Your Halloween Horoscope Advice: ‘Free Will Astrology’ by Rob Brezsny

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Oct 31, 2026

Our partner Rob Brezsny, whose latest book is Enlightenment for Rebels: Celebrating Our Wild and Sacred Earthly Selves, 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 Halloween horoscope…

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week of October 31, 2026
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
This is your high holy season, Scorpio, which also happens to be the time when the veil is thinnest between this world and the other world. Others find this eerie, but you’ve always been at home here. You know how to explore the deepest depths, how to abide with what’s buried and hidden, and how to find treasure in the dark. In the coming weeks, your natural power to perceive what’s concealed will be amplified. For Halloween, be a soul-guide draped in shadow and starlight who walks comfortably between the living and the dead. (PS: What secrets would you like to uncover? What spirits of the departed would you like to commune with? What seemingly impossible knowledge could you gain access to?)

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Early balloonists had little control over the direction of their flights. They couldn’t steer horizontally. But they found that changing altitude allowed them to catch different winds moving in different directions. The smartest way to change course was to rise or descend. Keep that image close, Sagittarius. If you can’t alter external circumstances directly, shift your perspective or your social environment. A new current may be waiting higher or lower than where you’ve been drifting. For Halloween, be a hot-air balloon pilot, comet rider, sky pirate, or bird god like the Hindu Garuda.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Life must both perpetuate itself and surpass itself. Capricorn philosopher Simone de Beauvoir said that. We need continuity, but we also need transcendence. This beautifully encapsulates your assignment in the coming months. Your fun job will be to continue honoring the commitments that anchor your life while also making room for an exhilarating experiment or two. Make stability your launching pad rather than your destination. For Halloween, be the person you will be three years from now.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Inventors often describe breakthroughs arriving after weeks or months of seemingly unproductive tinkering. Clearly, their subconscious minds kept working on the puzzles even while their conscious minds felt frustrated. Eventually, a fresh arrangement appeared as if by magic. I suspect you’re approaching a threshold like that. Your experiments have been subliminally educating your intuition. The solution that’s searching for you may be cleverer than the one you’ve been searching for. For Halloween, be a time traveler, benevolent extraterrestrial, or eccentric professor.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Travelers crossing dark marshes on foot may report eerie, flickering lights hovering over the bog. Science explains these will-o’-the-wisps as gases from decaying matter that ignites in the night air. Folklore provides other theories: They’re spirit-lanterns, fairy lights, the lamps of the dead, or beckoning wanderers. I believe you’re in a similar liminal zone these days. Science and magic are both at work. Truth may take the form of both inexplicable mystery and fascinating anomalies that light your way. Be open to both! For Halloween, be a will-o’-the-wisp made flesh: a glowing spirit of the marsh draped in mist and lantern-light, beautiful and uncanny.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):
For centuries, Japanese craftspeople have cultivated an ethos called shokunin kishitsu: a devotion to skilled work, lifelong learning, and continual refinement. The pursuit of perfection is less about reaching a final state than about bringing ever greater care and precision to the work. In traditional carpentry, this can mean years of learning to make joints whose quality resides in their strength and durability even though no customer will ever notice. I suggest you try out this attitude, Aries. Pour extra focus into details, regardless of whether anyone will applaud them. Be your best and brightest self not to impress anyone but yourself. For Halloween, be a blacksmith, artisan, or eccentric inventor.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
How do the oldest trees live for so many years? What’s their secret to longevity? They’re very adaptable. During storms, they bend without breaking. During droughts, they slow down their growth. Cultivating alliances with fungi is one of their brilliant tactics. You’re in an opportune phase to favor this approach to strength and endurance, Taurus. Here’s what I propose: Weave gleaming strands of buoyant resilience into your fervent willpower. Experiment with yielding strategically rather than resisting reflexively. Boost your soulful power through flexibility and adaptability. For Halloween, be an ancient oak tree, forest guardian, or mushroom spirit.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
When archaeologists unearth a fresh batch of ancient artifacts, they never find a complete civilization in one dramatic moment. Each object or bone fragment helps explain another. A piece of pottery illuminates the meaning of an inscription. A broken staircase reveals why buildings were constructed as they were. Through educated guesswork and chains of association, knowledge accumulates. I invite you to wield your curiosity in the same way, Gemini. Treasure the sequence of little discoveries that gradually reshape your overall understanding. Have eager faith that every clue will lead you to further clues. For Halloween, be an archaeologist, paleontologist, or investigator of crime scenes. PS: I suspect you’re close to a metaphorical version of discovering a lost civilization.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):
Researchers studying wolves have found that play remains essential to them throughout their lives. Mature wolves wrestle, chase, and invent games that strengthen trust and sharpen cooperation. They never graduate from joyful experimentation. I hope their friskiness inspires you to remember, dear Cancerian, that serious responsibilities don’t require a terminally serious personality. That’s especially crucial to keep in mind now. I invite you to bring maximum amounts of playful intelligence into everything you value. Laugh during challenging conversations. Invent rituals that nobody else would think of. Observe the true rule: Amused delight generates an atmosphere where meaningful work may become exceptional. For Halloween, be a playful wolf. And before sleep for the next few nights, ask your subconscious to send you dreams of being a playful wolf.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Peacocks’ extravagant feathers are beautiful displays that also communicate health, vitality, and genetic resilience. They’re excellent role models for you. Never apologize for expressing your charisma with style and theatrical flair. As long as your outer brilliance reflects inner vitality, your radiance will nourish rather than intimidate others. Authentic glamour is a public service. For Halloween, be a sun deity, lion monarch, or glamorous ringmaster.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
“Dear Oracle: I am obsessed with improving things. I tinker with systems that already work fine. I wake at 3 a.m. and catalog details I could have done better. My results are never ultimate enough. Please offer tips to help me find rest. —Drooping Purist.” Dear Drooping: The autumn season is your teacher. The harvest is in; the fields are meant to lie fallow. Nothing more can be improved by force. Growth happens underground, invisibly. In that spirit, I invite you to practice the radical art of leaving at least one thing gloriously alone so it can work its magic outside the reach of your conscious awareness. For Halloween, be a scarecrow who stands serenely in the harvested field, watching over everything, accomplishing its whole purpose by being present.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
If you’ve spent years regretting the moment a friend took credit for your best idea, that sting may finally lose its hold on you. If an opportunity you earned was handed to someone else, you may soon receive recognition in a form you never anticipated. And if an ancient family legend claims you were doomed to repeat the same mistake forever, you can now break that pattern. The days ahead favor overdue adjustments. Watch for turns of fortune that don’t erase what happened, but change what it means, and what becomes possible next. For Halloween, be an exorcist.

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

(Zodiac images by Numerologysign.com, CC license)

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“Behind every creation, supporting it like an arch, is faith. Enthusiasm is nothing: it comes and goes. But if one believes, then miracles occur.” – Henry Miller

Quote of the Day

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Good News Network

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Oct 31, 2026

Quote of the Day: “Behind every creation, supporting it like an arch, is faith. Enthusiasm is nothing: it comes and goes. But if one believes, then miracles occur.” – Henry Miller

Photo by: Andreas Komodromos (CC license)

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?

Good News in History, October 31

This Day In History

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Good News Network

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Oct 31, 2026

492px-Zaha_Hadid_in_Heydar_Aliyev_Cultural_center_in_Baku_nov_2013 (Copy) — Zaha Hadid in Baku, 2013. Fair Use

On this day, 76 years ago, the British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid was born. Described as the “Queen of Curves,” who “liberated architectural geometry, giving it a whole new expressive identity,” Hadid was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to world architecture. The firm she founded in London, Zaha Hadid Architects, continues to innovate and build fabulously impressive structures around the world. READ more about her life and work… (1950)

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Best Spud Harvest in a Decade Clears the Gloom of Crops Failing from Scorching Summer

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Andy Corbley

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Oct 30, 2026

Amid a summer of crop failures, a spud-tacular potato harvest in Japan showed that banner years are still in the almanac even as climate uncertainty continues to make farming more challenging.

A potato industry outlet reports that the ideal mixture of temperatures and rainfall means that Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido is virtually the only region across the Northern Hemisphere that’s increased its production.

Major potato product manufacturer Calbee estimates it will reach its previously usual quotas of 250,000 tons of Hokkaido potatoes, a figure that can help the mind comprehend the scope of this potato typhoon.

Across the world, rising summer temperatures and extended droughts have battered traditional agricultural powerhouses like southern France and northern Italy.

As recently as last autumn, Japan Times reports that high temperatures and inconsistent rain caused a sharp decline in harvest volume and potato quality.

Yet this year, the island’s capital of Sapporo experienced only 4 days above 86°F, compared to 16 such days last year. Faster and more significant cooling over autumn meant the beloved tubers formed denser, more spherical shapes, while also making the ground firmer for machinery to drive over.

These cooler temperatures also help improve the potatoes’ storage and shelf life.

RESILIENT AG: This Year’s Nice Rice Price Marks an 18-year Low Amid a Doubling of Per-Acre Yield

Furthermore, Hokkaido didn’t experience any deluges that can lead to outbreaks of pests or diseases and render fields impassable for tractors and the like.

The combination of all these factors meant that for the region which produces 80% of all Japan’s potatoes, it was the best year in a decade, and reminiscent of the recent “potato flood” in Germany, where millions of these vegetables had to be simply given away to whoever wanted them.

SHARE This Great Harvest Season Story From The Cooler Climes Of Japan…

New Texas School Is Named For Longtime Janitor ‘Miss Marilyn’ (Watch Her Reaction)

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Andy Corbley

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Oct 30, 2026

Marilyn Hampton when she graduated high school - credit, family photo

Unlike beauty, honor manifests in the eye of the honored.

And though it isn’t a Super Bowl ring or an Academy Award, for one career custodian at a Texas school district, the honor she lately received is greater than anything she had ever imagined.

Marilyn Hampton worked as a custodian for the Aubrey Independent School District (ISD) after high school when she became the first among her 7 siblings to graduate. Having never made that next leap to college, however, “Miss Marilyn” often struggled with feelings of inferiority; that she was “a failure.”

That didn’t stop her from clocking in a 39-year career, not just an ISD custodian, but ‘the’ ISD custodian.

“She is truly Aubrey ISD,” said Superintendent Dr. Shannon Saylor to WFAA News. Going miles beyond the job description of emptying the trash bins and mopping the halls, Hampton “bought and delivered school supplies, helped struggling students study for tests, ran the ticket booth at football games, and served as a constant uplifting presence in students’ lives.”

She left behind an incredible legacy as an educator despite never having earned a teaching degree. She continues to build on that legacy today, helping to take care of infants and toddlers at Aubrey ISD Early Bird Learning Center at age 76.

As Hampton’s work has wound down, that of the ISD continues ever onward as it prepares to open a new K-5 school for the district. The school board ostensibly invited Miss Marilyn to a meeting for an interview about some challenges with the school’s opening. Yet the invitation had a secret purpose.

When Hampton took the podium, they asked her to roll out a “red carpet” on which the words “Marilyn Hampton Elementary School” lay stitched into the fabric.

“Oh, my goodness,” Hampton said as she began to cry. “Oh God, y’all are the best.”

“My goodness what an honor. It’s an honor that I never thought in my lifetime I would have seen. It’s not anything I could have even imagined,” Hampton later said, after the tears were dry and her words finally began to catch up to her emotions, which she told WFAA took quite a while.

Aubrey isn’t the first school district to have such an idea. Even as students move from one grade and classroom to the next, a school custodian remains strangely constant even compared with friends.

In late 2024, a Missouri school district was debating who to name a new K-8 school building after. Its members could have chosen any number of famous Missouri natives, or perhaps a national figure that would inspire the kids to strive for similar achievement and recognition.

MORE SMALL TOWN HEROES: Families in Tiny Texas Town Have Adopted 77 Hard-to-Adopt Kids Inspired By Their Baptist Church Leaders

Instead, they picked the person they all decided meant the most to them: the school custodian Claudene Wilson. Wilson, like Hampton, had a habit of pitching in, working not only as a custodian-janitor but also as a plumber, landscaper, school bus driver, in cafeteria service, and even as a greeter for the kids when they arrive at school.

For Hampton, perhaps she can finally put those thoughts of failure to rest as she prepares to watch the first generation of elementary school students pass through the doors of the center of learning named in her honor.

WATCH her reaction below, and then the story from WFAA…

SHARE This Woman’s Distinction Of Honor With Your Friends On Social Media…

A Farmer Didn’t Know His Cell Number Was on an Exam Question, Now Uses the Calls He Gets as Opportunities to Inspire

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Andy Corbley

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Oct 30, 2026

(Left) Mr. He and Mr. Wang shake hands 6 years after meeting through an English exam question - credit, retrieved from social media (Douyin)

A young student has been accepted into a prestigious university thanks in part to an unusual source of inspiration: a strawberry farmer he met because of a question on an English exam.

Now a postgraduate student in artificial intelligence, He Ziqi was in middle school when he was taking an English language exam and saw a question he found rather odd.

It was one of those test sections where you have to read a passage and then answer questions about it to test your reading comprehension. The passage concerned an advertisement by a Beijing strawberry farmer, and included a phone number.

Curious, He saved the phone number so he could check whether it and the paired business address were simply fictional embellishments to the test, or real contact information.

Searching on WeChat, the most popular Chinese messaging app, He was amazed to see that the number belonged not just to a real person, but to a real strawberry grower in Beijing named Mr. Wang.

In a text exchange, Mr. Wang explained the situation. He had been receiving students’ messages for more than 10 years.

“I don’t know which English teacher took the advertisement I wrote and turned it into an English exam question,” he wrote to He. “The thing is, it seems this set of questions of yours is being studied all over the country. People ask me about it every year.”

Wang has been growing and selling strawberries for 21 years, and was at first surprised and confused when students from outside Beijing began calling him every so often.

It seemed he wasn’t aware of his number being included in the English exam in the first place, and he supposed that the test preparer had seen his strawberry advertisement signs.

The novelty of it all charmed the farmer, who told Chinese-language news media that between 10 and 20 students call or message him every year.

MORE SERENDIPITOUS STORIES:

He usually has the same thing to say to them all: study hard, be good students, and, once they graduate, come visit him in Beijing. It’s one of those throwaway lines that’s kind while also being completely acceptable to ignore for both parties.

Yet young Mr. He never forgot his exchange with Mr. Wang, and once he was accepted into Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing, he reconnected with Wang and explained he had followed his advice.

Delighted, the strawberry farmer took the lad out for a dinner of Peking duck, where, in a dash of yet further serendipity—all the crazier in a country of 1.4 billion people—he told He that his daughter attends school right next to the Central University campus.

SHARE This Bizarre And Serendipitous Story From China’s Capital…

In Lieu of Flowers or Tributes, Patrick Stewart’s Family Suggests a Donation to Alzheimer’s Research

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Andy Corbley

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Oct 30, 2026

Patrick Stewart in 1999 - credit, John Mathew Smith, CC 2.0. via Flickr

Legendary actor Sir Patrick Stewart passed away yesterday at the age of 86 following a brief struggle with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy Body Dementia.

A titan of the silver screen, theater, and television, Stewart passed away at home surrounded by “live music, prayer, and laughter” in the care of his devoted wife Sunny.

Born in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Stewart’s acting career spanned 6 decades, during which he collected 2 Laurence Olivier Awards for his renditions of supporting roles in both Antony and Cleopatra and Hamlet.

Perhaps his most enduring performance, however, was off the stage—that of Starfleet Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, a role he reprised in a series of 4 films from 1994 to 2002. Stewart was by no means a household name when he auditioned for the role of Captain Picard, and he questioned himself as to why audience members would connect with a “bald, middle-aged, English Shakespearean actor.”

Regardless, producer Robert Justman recounted of Stewart during those early meetings: “Wonderful annunciation [sic] that he had. It made everything seem better and more exciting, more intense and entrancing.”

He gained further pop-culture stardom from his portrayal of Professor X from the X-Men franchise, opposite his lifelong friend, countryman, and fellow thespian Ian McKellen, who played Magneto.

McKellen released a heartfelt tribute to his dear friend, in which he called him “a man to rely on, to admire and in my case, love.”

One of his earliest “strong” memories of knowing Stewart was hearing from him in London about his potential role in Star Trek.

“’But Patrick think of your stage career in the UK. Do you really want to risk getting lost in Hollywood for years and years?’ Well, he took the risk and thank goodness for us all that he did…”

Further, McKellen shared his insights into the man behind the Hollywood icon: someone whose roots in the countryside in the north of England stretch profoundly deep.

“America was his adopted home, where he met his adored Sunny who has cared for him through sickness and health, through thick and thin. But he never forsook his origins: and the proudest achievement of the most respected and beloved actor of his generation on either side of the Atlantic, was his appointment as Chancellor of Huddersfield University in Yorkshire.”

A statement from Stewart’s family read that “in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Fund, [and] Alzheimer’s Foundation of America Caregiver Resources” in light of his struggle with the two neurodegenerative diseases

IMPROVED ALZEIMER’S CARE:

The Alzheimer’s Research Center at Johns Hopkins focuses on early-stage understanding, lifestyle interventions, and testing that may delay or treat symptoms, as well as improving later-stage care outcomes, but its staff are also involved with advancing avant-garde research.

In May 2025, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first blood test for detecting residues from beta-amyloid—a protein that forms plaques which can gum up neurons in the brain. Since the early 2000s, it has been suspected as the primary cause of Alzheimer’s.

These tests are less invasive, as well as more cost-effective and convenient than current methods of PET imaging and cerebrospinal fluid measures. Researchers from Johns Hopkins provided and analyzed key data that helped make the breakthrough test possible.

Additionally, the center has multiple studies of its own underway. For example, Paul Rosenberg, MD, is testing whether Alzheimer’s-related treatments, such as anti-amyloid medication, can delay progression to mild cognitive impairment in those who have normal cognitive function yet significant early risk markers for Alzheimer’s.

Another is investigating whether currently available drugs can treat Frontotemporal Dementia.

SHARE This In Memorium Of A Fantastic Actor And Beloved Human Being…

“Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow; it only saps today of its strength.” – A. J. Cronin

Quote of the Day

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Good News Network

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Oct 30, 2026

Quote of the Day: “Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow; it only saps today of its strength.” – A. J. Cronin

Photo by: Molnár Bálint

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?

Good News in History, October 30

This Day In History

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Good News Network

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Oct 30, 2026

53 years ago today, the Bosporus Bridge was completed, linking mainland Europe with Anatolia over the Bosporus Straits for the first time. It’s a gravity-anchored suspension bridge with steel towers and inclined hangers, and upon its completion was the 4th longest suspension bridge in the world. READ more famous historical figures who had proposed such a bridge… (1973)

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‘Panther Pat’ Shines a Light on the Nearly Forgotten First Woman to Play Pro Football

By

Gabriel Kinder

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Oct 29, 2026

JoyDrops champions awards-eligible documentary shorts about joy, a counterweight to a category often dominated by tragedy. Good News Network has partnered with JoyDrops to spotlight these films and talk with the filmmakers behind them.

In 1970, an elementary school teacher named Pat Palinkas walked onto the field for the Orlando Panthers and became the first woman to play professional football. She made national headlines. Then, almost as quickly, the world forgot.

More than five decades later, filmmaker Ashley Brandon is making sure her story gets told—with a little help from Barbie.

“Panther Pat,” Brandon’s 12-minute documentary, pairs interviews with Palinkas and archival material with scenes staged using dolls, toys and stop-motion animation. The film won the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary Short at the 2026 Slamdance Film Festival, screened at Tribeca, and is Oscar-qualified. Eli Manning and Robin Roberts recently joined as executive producers.

A footnote that became a film

Brandon, who is also an associate professor of film, television and media arts at Quinnipiac University, grew up surrounded by the game. “I’m obsessed with football. It’s the number one sport I follow,” she says. “I grew up around it because my dad, my whole life, has been a football coach.”

But she was never allowed on a team. “I got to play backyard football with the boys and the other coaches’ sons, but that was really as far as it went,” she says.

She always knew she wanted to make a football movie. The subject found her after she moved to Connecticut, when she picked up a used book on the history of football in the state. It profiled the semi-pro Bridgeport Jets, the team Palinkas faced in her first game. Her history-making moment got a single passing sentence near the end.

“It said nothing else,” Brandon says. “But I was like, whoa, that’s the most interesting thing in this entire, kind of boring book.”

Research led her to Palinkas, then living in Clearwater, Florida. Instead of calling, the filmmakers wrote her a letter. “We felt like it would be more genuine,” Brandon says. Palinkas wrote back, and work began in 2021.

When the archive runs out, grab the dolls

The film’s signature look came about almost by accident. The filmmakers quickly realized there was not a lot of film or photos to illustrate Palinkas’s stories.

“This was my first film that incorporates archival, and it’s really important before you start an archival movie that you make sure there’s an archive,” Brandon says.

The fix came from Palinkas herself. Going back through her interviews, the filmmakers kept returning to something she’d said about growing up: when she wanted to play football, she was told that girls play with dolls.

“We don’t really have the budget to hire actors and make it look like the ’70s and fill a stadium,” Brandon says. “But I think we have it in the budget to buy some Barbies and dolls.”

What started as a last resort became the heart of the film. “We’re so happy that we were so naive,” she says, “because it allowed us to be super creative.” The playful approach, she adds, wins over viewers “who maybe don’t love football and don’t love sports, but they love the playfulness of the dolls.”

It was new territory for the director, too. “I was never the doll girl,” she says. “I finally got into it in my 30s.”

A teacher’s story, made for young audiences

Palinkas died in the summer of 2025, months before the film was completed. “It’s one of the things that we regret the most, that we weren’t able to get it finished in time,” Brandon says. “But I know that she was waiting for years for this story to get out there.”

Her family has embraced the film. They have long been amazed that more people don’t know what their mother accomplished, Brandon says. And the dolls suit a woman who spent her career teaching elementary school. “She was painting a picture in front of you,” Brandon says of Palinkas’s storytelling. The toys, she believes, will help Pat reach the young audiences she always loved teaching.

Throughout the film, a small doll sits watching TV as women appear on screen as players, coaches, referees and fans. “Ultimately, the goal is to see themselves represented,” Brandon says. “You can do it. Pat did it, so of course you can do it too.”

Not every short doc has to be a “short sad”

“Panther Pat” is part of the JoyDrops slate, a collection of documentary shorts that pushes back on the idea, joked about by Oscars host Conan O’Brien, that the category often focuses on tragedy.

Brandon has no quarrel with serious films. “We love those stories that are sad and super serious. They’re very important,” she says. “But it’s also really important to make sure that we’re telling stories of joy as well, because that makes the world a better place. And even in the hardest of times, there are still very joyful things to celebrate.”

For her, short documentaries can be “a really radical space,” a form with no fixed rules. “I’ve always really gotten a lot of joy from surprising people,” she says. “If I wasn’t working in documentaries, I wanted to design roller coasters.”

You can catch a screening of Panther Pat with Eli Manning — RSVP here

JoyDrops: Short Films Big on Inspiration and Bigger Awards Aspirations

By

Gabriel Kinder

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Oct 29, 2026

JoyDrops: Short Films With Big Hearts and Even Bigger Ambitions

Good News Network and Switchboard Magazine have joined forces on JoyDrops, a curated slate of awards-season documentary short films that offer positive perspectives, made by artisan filmmakers that have already racked up numerous accolades and awards on the film festival circuit.

The idea started, of all places, on the Oscars stage. Introducing the Documentary Short category at this year’s ceremony, host Conan O’Brien paused to rename it “little sads,” before asking the room whether the films had, in fact, made them sad. (A little bit, they agreed.) The Documentary Short category has long skewed toward grief, hardship, and the elegiac. JoyDrops hopes to offer viewers a wider variety of films to consider this year.

What JoyDrops is

JoyDrops celebrates documentary shorts that find wonder, humor and hope in real life. Each week, Good News Network will feature one film from the slate. Every installment pairs the film with an interview from the director who made it.

The directors will share what drew them to their subjects, the surprises they found along the way, and why they think stories like these belong in the awards conversation. Each film stands on its own, and together they make the case that a documentary can be moving, rigorous and hopeful all at once.

Share your joy

We want to hear what brings you joy, too. Post about the people, places and moments that make you happy on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or X using #JoyDrops. We’ll share some of our favorites.

Meet the slate

Over the coming weeks, GNN will publish a five-part series, with one story for each JoyDrops film and the director who made it.

The Boys and the Bees, directed by Arielle Knight, is set on an idyllic farm in rural Georgia. A beekeeping couple shares their knowledge of life, love and nature with their two young sons while restoring their homestead. The Boys and the Bees is presented by POV Shorts and TIME Studios, in partnership with Switchboard Magazine and Higher Ground.

In Panther Pat, Ashley Brandon tells the story of Patricia Palinkas, who in 1970 became the first woman to play professional football. Using archival interviews, Barbies and stop-motion, the film revisits a nearly forgotten moment when a gender barrier fell in America’s game.

Ora DeKornfeld’s The Grandfather Puzzle follows her search for her grandfather’s past. He fled Hungary and left behind a castle, a baronial title and a life he never talked about. All he wanted to do was jigsaw puzzles, so she traveled to Hungary to photograph the castle and turn it into one.

The Second Life of Freddie Nole, directed by Dana Nachman, follows a man who spent 50 years in prison. Today he meets newly released men at the prison gates and offers them a ride, support and a path toward a second chance.

In Oh Whale, Winslow Crane-Murdoch returns to a small Oregon town, an exploding whale and the TV newsman who made the story famous. The film reflects on how we don’t get to choose our fate, only what we make of it.

Together, these five films make the case that a film can leave you better than it found you and still belong in the awards conversation.

Disabled Veteran Receives Donated Car Beautifully Refurbished by Auto Collision Students

By

Andy Corbley

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Oct 29, 2026

4cafc2d5-67da-40f6-a326-76e7548bf9ad — Robert Hanson receives a refurbished car thanks to the NABC's Recycled Rides program - credit, released by NABC

Robert Hanson receives a refurbished car thanks to the NABC’s Recycled Rides program – credit, released by NABC

After spending years without wheels but with no shortage of errands, a Minneapolis veteran recently received a transformational gift.

Students at a Minnesota engineering school beautifully refurbished a 2020 Hyundai Elantra for the Recycled Rides for Schools program at the nonprofit National Auto Body Council.

A silver Hyundai sedan adorned with a large green bow is showcased in a garage, surrounded by people and media, with a banner celebrating “NABC Recycled Rides.” — The Elantra, and the students (right) that rebuilt it – credit, released by NABC

US Navy veteran Robert Hanson hasn’t had his own car for over 2 years. He has suffered severe health problems since his separation from the military, where he flew as a Navy airman from 1993 to 1997.

Severe asthma and fibromyalgia issues make public transportation extremely difficult for Hanson, who received the Elantra at the Dunwoody College of Engineering in Minneapolis, after being referred to the Recycled Rides program by a Hennepin County welfare service.

There, students at the college’s Automotive Collision and Refinishing school got to see what all the body work they’d been doing over the past several months was actually for.

“I was so happy to see that he was happy to have literally a brand-new car, and we were able to be a part of that,” collision student Abbie Vera said.

ANOTHER PROGRAM LIKE THIS: High School Students Repair Cars and Give Them to Single Moms: ‘You’re Really Making a Change in the World’

Indeed, Hanson described it as a “big-time game changer.”

“I’m just blown away and so thankful to everybody involved,” said Hanson. “Big-time game changer for me because I’ve been walking everywhere to get food. So now I can finally shop at more reasonable places and buy in bulk, and whatever you need a vehicle. I’ll be able to get out there and enjoy life again.”

The Elantra was donated by the NABC’s partner Allstate, which had recovered it after a pretty nasty collision that removed a not-insubstantial portion of its front end, images revealed.

WATCH the moment Hanson received his new car from CBS News…

SHARE This Great Charitable Collaboration To Get A Veteran Back In The Saddle…

Birdwatching Rewires the Brain and Slows Cognitive Decline

By

Andy Corbley

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Oct 29, 2026

A famous poet once wrote that hope is a thing with feathers. Well, new research may suggest that healthy aging is too.

Specifically, the research examined how expertise required for identifying birds aided in maintaining neuroplasticity, a key component to cognitive function that is known to decline with age.

Yet even when the “bird-identification expert”—what most people refer to as a “birdwatcher”—was overly grey among the feathers, they were assessed as possessing an increase in structural complexity across various regions of the brain that could aid the attenuation of age-related cognitive decline.

No one needs to undertake an MRI scan to understand that a successful birdwatching trip leaves one feeling awfully swell. This isn’t to say that birdwatching is some Aristotelian ‘Good,’ but the combination of time spent in nature and leveraging a variety of cognitive systems to successfully identify a bird through limited clues and cues seems to hold great promise as a way to support mental faculties like attention, visual perception, and visual recognition.

However, MRI scans were used in a recent study of birdwatchers, and found that these were exactly the faculties that showed more activity during birding, particularly when the participant was unclear which bird they were observing.

The lead author on the study was the aptly-named Erik Wing from the Baycrest Academy for Research and Education in Toronto, Canada. Wing’s next flight of fancy for his paper was to study brain organization—known to decline with age and is associated with compromised cognition.

Some expert birders’ brains showed better organization than those of novice birders who came along as the control group.

The BBC’s Becca Warner explored the topic further, and wrote for the British network that additional research suggests that birdwatching benefits amateurs as well, so long as they enjoy it.

A study of 388 birdwatchers in Poland found that those who considered the hobby important in their lives experienced a greater degree of “psychological restoration” from a birdwatching session than birdwatchers who were experts but not that enthusiastic about it.

JOY TO THE BIRDERS:

Along with suggesting that it’s never too late to start birdwatching, the research suggests that, like diet and exercise, someone who both values the hobby and becomes an expert is receiving double the benefits compared to someone who does just one.

Wing confided to Warner that he felt it is the curiosity of the birder and birdwatcher that plays the largest role in these potential cognitive benefits, as curiosity is linked with novelty, and novel objects and concepts require brain reorganization, thus keeping the organ flexible even in old age.

“I think there’s a lot of benefit to incorporating more novelty in our lives, in midlife and as we continue to age,” Wing said.

FLY This Great News Over To Your Friends Who Like A Good Birdwatching Trip…

Romans Made Color-Changing Glass–and We’ve Just Replicated After 1,600 Years

By

Andy Corbley

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Oct 29, 2026

The Lycurgus Cup, located in the British Museum - credits, (left) Johnbod CC 3.0. SA -(right) Chappsnet 4.0. BY — The Lycurgus Cup, located in the British Museum - credits, (left) Johnbod CC 3.0. SA - (right) Chappsnet CC 4.0. BY

The Lycurgus Cup, located in the British Museum – credits, (left) Johnbod CC 3.0. SA – (right) Chappsnet CC 4.0. BY

The Romans were incredible materials scientists, having famously invented self-healing concrete that allowed their structures to stand for millennia.

Yet for some, it’s the glass that forms this one—yes, one—goblet that marks the undisputed pinnacle of Roman science.

It’s made of what’s called dichroic glass, and its party trick is changing color depending on which angle light is shone upon it. The goblet in question is known as the Lycurgus Cup, named for the king of the Thracians in Homer’s Iliad who insulted the god Dionysus.

Though scientists know how to make dichroic glass, how exactly the Romans managed it with 4th-century CE tools and materials is less understood. Its craftsmen embedded nanoparticles of gold and silver into the glass which then distort incoming light.

Essentially, it may be the world’s first instance of nanotechnology use, as the precious metals inside are smaller even than the wavelengths of light they’re distorting.

Lisa Hollands, a glass technical specialist at the University of Sheffield, led a thorough investigation and reproduction effort into the glass of the Lycurgus Cup, and spoke with the Guardian about what it is that makes the artifact so unique—saying how it seems more or less like “magic.”

“For this glass, if light is shone through it, the gold and silver particles block blue and green light, only allowing reds and oranges to pass through,” Hollands tells the Guardian. “If light is reflected off the surface, the particles have the effect of scattering the light, giving the opaque green color we see.”

The first step towards Hollands reproducing the glass in the Lycurgus Cup was making glass the way the Romans did. Using materials that would have been available at the time, this was achieved. What came next was longer and more arduous—a process of experimentation with different oxygen levels, furnace temperatures, and more.

One of Hollands’ team members explained that the color of the glass seemed to be highly dependent on its position within the furnace, such that it became almost uncontrollable.

ALSO CHECK OUT: This Ancient Man’s Piercing Hazel Eyes Drew Almost $1 Million in ‘Mummy Portrait’ Auction

“The fact that the color is so sensitive to the position in the furnace suggests that it would have been very difficult for the Romans to control the color,” said Ian Freestone, an emeritus archeological materials scholar at University College London. “It makes me think that, with the Lycurgus glass, they hit the jackpot.”

Though dichroic glass was manufactured in the 1960s—by NASA—the version produced by Freestone and Hollands is far more faithful to the Lycurgus Cup. Once they had grasped all the steps, the team turned the final touch over the glass artist Elliot Walker.

THE GENIUS OF THE ROMANS: 1,800-year-old Roman Water Pipe Made from Hollow Tree Trunks Found Under a Street in Belgium

His ultimate creation was an homage to both the Lycurgus Cup and a famous sculpture of Atlas carrying the world on his back. In his work, Walker replaced the world with a cup—that shines just as the one held in the British Museum today.

Smithsonian Magazine shared that it will be exhibited permanently at the University of Sheffield’s Turner Museum of Glass.

WATCH a short presentation on the project below…

SHARE These Ancient Secrets Manifested Anew With Your Friends On Social Media…

Bereaved Parents Ask Court to Consider ‘Lightest Possible Sentence’ for Driver Who Killed Their Son

By

Andy Corbley

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Oct 29, 2026

The late 4-year-old, Osal Pokhrel - credit, supplied to ABC Au

“If the court is able to consider it, we respectfully request that she receive the lightest possible sentence.”

These unspeakably brave words come from a court statement penned by the bereaved parents of a 4-year-old boy killed after a car struck their shopping cart in a parking lot.

The driver, an 80-year-old woman, pleaded guilty to culpable driving and negligence that occasioned the death of a pedestrian. This typically carries a sentence of 3-12 years in prison according to Australian law, one which would have almost certainly encompassed the rest of the woman’s life.

Yet with courage profound, the parents have deemed that forgiveness shall be the salve to their shattered lives, and expressed in their statement the hope that the offender “can spend the rest of her life surrounded by her children and grandchildren.”

The story involves something which likely most readers will have done before. It’s not that Canberra resident Maureen Brew was losing her vision or hearing, she simply pressed on the accelerator rather than the brake.

She had pulled into a parking spot, and forgotten to take the car out of drive. She opened the glove box while taking her foot off the brake, believing the car was in park. Brew realized it was rolling forward only when it bounced up onto the curb, at which point she slammed on what she thought was the brake.

In front of her was 4-year-old Osal Pokhrel in a shopping cart which his parents weren’t able to move in time. Osal was hit by Brew’s car, and passed away at the hospital some hours later.

DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL: Mother’s Only Son was Killed in Robbery–But She Gained Another by Helping Rehabilitate One of the Convicted Boys

In a victim impact statement that will rend the heart of any reader, the grieving parents briefly recounted how “the pain touches every part of our daily lives.”

“Four years was not enough for us, and it should never have been all he was given. He was loved, he mattered, and he is missed every day.”

In a statement from Brew, tendered by her lawyers, she described her “overwhelming remorse, shame, and guilt” at the consequences of her mistake, before adding “I am humbled and grateful the parents of the child say they hold me no ill will.”

Australian Justice Belinda Baker, presiding over the case, said she would carefully re-read the “incredibly powerful and gracious victim impact statement” when deciding the sentence, which will be delivered at a later date.

SPREAD The Word Of This Incredible Display of Equanimity And Compassion…

“Trusting your individual uniqueness challenges you to lay yourself open.” – James Broughton

Quote of the Day

By

Good News Network

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Oct 29, 2026

Quote of the Day: “Trusting your individual uniqueness challenges you to lay yourself open.” – James Broughton

Photo by: Danny Coen (CC license)

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?

Good News in History, October 29

This Day In History

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 29, 2026

61 years ago, The Who released their iconic single “My Generation.” The hit was ranked #11 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Pete Townshend reportedly wrote the song on a train but credits American jazz and bluesman Mose Allison’s Young Man Blues as its inspiration, saying “Without Mose I wouldn’t have written My Generation”. Singer Roger Daltrey’s delivery—an angry and frustrated stutter (‘Why don’t you all fff … fade away’)—was inspired by, among other things, John Lee Hooker’s Stuttering Blues. WATCH the Smothers Brothers introduce the young mods to the world, before they play the song… (1965)

Continue

Nature-Inspired Tech Prevents Microplastics Entering Atlantic Ocean Through Wastewater

By

Andy Corbley

-

Oct 28, 2026

The commercial scale filtering device - credit, supplied to WHYY as a courtesy PolyGone Systems

The commercial scale filtering device – credit, supplied to WHYY as a courtesy PolyGone Systems

Princeton alumni have designed what’s called a first-in-the-world device to filter microplastics out of wastewater at scale, and it’s already been deployed in Atlantic City.

The large implant mimics hydrophobic plants found in nature, which completely shed water on contact but also attract microplastic particles.

With the water moved on and the particles thusly removed, they can then be easily collected and sent to a recycling facility for processing.

The Atlantic County Utilities Authority (ACUA) in New Jersey have said that it’s crucial for public safety that microplastics be removed from water through existing processing streams. Though no federal regulation exists mandating that utilities remove these contaminants, the ACUA isn’t waiting around for one to be passed.

Microplastics can easily accumulate in wastewater through washing machines, heavy rains, and littering. Most existing treatment facilities across the country will be streamlined for human sewage, solid matter, heavy metals, and other well-understood contaminants, but microplastics present a challenge for these systems.

“We’re discharging to the ocean. So, if we’re not removing the plastic that’s in our wastewater, we’re putting it back into the environment,” said Matt DeNafo, president of the ACUA. “It’s getting into the fish that we’re eating, even the water that we’re bathing. So, it really becomes an issue for human health.”

The ACUA has brought onboard PolyGone Technologies, a startup founded by 2 Princeton University graduates Nathanial Banks and Yidian Liu, as part of a 2-year pilot program to see if their large filtration system can clean up this source of pollution in the city of 40,000.

“I think this really marks a new era for treatment innovation, where we’re able to build very large, scalable systems that use a very small amount of material and very low energy to treat very challenging contaminants,” said Banks, co-founder and CEO of PolyGone Systems. “And, having the first system in the world for that in Atlantic County, it’s quite unusual.”

Laboratory tests showed that a prototype could remove 98% of microplastic particles from wastewater, and the pilot program will focus on replicating this efficiency at the commercial scale.

MORE MICROPLASTIC SOLUTIONS: 3 Teens Win Global Earth Prize for Inventing Tamarind Powder That Easily Removes Microplastics

Interestingly, WHYY reports that Banks and Liu are architecture students, and the latter admitted that the most enjoyable part of the whole process was designing the large device.

In 10 to 15 years time, society may be look back and see microplastics as the greatest environmental crisis of modern times. The mass deforestation of the industrial age can be reversed as trees are given a chance to regrow. As debilitating as the pollution of the coal-fired revolution was to both human and environmental health, its effects were comparatively limited to the vicinity of the coal mine and the coal power plant.

Microplastics, in contrast have been found anywhere researchers have cared to look for them—from the bottom of the Mariana Trench, to the summit of Everest, and inside every human organ from the brain to the placenta—in quantities surpassing a gram, or even more.

ALSO CHECK OUT: Teen Discovers Coconut Fungi Can Filter Plastic and Sunscreen From Sea—And Wins Science Fair

Encouragingly, the majority of humanity isn’t waiting around for someone else to solve the problem, and GNN has reported on numerous inventions, innovations, and successes in the field of microplastic filtering and removal.

For Liu and Banks, they’re also interested in scaling down their technology for residential uses, while eco-conscious California is also the home to one of their commercial scale implants.

SHARE When These Young Entrepreneurs Met A Responsible Utility On The Jersey Shore…

Bizarre Rescue Sees Divers Save Kangaroo That Found Itself Over a Mile from Dry Land

By

Andy Corbley

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Oct 28, 2026

Jake Murray and the rescued roo - supplied to ABC by Jake Murray

In a story too ‘Australiana’ to believe, a scuba diver and his crew rescued a kangaroo over one and a half miles out to sea.

Spotted at first by the captain in the waters of Boston Bay in the state of South Australia, it was clear that the juvenile kangaroo recognized his only hope was to get onboard the boat.

In the calm sea, the vessel’s water door allowed the crew to get right down to the level of the gently-lapping waves. It was exhausted to the point that driver Jake Murray was able to easily scoop him up.

Mr. Murry spoke with ABC News Australia about the rescue, which started when the skipper Ryan Smith spotted the animal, and which ended hours later when roo hopped away from the beach under his own strength.

“He’s like, ‘I reckon there’s a roo in the water,’ and we’re like, ‘Yeah, sure. All right, Ryan, sure,'” Murray said. “So we doubled back to check it out and yeah—it was a bloody roo in the water!”

Murray understands the animals well, as he is also a farmer, and he described how he ensured his grip was gentle yet firm when restraining Roo’s “powerful and mighty” legs. Eventually, it dosed off in his arms.

Onboard was Miguel Villarroel, a diver from Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands.

“He’s like, ‘Oh, does this happen a fair bit?’ “I’m like, ‘Mate, I’ve never seen this in my life,'” Murray remembered responding.

As to how the heck Roo made his way 3 kilometers out to sea, Murray’s humor got the better of him when talking with the Australian broadcaster.

AUSSIE HUMOR: Residents Need Patience and ‘a Rake’ to Enjoy the 200 Million Migrating Crabs on Christmas Island

“He must have had a big night and one of the boys put a dare on and he’s gone for a splash and put himself into mischief!”

Kangaroos will venture close to the sea, however, and have occasionally required rescuing from the surf. In 2022, ABC News reported how a 17-year-old rookie lifeguard from New South Wales jumped into action for her first-ever rescue after a kangaroo was pushed into the sea by a powerful set of waves as it scampered along some large rocks.

She didn’t really know how to proceed, but with the rescue board she managed to keep its head above water and bring it back to the beach.

SHARE This Great Rescue Story From Down Under With Your Friends…

Etsy Cracks Down on AI-Generated Content to Protect Buyers from Barrage of Slop

By

Andy Corbley

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Oct 28, 2026

Etsy's offices in Ireland - CC 3.0. BY-SA Cograng, replicated with AI for humor's sake

For the world’s largest online e-commerce market for handicrafts, the impact of AI generated media was always going to loom large.

That’s why Etsy has taken definite steps to protect the almost 6 million artisan-entrepreneurs it hosts with new regulations against AI-generated content.

“Our marketplace only works when buyers and sellers trust each other,” Etsy Vice President of Customer Operations James Ossman wrote in a blog post.

“Sellers need clear guidance and confidence that their creativity and craftsmanship will be represented fairly; buyers need to understand what they’re buying and the human involvement behind it. We know we have work to do to uphold this standard on Etsy.”

New AI-use policies include an obligation for at least one unaltered, authentic photo of the product that isn’t generated or modified by AI tools. Further photos may be treated or generated with AI, but they must accurately represent the product being sold and not a romanticized or inauthentic depiction.

Additionally, violators may be held legally responsible to issue refunds if customers feel they have been misled through product imagery, bot-generated listings are no longer permitted, and for those who sell instructive material, such as recipes, craft patterns, or instructions, they must be their own work, not AI-generated, and the listing must include an example of an actual result made using these guides, instructions, not an AI-generated or simulated result.

MORE AI-MODERATION: US Cities Are Terminating Flock Camera Contracts at Record Pace After Nationwide Pushback

“The care in a hand-thrown mug, the eye behind a vintage find, the skill in a custom graphic design—this is the human touch that brings people to Etsy,” Ossman wrote. “AI should support our sellers’ creativity and craftsmanship, not replace them. When shopping on Etsy you should always be able to understand the role sellers play in every item.”

“This work is hard, and we don’t have every answer today. But I believe this is an important moment for Etsy, and that these initial steps are putting us on the right path.”

Quite like the car or the computer, artificial intelligence is a technology that becomes positive or negative depending on its use.

GNN has already covered numerous examples of its capacity to save thousands of lives through improving medical diagnostics, and indeed Ossman noted that a blanket ban on the use of AI by Etsy sellers is a sort of collective punishment that penalizes all for its misuse by some.

LinkedIn is one platform that relies heavily on community moderation through a channel to report AI use that’s perceived to be fraudulent or harmful, and Ossman said Etsy is considering building out similar channels for use in its marketplace.

SHARE Etsy’s Proactive Approach To Moderating AI…