Sideswipe: October 13: Another excellent protest sign

Another excellent protest sign. Photo / Supplied

Playing chicken in traffic

News nostalgia from 1975. Rather than installing expensive signs or speed bumps, Napa, California experimented with using chickens to slow down motorists on one of its streets - Streblow Drive, bordering Kennedy Park. They simply let 85 chickens roam the park and street at will. Said park superintendent Bob Pelusi: Only occasionally does an errant driver charge through the flock. In the nine months we've had the chickens on the job, we've lost 12 of them - gone in the line of duty, so to speak.

Different type of pot

There's a common misconception that Musical Youths number one hit in 1982, Pass the Dutchie, is a song about cannabis. In fact the song is about extreme poverty. The dutchie in the lyrics refers to a type of pot used for cooking. Its an easy mistake to make though because the song is actually a cover of a song released just one year earlier called Pass the Koutchie by the Mighty Diamonds, which was indeed a song all about cannabis. (Source: 1980s Childhood by Michael A. Johnson)

That old equality argument

Independent to a point. Photo / Supplied

When an 'old argument' is trotted out online, it's best to go for full sarcasm... "Last time my husband went away I was trapped in a closet for four days. Mesmerised by shoes which women are incapable to resist, and unable to open the door again with my feeble woman arms after it swung shut behind me. I would have been starving either way, because Id already flipped over my food dish while running round the kitchen shrieking because I thought I saw a spider, and would have been incapable of finding my own food, not being a hunter gatherer. It was a thought that comforted me as I alternated between weeping, and giggling with simple delight over my high-heeled prize. Hard times."

Barking mad - good idea

People often make matters worse by running away when being chased by a roaming dog. Brendan Leonard from the Adventure Journal says running is a bad idea because dogs instinctively chase anyone who runs from them. Staying calm and barking back may confuse the dog and diffuse the situation. What the dog has not seen is a human being going FREAKING CRAZY on it. Which is what you're going to do. For one second. When the dog realises you have completely lost it, the dog will be shocked. You are unstable, possibly dangerous. And, ideally, it will stop chasing you.

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