The crow buster keeps crows at bay

Crows can be quite pesky pests. Highly adapted to both rural and urban environments, crows can cause serious damage to crops, rummage through garbage for food, and attack smaller birds, animals or even humans. Because of their higher-than-average bird intellect and excellent memory, crows can be very tough to deal with.

To keep crows at bay, a Japanese company has come up with a ‘Crow Buster’ — a diamond-shaped yellow piece of plastic to be hung in the area you’re trying to protect from crows. It works on power lines, in orchards, on house roofs, or pretty much anywhere you can think of, for up to six months after installation.

Rare Babe Ruth rookie card sells for $7.2 Million!

A 109-year-old Babe Ruth card fetched $7.2 million at an online auction in November 2023. This is the most paid-for item belonging to the famed player and the third-highest price for a baseball card ever, but far less than the over $10 million estimated by Robert Edward Auctions (REA).

The collectible measures about 2.6 inches by 3.6 inches and was created in 1914 by The Baltimore News. The front features a 19-year-old Ruth, then with the Baltimore Orioles in the International League. The reverse side displays the team’s home and away game schedule. This card was made during the season when Ruth joined the Boston Red Sox.

The art of book fore-edge painting

Maisie Matilda, a 24-year-old self-taught artist from the UK, started experimenting with the dying art of book fore-edge painting during the first Covid-19 lockdown. She went viral after she posted videos of her work on the fore-edge of a J.R.R. Tolkien book on social media.

Fore-edge painting can be traced back to the 10th century, but it evolved into a full-fledged art form during the 18th century. Unfortunately, the craft is listed as critically endangered, with only four “craftspeople currently known” to be working in the field all over the world.

Maisie’s creative process starts with finding the right book, as she gets inspiration from the books she paints. Then comes the repair work, if the book needs it, before using two clamps to press the pages together and create a canvas out of the fore-edge.

A woman sings for 127-hour, breaks record

Women’s rights advocate, journalist and event organiser Afua Asantewaa Owusu Aduonum broke a world record by an Indian singer, Sunil Waghmare, who sang non-stop for 105 hours! The Ghanaian woman claims to have beaten the old record by over 20 hours and is now waiting for confirmation from Guinness Records that her attempt was valid.

Afua Asantewaa Owusu Aduonum began her historic sing-a-thon on Christmas Eve and planned to sing for 117 hours to comfortably beat Wghmare’s impressive record, but she felt so good after 111 hours, that she decided to keep going with the record, only stopping at the 126 hours and 52 minutes mark on doctors’ orders.

Published in Dawn, Young World, January 27th, 2024