‘Wakanda’ on free trade list

Remember the fictional country of Wakanda from Black Panther? The United States Department of Agriculture accidentally listed Wakanda on a US free trade list.

Twitter user Francis Tseng pointed out that the fictional country that served as the setting for the 2018 Marvel film Black Panther was listed on the website as a trade agreement partner on the Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Tariff Tracker.

The fictional country was removed soon from the list after US media first queried it, prompting jokes that the countries had started a trade war. After the listing was removed, a USDA spokesman told that Wakanda’s listing was added as a test file for staff and was never supposed to be public.

It’s a microscopic Christmas

This microscopic gingerbread house believed is to be the smallest in the world, made by a Canadian researcher. About half the size of one made in France last year, it was cut and etched from silicon, complete with sharply defined bricks and trim, and a Canadian flag for a welcome mat.

McMaster University researcher Travis Casagrande said he used a beam of charged gallium ions that acted like a sandblaster.

Images provided by the Hamilton, Ontario School’s Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy showed the house sitting atop a cap on the head of a tiny winking snowman made from materials used in lithium-ion battery research.

The pair of decorations stacked one on top of the other are barely taller than the diameter of a human hair. The centre’s suite of 10 electron microscopes and other equipment are used mostly for materials research.

Guinness record for wrapping presents

An Ohio city broke a festive Guinness World Record when 1,482 people gathered to wrap presents simultaneously.

Organisers of the attempt in Portsmouth said they had been expecting between 900 and 950 people to participate in the record attempt, but a total 1,482 people ended up wrapping presents in Market Square.

Wrapping paper was provided by the Hallmark Channel and a Guinness adjudicator was on hand to ensure all of the wrapped gifts followed the record-keeping organisation’s rules.

The Guinness judge confirmed the 1,482 participants broke the previous record of 876 people wrapping gifts simultaneously.

Cowboy pigeon being captured!

Remember, these mysterious pigeons wearing cowboy hats spotted on the streets? It is reported that one which has been captured by animal rescuers in Las Vegas when spotted wandering around the city with a cowboy hat attached to its head.

The Lofty Hopes pigeon rescue group said in a Facebook post that a pigeon dubbed ‘Cluck Norris’ was captured in a trap and the bird still had the red cowboy hat apparently glued to its head.

The group said a pigeon wearing a pink cowboy hat, dubbed ‘Coolamity Jane,’ is still being sought by rescuers. Lofty Hopes co-founder Mariah Hillman is concerned about how the hats could affect the pigeons’ ability to fly and attractiveness to predators as these hats have glued to the birds’ head.

Hillman said the group is aware of reported sightings of a third pigeon in a brown cowboy hat, but rescuers have not yet been able to verify the reports.

Published in Dawn, Young World, December 28th, 2019