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$25 Thrift Shop Purchase May be ‘Priceless’ Glasswork Belonging to Scottish King Robert the Bruce

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Antique dealers Richard and Alfie Drummond with stained glass window connected to King Robert the Bruce of Scotland -SWNS
Antique dealers Richard and Alfie Drummond with stained glass window connected to King Robert the Bruce of Scotland -SWNS

An antique dealer who bought a stained glass window in a Scottish thrift shop for $25 says it belonged to King Robert I, popularly known as Robert the Bruce from the 1300s.

Richard Drummond spotted the colorful glass for sale in Moffat, Scotland, and was told it had been discovered in an old house in the area which had been abandoned for years.

Removing decades of grease revealed the stunning stained glass beneath. It depicts what could be a knight, with a Latin inscription around the edges which roughly translates into ‘Robert Bruce, King of the Scots.’

Richard began researching online for information and sought the help of local and international experts to determine the age of the relic. He now believes it dates back to the 14th century and may have been installed in a castle taken over by the famous king who fought to restore independence in Scotland, becoming a national hero.

Richard believes it’s a massive find for the country and hopes it will be installed in a museum, if proven historically significant.

“I cleaned it off with a brush, then I could see it said ‘Robert Rex Scotorum’,” said the 49-year-old. “That’s when I thought this was going to be interesting.”

“It could be priceless. If this is proven to be of that period, it’s a massive historical find for Scotland,” Richard told SWNS news agency.

He started having a closer look at the glass itself, seeing the engravings and the way it was painted, details that made the local museum curator believe it was “hundreds of years old”.

Antique dealers Richard and Alfie Drummond – SWNS

Richard believes the glass may have come from France via the Knights Templar, while one expert he consulted believes it once was installed in a window of a castle taken over by the conquering king.

THEY FOUND WHAT? Woman Finds Message on Toilet Paper Roll Written 35 Years Ago by Little Girl

“Which castle that is, I have no idea,” said Richard, who was on a mission to get the artifact dated and find out exactly where it came from.

To that end, he and his son Alfie were invited to appear on an upcoming episode of the BBC’s Bidding Room. The show’s experts confirmed it could be up to 700 years old.

“Is this something that was made in Scotland and England for Robert the Bruce? Is this part of the treasure that left France in 1307? Was it made in memory of him?

“It’s medieval art; it’s medieval Scottish history, and in my eyes, it’s just stunning.

TERRIFIC FIND: Garden Ornament Bought for $20 at Flea Market is Actually a Medieval Hand Cannon and Sells for Thousands

“It’s so well preserved (and) it’s been looked after. It’s a piece of history that’s been forgotten about in Moffat.

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Hero Travelers Lift Helicopter off Woman After Crash on Highway: ‘Truly Amazing’ – WATCH

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Nathan Frederick
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Hero drivers near Sacramento, CA -Courtesy of Terry de Crescenzo
Hero drivers near Sacramento, CA -Courtesy of Terry de Crescenzo

The red helicopter was dropping steadily into a collision course with Highway 50, an 8-lane interstate dotted with commuters and travelers near Sacramento, California’s capitol city.

Fortunately, when the REACH Air Medical Services chopper with three passengers did crash, there were drivers down below who would quickly transform into heroes.

A dramatic video soon blanketed the local news outlets showing over a dozen good Samaritans who had left their vehicles to see if they could help.

Together, they rallied to lift one side of the helicopter, freeing at least one of the three crash victims, as first responders reached the scene at 7:00 p.m. on Monday.

Kenneth De Crescenzo, whose wife captured the video, was one of the citizens who sprung into action. He described the events in an interview with local ABC affiliate, KXTV.

“When it was coming down, I looked at it and said, ‘This isn’t good,’ but when people were needed, they all stepped up.”

Using their collective strength they managed to push the overturned helicopter just enough to pull the victim out.

“It took every ounce of effort from about 15 people to push that helicopter,” said one of the first responders on the scene who talked to NBC News (in the video below).

Luckily, the pilot managed to avoid hitting any drivers—and there were no flames, thanks to the Airbus helicopter’s crash-resistant fuel tank designed to prevent fire.

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A pilot, a paramedic, and a nurse aboard the helicopter were in critical condition following the crash, but the quick actions of those on the ground likely saved lives.

The pilot and crew were all EMTs themselves: Chad Millward, is credited with saving 15 lives during a 2017 wildfire, Susan Smith is a nurse, and Margaret ‘DeDe’ David is a paramedic who now is “recovering well,” according to KCRA News.

“We would like to take the time to sincerely thank the first responders on scene, as well as the everyday citizen heroes that jumped into action to help lift an entire aircraft off of Susie so she could begin receiving immediate care at the scene,” the family of Smith said in a statement to the media.

“It was truly amazing.”

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Your Weekly Horoscope – ‘Free Will Astrology’ by Rob Brezsny

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Our partner Rob Brezsny, who has a new book out, Astrology Is Real: Revelations from My Life as an Oracle, provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicated weekly column appearing in over a hundred publications. He is also the author of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How All of Creation Is Conspiring To Shower You with Blessings. (A free preview of the book is available here.)

Here is your weekly horoscope…

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week of October 11, 2025
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Libra architect Christopher Alexander developed a sixth sense about why some spaces feel comfortable while others are alienating. What was the source of his genius? He avoided abstract principles and studied how people actually used spaces. His best architecture soulfully coordinated the relationships between indoor and outdoor areas, private and public zones, and individual needs and community functions. The “quality without a name” was the term he used to identify the profound aliveness, wholeness, and harmony of spaces where people love to be. In the coming weeks, Libra, I hope you access your own natural gift for curating relationships and cultivating balance. Your solutions should serve multiple needs. Elegant approaches will arise as you focus on connections rather than isolated parts.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Some medieval mystics claimed that angels spoke in paradoxes because the truth was too rich for simple logic. These days, I believe you Scorpios are extra fluent in paradox. You are raw yet powerful, aching and grateful, confounded but utterly clear. You are both dying and being reborn. My advice: Don’t try to resolve the contradictions. Immerse yourself in them, bask in them, and allow them to teach you all they have to teach. This may entail you sitting with your sadness as you laugh and letting your desire and doubt interweave. The contradictions you face with open-heartedness will gift you with sublime potency and authority.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
The ancient city of Petra, built in sandstone cliffs in what’s now Jordan, was mostly hidden from the outside world for centuries. In 1812, Sagittarian Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt rediscovered it by disguising himself as a pilgrim. He trained extensively in the Arabic language, Islamic culture, and local customs so he could travel incognito. You Sagittarians can benefit from a similar strategy in the coming weeks. Life will conspire to bring you wonders if you thoroughly educate yourself about the people and situations you would like to influence. I invite you to hike your empathy up to a higher octave, cultivate respect for what’s unfamiliar, and make yourself extra available for exotic and inspiring treasures.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
During the 1800s, countless inventors chased the impossible dream of perpetual-motion machines: contraptions that would run endlessly without any fuel source. Every attempt failed; such devices bucked the fundamental laws of physics. But here’s good news, Capricorn: You are close to cracking the code on a metaphorical version of perpetual motion. You are cultivating habits and rhythms that could keep you steady and vital for a long time to come. I predict the energy you’re generating will be self-sustaining.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Octopuses have three hearts and blue blood. They taste with their skin, solve puzzles, and squeeze their entire bodies through coin-sized holes. No wonder they are referred to as the aliens of Earth, just as you Aquarians are the aliens of the zodiac. According to my analysis, now is a perfect time for you to embrace your inner octopus. I authorize you to let your strangeness lead the way. You have the right and duty to fully activate your multidimensional mind. Yes, you may be misunderstood by some. But your suppleness, radical empathy, and nonlinear genius will be exactly what’s needed. Be the one who sees escape routes and paths to freedom that no one else perceives. Make the impossible look natural.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Dear Pisces, it’s like you’re in one of those dreams when you’re exploring the attic or basement of your home and discover secret rooms you didn’t realize existed. This is good! It means you are finding uncharted frontiers in what you assumed was familiar territory. It suggests you are ready to see truths you weren’t ready for before. Congrats! Keep wandering and wondering, and you will discover what you didn’t even know you needed to know.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):
No relationship is like any other. The way we bond with another has a distinctive identity that embodies the idiosyncratic chemistry between us. So in my view, it’s wrong to compare any partnership to a supposedly ideal template. Fortunately, you Aries are in a phase when you can summon extra wisdom about this and other relaxing truths concerning togetherness. I recommend you devote your full creativity and ingenuity to helping your key bonds ripen and deepen.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Poet Rainer Maria Rilke advised, “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves.” These days, dear Taurus, that’s your power move: to stay in conversation with mystery without forcing premature answers. Not everything needs to be fixed or finalized. Your gift is to be a custodian of unfolding processes: to cherish and nourish what’s ripening. Trust that your questions are already generating the early blooms of a thorough healing.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
I am a great admirer of Bart Simpson, a fictional fourth-grade student on the animated TV show The Simpsons. He is a constant source of unruly affirmations that we could all benefit from incorporating into our own behavior when life gets comically weird. Since I think you’re in such a phase now, Gemini, I am offering a batch of Bart-style gems. For best results, use them to free yourself from the drone of the daily routine and scramble your habitual ways of understanding the world. Now here’s Bart: 1. “I will not invent a new religion based on bubble gum.” 2. “I will not sell bottled ‘invisible water.’” 3. “I will not try to hypnotize my friends, and I will not tell co-workers they are holograms.” 4. “I will not claim to be a licensed pyrotechnician.” 5. “I will not use the Pythagorean theorem to summon demons.” 6. “I will not declare war on Thursdays.”

CANCER (June 21-July 22):
During its entire life, the desert plant Welwitschia mirabilis grows just two leaves. They never wither or fall off but continually grow, twist, split, and tatter for hundreds of years. They keep thriving even as their ends are worn or shredded by wind and sand. I love how wild and vigorous they look, and I love how their wildness is the result of their unfailing persistence and resilience. Let’s make Welwitschia mirabilis your inspirational symbol in the coming weeks, Cancerian. May it motivate you to nurture the quiet, enduring power in your depths that enables you to express yourself with maximum uniqueness and authenticity.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Have you been to Morocco? I love that so many houses there are built around spacious courtyards with intricate tilework and lush gardens. Sooner or later, of course, the gorgeous mosaic-like floors need renovations. The artisans who do the work honor the previous artistry. “In rebuilding,” one told me, “our goal is to create new magnificence that remembers the old splendor.” I hope you pursue an approach like that in the coming weeks, Leo. The mending and healing you undertake should nourish the soulfulness you have cultivated, even as you polish and refine.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Virgo novelist Agatha Christie often planned her elaborate plots while cleaning her house or washing dishes. She said such repetitive, physical tasks unlocked her creativity, allowing ideas to emerge without force. I suggest you draw inspiration from her method in the coming weeks. Seek your own form of productive distraction. Instead of wrestling with a problem in a heroic death match, lose yourself in simple, grounding actions that free your mind to wander. I am pretty sure that your most brilliant and lasting solutions will emerge when you’re not trying hard to come up with brilliant and lasting solutions.

WANT MORE? Listen to Rob’s EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES, 4-5 minute meditations on the current state of your destiny — or subscribe to his unique daily text message service at: RealAstrology.com

(Zodiac images by Numerologysign.com, CC license)

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“Personally I’m always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.” – Winston Churchill

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by Daniele La Rosa Messina

Quote of the Day: “Personally I’m always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.” – Winston Churchill

Photo by: Daniele La Rosa Messina

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?

by Daniele La Rosa Messina

Good News in History, October 11

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Good News Network
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In this Oct. 11, 1975 photo released by NBC, Chevy Chase performs during a "Weekend Update" sketch on "Saturday Night Live," in New York. The long-running sketch comedy series will celebrate their 40th anniversary with a 3-hour special airing Sunday at 8 p.m. EST on NBC. (AP Photo/NBC, Herb Ball)

50 years ago today, Saturday Night Live premiered on NBC with George Carlin as host. The seminal comedy television program in American history, SNL has launched the careers of dozens of talented writers, comics, and actors. Broadcast from Studio 8H at NBC’s headquarters in the Comcast Building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, SNL has aired 948 episodes since its debut, making it one of the longest-running network television programs in the United States. READ about its history and watch the first episode monologue… (1975)

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Man Who Made History in ‘Blinking Guy’ Meme Using His Fame to ‘Pay it Forward’

By
Andy Corbley
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blinkingguy.com
blinkingguy.com

Not all heroes wear capes, some, well, blink confusedly.

That’s been the story to some degree of the last 12 years of Drew Scanlon, a man who would come to be known as “Blinking Guy,” but who used that fame to raise money for charitable causes.

Blinking Guy GIFfrom Blinking Guy GIFs

Scanlon’s life would change forever by a face he made on a video game review livestream in 2013, not knowing it would come to anything, not least because he had nothing to do with it.

“A lot of times it doesn’t feel like me, because I didn’t really have anything to do with it, besides the fact that it’s my face.”

He has no idea how it’s become so popular—so popular that it was ranked by Vox as the 11th best internet meme of all time.

Typically, blinking guy is the go-to meme for conveying quiet irritation or the hearing of a surprise that wasn’t necessarily something you’d wanted to hear.

credit – Drew Scanlon, supplied

As it turns out, he was on the live stream when he heard exactly that—a profane joke that he declined to share to CTV News who reported on how he uses his fame to “pay it forward.”

Every year, Scanlon participates in an annual bike race 120 miles from San Francisco to Napa to raise money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. His friend Katie and her mother both have MS, and so every year since 2016, he goes on his rarely-used Blinking Guy social media accounts and posts a link to the society’s his race donation page.

That link? blinkingguy.com

“I’ve just been floored by the response,” he said.

His Blinking Guy fame has helped him raise an incredible $300,000 for MS research as well as programs and services that ensure people affected by MS can live their best lives.

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Police Actually Follow up on iPhone Theft Reports and Bust Global Smuggling Ring

By
Andy Corbley
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Phones were found in the suspects' car wrapped in foil - credit, MET. Police, supplied to the BBC
Phones were found in the suspects’ car wrapped in foil – credit, MET. Police, supplied to the BBC

In the rare occurrence that police actually looked into the case of a woman who had her phone stolen in London, it turned into the crumbs on a bread crumb trail which led to a huge organized crime effort.

The sirens quiet now, and the London Met. Area Police report that approximately 40% of all smartphones and other devices stolen in London were being shipped overseas by the same group of thieves that stole the woman’s phone.

Mobile phone snatching has become a huge problem in London of late, with some 80,000 such thefts occurring last year, many in popular areas such as Westminster and the West End.

The police have often received criticism for not doing enough either to prevent crime or attempt to recover stolen devices. But on the off chance that they did—when a woman provided the exact location of her iPhone through the Find My iPhone app—it led inspectors to a package filled with over 800 phones.

“It was actually on Christmas Eve and a victim electronically tracked their stolen iPhone to a warehouse near Heathrow Airport,” Detective Inspector Mark Gavin told the BBC, which was given access to much of the investigation materials. “The security there was eager to help out and they found the phone was in a box, among another 894 phones.”

Using forensics on the package, the police then managed to ID the thieves, and catch them with plain clothes officers who blocked in the thieves’ car. The men, both in their 30s, were arrested on suspicion to conceal criminal property and conspiring to receive stolen goods. Inside their car were more than a dozen mobile phones, some wrapped in aluminum foil—a method that helps block the Find My iPhone feature.

STORIES JUST LIKE THIS: After Police Didn’t Take it Seriously He Exposed an International Bike Theft Ring on His Own

Next came some 28 raids on properties linked to the first two suspects, and a third suspect who has been arrested. Then, another 15 arrests were made, and another 30 devices recovered. All but one of those 15 were women.

The police gathered information that suggested street thieves would receive some $345 for the theft of an iPhone, which could sell for over $4,000 in China—the destination for most of these stolen phones—where their being internet-enabled presents as extremely valuable for bypassing censorship.

CRIME IN THE UK: Special Police Unit Tracks Down $27 Million in Stolen Cars Including Crates Full of Snagged Luxury Vehicles

“Finding the original shipment of phones was the starting point for an investigation that uncovered an international smuggling gang, which we believe could be responsible for exporting up to 40% of all the phones stolen in London”.

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Emergency Butterfly Wing Transplant Is a Success Watched by Millions on Social Media

By
Andy Corbley
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Sweetbriar Nature Center - via Storyful

 

Sweetbriar Nature Center – via Storyful

With a pioneering procedure, a nature center in New York made sure that a broken wing wasn’t the end of one monarch butterfly’s journey.

Famous for migrating from Mexico up to Canada, a Deer Park resident found one of these orange beauties stranded with the upper section of its right forewing broken.

Janine Bendicksen is the director of wildlife rehabilitation at the Sweetbriar Nature Center in Smithtown, NY, and she had to think fast when a woman brought in the injured monarch.

There were many monarchs inside Bendicksen’s vivarium, and wondered if maybe she could find a dead one and transplant its wing onto the injured one. Sure enough, a late resident was available as a donor.

“It was so intricate, because this butterfly could fall apart if I pressed too hard,” Bendicksen told CBS News. “We used contact cement, we had corn starch, a little piece of wire that we could hold the butterfly down with.”

The one easy part was that butterfly’s have no nerve endings in their upper wings. There are no blood vessels either.

The procedure was recorded on the center’s social media page, and it produced a viral response with over a million views—all to see this little insect receive the most delicate of helping hands.

MORE BUTTERFLY NEWS BITES:

To Bendicksen’s mind, this was the first time anyone had ever tried to transplant a butterfly wing onto another butterfly, and true to that assessment, her phone began to receive calls from entomologists from all over the West Coast.

“I’m getting calls from Minnesota, Costa Rica, California,” she said. “This butterfly would have died if we didn’t try. We need hope in this world today.”

WATCH the video below… 

@abcnews

An injured monarch butterfly was able to continue its migration after undergoing a wing transplant at a nature preserve in New York.

♬ original sound - ABC News

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Renewables Overtake Coal as World’s Biggest Source of Electricity

By
Andy Corbley
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The solar arrays at the Kubuqi Desert, 2024 - credit: NASA's Earth Observatory.
The solar arrays at the Kubuqi Desert, 2024 – credit: NASA’s Earth Observatory.

Renewable energy sources like solar and wind produced more electricity during the first half of the year than any other energy resource, including coal.

To bullet another massive accomplishment in the clean energy transition, of the cumulative demand for new power worldwide, renewables met 100% of it.

Coal has been the world’s most-consumed energy resource for the last 50-and-a-bit years. It held that position up until last year. But with costs in the solar energy market falling 99.9% since 1975, it’s becoming so much more feasible to use as an energy source for low and middle-income countries.

China continued its full-throttle deployment of renewable energy resources, adding more clean energy than the whole world combined last year, reducing its fossil fuel consumption by 2% even as it adds to its fleet of coal power plants.

This data comes from the energy think tank Ember, whose senior analyst Malgorzata Wiatros-Motyka said 2025 marked “the beginning of a shift where clean power is keeping pace with demand growth.”

Most solar generation (58%) is now in lower-income countries. Now that solar power in particular is cheaper, it’s much faster to install new grid capacity at scale rather than investing in the 10, 20, 30-year time horizons that the financing and construction of thermal power plants require.

Most countries don’t produce fossil fuels, but all have access to the Sun and winds, and so by relying on renewable energy they’re also not required to enter foreign currency markets to then be able to import coal, oil, or natural gas.

“Pakistan, for example, imported solar panels capable of generating 17 gigawatts (GW) of solar power in 2024,” writes the BBC on that notion, “double the previous year and the equivalent of roughly a third of the country’s current electricity generation capacity.”

MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: A Desert Full of Power: Gargantuan Solar Array 250-Miles Long to Power Beijing

South Africa, Algeria, and Botswana have all taken advantage of the solar boom as well.

Wind turbines and associated infrastructure have not come down in price anywhere near as much as solar, which likely presents headwinds to so-called “Wind Belt” nations like the UK and Norway.

BRIGHTEN Up Social Media With The Triumph Of Renewables… 

“Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do doesn’t mean it’s useless.” – Thomas Edison

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Good News Network
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By Erwan Hesry

Quote of the Day: “Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do doesn’t mean it’s useless.” – Thomas Edison

Photo by: Erwan Hesry

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?

By Erwan Hesry

Good News in History, October 10

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Good News Network
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From Russia With Love - Fair Use

62 years ago today, the second, and often considered best film starring James Bond, was released as From Russia With Love. In the film, Bond, played by Sean Connery, is sent to assist in the defection of Soviet consulate clerk Tatiana Romanova in Turkey, where SPECTRE plans to avenge Bond’s killing of Dr. No. by using Romanova as bait in a cleverly laid trap. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing $78 million worldwide while critics found the film nonsensical, illogical, lurid, mad, and absolutely delightful because of it. READ more… (1963)

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Scotland May Have Had a Western King–A Forgotten Medieval Island Castle Tells a Story

By
Andy Corbley
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Visualization of the castle that stood at Finlaggan during the 12th and 13th centuries - credit David Simon via Society of Antiquities of Scotland
Visualization of the castle that stood at Finlaggan during the 12th and 13th centuries – credit David Simon via Society of Antiquities of Scotland

For nearly 3 centuries, Scotland’s western isles were ruled by men who considered themselves kings equal to those in Edinburgh or London.

The island of Islay was the seat of the Lordship of the Isles, but evidence of a castle from an earlier period, as well as finds from a palatial complex built on a lake, confirm where these lords held their thrones for the first time.

Revealed in a new book by the preeminent expert on the subject, Dr. David Caldwell, the center of power was the area of Finlaggen, specifically on two islets set atop the waters of Loch Finlaggen.

The Lordship of the Isles was a quasi-independent state of political and cultural importance in the 14th and 15th centuries.

With control of the islands off the west coast, Argyll, and the vast earldom of Ross in the Highlands, the Lords of the Isles were powerful chiefs with royal pretensions, treating with English and Scottish kings as if they were on a par with them.

They referred to themselves as ‘Ri Innse Gall’ (‘King of the Isles’) in Gaelic and have long been recognized by historians as an important phenomenon, a serious challenger to the Stewart dynasty for control of much of Scotland.

“The Lordship of the Isles was heavily militarized,” Caldwell tells Artnet. “The real measure of its lords’ power lay in their ability to field an army of 6,000 or more professional warriors and ship them overseas to the Scottish mainland and Ireland.”

It was believed that the two islands in Loch Finlaggan were the center from which Clan MacDonald Lords of the Isles inaugurated their own kings or lords between 1300 and 1500 CE. However, the historical record for the site itself is meager, and there are no contemporary medieval documents which specifically identify it as a place of any importance.

Detailed in his new book, The Archaeology of Finlaggan, Islay, there was indeed a palatial complex on the two islets in the loch.

During excavations and research that spanned 3 decades, Caldwell also uncovered evidence of Finlaggan as a center of power and ritual back across millennia: from prehistoric times, to the Viking age, to a previously unknown royal castle belonging to 12th and 13th-century kings of the isles, the ancestors of the MacDonalds who rose to the height of their power in the 14th and 15th centuries.

Finlaggan, on the island of Islay, in a drone photograph – credit, Open Virtual Worlds at the University of St. Andrews

Archaeological evidence reveals that a unique castle occupied two islands in Loch Finlaggan: a large stone tower on one, which provided living quarters and extra security for the king or lord, around which were kitchens, a chapel with a burial ground, houses, workshops, and a great hall where feasting took place.

ALSO CHECK OUT: Herd of Bulls Headed to the Highlands to Recreate Effect of Ancient Auroch Oxen on Scottish Soil

Then, on a smaller island connected via a causeway, a stone once stood that is estimated to have been approximately 19 by 19 meters overall, making it comparable in size to stone keeps in England like those in the castles of Carlisle, Bamburgh, and Lancaster.

As the erection of large rectangular stone towers was essentially limited to great Anglo-French lords and kings in Britain and Ireland, the castle can be interpreted as a political statement, as well as a sign of the wealth and connections of the ruling class.

The castle may have been dismantled because it was structurally unsound or due to enemy action before the palace at Finlaggan began to take shape in the 14th century and the Lordship was taken by Clan Donald or MacDonald.

SCOTTISH NEWS: Archaeologists to Excavate Glasgow’s First Skatepark with the Help of Former Skateboarders

There are about 4,000 American families who can trace their genealogy to members of Clan Donald, although the Lordship of the Isles is currently held by Prince William.

“The researchers hope their three decades of work at Finlaggan will provide an important foundation for future historians working to understand the site’s historical significance,” writes Smithsonian.

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11,000 Strings Tuned Slightly Differently Makes Music to Engulf an Audience Encircled by 50 Pianos (Video)

By
Andy Corbley
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The Park Avenue Armory presents 11,000 Strings - credit Stephanie Berger
The Park Avenue Armory presents 11,000 Strings – credit Stephanie Berger

A performance unlike any other just wrapped up in New York City, where an audience of a few lucky hundred were encircled by 50 pianos.

The pianists played out a piece called “11,000 Strings,” named for the number of strings in 50 pianos, each of which was tuned slightly differently than the others.

The tuning was the smallest difference perceptible to the human hear—all 50 pianos fit between one half-step, but not a single was in tune with the others.

What resulted was a “sonic forest,” according to New York Magazine; “like to take an airplane for the first time,” according to the New York Times; or “like sitting in a spaceship being rocked by cosmic waves.” according to Art News.

The story of this monumental performance begins with the composer Georg Friedrich Haas of the now-storied Austrian music ensemble Klangforum Wien. He received a phone call from a friend, named Peter Kainrath, who had just visited the Hailun piano factory in China.

Kainrath had been in the quality control hall and heard the sound of 100 newly-made pianos being played at the same time, which he described as “this pure, massive sound.”

Haas liked the idea for a project, and told Kainrath that if he bought him 50 pianos, he would compose a special piece of music. Shut up in a home in Morocco during COVID, Haas experimented with something that Western music has only just begun to use as a musical modality—microtones.

Simply put, in Western music there are 12 notes, each one a semitone, or half-step, higher or lower than the other. But in between each of those semitones are roughly 100 stages of pitch, called microtones. Each microtone can be as small a difference as 2 of those 100 “cents”, and each piano in “11,000 Strings” is tuned 2 stages higher or lower than the one next to it.

11,000 Strings at Park Avenue Armory – credit Stephanie Berger

“Important is that when you go to this concert you feel something… and that you also learn that out of tune is really beautiful,” Haas said of the work.

The piece debuted in Bolzano, Italy in 2023, after which it performed in various music settings.

The setting is designed to envelope the listener, which made The Armoy at Park Avenue in NYC a perfect location for “11,000 Strings'” American debut. The venue’s 55,000 square feet Drill Hall could be arranged so that the audience could be arranged in the middle with the 50 pianos surrounding with them, each playing with their back to the crowd.

No conductor organizes the emotion, and the 25-man ensemble from Klangforum Wien, playing a chamber orchestra that included two massive percussion sets, sit and act slightly apart from the sometimes murmuring, sometimes roaring, sometimes clanging pianos.

“To gather 50 talented pianists and an ensemble like Klangforum Wien in this concert installation is an extraordinary act of experimentation, especially when each performer must surrender to the sheer force and surprising nature of sound,” said Haas. “Bringing ‘11,000 Strings’ to the Drill Hall, with its vast acoustics and intensity, is the realization of the piece’s full power.”

WATCH and learn more… LISTEN Also to an excerpt… 

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Nighttime Dive Reveals Never-Before-Seen Relationship Between Fish and Anemones

By
Andy Corbley
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Fish with anemone –Credit: Rich Collins and Linda Ianniello Photos
Fish with anemone –Credit: Rich Collins and Linda Ianniello Photos

A new discovery has revealed that relationships between fish and sea anemones are more diverse than those portrayed in Finding Nemo.

It suggests that there the former may use the latter as a tool of self defense, while the latter uses the former as transportation.

Captured through breathtaking blackwater photography, the images featured in a study published in the Journal of Fish Sciences show rarely seen encounters between these creatures that may provide mutual benefits.

Gabriel Afonso, lead author and Ph.D. student at William & Mary, said that the emerging field of blackwater photography, or images captured by night-time divers, made this study possible.

Rich Collins is one of the divers who contributed to the article and a consultant at the Florida Museum of Natural History. He has witnessed lots of surprising interactions between tiny organisms since he started doing blackwater photography, such as filefish carrying box jellyfish in their mouths despite their dangerous sting.

“Some species of vulnerable larval or juvenile fish use invertebrate species apparently for defensive purposes,” Collins said. “They’ll find something that’s noxious or stingy, and they just carry it around.”

Various fish with anemone – Credit: Rich Collins and Linda Ianniello Photos

While the sting from a larval anemone might not be enough to kill a predator, Afonso believes it would be “unpalatable”.

But the pictures featured in the article show how this behavior extends to other juvenile fish and larval anemone interactions. Filefish, driftfish, pomfrets, and a young jack can be seen carrying larval tube anemone or button polyps in their mouths, possibly for protection.

While adult fish are known to cling to corals for rest and other purposes, the way these juveniles seem to be using anemones for self-defense is still not fully understood.

“As far as I know, this is the first relationship of an open water fish interacting physically with an anemone that looks to be carrying the invertebrate,” Afonso said.

This could be a new form of mutualism between fish and anemone, because the anemone could also benefit from being carried by the fish as a form of dispersion.

CURIOUS ANIMAL BEHVAIOR: 

Afonso hopes that this article sheds more light on the previously unseen world revealed by blackwater photography and sparks people’s curiosity about the many different interactions happening between fish and invertebrates of all shapes and colors.

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Pine Martens Released into Wilds of Exmoor Nat’l Park Finally Restores Their Presence After 100 Years

By
Andy Corbley
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- Devon Wildlife Trust / SWNS
– Devon Wildlife Trust SWNS

Video cameras captured the moment when pine martens returned to Britain’s Exmoor National Park for the first time in 100 years.

The pioneering nature project has reintroduced 19 of the rare creatures back into habitat they once flourished in, and joins a series of reintroduction and rewilding events that must be marking a turnaround for wild England.

– Devon Wildlife Trust / SWNS

During September, 2025, 9 female and 10 male animals were released in secret locations owned by the National Trust and Exmoor National Park Authority.

The pine martens were sourced from healthy wild populations in the Highlands of Scotland, where they underwent health checks. They were then driven more than 500 miles through the night in a specially adapted, temperature-controlled vehicle.

On arrival in Exmoor, three days passed while the animals acclimatized to their new surroundings, at the end of which the door to each pen was opened and the pine martens were able to slip into the forest.

Devon Wildlife Trust’s Tracey Hamston, who leads the Two Moors Pine Marten Project, that it was “wonderful to see pine martens living wild in Exmoor again.”

“These animals were once a key part of our thriving woodland wildlife, so it’s good that they are back where they belong. It’s a positive sign that nature can be restored. Our woodlands and their wildlife will benefit from their presence.”

The releases mark the return of an animal which was once common locally, but which was lost due to hunting and the decline of its favored woodland habitat.

PINE MARTENS RETURNING IN USA: American Marten May Be Set for Return to Pennsylvania Forests After 100 Year Absence

Their release is the work of the Two Moors Pine Marten Project, with the other “Moor” being Dartmoor National Park in Devon, southwest England. Here, the martens have not only already been released by are also already breeding. 

– Devon Wildlife Trust / SWNS

“We’re proud and delighted to see pine martens returning to Somerset and to have played a part in the national recovery strategy as this animal re-establishes its former range,” said Lucie Bennett, Pine Martens Engagement Officer at Somerset Wildlife at Somerset Wildlife Trust.

REWILDING ENGLAND: ‘Give Nature Space and it Will Come Back’: Rewilding Returns Endangered Species to UK Coast

“At a time when wildlife needs us more than ever and action is much needed, it’s fantastic to see recovery milestones met, like the return of this important mammal in functioning British woodlands.

“We look forward to monitoring the progression of the Exmoor animals, supporting woodland wildlife and local communities as the pine martens move and expand their range.”

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“Knowledge is love and light and vision.” – Helen Keller

By
Good News Network
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© GWC for GNN

Quote of the Day: “Knowledge is love and light and vision.” – Helen Keller

Photo by: © GWC for GNN

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?

© GWC for GNN

Good News in History, October 9

By
Good News Network
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Cobb slides into third base for a triple against the Washington Senators at Griffith Stadium, August 16, 1924

On this day, in Game 2 of the 1909 World Series, Ty Cobb stole home base. The details around this famous of all capers are what make it so. Losing Game 1 to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Detroit Tiger’s star and all-time great Ty Cobb was sitting on third base at the top of the second in Game 2, his team already behind by two runs. A reliever had come in named Victor Willis, a giant of a man, who Cobb noticed was paying far too much attention to the batter, giving Cobb the space he needed to steal home before Willis came to his senses. READ more about the circumstances… (1909)

Continue

The ‘Spirit Molecule’ Defends the Brain Against Stroke in Mice, Breakthrough Study Shows

By
Andy Corbley
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Co-authors of the study from the Biological Barriers Research Group of the Institute of Biophysics
Co-authors of the study from the Biological Barriers Research Group of the Institute of Biophysics

N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is a potent psychoactive molecule present in the brain and much of the world’s plant life, but it also may be able to save humans from damage in the event of a stroke.

Scientists in Hungary used it to reduce the harmful effects of stroke in animal models and cell culture experiments.

Known to produce life-changing experiences reported to include the perception of dimensional travel, ego-death, encounters with intelligent beings, and the feeling of achieving a universal love with all living things, DMT can be found everywhere in nature, and is in fact produced endogenously in the human pineal gland.

The Hungarian team, led by Professor Mária Deli, Professor Zoltán Nagy, and Dr. Sándor Nardai, found that DMT treatment restored the structure and function of the damaged blood-brain barrier in mice that had suffered a stroke.

It also improved the function of astrocytes, inhibited the production of inflammatory cytokines in brain endothelial cells and peripheral immune cells, and significantly reduced infarct volume and edema formation. The team published these results in the journal Science Advances.

“The therapeutic options currently available for stroke are very limited. The dual action of DMT, protecting the blood-brain barrier while reducing brain inflammation, offers a novel, complex approach that could complement existing treatments,” says Judit Vigh, co-first author of the work.

PSYCHEDELIC RESEARCH: 

Since current stroke therapies do not always result in full recovery, a DMT-based treatment may represent a promising new alternative, mainly in combination with existing methods. The recent findings from researchers in Szeged and Budapest support the development of a therapy that goes beyond the limitations of conventional stroke treatment.

Clinical trials have already begun abroad, and investigation on the long-term effects of DMT are currently ongoing, but there is still a long way to go before it reaches everyday medicine.

While most European countries including Hungary consider DMT a hallucinogen and therefore controlled via strict criminal laws, both the Netherlands and Portugal have taken a more open position on DMT and arguably the more well-known ayahuasca, in which DMT is an active ingredient.

Around 800,000 strokes occur annually in the US. 1 in 6 deaths (17.5%) from cardiovascular disease in the most recent data-collected year, were due to stroke. Costs from strokes rose to $56 billion during that year.

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After 40 Years and $84 Million, Lake Muskegon Flourishing Free from Pollution and Sawdust

By
Andy Corbley
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NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory's photo, licensed as CC BY-SA 2.0
NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory’s photo, licensed as CC BY-SA 2.0

In late September, Lake Muskegon in Michigan was officially removed from the list of polluted water bodies in the Great Lakes Region.

Once home to foundries, paper mills, petroleum storage and sewage treatment plants, the lake and several of its tributaries became an aquatic hellhole of pollution and debris, until a massive cleanup and restoration project saw it return to a state of beauty once again.

The US Environmental Protection Agency’s Area of Concern (AOC) list is jointly managed with Canada, and recently lost the honor of hosting Lake Muskegon, which had been on the list for over 40 years.

Decades of work and $84 million of operations saw 190,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment—around 58 Olympic-sized swimming pools—and 110,000 tons of sawmill debris removed from the lakebed.

On October 1st, local community and cleanup leaders joined with government officials on the shore for a celebration.

“This location — which is now home to parks, festivals, cruise ship docks, fishing and recreational enjoyment — was once an industrial scrap yard as recently as the 1980s,” said Muskegon Mayor Ken Johnson. “After decades of collaborative efforts and nearly $100 million invested, we’ve arrived at this momentous occasion.”

When the mayor puts it like that, one can easily see the value in the investment. Time and time again, returning nature to a thriving state proves to be a reward well beyond itself.

Michigan Live, reporting on the story, shared some brilliant figures from a 2020 study that showed how these rewards are manifesting. Already some $27 million has arrived through increased tourism to the lake, which has reached around 400,000 yearly visitors compared to 10 years ago.

AMERICA’S LONG BATTLE AGAINST POLLUTION: Chicago River Follows the Seine to Become Biodynamic and Swimmable Once Again

Property values along the lake have gained approximately $7.4 million, not only from the lake’s restoration itself, but the new businesses and activities that the restoration has created.

Muskegon’s suffering began in the 1800s logging boom when boards, dust, and woodchips were routinely dumped into the lake which smothered fish habitat and absorbed large amounts of water-bound oxygen, creating dead zones. Chemical pollution from heavy industry followed, and sewage from the treatment plants caused algal blooms which further degraded the habitat for plant and aquatic life of any sort.

MORE BIG CLEANUPS: China Achieves ‘Excellent’ Water Quality in 90% of Rivers and Lakes, Now Looks to Improve Whole Ecosystems

In 1980, Muskegon was put on the AOC, and local nonprofits began seeking funding for a massive project to reverse the seemingly terminal decline.

$67 million of the funding came from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a bipartisan federal program, while another $14 million came from a mixture of state, local, and private sources.

Clean Up Your Friend’s Social Media News Feed With This Great Story…

This Shipwreck Is ‘Treasure Fleet’ from 1715 with $1 Million in Gold and Silver Coins Recovered

By
Andy Corbley
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Capt. Shaver logging the discoveries - credit Queens Jewels LLC, released
Capt. Shaver logging the discoveries – credit Queens Jewels LLC, released

A historic shipwreck salvage business has pulled up over 1,000 silver and gold coins from a Spanish treasure fleet that sank off the coast of Florida in 1715.

The haul could fetch $1 million at market value, with five of the coins found being gold escudos, which along with having a high value as a historic artifact, happen to see the light of day with the price of gold making new all-time record highs.

A hurricane it was that sent the 11 ships bound for Spain to the crushing oblivion of Davy Jones’ Locker. Known as the Plate Fleet, they were bringing an estimated $400 million in gold, silver, and jewels from the New World back to Spain, but lost every penny along with all hands when the gale sent them to the bottom.

The fleet’s complete whereabouts are unknown, but the US District Court for Florida, which owns the wrecks per US law, have been contracting Queen’s Jewels LLC as the exclusive salvage operator in locating and recovering what can be found.

Over the summer, salvage divers visited a site where at least one wreck was known to rest, and pulled up coin after coin after coin, until Capt. Levin Shavers and the crew of the M/V Just Right were looking at a bonafide pirate treasure.

The silver coins, known as Reales, or pieces of eight, were minted in the Imperial colonies of Peru, Bolivia, and Mexico, and the LLC’s Director of Operations Saul Guttuso says each one, whether by the visible minting date, design, or mill marks, has a story to tell.

“This discovery is not only about the treasure itself, but the stories it tells,” said Guttuso.  “Each coin is a piece of history, a tangible link to the people who lived, worked, and sailed during the Golden Age of the Spanish Empire. Finding 1,000 of them in a single recovery is both rare and extraordinary.”

MORE NEWS OF SHIPWRECK TREASURE:

The discovery site lies within a stretch of ocean often referred to as Florida’s “Treasure Coast,” where modern salvage operations—working under strict state oversight and archaeological guidelines—continue to uncover relics from the ill-fated fleet.

In addition to the 5 gold escudos, other gold artifacts were recovered, as well as evidence that the coins were held in a burlap sack, which at the time period might mean that up to 2,000 more coins are waiting on the seafloor where the divers have already looked—still waiting to be found.

“I’ll never finish in my lifetime. We have barely scratched the surface,” Mike Perna, one of the salvagers and the operator of the Mighty Mo, told McClatchy News, last year. “The storm took 10 minutes to deposit what is taking us years to find.”

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