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OGN Friday

Concluding the week with an eclectic global round up of positive news nuggets.


Xavier Netry, expert baguette maker
Xavier Netry
Top Baguette

The classic baguette reigns supreme in Paris, and the French capital just crowned a new king of the long loaf. Xavier Netry was awarded the 31st annual 'Grand Prix de la Baguette' prize, beating hundreds of fellow competitors. The bakery Netry works for, Utopie, will get a prize of over $4,000 and the honour of becoming one of the suppliers for Élysée Palace, where the president resides, for a year. Netry said the secrets to his sourdough loaves include a solid starter and “a good long fermentation” - plus “some love and some passion, of course.” OGN apologies if this story sends you on an unplanned trip to your nearest boulangerie or to the grocery store to get the ingredients to make your own.


Stat of The Day

87 percent: The world literacy rate, up from 67 percent in 1979. That’s a big bump, but wind the clock back a bit more to see just how far we’ve come. In 1820, the World Economic Forum estimates that just 12 percent of the world’s adults could read and write.


The Tilling-Stevens petrol electric bus
The Tilling-Stevens petrol electric bus | Credit: Peter Edgelar
Hybrid Bus is Back

If you think that hybrid vehicles are a new invention, think again. A hybrid bus dating from the start of World War One is available for free rides as part of an exhibition near England's south coast. The Tilling-Stevens petrol electric bus at Amberley Museum in West Sussex uses a motor engine to drive a dynamo, which powers an electric motor to turn the wheels. The museum is showing its collection of pre-1939 South Downs buses and will also be joined by a number of “visiting buses”. Peter Edgelar, the museum’s photographer, said: “It’s just evocative for a lot of people - they went to school on these things, they went out with their first girlfriends and boyfriends on these things, many of them found their life partners on these things. It’s the smell and the sounds.”


Eta Aquariids

This weekend you can enjoy one of the best meteor showers of 2024. The Eta Aquariids -resulting from a debris stream deposited in the inner solar system by Halley’s comet - can produce a maximum of 50 “shooting stars” per hour, according to the American Meteor Society, though 10-30 per hour is more likely. With the night sky free from strong moonlight, it should provide an excellent opportunity to go outside and look up after dark.


The new Aquatics Centre in Paris
The Aquatics Centre Paris
Just One New Building

It's almost time for the 2024 Summer Olympics to begin. 100 years after it last hosted the games, Paris is once again home to the iconic sporting event and just one large-scale permanent building has been created for the occasion: an aquatic sports centre that's defined by an stunning curving concave wooden roof and boasts impressive sustainability features, such as: its 5,000 spectator seats are made from recycled plastic and 90 percent of the centre's energy comes from renewable sources (mostly solar panels on the roof which is the largest urban solar array in France); further more, the roof features a rainwater collection system and 50 percent of water used throughout the building will be recycled.


US Net Neutrality

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has voted 3-2 to reinstate landmark net neutrality rules and reassume regulatory oversight of broadband internet rescinded under former President Donald Trump. Net neutrality refers to the principle that internet service providers should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favoring or blocking particular products or websites.


Zimbabwe's new 10 ZiG Note
10 ZiG Note
World's Newest Currency

Zimbabwe has started circulating a new currency to replace one that has been battered by depreciation and often outright rejection by the people. The ZiG was introduced electronically in early April, but people are now able to use banknotes and coins. It’s the southern African country’s latest attempt to halt a long-running currency crisis underlining its persistent economic troubles. It will be good news if the ZiG - short for Zimbabwe Gold, and backed by the country’s gold reserves - helps lead the country out of its currency woes.

 

“An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.” Henry David Thoreau

 
On This Day

Margaret Thatcher in 1979

3 May 1979: Margaret Thatcher of the Conservative Party was elected British prime minister, becoming the first woman in Europe to hold that post; she later became the longest continuously serving British premier since 1827.

 





 
Mood Booster

Vicarious adrenalin rush: Backflip over 72ft canyon.



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