Sideswipe: November 23: Look closer child

I was wondering what was written on my teacher's water bottle...

Fleetwood feats

A reader writes: "One of the funniest parts of the Fleetwood Mac show happened after Stevie Nicks had finished telling us all to never give up on our dreams, to just do it, and make it happen, and don't let anyone tell you you can't. As she started singing some woman bolted out from side stage and attempted to hug Stevie, but security intervened. The second funniest thing was the three guys in the row behind me who staunchly remained seated for almost the entire show. No small feat given they were in the expensive seats up front and wouldn't have seen anything since everyone else in front of them was standing. I presume they were there under sufferance, with their wives."

Mother of a fright

"When I was 10 years old, I woke up in the night to go to the bathroom (I was a tad scared of the dark, and I had just watched a scary movie with my parents). I finished my business and quietly walked back into my room. As I stepped up to my bed to climb in, a hand reached out from under my bed and grabbed my ankle! I was so scared I didn't make a sound for what felt like 10 minutes, and finally let out a blood-curdling scream that could've woken the dead. And then my MOTHER rolled out from under the bed laughing... To this day, I do a bit of a running leap to get onto my bed, and it's been almost 15 years!" (Via quora.com)

A bit of a burnout

A Liberty, Missouri sheriff's deputy politely declined to identify the local man who created the sound of rapid gunfire when a "controlled" garbage burn escalated. The man decided to try extinguishing the fire by driving back and forth over it in his van, but the tyres caught fire. In addition to the van having a gas tank, it carried an undisclosed amount of firearms ammunition. The van was a total loss, but the sheriff's department said it doubted there would be an insurance claim filed. (Via News of the Weird)

No freedom for offensive speech

While two-thirds of Americans believe the US Government should not prohibit speech that offends minorities, a shockingly high number of millennials -- 40 per cent -- support such censorship. Young people, it turns out, are more likely to favour suppression of offensive speech than older Americans. That's according to the Pew Research Center, which found the results "striking". Around a quarter of Gen Xers (27 per cent) and Boomers (24 per cent) and roughly one-in-ten Silents (12 per cent) say the government should be able to prevent such speech. (reason.com)

Passive aggressive notes to neighbours