Alabama engineer builds world’s largest Nerf gun

An Alabama engineer took inspiration from his childhood to break a Guinness World Record for building the world’s largest Nerf gun.

Michael Pick, of Huntsville, a software engineer and YouTuber, earned the record by building a version of the Nerf N-Strike Elite Longshot CS-6 that measures 12 feet, 6 inches long — 300% larger than the original toy.

Pick’s creation had to be a fully functioning Nerf gun larger than the six-foot creation of previous record-holder Mark Rober. Pick’s final creation launches darts made from PVC pipe, foam and 3D-printed caps. The 12-inch darts reach speeds of up to 50 mph and can travel a maximum distance of about 250 feet.

Storms rouse scorpions in Egypt

Three people died and hundreds were injured after inclement weather roused hordes of venomous scorpions out of their hiding places and into streets and homes.

Vicious rain, dust storms and snow in the southern city of Aswan, Egypt, drove out scorpions as well as snakes, Al-Ahram, an Egyptian newspaper reports. Residents were asked to stay inside their homes, with traffic limited for a time, closing local highways to prevent accidents due to limited mobility in the rain, the outlet reports.

Scorpion stings can be lethal. The Egyptian fat-tailed scorpion, a species found throughout Northern Africa, is one of the most deadly in the world.

Meet the world’s biggest lap dog

Dane’s antics, a six-foot Great Dane who ‘thinks he’s a lap dog’ has forced his owners to fork out more than £2,000 after he mangled three sofas — because the 12-stone beast can’t resist leaping on them to enjoy cuddles with his family.

Larry loved affection as a pup and despite the three-year-old standing at six-foot tall on his hind legs, Beth Kempen says her pooch still thinks he’s small enough to sit comfortably on her family’s knees.

The dog is so tall he can help himself to food from the top shelf of the fridge and even enjoys his own room of the house — complete with a double bed! The dog has 103,000-follower on its Instagram page.

Man collects more than 70,000 Darth Vader items

Bill McBride started collecting Darth Vader items when he was young and turned the “Vader Vault”” into a serious collection about 30 years ago.

McBride estimated in 2015 that he had spent about $270,000 on what was then just over 60,000 items, and his collection has since grown to more than 70,000 items, with the total price unknown.

McBride’s collection of toys, paintings, unique helmets and other items continues to grow.

“It’s something that still brings me joy and still truly makes me happy to do it. We all have our hobbies and our interests and this is something I truly enjoy,” he said.

Published in Dawn, Young World, December 4th, 2021