Sideswipe

James Spader and William Shatner bedded down together during a taping of Boston Legal. Spader describes Shatner's body aroma like this: "He had a very sort of, a strangely very attractive sort of pungent sort of gamey, sort of a venison or a lamb sausage ... and a little bit of rosemary with a touch of ranch dressing."

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The staff of Burger King Invercargill arrived at work on Sunday morning to find that the large blow-up Darth Vader figure perched on the roof of the restaurant had been stolen. Burger King want it back and they're prepared to offer a whopper of a reward to get it. Glenn Corbett, Burger King New Zealand's general manager, says there's a year's worth of Whopper burgers for anyone returning the inflatable Darth.

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No suicidal thoughts after 5pm: A Canadian province will shut its 24-hour suicide hotline and replace it with one that operates only during business hours. Prince Edward Island, a small province on Canada's east coast, says it is too expensive to operate the hotline around the clock. Starting today, it will be open between 9am and 5pm only, Monday to Friday. The plan has drawn protests from mental health groups across the country. "How many times, when you get upset or worried or concerned about things, is it in the middle of the day?" said Joan Wright, executive director of the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention in Edmonton, Alberta.

(Source: Reuters)

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Roger and Trish from Kohimarama write: "Poor old Gordon McKendry of Epsom, who can't drink his coffee and support the school cyclists on a Sunday morning in Kohi. As neighbours of the cafe in question, we absolutely love to see the sporting contests that our area attracts, but I was a bit amused by Gordon's comments. First, Gordon, was it your wife who threw her toys out of the cot when I politely asked you not to park over our driveway, or was it you who parked on the broken yellow lines in front of that car, thus causing a restriction with the traffic island, or maybe you are part of the organising committee who regularly on these Sunday mornings do not provide adequate traffic management safety, particularly in relation to the pedestrian crossing outside the cafe. Or maybe it was your child who almost came to grief with a passing vehicle at the said traffic island because of the restriction you caused by parking on the broken yellow lines? Or was it your elderly mother who was scared out of her wits on the pedestrian crossing with teams of cyclists coming at her in all directions and nobody to help her?"