Sideswipe: Shark dog spotted in Lake Wanaka

Posted on the Queenstown Lakes District Council facebook page. @picklesthegoldenboy

History of bell-bottom jeans

Bell-bottoms are most closely associated with the peace and love era of the 1960s and '70s, but the jeans may date as far back at the 17th or 18th centuries. At the time they were worn by sailors on American ships, before they were phased out in the years after World War II). Brittany King writes in The Establishment that bell-bottoms rose to prominence among youth of the 1960s as an act of rebellion. "Instead of opting for the fitted pencil skirts of the more conservative generation prior, young people chose to literally wear their distaste for the current social climate on their sleeves. Thus, bold pieces like wide-leg jeans were adopted, defying the mainstream as a statement against unpopular involvements of the government."

If the name fits

Old school fake news

In October 1990, the Sun ran a story about a 101-year old woman who supposedly had to quit her job as a newspaper carrier because she got pregnant after being seduced by a reclusive millionaire on her route. The story, of course, was totally false. However, the newspaper ran a picture with the article of 96-year-old Nellie Mitchell of Arkansas. Mitchell sued, charging invasion of privacy (she had never given them permission to use her photo) and emotional distress, because she now had to endure people asking her when the baby was due. During the trial, the editor of the Sun explained that they had needed a picture to go along with the fake story, and had found in their archive a photo of Mitchell taken in 1986. They had used it, assuming she must have been dead by then. And dead people can't sue for damages. Mitchell won and was awarded $150,000 in compensatory damages and $850,000 in punitive damages.

Witty signs in the Simpsons