Sideswipe

Lookalikes: America's Next Top Model's Jay Manuel and The Little Mermaid's Ursula the Sea Witch. (Source: www.Worldofwonder.net)

A reader wants to warn her Issey Miyake-loving sistahs: She was in Farmers St Lukes at the weekend, buying a refill for her purse-sized L'eau d'Isse. Horrors! She discovers she is partaking in the rip-off of the century. The 7ml refill (yes, less than two teaspoons) is $70. That is $10 per ml. Surely more than hashish. On the other hand, if she had a larger container (50ml), she would be paying $132 for the refill, which is $2.64 per ml, for the very same smelly stuff.

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An Auckland University campus cafe is under new management, with an interesting take on coffee culture: A reader writes ... "I ordered a trim latte and fancied a chocolate-coated biscotti to go with it. I sat down and began reading one of the rather old, limp magazines which now grace the place. In the distance, I could see one of the assistants waving the biscotti (wrapped in a cellophane bag) at me. I gestured affirmative. Shortly after I was presented with a latte in a takeaway cup and no biscotti. 'I ordered a biscotti, too,' I said. The young Asian girl pointed at the cup. I lifted the lid and, sure enough, there was my biscotti floating inside."

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A reader writes of unpredictable consequences of increased petrol prices: "My grandson has decided he cannot afford girlfriends from suburbs which are too far away. He has had a T-shirt made up with 'Eastern suburb girls only!"'

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What happens when someone walks into a police department or sheriff's office in south Florida and asks for a form to file a complaint against an officer? Well, a local TV station's hidden camera found many officers were polite and professional but many others denied the forms existed and even threatened and taunted the people asking for them. What happens when a TV station runs that footage? One officer caught on tape cursing and screaming at the person asking for the form files for an injunction to stop the footage from being broadcast. And the name, address and driver's licence number of the reporter who did the story somehow winds up on the website of the Broward County Police Benevolent Association as a BOLO or "be on the lookout". After the station's lawyer sent a letter to the PBA, the reporter's personal information was removed, but his photo remains on the site. (Source: Reason.com)

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Police were investigating the Hell's Angels chapter in Stockholm, Sweden, in February after 70 members claimed government benefits for being "depressed". Police said the gang had largely abandoned its reliance on shootouts and bomb attacks and moved into crimes such as tax fraud. (Source: Reuters)