Sideswipe: September 30: Entitled breeders

There have been several gender reveal parties that have turned into wildfires, but people have found still more ways to damage the environment. An unnamed couple in Brazil posted video of their gender reveal party, in which an 18ft waterfall was dyed blue to announce they are going to have a boy. They deleted the original video when the backlash began. The waterway was identified as the Queima Pé river, which supplies water to the town of Tangará da Serra. And now the authorities are involved. The Secretary of State for the Environment of Mato Grosso (SEMA) released a statement saying that it would be investigating the couple to determine what products were used to dye the waterfall and if there is any environmental damage.

Serial killers decline

Since a dramatic peak in the 1980s, serial killers in the US like Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer have been in decline for three decades. One hundred and eighty-nine people in the US died by the hands of a serial killer in 1987, compared to 30 in 2015. Experts have a few theories: Firstly, it fits with a general decrease in crime but also the growth of forensic science and especially genetic approaches to tracking offenders: police used DNA samples from distant relatives to identify Joseph DeAngelo as the Golden State Killer, decades after he killed 12 women between 1976 and 1986. The absence of easy targets: people don't hitchhike anymore and they have cell phones to reach out in an emergency and CCTV cameras are everywhere. Modern helicopter parenting has done its bit too as kids are more supervised than in the 70s and 80s. It's also likely that society has got better at detecting and reforming potential serial killers, especially in their youth with psychological help. Another theory suggests they've just become school shooters, but experts argue that the motivations are different.

Shop local

Sign spotted in Katikati.

WFH saves you heaps

Time isn't the only thing remote workers save by ditching their commute. According to a recent report in the US, going into the office costs nearly twice as much as working from home full-time, with in-person employees spending an extra $5000 a year. And they're saving on more than just petrol and parking costs, they're not having to pay pet care, lattes and $15 sandwiches.