Waiting room news 28 september 16 by Nick Moore

H FRES

Waiting Room News

World LION IN CAR: Police in Kuwait detained a stray lion that was roaming the streets of an upmarket suburb south of the capital. A bystander who noticed the predator lurking around the Bayan district, south of Kuwait City, lured the cub into his car and locked it in until police arrived, Gulf News reported. TOP UNI: Princeton pulled ahead of Harvard to claim first place in the “best national universities” category in US News & World Report’s annual ranking of nearly 1800 schools. Williams College again claimed sole possession of the top spot in the Best National Liberal Arts Colleges category, CNN reported.

Odd Spot GERMAN police seized an open-top car that had been converted into a travelling swimming pool, with water and wooden decking, after it was seen driving with four men aboard, Nine News reported. SOCIAL FEAR: China unveiled measures to stop the spread of what the Government called irresponsible rumours, threatening three years in jail if untrue posts online were widely re-posted. It’s part of a Government push to rein in social media, increasingly used by Chinese to discuss politics, despite strict censorship.

Australia COP THAT, LADY: Senior female police officers in Queensland were being used as tea ladies, a review of the state’s emergency services said. It showed only 586 out of 3479 officers ranked as sergeant or higher were female. These high-ranking women were often made to perform menial tasks not expected of male counterparts, SkyNews.com.au reported.

THAT’LL DO PIG: After boorish behaviour, the pickled porker sleeps it off under a tree. Pic: Main Roads Pilbara

DRUNKEN BOAR: A booze-stealing drunken feral pig ran amok at a WA campsite, including starting a fight with a cow. The belligerent porker went on a drunken bender after stealing and drinking three six-packs of beer that had been left out by campers at the DeGrey River campsite in Port Hedland, Independent.co.uk reported. ROO RAMPAGE: A northern Victorian man was in shock after a rampaging kangaroo caused thousands of dollars in damage to his Echuca home. After swimming with three other roos in a neighbour’s pool, the large eastern grey crashed through the front window of Paul Giogianni's house, causing extensive damage, ABC News reported.

Volume 28 September 16

Entertainment GOING STEADY: Dakota Johnson, 23, who would star in the film Fifty Shades of Grey next year, revealed she had been dating actor Jordan Masterson, 27. He was the younger half-brother of actors Danny and Christopher Masterson. Johnson was the daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith, JustJared.com reported. MINAJ DODGE: Pop singer Nicki Minaj’s celebrity status got her out of a speeding ticket last week. The arresting officer recognised her and asked Minaj for a handwritten note for his daughter, Barb. “To my beautiful Barb Ayana! You and and your mom are amazing!! Love always, Nicki,” the diva scrawled.

Did You Know? POP performer Madonna was the world's highest-earning celebrity in 2012-13, raking in $US125 million, ahead of Steven Spielberg at $US100 million. Source: Fairfax

SLIM PICKINGS: Angelina Jolie's on the lookout for "very skinny" Aussie men to be extras in her new film, Unbroken. A casting call went out for a group of men who could play prisoners of war in the epic drama based on the life of American hero Louis Zamperini, but they must be available for filming in Queensland in October.

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World BOY HELPED: A Chinese boy, 6, whose eyes were gouged out by organ traffickers received implants at a hospital in China from a volunteer Hong Kong surgeon. The implants were a precursor to fitting Guo Bin with prosthetic eyes that moved more like normal eyes but which did not restore vision, TheGuardian.com.au reported. TRAGIC PRANK: The combination of a gun and a surprise gone wrong left a 18-year-old track star dead, authorities in Colorado, US, said. Premila Lal jumped out of a closet as a harmless joke to surprise a family friend, her father said, but the noise startled the friend, who grabbed a gun and shot her, CNN reported.

Odd Spot DALE Irby, a teacher in Dallas, Texas, wore the same polyester shirt and vest for his yearbook photo for 40 years, Telegraph.co.uk reported. It started as a mistake but became a running joke. ‘ATE RATS’: A 58-year-old man had been rescued in good health after spending four months lost in the Andes, authorities in Argentina said. He told authorities he lived off sugar and raisins he had with him and food cached in mountain shelters. He also said he ate rats that he trapped, Independent.ie reported.

Odd Spot BRITISH women spent 59 days of their lives shaving their legs, a study found. And 35% of women polled said it was their least favourite beauty chore. The second most detested was hairstyling, with eyebrow plucking third.

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Australia SALT MINES: Prisoners had been sent to work at a salt mine in central Australia after the company had trouble recruiting staff. The potash project near Curtin Springs, about 250km southwest of Alice Springs, was training prisoners being provided by the Territory Government. They paid award rates, which offset costs, ABC News reported.

Well Said:

“Life is only froth and bubble, Two things stand like stone, Kindness in another’s trouble, Courage in your own.” Australian poet Adam Lindsay Gordon STINGER PLAGUE: Top End waters could see an influx of deadly box jellyfish and irukandji over the next few years, scientists warned. It follows studies showing jellyfish populations were jumping across the globe. The Australian Climate Commission said the populations were growing because of over-fishing of species that ate them, ABC News reported.

INDON BUY: Indonesia moved to solve its beef supply problems by approving a plan to buy one million hectares of Australian farmland, a plot four times the size of the ACT. Beef prices in Indonesia had hit record prices over the past year as local production failed to keep pace with demand, ABC News reported. The purchase would need Oz Government approval.

Fun Fact $US6 BILLION - that’s how much tax the world’s richest man, Bill Gates, says he’s paid in total. He has given $28 billion to charity and was still worth $56 billion. His three kids will inherit ‘just’ $10 million each. Source: Guardian, Fairfax

The most important message is for women to have their babies before the clock strikes 12.”

Entertainment SECOND SCREEN: Disney was reportedly set to trial a second-screen experience in theatres, with patrons being offered an iPad download that partnered with the big-screen action in The Little Mermaid release. The app would encourage an interactive response from the audience, Nelson Aspen reported on Twitter. PACKERS PALS: James Packer and wife Erica met in their lawyers' offices a fortnight ago to stage-manage the news of their split, News Corp reported. To protect the children from media interest it was agreed Erica would live in LA for six months. James reportedly offered more than was required by the pre-nuptial.

Odd Spot A CANADIAN couple was charged with animal cruelty after 40 ball python snakes and five eggs were found in a motel room. The reptiles - some a metre long - were in plastic storage bins. SIGNING OFF: After 12 years reigning over breakfast radio on Nova, David Hughes and Kate Langbroek had called it quits. Langbroek’s son, Lewis, 10, recently went into remission after battling leukaemia. David Hughes co-hosts The Project on Ten. The two were the first voices heard on the station when it launched in 2001.

Did You Know? ACCORDING to Aboriginal legend, there is a cave on the Wessel Islands off Australia’s north filled with doubloons and weaponry of an ancient era. African 1000-year-old coins had been found on the islands, News Ltd reported.

— Professor Mary Herbert, one of Britain's leading reproductive biologists, delivering a warning at the British Science Festival about delaying pregnancy.

C BE KIND: Please place me back neatly for the next person to enjoy. THANK YOU! Technology

Health E-SMOKES WORK: Electronic cigarettes were as effective as nicotine patches in getting smokers to quit, the first study to compare them found. The batterypowered smokes turn nicotine into a vapour inhaled by the user. It’s the tar and other toxins in cigarettes that were deadly, DailyMail.co.uk reported. ALLERGIES SOAR: Doctors were alarmed by a rapid rise in food allergies in Australian children, with one in 10 babies now having allergic reactions as soon as they were exposed to some foods such as egg. A fifth of Australians had an allergic disease and the number was rising, TheWest.com.au reported.

Did You Know? ANXIETY, or excessive worrying, is the most common psychological problem in Australia and affects 14% of the population, according to the Bureau of Statistics.

PHONE FILCH: More than half (55%) of the people surveyed by telco Optus said they accessed free wi-fi on their mobile whenever they could, with one in five using wi-fi at work to avoid exceeding their data limits. Three in five full-time workers said that employers should allow staff to use the net at work for personal use, Computerworld.com.au reported.

Northern Life

Moore4Mums.com blogger Felicity Moore (left) meets American performer Amanda Palmer. RECORD SET: Drayson Racing Technologies had broken the world land speed record for a lightweight electric car. Its Lola B12 69/EV vehicle hit a top speed of 328.6km/h at a racetrack at RAF Elvington in Yorkshire. The previous 281.6km/h record was set by Battery Box General Electric in 1974, BBC News reported.

Business GROWTH UP: Economic growth was accelerating in the US, Britain and the eurozone, and above trend in Japan, the OECD’s index of composite leading indicators said. Italy and France were switching to growth, it was below trend in Brazil and India, and returning to trend in China, SkyNews.com.au reported. FEELING BETTER: Business confidence surged to its highest level in more than two years in August in anticipation of a Coalition election win, according to the NAB’s monthly business survey. It showed business confidence rose nine points to six, up from -3 in the previous month, News Corp reported.

Did You Know? AT some point, genes from at least eight retroviruses became incorporated into human DNA. They now perform important functions in reproduction, yet are entirely alien to our genetic ancestry.

DOUBLE TROUBLE: The new influenza that had emerged in China was able to infect both the nose, giving it the potential to spread easily, and penetrate deep in the lungs where it caused pneumonia, scientist said. They said the twin attack had not been detected in previous bird flus, BBC News reported.

WATER BONANZA: Scientists had found an underground water reserve in Kenya so large it could meet the country's water needs for the next 70 years. Using satellite, radar and geological technology, scientists found an underground layer of water-bearing material that contained 200 billion cubic metres of fresh water, Gizmodo.com reported.

JOBS STRUGGLE: The federal government’s leading employment index fell for an eighth straight month in September, pointing to below trend jobs growth. Also, a small rise in July was revised to a small fall, the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations said, Sky News reported.

Odd Spot

Fun Fact

Did You Know?

THE 2014 Mercedes S-Class offers a $350 option that wafts perfume through the car. There are four scents: Nightlife, Sports, Downtown and Fireside. The system atomises the perfume and distributes it throughout the passenger area.

Source: QI television show

THE antioxidant concentration in hot cocoa was almost twice as strong as red wine, two to three times stronger than green tea and four to five times stronger than black tea, a study at Cornell University determined.

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Q: Via lactea is the classical Latin name for which celestial body?

Q: Which is the only number in English with its letters in alphabetical order? Q: Is Helsinki the capital city of Norway, Sweden or Finland? A: Finland

A: The Milky Way

A: Yazz

Q: What is the highest Australian mountain?

Q: What did baseballer Babe Ruth keep under his hat to stay cool? A: A cabbage leaf

Q: Which singer had a hit with the 1988 dance track The Only Way is Up?

A: Forty

Fun Fact:

THE sun’s core is so hot that a piece of it the size of a pinhead would give off enough heat to kill a person 160km away.

A: Mawson Peak, on Heard Island, stands 2750m

C BE KIND: Please place me back neatly for the next person to enjoy. THANK YOU! Health EAR LINK: Inner-ear problems could be a cause of hyperactive behaviour, research suggested. A study on mice, published in Science, said such problems caused changes in the brain that led to hyperactivity. It could lead to the development of new targets for behaviour disorder treatments, the US team said. WAIT WARNING: Women should start their family by the age of 35 or they could be haunted by their decision to wait, fertility experts warned at the British Science Festival. Fertility fell sharply after age 35, older mothers were more likely to miscarry, and were at greater risk of having babies with genetic disorders.

Science DOLPHINS DUMB: Dolphins, for 50 years promoted as the most intelligent creatures after humans, might actually be no brighter than other animals, with an added propensity for thuggish attacks on fellow cetaceans. New research suggested humans had been beguiled, partly by the animals’ permanent apparent smile, News Corp reported.

Northern Life

Virginia State School teacher Jodie Bird attracts local media attention for her fundraising efforts.

Business MEDIA GRAB: US company Southeastern Asset Management had acquired a 12% voting stake in News Corp, making it the largest holder behind chairman Rupert Murdoch. Southeastern’s 23.8 million-share Class B stake in the company that owns The Northside Chronicle was valued about $US400 million, SMH.com.au reported. BANKS WARNED: The financial regulator warned Australia’s banks not to let lending standards slip in an environment of cheap credit, saying borrowers must be prepared for higher interest rates. The warning came as home prices posting their strongest quarterly gain since the end of the 2010 boom, Fairfax reported.

Did You Know?

SPACE INVADER: The European Space Agency was preparing for the fiery fall to Earth of its Goce gravity-mapping satellite, which is running out of fuel. Modelling work indicated up to 25% of the spacecraft could survive to hit the surface after re-entry in the next couple of months. The debris was likely in fall in the ocean, BBC News reported.

AT the Santa Rita do Sapucaí jail in Brazil, inmates can pedal to generate electricity in return for a cut in their sentences - a day off for every 16 hours of effort on bikes hooked up to batteries.

SPICE HELPS: Type 2 diabetes sufferers who took cinnamon supplements had lower fasting plasma glucose levels compared with people who didn't take cinnamon, researchers found. The review also found that cinnamon benefited several important measures of heart health, HuffingtonPost.com reported.

TUNNELS FOUND: Archaeologists had uncovered a giant network of tunnels under the Roman Emperor Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli, Italy. The underground passageways likely allowed thousands of slaves and merchants to keep the estate running without creating any distraction at the street level. Hadrian reigned from A.D. 117 to A.D. 138.

LOAN BUMP: Home loans approvals rose for the seventh month in a row and the housing sector was expected to strengthen further in the coming months. The number of home loans approved in July rose 2.4%, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said, which was better than the market forecast of a 2.0% rise, News Corp reported.

Odd Spot

Fun Fact

Did You Know?

Fun Fact THERE are 200-400 billion stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way, and a German supercomputer calculated there were 500 billion galaxies in the universe. Source: BBC Schools online

PEOPLE’S closest friendships were formed with their colleagues – particularly if their workplace environment was stressful, research conducted by the Lancaster University in the UK concluded.

IF YOU drilled a tunnel straight through the Earth and jumped in, it would take 42 minutes and 12 seconds to get to the other side. Source: QI television show

AN original Apple-1 sold for $US640,000 at an auction in Germany in November. The computer was priced at $US666.66 (about $US2700 in current money) when made in 1976, The New York Times reported.

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Q: Which sea captain commanded the First Fleet to Australia?

Q: Which is the only state in the US that begins with the letter ‘P’? Q: Is jujitsu a Japanese martial art or paperfolding craft? A: Martial art

A: Navel gazing A: Arthur Phillip

A: Paul Newman

Q: Cut, clarity, colour, and carat set the value of which gemstone?

Q: If you indulge in some omphaloskepsis, what are you doing?

A: Pennsylvania

Q: Who starred in movies The Hustler, Hud, Harper, and Harry and Son?

A: A diamond