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Home / New Zealand

<i>Sideswipe:</i> Saturday

Ana Samways
By Ana Samways
Sideswipe - ana.samways@nzherald.co.nz·
17 Aug, 2007 05:00 PM3 mins to read

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Ana Samways
Opinion by Ana SamwaysLearn more

KEY POINTS:

Some wag tries, with humour, to hide the fact he doesn't know the answer to this maths question. He draws an elephant in the diagram and answers the question: "No, there's an elephant in the way." (Source: Neatorama.com)

***

Len Thomson reckons the Nanny State wrapping everyone in cotton wool doesn't work: He read a yarn in redorbit.com that said accident levels had nearly halved in one London street where "safety" equipment such as guard rails, white lines and signposts were stripped out. The redesign of Kensington High Street has been such a success that the "naked road" concept is set to be rolled out to other cities in Britain and around the world. Engineers removed railings and scores of signposts, and combined traffic lights with lamp-posts to reduce clutter. They cleared the road surface of superfluous white lines, realigned the kerb to follow the line of shop frontages and junked the different-coloured surface materials used by other councils. As a result of the changes, accidents have fallen from 71 a year to just 40.

***

A fan of 80s pop duo Wham!, who took great pleasure in winding his neighbours up by blasting their hit Last Christmas for three hours straight, has been prosecuted by council officials. Brian Turner, of Newcastle, England, repeatedly played the track at full volume from 1am until 4am. Finally a neighbour snapped and called in the noise squad, who eventually gave residents peace by seizing the stereo.

***

Sue, from Waiheke Island, asks: "Has anyone out there been able to answer, in full, the preliminary rounds of TV One's game show The Rich List? So the two guys, who were strangers, knew 18 pastas between them. Good on them. They must be well travelled. What about the list of Shakespeare plays? I answered quite a few and so did the contestants, but in the end, it seems their downfall was in the pronunciation. I wonder, are the contestants given lists to memorise in the preliminary rounds? If so, please tell us, so we don't all think we're thick."

***

An American florist company that sent written thanks to a customer in Texas for his order of a dozen roses is now being sued by the man, who says the note tipped off his wife about the new love interest in his life and cost him his marriage. The American Bar Association Journal, a legal publication, reported the note was spotted by Leroy Greer's wife, who phoned the firm seeking clarification about the order. It faxed her a copy of the sales receipt and the note her husband sent telling his girlfriend, "I love you and you mean the world to me". Greer's wife has filed for divorce - armed with the invoice as evidence of his infidelity. (source: AFP)

***

Michael Collins writes: "I am a New Zealander living in Fiji and when driving to work today, I was most impressed to see that someone named "Anu" had put his name across the back of his car. Unfortunately he had added a possessive "s" to show the car belonged to him. The sign, written in capital letters across the back window of the car, read "ANU'S".

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