Wrapping up the week with a global round up of positive news nuggets.
Cost Cutting Trick
Titanic director James Cameron has said he only used short people as extras in the film to emphasise the enormous size of the set. "We only cast short extras so it made our set look bigger," he told the LA Times in an interview. "It's like we got an extra million dollars of value out of casting." The film, released 26 years ago next week, cost a then record $200m to make, and became the highest-earning film of all time - until Cameron beat his own record with Avatar in 2009.
Box Office: Brilliant, mesmerising video tracking the revenues of the world's highest grossing films from 1976 to 2022. Watch...
Back From The Brink
An antelope whose species was declared Extinct in the Wild has today been downlisted to endangered - the direct result of a globally co-ordinated effort supported by ZSL, the international conservation charity. The scimitar horned oryx, also called the Sahara oryx, was once widespread across North Africa, but in the 1980’s the population began to plummet - largely due to the antelopes being hunted for their horns and meat. In 2000, the species was declared Extinct in the Wild by the IUCN Red List. Today, thanks to a conservation partnership coordinated by the Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi (EAD), its fate has been reversed - the first species from ZSL's Extinct in the Wild global initiative to be downlisted. The achievement highlights the collaborative power of zoos, aquariums, and botanic gardens in preventing biodiversity loss.
Cow Dung Rocket
Japanese startup Interstellar Technologies has successfully tested a reusable rocket engine powered by liquid biomethane from cattle manure. The 10-second engine firing marks progress toward 2025 orbital launches. By tapping into an abundant green energy source, the innovative bio-derived rocket fuel aims to boost sustainability.
Creative Justice
A woman in Ohio has been sentenced to two months’ work at a fast food restaurant after she was recorded throwing hot food in the face of a Chipotle worker. “I was thinking,” Judge Gilligan told CNN, ‘What else can I do rather than just have her sit in jail?’” The Chipotle worker who was assaulted said: “She’s going to learn to work in fast food, and hopefully it will be good.” Judge Gilligan hopes for the same, pointing out that it could hardly be otherwise when considering the quality difference between jail food and even a poorly prepared burrito bowl.
e-Revolt
A German start-up says it can convert traditional internal combustion engine cars into electric vehicles in as little as eight hours. Priced between €12,000 and €15,000, the conversion by e-Revolt aims to offer a more affordable and sustainable option for consumers looking to go green without purchasing a new EV. Could this be a game-chaner?
Ho Ho How?
A "massive inflatable" Santa Claus that suddenly "popped up" in a Texas city has been met with both bewilderment and delight, said Coast to Coast AM. It appeared without explanation in the "appropriately named Hollytree" neighbourhood in Tyler city, triggering a "sense of wonder" among local children, the radio show's website reported. Although no one has owned up to being the "merry prankster" behind the giant Santa, the apparent "mission" of spreading Christmas cheer has resoundingly "been accomplished". One child reportedly "mused" that the inflatable figure should serve as a beacon for Saint Nick when he makes his rounds later this month. "He's definitely coming to our neighborhood, and he's never going to miss my house," said the girl.
"You've got to dream a little bit if you're going to get somewhere." George Shultz
On This Day
15 December 1939: Starring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable, the film Gone with the Wind - a romantic tale of the American South during the Civil War adapted from the 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell - premiered in Atlanta, Georgia.
Scientists are "cautiously very excited" about their new findings for the treatment of MS. Good progress...
New turbines designed with the common-sense focus of keeping the cost of offshore wind down to an absolute minimum. T-Omega...
Mood Booster
Santa's Elves: Dogs and cats making toys.