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California City Sees Explosion in Spawning Salmon Population in San Jose After 10 Years of Habitat Cleanup

By
Andy Corbley
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Dan Cook/USFWS
Dan Cook/USFWS

In the Bay Area of California, home of San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Clara County, and Silicon Valley a famous Pacific resident is heading home for the holidays—up newly-cleaned creeks to spawn.

Who could have thought that the cradle of 21st-century civilization, with its problems and advancements, would have space for wild river ecosystems capable of supporting salmon runs?

But here they are, reports KTVU, as large as 30 pounds, as long as 35 inches, running up the Guadalupe River Watershed by the hundreds.

Creeks in San Jose like Los Gatos and Guadalupe nearly lost their native salmon populations as trash piled up on the gravel beds.

The South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition, a non-profit responsible for the salmon’s return, removed 1.3 million pounds of trash from the creeks, from bottles and tires to cars and mattresses.

Researchers are now studying the animals and tracking their origin; hoping to answer whether they are native returners or hatchery strays.

MORE SALMON SPAWNING: Maine Sets Records for Atlantic Herring and Salmon Runs in the Penobscot River

“This year all the fish are just engorged. They’re humongous,” said Steve Holmes, executive director of the South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition. “It’s a nice trend and I hope it will continue as we move forward.”

Salmon will return from the ocean to the rivers, creeks, and eventually even the same tributary they were born in to lay and fertilize eggs on beds of gravel. Their bodies flush bright red and pink from the activity of their reproductive organs, making them easily spotted by bears and fishing birds like eagles and ospreys.

CHECK OUT FURTHER NORTH: Pacific Salmon Will Regain Access to Hundreds of Miles of Spawning Grounds as Historic Dam Removal Gets Green Light

They store large amounts of muscle and fat from their time at sea to use for the grueling trip upriver, and the fish tend to be battered and exhausted by journey’s end. Most die after mating, but a few, typically the females, will live on to return to the ocean in January.

WATCH the story below from KTVU…

SHARE This Unlikely Habitat For These Superb Swimmers. 

School Principal Adopts Student Who Was Sent to His Office

By
Andy Corbley
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Jason and Raven - courtesy of Marybeth Smith
Jason and Raven – released courtesy of Marybeth Smith

A middle school principal in Kentucky adopted a girl who was acting out after she had spent her whole life in and out of foster homes. Sent to his office after being suspended, he realized that she just needed, perhaps one time, for “something to go in her favor.”

Kentucky school principal Jason Smith walked out of his office one day and saw a girl from the 6th grade sitting on a chair by the door—suspended for throwing a cup of yogurt during lunch.

One can only imagine how much delinquency and mischief Smith had seen throughout his 14 years in charge of the school, but something about the girl struck him that day. Asking whether she thought such behavior was acceptable at a restaurant, Raven Whitaker replied she had never been to one.

Where she had been was in and out of foster homes for most of her life, where foster moms and dads had made plenty of promises they were unable to keep.

“At that point, I had felt like she just needed a hand, needed help,” Smith told Good Morning America. “I recognized that she needed something to go in her favor, maybe for once, that it hadn’t gone in her favor in the past, but she just needed somebody to help her.”

After discussing it with his wife Marybeth, she believed there was something special about Raven.

The couple had struggled with infertility for years, and had previously failed to turn foster children they’d hosted into candidates for adoption. After discussing the matter with Raven’s case worker in 2015, they heard that they too could foster her. They also talked with her personally about the matter.

MORE ADOPTION STORES: Teen Floundering in Foster Care Finally Gets to be a Sister With Real Family for First Time

With their doors opened, Raven wasn’t sure it was going to turn out any differently, although she admitted to GMA that the welcome was immediately and detectably warmer than past homes.

“It was really weird at first because, in my mind, I thought of [Jason Smith] as the bad guy because I was always getting in trouble,” Raven Whitaker-Smith told GMA. “I gave them a bunch of trouble to see what would happen, I kind of tested whether or not this was real or not to see if they would keep me no matter what, because they would tell me that but, you know, I’d heard that a lot before.”

Adoption day – released courtesy of Marybeth Smith

However, it wasn’t long before the love and sincerity of the couple won her over, and the three became an official family in October 2017.

With a principal in the house, Raven improved her performance in school, graduating and moving forward to attend the Univ. of Kentucky where she is studying to be a social worker.

SHARE This Heartwarming Act Of Love And Openness On Social Media…

“To grow, we must travel in the direction of our fears.” – John Berryman 

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Good News Network
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Credit: Ivan Lapyrin, public domain

Quote of the Day: “To grow, we must travel in the direction of our fears.” – John Berryman

Photo by: Ivan Lapyrin

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?

Treasure For 3 Miles: A Scatter Trail from the Most Famous Shipwreck is Uncovered Behind the Maravillas

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Good News Network
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Gold from the Maravillas including a gem-inlaid pendant made for the Knights of the Order of Santiago © Allen Exploration
Gold from the Maravillas including a gem-inlaid pendant made for the Knights of the Order of Santiago © Allen Exploration

The Spanish galleon Maravillas was one of the richest treasure ships ever lost at sea when it sank in the northern Bahamas over three centuries ago. Since then it has been salvaged into oblivion—at least that’s what experts thought.

Now, after four years of underwater archaeology, Allen Exploration has mapped a sprawling trail of scattered treasure running for over 5 kilometers.

Late at night on January 4, 1656, the Nuestra Señora de las Maravillas (Our Lady of Wonders) sank off the western Little Bahama Bank loaded with treasure. The Spanish ship was heading home, groaning under the weight of silver bars and coins. Also onboard was the treasure salvaged from an earlier galleon lost near Ecuador two years earlier.

Soon after, the galleon was ‘fished’ for relics on at least 21 occasions, heavily stripped by Spanish salvors and then English and American crews. Then, between 1972 and 1991, modern salvage teams re-discovered the wreck and lifted an alleged 30 tons of gold bars and coins, silver nuggets, jewelry, emeralds, iron anchors, and cannons.

“Many experts believe the story of the Maravillas is over, that past salvage picked the old ship dry,” says Carl Allen, the founder of AllenX. “Now we’ve proven the wreck is not all vanished.”

Since 2019, licensed by the Bahamian government, AllenX has discovered the survival of a sprawling scatter of artifacts running southeast for a distance of over three miles from where the Maravillas originally hit a reef and sank.

Carl and Gigi Allen recovering gold chain from the Maravillas shipwreck © Allen Exploration

Hidden beneath waves and sand are olive jars, silver pieces of eight, silver bars, emeralds, amethysts and gold jewelry. Every single find uncovered, from 828 lead musket balls and 10,988 olive jars fragments to almost 3,000 silver coins and 125 emeralds and amethysts, has been painstakingly mapped.

“You might think that it was centuries of hurricanes and storms that broke up the Maravillas. But the archaeology has forced us to re-think that theory,” says Dan Porter, the project’s offshore manager who oversaw the mapping.

At least 142 hurricanes and storms have struck The Bahamas since 1500. “If the galleon was broken up by hurricane after hurricane, the remains would be scattered around all four points of the compass. That’s not the reality. They’re mostly focused in one artifact scatter trail running southeast,” says Porter.

Jim Sinclair, the project’s chief archaeologist, was surprised that the finds blown down the scatter trail included unique gold chains and jewels inlaid with precious gems, the personal property of wealthy passengers and officers.

Discovering a silver bar along the Maravillas shipwreck scatter trail © Allen Exploration

“You can be sure that if these valuable items were still sitting on the main wreck when the Maravillas was salvaged in 1656, they’d have been brought up too,” says Sinclair. “This can only mean that the treasures found by AllenX were scattered during the five months before the Spanish salvage operations began in June 1656.”

TREASURE CLOSER TO HOME: Man Finds Surprise of a Lifetime in His Field: 700 Coins from Civil War ‘The Great Kentucky Hoard’

The western Little Bahama Bank lies within the Trade-wind Belt. In the winter, winds with an average velocity of 30-40 miles per hour (‘northers’) blow in from the northwest and northeast. AllenX believes that two to three storm fronts like these created the main part of the Maravillas’ scatter trail between January and June 1656.

The most common class of finds lost down the Maravillas scatter trail come from the sterncastle, where the passengers and crew’s belongings were kept—from the fancy Chinese and Mexican bowls and dishes for dining to swords, navigational dividers, and gold jewelry.

HEART OF GOLD: Teen Finds a Safe Containing Thousands on Bottom of River – Tracks Down Owner Who’d Been Robbed 22 Years ago

Intact olive jar uncovered from the Maravillas © Allen Exploration

Carl Allen explained that historical accounts showed that the three stern cabins collapsed into the ocean. “The quarterdeck and sterncastle floated away, never to be seen again.”

“Throw into the mix rampant smuggling: the Maravillas was carrying at least 100% contraband above the value of the cargo – and so much of the archaeology of the Maravillas is still to be explored and its history written.”

The team published their research into the Maravillas scatter trail in Ocean Dispatches 4, for the Bahamas Maritime Museum in Freeport, which Allen founded in 2022 to display the treasure.

LOOK: Family Finds 300-yo Golden Treasure in Shallow Florida Waters

In 1992, the Government of The Bahamas enacted a moratorium on the issuance of licenses for shipwreck salvage, and the seas stayed closed until 2019, when Carl Allen was awarded a new license to conduct scientific and archaeological exploration. AllenX now submits monthly written reports to the country, presenting maps of finds, lists of discoveries, and research.

Watch a video below from their YouTube channel.

SPARK A PASSION For Shipwrecks By Sharing This on Social Media w/ Friends… 

FedEx Delivers 300,000 Free Christmas Trees to Military Families With Annual Trees for Troops Program

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Good News Network
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Trees For Troops / FedEx
Trees For Troops / FedEx

FedEx is rolling down the highway to deliver Christmas joy to military families throughout America in the annual Trees for Troops program.

The freight company is delivering nearly 16,000 Christmas trees this month to families at over 90 military bases across the U.S.

Partnering with the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation, FedEx has also reached a special milestone with the program, delivering tree number 300,000 during a special celebration at Fort Liberty in North Carolina.

“Every year, the FedEx Freight team puts in tireless effort to support Trees for Troops,” said Lance Moll, President and CEO, FedEx Freight. “We are honored to give back to local communities and military families whose values have always been closely tied to the core mission of our company.”

Since 2005, FedEx Freight has supported the Trees for Troops program, an initiative that delivers farm-grown Christmas trees to domestic and international U.S. military bases. This long-standing collaboration has become a cherished tradition for FedEx Freight.

And drivers have logged over 600,000 miles to deliver the holly-jolly trees during the 18 year partnership.

“This program started on a crazy idea and started small. We delivered 4,300 trees to only five bases that first year,” said Wendy Richardson, Chair of the Christmas Spirit Foundation Board of Trustees. “It’s hard to believe we’re now going to exceed 300,000 total trees since we began working with FedEx 19 years ago.”

FIRST CLASS: Military Veterans Who Lost Limbs Receive Mortgage-Free Homes to Honor Their Service

FedEx / Trees for Troops

“The commitment and dedication of all involved is truly inspiring. We love providing Christmas spirit to the men and women and their families in our military, one tree at a time.”

The public can donate a tree for delivery to a base, but today, December 3, is the last day for tree deliveries. Some locations offer online tree purchase options for shopper convenience. (Bookmark this for next year, if you miss the deadline!)

YOU MIGHT LIKE: Mental Health Focus Is Bringing Suicides Down Sharply Among Air Force, Marines and Army

Visit the Trees for Troops website to donate online, and see a full list of participating locations at treesfortroops.org.

DECK the HALLS of Social Media With This Opportunity With Trees for Troops…

The Mystery of Red Wine Headaches is Solved as Scientists Discover Why Some People React

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Good News Network
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By Marcel Gross | @marcelgross.ch
By Marcel Gross | @marcelgross.ch

The reason why drinking red wine can leave some people with a banging head has been discovered by scientists.

Researchers have found that a natural flavonol compound in red wines can interfere with the metabolism of alcohol which leads to a headache.

The University of California team in Davis say it’s all about quercetin, which is naturally present in many fruits and vegetables, including grapes. It’s a healthy antioxidant that is even available in supplement form—but when mixed with alcohol, it can be problematic.

“When it gets in your bloodstream, your body converts it to a different form called quercetin glucuronide,” said Professor Andrew Waterhouse. “In that form, it blocks the metabolism of alcohol.”

They also report, in the study published in the journal Scientific Reports that different wines had different amounts of the pain-inducing flavanol depending on how much sunlight the grapes absorbed.

GOOD WINE: Making Wine the Way the Romans Did: These Wineries are Cutting The Additives

“Quercetin is produced by the grapes in response to sunlight. If you grow grapes with the clusters exposed, such as they do in the Napa Valley for their cabernets, you get much higher levels of quercetin,” Prof. Waterhouse explained.

“In some cases, it can be four to five times higher.”

As a result of consuming this flavanol-filled wine people can accumulate a toxin called acetaldehyde which causes the painful symptom.

“Acetaldehyde is a well-known toxin, irritant, and inflammatory substance,” said Dr. Apramita Devi. “Researchers know that high levels of acetaldehyde can cause facial flushing, headache and nausea.”

Typically, a red wine headache can occur within 30 minutes to three hours after drinking as little as one glass.

ANOTHER IDEA: Eating This Vegetable May Prevent a Hangover, Study Suggests

“We postulate that when susceptible people consume wine with even modest amounts of quercetin, they develop headaches, particularly if they have a preexisting migraine or another primary headache condition,” said Professor Morris Levin, explaining the millennia-old mystery.

The team plans to conduct human clinical trials to get further answers as it’s still unclear why some people seem more susceptible to them than others.

“The next step is to test it scientifically on people who develop these headaches, so stay tuned.”

GREEN WINE-MAKING: 30 Wineries Sign Up to Refillable Wine Bottle Service in Oregon

Researchers don’t know if the enzymes of people who suffer from red wine headaches are more easily inhibited by quercetin or if they are just more easily affected by the buildup of the toxin acetaldehyde.

MAKE a TOAST By Sharing The Discovery on Social Media…

Survey Reveals Americans’ 2024 Strategies For Wellness Goals in the New Year 

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Good News Network
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By Sébastien Goldberg
By Sébastien Goldberg

Want to make your annual resolutions stick? Two in five Americans believe the best strategy is to “start small,” according to a new poll.

The results showed they prefer to make long-term goals rather than short-term ones, with 42% choosing to kick off their goals gradually, rather than jumping in headfirst (18%).

Those who prefer long-term goals do so because they believe they can take their time reaching them (62%), the results are usually bigger and better (57%)—and because they think other people won’t know if they fall off track (56%).

Among the 27% who prefer short-term goals, their reasons include having had more success in reaching them (61%) and seeing results faster (59%).

The easiest goals for respondents to achieve are practicing better hygiene (62%), drinking more water (55%), taking daily vitamins and supplements (49%) and working on flexibility, such as simply being able to touch your toes (41%).

Conducted by OnePoll on behalf of The Vitamin Shoppe and Ancient Nutrition, the random double-opt-in survey of 2,000 adults revealed that New Years Day is not necessarily the best moment to kick off your wellness goals.

Although 34% of respondents believe that January is the best month to start a new goal or habit, it is noteworthy that 14% selected February and 12% claim that any month will do.

CHECK OUT: Six Lifestyle Choices to Slow Memory Decline Identified in 10-Year Study of Aging

“Resolutions and goals, whether long-term or short-term, can be powerful motivators for each of us to work towards improving our health and sense of well-being,” says Dr. Josh Axe, co-founder of dietary supplement brand Ancient Nutrition and a member of The Vitamin Shoppe’s Wellness Council.

“I always recommend that resolutions be specific, measurable, and achievable, such as aiming to get eight hours of sleep per night or taking collagen each day to improve skin, joint, and gut health.”

Three-quarters (75%) of respondents set at least one resolution each new year, and view the start of a new year in different ways—63% see resolutions as a motivator, 50% as a tradition, and 44% as a way to improve their health.

HERE’S AN IDEA: Simply Wearing a Fitness Tracker Makes You Walk 40 Extra Minutes a Day – And Lose 2 Pounds

Of those respondents, an astounding 83% claim to have success with their resolutions over the years—including goals pertaining to relationships and friendships (51%), physical health (49%), socializing (44%) and mental health (39%).

The top health goals for 2024 include weight management (53%), hair and nail health (46%), fitness and strength (45%), and immune health (45%). To achieve these goals, respondents say they will be exercising more regularly (55%), taking vitamins and supplements (55%) and enlisting the help of family and friends (52%).

ALSO LOOK: 7 Healthy Habits Can Almost Halve Our Risk of Dying From Stroke and Protect Against Alzheimer’s

“Lots of people are setting goals at this time of year so you can feel supported and part of something bigger than just yourself,” noted Dr. Axe.

SHARE This With Your Own Plans And Strategies for 2024 on Social Media…

“Defects, disorders, and diseases can play a paradoxical role, by bringing out latent powers, developments, and evolutions that might never be seen in their absence.” – Oliver Sacks

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “Defects, disorders, and diseases can play a paradoxical role, by bringing out latent powers, developments, and evolutions that might never be seen in their absence.” – Oliver Sacks

Photo by: Jr Korpa

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?

Firefighters Crawl Across Frozen Lake and Save Stranded Deer Using a Curling Technique–WATCH

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Good News Network
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Courtesy Prior Lake Fire Department
Courtesy Prior Lake Fire Department

Every year, the frozen lakes of the North pose challenges for emergency teams called in to rescue people or animals on thin ice.

But this is the first time we’ve heard about innovative firefighters using a technique from an Olympic sport.

Worried locals in Minnesota called the Prior Lake Fire Department after they spied a large deer stuck on Pike Lake.

The animal could not stand up on the slippery surface of the ice and its legs were poking holes into the frigid lake.

The firefighters arrived and devised a plan to use a curling technique to push the deer to shore using a Y-shaped pole.

First, they had to reach the animal by crawling on their hands and knees.

MORE WINTER KINDNESS: Man Recycles 150 Old Coolers into Makeshift Shelters for Feral Cats

Courtesy of Prior Lake Fire Department

The city of Prior Lake described the heroic incident on Instagram.

“It was struggling to get off of the thin ice. Firefighters put on their protective gear and carefully crawled across the ice. They were successfully able to push the deer to shore.”

LOOK: Heartwarming Video Shows FedEx Driver Secretly Shoveling Snow Off of Customer’s Front Stoop

Watch the heartwarming report from Inside Edition…

HAIL THE KINDNESS Of Firefighters By Sharing This on Social Media…

Locked in a 4 Billion-Year-old Dance, Six New Exoplanets Demonstrate the Cosmic Beauty of ‘Resonant Orbits’

By
Andy Corbley
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6 planets of HD110067 system by Thibaut Roger/NCCR Planets – CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
6 planets of HD110067 system by Thibaut Roger/NCCR Planets – CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Reprinted with permission from World at Large, an independent news outlet covering conflict, travel, science, conservation, and health and fitness.

Scientists have discovered 6 exoplanets orbiting in perfect resonance around a star, meaning their orbits are synchronized. Such a phenomenon is only known to occur during the initial phases of star-and-planet system formation, indicating that little if anything has disturbed their eons-long ‘waltz’.

The bright star, HD 110067, was identified in the Coma Berenices constellation about 100 lightyears from Earth. The observations were first made by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) in 2020 and 2022, and they revealed several dips in the star’s brightness at routine times. With additional observations from the the European Space Agency’s ‘CHaracterising ExOPlanets Satellite’ (CHEOPS), the signals were interpreted as six planets passing in front of the star.

Brilliant—6 more exoplanets to study—a fantastic find at most times, but these were special since follow-up research by a team of European astronomers has revealed the 6 planets are engaged in a dance, where for every 3 complete orbits one planet makes, the next one out from the star completes 2.

The way in which this happens is typified by the theory of star-system formation, whereby the evolving planets in an early system exchange torque with the protoplanetary disks and migrate towards their star. As they begin to move they pull on each other until they reach an equilibrium whereby the gravity of each one affects the others on top of the existing gravitational pull of the star.

“Here we have 3 to 2, 3 to 2, 3 to 2, and 4 to 3, 4 to 3 I think, if I remember correctly, and this is all connecting all the planets in a resonance configuration, and by chance it happened that the inner planet made 6 orbits while the outer planet makes 1,” says co-author on the paper describing the sextuplets, Adrien Leleu at the University of Geneva, Switzerland.

“Once the disks are no more, you can break the resonance by some star passing by, or another massive planet, or any kind of instability that can arise. So you can break resonance during the years of evolution but you cannot easily form them, I mean we don’t know of any mechanism that would form them after the disk dissipates,” he adds. “So it means they are formed billions of years ago and they remain in this very precise very ordered orbital dance”.

CHECK OUT: Evidence of Massive Solar Storm Found in Ancient Tree Rings Could Help Scientists Predict the Next One

Resonance of 6 planets in HD110067 by Thibaut Roger/NCCR Planets – CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

As a result of the delicate nature of resonance configurations, many of the multiplanet systems known to astronomers are not in resonance, but look close enough that they could have been resonant once. However, multi-planet systems preserving their resonance are rare, with senior author Raphael Luque estimating that around 1% of multi-planet systems retain resonance.

Worth their weight in gold

The planets themselves are relatively normal. They are termed “sub-Neptunes’ which describe non-rocky worlds about 1 to 2 times the mass of the Earth, and while the team identified 6, they admit there could be more.

The rarity of their dance was noted by Dr. Hugh Osborn, author on the paper and of a video matching the orbital dance to musical chimes to help explain it.

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“These transiting systems are worth their weight in gold because these are the systems where because they pass in front of their star you get all this information,” he told the press in a video conference. “You get a very precise radius, you get the starlight filtering through the atmosphere which enables you to measure the atmospheric constituents, so that’s why this is such an important system”.

One of the most fascinating and immediate questions that arose was what can science glean from the HD 110067 system that might help discover what happened to the resonance in our own solar system, if there ever was such a configuration. Research has shown that the early solar system was populated with dozens more planetary bodies than now, and that collisions and the gravitational force of Jupiter reduced their number significantly.

The inclination between each planet in the orbital plane is very consistent, varying by less than 1 degree, further suggesting the system has been a very peaceful place for its 4.3 billion-year history.

“Even in our solar system, those resonances appear to have not survived, so having a system in which they have for billions of years—it’s going to tell us what are the requirements that at least for a star, that forms with its planets, must have in order to preserve these conditions,” said Dr. Luque at the University of Chicago.

ANOTHER DISCOVERY: NASA Just Found an Ocean World with Atmosphere–The Best Place to Look for Life in Our Galaxy

“Maybe learning about this one will tell us about why our solar system doesn’t have one; is it because of Jupiter and Saturn, because they took all of the material available and didn’t let the smaller planets to form? So all these questions we aim to answer by studying this system in detail.”

VIBRATE Your Science Pals on Social Media By Sharing This Fascinating Planetary Dance…

10-Year-old Girl’s Idea for a ‘Postbox to Heaven’ is Rolled Out Nationally Across Cemeteries in UK

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Good News Network
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Matilda Handy with her Letters to Heaven postbox – SWNS
Matilda Handy with her Letters to Heaven postbox – SWNS

A young girl’s idea for a ‘postbox to heaven’ so she could write to her grandparents has been realized at cemeteries across the UK.

10-year-old Matilda Handy came up with the suggestion after both her grandparents died, five years apart.

Her mother, Leanne, approached the Gedling Crematorium in Nottingham last year with the idea—and they heartily responded by erecting an old post box painted white and gold just in time for Christmas.

The emotional endeavor proved so popular that they now have been rolled out across 40 sites in England, Scotland, and Wales.

“Matilda was the first person to put a message in our first memorial post box at Gedling last December,” said her mom, who works for the company.

“We had no idea then that, one year later, there would be a memorial post box at every one of Westerleigh Group’s sites—bringing comfort to people all over the country.”

Matilda’s grandmother worked for the post office, which made the first ‘Letters to Heaven’ box even more moving.

SWNS

Soon after installation, more than 100 letters were dropped in the first box, which aimed to be a comfort to relatives longing for loved ones on anniversaries and holidays.

The idea has since been adopted by UK funeral directors, too, and Leanne said other countries are doing the same.

Matilda told SWNS news, “I am so thankful that our post boxes are able to help not just me and my friends and family but people all over the UK and as far away as Australia.”

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“It’s just a very nice way to express my feelings and send a letter to them and to say how much I love them.”

Her mom confirmed that Matilda was always saying she wished she could send birthday and Christmas cards to her grandparents to read in heaven.

“Matilda was so used to being around postboxes and letters and always wanted to send mama one.

“A lot of people miss sending cards at Christmas time and they find real comfort in sending something, whether it’s a child drawing a picture or an older person sending something to their loved ones… It helps with the process.”  (Check out GNN’s grieving news page to see more ideas that comfort.)

Westerleigh Group, one of the UK’s largest independent owners and operators of crematoria and cemeteries, said the positive feedback from the first box prompted them to commit to installing memorial post boxes at all its sites by the end of this year.

Letters to Heaven, in Gedling Crematorium – SWNS

The group estimates that around 3,000 letters, cards, and messages have been slipped into the memorial post boxes so far.

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Debbie Smith, CEO of Westerleigh Group, said the legacy of Matilda’s idea is “helping to bring comfort to thousands of bereaved people around the country, and beyond.”

“We’ve received so much incredibly positive feedback from people who tell us they have gained therapeutic benefit and comfort.

“Initially, people thought the post box at Gedling was there just for Christmas, but all our boxes are available all year round for people to post cards whenever they wish.”

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The schoolgirl has also written to King Charles to see if he might want to install one outside Buckingham Palace, to remember loved ones such as the late Queen, Prince Phillip, and Princess Diana.”

POST THIS on Social Media to Spread the Inspiring Idea…

Your Weekly Horoscope: A ‘Free Will Astrology’ From Rob Brezsny

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Our partner Rob Brezsny, who has a new book out, Astrology Is Real: Revelations from My Life as an Oracle, provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicated weekly column appearing in over a hundred publications. He is also the author of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How All of Creation Is Conspiring To Shower You with Blessings. (A free preview of the book is available here.)

Here is your weekly horoscope…

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week of December 2, 2023
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Sagittarian poet Nina Cassian said, “I promise to make you so alive that the fall of dust on furniture will deafen you.” I think she meant she would fully awaken the senses of her readers. She would boost our capacity for enchantment and entice us to feel interesting emotions we had never experienced. As we communed with her beautiful self-expression, we might even reconfigure our understanding of who we are and what life is about. I am pleased to tell you, Sagittarius, that even if you’re not a writer, you now have an enhanced ability to perform these same services—both for yourself and for others.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
“Sometimes I get lonesome for a storm,” says Capricorn singer-songwriter Joan Baez. “A full-blown storm where everything changes.” That approach has worked well for her. At age 82, she has released 30 albums and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She has recorded songs in eight languages and has been honored by Amnesty International for her work on behalf of human rights. If you’re feeling resilient—which I think you are—I recommend that you, too, get lonesome for a storm. Your life could use some rearrangement. If you’re not feeling wildly bold and strong, maybe ask the gods for a mild squall.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Science educator Neil deGrasse Tyson tells us that water molecules we drink have “passed through the kidneys of Socrates, Genghis Khan, and Joan of Arc.” The same prodigious truth applies to the air we breathe: It has “passed through the lungs of Napoleon, Beethoven, and Abraham Lincoln.” Tyson would have also been accurate if he said we have shared water and air that has been inside the bodies of virtually every creature who has ever lived. I bring these facts to your attention, Aquarius, in the hope of inspiring you to deepen your sense of connectedness to other beings. Now is an excellent time to intensify your feelings of kinship with the web of life. Here’s the practical value of doing that: You will attract more help and support into your life.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
I am saying a prayer for you. I pray to the Fates that you will not accept lazy or careless efforts from others. You won’t allow their politeness to be a cover-up for manipulativeness. I also pray that you will cultivate high expectations for yourself. You won’t be an obsessive perfectionist, but will be devoted to excellence. All your actions will be infused with high integrity. You will conscientiously attend to every detail with the faith that you are planting seeds that will bloom beautifully in the future.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):
As a child, I loved to go to a meadow and whirl around in spirals until I got so dizzy, I fell. As I lay on the ground, the earth, sky, and sun reeled madly, and I was no longer just a pinpoint of awareness lodged inside my body, but was an ecstatically undulating swirl in the kaleidoscopic web of life. Now, years later, I’ve discovered many of us love spinning. Scientists postulate humans have a desire for the intoxicating vertigo it brings. I would never recommend you do what I did as a kid; it could be dangerous for some of you. But if it’s safe and the spirit moves you, do it! Or at least imagine yourself doing it—like the Sufi Whirling Dervishes who use spinning as a meditation.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Your power creature in the coming weeks will not be an eagle, wolf, bear, or salmon. I don’t advise you to dream of being a wild horse, tiger, or crocodile. Instead, I invite you to cultivate a deep bond with the mushroom family. Why? Now is a favorable time to be like the mushrooms that keep the earth fresh. In wooded areas, they eat away dead trees and leaves, preventing larger and larger heaps of compost from piling up. They keep the soil healthy and make nutrients available for growing things. Be like those mushrooms, Taurus. Steadily and relentlessly rid your world of the defunct and decaying parts—thereby stimulating fertility.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
Gemini novelist Geraldine McCaughrean wrote, “Maybe courage is like memory—a muscle that needs exercise to get strong. So I decided that maybe if I started in a small way, I could gradually work my way up to being brave.” That is an excellent prescription for you: the slow, incremental approach to becoming bolder and pluckier. For best results, begin practicing on mild risks and mellow adventures. Week by week, month by month, increase the audacious beauty of your schemes and the intensity of your spunk and fortitude. By mid-2024, you will be ready to launch a daring project.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):
Cancerian neurologist and author Oliver Sacks worked with people who had unusual neurological issues. His surprising conclusion: “Defects, disorders, and diseases can play a paradoxical role, by bringing out latent powers, developments, and evolutions that might never be seen in their absence.” In not all cases, but more often than seemed reasonable, he found that disorders could be regarded as creative—”for if they destroy particular paths, particular ways of doing things, they may force unexpected growth.” Your assignment is to meditate on how the events of your life might exemplify the principle Sacks marvels at: apparent limitations leading to breakthroughs and bonanzas.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
I am falling in love with how deeply you are falling in love with new ways of seeing and understanding yourself. My heart sings as I listen to your heart singing in response to new attractions. Keep it up, Leo! You are having an excellent influence on me. My dormant potentials and drowsy passions are stirring as I behold you waking up and coaxing out your dormant potentials and drowsy passions. Thank you, dear!

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Virgo journalist Sydney Harris offered advice I suggest you meditate on. He wrote, “Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.” I bring this to your attention because now is a favorable time to take action on things you have not yet done—and should do. If you put definitive plans in motion soon, you will ensure that regret won’t come calling in five years. (PS: Amazingly, it’s also an excellent time to dissolve regret you feel for an iffy move you made in the past.)

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
In contrast to false stereotypes, Medieval Europeans were not dirty and unhygienic. They made soap and loved to bathe. Another bogus myth says the people of the Middle Ages believed the Earth was flat. But the truth was that most educated folks knew it was round. And it’s questionable to refer to this historical period as backward, since it brought innovations like mechanical timekeepers, moveable type, accurate maps, the heavy plow, and illuminated manuscripts. In this spirit, and in accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to strip away misconceptions and celebrate actual facts in your own sphere. Be a scrupulous revealer, a conscientious and meticulous truth-teller.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Scorpio poet John Berryman said, “To grow, we must travel in the direction of our fears.” Yikes! I personally wouldn’t want to do that kind of growth all the time. I prefer traveling cheerfully in the direction of my hopes and dreams. But then I’m not a Scorpio. Maybe Berryman’s strategy for fulfilling one’s best destiny is a Scorpio superpower. What do you think? One thing I know for sure is that the coming weeks will be an excellent time to re-evaluate and reinvent your relationship with your fears. I suggest you approach the subject with a beginner’s mind. Empty yourself of all your previous ideas and be open to healing new revelations.

WANT MORE? Listen to Rob’s EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES, 4-5 minute meditations on the current state of your destiny — or subscribe to his unique daily text message service at: RealAstrology.com

(Zodiac images by Numerologysign.com, CC license)

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“Wise sayings often fall on barren ground, but a kind word is never thrown away.” – Sir Arthur Helps

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Good News Network
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Credit: Thomas Bennie

Quote of the Day: “Wise sayings often fall on barren ground, but a kind word is never thrown away.” – Sir Arthur Helps

Photo by: Thomas Bennie

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?

New Google Geothermal Electricity Project Could Be a Milestone for Clean Energy

By
Andy Corbley
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Fermo Energy's Google Geothermal Energy Plant - released
Fermo Energy’s Google Geothermal Energy Plant – released

An advanced geothermal project funded and developed by Google has begun pumping carbon-free electricity onto the Nevada grid to power the company’s data centers there.

Geothermal energy was once confined in theory to areas of geothermal activity, but if one drills deep enough, there’s extreme heat from the planet’s core essentially everywhere to be harnessed to make steam and drive turbines to create carbon-free electricity 24 hours a day when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining.

For this reason, Google made an early bet on this enhanced geothermal technology, and partnered with the Utah-based Fervo Energy, which uses drilling techniques from the oil and gas industry to create a first-of-its-kind power plant in Nevada.

GNN reported that initial tests in July showed that the technology was working, in which the hypothesized 3.5 megawatts were indeed being delivered.

A borehole was made 8,000 feet into the desert plains before being extended horizontally 3,000 feet. A second, shallower tunnel was drilled above it. As cold water is pumped into the lower shaft, heat causes it to rise through cracks in the rock created by fracking into the upper shaft, a process which heats it well above supercritical temperatures of 200°F.

Once topside, the superheated fluid boils another well of water to create steam to drive a turbine and power Google’s Henderson City data center with a combination of storage and solar power.

MORE GEOTHERMAL INNOVATIONS: After Fracking is Halted, the Site’s Drill Hole is Now A Source of Clean Geothermal Energy

MORE GEOTHERMAL INNOVATIONS: The Perfect Energy Source Is Already Here – Endless Geothermal Is Poised for Release From Deep in the Earth

“We’re really hoping that this could be a springboard to much, much more advanced geothermal power available to us and others around the world,” Michael Terrell, who leads decarbonization efforts at Google, told AP.

The backing has spurred on Fervo Energy to greater heights, and the company recently completed the drilling phase for a 400-megawatt energy project in Southern Utah.

While Google has only started with this project in Nevada, there’s potential for geothermal to grow. The company recently announced a partnership with Project InnerSpace, a leading non-profit organization dedicated to the global development of geothermal energy, to accelerate the adoption of geothermal energy.

WATCH the story below from Google… 

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NASA Turns Light into Sound Frequency Creating a Milky Way Symphony (LISTEN)

By
Andy Corbley
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The bright spot on the right is hot gas in infrared light, marking the approximate location of the galaxy's supermassive black hole. X-ray: NASA / CXC / SAO; Optical: NASA / STScI; IR: Spitzer NASA / JPL-Caltech
The bright spot on the right is hot gas in infrared light, marking the approximate location of the galaxy’s supermassive black hole. X-ray: NASA / CXC / SAO; Optical: NASA / STScI; IR: Spitzer NASA / JPL-Caltech

A collaboration between NASA and musicians has seen a photograph of the Milky Way from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory turned into a musical piece after they matched the wavelengths of light to wavelengths of sound in order to show our home galaxy in a whole different light—namely a musical one.

While astronomers working with Chandra weren’t chilling out to the lo-fi beats of the Milky Way (feat. Supermassive Black Hole) when they took the photograph of the galactic center, it did dawn on them that they were producing a pretty false image, since they were imaging X-rays that can’t be seen by the human eye.

It’s been standard practice to color code various wavelengths of light, even if those don’t correspond to light our eyes would actually perceive, in order to disseminate X-ray space photographs to the public.

This time, Kimberly Arcand, an expert in astronomy visualization at the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, collaborated with several musicians to create a musical guide to interpreting the contents of the photograph.

The galactic center is just the most recent and expressive musical track, but many other features and regions of space have been “sonified” with the help of astrophysicist and musician Matt Russo, and sound engineer Andrew Santaguida who together run a project called System-Sounds that sonifies astronomical data.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Revolutionary Music Therapy Helps Paralyzed Man Walk and Talk Again – It ‘Unlocked the Brain’

These include famous sights like the Crab Nebula, the Carina Nebula, Messier 104, and the WD2 star cluster.

In each one of these beautiful images, optical, infrared, and X-ray light has its own track, some represented by strings, others by bells and chimes, and others by synths.

MORE COOL SPACE STUFF: Spacecraft ‘Hack’ Results in Never-Before-Seen Views of Our Sun – LOOK

In the galactic center piece, a piano is used for infrared, and with eyes closed a layman might consider it a more avant-garde contemporary piece, or Claude Debussy fiddling with a new idea.

It’s important to remember that if you turned on your monitors and stuck a microphone in the middle of the galactic center, there wouldn’t be any music. These sounds are auditory matches of the visual wavelengths picked up by the telescope. It’s important to remember because the sounds seem unmistakably right a home within the image.

LISTEN to the ensemble piece below, and follow the link to hear more… 

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Free Engagement Ring to Couples Who Include Cats in Their Plans for Wedding Proposal in December

By
Andy Corbley
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credit Felix Cat Insurance
credit Felix Cat Insurance

With December being the most popular month for engagements and gift-giving, a cat-loving company is holding a contest to see which happy couples can come up with the most inventive and heartwarming way to include their cat in a marriage proposal.

To the winner goes the cost of the engagement ring up to $4,750, and Felix Cat Insurance has several ideas to get prospective proposers thinking.

They suggest having your kitty walk into the room toting a ring on its collar, or some variation on the theme.

Starting today, anyone planning to propose this December can privately share their engagement plans at FelixPurrfectProposal.com, including how their kitty will be involved in the memorable milestone moment.

The cat insurance brand will then select one lucky winner and their furry friend to receive the cost of an engagement ring, and a celebratory package of cat treats, a plush champagne toy, and festive feline accessories should the kitty want to dress up for the special occasion.

“Our felines are family members and just like your closest friends and family, we want to include them in celebrating meaningful moments like this,” said Jamie Maxfield, Marketing Director and Brand Expert at Felix Cat Insurance.

“Planning for the future can also bring challenges, which is why we’re spreading holiday cheer by easing the expense of this life milestone as you, your partner, and your furry friend embark on your new life together. Not only is Felix here to ease the expense of this core life event, we can also be there every step of the way afterwards.”

The contest is not available in Washington or Puerto Rico, and the drawing will take place on December 22nd.

KNOW Someone Looking To Pop The Question? Send Them This Story ASAP…

Teen Creates LEGO Charity to Collect and Wash Old Bricks to Give Away New Sets–For 3,000 Kids So Far

By
Andy Corbley
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Charlie Jeffers repurposing LEGOS –Pass the Bricks
Charlie Jeffers repurposing LEGOS –Pass the Bricks

Charlie Jeffers has been playing with LEGO since he was 4 or 5 and credits one of the most famous of all toys for helping him learn math and engineering concepts, and how to be focused, flexible, and creative.

It occurred to him that many kids don’t have access to play tools like LEGO, and their emotional and cognitive development suffers as a result.

The senior at Redwood High School in Marin County, California, realized that by getting LEGO into the hands of kids who can’t afford the name-brand toys, he can also avoid them ending up in landfills.

He launched Pass the Bricks in 2020 to address both of these issues. He and his volunteer-based team repurpose used LEGO bricks into new original sets for kids in marginalized communities who don’t know about them or can’t afford them.

Pass the Bricks has an open model program template with four key steps: collect used LEGO bricks, sanitize and sort them, create new sets with the used bricks, and deliver the sets to kids in marginalized communities.

The team distributes the sets to kids in need directly or through partnerships with 11 various nonprofit organizations.

MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: 9-Year-old’s Lemonade Stand Raises $2,000 For Shelter Cats After He Saw They Had No Toys

One in particular that’s flourishing is Jeffers’ ongoing relationship with multiple chapters of the Boys and Girls Club of America. As part of these ongoing relationships, Pass the Bricks delivers a specific number of sets every month (i.e., 50 sets per month to Boys and Girls Club in San Francisco), which the nonprofit can include in its larger deliveries to kids and families in need.

To date, the organization has delivered over 3,055 sets to kids in need, and people immediately see the value in it.

“We sent our Lego bricks to Ecuador with my son’s middle school some years back. I love to think of kids there playing with them,” said Paola, a neighbor of Jeffers who contributed to the project.

Some of his new sets are quite innovative, like the “Superman Would Like Just One Day Off” set, featuring a grumpy Clark Kent in bed with his suit hanging in the closet, or the “Droid Escape Pod,” which is a faithful representation of the spacecraft used by R2-D2 in the opening scenes of the first Star Wars Film.

Charlie Jeffers repurposing LEGOS –Pass the Bricks

With over 20 volunteers, Jeffers’ has expanded the program in their communities in San Francisco, Marin County, Portland, Austin, DC, Richmond, and Los Angeles, and is now looking to scale the program further to create as much impact as possible.

MORE INNOVATIVE CHARITIES: Never-Ending Literary Treasure Hunt Has Kids Finding Hidden Books, Reading, Then Re-Hiding Them for Others

He’s created an easy-to-use program template with clear instructions on how to facilitate the program out of one’s home. His ultimate goal is widespread behavior change so that every LEGO brick has a second life and that as many kids as possible get access to this incredible play tool.

Anyone looking to donate their old LEGO should contact Charlie on his website.

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“Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

Photo by: Ben White (cropped)

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?

Aurora Borealis May Be Visible in U.S. Northern Tier Tonight, NOAA Announces

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Good News Network
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By Luke Stackpoole
By Luke Stackpoole

The U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center run by NOAA has just predicted a visible aurora borealis may appear in the northern US tonight, after observing several solar flares kicking up over the last few days.

These flares, known as coronal mass ejections, are what cause the geomagnetic storms which we see as green lights in the sky from the surface.

At the moment, the NOAA Aurora Forecast can’t say for sure if they will appear south of Northern Canada, but if this were to change, it would likely appear in the northernmost states east of the Rockies.

The magnetic field redirects incoming solar wind, which is made up of charged particles, towards the north and south magnetic poles.

The colors are dependent on the particles being ejected by the sun. Nitrogen shows up as red, while the classic green color is because of oxygen.

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Secret Donor Gives and Gives for 25 Years–$2.3 Million to Fund Education and Support for Poorer Families in China

By
Andy Corbley
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The anonymous donations have been used to create education opportunities for disadvantaged children. Jerry Wang - Unsplash
The anonymous donations have been used to create education opportunities for disadvantaged children. Jerry Wang – Unsplash

The year was 1999, and on a late November day the volunteers at the Ningbo Charity Federation in Eastern China found a strange letter addressed to them from an individual referred to only as shun qi zi ran, translated roughly to “let nature take its course.”

Inside was 50,000 Chinese RMB, or around $7,000 in remittances—payments typically sent from a person back home to their family from a foreign country.

Next year, the same letter came from ‘let nature take its course,” and the year after that, and the year after that; each one filled with money.

Three weeks ago, another letter came totaling 1.08 million RMB ($150,000) across 100 different remittance certificates. It marks the fifteenth million sent to the charity—more than $2 million—across 25 years of anonymous giving.

“He sent us a letter. I remember he said in it, ‘I will not do bad things and will also not speak about the good things I did. Just let nature take its course,’” Gao Peng, secretary-general of the Ningbo Charity, was quoted as saying.

“So we respected his wish and did not try to find him. We also followed his request of using his donations for education.”

MORE POSITIVE NEWS FROM THE EAST: New Tallest Tree in Asia–a 335-Foot Cypress Shows There’s Plenty Left in the World to Discover

Mainland China banking regulations stipulate that cash transfers of over $1,500 require identification, and so the donor used remittances to circumvent the rule and maintain his anonymity.

The donations stretch back to a time when China was far poorer than it is today, with a GDP one-third that of Japan and one-ninth that of America.

MORE GIVING: The Values of Giving, Compassion and Family, Flourishing Across the World: Survey Shows

Ningbo Charity has said they used the money over the years to build several schools for underprivileged children in the Province of Zhejiang.

Chinese culture is nothing if not particular, and stories of anonymous donors are not uncommon. They often trend online, in fact, and South China Morning Post referred to a story from central China’s Hebei Province where a senior care home received several donations totaling around $875,000 from an “old friend.”

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