Sideswipe: May 9: Freedumb camping spot

"Two hundred metres up the road from Hobbiton - between the main road and the farm fence," writes Clinton, incredulous. "Almost like pitching your tent on a motorway ... wonder where the loos are?"

Left in the dark

The makers of these newfangled long-life lightbulbs have sent a Westmere reader back to the dark past. "I have spent hours - hours - of my life standing in front of the display at the supermarket, trying to translate old wattages into new wattages (and now lumens) and find the right combination of fitting (bayonet or screw), light quality (warm or cold) and physical size. People have come and stood beside me and then left with a sigh, sometimes a sob. I think one died of old age. The new bulbs break when you remove them to swap for another (blown) one and their long-life promises are unreliable (have they been independently verified?). They cost 10-20 times as much as ordinary bulbs. I'm off to some import warehouse to buy a tray of the incandescent variety."

Ghosts walk on Google Maps

Elle Lucciano writes on Quora: "When my great-uncle died, his house got bought and renovated by a young family. A few months later, it was on the market again and it was drastically different to how it'd been when he lived in it. My mum went on Google Maps to show us the difference of his house from how it was before he died and how it was after the renovations. She accidentally clicked the arrow to go along the road and we saw a man walking down the footpath. Zooming in closer you could see it was in fact my great-uncle (his face wasn't blurred out). What was even weirder was when we went back to look at their house, we saw his wife (who had died two years before him) cleaning the windows. They hadn't blurred her face out either!"

What the deuce?

"My young nephew emerged from his room where he had been watching TV. He positioned himself on the sofa next to his father and asked, "Dad, what is love and juice?" "Well son," replied his father, thinking looks like it's time to explain the birds and the bees, "when a man and a woman fall in love and want to spend the rest of their lives together they get married, sleep together and make love. The man's juice enters the lady's tummy and then, if all goes well, along comes a lovely baby, just as you did to your mummy and me." Because of the bewildered look on his son's face dad asked, "Er, what have you been watching?" Tennis, his son replied.

'Coal rollers' say it with smoke

In the US some people modify their cars to produce thick, black diesel smoke to protest/annoy cyclists and environmentalists. It's called "rolling coal". These drivers intentionally "roll coal" in the presence of hybrid vehicles (it is nicknamed "Prius repellent") to taunt their drivers, who are perceived as being environmentally motivated in their choice of vehicle. Coal rolling may also be directed at foreign cars, cyclists, protesters and pedestrians. (Via Wikipedia)