DAVID ADAMS writes about the odder side of life…
• Forget taking days to get there. A British inventor has developed a rocket drive which could get you to the moon in just four hours. While mocked when it was invented 15 years ago, the Electromagnetic Propulsion (EM) Drive – developed by Brit Roger Shawyer – is reportedly gaining the support of some scientists including those at NASA. The drive is apparently capable of producing thrust which is several thousand times greater than a standard photon rocket, cutting a trip to Mars to just 70 days and one to Pluto just 18 months.
• Nigel Richards was recently crowned the French language scrabble champion. Funnily enough, the 48-year-old New Zealander reportedly doesn’t speak French. Not a word. Earlier this month Richards reportedly beat a rival from the French-speaking nation of Gabon to take out the honours in Belgium. A close friend told the New Zealand Herald that Richards – a previous English Scrabble champion – had only started studying the French dictionary about eight weeks before the contest and simply learnt all the words by rote.
• A new world record for the most hot air balloons in the air at once was set in France earlier this month when 433 of them took to the sky in what made a spectacular sight for spectators. The previous record of 408 had been set at the same festival in north-eastern France in 2013. You can watch a video of the event here.
