"Parenting with a toddler. A photographic perspective," writes Worn Out Parent of Hamilton East.
Trolling attack has sweet result
Internet trolls took a picture of Bangladeshi cleaner Nazer al-Islam Abdul Karim looking wistfully into the window of a jewellery shop in Saudi Arabia. The picture was uploaded to Instagram with
the caption: "This man deserves to only look at rubbish." Appalled by the post, Abdullah Al-Qahtani - whose Twitter handle Ensaneyat means humanitarianism in Arabic - set out to find the man via social media. Since then the window-shopping man has been showered with gifts, including items from the jewellery shop. So far the 65-year-old has received money, bags of rice and honey, return tickets to his home country as well as two smartphones, an iPhone 7 and Samsung Galaxy.
(Source: The Telegraph)
Pessimism in pigs
According to Weird Universe, pigs are such complex animals that scientists are studying how to tell the "optimists" from the "pessimists". "British researchers writing in a recent Biology Letters described how 'proactive' porkers differed from 'reactive' ones, and, as with humans, how their particular mood at that time distinguished them as 'glass half full' rather than 'glass half empty'. (Unaddressed, of course, was specifically whether some pigs were actually 'optimistic' that the chute at the slaughterhouse might lead to a pleasant outcome.)"
Hipster Pet Rock
For sale online at Nordstroms department store: A $96 rock in a bespoke leather pouch. "A paperweight? A conversation piece? A work of art? It's up to you," reads the online product description.
The puff continues detailing the stone is smooth and "wrapped in rich, vegetable-tanned American leather secured by sturdy contrast whipstitching ... A traditional hardening process gives the leather a beautiful ombre effect.
One Twitter user asked: "Is it from somewhere special at least ... ie the moon ... somewhere, anywhere?" and another joked that it "was a real lady magnet".
In response to the incredulous reaction online to the product, owner of the leather-goods company Made Solid says, "I get it. I totally get it ... but it's something that reflects a pretty long tradition of leather work on a small scale."
Mural painted out
Correction:
This is the mural in Torbay Shopping Centre that was painted out, not the one featured in Sideswipe yesterday, which was mistakenly confirmed as the painted-over mural.
Good read: 52 things I learned in 2016, by Tom Whitwell at Fluxx. Here are four of them:
1) A Japanese insurance company is offering policies that cover social media backlash.
2) Opendoor is a controversial startup with this simple offer: "We'll buy your home for market price, based off an algorithm, within 72 hours."
3) A Californian company called Skinny Mirror sells mirrors that make you look thinner. When installed in the changing rooms of clothes shops, they can increase sales by 18%.
4) Japan Airlines serves KFC to economy class travellers during the Christmas season. The in-flight KFC has 15% more salt to compensate for the lower pressure and humidity.
Video: Six chemical reactions at a microscopic level...
Got a Sideswipe? Send your pictures, links and anecdotes to Ana at ana.samways@nzherald.co.nz