Sideswipe: June 2: It's just a phase

1. "I was VERY into Transformers when I was a wee lad in the 1980s. One day, I decided to change my name to the name of my favourite Autobot. My name was lame, and I wanted an awesome Transformer name. And I was VERY insistent that my parents only call me by my new name. Calling me by my old name would cause a big fat tantrum on my part. So for the better part of a week, my poor parents had to call me Wheeljack."

2. "I gave a girl I liked a binder off all my poetry (bad) and plays (worse) called 'The Complete Works'. Last year she emailed me out of the blue (22 years later) for my address because she found my cringe book when she was moving and wanted to mail it back to me. I now have my entire catalogue of lost self-indulgence back in my possession."

Chips with a catch

Olestra chips were being marketed as the way to enjoy your favourite carbohydrate-rich snack foods without the fat ... What's the catch? Um, "anal leakage" was a side effect. This fat replacement was indigestible and had to come back out the other end. The Olestra/Olean chips seemed to be on the market for less than a year.

Anti-progress biologist

Marine biologist Joel Hedgpeth founded the Society for the Prevention of Progress in 1945. He was its sole member. The initial inspiration for the society seems to have been to protect the environment against the "encroachment of material civilisation". According to his obituary in the Journal of Crustacean Biology: "Many grad students wanted to join this club, but Joel refused applications - growth in members would represent progress."

Shooting sheep?

Aarti Prasad spotted this sign nestled underneath One Tree Hill, among the sheep. Well, how appropriate is this sign for all of Auckland at the moment?

Party line eavesdropping

Eric Strickett writes: "Our neighbours' daughter worked at our local Henderson exchange, what she did not know about Henderson was not worth knowing! From the time you contacted the operator till when they connected you to your number they were plugged into you! Once connected they were supposed to log off, you would hear a faint click as they did! If not they were listening in! Often you could hear the other operators in the background, so you would say 'operator please log off'. She said the operators knew which ladies had gone to their doctor because they knew they were expecting and others saying hubbie has been to the doctor to have the snip. As well of course emergency callouts! While they knew everyone's business, they also saved many lives talking to people while emergency services arrive. So those were the days over 60 years ago."