Wednesday's round up of good news nuggets from around the world.
Bruce Springsteen is going to have a great Christmas having just sold his entire song catalogue to Sony Music in a deal worth $500m. The sale will give Sony ownership of one of the most admired bodies of work in pop and rock: over 300 songs spanning 20 studio albums plus other releases. The huge sum dwarfs even the reported $300m paid by Universal for Bob Dylan’s songwriting catalogue in December 2020, and the reported $150m paid for a 50 percent share of Neil Young’s catalogue to the UK investment fund Hipgnosis in January 2021.
If you live in the northern hemisphere and there are clear skies tonight, it's the peak of the Ursid meteor shower between midnight and dawn. While the Ursids may be the last of the annual meteor showers, it's by no means least. Yes, the shower is typically sparse in meteors; however, the Moon is in its first-quarter phase at this time of the year, and so, you won't have to worry that its light will tint your view of the meteors. Look north-north-east. No need for binoculars.
Act of kindness: A northern Michigan man has flown to tornado-stricken Kentucky in a plane filled with toys. Timothy Baise runs Homeless Angels - a street based outreach in Michigan and while he was at the organization's toy drive last weekend, he talked with the manager of the Mayfield Airport in Kentucky to find out what he should send to help those affected by the tornados. Surrounded by thousands of toys, he said he couldn't believe it when the manager told him to send just that: toys. So he did! Delivering over 1,000 toys to families who really need some Christmas cheer.
Sticking to the theme of airborne deliveries, a startup called H2 Clipper wants to resurrect the hydrogen-filled airship for mass transport. The key difference is that instead of transporting people, it will be transporting cargo. H2 Clipper claims its cargo airships can lift 8 to 10 times the payload of the best cargo plane in service, and carry it more than 6,000 miles (9,656 km), at a fraction of the cost. The H2 Clipper will have a cruising speed of 175 mph (282 kmh), making it nearly ten times faster than a cargo ship - though it would obviously lag behind a cargo plane in that department. Still, in contrast, the H2 Clipper produces zero carbon emissions. If it lives up to its promise of "100 percent emissions-free delivery of goods", it could be critical in the fight to curb the effects of climate change.
Glasses be gone! The first FDA-approved eye drops that clear up age-related blurry near vision (presbyopia) have been introduced to the market in the US, which means that the estimated 128 million Americans affected by the common condition of presbyopia now have an alternative to reading glasses. Presbyopia is a normal part of aging. It happens because as we age, our lenses start to harden which means that it begins to become more difficult for our eye muscles to adjust them so that they can change their focal points. That’s why people affected by presbyopia are often seen holding their reading material at an arm’s length. The revolutionary eye drops, called Vuity, are administered once daily to the eyes. Its active ingredient pilocarpine stimulates the eye so that pupil sizes are reduced. Reducing the size of the pupil allows for increased depth of field, which means that more of the image that the eyes take in looks sharper wherever the lens is focused.
While solar parks are an integral part of our green energy transition, they are sometimes the subject of controversy over claims that they are an eyesore, spoil productive land, and harm nature. However, a new study has found that, if managed properly, solar parks can actually help provide habitats for wildlife - particularly bumblebees - to flourish, reports The Guardian. According to the study from Lancaster University, by encouraging solar park owners to sow wildflowers alongside their solar panel arrays, the parks could become valuable habitats for pollinators. In fact, managing them in such a way would boost bumblebee numbers beyond the borders of the park, to about 1km (0.6 miles) away, benefiting farmers who rely on pollinators to help produce food.
Wise Words
“For each new morning let there be flow of love. Let there be light of happiness in every direction.” Amit Ray
On This Day
22 December 1965: "Doctor Zhivago" based on the novel by Boris Pasternak, directed by David Lean and starring Omar Sharif and Julie Christie premieres in NYC.
1989: The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin reopens, signifying the reunification of East and West Germany.
Dive in Deeper
Dance Movie Compilation
A compilation of great film dancing scenes mixed up to the rhythm of Shut Up and Dance.