🌞 The school bags bringing light to children

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Thousands of same-sex couples got married in Thailand this week, after the country’s marriage equality laws took effect.

The Thai King approved the law in September, but it only came into effect on Thursday this week. Thai LGBTQ+ groups were hoping to set a world record for the most same-sex marriages registered in a single day, with more than 1,800 couples officiating their marriages on the day. While there isn’t an official confirmation, LGBTQ+ groups Bangkok Pride and the Rainbow Sky Association of Thailand have told media they submitted a request to be recognised by Guinness World Records as a global record for the largest number of same-sex marriages on a single day.

Some context for you: Thailand is the third Asian jurisdiction to allow same-sex marriages, following Taiwan and Nepal. The country has long been considered a safe haven for LGBTQ+ communities and is home to a thriving drag scene. Thai PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra celebrated the “historic day for Thailand”.

An innovator in Tanzania has created solar-powered backpacks that help children read after dark by using their bags to power a reading light. According to BBC, less than half of homes in Tanzania are connected to electricity, and under a third are in rural areas, which can be a big barrier to children getting an education.

The way it works is that these solar-panel-outfitted school bags charge throughout the day when students walk their way to and from school. During the night, the energy powers a built-in light that lets the children read and write, among other things, long after the sun has set.

This UN-backed innovation can replace kerosene lamps, which can be expensive and emit harmful fumes for many families. The low-cost yet sustainable solution is helping bridge the gap in educational inequality and reminds us of the power of accessible technology in transforming lives!

American Formula One team Haas has appointed the sport’s first female race engineer, Laura Mueller. Previously a performance engineer, Mueller will work with incoming driver Esteban Ocon.

She started with the team in 2022, working in the simulator department. For those not well acquainted with the sport, a race engineer is the main link between a driver and their team. During a Grand Prix, the race engineer communicates with the driver over the radio to assist with strategy and help to solve problems the driver may be facing.

When the driver is not racing, the race engineer works with them and the team to optimise their performance.

On World Engineering Day, Mueller was asked what her advice to the next generation of female engineers was. Her response? “Take no crap”.

This week, the TDA office has been chatting about our no-spend rules - easy ways to cut back on non-essentials and spend more mindfully.

Here are a few we’re sticking to:

Emma: Home-cooked dinners on Sundays and Mondays - no takeaway/eating out to start the week right.

George: Using the office coffee stash instead of buying takeaway during the week.

Lucy: Picking up takeaway instead of using delivery apps to save on extra fees.

Zara: No buying breakfast out. 

What’s your no-spend rule? Reply to this email to let us know!

Start saving smarter with Up - get $20 instantly when you join Up with code TDA20.

If you’ve glanced at the news this week, you will have seen many articles written about the same thing: a rotten-smelling flower. Confused? Same.

Turns out a corpse flower (which is endangered) bloomed in Sydney this week for the first time in 15 years. The flower, named Putricia by Sydney’s Botanic Gardens, was threatening to bloom all week, before finally doing so for just 24 hours.

Thousands of people lined up for a whiff of the flower, which smelled like rotting flesh. It turns out the rotting smell and heat of the flower attract pollinating insects that want to lay eggs in a rotting animal. The Sydney Morning Herald reported 16,000 people visited for a whiff in the last week alone. Putricia also became quite the internet star thanks to a Youtube live stream (must say that live stream got a good workout in the TDA office).

In fairness to our Victorian counterparts, Putricia isn’t the first of her kind, in November last year, a different corpse flower bloomed in Geelong, attracting over 20,000 visitors in one month.