Sideswipe: July 26: Unfortunate letter placement

Unfortunate letter placement at the craft shop.

Fatal clash of priorities

Hundreds of sheep in a flock belonging to a farmer in Couflens in the southwest of France have plunged to their deaths in what appears to be a bear attack on one of the sheep. As the Guardian reports, the attack on one sheep is believed to have startled the 209 others, which went over a cliff in an apparent bid to flee. That cliff sits on the border with Spain, and most of the 169 recovered bodies were found in the Spanish village Lladorre; the rest ended up on the French side of the border. The French government, which has been reintroducing brown bears to the Pyrenees for the last 20 years after hunters depleted the native population, will compensate the farmer but a local branch of the French farmers' federation is furious. Sheep breeders have previously protested the presence of bears and wolves.

News nostalgia

Australia's Herald Sun newspaper ran a story in 2014 that suggested the Irish use potatoes as a form of currency, outraging the Irish community. Reporting on the Melbourne Cup horse race, journalist Matt Stewart wrote: "It's worth $6 million and they swarm from everywhere, from rich countries like Japan to countries offering up not much more than potatoes, like Ireland, to win it." Ireland's Ambassador to Australia Noel White called the piece "deeply offensive". "This bizarre remark is at odds with Ireland's role as a leading player in the global bloodstock industry," said White. "More importantly, it is deeply offensive to Irish people and to Australians of Irish descent. Mr Stewart should know better." Stewart tweeted an apology and an explanation. "Apologies to the Irish! Did not mean to offend with 'potato' line in M Cup wrap. Only meant economy/race prize money struggling! Sorry!," he wrote.

One wedding and a potential funeral

Wedding DJs witness speeches that don't go down well ... "This wedding was a very traditional one; the bride and groom looked like a real life Ken and Barbie," Simon tells Vice.com. "The father of the bride got up to speak. All was going well until he started saying how women are the property of their husbands. He also threw in some stuff about economic supply and demand, and the principles of sex in a marriage. I think he was trying to be funny, but the bride wasn't laughing No one else was either."

Mobility park snap unfairly framed as survival of the fittest

Guy from Les Mills writes: "Yes, at first it's not a good look is it - having a branded vehicle in a mobility park? What the photo didn't capture was the mobility parking permit on the dashboard that a staffer's elderly father has. The staffer was helping her terminally ill father get to Eastridge ... We usually try to park as far away as possible from stores, do 10 burpees crossing the carpark, following by a couple of one-armed press-ups against the lampposts, topped off with some lunges through the electronic doors. The staffer's father just wasn't up for that on Sunday."

Scam backfires

Stephen Masumbo messaged the woman on Facebook and started flirting with her. During the course of the conversation he started declaring his love to her and asking for money so he could fly from Africa to come live with her in Britain. Sadly for Stephen, not only did the woman not fall for it, but she ended up scamming him back.

Video pick

In case you missed Japanese comedian Kazuhisa Uekusa's impressive tablecloth party trick, here it is...

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