Good News Thursday
Today's tasty smorgasbord of upbeat news nuggets from around the globe to get October off to a cracking start.
Hilarious Riposte
Customer feedback can often make or break a business, but New Bedford Whaling Museum in Massachusetts didn’t let its one-star Google review get in the way of success. When a disappointed visitor reported that the museum was the “Worst aquarium ever,” staff at the whaling museum couldn’t help but laugh - and later turn the quote into their best-selling merch. The New Bedford Whaling Museum isn’t actually an aquarium. It’s a museum full of whale skeletons and historic maritime artifacts, making the 1-star review all the more hilarious. If the reviewer came hoping to check out some live marine life, it’s no wonder they felt the need to leave a bad review. The museum used the amusing misunderstanding as a brilliant, counter-intuitive marketing opportunity. Meanwhile, not far away...
Maritime History
Amid headlines about the damage caused by the nor’easter that hit the East Coast over the weekend, another, more positive story is unfolding: The storm’s strong winds and rain uncovered a wooden fragment on Nantucket’s coastline that may be part of a 19th-century shipwreck. Jazon Graziadei, editor-in-chief of the Nantucket Current, noted the chunk of wood is likely from the Warren Sawyer, a schooner that was wrecked near Miacomet Beach on Dec. 22, 1884. Other fragments from the ship have popped up in recent years. “I just think it’s fascinating to be able to see and touch a piece of Nantucket’s maritime history from 1884, and also incredible to think that it is located in a spot on the shore that cars were literally driving over on the beach this summer,” Graziadei told NPR.
Bear Maximum
“A bulky brown bear who became famous for hitching rides on his mama’s back” has been voted the winner of Katmai National Park’s annual 'Fat Bear Week', said Alaska Public Media. Backpack, also known as Bear 89, topped a poll that drew around 2.3 million votes from viewers around the world, who tuned into livestreams of the park’s bears gorging on salmon ahead of their winter hibernation. A talent for bulking up runs in the family: “his mother, Holly, won the online competition in 2019.”
Alexander & Aristotle
Just a few years before Alexander the Great inherited the Macedonian throne from his father, King Philip II, it has long been believed that he studied under Aristotle. Nearly 2,400 years later, archaeologists now think they’ve unearthed the site of those teachings in ancient Mieza, near modern-day Naousa in northern Greece. Greece’s Ministry of Culture recently announced that the latest excavations at Mieza revealed a Didaskaleion, or “place of teaching,” featuring a lecture hall with stone desks and ornate banquet halls with mosaic tile floors and intricate finishes. The statement noted that the lavish details of the school show “impressive similarities” to Philip II’s palace at Aigai.
Under The Hammer
A rare J.M.W. Turner painting is coming to Sotheby’s with an estimate of £50 million ($66.2 million). Rome, from Mount Aventine (1836) will be auctioned in London on 9 December. The painting is one of the few Turners that’s still in private hands. According to Sotheby’s, the painting is believed to have been conceived and mapped out in Italy, but later completed in London. The painting has only made its way to auction once before; in 2014, the Rosebery family, which had held onto it for more than 130 years, put the painting up for auction, where it sold for £30.3 million (£43.47 today). In the painting’s 191-year history, it has not been relined or restored and remains on its original canvas and frame.
High School Sport
More than 102,000 girls in the USA played high school flag football in the 2025-2026 school year, a record high and an increase from just 15,000 four years ago, according to a participation survey recently released by the National Federation of State High School Associations. It’s the fastest-growing high school sport.
"It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end." Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
On This Day
1 October 1891: Stanford University, California, opens its doors after being founded by Leland Stanford and his wife, Jane, with a $40 million donation in memory of their son. Among its first graduating class is future US President Herbert Hoover.
Today's Articles
Next Breakthrough? Heat waste, described as ‘world’s largest untapped energy source’ - and we have already paid for it.
New World Map: Traditional world map replaced with one that properly reflects the size of Africa, and reduces size of others.
Mood Boosting Video
Hope, courage, triumph - climbing Everest's direct north face, and then skiing down.
