Sideswipe: June 16: Pink medicine asks for trouble

Stains everything

A reader writes: "The current Pharmac-funded version of liquid Amoxicillin is bright pink with Erythrosine Supra (a cherry-pink synthetic food colouring) which leaves stains on anything it gets on! Pharmac and the manufacturers have perhaps never tried to get a 2-year-old to take their medicine - it's likely to end up in many other places besides their mouth."

Husbands spinning rusty line could be taken down a peg

"For some years I have been trying to get my husband to replace our clothesline," writes Kathleen. "Due to shifts in the ground, heavy rain or it being too dry, our 40-year-old washing line had sunk into the ground and become lopsided. This meant anyone working in the garden copped it in the eye, which has happened to me several times (luckily I wear glasses). It did have a handle to wind the line higher - this had became rusted - and every time I complained, my husband would rush out and wind the line up and of course, it would immediately drop again. When finally I managed to get him to find a replacement he spoke to a salesman who told him the problem with the clothesline was the rust and that was because the pegs had been pushed on the line, rather than pressing them open and clipping them on. So it was my fault for pressing the pegs on the clothesline, causing the wires to rust and the pole to twist and the height to slump so low that if you walked into it you could be scalped. Is this male chauvinism or manufacturers putting blame for poor products on others?"

Tantrum divorce has plenty of followers

Last week Christian husband and wife duo Nick and Sarah Jensen announced their plan to divorce if a marriage equality law was passed in Australia. They were hoping throngs of others would follow them in their tantrum divorce, but that hasn't happened. You see, to get a divorce in Australia they would first have to live separately, continuously for a year and that's something they aren't keen to do. Now they are being held to their promise. A Facebook event called Celebrating Nick and Sarah Jensen's Divorce has nearly 104,000 people behind it.

Reluctant juror given dressing down

James Lowe of Barnet, Vermont, didn't want to do jury service, so he turned up to court for jury selection wearing a black-and-white striped prisoner costume. The judge was not amused and told him to leave and said he could be found in contempt of court. (usnews.com)

What's it going to be New Zealand? Money or the kids?

Different strokes, for different folks

Local: Naughty Newsworthy host David Farrier trolls Waiheke Islanders in a blog in which he describes the island as "where we maroon all the worst Aucklanders"...

Picture this: The 50s looks super fun...

Good read: Merchants of Doubt is a new documentary about scientific spin doctors who are charismatic pundits hired by industries under fire for posing a hazard to the public and sold to the media as "experts," their purpose is to sow doubt in the public mind. Read about it here.

Video: It's difficult to get your head around very large numbers, particularly when they are showing the human cost of war. But this animated data visualisation makes WWII-related deaths all too comprehensible...??

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