Snippets from the week's news, sliced, diced and processed for your convenience.

1. Three of the world's supercomputers are in the US.
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2. Humans are more likely to be killed by a hippo than a lion.
More details (Times)

3. Teeth grinding is known as bruxism.
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4. Spin doctors were used in the Iron Age.
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5. School phobia is a condition recognised by doctors since the 1960s.
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6. Whisky should be stored upright, unlike wine.
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7. "Wrap rage" is a term coined to describe the anger felt by people trying to get into bonded plastic "clamshell" packaging.
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8. Male and female candidates to be officers in the British Army have to do different amounts of press-ups, but the same number of sit-ups in a physical test.
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9. For three decades, the BBC took a very dim view of Enid Blyton's work.
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10. Swindon has the UK's highest broadband use.
More details (Times)

Seen 10 things? Send us a picture to use next week. Thanks to Sarah O'Donoghue for this week's picture of 10 weights.

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Winning entries in the Caption Competition.

The competition is now closed. Full rules can be seen here [PDF].

Here, Yeomen of the Guard conduct a ceremonial search for explosives at the House of Lords before the State Opening of Parliament. But what's being said?

Thanks to all who entered. The prize of a small amount of kudos to the following:

6. GMcGlinn
Louie Walsh pulls out all the stops for Jedwards next X-factor performance.

5. SkarloeyLine
Pan's People unveil their routine to All Along The Watchtower.

4. MorningGlories
You wait all your life for a marriage proposal, then...

3. nick-fowler
The House of Lords Formation Team was doing rather well in the latest series of Strictly Come Dancing.

2. GirlWeekday
And so they reluctantly prepared for the Queen's favourite game: Yeoman Dominoes.

1. SundayParkGeorge
Riverdance: The Tudor Years.

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A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.

The Daily Mail and the Guardian don't often find common cause. But they do today with their matching front page headlines on the EU's choice for its president:

"The great EU stitch-up".

Even the sub-headlines are similar, although one is rather more, er, strident than the other. Can you guess which?

"A Labour crony no-one's heard of is made EU foreign minister - so a fanatical Belgian federalist who wants Brussels to tax us can become President. The good news? At least it's not Blair"

• Little-known Briton gets Foreign job
• Belgian PM beats Blair to presidency

Yes, the first one is the Mail.

It's equally aerated about the "Tory sleaze chief, a £30,000 expenses bill and his love nest", as runs its page three headline (SEO version for the online version is the rather more prosaic "Tory sleaze chief David Curry quits over '£30,000 love nest expenses'").

In the Daily Telegraph, the same story is headlined: "The Tory MP, his mistress and £30,000 for love nest".

Elsewhere, much spleen is vented over that France v Ireland game. Even the refusniks with fingers in ears going "la la la la" at the very mention of the World Cup will know why.

"Hands-on Henry becomes public enemy numero un - 'Hand of Gaul' or the main chance? Irish fury and French red faces at Henry's assist" - Guardian
"The £1bn hand of frog" - Sun
"You Eiffel shower!" - Daily Mirror

Shower? OK, so it rhymes with tower, but really...

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Welcome to the Weekly Bonus Question.

Each week the news quiz 7 days 7 questions will offer an answer. You are invited to suggest what the question might have been.

Suggestions should be sent using the COMMENTS BOX IN THIS ENTRY. And since nobody likes a smart alec, kudos will be deducted for predictability in your suggestions.

This week's answer is A CHEESE GRATER AND A £5 LAMPSHADE. But what's the question?

UPDATE 1805 GMT: The correct question is, the ownership of which articles is at stake in a disagreement between a solicitor and het ex?

Of your woefully yet deliberately incorrect questions, we liked:

• BaldoBingham's What did MacGyver use to escape from prison?
• SteeleHawker's What's the minimum one needs to open an Italian restaurant?
• wolf1979's Who came second and third in the vote for the EU presidency?
• LaurenceLane's What gives Health and Safety officers nightmares?
• MuteJoe's What can I do with my old Setanta satellite dish?
• Geordieindisguise's What will Lady Gaga reportedly wear in her next music video?

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"it's not just that I dislike the taste of sprouts or broccoli, but the actual sight of them fills me with dread and I could never touch them" - Woman diagnosed with a fear of vegetables, known as lachanophobia.

Student Vicki Larrieux's diet consists of meat, potatoes, cereals and an occasional apple. But she refuses to eat any vegetables as the mere sight of a sprout gives her a panic attack. "Even as a child I used to properly freak out if some carrots or a few peas were on my plate. But as it continued into adult life I started to think it might not just be a dislike for vegetables but an actual phobia."
More details (Daily Telegraph)

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As a medical statistician, I am usually very sceptical of any health stories, and usually find that once I look closely, the headlines aren't justified by the data. Today, however, I shall make an exception. Alcohol 'protects men's hearts' is just obviously true and there is therefore no need for me to look behind the headline.
Adam, London, UK

Re Energy-saving bulbs 'get dimmer': It's a good job you used the quotes. "Energy-saving bulbs' maximum brightness reduces over time, but not as badly as traditional bulbs." Doesn't trip off the tongue half as well.
Andrew, Malvern, UK

Extremely low temperatures may make whisky "slightly cloudy"? I left a bottle of Canadian whisky in the trunk of my car overnight several years ago, and there were pieces of ice floating in it by morning. Of course, it's possible that Edmonton gets colder than Antarctica.
Chris, Toronto, Canada

Re Paper Monitor's fascination with fascinators. Having recently worn a hat adorned with a fascinator to a wedding, the only purpose has to be decorative. Calling it a bow would have sufficed.
Candace, New Jersey, US
Monitor note: Terminology must be different on this side of the pond, where a fascinator is a rinky-dinky little hat. Or a bow/feather/flower in place of a hat.

With regards to the shortest ever Paper Monitor, I think this one is a serious contender.
Steve Bowman, London

0.7 miles in 4 minutes (Paper Monitor)? That's a very speedy 5.7mph!
Kathryn, London

Paper Monitor, if you can manage that I'll send you a whole pack of custard creams.
Mandy Nichols, Leeds
Paper Monitor replies: You're on - no, wait - I got in a muddle. It is 14 minutes.

"Boeing said in a statement: 'We will not be making any comment.'"
So why make a statement?
Mary, Manchester, UK

To follow on the discussion (Wednesday letters), my late grandmother always insisted the plural of "poof" was "pooves". There was never any offence meant as she was describing her brother and his boyfriend.
Rob, London

I favour "roofs" because, unlike "hooves", I can't detect a vowel phoneme change in the plural form, but I imagine both are acceptable. English spellings haven't always been standard. On the other hand, Latin spellings were pretty consistent - which is why accede, succeed, concede, and yes, supercede, are usually spelled with a "c"- because the Latin verb is cedo, cedere (cessi, cessurus), meaning "to yield" (et al). Truce? Or must we continue to make trivial arguments and unfair insults over something as fluid and wonderful as language?
Nadja, Bostonian in Moscow, Russia

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A celebration of the riches of the web.

Today in Web Monitor: when a star wants to change and his fans won't let him, a history of bowing in America and when customer feedback becomes a collision course.

• Singer Cat Stevens, now called Yusuf Islam, is trying to get round the idea of being booed by fans in his editorial in the Times. It happened in Dublin when he took a break from performing classics to preview from his new musical Moonshadow. But Stevens seems to be weary of the call for him to perform his old favourites all the time:

"My voice doesn't seem to have altered, which, for many fans, is a godsend. But not to expect me to sing my favourite new songs from two carefully and thoughtfully created albums, but to demand a 'Beam me up, Scotty' return to the Cat Stevens persona of yesterday is more than any amount of imagination can hope for."

• Much was said about President Obama bowing to the emperor of Japan over the weekend. But when Juliet Lapidos in Slate magazine delved into the archives, she found bowing used to be a custom in the US until as late as the early 20th Century. She looked into why the custom went out of fashion:

"In the revolutionary period, the practice was regarded, by some, as a vestige of a less democratic society. Thomas Jefferson, for example, liked to shake hands instead of bowing. Traditional signs of deference took a further hit during Andrew Jackson's presidency (1829-37), when many American self-consciously rejected the trappings of hierarchy and the Old World."

• And finally, magician turned psychologist Richard Wiseman has spotted a gem of customer pictures on Amazon. The feature normally is a chance for customers to upload pictures of their very own version of the product on sale. The Laptop Steering Wheel Desk is a clip-on desk you can attach to your steering wheel to prop your laptop on. But instead of the normal pictures of customers enjoying the item, Wiseman noticed people had been uploading pictures of car pile-ups - presumably their take on what would happen if you surfed whilst driving.

This isn't the first time customer interaction on the site has not toed the line.
Previously a T-shirt with three wolves on it became one of the most popular items sold on Amazon after its page was deluged with over-enthusiastic comments about the T-shirt's powers.

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