Sideswipe: August 19: Higher thought

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Health and safety notices and warnings cater to all levels of intelligence.

Stranger than fiction

* A school bus driver on Long Island, New York, was fired after he stopped to pick up three cops stranded during a violent rainstorm because he violated company policy against picking up strangers while a child was aboard.

* A US woman called 911 to tell police that her house had been burgled. When they got there she said the only thing stolen was the remote control to her TV and it wasn't possible she'd misplaced it. The officers found it.

A Dunne deal

A reader writes: "Could I publicly (but anonymously) thank Peter Dunne. As legal highs were made illegal this week, I thought it would be a good idea to buy some online last weekend. I knew that manufacturers were going to be dumping a lot of stock. So I ordered a small bag for $20. I think it was 1.25g. I could not believe the package that came today. I received over an ounce of Kronic Tropical Explosion, which retails for more than $200."

Strange sights in the city

A reader writes: "On Tuesday between 8am and 9am my wife and I took our dog for a walk and saw the most bizarre sight on St Heliers Bay beach - a man sitting on a pool lounger with what appeared to be his belongings and a jet ski bobbing in the tide at his feet. Bearing in mind the temperature was about 7C, we thought he must have been asked to leave his normal abode and wondered how long he stayed there."

Rainbows' mixed messages

"A city decorated with rainbows is a lovely idea," writes a reader. "But as rainbows are now a widely used symbol of Gay Pride, Roger of Te Atatu's idea to change Auckland from the City of Sails to the City of Rainbows might prove to be as big a public relations disaster as Telecom wanting us all to abstain for the Boys in Black. It's sad how words and images get hijacked and lose their universality."