Sideswipe: April 29: Old school NZ shower mixer

Twitter user shared fond memories of this 80s shower mixer on Twitter, culminating in some top showering nostalgia: "Temperature control for aspiring safe crackers," declared Nicola. Finding the temperature sweet spot took effort ... "After the 45-minute wait for warm water, four dots from end of red was warm, three dots hot and the second to last dot for was burn your skin off," recalls Paul. And the brand name Topliss always cracked Katie up: "Why, yes I am ..." (Via@samjamesnz)

World's strongest beer

Meet Strength In Numbers, a beer with an alcohol by volume (ABV) of 57.8%. The beverage, dubbed the "world's strongest beer", is made by the UK's BrewDog in collaboration with Schorschbräu, a German brewer. So how do these brewing companies produce the eye-watering beer? Shortlist has the details: BrewDog uses the traditional Eisbock method. This is when you freeze the beer, remove chunks of ice (water) until you're left with the concentrated high-ABV liquid. To give the beer a bit of a spin, it features a blend of BrewDog's Death or Glory, an ice-distilled Belgian golden ale that's been sitting in whisky casks for 10 years. Because of the exclusivity and rarity of the beer, it costs a whopping NZ$55 a bottle - but just think about the bragging rights when you get hold of a bottle. BrewDog has a long history of brewing high-ABV beer. Its most famous is Tactical Nuclear Penguin, an imperial stout that clocked in at 32% ABV. It also created Sink The Bismark (41%) and End of History at 55%. All of these are brewed in the same way, using the Eisbock method.

Good tip, chur

Go big or go home

In case you missed it: In years gone by, people would find out the sex of their baby when the doctor and midwife had a quick glance at the genitals as the baby slides out. A few days ago, the family and friends of one family learned the sex of an unborn child in an explosion that triggered an earthquake that could be felt a full 32km away, according to police. Residents in a number of towns in New Hampshire reported a mysterious earthquake at around 7pm on April 20, shaking homes and cracking foundations.

Late bird parking

"We all have heard of 'early bird' parking," writes Warwick Jones. "Perhaps this is the special 'late bird' parking area at Ōrākei train station?"