipe. At the time we shared this recipe with you, we were not aware of the unfortunate passing of American singer and actor Mr Marvin Lee Aday, also known as Meat Loaf," Weber wrote to subscribers on Friday. "We want to express our deepest apologies for this oversight and for any offense this email may have caused."

I've been standing here for 30 minutes. Nothing!

Book banning of the week

A Tennessee school board has banned a Pulitzer prize-winning graphic novel from its classrooms over eight curse words and an illustration of a naked cartoon mouse. The graphic novel, Maus: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman, uses hand-drawn illustrations of mice and cats to depict how the author's parents survived Auschwitz during the Holocaust. Ten board members unanimously agreed in favour of removing the novel from the curriculum, citing its use of the phrase "God Damn" and drawings of "naked pictures" of women. "I've met so many young people who … have learned things from my book," Spiegelman said. "I also understand that Tennessee is obviously demented. There's something going on very, very haywire there."

Fighting like a girl

A reader writes: "Back in the 70s my wife had a friend who was quite a tall girl. Her father was a fairly successful boxer, who used to teach his three sons the art of boxing, and she would often train with them. One night she was driving north on the Great South Rd at Hunters Corner. When she stopped at the traffic lights a random young man opened her passenger door, snatched her purse, and ran off. She jumped out, leaving her car at the lights and chased him. The man operating the Takeaway bar saw all this and rang the police. A patrol car was very close and arrived within minutes and was directed to follow the chase into the carpark where they found the offender on the ground and the girl pounding him with both fists while sitting on him. The Police said he pleaded with them to 'get this mad cow off me'. Rather ironically, he was charged with assault as well as robbery after a quick trip to Middlemore to get patched up."