KEY POINTS:
Sarah Ell writes: "After months of putting up with noise and distraction because of the construction of a large orange and black home-improvement store over the road from our offices in Glenfield, the female staff of Random House are pleased to see that at least it's going to stock something useful. Eager men are often hard to find."
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Marking undergraduate examinations can be a depressing task when students mangle concepts and language, says Dr Willem de Lange of Waikato University. But sometimes the results can really cheer you up. The most memorable of this year's batch was: "A salami is a catastrophic wave that devastates coastal areas and leads to food shortages." The image of a giant salami rolling ashore is frightening indeed. As is the thought of what providing answers in TXT language will do.
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An anonymous reader recalls an incident which pre-dates the "Sykes" walking bus story of 1973 published in Sideswipe last week. He writes: "In 1971 or 1972 (too many 42-cent jugs to remember exactly) at the Auckland Capping Parade, the students developed a form of transport called 'Robbie's Rapid Rope' named after our famous and visionary Mayor Robinson. This involved a long piece of rope, 100 metres plus, and people would hold on to it and walk along with others. They would join or leave the rope as they pleased. The benefit over the walking bus concept is that you did not have to climb over others to get off or on , but the downside was traffic lights, particularly if you were towards the back."
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Christopher Nielsen had a seizure behind the wheel of his Ford Expedition and crashed it. And that's when the real pain kicked in. When Colorado police arrived at the scene, they found Nielsen pacing outside the vehicle, and when he did not respond to their commands, they Tasered him, five times. The county settled a claim by Nielsen for US$90,000 and agreed to revise its Taser policy. (Source: Reason.com)
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Clint was at the Warehouse Extra, Sylvia Park, last Sunday with his son, 17, and two of his mates aged 17 and 18. He writes: "We decided to view the alcohol section as my son works for a supermarket and stacks the shelves with wine and beer. We were discussing various prices and wines that weren't stocked where he works. A female Warehouse staff member asked us for ID. She also asked if any were family members. I said one is my son and the other are his friends but they are with me and I take responsibility for them. She said I could only take responsibility for my son and we needed to leave the alcohol section. We all duly left but I said it seemed very ridiculous as we were only viewing and the boys were supervised by me. I trust the Warehouse staff would accost each and every person who visits the alcohol section."
