Sideswipe: November 30: Gidday Pieface

Pieface.

KEY POINTS:

• Got a Sideswipe? Send your pictures, links and anecdotes to Ana.

Best Tabloid quotes in anticipation of the Royal Wedding ...

1. "Fit for a Princess! Will Meghan Markle choose an Australian designer to make her bridal gown for the ultimate modern Royal wedding?" — Daily Mail

2. "She once revealed what her dream dress would be when talking about her character Rachel in legal drama Suits, who wore a wedding gown in one episode. She revealed the dress worn in the show wasn't her "personal style", adding: "I'm a lot more relaxed than Rachel ... Classic and simple is the name of the game, perhaps with a modern twist. I personally prefer wedding dresses that are whimsical or subtly romantic." — Star, "Meghan Markle's wedding dress REVEALED"

3. "Did you spot Meghan Markle's subtle fashion nod to Princess Diana? With the photocall taking place in Princess Diana's former residence, it seems only fitting that Meghan would wear white, a nod to Diana and the memorial white garden that was created in her memory this year to mark the 20 year anniversary of her death." — Marie Clair

4. "Meghan wore a white coat ... it did slightly resemble a dressing gown." — Sun

5. Wedding food predictions: "Roast chicken, sweet potato and white-bean soup" — Mirror

Did lemons squeeze life out of black death?

In the 17th century the black-death plague killed more than a million people in France, but the residents of Paris were largely unaffected. The rodents carried fleas that bore the plague and after the plague had killed the rats, the fleas often hopped onto human hosts. The plague coincided with a lemonade boom in the city and one theorist, Thomas Nealon, thought the citrus drink was the saviour. Lots of lemonade was being made in Paris at the time and consequently lots and lots of lemon peels were in the rubbish, in the gutter, in the Seine river — anywhere you find rats. Nealon said that lemon peels contained limonene, a natural ingredient that killed flea larvae and adult fleas. The rats nibbled on the discarded the lemon peels, inadvertently ingesting limonene and killing fleas and their eggs. The survival of Parisians was attributed to an airing out of goods — blankets, bedsheets, clothes — that had been quarantined. At the time it was mistakenly believed that the illness travelled by air, when really it was the rats and fleas travelling with the quarantined goods that were at the root of the plague. (Via How Stuff Works)

DIY apostrophes.