But the programs do not always hide Compuserve's aging plumbing and cracks in the wall.

The spooks also bewitch us with tales that sincere issues from the Latin sine cera ("without wax"), the idea being that devious Roman purveyors of marble and pottery polished their wares with wax to hide cracks and holes.

The agency found in 1991 that airlines were installing them by fastening a metal plate in the area as a reinforcement, a procedure that sometimes hid cracks and allowed them to grow.

Never buy a painted ladder nor paint one yourself; the paint can hide dangerous cracks.

At Trinity Church, a paraffin coating applied decades ago to protect the brownstone was trapping both dirt and water, damaging the stone as well as hiding cracks.

The paint may hide dangerous cracks or flaws.

Never paint a wooden ladder, as this may hide cracks.

This practice is becoming less common as grinding can hide cracks and other defects.

The paint can hide dangerous cracks.

Still, for the second consecutive year, the United States Figure Skating Association is suffering the public embarrassment that its genteel veneer hides troubling cracks beneath the surface.