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Retiree shocked to find super account drained of funds

A retired couple have received the shock of their life after finding out their super was drained to next to nothing after years of hard work. Stephen Lockwood worked his entire life but was forced to retire after having open-heart surgery, a plate placed in his neck for sciatic nerve, and two hip replacements. At 65 years old, Stephen believed that he had enough in his super account for him and his wife Denise. But when Denise went to take a look at the account, she was horrified to find only $48,863.80 of the expected $200,000 that was meant to be in there. It is understood that in 2010, Stephen took advice from MBA Financial Strategists to merge all his super accounts into one. Based on life insurance cover, all three accounts were merged into AXA's Summit Personal Super Plan before merging into AMP the following year. Five years later, Stephen had a record of $79,613.71 in his super but things took a turn despite the couple contributing $800 each month. This was caused by multiple fees each month, particularly for his life insurance and total permanent disability cover, which almost quadrupled from $509 per month in 2013 to $1960 a month this year. He was also being charged for a financial advisor. "They were taking $24,000 a year," Stephen told <a href="https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/adelaide-couple-call-out-superannuation-fees/3bf0e217-3d45-4dd2-b155-7842490d0205?ocid=Social-9News&fbclid=IwAR0r0e5KfoEOrTIjSGaa_K70Cf7fGheE6E6HeLrsWbGFxDBx6y_pyGX5iv4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A Current Affair</a>. Stephen admitted he wasn’t keeping tabs on his account and assumed that being charged for an advisor from MBA Financial Strategist was okay. MBA Financial Strategists told the publication that they attempted to reach out to Stephen in 2017 but heard no response. "At his most recent review in 2017, we alerted Mr Lockwood that his life insurer was increasing his premiums and it would be prudent to review his level of cover," a spokesperson told A Current Affair. "We made multiple attempts to contact Mr Lockwood over a number of years to assist with his annual review, however due to lack of contact we ceased charging his annual fee for advice in 2020.” Stephen’s account has since been referred to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority with AMP cooperating to receive the best possible solution. Image: ACA

Retirement Life

‘Drained and wary of the future’: why you might feel different about New Year’s resolutions this year

At the beginning of each year, many people make vows to either do or not do something to improve their life in some way. The fresh start of a new year is magically equated with a fresh start to life and often imbued with renewed hope that this year things will be better. As we enter 2022, after two years of living with COVID-19, this hope may be stronger than usual. The pandemic’s impacts have ranged from deaths and other adverse effects on physical and mental health, to huge changes in employment, income, travel, leisure and the ability to socialise. The effect on individuals has varied considerably, depending on what their life was like beforehand, how much it has affected them personally, and their own resilience. Based on discussions with colleagues and patients, we may see resolutions driven by loss, guilt and anger, plus a rush on common types of self-improvement resolutions and a greater drive for overall life changes. Resilience How we respond to the shocks of the pandemic depends in part on our <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3402/ejpt.v5.25338" target="_blank">resilience</a>: the ability to adapt well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress. It involves “bouncing back” from difficult experiences, and it can also involve personal growth. People who have lost loved ones to COVID may respond with New Year’s resolutions, but they may take positive or negative forms. Positive resolutions might be commitments to honour the deceased in some way, or to live well because your loved one cannot. A pact or vow made with or to a deceased loved one to “live life better” can be a powerful, positive motivator to change bad health habits such as smoking, excessive drinking or gambling, although professional help is advisable to ensure safe and lasting change. Negative resolutions, often driven by strong feelings of anger and despair, might be vows to seek revenge or punish those who may seem responsible for the death of their relative or friend. “Revenge resolutions” are not usually helpful adaptations and may spring from a sense of guilt arising from not being able to save their loved one or spend time with them. People who survived a COVID infection while a loved one did not, in particular, <a href="https://doi.apa.org/fulltext/2020-43452-001.html">often experience strong feelings of guilt</a>. Guilt-driven resolutions are driven by powerful emotions. They are likely to be realised in some form throughout the year, when hopefully the driving emotions become less intense by the following year. Personal improvement Since the virus has posed a major health risk, it would make sense for more people than ever to choose the New Year to resolve to improve their own health. Quitting smoking is a very common New Year’s resolution, and it seems even more sensible than usual amid a global pandemic of a virus that mainly attacks the respiratory system. However, as many people have found in the past, giving up cigarettes is very difficult and often requires significant planning and help to succeed. <img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436539/original/file-20211209-19-167gm8e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /> Quitting smoking or other drugs is a very common New Year’s resolution. But while the pandemic may have increased the desire for change, it won’t necessarily make it any easier to achieve. Shutterstock While the pandemic may have made the desire for change stronger, it does not magically make resolutions any easier to achieve. This applies similarly to resolutions to change the use of alcohol or other drugs, which would also benefit from planning and professional help. Weight loss is another favourite New Year’s resolution. The famous “COVID kilos” will no doubt drive more people than usual to resolve to lose weight in 2022. Crash diets are common, but are often abandoned by February. Careful eating and an exercise plan accompanying the resolution will make it more likely to succeed. Bigger changes While COVID is likely to give an extra edge to common resolutions, we are also likely to see a surge in resolutions for overall “lifestyle change”. Many people’s attitudes to work and family have changed dramatically over the past two years, due to travel restrictions, work or study from home, and little socialisation with those outside our immediate families. This hugely significant alteration in our way of life has caused many people to reconsider their futures. Many have found great enjoyment in spending time with family and are now rethinking their work–home balance. Discovering that working from home is possible has made many people reconsider their career options moving into 2022. Some <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-10/quit-your-job-how-to-resign-after-covid-pandemic" target="_blank">experts anticipate</a> a post-pandemic work exodus, dubbed the “great resignation”, in which millions of people, from frontline workers to senior executives, may resign from their jobs. <img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436541/original/file-20211209-68670-gy08bg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /> As working from home has become more common, attitudes to work and family have shifted. Shutterstock According to <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/hybrid-work" target="_blank">recent research</a> by Microsoft, more than 40% of the global workforce are considering leaving their employers. This trend is expected to be replicated in different industries in the USA, UK and Europe. In Australia, <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/australias-great-resignation-is-a-myth-we-are-changing-jobs-less-than-ever-before-170784" target="_blank">this trend is not evident</a>, but nonetheless, a New Year’s resolution may be to determine a different type of employment for 2022 and beyond. Two paths for 2022 COVID-19 has left most of us drained and wary of the future. Many people believed the pandemic would end in 2020, but 2021 brought more infection, lockdowns and restrictions. In times of trauma, when the future is uncertain, there can be a polarisation of behaviours. Some people adopt a “devil may care, live for now” attitude to life, with greater risk taking. Others take the opposite attitude, and exercise extreme caution and narrow their existence further. Both groups may well make New Year’s resolutions to fit their approach to life.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172305/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jayashri-kulkarni-185" target="_blank">Jayashri Kulkarni</a>, Professor of Psychiatry, <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/monash-university-1065" target="_blank">Monash University</a> This article is republished from <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/drained-and-wary-of-the-future-why-you-might-feel-different-about-new-years-resolutions-this-year-172305" target="_blank">original article</a>.

Mind

The “criminal” Android apps that are draining your battery

Researchers from security firm Sophos have found 22 apps that drain your battery life and could land you with a big phone bill. The “click fraud” apps pretend to be normal apps on the Google Play Store but secretly perform criminal actions out of sight. The 22 apps have been collectively downloaded over 22 million times. One app includes an illicit flashlight app that racked up one million downloads – before being taken down from Google’s Play Store. The apps create invisible ads and trick advertisers into thinking that users are clicking on them. The ads never actually appear for the user and appear in a hidden browser window instead. The malware then stimulates a user interacting with the ad, which tricks the ad into thinking the interaction is legitimate. Despite it sounding like a bad deal for the advertisers who have spent money on the advertisements, it’s also bad news for the users as well. The researchers explained to <a href="https://www.news.com.au/technology/gadgets/mobile-phones/22-criminal-android-apps-draining-your-battery/news-story/2c90a4a58991118d37d53208d251a26d">news.com.au</a>: “From the user’s perspective, these apps drain their phone’s battery and may cause data overawes as the apps are constantly running and communicating with servers in the background.” Normal users without technical knowledge would be hard-pressed to find out whether or not the apps were amiss. The warning signs would be increased data usage and fast-draining battery life but pinning this on the apps alone would be hard. User reviews gave nothing away either. Many of the dodgy apps had any negative comments as they didn’t know anything was wrong. This means that many are more likely to download the app in future as many users use app reviews to decide whether an app is worth downloading or not. “The only affects a user might notice is that the apps would use a significantly greater amount of data, at all times, and consume the phone’s battery power at a more rapid rate than the phone would otherwise require,” researchers explained. “Because consumers would not be able to correlate these effects to the apps themselves, their Play Market reviews for these apps showed few negative comments.” The dodgy apps have since been removed from the Google Play Store, but they can still operate if you’ve got them installed. A list of the apps can be seen below. <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Sparkle FlashLight – com.sparkle.flashlight</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Snake Attack – com.mobilebt.snakefight</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Math Solver – com.mobilebt.mathsolver</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">ShapeSorter – com.mobilebt.shapesorter</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Tak A Trip – com.takatrip.android</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Magnifeye – com.magnifeye.android</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Join Up – com.pesrepi.joinup</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Zombie Killer – com.pesrepi.zombiekiller</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Space Rocket – com.pesrepi.spacerocket</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Neon Pong – com.pesrepi.neonpong</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Just Flashlight – app.mobile.justflashlight</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Table Soccer – com.mobile.tablesoccer</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Cliff Diver – com.mobile.cliffdiver</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Box Stack – com.mobile.boxstack</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Jelly Slice – net.kanmobi.jellyslice</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">AK Blackjack – com.maragona.akblackjack</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Color Tiles – com.maragona.colortiles</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Animal Match – com.beacon.animalmatch</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Roulette Mania – com.beacon.roulettemania</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">HexaFall – com.atry.hexafall</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">HexaBlocks – com.atry.hexablocks</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">PairZap – com.atry.pairzap</li> </ul>

Technology

Police locate couple who dropped engagement ring down New York drain during proposal

While all wedding proposals are unforgettable, one couple’s engagement has made headlines for all the wrong reasons. Security cameras captured the horrific moment an engagement ring fell down a drain at Times Square in New York after a man got down on one knee to propose to his partner. The video footage, which was retweeted more than 20,000 times, shows the mystery couple unsuccessfully trying to retrieve the lost valuable. NYPD officers were able to locate and clean the piece of jewellery but found it difficult to find the couple who it belonged to. They shared the video on the New York City Police Department official Twitter account, hoping that online users would be able to assist in their manhunt. But now, the New York City police have happily revealed that they have been able to locate the tourist couple and return the special ring to them. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> Thank you, Twitter. Case closed! Love, John, Daniella, and the NYPD. <a href="https://t.co/G7eB1Ds7vP">pic.twitter.com/G7eB1Ds7vP</a> — NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/NYPDnews/status/1069307942749515776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 2, 2018</a></blockquote> "The [now] happy couple is back in their home country, but thanks to your retweets they heard we were looking for them!" the NYPD wrote on Twitter. "We're making arrangements to get them their ring back. Congratulations!" Times Square receives more than 350,000 visitors every day but thanks to Twitter, John and his fiancée Danielle were located in record time. The couple shared a photo of them celebrating after being reunited with the stunning ring. Have you ever lost your engagement ring? Let us know in the comments below.

Beauty & Style

From $200K to $25 – Grieving widow shocked to find late husband’s super fund drained dry

After Kim Garbutt’s husband, Craig, passed away 10 years ago, his family was expecting a cheque for more than $208,000 in death benefits from AMP – Craig’s superannuation fund. Instead, they received $25.09 13 days later. The grieving widow was shocked to find that the account had only a small sum of money when she was under the impression that her husband had left her with $208,000. “When the account arrived, I was a bit dumbfounded,” she told <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-13/widow-expected-$200,000-super-death-benefit-amp-paid-her-$25/10114662">7.30</a>. “Sometime after that I spoke to them and they were saying basically the account had run dry. They went, ‘So sad that he’s died but too bad, the accounts got no money in it.” Ms Garbutt only discovered the account was $212 in arrears – and that AMP had cancelled the policy – five months before Craig’s death. Before his death in 2008, Craig had fought an alcohol addiction which put strain on his marriage with Ms Garbutt. Although the two split shortly after the wedding, they decided to stay legally married for the sake of their two children. Craig, who passed away at the age of 39, was described by Ms Garbutt as someone who was “super smart…he was funny, he liked to dress well.” “He wasn’t ostentatious, he was bombastic, he was just a nice friendly guy. He was well-liked, he was well-loved.” While he tried to seek help by attending rehab facilities, in the end, he couldn’t rid himself of his addiction. Before he passed away, Craig was using friends’ couches and his car to live out of after his business went bankrupt. “He was in debt to what we think is $300,000 to $400,000 to maybe six or seven creditors. Phones had been cut off,” said Ms Garbutt. After investigating, Ms Garbutt discovered that Craig had transferred $1621.93 into the account from his previous super fund in 2003, but in as little as 5 weeks, the amount was down to $1433.77 after he was charged over $188.16 in fees and premiums. Even though Craig had no further contribution to his account after the initial $1621.93, AMP continued to deduct fees and charges – many of which were hidden. AMP claims to have contacted Craig before his death to let him know that his account was low on funds and would be cancelled. They advised her that there was nothing more they can do. According to Ms Garbutt, AMP was not cooperative and refused to speak with her on compassionate grounds, and since Craig’s passing, she has been struggling to compete with the insurance company about Craig’s superannuation and insurance. Ms Garbutt reveals that while AMP sent her late husband letters regarding his fund, he was seriously ill and was not opening mail at the time. A spokeswoman from AMP said that the company “strongly rejects” the idea that Ms Garbutt had been uninformed throughout the process. “At no time were we informed that [Craig] was unwell, and we corresponded with him as early as seven months before his death that he was at risk of losing his valuable insurance,” said the spokeswoman. “We do allow customers to reinstate lapsed policies based on medical evidence, however, we do not allow this where the reinstatement is due to the customer now wishing to claim.” Ms Garbutt claims to have “begged and pleaded” with the insurance giant regarding where Craig’s money had gone, but AMP remained uncooperative. “It was ‘Nope, we told Craig it was going to be cancelled’,” she said. “I went, ‘Craig wasn’t functioning, we wouldn’t have read the letters’.”

Legal

Scammers can now cut off your mobile phone and drain your bank account in just minutes

A new scam targeting Australians is seeing fraudsters exploiting mobile phone network providers so that they drain a victim’s bank account. Fraudsters will port the victim’s mobile phone number to a new sim card, which is owned by the scammer, so that they can then use the mobile number as a form of identification to transfer money. A victim of this scam, Lisa Johnson, told 9News that it all started when she received a phone call where the caller immediately hung up. Later that night, Lisa received a text from Optus saying a request had been made to port her number, followed 30 seconds later by a confirmation text from Vodafone, confirming the task had been completed. When she called Optus, her service was not active and then, 15 minutes later, she received a notification that $1000 had been withdrawn from her account. Porting a number only requires details such as a name, address, date of birth and bank account numbers. Scammers can obtain this information from stealing mail or hacking methods. Network providers are required by law to fulfil a request to port a mobile phone number to a new carrier within three hours. Detective Chief Inspector Matt Craft told 9News that the scam had cost Australians $10 million in the last year. He said the timeframe for number ports to complete should be extended. “There needs to be time for a customer to respond and respond appropriately,” he said.

Technology

These apps are draining your phone’s battery

Nothing quite annoys like a dying phone, but users might not realise some apps kill the battery quicker than others? AVG Technologies released their top power-stealers on Android devices, and it's no surprise that Facebook topped the list. And no it's not because of incessant likes, newsfeed scrolling or flicking through pictures. The social media drains a phone's juice because it's busy recording background activity, even if you disable settings such as background refresh. Facebook iOS developer Jonathan Zdziarski has said the app's location tracking could also be to blame. He even tweeted the "ridiculous amount of analytics alone in Facebook should be enough to drain your battery, never mind location sharing". So if you're wanting to save some juice, uninstall the app and bookmark the mobile site. Facebook was followed by start-up apps Google Play and BBM (the standard messenger app). Spotify streaming also sucked the life out of phones and directly impacted storage capacity and data consumption. However, the most notable feature on the list was the rise of Snapchat as the top user-run app that kills a phone's power. It's understandable. All that fun barfing up rainbows and morphing into goggle-eyed chipmunk would cost a lot in battery life. Amazon shopping was the user-app runner-up (with millions of products on there, customers are bound to spend a bit of power updating, loading and racking up activity info). The study looked at all the top battery and data-consuming apps running on Android smartphones and tablets, using data from over one million anonymous Android app users. RANKINGS The top battery drainers run by users were Samsung WatchON, Snapchat, Amazon Shopping UK, BBC News and Walmart. But the rankings for apps affecting overall performance which were run at start-up of the phone were: <ol start="1"> <li>Facebook</li> <li>Google Play</li> <li>Services,</li> <li>Facebook Pages Manager</li> <li>BBM Words with Friends </li> <li>Instagram</li> </ol> And those same rankings, except for apps run by the user, were <ol start="1"> <li>Snapchat</li> <li>Amazon Shopping UK</li> <li>Spotify Music</li> <li>LINE: Free calls & messages</li> <li>Samsung WatchON</li> <li>Netflix</li> </ol> What are your thoughts? Republished with permission of <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/" target="_blank">Stuff.co.nz</a>.

Technology

Homemade drain cleaner

If you’ve been away, or you’ve got a bathroom you don’t use too often, musty smelling drains can be an issue. But there’s a simple way to freshen them up, and it doesn’t involve expensive products or too much of your time. You will need: baking soda, salt, white vinegar Method: <ol> <li>In a mixing bowl, mix together a quarter of a cup of salt with half a cup of baking soda.</li> <li>Pour the mixture down the drain and then tip a full cup of vinegar on top. The vinegar will cause the baking soda to froth up, acting as an internal broom for the drain.</li> <li>After 20 minutes, tip a just-boiled kettle of water down the drain for a final rinse.</li> </ol> Why not try making this a habit every couple of months to keep drains free flowing throughout your home? Have you got any other great ways to freshen up your drains?

Home & Garden

How to prevent brain drain

You're standing in front of the fridge and, for the life of you, can't remember what you are looking for. It's not uncommon for us to have short-term memory lapses, but it is disconcerting. Even more so as we wonder whether we're just getting old and barmy. It's worth remembering that our short-term memory can only handle a handful of items at a time. Gradually it files the more important pieces of information into our long-term memory (a separate strand of memory, which is responsible for recollecting our experiences). But, various factors do speed up the decline of short-term memory. These include environmental elements, excess alcohol, drugs and cigarettes. The effect ageing has on the memory part of the brain, however, is said to be the biggest contributor. Thankfully, like the rest of our muscles, if we work it, our brain is more likely to keep working for us. To help us help ourselves, neuroscientists and cognitive psychologists from the University of Melbourne have teamed up with the ABC to develop a series of fun mind games which work on <a href="https://www.activememory.com/" target="_blank">active memory</a>. Active memory is a term for cognitive training – performing a series of activities designed to tap different aspects of brain function which affect short-term memory, explains Dr Damian Birney, an honorary principal research Fellow at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health. "As we age, long-term and short-term memory retrieval can be difficult," Birney says. "Long-term, memory relates to our experiences, whereas short-term memory relates to our ability to hold things to reason or link words we've just read with words we're about to read." Exercising our active memory "is worthwhile for healthy ageing – for a healthy quality of life," Birney says. "Staying cognitively active can build our cognitive reserve. Studies have shown if you give rats an enriched environment they are less susceptible to the effects of ageing." Studies in humans, however are less conclusive. One study of 11,000 people found that "brain training games lead to better performance on... brain training games." Not exactly profound findings. But, other studies (that have had either very small sample sizes or design flaws) have found that brain training games can affect our overall cognitive function. <a href="http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/users/se367/10/klingberg2010.pdf" target="_blank">One Swedish study</a> found that working on active memory improved mental performance in other areas and altered the number of dopamine receptors in the brain – these are responsible for learning and other cognitive functions. "<a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2008/04/25/0801268105.abstract" target="_blank">This is very remarkable</a> given that 100 years before that, it was said that you can't change fluid intelligence," Birney explains. "While researchers know that there are anatomical changes in the brain after active memory training, the big challenge in this area is understanding whether these skills can translate to [other areas]." People tend to self-report better cognitive function as a result of brain training games, Birney says. "That is, less standing in front of the fridge and wondering what you're doing there." But, to try and clear up the discrepancies of the previous studies, Birney and his colleagues are setting up a three year study using the games they have developed for the ABC. Instead of being based on basic adaptation, which is where the better you get at a task, the more challenging it becomes and vice versa, "we are trying to build adaptation across tasks - which task should it be next - and have games that tap into attention, spatial skills and reasoning". His hope, through the research, is "to demonstrate that our abilities are much more malleable than originally thought". "Even if we can't demonstrate that it can be improved, if we can show it is possible to use [cognitive functions] better, then for all intents and purposes we have changed [our understanding] on a fundamental level." Written by Sarah Berry. Appeared on <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/">Stuff.co.nz. </a> Related links: <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/health/mind/2017/01/personality-quirks-that-are-a-sign-of-intelligence/">These 4 personality quirks are a sign of intelligence</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/health/mind/2017/01/getting-distracted-in-old-age-is-a-good-thing/">Getting distracted in old age is a good thing</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/health/mind/2017/01/tips-to-improve-your-memory/%20">Improve your memory with these 4 tips</a>

Mind

Clever trick unclogs a kitchen drain in 15 seconds

A clogged drain can be a kitchen nightmare, and too often we head straight to expensive store-bought chemicals, thinking they’re the only way we can get the job done. But the most effective solution can already be found around the home. In this video from <a href="http://www.countryliving.com/" target="_blank">Country Living</a> we discover the simple trick that will clean even the most clogged drains by combining baking soda, white vinegar and a bit of hot water. To see how it’s done watch the video above. Do you have any other DIY solutions to clean drain sinks? What about some other handy DIY tips around the house? Let us know in the comments. Video credit: Rumble / Country Living Related links: <a href="/lifestyle/home-garden/2016/07/things-we-do-that-make-our-cleaning-harder/">5 things we all do that make cleaning harder</a> <a href="/lifestyle/home-garden/2016/07/food-scraps-you-should-be-eating/">The food scraps you should be eating</a> <a href="/news/news/2016/07/dirtiest-spots-in-your-kitchen/">5 of the dirtiest spots in your kitchen</a>

News

Elephant calf rescued from drain in heart-stopping video

Port workers teamed up with wildlife officials to rescue an elephant calf that become precariously trapped in a drain in Sri Lanka’s southern port city of Hambantota. As you can see in the video above, there was not a second to waste and rescuers used ropes, mallets and even a welding tool to make the drain wide enough. Once the elephant was freed the workers used water to calm the obviously distressed animal, before loading it onto a vehicle and taking it to safety. The animal was taken away for urgent treatment, and it’s expected that it suffered a broken leg during what must’ve been a harrowing experience. At these stage it’s still unknown how the elephant calf found its way into the drain. Have you ever been involved in a dramatic animal rescue, or know anyone who has been? Share your story in the comments. Video credit: YouTube / BBC Related links: <a href="/lifestyle/family-pets/2014/09/the-benefits-of-having-a-pet/">Why having a pet is SO good for you</a> <a href="/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/01/photos-of-animals-hitchhiking/">Hilarious photos of animals hitchhiking</a> <a href="/lifestyle/family-pets/2015/11/how-to-help-your-pet-conquer-their-phobias/">How to help your pet conquer their phobias</a>

News

Homemade drain-cleaning solution to unclog sinks quickly

Got something clogged up in the sink? No need to buy expensive chemicals to clean it out – this homemade drain-cleaning solution does just the trick, and takes about 15 seconds. All you need is bicarb soda, white vinegar, and some hot water to flush it all down the sink. Watch the video above for a demonstration and say bye-bye to clogged sinks forever. Source: AWM Related links: <a href="/lifestyle/home-garden/2016/01/how-to-sharpen-knife-with-mug/">Genius trick to sharpen knives without sharpener</a> <a href="/lifestyle/home-garden/2016/01/natural-ways-to-get-rid-of-cockroaches/">8 natural ways to get rid of cockroaches</a> <a href="/lifestyle/home-garden/2015/11/ways-to-use-hairspray-at-home/">10 surprising ways to use hairspray at home</a>

News

The Facebook app that’s draining your phone battery

A well-known tech blogger in the US has discovered the Facebook App for his new iPhone 6 is taking up an excessive amount of battery life, accounting for 15 per cent of the total use.Tech entrepreneur, Matt Gilligan, wrote on the issue in a post on the blog <a href="https://medium.com/" target="_blank">Medium</a>. Mr Gillian was startled to discover the proportion of battery life the Facebook App was taking, despite having turned off the “background app refresh” in the iPhone’s settings as a means of minimising this.Extending battery life is a common concern for smart phone users, with many people realising that they have to plug their phone in two to three times a day just to keep it charged.Mr Gilligan writes on Medium, “The above problem may not be an ‘easy’ fix for Facebook and the way their app is built. Furthermore, I doubt that the majority of their customers would actually dive into Settings to discover such an offensive amount of drain — they’ll just keep using it with reckless abandon, wondering why they have to plug their phone in multiple times a day.”A Facebook spokesperson addressed the reports in a statement on tech industry websites, TechCrunch, stating, “We have heard reports of some people experiencing battery issues with our iOS app. We’re looking into this and hope to have a fix in place soon.”Related links:<a href="/news/news/2015/10/facebook-release-emoticons/">Facebook release emoticons to express feelings</a><a href="/news/news/2015/10/iphone-emergency-features/">7 ways your iPhone could save your life</a><a href="/lifestyle/technology/2015/10/social-media-health-benefits-study/">Social media good for older people’s health</a>

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A puppy named Rev has been rescued after falling into a drain

A six-week-old, super-cute, poodle puppy has been rescued after falling into a drain in Londonderry, Sydney.The pup, named Rev, was luckily saved but not before swimming through pipes. After falling the puppy continued moving around the pipes before his owner realised he was missing around bed time. Owner BJ Biggs heard cries for help coming from the drain and called firefighters to come rescue Rev.“I don’t know how he did it. He’s gone down into water and managed swim up an S-bend and get into the main pipe,” she said.Rev was rescued safely and was not injured.Related links:  <a href="/news/news/2015/02/orcas-rubbing-stones/" target="_blank">Amazing footage of orcas rubbing their bellies on stones in shallow water</a><a href="/news/news/2015/02/ninja-cats/" target="_blank">Ninja cats show off their skills</a><a href="/news/news/2015/02/worlds-cutest-animal/" target="_blank">Is this the world’s cutest animal?</a>

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