These 6 Cities and This State Will Pay You to Move There

MORE: One of the World’s First Communities of 3D Printed Homes is Set to House Mexico’s Poorest Families

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Feb 18, 2021

coffee husk house Woodpecker WPC (1) — Woodpecker WPC

In a country with both housing shortages and world-leading coffee production, a small construction company has, quite brilliantly, found a way to leverage one in order to fix the other.

Coffee husks, a papery material surrounding the prized beans, are being turned into resilient, light, and versatile building materials that can make the panels of a house for as little as $4,500.

The Bogota-based Woodpecker, which tried to develop a material from rice fiber, palm fronds, sawdust, and even recycled plastic, eventually settled on coffee husk for its availability, fire resistance, and insect/waterproofing. Another benefit? Utilizing coffee husks would stop them ending up in landfills where they would add to the methane emissions of the country.

“We saw that there was a huge necessity for a lightweight construction system for housing and classrooms in rural and isolated places where traditional construction systems cannot go—like bricks, cement, and concrete,” said CEO Alejandro Franco.

The prefabricated “casa kits” have to be able to be loaded and transported on small boats, helicopters, or even on the back of a donkey, and for the most part they can.

Each kit consists of lightweight steel frames that, like LEGO, can click together with minimal tool use, and coffee husk boards that can be attached to the steel frames without need for nails and screws.

Woodpecker has been in this game for 10 years, and recently built their 2,500th house.

When category 5 Hurricane Iota hit the Colombian island of Providence in November, destroying more than a thousand homes, the company donated two complete houses that the army received and assembled, which as Franco told Adele Peters at Fast Company, was a real boon to a community.

“The system worked perfectly considering that there was no energy supply, the soil was muddy, the airport damaged, no food, etc.—all the problems that you can imagine,” he said. “We think our houses are an excellent solution for the housing crisis there.”

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NASA’s Rover is About to Land on Mars: Here’s How to Watch Perseverance in Action

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Feb 18, 2021

NASA_JPL-Caltech Perseverance public domain illustration — NASA/JPL-Caltech, illustration of the rover landing

NASA/JPL-Caltech, illustration of the rover landing

In a huge moment for space exploration, the American space agency will today attempt to land a new rover on the surface of Mars.

The six-wheeled robot, named Perseverance, will be the first NASA mission since the 1970s to search directly for signs of ancient life on the Red Planet.

Powered by plutonium, this is the most sophisticated rover the space agency has ever built.

The rover’s aimed for landing point? An ancient river delta in dusty, boulder-strewn Jezero Crater—where the rocks could bear signs of microbes from what was, 3.5 billion years ago, a deep lake.

If all goes to plan, Perseverance is scheduled to land at 3:55 pm EST—or at least, that’s when NASA will find out if its rover has touched down.

Radio signals take around 11 minutes and 22 seconds to travel between Mars and Earth, so there’ll be a slight lag before NASA officially knows the success of its landing.

CHECK OUT: Space Station Captures Footage of Blue Lightning Bursting Toward Space

The live stream can be watched on NASA’s official YouTube channel, beginning at 2:15 pm EST (11:15 am PST). That means it’s just about time to settle in, settle down, and get ready for one hugely exciting touchdown.

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Watch a Billion Years of Shifting Tectonic Plates Forming Our Continents in 40 Seconds

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Feb 18, 2021

NASA Solar System Exploration - public domain NASA — NASA

One billion years of Earth’s geological movements have been summarized in a 40-second video, in which the continents and oceans flit about like amorous butterflies while demonstrating just how mobile the surface of the Earth actually is.

The history of plate tectonics, the slipping and sliding around of the Earth’s crust and the continents, has taken place for billions of years at speeds between the growth rate of fingernails (40mm per year) and of hair (160mm per year).

The video demonstrates not only how much the millimeters add up over time, but portrays a theory in the evolution of Earth—from the supercontinent period of Gondwana 540 to 320 million years ago—to the modern configuration, the Apparent Polar Wander, in which most landmasses have shuffled down towards the South Pole before condensing into a central point and moving back up together as if forced through a funnel.

Co-author of the corresponding paper, Dr. Michael Tetley at the University of Sydney, told Euronews: “For the first time a complete model of tectonics has been built, including all the boundaries.”

“On a human timescale, things move in centimeters per year, but as we can see from the animation, the continents have been everywhere in time. A place like Antarctica that we see as a cold, icy inhospitable place today, actually was once quite a nice holiday destination at the equator,” he added.

The principle theory that explains the shifting of these continents is that—like a manhole cover hovering over a torrent of water on a flooded street—the Earth’s crust is far more rigid and has more mechanical strength than the asthenosphere below it.

As hot brittle rock shifts about in the weaker asthenosphere, its movement across the underside of the lithosphere creates pressure which causes the latter to move. As the tectonic plates that form the lithosphere move, the indiscriminate tearing and colliding with one another create some of the most dramatic features on our planet, such as mountain ranges, volcanoes, undersea trenches and shelves, and even oceans.

MORE: Geophysicists Confirm Plato’s Theory—the Earth Is Made of Cubes

Co-author Dr. Sabin from the University of Sydney said in a statement: “Planet Earth is incredibly dynamic, with the surface composed of ‘plates’ that constantly jostle each other in a way unique among the known rocky planets. These plates move at the speed fingernails grow, but when a billion years is condensed into 40 seconds a mesmerizing dance is revealed.”

“Oceans open and close, continents disperse and periodically recombine to form immense supercontinents,” he adds.

Zahirovic and his teammates hope the model they’ve created will help planetary scientists in all manner of research, from predicting where rising sea levels will occur most powerfully to predicting where large deposits of copper can be found.

(WATCH the EarthByte video of the Earth’s plates in motion below.)

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Man Raises $25,000 For 70-Year-old Woman Who’s Worked at KFC With a Smile For Almost 50 Years

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MORE: Town Gives Pizza Deliveryman a New Car For 30 Years of Smiling Service: ‘It’s My Purpose in Life’

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Feb 18, 2021

Emilia-KFC-supplied-Jason Schweitzer — Emilia and Jason Schweitzer, supplied

There’s no denying that Kentucky Fried Chicken is finger-lickin’ good, but that’s not the only thing that keeps one Toronto fan coming back to his favorite franchise year after year.

Apart from the food, this loyal customer has formed a special bond with a KFC employee who befriended him when he was just 5 years old.

Jason Schweitzer first met Emilia when he and his mom would stop in for a weekly Sunday meal. “From being a young boy and hanging out with my mom at the walk-in location at Broadview and Gerrard in Chinatown,” Schweitzer told the Toronto Sun, “When you grow up, and you recognize a face, it becomes a part of your mind-space.”

There was an almost instant rapport between the little boy and the sweet-natured worker who took a shine to him. “I would always ask my mom ‘Is the funny lady there? Is the funny lady there?’” Schweitzer said in an interview with CTV News. “[Emilia] would always hook me up with some French fries. She was always very kind and she was always very funny.”

Recently, Schweitzer witnessed a rude customer give his cherished friend a dressing down, to which Emilia reacted with her usual good-natured aplomb. “I stepped back and minded my business, but I thought, ‘How could someone still be here working after all these years? You have to deal with the good people, the bad people, and grumpy people,” he told the Sun.

Not long after that incident, Schweitzer, who’d grown concerned for Emilia’s well-being during the COVID-19 crisis, came up with a plan to honor the woman who’d been serving up her own patented brand of personalized customer service to the community for nearly 50 years.

In order to ensure that 70-year-old Emilia would have transportation, PPE, rent money, and other necessities as well as a financial cushion for her future, Schweitzer set up a GoFundMe on her behalf so Emilia can “continue being an amazing person.”

In a matter of days, donations totaling more than $25,000 had flooded in and were on target to reach the campaign’s $30,000 goal. Schweitzer is extremely grateful.

“The kindness from all your hearts with the donations received, just shows how as a community, city, country we can all make a difference,” he stated in an updated post. “[S]mall or big. Continue the energy.”

KFC’s secret recipe of “11 herbs and spices” may be one of the industry’s best-kept trade secrets, but thankfully, Emilia’s pay-it-forward formula for human kindness has a unique open source-patent that promises no matter how many bites you take, you’ll always have room for more.

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“Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.” – Toni Morrison (born 90 years ago today)

Quote of the Day

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Feb 18, 2021

Quote of the Day: “Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.” – Toni Morrison (born 90 years ago today)

Photo: Elijah Hiett

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?

Alex Trebek’s ‘Jeopardy!’ Wardrobe Is Now Going On Job Interviews, Dressing the People Who Need it Most

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Feb 17, 2021

When beloved Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek lost his battle to pancreatic cancer last November, he left behind more than family, friends, and a legion of adoring fans; he also left behind an amazing legacy of compassion and philanthropy.

During his lifetime, the Canadian-born TV personality invested his passion, time, and money in a number of worthy causes. Continuing the tradition, Trebek’s family has donated a portion of his personal wardrobe—much of it worn on-air—to The Doe Fund.

Established in 1990, The Doe Fund has provided jobs, vocational training, education, and social services to more than 28,000 “underserved Americans” coping with addiction, homelessness, and a history of incarceration.

The idea for the clothing drop came from Trebek’s son, Matthew. Together, he and Jeopardy! costume coordinator Steven Zimbelman chose 14 suits, 58 dress shirts, 300 neckties, 25 polo shirts, 14 sweaters, nine sport coats, nine pairs of dress shoes, 15 belts, two parkas, and three pairs of dress slacks to be donated to The Doe Fund’s Ready, Willing & Able program that provides interview outfits for those hoping to rejoin the workforce.

Jeopardy! and Alex's family have donated a large portion of our late host's wardrobe to @TheDoeFund, an organization that provides paid work, housing, and training to underserved Americans with histories of addiction, homelessness, and incarceration.https://t.co/BEKqzlQ5Xn pic.twitter.com/0CxoEEpxzA
— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) February 9, 2021

“We are so grateful for Jeopardy! and the Trebek family’s commitment to lifting up the most vulnerable among us,” Doe Fund president Harriet McDonald told CNN. “The men in our career training programs are always in need of professional attire, so they can shine in their job interviews and work with confidence once they’re hired. This donation alleviates the obstacle of not having appropriate clothing.”

“During his last day on set, Alex extolled the virtues of everyone opening up their hands and their hearts to those who are suffering,” Jeopardy! Executive Producer Mike Richards said in a press release. “Donating his wardrobe to those who are working to rebuild their lives is the perfect way to begin to honor that last request.”

Alex Trebek once stated, “Don’t tell me what you believe in. I’ll observe how you behave and I will make my own determination.”

For loyal fans who followed him for 38 seasons, that determination is clear.

Category: Humanitarian & Gentleman

Answer: This iconic host who holds the record for the most appearances for any single TV game show, was also a world traveler, devoted family man, philanthropist, and activist who left the world a much better place than he found it and will be sorely missed.

Question: Who was Alex Trebek?

Featured image: @Jeopardy!/Twitter

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World’s First Home Hydrogen Battery Powers Your House for 3 Days, is Recyclable, and Not a Fire Risk

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MORE: New Electric Car Batteries Can Fully-Charge in 5 Minutes, Like Filling Your Car With Gas, If Better Chargers Are in Place

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Feb 17, 2021

With Texan power outages hitting the headlines this week, it’s worth looking to a startup that’s developed the world’s first renewable, hydrogen-powered energy storage system. At full charge, it can furnish a house with electricity for about three days.

If you’ve ever said to a friend that you wanted to switch to solar panels, you may have gotten the snarky reply along the lines of, “What happens when it’s cloudy?”

As frustrating as it is to hear, for some time it’s been a legitimate drawback to rooftop PV panels. But just as electric car batteries have improved through the 2010s, the options for storing solar power for nighttime or during cloudy periods have become rapidly more available.

For homes in New South Wales Australia, LAVO is offering a green battery storage system to retain the sun for darker days, using a clever system of electrolysis to generate energy from stored hydrogen. The special material in which the hydrogen is stored is leagues safer than conventional technologies. It has a product life of around 30 years, and it can be recycled.

Innovation at its finest

Hooked up to the water main and any commercially available rooftop PV solar array, the solar energy is used to power an electrolyzer to convert water into hydrogen and oxygen, with the former going into the patented hydride storage material, and the latter simply returning into the air.

A fuel cell converts stored hydrogen back into electricity when the battery is switched on, and the fact that the hydrogen is stored in a solid-state, rather than as a liquid or gas, removes the normally considerable fire hazard from the material.

The size of a home refrigerator and costing around $29,500, the LAVO hydrogen battery can store 3x more power than comparable home lithium battery systems.

Within the battery is a bank of detachable units that can also be used to power other hydrogen-electric machines from LAVO—including a bicycle and a barbecue.

Company spokespeople say an eco-lodge has already pre-ordered one, while Gowings Bros, an Australian investment company and clothing business, announced in January it had signed-on as an investor to LAVO, committing to buy 200 batteries for its properties across the country. We’ll be sure to let you know when the technology comes to Texas and beyond.

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Honoring The Black Astrophysicist at NASA Whose Innovative Space Telescope is Still on the Moon (1939-2020)

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MORE: Youngest Poet Ever to Recite at Presidential Inauguration Beats Speech Impediment to Take Global Stage in D.C.

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Feb 17, 2021

George Carruthers Black scientist-U.S. NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY — George Carruthers standing to the right of the gold-plated ultraviolet camera he invented for the Apollo 16 mission / U.S. Naval Research Laboratory

George Robert Carruthers did big things with his life: One of the first Black astrophysicists at NASA, he’s known for pioneering the first ultraviolet telescope that went to the Moon.

George Carruthers with a colleague, standing to the right of the gold-plated ultraviolet camera he invented for the Apollo 16 mission / U.S. Naval Research Laboratory

Midway through Black History Month, it’s worth taking a look at this inspirational man who passed away, aged 81, in December 2020.

Winning a basket-full of prestigious awards for his genius breakthroughs—including an induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame from President Barack Obama in 2013—Carruthers is well-known in science circles for proving the existence of molecular hydrogen content within the emptiness of interstellar medium in 1970—a major conundrum at the time.

Growing up in Cincinnati in the 1940s, Carruthers loved science-fiction books such as the Colliers’ series on spaceflight. He was also a big fan of Buck Rogers comics. It was, perhaps, these early interests that led him into the fields of science and engineering despite largely failing the two subjects—as well as math—in school.

Grades may not always have been his strong point, but Carruthers was a bright boy: At the age of ten he was already building his own telescope from cardboard tubing and lenses, items he bought from money he earned as a delivery boy.

When Carruthers’ father died aged 12, the family moved to South Side of Chicago. There, Carruthers flourished: winning three child science fair awards and graduating high school in 1957.

Education and NASA

Despite early difficulties at school, Carruthers did well at the University of Illinois, earning a bachelor’s degree in physics in 1961, a master’s in nuclear engineering in 1962, and his Ph.D. in aeronautical and astronautical engineering in 1964.

After gaining his doctorate, Caruthers joined the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington D.C. as a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow. One of the first Black astrophysicists, it was here that he would help create a groundbreaking apprenticeship for young scientists and engineers called the Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program, which still helps steer young minds towards their dreams today.

Five years later, he perfected an image converter for electromagnetic radiation which NASA sent up in a rocket in 1970. Along with a UV image of Halley’s Comet, it captured the first evidence, and upper limits of, molecular hydrogen in interstellar media—solving a piece of the still-researched “missing mass” problem which today focuses around dark matter.

In 1972, a similar and more advanced version of the image converter—called a far-ultraviolet camera/spectrograph—was brought to the Moon by Apollo 16 astronauts. With this, the first images of Earth in ultraviolet light were taken. The device remains on the Moon’s surface, in the Descartes highland region, today.

A shy man who came to life while discussing his chosen field, when asked to explain highlights of the instrument’s findings for a general audience, Dr. Carruthers put it beautifully, saying, “the most immediately obvious and spectacular results were really for the Earth observations, because this was the first time that the Earth had been photographed from a distance in ultraviolet (UV) light, so that you could see the full extent of the hydrogen atmosphere, the polar auroris and what we call the tropical airglow belt.”

With the spectrograph, astronauts could see how Earth’s atmosphere looked in terms of concentrations of pollutants, and take UV images of more than 550 stars, local nebulae, and far-off galaxies. Carruthers was awarded NASA’s Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal for his work on the project.

CHECK OUT: Rosa Parks Officially Honored With Memorial Statue in Montgomery 64 Years After Her Iconic Protest

Growing up in an era in which African-Americans faced huge oppression, Dr. George Carruthers nevertheless followed a love of science-fiction into a decorated career in ‘science-fact’, and is fondly remembered by NASA, the Navy, and the world for his pioneering contributions to science.

(WATCH the short biography of Carruthers’ life from Channel E below…)

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More Than 1 in 10 Americans Have Now Been Vaccinated for COVID-19

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Feb 17, 2021

It’s felt like a long winter for many, but there’s good news coming out of the U.S—as COVID-19 cases continue to fall and more and more people get their jabs.

As of February 14, more than 70 million vaccine doses have been delivered to Americans.

According to the CDC, more than 1 in every 10 Americans have received a vaccine dose. And 14 million people in the country have received two doses—meaning about 4% of the nation has now been fully inoculated. Currently, around 1.67 million doses per day are being administered.

In further hopeful news, according to the Covid Tracking Project run by The Atlantic, COVID cases are down 57% since the country’s all-time peak at the beginning of January. While hospitalizations are still high, they’re falling—and that winter surge of cases is reported as “rapidly easing.”

MORE: 10 Positive COVID Updates From Around the World – 2021 is Looking Brighter

Of course, there’s still a long way to go until life goes back to what will likely be a ‘new normal’.

Still, the winter surge is over. The vaccine rollout is working. And it’s likely that—if the current pace of vaccinations is sustained—by July, around half of Americans will have received their first vaccine dose.

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Hope for Migraine Sufferers: Clinical Trial Shows Benefits of Yoga and Meditation

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Feb 17, 2021

In a recent clinical trial, researchers showed that mindfulness-based stress reduction could provide real benefits to people with migraine.

Migraine is a neurological disease that can be severely debilitating and is the second leading cause of disability worldwide.

Unfortunately, many patients with migraine discontinue medications due to ineffectiveness or side effects—and many still use opioids despite recommendations against them for headache treatment.

“At a time when opioids are still being used for migraine, finding safe non-drug options with long-term benefit has significant implications,” says Rebecca Erwin Wells, associate professor of neurology at Wake Forest School of Medicine. “Mindfulness can also teach new ways to respond to stress, a commonly reported migraine trigger.”

According to an article published by JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers studied whether mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) could improve migraine outcomes, pain perception, and measures of emotional well-being compared to headache education.

In the study, 89 adults with a history of migraine were randomly assigned to either the MBSR group or headache education group—with training or instruction delivered in eight weekly two-hour sessions.

The MBSR group followed a standardized curriculum of mindfulness meditation and yoga. Participants also received electronic audio files for home practice and were encouraged to practice at home 30 minutes a day. The headache education group received instruction on headaches, pathophysiology, triggers, stress, and treatment approaches.

MORE: Migraine Sufferers Experience Relief From ‘Going Green’ With Light-Exposure Therapy

Participants in both the MBSR and headache education groups reported fewer days with migraine. However, only MBSR also lessened disability and improved quality of life, depression scores, and other measures reflecting emotional well-being—with effects seen out to 36 weeks. Further, experimentally induced pain intensity and unpleasantness decreased in the MBSR group compared to the headache education group, suggesting a shift in pain appraisal.

CHECK OUT: Blue Light Reduces Blood Pressure, Just as Effectively as Medication – UK Study

“Mindfulness may treat the total burden of migraine and could potentially decrease the impact of this debilitating condition,” Wells says, while noting, “A larger, more definitive study is needed to confirm these findings.”

Source: Wake Forest Baptist Health

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“Loving people live in a loving world. Hostile people live in a hostile world. Same world.” – Wayne Dyer

Quote of the Day

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Feb 17, 2021

Quote of the Day: “Loving people live in a loving world. Hostile people live in a hostile world. Same world.” – Wayne Dyer

Photo: ben o’bro

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?

Startup Cleans Up Laundry Detergent With Powerful Soap That Uses Bio Ingredients

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Feb 16, 2021

A biotech startup is hoping to bring a little eco-friendly product mojo to a relatively untapped corner of the market: laundry detergent.

Dirty Labs’ product is non-toxic and made from bio-based enzymes that rapidly biodegrade once washed down the drain.

Traditional detergent technology has changed little over the last century, according to Dirty Labs. A typical mix of cleaning chemicals—including methy-lisothia-zolinone and benzi-sothia-zolinone—can harm the environment.

Further, 1,4-dioxane, which can be found in many laundry detergents, is a likely carcinogen according to the EPA.

These petroleum-based chemicals are washed straight down the drain, cannot always be removed by water treatment plants or filters, and can permeate all the way into our groundwater sources.

Dirty Labs estimates that Americans manage to do 40 billion loads of laundry every year: the vast, vast majority of which will include at least one of these three ingredients.

“Our team of chemists, biologists, and environmentalists have raised the bar for safety and sustainability by eliminating all California Proposition 65 chemicals of concern and EU listed fragrance allergens for a truly clean ingredient list that’s also readily biodegradable,” reads their website.

“I think that as a consumer, you put your laundry detergent in the washing machine, it washes your clothes, and then it’s gone, and it’s something that’s not very visible to people,” explains Dirty Labs CEO and co-founder, David Watkins, to Fast Company. “But when you start to address the big picture here, all of these chemicals are going into our wastewater system… there is a big accumulation of these things in the environment.”

While more and more bio laundry detergents are reaching grocery store shelves each year, Dirty Labs defines itself by its “unique, enzyme-driven cleaning technology,” Phytolase, which it says delivers the “exceptional cleaning power” of conventional detergents, without the toxic chemicals.

That Dirty Labs formula is ultra-concentrated, designed to work well in cold water, and is available at a cost of 25 cents per load of laundry—$19.00 for 75 loads.

It’s ironic that we would dirty our planet just to clean our clothes, and that’s why Watkins— who foresees a wave of state legislation on the restriction of harmful cleaning chemicals—wants to get out ahead of the problem.

CHECK OUT: Here’s Why You Should Start Washing Your Clothes in Cold Water

“I think that legislation is one thing that’s going to force companies to look at better alternatives,” Watkins told Fast Company. “We’re trying to get ahead of that and say, ‘Look, we think that we’ve got the technology to do this today. And here’s a smarter solution in general.’”

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Archaeologists in Egypt have Unearthed the World’s Oldest Known Beer Factory, Thought to Date Back 5,000 Years

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MORE: Egypt Just Discovered 27 Sealed Coffins in An Ancient Cemetery That Were Buried 2,500 Years Ago

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Feb 16, 2021

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered the remains of a 5,000-year-old megabrewery— thought to have once supplied thousands of gallons of the golden stuff for royal rituals.

Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities

Unearthed at the ancient site of Abydos, one of the oldest discovered cities of ancient Egypt, it’s being called “the world’s largest beer factory.”

The brewery consisted of eight large rooms each 65 feet (20 meters) long, in which lay 40 clay pots resting in decorative cisterns arranged in two rows, where grains and water would once have been heated to make beer.

According to the Supreme Council for Antiquities, the brewery likely dates back to the reign of King Narmer, a lesser-known name in Egyptian history, who nevertheless made an enormous mark in the land of the Nile as founder of the First Dynasty and then-sole unifier of the country.

The brewery “may have been built in this place specifically to supply the royal rituals that were taking place inside the funeral facilities of the kings of Egypt,” mission co-head Matthew Adams of New York University has stated.

Abydos in its heyday would have been filled with temples and tombs, and even today, the Temple of Osiris, the royal necropolis of the First Dynasty, and the Temple of Seti I are all still intact and able to be visited.

The brewery, a new addition to one of Egypt’s most important cultural sites, is thought to have been able to produce 5,000 gallons of beer in a single batch, and unsurprisingly, “evidence for the use of beer in sacrificial rites was found during excavations in these facilities,” a statement from the Egyptian tourism ministry has said.

Featured image: Brewery site—Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities; Beer—Pradnyal Gandhi

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Mardi Gras Becomes ‘Yardi Gras’ When Float-Making Company Gets Orders For Porch Floats After Parade is Canceled

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Feb 16, 2021

A New Orleans couple who normally spend this time of year building fantastical floats for the Mardi Gras parade has done something a little different for the pandemic—creating porch floats so people can party safely at home.

The NOLA parade may have been canceled this year, but that hasn’t stopped husband-and-wife team Inez and Rene Pierre from creating, for example, a Dolly Parton-themed float to pay tribute to the country singer’s $1 million donation to coronavirus vaccine research.

Adapting their colorful floats to fit around porches, balconies, and even on front lawns—the pair have been inundated with orders: not just from their home city, but as far afield as Alabama, New York, and North Carolina.

Inez, who with her husband owns the float-building business Crescent City Artists, said:
“I was heartbroken when the mayor canceled Mardi Gras, but I also understand that life is more important.”

The talented couple—who usually construct carnival floats made of steel, wood, and muslin for around $45,000 each—worried that the end to the party meant difficulties for their financial future.

CHECK OUT: Dolly Parton Quietly Gives Away 100 Millionth Book for Her Child Reading Program

Then Inez heard someone on a news show suggesting porch floats as a way for the city to still celebrate.

The couple put in their first order just before Christmas. From there, the orders never stopped. Their website ended up crashing, they were getting so many hits. Two weeks ago, they even stopped taking orders because they were so overwhelmed.

“We are up to 52 porch floats,” says Inez, “we have maybe 10 more to complete and we have a waiting list for next year.

It sounds like it’s time to get your float orders in for 2022, stat.

Check out the gallery of the artists’ work below, and let us know your favorite?

Eclectic porch floats have been going up in NOLA this winter…

With an Alice in Wonderland-themed porch float for this home…

And one that brings lions and rich sunsets to life for another…

And… an owl in a police call box for this one? Because why not!

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Paris is Turning Its Dark Underground Parking Lots into Organic Mushrooms Farms

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Feb 16, 2021

theo mushrooms paris cycloponics facebook social media (1) — Cycloponics

What can you do with a dark underground parking lot that isn’t being used anymore? Think fungus.

Unused parking garages around the French capital have been turned into organic mushroom farms, thanks to a company called Cycloponics.

Allowing an extremely nutritious crop to be grown and sold directly in Paris, the initiative is part of a number of renovation projects the City is encouraging and sponsoring.

Along with shitake, oyster, and white button mushrooms, Cycloponics grows chicory—a French delicacy that can grow in the dark—as well as microgreens like mini broccoli. These are delivered via bicycle to local organic grocery stores.

Their location in Paris is called “The Cave,” and it’s one of three such converted garages that have been co-founded since 2017 by the coincidentally named Theo Champagnat.

“70% of people live in towns today, and in this population there is a demand for local and organic products like ours,” says Champagnat.

In a BBC video news report on the operation, Dougal Shaw details how during the 1960s and ’70s, large apartment blocks were almost always built with underground parking garages. Now car ownership is dwindling, and many of the garages are becoming derelict haunts for illicit activity.

in the mid-2010s, Parisian Mayor Anne Hidalgo launched Reinventing Paris—The Subterranean Secrets of Paris which offered designers, architects, and others a chance to help transform abandoned underground lots into cultural spaces, gastronomic eateries, and other civic-minded projects.

One such project turned an old metro stop into a market/food court on one side of the platform, and the other into a cocktail bar, featuring luminous light and trendy designs.

But this offering in Paris wasn’t the first time Cycloponics took to the dark and dank in the heart of a French city. Their first project, built in an old German bunker dating back to 1878, is located in the city of Strasbourg, while their most recent mushroom project is centered in Bordeaux.

These days? Champagnat and the 10 people who work with him are able to harvest around 100-200 kilos of mushrooms from their lots per week. Not bad for a bunch of college-age basement dwellers.

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110-Year-old Has Turned Into a Singing Sensation on Social Media, Fulfilling Life-long Dream Thanks to Great-Grandson

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Feb 16, 2021

amy hawkins and great grandson tiktok supplied hannah freeman (1) — Hannah Freeman

Some dreams take longer to come true than others, but with the help of 21st-century social media and her Gen Z great-grandson, at the age of 110, one British woman is realizing hers at long last.

At the end of World War I, Amy Hawkins was a 7-year-old child who loved nothing more than to sing and dance. As a teen, Hawkins set her sights on becoming an entertainer.

Hawkins was on her way, touring the country with a dance troupe—until her ambition to tread the boards was cut short by her mom who didn’t see it as a respectable occupation for a young lady.

All these years later, the supercentenarian chanteuse lives at home in Monmouth, South Wales, surrounded by her loved ones. The four-generation family unit includes her granddaughter, Hannah Freeman, and Freeman’s 14-year-old son, Sacha. Even though she’s no longer doing it professionally, Hawkins has never stopped singing.

“She’s like a clock, once you wind her up she won’t stop,” Freeman said in an interview with the BBC. “She just keeps asking, ‘Would you like another one?’.”

While others were not so fortunate, Freeman’s family felt blessed to be together throughout the course of the COVID-19 lockdown. Especially, Freeman notes, since the tight-knit arrangement has allowed Sacha and Hawkins to form a deep and loving bond.

On Hawkins’ 110th birthday, Sacha videoed his great-gran singing one of her favorite WWI tunes, It’s a Long Way to Tipperary. When Freeman jokingly suggested Sacha post it to TikTok, neither of them could have imagined the overwhelmingly upbeat response it would receive, reaching 100,000 views and a bevy of emotional accolades in just days.

@sachafreeman0
My great grandma enjoying her birthday #fpy #foryoupage #old #supergran #uk #1911 #birthday #song #music #old #oldestontiktok #wales #celebrate #tea
♬ original sound - Sacha Freeman

“Reading the comments, people have been in tears, because they miss their family or [think] about family they have lost,” Freeman told the BBC. “I think that has been a real lesson for Sacha too and has restored my faith in humanity in such a difficult time for everyone.”

Some journeys take longer than others. Sometimes, we’re detoured along the way. But dreams can and do come true every day. While it’s been a long time coming, Amy Hawkins is entertaining a whole new generation of fans.

Admittedly, “It’s a long way to Tipperary,” but when Amy Hawkins sings, our “heart’s right there.”

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“Perhaps the feelings we experience when we are in love represent a normal state. Being in love shows people who they should be.” – Anton Chekhov

Quote of the Day

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Feb 16, 2021

Quote of the Day: “Perhaps the feelings we experience when we are in love represent a normal state. Being in love shows people who they should be.” – Anton Chekhov

Photo: Jéssica Oliveira

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?

Instead of Responding With Cops, Denver Sends Health Care Teams to Non-Criminal Calls — and It’s Already Saving Lives

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MORE: Inmates Are Earning Free College Degrees Behind Bars, And Their Recidivism Rate Plunges to 2%

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Feb 15, 2021

star force released denver police department — Denver Police Department

A pilot program where teams of social workers and paramedics respond to certain non-criminal complaints in Denver is showing early success.

The Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) program was launched in June to help ensure the vulnerable get the help they need.

Over the course of six months, 748 calls relating to low-level incidents—such as mental health crises—were responded to by mobile teams of STAR health care workers instead of police officers.

Six months after it began, STAR’s first progress report has now been published, and it shows the innovative program is working.

According to Denver Police Department (DPD) chief Paul Pazen, none of these low-level calls ended in arrests or jail-time, and no police officer needed to be called to the scene. “This is good stuff, it’s a great program, and basically, the report tells us what we believed,” Pazen told The Denverite.

Foundation for success

The majority of the STAR-eligible calls were for trespassing/unwanted persons, welfare checks, and from uniformed officers asking for assistance in ongoing matters.

In fact, of all the incidents STAR responded to, 34% were assist calls from officers already engaged in an incident, which program member and strategic initiatives coordinator for the DPD, Dr. Matthew Lunn, says is a good sign: It means police officers believe in the program and want to utilize it.

“I think it shows how much officers are buying into this, realizing that these individuals need a focused level of care,” said Lunn, who authored the report.

Indeed, 61% of individuals encountered by STAR were identified as perhaps having a mental health issue based on initial contact and behavioral assessment, with 33% also having co-occurring conditions, such as homelessness or substance abuse.

Lessons learned suggested that the STAR van should be stocked with more supplies, especially blankets, clothing, cleaning supplies, and food, which would allow the team to quickly address immediate issues.

CHECK OUT: Global Nonprofit that Trains African Prisoners to Become Lawyers is Featured on 60 Minutes

The city of Denver has allocated $1.4 million to expand the service, and the Caring for Denver foundation has matched those funds. This will help the program expand to having multiple supplied vans—with enough professionals to work 8-hour shifts covering all hours of the week.

“I want the police department to focus on police issues,” Pazen told The Denverite. “We have more than enough work with regards to violent crime, property crime, and traffic safety, and if something like STAR or any other support system can lighten the load on mental health calls for service, substance abuse calls for service, and low-level issues, that frees up law enforcement to address crime issues.”

Given the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, it seems likely that increasing numbers of police departments around the world will follow in Denver’s footsteps—turning inward to see what can be done to improve the relationship between their officers and their communities—so everyone feels safe.

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Hikers Brave Miles of Icy Mountain Trails After Rescuing Dog That Was Stranded For 2 Weeks

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