Sideswipe: August 11: Appetiser not so appetising

"When I was about 12 or 13 I went with my family to (the only) posh Japanese restaurant in our little city," writes Gabriele Kembuan on Quora.com. "I thought the small white thing on the platter was an appetiser of some sort, like a mini roll cake covered in coconut shavings. I grabbed it with my chopsticks and started to eat it. It was a hot hand towel, though, and my brother burst into a very loud non-stop laughter."

Tinkering with the starter's gun

The realisation that the gun used to start an Olympic race gave an advantage to the athlete in the lane nearest it led to loudspeakers being put in each lane. This is significant in the likes of the 4x100m relay, where starters are staggered round the first turn of track. "Scientists have calculated the sound of the gun in such a race will reach the outermost runner 0.150sec after the innermost runner. This is a big deal in sprinting - amounting to a metre or more at the finish line. Furthermore, the sound of the gun is louder when it arrives at the closer runners' ears. Scientists at the University of Alberta have found that a louder signal is more likely to lead to a startle response in runners, lowering their reaction time by up to 0.018sec." (Via elitefeet.com)

...and the lame shall walk

It's (not) a miracle! News nostalgia from May 1984: Jan Lavric was wheeled forward in a wheelchair to receive a blessing from Pope John Paul II. Blessing received, he was wheeled back, at which point he promptly stood up, folded the chair, and carried it away. "It must be a miracle," someone in the crowd gasped. Lavric later explained that it was no miracle. He was fully able-bodied. He had sat down in the wheelchair because it was the only seat left in the audience chamber, and he had been too embarrassed to say anything when a Swiss Guard unexpectedly wheeled him forward.

Persistence knows no bounds.

(via TinderNightmares on Instagram)

No medal for this man

A reader writes: "Watching the Olympics with my nearly 3-year-old and an ad for a beach lifesaving show comes on. We see a man being pulled from the water. "What happened to that man?" she asks. "He couldn't swim and had water in his lungs and wasn't breathing so the lifeguards rescued him." Without missing a beat she replies, "Oh. He won't get a medal then."

Tunnels for birds?

Simon contended that the Waiwera Viaduct and Johnstone's Hill tunnels were built to preserve the wetland and endangered birds, but Gordon Jackson of Papakura says: "The shortest distance between two points is the most direct line. Travel is engineered around this principle with time travelled being a measure. Read any report on a new bypass and that's the most forwarded fact. Okay, so the birds benefit in some instances."

Picture this: Scandinavian Airlines released a collection of vintage photographs of on board dining in the 1950s to 1980s. It seems so elaborate compared to modern flying...

Picture this: Funny gurning of Olympic gymnasts...

Olympic cringe: During the Parade of Nations at the Rio 2016 opening ceremony, the flag bearer for Tonga (Pita Taufatofu) caused raised eyebrows with his oiled-up-ness. So it became a thing and NBC's Today Show invited Taufatofua, an Olympic taekwondo athlete, onto the show so they could rub him down with oil while he tried to talk about sport...

Video: Best Olympic Bloopers (also featuring Pita Taufatofu)...

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Got a Sideswipe? Send your pictures, links and anecdotes to Ana at ana.samways@nzherald.co.nz