Fastest Time To Sort Peanut M&Ms World Record

On May 03, 2024, an American put his color-coding skills to the test and broke the Guinness World Record by sorting 17.6 ounces (500g) of Peanut M&M's by color. 

 

David Rush of Boise, Idaho, previously set the Peanut M&M-sorting record at 1 minute and 14 seconds, but his title was later taken by someone who managed the task two seconds faster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rush said he was determined to break the record by completing the color sorting in under one minute. 

 

"My journey was filled with hilarious obstacles, like my daughter adding water to my M&Ms and my sons making the supplies magically disappear, leading to multiple trips to the store". 

 

But he persevered and he was able to recapture the record, and exceed his personal goal in 57.78 seconds.

 

 

 

Yesterday, Celtic continued their unbeaten start to the Scottish Premiership season – and stay level with Aberdeen at the summit – after an ultimately comfortable 2-0 triumph over Dundee. 

 

Fifty-six minutes on and Brendan Rodgers was forced to call in the cavalry and made a triple sub. Just four minutes later, Alistair Johnston made it two goals from two games by tapping home Yang Hyun-Jun's cross. And then, Arne Engels made it two seven minutes after that when he calmly converted from the spot after Kyogo Furuhashi won a penalty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the same day too, Liverpool advanced to the quarter-finals in their English League Cup title defense with a 3-2 victory against Brighton & Hove Albion.

 

All five goals came in the second half, with Cody Gakpo making the most of his opportunity in attack with two fine strikes (46, 63). Luis Diaz restored Liverpool’s two-goal advantage in the 85th minute after the other side's effort four minutes earlier, and the Seagulls' stoppage-time goal proved to be in vain.

 

 

Happy Diwali 2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a Happy Deepavali! May those of you who are celebrating, have a joyous Festival of Lights!

 

I'm sure you know this, Diwali and Deepavali, although spelled differently, are both commemorated as the "Festival of Lights". The more precise term is actually Deepavali, which is derived from the Sanskrit word Dīpāvali. Taking it apart, the word “dipa” means “light” or “lamp” whereas the word “avali” means “a series” or “row”. Together, they signify a line of lamps, giving rise to the names Deepavali in south India and Diwali in north India for this vibrant celebration.

 

This year, two disparate celebrations from very contrasting cultural backgrounds converge on the same day. Diwali and Halloween are both observed on October 31. 

 

Diwali which is celebrated over five days holds deep spiritual significance for Hindus, representing reflection, renewal, family reunions, and spiritual growth.

 

Halloween, on the other hand, is a "fun" celebration embedded in popular culture focusing on costume parties, trick-or-treating, horror-themed decorations, and social gatherings.

 

TBH, I can't see any purpose and/or meaning for celebrating it. Methinks, Halloween should be discouraged. It is NOT our culture. Therefore, Malaysians should not observe this pointless US tradition, period.

Orator & Oratrix

World Speech Day will be celebrating its tin anniversary next year. 

 

On October 21, founder Simon Gibson introduced its official mascots, Orator and Oratrix. I suppose I'm not wrong to surmise that the purpose is to engage with "the pop culture so well-liked by young people". 

 

For us at CV+, they made their debut four days later as part of our promotional build-up for World Speech Day 2025 Kuala Lumpur. We pushed out a set of 8 posters starting October 23 to announce this forthcoming event:

 

 

 

 

The next series of WSD 2025 posters will be released sometime in mid November. We expect registration will also open by then.

#unexpectedvoices #worldspeechday

Brooklyn’s Beloved Makeshift Aquarium Paved Over

A makeshift aquarium that popped up this summer in a puddle beneath a leaky New York City fire hydrant is no more. 

 

The city’s Department of Environmental Protection have long said the dribbling hydrant created a safety hazard. On Friday, workers filled the earthen area that formerly held the puddle but turned into a goldfish shrine. Yellow tape cordoned off a patch of freshly poured concrete around the repaired hydrant, leaving it looking like the city’s smallest-ever crime scene. 

 

“Oh my God”, said Sofia Talavera, her hands raised to her head as she looked at the spot. “People actually took their time and their money to make it beautiful. This was literally the community coming together”. 

 

The so-called Bed-Stuy Aquarium, named after the surrounding Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, was formed when the leaky hydrant carved out the shallow pool next to a tree bed on a residential street and residents filled it with store-bought goldfish (Carassius auratus). 

 

The pond was controversial from the start. Some of the fish were “rescued” over the summer by people concerned about their welfare. That angered others, who said the fish were fine, restocked the pool and set up a watch. 

 

After media attention and some donations, organizers kept building out the site, adding signage, decorations and seating. A bootleg sign designed to look like an official Parks Department plaque read “BEDSTUY AQUARIUM”, and a telephone pole was painted with palm-size goldfish surrounded in blue. The pond was easy for even tourists to find after it became searchable on Google Maps. 

 

It always seemed inevitable that the fish would eventually have to be removed. The Fire Department need hydrants to be in working order. Winter is coming. 

 

Fire officials fixed the hydrant on October 22, but residents quickly replenished the pond with water and fish. Videos on social media showed testy exchanges between locals and fire department workers, and police protection for the cement-layers. 

 

The Department of Environmental Protection said in a statement that they were “looking forward to working with community members to find an appropriate alternative location for this impromptu gem”, adding, “This allows us to keep New Yorkers safe by ensuring that the previously leaking fire hydrant doesn’t freeze over and become inoperable”. 

 

The remaining goldfish were removed and placed in a bucket, the department said. 

 

Some residents expressed optimism that the pond could be moved to a nearby community garden, while others are holding out for converting a derelict storefront on the block into an indoor aquarium and hangout space. Organizers most involved in those efforts, however, declined to comment.

Teaching Aid: Durian Husks

No wonder they say learning can be a painful process.

 

A driving instructor from China has come up with a prickly method to ensure that his students will remember their lessons for a long, long time. 

 

The instructor revealed on Douyin that he had spent a week teaching a student the correct way to hold the steering wheel. However, after multiple lessons, the student still could not get the hang of it. For those who don’t drive, it is generally advised that one places their hands at a nine and three o'clock positions so they can have good control over the wheel, and reduce the chance of injury from the airbag.

 

The instructor decided to use zip ties to attach four pieces of durian husks to the steering wheel to make sure the student has his hands on the correct positions at all times… or risk getting his hands pricked.

 

“This way, I think you’ll learn within a day”, quipped the instructor in his caption. The video saw the student fighting to stay focused and pulling his hand away in shock when he accidentally touches a husk. 

 

Many netizens have since said they wish they had an instructor with the same sense of, um, thorny humor. 

 

No pain, no gain, right?

McD’s Quarter Pounder Back on the Menu in the US

In the US, McDonald’s announced Sunday that the Quarter Pounder (left) will make a return. 

 

This iconic burger was taken off the menu at 20% of McDonald’s restaurants as E. coli cases are investigated. Testing has ruled out beef patties as the source of the outbreak of Escherichia coli poisoning tied to the popular item that killed one person and sickened at least 75 others across 13 states. 

 

The US Food and Drug Administration continue to believe that slivered onions from a single supplier are the likely source of contamination, McDonald’s said in a statement. They said they will resume selling the Quarter Pounder at affected restaurants – without slivered onions – in the coming week. 

 

As of Friday, a total of 22 people were still hospitalized, and two had developed a dangerous kidney disease complication, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to the CDC, the bacteria can cause symptoms of "severe stomach cramps, diarrhea (often bloody), and vomiting" 3-4 days after eating the contaminated food, although most people should recover 5-7 days later.

 

This particular CWTS Leiden Ranking 2024 shows Chinese universities dominating the scientific publication space:

 

Thinaah Muralitharan Earns BEd (TESL)

Shuttler Thinaah Muralitharan (left) – one half of Malaysia's top women's pair, Pearly-Thinaah – has graduated with a Bachelor of Education (Teaching English as a Second Language) from Open University Malaysia on Saturday.

 

In recognition of her outstanding performance in sports and having represented Malaysia at the Olympic Games, Thinaah was also conferred the sports icon award during OUM’s 28th convocation. The university's special sports icon award recognizes students who have made significant contributions to the field of sports while also excelling academically. 

 

  

CONGRATULATIONS, Thinaah!

Liverpool should definitely be happy with the 2-2 draw against Arsenal yesterday, given that they were behind twice and playing away from home against their title rivals. It was, a below-par performance from the Reds, and so, not losing was important.

 

 

The Gunners had a fast start when they scored after nine minutes. Their lead only lasted until the 18th minute when Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk equalised, nodding in from close range after Luis Diaz headed on Trent Alexander-Arnold’s cross at the near post.

Arsenal again went ahead in the forty-third minute but thankfully, Mohamed Salah equalised in the 81st minute with a routine finish from Darwin Nunez's unselfish square ball after he had been set clear by Alexander-Arnold's superb pass. 

 

The one point which they've earned puts them in second place, having collected a total of 22 points from nine games, one point behind Manchester City. Arsenal come in third with 18 points.

Boeing-built IS-33e Satellite Breaks Up in Geostationary Orbit

Boeing's troubles ain't over, not by a long shot! 

 

According to the US Space Force, the Boeing-built IS-33e high throughput communications satellite has broke up in geostationary orbit. The satellite that was launched in August 2016, entered service in January 2017 at a point over 60 degrees East. This was about three months behind schedule due to a main engine failure. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In August 2017, Intelsat SA, the satellite services provider reported that the satellite used more fuel than it should while holding its position. Calculations showed that this anomaly, in addition to main engine failure, would reduce IS-33e’s estimated 15-year service life by 3.5 years. And the company filed a claim for a $78 million insurance indemnity. 

 

As a result, IS-33e didn’t even operate for ten years. On October 19, the US Space Force announced the loss of the satellite. According to tracking data, it collapsed with the formation of at least 20 debris.

 

Intelsat SA recognized the loss of communication with IS-33e and said they were working with Boeing to fix the “anomaly” but believed it was unlikely the satellite could be recovered. The company’s customers in Europe, Africa and Asia-Pacific are currently being switched to other Intelsat fleet satellites or spacecraft operated by third parties. It is also reported that IS-33e was not insured at the time of the problem. As of now, it is not known what exactly caused the satellite to crash. 

 

But it’s worth noting that the first satellite in the EpicNG Intelsat-29e series, which Boeing also built, was recognized as a total loss in 2019 after just three years in orbit. The cause of the failure was then attributed to a fuel leak caused by either a meteorite impact or a wiring defect that led to an electrostatic discharge during a solar storm.

 

Boeing are screwed!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Celtic returned to the top of the Scottish Premiership table with a solid 3-0 win over Motherwell on Sunday.

The latter actually threatened first when they hit the woodwork twice in the opening stages before Luke McCowan opened the scoring in the 27th minute with a brilliant low drive into the net from 18 yards. The second goal came only in the 56th minute when Alex Valle's cross was met by Alistair Johnston and the full-back guided his header in.

 

The strength of Celtic's bench was notable and it was two subs who combined for the third. Adam Idah, swept in a Nicolas Kuhn cutback and the game was duly sealed in the eighty-eighth minute.

 

Overall, it's a stroll in Lanarkshire for the Scottish champions, after some early scares from the Steelmen. The Celts’ busy fixture schedule continues, with a home match on Wednesday against Dundee next.

AI Toilet Camera Snaps Poop Pictures

It’s a literal crap-shoot. A US health startup named Throne are making waves in scatological circles after devising a camera that attaches to your toilet and snaps photos of your poop. 💩💩

 

“Throne use a downward facing camera that securely captures video during each bathroom visit”, the Austin-based tech firm write while describing the crappy camera, simply dubbed Throne, on their site. They’re not filming bowel movements for shits and giggles, however. This seemingly voyeuristic tech is used to lift the lid on the user’s gut health. Meaning, doctor-trained artificial intelligence analyzes the stool and provides insight into the user’s daily “digestive and hydration status”.

 

This doody data, along with tailored health records, is then made available via an accompanying Smartphone application. 

 

“It’s a cost-effective, non-invasive way to keep tabs on overall health”, the company add. “And for individuals with chronic gastrointestinal diseases, it’s an essential part of ongoing management”. 

 

Of course, these fecal photo-ops do raise some privacy concerns – as myriad Airbnb horror stories have proven, there are few things more violating than a cam in the bathroom, let alone the john. 

 

However, Throne assure prospective users on the site that they understand that this health info is “incredibly personal”. To protect users’ privacy, the digital doo-cumenter only records the “contents of your toilet bowl”, per the site. 

 

“Any other data is irrelevant to our mission and could compromise our ability to provide accurate health insights”, Throne declare. “We use image recognition technology to automatically delete any non-relevant images. This ensures that only toilet-related data is retained”.

 

Users can also request complete access to the data they collected while the company will delete any info upon demand (no need to worry that it’s being hacked and sent to the fecal fetish industry).

 

Best of all, all the data is “anonymized”, meaning the data can’t be traced back to the original user. 

 

According to TechCrunch, Throne’s system is up for preorder following a limited beta. The going price for a smart toilet camera is $499, though the company are making it available for $299 if you want to get in on it early.

Ford CEO Loves His Xiaomi SU7

In a story for the Wall Street Journal last month profiling Ford CEO Jim Farley, the Blue Oval figurehead recounted a story that motivated his current aggressive electric vehicle game plan* involving a team of California-based engineers he dubs the company's "Skunk Works".

 

[*Ford have decided to dial back their bigger plans for their electric line-up. Initial plans to develop three-row electric crossovers have been scrapped, and in their place is a focus on vehicles they feel will sell better – three-row hybrid SUVs in the same flavor as their popular Explorer family haulers].  

 

During a trip to China in 2023, he and Ford CFO John Lawler got a taste of their Chinese contemporaries when they visited Ford's partner in China, Changan Automotive.

 

According to WSJ, the duo test-drove an electric SUV made by Changan, the conclusion of which prompted the executives to sit "silently, stunned at the progress Changan had made". 

 

“Jim, this is nothing like before”, Lawler reportedly told Farley after the test drive. “These guys are ahead of us”. 

 

Despite his characterization of Chinese electric OEMs as an "existential threat" to their Western contemporaries, Jim Farley (right) admitted something that sounds as a betrayal to loyal, patriotic American car enthusiasts. 

 

During a recent appearance on the Fully Charged Show podcast, the Ford CEO admitted that he has not only been driving the competition but also enjoying every minute of it. 

 

Around 21 minutes into the podcast, Farley began talking about Xiaomi, the consumer electronics brand that recently had a hit with its foray into EVs with the best-selling SU7 sedan. To the surprise of the host, Robert Llewellyn, Farley noted that it isn't unusual for electronics companies to make cars. 

 

"In the West, our cell phone companies are not into cars; they don't have car companies", Farley explained, as the host listened in surprise. "But in China, both Huawei and Xiaomi, the two biggest cell phone companies, are inside of every vehicle that is made".

 

The Ford CEO then described Xiaomi as "an industry juggernaut", noting that the company are able to sell tens of thousands of SU7s per month and have accumulated a six-month waiting list. However, one of these "satisfied customers" is Jim Farley himself! 

 

Although the car isn't officially for sale in the United States, Ford shipped one stateside for research and development. As far as Farley's testimony goes, he seems to be getting anecdotal experiences that go beyond traditional benchmark testing. 

 

“I don’t like talking about the competition so much, but I drive the Xiaomi”, Farley confessed. “We flew one from Shanghai to Chicago, and I’ve been driving it for six months now, and I don’t want to give it up”.

The T-shirt That Riffs on Donald Trump — and Annoys Moscow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ukrainian President [V]olodmir [Z]elensky showed up to his evening video address in an unusual T-shirt and got a scathing reaction from the Kremlin. The Ukrainian leader on Wednesday discussed the state of the Russo-Ukrainian fighting – but has been getting attention for another reason.

 

Emblazoned on the black T-shirt, in red and white lowercase letters, was the phrase: "Make Russia small again". 

 

There are some who claim it may be a nod to Ukraine's incursion into Kursk, in western Russia, where Kiev's forces say they held around 500 square miles as of last month.

 

The T-shirt quickly got a reaction from Russia's foreign ministry on X, which cited its spokesperson Maria Zakharova (right) as calling [Z]elenskyy a "bloody jerk". 

 

"Small as what? The USSR? The Russian Empire?" the spokesperson said. "Oh, I got it! As the Kievan Rus. For that we need Kiev. You said it yourself, bloody jerk".

 

As comebacks go, it takes a bit of explaining. 

 

Kievan Rus was a medieval state from around the late ninth to the mid-thirteenth century. It included territory in modern-day Ukraine, Belarus, and western Russia, with its center in Kiev, Ukraine's modern-day capital. 

 

Russia has long claimed that it is the only successor to Kyivan Rus, the Kyiv Independent earlier wrote in an explainer. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ukraine has a serious Nazi problem – both past and present. In fact, its history of antisemitism and pogroms is well-documented. And if that's not bad enough, Ukrainians despise Russians just as much. 

 

On Monday, in an interview with RBK Ukraine, the mayor of Lviv, Andrey Sadovoy (left), brazenly made the claim that the only good Russian is a dead one! 

 

And for good measure, he even declared that Russia “was, is, and always will be an enemy, and this war will not ever end”. 

 

Whatever. The fact is Russia embarked on the Special Military Operation (Russian: спецопера́ция, romanized: spetsoperatsiya) on February 24, 2022 to demilitarise and denazify Ukraine. And protect Russians in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. 

 

I've no doubt that Russia will vanquish Ukraine. I reckon the endgame is approaching.

A Pig's Brain Is Revived An Hour After It Dies

Neurobiologists at China's Sun Yat-sen University have revived pigs' brains an hour after the animals died. Sometimes, they were able to keep the brains functioning for hours. 

The trick was to use the animal's liver – the organ the body uses to purify its blood – as a kind of life support system to revive the brain after the time had elapsed.

This achievement represents a huge step forward in working out how to restore brain function after a patient has suffered a sudden cardiac arrest. That's when the heart stops beating abruptly. This causes a lot of problems in the body due to the rapid cessation of blood flow. The subsequent drop in circulation to parts of the body is called ischemia, and when it occurs in the brain, it can cause serious, irreparable damage within minutes. This is why the resuscitation window for cardiac arrest is so short.

It's known that multi-organ ischemia plays a role in the brain's ability to recover after a cardiac arrest, but the individual organs have not been fully investigated.

The research "Liver protects neuron viability and electrocortical activity in post-cardiac arrest brain injury" has been published on September 19, 2024 in EMBO Molecular Medicine.

If you're wondering why new energy vehicles (NEVs) are ever so popular in China – and it's not only because they are so affordable. 

Just take Shenzhen in south China's Guangdong as an example. The metropolis of 13.3 million people has 671 supercharging stations for NEVs as of October 18, 2024, even surpassing the number of petrol stations. 

And the city plans to build 1,000 supercharging stations by the end of this year.

 

The 2 Idiots

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As per RT published October 24, 2024. In an interview with Russian broadcaster VGTRK on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, Alexander Lukashenko on Wednesday, called both US presidential candidates, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris "idiots"! 

 

The Belarusian President was asked whether he favored any of the two and Lukashenko (right) decried their empty rhetoric and personal attacks against each other. 

 

“They are all idiots”, he said, adding that both their campaigns have wasted billions of dollars without producing a coherent program. “This is a terrible, stupid election. From our perspective, I don’t understand anything at all”.

 

Emotional farewells are a common sight at airports, but travelers leaving the New Zealand city of Dunedin will have to be quick. A new three-minute time limit on goodbye hugs in the airport’s drop-off area is intended to prevent lingering cuddles from causing traffic jams.

 

“Max hug time three minutes”, warn signs outside the terminal, adding that those seeking “fonder farewells” should head to the airport’s parking lot instead.

 

The cuddle cap was imposed in September to “keep things moving smoothly” in the redesigned passenger drop-off area outside the airport, CEO Dan De Bono told The Associated Press on Tuesday. It was the airport’s way of reminding people that the zone was for “quick farewells” only. 

 

The signs had polarized social media users, De Bono said.

 

“We were accused of breaching basic human rights and how dare we limit how long someone can have a hug for”, he said, adding that others had welcomed the change.

 

The signs were meant as an alternative to those at other airports warning of wheel clamping or fines for drivers parked in drop-off areas. Some in Britain have imposed fees for all drop-offs – however brief. 

 

Dunedin’s airport – a modest terminal serving a city of 135,000 people on New Zealand’s South Island – preferred a “quirky” approach, De Bono said. Three minutes was “plenty of time to pull up, say farewell to your loved ones and move on”, he added. “The time limit is really a nicer way of saying, you know, get on with it”. 

 

A 20-second hug is long enough to release the wellbeing-boosting hormones oxytocin and serotonin, De Bono asserted. Anything longer was “really awkward”.

 

But passengers needn't be unduly worried about enforcement. “We do not have hug police”, De Bono maintained.