Sideswipe: May 29: Wicked slogan war

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The scone makers and knitters of the NSW Country Women's Association have declared war on Wicked Campers' offensive slogans. After seeing a slogan about sexual violence in the street, two CWA members went to the hardware shop and painted over it. The CWA are lobbying for a ban. Motor registries in Queensland and Tasmania have been granted the power to deregister any vehicle that does not comply with advertising standards. But the company has been able to circumvent penalties by changing vehicle registrations to other states once complaints are made. (Source: The Guardian)

Not satire

A Massachusetts man said he arrived at his family's home to find someone had broken in and given the house a spring clean without stealing anything. "You could smell the cleaning chemicals," Nate Roman told WBZ-TV. "I could tell something was wrong so I started looking around the house, and I found that my bathrooms had been cleaned." Roman said a clue left behind — toilet paper folded into origami roses — led him to suspect a professional cleaning service had visited the wrong address. "It was the roses that really got me thinking that some professional cleaner had accidentally stumbled into my house," Roman said. "If I was going to judge the quality of a toilet paper rose I would call this high quality."

Tall tales

1. Andrew Moffat of Silverdale writes: "I had a teacher in the third form in Dunedin (45 years ago) who claimed to have fired the very last bullet in World War II and that he had a certificate from General MacArthur to confirm that 'honour'."

2. Ailsa recalls that near her uncle's house there was a large pond which she was told went right through to the other side of the Earth and she could reach another country this way. "I was also led to believe that in the centre of the Earth there was a roaring fire where all the bad people went after they died. Aren't these facts mutually exclusive?"

Doggie derring-doo

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There are plenty of heartbreaking animal Givealittle pages but one dog owner is trying his crowd sourcing luck with something less life-threatening. On the page "Luka's Mishap" Luka's owner is looking to claw back $402 for an unfortunate deposit, so far he's managed $42. "I'm Luka," the listing reads. "I'm a dog. Dad tells me I'm a Lab/pointer cross, whatever that means. Dad took me to work one Sunday morning. He didn't know I needed a poo, so I skipped up the stairs and did it in front of the CEO's office. No offence intended, honest. Now they've sent Dad a carpet cleaning bill for $402. If there should be a surplus it will be donated to the SPCA."

Got a Sideswipe? Send your pictures, links and anecdotes to Ana at ana.samways@nzherald.co.nz