Things I learned lately 29 Oct

• So far, there is only 9 miles of new wall built on the US-Mexico border.
• Vietnam has McPho.
• When large brand businesses ask you to round up to donate to a cause, it's for the tax write off they receive. They are allowed to donate money and pay less taxes. Instead of paying from their own revenue they get customers to pay extra.
• Astronauts from ISS baked the first (chocolate chip) cookies in a special zero-gravity oven in a first-of-its-kind experiment to study cooking options for long-haul trips. The first cookie was undercooked, while the second took 75 minutes to bake and another 25 to cool, releasing a fresh scent in the ISS.
• Scientists on the International Space Station have observed the fifth state of matter in space for the first time, offering unprecedented insight that could help solve some of the quantum universe's most intractable enigmas. Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs)—the existence of which was predicted by Albert Einstein and Indian mathematician Satyendra Nath Bose almost a century ago—are formed when atoms of certain elements are cooled to near absolute zero (0 Kelvin, -273.15 Celsius). At this point, the atoms become a single entity with quantum properties, wherein each particle also functions as a wave of matter. BECs straddle the line between the macroscopic world governed by forces such as gravity and the microscopic plane, ruled by quantum mechanics.
• Thanks to a new set of state laws, the LA county district attorney decided to drop charges on 62,000 felony convictions for cases involving marijuana sales and cultivation dating back to 1961 and about 4,000 misdemeanor possession cases. The decision means conviction relief for over 53,000 people. About 45% are Latino, 32% are black, and 20% are white.
• A lab study conducted at Brandon University in Manitoba, Canada found that a group of 60 waxworms could devour more than 30 square centimeters of a plastic bag in less than a week. It shows that waxworms, which normally live in beehives and eat wax, also feast on polyethylene.
• Brazil's football governing body has announced that it's adopting an equal pay policy for both women's and men's football, becoming one of the first countries in the world to do so.
• A helicopter pilot was hovering about 200 feet above the ground, getting ready to unleash a bucket of water on the Creek wildfire in California, when an owl entered the aircraft and casually landed on the seat next to him. The owl stayed there for two water refills and drops and then flew out the window not far from the spot where he entered.
• Pope Francis endorsed civil unions for same-sex couples. He said they have a right to be in a family. "They are children of God."