Happy News Friday

Editor OGN Daily
9 hours ago
3 min read

Celebrating the end of the week with a global round-up of positive news nuggets.

Ignacia Fernández on stage at Miss World Chile — Credit: Miss Mundo Chile | ChileVision

Strange But True

A Miss World Chile contestant stunned judges during the pageant’s traditional “talent” round by breaking out a death metal performance. As well as being a model, 27-year-old Ignacia Fernández is “also the vocalist and founder of the Chilean progressive death metal band Decessus”, said Blabbermouth. She growled out one of the band’s numbers, dressed in a ballgown and sash - and, in no surprise to the bookies, went on to be crowned the winner. As a result, she will now represent Chile at next year’s Miss Universe contest.

Tomb Aiders

Paris is offering an unusual incentive to residents willing to help restore the final resting places of the city’s luminaries: the opportunity to be buried alongside them. Three famous cemeteries are offering tombs for adoption, including Père-Lachaise, “which counts ‘The Doors’ frontman Jim Morrison, playwright Oscar Wilde and singer Édith Piaf among its illustrious residents”, said CNN. Applicants will be put into a lottery, and the winners will be able to lease a burial plot in exchange for restoring their allotted tomb.

Funny Tomb Stones: We all occasionally reflect upon our own mortality and it's not always easy - to quote Monty Python - to 'look on the bright side of life'. So, if you're feeling up for it, how about looking at some humorous tomb stones?

An island in the Azores with a dramatic cliff down to the ocean — An island in the Azores

Macronesia Sanctuary

Governments and conservation NGOs are celebrating the passing of a resolution to create the world’s most ambitious marine sanctuary. Cleverly-named “Macronesia,” the area in the northeastern Atlantic consists of the waters surrounding the Azores, Cape Verde, the Canary Islands, and Madeira. 84 percent of all species of dolphins and whales in the Atlantic pass through Macronesia, making it as significant a site worthy of protection as could be found anywhere in the ocean. “The Macaronesia Sanctuary represents a shared aspiration between science, institutions, and society. Its approval by the IUCN demonstrates that international cooperation remains the most powerful tool we have to safeguard ocean biodiversity.”

Social Media Ban

Denmark has passed a law that will ban kids under 15 years old from social media platforms. It’s among the most sweeping steps yet by a European Union government to limit use of social media among teens and younger children, which has drawn concerns surrounding mental health. Speaking to The Associated Press, Caroline Stage, Denmark’s minister for digital affairs, said 94 percent of Danish children under age 13 have profiles on at least one social media platform, and more than half of those under 10 do. “We’ve given the tech giants so many chances to stand up and to do something about what is happening on their platforms. They haven’t done it,” said the Danish minister. “So now we will take over the steering wheel and make sure that our children’s futures are safe.”

Mint Condition

Upscale Los Angeles grocery store chain Erewhon is selling a toothpaste-flavoured smoothie after teaming up with a dental care brand. “Part-Instagrammable, part-healthy and part-unreasonably-priced”, Erewhon’s $20 smoothies “have made headlines over the years”, with Mint Condition Smile the latest flavour joining the menu. Although the toothpaste-inspired ingredients may not be to all tastes, early reviewers said the concoction is “not as bad as it sounds”.

the X-59 in flight over California — The X-59 | Lockheed Martin

No Sonic Boom

Nearly a decade after NASA partnered with Lockheed Martin to build the X-59, the supersonic jet has completed its first flight in California. The X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology (Quesst) aircraft is designed to reach supersonic speeds without the "sonic boom" and the ultimate goal for the project is to open up the possibility for commercial supersonic flights in the future. Traveling at supersonic speeds, faster than Mach 1 or around 768 miles per hour, would dramatically shorten travel times and reopen the market where Concorde once exclusively dominated - and it was possible to fly from London to New York City in about three hours.

I don’t believe in astrology; I’m a Sagittarius and we’re skeptical. Arthur C Clarke

On This Day

Prince Charles, shortly after he was born in 1948

14 November 1948: Prince Charles - the eldest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, duke of Edinburgh - was born in Buckingham Palace. He became king 73 years later.