Take a look at some of the gifts I have in store for everyone who signs up in the next 7 days — during the 11th anniversary of the founding of Good News Network! (photos below) I also have some free gifts for my loyal members!
Prizes, Free Gifts and Happy Anniversary!
Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe Program Turns Old Footwear into Basketball Courts
Every year, millions of pairs of athletic shoes are thrown away, clogging landfills and wasting a lot of good material. Now, you can turn your old kicks into new places to play your game.
Nike gives you a solution for recycling your old shoes! Worn-out athletic shoes of any brand are collected, processed and recycled into material used in sports surfaces like basketball courts, tennis courts, athletic fields, running tracks and playgrounds for young people around the world.
Colleges Moving to Retire Cafeteria Trays
US colleges are turning away from cafeteria trays, deciding that to save water and detergent is a greener way for schools, especially in drought-ridden states like Georgia and North Carolina, to serve students. With an enrollment of 18,000, Georgia Tech is saving 3,000 gallons of water per day by dumping trays. (Associated Press via Yahoo News)
First Hybrid Locomotives Sold in North America
The first North American hybrid, or dual-powered, passenger locomotives have been contracted for purchase by the New Jersey and Montreal transit agencies. The new dual-powered locomotives, made by Bombardier Transportation, are capable of operating under both diesel power and alternating current electric power from overhead sources. (Sustainable Business)
Gold-Plated Church Windows Purify Air
Medieval stained-glass windows colored in gold nanoparticles help purify air when lit by the sun, a new study finds. “For centuries people appreciated only the beautiful works of art, and long life of the colors, but little did they realize that the stained-glass windows are also, in modern language, photocatalytic air purifiers.” (LiveScience.com)
(Thanks to Sun Star for submitting the story!)
Record Catfish Hauled In on Toddler’s Barbie Pole (Video)
A North Carolina man catches a state-record-sized channel catfish with his granddaughter’s pink Barbie fishing pole.
Scientists Identify Chemical Odor of Skin Cancer: Study
US chemists have identified the odor that emanates from skin cancer, a development that researchers hope will advance diagnosis and treatment of the disease, and explains why dogs are able to sniff out tumors. The creation of a “profile” of the chemical odors linked to skin cancer may lead to simpler ways of diagnosis.
Scientists Create Blood From Stem Cells
People usually require blood transfusions that match their own blood type: A mismatch can be fatal. Yet type O-negative can be safely transferred into anyone — but it is only possessed by 7 percent of the population, leaving supplies perpetually short. Now, scientists have used stem cells to generate blood — a feat that could eventually lead to endless supplies of type O-negative blood. (The UK Sun has full report)
Stem Blood Cells image on WikiMedia Commons
Hyundai Aims to Launch First U.S. Hybrid in 2010
Hyundai Motor Co. expects to release its first hybrid in the U.S. market as early as 2010, featuring cutting-edge lithium-ion battery technology, an executive said on Wednesday. The hybrid version of the Sonata will recharge itself. (Reuters News has the story)
UN Agencies Continue to Rush Aid to Georgia
The United Nations is continuing to send much-needed assistance to the Georgian city of Gori, most of whose population has fled since the start of the conflict. Since the opening of a humanitarian corridor for the UN and other aid agencies, the UN Children’s Fund and the UN World Food Program have sent 15 tons of food, bottled water and hygiene kids for 400 families.
Hunt for Renewable Energy Leads Researchers to Some Unlikely Sources
Scouring the Earth for new sources of clean, renewable energy, scientists and engineers are exploring some unusual nooks and crannies. Kites, waves, tides, ocean currents, geysers, garbage, cow manure, old utility poles, algae and bacteria are being enlisted in the effort to lower the world’s reliance on climate-warming coal and oil. Here is an update on the latest and greatest advancements.
Crow Offers Free Music to Voters
Sheryl Crow is giving away free music to inspire young people to vote. The Grammy Award-winning singer announced a plan Wednesday to give a digital copy of her album “Detours” to the first 50,000 people who register three friends to vote.
Mexico Starts Campaign to Save Endangered Porpoise
Mexico said Wednesday it will invest 163 million pesos ($16 million) to save a highly endangered species of porpoise in the upper Gulf of California, asking reluctant fishermen to adopt safer methods or give up their trade entirely. (San Jose Mercury News)
Venezuela’s Groundbreaking Musical Education, Saving Lives Through Music (Video)
Venezuela has become a hotbed of young classical music talent thanks to a system the country has in place that lets youth of all backgrounds get their hands on precious instruments.
It’s called “el Sistema” – “the system” – and it’s all about children, about saving them – hundreds of thousands of children – through classical music.
Watch the video below, from 60 Minutes.
(Thanks to Sun Star for submitting the story!)
Israeli Turtle Gets Skateboard to Replace Legs
Officials in a Jerusalem zoo have fitted a 55-pound spurred tortoise with a custom skateboard to overcome paralysis of her hind legs. The 10-year-old turtle was unable to move herself forward with her front legs alone. So the zoo’s staff built her a metal board with two wheels that can be strapped to her shell.
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Bullied Teen is UK’s Top Slimmer Losing 97 Pounds
A UK teen was the object of bullying weighing 280 pounds (127 kg). But now he has lost 97 pounds (44kg) and become the country’s top “Slimmer”, named for the weight-loss club to which he turned for help in his bid to lose weight and ease the pain encountered at school.
“Jack says his character’s changed completely since losing weight and eating healthier: My confidence and self-esteem has gone way up. Before, it was nonexistent.”
Here is the story from Slimming World:
Eighteen year old Jack Mitchell from Sunderland has been announced as the winner of Slimming World’s Young Slimmer of the Year 2008 after losing a phenomenal 7½ stones (97 lbs).
Before joining Slimming World, teenager Jack could barely face walking into a shopping centre, let alone working in one of its brightest, busiest stores. But since losing weight, Jack has turned his life around, overcoming his shyness, beating the bullies that tormented him at school and landing his dream job at the Disney Store.
Jack, after losing 97 pounds
“The night before joining Slimming World, I didn’t get a wink of sleep. My stomach was churning and I was filled with fear at the thought of all those unfamiliar faces staring at me. Much to my relief, when I walked through those doors nearly 18 months ago, I saw a bunch of people just like me – smiling, chatting and stepping on the scales as if it were the most natural thing in the world! Now I’m one of those people too and it feels amazing!
“My main ambition in life is to become an actor or TV presenter – and with all this new-found energy and confidence, I truly believe I can do it. Believe me, having lost 97 lbs. (7½ stones), I know anything’s possible when you’re determined enough! If you’ve got the right support and tools behind you (and at Slimming World, I’ve received tons of both!), there’s nothing to stop anyone from achieving their dreams!”
Giving Average Colombians a Chance to Play Golf
As an American living in Colombia, South America, Tony Ciabattoni’s world has changed dramatically. Growing up learning to love and appreciate the sport of golf, he now finds himself in a metropolitan area of 1.5 million people with only two private golf courses and absolutely no place for the average citizen, especially children, to learn and play. Now he is helping to make his new community a better — and more fun — place, especially for the kids.
“I grew up playing public golf, and never dreamed that there were places with no public golf courses,” said Tony. “It became my DREAM that I could positively affect the lives of an entire metropolitan area.”
Eight! Phelps Wins Record-Setting Gold in Beijing (UPDATED)
Michael Phelps won his record eighth gold medal Sunday at the Beijing Olympics, swimming with the victorious U.S. 400-meter medley relay team, surpassing Mark Spitz for most golds in a single games.
The Baltimore kid, who was diagnosed with severe ADHD and medicated during the school week, has proven wrong his English Middle School teacher who said he would never be successful.
(WATCH the video below)
The Miracle That is Dara Torres
Torres’ winning 2 silver medals in the Olympics was for all of us fortysomethings with clouded minds and sagging bodies. It was for all of us parents who lose focus playing chauffeur. It was for the divorcees who start over, the dreamers who fight the dimming light, and the defiant ones who feel the doubts but keep moving forward. Dara Torres is a 41 year old single mom and the oldest American swimmer ever to claim a spot on an Olympic swim team.
The Lion Who Thought He was People
Christian is the name of a lion cub bought from Harrods department store in 1969 by two young lads who couldn’t bear to see the cub locked in a cage at Christmas. A year later the lion had grown from 35 pounds to 185 pounds. He needed more exercise and a larger home.
After a chance encounter with the stars of the film Born Free, the owners arranged to send the lion to Africa for reintroduction to the wild with the help of the “Lion Man”, conservationist George Adamson. A film entitled Christian the Lion at World’s End documented the movement of Christian from England to Kenya’s Kora National Reserve to live free with other wild lions.
When they returned to Africa a year later, the two young men who’d raised the cub were told that Christian would not know them or remember. But, the home movie capturing their ecstatic reunion (accompanied by the song, I Will Always Love You) has become an internet sensation – more than 11 million views – rekindling celebrity for the two Australians who’d rescued the cub from a cage.
After the meeting, Christian was never seen again. Watch the story and joyful reunion below.
The film is written, produced and directed by Bill Travers, star of Born Free, and James Hill the director of Born Free. This movie and the film The Lions are Free were released on DVD in November 2006 to help raise money for their African work.
THE DVD, Christian the Lion at World’s End
Thanks to Sun Star, Steve G., and Susan, who all recommended this story!