Mid-week round up of positive news nuggets to brighten the day.
The Sun Returns
A Canadian town celebrates the return of the sun after 30 nights. The Inuvik Sunrise Festival in the Northwest Territories marks the return of the sun after more than 30 days of "polar nights and no official sunrise". This 3 day party on the permafrost is a must do for those looking for an authentic adventure 200km North of the Arctic Circle! A polar night, when the night lasts for more than 24 hours, is caused because Earth rotates on a titled axis, meaning there are periods where the Arctic Circle and the Antarctic Circle are either completely exposed or obscured from the sun. Inuvik also sees 56 days of 24 hour daylight in the summer.
Inexhaustible Energy
Whilst the world waits (and waits) for unlimited clean energy from nuclear fusion, Iceland is embarking on an unprecedented quest to tap into volcanic energy sources miles underground, and it could kickstart a global transformation for geothermal power. Scientists aim to drill directly into the Krafla volcano’s magma chamber by 2026 and unlock its renewable thermal reserves for clean electricity generation. If proven successful and replicable elsewhere, making direct contact with superheated molten rock could open up an inexhaustible source of sustainable energy. Meanwhile...
UK Green Progress
The UK's use of gas and coal for electricity hit its lowest point since 1957, with a 20 percent decline in electricity generated by gas and coal power plants in 2023. Fossil fuels contributed about one-third of the electricity supplies, while renewables reached a record 42 percent.
First Ever
In case you missed the significance, it's good to know that Lily Gladstone - who won Best Actress at the Golden Globes - has become the first Indigenous person in history to receive the award. She began her acceptance remarks by speaking in the Blackfeet language. “Hello, all my relations,” said Gladstone, according to a translation by a tribal outreach specialist at the University of Montana. “My name is Eagle Woman. I am Blackfeet. I love you.” A recent report from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, which took an inventory of 1,600 top films from the past 16 years, shows that less than a quarter of 1 percent of all speaking characters were Native American - and a quarter of those parts were played by non-Native actors.
iPhone Clicks
One of the big things that set the original iPhone apart from the competition was its onscreen virtual keyboard. That said, Blackberry-style physical keyboards still have some big advantages – and Clicks brings such a keyboard to existing iPhones. Clicks is a silicone QWERTY-keyboard-equipped phone case which houses the user's iPhone, thus forming a single unit. It reportedly has little effect on the phone's overall battery life, plus that battery can be charged with the case in place.
The Rise of CDs
CDs shine as UK music sales in 2023 jump to near record figure, says The Guardian. Sales of the old-fashioned format rose 2 percent (the first increase in two decades) as the value of all formats - including streaming, vinyl, CDs and downloads - rose 9.6 percent in 2023 to reach £2.2bn ($2.8bn), just 0.08 percent short of the record 22 years earlier, according to the Digital Entertainment and Retail Association. CDs are "battling with vinyl" as the format favoured by "trendy students and middle-aged music fans."
"It costs a lot of money to look this cheap." Dolly Parton
On This Day
10 January 1984: U.S. and the Vatican established diplomatic relations after a 117-year break.
Apple has announced its long-awaited Vision Pro headset will go on sale - its first major new product since the Apple Watch launched in 2015. Mixed reality...
A descendant of the Hermès luxury goods empire to adopt his gardener so he can bequeath him half of his $13bn fortune. Wow!
Mood Booster
Relax by watching animals and birds enjoying a feast of nuts in the snowy Norwegian countryside.