Sideswipe

Make your own food apparition to start a bidding frenzy on Trade Me.

Using a previous parking ticket to avoid further parking infringements is not the only trick motorists try on. Murray Hunter of Ellerslie once saw a courier van in busy, 5pm peak-hour traffic in North Sydney pull up on to the concrete triangle at traffic lights, the driver lift the bonnet as if the van was broken down, look in all directions in case a parking officer was in sight and take his parcel into the lift of an adjoining high-rise office block.

"I was still in the queue when he reappeared, lowered the bonnet and drove off. Also in Sydney peak hour on a busy main road leading from Peakhurst to Hurstville, I watched a woman come out from her house and press the button on the pedestrian lights.

"She did not cross, but when it changed to walk, she called out to her husband, who drove out in his car and turned left. He had clear entry then as all the other cars were queued up the other side of the red light. Otherwise he would have waited for ages for a break in the traffic. 'A' for initiative for both peak-hour manoeuvres."

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Product placement wheedles its way into kids' books: a book publisher has partnered CoverGirl cosmetics in a new, young-adult novel called Cathy's Book. It's the story of a teenaged girl who decides to investigate the mysterious disappearance of her boyfriend, documenting her investigation in a journal, filled with her notes, sketches and pieces of evidence ... and lots of subliminal advertising for CoverGirl. The book includes references to CoverGirl Lipslicks, a brand of lipstick, and a specific colour of CoverGirl eyeliner. One cartoon supposedly drawn by the main character in the book, describes herself as "Artist! Detective! UnderCover Girl." (Source: New York Times)

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Further to the urgent measures some Aucklanders went to to get coffee during the power cut: A city advertising agency sent one of its minions over the harbour bridge in search of coffee - polystyrene box and all, for insulation.

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Sesame Street has always been good at including characters who reflect the colours of the rainbow, but it hasn't been good at giving the nod to the sisterhood: the first new, female muppet to be introduced on the show in 13 years will be a pink "fairy-in-training" named Abby whose catchphrase is "that's so magic", according to a Sesame Workshop press release.

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Irony at a Texas spelling bee: 14-year-old Caitlin Campbell couldn't spell "collyrium", but someone couldn't spell her last name. A billboard went up in this Panhandle city to honour Caitlin's eighth-place finish in the national spelling bee after failing to spell collyrium (eye lotion). It reads: "Congratulations! Caitlin Cambell for making Amarillo proud." (A new prime-time New Zealand series based on the spelling bee phenomenon is in production. The programme-makers have trawled the country looking for celebrities to participate.)