Sideswipe

DO-UP: End of the property boom? Spotted by Nigel McCarter, on holiday at Lake Ohau.

The Waikato University Computer Science Department is researching New Zealanders' musical dislikes and compiling a list of the world's worst songs. Unsurprisingly, John Mayer's hit, erroneously titled Your Body Is A Wonderland, made the list and one of the numerous who submitted it had this to say: "Mayer has that 'Look at me, I'm so sensitive' smugness about him that makes you want to kick him in the teeth - repeatedly. If he looked any more sincere he'd suffer an aneurism. And then we have the lyrics. How any literate human being could think writing a song called Your Body Is A Wonderland is not a reason to immediately fling themselves in front of a speeding bus, I'll never know. The song is so relentlessly saccharine a warning about the potential risks of developing diabetes should be broadcast prior to it being played. I hate you, John Mayer." To record your pick of worst song, click on the link below.

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Our Gallipoli correspondent, Garth George, is delighted to report that smoking is permitted in hotels, dining rooms, bars and restaurants in Turkey. British and American cigarettes cost the equivalent of $2.50 a packet of 20. Obviously, remarks George - one of the few in the newsroom who still puff - Turkey "is a highly civilised country".

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Anne Rimmer writes: "That appalling inflatable sinking Titanic slide featured in Sideswipe last week is already in New Zealand. It was part of the children's playground at the recent Balloon Festival in Hamilton. Incomprehensible, isn't it?"

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The distractions of constant emails, text and phone messages are a greater threat to IQ and concentration than taking cannabis, according to a survey reported in the Guardian. The most damage was done by the almost complete lack of discipline in handling emails, which over a day equated to the effects of losing a night's sleep, says Glenn Wilson, a psychiatrist from King's College, London University. Dr Wilson and his colleagues found a compulsion to reply to each new message led to constant changes of direction, which inevitably tired and slowed down the brain. The average IQ loss was measured at 10 points, more than double the four-point mean fall found in studies of cannabis users.