Sideswipe: September 16: Pine cone wrapped in a tree

Shaun writes: "A friend had been chopping firewood and discovered this pine cone encased in a tree. According to the rings, the tree is 11 years old."

Strange but true

1. In World War II, the Germans used "anti-officer crooked picture bombs": They left paintings on the wall, skewed to the side and rigged to explode when straightened. The idea was that only an officer would be so anal to straighten a crooked picture in a war zone, thus increasing the chance of taking out someone in command.

2. There is a superstition in knitting called the Jumper Curse, which implies that knitting one's significant other a winter jumper will result in a breakup. (Although as Wikipedia says, the alternate explanation is that knitting a jumper takes so long that the relationship will be over before you're done making it.)

3. When Pablo Escobar's daughter wanted a unicorn, he bought her a horse and stapled a cone to its head and wings to its back (the horse died from an infection). Read more here.

Return of the ring

An Oklahoma man has been reunited with the wedding ring he dropped in a New York lake nearly 40 years ago. The Post-Star of Glens Falls reports that Jane and Jim Flynn honeymooned on Lake George in the Adirondacks in 1960. They returned for summer holidays every year until 1976, when they bought property in Bolton, on the lake's western shore. Soon afterward, Jim Flynn lost his wedding ring in the lake. A woman from Seattle spotted the gold ring underwater along the shore. It had the date "2-6-60" engraved inside. She gave it to a resident who learned it belonged to Jim Flynn, who now lives in Tulsa.

Cure-all on road to success. (Via Bad Newspaper)

Flying chipboard owner sought

Justin of Torbay writes: "Anyone who saw a sheet of chipboard fly off the roof of a black Holden station wagon, and hit the following blue BMW yesterday, please contact me via Sideswipe for insurance purposes. The incident happened on the Northern Motorway fast lane [southbound] just after the Esmonde Rd on-ramp around 8.30am. The driver of the Holden was flashed and had braked but failed to pull over -- probably not realising. If it was you then I'd appreciate you contacting me also."

Stack 'em high.

Diversion: Cat Jenga is a game just like the original, where participants balance wooden cats on top of each other in the hope of placing the last wooden cat on the cat tower.

Vine: When your stupid wizard parents force you to make the bed...

Picture this: Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2015...

Video: London in 1981...

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Mapping mishap: Correction

An item yesterday said the map showing Auckland marked in the wrong location was from TV3, it was from One News.

Got a Sideswipe? Send your pictures, links and anecdotes to Ana at ana.samways@nzherald.co.nz