Friday's Positive News

Editor OGN Daily
Jul 4
4 min read

Wrapping up the week with an eclectic bundle of short, positive news stories.

Painting of a voluptuous naked woman, reclining — Tamara de Lempicka's La Belle Rafaela sold for £7.5 million | Sotheby's

Female Artists Boom

This £7.5 million ($10.3m) nude is proof that women are the future of the art world, argues The Telegraph. London’s summer season of Modern and Contemporary Art sales at Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips took another step backwards as sales were down considerably, again. Amid the gloomy statistics, however, comes some good news - for female artists. A report written by number crunchers ArtTactic tracks the booming market for female artists, calculating that between 2018 and 2024, auction sales by female artists rose from $523.7 million to $675.6 million and that the female artists’ share of the market had doubled from 6.2 percent to 13.5 percent. In the major museums, Tate and MoMA New York, the percentage of solo shows and acquisitions of works by female artists increased to 50 percent over the same period. The report also stated that the rate of return (Compound Annual Growth Rate) on works by 20th-century artists that had been bought and resold was much better for female than male artists, supporting the view that women artists have been undervalued.

Space Camp

Alabama will be the site of a new training camp for the next generation of female astronauts - named in honor of one of the profession’s great pioneers. Well, not really, because the Nichelle Nichols Space Camp honors someone who pioneered an idea rather than a profession - an idea that color barriers didn’t exist in outer space. Passing away in 2022, African American actress Nichelle Nichols was the first black woman to star in Star Trek - as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura - and, as a bridge officer, she had plenty of screen time in the show and was one of the highest ranking characters. As Whoopi Goldberg later put it “I just saw a Black woman on television; and she ain’t no maid!”

Star Trek's Uhura Did More Than Boldly Go: The mission recited at the top of each Star Trek episode was clear: To boldly go where no man has gone before. But Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura, did much more than that.

Leopard emerging into a forest glade — Credit: Creative Conservation Alliance

Rarely Spotted

Conservationists are feeling hopeful about the fate of the critically endangered leopard population in Bangladesh thanks to a recent camera trap spotting. The nonprofit Creative Conservation Alliance released two photos of a leopard emerging from a forested area in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, providing “evidence that these elusive big cats still persist in the region,” zoologist Monirul Khan told CBS News. “As an extremely rare and secretive species, the latest sighting is very significant. It highlights the importance of the remaining natural forest in the Chittagong Hill Tracts as a reserve of wildlife habitat.” The organization added that it is working with its partners “to protect these magnificent creatures and ensure a future where leopards and people coexist.”

Slow Down with Himalayan Snow Leopards: Watching images of nature has been shown to improve our physical and mental health. Relax and enjoy this beautiful video.

Fatboy Slim on stage in 2025 — Fatboy Slim in 2025

Glastonbury Milestone

Irreverent, bouncy and as suitable at 4am in a club as it is at 4pm in a field, the music of Fatboy Slim dovetails perfectly with Glastonbury. And the man himself, Norman Cook, seems to know it. This year’s festival marked a big milestone: Cook has now played 100 Glasto sets - or thereabouts - over the years, popping up everywhere from vast stages to tiny tents. “I’m very, very proud of my relationship with Glastonbury and my history with it and I’m lucky, because as a DJ, you can play multiple sets. Obviously, there’s probably people who’ve been to more Glastonburys, but they’ve only played one show per festival – that’s not going to get you into big high figures.”

Wheat field viewed from the air saying: Jesse + Sarah 20 Years — Jesse + Sarah 20 Years - love message that's one mile long and half a mile wide

Massive Message

A farmer in Kansas had an idea for an anniversary gift, but it was going to take eight months, lots of land, and 65 million wheat seeds. Recently, the couple went up over the fields in an airplane - and when she looked out the window, she saw it: “I knew it would make her smile,” Jesse told KAKE in Kansas. “That was kind-of the whole goal, to get the little grin out of her that I like.”. The words were laid out in a red chaff wheat, with a lighter variety serving as the background. In all, the message is about one mile long and a half-mile wide. “I knew it would make her smile,” Jesse told KAKE in Kansas. “That was kind-of the whole goal, to get the little grin out of her that I like.”

"I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration." John Adams, 1776

On This Day

Black and white illustration of the Mad Hatters Tea Party

4 July 1865: Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was published, though the first print run was soon recalled because of quality issues; a new first edition was released in November. Lewis Carroll is pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.