Sideswipe: May 19: Not sounding appetising in Matamata

Not sounding appetising in Matamata ... Photo / Supplied

Models stuck in past

The average female mannequin represents a body type that's not just underweight, but dangerously thin, says a new study in the Journal of Eating Disorders. Measuring the sizes of mannequins from 17 fashion retailers in the U.K found that 100 per cent of female mannequins were underweight, while only 8 per cent of male mannequins were. In 1992, Finnish researchers examined six female mannequins made in Italy, Japan and Malaysia between the 1920s and 1960s, and found that if real women had the body dimensions of these dummies, they would be unable to menstruate. So nothing changes in 80 years? Well maybe with enlightened cultures - a new law in France means models will need to provide a doctor's certificate and in print where the model's body has been digitally retouched will have to be labelled. And some shops in the UK, like Debenhams, have rolled out UK size 16 mannequins.

The Lady with the Lamp passes into obscurity

"My friend, having a procedure done at Auckland Hospital, remarked to his nurse 'I wonder what Florence Nightingale would have made of all this?'

"Reply was ... 'did she use to work here?'"

University's long tentacles

In Barcelona, in what must be almost the literal other side of the world, Gareth found this T-shirt for the Auckland University Goat Island research facility.

Milk conundrum deepens

The milk situation is far more complex than this one sign tells us. We have also received this email: "Every week litres of expired milk are poured down the sinks at AUT due to an oversupply in most of our kitchens. To cut waste, be more environmentally responsible and save money, from May 11 we will reduce the supply of milk to kitchens and only provide blue and light blue. If you find the daily allowance for your kitchen is inadequate and require extra milk, please send an email request ... and we will adjust your supply. It appears we have a case of Schrodinger's milk - simultaneously not enough and yet too much."

Cat's eye nowhere to be seen

Paul Milner of Algies Bay writes: "I have discovered a way to fill friends with an almost manic need to prove me wrong, causing them to wander aimlessly staring at the ground as they walk the beaches. I arrived in NZ back in 1980 and I used to collect the cat's eye shellfish along Milford beach. Recently I have realised that cat's eye seem to have disappeared from beaches around Auckland. We now live on the Mahurangi Peninsula and can find none here, there used to be thousands. I've mentioned this to others and you can see them wandering, staring at the beach as they go. None have been found. Where have our cat's eye gone?"

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