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Unmarried Brothers Looking for an Heir to Preserve World’s Largest Collection of Cuckoo Clocks –LOOK

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Cuckooland’s Roman Piekarski with the world’s largest collection of cuckoo clocks in Cheshire, England – SWNS
Cuckooland’s Roman Piekarski with the world’s largest collection of cuckoo clocks in Cheshire, England – SWNS

Two unmarried brothers are seeking an heir to take over their cuckoo clock collection—the largest one in the world.

For five decades, Roman and Maz Piekarski have collected 750 intricate pendulum-driven clocks to display in their ‘Cuckooland’ museum.

But as time ticks down on their careers, the siblings who have no children are now desperate to find someone to take on the metronomic menagerie before their deaths, according to Southwest News Service.

“I’m 71 and Maz is 69, and we have not got anybody to leave it to,” explained Roman.

“It would be wonderful if we could get someone to take it on. It really would be.”

They became fascinated with clocks as teens and went into the trade as apprentices after leaving school at 15.

The brothers from England traveled all around the world hunting down unique timepieces while trying to beat rival collectors from the U.S. and Germany.

But after amassing the world’s largest collection for their museum outside of Cheshire (see video below), they now have no sons or daughters to leave it to.

Roman Piekarski, 71, begins turning back clocks for daylight savings at Cuckooland – SWNS

“For the last four years, I have been making small inquiries as to finding somebody who could take it over,” says Roman. “But I’ve not found a single person who could come in and run it.

“We are looking for a body to take Cuckooland on, hopefully keep it together for all time. We’ve still got the time to teach people—and we don’t care where we have to go to do it—so they’ll know how to maintain, look after, give guided tours, whatever is necessary.”

KEPT ON TICKING: Cancer Patient Who Set Up Antiques Shop as Dying Wish is Still in Business 20 Years Later

They caught the bug for European cuckoo clocks after learning that they all came from a 25-mile patch of the Black Forest in Germany.

Their finest pieces include one made for Frederick I, the Grand Duke of Barden in the 1860s, and another was brought aboard a Lancaster bomber in World War II.

Cuckooland – SWNS

The rarest clocks can take years to acquire, and whenever the pair hears a whisper that there might be an antique clock coming to market, they are ready to travel and get in ‘the hunt’.

“If it’s a special clock that’s come up for sale, I would do the deal and then get the next flight out of Manchester to the nearest airport to where the people live and then locate it and pay for it and then fly back – all in the same day. And now we have got some very, very rare pieces.”

At a fair in the Black Forest, for instance, he laid eyes on a hotly desired 1860s hand-built clock that he’d been chasing for two years—and quickly snapped it up.

“How I’d found it before everyone else? We have a saying in England: ‘First up, best dressed’.”

LOOK: 90-Year-old Woodcutter Built his Own Hobbit House Where He Lives in Charming Comfort

Roman said he’d approached various people about taking on the collection but had not received any offers, despite mostly rave reviews from visitors and specialists.

“The British museum got in touch with us, and they said ‘If we could lift your place and put it in our place, that would be the best thing we could do.

“I’ve got it in me to teach someone how to do the guided tours and about the clocks and the different stories—and my brother’s got time to teach someone about doing the movements.

LUCKY THRIFT FIND: Mom Bought Rare Steiff Teddy Bear at Yard Sale That’s Set to be Sold For $6,000

“When people leave our museum, they are absolutely gobsmacked. People just can’t believe what we’ve managed to put together.”

Their website has been abandoned, but if you are interested in a new career or to inquire further, contact them by phone (+44 1565 633039) or visit them on Chester Road in Tabley, Cheshire.

Get a look at the museum in the video below…

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IT’S TIME to Share the Extraordinary Opportunity on Social Media–And Help Someone Find Their New Passion…

Study Shows Hearing Aids May Help People Live Longer–Reducing Risk of Death by 24%

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By Mark Paton
By Mark Paton

New research suggests hearing aids may help people live longer, showing that such devices reduce the risk of death by almost 25 percent.

Hearing loss affects tens of millions of people around the world—but only one in 10 who need hearing aids use them.

Those who refuse their doctor’s advice to wear hearing aids may want to make a New Year’s resolutions to wear one, according to Scientists at the University of Southern California who conducted a new study published in The Lancet journal Healthy Longevity.

“We found that adults with hearing loss who regularly used hearing aids had a 24 percent lower risk of mortality than those who never wore them,” said lead research Dr. Janet Choi.

“These results are exciting because they suggest that hearing aids may play a protective role in people’s health and prevent early death.”

Previous research has shown that untreated hearing loss can result in a reduced life span, and higher levels of depression and dementia, but there’s been little research examining if the use of hearing aids can reduce the risk of death.

REVERSING HEARING LOSS: MIT Researchers Reverse Hearing Loss By Regenerating Inner Ear Hair Growth

Dr. Choi, an otolaryngologist with USC’s Keck Medicine, said that the new study represents the most comprehensive analysis to date on the relationship between hearing aid use and mortality.

She and her colleagues used data compiled by a national survey from 2012 to identify almost 10,000 adults 20 years and older who had completed audiometry evaluations, a test used to measure hearing ability, and who filled out questionnaires about their hearing aid use. Their mortality status was followed for a follow-up period of 10 years after their evaluations.

By Mark Paton

A total of 1,863 adults were identified as having hearing loss. Of these, 237 were regular hearing aid users, which were characterized as those who reported wearing the aids at least once a week, five hours a week or half the time, and 1,483 were identified as ‘never-users’ of the devices. Subjects who wore the devices less than once a month were categorized as ‘non-regular’ users.

Researchers found that the almost 25% difference in mortality risk between regular hearing aid users and never-users remained steady, regardless of variables such as the degree of hearing loss (from mild to severe); age, ethnicity, income, education and other demographics; and medical history.

There was no difference in mortality risk between non-regular users and never users, indicating that occasional hearing aid use may not provide any life-extending benefit.

WATCH: Baby Girl has Priceless Reaction to Hearing Her Sister’s Voice for the First Time

While the study didn’t examine why the hearing aids may help people live longer, but Dr. Choi pointed to recent research linking hearing aid use with lower levels of depression and dementia.

She believes the improvements in mental health and cognition that come with improved hearing can promote better overall health.

She, herself, was born with hearing loss in her left ear—but did not wear a hearing device until her 30s. She hopes this research will encourage people to overcome factors like stigma and cost, which might keep them from acquiring a device.

LOWER COSTS: Biden’s Move to Allow Hearing Aids to Be Sold Over-the-Counter is Now Saving Americans Thousands

Choi is also working on an AI-driven database that categorizes hearing aid choices and tailors them to individual patient needs.

DON’T BE SILENT: Share the Health Tip With Loved Ones on Social Media…

Quick-Thinking Hero Saves Trapped Woman and Toddler From Sinking Car by Lashing it to Bridge

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SWNS
SWNS

A hero dad saved a woman and her three-year-old daughter after he saw their car being swept away in a flooded river.

Liam Stych leapt into action fighting a raging torrent after hearing the woman screaming “Help me, help me, please save my baby!”

A video shows the woman’s car being dragged under a footbridge as floods surged through Birmingham, England on Tuesday following Storm Henk.

Not only did the 28-year-old dangle off the bridge and smash the rear passenger window, the quick-thinking dad used ratchet straps to lash the Fiat to the bridge to stop it from sinking. (See the video below…)

“We were walking over a bridge and I heard a woman screaming from inside a car.

“The front of her car was pointing down into the water so I dangled off the bridge. I didn’t want to make the situation worse by sinking the car with my weight.”

“I told the woman to remain calm and unwind her window and to hand me her child.”

The woman could only get her window half-way down but he grabbed the baby and “hurled her” into the arms of his pregnant partner who was on the bridge. The highway engineer then sprinted back to his work van and grabbed a set of 3.5 ton ratchet straps.

MORE HEROISM: Utah Man Jumps Into Icy River to Save Woman Attempting Suicide at the Same Spot Where he First Dated His Wife

“Once the baby was safe I ran to get the straps and climbed back to the car and smashed the back passenger window.”

The car secured to the bridge following the rescue in Hall Green, Birmingham – SWNS

“I secured the car to the bridge with the ratchet straps so it wouldn’t drift any further under the bridge.”

“I then told the woman to climb into the back and get out the window.

“She managed to get out and we held hands to jump together into the water after a count of three. (The current) was really strong and I dragged her out of the water.”

West Midlands Police hailed Liam a hero, but the modest dad-of-two insisted he just acted “on instinct”.

“I think if I hadn’t done what I did the car would have been dragged under the bridge and there would have been no way of getting them out.

POPULAR: Driver Sees 18-Year-old Jump off 50-ft Bridge and Instantly Dives into Racing River to Save Him

“It was pure luck that we were there when it happened.”

He hopes people are educated about the danger of flooding.

“It’d been raining heavily and the roads suddenly turned into rivers and the streams turned into raging rivers.

CHECK OUT: Crane Operator Saves Man From Top of Burning Skyscraper After Seeing Him Wave His Coat (WATCH)

“The poor lady has lost her car and her shopping which was in the back but she and her daughter could have lost their lives.”

Watch the video below…

SHARE the Inspiring Actions of a Hero Dad With Friends on Social Media…

Your Horoscope for the Week: 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 January 6, 2024
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
“All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening,” quipped Capricorn author Alexander Woollcott (1887–1943). Since he was never arrested, I conclude he didn’t get to enjoy some of the activities he relished. Was he immoral? Not exactly, though he could be caustic. Offering his opinion about a famous pianist, he said, “There is absolutely nothing wrong with Oscar Levant that a miracle couldn’t fix.” The good news for you, Capricorn, is that 2024 will be mostly free of the problems Woollcott experienced. You will be offered an abundance of perfectly legal and moral enjoyments. They may sometimes be fattening, but so what?

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Singer-songwriter Tori Amos says she’s sure she was burned for being a witch in a previous lifetime. I suspect most of us had past incarnations in which we were punished simply for being our beautiful selves. I bring this up, Aquarius, because I think 2024 will be a favorable time to get some healing from any ancient hurt like that. You will have a series of experiences that could help you recover from the illusion that being faithful to your truth is somehow wrong. Life will conspire with you to help you reclaim more of the full audacity to be your gorgeous, genuine self.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
I believe 2024 will be one of the best years ever for your education. Your willingness and eagerness to learn will be at a peak. Your knack for attracting inspirational teachers will be excellent. It’s likely you will be exceptionally curious and open to good influences. My advice is to be alert for lessons not just from obvious sources of wisdom and revelation, but also from unexpected founts. Don’t be too sure you know where revelations and illumination might come from.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):
The plan I will propose in this horoscope is for temporary use. I’m not recommending you stick to it for all of 2024, but just for the next 15 to 18 days. If you do, I believe it will set you up for beautiful success in the coming months. Here’s my idea: Embark on a free-form extravaganza of playing and having fun. Just for now, set aside your ambition. Don’t worry about improving yourself and producing results. Simply enjoy a phase of suspending inhibitions, creatively messing around, having nothing to prove, and being motivated by the quest for joy.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Climate change is impacting rainbows. Rising temperatures and dryer conditions mean that some parts of the world will get fewer rainbows, and other areas will get more. Canada and Siberia will benefit, while the Mediterranean will be less well-endowed with sky-borne arcs of color that come from sunlit rain. But I predict that no matter where you live, the rainbow will be a potent and regular symbol for you Bulls in 2024—more than ever before. That means you will have increased reasons to entertain hope and more power to find beauty. On occasion, there may even be very good luck at the metaphorical rainbow’s end.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
As one of your inspirational stories for 2024, I offer this tale from singer-songwriter Tom Waits: “Once upon a time, there was a crooked tree and a straight tree. They grew next to each other. Every day, the straight tree would look at the crooked tree and say, ‘You’re crooked. You’ve always been crooked, and you’ll continue to be crooked. But look at me! I’m tall, and I’m straight.’ Then one day, lumberjacks came to the forest and looked around. The manager in charge said, ‘Cut all the straight trees.’ And that crooked tree is still there to this day, growing strong and growing strange.” (PS: Here’s more from Gemini writer Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Be true to your own act, and congratulate yourself if you have done something strange and extravagant.”)

CANCER (June 21-July 22):
Japanese artist Hokusai (1760-1849) developed a fascination for his country’s iconic Mount Fuji. In his seventies, he produced a series of woodblock prints titled Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji. Later, he added three books of prints collectively called One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji. Some art historians say his obsession stemmed from the legend that the mountain was home to the secret of immortality. The coming year will be a fine time for you Cancerians to celebrate and concentrate on your own Mount Fuji-like passion. Sometime soon, identify what it is, and start making plans to commune with it intensely.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
If you will ever in your life go viral—that is, create or do something that suddenly becomes widely known and influential—I bet it will be in 2024. Even if you don’t produce TikTok videos seen by 10 million people, you are at least likely to become more visible in your local community or field of endeavor. Of course, I would prefer that your fame and clout spread because of the good deeds you do, not the weird deeds. So I urge you to cultivate high integrity and a wildly generous spirit in the coming months. Be a role model who inspires and uplifts.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
I expect 2024 to be a free-spirited, wide-ranging, big-vision type of year for you, dear Virgo. I predict you will feel an abundance of urges to travel, roam, and explore. You will be more excited than anxious about the prospect of leaving your comfort zone, and you will have a special fondness for getting your mind expanded by interesting encounters. That doesn’t mean you will avoid all awkwardness and confusion. Some of that stuff will happen, though it will usually evolve into educational adventures. And the extra good news is that wandering out in nature will provide even more inspiration and healing than usual. Treasure this quote from conservationist Rachel Carson: “Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure: the migration of the birds, the ebb and flow of the tides, the folded bud ready for the spring.”

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
I am pleased to inform you that a visit to hell will not be on your itinerary in 2024. You may be invited to take a few excursions into the realm that depth psychologists call the underworld, but that’s a good thing. There you will be able to hunt for treasures that have been hidden and uncover secrets that will illuminate your epic, months-long quest for wholeness. It may sometimes be dark and shadowy down there below, but almost always dark and shadowy in ways that will lead you to healing. (I will reiterate what I implied above: The underworld is NOT hell.)

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
I hope that working hard on togetherness will be a fun project for you in the coming months. To do it well, you must outgrow some habitual ways of doing friendship and intimacy. You will have to be imaginative and ingenious. Are you willing to believe that you do not yet know all there is to know about being a fantastic ally and partner? Are you ready to approach the arts of collaboration and cooperation as if enhancing your skills is the most important thing you can do? For the sake of your best selfish goals, be a brilliant teammate in 2024.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Each of us is a complex, kaleidoscopic work of art, whether or not we consciously approach our destiny in that spirit. Every day, we use our creative imagination to craft new elements of the masterpiece known as the story of our life. Leos come by this fun project naturally, but you Sagittarians also have great potential to embrace it with glee and panache. I trust you will be especially keen on enjoying this sacred work in 2024. And right now, today and in the coming weeks, will be an excellent time to ramp up the scintillating drama.

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)

SHARE The Wisdom With Friends Who Are Stars in Your Life on Social Media…

“Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination toward injustice makes democracy necessary.” – Reinhold Niebuhr

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Quote of the Day: “Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination toward injustice makes democracy necessary.” – Reinhold Niebuhr

Photo by: Andy Feliciotti

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?

Scientists Hail New Antibiotic That Can Kill Drug-Resistant Bacteria

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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

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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.

SHARE This Inspiring Story Of Tech Used For Good In South Asia… 

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

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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… 

SHARE This Personal Accomplishment With Your Gamer Friends… 

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… 

SHARE This Touching Story Of Children Learning Generosity In The Best Way…

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

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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.

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“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.”

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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.

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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.

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“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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

By
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?

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