DAVID ADAMS writes about the odder side of life…
• An experiment in free speech is coming to an end with news that Sweden is shutting down its country’s Twitter account at the end of the month. Established in 2011, the @sweden account has been “curated” by some 356 “ordinary” Swedish citizens who have posted almost 200,000 tweets. The account was launched by Visit Sweden and the Swedish Institute to “boost interest in Sweden around the world, and show – in practice – that Sweden is an open and democratic country” and has grown to have a following of 146,000 people. While many of the messages were focused on the funny and frivolous as well as the minutiae of daily life, others tackled some serious issues including tensions over immigration, the freedom of the press and the intricacies of the Swedish language. Farewell @sweden, it’s been quite a ride.
• A Star Wars-inspired six legged robot named Mantis has been officially recognised as the world’s “largest rideable hexapod robot”. Weighing almost two tonnes, the robot was designed by British engineer Matt Denton who was first inspired when he saw the four-legged AT-AT Imperial walkers in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Denton took three years to build Mantis (taking his Star Wars fascination to the next level, he was also among those who worked on Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, even winning an award for his contribution to the BB8 rolling robot). The hexapod, which measures 2.8 x 5 metres and walks at a top speed of just over 1kph, has been included in the Guinness World Records 2019 book.
• Residents of Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, are mourning the recent loss of one of the town’s former mayors – a collie named Lucy Lou. Ms Lou, who died on 10th September, was the town’s third “canine mayor” (and first female dog mayor), serving from 2008 to 2016, and becoming something of a media darling during her time in the office, appearing on TV screens both in the US and elsewhere around the world.
