Sideswipe: Amazing shot in the dark

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A US woman has solved a TV Wheel of Fortune phrase with just one letter being revealed. Much to the shock of the host, Caitlin Burke, 26, said she was going to take a guess. She got it right and won a trip to the Caribbean and $9000.

Fruitless frugality

In Pak'n'Save Sharon observed an elderly gentleman, not willing to pay for the inedible bits,trying to remove the stalks from his bananas. "A shop assistant eventually took the banana away and removed the stalk for him ... then asked, 'would you like me to peel it for you now, so you can save even more'?"

Go directly to jail, do not pass go

Wayne recalls the easiest crime his father solved in his 30 years as a policeman: "There was a bank robbery in Auckland in the 70s and dad was first on the scene. As he walked into the bank he noticed a driver's licence on the floor. He thought it was a long shot, but since the address was local he popped around. There was the robber counting the money he'd just nicked. He was in jail 20 minutes after robbing the bank!"

STD diagnosis is your call

New technology is now available to diagnose sexually transmitted diseases ... via your mobile phone. People will be able to put urine or saliva on a computer chip about the size of a USB chip, plug it into their phone or computer and receive a diagnosis within minutes, telling them which, if any, sexually transmitted disease they have. (Source: Gizmod)

Brickbat for bank charges...

Readers shouldn't be surprised at the ridiculous charges levied by ASB Bank. Their parent in Australia (Commonwealth Bank) attracted condemnation for increasing floating mortgage rates within an hour of the Reserve Bank of Australia raising the official cash rate, says Mike. "The rate rise was 0.25 per cent but CBA raised their rates by 0.45 per cent with indecent haste. The bank only made A$6.1 billion last year, and their CEO (Kiwi Ralph Norris) only earns A$16.2m a year, so I can see why they needed the top up..."

...bouquet for Telecom chief

Peter writes: "I recently was in Sydney and used my Telecom T Stick to access emails etc, and arrived home to a bill of over $2000 for downloading around 250mb of data. That is over $8 per meg! I received a $1300 credit after I emailed Paul Reynolds directly - he responded quickly and politely..."