Sideswipe: Danger - meerkats ahead

What to do when your lazy flatmate drops a chip on the kitchen floor? Photo / Supplied

Warning signs have been put up at Longleat Safari Park in England, where meerkats mingle with visitors, after the animals developed a fetish for women's feet. The small mammals are attracted to painted toenails and colourful sandals and sniff, jump on or nip at visitors sporting either. ( Daily Mail)

Victory for law and order

Sheriffs in Danville, Iowa, are cracking down on the unregulated gambling world of mouse racing. Officers raided the Bucktail Lodge and shut down the popular races. The owners said the censure is as silly as their pastime. "We don't consider it gambling at all; just people having fun. When the mice aren't competing, they are adored as pets in the family's apartment above the bar."

Karma comes rolling back ...

Shirley writes: "While sitting in our local after-hours emergency clinic on Sunday morning with my son and his broken arm, I was surprised to see the brand name of a wheelchair - Karma. Is that a bit mean?"

Unwanted donation

Fundraiser Jo Morgan writes: "When emptying a donation box for Hospice South Auckland last week at a local dairy, I was amused to find a $5000 note (play money) among the coins. It was either from a sweet child or a cheeky adult with a sense of humour!"

Footnote to naked feet debate

Final word on naked feet: 1) Millie writes: "As a child we were always sent off to school with shoes on but there was a hole in the bank down the road where these shoes were stuffed until home time. And there is nothing more satisfying than crunching icy puddles with bare feet." 2) Helen writes: "Dr Libby Weaver's Facebook page suggests there's some great research that says we need to spend more time with our bare feet on the ground. The Earth's surface offers us electrons, negatively charged little things that have a powerful anti-inflammatory action in the body. So take your shoes off and go outside whenever you can!"

Sober view of drinking and driving

Denise reckons it's illegal to have an open vessel of alcohol in a vehicle, but James reckons she's got it wrong. "Actually, the law is clear," he says. "You may drink alcohol in a motor vehicle as long as you are under the legal drink-drive limit. NZ has no such 'open container' laws as in the US, apart from local council alcohol ban areas."