The weekly weird

Published December 10, 2022

Slackliner crosses between two hot air balloons

An accomplished slackliner showed off his balance skills by taking a walk on a line suspended between two hot air balloons over his Brazilian hometown.

Rafael Bridi, who previously earned the Guinness World Record for highest slackline walk when he crossed between two balloons 6,236 feet over Praia Grande in Santa Catarina, Brazil, replicated his stunt over the city of Florianopolis to honour his hometown.

The stunt was sponsored by camera company Insta360, which posted video of the slackline walk to YouTube.

Steve Jobs’ sandals auctioned

The California house where Steve Jobs co-founded Apple is a historical site, and now the sandals he wore while pacing its floors was sold for nearly $220,000, according to an auction house.

The “well used” brown suede Birkenstocks dating to the mid-1970s set a record for the highest price ever paid for a pair of sandals, Julien’s Auctions said. The cork and jute footbed retain the imprint of Steve Jobs’ feet, which had been shaped after years of use.

Jobs and Steve Wozniak co-founded Apple in 1976 at Jobs’ parents’ house in Los Altos, California. In 2013, the property was named a historic landmark by the Los Altos Historical Commission.

Jobs died in 2011 from complications of pancreatic cancer.

Weird fish discovered off the coast of Australia

The scientists from the Museums Victoria Research Institute in Australia were stunned when they discovered bat-like fish, blind eels and lizard fish with rows of razor-sharp teeth.

The never-seen-before creatures were found during an expedition to Australia’s remote Cocos (Keeling) Islands Marine Park, an area of 290,213 square miles (467,054 square kilometres) around 1,708 miles (2,750 kms) north-west of Perth, Australia.

The area’s two coral atolls have 27 small islands with gorgeous white sand beaches, palm trees and lagoons.

The scientists were collecting samples from over three miles deep, surveying previously unknown deep-sea life, including a blind eel with gelatinous skin that gives birth to live young.

The team were fascinated by the badly developed eyes of the unusual-looking eel and soon discovered another deep-sea creature with rarely-seen attributes, they found a flatfish whose eyes are on one side of its head to retain vision while lying on the seabed.

During the expedition, the team also produced detailed three-dimensional images of the massive mountain underneath the islands, another first for the history-making trip.

Largest published book unveiled

Literacy non-profit iWRITE and The Bryan Museum in Galveston, Texas, teamed up to create a massive version of the book I Am Texas, which contains writing and artwork from 1,000 Texas students from third to 12th grades.

The book, which has smaller versions available for purchase, measures 7 feet tall, 11 feet wide and weighs in at 496 pounds.

The giant book has been certified as the world’s largest by Guinness World Records, and is now embarking on a tour of Texas.

Published in Dawn, Young World, December 10th, 2022

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