Today's collection of uplifting news snippets to help get the weekend off to a sunny start.
Last Masterpiece
Earlier this month OGN mooted that Gustav Klimt’s 'last masterpiece' was likely to become the most expensive painting ever sold in Europe. Now we can unequivocally tell you that Lady with a Fan has indeed become the most expensive work of art sold in Europe. The portrait, also known as Dame mit Fächer, of an anonymous woman, fetched £85.3 million ($108m) from a Hong Kong collector at Sotheby’s auction house in London. The most expensive painting ever sold? Leonardo da Vinci’s £350 million ($443m) Salvator Mundi, believed to have been purchased by the Saudi royal family.
US Conservation
The Biden administration has proposed new rules for protecting imperiled plants and animals as officials move to reverse changes under Donald Trump that weakened application of the Endangered Species Act. Sadly, they'll face strong pushback from Republican lawmakers, who say President Joe Biden's administration has hampered oil, gas and coal development, and favors conservation over such development. Go Joe!
Strange But True
PepsiCo - apparently operating under the assumption that people enjoy both soda and hot dogs, and therefore have no qualms about combining the two in the same food item - is launching a new cola-flavored condiment intended to top frankfurters à la ketchup or mustard. It's called Colachup. The condiment will only be tested on July 4 at “sampling carts” within four MLB ballparks and, if it goes down well, might be rolled out across the world.
Floating Eco-Community
Imagine being part of a floating eco-community where homes are solar powered and surplus energy is shared among neighbours, bikes and electric vehicles are available for everyone to use and a weekly plunge into the water is a year-round activity! Marjan de Blok, one of the residents of Amsterdam's Schoonship Development, had the idea over 10 years ago of creating a thriving and collaborative community through sustainable housing. Today, Schoonship Development has 30 'arks' and is home to over 120 adults and 40 children - it claims to be the most sustainable floating community in Europe - and believes that by offering tours and making their knowledge open-source, others may be inspired to create their own unique ways to solve loneliness and unaffordable housing through co-living communities.
The Maldives Floating City: After being in under planning for more than a decade, the city has finally begun to take shape and the floating city will welcome the first of its 20,000 residents in 2024. More...
Cosmic Chorus
Scientists have observed for the first time the faint ripples caused by the motion of black holes that are gently stretching and squeezing everything in the universe. They reported that they were able to 'hear' what are called low-frequency gravitational waves - changes in the fabric of the universe that are created by huge objects moving around and colliding in space.
Spanish Milestone
Spain is on track to generate more than half of its power from renewable sources this year, the first of the top five European countries by power demand to accomplish this feat, according to Rystad Energy forecasts. Spain will reach this significant decarbonization milestone this year, with renewable-sourced generation surpassing the 50 percent average in 2023, beating France, Germany, Italy and the UK to this record.
New Record For US Renewable Energy: Solar and wind power generation has set a new record in America, with more power generated from those renewables than coal for the first five months of 2023, according to the Energy Information Administration. More...
Life Changing Coffee
Life can change in an instant with a hot cup of coffee filled with unconditional love. That's the gift Roderick Duncan, owner of a in Memphis, Tennessee, gave to 24-year-old Bryan Taylor. Duncan repeatedly found Taylor, a young homeless man, sleeping in one of Duncan's old cars at the back of the gym. After several unsuccessful attempts to try to stop Taylor from sleeping in his car, Duncan decided offering a cup of coffee and a chance to talk might make be a better approach. According to CBS News, that was the beginning of a developing relationship between the two. Duncan continues to offer support and mentorship to Taylor, understanding that, with love and forgiveness, real change is possible.
"Embrace creativity and do not care about the results. It’s better to be a beginner until the end of life than waiting forever to be perfect." Elizabeth Gilbert
On this Day
1 July 1979: Sony began selling its Walkman, a portable cassette player; an international sensation, the device changed the way people listened to music.
Princess Diana’s famous sheep jumper is to be auctioned after being found in an attic more than 40 years after it was last seen. Black sheep...
The country's renewables revolution is truly astonishing. It dwarfs the progress made everywhere else in the world. Jaw dropping...
Mood Booster
Guide dogs are amazing and research shows that right pawed dogs with anti-clockwise hair swirls make the best.