Sideswipe: August 9: Lego hitches a ride to Jupiter

Photo / Supplied

When the Juno space probe took off on Friday on its five-year journey to Jupiter, there were three Lego minifigures aboard. The aluminium figures include the likeness of Roman god Jupiter, his sister Juno and the Italian astronomer Galileo. The secret installation was initiated by Nasa scientists. Lego underwrote the project at a cost of US$5000 ($6000) for each of the figures, which will become the farthest flying toys.
(Source: Wired.com)

TV camera irks live viewers

Paul from Devonport witnessed a superb All Blacks performance on Saturday. "The experience was marred only by our view being restricted by a camera gantry which caused antagonism in the lower east section. Surely this arrangement of pandering to TV viewers at the expense of live supporters will not be continued through the World Cup - or will it?"

Catching the game by any means

Mark writes: "Family in the Admirals Club at Honolulu International Airport awaiting their flight to Auckland (and wanting to keep up with the AB/Wallabies game) came up with a wired solution when they found TVNZ On Demand works only in NZ. They Skyped Grandma on their iPad and told her to turn the webcam towards the TV, then gave a running commentary for the rest of us in the lounge."

You call that free?

Rebecca from Clevedon is hopping mad: "A rainy Sunday afternoon finds us at the nearly deserted Rialto Cinemas in Newmarket to see a 90-minute film. We park just before the movie starts at Tournament Parking, where the Rialto boasts two hours' free parking with valid movie ticket or receipt but warns charges will apply for any time over the two hours. After numerous commercials, the movie finally starts. Afterwards, we dash out as the credits roll. Following slow-moving vehicles to the exit gets us to the pay window with seven minutes overtime. They want to charge us $7.50 for the seven minutes! It's no wonder Newmarket is looking like a ghost town."

Unhealthy and unsafe? Bollocks!

"It was my birthday on Thursday," says Alan. "I took my family to Orbit Restaurant on top of the Sky Tower, with our own birthday cake. However, we were told that due to health and safety issues, we couldn't eat the cake there. What a dumb rule! We know there are restaurants charging cakeage, but this is ridiculous."

Lucky escape from Yellow Pages

Dave reckons Yellow Pages try on their roll-over antics quite often. "I received notification in November of continued advertising. I had five days to cancel from the date of the letter, which took three or four days to get to me. I cancelled via email. In March, I received an invoice. They had no record of me cancelling the advert. Luckily, I had kept my email, so forwarded it to the pushy sales lady. Lucky I didn't phone or post a letter."