Sideswipe: April 27: Long haul from Napier?

Via FlightRadar24' app

Via FlightRadar24' app.

Ivor was surprised to see a new 'Napier to Singapore' route had opened up, according to his FlightRadar24' app. "No announcements from the Minister of Transport or Tourism however...I am not sure how popular it would be - 18 and a half hours sitting in a a twin-engine turboprop short-haul regional airliner might put a lot of punters off."

Mellow on yellow

Tony Marks of Omaha writes: "What people say they will buy and what they actually buy are often very different. Years ago, while working for an ice cream company, we were offered five containers of bananas free as the market had crashed. Some quick research indicated people would love banana ice cream. We made two tonnes. When I left over a year later, we still had 95 per cent unsold ... yellow cars suffer the same fate I understand."

Caterpillar communications

Masked birch caterpillars "rub hairs on their rear ends against [leaves] to create vibrations," according to an April National Geographic report. But a forthcoming article by Carleton University biologists describes that "drumming" as actually part of their "sophisticated signalling repertoire" to attract others, not for mating but for assistance in silk-spinning their protective cocoons. The researchers' "laser vibrometer" detects sound likely inaudible to humans, but when the caterpillars feed, it's clearly audible, said the researcher. (Via: Weird Universe)

A saviour for rough hands

The building site creams are standard fare in workshops, writes a reader. "They've been around at least 30 years. When you work with raw materials or oil covered metals all day, it can be pretty rough on your hands over a period of time. The barrier and 'after work' creams are exceptionally good at preventing ingrained dirt/dryness/infections etc, and save a heap of time cleaning hands - you'd be mad not to use them."

William is not optimistic about meeting someone cool on Tinder.

Read this: The Reddit forum (r/Childfree) is a place where Reddit users who don't like kids can complain about the baby pictures in their Facebook timeline and any IRL encounters with other people's "crotchspawn" who are referred to with deep sarcasm as "snowflakes", explains SomethingAwful.com. (Mostly they brag about the benefits of living childfree and the persecution they feel about being without kids).

Local: 15 Easy Step to buying a house in Auckland by local poet, rapper and spoken word performer Tourettes aka Dominic Hoey (Check out more of his work here...https://tourettesone.bandcamp.com)

Video: The audio from a BBC News report on North Korean military parade held in honor of Kim Jong-un's birthday has been played over footage of the parade held in London in honor of Queen Elizabeth's 89th birthday last year to produce a wry piece of satire...

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