Sideswipe

Flavour of the Month? Spotted at Wendy's in Hamilton.

Lynne McCarthy of Mt Eden Rd has a brickbat for the Post Office on Manukau Rd, Epsom. She writes: "Keen to post an eagerly awaited parcel to my daughter in Dunedin, and sporting a large and cumbersome cast on my right and broken arm, I asked the woman serving if she would be kind enough to address the envelope for me. No, we are not allowed to write things for people, I was briskly informed. Write things! I wasn't asking her to write a letter, or even fill in a form, just a four-line, easily spelt address".

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Italy's World Cup losers: An Italian electrical chain has lost $12 million after it ran a campaign offering customers who bought TVs their money back if Italy won the World Cup. Sales at Mediaworld's 65 stores jumped 30 per cent in the promotion. (Source: the Scotsman)

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Can Te Radar spell "haircut" in this week's episode of The Great New Zealand Spelling Bee? Local blogger Meat and Two Veg writes: "Now, on a good day I might be prepared to watch 'celebrities' dance. Y'know, good on them for giving it a crack, and all that. 'Celebrities' going feral on a tropical island; I could cope with that in small doses, if absolutely necessary. But 'celebrities' ... spelling?"

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When publicity goes bad. A reader writes: "Just a further follow-up on the Remuera sundial. Sadly, following all the publicity around the incorrect positioning of the sundial and the successful repositioning including photos - the top was stolen the following weekend."

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Richard Donald of Queenstown says: "The best solution for Mac users who cannot read URLs like Air NZ is to download another browser called CAMINO. This is the best browser for Mac users and will read any URL quite happily."

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Mark Berghan writes: "Looking at the visitors to a range of our client's websites, Mac users range from 5 per cent through to 22 per cent of total visitors; while new Mac sales may not be as high as PC, I believe their built-in longevity (our oldest useable machine here is 6 years old) as against PC built-in obsolescence means the number of live computers out there that are Mac is seriously understated. A good point to raise with the company accountants looking to stretch their IT budget?"

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Tony Forster writes: "After being exhorted for years to 'support your national airline', I put up with less leg room and poorer service for my first international flights. I stopped flying Air NZ International when I found Air NZ regularly serving AUSTRALIAN wines on their aircraft. Now I shall cease flying with Air NZ domestic as a result of being discriminated against because I happen to use a Mac."