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Mid-week collection of upbeat news stories from around the world.
Remember This Photo?
The captivating shot of Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina, taken by photographer Jérôme Brouillet, went hugely viral during the Paris Olympics for the way in which it seems to suspend space and time. We’re bringing it back around because it was recently named the overall winner of the World Sports Photography Awards. Click the link to see the other winning shots across 24 sports categories.
Reality Show
As a delightful antidote to the craziness, there's a “reality show” that you may like to tune into that revolves around a couple of northern royal albatrosses, a graceful New Zealand seabird with a wingspan of over 10 feet. It's now in its 10th season. The 24-hour livestream from NZ's Department of Conservation follows the breeding season at Taiaroa Head, the Southern Hemisphere’s only mainland colony of albatrosses - birds that usually mate for life and live to be around 40. This year, the chosen couple is a 12-year-old male and a 14-year-old female. The couple has previously raised two chicks. The Royal Cam (which you can livestream here) has fostered a community of bird watchers from around the globe who describe it as “a real soothing place.”
Wikipedia Launches
Once upon a time, if you wanted a quick answer to a question, your best bet was to grab the nearest encyclopedia and start hunting through its pages. But, on 15 January 2001, looking things up became immeasurably easier. Wikipedia launched on the heels of the failed Nupedia, a website intended to provide users with expert-written entries. When the process of editing those entries proved painstakingly slow, Nupedia’s creators switched gears and created Wikipedia, which allows anyone to write and edit articles. By the end of its first year, the free online encyclopedia had 20,000 pieces; today, it boasts 6.9 million, making it all too easy to get lost in a rabbit hole of (perhaps unnecessary) information. In the almost quarter century since Wikipedia was launched it has now become the world's fourth most visited website with around 6.7 billion monthly visitors.
Big Box of Chocolates
Some celebrities collect art or rare film prints. Tom Hanks, somewhat famously, collects something that’s simultaneously more practical and unwieldy: typewriters. And you can currently get a look at some of the Hanks typewriters at The Church, an exhibition venue in Long Island’s Sag Harbor. The show - aptly titled Some of Tom's Typewriters - includes 35 from his collection of over 300, chosen by Hanks himself, but the mini-exhibition is designed by the renowned creative director Simon Doonan. “For me, it’s a visual thing. It’s like a big box of chocolates,” Doonan says, evoking a famous Hanks character. “Every one is so laden with design language that you just get completely obsessed with the era.”
Mint Condition
1,000-year-old coin hoard has been found at a nuclear power plant site in Suffolk, England - and has astonished researchers. The “historically significant” coins were discovered at the intersection of two early medieval field boundary ditches. According to Oxford Cotswold Archaeology, they appear to have been deliberately hidden. Unearthed within a small lead bundle, the coins were found in a remarkably well-preserved state. The coins were likely placed in a purse or similar object and then further protected by a lead sheeting wrapping. Since the coins date back to 1036-1044, archaeologists believe the owner buried them for safekeeping after Edward the Confessor’s coronation in 1042 due to political instability.
Birdify
Bird baths not only provide a safe haven for our feathered friends to cool off and hydrate, but they also offer birdwatchers a unique chance to observe and appreciate their beauty up close. The solar powered Birdfy Bath Pro takes this to a whole new level with its smart features. While they enjoy the bath, the device’s waterproof dual-lens camera captures stunning photos and videos, which are conveniently sent straight to your phone - or notifies you to take a look out of your window. But what really sets it apart is its impressive AI recognition feature, which can identify over 6,000 bird species. It’s currently available for $328.
"The best thing to hold onto in life is each other." Audrey Hepburn
On This Day
15 January 2009: US Airways flight 1549, piloted by Captain Chesley (“Sully”) Sullenberger III, landed in the Hudson River after the plane flew into a flock of Canada geese shortly after takeoff, resulting in severe damage to the plane's engines; there were no fatalities.
Today's Articles
Mood Boosting Video
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