OGN Wednesday
- 23 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Mid-week selection of upbeat news nuggets to brighten the day.
'Dunesday'
Remember 'Barbenheimer'? Well, we now have a new portmanteau to look forward to.
'Dunesday' is the internet nickname for the blockbuster box office showdown on 18 December 2026, when Warner Bros.' Dune: Part Three and Disney's Avengers: Doomsday are scheduled to open in theaters on the exact same day. Unlike Barbie and Oppenheimer, which appealed to very different demographics, both Dune and Avengers fight for the exact same sci-fi/fantasy and general event-movie crowd. Despite industry speculation that one film would move, both studios have held firm on the December release date. The split image shows the male leads in each of the movies: Timothée Chalamet and Robert Downey Jr.
Conservation Success
More than a century after Ireland’s largest bird of prey disappeared entirely from the country, a white-tailed sea eagle has been delivered - and the young fledgling became another success for conservationists to celebrate. The eaglet hatched to resident parents Áine and Tony, who, according to their caretakers, have taken naturally to the demanding job of raising Europe’s largest eagle. “The mother and father have done a great job,” said Jess Hodnett, Fota Wildlife Park’s Native Species Conservation Officer.
De-Stress
A new study published in the journal Environmental Conservation found that listening to birdsong in a forest lowers stress more than any other setting. While both the natural setting and the birdsong helped independently, the benefits were largest when combined.
Capturing a Moment
For more than two decades, Chinese artist Shen Lie-Yi has transformed the fleeting movement of water into enduring sculpture. His ongoing Rain Series captures the moment a raindrop strikes a surface, expanding outward in delicate ripples before disappearing almost instantly. Shen recreates these transient forms in materials such as Shanxi black granite, black obsidian, and carbon fiber, turning a brief natural gesture into something that can endure. Across these works, he examines how something as fluid and impermanent as water can take shape within materials associated with permanence and strength.
Obama's Worldview
President Obama is hosting a new podcast focused on six books that have shaped his worldview. The podcast, A Great Book with Barak Obama, will see the former president sitting down with six “luminaries” to discuss the seminal novels. The book selections are: The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin, Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy, Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré.
LARPing
Gen Z has a new favorite insult. LARPing, or live-action role-playing, might conjure up visions of Dungeons & Dragons costumes and renaissance fairs. But across the internet, young people are repurposing the word “larping” to call out someone they think is inauthentic. For example, someone who goes to a fitness class just for the photos is larping being a pilates girl. The latest slang to capture the Gen Z zeitgeist is, essentially, a way to say poser, try-hard or fraud.
Geometric Rules
Dating back more than 60,000 years ago, humans in southern Africa were engraving ostrich eggshells with intricate geometric patterns. Researchers from the University of Bologna concluded that these engravings were not random or improvised, but followed recurring and surprisingly organized geometric rules. “We are talking about people who did not simply draw lines, but organized them according to recurring principles - parallelisms, grids, rotations and systematic repetitions: a visual grammar in embryo,” says Professor Silvia Ferrara. “It shows the presence of a genuine cognitive organization of forms, based on parallelism, orthogonality, and the repetition of lines and regular patterns.”
“He who has peace of mind disturbs neither himself nor another.” Epicurus
On This Day
12 August 1851: American inventor Isaac Singer patents his famous sewing machine. His practical design featured an overhanging arm, a rigid horizontal table, and a continuous feed, revolutionized the textile industry and home appliance market. He pioneered installment payment plans, making the expensive machines accessible for household use.
Today's Articles
Greatest Life-Savers: The two men you have probably never heard of credited with saving more lives than anyone else.
Cosmic Double Whammy: Today's solar eclipse should make watching tonight's best meteor shower of the year even better.
Mood Boosting Video
Anyone For a Drink? This elephant clearly prefers to have the watering hole to himself.
