Farout, New Caledonia, Amborella, Rocket Lab – 12/19/2018

https://tomeoftrovius.com/2018/12/19/farout-new-caledonia-12-19-2018/

A new dwarf planet, 2018 VG18 Farout, has been discovered at 120 AU (astronomical unit) from the Sun, 120 times farther than our Earth and 3.5 times farther than Pluto. It’s waaaaay out there, like really….farout. You can probably guess where the name came from. The dwarf planet, announced by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center, is approximately 311 miles (500 km for the rest of the world) in diameter and had a pink color which means it could be icy.

I’m a bit late for these countries but I thought I’d mention them. New Caledonia recently voted in a referendum on becoming independent but fell short and remained apart of France through France’s Overseas territories. The Kingdom of Swaziland in Africa also experienced a change when their king decided to change the name of the nation to eSwatini

Lollipops are a fun piece of candy we pick up for a fast snack. We all remember their abundance at the doctor’s office or at children’s parties but you may also remember throwing them away. This is an unnecessary part of the culture we have created where we throw away so much trash when we don’t have to. Amborella Organics is a company which created a solution to this problem in the form of planting the lollipop sticks. They created a biodegradable lollipop stick made from recycled paper which will decompose in the soil. Since they’re made from organic pure cane sugar and beet juice they’re organic and vegan they’ll be popular with a broader category of people. The most important part to this solution is that the sticks themselves contain seeds from various plants.