Sideswipe

Please cut your milk bottle rings before you throw them out. A reader writes: "We saw a baby hedgehog wandering on our section with a blue plastic milk bottle ring around its neck. My husband held it (with gloves on) and cut the ring off. The hedgehog curled up in a ball for a few minutes and then took off, no doubt feeling a great deal better."

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A study has concluded that Americans and the British have different smiles. Dacher Keltner, a psychology professor at the University of California in Berkeley, found British people smile by pulling their lips back and upwards and exposing their lower teeth. Americans are more likely to part their lips and stretch the corners of their mouths. British were also more likely to raise their cheeks when they smile, showing the crows feet at the corners of the eyes. This produces a more sincere, hard-to-fake smile, says Keltner. Americans had the far less expressive "Pan-Am smile", named after the defunct airline's gesture of welcome. This depends only on the zygomaticus major corner-tightening muscle and has also been called the "Botox smile", because it leaves the muscles at the corners of the eyes motionless. (Source: timesonline.com)

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Auckland University's administration is not renowned for its clarity of expression, says a reader. In case of fire, duties of the recently appointed deputy floor warden include "checking the area including toilets, offices etc, and ensure all people have evacuated".

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Di Paton is fed up with getting grubby at self-service gas stations. "Often I have to put petrol in my car while I am in my good clothes. The pump handle has inevitably just been used by the local mechanic and is covered in oil or dirt (or both) and I am in danger of spilling gas on my clothes. Nowadays I have to plan to fill up while I am in my gardening clothes! I want to start a list of 'service' stations that will actually fill the tank for you, like the BP at the top end of Mount Eden Rd, where you'll not only get your tank filled but the service is friendly, helpful and quick. There must be others, but where?"

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Act informs Sideswipe that its website, pcfreenz.co.nz, is not taxpayer-funded. The small cost to run the site is covered by the Act party, says PR man Cameron Brewer. (And the sale of its snazzy T-shirts, no doubt.)