Upbeat News Thursday
- Editor OGN Daily
- 3 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Today's global collection of positive news stories to help put a spring in your step.
UK to USA
A Tudor manor house in England with links to the first president of the United States is helping to mark the 250th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence. George Washington's great-grandfather left Sulgrave Manor, Northamptonshire, the family's ancestral home, to settle in the colony of Virginia in the 1600s. Soil from the grounds of Sulgrave Manor has now been placed in a time capsule that will be installed beneath one of America's most iconic landmarks. It will be buried this Spring in the plaza beneath the Washington Monument in the US capital, the world's tallest stone structure. So in one sense, Washington will stand on British soil for the first time.
Divine Right
An angel in a church in central Rome has been restored to look like Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a national newspaper has reported. The allegation has prompted a culture ministry investigation. Ms Meloni, meanwhile, is laughing off the affair. Even posting a photo of the lookalike cherub on Instagram, with the caption “No, I definitely don't look like an angel”, with a laughing emoji. The culture ministry said that it had instructed Rome's chief art heritage official to conduct an immediate inspection of the restored painting, ahead of determining further steps.
Birthday Today?
There happens to be a birthday today at OGN Towers and we have enjoyed watching this video of a dancing orangutan celebrating his.
Famous Female Artist
A long-lost painting by Sofonisba Anguissola - one of the few famous women artists of the Renaissance - has resurfaced in New York City at an art fair held at the Park Avenue Armory. It is the first time her Portrait of a Canon Regular, painted in 1552, has been shown in public. Anguissola “worked with deeper study and greater grace than any woman of our times at problems of design,” wrote the 16th-century Renaissance artist and biographer Giorgio Vasari. “For not only has she learned to draw, paint and copy from nature, and reproduce most skillfully works by other artists, but she has on her own painted some most rare and beautiful paintings.” The painting was presented with a price tag of $450,000 and, according to the gallery, the canvas is one of fewer than 20 signed paintings by Anguissola that survive today.
Uniquely Venomous
The Bronx Zoo in New York has welcomed one of the most adorable animals you could imagine into the world: a pygmy slow loris - Nycticebus pygmaeus. This is good news for the survival of these tiny creatures which grow to around 7 to 9 inches and weigh around one pound when they reach adulthood, and live for 10 to 20 years. The pygmy slow loris is native to Southeast Asia and is listed as Endangered, and apart from looking cute and cuddly, come with one unique and surprising feature: they are “the only known venomous primate” and “produce a toxic secretion from their brachial gland that becomes venomous when mixed with their saliva.” In addition to being venomous, it is also a nocturnal primate.
Mini Nuclear
The UK government has confirmed the launch of an “advanced nuclear pipeline” that would help get privately funded power plants - such as smaller modular reactors - off the ground, reports the Daily Telegraph. It quotes nuclear minister Lord Vallance as saying: “Advanced nuclear technology could revolutionise how we power industry and propel the AI data centre boom - delivering more clean energy and jobs.”
'Not Much of a Surprise'
Last weekend, a Kentucky farming family welcomed a new calf into a frigid world of single digit temperatures, and quickly realized it wasn’t going to last the night. So being a mother as well as a farmer, Macey Sorrell decided to bring the calf into their home where she was certain it would be okay. Falling asleep on the couch next to one of her children, Sorrell snapped a photo. “When we brought her in, she had ice on her. The afterbirth was still on her, I had to wipe all that off,” Sorrell said. “I took out the blow dryer and warmed her up, and got her all fluffed out.” It was somehow not much of a surprise that their son, 3-year-old Gregory, who went to cuddle with the calf who had been placed on the couch - as if it were “just the most normal thing.”
"Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves." Abraham Lincoln
On This Day
5 February 1852: Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg opens to the public with Catherine the Great's collection of 4,000 paintings forming its core collection, housed in a new building designed for this purpose.
Today's Articles
Swatch Watches: The Swiss company that pioneered the low-cost wrist watch has a new arty collection that reimagines famous masterpieces.
Foods for a Healthy Gut: Prof. Tim Spector, the epidemiologist celebrated for his work on diet and the microbiome, advises on the best eight foods for a healthy gut.
Smile: A random collection of wise but amusing quotations. Some are bound to bring a smile to your face.
Mood Boosting Video
Great Catches: Seven catches by tennis ball boys (and one by a ball girl). Most involve Roger Federer.