Children’s book with 1,250 alternative endings

A Sri Lankan author was awarded a Guinness World Record after enlisting the help of the country’s children to write a book with 1,250 alternative endings.

Sybil Wettasinghe, author and illustrator of popular children’s books including The Umbrella Thief, enlisted the help of students from all across the country to contribute writings, drawings and poetry to complete the story in her book, Wonder Crystal.

Guinness World Records said the resulting tome, which has 1,250 different completed endings, is being recognised as a record holder for the most alternative endings for a book.

Wettasinghe said she received a total of about 20,000 submissions from children as part of the effort.

Tuxedo-wearing llama

Mendl Weinstock said he was on a road trip with his older sister, Riva, and some friends about five years ago, when his then-single sibling started speculating about the details of her eventual wedding.

The brother decided to do something his sister had never expected and which would eventually make her wedding unforgettable.

So when Riva Weinstock broke the news of her marriage, she received a text message confirmation that Mendl was coming with a guest, a llama.

“When my brother puts his mind to something, he gets it done. So at some point I had to accept it and decide that it was easier to get in on the joke than to fight it,” she said.

Woman doped into caring for fake plant

Caelie Wilkes had been religiously watering the plant, making sure it was getting the right amount of sunlight and regularly cleaning the leaves, for two years.

It was only when she went to re-pot the succulent that she noticed it was fake.

Caelie told her friends, “I just wanted to take good care of it. I absolutely loved my succulent.”

She explained that after finding a cute vase which suited it perfectly, she decided she would re-pot it. But as she started to pull it out of its original plastic container she saw that it was attached to a block of foam, and decorated with sand which was glued on top.

“How did I not know this. I feel like these last two years have been a lie,” said Caelie.

So next time you buy a plant, make sure it is the real thing!

A new lion fossil is astonishing

Palaeontologists from the University of New South Wales discovered the remains of the tiny lion at Australia’s Riversleigh World Heritage Area in Queensland, where scientists have been finding fossils for decades.

The new marsupial lion was previously believed to be part of the Priscileo roskellyae (Thylacoleonidae) genus because of its teeth and small size. But when researchers took a closer look at the skull and lower jaw, they noticed the skull anatomy was different from that of other marsupial lions.

In a paper published this month in the Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology, researchers confirmed that the mammal was a new genus of the marsupial lion. Researchers think the marsupial lion, named Lekaneleo roskellyae, lived in trees and ate birds, snakes and other small animals with its bolt-cutting teeth.

Published in Dawn, Young World, March 21st, 2020