Quote of the Day: “There is always something left to love. And if you ain’t learned that, you ain’t learned nothing.” – Lorraine Hansberry
Photo by: Benjamin Brunner
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Governor Janet Mills announced that Maine has, two years ahead of time, surpassed its goal of installing 100,000 new heat pumps by 2025, a milestone that represents significant progress in reducing Maine’s reliance on heating oil, lowering heating costs, and curbing harmful carbon emissions.
To continue Maine’s momentum, Governor Mills also unveiled a new target: installing another 175,000 additional heat pumps in Maine by 2027, thereby bringing the number of heat pumps installed in Maine homes, businesses, and public buildings during her time in office to 275,000.
If this target is achieved, Maine would have more than 320,000 heat pumps in total installed across the state.
Heat pumps can be thought of as temperature recycling machines. They are filled with refrigerant fluid and contain a compressor, and they work by extracting excess heat and moving it around, either in or out of a house depending on whether it’s hot or cold.
It’s believed they work best in hot weather, but in February, Maine’s temperatures in some places plummeted during a cold snap to -60°F. Efficiency Maine which aided in the state’s adoption of heat pumps by organizing rebates for customers under the provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, did a survey of owners they had helped the previous year.
Many of them reported they were comfortable and warm, and offered to bring up the fact that by February they had already saved hundreds of dollars on home heating systems, over boilers, gas furnaces, and heating oil.
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“We are setting an example for the nation,” said Mills at the announcement event. “Our transition to heat pumps is… curbing our reliance on fossil fuels, and cutting costs for Maine families, all while making them more comfortable in their homes—a hat trick for our state.”
On the night of Tuesday, August 1st, a supermoon will rise over the Earth, with 99% illumination occurring during the night.
A supermoon is when the moon reaches peak illumination at a time that coincides with its closest approach to the Earth in its orbit, arriving at just over 220,000 miles from the surface of our planet. This is called its perigee, as opposed to apogee.
Called the “Sturgeon” Moon, after the prolific fish species of North America, other Native American tribes use names related to grains, such as corn, rice, or harvest moon. It will be the first of two full moons in August, with the second appearing on the 30th, called the Blue Moon.
The Blue Moon will be the biggest full moon of the year, while the Sturgeon Moon will be the second-biggest.
Out of the northeastern sky on August 13th come the Perseid Meteor Shower. At nearly 150 fifty meteors a night thanks to the Earth passing through a stream of debris left by the comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, the Perseids are the most popular in the world, thanks to their great position of observation in the Northern Hemisphere, and the warm summer weather.
August 13th will be a near-moonless night, meaning much less native light pollution for spotting shooting stars.
Lastly in August, there are three great chances to see Saturn with the aid of binoculars or a telescope. The first comes on August 3rd during the pre-dawn hours when it comes to within 2°15′ of the moon.
At this time it will be visible with the naked eye, but with binos you can see its rings. This almost exact occurrence will come about again on August 30th.
Then on August 27th, Saturn will be in opposition to the sun from the perspective of the Earth, meaning it will be exceptionally lit up. The Moon will be bright, so using a moon chart will help one with a pair of binoculars or a telescope find and enjoy its rings in the blackness.
SHARE These Excellent Stargazing Opportunities With Your Friends…
At nearly 150 acres, the Jardim Gramacho landfill in Rio de Janeiro was one of the largest and most infamous in all of Latin America. Now it’s a mangrove forest teeming with life.
Decommissioned 11 years ago, between 1970 and 2012 the dump, bordering Rio’s famous Guanabara Bay, received 80 million metric tonnes of trash from the area’s Gramacho neighborhood.
Now, a public-private partnership led by the Rio Municipal Cleaning Company has returned the area to nature, specifically mangroves, one of the most valuable of all ecosystems.
Planting 24 acres of mangroves at a time, today the forest stretches out more than 120 acres and is the largest mangrove area of the bay.
“Before, we polluted the bay and the rivers. Now, it’s the bay and the rivers that pollute us,” a lead official on the project told Africa News. “Today, the mangrove has completely recovered.”
Other organizations have taken action to restore mangroves along the bay as well. The non-profit Ocean Pact funded the Green Guanabara Bay Project which successfully restored 12.5 hectares or around 25 acres of mangroves.
According to some estimates, 1 acre of mangrove forests can store more carbon in roots and soil than 4 acres of even the most biodiverse rainforest, making them paramount to any world climate mitigation strategy.
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Furthermore, their impressive lattice work of roots and insane durability means that storm surges impacting mangroves lose about 66% of their kinetic energy without even destroying the trees.
Lastly, coastal fishing communities, in two words, cannot exist without mangroves. They act as nurseries and perfect habitat for all kinds of fish and crustaceans that small-scale fishermen rely on for their daily bread.
WATCH the story below from Africa News…
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As town after town in Canada receive evacuation orders, one man from the town of Yellowknife drove toward the fires: on a mission to rescue any pets left behind.
Square in the fire’s path was the town of Behchokǫ, in the country’s province called the Northwest Territories, and when it received an evacuation order Jason Card drove to the nearby SPCA, loaded up his truck with dog crates, and headed off for the fire zone.
Onboard were his teenage child and 80-year-old stepfather. They drove the 63 miles from the city of Yellowknife up the highway to Behchokǫ where they found people in the midst of evacuation. By 8:00 pm they had a truck filled with pets.
“Literally as soon as we got into town and people heard that we were rescuing dogs, we had people coming up to us asking us to get the dogs and if we had room. We filled every kennel that we had,” Mr. Card told national news.
Despite being after dark, they unloaded the crates of mostly dogs, turned around, and went straight back to Behchokǫ, this time returning to Yellowknife at 5:00 am.
Dr. Michelle Tuma, with Vets Without Borders Canada in Yellowknife, heard what Card was doing, and got in touch in order to try and find temporary accommodation for the animals in Yellowknife whilst their owners safely evacuated.
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Meanwhile, after a few hours of sleep, the trio of rescuers headed out yet again, only to find the highway closed. While planning to see how many dogs they could fit on a plane, they heard the highway was reopening and so carried on rescuing like before, saving more than 30 dogs and some cats as well.
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Tuma called the Cards efforts “insanely heartwarming.”
“It just shows, I mean, the sense of community that is in the North and the lengths that people will go to,” she said.
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Quote of the Day: “We live in a rainbow of chaos.” – Paul Cezanne
Photo by: Katie Rainbow
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
People with heart failure who increase their daily step count saw improvements in their health in just 12 weeks, according to a peer-reviewed study published last week.
The research suggests that physical data from wearable devices, such as FitBits and step counters, can be clinically significant.
Consumer wearable devices to track health status and progress are commonly used and part of a growing trend of mobile health technology. However, how to interpret data from wearable devices is at times unclear.
“Our research showed increased step counts were significantly associated with improvements in health status, suggesting that increases in step count over time as assessed by a wearable device may be clinically meaningful,” said Dr. Jessica Golbus, first author of the paper published in JACC: Heart Failure.
Golbus’s team at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, sought to determine the relationship between daily activity and patient outcomes for people with heart failure. Researchers used data from a randomized controlled trial that provided 425 participants with a Fitbit and asked them to complete questionnaires through a smartphone application.
The questions measured physical symptoms, quality of life, and social limitation, scored on a scale of zero to 100 with higher scores indicating better health. Changes in scores of five points or more are considered “clinically significant” and have previously been shown to be associated with heart failure outcomes.
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After two weeks, the mean physical limitation score was 55.7 and the total symptom score was 62.7. Physical limitation scores increased by four points on average through 12 weeks and total symptom scores increased by 2.5 points.
Higher daily step counts equated with increased scores for both physical limitation and total symptom scores. People with total symptom scores of zero-24 averaged 2,473 steps per day and those with scores of 75-100 averaged 5,351 steps per day.
When comparing results to differing step counts, people who walked 1,000 steps per day had total symptom scores that were 3.11 points lower than people who walked 2,000 steps per day. And people who walked 3,000 steps per day had total symptom scores that were 2.89 points higher than those who walked 2,000 steps per day.
However, little association was seen once step counts reached higher than 5,000 steps per day.
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Changes in step count over time were also significantly associated with changing scores, suggesting that step count data from a wearable device may be leveraged to inform clinical care.
The study found participants whose step counts increased by 2,000 steps per day saw a 5.2-point increase in their total symptom scores and a 5.33-point increase in their physical limitation scores when compared to participants with no change in step count.
People who saw a decline in their step count had numerical declines in their physical limitation score that were not statistically significant, when compared to participants with no change in step count.
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“What does this mean at the end of the day? If providers see improvements in step counts, then that is a good thing, however, seeing a decrease in step counts does not necessarily mean the converse.”
WALK This Encouragement to Pals With Heart Issues on Social Media…
A seven-year-old boy born without an arm has been able to hold a fishing rod with two hands for the first time.
Alex Sparkes spent birthdays ‘wishing his arm would grow’, but now he’s happily casting alongside his dad using a new ‘life-changing’ $16,000 prosthetic limb.
The Black Panther-themed arm was a gift from ‘Britain’s kindest plumber’ James Anderson, a 55-year-old who was touched by Alex’s tale.
His mother Dionne, now 33, said she’d had a normal pregnancy but Alex was born without a limb. It was heartbreaking, especially later, when the boy went to school and young kids were afraid of him because of his missing arm.
He’d been on the list of UK patients due to receive a prosthetic arm from the National Health Service before the pandemic, but three years later, he was still waiting in Lancashire, England.
After his parents attended an event by Open Bionics, which makes a robotic arm so advanced it allows wearers to pick up a pin with its fingers, they launched a crowdfunding bid to raise the £12,700 ($16,000) needed to purchase the arm, which they said would be life-changing for Alex.
When plumber James saw the online appeal he ‘fell in love’ with Alex and offered to pay for the arm.
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Since receiving his Black Panther-themed arm, Alex has been able to put toothpaste on his toothbrush for the first time and will learn how to tie his shoelaces.
And Alex is ecstatic to have finally fulfilled his lifelong dream of holding a rod for the first time during a fishing trip with his dad to nearby Cornfield Fisheries.
“With his new hero arm, he’s a lot more independent, I don’t have to be there by his side all the time with the fishing rod. He can handle the rod on his own and he’s able to catch his own fish.
“We’re realizing what he couldn’t do before, rather than what he can do now.”
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Alex said the new arm they picked up last week is ‘amazing’.
“I can now pick up stuff. I feel happy when I’m fishing with two hands and I can reel the rod.”
Dionne said Alex ‘had the biggest smile on his face’ when they picked up his new bionic arm on July 24.
“Now that he’s got the arm, every half an hour he’s asking me if I can believe he’s got his arm.
GNN posted a story in 2022 about the plumber James, who runs DEPHER, the social benefit organization that normally provides free services to the elderly and others struggling with rent and housing problems.
“It’s also given him the independence of pouring a drink himself and not needing any help—and he can fully get dressed by himself.
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“He could do it before, but now he’s got his arm he can do it normally.
“To me, that’s him feeling like he’s complete.”
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The National Life Insurance Company was founded 175 years ago in Montpelier, Vermont—and, following historic flooding, they are still living up to their motto: ‘Believe in tomorrow. Do good today.’
They were set to hold their annual benefit concert, the Do Good Fest, historically held on the company’s back lawn, when disastrous flooding hit the area.
Within three days, they transformed the event to an indoor acoustic performance that was live-streamed so that viewers across Vermont, the nation, and globally, could support the rebuilding of Vermont through online donations.
The Do Good Fest fundraiser exceeded expectations and the company raised their original promise to match $500,000, when donations poured in.
During the July 15 event, company CEO Mehran Assadi announced that National Life will match donations, now nearing $750,000 for a total of $1.5 million, making it the largest gift so far to the VT Flood Response & Recovery Fund 2023.
The money will go to the Vermont Community Foundation’s VT Flood Response & Recovery Fund 2023, with the first $500,000 dispersed to local relief agencies immediately.
The tax-exempt public charity, as of ten days ago, had collected more than $2.5 million in gifts or commitments to the Recovery Fund since in its first week, but donations are still being accepted.
“National Life Group is an insurance company with a soul,” Mr. Assadi said. “We have been a part of this community since 1848, and this is what a good company does – it takes care of its neighbors.”
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Dan Smith, president of the Vermont Community Foundation said, “Vermont is at its best when we look out for each other and our neighbors.
“As an employer and a neighbor, National Life has embodied that for over a century and has done so again with this incredible commitment.”
“We are so grateful to be able to put these resources to work for families, farms, and small businesses affected by this catastrophic storm. Together we remain Vermont-strong.”
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You can watch the telethon-type event and donate to the rebuilding at DoGoodFest.com/Vermont.
INSURE THAT Others Have an Opportunity to Contribute By Sharing on Social Media…
Scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a new infinitely recyclable plastic that could be the answer to the world’s growing pollution problem.
They’ve engineered microbes to make the ingredients for a sustainable alternative to the 90% of plastics that can’t currently be recycled, many of which use finite, polluting petrochemicals as the building blocks.
The California research team has successfully engineered microbes to make biological alternatives for the starting ingredients in an infinitely recyclable plastic known as poly(diketoenamine), or PDK.
“This is the first time that bioproducts have been integrated to make a PDK that is predominantly bio-based,” said project leader Dr Brett Helms.
“And it’s the first time that you see a bio-advantage over using petrochemicals, both with respect to the material’s properties and the cost of producing it at scale.”
He explained that, unlike traditional plastics, PDK can be repeatedly deconstructed into “pristine” building blocks and formed into new products with no loss in quality.
PDKs initially used building blocks derived from petrochemicals, but those ingredients can be redesigned and produced with microbes instead.
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Now, after four years of trying, the researchers have manipulated E. coli to turn sugars from plants into some of the starting materials – a molecule known as triacetic acid lactone, or bioTAL – and produced a PDK with roughly 80 percent bio-content.
“We’ve demonstrated that the pathway to 100 percent bio-content in recyclable plastics is feasible, said Jeremy Demarteau, a project scientist on the team. “You’ll see that from us in the future.”
He said PDKs can be used for several products—including adhesives, flexible items such as computer cables or watch bands, and even building materials.
Researchers were surprised to find that incorporating the bioTAL into the material expanded its working temperature range by up to 60 degrees Celsius compared to the petrochemical version.
They say that opens the door to using PDKs in items that need specific working temperatures, including sports gear and automotive parts such as bumpers or dashboards.
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“We can’t keep using our dwindling supply of fossil fuels,” said Professor Jay Keasling, senior faculty scientist in Berkeley Lab’s Biosciences Area. “We want to help solve the plastic waste problem by creating materials that are both biorenewable and circular – and providing an incentive for companies to use them.
“Then people could have the products they need for the time they need them, before those items are transformed into something new.”
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The study, published in the journal Nature Sustainability, also builds on a 2021 environmental and technological analysis, which showed that PDK plastic could be commercially competitive with conventional plastics if produced at a large scale.
Corinne Scown, a staff scientist in Berkeley Lab’s Energy Technologies Area, added: “Our new results are extremely encouraging.
“We found that with even modest improvements to the production process, we could soon be making bio-based PDK plastics that are both cheaper and emit less CO2 than those made with fossil fuels.”
SHARE The Recycling Breakthrough On Social Media… (With writing by Stephen Beech, SWNS)
Quote of the Day: “Silent gratitude isn’t very much use to anyone.” – Gertrude B. Stein
Photo by: Diana Spatariu
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
A German Shepherd has taken a clutch of abandoned ducklings under his wing and become their ‘very protective’ surrogate dad.
The dog named Ben recently had a BFF relationship with an adult duck that flew away unexpectedly, so perhaps he sensed that the newly-hatched ducklings were related.
Ben and the fledgling brood bonded immediately and now he spends most of his days watching over them as they sleep, eat, play, or have a bath.
He even barks at the family tabby cat if it dares get too close to his fluffy little family.
Julie McGuire lives in Motueka, New Zealand where the ducklings were found abandoned in a stream by orchard workers who watched for eight hours but the mother duck never returned.
So the 35-year-old woman agreed to care for them in her home until they could survive outdoors on their own.
Julie says their dog Ben is “extremely curious” and immediately wanted to know what was going on in the room where the newborns were being fed and napping in a cage.
“He’s very protective. He watches over them and makes sure the cat doesn’t get too close.”
“They deserve the best life and I am just happy we could help some of them survive, and Ben has had fun with them growing up.”
Now that their bigger, Julie lets the ducklings roam free on her property.
“If they decide to fly away. I’m happy with that,” she says.
We can’t believe the same about Ben.
PRETTY FUNNY: Dog Learns the Hard Way Not to Mess With Porcupines–or Disagree With Dad on Car Ride to Vet (WATCH)
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A commercial pilot project confirmed a record production of geothermal energy in northern Nevada this week.
Fervo Energy announced it had successfully completed the well test at its full-scale commercial pilot, ‘Project Red’, accelerating the deployment of next-generation geothermal power.
The successful well test confirms the commercial viability of Fervo’s drilling technology and establishes Project Red as the most productive enhanced geothermal system in history.
The 30-day well test, a standard for geothermal, achieved a flowrate of 63 liters per second at high temperature that enables 3.5 MW of electric production, setting new records for both flow and power output from an enhanced geothermal system.
Fervo is the first company to successfully drill a horizontal well into thermal reservoirs of heat to produce commercial geothermal energy, thus “reducing drilling risks”.
“By applying drilling technology from the oil and gas industry, we have proven that we can produce 24/7 carbon-free energy resources in new geographies across the world,” said Tim Latimer, Fervo Energy CEO and Co-Founder.
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“The incredible results are the product of many years of dedicated work and commitment from Fervo employees and industry partners, especially Google.”
In 2021, Fervo and Google signed an agreement to develop the next-gen plant with the goal of powering Google’s Cloud servers in Las Vegas with an “always-on,” carbon-free resource that will reduce the company’s hourly reliance on fossil fuels.
According to a company statement, Fervo achieved lateral lengths of 3,250 feet, reaching a temperature of 191 °C.
Fervo implemented an induced seismicity mitigation protocol following best practices established by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and completed the project without incident. Data collected through the course of this pilot will enable rapid advancement in geothermal deployment, with Fervo’s next horizontal well pair planned to achieve more than double the power output of the pilot design.
Google’s Senior Director for Energy and Climate, Michael Terrell, said, “Achieving our goal of operating on 24/7 carbon-free energy will require new sources of firm, clean power to complement variable renewables like wind and solar.”
Fervo says their results show that geothermal energy could supply over 20% of U.S. power needs and compliment wind and solar to achieve a fully decarbonized grid. “With Fervo’s breakthrough, no technological barriers to geothermal deployment remain.”
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Jesse Jenkins, leader of the Zero-carbon Energy systems Research and Optimization (ZERO) lab at Princeton University, said, “Fervo’s successful commercial pilot takes next-generation geothermal technology from the realm of models into the real world and starts us on a path to unlock geothermal’s full potential.”
Currently used in 26 countries, geothermal technology produces electricity by pumping cold water underground, where it is heated up by the Earth’s temperature, and brought back to the surface without emitting carbon or other harmful pollutants.
RELATED: UK Debuts Geothermal Plant Using Heat From the Earth to Power 10,000 Homes
This summer, Fervo broke ground on its first greenfield development in southwest Utah, adjacent to the DOE’s Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE). Revenue and learnings from Fervo’s Utah project will go toward the development of other projects in new geographies.
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Our partner Rob Brezsny 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 July 29, 2023
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
There are two kinds of holidays: those created by humans and those arising from the relationship between the sun and earth. In the former category are various independence days: July 4 in the US, July 1 in Canada, July 14 in France, and June 2 in Italy. Japan observes Foundation Day on February 11. Among the second kind of holiday is Lammas on August 1, a pagan festival that in the Northern Hemisphere marks the halfway point between the summer solstice and autumn equinox. In pre-industrial cultures, Lammas celebrated the grain harvest and featured outpourings of gratitude for the crops that provide essential food. Modern revelers give thanks for not only the grain, but all the nourishing bounties provided by the sun’s and earth’s collaborations. I believe you Leos are smart to make Lammas one of your main holidays. What’s ready to be harvested in your world. What are your prime sources of gratitude?
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
For many of us, a disposal company regularly comes to our homes to haul away the garbage we have generated. Wouldn’t it be great if there was also a reliable service that purged our minds and hearts of the psychic gunk that naturally accumulates? Psychotherapists provide this blessing for some of us, and I know people who derive similar benefits from spiritual rituals. Getting drunk or intoxicated may work, too, although those states often generate their own dreck. With these thoughts in mind, Virgo, meditate on how you might cleanse your soul with a steady, ennobling practice. Now is an excellent time to establish or deepen this tradition.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
I’m wondering if there is a beloved person to whom you could say these words by Rumi: “You are the sky my spirit circles in, the love inside love, the resurrection-place.” If you have no such an ally, Libra, the coming months will be a favorable time to attract them into your life. If there is such a companion, I hope you will share Rumi’s lyrics with them, then go further. Say the words Leonard Cohen spoke: “When I’m with you, I want to be the kind of hero I wanted to be when I was seven years old.”
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Your theme for the coming weeks is “pleasurable gooseflesh.” I expect and hope you’ll experience it in abundance. You need it and deserve it! Editor Corrie Evanoff describes “pleasurable gooseflesh” as “the primal response we experience when something suddenly violates our expectations in a good way.” It can also be called “frisson”—a French word meaning “a sudden feeling or sensation of excitement, emotion, or thrill.” One way this joy may occur is when we listen to a playlist of songs sequenced in unpredictable ways—say Mozart followed by Johnny Cash, then Edit Piaf, Led Zeppelin, Blondie, Queen, Luciano Pavarotti, and Yellow Magic Orchestra. Here’s your homework: Imagine three ways you can stimulate pleasurable gooseflesh and frisson, then go out and make them happen.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
“Fire rests by changing,” wrote ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus. In accordance with astrological omens, I ask you to meditate on that riddle. Here are some preliminary thoughts: The flames rising from a burning substance are always moving, always active, never the same shape. Yet they comprise the same fire. As long as they keep shifting and dancing, they are alive and vital. If they stop changing, they die out and disappear. The fire needs to keep changing to thrive! Dear Sagittarius, here’s your assignment: Be like the fire; rest by changing.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
There’s ample scientific evidence that smelling cucumbers can diminish feelings of claustrophobia. For example, some people become anxious when they are crammed inside a narrow metal tube to get an MRI. But numerous imaging facilities have reduced that discomfort with the help of cucumber oil applied to cotton pads and brought into proximity to patients’ noses. I would love it if there were also natural ways to help you break free of any and all claustrophobic situations, Capricorn. The coming weeks will be a favorable time to hone and practice the arts of liberation.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
“Silent gratitude isn’t very much use to anyone,” said Aquarian author Gertrude B. Stein. She was often quirky and even downright weird, but as you can see, she also had a heartful attitude about her alliances. Stein delivered another pithy quote that revealed her tender approach to relationships. She said that love requires a skillful audacity about sharing one’s inner world. I hope you will put these two gems of advice at the center of your attention, Aquarius. You are ready for a strong, sustained dose of deeply expressive interpersonal action.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
According to the International Center for Academic Integrity, 95 percent of high school students acknowledge they have participated in academic cheating. We can conclude that just one of 20 students have never cheated—a percentage that probably matches how many non-cheaters there are in every area of life. I mention this because I believe it’s a favorable time to atone for any deceptions you have engaged in, whether in school or elsewhere. I’m not necessarily urging you to confess, but I encourage you to make amends and corrections to the extent you can. Also: Have a long talk with yourself about what you can learn from your past cons and swindles.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
You are about to read a thunderbolt of sublime prophecies. It’s guaranteed to nurture the genius in your soul’s underground cave. Are you ready? 1. Your higher self will prod you to compose a bold prayer in which you ask for stuff you thought you weren’t supposed to ask for. 2. Your higher self will know what to do to enhance your love life by at least 20 percent, possibly more. 3. Your higher self will give you extra access to creativity and imaginative powers, enabling you to make two practical improvements in your life.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
John Kilcullen began publishing books with “for Dummies” in the title: for example, Time Management for Dummies, Personal Finance for Dummies, and my favorite, Stress Management for Dummies. There are now over 300 books in this series. They aren’t truly for stupid people, of course. They’re designed to be robust introductions to interesting and useful subjects. I invite you to emulate John Kilcullen’s mindset, Taurus. Be innocent, curious, and eager to learn. Adopt a beginner’s mind that’s receptive to being educated and influenced.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
“I could be converted to a religion of grass,” says Indigenous author Louise Erdrich in her book Heart of the Land. “Sink deep roots. Conserve water. Respect and nourish your neighbors. Such are the tenets. As for practice—grow lush in order to be devoured or caressed, stiffen in sweet elegance, invent startling seeds. Connect underground. Provide. Provide. Be lovely and do no harm.” I advocate a similar approach to life for you Geminis in the coming weeks. Be earthy, sensual, and lush. (PS: Erdrich is a Gemini.)
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
I hereby appoint myself as your temporary social director. My first action is to let you know that from an astrological perspective, the next nine months will be an excellent time to expand and deepen your network of connections and your web of allies. I invite you to cultivate a vigorous grapevine that keeps you up-to-date about the latest trends affecting your work and play. Refine your gossip skills. Be friendlier than you’ve ever been. Are you the best ally and collaborator you could possibly be? If not, make that one of your assignments.
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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Quote of the Day: “Ultimately love is everything.” – M. Scott Peck
Photo by: Paul Cusick
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Rachel Heinze has an unusual side hustle, on top of her preferred work as a stay-at-home mom of 2.
After an exhausting, problem-filled first year of breastfeeding her oldest Lucas, she got a ring set with a pale-white stone made from a powdered form of her own breast milk and thought it was so cool she decided to take up the activity herself.
Working after her children are put to bed, she makes $30,000 a year since 2021 selling breastmilk jewelry.
She turns clients’ breast milk into powder before making it into the item—and can combine ashes and colored stones into designs too, with the average piece running $200.
“I thought it was weird,” said Heinze. “But having that journey myself, I can definitely see why people want to carry that little part of the journey with them. When I hit that one year of breastfeeding mark I wanted to celebrate.”
Without overly elaborating personal details, breastfeeding Lucas was a struggle in almost all the ways fellow moms have heard of.
“I did everything to continue breastfeeding for a year. It was exhausting,” said Heinze.
She wasn’t trained as a jeweler, designer, metalworker, or in any kind of craft. She was a professional neuroscientist that specialized in concussions before quitting her job to stay at home with the kids. Nevertheless, she jumped at the opportunity to launch a new venture.
“I didn’t know it would be such a big thing—I just thought it would be a little here and there to make a sale,” said Heinze, from Florida. “I had one video on social media, it kicked off, and that’s when it started becoming a big thing.”
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“I was getting breast milk given to me from all over the world. I thought: ‘I can actually make this into something big.'”
Rachel spends eight weeks making her designs while juggling her family life, explaining that her background in science helped with the preservation process for the breast milk.
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She turns it into powder before allowing it to totally dry over several days, then grinds it into the piece. She has also expanded her business to make jewelry out of ashes.
“I think every stay-at-home mom can vouch for how difficult it is to both work and look after your kids. But it is so worth it to me,” she says. “My business is just a nice thing on top. Mother first, business second. If that means staying up later with a little less sleep, I am OK with that.”
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In May, Airbnb began helping its hosts in Massachusetts afford climate-friendly or energy-efficient home improvements, such as insulation, rooftop solar arrays, or heat pumps.
Airbnb is partnering with Abode Energy Management to offer a $2,000 rebate on heat pump installation and $500 for weathering upgrades.
The chief aim of Airbnb is to utilize recent legislation passed in the state to make it financially feasible for homeowners to install heat pumps. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) includes a 30% tax credit for up to $2,000 spent on heat pumps.
50% of Massachusetts homes are heated by natural gas, while 25% rely on expensive heating oil for space heat. As well as being cheaper to operate, heat pumps emit 3 to 5 times less carbon dioxide and equivalents than the burning of heating oil.
“It’s an opportunity to expose so many guests to these kinds of improvements,” said Abode CEO Travis Estes. “It’s really exciting — it means we’re to helping to convert our society as a whole to be more electrified and decarbonized.”
To make these home improvements affordable, Abode will help Hosts access rebates of up to $10,000 to convert to air-source heat pumps and additional rebates for weatherization upgrades, depending on eligibility.
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The rebates are available through Mass Save, a collaborative of Massachusetts’ electric utilities and energy efficiency service providers working to empower residents, businesses, and communities to make energy-efficient upgrades. On top of the rebates that Hosts may be eligible for through Mass Save, Airbnb will provide additional grants of up to $2,500.
In 2022, Airbnb launched similar programs in the UK and France. Massachusetts marks the first home energy efficiency program in the US for the company. Two-thirds of hosts, says the company, use their earnings from Airbnb to make ends meet.
The partnership with Abode is all about helping these hosts get ahead of the cost curve and install energy-efficient features they would otherwise not be able to afford at any single moment in time.
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There are plenty of reasons to host on Airbnb in Massachusetts, whether that’s Cape Cod, Boston, Nantucket Island, Martha’s Vinyard, or the Berkshire Mountains. It’s nice to know that visiting these areas, and staying in an Airbnb, is a more sustainable choice than before.
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Dancers in a pre-Incan civilization of Peru built specially designed dance floors to honor a nearby god of mountains and lightning, a new study shows.
The floor could accommodate 26 dancers, and was hollow underneath with layers of resonant material on the underside of the cavity that would’ve aided in creating a booming noise like thunder.
It was discovered at a pre-Incan site of Viejo Sangayaico, about 120 miles south of Lima, after archaeologists walked over an open space and realized it was hollow underneath, which is exactly like something out of an Indiana Jones movie when you think about it.
It was quite near at hand to a temple dedicated to the Incan god of lightning, even though the construction of the dance floor took place around 1,000 CE, before the heyday of the Incas.
This, archaeologists believe, suggests that like their own footsteps tripping over it in our time, Incan people would have found it, realized the floor made a sound like thunder, and incorporated it into their rituals by building a temple nearby.
“We know that in pre-Hispanic Andean rituals dance was a big part of the proceedings. I believe that this specially constructed platform was built to enhance the natural sounds associated with dance,” Kevin Lane, an archaeologist with the Instituto de las Culturas (IDECU) of the Universidad de Buenos Aires who helped carry out the fieldwork, told Art News.
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“I believe that these open platforms would have been used during the pre-Hispanic period as a stage on which to venerate the nearby mountain gods, in this case those of Huinchocruz,” Lane says. “This would likely have been accompanied by drums and possibly Andean wind instruments.”
The platform was made by carving out a cavity under the rock and layering it with the dung of an animal, possibly a guanaco, and silty clay. These materials gave resonance to the noise created within the hollow as the dancers above performed their rituals.
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The study authors raise the question of whether this was a common feature of Incan and pre-Incan settlements, and perhaps that completed excavations should be reexamined for such thunder dancefloors.
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Wounded US Army veterans are being enlisted to restore coral reefs of the Florida Keys, giving them a new mission and purpose.
Feeling like they have no purpose is a common despair from veterans of several generations, and the work under the waves is helping combat that sense of listlessness, not to mention putting them in an environment where a lost leg is not nearly as impeding.
The work is part of a collaboration between the Mote Marine Laboratory and the non-profit Combat Wounded Veteran Challenge (CWVC).
For a week every year, a team of veterans comes down to help Michael Crosby “re-skin” coral reefs below the waves off the southern tip of Florida.
Crosby has been breeding corals of specific phenotypes that demonstrate tolerance and resilience to rising temperatures and more acidic water, representing conditions that may arise during the next 50 years as the climate changes.
Taking the nursery-raised coral down with them, this year’s work saw a team of 31 veterans seed 1,040 new corals in a reef called Higgs Head. This takes the total of such corals planted by the Mote Laboratory to over 200,000.
They dive down to first clean the dead or dying corals of algae, then use an epoxy resin to glue new, lab-grown coral fragments.
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“They have been instrumental in my recovery, helping me learn what I was going to be able to do after losing my leg,” said 41-year-old Army veteran Billy Costello. “It’s great for the heart and the soul, especially when you’re around a group of veterans that have gone through very similar situations and have beat the odds and recovered in such a positive way… It is such a blessing.”
“The coral planting gives the wounded, ill, or injured service member a new found sense of purpose, they get to help the environment and work as a team with other military members who have been what they have been through,” said Lt. Col. (Ret) Andrew Lourake, CWVC Vice President of Operations. “The challenge, camaraderie, and knowing they are making a difference is the highlight of the year for almost all our participants.”
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Quote of the Day: “Laughter is the closest distance between two people.” – Victor Borge
Photo by: Bagas Muhammad
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
