Three things for January 28
1. Bernie Sanders raises $1.8 million for charity
On Jan. 20, the day of President Joe Biden’s inauguration, Bernie Sanders was photographed sitting in a chair wearing a pair of wool mittens. The image immediately gained popularity among social media users.
Social media creators incorporated his photo in memes, many of which went viral. Sanders joined in, designing merchandise including the image, and it sold out in minutes.
The money raised, totaling $1.8 million, went to charity organizations in Vermont such as Vermont community action agencies, Feeding Chittenden and the Chill Foundation.
Jen Ellis, a Vermont elementary school teacher who has a side business making mittens out of recycled wool, made Sanders’ mittens, according to AP News. In the past, Ellis produced mittens to fundraise for her daughter’s college fund.
“Jane and I were amazed by all the creativity shown by so many people over the last week, and we’re glad we can use my internet fame to help Vermonters in need,” Sanders said in a written statement. “But even this amount of money is no substitute for action by Congress, and I will be doing everything I can in Washington to make sure working people in Vermont and across the country get the relief they need in the middle of the worst crisis we’ve faced since the Great Depression.”
2. Baseball Hall of Fame to take no new members in 2021
For the first time since 1960, there will be no new players inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
According to ESPN, “No player on the Hall’s 2021 Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot reached the 75% threshold needed for enshrinement in Cooperstown. The voting results were announced by Hall of Fame president Tim Mead on MLB Network on Tuesday night.”
Former Major League Baseball pitcher Curt Schilling had the top vote but needed 16 more votes to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Schilling wrote a passionate letter to the Hall, stating that he does not want to be included on the next ballot.
“The Hall’s era-based veterans committees typically meet just prior to each year's winter meetings to consider candidates whose eligibility on the writers’ ballots has expired,” reported ESPN. “The 2020 winter meetings were held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so the era committees did not meet and will not consider candidates again until the 2021 meetings in December.”
3. Australian researchers use 3D printing to strengthen concrete
Australian researchers found a way to improve the strength of concrete using 3D printing technology. The researchers found mimicking the pattern of a lobster’s shell, reinforced with steel fibers, strengthens concrete.
Lead researcher Jonathan Tran told Reuters, “The lobster shell is always something that still amazes me by its very interesting shapes and architectures, and especially (as) the lobster shell is really amazingly very stiff.”
Rather than using a mold, the process involves depositing layers of concrete on top of each other, directed by a computer program using 3D printing technology, according to Reuters.
The design itself will help with building challenging arches or complex geometric structures.
