Tuesday was the 3,000th day, or “Sol,” during which NASA’s Curiosity Rover has been trundling about on the surface of the Red Planet.
The images the rover has beamed back have colored in the dreams of thousands of Star Wars, Star Trek, and John Carter fans, and our understanding of what the closest, potentially habitable planet looks like has grown with each photo.
Making landfall on Aug 6, 2012, Curiosity proceeded to begin its six-year ascent up the side of Mount Sharp, a three-mile high mountain.
Still climbing after all this time, it stopped on Nov 18, 2020 to use the mast camera and take a series of 122 images over the mission’s 2,946th sol. Stitched together, they form a wide-angle shot of Gale Crater, a 96-mile-wide bowl which Mount Sharp sits within.
NASA
A press release from NASA describes the geology of the Mount Sharp panorama: “the curved rock terraces that define the area can form when there are harder and softer layers of rock on a slope. As the softer layers erode, the harder layers form small cliffs, leaving behind the benchlike formations”.
“Our science team is excited to figure out how they formed and what they mean for the ancient environment within Gale,” said Curiosity’s builder and managing scientist, Ashwin Vasavada of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
It’s just one of many discoveries the Curiosity Rover has made, and will continue to make as it rambles about, millions of miles away from home.
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover spotted this dust devil with one of its Navigation Cameras around 11:35 a.m. local Mars time on August 9, 2020.
To celebrate its three-thousandth day on Earth, here is a photographic journey of the rover’s six-year climb up the side of Mount Sharp, all the while encountering giant sand dunes, fascinating geology, captivating rock formations, dust storms, and more.
2015: A view from the “Kimberley” formation on Mars, taken on the 580th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.
2015: This composite image looks toward the higher regions of Mount Sharp.
2016: The dark band in the lower portion of this Martian scene is part of the “Bagnold Dunes” dune field lining the northwestern edge of Mount Sharp, inside Gale Crater.
2016: Butte ‘M9a’ in ‘Murray Buttes’.
2016: This animated image blinks two versions of a selfie of the Curiosity Mars rover at a drilled sample site called “Okoruso.”
2017: This dark mound, called “Ireson Hill,” rises about 16 feet (5 meters) above redder layered outcrop material of the Murray formation on lower Mount Sharp.
2018: This mosaic taken by the rover looks uphill at Mount Sharp, which Curiosity has been climbing. Spanning the center of the image is an area with clay-bearing rocks that scientists are eager to explore.
2018: Telephoto vista from Vera Rubin Ridge in Gale Crater.
2019: 360-degree panorama of a location called “Teal Ridge.”
2019: The rover imaged these drifting clouds on the 2,405th Martian day, or sol, of the mission, using its black-and-white Navigation Cameras
2020: Stitched together from 28 images, this view shows part of a geologic feature called “Greenheugh Pediment.”
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Rendering of planned redevelopment of the Champs-Élysées, PCA-Stream
Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo has agreed to a nearly $300 million restoration project for the tired-looking Champs-Élysées, the famous boulevard at the heart of the City of Light.
Rendering of planned redevelopment of the Champs-Élysées, PCA-Stream
The green light comes more than a year after architects, community leaders, and businesses unveiled plans to turn the 1.2-mile stretch of road into an “extraordinary garden.”
To achieve this garden, the plan is to reduce space for parking by half, convert roads into pedestrian spaces, plant tunnels of trees alongside the old elms planted in days long gone, which struggle to survive in the polluted air, and generally create more green spaces.
“The legendary avenue has lost its splendor during the last 30 years,” said a statement from the Champs-Élysées committee in 2019. “The Champs-Élysées has more and more visitors and big-name businesses battle to be on it, but to French people it’s looking worn out.”
The Champs-Élysées is a place where Parisians have long celebrated: when the Nazis were thrown out, when Les Bleu won the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and for the annual Bastille Day Parade.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, 100,000 pedestrians, more than half of whom were tourists, enjoyed a bit of promenading here, all the while, more cars were passing along the boulevard day than on the Paris ring road.
Architect Philippe Chiambaretta, whose firm is handling the makeover, described the issues to The Guardian as characteristic of all problems facing modern Paris: “pollution, the place of the car, tourism, and consumerism.” He went on to explain that the Champs-Élysées needed to be redeveloped into something “ecological, desirable, and inclusive.”
Parisian Makeover
Rendering of planned redevelopment of the Champs-Élysées, PCA-Stream
Historians at the PCA-Stream architecture firm of Chiambaretta harken back to a time when the Champs-Élysées was, though hard to believe, a swamp and outdoor cooking area. Then, during the mid-1700s, the Champs-Élysées became the archetypical European promenade.
“The Champs-Élysées has accommodated people from all walks of life as well as all kinds of activities, both plebeian and highbrow,” explains the article. “Its history is punctuated with the installation of café-concerts, puppet shows, balls—which witnessed the birth of the French cancan—, ball and stick game fields, and so on.”
Today, as well as typifying problems facing the average Parisian, it typifies the problems of mass tourism, namely that the sense of locality vanishes, and the place begins to be “loved to death.”
While the makeover will not be complete before the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, an attempt to beautify and rethink another famous spot, the Place de la Concorde at the southeast end of the Champs-Élysées, is slated to be completed before then.
Another part of the city will also get a bit of love—Eiffel’s famous tower, which Hidalgo promises to turn into an “extraordinary park at the heart of Paris.” The Champs-Élysées won’t cast away its polluting traffic until closer to 2030.
(WATCH the video of how the future Champs-Élysées could look below.)
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This is the moment a bubble froze into a perfect sphere during a recent sunrise, creating a natural snow globe.
SWNS
The soapy orb turned into a pristine snow globe at the same time as a fisherman strode out over frozen waters.
Carol Bauer tiptoed about two feet out onto Big Stone Lake, Minnesota where the ice was about four inches thick, to get the shot.
The air temperature was around (8.6°F) -13°C and the wind low, so the conditions were perfect for bubbles to freeze over.
Carol blew air through a straw into a glass filled with water, liquid soap, and corn syrup to create the bubble, and perfectly captured the formation of ice crystals on its surface, turning it into a homemade snow globe.
A fisherman walks behind the bubble, stepping out further onto the thin ice with a trailer filled with fishing gear.
SWNS
Carol said the moment had a special meaning to her because her Dad recently passed away. “He had cabin on this lake for 25 years and fished in it many times.
“My mind was on him that morning and then this fisherman comes along. He happened to be a fishing friend of my Dad’s whom I had not met before. He reminded me so much of my father. It kind of made my day.”
(WATCH the video of the ice bubble freezing in real-time below.)
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A U.S. Capitol Police officer is being hailed as a hero for cleverly steering a mob away from the Senate chambers during last week’s riots.
Igor Bobik/HuffPost
Footage shows Officer Eugene Goodman all alone and just a few steps ahead of rioters. They’re waving Confederate flags and shouting at him as they chase him up a flight of stairs inside the Capitol building.
Goodman can be seen covertly looking at the entrance to the Senate, just a few feet away, then he lures the intimidating rioters in the opposite direction, risking his life.
At one crucial moment, he notices the leader glancing toward the Chamber, and Goodman distracts him by shoving his shoulder, then backing away in the opposite direction—and the crowd follows him.
This moment in @igorbobic stunning footage. In front of the officer, coming up the stairs, is a mass of rioters. The USCP officer glances to his left. Between those two chairs is the entrance to the senate floor. He lured them to his right, away from their targets. pic.twitter.com/knjQQ4GZ0d
In the dramatic video from HuffPost’s Igor Bobic, which you can watch here on Twitter, Goodman faces the crowd from just inches away, yelling for them to stay back.
Just one minute later, authorities managed to seal off the chamber, protecting all those inside, while the lone officer leads them up more stairs to a landing where he is finally supported by more police officers.
Goodman, a veteran of the U.S Army who served in Iraq, is being praised for his bravery and decisive action during the harrowing situation.
“I don’t think there was any type of training that would prepare you for that situation,” New York Law School criminal law professor Kirk Burkhalter told the BBC.
Since Wednesday, Members of Congress have been calling for Goodman to be recognized with the Congressional Medal of Honor for his work.
U.S Representative Bill Pascrell, Jr. tweeted on Sunday: “… this brave USCP officer kept murderous rioters away from the Senate chamber and saved the lives of those inside. God bless him for his courage.”
Senator Bob Casey shared that sentiment, writing, “Last Wednesday, I was inside the Senate chamber when Officer Eugene Goodman led an angry mob away from it at great personal risk. His quick thinking and decisive action that day likely saved lives, and we owe him a debt of gratitude.”
After Reuben Schoots contracted a series of wasting tropical illnesses while on an eight-month backpacking trip through Latin America, he found himself with nothing but time on his hands.
The 27-year-old Canberra man dropped 35 pounds from his formerly lean, athletic frame and was so weak he could barely make it out of bed. In pretty much constant pain, Schoots became addicted to opiates. He lost his barista job and eventually, stopped pursuing his course of study in nutrition at university.
Schoots conceded that life as he’d known it was over. Even though he knew he’d have to chart a different course, the depression he was mired in had left him rudderless—until the day something small piqued his attention and led to an epiphany that would change his life.
A friend who’d come to visit was wearing a mechanical glass-backed watch; its movement visible. Schoots was fascinated by the synchronicity of all the tiny parts working together that made it run.
Although watchmaking had never been a pursuit, he realized not only was it something he could attempt during his recovery, it was something that truly appealed to him.
“I really wanted to be doing something with my hands, making,” Schoots told ABC Canberra, “but I didn’t realize that’s what I wanted to do until I actually became sick and everything that I was doing or had was stripped away.”
Besides being “time-consuming,” the 200-something-year art of watchmaking (horology) is tremendously precise. Schoots dove headlong into the study, apprenticing himself to the techniques of posthumous master watchmaker George Daniels, a man famed for his stunning, handmade creations.
Schoots says he’s aware of only two other watchmakers besides himself who have completed a timepiece made to Daniels’ specifications. It’s a process of trial and error; of making and remaking; a process that in many ways, mirrors Schoots’ remaking of his entire life.
He’s also come to understand how his own experience might serve as a positive example to those struggling with pandemic-related loneliness and adversity.
“I think that a lot of people are feeling very negative and don’t like this isolation, or this time to yourself. Change hurts,” he said. “But they undervalue—or underestimate the value of—downtime and I think people are scared to be with themselves. Evolution comes out of downtime.”
2,500 hours into his project, Schoots is just two pieces shy of completing his first 100-percent handmade watch. The work isn’t physically taxing, but it requires focus and concentration.
While Schoots often has to rest, he appreciates the steady course this new version of his life is taking because, with patience and perseverance, he’s got every reason to believe time will be on his side.
Featured images: @reubenschoots/Instagram
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Quote of the Day: “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia.
Photo by: Hermes Rivera
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Staff at a Miami juice bar just got the shock of their lives when a customer left a $2,021 tip for the new year.
The generous customer ordered $71.84 of goods. The gratuity she left on Friday? Well, that equated to a 2,814% tip.
When staff received the regular’s bill, they thought the tip must really mean to say ‘$20.21’.
Miami Squeeze owner Kelly Amar told CNN that her employees went up to the customer to confirm. “I’m so grateful for you guys,” the regular explained, “and I want to give back … I want to start the new year out right and give this to you guys.”
All 25 of the cafe’s staff members will split the tip equally between them.
Amar has been extra grateful for the tip because, when the pandemic hit, the cafe, which has been a North Miami Beach fixture for three decades, had to let many of its employees go. It was a difficult time.
If a cancer diagnosis is a patient’s worst nightmare, not being able to afford life-saving treatment runs it a close second. So when one oncologist recently forgave all his patients’ outstanding debts, you might say he took bedside manner to a whole new level.
Dr. Omar Atiq
Dr. Omar Atiq founded the Arkansas Cancer Clinic in 1991. Over the years, countless patients received everything from diagnostics to radiation and chemotherapy at the Pine Bluff facility.
In February of 2020, the clinic closed due to staffing shortages. At the time, there was close to $650,000 outstanding patient debt on the books.
Dr. Atik attributed the large sum to the fact that no patient was ever denied treatment, regardless of whether or not they could pay. “Not for lack of health insurance or funds nor for any other reason,” he told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “I’ve always considered it a high honor and privilege to be someone’s physician—more important than anything else.”
Originally from Pakistan, after completing his fellowship at New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Dr. Atiq accepted a job offer in Arkansas. He says that fateful relocation proved to be a “life-changing” decision.
In 2013, Dr. Atik was named president of the Arkansas Medical Society. Five years later, he became chairman-elect of the board of governors of the American College of Physicians. He credits much of his success to being in the right place at the right time. “I believe the opportunities that have come my way are, in part, because of where I am,” he explained.
Dr. Omar Atiq with his family, Omar Atiq
After the clinic closed last year, Dr. Atik attempted to settle the debts. He soon realized that many of the folks he’d treated didn’t have the means to pay—especially with so much added financial hardship brought on by the coronavirus pandemic—so with the blessing of his wife, Mehreen, he simply elected to stop asking.
“…My wife and I, as a family, we thought about it and looked at forgiving all the debt… We saw that we could do it and then just went ahead and did it,” Dr. Atik told Good Morning America.
Christmas week, Dr. Atik sent out holiday cards to nearly 200 of his former patients that read:
“The Arkansas Cancer Clinic was proud to have you as a patient. Although various health insurances pay most of the bills for the majority of patients, even the deductibles and co-pays can be burdensome. The clinic has decided to forego all balances owed to the clinic by its patients.”
Even though he’s no longer treating his patients, Dr. Atik found one final way to practice some kindness and compassion on their behalf. “I just hope that it gave them a little sigh of relief and made it easier for them so they could face other challenges they may be facing in their lives.”
Two men were out on a winter’s fishing day when they happened on a frantic baby deer that was trapped on a frozen lake. From there, a daring ice rescue began.
Bransen Jackson and his friend saw the fawn trying and failing to stand on the slippery surface of Utah’s Panguitch Lake.
Jackson said to his pal, “Dude, that’s a deer!’ We gotta go save it of course.”
The pair told 2KUTV News that they began carefully making their way over the thin ice. At one point, Jackson’s friend’s boot went through a crack. That was a shock to the nerves, but they decided they couldn’t just let the young mule deer sit there.
When they finally reached the fawn, Jackson told 2KUTV, “I picked it up and it was super calm, super docile, like it kind of understood OK these guys are going to try and help me.”
Then the ice began to come apart under the weight of the trio. They hurried for the shore, the deer in Jackson’s arms. While the little fawn had trouble standing and walking on the rocky ground initially, what happened next is beautiful.
While homo sapiens sheltered in place, 2020 also saw explorers diving out into the wilds of the world, finding astonishing new species never before seen by science.
Some slither, others skitter. There are monkeys, snakes, spiders, frogs, plants, and even the longest animal ever recorded.
They were found all across the continents; from Madagascar to Bolivia, from India to Namibia, from Iran to Australia, and from North Carolina, to Heathrow Airport.
There are plenty of reasons to feel like 2020 deserves to be remembered with a shutter, but the colors and characters of these newcomers to scientific textbooks will give you something nice to remember the year by.
Reptiles
A pit viper named after a Harry Potter character, and a girl with kaleidoscope scales.
Trimeresurus salazar, copyright Zeeshan A. Mirza, National Centre for Biological Sciences
In recent years, the Himalayan-lying North Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh has been home to many newly discovered creatures. Most recently is a new pit viper called Trimeresurus salazar, which Harry Potter fans would notice immediately means: Salazar’s pit viper.
The snake was named after the fictional founder of the Hogwarts House of Slytherin, the crest of which is an emerald green snake. The pit viper certainly looks the part, though the males of this nocturnal species have a unique reddish-orange stripe down the side of their heads.
Meanwhile, in Ha Giang province in Vietnam, an underground specialist was discovered that glows iridescently in the sunlight. Achalinus zugorum is presumed to spend most of its life underground thanks to a lack of bright-light photoreceptors in its eyes, making it incredibly difficult to find.
Its scales glow like the spectrum of Australian opals, and it’s thought to be older than most snakes, exciting herpetologists that it might shed light on earlier stages of snake evolution.
Primates
A brute of a mouse, and a critically endangered langur
Pop langur, copyright Thaung Win
In Myanmar, four populations of Trachypithecus popa were discovered. The Popa langur species is thought to contain only 260 individuals, qualifying it as critically endangered. Yet as sad as that is, a problem known is a solvable one, and these animals’ long wispy grey fur and charismatic face will have no problem generating conservation interest.
Discoveries in the primate order are not common, and while habitat loss is concerning, charismatic species like the Popa langur can often be used effectively to protect habitat for other species that are also endangered.
In Madagascar, the Darwinian playground of evolution produced a species of mouse lemur that had eluded us until 2020. Microcebus jonahi, or Jonah’s mouse lemur, is bigger than others in its family. Averaging the size of a human fist, smaller mouse lemurs can even be as small as the palm of a hand.
Sporting reddish-brown fur with a white stripe down its nose, Jonah’s mouse lemur is thought to live only in the dry lowland forests of Northeast Madagascar’s Mananara Nord National Park.
Plants and fungi
Heathrow airport fungus and desert-dwelling African… broccoli?
In the southern deserts of Namibia, Tiganophyton karasense, an evergreen shrub in the same order as broccoli, Brussel sprouts, and kale—brassicales, was found to be unique enough to be its own family Tiganophytaceae.
It thrives where other plants die, in salt pans, under 96°F heat, and fewer than 1,000 individuals are known to exist.
Meanwhile, in a much colder climate, six new mushrooms were identified, one of which was designated as Cortinarius heatherae, after Heathrow Airport where it was discovered next to a nearby river beyond the confines of the runways.
Three others were found in Scotland, all belonging to the family Cortinarius, which facilitates the growth and health of pines and oaks in the forest. They are webcap toadstools, meaning the underside of their caps look like fish gills.
Arachnids
Equal parts terrifying and fascinating, the Joaquin Phoenix spider and a very, very large scorpion.
Loureedia phoenixi, copyright Niloofar Sheikh / Zamani et. al 2020
While many vacationers won’t want to hear that a scorpion four-inches long was discovered in the most-visited protected area in Sri Lanka, a scorpion four-inches long was discovered in the most-visited protected area in Sri Lanka.
Fortunately, as the old adage goes, Heterometrus yaleensis, or the Yala giant scorpion, named after Yala National Park, doesn’t pack much of a sting—the big ones almost never do.
In Iran, a genus named after Lou Reed—the velvet spiders have a new member—this one named after Joaquin Phoenix’s portrayal of Batman’s famous nemesis in the 2019 production.
Combining the celebrities into Loureedia phoenixi, it has a frightening red splotch on its thorax, and white banded black legs. It’s the first of its species to be found outside of the Mediterranean, and while it seems scary, it only measures eight millimeters long, and displays rather charming behavior such as communal nest building and carrying for other spiders’ young.
The Ocean
How could we miss the longest animal on Earth and a species of whale?
Coiled siphonophore, Schmidt Ocean Institute
100 miles north of Mexico’s San Benito Islands, a research team believes they may have found a new species of beaked whale. Originally thinking it was Perrin’s beaked whale (Mesoplodon perrini), a species that, while never being seen alive, was known and presumed endangered, the researchers changed their tune after closer observations.
In 2020, what is believed to be the largest, and certainly longest, animal ever recorded was found in the abyssal deep-sea canyons near Ningaloo. 30 new species were also first described by the dive which found a 150 foot-long (47 meter) giant siphonophore of the genus apolemia.
The world is a strange place, filled with strange animals, and for children who think there isn’t anything left to discover, a new monkey and the longest animal on Earth were discovered last year. Who knows what else is out there?
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Attempting to tackle the immensely small, and intolerably ignored problem of chopstick waste, a BC resident created a startup that recycles used chopsticks into bespoke furniture and other useful items like tablet stands.
In 2016, Felix Böck, a doctoral student in the faculty of forestry at the University of British Columbia, estimated that 100,000 pairs of chopsticks were being sent to landfills every day in Vancouver alone.
Armed with a mindset of German engineering and Canadian sustainability, Böck not only created a flourishing business, but a new model of production for a circular economy.
The furniture and other items he creates like shelves, cutting boards, coasters, and hexagonal decorative blocks often contain thousands of chopsticks per item, a good thing, since billions of chopsticks are used across the Western Hemisphere every year.
Chopstick evolution
Chopsticks were recorded by Classical Chinese historians to be known about and used before the Shang Dynasty, which would place them 5,000 years in the past. Historian Q. Edward Wang claims in his book Chopsticks that the tool was Neolithic in origin, and perhaps was used also for stirring food in pots.
An article from Treehugger bizarrely suggests that it was the semi-mythical Xia Dynasty founder Da Yu who used two twigs when, in his haste to reach a particular place, he needed to bypass the boiling water of his food and eat immediately.
In a similar epiphanic moment, one news report suggests that Böck and his girlfriend came up with the idea while eating at one of the many Vancouver sushi restaurants.
Upon contemplation of the scope of chopstick waste, (80 billion are thrown out in China each year alone) and a little nudge from his girlfriend, he began convincing restaurant owners to set up recycling bins exclusively for chopsticks.
Once collected, they are coated in resin and pressed into blocks. Hundreds of restaurants across North America pay a small sum to Böck for the recycling of their used chopsticks.
Böck hopes to scale up his business model by spreading factories for recycling local wood like chopsticks worldwide without relying on distribution chains, something he calls the Microfactory, and which he has set up in 10 countries.
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Quote of the Day: “Never underestimate the power you have to take your life in a new direction.” – Germany Kent
Photo by: Bahman Adlou
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The world’s oldest zoo has welcomed three new arrivals: emperor tamarin monkey triplets who already sport little moustaches despite being just the size of a thimble.
SWNS
The emperor tamarin is a species famous for its impressive white moustache, and allegedly got its name owing to its resemblance to the last German Emperor, Wilhelm II.
Despite not yet being six weeks old, and their tiny bodies measuring just five centimeters long, these three newcomers are already showing signs of their own trademark facial hair growing in.
The tamarins were born at Vienna Zoo, in Austria’s capital city, on December 1, and are the first offspring of their parents, Tamaya and Purple.
Zookeepers have not yet been able to determine whether the newborns are females or males. But they are already keeping new dad Purple on his toes.
SWNS
Stephan Hering-Hagenbeck, director of the 270-year-old zoo, explained: “Most of the time the father carries the kittens on his back. If the little ones get hungry, the mother than takes over to feed.”
SWNS
Stephan said that with each passing day, the tiny monkeys are becoming bolder and are already making their first climbing attempts, with the support of their clawed fingers and toes.
The new monkey family is still waiting for animal godparents. If you want to support the currently closed zoo, you can become a sponsor for 80 euros ($97) per month.
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Some dreams seem nearly impossible: Like becoming a chef in a top Parisian restaurant when you’re a rodent, or staging a brand-new Broadway musical during an ongoing pandemic when theaters worldwide are dark—or finding a way to combine both and raise more than one million dollars to benefit charity.
But that’s just what happened when the curtain rose on ‘Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical’ in the first weeks of 2021.
Adhering to the adage that “good things come in small packages”—including rats with visions of glory—the show’s origins are pretty humble.
Back in August of 2020, 26-year-old schoolteacher Emily Jacobsen, a devoted Disney fan/theater junkie and avowed ‘Ratatouille’ aficionado learned a themed attraction based on Remy and his crew was scheduled to open at Walt Disney World in Florida in the coming year.
Inspired, Jacobson came up with “a love ballad” to her favorite diminutive hero:
“Remy, the ratatouille
The rat of all my dreams
I praise you, my ratatouille
May the world remember your name.”
Jacobson posted her ditty to TikTok and tagged some friends—one of whom happened to be music whiz Daniel Mertzlufft, who added orchestration, instruments, and vocals to the tune via computer. Instead of an ending, the Disney-worthy finale Mertzlufft created was the spark that set the internet on fire and launched a thousand videos that would eventually become ‘Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical’.
Mertzlufft debuted his video in October. Soon after, other enthusiastic TikTokers began putting up their own contributions to the virtual show. What started as a snowball became an avalanche.
Even Disney was caught up in the momentum. “We love when our fans engage with our stories,” the studio said in a statement reported by The New York Times, “and we look forward to seeing these super fans experience the attraction when it opens at Walt Disney World next year.”
As the viral trajectory of the crowd-sourced musical with 200,000 followers and counting continued to trend, something even more extraordinary happened.
While the organization’s mission has always been to provide performers with a financial safety net, with so many show business professionals sidelined by the COVID-19 crisis, the need is more crucial than ever now.
Mertzlufft, who was tapped for the role of musical director says the whirlwind production was pulled together in less than a month’s time.
“I had my first meeting December 4 with the folks at Seaview,” he told The New York Times. “They gave me a call and said, ‘Hey, we have this crazy idea. Disney has given us the allowance to do a benefit for the Actors Fund of ‘Ratatouille.’ The only catch? They wanted it to debut on New Year’s Day. “I took a deep breath and said, ‘Yeah, that’s possible.’”
Starring Tituss Burgess as Remy, and co-starring Wayne Brady, Adam Lambert, Kevin Chamberlin, Andrew Barth Feldman, Priscilla Lopez, Ashley Parks, André De Shields, Owen Tabaka, and Mary Testa, since its January 1 premiere, ‘Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical’ has raised more than $1 million for the Actors Fund.
The ‘Ratatousical’s’ original 72-hour run was so successful, a second performance was added on January 10. While the show has been a financial boon to performers, its importance has a much broader reach.
“It’s just so important to be supporting artists right now, I think, both in terms of the actual raising money (and in) bringing hope that new work still can be created and that there’s a space for innovation,” the show’s director, Lucy Moss, told CNN. “Maybe, you know, this kind of work wouldn’t have happened if we weren’t all stuck at home.”
If the moral of ‘Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical’ is anything, it’s that we can refuse to take no for an answer. We can choose to embrace the impossible. We can become the force that creates something new. We can choose to see our vision through and give it everything we’ve got because a dream that comes true against all odds is all the sweeter.
Across the world, advancement in plywood technology is giving way to a slew of wooden skyscrapers aptly called ‘plyscrapers’.
Mjøstårnet tower in Norway: Woodify AS/Vjus AS
These innovative towers are beginning to top 200 feet, with one ambitious project in Norway reaching 280 feet, while also creating less carbon emissions, and requiring less time to build.
The secret to these plyscrapers’ survival and success comes down to a new way to create plywood, and it involves laminating boards of wood together with glue at 90-degree angles before pressing them together under the immense pressure and steam of industrial wood presses.
“This technology has changed the whole face of timber as a construction material,” said Roma Agrawal, the structural engineer who built The Shard in central London, to The Economic Times. “It’s a huge leap forward in terms of strength [paired with] massive advances” [in fire safety.]
The result, known as cross-laminated timber, or CLT, is part of a group of materials called mass timber, and thanks to changes in building regulations and a greater eye towards sustainability, they are now being used in ever-larger construction projects.
Buildings like the Terrace House in Vancouver (19 story), the HoHo in Vienna (24 story), the Ascent in Milwaukee (25 story), and the Mjøstårnet in Norway—the tallest wooden tower in the world, wouldn’t be possible without CLT and mass-timber technology.
However, while the thought of cutting down enough trees to replicate a famous skyline seems ridiculously climate-negative, considering the loss of carbon sequestration, the reality is that there are stages in the life of a tree when they become carbon emitters, rather than carbon trappers.
Carbon capturing construction
Trees don’t always store carbon, and they don’t always suck up more carbon than they emit. Natural storms can uproot trees, exposing their precious carbon-sequestering roots to decay.
Death by fire, disease, age, damage, or any other way causes a tree to lose a lot of its sequestered carbon, and produce more still from the fungi that break it down through the process of decomposition.
But when a tree reaches a certain age, it will have indeed sucked up a lot of carbon. By turning that tree into mass timber, the carbon cannot escape through natural processes, effectively making timber towers timber prisons, with carbon dioxide as the inmates.
“Trees store carbon, so if you harvest them at the right age when they can’t absorb much more or grow much further, then it’s a better solution to use them as a building material,” says Voll Architecture’s Øystein Elgsaas, part of the team that built the Mjøstårnet tower in Norway.
In a video call with CNN, Elgsaas expands on the idea by adding that: “It prolongs the trees’ lifespans (by preventing their decomposition) by maybe 100 or 200 years, if done correctly.”
The International Building Codes, used by many countries as a base for their own local building regulations, have just recently allowed for the creation of wooden buildings to reach 18 stories.
While 18-story wooden buildings haven’t existed in modern times, it remains to be seen if planned towers such as Sumitomo Forestry’s W350—a timber tower stretching 1,189 feet in the air, or London’s Oakwood Timber Tower, slightly shorter at just under 1,000 feet, will ever be made based on current building regulations.
But new research on fire-resistance, strength, and other aspects that would have politicians and regulators raising eyebrows at CLT and mass-timber construction, as well as a flood of market support and falling prices for mass timber, paints a picture of a culture of timber tower construction that’s preparing to catch fire in architecture firms around the globe.
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A bicycle commuter has invented a simple, portable device that instantly turns your old sweat-and-tears-commuter-bike into a fast electric bike.
Clip
Perfect for San Francisco or Los Angeles cyclists who are faced with thigh-punishing hills on their way to and from work, Clip was named as one of the 100 Best Inventions of 2020 by Time Magazine.
Clip’s small profile, seven-pound device attaches to your front wheel and around the forks. Its small controller is secured to your handlebars, and has enough power to add 15 miles per hour of speed to your pedaling, enough to propel you up most hills no problem.
According to Adele Peters writing for Fast Company, Clip was mad by product designer Somnath Ray when he realized that people who may want to reduce their carbon footprint by pedaling to work could be dissuaded from doing so by hill climbs that arrive them at work pouring with sweat.
Small enough to fit into a backpack, the onboard 450-watt motor is powered by batteries that can be recharged in a wall socket, and provides about 10-15 miles of range.
“We wanted to have a solution where people could attach it to the bike really easily, and then basically detach it when they arrive to work,” Ray said, according to Fast Company.
E-bikes are undoubtedly cool, and even though their sales more than doubled during the pandemic, their costs are much higher than even high-end model bicycles, making them not only barriers to entry, but lucrative targets for bike thieves.
Clip isn’t alone in its class. There are other e-bike conversion kits on the market, such as the Copenhagen Wheel. However, these are often expensive (the latter costing $1,700) and heavy or permanent in their application.
Clip is available for preorder at just $399, and since you can carry it with you, it practically eliminates any unreasonable chance that your bike will be nicked.
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Caribou graze on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, with the Brooks Range as a backdrop. (USFWS)
In a stunning setback to the waning Trump Administration’s long-stated goal of energy independence, a recent auction for oil drilling leases in the Alaskan Arctic attracted no major oil companies.
Caribou graze on coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (USFWS)
After literally generations of debate, when the federal government put a 5% slice of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge up for lease, the long anticipated flood of oil interest simply didn’t show up.
In fact, of the 22 parcels of land, totaling 1.1 million acres, the government of Alaska was the sole bidder and ended up winning leases on 9 of the 12 parcels that received bids. Merely two were acquired by private companies, and the others that received no interest were withdrawn from this round of auctions.
The region is known as the coastal plain, and federal estimates say a transformational supply of oil wealth — about 11.8 billion barrels — lie underneath the area that provides rich habitat for seabirds, polar bears, caribou, and other animals.
Even though the leases were expected to draw $1.8 billion in revenue over ten years, enough to “offset tax cuts”, concern over a lack of interest led the state development company, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA), to authorize $20 million in emergency spending to pick up some of the leases.
Those that went unsold will be offered again during the next lease period, while those that were picked up are available for 10 years. AIDEA says it will look for private companies that are interested in the leases it does hold.
An historic day, an historic flop
Whether the astonishing absence of interest was due to a lack of infrastructure or roads around the coastal plain, the decline of fossil fuel investments (and use) during the pandemic, or the perception that every inch of the Arctic would be legally fought over by indigenous tribes and environmental activists, what was supposed to be a historic day ended with crickets and question marks.
“Today’s sale reflects the brutal economic realities the oil and gas industry continues to face after the unprecedented events of 2020, coupled with ongoing regulatory uncertainty,” said Alaska Oil and Gas Association CEO Kara Moriarty in a statement.
Either quite ignorant of the failings, or confident of future attempts to lease and develop the land, Alaska Senators Lisa Murkowski and Don Young, and U.S. Rep. Dan Sullivan, all described it as “a monumental/historic day for all Alaskans.”
Opponents see the failure in a different light, one that is more shameful than historic. Adam Kolton, executive director of Alaska Wilderness League, described it as an “epic failure” and “a huge embarrassment.”
“Essentially, the Trump administration had a party, hoped the oil industry would show up—and it didn’t,” Kolton said, according to AP. “[It’s] a death knell for anybody who’s arguing that this is going to be an oil, jobs, and revenue bonanza. I mean, they’ve just been unmasked.”
Indigenous groups were sad to see the leases offered, however the concerns they raised during the public comment period did result in 460,000 acres, or 10 leasable tracts, being withdrawn due to wildlife concerns, involving caribou and polar bears.
After all the fuss, it may even come to pass that the Arctic is not explored for oil at all, since the leases are not finalized, and still pending a 2-week anti-trust review from the Department of Justice, which Trump hopes to expedite during his last days in office, according to Alaska Public Radio.
The future lease sales mandated under Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which may occur under a Biden Administration, could attract even less interest, since the president-elect has stated he is entirely against Arctic drilling, and may try and repeal or interfere with any drilling leases or work in the ANWR—actions which take years to complete.
Quote of the Day: “You can’t go back and make a new start, but you can start right now and make a brand new ending.” – James R. Sherman
Photo by: jens kuu, CC license
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Technology has been a saving grace for small business owners who have had to adjust to working from home and the lack of customers shopping in brick and mortar stores.
According to a new poll, thirty-one percent of small business owners said embracing new technology helped their business during COVID-19.
The survey of 1,000 small business owners revealed that for 25% of respondents, the pandemic accelerated the adoption of digital tools for their business.
While the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on small businesses are far-reaching, results revealed that owners are cautiously optimistic, likely due in part to their adaptive spirit.
The survey found that after they’re able to resume business as usual, the average respondent believes the adverse effects of COVID-19 will be negligible within a year.
While 57% of respondents said COVID-19 had a “somewhat” or “very” negative impact on their small business, 7% reported a positive impact and 36% reported the pandemic had no impact on their business.
Commissioned by Melio and conducted by OnePoll, the survey revealed that many respondents were able to evolve during the pandemic by rethinking the way they operate their businesses.
Some respondents said they managed to successfully enable their employees to work from home (23%), digitized the way they get paid by customers (23%) and the way they pay vendors (19%).
In addition to that, 19% of respondents increased their online advertising/marketing efforts and 17% revamped their business’ website to keep their business on the up and up during the pandemic.
Specifically, 21% increased their digital presence through social media, while 22% started selling products online.
“As a wine director of a restaurant, this time has been great time to explore new systems and new ways to generate revenue,” said sommelier Rania Zayyat.
Not surprisingly, younger small business owners were more likely to have made many of these changes to keep their company afloat.
Of those aged 26–41, 56% of respondents found ways to enable employees to work from home, while just 17% of those over 57 did the same.
In the same vein, 39% of respondents aged 26–41 digitized the way they get paid by customers, compared to 12% of the older owners.
“If there’s one lesson to be learned from the survey, it’s that many small businesses have faith in their ability to ride out the storm,” said a spokesperson from Melio. “But that’s only true if they’ll learn to think on their feet, and are willing to explore out-of-the-box solutions and the adoption of new technologies.”
WHAT HAVE RESPONDENTS DONE IN ORDER TO KEEP THEIR BUSINESS AFLOAT?
1. Found ways to enable employees to work from home 23%
2. Digitized the way they get paid by customers 23%
3. Started selling products online 22%
4. Increased their digital presence on social media 21%
5. Digitized the way they pay vendors, etc. 19%
6. Increased their advertising/marketing efforts 19%
7. Revamped the website for their business 17%
8. Offered new, digital products 14%
9. Offered gift cards or discounts in the future 13%
10. Started drop-off/curbside services 12%
A kind-hearted plumber has spent $77,000 during the pandemic helping thousands of vulnerable families fix their heating and plumbing for free.
James Anderson – SWNS
In 2017, James Anderson was called to a home for a second opinion and caught a heating company who’d attempted to con an elderly and disabled man out of £5,500.
Disgusted and disheartened by this, he founded Depher (Disabled and Elderly Plumbing and Heating Emergency Response) and has since helped more than 10,000 families.
The 53 year-old pledged to help disabled and elderly people with their plumbing and heating “whatever the cost”.
But he has since branched out during the pandemic to provide food parcels, PPE, and even paying bills for people.
A father of six children, Anderson says he’s spent £57,000 during the pandemic alone—but added it was “worth every penny” if it kept people alive and warm.
“If you’ve got disabilities, issues, sometimes these things can become too difficult to overcome and we want to make sure they’re taken care of,” said the tradesman from Burnley, Lancashire.
“We’ve all got a social responsibility to each other – we need to be there for each other.”
James currently works with plumbers based in Lancashire, Manchester, Leeds, Nottingham, and parts of Scotland, and hopes to eventually cover the whole of the UK— and has a GoFundMe page to accept donations. He says “The reaction from people has been so humbling and emotional for me.”
A happy customer – SWNS
Between Christmas Day and New Year alone he and a local team of three volunteers, three apprentices, and four engineers took on 93 jobs for free.
