Wait ‘Til the Union Hears About This:...

Wait ‘Til the Union Hears About This: According to Reuters, nurses at a Tasmanian psychiatric hospital are being forced to work under harsh conditions. Seems there’s a ghost running around who likes to throw nurses against the wall. A throwee--a male nurse whose name has not been released--is undergoing counseling and has been transferred to another hospital. “We don’t know much about the apparition, whether it is a man or woman or whatever,� says government spokesman Neil Sparks. Betcha Ghostbusters would.

Could Be Water Gain: Ling-Ling, the most famous female panda in the universe, could be preggers, according to her publicists at Washington’s National Zoo. Then again, maybe not. What zookeepers do know is that Ling-Ling and her main squeeze, Hsing-Hsing, mated this spring. And Ling-Ling has since shown signs of panda pregnancy. Then again, maybe not. According to the experts, signs of a false pregnancy are essentially the same and Ms. Ling has had four of those--of that we’re sure.

Quoting: “For me, this is my fantasy.� So says former super-model Carol Alt, who quit modeling full-time in 1985 to become an actress. Now, Alt is adding singing to her resume--and perhaps “I Don’t Care� to her repertoire. Alt says models take a lot of heat and expects to feel it as an ex-bigtime model who sings and acts. But she won’t be intimidated. “I don’t care what the critics say because I’m out there and I’m vulnerable and I’m open to criticism,� she said in an interview on “A Current Affair.�

Quoting II: “When I started, baseball was played by nine tough competitors on grass in graceful ballparks. By the time I was finished, there were 10 men on each side, the game was played indoors, on plastic, and I had to spend half of my time watching out for a man dressed in a chicken suit who kept trying to kiss me.�--ex-American League umpire Ron Luciano quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle.