There’s been some good news this week in the auto industry, from the optimism about this year’s auto show with its roll-out of affordable cars, to the federal green energy grants awarded to four automakers — a total of more than $41 million from the Department of Energy.
(Continue reading in the Morning Sun)
Elisabeth, an 18-day-old infant, rests in a tent hospital after spending eight days trapped in her home before being rescued during earthquake relief efforts.
The newborn had just nursed and been put to bed when the quake struck, collapsing the walls of her 2nd floor bedroom before her mother could reach her upstairs. Born only two weeks earlier, the infant was trapped for a week, still in her bed.
With the ominous absence of any crying, her mother, Micheline Joassaint, had long given up hope when a team of Colombian rescue workers unearthed the child alive and sent word to the mother.
No one knows how the newborn endured for so long without hydration, nutrition or warmth. She also survived without any injuries. In less than an hour after arriving at hospital, the baby was rehydrated, warmed and returned to nursing with her mother.
The photo was taken by U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Daniel Barker (Jan. 20, Jacmel, Haiti)
(Read more about the baby, and the town/hospital where she is located, in the Havana Times)
Day ten since the earthquake in Haiti and while search and rescue teams wind down, those resilient few who refuse to give up hope are rewarded by miraculous stories of survival.
A 22-year-old was found alive near the capital’s main cathedral yesterday, and an 84-year-old woman was rescued by relatives.
Meanwhile, the main port was operational once again and solar radios and cell phone chargers are being distributed by the US, while a market with fresh food was bustling once again.
Hear the latest good news in this NBC report below, or watch it at MSNBC…
One man’s trash is another man’s chandelier, or doormat or iPod carrying case.
A new exhibition opened last week at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, exploring the creation of new designs from existing or salvaged products.
Cut/Paste: Creative Reuse in Canadian Design features a chandelier fashioned out of paperclips and a doormat out of felt eraser brushes (it’s “chock full of childhood memories,” the description reads). A cassette tape has been hollowed out to fit an iPod Nano.
Photo, right, Tobias Wong’s, “This is a Lamp”, by Aaron Lynett/National Post
The exhibit runs until Jan. 31.
(Read more in the National Post)
American farmer Wilson Bentley is credited with capturing on camera the first images of individual snowflakes. He made thousands of the jewel-like prints more than a century ago, no two alike, using a microscope and a bellows camera.
After a blizzard, Bentley caught pneumonia and died just weeks after the publication of his book Snow Crystals.
Now, up for rare auction are ten of his pioneering prints.
Snowflake expert Kenneth G Libbrecht said, “He did it so well that hardly anybody bothered to photograph snowflakes for almost 100 years.”
(Continue reading in the BBC)
Thanks to Priscilla in France for sending the link!
Canadian Premier Dalton McGuinty has signed a landmark agreement with a South Korean consortium to generate 2,500 megawatts of wind and solar power in Ontario, providing clean electricity to 580,000 households and 16,000 new jobs over six years.
(Continue reading in the Toronto Star)
Coal pollution turned rivers black in South Wales, with mining waste so thick that no life could survive.
But, in one of the most remarkable environmental turnarounds Britain has ever seen, a 20-year effort to clean them up has paid off – salmon have returned to all of them.
The revolution has been brought about by 20 years of work by the Environment Agency, local authorities and angling clubs, in the wake of the collapse of the South Wales mining industry at the end of the 1980s.
Waterways rescued from a blighted landscape of slag heaps, now have salmon running up them from the sea to spawn.
(Continue reading in the Independent)
It took only a phone call from George Clooney to get the “Hope for Haiti” telethon started.
Expected to be the most widely viewed telethon in history, Hope For Haiti Now will air tonight at 8PM ET on every broadcast television network, and most cable channels, with all proceeds going to relief efforts.
George Clooney will host from Los Angeles — where celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres will be answering phone calls — while the New York event will be anchored by the Haitian-born singer Wyclef Jean. A UK leg came into being when musicians Rihanna, Jay-Z, Coldplay and Bono volunteered to play in the wee hours of the early morning.
Celebrities joining the lineup include Bill Clinton, Brad Pitt, Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Clint Eastwood, Leonardo DiCaprio, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Jon Stewart, Will Smith with Muhammad Ali, Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks.
Pee Wee Herman stopped by the Conan O’Brien Show to explain the NBC late-night mess to everyone (in simple terms)… Watch the video below.
Enjoy this Good News Giggle of the Week!
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People who live in fear of the dentist’s drill could be in for a more comfortable future – as new plasma technology arrives.
“Drilling is a very uncomfortable and sometimes painful experience. The use of cold “plasma jets”, in contrast, is a completely contact-free method that is highly effective,” said Dr Stefan Rupf, who led the study.
The properties of the plasma are harmful to bacteria, while preserving the tooth and leaving the rest of the area unaffected.
(Read more at the BBC)
Cries of joy peeled from the mouths of elated parents as a joint New York City-Virginia rescue team in Haiti pulled out two children alive from the rubble of a collapsed two-story home in Port-au-Prince late Tuesday.
The two children were in remarkable shape after being trapped for 8 days.
Watch the inspiring video from Britain’s ITN, via MSNBC…
Despite the overwhelming destruction, Haiti does have one bright spot – the sun. Besides food, water, shelter and medical supplies, solar-powered devices are also being distributed – many of which will have long lasting benefits beyond the immediate crisis. Solar lighting, water purification systems, mobile phones, laptops and solar-powered Sun Ovens are all being donated.
For example, on January 28th, Sun Ovens International, partnering with Friends of Haiti Organization and Feed My Starving Children, will send nearly 300,000 meals and stand-alone solar-powered Sun Ovens to Port-au-Prince.
(Continue reading at TriplePundit.com)
From a home-based startup in 1991, Danielson Designs has become one of the largest private employers in Las Animas County.
Over the past 15 years Mark and Annie Danielson have poured time, money and faith into reviving not only the economy but the culture and historic prominence of downtown Trinidad, the county seat of about 10,000 residents near the New Mexico border prone to the boom and bust cycles of the coal and natural-gas industries.
Along with employing about 75, the Danielsons’ home-décor business generates annual sales of about $10 million on items such as custom picture frames, decorative door hooks and inspirational signs – like the one that reads, “Home is where your story begins,” the company’s top-selling item by a wide margin.
(Read more, see photos, at Colorado Biz magazine)
Haitian orphans who survived the harrowing earthquake are arriving in the U.S. — entering their new homes and lives with adoptive families — in Kansas City, Pennsylvania and Buffalo, NY.
The U.S. Homeland Security department eliminated red tape for their travel home.
Watch the Reuters video below, or at Voxant…
In an unprecedented gesture of neighborliness, the Dominican Republic has opened its border to injured Haitians. Traditionally, relations between the two countries are strained at best. Now there are fresh hopes that things could improve.
Many injured Haitians are being treated at the Dario Contreras public hospital in the capital, Santo Domingo.
Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez was the first head of state to visit Haiti after the Jan. 12 quake, and he has pledged his country’s support for the reconstruction effort.
(Continue reading, or listen to the story, at NPR.org)
Two days after the earthquake hit Haiti, mobile phone recycler, ReCellular, launched their own disaster relief program in partnership with the American Red Cross. Not only will your discarded cell phones help people in Haiti, they will be assured an eco-friendly afterlife, diverted from landfills and safely recycled.
ReCellular will contribute 100% of the phone value to the American Red Cross in a program that has already earned more than $20 million dollars in contributions for a variety of charities through their partnerships with ReCellular.
With an estimated 130 million phones retired in the US every year, if even a small percentage of them are sent to Phones for Haiti, it would raise millions of dollars for relief.
In a miraculous rescue after six days, a husband finds his wife buried in rubble, but still alive.
The desperate scene turned hopeful when a Los Angeles fire and rescue team showed up and began a three hour operation to get her out.
A TV crew from Britain’s ITN captured the saga on tape.
Watch the incredible video below, or at MSNBC…
As of late Sunday, the American Red Cross had received 2.2 million text messages pledging $10 each for a whopping total of $22 million in donations.
The National Football League’s promotion of text-message donations during its weekend playoff games produced stunning results, with money “coming in at the rate of $500,000 an hour,” Roger Lowe, a Red Cross spokesman, told the New York Times.
“I need a better word than ‘unprecedented’ or ‘amazing’ to describe what’s happened with the text-message program,” Mr. Lowe said.
The calls for donations featured New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma and Chargers defensive end Jacques Cesaire. Both players have Haitian parents.
As of late Sunday, the American Red Cross had received 2.2 million text messages pledging $10 each for a whopping total of $22 million in donations.
The National Football League’s promotion of text-message donations during its weekend playoff games produced stunning results, with money “coming in at the rate of $500,000 an hour,” Roger Lowe, a Red Cross spokesman, told the New York Times.
“I need a better word than ‘unprecedented’ or ‘amazing’ to describe what’s happened with the text-message program,” Mr. Lowe said.
The calls for donations featured New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma and Chargers defensive end Jacques Cesaire. Both players have Haitian parents.
It might be your preference to crack open a bottle of red wine at the end of a hard day but you may be better off pouring a pint.
Researchers at the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg have discovered that beer contains a powerful molecule that helps protect against breast and prostate cancers.
Found in hops, the substance called xanthohumol blocks the excessive action of testosterone and oestrogen. It also helps to prevent the release of a protein called PSA which encourages the spread of prostate cancer.
(Continue reading in the Daily Mail)
