A list of curious facts
One There are up to 1 million pieces of space debris orbiting around Earth. Where there is trash, there must be some way to “pick it up.” Japanese company Astroscale runs a “orbital garbage truck” called ADRAS-J—which it launched in February. Its mission is to retrieve a dead rocket—and fling it into Earth’s atmosphere—where it will burn to a crisp. It will be the first ever demonstration of a new kind of trash collection in space—which is very, very cool. Even the damn truck looks cool—as you can see in the lead image—and the fancy ad below. Interesting Engineering has lots more.
Two: Did you know Ayatollah Khomeini’s paternal grandfather was born in India? His name was Seyyed Ahmad Moosvi Hindi—which signalled his Indian roots. Khomeini’s paternal side migrated to India in the 18th century—and settled in a small town called Kintur near Lucknow in the kingdom of Awadh. Seyyed Ahmad was born in Kintur—but left India around 1830 on a pilgrimage to the holy city of Najaf in present-day Iraq. And he never came back.
Seyyed Ahmad returned to Iran in around 1834—and bought a large house in Khomein in 1839. The rest is fascinating history—which you can read in this archived New York Times long read from 2000. PS: We couldn’t find a photograph of the grandfather—but below is an old photo of Khomeini with his son and grandkids.
Three: A Chinese company is now offering an excellent perk we all could use—‘unhappy leave’. As Pang Dong Lai owner, Yu Donglai, explains: “Everyone has times when they’re not happy, so if you’re not happy, do not come to work.” He gives his employees ten days a year to wallow in their misery—and no manager can deny an ‘unhappy leave’ request. Rather than celebrating the “happiest” countries in the world, maybe we can do a better job of helping humans deal with the ever-present unhappiness in their lives. Yes, no, maybe? South China Morning Post has more on this.
