Kick-starting the week with a global round up of positive news nuggets.
First But “Not the Last”
In 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made history when they walked on the moon. Over a half-century later, Victor Glover is on his way to his own historic achievement: being the first person of color to make a lunar journey. A father of four and former fighter pilot, Glover will be leading the manned Artemis II mission, currently scheduled to launch no earlier than September 2025. Although the mission won’t involve a lunar landing, it marks the first time humans will visit the moon in decades and the first time anyone will travel into space aboard the Orion spacecraft.
Barbie Mania Isn’t Over
Barbie-themed products have been in heavy demand since the film's release in July 2023. Taking a cue from its blockbuster brand, Mattel is partnering with Kraft Heinz Co. to create "Barbiecue" sauce. Heinz alluded to the condiment in an Instagram post in August, pairing a bottle of the Barbiecue sauce with Tomato "Kenchup," and asking if the company should "make this dream team a reality." Clearly, the response was positive. Bottles of the sauce, which gets its pink hue from beetroot extract, is now becoming available around the world.
America's Tallest
Officials have given the thumbs up for a new tallest skyscraper in the United States - and it's not headed for New York City or Chicago as you might expect, but to a tornado-prone area with a population of only around 700,000 people: Oklahoma City. The $1.6 billion Legends Tower will reach a symbolic height of 1,907 ft (581m), to commemorate the year Oklahoma became the USA's 46th state. To put that into perspective, it will be a significant 130 ft (39m) taller than the USA's current tallest skyscraper, NYC's One World Trade Center, and will be placed at sixth-tallest in the world rankings.
Indie Record Stores
As more of our lives go digital, there is something reassuring about the revival of vinyl and with it record stores, which are staging a comeback in the UK that once seemed unlikely.
This year’s Record Store Day, which occurred on Saturday, arrives on the back of figures showing there are now 461 indie record sellers in the UK, compared to 339 in 2014. Always so much more than just outlets to buy music, record shops are places where lasting relationships are formed with artists and fellow afficionados. A similar resurgence for indie booksellers is equally heartening.
Michelangelo Doodle
A tiny drawing by the famed Renaissance master Michelangelo has sold for $201,600 at Christie’s. The auction house expected the drawing, which went under the hammer on April 17, to sell for between $6,000 and $8,000. Instead, a surprisingly competitive bidding war resulted in an anonymous buyer purchasing the item for more than 33 times its low estimate. The drawing (1.8 x 2.6 inches) isn’t so much a drawing as it is a scribble: a quick diagram of a block of marble Michelangelo sketched in preparation for one of his many ambitious projects, possibly the Sistine Chapel.
Cinquecento
Visitors to Italy's glorious Amalfi Coast can now hire a hybrid car-boat to cruise the coastline off Positano. The '500 of the Seas' is part Fiat 500 and part boat, and provides a thoroughly original, and appropriately Italian, way of getting around and enjoying the sights. Speaking of which...
Ciao!
Imagine: Your “home office” is a terrace in Tuscany or a museum cafe in Florence. This scene could be your Zoom background (and we’re not talking the virtual variety), thanks to Italy’s recently launched digital nomad visa. As of this month, the Italian government is allowing individuals who meet certain criteria to work in the country for up to a year. Other European countries that offer similar programs include Spain, Portugal, Croatia, and Greece.
Giant Serpent
Another day, another discovery. Paleontologists in India have unearthed fossilized vertebrae from a snake that slithered around the sub-continent about 47 million years ago and may have grown as long as nearly 50 feet. The extinct species is named Vasuki inidicus, after the mythical serpent coiled around the neck of the Hindu god Shiva. “Vasuki is an important piece of an ancient puzzle. It contributes to our understanding of this extinct group, and also to our understanding of large, apex, top-of-the-foodchain snakes in general,” says John Jacisin III, a paleontologist at the University of Texas at Austin. Beyond reptiles, the fossil carries broader clues to India’s climate tens of millions of years ago. “It’s also just a cool snake because it was so big,” he says, comparing its length to longer than that of a yellow school bus.
“When enough people come together, then change will come and we can achieve almost anything. So instead of looking for hope - start creating it.” Greta Thunberg
On This Day
22 April 1970: First celebrated on this day in 1970 in the U.S., Earth Day - founded by American politician and conservationist Gaylord Anton Nelson - helped spark the environmental movement and quickly grew into an international event.
The Internet Archive and its Wayback Machine is probably the largest, coolest, and most under-rated library in the world. Click...
Few call Monday their favourite day, so here's some upbeat quotes about the week's first day to give you a new perspective. Quotes...
Mood Booster
Is the pallas cat the world's grumpiest? They do tend to get rather hangry.