Today is International Spread A Smile Day and nothing creates a smile quicker than to watch a group of penguins walking.
Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo will open a new penguin exhibit in early May. But take a sneak peak as the penguins are introduced to their new habitat for the first time.
A new “grannies-for-rent” service in Poland brings together elderly people without families, and people who miss having real grandparents.
A local University for the Elderly set up the program, which aims to benefit people from all generations.
(WATCH the video below from Reuters)
The last two weeks have been filled with positive news about the economy. It all started when several of the major banks announced that they generated a profit during the first two months of this year. Then, General Motors announced that it would not need to take the $2 billion bailout loan from the government that was scheduled for March. The economic data also turned positive as housing starts, existing home sales, and new home sales all increased last month and the initial claims for unemployment compensation decreased.
This may be a good time to review what you can do to prepare your finances for an economic recovery…
The local TV news camera crew came to my home to do a story about the Good News Network. Here is the interview from the video player at WUSA-TV 9 in Washington, DC.
It took rescuers several hours to pull a moose from the icy waters of a Washington State lake after it fell through the soft ice. The moose is recovering thanks to rescuers who administered oxygen and water and warmth.
Video may take a moment to load…
Great Britain has launched a campaign on Tuesday to get the public to reuse plastic shopping bags, saying each shopper got through 13,000 bags in a lifetime.
The new “Get a bag habit” campaign aims to encourage people to reuse their bags and follows a commitment from the seven leading supermarkets to reach a 50 percent cut in the number given out by this May.
A Southwest Airlines flight attendant, 40-year-old David Holmes, uses a rap rhythm & rhyme to urge people to listen to his pre-flight announcements. He has become an airline celebrity since people began posting YouTube videos of his cabin raps.
Holmes raps while encouraging the passengers to stomp and clap giving him an accompanying beat:
Before we leave
our advice is
put away your electronic devices
fasten your seat belt
then put your trays up
press the button and make the seat-back raise up.
Watch the applause fill the air when the rhyme concludes…
A test for human papillomavirus infection is better than the standard Pap smear at catching cervical cancer early, researchers report. The study of women age 30 and over makes the case for changing cervical cancer screening practices, particularly in low-income countries, since the screening test for HPV would necessitate fewer doctor visits, scientists report in the April 2 New England Journal of Medicine.
(Read full report in Science News)
Thanks to rebafenl and her family for the story tip!
While most of America waits for federal stimulus money to make its way into wallets, one small town on the Colorado plains has taken matters into its own hands by launching its own economic recovery plan.
Spend $300 in the city of Lamar on anything but groceries, pharmaceuticals, booze or your utility bills, and the city will give you a gift certificate good for $30 at any store in Lamar. Shoppers can save up receipts until they have $300 worth of purchases. The offer runs through the month of April.
Denny’s is inviting you to bring a friend for a free breakfast today.
From 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., you’ll get a free Grand Slamwich, if you buy a Grand Slam breakfast. A Slamwich is a sandwich filled with scrambled eggs, sausage, ham, bacon and cheese.
More than two million people lined up for hours at Denny’s to get a free breakfast in February.
In 2008, air travelers experienced their best year for customer service since 2004. The rate of lost bags, late arrivals, and consumer complaints were all down, according to an annual survey of airline quality.
The study found that all 17 airlines improved their overall performance in 2008, bouncing back from their worst-ever rankings in 2007. And, in a rare occurrence, the industry improved in all four major categories of the Airline Quality Rating: on‐time performance, baggage handling, denied boardings and customer complaints.
US Airways was the most improved airline last year, while United improved the least.
New York City will expand loan opportunities and find ways to help the city’s 40,000 nonprofit organizations reduce costs and find new donors in the midst of the economic downturn, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
The program will focus on nonprofits that conduct job training, provide health services and promote the city’s arts and culture.
The Empire State Building will get a green face lift.
A planned $20 million retrofit of the skyscraper will save $4.4 million a year in energy costs, reduce the building’s energy consumption by nearly 40 percent and cut its carbon output, according to the Rocky Mountain Institute.
Planners believe it is a model for retrofitting an existing building.
(Read full report in Seattle P-I)
There’s no lack of bad economic news. And yet, amid the gloom, there are a growing number of economists that see a recovery on the horizon — perhaps even a strong rebound. “The economy could be as close to four months away from a recovery,” said one.
Readings on long-term and short-term economic indicators give him significantly more hope that the economy is closer to a turnaround than he had thought even a month ago.
$10 million dollars of California’s stimulus money will fund the Green Corps, a new program that will provide training for underprivileged youth to learn jobs in green construction, energy, and technology.
1,000 youth, ages 16-24, will be enrolled in the program, which will also receive $10 million from public-private partnerships, announced Gov. Schwarzenegger last week.
The NRDC recently reported that between 52,000 and 114,000 new workers will be needed by 2010 to fill jobs created by green investments.
Christian churches in the U.S. are turning over a new leaf for Palm Sunday.
About 2,500 congregations from every major denomination used fair-trade palm fronds to celebrate Palm Sunday, the annual observance of the day Jesus arrived in Jerusalem a week before his crucifixion. They say it’s the Christian thing to do.
Photo courtesy of Sun Star
Fresh signs that factories are coming back to life and a bank CEO’s encouraging outlook fueled more hopes Thursday that the economy may soon emerge from the cellar, and briefly lifted the Dow Jones industrials beyond 8,000 for the first time in two months.
Meet a pair of lion cubs in New Jersey’s Six Flags Safari Park, rejected by their mother but getting excellent care from humans who do all they can to help the babies thrive.
AP Video may take a moment to load…
A pet dog that fell overboard in rough seas off Australia has been reunited with its owners after surviving alone on an island for four months, reports said.
The dog was believed to have drowned and the Griffith family was devastated.
But out of sight of the family, Sophie Tucker was swimming doggedly and finally made it to St Bees Island, five nautical miles away, and began the sort of life popularised by the TV reality show “Survivor.” Belonging to an Australian cattle dog breed, she took to eating baby goats to keep herself alive.
(Read the AFP story at Sydney Morning Herald)
Thanks to Sienna for sending the story tip!
45 people volunteered on a recent night to carry salamanders, frogs and newts across the road during their annual migration to mate.
On rainy nights in early spring, roads between forests and vernal pools are hopping and crawling with activity. On some nights, hundreds of amphibians cross small stretches of asphalt to mate. But many don’t make it.
