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Scientists Hail New Antibiotic That Can Kill Drug-Resistant Bacteria

By
Andy Corbley
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VRSA (Staphylococcus Aureus), a kind of medically-resistant infection, under a microscope
VRSA (Staphylococcus Aureus), a kind of medically-resistant infection, under a microscope

An entirely new kind of antibiotic has been found to be 100% successful in animal trials in eliminating one of three antibiotic-resistant infections believed to pose the greatest risk to human health.

Known as Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, or CRAB for short, it is classified as a priority 1 pathogen by the WHO, a significant cause of damaging infections in patients, particularly those on ventilators, and resistant to several antibiotics.

Designed by Roche Pharma Research in Basel, Switzerland, the new antibiotic is called Zosurabalpin, and it was able to defeat strains of CRAB-induced pneumonia and sepsis in mouse models.

Many resistant bacterial species come from a family known as Gram-negative bacteria, which boast a defensive shell made of a toxic substance called lipopolysaccharide.

The Guardian reports that no new drug has been developed to combat Gram-negative bacteria in 50 years. In one of the preliminary studies for efficacy, a team from Harvard found that Zosurabalpin prevented the bacteria from transporting the LPS to its exterior shell, rendering it vulnerable to all kinds of attacks.

MORE NEWS ON THIS TOPIC: Life-Saving Breakthrough for Antibiotics Uses Shapeshifting Chemistry that Won 2022 Nobel Prize

“LPS allows bacteria to live in harsh environments, and it also allows them to evade attack by our immune system,” Dr. Michael Lobritz, the global head of infectious diseases at Roche Pharma, told the Guardian.

“This is the first time we’ve found anything that operates in this way, so it is unique in its chemical makeup and mechanism of action.”

Stopping CRAB is not the end of the medical crisis of antibiotic-resistant infections, but some of those involved in Zosurabalpin’s development believe it opens something of a door to experimenting with similar mechanisms against antibiotic-resistant E. coli or Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the latter of which has been shown to be vulnerable to similar drugs.

CHECK OUT: When Antibiotics Failed, She Found a Natural Enemy of Superbug Bacteria to Save Husband’s Life

Roche Pharma is tempering expectations as efficacy in animal trials doesn’t equate to human efficacy. A Zosurabalpin trial is already underway in humans.

SHARE This Promising Development Amid A Goal Medical Emergency…

Rather Than Taking Jobs in Tech, 2 Young Software Engineers Use Talents to Crush Poaching in India

By
Andy Corbley
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Indian elephant bull in musth in Bandipur National Park - credit Yathin S Krishnappa CC 3.0.
Indian elephant bull in musth in Bandipur National Park – credit Yathin S Krishnappa CC 3.0.

Rather than taking their software and programming degrees into the tech sector, two young Kerala men are using them to bring India’s efforts to track, prevent, and punish wildlife crime into the 21st century with a suite of sophisticated apps and tools.

They believe they are the first to bring this level of digitization into wildlife conservation, allowing courts to rapidly process wildlife crime cases, rangers to track and analyze patterns of criminal activity in forests, and much more.

Paper records, written by hand, recorded by memory, are the kind of data that so many ranger teams and criminal prosecutors of wildlife crime have to rely on around the world in the course of their noble work, and India is no exception.

“I realized how there is a gap in the market. There is almost zero technology to track any kind of wildlife crime in India,” said Allen Shaji, co-founder of Leopard Tech Labs. “Working with the Wildlife Trust of India and with their support, our company was able to make HAWK or ‘Hostile Activity Watch Kernel’ with the forest department of Kerala,” he says.

Along with his college buddy and fellow cofounder Sobin Matthew, Leopard Tech Labs developed four unique programs now in use by the Kerala Forest Department, called Cyber HAWK, SARPA (Snake Awareness, Rescue and Protection App), Jumbo Radar, and WildWatch.

“HAWK is an offense management system that includes case handling, court case monitoring, communication management, and wildlife death monitoring,” Allen told The Better India, explaining that before this, all casework was recorded on papers. Now, HAWK can quickly summarize vast amounts of data into various kinds of digital documents, like a Google spreadsheet, PDF, Microsoft Excel, etc.

HAWK can surf the data inputs in seconds, enabling real-time answers to be generated while court or parliament is in session, whether that’s a spreadsheet on the year-over-year rate of elephant deaths, or a police report from the scene of a wildlife crime arrest or trafficking bust.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Indian Man Quits Tech Job and Becomes Environmentalist–And Turns Infamous Dump into Green Oasis

HAWK is not only used by the authorities, but contains big datasets provided by the IUCN, the world’s largest wildlife conservation organization.

Sobin Mathew and Allen Shaji of Leopard Tech Labs – credit Leopard Tech Labs, released to The Better India

In addition to HAWK, Jumbo Radar allows the forest departments of India to track elephants in real-time in case they should depart a nature reserve, while WildWatch uses machine learning to predict future incidents of human-wildlife conflict before they happen.

In particular, it uses seasonal movements of animals, past records of violence against wildlife, and data on crops including the amount of land cropped, the proximity to nature reserves, and when in the year humans are working on the boundaries of the cropped areas all to predict where conflicts will happen before they do.

“This information allows for targeted interventions, such as advising villagers to relocate or alter crop cultivation practices, thereby mitigating conflicts and promoting coexistence,” Allen says.

MORE INNOVATIVE CONSERVATION MEASURES: Lions in India Get New Sanctuary as Numbers of Asiatic Lions Soar in Their Last Stronghold

Already Leopard Tech Labs’ products are moving beyond Kerala to Tamil Nadu, and three tiger reserves have begun using their suite of solutions. Leopard Tech has even developed an app for Brazil—to help reduce human-snake conflict.

Wildlife trafficking is the third-most lucrative illegal trade in the world, and nations with weak enforcement of environmental laws risk becoming hotbeds for poaching of far more than just elephants and rhinos.

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Oklahoma 13-year-old is Believed to Be the First Person Ever to Beat Tetris Game

By
Andy Corbley
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credit - Blue Scuti.
credit – Blue Scuti.

Among the oldest video games in society, Tetris had never been ‘beaten’ before by a human: until now.

Nearly 40 years after its development, an Oklahoma teen is believed to be the first person in history to ever beat Tetris, which for those gamers in the reading audience occurs when the blocks fall so fast, and the mechanism for keeping score records 999999 points for so long, that the low-tech hardware can’t continue to process and the game freezes.

Previously only AI or simply bot programs have been able to cause the game to reach its freeze point, but according to the Classic Tetris World Championship, 13-year-old Wilis Gibson is the first person to ever provide proof that their human eyes, brain, and fingers achieved this.

Known by his gamer tag Blue Scuti, Gibson recorded the event and posted it on YouTube on Tuesday. He starts the game, and plays for 38 minutes until level 157 when the blocks are whizzing down so fast he barely has time to think.

After 38 minutes, he can be heard saying “Oh I missed it,” believing he lost his chance after a misplaced brick scuttles the pattern of blocks he was building up.

Then the game freezes and poor Gibson starts to hyperventilate with excitement, saying “Oh my god, I’m going to pass out, I can’t feel my hands.”

INSPIRED PERSONAL RECORDS: Paper Airplane Designed by Boeing Engineers Breaks World Record–Nearly Flying Length of Football Field

“It’s never been done by a human before. It’s basically something that everyone thought was impossible until a couple of years ago,” Vince Clemente, the president of the Classic Tetris World Championship, told the New York Times. 

WATCH the magical moment below… 

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Mysterious Secret Santa Motivated Students to Raise $8,000 Just to Give it All to Those in Need

By
Andy Corbley
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credit - CBS News On the Road, fair use.
credit – CBS News On the Road, fair use.

A Phoenix elementary school teacher organized a “Secret Santa Club” to teach children about the value of kindness and giving, using a hit CBS News story of a wealthy businessman who gives out money around Christmas time as an inspiration.

Derek Brown, the teacher, uses the “On the Road” segment with Steve Hartman as a teaching tool, but it was the Secret Santa story that always resonated the most with students.

Speaking for the class, student Nicholas Talamantes remarked that he can’t believe anyone does this sort of thing.

So, for the 2023 holiday season, Brown organized the students into a giving gang, wearing uniforms of red plaid shirts and caps, and instructed them to call local businesses and organizations to ask for money for their own Secret Santa project.

“I want this memory to be so strong that it now drives them every day, in everything they do,” Brown told CBS News.

They then tracked down the people most in need in the city, like one resident who had been out of a job for 1 week, or another who had recently been diagnosed with cancer, and handed them a big smile with a side of $100 cash.

MORE CHRISTMAS KINDNESS: Man Joked About Throwing a Walmart Christmas Party and Thousands RSVPed–So He Made it a Huge Toy Drive

CBS News, no doubt inspired by the inspiration their own program gave to the Secret Santa Club, covered as many such interactions as possible, and the gratitude is palpable even through the news cameras.

For the students however, the gift was the giving itself.

“I never felt this way in my life,” said student and club member Carissa Cheong. “So this was really a life changer for me.”

MORE GREAT IDEAS IN SCHOOL: Dozens of ‘Flash Dads’ Cheer On Students Arriving at Schools in Kentucky–For 7 Years Giving High Fives and Support

Younger student Evangeline D’Agostino, speaking to Steve Hartman himself, put it as succinctly as Plato or Socrates.

“Their joy—that’s the gift to you,” she said.

Line about the true meaning of Christmas anyone?

WATCH the heartwarming video below… to those outside the US, watch HERE… 

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“If you’re alive, there’s a purpose for your life.” – Rick Warren

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “If you’re alive, there’s a purpose for your life.” – Rick Warren

Photo by: Knut Troim

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

‘Miracle’ Evacuation from Burning Japanese Airplane Credited to ‘Disciplined’ Passengers and Crew

By
Andy Corbley
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An unrelated image of a Japanese firefighter extinguishing a fire on a runway in 2008 as part of a training exercise - US Navy, public domain.
An unrelated image of a Japanese firefighter extinguishing a fire on a runway in 2008 as part of a training exercise – US Navy, public domain.

The next time you’re aboard a plane watching the safety demonstrations, don’t brush them off as unnecessary details of a catastrophe that won’t save anyone—because on a runway in the Japanese Airport of Haneda, they saved 379 souls.

“The Miracle on Haneda” as it’s being called, saw an Airbus A350 owned by Japan Airlines set completely ablaze but every passenger and crew member escaping to safety.

Inquests into the incident detail that the pilot received the all-clear from the control tower to land, but a Japanese Coast Guard aircraft was crossing the runway at the time. Striking it, the plane caught fire and had to come to a complete stop from landing speed before the evacuation could take place.

Footage taken from social media shows the passengers filming the fire from inside the plane shortly after landing, with the vast majority of those on board remaining remarkably calm.

“I heard an explosion about 10 minutes after everyone and I got off the plane,” 28-year-old passenger Tsubasa Sawada, told Reuters. “I can only say it was a miracle, we could have died if we were late.”

MORE MIRACLE STORIES OF SURVIVAL: Four Colombian Children Found Alive in Jungle Five Weeks After Plane Crash

Reuters also heard from an aviation safety expert at a UK-based consultancy, who said that it appeared no one left the plane with a carry-on bag, which he said has been part of in-flight safety announcements for years. He reckoned the crew did an excellent job. They were communicating with megaphones since the plane’s intercom was broken.

“It really is a lesson for the rest of the world,” Geoffrey Thomas told Japan Times, who billed him as “an aviation expert” who noted that despite what the passengers experienced, people followed textbook exit procedures.

DISASTERS AVERTED: Remarkable Man Averts Oil Tanker Disaster by Crowdfunding to Remove Crumbling Ship From Red Sea

The Times spoke with two middle-aged passengers who both feared for the worst, but nevertheless managed to keep their nerve and evacuate promptly.

WATCH a compilation of the fire from The Times…

SHARE This Incredible Survival Story With Your Friends Who Ignore The Safety Info… 

Baby That Had Spinal Surgery While in the Womb Can Now Walk and Run

By
Andy Corbley
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Piper-Kohl playing outside - SWNS
Piper-Kohl playing outside – SWNS

A little girl whose parents were told she would never walk is now running around like other 5-year-olds after receiving emergency spinal surgery while still in the womb.

This miracle of modern medicine was available to first-time parents Georgia Axford and Tyler Kelly, then just 19 and 21, who were told their unborn baby had spina bifida after an ultrasound at 20 weeks.

The condition causes weakness or paralysis in the lower limbs, and the parents were told it was likely their child wouldn’t walk.

The couple decided to travel to Germany for treatment, which saw the unborn baby operated on in the womb at a cost of just £9,000, or around $11,500.

Piper-Kohl Kelly was then born healthy in July 2018 and named after surgeon Dr. Thomas Kohl. Now five, she can walk and run and recently took part in her school’s sports day.

“Seeing her run on the tracks was amazing. I never thought she’d be able to do something like that,” said Georgia. “Sometimes it doesn’t feel real. I think back to what we were told, and they were really negative about Piper’s diagnosis.”

Spina bifida can leave sufferers dependent on supports or crutches, and in severe cases, they can be wheelchair-bound. Doctors were confident that this would be the case for Piper-Kohl.

Georgia hails from South Yorkshire, in the Northeast of England. For all the stress and negativity of the diagnosis, and even though Piper was induced at 32 weeks and sat in the neonatal intensive care unit for 52 days, they ended up getting the chance to live a normal life from the same moment as other babies.

MODERN MEDICAL MIRACLES: After Taking Vitamin B2 Baby Becomes Solitary Case of Recovery from Rare Genetic Disease

“When she was around two, her physio gave her a walking frame—she doesn’t use it anymore, but we have it in case she needs the support,” Georgia explains. “She used it for about a year while she was starting to walk, but now she walks completely independently.”

Typer, Piper-Kohl, and Georgia, together after she left the hospital – SWNS

“She does get really tired and can’t go for really long distances, but she does so well, especially considering what we were told,” she said.

An additional heartwarming part of the story is that Piper’s surgeon, Dr. Thomas Kohl, is a family friend who receives routine updates about Piper’s progress, with the two even sharing the same birthday.

MORE INFANTS SAVED: World’s Smallest Baby, Born the Size of an Apple, Finally Leaves Hospital as Healthy 5-Pound Infant

While the family’s journey hasn’t been easy by any means, Georgia and Tyler are filled with pride over their daughter’s progress and are hoping to continue to witness the “kind and caring girl” do anything she puts her mind to.

“It’s a miracle that she’s been through it and is who she is today. She’s been through a lot in her life,” said Georgia. “She loves coloring and anything to do with arts and crafts. She loves school, and she has a really good group of friends. She beats the odds all the time and whatever she does, I’ll be so proud of her.”

SHARE This Heartwarming Story Of A Medical Miracle With Your Friends… 

Incredible Pictures Show Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon Io in Stunning Detail

By
Andy Corbley
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A splitscreen of Io - credit NASA/JP:
A splitscreen of Io – credit NASA/JP:

Incredible pictures show Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io in stunning detail in the closest flyby in twenty years.

NASA’s Juno space probe came within roughly 930 miles (1,500 km) from the surface of the most volcanic world in our solar system on December 30th.

The space agency explained this pass, and others at the start of February are expected to allow Juno instruments to generate “a firehose of data.”

The orbiter has performed 56 flybys of Jupiter and documented close encounters with three of the gas giant’s four largest moons, Io, Ganymede, and Europa.

“By combining data from this flyby with our previous observations, the Juno science team is studying how Io’s volcanoes vary,” said Juno’s principal investigator, Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.

“We are looking for how often they erupt, how bright and hot they are, how the shape of the lava flow changes, and how Io’s activity is connected to the flow of charged particles in Jupiter’s magnetosphere.”

The probe’s Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM), which takes images in infrared, collected the heat signatures emitted by the 400 active volcanoes and additional extinct calderas covering the moon’s surface.

ALSO CHECK OUT:  The First Amateur Astronomer to Ever Discover a New Moon – And it’s Orbiting Jupiter

Io’s volcanism is responsible for many of its unique features. Its volcanic plumes and lava flows produce large surface changes and paint the surface in various subtle shades of yellow, red, white, black, and green, largely due to allotropes and compounds of sulfur.

View of Jupiter’s moon Io captured by NASA’s Juno Mission – credit NASA/JPL.

“With our pair of close flybys in December and February, Juno will investigate the source of Io’s massive volcanic activity, whether a magma ocean exists underneath its crust, and the importance of tidal forces from Jupiter, which are relentlessly squeezing this tortured moon,” said Bolton.

MORE SPECTACULAR MOONS: For New Rover, NASA is Swapping Buggy Shape for a Giant Snake in Hopes it Can Explore Icy Moon of Saturn

Per other studies published on Io, the relentless squeezing comes from a mixture of forces, some known, others unknown. It’s known that the interior is subject to massive friction from the gravitational pull of mighty Jupiter and the other Galilean moons of Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede.

SHARE This Awesome Science In Our Cosmic Neighborhood… 

This Golden Retriever is Nursing 3 African Painted Dog Pups at Indiana Zoo After Mother Abandoned Them

By
Andy Corbley
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Cassie and her two litters - released from the Zoo.
Kassy and her two litters – released from the Zoo.

At the Potawatomi Zoo in Indiana, a mama golden retriever has her paws as full as can be these days looking after a huge litter of pups—but half aren’t hers.

The zoo had the unhappy issue of an African painted dog who was a first-time mom and wasn’t displaying the level of care required to raise her litter of 8 pups. The zoo’s canine team knew they had to act fast.

The group wanted to use a surrogate mother, because the African painted dog relies on the social group into which it was born. The Indiana Council for Animal Welfare connected the zoo with a golden retriever named Kassy who just gave birth to a litter of her own.

But even with Kassy’s love and attention, the litter of 8 experienced some cases of failure to thrive, owing to a lack of presence from members of their species. But three individuals were resilient and survived. Due to the delicate nature of baby animals, their names were simply Blue, Red, and Orange—identity codes to various shades on their coats to prevent their caretakers from becoming too attached.

The three will form a new social group in an enclosure next to the one into which they should have been welcomed. Abandoned more or less by their mom, the canine team at the zoo is wary that reintegrating them as pups will cause conflict for the same reason they were abandoned. They will live separately and perhaps reunite in adulthood.

MORE CROSS-SPECIES KINDNESS:

African painted dogs might be one of the more resilient African animals due to their limited value to poachers and large litter sizes, but because they need tens of thousands of acres to roam and hunt, fragmentation of habitat has caused them to become endangered.

The painted dogs, now 11 weeks old – released by the Zoo

“It has been an emotionally exhausting and challenging journey for the team, but it is the Zoo’s mission to work toward the preservation of wild species,” the zoo said in a press release concerning the pups.

MORE ZOO NEWS: 

“Sometimes the journey is smooth and sometimes it takes extraordinary measures. These three healthy, active pups are just the start of this story, and the Zoo hopes to share more positive updates of their milestones in the future.”

Red, Orange, and Blue are thriving under Kassy’s care and are now 11 weeks old. They will hopefully live on to produce pups of their own that may return someday to Africa, but in the meanwhile their early struggles present critical lessons to zoo visitors on the delicate nature of wild social structures and how important it is that animals are given their own space.

SHARE This Story Of Survival, Hope, And Quick Thinking On Social Media… 

“Every gift which is given, even though it be small, is in reality great, if given with affection.” – Pindar

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “Every gift which is given, even though it be small, is in reality great, if it is given with affection.” – Pindar

Photo by: Rob Laughter

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

80 Shooting Stars Per Hour to Ring in the New Year With January Stargazing Spectacular

By
Andy Corbley
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Quadrantid Meteor Shower - thepixeltrail. CC 2.0. Flickr
Quadrantid Meteor Shower – thepixeltrail. CC 2.0. Flickr

As the New Year celebrations finish up, the first meteor shower of the year promises to be one of the most impressive. They’re called the Quadrantids, and on the morning of January 4th, one can expect to see 80 shooting stars per hour.

This is not an event to stay up to see, but rather one you wake up early to see, as the peak hours will occur before sunrise on Thursday morning. Look to the northern half of the sky, and bring something hot to drink!

A relatively quiet month for stargazing events, a good opportunity to see Saturn and her famous rings will come around on January 14th. A sub-crescent moon just 3 days old will be faintly lit when our satellite comes to within 56 degrees of separation with Saturn—the perfect opportunity to pull out some binoculars or a telescope and gaze at the planet’s rings.

January 25th is the night of a full “Wolf Moon,” which will rise from the northeastern horizon around sunset that evening.

Old Farmer’s Almanac uses a combination of European, settler, and Native American sources to determine the names of the moons.

January’s moon reflects the difficulty of this month for people before the age of central heating, and is called the Cold Moon by the Cree, the Hard Moon by the Dakota, the Freeze-up Moon by the Algonquin, and the Wolf Moon by Europeans who heard wolves howling at night and believed it was because they, like the Europeans, were eating less.

Now of course we know wolves howl for social reasons and not related to feeding activities.

SHARE These Must-See Space Events With Your Friends…

Hero Dog Wakes Up Owners After Sensing Fire Across Street: ‘Bark was Unlike’ Any Heard Before

By
Andy Corbley
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credit - Arlington, WA Police Department, released.
credit – Arlington, WA Police Department, released.

In Arlington, Washington state, a hero dog changed his tune and alerted her owners to a fire consuming their neighbor’s house.

It was 3:00 a.m. and a fire was quietly burning the workshop of a nearby North County home. Nearby, Douglas O’Connor II was sleeping soundly in a house across the road, when he was awakened by the sound of his dog, Lucy.

“Normally, I just yell at her to go to sleep, you know?” said O’Connor, remembering a hundred instances of waking up to his dog barking.

But he said this was a type of bark that he’d never heard before from Lucy.

“Loud, screaming-type bark. It was totally different than her just barking at a usual, usual bark. It was totally—woke us both up. Something’s wrong. Wow. She was trying to tell us something.'”

O’Connor’s wife went to investigate the Australian Shepherd-Labrador mix’s alarm and saw the fire out of the window. They called 911 and firefighters arrived to contain and eventually kill off the blaze before it spread from the detached workshop to the home where the owner was still asleep by the time the engine arrived.

MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: Dog Saves Foster Parents from Fire–Finds Forever Home 1 Day Later

“Firefighters said another 10 minutes that could have reached the house. So that was a little scary,” said O’Connor.

The firefighters got to meet the furry early warning system, who became a hit among them and the police.

ROLES REVERSED CHECK IT OUT: Police Officer Jumps Fence to Save Chained Dog from Fire, Not Giving Up Even When Heat Turned Severe

KING 5 News reported that Lucy’s barking was so strong it woke up other neighbors as well, who also alerted fire and rescue along with O’Connor.

WATCH the story below from KING 5 News… 

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Spacefaring Japan May Become the 5th Country to Land on the Moon This Month

By
Andy Corbley
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Artist's impression of the SLIM craft landing on the Moon - credit JAXA, released.
Artist’s impression of the SLIM craft landing on the Moon – credit ISAS/JAXA, released.

Mere months after India established itself as the fourth Lunar power, Japan is set to land on our nearest celestial body this month.

JAXA, or the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, has accomplished a number of hugely impressive spacefaring feats over the last three decades, including a sample-return mission from the Ryugu Asteroid, which has never been done before, even by the US.

Now, with their Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) entering Lunar orbit on Christmas Day, JAXA is poised for a January 19th descent onto the Lunar surface.

SLIM is “a mission for researching the pinpoint landing technology necessary for future lunar probes and verifying this on the surface of the moon with a small-scale probe,” JAXA officials wrote in a mission description.

The hope is that they will be able to land on a select point with an accuracy of 300 feet. The spacecraft left Earth on September 8th along with XRISM, a powerful X-ray telescope that remained in Earth’s orbit.

SIMILAR STORIES: India Becomes Fourth Nation to Touch Down on the Moon In Mission to Study its South Pole

“By creating the SLIM lander, humans will make a qualitative shift towards being able to land where we want and not just where it is easy to land, as had been the case before,” they added. “By achieving this, it will become possible to land on planets even more resource-scarce than the moon.”

If they succeed, they will become the fifth nation behind China, India, the Soviet Union, and the US to land on the Moon.

MARK Your Calendar And Share This Awesome Potential Accomplishment… 

The Year of the Wood Dragon Approaches: Prepare for Growth and Advancement

By
Andy Corbley
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Dragon Latern Festivel in Hunan - GoShows, CC 4.0., retrieved from Flickr.
Dragon Latern Festivel in Hunan – GoShows, CC 4.0., retrieved from Flickr.

On February 10th, the Lunar New Year will herald the end of the year of the Water Rabbit and the beginning of the year of the Wood Dragon.

A being of natural perfection, the dragon symbolizes so much in Chinese mythology and astrology, and is believed to be the single most important creature. As such, the Year of the Dragon is rich in symbolism and hope.

The Chinese zodiacal calendar follows a 12-year cycle, with each year corresponding to an animal whom legend says the Jade Emperor invited to a running race. Furthermore, each animal has five elemental incarnations that follow a 60-year cycle.

This year is the Year of the Dragon, and it is the end of the 60-year cycle for the wood element, making this the year of the Wood Dragon.

The influence of both creates a year full of promise, as the confidence, determination, and imagination of the dragon pairs with the growth and flexibility of the wood element.

This horoscope summarizes the reports of several different online Chinese horoscopes, and blends them together in certain situations.

For those born in 1964, this is the most unlucky year they will experience in their life, with the worst aspects of wood pairing with the worst aspects of the dragon. That is the case for all those living in the year of their birth sign, as it’s believed to upset the god Tai Sui.

Dragons of wood will likely unknowingly amplify their introverted, unenthusiastic, and relational conflict tendencies, while their natural dragon type-A personality will turn against them in health, career, and in relationships.

For other animals, this is one of the best years to start and grow something for the long term. Related to creativity, honor, and intelligence, the dragon excels in business and personal development, while wood fosters creativity and vitality. Correspondingly, the year should be filled with opportunities to grow, which should be seized on with the confidence and decisiveness of the dragon.

Astrologists speaking with Japan Times expect the year to be most rewarded to visionaries, risk-takers, innovators, and problem solvers because the growth and versatility of wood will present more opportunities than normal to the dragon.

Dragons themselves should shy away from taking chances and instead cultivate what they have, remain reserved and patient—though not in the dragon’s nature—and seize upon the clearest moment that comes their way in an unlucky year.

While the West considers the dragon a symbol of fire, the dragon is naturally associated with water, and as such, the water-associated signs of monkey and rat will have especially auspicious years. Pigs and roosters will also benefit this year, with the roosters, being of equally creative and vainglorious character as the dragon, standing to gain much in certain situations.

Those paired with dragons in marriage or relationship should be wary of fire breathing, as bad luck and misfortune toll on a famous short-temper. Instead, utilize wood’s nature to nurture—which will work especially well with wood and water dragons.

Some of the most famous wood dragons are Rhianna, MLK Jr., and Adele. Several horoscope websites converge on a lucky number of 6, and auspicious directions as West and East.

SHARE This Horoscope With Those In Need Of Ancient Wisdom Chinese… 

“As love without esteem is capricious and volatile; esteem without love is languid and cold.” – Jonathan Swift

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “As love without esteem is capricious and volatile; esteem without love is languid and cold.” – Jonathan Swift

Photo by: Free Walking Tour Salzburg

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

Smokers Twice as Likely to Quit if Using Drug from Laburnum Tree, Finds Study

By
Andy Corbley
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The Laburnum tree arch at a Welsh botanic garden. CC 4.0. ukgardenphotos
The Laburnum tree arch at a Welsh botanic garden. CC 4.0. ukgardenphotos

It’s two days after New Year’s, and that means a lot of people will be fighting the urge to go and replace the pack of ciggies that has been absent from their purse or pocket for a commendable 24 hours.

In the UK, a newly-approved drug made from the seeds of a common European tree genus called Laburnum, was recently found in a study to give smokers double the chance of keeping that spot in their purse or pocket empty for good.

Known as cytisine, the drug recently gained regulatory approval and is currently available in Britain. Used in other parts of Eastern Europe for years, cytisine was found to be twice as good as a placebo, and also better than nicotine replacement therapy like patches and gum, or another drug for breaking nicotine dependence called Champix.

“Our study adds to the evidence that cytisine is an effective and inexpensive stop-smoking aid,” said Omar de Santi, a toxicologist at the Posadas National Hospital in Argentina, who led the review. “Worldwide, smoking is considered the main cause of preventable death. Cytisine has the potential to be one of the big answers to that problem.”

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A major study conducted recently by Oxford University found that just 6 out of 100 smokers can break the addiction without any form of aid.

Cytisine is due to be available in late January at £115 for a 25-day supply. The price may exclude it from some local health insurance agencies. It’s not available in the US, but information on its effects from a similar population like the UK may mean it could be granted approval soon.

MORE SMOKING NEWS: Never Too Late: New Study Finds Lungs ‘Magically’ Repair Themselves After Quitting Smoking, No Matter the Age

A professor and a local health services organizer both told the Guardian that it’s a good thing cytisine is going to be available across the UK, and that the cost of the drug shouldn’t be prohibitive based on the costs of treating people for nicotine addiction multiple times with different products.

SHARE This Important News With Anyone You Know Needing Help Quitting…

Abused and Stuck in Shelter for 450 Days ‘Mind-blowing’ Dog Charms Everyone at Rehab and Finds Forever Home

By
Andy Corbley
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Best Friends Animal Center - Facebook
Best Friends Pet Resource Center – Facebook

Ali Paepke had very little hope that a dog named Neo would be able to fit in at her rehabilitation center.

The poor pooch had been in a shelter for over a year—more than 450 days, and was part of an ongoing animal abuse trial, which Paepke said typically creates an animal that’s difficult—and in many cases impossible—to rehabilitate into gentle domestic life.

But as soon as she saw the white pooch with black spots, the Manager for the Life-Saving Program at Best Friends Pet Resource Center said she was “blown away.”

“To meet a dog who had been through all of that who just immediately trusted you and immediately wanted attention from you was just mind-blowing… Neo was that one that I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re making a difference,’” said Paepke.

Neo was a victim of severe animal abuse, but it wasn’t long after arriving at Best Friends’ location in Central Arkansas that a forever home was finally in sight.

It wasn’t long before Neo won everyone over. Best Friends Pet Resource Center – Facebook

Taken in by foster mom Linda Songbird, Neo needed less than a day to convince Linda that he was fit for a lifetime of companionship.

“It makes your life worthwhile,” said Songbird. “And he’s wonderful. He’s there as soon as you come in. He’s right at the door. Happy to see you!”

It’s a story which reminds us that everyone deserves a fair shake and a second chance besides.

WATCH the story below from CBS 5…

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Maui Jewelry Store Restores Jewelry Damaged by Wildfires for Free

By
Andy Corbley
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Mr. Chamdi from No Ka 'Oi, supplied by the gentleman.
Mr. Omi Chamdi from No Ka ‘Oi, supplied to the press by the gentleman.

One Maui jeweler is offering hundreds of dollars worth of free jewelry repair services to people whose sentimental gold and jewels were tarnished or damaged in the wildfires last year.

The generosity and resilience of the Maui islanders has been inspiring in the aftermath of the wildfires, and jeweler Omi Chamdi, owner of No Ka ‘Oi Jewelers in Kahului, is a perfect example of this.

Chamdi told NPR he got the idea after being moved by stories of jewelers repairing pieces in the aftermath of the Californian wildfires in 2018.

“These are not just ordinary items, these are the most precious possessions that people go back to the ruins and dig through the rubble to find,” he said. “That’s why I feel this is something I want to do and must do, because this is within my expertise.”

No Ka ‘Oi has repaired over 150 pieces of jewelry and has another 300 objects sent in by residents who had jewelry boxes and safes burnt up in the fires. Diamonds and other precious stones are mostly immune to the effects of fire, but gold can be severely tarnished or disfigured, with settings falling apart and stones tumbling down into the darkness.

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In such cases, soldering, polishing, laser cleaning, or rhodium plating might be required to restore the shine, and it might cost a person $150 or more. But Chamdi is doing it all out of pocket.

Chamdi said that people have routinely brought in pieces that took them days to find amid the ashes of their homes and possessions. For example, NPR shared the story of one Lahaina resident, Michelle Quirk, who used a shovel to dig through the ashes of her house in order to find 6 rings belonging to her great-grandmother—No Ka ‘Oi restored all of them.

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“Just finding the rings honestly has helped me emotionally,” Quirk said. “Before, I couldn’t even really talk about it or understand what happened. Then once those rings were found, it gave me hope.”

SHARE This Sweet Man, His Colleagues, And Their Mission Of Hope… 

Run Over by A Car, Mob of High Schoolers Hoist the Machine Off Mother and 2 Kids

By
Andy Corbley
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credit Layton Christian Academy - released
credit Layton Christian Academy – released

In Utah, a mother and two children were run over in a high school parking lot when a horde of students came running to help.

The CEO of the private school praised the speed and determination of the high schoolers, who arrived en masse to help lift the car to one side and allow the trapped family to escape.

It was in early December that the mother and her kids, ages 2 and 3, were walking back across the Layton Christian Academy parking lot to their car when a woman driving very slowly, yet partially blinded by the low winter sun coming in through the windscreen, ran the three down.

CEO of the Academy, Chris Crowder, said that the vehicle was small and had very little ground clearance.

“I ran back in the building to grab as many students as possible,” Crowder told Good Morning America. “The car was just on top of them and squishing them.”

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With an active-duty military airman in the parking lot as well, and Crowder to organize them, the man-and-woman-power of the teenagers allowed them to free the trapped family in just about three minutes.

“Three minutes doesn’t sound like a long time, but certainly in a critical incident like that, when stress is high, that seems like a really long time,” said Lt. Travis Lyman of the Layton Police Department, who said the whole Department was proud of the students for how fast they acted.

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GMA reports that the mom, who was an employee of the school, was taken to the hospital where she underwent surgery for non-life-threatening injuries, while the children had only minor abrasions and bruising.

WATCH the rescue footage below… 

SHARE And Celebrate The Quick Actions Of These Responsible Teens…

“Love is unto itself a higher law.” – Boethius

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “Love is unto itself a higher law.” – Boethius

Photo by: Ashley Webb (CC license)

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