Sideswipe: May 6: Screaming Shoes

What? I can't take my souvenir back to the states?

An American family caused quite the scare at Israel's Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv airport last week after presenting an unexploded bombshell as a souvenir at a security check. A member of the family had reportedly picked up the explosive as a souvenir on a visit to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and decided that it would be a good idea to take it home to the US as a souvenir. According to eye-witnesses, the man simply took it out of his backpack and showed it to security staff, asking them if it could be put in a suitcase. Shocked, one security officer ordered the immediate vicinity of the old bombshell to be cleared but another passenger misheard the order and started shouting "terrorists shooting". Panic ensued almost instantly, and video footage from the airport shows people either shouting and fleeing the check-in area or simply lying on the floor, waiting for the danger to pass. The unexploded bombshell is believed to date back to the Israeli-Syrian war of 1967.

Divorce cake

USB revelation

A reader writes: "I have just bought a couple of USB cables for charging devices. The plug that connects to the power fits in either way up. I have two questions: if this is possible, how has it not always been possible? And how many productive hours have been wasted trying to plug the cable in upside down? If half the world's population spends one second a day trying to do it wrong, it's 2.2 million hours. A day. I think we should be told. * The cable brand is Titan, if you're interested."

Postage stamps in this day and age?

A very young Prince Edward featured on a stamp on a letter received last week by Allen Grainger of Pokeno.

Thoughts on Row vs Wade being overturned

Women in the US who are using a period-tracking app, would be well advised to delete it before they create a trove of data that will be used to prosecute them if they ever choose to have an abortion. Abortion pills can currently be ordered before you are pregnant in all 50 states. Having pills in your medicine cabinet before you need them is one way to combat restrictive laws.