Heeding health officials’ orders to #StayInYourHouse, you may be, at this point, only telling inside jokes. (Hah!)
But with his 51 million fans on Twitter, Jimmy Fallon was able to pull in responses from all over the globe for his Tonight Show #Hashtags segment, even though he is stuck at home— and he got some of the funniest responses, to date.
While sheltering in place, Fallon has begun producing homemade episodes for YouTube, calling them Tonight Show: At Home Edition. They feature camerawork by his wife, and occasional segments with his two young daughters. (Not only is he raising people’s spirits, he has also raised tens of thousand for a different charity each day, starting with FeedingAmerica.org.)
For his home edition of #Hashtags, Jimmy tweeted to fans asking them to describe their quarantine in six words. Fallon kicked off the hilarious social media trend by describing #MyQuarantineInSixWords: “Fine. You can paint daddy’s nails.”
@Richachoubey joined the fun by summarizing her days at home this way: “Yes Netflix, I am still watching”.
LOL. Here are some of the other brilliant #hashtags from pent-up folks on Twitter…
Day one: ate all the snacks.
Oh, how we can RELATE!
Longest day of my life, everyday.
Expelled my kid from home school. (RFLAO)
Flattening the curve, fattening my curves.
Funyuns for dinner. Ok, breakfast too.
Is 7 Hot Pockets too many? (Jimmy answered, No.)
There’s not enough wine for this.
And, perhaps the best of all, by MunaNawabit1: Very close to befriending a volleyball. 🤣
Thanks to Jimmy and The Tonight Show for the images—and making us laugh our sorrows away. See the thread, which is still going strong on Twitter, for more laughs.
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12 innovators have joined food and beverage leaders to tackle one the largest sources of unrecyclable waste: the takeaway coffee cup.
Each year, 250 billion to-go cups that serve coffee and tea from places like Starbucks are produced to satisfy the world’s love of hot drinks on the run. These fiber cups have a thin plastic lining to prevent leaks, and keep water from absorbing into the material—but that also removes any opportunity for the cups to be biodegradable.
The materials are recyclable that create these goblets of goodness and convenience—but only if separated—and combined with the low demand for such resources means it is worth next to nothing.
In response to this massive challenge, NextGen Consortium, a multi-year partnership led by Starbucks and McDonald’s launched their first big initiative—NextGen Cup.
The first step in NexGen Cup was an open design competition where innovators submitted ideas for sleeves, straws, cups, lids, liners, and other components of the hot-cold fiber takeaway coffee cup that would make it reusable, recyclable, or biodegradable, to eventually be available on a massive scale.
The 12 winners, announced in February 2019, shared a prize of $1 million, as well as personalized scaling-up, growth, and logistical support from members of NextGen Consortium which include other massive companies like Wendy’s, Nestle, and Closed Loop Partners.
Photo by Earth Cup
Last month they launched two pilot programs at independent coffee shops in California. In one case, customers in San Francisco and Palo Alto were given “smart” reusable cups made mostly from recyclable plastic and printed with RFID chips or QR codes for tracking. They could then drop their empties into collection containers at key locations, for washing and reuse. The tracking can help determine where there is the greatest need for collection containers, and how many are not using them.
Like a bike share program but for coffee cups, Cup Club is already replacing millions of takeaway cups in the UK, while Recup in Germany, has implemented a deposit-system that simply adds a small extra fee to any coffee cup which is returned to the buyer after the cup is deposited in any registered collection point.
The second test launched in California is using new compostable and recyclable single-use cups in Oakland.
The NextGen Cup challenge winners included entire take-away cup systems like Game Changer Cup from Finland and Earth Cup from France, and others who tackled the issue of creating a more sustainable or biodegradable cup liner, like Colombier BioBarrier Coating from the Netherlands, and US/Belgium partnership Solenis LLC.
Know Your Zone: This is your planting zone if you live in the US
It’s perhaps a bizarre and somewhat arrogant habit we humans have developed; surrounding our houses with a plant species that isn’t native, doesn’t produce food, and usually requires expensive and sometimes unsustainable amounts of water to keep alive.
We’re talking about lawns, of course; and because 2019 was one of the hottest summers on record, here are some useful tips to getting the most out of your lawn while saving yourself the most money on water and minimizing your impact on local water resources.
Wherever you are in the world, there are plants that have adapted to grow and thrive in the soil and climate you reside in.
1) Plant native grasses or grasses that live in conditions of drought.
For instance, I grew up in zone 7 (find your U.S. zone) in the U.S. mid-Atlantic states, and our back yard (in full sun) was planted with zoysia grass. It tolerates drought and foot traffic from kids and volleyball games, without needing large amounts of fertilizer or much watering at all. It is thick and luscious, and it turns the color of straw in the winter.
Therefore, if you want to save water and still keep your lawn healthy, select a species of grass native to your region, as they will be most resilient to changes in temperature and moisture.
Alternatively, you can try planting grass species that evolved in regions that receive very little water. In Arizona, residents of Phoenix who prefer a green lawn use midiron grass or Bermuda grass species. The Arizona capital regularly sees temperatures in triple digits, and gets a measly 8 inches of rain a year so drought tolerant grasses help residents save water. Kentucky blue grass is another variety that’s good—especially for seasonal climates that also occasionally suffer droughts.
2) Take advantage of the most biologically-diverse organisms in the US—flowering plants.
If you’re trying to create a healthy garden that you don’t have to water often, the U.S. has 18,000 species of native plants, 16,500 of which will flower during the year. Take advantage of this natural diversity and specialization and find which flowers are native to your area with a simple Google search.
Flowering plants have evolved to deal with the challenges of the climate they live in, so not only will they be more resistant to local weather patterns, but more favorable to local species of bees and other pollinators!
3) If you already have foreign plant species in your yard that need water, plant some trees!
In USDA-backed research looking at the limits of utilizing trees for energy efficiencies, researchers found that one large mature tree shading a house can have a “net cooling effect of 10 room-sized air conditioners operating 20 hours a day,” and can save 20 to 50% of the energy used to cool your home. Furthermore, in winter the effect is much the same—by dispersing chilly winds with its branches, large sheltering trees can help reduce your heating costs.
If these shade tree benefits can be achieved on a home, why not also a garden? If the species you are growing in a pot or in your lawn do well in partial sunlight, consider shading them with a tree, the lack of evaporation from the sun’s heat or from blustery winds will reduce the amount of water they lose.
4) Get smart with your watering habits.
Saving money and local water resources can be as easy as getting a little smarter with your lawn watering habits. For starters, avoid watering your lawn from 12 noon to 6 pm—the hottest time of the day. Instead, get up around 6 to 8AM, or do so at night. This will prevent the water you use from drying out in the sun and wind.
Other than that, adjust your sprinkler head so it doesn’t hit the sidewalk, and mow your lawn often. Grass that’s allowed to grow too tall begins to focus its energy elsewhere, resulting in stunted growth and room for weeds to grow. Finally, be careful not to over-water your lawn, as most only need 1 inch per week, spread over a 2-3 days.
5) Collect the water that nature gives you.
Rather than always using the water that comes from the pipes, water that falls from the sky costs nothing and doesn’t deplete any local aquifers. In an area where it does rain sparingly, purchase a rain barrel to collect rain that’s not falling on your lawn or garden to water them with later.
Many cities and counties will pay you to buy a rain barrel or simply distribute one for you if you ask. Check your local regulations and see if they have a rain barrel program. If they offer you a rebate or tax credit for purchasing one go out and buy a pressurized rain barrel system with a cistern or other cool features—it’s on the state’s dime anyway.
6) Install a drip irrigation system.
This kind of delivery mechanism for your lawn irrigates the roots of the grass directly, rather than relying on the water to come down through the earth. Less water therefore is needed to nourish your lawn because less is wasted from evaporation. While you could hire a contractor to install a drip irrigation system, it makes for an interesting DIY project over a weekend.
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Quote of the Day: “I have had dreams and I have had nightmares, but I have conquered my nightmares because of my dreams.” – Jonas Salk (invented polio vaccine)
Photo: by Spencer Kelly – public domain
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?
Episode #3 of our quarantine-inspired good news podcast: Geri and Anthony talk about the unique ways people are getting toilet paper; the Starbucks-evidence of progress in China; a breakthrough in faster testing for coronavirus; quality quarantine tips for things to do at home—and other good news.
The Lesson: A strange experiment in wildlife behavior turned into a jaw-dropping lesson on the importance of reassessing our predispositions towards new ideas. In this presentation, Joshua Klein talks about how building a vending machine for crows has helped to teach people about the empowerment of embracing diversity—particularly biological diversity—as we navigate the ever-changing world together with our animal counterparts.
Notable Excerpt: “It turns out, we’ve been finding more and more that crows are really intelligent. Their brains are in the same proportion as chimpanzee brains are. There’s all kinds of anecdotes for the different kinds of intelligence they have. For example, in Sweden, crows will wait for fishermen to drop lines through holes in the ice. And when the fishermen move off, the crows fly down, reel up the lines, and eat the fish or the bait. It’s pretty annoying for the fishermen.”
The Speaker: Joshua Klein is a fervent hacker of all things—including animals and people and the way they behave. After years of pursuing his fascination for crows, he created a vending machine that mutually benefits him and his feathered friends by training them to collect coins in exchange for peanuts. His CrowBox design has tremendous implications for human-animal relationships in the future—and you can even build your own CrowBox using the free, open source instructions on his website.
Podcast: TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas in the form of short, powerful talks and ideas delivered in 18 minutes or less. TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged; today, it covers every topic ranging from science and business to global issues and current events in more than 100 languages. To learn more about TED, check out their website, TED Talks library, Facebook, or YouTube channel.
(WATCH the incredible lecture below)
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Although these popular television shows are filmed with fake medical professionals, they do use real medical supplies—which is why the production crews are donating it all to real hospitals and firefighters combatting the COVID-19 outbreaks.
In an Instagram post from the Ontario Fire Department, firefighters can be seen holding several boxes of protective face masks that were donated by firefighting TV drama Station 19 earlier this week.
Medical supplies from the set of Grey’s Anatomy are also reportedly being donated to hospitals in Los Angeles.
“At Station 19, we were lucky enough to have about 300 of the coveted N95 masks, which we donated to our local fire station. They were tremendously grateful,” Krista Vernoff, the showrunner for both series, said in a statement to TV Guide.
“At Grey’s Anatomy, we have a backstock of gowns and gloves which we are donating as well,” she added. “We are all overwhelmed with gratitude for our healthcare workers during this incredibly difficult time, and in addition to these donations, we are doing our part to help them by staying home.”
According to TV Guide, Vancouver-based medical drama The Good Doctor is working with local government officials to donate an undisclosed amount of medical supplies from their film set to hospitals and organizations in need.
“Yesterday, I had a serious discussion with the residents about how, though supplies are low, a magical shipment of masks is unlikely to arrive,” she wrote. “And yet, a magical shipment of masks DID arrive, in the form of this very generous gesture. This kind of community support means so much to our #frontlineproviders who are making many sacrifices to staff our hospitals and care for our community.”
“Thank you, [The Resident] and [Fox TV] for being helpers. We needed this kind of good news today,” she added.
This is just one of many positive stories and updates that are coming out of the COVID-19 news coverage this week. For more uplifting coverage on the outbreaks, click here.
Hospitals can be scary places for children to endure even without leaving the hallways—those MRI scanners, however, could make it into a real nightmare.
Magnetic resonance imaging tests and CT scans require children to lie still on a metal bed for anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, and the machines usually make loud noises that frighten young patients. Anywhere from 80 to 95% of patients under the age of nine require sedation in order to undergo the ordeal.
For industrial designer Doug Dietz, witnessing the trauma of the young patients was more than he could bear. He first saw the horror it caused one child when he designed an MR scanner for the University of Pittsburgh Hospital.
“I see this young family coming down the hallway and I can tell as they get closer that the little girl is weeping. As they get even closer to me, I notice the father leans down and just goes ‘remember we talked about this, you can be brave’,” said Dietz in a statement.
As he looked at the room with his precious MR machine, he realized why the child was so scared.
“The room itself is kind of dark and has those flickering fluorescent lights … that machine that I had designed basically looked like a brick with a hole in it.”
The experience did have a positive outcome, however—it inspired Dietz to create the MR Adventure Discovery Series.
In partnership with GE Healthcare and the University of Pittsburgh Hospital, Dietz redesigned the rooms with the MR scanners to feature “adventure” environments that excited kids, rather than scared them.
The adventures include aromatherapy, calming decorations, and in some cases, disco-ball bubbles that transport patients to another, more imaginative world where simple commands to get the scan done accurately become part of the adventure. In one of the Adventure Series, children are asked to lie down inside of a canoe.
“They tell children to hold still so that they don’t rock the boat, and if you really do hold still, the fish will start jumping over the top of you,” Dietz explains.
The Coral City Adventure in the emergency room gives children an underwater experience. It has a disco ball that makes light-like bubbles around the room; children get into a yellow submarine and listen to the sound of harps whilst the procedure takes place. The Cozy Camp adventure gives children the chance to be scanned in a specialized sleeping bag, under a starry sky in an impressive camp setting.
Dietz says that the satisfaction that he gets from the children’s reactions made all of his hard work worth it.
“There is nothing like one of your main customers telling you this is a great idea,” Dietz said in a TED talk. “That probably was the biggest reward I could ever have.”
(This article was originally published by GNN.org in November, 2017.)
(WATCH the video below)
Click To Share The News With Your Friends — Photo by University of Pittsburgh Hospital
If you’re practicing social distancing amidst the COVID-19 outbreaks, there are dozens of virtual animals to keep you company during your time at home.
Here are just a few of the zoo and aquarium livestreams that you can enjoy from the comfort of your own sofa.
1) BELUGAS AND OTTERS AND PENGUINS, OH MY!: The Georgia Aquarium has a number of live video streams which allow internet users to enjoy the daily goings-on of the facility’s resident African penguins, beluga whales, sea otters, and barrier reef-dwellers.
2) JELLY CAM: The Monterey Bay Aquarium website has a similar line of marine livestreams, although their website also boasts a jellyfish livestream—and it’s surprisingly enchanting.
3) GIANT PANDA CAM: What better way to while away your time at home than keeping an eye on giant pandas Tian Tian and Mei Xiang at the Smithsonian National Zoo in DC?
4) BALD EAGLE NEST CAM: This livestream—which is also filmed in Washington DC—captures the daily nesting activity of two bald eagles named Mr. President and First Lady.
5) GIRAFFES GALORE: In Texas, the Houston Zoo webcam allows you to check up on the resident giraffes—and you can even control the angle of the webcam from your computer.
6) HUMMINGBIRD WATCHING: An anonymous California homeowner set up an online livestream for Bella—a hummingbird that has been returning to the same tree since 2005.
7) MAN’S BEST VIRTUAL FRIEND: This livestream from the Warrior Canine Connection allows users to admire puppies that are training to be service dogs for veterans.
8) ADMIRE THE ANIMALS OF AFRICA: As a means of raising awareness on the problems of poaching, the Tembe Live Wildlife webcam monitors a popular watering hole that is often visited by elephants, giraffes, and buffalo in the bushlands of Africa.
9) SENIOR DOG STREAM: If you’re not already hip to the awesome activities at the Old Friends Senior Dogs Home, this livestream allows you to get a sneak-peek inside the retirement home for elderly pups.
10) CRITTERS FROM DOWN UNDER: The Melbourne Zoo recently kicked off their #AnimalsAtHome livestream initiative by installing active webcams in their lion, snow leopard, giraffe, and penguin enclosures.
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This 15-year-old girl is helping to protect some of California’s most vulnerable people from the dangers of the novel coronavirus outbreaks.
Shaivi Shah has rallied her fellow honor society students into helping her give away more than 250 low-cost “sanitation kits” to homeless shelters around Los Angeles.
Each kit contains hand sanitizer, lotion, antibacterial soap, and handmade reusable face masks to help homeless people stay safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although the Tesoro High School student already has an impressive track record for charity work, she says that she was inspired to pursue this particular labor of love after hearing Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent speech on addressing the state’s homelessness crisis.
“They don’t have necessities right now that are crucial to remain clean and stay germ-free,” Shaivi told CNN. “It’s important for people to step in and just do whatever they can, even if it helps just one person.”
Shaivi has since launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise additional funds for expanding her initiative outside of Los Angeles. The page has already raised more than $13,000 in nine days.
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Quote of the Day: “Your choices of action may be limited—but your choices of thought are not.” – Esther Hicks
Photo: by Tim Gouw – public domain
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?
As supermarket shelves around the world are cleared of hand sanitizer and toilet paper amidst the COVID-19 outbreaks, businesses are taking it upon themselves to share their wealth with community members in need.
Atlanta-based marketing firm Trevelino/Keller is just one of many companies that have temporarily closed down during the quarantine. With storage closets filled with enough toilet paper for 1,000 employees, the company decided to give away all of their TP for free.
The company has since launched the Toilet Paper Exchange—an employee-run initiative to distribute the toilet paper to the community through “Toilet Paper Tosses”.
Company employees have already given away heaps of toilet paper by hosting drive-thru giveaways during which they maintain social distancing by hurling rolls of TP through peoples’ car windows
In Wisconsin, the Milwaukee-based Mequon Pizza Co. has taken a similar approach by giving away free rolls of toilet paper with their pizza deliveries.
“Our regular, massive shipment was just delivered so for every large pizza you purchase we will give you a free roll of Cottonelle, 2-ply toilet paper, if you need it! Just ask,” the restaurant wrote on Facebook. “If you need toilet paper, rolls are available for purchase (limit 6) at our cost of $1.”
While other individuals and restaurants from New York to San Francisco have also started their own toilet paper exchanges, they are all hoping to inspire other people to take similar action in their own neighborhoods.
This is just one of many positive stories and updates that are coming out of the COVID-19 news coverage this week. For more uplifting coverage on the outbreaks, click here.
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As world healthcare systems clamor to keep up with medical supply demands amidst the COVID-19 outbreaks, an IKEA in Sweden has become an unexpected benefactor of the nation’s biggest hospital.
Earlier this week, employees at the Stockholm location were reportedly stunned to discover a stash of more than 50,000 medical face masks gathering dust in their warehouse.
The store had purchased the masks during the most recent bird flu outbreak. Upon rediscovering the forgotten treasure trove of supplies, store logistics manager Johan Andersson immediately phoned the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg—the largest hospital in the nation—and offered to donate the masks.
“They were over the moon and said ‘What!? Wow! Just come!’” Andersson told Reuters. “It feels great, in these times, when you read about so much unpleasantness with corona(virus) and all that, that we can show some solidarity. It think it’s important to do that.
“We’re just happy to have been able to contribute something,” he added.
This is just one of many positive stories and updates that are coming out of the COVID-19 news coverage this week. For more uplifting coverage on the outbreaks, click here.
Be Sure And Share The Kind Gesture With Your Friends On Social Media – File photo by Gerard Stolk, CC
If you want to be good at something, you have to learn from the best.
Back in 2012, John Collins made a paper aircraft that set the Guinness World Record for farthest flight—and now, he is sharing his secret to success with the world.
In this video from Great Big Story, Collins demonstrates how to fold three different paper airplanes: his record-setting Suzanne design, the Tube (which is shaped exactly how it sounds), and the Boomerang model for doing tricks.
(WATCH the video below) – Photo by Great Big Story
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Health care professionals may be able to dramatically speed up the COVID-19 testing process now that Israeli scientists have successfully demonstrated a technique for simultaneously screening up to 60 patient samples at a time, rather than individually.
Communities around the world are emphasizing the need for virus testing amidst the coronavirus outbreaks. In Seattle, health care professionals are setting up drive-through test sites that allow patients to submit samples in as little as 3 minutes—all without having to leave their vehicle. Meanwhile, a small town in northern Italy has reported zero new infections since they blanket tested all 3,300 of the town’s residents.
Now, researchers at Technion—Israel Institute of Technology and Rambam Health Care Campus have tested a method that will dramatically increase the current COVID-19 testing capacity using existing available resources. This method, known as pooling, enables simultaneous testing of dozens of samples.
Its implementation has the potential to greatly accelerate the rate of testing and detection of COVID-19 infected patients in the population. The trial was completed in a matter of days thanks to the support of the Ministry of Health and the close collaboration between Technion and Rambam.
Testing for COVID-19 is currently being conducted in Israel with the focus on people with specific symptoms. The current rate of testing—about 1,200 a day—does not allow for monitoring of asymptomatic carriers in the population, which is vital to curb the epidemic.
COVID-19 is diagnosed with PCR testing, which is common for virus monitoring. This test examines the presence of a unique genetic sequence of viruses in a sample taken from the patient. The test takes several hours thus generating a bottleneck in identifying COVID-19 infected people in Israel and around the world.
“Today, we receive approximately 200 COVID-19 test samples a day, and each sample undergoes individual examination,” said Dr. Yuval Gefen, director of the Rambam Clinical Microbiology Laboratory. “According to the new pooling approach we have currently tested, molecular testing can be performed on a ‘combined sample,’ taken from 32 or 64 patients. This way we can significantly accelerate the testing rate. Only in those rare cases, where the joint sample is found to be positive, will we conduct an individual test for each of the specific samples.”
According to Professor Roy Kishony, head of the research group in the Faculty of Biology
at Technion, “This is not a scientific breakthrough, but a demonstration of the effectivity of using the existing method and even the existing equipment to significantly increase the volume of samples tested per day. This is done by pooling multiple samples in a single test tube. Even when we conducted a joint examination of 64 samples in which only one was a positive carrier, the system identified that there was a positive sample.
“Although there are some logistical challenges in implementing the method, we expect that it will greatly increase the volume of samples tested per day so that we can identify the asymptomatic carriers. This approach should reduce the chance of infection and flatten the infection curve.”
Director of the Rambam Virology Lab, Dr. Moran Szwarcwort-Cohen estimates that, “implementing pooling in the final stage of the PCR test will make it easier for us to shorten the entire process and significantly increase the test rate.”
The American Technion Society supports visionary education and world-changing impact through the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. Based in New York City, the institution represent thousands of US donors, alumni, and stakeholders who invest in the Technion’s growth and innovation to advance critical research and technologies that serve the global good. Now with a presence in three countries, the Technion will prepare the next generation of global innovators.
President of the Technion Professor Uri Sivan said: “This experiment conducted by Technion and Rambam researchers is complex, and under normal circumstances would take months. This is a remarkable example of the mobilization of an outstanding team in a time of crisis. The initial experiment was completed in less than four days. This achievement emphasizes the importance of the close relationship between Technion and Rambam and between medicine and engineering. Technion researchers have been enlisted in the war against the coronavirus and this is one of the many activities currently underway at Technion to combat the spread of the disease.”
Multiply The Good By Sharing The News With Your Friends On Social Media – Representative photo by U.S. Air Force/Senior Airman Stephanie Sauberan
Dozens of celebrities are devoting their time, money, and attention to supporting food banks and charities amidst nationwide COVID-19 shutdowns.
This week, Hollywood A-lister Ryan Reynolds and his wife Blake Lively announced on social media that they would be donating $1 million to Feeding America and Food Banks Canada.
Reynolds encouraged his followers to follow suit, and to look after themselves during these trying times. “Take care of your bodies and hearts. Leave room for joy. Call someone who’s isolated and might need connection,” he tweeted.
“We are so grateful for Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively’s extremely generous donation, and for all of the donations we’ve been receiving,” Dan Nisbet, vice president of Major Gifts at Feeding America, told Variety. “The Feeding America network of 200 food banks is working tirelessly to aid and provide meal assistance to our most vulnerable neighbors—children, the elderly, families struggling with food insecurity and individuals facing job disruptions—throughout our nation during this unprecedented time. Generosity like theirs will make all the difference.”
Reynolds and Lively aren’t the only ones to announce their donations this week—pop star Ciara and Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson donated 1 million meals through Seattle’s Food Life Line; Jimmy Fallon donated money to Feeding America and is choosing a different charity every day to raise money for; and Lady Gaga’s makeup brand Haus Laboratories said they would be donating to the Los Angeles and New York City food banks.
Oakland is closing schools bc of COVID-19. We support this decision but are concerned a/b the 18,000+ kids that rely on school for 2+ meals daily. @eatlearnplay is donating to @ACCFB to ensure every child has access to the food they need. Join us & donate https://t.co/nDqF7OoO0Zpic.twitter.com/nFp0w1eFqH
Elsewhere on social media, Amy Adams and Jennifer Garner partnered with Save the Stories to read stories on social media in order to raise money for Save the Children and No Kid Hungry. And Jimmy Fallon raised $20,000 for Feeding America after airing his first “Tonight Show Home Edition” while in quarantine, with his wife shooting camera.
In the business department, Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian published a letter to his employees on how he would be forgoing 100% of his salary for the next six months in order to avoid layoffs.
These are only a few of the uplifting stories on how people are responding to the COVID-19 outbreaks. If you need more good news, here are 10 positive pandemic updates from around the world that is sure to lift your spirits.
Quote of the Day: “The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.” – William Mather Lewis
Photo: by Darya Tryfanava – public domain
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?
Episode #4 of our quarantine-inspired podcast just dropped—and we are doing shows every few days during this COVID-19 craziness, as the perfect antidote to today’s 24-hour cable news.
Join Geri and Anthony as they talk about the ‘corona kindness’ breaking out all over the world, the silver linings, pandemic-positives, and the most exciting breakthroughs in technology, business, and health this week.
Our Good News Gurus are bringing you the most inspiring positive news from the last few days, like a breakthrough company that uses recycled aluminum instead of batteries to store solar energy; and a new treatment for lyme disease (and other good news).
Email Us: We’d love to share your story, answer questions, or interview you on the show:[email protected]
Good News Network Founder Geri Weis-Corbley along with GNN co-owner Anthony Samadani will be recording a couple episodes each week to serve their fans with a reassuring and uplifting focus. If you enjoy it, give us a review and share with friends.
Subscribe to our email newsletter the Morning Jolt, if you need more good news… xxoo
The Lesson: “Though we’re rarely conscious of it, we continually evaluate ourselves—and are convinced that something is wrong with us.” In this audio session, acclaimed psychotherapist and Buddhist practitioner Tara Brach takes us through the process of waking up from a mental state we might not realize we’re caught up in; and once we can let go of constant self-judgement, we can actually live up to our potential. Join her as she explores the factors which lead to the trance of unworthiness, how we can identify it as it happens, break free of the cycle of self-doubt, and—most importantly—develop trust in our own natural inner goodness.
Notable Excerpt: “I’ve found that usually there’s a gap between our standard of how we should be, and our own experience, and it’s that gap which makes us feel like we’re not okay. The number one deepest regret of the dying are that they didn’t live true to themselves—that they lived according to the expectations of others, of the ‘should’s’… and I thought it would be tremendously useful for people to have a guided passageway through and beyond the forces that guide us to live unfaithfully to ourselves.”
The Speaker: Tara Brach is an American psychologist, author, and proponent of Buddhist meditation. She is a guiding teacher and founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC, although Dr. Brach teaches her Wednesday night meeting in Bethesda, Maryland.
Download Tara Brach’s audio session The R.A.I.N. Meditation—and browse her other audio meditations—at the Sounds True digital library.
Podcast: Sounds True was founded in 1985 by Tami Simon with a clear mission: to disseminate spiritual wisdom and to wake up the world. Since starting out as a project with one woman and her tape recorder, the group has grown into a multimedia publishing company with more than 80 employees, a library of more than 1,500 titles featuring some of the leading teachers and visionaries of our time, and an ever-expanding family of listeners from across the world. If you want to learn more, you can check out their YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, or website.
(LISTEN to the inspiring lecture below)
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Photos copyright of Tiffany Farley, used with permission
You know that little lift you feel when you open your mailbox and find a personal letter among the bills and junk mail?
Imagine finding not one cheerful note, but dozens of anonymous, hand-written envelopes filled with words of encouragement.
Such joy was the vision of Hannah Brencher, who started the More Love Letters movement after navigating the ups and downs of her 20-something life, just out of college, living in New York City and struggling with depression.
Desperate for a solution, she started filling notebooks with the words she herself most needed to hear, then tearing out these “love letters” and leaving them around the city—on buses, at the library, in clothing store coat pockets—for strangers to find.
“I published a simple question on my blog: ‘Do you need someone to write you a love letter today?’ and my inbox filled up with heartbreaking stories,” Brencher told Good News Network. “That one question changed my life forever as I spent the next year writing hundreds of love letters to strangers in all parts of the world.”
Soon after, she created a website-based organization that launches letter-writing campaigns to support individuals who need a little uplifting TLC. Random letters of kindness in communities are also encouraged.
Anyone can post a request for letters on behalf of someone they know, and the site posts new batches of requests weekly and invites visitors to respond to any or all of them. Each request includes a deadline for participation, after which volunteers bundle up all the submitted letters and deliver them—surprise!—to the recipient.
With a community of 42,000 on Facebook, the organization has collectively mailed more than 250,000 letters to people in need since its inception in 2011. Brencher herself has been known to spur 500 letter writers to join her in responding to a specific request.
More Love Letters is not to be mistaken for a pen pal program—writers are instructed not to include personal contact information. Brencher believes the connection forged briefly and indelibly through a single letter, even an anonymous one, benefits the individuals on both ends of the exchange.
“I always hope someone will feel loved, valued, and not so alone when they pick up a letter,” Brencher, who resides in Atlanta, Georgia, said in an email. “But the letter writing can be just as much about the person who is writing. It’s about finding those words that you need to hear yourself and passing them on.”
If You Don’t Have Time To Send A Love Letter, Be Sure And Share This Inspiring Story With Your Friends On Social Media…
