Today's bite-sized chunks of upbeat news from around the world.
Potential Consort
For the first time in nearly 400 years, the public can see Anne of Cleves as Henry VIII first saw her: resplendent in red velvet against a brilliant blue backdrop, her hazel eyes framed by a sheer linen cap and a gem-adorned headdress. Long masked by layers of grime, these vivid features - newly revealed by conservators at the Louvre in Paris - illuminate the persuasive power of art: The Tudor king agreed to marry Anne after viewing this painting by Hans Holbein the Younger. Holbein painted her portrait as part of Henry’s search for a new wife. Following the death of his third wife, Jane Seymour, in 1537, the king sought a consort abroad, sending Holbein, his court painter, to capture likenesses of his prospective brides.
Philanthropy
Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has donated $640 million to 361 nonprofit groups, she announced this week. Scott, the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos and a co-founder of Amazon, has been keeping good on her word to donate at least half of her wealth to charity as part of the Giving Pledge. The latest round of donations, which varied from gifts of $1 million to $2 million, were very good news for nonprofit groups across America, in a variety of fields: the arts, affordable housing, education, public health, immigration and diversity. Thus far Scott has given away over $16 billion to various charities.
Winged Cargo Ship
An age of greener, more efficient shipping may be in the offing as a specially modified 43,000-tonne bulk freighter completes a six-month sea trial using a combination of diesel engines and a set of high-tech automatic sails to catch the wind. According to Cargill, this allowed the Pyxis Ocean to save the equivalent of three tonnes of fuel per day with a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of 11.2 tonnes (the equivalent of removing 480 cars from the road for the extent of the voyage) and a general savings of 14 percent.
Common Sense
Spain is proposing a short-haul flight ban for routes where a train journey is possible under 2.5 hours. It's a similar proposal to the one that France has enshrined in law. As many EU countries try to reach ambitious 2050 climate targets, many are making similar moves to discourage flying and encourage train travel.
New York Wind
Achieving a major milestone for clean energy in the U.S., South Fork Wind is officially complete and all 12 of its turbines are producing enough electricity to power around 70,000 homes in New York. Construction on this first utility-scale offshore wind farm started last year, amidst setbacks for the industry overall. New York's goal is to build enough offshore wind capacity by 2035 to meet about 30 percent of the state’s electricity demand. It’s the most ambitious goal in the country, which just got one step closer to reality. Or as one expert put it: “Now the question is no longer if we can, but how fast we can.”
Right First Time
Forgetting which side of the car your fuel tank is on can be both irritating and embarrassing. Making it worse, it’s a mistake you have to stew in, blushing as everyone watches you awkwardly return to the driver’s seat, drive around the pumps to reposition your vehicle, and then try to get back out and fill up as though nothing happened. Every new combustion car, even those with fancy digital instrument displays, has a fuel gauge. You know it’s the fuel gauge because there’s a little icon of a gas pump. Naturally, your eyes skim over that little icon to figure out where you are between E and F. But if you look closely at the fuel pump icon, there’s a tiny arrow pointing to the left or right. That arrow tells you what side of the car the tank is on. Tah dah!
“Don’t count the days; make the days count. Use this Thursday to make an impact.” Muhammad Ali
On This Day
21 March 1980: In one of the most famous cliff-hangers in American television, season 3 of Dallas ended with the shooting of J.R. Ewing (played by Larry Hagman); the phrase “Who shot J.R.?” entered the lexicon of American popular culture.
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Mood Booster
Beautiful Earth: Collection of clips revealing the myriad wonders of our world.