Sideswipe: February 10: What's in a name?

1. The town of Boring, Oregon, and the town of Dull, in Scotland, have been sister cities since 2012. In 2017, they added Bland Shire, Australia, to their "League of Extraordinary Communities" and the towns Ordinary and Dreary in America will also be added

2. During prohibition, moonshiners would wear "cow shoes". The fancy footwear left hoofprints instead of footprints, helping distillers and smugglers evade police.

3. Guinness once estimated that 93,000 litres of beer was lost in facial hair each year in the UK alone.

4. Blood donors in Sweden receive a thank-you text when their blood is used. The message is along the lines of: "Thank you, the blood you gave is now benefiting a patient."

I didn't know you could lease a baby?

Unlock all articles by subscribing to this international offer

All Access Weekly

Herald Premium, Viva Premium, The Listener & BusinessDesk

Pay just

$15.75

$2

per week ongoing

See all offers

Already a subscriber? Sign in here

The description of this property management company in Melbourne says: "Tinder for Tenants. Swipe right for residential. Lease. Love. Bond with your landlord."

Keep up with the latest in lifestyle and entertainment

Get the latest lifestyle & entertainment headlines straight to your inbox.

Please email me competitions, offers and other updates. You can stop these at any time.

Email address

Sign Up

By signing up for this newsletter, you agree to NZME’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Waitressing can be weird

"It was a Saturday night and the restaurant I work at on a busy corner is full. A car didn't make the turn and drove into a nearby house ... The police/firetruck/ambulance all came. They were there for at least an hour trying to figure out how to get the car out ... red and blue lights covering the whole restaurant. Most guests found it entertaining except one table called me over. 'Could you do something about those lights?' I thought she was kidding and laughed but her face was dead serious. 'That's the police, I'm not going across the street to tell them to turn off their lights. You can go ahead, though.' The rest of the table giggled but she wasn't amused."

"I once had a lady freak out about her child inhaling secondhand smoke in the restaurant. It was from the fajitas being delivered to the next table over."

"Woman came in and ordered a vodka soda no ice, then proceeded to pour it into her feeding tube. I mean, who am I to judge, right? The next drink she ordered was the house chard."

Dad joke

Romance is dead

If you're after a skanky, bucket-list-ticking Valentine's Day, for US$995 ($1496), Love Cloud will fly you and a partner in a private aeroplane for 45 minutes so that you can have sex. You could pay US$1195 to get married on board. For US$100 more, it can be booked for a romantic one-course meal; for US$1595, you'll get three courses. With any package, an extra US$300 will get you a bottle of bubbly and ride to the tarmac in a limousine. But according to Andy Johnson, 40, a pilot and the founder of Love Cloud, its Mile High Club Flight, which comes with a commemorative membership card signed by the pilot, remains the business's most popular offering.