Star Wars Lego set Guinness record

A 12-year-old Lego enthusiast in Kentucky broke a Guinness World Record by building a Star Wars Millennium Falcon micro fighter kit in under two minutes.

Guinness said Haddon Haste, 12, of Louisville, assembled the Millennium Falcon micro fighter kit in 1 minute, 59.72 seconds, setting a record for the fastest time to build the model.

Matthew Haste, the boy’s father, said Haddon wanted to break a Guinness World Record while stuck at home amid the Covid-19 pandemic and found a record that combined his love of Lego building with his love of Star Wars.

Right or left?

A woman who finds it difficult to differentiate between right and left has had the letters tattooed onto her hands to ensure she never gets it wrong again.

D’Kodia Laine, from Australia, said she faced ridicule growing up over constantly mixing them up, but things reached breaking point during a scavenger hunt party with friends last year.

She was selected to be the navigator for her team and when she instructed the driver to take “a few wrong turns”, her friend penned an ‘L’ and an ‘R’ on her hands to solve the problem.

D’Kodia revisited artist Lauren Winzer at the renowned tattoo studio Hunter & Fox and made them permanent.

Visit the town and get $100

A small California town with a tourism industry hard-hit by the Covid-19 pandemic is offering visitors $100 to come and stay.

The Visit Santa Maria Valley programme is providing $100 vouchers, which can be used at the town’s stores and restaurants, to tourists who stay for at least two nights at hotels there. The promotion will run till the end of March.

“Santa Maria Valley has so much to offer,” Jennifer Harrison, director of the Santa Maria Valley Visitors Bureau, told. “We have beautiful beaches and hotels that are such a great option for budget-conscious travellers during a time of economic rebound.”

Harrison said the town is a safer travel location than many other California destinations, as the area is less crowded and social distancing can be more easily enforced.

Lobster shell patterns make concrete stronger

Inspired by the natural, twisting patterns of a lobster shell, Australian researchers say they have found a way, using 3D printing technology, to improve the strength of concrete for use in complex architecture.

Reinforced with steel fibres, the concrete becomes more durable when set in a pattern that copies a lobster shell, according to a new study from Melbourne’s RMIT University.

Rather than use a mould, the process involves depositing layers of concrete one on top of the other, directed from a computer programme using 3D printing technology.

The design would help when building challenging arch or twisted structures with complex geometries.

Published in Dawn, Young World, February 13th, 2021