The W Retreat and Island Spa opened this year in Vieques, Puerto Rico.
The folks at W want their kitchen to have as much food as possible sourced from a garden right outside. Enter their vegetable garden design contest and receive a chance to win a free 5-night stay.
All entries must be submitted by November 4, 2010 at 11:59PM Pacific Time (“PT”)
(LEARN the details at GOOD magazine)
If your dog destroys the furniture when you are away, it could be a pessimist, researchers have concluded.
A study has found that some dogs are natural gloom-mongers while others have sunnier dispositions.
Knowing this can lead to more understanding of the family pet…
(READ the Reuters story via Yahoo News)
Millions worldwide die each year because they can’t afford a pacemaker. Meanwhile, heart patients in the United States say they’d be willing to donate theirs after death to someone in need.
In this week’s issue of Circulation, experts at the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center described the legality and logistics of collecting pacemakers, for reuse across the globe, and unveiled a new program to do just that.
They assert that humanitarian efforts so far have shown reuse of pacemakers to be safe and effective with little risk of infection. In fact, patients live as long with a recycled pacemaker as those who get new ones, authors say.
Millions worldwide die each year because they can’t afford a pacemaker. Meanwhile, heart patients in the United States say they’d be willing to donate theirs after death to someone in need.
In this week’s issue of Circulation, experts at the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center described the legality and logistics of collecting pacemakers, for reuse across the globe, and unveiled a new program to do just that.
They assert that humanitarian efforts so far have shown reuse of pacemakers to be safe and effective with little risk of infection. In fact, patients live as long with a recycled pacemaker as those who get new ones, authors say.
Spirit Halloween, the nation’s largest Halloween retailer, launched “Spirit of Children” in 2006, a program created to bring Halloween to hospitals and rehabilitation centers for kids. The goal? To help make these places a little less scary. Indeed, volunteer employees assist partner hospitals with Halloween-themed celebrations complete with costumes, décor and activities like costume parades.
Since its launch, Spirit of Children has generated more than $2.3 million in cash and merchandise for hospitals across the U.S. with funding coming from money raised year-round in stores and online at SpiritHalloween.com.
(READ the story in the USA Today)
Rocky Mountain Arsenal, where nerve gas and chemical weapons were made, creating one of the most toxic Superfund sites in the nation, is marking the end of years of cleanup work to turn contaminated prairie land into a national wildlife refuge northeast of Denver.
Apple is the second most valuable private company in the world, but steadily gaining on Exxon Mobil, which is currently worth about $338 billion to Apple’s $300 billion.
This shouldn’t be only of interest to investors. It holds far broader political and cultural significance. It’s not just about value, but values.
There couldn’t be a more stark contrast between the new economy and the old than the comparison of these two companies–a sleek tech giant versus a dirty fossil energy monster.
(READ the analysis in Discovery)
This animation was adapted from a talk given by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert.
He describes how the old paradigm of education is unhelpful in the 21st century and offers ideas on how we can improve the system.
Here’s the YouTube video…
Mark Twain completed his autobiography more than a century ago. But he told his publishers that they would not be able to publish it till 100 years after his death – which happens to be this year.
The century-long embargo freed Twain “to say exactly what he [thought], and so in a way he doesn’t have anyone looking over his shoulder.”
The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1 is already topping the bestseller lists of both Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Mark Twain completed his autobiography more than a century ago. But he told his publishers that they would not be able to publish it till 100 years after his death – which happens to be this year.
The century-long embargo freed Twain “to say exactly what he [thought], and so in a way he doesn’t have anyone looking over his shoulder.”
The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1 is already topping the bestseller lists of both Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
It is now more than a century since the American chestnut tree – once 4 billion strong and towering over East Coast forests – fell victim to a foreign blight. By 1950, it had virtually disappeared.
Despite the failure of earlier scientific efforts to bring it back, thousands of chestnut devotees from Maine to Georgia have new reason for optimism.
A new project shows every sign of promise – with about 25,000 of the new chestnuts planted already.
(READ more at the Washington Post)
After lagging behind the rest of the country for years, Tennessee is catching up fast when it comes to improvements in its health care system aimed at elderly and disabled residents. More of them are getting the assistance they need in their homes — at a much lower cost than at a nursing home. A lot of this change is the direct result of efforts by Governor Phil Bredesen.
Nearing the end of his eight years in office (he is required to leave due to term limits this year), Bredesen decided to focus on getting Tennessee off the bottom rung in rankings of states that offer consumers choices in long-term care. Just a few years earlier, only a few hundred Tennesseans were able to get Medicaid funding for anything but a nursing home. Now, it is one of a handful of bellwether states that offer a broad range of alternatives to nursing home care.
Indonesia’s constitutional court this week struck down a 50-year-old law that allowed the government to ban whatever books it considered controversial.
In the past, leaders of Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country, have used the book-banning law to clamp down on any form of public dissent.
(READ the story from UPI)
Otters almost disappeared from England in the 1970s after the prevalence of pesticides in their environment brought their numbers to near extinction levels.
Now, after the banning of many of those chemicals, the Environment Agency points to a remarkable comeback for the creatures, present once again in rivers across England.
(READ more in the BBC)
Wal-Mart joins a growing list of corporations supporting sustainable agriculture programs and small farmers, saying it is planning to double the sales of local produce in its U.S. stores by the end of 2015.
The world’s largest retailer said it would also sell more than $1 billion each year in food from 1 million small and medium-sized farms in emerging markets by the end of 2015, helping to increase income for those farmers 10 percent.
Wal-Mart also said it will require that palm oil from sustainable sources be used in all of its private-label products by the end of 2015.
(READ more from Reuters)
Meet the editor and founder of the Good News Network this Friday, October 22, in the Washington DC area. (Please RSVP by Wednesday night, via email)
Join a Meet-the-Editor Lunch with Geri Weis-Corbley at Sweetwater Tavern (just off the Beltway) for sunny conversation, (weather allowing) out on the patio.
Please RSVP by Wednesday night via email:
geri @ goodnewsnetwork.org
Sweetwater Tavern – Merrifield (A Great American Restaurant)
3066 Gatehouse Plaza
Falls Church, VA 22042
(703) 645-8100
Suburban Philadelphia philanthropist Gene Epstein is promoting a $250,000 effort called Hire Just One, with plans to make $1,000 donations to charity in the name of businesses that hire an unemployed person and keep the worker on the payroll for at least six months.
One company estimating that Epstein’s program probably got the company to make the hires about six months before it would have otherwise.
Epstein is taking out full-page ads in local papers to keep the momentum going for his campaign, launched in September. More than 100 businesses have jumped on board.
(READ the AP Story via Yahoo News)
The Dalai Lama returned this week on his third visit to Stanford University, drawn to the scientific research conducted at its Center for Compassion and Altruism Research, which was partially funded by the spiritual leader through sales of his books.
The Center is at the forefront of a growing movement to bring the tools of psychology and neuroscience to the study of empathy, compassion and altruism.
The 75-year-old Dalai Lama spoke to about 6,300 people on “The Centrality of Compassion in Human Life and Society.” He repeatedly stressed a secular approach to compassion that reaches beyond individual creeds and beliefs. He spoke of the need for mutual respect and friendship, the care and education of children, and ongoing dialogue for conflict resolution.
Evident throughout was his fascination with science, the neurology of the mind and brain, the interest in the intricate distinctions between mind and body that led him to be a founding benefactor for the Center.
(WATCH the video below, and read the story from Stanford News)
The Dalai Lama returned this week on his third visit to Stanford University, drawn to the scientific research conducted at its Center for Compassion and Altruism Research, which was partially funded by the spiritual leader through sales of his books.
The Center is at the forefront of a growing movement to bring the tools of psychology and neuroscience to the study of empathy, compassion and altruism.
The 75-year-old Dalai Lama spoke to about 6,300 people on “The Centrality of Compassion in Human Life and Society.” He repeatedly stressed a secular approach to compassion that reaches beyond individual creeds and beliefs. He spoke of the need for mutual respect and friendship, the care and education of children, and ongoing dialogue for conflict resolution.
Not only does Rachel Cooperstein have Down syndrome, she participates as a regular cheerleader in the all-inclusive squad at San Francisco’s Dublin High School.
Friday night she was crowned Homecoming Queen — a title her fellow classmates were thrilled to give her in a secret ballot.
WATCH the video, which includes the moment she learns that she has been selected.
