OGN Wednesday
- 4 hours ago
- 4 min read
Mid-week selection of positive news nuggets to put a spring in your step.
Sharing The Experience
Millions of people ventured into America’s national parks last year and, it is probably reasonable to assume, most of them took photos of the natural beauty they encountered on their visits. Nearly 9,000 such images made their way to the judges for the National Park Foundation’s 19th annual Share the Experience photo competition, which “invites amateur photographers to share photos of their favorite views, moments, memories, and adventures from national parks and public lands across the United States.” And the winning shots for the latest contest have just been announced. First place - and $10,000 - went to Jonatas Neiva, who captured the Spruce Mountain Fire Lookout Tower during a glowing sunrise at Medicine Bow National Forest in southcentral Wyoming.
Completely Nuts
Pindakaasvloer, or “peanut butter floor,” highlights the absurd sense of humour that artist Wim T. Schippers captured in his artwork. He reached audiences through radio, television and found-material sculptures, but the medium he was perhaps best known for was a common pantry stable. One month after his death, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in the Netherlands is paying tribute to the Dutch artist by re-creating Pindakaasvloer - a famous artwork of his made entirely from peanut butter. Two employees of the museum spent several days spreading 40 tubs of smooth peanut butter across a 270-square-foot hexagon. The edible material added up to 800 pounds, or roughly 15,000 sandwiches’ worth. Pindakaasvloer remains one of his simplest works, and a sticky example of his absurdist sense of humour.
Tightrope
Did you know that by French law, baguettes are required to consist of only four ingredients: flour, water, salt, and yeast? If the answer is yes, bien joué! If it’s no, or even if you knew, consider bookmarking Britannica’s free daily trivia game to learn all sorts of interesting tidbits about the world. Called Tightrope (you’ll see why), the timed game is a great way to gamify your learning - play here.
Crazy But True
A vast, fossilized Tyrannosaurus rex nicknamed Gus sold at Sotheby’s in New York on Tuesday for $50.1m with fees, to a phone bidder - making it the most valuable dinosaur fossil sold at auction. It also sold well above a pre-sale estimate of $20m to $30m. The skeleton, judged to be one of the largest and most complete ever unearthed, was excavated on a ranch in Harding county, South Dakota, by the commercial fossil outfit Theropoda Expeditions. Gus - which takes its name from Gary “Gus” Licking, owner of the land where the skeleton was discovered and excavated between 2021 and 2023
64 Teams?
FIFA officials will look at the possibility of expanding the World Cup by another 16 teams before the 2030 event, Gianni Infantino said in an interview. The FIFA president told Bluewin, a Swiss media outlet, that growing from 48 to 64 teams could make sense. “That’s definitely an issue that will be examined and discussed in the relevant committees after this World Cup,” Infantino said. “When organising a World Cup, it’s important to organise it for the whole world - not just Europe and South America - but effectively the entire world. Every nation should be allowed to dream of participating in the World Cup. You can see that the quality of the teams is extremely high - and it’s getting higher and higher, all over the world. If you don’t give smaller countries a chance to participate in the World Cup, they’ll lack the incentive to keep improving.” The World Cup field was 32 teams from 1998 to 2022. The 2026 edition is the first with 48 teams.
EV Global Sales
In six years, sales of electric vehicles have risen tenfold, with around 21 million EVs sold worldwide in 2025 alone, representing 25 percent of new car sales - that figure was just 1 percent in 2019. By May of this year, just under two thirds of new cars sold were EVs, bringing the world's total number of EVs on the road to 85 million. Better yet, these statistics do not factor in hybrid-electric vehicles.While China and Europe are leading the way for EV sales, it’s growing rapidly in other parts of the world, too, though has been relatively stagnant in the United States. According to Bloomberg, the share of electric cars in global new car sales could reach 38 percent by 2030 and 52 percent by 2035.
Big Sky Country
As of now, Montana motorists can do a good deed for wildlife and sport a cool license plate all at once. For an extra $20, Big Sky Country residents have the option to purchase a specialty plate that supports wildlife connectivity programs statewide, including highway overpasses, underpasses, and tunnels. According to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the new plate is expected to bring in about $100,000 each year and will hopefully result in fewer wildlife-vehicle collisions. Fittingly, the plate’s art features an elk on a scenic, snow-covered wildlife crossing.
"Tears of joy are like the summer rain drops pierced by sunbeams." Hosea Ballou
On This Day
15 July 1799: The Rosetta Stone is found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta by French Captain Pierre-François Bouchard during Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign. This broken granodiorite slab was the ultimate key to deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.The Rosetta Stone was carved with a decree issued in 196 BC on behalf of King Ptolemy V. Because the exact same message was inscribed in three scripts - Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, Demotic, and Ancient Greek - scholars finally had a benchmark to translate the long-lost hieroglyphic language
Today's Articles
Super Movers: People who maintain a quick walking pace are half as likely to experience cognitive decline.
90 Percent Reduction: Innovative method radically reduces steel production's CO2 emissions and saves manufacturers a fortune.
Mood Boosting Video
Natural Hierarchy: Elephants simply walked in, and the other animals quietly gave them space.