Getting the week off to an optimistic start with a worldwide round up of positive news nuggets.
Youngest Author
A British girl has become the Guinness World Record holder for world’s youngest published author - at just five years old. Bella Dark has just received the official confirmation from Guinness after selling over 2,000 copies. The young girl from Weymouth, Dorset, stunned her family last year when she told them she was going to write a book. Her mother and father - a chef and plasterer - thought it was just “one of those things” children say. But they are “extremely proud” of Bella after she turned her dream into a reality with her book titled The Lost Cat.
Conservation Bill
The U.S. House of Representatives has just passed the Recovering America's Wildlife Act. The bill allocates over $1.3 billion in program funding for conservation efforts, with 15 percent of funds designated specifically for federally listed endangered species. The bill will provide states, territories and Tribes with funding to protect the more than 1,600 threatened and endangered species in the U.S.
Food Waste
The Spanish government has drafted legislation that will see supermarkets fined for binning food, and oblige them to work with food banks to distribute surplus produce. Restaurants will also be required to provide doggy bags so customers can take leftovers home. As tackling food waste is a big priority, the further good news is that there's an app called Too Good to Go that's reducing this waste. It offers users in Europe and America access to unsold, safe-to-eat produce from participating suppliers (restaurants, grocery stores etc.) at heavily discounted prices.
Obelus
The word for a division symbol (÷)
Acting Your Age
Here's what meditation teacher, Light Watkins, says about acting your age: "The advice shouldn't be to act your age. It should be to act your spirit. Your age may try to prohibit you from dancing like that, or starting over, or trying something new. But your spirit would never do such a thing. If something feels aligned, your spirit wants you to go for it, whether you're 15 or 85. Acting your age makes you fit in more, while acting your spirit will indeed cause you to stand out - in a bad way to people who act their age, but in an inspiring way to those who act their spirit. Try acting your spirit from time to time, and you can see for yourself which path makes you feel more alive."
Museum of Broadway
Despite Broadway’s rich history and unique cultural cachet, New York City has never been home to a museum dedicated to celebrating the shows, performers and creators who have made the Theater District what it is today. That will change this fall, when the Museum of Broadway finally opens its doors. Located in the heart of Times Square, the museum will spotlight more than 500 shows from the 1700s to today. Tickets now on sale.
VHS Record
A sealed VHS tape of the hit 1980s movie Back to the Future has sold for $75,000 in the first ever auction of the now antiquated video-playing format - almost certainly making the tape the most expensive ever sold. It included a signed note from an actor in the movie, saying: “This is a VHS tape of the first release of Back to the Future, sent to me by the studio at that time. Since I knew that the VHS platform wouldn't be around forever, I saved it for later and now I can’t find a VCR. Oh well. Enjoy!”
3 UK Records
Courtesy of her 1985 song Running Up That Hill being featured in a Netflix Series and being introduced to a new audience, Kate Bush now holds the title for longest gap between number-one UK singles for one artist with 44 years. Her last number one was 'Wuthering Heights' which topped the charts in 1978. Bush's second record is Running Up That Hill has taken the longest amount of time to reach number one after its initial release. When the song was first released in 1985 it reached a high of number nine. That means it has taken 37 years to climb eight places higher and claim the top spot. And lastly, Bush is now the oldest female to ever reach number one at the age of 63 years and 11 months.
Quote of the Day
"From the astrologer came the astronomer, from the alchemist the chemist, from the mesmerist the experimental psychologist. The quack of yesterday is the professor of tomorrow." Arthur Conan Doyle
On this Day
20 June 1975: Steven Spielberg's hugely successful thriller Jaws was released in theatres, essentially creating the genre of summer blockbusters.
Dive in Deeper
The genetically isolated polar bears are surviving in an improbable habitat - one that lacks floating sea ice that is normally used by polar bears for hunting. This discovery provides a glimmer of hope for the future of white bears. Read on...
Scientists have successfully developed a revolutionary cancer treatment that lights up and wipes out microscopic cancer cells, in a breakthrough that could enable surgeons to more effectively target and destroy the disease in patients. Read on...
Nature Mood Booster
Video showing hummingbirds in ultra slow-mo and revealing 20 remarkable facts about these wonderful creatures.