Tasty selection of bite sized chunks of good news to help perk up the day.
Cultural Philanthropy
A new program in London will soon start giving away unsold theatre tickets to those who couldn’t otherwise afford them. Called the Ticket Bank, it will aim to dole out 1,000 tickets per week to theatre, dance, music and comedy shows. The tickets will be free or pay-what-you-can. The Ticket Bank is an arts-oriented variation on a food bank: giving donations, or any available surplus, to those in need. The pilot program will launch on 9 January and run for one year.
Lucky for Life
A Vietnam veteran not only won a yearly $25,000 payout through the Lucky for Life lottery draw, he won it six times by playing the same numbers on six tickets. Raymond Roberts of Fall River, Mass., said he’s been playing those numbers - a combination of anniversaries and birthdays - for the past 20 years. Roberts chose the $390,000 cash option for five of his six wins for a total payout of $1.95m, and he will still get another $25,000 a year for the rest of his life, according to the Massachusetts Lottery. In further happy news, the store where he purchased the tickets will receive $30,000 too.
Ecuador Conservation
It has been a particularly good year for conservation in Ecuador. The country’s protected waters around the Galapagos were expanded by 60,000 sq.km, a landmark agreement protected the Pastaza, the country’s largest and most biodiverse forest from mining, and a historic ruling by the Supreme Court gave indigenous groups the power to veto all mining and oil projects on their lands.
DNA Record
There’s beating a record, and then there’s beating a record by a million years - like the scientists who recently managed to collect the oldest DNA ever found. They extracted 2-million-year-old DNA from Ice Age sediment in Greenland, finding fragments from 135 different species, including the mastodon, a creature never before known to have lived in the area. Their findings provide a snapshot of the prehistoric ecosystem, revealing that what is now a polar desert was once full of vegetation and varied animal life. The researchers hope their findings can shed light on both the evolutionary past and the possible impact of climate change on the future.
Downward Trends
In news that didn't make any headlines, the Department of Justice has reported that between 2012 and 2021 rates of violent victimization in the United States (robbery and sexual, aggravated and simple assault) declined from 26 to 16 incidents per 1,000 people, youth crime fell to its lowest level on record, and so did the number of young people being prosecuted, giving tens of thousands of teens a second chance.
New Bank Notes
Designs for bank notes featuring an image of King Charles III have been revealed by the Bank of England, with plans to enter circulation by mid-2024. The plans have been made in line with guidance from the royal household to minimise the environmental impact of the change by only printing new notes to replace worn bank notes. This will mean notes featuring Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III will “co-circulate”.
Sea View
The new Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite has launched from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, beginning its journey toward a low-Earth orbit. From its perch, the satellite will measure water on more than 90 percent of Earth’s surface. The data will help scientists better understand the role oceans play in climate change, the effect of global warming on bodies of water and how people can prepare for natural disasters. The mission is a collaboration between NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales.
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"We are more fulfilled when we are involved in something bigger than ourselves."
John Glenn
On this Day
21 December 1898: Having recently discovered polonium, future Nobel Prize winners Marie and Pierre Curie discovered the radioactive chemical element radium, a silvery white metal that would be used to treat cancer.
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Mood Booster
Blast from the past: original Mission Impossible theme tune intro from 1969.