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TGI Friday!

Ensuring the week ends on a sunny note with today's short, upbeat news stories.


White's tree frog sitting on a log
One frog appears to be attempting to join another on a log
Sitting Comfortably

A White’s tree frog has been photographed sitting “leisurely” in an upright position on a log in Indonesia. Yan Hidayat, a wildlife photographer from West Sumatra, captured the image of the amphibian dipping its toes in the water in a remarkably human-like stance. “I was pleasantly surprised when I saw this frog leisurely sitting on the log and just has to take my camera out,” he said. “I love capturing such rare and adorable moments of the wildlife.” The species is also known as the Dumpy Tree Frog and it can change colour based on temperature, mood and time of day.


US Medals Record

The United States claimed their 3,000th Olympic medal when Regan Smith and Katharine Berkoff won silver and bronze in the women's 100m backstroke on Tuesday. According to Reuters, that makes the nation the first to win 3,000 medals in the Summer and Winter Olympics combined - no other country has even half that tally.


Oops!

You may have heard that England's Conservative Party is seeking a new leader to replace Rishi Sunak. One of the hopefuls is Tom Tugendhat. However, he has got off to a rather sticky start as his campaign has had to change its slogan after it spelt out a rather unfortunate word. The original slogan read: “Together we can, Unite the party. Rebuild trust. Defeat Labour” but it was soon pointed out that the first letter of the first word of each sentence read as ‘turd’. It was quietly changed, with the final line being replaced with the words: “Win back the country”.


Kids Online Safety

Efforts to protect children in the digital world are making headway: the US Senate has passed legislation aiming to protect kids online in a 91-3 vote. It marked the first significant congressional move in decades to enforce accountability among tech companies when it comes to young people’s online safety. The Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, would require platforms to exercise “duty of care” to ensure minors get the safest online experience possible.


Condor chick at Los Angeles Zoo
Credit: L.A. Zoo via Instagram
Condor-Minium Success

Possessing a wingspan of up to 9.5 feet, California condors are the largest flying birds in North America. But in 1982, only 22 individuals were left in the world. Flash forward to the present, and the Los Angeles Zoo has just reported the hatching of its 17th chick of the year, thanks to a new breeding technique. The zoo announced the happy news, which breaks its 1997 record of 15 condor chicks in one breeding season. The L.A. Zoo breeds endangered California condors for release into the wild. The breeding birds in L.A. reside in structures the staff calls “condor-miniums,” says zoo spokesperson Carl Myers.


Making The Cut

When Australian hockey player Matt Dawson broke his finger earlier this month, he faced a stark choice: amputation, and 10 days of recovery, or an operation and a wait of two months for it to heal - which would mean missing out on competing at the Paris Olympics. Though his wife asked him not to do anything "rash", Dawson went ahead with the procedure to have the tip of his broken digit removed. "Full marks to Matt," said his coach Colin Batch. "I'm not sure I would have done it," he admitted, "but he's done it, so great."


Bavarian Minister Hubert Aiwanger (left) and MAN executive Dr. Frederik Zohm
Bavarian Minister Hubert Aiwanger (left) and MAN executive Dr. Frederik Zohm demonstrate the megawatt charging system | MAN Truck & Bus
Rapid Truck Charging

MAN Truck & Bus has demonstrated a megawatt charging prototype developed by the Technical University of Munich that pushed out more than 1,000 kilowatts. That translates into providing a 40-tonne eTruck enough charge in 30 minutes for almost 250 miles of hauling. As around 75 percent of freight in Germany is transported by road, with the majority of that hauled by diesel trucks, switching to battery electric trucking would certainly put a helpful dent in the emissions belched out by the industry.

 

“Do all the other things, the ambitious things - travel, get rich, get famous, innovate, lead, fall in love, make and lose fortunes … but as you do, to the extent that you can, err in the direction of kindness.” George Saunders

 
On This Day

American athlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee

2 August 1992: At the Summer Olympics in Barcelona, American athlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee, considered by many to be the greatest female athlete ever, won the heptathlon, becoming the first person to win the event in consecutive Games.

 
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