Sideswipe: September 12: Minty fresh Mojito

Sideswipe - ana.samways@nzherald.co.nz·NZ Herald·

11 Sep, 2014 05:00 PM3 mins to read

Opinion by Ana SamwaysLearn more

"I ordered a virgin Mojito," writes Allison. "The barman looked confused. I proceeded to explain the contents. My last item was loads of mint. What a surprise to find a different mint in the bottom of my glass."

Does TV news play favourites?

Question: A reader writes - "I was watching TV3 news this morning. There were two news items about floods. The first one was about floods in India, where 175-plus people have lost their lives. This ran for 30 secs to 1 minute. A couple of minutes after, there was news about floods in Las Vegas. This item was 2-3 minutes long, with an interview with an American guy who was trapped inside a car amidst water. My question is, why was the US news item given more coverage? Is it because showing an American guy trapped in water is more important than 175 lives? Is it not a double standard ? Or maybe one American is superior to 100-plus Indian fellows?"

Answer: No. The US has many more newsfeeds, whereas India and other developing nations have less output. Plus, broadcasters believe their audiences here are more likely to have a meaningful connection to the UK and the US, which can be interpreted as what happens in US/UK is more "important".

Put in context

This chart from the BBC puts into context the latest dinosaur discovery. Scientists have uncovered bones in Argentina of what they say could be the largest dinosaur ever discovered. They've named it the Dreadnoughtus after HMS Dreadnought, a battleship. Which makes sense because this dinosaur that lived 77 million years ago probably weighed 65 tonnes and was 26m long.

Lightbulb moment for young fisher

A reader writes: "A couple of years ago while visiting Hamilton I called in to see my sister. Her son, about 10 years old at the time and knowing I was in the electrical trade, asked me what he should do if he was fishing with friends and caught an electric eel. I replied that he should carry a lightbulb with him at all times and described how it had to be a certain type where you pushed and turned it slightly to latch into the eel's mouth. Two electrical contacts on the base would contact glands just behind the eel's teeth (yes, teeth). The screw-in type bulbs with a single contact therefore couldn't work, and were too difficult anyway to screw into the mouth of a struggling eel. When the bulb lit the eel would cease struggling and he would have a really powerful torch to impress his mates. My nephew gave me a strange look, went outside and started kicking a football, occasionally glancing at me through the open door. I could almost see the question mark hovering above his head."

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