Ballet Dancer Raised by Two Dads Living the Dream

By

-

Oct 18, 2009

Eleven year old James Gibson-Jones, appears destined for some species of ballet greatness, having been snapped up by the National Ballet of Canada this fall after just two years of lessons.

Young James probably would not have joined the National Ballet School this year if his two dads, Thomas Jones and Rob Gibson hadn’t adopted him seven years ago.

He and his biological half-brother Brandon were removed from a home plagued by abuse, addictions and mental-health issues when James was scarcely 18 months old. They had been shuttled to a second set of foster parents when Gibson and Jones came their way.

(Continue reading in the Toronto Star)

Photo credit: Africa’s Dance for All

Power Plant Set to Clean Up its Act

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 17, 2009

The largest air pollution control project in Delaware’s history finally received approval Wednesday, a $500 million plan that could cut smog-forming toxic emissions at the Indian River power plant by 75 percent to 90 percent.

It could also produce up to 500 construction jobs for the Delaware economy.

Continue reading the news article at Delaware Online.

Also read their follow-up Opinion column:
Power plant announcement is good news for state’s health.

Photo credit: U.S. Geological Survey

Canadian Soldiers Adopt Lone Monkey in Kanduhar

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 17, 2009

A little monkey named Lucy has become the apple of the eye of a group of Canadian soldiers working out of Kandahar Airfield.

Lucy is believed to be a rhesus monkey – native to Afghanistan, neighbouring Pakistan and several other countries – and mysteriously appeared back in July as a pet at an Afghan guard station just outside of the main coalition base in southern Afghanistan.

Since then, she has been all but adopted by the Canadian soldiers who stop by the guard station on an almost daily basis.

(Continue reading in Canadian Press)

Thanks to Layne S. for submitting the link!

Hero Equestrians Give Strength to Disabled (Video)

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 17, 2009

A therapeutic riding center, Hearts and Hooves operates with volunteers near Little Rock, Arkansas to allow people with disabilities to experience “the sensation of independent movement, of strength and muscular support, on the back of a horse.” The result is a strong sense of confidence born anew in these kids and adults.

Watch this Hero Central segment from yesterday’s THV-11 newscast…

Visit Hearts and Hooves for more information.

Seven Reasons for Optimism About the Senate Climate Bill

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 17, 2009

Conventional wisdom says that the Kerry-Boxer clean energy bill faces a long uphill slog in the Senate against steep odds. But small changes are building beneath the surface of the news cycle, emerging as seven reasons for cautious optimism.

Key Republican support is already in place, beginning with Sen. Lindsey Graham, who took to the New Y ork Times editorial page offering full-throated support for passing clean energy legislation this year.

(Read the OpEd in Grist)

Monty Python Reunites In NY On 40th Anniversary

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 17, 2009

All five surviving members of Monty Python celebrated their 40th anniversary at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York with the premiere of a new six part documentary ‘Monty Python: The Truth.’ The mini-series is set to air on the IFC channel beginning October 18.

Watch two video reports from Reuters, and AP. (Watch out for ads in the videos…)

Continue

Recession Ends in 79 Metro Areas in the US

By

Jenny Cellander

-

Oct 16, 2009

The recession finally ended in August in one out of every five metro areas in the United States, especially in the Midwest and Great Plains, according to the latest Adversity Index from Moody’s Economy.

This is the first month this year when any metro area has moved from recession into the “recovery” category, indicating that the economy grew from six months earlier.

Check the list for your area…

(Continue reading at MSNBC)

Gene Therapy for Parkinson’s “Encouraging” in Early Trials

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 16, 2009

Oxford BioMedica, a leading gene therapy company, announced yesterday new data from the ongoing Phase I/II trial of ProSavin, its gene therapy for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. All patients treated at the second dose level have completed their six-month assessments and have shown further improvement in motor function — up to 53% improvement in patients’ motor function, with an average uptick of 34%..

(Read the story in AFP)

Classical Music — Behind Bars

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 16, 2009

French conductor Jean-Claude Casadesus is used to playing for classical music fans all over the world. But once a year, he and musicians from the National Orchestra of Lille play to a different kind of audience — inmates in an overcrowded and rundown prison.

(Watch the AFP video on YouTube)

More Good News For The Economy: Factories Boosted Production In Sept.

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 16, 2009

Production went up again at the nation’s factories in September, the Federal Reserve just reported. The 0.7% increase from August was the third straight month that production increased and, Reuters writes, means that output grew at a 5.2% in the third quarter — the largest quarterly rise since first-quarter 2005.

(Read more at NPR)

The Luckiest People in the World

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 15, 2009

Here is an amazing video montage from YouTube that honors the luckiest people in the world. Some of these lucky people avoided cars that should have plowed into them. Others avoided falls that should have taken their lives. Some just had lucky shots in sports.

Watch the inspiring video below:

Schwarzenegger Signs Bill to Crack Down on Paparazzi

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 15, 2009

The Terminator wants to terminate paparazzi. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a new law Sunday that will fine paparazzi for taking photos that invade a celebrity’s right to privacy.

The new amendment raises the penalties when a person commits a trespass “in order to physically invade the privacy” of a celebrity in order to film or record them. It also targets media outlets who purchase the illegal photos.

But it raises first amendment questions.

(Continue reading in CS Monitor)

Baltimore Schools First in U.S. to Adopt Meatless Monday Menu

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 15, 2009

Meatless Monday is a campaign that aims to get Americans to cut out burgers and dogs one day each week as a way of trimming the hefty greenhouse gas emissions produced by the livestock industry — 18% of the world’s total carbon output, according to the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization.

In a big leap forward for the movement, the Baltimore Public School District announced recently it would adopt a Meatless Monday menu for its 80,000 students, saying they wanted to “ensure the kids eat and learn about healthy, environmentally-friendly choices”.

The school system’s actions yesterday earned it the 2009 Award for Visionary Leadership in Local Food Procurement and Food Education from the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future.

(Continue reading, and get meatless recipes, at ABC-7)

Gates Gives $120 million to Help Poor Farmers Boost Output

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 15, 2009

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said it will donate a total of $120 million in a bid to boost agricultural production, marketing and farming expertise in the developing world.

“Melinda and I believe that helping the poorest small-holder farmers grow more crops and get them to market is the world’s single most powerful lever for reducing hunger and poverty,” Gates, the billionaire founder of software giant Microsoft, said in remarks prepared for delivery on Thursday to the World Food Prize annual meeting, and obtained by Reuters.

(Continue reading in Reuters)

Ugandan in America Turns Hotel Soap into Hope

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 14, 2009

He couldn’t get over the fact that so much soap was wasted every day in hotels across wealthy America, so now Derreck Kayongo’s basement in the United States is lined with huge boxes filled with bars of soap that will help fight the spread of child diseases in Africa.

Kayongo has collected five tons of lightly used bars through his Global Soap Project, which melts them down, sterilizes them and reshapes them before sending them to refugees back in his homeland of Uganda. (Continue reading AP story at NPR)

All the local Atlanta hotels are contributing and thrilled with the project.

Watch the interview from Global Atlanta… “I called my dad (who is a soap-maker) and said, ‘Dad, you wouldn’t believe it. They throw away the bars of soap after just one use!”

Tour the Futuristic Solar Homes Competing on the National Mall (Video)

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 14, 2009

20 university teams from around the world have designed and built their ultimate solar dream homes on the National Mall in Washington, DC.

Watch these cool videos showcasing some of the top designs, along with very impressive students:

Team Germany, which won the Solar Decathlon in 2007, is back this year with a solar-panel-covered home that generates enough energy for two houses.

Team Puerto Rico is trying to address the public taboo that solar power is unrealistic. (photo, right: Solar decathlon home, Team Puerto Rico)

Team Alberta from Canada has followed a goal to make a hi-tech house that uses native Canadian materials to give it a cozy, livable feeling.

America.gov produced the videos…

Continue

Medical Miracle for Trapped Skier on Icy Slope

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 13, 2009

An expert skier fresh out of medical school fell submerged into an icy river and became stuck for 80 minutes, with no pulse or respiration. Her accident led to a revelation about treating accidental hypothermia. Doctors did CPR continuously on a helicopter trip to the hospital and her blood was slowly warmed.

(Read the report in CNN)

Mountain rescue, photo by Ketil Singstad; Thanks to Pam Guthrie for submitting the link!

Latest Product by Dyson a Fan Without Blades

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 13, 2009

Sir James Dyson, the inventor who revolutionized the bagless vacuum cleaner, revealed his latest invention: a fan with no blades.

The Dyson fan works very differently to conventional fans. With no blades or grill, it’s completely safe, effortless to clean. It uses Air Multiplier™ technology to draw in air and amplify it 15 times, producing an uninterrupted stream of smooth air that doesn’t cause unpleasant buffeting.

Watch the United Press video below (Ad at the top):

Return of Looted Art Brings Hope to War-Weary Afghanistan

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 13, 2009

Visit a new exhibition in Kabul and see a selection of some 2,000 Afghan artifacts which were illegally smuggled out of the country during three decades of conflict and civil war, treasures altogether weighing 3.5 tons.

No less remarkable than the craftsmanship on display at the National Museum of Afghanistan, is the story of the antiquities’ return after customs officials stopped smugglers trying to take the looted goods through British airports three years ago.

Half belong to the pre-Islamic period before the seventh century. “Each piece is priceless.”

About 70 percent of the museum’s 100,000-piece collection was looted by mujahideen fighters in the 1990s. Exhibits were also damaged by rocket fire or the Taliban, on a rampage to destroy “un-Islamic” artifacts.
(Continue reading AFP story from Drexel University)

National Museum of Afghanistan, head of a Buddha

The Youngest Headmaster in the World Teaches Hundreds of Poor Children

By

Emma Guild

-

Oct 13, 2009

Around the world millions of children are not getting a proper education because their families are too poor to afford to send them to school. In India, one schoolboy is trying to change that.

A BBC reporter travels to meet Babar Ali, whose remarkable education project is transforming the lives of hundreds of poor children.

800 students travel in the late afternoon to Babar’s home and study beneath lean-to structures.

Click to read or watch the BBC report. (Watch also the two other videos about Babar that follow the main story.) Photo from BBC video

Good News Network

Star Clusters in Van Gogh’s Starry Night Matches Taurus Sky From July 1889, Shows Study

Minnesota Youth Jumps Onto Runaway School Bus and Saves 18 Kids After Driver has Seizure

New U.S. National Park Preserves ‘Land of Standing-Up Rocks’ and its Apache Culture in Arizona

Your Positive Weekly Horoscope: ‘Free Will Astrology’ by Rob Brezsny

All Your Nutrition in a Daily Drink That Also Feeds Hungry Kids

GNN Paperback Book: “And Now, The Good News”

Holistic Patches Relieve Anxiety, Cramps, or Nausea – Without Drugs

The Heartwarming Feel-Good Book We All Need

This N95 Scarf Filters the Air Around You

Native Americans Were Making Dice and Gaming Thousands of Years Before Anyone Else

Why You Feel Rejected When Someone Doesn’t Text You Back: Your Brain is Trying to Protect You

The Science of How Your Brain Forms Habits (and How to Take Control)

How To Love Yourself: 5 Ways to Let Go of the River Bank and Go With the Flow

Ballet Dancer Raised by Two Dads Living the Dream

Power Plant Set to Clean Up its Act

Canadian Soldiers Adopt Lone Monkey in Kanduhar

Hero Equestrians Give Strength to Disabled (Video)

Seven Reasons for Optimism About the Senate Climate Bill

Monty Python Reunites In NY On 40th Anniversary

Recession Ends in 79 Metro Areas in the US

Gene Therapy for Parkinson’s “Encouraging” in Early Trials

Classical Music — Behind Bars

More Good News For The Economy: Factories Boosted Production In Sept.

The Luckiest People in the World

Schwarzenegger Signs Bill to Crack Down on Paparazzi

Baltimore Schools First in U.S. to Adopt Meatless Monday Menu

Gates Gives $120 million to Help Poor Farmers Boost Output

Ugandan in America Turns Hotel Soap into Hope

Tour the Futuristic Solar Homes Competing on the National Mall (Video)

Medical Miracle for Trapped Skier on Icy Slope

Latest Product by Dyson a Fan Without Blades

Return of Looted Art Brings Hope to War-Weary Afghanistan

The Youngest Headmaster in the World Teaches Hundreds of Poor Children