KEY POINTS:
Tricia Morgan writes: "Flynn was told he could go to the park if he went to bed and the dog heard too!" (We usually steer clear of cute kids and dogs in Sideswipe, but this was a cracker photo - and everyone loves kids and dogs, don't they?)
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After reading in the Herald about the poor quality controls in foods and goods manufactured in China, Alesyia Gibb told her workmate that she'd be avoiding food made in China from now on. "My colleague then pointed out the 'Made in China' in very small print on the label of the Sanitarium peanut butter I had just put on my toast. Certainly not what I would expect from a New Zealand company with a factory right here in Auckland, and I doubt many of your other readers would realise this, either. Certainly pays to read the fine print."
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Dave Smith heard on the radio that the Far North District Council has, for those who are without power, put together a list of foods which are likely to be still okay to eat after a couple of days without refrigeration. The list is available on their website. "Hello? - without power, without computer."
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Murray Woodfield writes: "Our son Jeremy worked in Taipei for 2 1/2 years teaching English. When it was time to leave and under pressure of time, he did not have time to sell his trusty red scooter. As well, the battery was flat so he decided to just leave it parked outside a 7/11 store with hundreds of other scooters. After an absence of almost three years, Jeremy recently returned to Taipei for a friend's wedding. He was astonished to find his scooter still parked where he had left it. He opened the seat and there was his helmet and T-shirt exactly as he had left them."
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A Ugandan pastor was caught importing a portable electric shock machine he may have planned to use to convince his congregation he had supernatural powers. There has been a huge growth in churches set up by charismatic preachers in Africa, amid fears some could be fraudsters. The pastor denies the claims and says it was a birthday present for his daughter, but the website of the company which makes the "Electric Touch" machine says: "Charge a spoon, keys or coins and watch as it shocks a volunteer! They will believe you have supernatural powers!" (Source: BBC)
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Christopher Emmorey, 23, was sentenced to two years in prison for robbing a Peterborough, Ontario, bank. He had intended to take $2000, but the teller told him she could give him only $200 and also that he must take out a $5 fee because he was not a regular customer. Emmorey stood stoically while she did the paperwork and then handed him $195, which he took and walked away, only to be arrested a short time later. (Source: News of the Weird)
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A 17-month-old toddler in the eastern Indian state of Assam is addicted to the fiery bhut jolakia, recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records as the hottest chilli on earth, it has been reported. Jayanta Lahan's parents say the child, who lives in Romal village 500km east of Assam's main city, Guwahati, has been happily munching his way through handfuls of the chillies since he was 8 months old, IANS news agency reported. "Yesterday he ate some 50 bhut jolakias in about three to four hours without showing any signs of tears or burning sensation in his stomach," the child's father, Ritul Lahan, was quoted as saying.
