Your mid-week global round up of good news nuggets.
Florida Manatees
In a wonderful triumph for conservation efforts, Florida has announced significant achievements in manatee protection and water quality improvements. Blue Spring State Park, a crucial sanctuary for manatees seeking warm waters during the winter months, has just enjoyed a record-breaking count of 932 manatees, surpassing the previous record of 736. This underscores the positive impact of the state's ongoing efforts to enhance manatee habitats and safeguard their well-being. Since 2019, Florida has invested over $50 million in manatee initiatives and more than $1.8 billion in water quality enhancements.
Compost Obligatoire
Municipalities in France must now provide residents with ways to sort bio-waste, which includes food scraps, vegetable peels, expired food and garden waste. Households and businesses are required to dispose of organic matter either in a dedicated small bin for home collection or at a municipal collection point. The waste will then be turned into biogas or compost to replace chemical fertilizers.
Biochar: Wouldn't it be good news if every time you threw out your garden waste, you were helping fight global warming? That’s the capacity a new technology hopes to unleash across the world. Zero-carbon fertilizer...
Medieval Brooch
The discovery of a "magical" gold brooch, from the 13th or 14th century, reveals how medieval people mixed the occult with religion. The ring-shaped gold brooch, from which two hands are suspended in prayer, was found in Norfolk (south east England), by a metal detectorist. Historian Helen Geake said it is engraved with "a kind of incantation" to "evoke magical protection". "It's very, very hard to separate what we think of religion from the occult and magic" in this era, she added.
Today's Stat
205 million: The number of voters eligible to take part in today's presidential and legislative elections in Indonesia, the third-largest democracy in the world. A successor to the popular President Joko Widodo will be chosen in what has been billed as the planet's biggest single-day election.
Spiral Lens
Scientists have developed a new type of lens that creates multiple focal points, which could make for glasses or contacts that provide a clearer view over a range of distances. The secret? Making the lens a spiral shape. “Unlike existing multifocal lenses, our lens performs well under a wide range of light conditions and maintains multifocality regardless of the size of the pupil,” said Bertrand Simon, an author of the study published in the journal Optica. “For potential implant users or people with age-related farsightedness, it could provide consistently clear vision, potentially revolutionizing ophthalmology.”
Green Super Bowl
This year's Super Bowl in Las Vegas was powered entirely by renewable energy, an impressive feat considering the sheer amount of electricity needed to keep the lights on in a stadium that seats up to 65,000 fans. The solar farm responsible, about 20 miles from Sin City, was designed to power around 76,000 Nevada homes. But is that all greenwashing? Considering thousands of people likely had to fly in for the event, the Super Bowl still has a considerable carbon footprint. That's not to mention the water needed to keep a field, albeit a shaded one, in the middle of the Nevada desert green. Nonetheless, the fact that we're even talking about environmental footprint when it comes to sporting events is at least a step in the right direction.
$10,000 Tip
In an extraordinary display of kindness and generosity, a customer left a staggering $10,000 tip for the staff at the Mason Jar Cafe in Benton Harbor, Michigan. The customer, who wishes to remain anonymous, visited the Mason Jar Cafe after attending a memorial service for a close friend. Upon receiving a $32 check, he left an astonishing $10,000 tip. Still in shock from the unexpected windfall, his waitress said: "I just gave him a hug. He then told me that he had left a memorial of someone very dear to him. And he just wanted to do something really kind and generous in her name."
"Nothing you love is lost. Not really. Things, people - they always go away, sooner or later. You can't hold them, any more than you can hold moonlight. But if they've touched you, if they're inside you, then they're still yours. The only things you ever really have are the ones you hold inside your heart." Bruce Coville
On This Day
14 February 270: Today is the feast day of St. Valentine, a priest and physician who was martyred about 270 AD in Rome. The tradition of exchanging greetings of love on Valentine's Day is based on the legend that Valentine had signed a letter to his jailer's daughter, with whom he had fallen in love, “from your Valentine.”
Answering the call from Mark Knopfler, dozens of guitar heroes and rock legends come together to record a charity single for the benefit of teens with cancer. Sneak preview...
Firefly petunia's glow in the dark without special lights or food. It’s a gentle green glow similar to the light of the full Moon. Fancy one?
Quotes About Love: Handy on Valentine's Day? Or, of course, any other day of the year. Lovely...
Mood Booster
This is what happens when you've got a giant stick, a narrow bridge, and no thumbs!