Sideswipe

This 29lb snapper was stolen from the NZ Fishing World stand at the Boat Show yesterday.

In fishing circles, laying claim to someone else's catch is about as low as you can go. But that didn't stop someone snaffling a 13.15kg (29lb) snapper at the NZ Boat Show at the Auckland Showgrounds this week. The fish was stolen from the NZ Fishing World stand in Hall 5 between 11am and 12pm on Tuesday. If you've seen this fish, please phone Kevin on 021 1507-441 with any information.

* * *

Angelina and Brad must have been so busy getting the paparazzi thrown out of Namibia they didn't stop to think how their little girl would cope in the playground in later life. Those with more time on their hands suggest swapping a couple of the letters in Shiloh Pitt.

* * *

The new suffragettes: A place where men can be men, whether they are dairy farmers in Mid-Canterbury or coffee drinkers in Ponsonby, is promised by a new cyberspace magazine, www.bigfella.co.nz, which launches in July. It will be unapologetic in its "male stance". The brand will portray intelligence and sophistication without making guys feel any less like a bloke. Manager Ken Freer wants to "take back the male ego of NZ. Far too often men are being disenfranchised", he says. So to assist, from next month real men can go online to read about sport, cars, and gadgets.

* * *

Are the Jolly Poacher managers who tried to flog security camera footage of the Tana Umaga handbagging the same managers who originally told this paper the incident never even happened?

* * *

Where there are shellfish, expect shells. That was the ruling from a New York judge who recently dismissed a claim by a woman who sued a restaurant for US$750,000 ($1.2 million) after choking on a piece of mussel shell. Mary Slaymaker said she suffered a punctured throat and an infection after choking on a 2.5cm piece of shell during a meal of mussels marinara at the Blue Moon Restaurant. But state Judge John Galasso dismissed the lawsuit, saying Slaymaker should have had a "reasonable expectation" that a dish containing mussels could have shells in it. (Source: AP)

* * *

Encountering a real dead body has put one teenage criminology student off his chosen career path. Juan Cantor was one of a group of Florida students working at a fake crime scene who stumbled across a real corpse on a field trip to study forensics. "The students went up to this one area ... and found a man with his back against the wall and he looked dead. They thought it was part of the skit," said Fort Lauderdale detective Kathy Collins. There was no sign of foul play and the 45-year-old homeless man appeared to have died of natural causes, she said. It may not have been a murder, but the discovery of the dead man may have persuaded one teenager that crime-scene investigation is not his life's work. "I don't really think I could take finding any more dead bodies, especially if it was rotting," Cantor said. (Source: Reuters)