Sideswipe: Cakes gone wrong

Cakes gone wrong from cakewrecks.blogspot.com.

Officials at a Pennsylvania school have suspended a teacher for 30 days without pay after someone posted photos on Facebook of a bridal shower she attended. The teacher was shown in the same frame as a male stripper in some of the photographs. Those who have seen the photos say the teacher was fully dressed and not doing anything inappropriate. (Source: Reason.com)

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A reader writes: "I noticed that the car I was about to buy was nearly due for its warrant of fitness so I paid to get a new one from the AA at the same time they were doing the pre-purchase inspection. The car was in Napier and I live in Auckland so had the report emailed to me and rang the inspector. He said there was nothing wrong with it - except for brake pads and a radiator leak. The WOF was passed by the AA and I worked out a deal with the seller to buy it with a fixed radiator, so I could drive it back to Auckland. Once back home I booked the car into my usual garage to get the brake pads changed. When I picked it up, they said they had come across several major and minor problems (the air con system had been removed, rear bushings both perished, front CV cracked, two gearbox mounts perished, tyre balding one side and illegally low) which would cost $1200 to fix. They said there was no way it should have passed a WOF let alone an AA test without mention. I wouldn't have bought the car if the test had mentioned these problems." How can two mechanics have such a different picture of the same car?

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British police are concerned about a new deadly weapon set to hit the streets. The "wasp knife" has a needle in the tip attached to a trigger on the handle. When the trigger is pulled a ball of compressed gas is shot into the victim where it expands and freezes the internal organs. The US-made weapon was meant to defend against shark and bear attacks. The manufacturer describes it as perfect for downed pilots, soldiers and security guards and boasts that it will "drop many of the world's largest land predators". (Source: dailymail.co.uk)

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Al Weeks of Manukau says Keith Walker is correct about the accuracy of speedos. "Modern ones are accurate. My question is, why do they only use half of the dial (100km/h = 12 o'clock position) while the other half never gets used?"