Today's tasty bite-sized chunks of positive news to put a spring in your step.
New Mersey Beat
As the site of what's been called the 'greatest river recovery in Europe,' the Mersey River is continuing to thrive with sightings of dolphins, harbour porpoises, jellyfish, and five species of sharks, says Liverpool World. Last year, 45 different kinds of fish were found in the river, triple the amount recorded in 2002. Not bad for a river declared biologically dead 40 years ago.
Basketball Points Fest
Sunday's NBA All-Star game in Indianapolis shattered the record for most points scored in the game's 73-year history: The Eastern Conference beat the Western Conference 211-186 on Sunday night. The total of 397 points smashed the record of 374 set in 2017. It was the first time in NBA history that a scoreboard hit 200, AP reports.
Congratulations to...
Taghi Askari, an Iranian diver who's still taking to the board at 100 years old! He completed an exhibition dive at the 2024 World Championships in Doha last week and will be the oldest competitor at this year's World Aquatics Masters Championships. Askari won two medals at the first-ever Asian Games in 1951 and has never lost his passion for the sport. "I have always loved diving," he told World Aquatic. "Nothing has changed between 1951 and now, except my performance!”
Romantasy
It’s the portmanteau taking the literary world by storm: welcome to the year’s hottest genre, ‘romantasy.’ The romantasy tag has 475 million views on TikTok; Goodreads has just added a new Best Romantasy category to its yearly Choice Awards; romantasy books are filling bookshelves and topping bestseller lists on both sides of the Atlantic. What is it? Well, this latest best-selling fiction genre sees authors blending Joan Collins-esque romance with Tolkein-style fantasy - with potent results.
Giraffe Delay
The Magical Kenya Ladies Open at Vipingo Ridge’s Baobab golf course had to be paused for a giraffe delay. Yes, two giraffes interrupted the tournament as they sauntered onto the 18th fairway during the final round - but no one seemed to mind. After all, at Africa's only PGA-accredited golf course, animals aren't just encouraged to roam; they live here. The course is nestled within a wildlife sanctuary where a range of African species, many of them rescue animals, have free range to enjoy a few rounds.
Glowing Waves
Millions of bioluminescent plankton are showing off at San Diego's Torrey Pines beach, as captured by local photographer Vishwas Lokesh. The plankton release a flash of light when they're disturbed, creating a ripple of neon-blue waves that literally glow.
Good Week For Nvidia
Nvidia, riding a demand surge for AI chips, is now America's third most valuable company, overtaking Amazon and Alphabet. The only companies worth more: Apple and Microsoft. Between them, the AI-powered duo of Microsoft and Nvidia are worth $4.8 trillion - more than Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta combined, Axios points out.
EU Energy Transition
A record fall in coal and gas burning left the EU with a cleaner electricity mix than ever in 2023. That’s according to a new report by the thinktank Ember which revealed a 26 percent decline in coal power generation and a 15 percent fall in gas generation in the bloc in 2023. Meanwhile, renewables, Ember said, accounted for a record 44 percent of the EU’s electricity mix. This corroborates a separate recent report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, which declared that EU emissions had fallen to levels not seen since the 1960s.
"The important thing is to learn a lesson every time you lose." John McEnroe
On This Day
20 February 1872: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City opened to the public.
“If you haven’t seen a total solar eclipse, you haven’t seen anything,” says NASA. Coming on 8 April 2024. Syzygy...
Check out this cute trio of new ultra-compact electric city cars with minimal footprints to manufacture and run. Hop in...
The Sleeveface Craze: where people artfully blend in with vinyl record covers. Fun idea...
Mood Booster
Hilarious VW Commercial: Life's a lot easier when your car comes with trailer-parking assist.