Sideswipe: June 9: Reverse psychology labelling

Matt didn't think the understated sales technique would work

Minister needs to do the maths properly

"Did no one pick this up from the  woman supposedly in charge of educating our children?" asks a reader. "Hekia Parata said it was simple to get back to chanting times tables 'Nine ones are nine. Nine twos are 18. Nine threes are 27 ...' She stopped right there! But  that's actually the wrong way round to learn them. The nine times table is counting in nines, therefore should be learned saying, one nine is nine, two nines are 18 etc. Why is it that it's politicians who bring this out in me?"?

You're not in hot water

Q: "The kids had a bath last night, the hot water cylinder did not seem to heat up any hot water during the night. Cold shower this morning. And most times we cannot get two showers in the mornings. WT ... ?"

A: "This happened to us too, but thought you might want to know that our cylinder was actually fine. The power companies can turn off your cylinder at their discretion, remotely (according to demand, particularly after an outage) and sometimes they fail to turn them on again. Sounds unbelievable, but totally true. Just thought you might want to check in with your power company before you throw away a perfectly good cylinder like we nearly did. It should be common knowledge but it isn't." (Via Facebook)

Messing with Milo ... and now Milk Bottles

The mighty Milo has suffered a recipe change. Well, so too have  Milk Bottles lollies, reckons Madeline Hernon. "I bought a packet - ate three and threw them out. I expressed my concerns to a    connoisseur of the  icon - and he  ate one and then biffed the  packet.  Soft and flavourless. Save our Pineapple Lumps before they suffer the same fate."

Start of a stormy relationship ...

"I really hope my love is immortalised on a plaque at the base of an old stormwater pipe one day," says Nikki, who discovered the plaque while walking at Narrow Neck just before the headland, above the high-tide mark. "I like to think they were stranded  up there by the incoming tide and began talking and by the time the tide went down they were on their way to being best friends or lovers," she says. "Although in reality it could  have just been some elaborate retirement send-off at Watercare for a long-serving storm water engineer."

A romantic find.

Picture this: Some wonderful photos from Mike Chunn of Spilt Enz from his personal archive...

Picture this: Some wonderful Sexy Retro Caftan action...

Crime and Punishment: This guy was caught on a security camera allegedly with a stolen card after allegedly robbing a car in Te Atatu. He was allegedly identified on Facebook and a reader went to his page. "He lists his job as "robbing cars" and even has a photo of himself in a balaclava brandishing a gun!" she laughs. What a try-hard. (NZ Police can find more info here...If you want to, like, catch him)

Video: The Electric Knife Orchestra Presents Stayin' Alive...

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Got a Sideswipe? Send your pictures, links and anecdotes to Ana at ana.samways@nzherald.co.nz