Sideswipe: December 10: They should now

Spotted outside a learning institution in Hamilton last week.

Cunning marketing strategy that sneakers up on you

You know you're being marketed at, right? "I was on Trade Me Jobs and saw that shoe shills Converse have posted an ad looking for a Chief Stage-dive Officer (CSO)," writes Liam. "Someone who likes to 'act rebelliously' to lead 400 support staff in 'stage diving and surfing' during a Converse-sponsored gig in Auckland. So Converse have hired a bunch of people to contrive a mass stage dive so the audience see their branded shoes?"

AC/DC lineup getting a bit threadbare

A reader notes this delightful typo in the last paragraph of a Sydney Morning Herald article: "The album is the first of AC/DC's without founding member, Malcolm Young, and comes at a time when drummer Phil Rudd is facing charges of threatening to kill and rug possession in New Zealand."

High-tech school stationery list too much to bear

Further to the mother seeing tablets on the school stationery list, a reader writes: "Even worse is the school in Taupo that is telling parents the type of laptop they have to have, that the school will buy it, the parents will pay it off, and when the child is finished they will clean the hard drive and they can have it back. Not in my world they won't. I'll decide what my children can and can't have for school and at what level I'm prepared to pay for it."

Boating west of Rangitoto

While boating west of Rangitoto on Saturday, Andrew Drummond rescued a boat and skipper from the water. "No sign of life. Biggish thing (50cm long); looks like a remote control job."

Email Sideswipe if it is yours.

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Video: In an attempt to make their open home a bit more euphoric, Dutch real estate agency Huizen Promoter has built a roller coaster through an open house...

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