KEY POINTS:
The trick to pulling off an office prank is either commitment (wrapping your colleague's pod entirely in tin foil) or simplicity (taking the ball out of their mouse). Sometimes they work as a morale-boosting human resources tool and other times they are the catalyst for formal discipline. Have you pranked successfully? Or been pranked? Email Sideswipe.
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Andrea from Mt Albert bought a $50 voucher online from The Baby Factory website for a friend's baby shower. It arrived promptly, but sealed in an envelope, buried in the bottom of the parcel surrounded by protective shredded paper. "Slight overkill on the packaging, don't you think?" she reckons.
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In Britain texting could soon be the quickest way to call for police help. The green light has been given for a new 999 text-messaging emergency line which will work alongside the traditional call centre. This Is London reports that typing in text speak "fyr my hous S burnin dwn" - text lingo for "Fire! My house is burning down" - will dispatch the fire brigade or "i tnk i'm havN a heartattack" will dispatch an ambulance. A bonus of the system is it will allow emergency operators to pinpoint the caller's location from the signals sent by people's mobile phones - potentially cutting bogus calls.
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What will the vegans eat now? Researchers at McMaster University have found that plants get fiercely competitive when forced to share their pot with strangers of the same species, but they're accommodating when potted with their siblings. "The ability to recognise and favour kin is common in animals, but this is the first time it has been shown in plants," said Susan Dudley, associate professor of biology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. "When plants share their pots, they get competitive and start growing more roots, which allows them to grab water and mineral nutrients before their neighbours get them. It appears, though, that they only do this when sharing a pot with unrelated plants; when they share a pot with family they don't increase their root growth. Though they lack cognition and memory, the study shows, plants are capable of complex social behaviours such as altruism towards relatives, says Dudley. (Source: physorg.com)
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Christina Baldwin thinks the Jesus nightlight featured in Sideswipe yesterday will cause cancer. "Little children will get more than comfort as they sleep peacefully with a night light beside their heads all night. Their little brains will also get electromagnetic radiation and a chance of leukaemia. Now that's really scary. Let there be dark at bedtime."
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Liz Fraser was wondering if anybody knows what the big explosion noises in Herne Bay on the last two Friday nights are all about. "Seemed louder than fireworks," she writes.
