What better way to start the day than with a global round up of good news nuggets?
Oh Yes!
Lori Janes didn’t get what she wanted in a 'white elephant' exchange at her office Christmas party. It definitely worked out for the better. Janes and her co-workers were participating in a gift exchange during a Christmas party at the office last week. Participants bring a wrapped gift and can either pick a gift from under the tree, or “steal” a gift that already has been opened. After co-worker of Janes stole her $25 TK Maxx gift card away, Janes decided to steal $25 in Kentucky Lottery scratch-off tickets from another co-worker. Guess what? She won $175,000. What a great Christmas present!
Book Store Revival
The “no-one-reads-anymore” and “physical-retail-is-dying” naysayers are getting rebuked by the facts on the ground. The Wall Street Journal reports that in a reversal of a trend that been’s going on for more than a decade, Barnes & Noble is opening more stores than it’s closing - with 30 more B&N locations opening by the end of next year. The country’s biggest bookstore chain once struggled to compete with both the one-click convenience and affordability of Amazon and the mom and pop authenticity of independent bookstores. But, after the pandemic reminded everyone that books are fun, and after B&N revamped its stores, the company has had a reversal of fortune.
Good Year for Rivers
Europe removed a record-breaking 239 dams and committed to getting 25,000 km of rivers back to free flowing by 2030; the Netherlands began the continent’s largest ever river restoration project on the Meuse; Europe's 'last wild river' which runs unimpeded for 170 miles across Albania to the Adriatic Sea has become Europe's first protected wild river national park; in Canada indigenous communities began ‘reopening the lungs’ of the Squamish and the largest dam removal project in the world was approved for the Klamath in California.
Innovative River Cleaner Stops Plastic Reaching Oceans: To stop plastic waste reaching the ocean, an Italian firm has invented what seems to be the perfect tool for scooping up litter before it gets there. More...
E.T.
Forty years have passed since movie-goers first laid eyes on the lovable alien known as E.T., who waddled alongside human co-stars Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore in the 1982 flick E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (directed by Steven Spielberg). The metallic skeleton, created by special effects pro Carlo Rambaldi in 1981, features 85 movement points and fans of the iconic movie just had the chance to own that key piece of the E.T. legacy - for a small fortune. The mechatronic model that brought E.T. to life, and mesmerised children all over the world, just went under the hammer at auction and achieved a sale price of $2.6m.
Top US Toys 1920-2021
Want to know what was the most popular holiday toy in America any time from 1920 to 2021? Well, the answers are here.
World's Most Popular Toys 2022: The clever elves at TheToyZone have analyzed Google search volumes to track down the most popular toys around the world this year. Read on...
Monster Turbine
In East China's Fujian Province, a huge offshore wind turbine with the world's largest per-unit capacity has come off the assembly line. The gigantic wind turbine boasts the world's longest impeller diameter of 827 foot (252m), the lightest per megawatt weight, and a 480 foot (146m) hub, which is equivalent to the height of a 50 story structure. Developers CTG and Goldwind believe the 16MW unit is the highest-rated generator ever built. Its enormous rotor diameter provides a 164,000 foot (50,000m) swept area that can generate enough electricity to power 36,000 households annually, they claim.
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"You can tell a lot about a person by the way they handle three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights." Maya Angelou
On this Day
22 December 1989: The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin was reopened, signifying the reunification of East and West Germany.
Whales help us by sequestering and storing planet-heating carbon emissions. And the IMF has even put a monetary value on them. Read on...
The world has been divided about their royal revelations, but they're about to start a new 'less contentious' Netflix series. Read on...
For the first time in 30 years, new terms for extreme numbers have been added to the International System of Units. Read on...
Mood Booster
Movie Dance Scene Mashup (Mostly) 1930s Style.