Today's Featured Good News
New Orleans at the ready to help Haiti rebuild
(Bill Sasser, Christian Science Monitor) Marie Jose Poux is a hospice nurse in New Orleans, but she was born in Haiti. Ms. Poux was in Port-au-Prince on Jan. 12 when the earthquake struck, and she spent the next two weeks lending what help she could to the ravaged city. "My soul is not here [in New Orleans]. It remains doing what I was doing in Haiti," says Poux, who runs a charity, Hope for Haitian Children, from her home in New Orleans' Treme neighborhood. "I saw south Florida after it was hit by hurricane Andrew, and New Orleans after Katrina, and New York after 9/11. And this is like all three of those times 100." Haiti's cataclysmic earthquake has struck home in New Orleans, which itself is still recovering from the 2005 hurricane and flood. For a time, the city's survival was in doubt, but with much aid, it's come a long way. Now, many New Orleanians want to put their knowledge and experience to use in Haiti, helping others in dire need.
Advertisement
Today's Top Good News Stories
Seeing How Far $100, and a Bit of Creative Generosity, Can Go
(Susan Dominus, New York Times) Andrew Marantz paid strangers to walk through Bryant Park holding hands and sharing secrets. Joshua Krafchin walked up and down a B train begging people -- to take his money. Amy Coenen placed 20 $5 bills, each inscribed with quotes on the theme of giving, in places around the city — the straw container at a Starbucks, the floor of an apartment building lobby — where they might be found and inspire generosity. And Helen Coster slipped the whole $100 into a thank-you card and asked a friend to hand it to the clerk at Duane Reade who regularly cheers her up.
Dutch Musician Traveling Europe By Generosity
(PSFK.com) Tjerk Ridder recently embarked on a tour of Europe. He left his home in Utrecht on January 3rd with a packed caraven trailer, his dachshund, and guitar. Instead of hoping in his car and towing the trailer hundreds of miles to reach his destinations, Tjerk is relying on the generosity of volunteers to give him a tow and help him along his way.
$100,000 and one wish
British chef Jamie Oliver is the 2010 TED Prize winner. What will his wish be?
Advertisement
Exonerated man, accuser forge rare bond
(Stephanie Chen, CNN) For 16 years, Loretta Zilinger loathed Dean Cage for what she believed he did to her when she was 15 years old. Dressed in her immaculate Catholic school uniform, she was on her way to class in October 1994. She heard footsteps coming up behind her. By then, it was too late. A tall man attacked her, hauled her into an empty building and threatened to kill her. She kept her eyes open as he performed sex acts on her. She used her hands to touch his face; her fingers traced his nose, his eyes and his lips. She wanted to remember him.
China dinosaur footprints found in Zhucheng
(BBC News) Scientists in China say they have discovered more than 3,000 dinosaur footprints, all facing the same way. The footprints - thought to belong to at least six dinosaur types - were found in eastern Shandong province, state news agency Xinhua reports. Experts believe the prints are more than 100 million years old and say they could represent a migration or a panicked attempt to escape predators.
'Late Show' producer on Leno-Letterman Super Bowl spot
(Lynette Rice, EW.com) EW talked to The Late Show executive producer Rob Burnett about David Letterman’s surprising decision to include Jay Leno in a promotional spot during the Super Bowl.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Why did you decide to do this?
ROB
BURNETT: Well, the 10 seconds we did with Dave and Oprah for the Super Bowl in 2007 went pretty well and CBS came back and said we got 10 seconds again for this one. Nothing is more simultaneously exhilarating and fear-inducing than hearing you have 10 seconds in the Super Bowl.
Blue Whales Croon A New Tune
(NPR) Blue whales are updating their playlist, according to new research on the huge mammals. It's not quite West Side Story, but male blue whales use songs to warn away other males and attract females. It's a pulsing sound, more like a large piece of machinery than the Jets and the Sharks. But that song has been changing. John Hildebrand of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography studies whale sounds and says he's been hearing something new lately. "They've been shifting the frequency. They've been shifting the pitch to be lower each year. And that shift in pitch has resulted in song that is now about 30 percent lower than it was in the 1960s," he says. He says the change is happening in blue whale colonies all over the world.
By Stimulating Stem Cells, Bioactive Nanogel Regenerates Cartilage in Joints
(Clay Dillow, PopSci.com) The body is a resilient biological structure, but there's one thing medical science, an increasing number of Baby Boomers, and the majority of professional athletes will all tell you: Take care of your joints, because once you burn up the cartilage you started with, you're not getting any more. But a breakthrough by Northwestern University scientists will now allow adult joints to naturally grow new cartilage for the very first time. Unlike bone, muscle and other tissues in the body, cartilage that is damaged or worn away over time does not regenerate itself. The cartilage you have when you reach adulthood has to last you for life.
Massages to help cancer charity
(Lincoln Tan, New Zealand Herald) At a point where he had nearly given up all hope of living, a mystery Kiwi's bone marrow donation saved James Roiauri's life. Now leukaemia survivor Mr Roiauri, a Wellington-born Cook Island Maori massage student, wants to share the love he has experienced by giving massages and is hoping to raise $10,000 for charity. "Throughout my cancer ordeal, it was the regular massages I got from my family that kept my spirits up," Mr Roiauri said."I thought about what I could personally do to share the love and support that I have experienced, and thought a charity massage event is the best way I could do that, and at the same time raise money to help my cancer friends."
Promoting peace through acts of kindness and love
(Sarah Bultema, Loveland Reporter-Herld) During a holiday season when hearts are worn on sleeves and street signs around Loveland, a local nonprofit took the opportunity to encourage others to continue sharing this message of love all year long. On Sunday, Peace in the Park, a nonprofit aimed at promoting harmony and justice, hosted a jewelry sale at the Loveland Public Library to raise money for its annual festival held each September.
In Utah, company aims to store energy in air
(Paul Foy, AP) A Utah company plans to dig a series of underground caverns that it hopes to one day fill with compressed air, releasing it to generate electricity by turning a turbine and solving one of the most vexing problems facing the clean-energy industry - how to store power. Under a barren patch of Utah desert, a private-equity group is bankrolling the project to hollow out a series of energy-storage vaults from a massive salt deposit a mile underground. It promises to make a perfect repository for storing energy and, in effect, creating a giant subterranean battery. Energy storage is catching on as a way to make wind and solar power more useful.
How ShelterBox Helps Haiti Earthquake Victims
(As Told to William Lee Adams , Time.com) In 1999 I watched a disaster unfold on the evening news. As aid workers threw loaves of bread on the ground and people scrambled after them, I asked my wife, "Why can't they hand the bread to those people? They've lost everything. Why should they lose their self-respect too?" It was as if someone hit me over the head with a cricket bat. I got out a piece of paper and wrote down what I would need after a natural disaster: shelter, warmth, comfort, dignity.
Hickory golfers go back to the future
(Sam Sheringham, CNN) It may run contrary to the conventional image of a sport obsessed with the latest technological improvement but, from Stockholm to Shanghai, players are turning back the clock to take part in the latest craze -- hickory golf. The game, which involves using 19th century wooden-shafted clubs, has proved a hit as national championships in the United States, Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Sweden and Finland have blossomed. Companies too have been attracted to the format as a way of motivating staff. "Golfers love a challenge," says Gavin Bottrell, who runs hickory golf days in Britain.