"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
Sideswipe: August 11: Appetiser not so appetising

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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