Sideswipe: July 4: Dishing up some 'crocadile chicken'

"Saw this in a supermarket in Glen Eden - crocadile chicken," write Terry and Sheena, of Waiatarua. "It seemed to be an entire bird carcass that had then been flattened by a steamroller!"

Perils of petrol-pump control

A reader writes: "I was putting petrol in my car at a BP on the Shore when I spilled the precious liquid all over myself. I am quite adamant the pump was controlled by the cashier, who manually turns on the pumps after verifying customers are not 'skippers'. I was in the process of taking the nozzle out and my finger was still on the trigger. The car still stinks of petrol inside and I still have not got rid of the stench on my jacket. BP should have helped cleaned up the spill."

Crispy pigs' ears, anyone?

"Make sure your pigs' ears are free of hair" starts this recipe for fried pigs' ear salad by New York chef April Bloomfield. Wait, that's gross, you said? Chances are you love bacon but why not also love the rest of the pig? In an interview with National Public Radio's Linda Wertheimer, Bloomfield explains her love of pigs. One part of her book A Girl and Her Pig is called The Not-So-Nasty Bits, which exemplifies her nose-to-tail philosophy, though it's not for readers who shy away from the idea of eating ears. "I love anything crispy so, you know, it's very natural for me to have crispy pigs' ears," she says. (Source: Neatorama.com)

Not quite conscientious

"A big thank you to channel Four for screening its AO programmes after 8.30pm to protect our children from violence/swearing/sex, etc, that they are not yet ready to be exposed to," writes a parent. "But duh! Why on Earth do you broadcast preview ads for these AO programmes while kids are watching at much earlier times? I now have to field questions from my 11-year-old son such as, 'Mum, what does bi-curious mean?"'

Scots' healthy pizza

A nutritionist has teamed up with an entrepreneur to produce what they claim are the first nutritionally balanced pizzas. The pizzas are said to contain 30 per cent of an adult's guideline daily amount of vitamins and minerals. They are also said to have a third of the recommended amount of calories, protein and carbohydrate. The pizzas were created by Mike Lean, of Glasgow University, and businessman Donnie Maclean. (via BBC.co.uk)