Sideswipe

Members of the All Black squad left to right Chris Jack, Richie McCaw, Doug Howlett and Aaron Mauger with Wayne Smith (C).

What looks more like a bedtime story for the boys in black (above) is actually one of those cheesy, contrived publicity shots promoting Graham Hutchins' new book, 101 Years of All Black Trivia. The Irish should think of this photo during the haka.

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A reader writes: "On Wednesday two young men parked on Princes Street, they get out of their gray two-door Nissan. One reaches toward the windshield and places a parking ticket under the windshield wiper. He even folds the ticket the way a parking warden would do. I guess they think the parking warden won't bother checking the ticket or presume a colleague issued it earlier".

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A reader from Birkenhead writes: "In March this year I tried to report the death of my 15-year-old dog to the North Shore City Council, but the receptionists refused to accept this information without a death certificate from a vet or other evidence. The reason? The public might steal dog tags and claim registration refunds. Pleading that I had ID confirming my address and therefore ownership of the dog and that they had accepted his birth and subsequent lifetime of registration payments without a birth certificate got me nowhere. So my dear old dog lives on in limbo and unless he's exhumed I may be liable. Readers who think they know their dead dog when they see it have the disturbing task of transporting the body to a vet and paying for confirmation that dog is truly gone".

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At an outdoor press conference this week, President Bush needled Los Angeles Times reporter Peter Wallsten after he stood up to ask a question wearing sunglasses. "Are you going to ask that question with shades on?" Bush said, commenting that there wasn't any sun. Wallsten is legally blind from a rare genetic disorder called Stargardts disease. The disease is a form of macular degeneration that can be slowed by wearing UV-protective sunglasses and avoiding exposure to bright light. "I never advertise it to him. I've never told him". (Source: Thinkprogressive.org)