KEY POINTS:
Christine Ody wants answers: "I've been eating low-fat EasiYo yoghurt for years, which I had always thought was packaged as 'Slimmers'. Several months ago, I realised the packet in my hand said 'Skimmers'. Considering myself a top-class nit-picker when it comes to spelling, I wondered how I could have existed under the 'Slimmers' delusion for so long. I began to wonder what effect long-term low-fat yoghurt consumption had had on my observational skills. Until this morning - when I discovered, side-by-side in my cupboard, a packet of 'Skimmers' and a packet of 'Slimmers' yoghurt. The nutritional information confirms they are exactly the same product." Is it a mistake? A subtle shift in marketing? A deliberate attempt to get a mention in SideSwipe? Anybody got any ideas?
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John Key/Donkey part I: Liz has discovered that the word "donkey" is an offensive insult in India, Pakistan and Poland, where it means stupid and incompetent. "Do you think New Zealand should be worried now?" she asks.
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John Key/Donkey part II: Ross Mayall takes exception to yesterday's SideSwipe item about the "John Key" chant by three children that sounded like "Donkey". "The John Key name repetition is a cheap shot. I have never read in your column that repeating Helen Clark fast sounds like hell and back. That would never have been appropriate, and for good reason. Columnists should at least try to be a little bit objective. Leave the personal smear attacks of John Key to the president of the Labour Party."
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The rats are back in Hamelin, where the legendary Pied Piper once rid the German city of rodents and children. The city has confirmed it is battling a rat population explosion in an area of overgrown former garden allotments. "It's like a rubbish dump in there and has developed into a rat refuge," said municipal spokesman Thomas Wahmes. The city's hands are tied because it does not own the wilderness, where locals used to grow vegetables. In the medieval legend, a stranger playing music on a pipe caused the rats to drown themselves in the River Weser. Because the city refused to pay him, he vanished with all its children.
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Matt thinks someone at Ticketmaster has had a brain meltdown or let a huge cat out of the bag in its latest weekly email update. It advertises the gig 7 Worlds Collide as "Neil Young & Friends". The event information gets it right - "A night of entertainment with Neil Finn & his Friends". But Matt hopes all is not lost: "Here's hoping [Young] got the email and shows up anyway."
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Today's Webpick: Hilarious retro saving energy public service announcement, in sing-along form. Watch them here.
These are the very best online videos from Ana's online magazine Spare Room.
