Sideswipe: Messing with your mind

Photo / Supplied

Spotted in a psychology department staff room at an unnamed Auckland tertiary institution.

It's an awesome life

A regular correspondent, who likes to have a good moan, has risen to the challenge of trying a positive spin. Here are his Five Things That Are Awesome. (Send in yours).

5. The new Yakitori bar at Christchurch Airport. The food at CHC used to be the worst in the Western world. Now it's awesome.

4. Online shopping when the UK exchange rate is around 2:1.

3. Britomart. It's almost like being in a real city.

2. Kapiti vanilla bean yoghurt. Just ignore the sugar content.

1. The wine sale at Countdown that seems to have been going on forever. Cheaper than duty-free.

Sports fans watch out

Vuvuzelas - the horns used by soccer fans celebrating last year's World Cup - not only cause noise pollution but may spread diseases. A short burst on the instrument creates a spittle shower similar to a sneeze, travelling at four million droplets a second, a study shows. In crowded venues one person blowing a vuvuzela could infect many others with airborne illnesses such as flu or TB. Organisers are considering whether to allow them at the 2012 London Olympics. Dr Ruth McNerney, who carried out the latest work at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said a "vuvuzela blowing etiquette" may be needed rather than a ban. (Source: The Telegraph)

Driver's beer cheek

Jim should probably stop drinking his cheeky beer on the way home from work, says Denise. "Beer o'clock driving. Jim should know it is illegal to drink while driving in NZ as you can not have an open vessel (aka a bottle of beer) in a vehicle. Booze buses, limos, boats must hold conveyance licences in order to allow drinking while their vehicle is in operation."

Tales of the great unshod

1) When Laura first moved to New Zealand in 2003, she thought there was a lot of poverty here because there were so many children without shoes. "I'm almost used to it now, but I did think it was too cold and wet in Wellington today when I saw a 4-year-old with no shoes," she says.

2) Darryn is reminded of a family trip to the UK in the summer of 1975. "Five young brothers running around in bare feet to the amazement of the English cousins. Our elderly uncle was so astonished he took us all to the local shoe store and spent £50 each on a pair of "nice black dress shoes".

3) Another reader writes: "I reminisce about the days of going barefoot to the supermarket. Now in Europe, I even feel embarrassed walking around the house barefoot - all my European flatmates wear slippers inside. In Paris, the streets are washed twice a week to get rid of the smell of dog and cat pee, so perhaps they have a reason."

4) And another reader writes: "While living in Toronto, I had to apply for permission for my 2-year-old to have bare feet inside. Day-care policy was for children to wear shoes even while sleeping, 'in case there was a fire'."