Taking a look at recent, positive, uplifting, news stories and yarns, from New Zealand and all around the world, to bring a smile and a bit of cheer.

Cake picnics take off

This is a really great story about connection, community, a wonderful idea, and people bringing and eating cakes to share with each other. It would be a fantastic thing to see here, in New Zealand, as well.

“It’s the viral event that’s already sold out dates in San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles. Tickets in Dubai, London and Mexico City were harder to come by than a double-yolk egg. And now it’s landed on Australian shores, with a Melbourne event earlier this month boasting 1,600 cakes in one sitting.

“‘I had no idea that I could ever go on tour for cake,” laughs Cake Picnic founder Elisa Sunga, part-time hobby baker and full-time Google employee. The concept is simple. Two years ago, Sunga – who moved to San Francisco aged 12 from her hometown of Baguio City in the Philippines – posted an online invitation for a small gathering with one request: everyone must bring a cake. The 35-year-old figured maybe a dozen or so people might turn up and brought seven cakes to make sure everyone would get a taste. To her amazement, close to 200 people came with more than 180 cakes devoured.” (Source: “Frosting, sprinkles and layers of fun: Giant cake picnic hits Sydney,” by Lana Lam, March 29, www.bbc.com).

Those who went to the event in Sydney were humbled by the turnout and the array of cakes on offer and overjoyed with the experience of sharing something wonderful with strangers, with many pointing out it was an affirming thing to do with so many negative things happening in the world right now.

5 stars – how amazing to see an original idea register with so many people, in so many countries! Total upside!

Musketeer’s grave possibly discovered

As a child I was a big fan of the swashbuckling tales of Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers. I read the book and I watched all of the various films. The stories had it all, heroism, villainy, humour, pathos, and above all – incredible sword fights. Until this week I believed it was a wonderfully crafted fiction. Not only did I get that wrong, but archaeologists in the Netherlands believe they may have found the grave of the story’s leading light – D’Artagnan, an actual historical figure.

“The skeleton was found buried in a tomb in front of the altar at the St. Peter and Paul Church in the southern Dutch town of Maastricht, alongside a musket bullet and a small bronze coin minted in 1660, local independent archaeologist Wim Dijkman said. This physical evidence matches historical records that report that D’Artagnan, whose full name was Charles de Batz de Castelmore, died after being shot in the throat by a musket ball during the French siege of Maastricht in 1673.

“Dijkman, the former Maastricht city archaeologist, told CNN that he had been petitioning church officials to let him carry out excavations at the property since meeting French historian Odile Bordaz, a specialist in D’Artagnan, some 25 years ago.

“‘I’m very confident,’ said Dijkman, who is nonetheless awaiting the results of tests to evaluate DNA matches between the skeleton and two people who claim to be descendants of D’Artagnan, as well as a strontium isotope analysis that will reveal the region in which the person to whom the remains belong was born.” (Source: “Archaeologist may have uncovered the remains of D’Artagnan, the famed French musketeer,” by Jack Guy, March 27, www.edition.cnn.com).

5 stars – it’s always great to find out something new and surprising and if you look, you’ll find it more than you expect.

Whales pitch in to support birth

A few years ago scientists filming a sperm whale giving birth stumbled on something incredible – other female whales working together to support the newborn calf and the mother.

“A team from Project Ceti, an international effort seeking to understand how whales communicate, was in a boat near a pod of 11 whales off the coast of the Caribbean island of Dominica on 8 July 2023. A 19-year-old female named Rounder was surrounded by family members and others as she was about to give birth to her second calf.

“Over nearly five and a half hours, the scientists documented the group’s behaviour, watching them from the boat, filming them with drones and recording the sounds underneath the waves. The data they collected, which was published on Thursday in the journals Scientific Reports and Science, represents an exceptional rarity in the history of science.

“‘Immediately after the birth, the pod’s behaviour ‘rapidly changed’ as every member became active, according to the study in Scientific Reports. All the adults were ‘squeezing the newborn’s body between theirs, touching it with their heads’, the researchers wrote. The whales pointed their noses towards the newborn, ‘pushing it around, under the water, and on to and across their bodies above the surface.'” (Source: “Scientists film whale giving birth while other whales work together to help her,” march 27, www.guardian.co.uk).

5 stars – animals are amazing. Full stop!