Sideswipe: August 6: Reef? What reef?

Song plonked right in the middle of the Rangitoto view...

"It seems there's no bounds to Auckland city council's health and safety overkill," writes a reader. "Enjoying a walk along St ?Heliers beach one morning my view was disrupted by a new sign at the high tide mark. It seems people now need to be told there are objects under the water to be wary of. What next? Caution signs saying "water is wet and in winter its cold"."

Clients must get it right, or else

Harry writes: "Accidentally overpaid my pay TV account by $828. Pressed an extra zero. (Old folks make mistakes like that if we have shaky fingers.) I was told there'd be 'no refund for 10 to 14 days'. Takes that long as they are a big company. BUT as it was my first mistake they won't charge me a penalty, but if I do it again, they will charge me $40 to make a refund. That sounds like good customer relations to me."

Rancid fat picked up in taste test

To the ranks of sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami, researchers say they are ready to add a sixth taste - and its name is a mouthful: "oleogustus", which is Latin for "a taste for fat". Rick Mattes, a professor of nutrition science at Purdue University in Indiana, says it's a sensation one would get from eating oxidised oil. Twenty-eight tasters sampled lookalike mixtures with different tastes. They found that more than half of the people in their study were able to distinguish fatty acids from the other tastes. Found in high concentrations in rancid foods, oleogustus actually operates as a protective mechanism of sorts - offering a warning sign to stop eating whatever it is you are tasting. In this respect, it's a bit like bitterness. (Via NPR)

"Seems expensive for a fuel can," says Gareth, drily.

Flight times trap for unwary

Graeme Jones writes: "When booking a ticket for my son to attend his grandmother's funeral, I scanned down the list of available domestic flights, found the 6.45 (following the 3.30) that would do just nicely. When I sent him the e-ticket he was surprised to see that I had booked him for 6.45am, not 6.45pm as we thought. Sure enough, on closer inspection, the flight we booked is 6.45am - right at the end of the sequential list of flights for the day! Of course there is a fat fee for changing the booking as it was a hand-carry-only flight. At the top of the list of flights is a little box where you can sort the flights into 'departure time' (the logical one) instead of 'by price' (the default). Curiously, a check of the following day's flights showed a similar seemingly sequential listing that had an evening flight mixed in with the morning flights."

Got a Sideswipe? Send your pictures, links and anecdotes to Ana at ana.samways@nzherald.co.nz