Sideswipe: Leaf it out – May 2010

Christopher Bligh of Birkenhead couldn’t believe it when the North Shore City Council road marking contractors didn’t bother sweeping the leaves out of the way when they redid the yellow lines outside his house (pictured).

Todd off

Nightline’s 20-year anniversary programme on Friday trotted out who they referred to as “ladies of the night” from over the years – lovely to see the mature lady faces on screen for a change – although I cringed a bit at the transition from strapless and sequined newsreaders, to slain bottle store owner Navtesh Singh’s grieving wife and her victim impact statement. Then poor Ali Ikram had the onerous task of resurrecting Belinda Todd in an awkward, unrevealing live cross from LA (worth watching only for the clip of Todd’s ironically bad sitcom Melody Rules). Give that man a drink. He earned it. And after all that, the next day TV3 boss Mark Jennings threatens to bring her back; telling the Herald on Sunday, “I think we’ve lost a huge talent with her. She looked fantastic and was as razor sharp as she always was.” Huh? Sure, bring back Nightline’s trademark quirkiness (which has been undetectable for many years now) but please leave Todd in LA.

Stuck for words

A miffed customer can’t believe an Auckland supermarket is charging an extra $1.33 for limited edition pink Blu-Tack ($4.72), compared with the same 75gm packet of standard blue Blu-Tack ($3.39). “And it’s even more shocking to learn that only 20c is going towards the NZ Breast Cancer Foundation. Shame on whoever is leveraging off a good cause and pocketing the remaining $1.13 change.”

Hair of the dog

About 40,000 dog groomers and hair salons around the US are collecting all the loose hair they accumulate to donate it to A Matter of Trust – a non-profit organisation which will use the hair in the Gulf of Mexico to clean up the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. One kilogram of dog hair can absorb eight cups of oil in about a minute. The hair, and donated nylon stockings, are being made into booms to soak up the oil.

Friendly fire

Is Facebook jumping the shark? “Is anyone else getting strangers’ status updates in their Facebook news feed? I noticed today there is a status via Blackberry of a stranger, “liked” by two other strangers, in my news feed – no connection to any of my friends. I don’t think I have been hacked into as my friend list remains the same and I haven’t clicked on any applications or links. Has Facebook thought of a new way to use “public” information? ”