Sideswipe: September 17: I can see feminism clearly now

Before lockdown Shelly had the most hilarious meeting with a total stranger in the aisle of the huge $2 shop on K Road. "We got chatting as she was totally cracking up over this gem of a find, and I just had to take a photo .. no idea of her name, but we were united in our humour and total conviction this was the best find EVER in a $2 shop! Post lockdown I'm going to go back and buy a stack of them for all the weddings to come for the rest of my life."

Reality TV formula applied to activism

If you think pitting activists against each other in an X Factor-style reality show is a terrible idea, you're not alone. CBS is being widely criticised over The Activist, a show set to premiere in October in which six activists from around the world focusing on health, education, or the environment will "compete in missions, media stunts, digital campaigns and community events aimed at garnering the attention of the world's most powerful decision-makers", according to a CBS release. The winners will get a chance to lobby world leaders at the G20 summit, with "The Activist" crowned in the fifth and final episode. "A reality competition show on who can be the next Insta-activist?" tweeted writer Stephanie Yeboah. "It kinda makes light of the hard work a lot of grassroots organisations do on the ground, on a daily basis. Gross." The Washington Post declared: "Effective activism requires solidarity with Sisyphus. Setbacks don't stop warriors for change from trying to push that rock up the hill. And they don't get voted off the hill or made to feel like a loser."

Before the remote control

Kitchen Aid

"Three male offspring, aged 9–14 years, of one of the authors were observed to experience visual problems profound enough to imply functional blindness. The visual deficit was evident on almost every occasion when any one of the children of this physician went to the refrigerator and opened the door. The acute visual problem encountered was noted to be part of a consistent behaviour pattern, wherein a few seconds after the fridge door was opened a cry would be heard from the affected child of 'Mum, where's the milk?' This from 'Refrigerator Blindness: Selective Loss of Visual Acuity in Association With a Common Foraging Behaviour'."

Bot Obit

Yesterday's obituary written by a bot was actually from a book: "I Forced a Bot to Write This Book" by Keaton Patti. The comedic obituary is written by the brain of a human being, not a bot.