Russian electric car prototype becomes laughing stock

The Amber Yantar, an EV prototype designed by Avtotor, a Russian carmaker based in Kaliningrad, in collaboration with the Moscow Polytechnic Institute, was revealed to the public recently, but it has already become the laughing stock of the entire internet, with photos of its unflattering exterior doing the rounds on social media.

Avtotor announced that it plans to begin producing up to 50,000 Yantar electric cars in 2025 at its Kaliningrad plant, adding that all the major components — electric motor, inverter, control boards and batteries — will all be designed and built in Russia.

Very few technical details have been revealed, but we do know that the Amber Yantar will be very affordable, come with a 25kW/h battery, reach a top speed of 105km/h (65 mph) and motorists will be able to rent batteries instead of buying them.

The shockingly uninspired design of the Yantar has sparked countless memes and jokes online, with many calling it the ugliest car ever.

World’s largest Rubik’s cube

Dubai Knowledge Park celebrated its 20th anniversary by creating the world’s largest Rubik’s cube.

The park, which is home to 700 schools and other educational institutions, built a functioning fibreglass cube measuring 9.8 feet on each side and weighing more than 660 pounds.

Dubai Knowledge Park said on social media the cube was built to “mirror the approach to lifelong learning at Dubai Knowledge Park, where every step represents a new skill acquired, a complex task conquered and a knowledge gap filled.” The puzzle was examined by Guinness World Records officials and confirmed to be the largest Rubik’s cube in the world.

Flock of vigilant geese guard prison

Human guardians and guard dogs are usually the norm in most prison complexes, but several prisons in Brazil have replaced guard dogs with geese, which they say are not only just as effective, but also cheaper to maintain. Geese have very good hearing and make loud noises whenever they detect strange noises, thus alerting the human guards.

“We have electronic surveillance, in-person surveillance … and finally the surveillance of the geese, which replaced the dogs,” prison director Marcos Roberto de Souza told Reuters.

Interestingly, geese have also been helping Chinese border patrols keep illegal immigrants at bay.

Painting with ten brushes at the same time

Guiding a single paintbrush on a canvas to produce a decent work of art is difficult for most people, but can you imagine painting with ten brushes at the same time?

Serge Feeleenger has been doing it for over a decade now. He got the idea after becoming annoyed with having to regularly change brushes during the artistic process. First, he attached three brushes to the fingers on his right hand, later he added two more brushes to his left hand. Before long, he had a brush attached to every finger on both his hands.

Feeleenger claims this painting technique challenges his brain to work differently, building new neural connections and activating right-brain thinking.

Published in Dawn, Young World, January 13th, 2024