Fab Friday News
Wrapping up the week with an upbeat selection of good news nuggets from around the globe.
She's Back
Hundreds of Céline Dion fans have been gathering each day to catch sight of the singer, as she rehearses for a long-awaited return to the stage in a series of sold-out Paris shows that begin this weekend. Dion, who grew up the youngest of 14 children in a small town near Montréal in French-speaking Quebec, has a massive fanbase in France. Although she is famous worldwide for her 1997 song My Heart Will Go On, which featured in the Oscar-winning film Titanic and became the second-bestselling single by a woman in music history, in France she is known for her many French-language songs. Her 1995 album D’eux became the biggest-selling Francophone album of all time. In 2024, she sang an Edith Piaf song from the Eiffel Tower at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony. In 2022, Dion announced that she had been diagnosed with the rare and incurable autoimmune disorder, and many thought that she would never perform again. So, no wonder her fans are delighted.
The Snoopy Show
Well-known as a World War I flying ace, multisport star, suave college kid “Joe Cool” and, most endearingly, the loyal companion to an oft-beleaguered Charlie Brown, Snoopy has worn many hats - and uniforms and glasses. Now, in a brand-new exhibition, these myriad identities and styles are being highlighted. Snoopy in Style NYC celebrates the lasting cultural influence of America’s favorite cartoon beagle. The gallery, open with free admission through September 26, tells the story of Snoopy’s ascension from the pages of Charles Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip to that of a global pop culture icon.
Did You Know?
It's a good idea to stop saying thank you by email. “If each British adult would abstain from sending out a “Thank you” email, we would conserve more than 16,000 tons of CO2 per year - equal to 81,000 flights from London to Madrid. Are really all the emails we send necessary?” says Anneli Ohvril of Digital Cleanup Day. Imagine extrapolating that UK stat around the world.
Brilliant 2022 Iceland Tourist Board commercial: OutHorse Your Email - "jKwtFqnz3msrqaa...." For a relaxing vacation, let Iceland's horses take care of work emails for you.
16 Galactic Gems
Space scientists have put together a photo gallery of glistening ‘cosmic gems’ to showcase the variety of sizes, shapes, and high-energy features of distant galaxies. Astronomers put galaxies into three main categories: spirals like our own Milky Way with arms emanating from their cores, ellipticals that are older and likely the results of mergers, and irregulars that can encompass a wide range of galactic phenomena. Each one of the 16 stunning new pictures from NASA’s Chandra Observatory comes with info about the space marvel that you're looking at.
$DRNI Ticker Reserved
Doron Merdinger worked on military drones for years. He saw firsthand how quickly the tech was advancing and knew it wouldn’t be long before that same technology made flying cars possible. So he built Doroni. With a claimed 600 reservations for Doroni’s aircraft (at $400,000 each), the demand for this innovation looks undeniable. Unlike many competitors focusing on the commercial "air taxi" model, Doroni Aerospace is designing consumer-owned, personal flying cars intended for everyday use. Their flagship aircraft, the H1-X, is engineered to fit into a standard two-car garage, plug into a standard EV charger, and require only about 25 hours of flight training to operate. The company plans to begin commercial deliveries by 2028. They even just reserved the stock ticker $DRNI in preparation for a potential Nasdaq listing.
iPhone Duo
Apple has introduced its first foldable device, named the iPhone Duo, at its Surprise and Shine event held in Cupertino. The phone is the first marquee device launched under the company’s new CEO, John Ternus. Unlike early iterations of foldables, which looked like vertical slabs, Apple adopted a wider form factor that could aid in a better aspect ratio while watching videos when the device is unfolded. The unfolded display is a 7.6-inch Retina display, and the outer display is 5.4 inches. The company said that the new device was “inspired by the versatility of iPad” and showed how people can use it unfolded in a vertical mode. The inner display also features an “under-display” camera that can give users an all-screen feel. The iPhone Duo starts at $1,999.
Global Solar
The first terawatt of global solar capacity took nearly 68 years to reach. The second arrived in roughly two years. The third came in 19 months. The world crossed the 3-terawatt mark in early 2026, and the pace is still picking up. In 2025, the world installed 12 percent more than the year before. Wind and solar combined generated 22 percent of global electricity in April 2026, passing natural gas at 20 percent for the first time, according to energy research group Ember. Reassuringly, and despite Trump's best efforts, solar and battery storage together accounted for 91 percent of all new grid capacity added in the United States in Q1 2026.
“Friday afternoon feels like heaven.” El Fuego
On This Day
11 September 1942: Enid Blyton publishes Five on a Treasure Island, the first of her "Famous Five" children's novels, starting one of the best-selling children's series ever with over 100 million copies sold. Blyton wrote 21 full-length novels in the main series between 1942 and 1963, featuring Julian, Dick, Anne, their tomboy cousin Georgina (George), and her loyal dog Timmy.
Today's Articles
'Mind Blowing': Something extraordinary happened after people built artificial beaver dams in California.
Best Ever Headlines: Well, not all of them, but certainly some particularly clever and entertaining ones.
Mood Boosting Video
The Beverly Estate: Venue for lavish Hollywood parties, home to William Randolph Hearst, honeymoon destination for JFK, and featured in many movies.
