Fab News Friday
What better way to end the week than with a worldwide collection of positive news nuggets?
The "Revenge Dress"
On 29 June 1994 - the same day her then-estranged husband publicly acknowledged his infidelity - Diana, Princess of Wales, stepped out wearing a chic, black frock and made a fashion statement that reverberated around the world. Now, the silk gown that became known as the “revenge dress” is heading to auction at Sotheby’s in December. The dress had been created by the Greek fashion designer Christina Stambolian for Diana three years earlier. But it hung in her closet until that fateful evening, when she selected it. Diana opted to pair the form-fitting dress with Manolo Blahnik heels, a pearl-and-sapphire choker necklace and a Salvatore Ferragamo clutch bag. “She could not have got her message across more clearly had she shouted it to the sky: ‘I am not a victim anymore!’” Georgina Howell wrote in Diana, Her Life in Fashion. “The performance worked brilliantly. The public adored it: Diana was back.” The dress is expected to sell for around $300,000. However, in 2023, a black-and-blue evening dress Diana wore to a 1985 dinner sold for a record $1.15 million, 11 times the pre-auction estimate.
"Batman to The Rescue?"
After 18 years of dreaming about it, Christian Bale has finally opened a foster care village designed to keep brothers and sisters together. Bale, along with Dr. Eric Esrailian and community leaders, gathered in Palmdale, California, for the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Together California's first foster care village. The $22 million project features 12 fully furnished homes across six duplexes, each designed to accommodate sibling groups of up to six children. The goal is simple but powerful: when children enter the foster care system, they shouldn't have to lose their brothers and sisters, too. "Batman to the rescue?" a Fox 11 reporter asked. "It wasn't until a few years after I started this that I realized Bruce Wayne started an orphanage at the end of the movies," he responded.
Immune System Prep
‘Think of autumn as your training season for winter wellness,’ says nutritionist Vicky Pennington. ‘The habits you build now can help set you up to feel more resilient through the colder months ahead.’ ‘The immune system is a complex network of organs, cells and proteins that defend the body against infection. A healthy immune system can help fight germs before they can cause illnesses, so it's crucial to support it where you can,’ she adds.
Easy ways to strengthen your immune system? Eat the rainbow, load up on citrus fruits and greens and don’t forget your vitamin D.
Athens Regeneration
The site of a former Athens airport site is set to become one of Europe's’s most ambitious urban greening projects. Called the Ellinikon Park, it will provide a shady oasis for residents of the region’s hottest city. The park will stretch over 400 acres along the sea in a southern suburb of Athens, and will become the second-largest city park in Europe. Ellinikon has been designed to stay moist, green, and cool - come hell or no water. Planners designed each connecting space in the park to maximize thermoregulation of the air temperature with the goal of keeping it 7.2F / 4.0C cooler than the city itself. Ellenikon Park is scheduled to be opened to the public next year, with further development to follow.
Twice in a Row?
Last year's Fat Bear Week champion is back and ready to rumble (or at least eat a lot of fish). Bear #32, better known as Chunk, returned to view this week on the explore.org live cameras stationed throughout Katmai National Park in Alaska. With the kickoff of Fat Bear Week 2026 slated for today, his timing couldn’t be better. Chunk reigned supreme in 2025, racking up 96,350 votes - 30,000 more than second place finisher, Bear 856. Chunk is a fan favorite for his hefty size (estimated at more than 1,200 pounds) and distinct look. Could he win the 2026 competition too? Tune in for the Fat Bear Week 2026 bracket reveal to see if Chunk will have the chance to defend his title. And you can always tune in to explore.org live cameras to see what our favorite chunky bears are up to.
Amazon Protection
Last month, three days before he left office, Colombian President Gustavo Petro signed a resolution placing 186,500 square miles of the Amazon off-limits to any new extraction. That means no new mining concessions, no new oil or gas contracts, and no environmental permits that would make either possible. The timing was not incidental. Petro’s successor had campaigned on reviving oil exploration and legalizing fracking. What made this move unusual was the legal mechanism. The government reached back more than 50 years to invoke Article 47 of the Natural Resources Code, a statute that allows the Colombian state to exclude an entire region from private exploitation rights. It had been used before, in smaller pieces, but never applied to the whole Colombian Amazon at once.
All Hail Peter Parker
Spider-Man: Brand New Day has notched a heroic box office milestone, overtaking 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens as the highest-grossing domestic release of all time. The Force Awakens had spent more than a decade as the biggest movie ever at the North American box office with $936 million. It has officially ceded the crown to Tom Holland’s latest Spidey adventure, which has surpassed that benchmark with $936.773 million after 47 days in theaters. Now the question is whether Spider-Man: Brand New Day has the endurance to become the first movie in history to generate $1 billion at the domestic box office.
“I don’t care if Monday’s blue, Tuesday’s gray and Wednesday too. Thursday I don’t care about you. It’s Friday I’m in love.” The Cure
On This Day
18 September 1837: Charles Lewis Tiffany (pictured) and John B. Young co-found Tiffany & Young, a "stationery and fancy goods emporium" in New York City. The founders established a revolutionary policy to mark every item with a non-negotiable selling price to prevent haggling. In 1853, Charles Lewis Tiffany took sole control of the business, shortened the name to Tiffany & Co., and shifted the core focus toward fine jewelry and silverware.
Today's Articles
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Mood Boosting Video
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