Just Good News Friday
- 3 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Concluding the week with an upbeat bundle of positive news nuggets from around the world.
100th Birthday
King Charles III and Queen Camilla will be joined by senior members of the royal family to mark the 100th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s birth next week. Buckingham Palace has shared an outline of what to expect during the 48-hour celebration, which will start on 20 April and culminate on 21 April - what would have been Her Majesty's milestone birthday. The jewel in the crown will be a reception hosted at Buckingham Palace which will be attended by people who are celebrating their own centenary year. They will have the opportunity to receive their traditional 100th birthday card in person, from the monarch himself.
'Cloud' Jaguar
A jaguar has been caught on camera in Honduras’ Sierra del Merendón mountain range for the first time in a decade as part of high-tech monitoring and conservation efforts from Panthera, the global wild cat conservation organization. Taken among cloud forest at over 6,000 feet in elevation on the range’s highest peak, the images show a healthy male jaguar just a few feet from the exact location of the park’s first-ever jaguar sighting - recorded 10 years and 2 days earlier. The “cloud” pre-fix this cat has picked up in the media isn’t a reflection of speciation, such as the leopard and the clouded leopard, but merely because of its habitation atop the highest of heights in Honduras.
One Lion Raises Millions For Other Wild Cats: A rare Rembrandt drawing, Young Lion Resting, just sold for $18 million at auction, with proceeds supporting wild cat conservation charity Panthera.
Sleeping With Birds
The higher the perch, the closer we are to the birds. If you long to be nearer to your feathered friends, you’ll want to flock to the Biosphere room at Sweden’s Treehotel. The unique cubed structure is suspended above the ground with a facade that’s surrounded by 350 birdhouses, inviting the winged creatures to stay alongside you. Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) in collaboration with ornithologist Ulf Öhman, Biosphere is as enveloping as it is eco-conscious, inviting new habitats for northern Sweden’s bird population. Speaking of which...
Natural Well-Being
In a new study, more than 100 researchers surveyed roughly 38,000 people in 75 countries around the world and found that people with a stronger connection to nature had better well-being. This connection was not just limited to spending time outside, but about feeling a deeper relationship with the natural world. Overall, people with a relationship to nature reported higher life satisfaction, more hope and optimism, and a greater sense of purpose. They were also better at handling stress and were more mindful, meaning they stayed present and aware in their daily lives. Researchers found that these benefits were consistent across different ages and genders.
Lifestraw
It's the name of the company that's behind some of the world's lightest, slimmest wilderness survival filters for decades. Now it launches a new lightweight leader that makes its past releases look downright chunky ... relatively speaking. The all-new Sip Essential takes the company's longstanding personal filter straw format and halves weight, ensuring that even the lightest-traveling speed hikers and mountaineers don't find themselves up a creek without a filter. The Sip Essential is designed to filter up to 1,000 liters of water, enough to last a full year of filtering all your drinking water everyday - should you choose to sip directly out of the lake or river for all your hydration needs. Not bad for $19.95.
Dreaming Big
“I saw an electrical plug and I thought I could build that bigger,” said 62-year-old Steve Wainwright from Cambridgeshire, England, explaining why he decided to devote his retirement to building outsized versions of everyday items. So far, the former electrical engineer and paramedic “has created 20 installations in his garden workshop”, said The Times, including a “giant pencil and a 13-amp fuse”, and has no plans to slow down. “It mostly keeps him out of mischief,” said Cat Thompson, his wife.
“Fridays are the hardest in some ways: you’re so close to freedom.” Lauren Oliver
On This Day
17 April 2011: Game of Thrones TV series based on the fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin premieres on HBO - running for eight seasons until May 2019.
Today's Articles
Frontrunners: The numbers are in for the world's most visited museums in 2025 - and some may surprise you.
Daring to Imagine: 100 years ago deep thinkers predicted what life would be like today - proving to be weirdly accurate.
Mood Boosting Video
La Serenissima: Spectacular drone footage of Venice - filmed in March 2020.