OGN Wednesday
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Today's eclectic collection of upbeat news nuggets from around the globe.
Pop Philanthropy x 2
Olivia Rodrigo revealed before her Daisy Chain Fields headlining set that philanthropist Melinda French Gates had doubled the singer’s $10 million donation for nonprofit organizations benefitting women and girls to $20 million. Before the inaugural Irvine, California fest, Rodrigo announced that all proceeds from the festival - “Every person who bought a ticket, every artist who waived their fee, every sponsor for signing onto a brand new festival, and every donation that helped get to $10 million dollars to support women and girls,” the singer said on Friday - would go toward 10 organizations. French Gates joined Rodrigo on stage to reveal that she and her Pivotal, a group of organizations the philanthropist founded to accelerate social progress for women and young people, would double the donation.
Days of Thunder 2
Anne Hathaway will star opposite Tom Cruise in the next chapter of Days of Thunder, says Variety. Paramount Pictures has scheduled the feature film sequel for June 2028, when Cruise and Hathaway will hit the road almost 40 years after the original Tony Scott film was released. Cruise will reprise his role as the scrappy driver Cole Trickle. Plot details are scarce, but Hathaway is set to play a racecar team owner and engineer. The Days of Thunder follow-up is the first significant piece of IP that Cruise will engage with after ramping down the Mission: Impossible franchise. He’s also on the hook for another Top Gun movie.
Peculiar Print
After his tenant moved out, Timothy Dertz noticed a curious artwork on the wall of his Milwaukee apartment. It was a print of a bullfighter, and a thick layer of dust had collected on the top of the frame. The landlord figured that the print must have been hanging in that spot for some time. When he asked an antique dealer to take a look, the two men noticed a signature in green crayon: “Picasso.” When the pair dug deeper, they realized that the artwork was a 1949 Pablo Picasso etching called Torero (Spanish for “bullfighter”) that had been missing from Milwaukee’s DeLind Fine Art Appraisals since 2018. At the time of its disappearance, it was valued at $35,000 to $50,000. Dertz handed over the artwork to the Milwaukee Police Department who thanked him "for doing the right thing."
Cool Gizmo
Polyend, maker of immensely cool drum machines, synths, and guitar pedals, is now working on a product for your desk. Keys combines a playable three-octave piano with a QWERTY keyboard you can use for work, composition, and performing. The mechanical keyboard itself is machined from a single piece of aluminum, and features backlit Kailh low-profile switches. These are hot-swappable, which means individual keys can be changed out without soldering. OGN does not yet know what this will cost and exactly when it'll arrive on store shelves. Polyend is showing at the Gamescom gaming expo in Cologne, Germany, this month, where you can see it black and silver colourways - if you happen to be in town.
Apple's New Era
John Ternus has just taken over as CEO of Apple, succeeding Tim Cook after 15 years at the helm of the $4.6T tech giant. The 51-year-old joined Apple in 2001 and most recently led hardware engineering, overseeing products including the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and AirPods. Ternus inherits a company looking to strengthen its position in AI and develop new product categories. His first major product event comes next week when Apple is expected to unveil its latest iPhones, including its long-awaited first foldable model.
Whopping Sand Battery
A small town in Finland has come up with a genius solution to store clean energy - a huge sand battery. The battery, which is 13 meters tall and 15 meters wide, uses 2,000 metric tons of crushed soapstone to store heat energy. This means it can provide enough heat for the town’s 5,000 residents for almost a month during the summer and about a week during the winter. The best part is that it’s reducing the town’s greenhouse gas emissions by a massive 70 percent and cutting down on the use of wood chips by 60 percent.
"The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie." Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
On This Day
2 September 1752: Last Julian calendar day in Great Britain and British colonies including America; to sync to the Gregorian calendar, 11 days are skipped and the next date is 14 September. Reason for change: The older Julian calendar drifted behind the solar year by about 11 minutes per year, creating a cumulative error of 11 days by the 18th century that moved the vernal equinox out of place.
Today's Articles
Mood Boosting Video
Congratulations! 91-year-old reclaims record as the oldest hiker to complete the Appalachian Trail.
