KEY POINTS:
Man names daughter after car: A Romanian luxury car enthusiast has named his daughter SLK after the Mercedes model. The head of the local register's office said: "This man walked into the office and said he wanted a birth certificate on the name SLK Caldarar. We found that very odd and tried to make him change his mind." But the father insisted, saying he loves cars and if the baby had been a boy he would have been named BMW. (Source: Ananova.com)
* * *
So Daniel Wright thinks that if cyclists delay him on his way to work, doing more than running them off the road with his car and injuring them is an acceptable response, asks another pesky cyclist. "Motorists should know that they must give at least 1.5m clearance when passing cyclists. On our narrow roads there often isn't enough space to do this so it is safer for cyclists to ride two abreast to stop motorists even contemplating squeezing past."
* * *
The Auckland District Heath Board could avoid the costs involved in debating "death in old age is an inevitable and natural event" by referring to a study conducted overseas and reported in The Onion ... It reads: "World Health Organisation officials expressed disappointment on Monday at the group's finding that, despite the enormous efforts of doctors, rescue workers and other medical professionals worldwide, the global death rate remains constant at 100 per cent. Death, a metabolic affliction causing total shutdown of all life functions, has long been considered humanity's number one health concern. Responsible for 100 per cent of all recorded fatalities worldwide, the condition has no cure."
* * *
Youthful enthusiasm: Reading a local lifestyle magazine in Whangarei, a reader came across a quote from a local wannabe film-maker, who said: "Whangarei may be a hole now, but in five to 10 years' time it will be the arts capital of New Zealand, if not the world." I can't wait to bump into Peter Jackson buying his bread and milk at the Otika dairy.
* * *
Did you lose a ring on Auckland Anniversary Weekend at the Goat Island reserve? A reader writes: "I watched as a man and a woman looked frantically in the sand for a ring which had been flicked off the woman's towel. They searched for over an hour with no luck and I overheard how it was a gift from her sister. I heard her say how she dreaded telling her sister she had lost it. I really felt for them but minutes after they walked away, I saw the ring ahead of me two metres in the sand. I ran to the top of the cliff to the carpark but they had gone. It is on my kitchen window sill at home." Email Sideswipe if you think it's yours and we will try to reunite you.
