Sideswipe: August 18: Abdominals or baked goods?

Ironic packaging from WuPaoChun Bakery in Taiwan.

Honesty is golden

The Bank of England takes pride in the fact that no gold has ever been stolen from its vaults. However, it also admits that it might have been because of extreme luck. In 1836, during the Victorian period, the directors of the bank received anonymous letters from a man claiming to have access to the bank's gold. The man even offered to meet the directors inside the vault at their chosen time. Unconvinced, the directors accepted the offer, and they assembled at the vault. At the agreed hour a noise was heard from beneath the floor and a man popped up through some of the floorboards. The man was a sewerman who, during repair work, had discovered an old drain that ran immediately under the gold vault. Despite his opportunity, the sewerman did not take any of the bank's gold, as confirmed by a stocktake. The Bank of England then rewarded the man with £800 (worth £90,000 today) for his honesty.

Unintentional juxtaposition

Spotted in Botany.

Did you know?

1. Why parking is free in Belgium. The meters run off solar power, so when there isn't any sun the meters don't function properly. Because it rains much of the time, parking is often free.

2. Thomas Edison spent the early part of his career working as a telegraph operator. He nicknamed his first two children "Dot" and "Dash".

3. On his deathbed, surgeon Joseph Henry Green was checking his pulse, and his last word was "Stopped".

4. In 1984, Tim Macartney-Snape climbed Everest, but his mate Michael Dillon said "you've only done the top part, technically", so he went back and started from sea level to prove a point.

5. Most animals prefer to work for their food rather than freeload. Cats are the only known exception.

Plea for tar-seal

Geoff Leckie of Flat Bush writes: "This sign appeared at the entrance to one of our mountain bike tracks in Tōtara Park in South Auckland. Clearly the track was a bit rough for them. We are renaming the track The Whine Incline."

Calling in the news

Stories from the frontline of the news ... "When I worked a morning show, many years ago, there was a gentleman named Tommy who would call me at 4.15am every single day. He was very sweet and polite. Every call, he would briefly tell me about his plans to return to Mars, where he was from. He wasn't sure how to get there, but he was going back. Then he'd say goodbye. After about a year of this, he called at the same time one morning and said he was off to Mars. He was very happy to be leaving that morning. I wished him a pleasant trip. He never called again."