Thursday's smorgasbord of tasty bite-sized chunks of uplifting news.
In good news for fans of gritty Westerns, Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars, starring Clint Eastwood, is set for a remake, says The Hollywood Reporter. The classic film, directed by Leone in 1964, created the “spaghetti Western” and was itself a remake of Akira Korosawa’s 1961 film Yojimbo. Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars, about a drifting and detached gunfighter who plays two rival families against each other in a town torn apart by greed, pride and revenge, made Eastwood a star. A Fistful of Dollars was also the first of a trilogy that included For a Few Dollars More and The Good the Bad and the Ugly, films about the “man with no name” that starred Eastwood.
A Fistful of Dollars: Enjoy this live performance of Ennio Morricone's classic theme tune by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra.
Grand Parental Care
Fifty years ago, Sweden became the first country in the world to offer paid parental leave to mothers and fathers. Now, the Nordic nation is trailblazing another unparalleled policy: allowing grandparents to get paid for taking care of their grandchildren. Under the new legislation, parents can transfer a portion of their paid parental leave to other caretakers for the first year of their child’s life. Single parents can transfer 90 days of paid leave to others and two-parent households can transfer 45 days.
Original Olympics
Running is the oldest Olympic event. The very first Games, in 776 B.C.E., consisted of a single contest: the stadion, a one-lap sprint just over a tenth of a mile long. However, for the 2024 Olympics...
Paris PR Stunt
Yesterday, the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, took a dip in the long-polluted Seine River to show that Paris' river is clean and safe. The city has spent €1.4 billion trying to allay those fears, despite the fact that it has been illegal to swim in Paris' iconic river for more than a century due to the dirtiness of the water. With less than two weeks to go until the Paris Olympics and events scheduled to take place in the river, a question hangs over the Games: Will the Seine River be clean enough for athletes to swim in? The short answer is yes - provided it doesn't rain too much immediately before or during the Games.
Giant Pumpkin
Visitors to London’s Kensington Gardens this summer may find themselves face to face with a giant pumpkin. No, it’s not part of a farmer’s market or an early Halloween stunt. The humongous gourd is a sculpture created by 95 year old Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama and sent to London “with love”. Titled simply Pumpkin, the bronze sculpture stands at 19.5 feet tall and has a diameter of 18 feet. It’s painted yellow and covered with black polka dots in Kusama’s signature style.
Singapore's Aussie Sun
Approval has been granted for a massive 12,000 hectare (46 sq. mile) solar farm in northern Australia that will help power Singapore via a 2671 mile undersea cable, which will be the world’s longest. The AAPowerLink will be a large-scale solar farm, energy storage, and transmission system that will provide renewable electricity to the Australia's Northern Territory and export it to Singapore, commencing electricity supply in the early 2030s.
UK to Harness Power of Sahara Solar: A project to power Britain using solar farms thousands of miles away in the Sahara is moving closer to fruition.
America's First
San Francisco has a range of public transit options but, starting this week, the America’s first hydrogen-fuelled commercial passenger ferry will also be in the mix, carrying up to 75 passengers. “It’s all electric drive,” says Joe Pratt, CEO of Zero Emission Industries. “What that means is you don’t have the engine noise. You don’t have the vibration. It’s kind of like a really big sailboat that’s just cruising silently through the bay.” Pratt, whose company designed the boat, added that its sole byproduct is water vapour: “It’s the only vessel in the world where you can actually drink the exhaust.”
“Everything you have experienced has been purposeful. It has brought you to where you are now. You have a collection of experiences to use as stepping stones to take you where you want to go.” Iyanla Vanzant
On This Day
18 July 1976: For her performance in the uneven parallel bars at the Olympic Games in Montreal, Nadia Comăneci of Romania became the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event.
Today's Articles
Planning a Trip? For most people, feeling safe in the destination they're visiting is vital when selecting where to go. The Global Peace Index has the answers.
Avocado Health Benefits: Here are seven good reasons why you need more of this delicious creamy fruit in your diet.
Etymology of Sycophant: Today, it means 'a person who acts obsequiously towards someone important in order to gain advantage.' But that's not its original meaning.
Mood Boosting Video
Independence Day: Remarkable pyro drones created for The Fourth of July.