Global round up of good news nuggets to get the weekend off to a sunny start.
Congratulations to Kevin Morgans on winning the Portfolio Award at the Bird Photographer of the Year Awards 2021 with “Wing Stretch”, a beautifully backlit puffin depicted in the gold hues of sunset in the Shetland archipelago, the most northern part of the UK.
Wouldn't it be great if your windows could double up as solar panels? Well, US window manufacturing giant Anderson Corp. has invested $30 million in the solar windows company Ubiquitous Energy to help them on their quest to integrate solar power technology into everyday surfaces. A group of scientists and engineers from MIT and Michigan State University founded Ubiquitous Energy in 2011, and according to them their technology, known as UE Power, is the only patented and transparent photovoltaic glass coating that makes transparent solar cells visibly indistinguishable from regular windows.
A “magical” coral reef has been discovered off the coast of the South Pacific island Tahiti. The beautiful reef was found in the "twilight zone", where it is highly unusual to make such a find as there is barely enough light to sustain life. The acres of giant corals in pristine condition show no sign of being damaged by climate change and demonstrate just how little we know about the ocean, according to experts. The majority of the world’s currently discovered reefs are found in warmer waters in depths of up to 25 metres, according to UNESCO. But the reef near Tahiti, which spans almost two miles, was found nearly 70 metres underwater. Some of the rose-shaped corals measure more than 2 metres in diameter.
In a study published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers used survey data about the daily diets of more than 16,000 Americans. A whopping 20 percent of the survey respondents reported eating at least one serving of beef per day. According to the study, if all of them substituted just one serving of beef with turkey, their diets’ carbon footprint would fall by 48 percent. “People can make a significant difference in their carbon footprint with very simple changes - and the easiest one would be to substitute poultry for beef,” says lead author Diego Rose, a professor of nutrition and food security at Tulane University. The study serves to encourage people to reconsider their dietary preferences as they seek to contribute towards slowing down climate change.
Benjamin Alexander, 38, who lives in England and whose father is Jamaican, will be the sole member of Jamaica's national ski team at the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing next month. 'I want to encourage the next generation of Jamaicans to get to the Winter Olympics,' he says. The British-born DJ is set to become the country's first Alpine skier to compete at the Games and hopes to inspire future athletes from the Caribbean.
14 years ago in Taiwan, an 84-year old military veteran painted an entire government village to prevent it from being torn down. Now aged 98, the painter is still there, as is the village. A series of small one-story homes, Rainbow Village is now a city park where painted animals and human figures sit happily in every colour imaginable upon a grid of rainbow boulevards. When Huang Yung Fu started painting the occasional wall in the exceedingly drab Caihong Military Dependents’ Village in Taichung City, it was originally to relieve boredom. But when Huang learned that the ghost town where he and his wife lived was to be levelled, he kicked into artistic overdrive, covering every paving stone, gutter, and door in pictures and paint. Now an internationally recognised tourist attraction, Huang and his wife are the only residents of Rainbow Village - where they welcome visitors and live their colourful lives.
Act of kindness: Seytons Electrical, based in Hull, north east England, recently worked at Laura-Nicole Anderson's home for six weeks doing some electrical work. According to Anderson, her son Theo was "obsessed" with the workers and didn’t miss any opportunity to help them or be around them. "He has hounded them with questions, kindness and constant offers of help!!" Anderson wrote in a Facebook post. After the job was complete, a staff member from the company returned to their home with an envelope for Theo. "Quite possibly the sweetest act of kindness I've ever seen," Anderson said. Inside the envelope was a pay slip with his wage of £15 for completing the following jobs: Measuring of items, Counting and adding up number of sockets, Catering (yummy cookies), Excellent volunteering, Quality assurance (asking a lot of questions). Anderson said Theo was disappointed when the workers left but was thrilled about the earnings from his "first job".
Tomorrow's OGN Sunday Magazine has a raft of positive news articles and a couple of great videos....
Quote of the Day
“Whatever - the soup is getting cold.”
Leonardo da Vinci, in the last sentence of a mathematical theorem in his notebook, 1518.
On this Day
22 January 1908: Katie Mulcahey is arrested for lighting a cigarette, violating the 1-day old "Sullivan Ordinance" banning women from smoking in public in NYC, and is fined $5. Appearing before the judge she stated “I’ve got as much right to smoke as you have. I never heard of this new law, and I don’t want to hear about it. No man shall dictate to me.” The mayor revoked the law two weeks later.
Dive in Deeper
Flying Car Deliveries to Start This Year: An ultralight all-electric personal vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft could be in the skies near you. Read on...
Soprano Surprised by Tenor
World famous soprano, Lisette Oropresa, was singing her fourth encore - Violetta's Sempre Libera - but there was nobody on stage to sing the tenor part. So someone in the audience piped up...