Sideswipe: November 6: How to make a mountain ...

Congressman Jeff did not find this funny. In fact, after a campaign staffer for Fortenberry noticed Ari Kohen, a professor of political science at the University of Nebraska, had liked the photo posted by a local progressive blog, Fortenberry kicked up a real stink. He emailed the chair of Kohen's department, the dean and the chancellor of the university to complain which finally culminated in a conversation with the senator's chief of staff William Archer that went something like this: "I'm liking a photo," Kohen said. "What the photo represents is vandalism," Archer shot back. "So your argument," Kohen said, "is anything that I like on Facebook represents endorsement, by me, of the thing - not the post - but the thing that is happening in the world?" "Correct," Archer said. Archer then threatened to go public with a screengrab of Kohen's like. And Fortenberry himself weighed in, saying the sign is "disrespectful of civil discourse and free speech," and arguing that Kohen's like "sends a seriously wrong message" about vandalism. No mention of it being funny, as. (Via the Journal Star)

Horsing around with names

You may have noticed that racehorses sometimes have really odd names. This is for various reasons, mostly related to the rules of the sport, but one idea is to simply pick a name that sounds funny or is difficult to pronounce, usually just to annoy racing commentators. A horse bought by one of the writers of the film Airplane, David Zucker named All Pink. If that doesn't sound all that funny then get this; Zucker specifically instructed the jockey riding All Pink to hug the inside of the track so the commentator would have to keep saying the phrase "It's all pink on the inside".

Humourous cross stitch

What simple thing did you learn at an embarrassingly late age?

1. I grew up thinking that looking both ways before crossing the street was something people did as a superstition, like knocking on wood, because it had been drilled into my head that you should always do it but I never really got told why. I used to fling my head from side to side rapidly while I crossed any street as a kid (sometimes with my eyes closed!) and hope it gave me good luck or something ... I was lucky enough to live long enough to figure that one out.

2. That the term for being a single child in a family is "only child" and not "lonely child".

3. You're supposed to drive an automatic with one foot.

4. For the longest time, I heard "type one diabetes" as "tae kwon diabetes".

5. Why Eeyore was called that.

(Via Reddit)

Video Pick

Taiwanese international airline, EVA Air, introduced an unusual choreographed safety video ...

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