Sideswipe: June 2: Cloud pareidolia … what can you see?

Photo by John Hodgson.

Reverse psychology works on kids

1. "When I was a kid I refused to get up in the morning. My mum said we were going to trick my dad into thinking I was still asleep. So she made me put on clothes and then hide under the covers and pretend to be asleep. Then my dad would come in to wake me up and I would 'fool' him because I was already dressed and ready. This worked on me for years and I never questioned it. In hindsight it's pretty obvious that my parents just wanted me to get dressed without a fuss."
2. "I substitute teach sometimes, and if I get word ahead of time that the class is rowdy, I'll pretend I lost my voice. I write stuff down on a mini whiteboard, type on a screen. The students see that I need their help and they're a little easier to deal with. Facial expressions and gestures end up creating a naturally quiet environment. Always fun to surprise the kids at the end when I speak lol."
3. "My dad used to play a game to see who could match and fold the most laundry. He never once won."

Red paper clip yarn

In 2006, Canadian blogger Kyle MacDonald traded a red paper clip for a fish-shaped pen. Then, in successive transactions, he bartered his way up to a hand-sculpted doorknob; a Coleman camp stove; a Honda generator; an empty keg with an IOU for beer; a snowmobile; a two-person trip to Yahk, British Columbia; a box truck; a recording contract; a year's rent in Phoenix, Arizona; an afternoon with Alice Cooper; a motorised Kiss snow globe; a role in the film Donna on Demand; and a two-storey farmhouse in Kipling, Saskatchewan. "A lot of people have been asking how I've stirred up so much publicity around the project," he told the BBC, "and my simple answer is: 'I have no idea.'"

Theft of washing machine

There is such a thing as too much devotion

A reader writes: "My first boyfriend gave me a wooden box with a padlock on it for Christmas one year, handed me the key and told me not to open it until I got home. I opened it and inside was a little jar of his blood, and a little jar of his tears. I was 17 and mortified. Also couldn't fathom how he got enough tears to fill a small jar, so I asked him. Turns out he'd plucked all his nose hairs and eyelashes to gather them."