Sideswipe: March 18: Securing company assets

Securing company assets.

Best pranks in history

Anthemius of Tralles, a 5th-century Greek architect who helped build Istanbul's Hagia Sophia, knew his way around a toolbox. So when a feud erupted between him and his neighbour, Zeno, Anthemius knew exactly what to do. The architect erected several boilers of water in his house and connected them to a hose, which he fed into a small hole leading into Zeno's cellar next door. According to the 1888 Magazine of Western History, "When Anthemius desired to annoy his neighbour, he lighted fires under his boilers, and the steam produced by them rushed in such quantity and with such force under Zeno's floors that they were made to heave with all the usual symptoms of an earthquake."

Phone hygiene 101

Evidence suggests a virus can stay on your phone anywhere between hours and days. And phones are quite gross. According to the New York Times a 2017 study found a host of bacteria, viruses and pathogens on 27 phones owned by teenagers. So here's how to keep your phone clean — all generations. Don't use bleach or aerosol sprays. A gentle wipe with a product that has 70 per cent isopropyl alcohol will do just fine. And don't forget your phone case. Wipe it down, in and out, through and through. Let it dry before reassembling it. Share photos through texts, instead of passing the phone around, and using devices like headphones and technology like Bluetooth to keep your phone away from your face. This might be the best thing you can do all day.

Dad joke

Dad joke, spotted in Mt Eden by Mike Richardson.

Cow wanted — no bull

Police have issued a wanted poster on a runaway cow that's been "roaming loose in Florida" for three months. While the cow is not dangerous, the cops are worried that it might be the cause of a traffic accident if not brought under control. What's more, the cow is said to be "faster than she looks". Police spokeswoman Amanda Conwell told reporters that police officers and specialist cattle wranglers have been unable to catch the animal. Once or twice they've got close but been forced to back off when the animal came close to busy roads."It jumps fences," she said. "It goes into pools." One Florida resident said she was relieved to see the Wanted poster, because she had seen the cow in the road a few days before and had been worried that she had been hallucinating.