Satirical magazine Private Eye turns 60 this year - still funny, still unpredictable, still annoying all the right people. That's despite the best efforts of several rich, powerful foes who have endeavoured to sue it into oblivion: in the ’70s it was James Goldsmith, the ’80s Robert Maxwell, the ’90s Mohamed Al-Fayed. But they never succeeded, obviously. Private Eye continues to do spoofs and scoops as well as ever, and sales are flourishing - despite the pandemic, despite an allergy to ‘online content’, despite its enemies. Here's to 60 more years!
How about a glass of fizz to celebrate? Although Lilly Bollinger (born in 1899, into the famous Champagne house bearing her name) never seemed to need an excuse. Here's her famous quote: “I drink Champagne when I’m happy and when I’m sad. Sometimes I drink it when I’m alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I’m not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise, I never touch it - unless I’m thirsty.”
Jumbo, a Dutch supermarket chain, has come up with a simple and creative solution to combat the widespread issue of loneliness by opening tills where clients can stop and chat instead of being rushed to pay and gather their shopping. The very first “Kletskassa,” which translates to “chat checkout,” opened in 2019 as part of a health ministry program designed to encourage companies, organizations, and local councils to pick up on the signs of loneliness among the elderly early, and collaborate to come up with innovative solutions to address it. It was such a success that Jumbo now has 200 kletskassa.
A Canadian nuclear fusion power company has received $400m investment to build a demonstration energy plant in the UK. They will showcase their proprietary method for generating electricity through the fusion of hydrogen atoms in the hopes of attracting additional private investors that can kickstart the last great revolution in energy technology. Construction is set to begin next summer in collaboration with the UK’s Atomic Energy Authority.
When people ask, "Where did you get married?" Karen Mahoney and Brian Ray will have a great story. The couple wanted Mahoney's parents and 96-year-old grandmother to be at their wedding, but there was one small problem: The family lives in Canada, and the couple lives in the US. Canada was restricting land border crossings due to Covid-19, and Mahoney didn't want to put her grandmother through the stress and risks of air travel, reports CNN. So, with the advice of a friend who works for border patrol, they met in the middle. Literally. In a field on the edge of the US-Canada border near Burke, New York, the happy couple said their vows on the US side while Mahoney's family looked on lovingly from the other.
Take inspiration from Paul Ellis, 56, who has had both his legs amputated but yet has completed a 13-hour crawl to the summit of Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales at 1,085m. He was in good spirits after completing the 9 mile (14.5 km) Llanberis route and, so far, has raised more than £3,000 ($4,000) to send amputee children on holiday. The married father-of-two said: "I did the first three miles in about three hours... the last two miles took me more or less nine hours probably."
A new drug by Merck significantly reduces the risk of hospitalization and death in people who take it early in the course of their Covid-19 illness. Promising results from clinical trials suggest that the drug, which is taken orally, may become the first at-home treatment cleared for use by the FDA.
In great news for struggling cinemas, Daniel Craig’s final outing as 007 has smashed UK box office records, grossing more on its opening weekend than any other film in the history of the James Bond franchise. No Time to Die, which received its world public premiere in the UK at midnight on Wednesday, has also broken international pandemic box office records, making $119m (£88m) in the 54 markets where the film has launched to date. This makes it the first title from a Hollywood studio to crack $100m without opening in China, the world’s second-biggest movie market, since the pandemic began more than 18 months ago.
A public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the American Society of Nephrology has invented an implantable bio-artificial kidney. The device was engineered to sustainably support a culture of human kidney cells without provoking an immune response - meaning we could soon forgo the need for kidney transplants and dialysis.
Fun Fact: The Four Corners is the only spot in the US where you can stand in four states at once: Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.
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