Sideswipe: Appetising

Sections for sale at Schnapper Rock Rd in Albany.

Dogs called to heel

The world has reached new heights of barking madness with the launch of artificial sticks for dogs because wood is too dangerous. Vets say the traditional game of throwing sticks found on the ground could lead to serious injuries from splinters and sharp points. Now Safestix - tough rubber sticks with twists to make them "more interesting" for dogs to chew and catch - are hitting the shelves of some of Britain's biggest pet retailers.

Strange but true

1) In the UK, a shortage of lungs for transplant means needy patients are being offered ... lungs from smokers. 2) Two lawyers filed a small-claims lawsuit against a seafood restaurant in California after they got squirted in the eye when they cut into their escargots. They wouldn't have sued, they said, if the restaurant had shown remorse. It wasn't the meal, itself; that, they proceeded to finish promptly. "It was the indifference," said one. "It was the friggin' rudeness." 3) Nearly 20 per cent of British men thought George Orwell's classic novel Animal Farm is a pornographic movie and that Charles Darwin wrote Oliver Twist. A poll into the reading habits of 2000 men under 30 also showed 25 per cent had no idea that Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character, and 67 per cent think Scottish poet Robert Burns invented the haggis. (Source: News of the Weird.net/Newslite.tv)

Wide-ranging skills

A reader was interested in a job vacancy on the NZ Police website, particularly the required technical skills listed at the bottom of the page ... According to the ad the candidate must "demonstrate an ability to provide sound advice to work unit and other area staff in relation to prosecution matters" and "demonstrate a good working knowledge of relevant legislation and evidential requirements for police persecutions". Huh?'

Car data caught in cyberspace

Peter Ballantyne was intrigued by the Army Unimog with expired CoF, so he looked up his own car on Carjam, only to discover a warning that his WoF had expired two weeks ago. "Huh? It got a new WoF almost two weeks before it expired, and the sticker has been on the windscreen every since!" he says. "Seems Carjam's information is very slow to update, and could even be potentially misleading if I was trying to sell it and a prospective buyer used Carjam to check up on it. They have a responsibility to ensure it is up to date surely."

Advance warning

Val Becker says the Auckland Speed/Booze Bus Hot Spots on Google Maps has nothing on Perth. "Not only can we ring our local radio station, so they can announce hourly where speed cameras are located, the police actually let the Perth Now newspaper know where tomorrow's speed cameras are going to be located, so they can print their locations daily."