Sideswipe

Beggar's belief: A creative way of pan handling.

A radio competition promised "100 grand" to the winner. Norreasha Gill from Kentucky won by listening to the station for a couple of hours and being the tenth person to call in. Now she's suing the station because the "100 grand" isn't cash, it's a brand of candy bar. "What hurts me is they were going to get me in front of my children, all dressed up, and hand me a candy bar, after all those promises I made to them," she told the Lexington Herald-Leader. "You just don't do that to people," Gill says. She had promised her children - ages 1, 5 and 11 - that they'd have a minivan, a shopping spree, a savings account and a home with a back yard. The radio station has offered her $5000. "I said I wanted $95,000 more," she said. "Nobody would watch and listen for two hours for a candy bar." Stations in two other states have been fined for contests that told listeners they'd won cash prizes without specifying they were in the Italian or Turkish lira, not the US dollar.

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Terry Morrow writes: "I enjoy watching horse racing on TV and am intrigued by some of the horses' names. Names such as Wholetthedogsout and Fourfeetnheartbeat. At the Otago meeting on Saturday there was a horse having its first race start. Even the race caller became quite agitated about its name. It was Want Want. Sounds straight forward, but the owners informed him that the name was pronounced 'Won Won'. I wonder if any readers can throw any light on this pronunciation. Incidentally, the horse in question was first past the post and the race caller had the pleasure of being able to say: "And Won Won, won won."

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A reader visiting Napier had parallel parked on the main street. Before he had time to get out of the car, a young lady manoeuvred her way into the space in front then backed into his car. There was no damage but the driver half leant from her car and said cheerily, "Hope you are okay. I usually only do this when I am wearing sunglasses!"

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Crass celebrities: Demi Moore did it in 1991, now the nude and pregnant Vanity Fair cover is to be rehashed by Britney Spears. If an agreement on money can be reached, Spears will be photographed when she is seven months' pregnant, so the issue can hit newsstands before she gives birth.

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Lacking the subtlety of Speights: A TV ad by Regional beer in Venezuela has got women's rights groups demanding a public apology. However, Regional beer says it won't apologise unless forced to by the courts. The ad used a line claiming the difference between a wife and a lover was 30 kilos. A helpful spokesman for the company added: "I bet all these women's groups are run by women who are at least 30 kilos overweight." (Source: Ananova)