Quote of the Day: “There’s no use doing a kindness if you do it a day too late.” – Charles Kingsley (So, be kind today!)
Image by: Jesus Fodulla
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
63 years ago today, Mutual of Omaha’s ‘Wild Kingdom’ was first broadcast on NBC. Hosted by American zoologist Marlin Perkins and filmed by Jim Fowler, the program won 4 Emmys for Outstanding Program Achievement during its original running on NBC every Sunday. ‘Wild Kingdom’ brought the wilds of the Amazon River, the Serengeti, and more into the living rooms of millions of Americans. Just recently, GNN reported on the successful launch of a third reboot of the show, hosted by Perkins’ eventual replacement, Peter Gros. WATCH an episode below… (1963)
Out of the fire that claimed over 40 young lives in Switzerland on New Year’s Eve comes a story of heroism and coincidence that allowed an Italian Swiss father to help rescue 10 of the youth trapped inside the underground venue.
In the Swiss town of Crans Montana, sparklers or similar items are believed to have ignited the ceiling of Le Constellation bar where over 150 young adults were celebrating the new year.
Paolo Campolo, 55 anni, è uno degli eroi della tragica notte di Capodanno a Crans-Montana.L'uomo di origini calabresi che ha salvato, insieme ad altri soccorritori, decine di giovani dal fuoco devastante esploso nel bar, ora si trova in un ospedale di S... https://t.co/w2P3WQwMbC
— RaiNews (@RaiNews) January 3, 2026
Paolina Campolo, a student in Geneva who was home with her boyfriend to visit her family, might have been among that crowd, if not for a stopover at the home of her father, Paolo, “to say hello, toast together, and open the panettone.”
Paolina’s boyfriend was waiting for her at Le Constellation, and it was her late arrival that saved both her life, and that of her boyfriend.
“It was our fault she was late: she should have been at that club already at midnight,” Campolo said from his hospital bed according to the Italian outlet Il Messaggero. “Today I can say it without exaggeration: that delay saved her life.”
At about 1:20 a.m., as Paolina was going to meet her boyfriend, she called her father having seen flames rising above the building. Located not far from the upscale bar, Paolo rushed there with his own fire extinguisher.
Searching the exterior, he and a stranger eventually found an exit, “but it was blocked or locked from the inside. I forced my way in, and that’s how I managed to save 10 young people,” said Paolo.
FIRE RESCUES: 12-year-old Hero Boy Saves Family from Blaze–and Secures Future Job by Impressing the Fire Chief
Some of what he saw through the windows horrified him, but he carried on by constantly imagining that everyone inside was his own child.
“The local solidarity was extraordinary,” he continued in the interview. “The nearby bars reinvented themselves as medical hubs. In particular, the ‘1900,’ a bar next door: They welcomed the injured people into their kitchen, made them sit down, helped them breathe, and prevented them from fainting. Amidst the horror, I will never forget that humanity.”
SHARE This Ray Of Light From The Darkness Of This Midnight Tragedy…
An injection that blocks the activity of a protein involved in aging reverses naturally occurring cartilage loss in the knee joints of old mice, a Stanford Medicine-led study has found.
The treatment also prevented the development of arthritis after knee injuries such as ACL tears often experienced by athletes or recreational exercisers. An oral version of the treatment is already in clinical trials with the goal of treating age-related muscle weakness.
Samples of human tissue from knee replacement surgeries in the joint also responded to the treatment by making new, functional cartilage, a result which suggests that in the future, knee and hip replacement may be totally unnecessary.
The treatment directly targets the cause of osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease that affects one of every five adults in the United States and is estimated to cost about $65 billion in direct health care costs each year. Prevention or a replacement is the only strategy society-wide, as no drug can slow down or reverse the disease.
The protein blocked by the injection, 15-PGDH, is a master regulator of aging, and is in fact termed a “gerozyme” due to its increase in prevalence as the body ages. Gerozymes also drive the loss of tissue function. They are a major force behind age-related loss of muscle strength in mice.
Blocking the function of 15-PGDH with a small molecule results in an increase in old animals’ muscle mass and endurance. Conversely, expressing 15-PGDH in young mice causes their muscles to shrink and weaken.
In bone, nerve, and blood cells, regeneration is due to increases in the proliferation and specialization of tissue-specific stem cells. However, cartilage-generating chondrocytes change their patterns of gene expression to assume a more youthful state without the involvement of stem cells.
“This is a new way of regenerating adult tissue, and it has significant clinical promise for treating arthritis due to aging or injury,” said Helen Blau, PhD, professor of microbiology and immunology. “We were looking for stem cells, but they are clearly not involved. It’s very exciting.”
“Millions of people suffer from joint pain and swelling as they age,” said Blau’s colleague and co-senior author, Nidhi Bhutani, a PhD and associate professor of orthopedic surgery. “It is a huge unmet medical need. Until now, there has been no drug that directly treats the cause of cartilage loss. But this gerozyme inhibitor causes a dramatic regeneration of cartilage beyond that reported in response to any other drug or intervention.”
There are three main types of cartilage in the human body. One, hyaline cartilage, is smooth and glossy, providing a low-friction surface for lubrication and flexibility in joints like the ankles, hips, shoulders and parts of the knee. Hyaline cartilage—also known as articular cartilage—is the cartilage most commonly affected by osteoarthritis.
Osteoarthritis occurs when a joint is stressed by aging, injury, or obesity. The chondrocytes begin to release pro-inflammatory molecules and to break down collagen, which is the primary structural protein of cartilage. When collagen is lost, the cartilage thins and softens; the accompanying inflammation causes the joint swelling and pain that are hallmarks of the disease. Under normal circumstances, articular cartilage rarely regenerates. Although some populations of putative stem or progenitor cells capable of generating cartilage have been identified in bone, attempts to identify similar populations of cells in the articular cartilage have been unsuccessful.
Previous research from Blau’s lab has shown that a molecule called prostaglandin E2 is essential to muscle stem cell function. 15-PGDH degrades prostaglandin E2. Inhibiting 15-PGDH activity, or increasing levels of prostaglandin E2, supports the regeneration of damaged muscle, nerve, bone, colon, liver, and blood cells in young mice.
Blau, Bhutani and their colleagues wondered if 15-PGDH might also play a role in aging cartilage and joints. They wanted to find out if a similar pathway contributes to cartilage loss from aging or in response to injury. When they compared the amount of 15-PGDH in the knee cartilage in young versus old mice, they saw that, as in other tissues, levels of the gerozyme increased about two-fold with age.
They next experimented with injecting old animals with a small molecule drug that inhibits 15-PGDH activity — first into the abdomen, which affects the entire body, then directly into the joint. In each case, the knee cartilage, which was markedly thinner and less functional in older animals as compared with younger mice, thickened across the joint surface. Further experiments confirmed that the chondrocytes in the joint were generating hyaline, or articular, cartilage, rather than less-functional fibrocartilage.
“Cartilage regeneration to such an extent in aged mice took us by surprise,” Bhutani said. “The effect was remarkable.”
Similar results were observed in animals with knee injuries like the ACL tears that frequently occur in people participating in sports such as soccer, basketball, and skiing that require sudden pivoting, stopping or jumping. While the tears can be surgically repaired, about 50% of people develop osteoarthritis in the injured joint within about 15 years.
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The researchers found that a series of injections twice a week for four weeks of the gerozyme inhibitor after injury dramatically reduced the chance that osteoarthritis develops in the mice. The animals treated with the gerozyme inhibitor also moved more typically and put more weight on the paw of the affected leg than did untreated animals.
“Interestingly, prostaglandin E2 has been implicated in inflammation and pain,” Blau said. “But this research shows that, at normal biological levels, small increases in prostaglandin E2 can promote regeneration.”
ALSO CHECK OUT: Scientists Find a Switch That Could Stop Osteoporosis, Making Bones Stronger in Old Age
A closer investigation of the chondrocytes in the joints of old mice and young mice showed that old chondrocytes expressed more detrimental genes involved in inflammation and the conversion of hyaline cartilage to unwanted bone, and fewer genes involved in cartilage development.
The researchers studied human cartilage tissue removed from patients with osteoarthritis undergoing total knee replacements. Tissue treated with the 15-PGDH inhibitor for one week exhibited lower levels of 15-PGDH-expressing chondrocytes and lowered cartilage degradation and fibrocartilage genes than control tissue and began to regenerate articular cartilage.
MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: 2 Years of Exercise Reversed 20 Years of Aging in the Heart, Says Longest-Ever Randomized Trial on Exercise
“The mechanism is quite striking and really shifted our perspective about how tissue regeneration can occur,” Bhutani said. “It’s clear that a large pool of already existing cells in cartilage are changing their gene expression patterns. And by targeting these cells for regeneration, we may have an opportunity to have a bigger overall impact clinically.”
“Phase 1 clinical trials of a 15-PGDH inhibitor for muscle weakness have shown that it is safe and active in healthy volunteers,” said Blau. “Our hope is that a similar trial will be launched soon to test its effect in cartilage regeneration. We are very excited about this potential breakthrough. Imagine regrowing existing cartilage and avoiding joint replacement.”
SHARE These Amazing Results With Your Friends Whose Knees Are Bad…
The radiology department at an Iowa hospital recently teamed up with the waste management team to put the ‘care’ in healthcare, and left a patient in tears with gratitude.
At Grundy County Memorial Hospital, Susan Sinnwell had arrived for a routine medical procedure. Preparing for a couple of X-rays, she took off a pair of heirloom rings left to her by her grandfather, and wrapped them in a napkin to shield them from unfriendly eyes.
What’s out of sight, it’s so often said, tends to slip out of mind, and even though the napkin made a funny sound when it hit the garbage bin bottom, it didn’t jar Sinnwell’s memory.
Once she realized her mistake she called the hospital administrative staff and Craig Buskohl, the imaging manager at the hospital who had taken Sinnwell’s X-rays.
Waste management got to emptying their compactor and faced a mound of some 60 garbage bags that they had to pass over with metal detectors. Any beeping bags were separated, and placed in the ambulance garage where Buskohl waited with his mobile X-ray machine.
RECOVERING RINGS:
“It was really rewarding,” Buskohl told CBS 2 Iowa. “Honestly, I didn’t think we were going to find them—but we did.”
Before they did, they had to spend 45 minutes taking images. But as Buskohl would go on to say, he eventually struck gold as it were. Hospital staff said that the care they give patients goes far beyond just medical services, and looking for lost rings is certainly included in that.
“When he told me how many people helped and everything they did, I just couldn’t believe it,” Sinnwell said, tears welling up. “This is the best place for care.”
WATCH the story below from CBS 2…
SHARE This Great Care With Your Friends On Social Media…
India’s rhino stronghold of Assam reported zero deaths due to poaching among its populations of greater one-horned rhinos in 2025.
The success replicates that seen in 2023, another year in which poachers claimed no rhinos.
Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Chief Minister of the state of Assam, akin to a US governor, said it was “a proud moment for us,” but added that other inspiring wildlife reports emerged in 2025.
This included the sighting of a dhole, or Indian wild dog—the first in the state’s Kaziranga National Park in 35 years. In Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, it was the dhole, not the tiger, that was most feared by the animals of India.
In addition to the dogs, a lighter tiger, known as a “golden tabby tiger” was spotted in the park.
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India is now home to some 4,000 rhinos, having once fallen to as low as 1,800 individuals. Almost all of these are located in Assam, but efforts to reintroduce the animal to areas they once inhabited has had mixed-to-bad results. Native to the subcontinent, they would have lived as far west as Peshawar, Pakistan.
SHARE This Perfect Record In India With Your Friends…
Quote of the Day: “Price is what you pay; value is what you get.” – Warren Buffett (retired this month at 95, as the world’s most successful investor)
Image by: Priscilla Du Preez
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
73 years ago today, Waiting for Godot premiered in France. The tragicomedy play written by Irishman Samuel Beckett in interpretation of an earlier French play, En attend de Godot, it’s regarded by critics as “one of the most enigmatic plays of modern literature.” Featuring two characters spilling their thoughts out as they wait for the eponymous Godot, who never arrives, there is only one act in the whole play. READ a bit more, and some famous adaptations… (1953)
A guy proposed to his fiancé by editing himself into the wedding scene of Shrek—a perfect way to totally surprise his girlfriend, and honor their love for the movie.
Carter Allen spent five hours adding a clip of himself seamlessly running down the aisle saying he’s ‘experienced true love, too’.
While playing the edited film for her at home last month, he left the room during that scene. He reappeared wearing the same suit he was wearing in the movie and got down on one knee to propose to Andressa Da Silva.
The young couple met four years ago on a class film set working on a project that Carter wrote.
The 26-year-old American from Georgia was predominantly a writer/director at the Georgia Institute of Technology, while she was an actress.
“When I met her I fell for her, and while editing the class film and listening to us mucking around in between takes, I fell for her all over again.
“From then on, we’ve always helped each other out and spent evenings watching films together.
“I always knew I wanted to do something film-focused, but also something intimate.”
Carter initially thought about proposing to Andressa in a movie theatre, but said ‘it didn’t feel right’.
“You’d be proposing during a film you’d never seen before, and what if it was bad?”
Instead, inspiration came from her suggestion for their next movie night.
“I started thinking about films we both have a fond memory of and, funny enough, she suggested we actually put Shrek on one evening,” he told SWNS news agency.
They ended up watching something else, but it gave Carter his perfect plan.
He worked on the edits while Andressa was sleeping—timing his appearance in the scene to just before Lord Farquaad says “the perfect bride”. (Watch the moment below…)
He was worried she might say no to watching it on the date he’d chosen—December 6. “You can only push so hard to insist on watching Shrek without raising suspicion.”
“When it actually happened, it was surreal.”
To propose to my girlfriend of four years, I edited myself into the first Shrek movie!
byu/Decipherer infunny
By the time his edited cameo appeared on screen, Carter had slipped away to change into a suit and returned moments later, a ring in his hand.
ALSO WATCH THIS PROPOSAL: Man Recreates Scene From The Wedding Singer and Proposes Mid-Flight
“I completely lost myself. I forgot everything I was going to say and just asked if she’d like to marry me.”
“I didn’t give myself enough time for the suit change. I nearly skipped the socks, but thankfully it all worked out. I should have done a dress rehearsal!”
Carter also scrambled to set up his phone across the room to record the special moment.
“I tripped on something on the way, but she didn’t notice,” he recalled. “She was absorbed in the film which I was thankful for.”
It also helped that he works from home so he could edit from there.
“I was humming the soundtrack constantly. I had to be careful she didn’t get suspicious.”
The proposal video went viral on Reddit, and the couple has been overwhelmed by the response—52,000 Likes and over a thousand comments.
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“People have even suggested playing the soundtrack at our wedding, I can’t believe it went so viral.
“It was private, personal, and very us, and I am so glad it worked out like it did!”
SHARE THE SHREK LOVE On Social Media For Movie Lovers Everywhere…
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has shared their wackiest animal rescues from 2025, including a fox trapped in a chair and another one stuck inside the engine of an Amazon delivery van.
The charity compiled the list with pictures showing hapless animals and pets trapped in bizarre places but they all were soon freed by baffled—but determined—rescuers.
Of the oddest rescues last year, one of the weirdest was a baby kitten that got itself trapped in the sewage system.
Stunned staff at the site in Birmingham, England, alerted the charity after hearing the tiny animal’s “booming meows”.
RSPCA Inspector Boris Lasserres and Cara Gibbon both donned dry suits to rescue the kitten, nicknamed ‘Olivia Twist’.
“She was trapped down a sewage flow system and we think she must have fallen from quite a height above as there was no other way she could have got herself in there,” said Cara, who reported that the kitten was taken to an animal hospital where she made a full recovery and was later re-homed.
“We know she had been in there for at least three days and with no mum around she must have been terrified.”
In January, a not-so-cunning fox found himself stuck in a tight spot after he slipped over garden furniture and got his paw stuck between the slats in a backyard in South East London (top photo).
Another young fox cub needed rescuing after getting stuck inside the engine of an Amazon delivery van in Derby, England.
The distressed female fox was only spotted by the shocked driver after she gnawed through a cable, triggering a dashboard warning light to illuminate.
PUPPY LOVE: Tiny Disabled Puppy Found in Dumpster Gets New Home in Time for Christmas
Meanwhile, in April, a peregrine falcon became tangled and trapped in anti-bird netting in a block of flats in Birmingham.
A seagull was also lucky to escape without injury after getting caught up in a football net in Ramsgate, Kent, in February.
It wasn’t only birds getting themselves in a flap negotiating nets, in Sheffield a badger found itself tied up in knots after stumbling into a football goal.
There were more animals needing help after wandering where they shouldn’t have been.
A hedgehog found herself needing urgent care after being injured by a weed whacker’s string trimmer in Cheddar, Somerset. Despite having many of her spines cut off in the mishap, she made a full recovery before being released into the wild.
Days later a tawny owl needed rescuing after getting tangled on a branch by its wing. The bird was found hanging 20-feet above fast-flowing water in Bedwas, Caerphilly, Wales.
LOOK AT THESE RESCUE STORIES:
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2025 was one of the charity’s busiest years, said RSPCA superintendent Simon Osborne.
“Every single day throughout the year, our teams rescue, rehabilitate, and re-home hundreds of animals with very special backgrounds and stories of triumph over adversity.”
HAIL THE RESCUERS By Sharing the 2025 Good News on Social Media…
The obstacles and excuses kept blocking Betty Kellenberger’s path, but she never stopped moving forward.
Kellenberger, an 80-year-old retired schoolteacher from Carson City, Michigan, became interested in the Appalachian Trail in elementary school when she learned about it in a Weekly Reader: Betty immediately thought she wanted to hike it someday.
But adult life and her work as a teacher obstructed her path for decades. Even for young people, hiking the entire Appalachian Trail is a grueling, multi-month endeavor.
The trail runs through 14 states from Maine to Georgia and is about 2,200 miles long, filled with rigorous climbs and rocky terrain and a whole host of environmental challenges.
Finishing the entire thing is such a daunting task that many people only attempt to cover stretches of it at a time.
Betty wanted to do the whole thing.
“I remember thinking, ‘How long do you think you have to think about it? You know, I’m pushing 80,” Betty told the AARP. “Am I going to wait until I’m pushing 90?’ So yeah, it sort of pushed me into action.”
She researched the trail and made her first attempt in 2022 with a trail partner, Joe Cox.
Unfortunately, Cox had a rough fall on Mount Katahdin in Maine and had to exit the trail a day later. Betty didn’t make it much longer, leaving several days afterward due to lingering effects from dehydration, Lyme disease, and a concussion.
She tried again in 2023, starting at Harpers Ferry, Virginia and heading north. Betty made it all the way to Massachusetts, but a bad fall forced her to abandon the adventure.
Then, she had knee replacement surgery and learned the sad news that Cox had passed away. Betty became determined to finish the trail in his honor. (Watch a great video of her trek below from PBS…)
She started at Harpers Ferry again in 2024, this time going southward. Unfortunately, in September Mother Nature threw her another curve ball: Hurricane Helene had toppled trees, obstructing paths all over the South, making the Appalachian Trail so impassable in parts that officials made hikers an extraordinary offer during the clean-up.
Leave now and you can count your existing mileage on day one next year.
Typically, all through-hikes have to be finished in 12 months to count as complete, so Betty had actually caught a break.
She began training for her next shot at the Trail by climbing steps every day at the local hospital because her Michigan surroundings were so flat.
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And when she headed out to the Appalachian Trail again in March 2025, she only had the northern and southern routes remaining since she had hiked between Massachusetts and Virginia before the hurricane hit.
She finished the southern end first. Only the northern end remained, but the mountains of Maine and New Hampshire are notoriously difficult, so Betty wasn’t sure she could do it—until she met a man hiking in Pennsylvania who said something unforgettable.
Hikers often call people like this trail angels, seemingly divine beings that show up in the darkest times and offer enough food, advice, or encouragement to keep people going.
“I was hiking alone, and I just thought, if I have to do this alone, I’m not sure I can do it. And he says, ‘Well, you can quit, and nobody will point fingers at you and blame you or anything. But you’ll never know whether you could have done it or not. If you go and you take it on and you try it, then you’ll at least know.’”
So Betty kept going.
The collective elevation gain along the iconic trail is equivalent to hiking Mount Everest 16 times. It’s estimated that 75% of through-hikers fail every year—and no wonder. Betty’s challenges included sore feet, heavy packs, bad weather, mud bogs, upended roots and endless, endless piles of rocks.
“Early on I decided the Lord must love rocks because He made so many of them,” Betty told The Trek website with a chuckle.
Finally, on September 12, Betty completed the northern end at age 80—besting the previous record by six full years—to become the oldest female to finish the Appalachian Trail.
CHECK OUT THESE AGING ATHLETES:
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“I’ve had a ‘series of unfortunate events’, I call them. But each one, I learned something,” she told AARP. “Each one, I got a little stronger. Each one, I got a better story. And so then, this year, I was able to do it.”
In addition to the record, Betty took home a simple, yet powerful lesson that she loves sharing.
“Get out, move, set a goal and work toward it. The bigger the goal, the greater the reward. Don’t let society or friends and family set your limitations.”
Quite often, you might be surprised how far you can go once you simply take the first step.
HELP BETTY’S STORY REACH EVEN GREATER HEIGHTS By Sharing This to Your Social Media Feed…
A free-diving instructor had a once-in-a-lifetime moment when a massive Bryde’s whale suddenly emerged during a feeding frenzy in Mexico’s Pacific waters.
Emily Marzilli of Baja California Sur was diving near a giant sardine bait ball, which is a survival tactic for small fish against predators, when something extraordinary happened.
Without warning, a massive whale surfaced, and took a huge bite of the shimmering circular mass of fish, then vanished as soon as it appeared.
The brief two-minute encounter left Emily and her fellow divers in shock and awe, a rare experience that as divers can only be dreamed of.
Magdalena Bay is an area renowned for its “National Geographic-level action” during sardine season.
The group had discovered the bait ball, which can grow to the size of a car.
Striped marlin, measuring up to two meters long, were circling the formation as the divers maintained a safe distance of 50-60 feet.
When the marlin began attacking the bait ball, the feeding frenzy created a cloud of foam that obscured their vision.
“Out of nowhere, this Bryde’s whale came and just took a huge bite out of the baitball and just swam away.”
The massive marine mammal appeared suddenly from the cloudy water like magic.
“Half of it was (spent) honestly in shock because you are expecting to see fish and then all of a sudden there’s this 20-30 ton whale that’s right in front of you.”
LOOK: Beached Whale Faced 6 Hours of Lethal Sun and Dryness, Locals Form Bucket Brigade to Save it
The Bryde’s whale is a baleen whale belonging to the same group as blue whales and humpbacks. It has no teeth, but has two rows of baleen plates.
The encounter lasted only about two minutes, but its impact was profound. The five divers found themselves looking at each other afterward, wondering if ‘that just happened to us or not.’
After the whale departed and the bait ball disappeared, consumed by both fish and whale, the group returned to their boat.
WONDERFUL NEWS: Humpback Whales Are Singing More: Number of Songs Has Doubled as Food Sources Became More Abundant (LISTEN)
“We had no idea that there was even a whale in the proximity,” she said.
“When the whale comes out of nowhere, it totally surprises you,” Marzilli said. “Those are interactions that you can only dream of and wish to happen.”
IF YOU’VE NEVER SEEN ONE, Share the Bryde’s Whale With Ocean Lovers on Social Media…
Quote of the Day: “We cannot live in a world interpreted for us by others. Take back our listening, use our own voice to see our own light.” – Elaine Bellezza
Image by: Jacki Drexler
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
16 years ago today, the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa, officially opened in Dubai. Taking the crown from the Taipei 101 building in Taiwan’s capital, the Burj Khalifa has been the tallest building and structure on Earth since 2009, a year before it was even finished. Burj Khalifa was designed by a team led by Adrian Smith of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the firm that designed the Sears Tower in Chicago, a previous record holder for the world’s tallest building. READ more… (2010)
An abandoned dog has joined a mission of peace across the world and, despite some mishaps, has stayed with it every paw of the way.
During their opening 112-day peace walk in India, a group of Buddhist monks found an abandoned dog—or perhaps the dog found them.
The canine, believed to be an Indian Pariah breed, was given the name Aloka, and soon became a loyal companion, following the group of monks as they marched across India to spread messages of peace and unity.
Their four-legged friend encountered his own hardships along that arduous journey. Aloka was hit by a car, and he also fell ill for an extended period of time. The monks loaded him up in a truck, offering him an escape from all the walking.
But Aloka didn’t want to be away from his new companions. He jumped out and rejoined the mission.
“He followed us the whole time. He’s a true hero,” one of the monks said in a Tik Tok video, remembering all the obstacles Aloka overcame. “He wanted to walk. That inspires a lot.”
@walkforpeaceusa A dog who survived the streets, sickness, and even a car accident… but refused to give up. This is Aloka — the Peace Dog 🐾💛 A huge thank you to @1851 Properties for capturing this moment on Day 16 of the Walk for Peace in Bellville, TX 🙏✨ #WalkForPeace #AlokaThePeaceDog #CompassionInAction #BuddhistMonks #Inspiration ♬ original sound - Walk for Peace Official
Now, Aloka and the monks who live in the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana in Fort Worth, Texas have a new mission. In October, nineteen of the Buddhist monks and their loyal companion set out from Fort Worth on a 2,300-mile walk toward Washington, D.C. with a goal of promoting unity and compassion.
“When I heard about this 2,300-mile walk, I was amazed,” Texas Representative Nicole Collier told the Star-Telegram. “It really touches the hearts and minds of people. We live in a time when the noise often drowns out understanding, where division can feel louder than unity—but this is what the community and interfaith solidarity looks like.”
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The journey is expected to cover 10 states in 110 days before ending in the nation’s capital in February. By late December, the group had reached Atlanta. A live tracker on Facebook provides updates on their progress and the group has also been posting frequently to social media. (Don’t worry, Aloka the Peace Dog has his own Instagram as well).
Strangers have provided a warm welcome all along the way. A Dairy Queen store in Texas gave the monks ice cream and made sure Aloka got some too. Doctors in Alabama provided free checkups. Crowds have gathered across the Sun Belt to meet the monks and share meals and well wishes as the convoy moves north toward the capital.
“It’s a journey filled with both known and unforeseen challenges.” says the official Walk for Peace Instagram page. “Yet, with hearts anchored in calmness and minds set firmly on their purpose, the monks move forward—step by step—embodying peace, resilience, and unwavering determination on their sacred path toward the White House.”
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And the lovable, loyal, four-legged friend remains their pawsome sidekick.
“Aloka is a very good boy helping to carry the message of peace and harmony” — and watching over them all the while.
KEEP THE MISSION MOVING By Sharing Aloka On Social Media…
A premature baby, born so tiny his hand was smaller than his dad’s fingertip, is finally home and healthy after a year in the hospital.
Gabriel Golden was born weighing one pound in September 2024 after just 22 weeks gestation.
He endured nearly a year in the Vanderbilt NICU in Nashville, Tennessee, battling chronic lung disease and multiple infections before his parents Caroline and Garreth were finally able to bring their son home three months ago.
Little Gabriel still faces respiratory challenges, but is thriving developmentally.
“It was amazing that somehow, even though his finger was so small, I could feel his grip,” said his father Garreth.
“The strength those tiny fingers held left me speechless.”
Caroline started hemorrhaging 14 weeks into the pregnancy, and for a harrowing eight weeks, doctors warned daily that she could miscarry at any moment.
She recalls bleeding constantly while on bed rest and stuck at home. When at 18 weeks, Caroline’s water broke. The preemie wasn’t considered viable, so the couple waited in limbo until 22 weeks, when Caroline was hospitalized with hopes of buying more time for their son’s development.
The medical team presented stark statistics—and the numbers were devastating: a less than five percent survival rate, with greater than 90 percent odds of neurological problems, heart defects, and vision or hearing loss.
“The biggest thing is that their lungs are barely developed,” Caroline said.
At 22 weeks and four days, Caroline went into labor during an emergency situation that put both their lives at risk. Garreth watched helplessly as medical staff rushed his wife to surgery.
“They’re having her sign paperwork that she could die from the surgery,” recalled Garreth, who spent a lot of time “not knowing what to think or what to do.”
Against all odds, Gabriel was able to use the breathing tube and survived.
But he still had to battle severe broncho-pulmonary dysplasia—a chronic lung disease that left his lungs scarred and rigid. The couple said goodbye to their son on three separate occasions during his first six weeks of life.
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Multiple pneumonia infections also set him back, and doctors eventually determined he would need a tracheostomy to survive.
Throughout the ordeal, Garreth traveled three hours each way to his job, continuing to work so they could pay their bills and Caroline tried to maintain a bedside vigil.
Their church community provided financial support, and four primary nurses at Vanderbilt became like family during Gabriel’s extended stay. “We couldn’t have done it without them,” Caroline said.
“One nurse specifically was with us for nine and a half months. I personally couldn’t have done it without her.”
Caroline, who had always dreamed of being a mother, says the experience transformed the couple’s faith and perspective on life.
“I was thrust into a situation where my faith was the only thing I had to cling to. Now it’s stronger than I ever thought it could be.”
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While Gabriel is home, he still requires a tracheostomy and faces respiratory challenges, but there’s good news, too.
“By the grace of God, Gabriel is completely developmentally appropriate, and has no brain issues,” Caroline told SWNS news agency.
“Other than his lungs, his body is in wonderful working condition.”
The experience gave Garreth a new perspective when he walked through the children’s hospital and saw other families facing their own battles.
“As complex as Gabriel is—and as precious as his life is—you walk into Vanderbilt’s Children’s Hospital, and it hits you like a wave of gratitude when you see some of the things going on with these children.”
GIVE PREEMIE FAMILIES HOPE By Sharing This on Social Media…
As the famous New York City ball dropped downward to deliver 2026, a deluge of hopes, dreams, and wishes rained down in Times Square.
I wish for more love and kindness in 2026…
I wish for a good year with good people…
Tons of messages from the Times Square Wishing Wall have been mixed in amid the abundance of multicolored confetti that fluttered through the Big Apple skies.
For the past month, interested participants have been able to contribute their hand-written wishes for the new year in a broad assortment of colors. And people who weren’t in the city were able to enter their submissions online.
According to the Times Square New Year’s Eve Wishing Wall website, “Whether it’s a personal goal, a dream for the future or doing something for the very first time, these wishes are added to over a ton of confetti that floats down at midnight onto the revelers gathered in Times Square in celebration of the new year.”
NBC News shared a sampling of the 2026 wishes in a December video on YouTube that you can watch below…
The Wishing Wall has attracted visitors from all around the world—from all races, religions, and nationalities.
The notes were combined with the 3,000 pounds of confetti that was tossed into the Manhattan air at midnight to drift down through the crowds in Times Square crowd.
My wish is to continue to chase my dreams and never lose sight of who I want to be…
I wish for life to get a little bit lighter for all of us…
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SHARE YOUR NEW YEAR’S WISHES While Posting This On Social Media…
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 3, 2026
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web. He helped ensure its core technologies were released to the world without patents or royalties. Universal, open access mattered more to him than personal profit. That single decision was a profound gift to the world. Billions benefited. In his generous spirit, dear Capricorn, I’ll ask whether there are any ideas, knowledge, or resources you’re holding in reserve that could multiply through sharing. In 2026, I invite you to be like Berners-Lee: a magnanimous strategist who understands that things may gain value through distribution, not restriction. Your intelligence will be worth more unleashed than protected. Your innovations will need the crowd to fulfill their purpose.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
In the myths of Mali’s Dogon people, Nommo is an amphibious, telepathic being who brought language, rhythm, and balance to Earth—and then departed. If things fall out of harmony, it’s believed, Nommo will return, speaking the lost syllables that realign the cosmos. You’re a bit like Nommo in 2026, Aquarius. Parts of your world may be in disarray, and your sacred task is to listen for the lost syllables. What’s missing in the dialogue? What notes aren’t being sung? If you seek gently and speak truly, restoration will follow.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
The longest chess game theoretically possible is 5,949 moves, but most games end in under 40. Chess masters don’t win by seeing every possibility. Instead, they recognize patterns and anticipate which paths are worth exploring. Let’s apply this as a useful metaphor, Pisces. In 2026, it’s crucial that you don’t waste energy by considering improbable scenarios that will never materialize. You should be determined not to miss emerging themes because you’re too busy calculating unlikely variations. According to my prognosis, you don’t need to see further; you need to see more precisely and accurately. The chess master’s advantage isn’t exhaustive analysis; it’s knowing what to ignore. Ninety percent of your options don’t matter. Ten percent do.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Before major eruptions, volcanoes may emit harmonic tremors. Lasting for hours or days, they are signals that pressure is building. A similar phenomenon is simmering in your sphere, Aries. Be alert in 2026. What rhythmic clues are vibrating through your system? What pressure is mounting that could eventually erupt? I’m not saying you should interpret them with a worried mind. In fact, they are offering you valuable intelligence about what needs to be released. You can either ignore them and let the eruption surprise you, or you can pay attention and arrange for controlled venting.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Your heartbeat isn’t regular like a metronome, but slightly irregular. The phenomenon is called heart rate variability and is a sign of health. A perfectly regular heartbeat is actually a warning sign. Your heart knows something your mind might not believe: Perfect consistency is pathological. Variation is vitality. The rhythm of life includes the beautiful irregularity of a system that’s alive enough to respond and adapt. Keep these truths uppermost in mind during 2026, Taurus. You will thrive on changeability and fluctuation.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
The Greenland shark waits for animals to fall asleep, then eats them while they’re unconscious. Since it’s too slow to chase anything, it has evolved a patient approach to hunting. It acts on the understanding that everything eventually lets its guard down. I suggest you cultivate similar patience in 2026, Gemini. There’s no need to rush toward what you want. Position yourself correctly and wait for moments of opportunity. You’re playing a long game.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
Atmospheric rivers are massive moisture highways in the sky. Meteorologists have been documenting newly identified patterns in how these marvels work. They’ve learned that tiny changes in ocean temperature can redirect thousands of miles of incoming rain. This will be an excellent metaphor for you in 2026, dear Cancerian. You’ll be in atmospheric-river mode. Small shifts in perspective and slight recalibrations of intention will send your momentum flowing in different and better directions. No drama required! Simple micro-adjustments will reroute larger currents. Attend devotedly and zestfully to the subtleties.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Certain fungi can break down pollutants like pesticides and plastics into less toxic substances. These mushrooms digest what’s considered indigestible, transforming poison into nutrients. I suspect you will have a metaphorically comparable capacity in 2026, dear Leo: a superpower that enables you to metabolize blight and taint. I predict you will exult as you eliminate stuff that’s useless and harmful. Please indulge your unusual talent to the max!
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
The US Library of Congress adds 60,000 items to its collection every week but only catalogs a fraction of them immediately. So, vast amounts of knowledge sit there, acquired but not yet processed, waiting for librarians to create the finding aids that make them accessible. You’re in a similar situation, Virgo. You’ve accumulated extraordinary amounts of information, experience, and skill. But how much of it is cataloged? How much is accessible when you need it? In the coming year, I hope you *won’t* acquire more. Instead, you will spend time with your archives and process what you have already gathered. What do you know that you’ve forgotten you know? What experiences hold wisdom you’ve never extracted?
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Vault doors often require *two* keys, turned simultaneously, to open. Why? Such a practice furthers risk reduction and fraud prevention. Let’s make this a potent metaphor for you in 2026, Libra. It will symbolize cooperation and balance as well as an enhancement of your security. The treasures you’ll be trying to access will require dual input. One key is yours: intellect, agility, charm, initiative. The second must come from a collaborator, mentor, friend, an unexpected stranger, or even a spirit guide. Just assume that the vault won’t open through brilliance alone. It will require synchronization.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
In December 1968, US astronaut Bill Anders was orbiting the moon inside the Apollo 8 spacecraft. He snapped a photo that showed the Earth as a blue-and-white sphere rising over the gray lunar surface against the blackness of space. This iconic image helped fuel the environmental movement and transformed how humans visualized their home. You’re at a comparable pivot, Scorpio. In 2026, you will see familiar situations from new angles, and this will reorganize your understanding of how life works. That’s a good thing! Be alert for watershed moments that bring revolutionary blessings.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
The Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland is made of 40,000 interlocking basalt columns formed when ancient lava cooled and contracted. Legend says a giant built it as a bridge to Scotland. Both stories are true, one geologically and the other mythologically. Your life in 2026 will remind you that multiple explanations can coexist without canceling each other. The scientific story of lava cooling doesn’t make the giant story less meaningful. The giant story doesn’t make the geology less accurate. Conclusion: You don’t have to choose between competing narratives about your life as if only one can be true. What if both are? The practical explanation and mythic explanation describe the same phenomenon from different angles. You can be both the cooling lava and the giant building the bridge.
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
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Quote of the Day: “While the gentle winter sun slowly opens its eyes, let us all bring more light and compassion into the world.” – Dacha Avelin
Image by: Ravi Patel
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100 years ago today, George Martin, the English record producer, composer, audio engineer, and musician, was born. Known as “the 5th Beatle” for his extensive influence on the sound of the Beatles records, he is considered to be one of the greatest record producers of all time, with 53 number-one hit singles in the UK and US. READ more… (1926)
