Sideswipe: Nov 16: Political apples

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Even the apples get political at New World. (Via @ZumwohlParty)

MPs, tone it down

Our political leaders may want to lower the tone, as a study says deep voices are considered a sign of strong leadership. The research from McMaster University in Canada suggests voters are more likely to back candidates with lower voices because they come across as more dominant and authoritative. The study manipulated archive recordings of US presidents, creating lower and higher pitched versions of each voice and asked test subjects to rate the speakers' attractiveness, leadership potential, honesty, intelligence and dominance. In all cases they preferred candidates with lower-pitched voices. Margaret Thatcher had elocution lessons to make her voice less shrill. (Source: Telegraph.co.uk)

Worst gifts received

1. I was a strident feminist in my youth, but my brother once bought me a Playboy jigsaw in a can for Christmas.
2. My late grandmother used to make her four granddaughters gifts out of things around the house - like high-waisted underpants she'd bought that were too small for her.
3. My elderly great-aunt once gave me a second-hand crimson, lacy G-string. I was 13 years old.
4. Countless baskets full of cheap and nasty bath junk I'll never use.
5. A set of four plastic sunflower shaped placemats ... from someone who knew I didn't have a table.
6. One of those heinous teddy-bear backpacks.
7. A 1kg box of washing powder for people with sensitive skin - who says men aren't sensitive to the needs of women! It still makes me smile.
8. A "nifty" calculator with a paper roll - my husband thought it was perfect for the woman who had trouble balancing the cheque book.
9. Newly divorced, I was given a cookbook called Cooking for One by my parents.

Vanishing act

It is probably a timely warning before Christmas that consumers, who assume they have bought a whole box of Nestles chocolate nuts, may have bought only a quarter of a box. I'm sure the comms folk at the "nutrition, health and wellness company" (that's what they call themselves) would spin something about the contents weighing what is written on the box, but the size of the box is ridiculous and highly deceptive. What's the bet the scorched almonds suffer from the same dishonesty?

Multinational humour...

An Englishman, a Scotsman, an Irishman, a Welshman, a Gurkha, a Latvian, a Turk, an Aussie, a German, an American, an Egyptian, a Jap, a Mexican, a Spaniard, a Russian, a Pole, a Lithuanian, a Jordanian, a Kiwi, a Swede, a Finn, an Israeli, a Romanian, a Bulgarian, a Serb, a Swiss, a Greek, a Singaporean, an Italian, a Norwegian, an Argentinian, a Libyan, a Muslim, a Hindu, a Buddhist and an African went to a night club. The bouncer said: "Sorry, I can't let you in without a Thai."