Sideswipe: September 21: Family Portrait

Hans Eijkelboom, 'With My Family' (1973).

In 1973, for a series entitled "With my Family", Dutch photographer Hans Wijkelboom would ring the doorbells of strangers' houses after he saw the husbands leave for work. He would then convince their wives to pose in a family portrait with him in the place of the father. ⁣⁣⁣⁣Another title for this series might as well be "Portrait of women who don't listen to true crime podcasts."⁣⁣

Fake it til you make it

Do you not interview well, but really want that job? This could be for you. Companies that do a lot of remote work, hire people through online interviews, or overseas jobs are encountering proxies. These are people who pretend to be the actual applicants. Such applicants may pay stand-ins up to $150 per hour to disguise themselves as the applicants and bluff their way through interviews. This is especially common for knowledge workers, such as those in information technology fields.

Irony in action

Three-car convoy explained

A reader on the Waikato Expressway noticed two police cars with a van in between them maintaining 110km/h with just a car length between them and wondered what was going on. Clive suggested that police are escorting prisoners from Auckland courts to Meremere prison, but Graham Worner has a fuller explanation: "This is the typical way of moving the occupants of the central vehicle safely, securely, and generally speedily," he says. "While travelling in very close formation, the driver in the lead vehicle has control over the convoy and is in constant radio communication with the two vehicles behind. The lead driver determines the speed of the convoy, and when it is to pass other vehicles, turn, or stop ... This is to ensure the security of the central vehicle, as the close following distances prevent any other vehicle from passing and getting between the convoy vehicles and potentially forcing them to stop, or of the convoy being split up at traffic lights, etc. Remember in 2004 Helen Clark travelled in such a motorcade through the South Island at speeds up to 172 km/h - she did have an All Blacks match to attend that evening though.

Recognising odd research

Duckling physics. Two groups were jointly awarded the physics Ig Nobel for research that showed ducklings swim in single file to conserve energy and surf in their mother's wake. "It all has to do with the flow that occurs behind that leading organism and the way that moving in formation can actually be an energetic benefit," Frank Fish at West Chester University in Pennsylvania tells the AP.