Sideswipe: June 21: New ice age reached Queenstown

"The new ice age reached Queenstown on Tuesday morning," says Clive. Photo / Supplied

Hot, hot, hot

This week the World Meteorological Organisation announced that two recent temperature readings — one in the Middle East and one in South Asia — have been accepted among the hottest recorded on Earth. It hit 53.9C in Mitribah, Kuwait on July 21, 2016, and 53.7C in Turbat, Pakistan on May 28, 2017.

"The Mitribah, Kuwait temperature is now accepted by the WMO as the highest temperature ever recorded for the continental region of Asia," the organisation wrote. It continued, "The two observations are the third and fourth highest WMO-recognised temperature extremes." These are the highest recognised temperatures in 76 years. (Via the Washington Post)

Strange coincidences

"In one television routine, I told (well, slightly adapted to involve the protagonist's wife) the apparently true story of a car repairman who was on call in the middle of nowhere. His work finished, he was walking back to his truck to go home.

"As he walked past a telephone box it started ringing, and he went in to answer it. The caller knew his name, and began talking to him about a business appointment he had the next day. The repairman, confused, recognised the voice: it was his secretary. He asked her how on Earth she had known to call the payphone. She answered that she had called him on his new mobile.

"He explained to her that in fact she had called a phone box which he had just been walking past in the middle of nowhere. She insisted that she had called his mobile, and checked the piece of paper she had the number written down on.

"It was then she realised her mistake: she had accidentally dialled his payroll number, which she had written down on the same piece of paper. The payroll number happened to be the number of the telephone box which he just happened to be walking past at that time." (Source: Derren Brown's Tricks of the Mind)

"So Pak'nSave is 'proudly supporting' National's Melissa Lee?" writes Cathy Casey. Photo / Supplied

"So Pak'nSave is 'proudly supporting' National's Melissa Lee?" writes Cathy Casey. "I spotted this framed billboard on the public noticeboard at Pak'nSave, Mt Albert. Their website says, 'At Pak'nSave we're big on supporting local communities throughout New Zealand and a number of national causes too.' Perhaps that should be a capital N?"