The state of California remains 4 citizens richer after an incredible stroke of luck saw four people including two children rescued after the Tesla they were traveling in plunged 250 feet off a cliff on the coast.
Witnesses called 911 after the vehicle went over the cliff on State Route 1, at Devil’s Slide, between San Francisco and Half Moon Bay, California shortly after 11AM, on Monday.
Despite rescue officials describing the car as flipping over several times before landing on its wheels, all four people not only survived the impact but are in stable condition.
The California Highway Patrol, U.S. Coast Guard and multiple fire agencies responded to the scene, where the first responders then spotted movement in the front seat and called helicopters in to rescue the survivors.
Firefighters rappelled down to the crash site and hoisted the two children, believed to be a four-year-old girl and nine-year-old boy, into the helicopter.
“We were actually very shocked when we found survivable victims in the vehicle,” said CA Fire and Rescue commander Brian Pottenger. “So that actually was a hopeful moment for us.”
The adults were then flown to Stanford Medical Center, while the children were transported by ambulance.
All four were in stable condition after arriving, according to fire officials.
Quote of the Day: “To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” – Aldous Huxley
Photo by: Meduana (cropped)
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NFL fans and players are sending thoughts and prayers to the family of Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin, who collapsed on the field during the Monday Night Football game yesterday.
Reports say the player is currently in critical condition after his heart suffered cardiac arrest during game play. Eventually, he was taken away in an ambulance that had driven onto the field.
The shocking news generated an avalanche of compassion that has already raised nearly $5 million for Damar’s charity in less than a day.
The 24-year-old, who now plays safety in Western New York, created the charity to provide toy drives and back-to-school supplies for children in his hometown of Pittsburgh.
‘Tom Brady’ just donated $10,000 in the past hour—being one one of 160,000 people who opened their hearts by contributing.
“As I embark on my journey to the NFL, I will never forget where I come from and I am committed to using my platform to positively impact the community that raised me.”
“I created The Chasing M’s Foundation as a vehicle that will allow me to deliver that impact, and the first program is the 2020 Community Toy Drive.”
The Hamlin Family posted a recent update saying, “We can’t thank all of you enough. Your generosity and compassion mean the world to us.”
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A woman who struggled with depression found a way—actually, more than 300 ways—to improve her mental health by doing something new every day for a year.
Jess Mell says she’s now the happiest she’s been in a decade after trying new things for 365 days, including a try at hot yoga and beekeeping.
During the pandemic, the 34-year-old suffered from anxiety and depression—but the lockdown made her realize that she was depending upon her routine as insurance to keep her going.
So, last year on December 27th—as the pandemic was fading—she decided to try something new every day for 100 days. When that period ended in April, she found herself eager to do more.
One full year later, the Englishwoman has completed her challenge—yet still has no plans to stop.
Jess completed a wide range of ‘firsts’, including bleeding a radiator, using a sewing machine, and joining a gardening group.
From her home in Surrey, she was able to visit European cities like Vienna, Budapest, Copenhagen, Dublin, and Krakow—and, back on home soil, she tried speed dating and line dancing.
“I feel pretty emotional about it to be honest,” said the resident of Redhill. “I can’t believe it.
Jess Mell tried beekeeping for a day – Instagram / SWNS
“I wanted to finish it off with something exciting, so in the end I finished up by convincing my dad to let me sit on the roof of his car as he drove down the road,” she told SWNS news service. “My final one was making my first ever Instagram reel of some of the things I’d done in the year.”
PRO TIP: She adjusted her goal midway through the year, after finding it difficult to do ‘one thing every day’. She settled on simply doing 365 new things throughout the year.
“That way, I could do ten things in one day if I was free.”
Joined sometimes by friends, Jess says the best part about the whole experience has been putting herself out of her comfort zone.
“I feel like I should constantly be doing something.”
From entertaining ‘firsts’—like watching an ice hockey match to playing with miniature pigs—to educational quests—like learning the DIY tasks of hanging a picture and sewing a button—her list is a unique hodgepodge of items.
“It’s now just part of what I do,” said Jess, who’s been keeping track of it all on her Instagram page.
“There’s still a lot more I want to try… What has been so nice about the whole experience has been that whenever I’ve thought ‘I could try that’, rather than putting it off I just ask myself ‘why don’t I’.”
Her Partial List: (Maybe it will inspire you to try something similar)
Got Instagram
Watched ET
Made a lampshade
Grew a plant from seed
Bled a radiator
Tried origami
Went to hot yoga
Dyed my hair pink
Did 1000 piece jigsaw by myself
Made muffins
Visited an aircraft hangar
Used the “scary” gym equipment
Got a henna tattoo
Watched the Great Escape
Learned how to tie various types of knots
Learned to shuffle cards
Went to a life drawing class
Completed a paint by numbers
Learned to pick a lock
Made/ate a vegan meal
Hung a picture on the wall
Learned to sew a button
Learned some British Sign Language
Went to a board game club
Learned to change indicator light bulbs in my car
Tried a Guinness
Joined a community volunteer group
Ate using chopsticks
Attended a first aid course
Went to the British Library
Had an Espresso Martini
Used a sewing machine
Poached an egg
Played chess for the first time
Successfully completed some monkey bars
Went to the Tate Modern museum
Changed a car wheel (or helped to!)
Played golf
Made a pizza from scratch
Did a French braid
Whittled some wood
Learned a simple tap routine
Tried to whistle with my fingers – couldn’t do it loudly!
Made a rainbow cake
Tried embroidery
Bowled without bumpers
Visited a Mormon Temple
Tried to start a fire without matches – failed!
Tried soldering
Went on my first solo trip
Went to Belfast/Northern Ireland for the first time
Made butternut squash soup
Tried knitting
Drove a van
Upcycled an old stool
Went paddle boarding
Tried papier mache
Visited St Paul’s Cathedral
Fixed my bathroom plug
Attempted to learn to play the ukulele (gave up!)
Watched a foreign film without subtitles
Went on my first solo trip outside of the UK
Made jam from scratch
Fed a tortoise
Made tapas from scratch including a Spanish tortilla
Tried sherry
Joined an outdoor fitness class
Went on an organized walk
Made banana bread
Tried Geocaching
Went to a butterfly house
Visited Krakow, Poland
Tried local dish, pierogi
Went on an e-scooter
Went to a poetry reading session
Tried bubble tea
Tried Zumba
Did a proper tequila shot
Tried reflexology
Did a solo escape room
Went to a local town’s museum
Learned a magic trick
Ate fish eggs
Used a bidet
Tried teeth whitening strips
Saw the changing of the guard
Sat on someone’s shoulders
Watched Tower Bridge going up
Tried a gooseberry
Made my own protein bars
Went to an outdoor cinema screening
.. And watched Casablanca for the first time
Went to a hot air balloon show
Had a beekeeping experience afternoon
Watched a jousting tournament
Tried plantain
Gave blood
Made a scarecrow
Swam in the sea during a storm
Had a birds of prey experience afternoon
Went on a tractor ride
Tried pumpkin spiced latte
Went to a casino
Went to an Oktoberfest
Finally worked out how to screen cast from my phone to the TV
Watched and painted along to a Joy of Painting with Bob Ross
Made ice cream
Saw the Little Mermaid statue
Went pumpkin picking
Went to puppy yoga
Watched Hocus Pocus for the first time
Went on a Murder Mystery Train experience
Ran up a downwards escalator
Drove a Tesla
Went to a sketch comedy show
Went to an ice hockey match
Made a key lime pie
Tried mulled cider
Toasted a marshmallow on a fire
Pulled a pint in a pub
Snapped a wish bone
Attended an online cookery class
Tried curling
Caught a grape in my mouth
Streaked!
Went line dancing
Went speed dating
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When it comes to keeping time, an unassuming species of songbird is on a par with professional musicians, according to an audio analysis.
The study is the first to investigate natural time-keeping ability of an animal in the wild, rather than under observation in the lab—and scientists have hailed the song abilities of the scaly-breasted wren for its perfectly-timed whistle-like chirps.
The small brown bird from Central and South America demonstrated better time-keeping skills than those of mammals and birds trained in captivity, according to Carlos Antonio Rodriguez-Saltos, who conducted the research and led the study at the University of Texas at Austin.
Birds don’t have songbooks. But some species sing the same tune, chirping notes in an identifiable pattern. For the scaly-breasted wren, the pattern goes like this: an opening blast of chirps followed by alternating intervals of chirps and pauses, with the pauses between each chirp getting progressively longer.
Rodriguez-Saltos became familiar with the song of the wren as an undergraduate student in Ecuador when his ecology professor taught him how to identify the distinct pattern among the din of rainforest sounds. Years later, he realized that a unique feature of the wren’s song — the steadily growing pauses between the chirps — presented a unique opportunity to delve into the bird’s time-tracking abilities.
The pauses between each chirp grow in a predictable way — lengthening by about a half second each time. After the pause reaches about 10 seconds long, the birds then repeat their song from the top.
“It is a really remarkable change from short intervals to long intervals in the same song,” Rodriguez-Saltos said.
In laboratory experiments, most animals — including humans — have difficulty determining how much time has passed after just a second or two. In general, the longer an interval of time, the worse animals are at estimating its passage.
Carlos Antonio Rodriguez-Saltos / University of Texas at Austin
But for the wild wrens, 43% of the songs (10 out of the 23 songs that met the requirements for evaluation) consistently kept time for the duration of the song, with the intervals holding the established pattern even as the pauses increased in length.
For two of those songs, the accuracy of the wren was higher than that of the average professional musician, said Saltos, the study’s lead author who published the results in Animal Behaviour.
Susan Healy, a professor who studies bird behavior at the University of St. Andrews and who was not part of the study, said that the paper raises questions about how timing might play into the mating displays of wrens.
“If females are especially interested in a male’s ability not just to produce the right notes but also the timing of their production, then the pressure is on,” she said.
The birdsong analyzed in the study came from field recordings. (See videos below…) Some were made by Rodriguez-Saltos and co-author Fernanda Duque in Ecuador. Others came from bird aficionados who uploaded recordings of the wren’s song online.
Co-authored the study, Professor Julia Clarke, an expert on evolution of bird vocalization in both living and extinct species, said the research demonstrates the importance of turning to nature to study birds in their natural environments.
“We take wild birds for granted… This case shows how studying birds can provide huge new insights into cognition.”
A group of more than a dozen panda cubs made a collective appearance in China to wish fans a happy New Year.
Video footage shows the moment the panda cubs, carried by staff members, were brought out to a colorfully decorated playground for their first romp in public.
The cubs explored their custom enclosure, while keepers had bottles at the ready to feed them milk.
All the giant panda cubs, including four pairs of twins, were born around six months ago in the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, in China’s Sichuan Province.
The playful cubs are among the 15 giant pandas—all in good health—born at the base in 2022.
The Chinese government has created multiple giant panda reserves, and conservation efforts like these have contributed to a rise in the panda population over recent decades.
Watch the cuteness outbreak in the video below…
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Quote of the Day: “Those who have suffered understand suffering and therefore extend their hand.” – Patti Smith
Photo by: Erika Giraud
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Incredible time-lapse footage shows a 12,600-ton bridge being slid into place across a highway in a world-record-setting engineering feat.
Around 450 people spent 40 hours over the Christmas week slowly positioning the gigantic structure over the M42 in Warwickshire, England, at a speed of around 15 feet per hour.
The method involved building the entire 282 feet (86 meter) bridge on land next to the motorway over a six month period. During the planning period, civil and structural engineers then designed a sliding mechanism that allowed it to be pushed into place—like a 21st century version of the wooden rollers of the ancients.
The operation took place during a 10-day closure of the roadway (between Junctions J9 and J10) which is on-schedule to reopen tomorrow, January 3rd. The new Marston Box Bridge will carry a high-speed railway towards Birmingham and London.
“This is the first box slide of its kind over a motorway in the UK, and we believe it’s also the world’s longest slide, so it’s a great achievement for HS2 as we quickly approach peak construction,” said Mike Lyons, the civil delivery director of the firm behind this genius feat, HS2 Ltd.
“It’s fantastic to celebrate another big milestone for a project that is already providing work for almost 30,000 people today, and in the future, it will encourage people to use zero carbon public transport.”
HS2 claims the construction method, which allowed it to be moved into place in one movement, dramatically reduced disruption for drivers, compared with building the bridge in place.
“We’re extremely proud to have successfully delivered the world’s longest box slide,” said Sasan Ghavami, one of the construction directors with Balfour Beatty VINCI, the contracting firm that, along with HS2, worked with National Highways to deliver the ‘intricate’ operation to the West Midlands region.
WATCH the time-lapse below…
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Snoop Dogg narrating animal videos is bound to be a hit on the internet.
From the documentary Planet Earth II, the sequel more than a decade in the making, a lizard’s mad escape from an island full of snakes became the perfect scene to get an enthusiastic dash of the Long Beach rapper’s humorous commentary.
Certainly not least among the points of humor is his colorful language (which might be only appropriate for adult listeners), so be forewarned.
Back in 2016, on Doggy Dogg’s YouTube channel, he began to release narrated animal footage under the title Plizzanet Earth, which enjoyed endless viral shares across the internet.
That same year, Planet Earth II came out and effectively doubled the content he could draw from—and Jimmy Kimmel began producing them for his Late Night show.
In this video, you can’t help but laugh as Snoop cheers on the iguana that heroically avoids dozens of speedy predator snakes by climbing a rock.
“Because snakes ain’t got hands, and they don’t got feet.”
Definitely worth sharing here — and on GNN’s Good Laughs page….
YOUR Friends Will Thank You For Sharing the Funny Video on Social Media…
Fascinating images have been released that show a winter wonderland on Mars of cube-shaped snow, icy landscapes, and frost.
It’s not any winter wonderland in which you’d like to be walking, as the snapshots of the landscape reveal temperatures of -123°C.
The photos of Mars’ coldest season were taken by the HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
NASA explains that the most “fabulous” discovery comes at the end of winter, when all the ice that built up begins to “thaw” and sublimate into the atmosphere. As it does so, this ice takes on bizarre and beautiful shapes.
“When winter comes to Mars, the surface is transformed into a truly otherworldly holiday scene. Snow, ice, and frost accompany the season’s sub-zero temperatures. Some of the coldest of these occur at the planet’s poles,” NASA wrote in an image release.
“Cold as it is, don’t expect snow drifts worthy of the Rocky Mountains. No region of Mars gets more than a few feet of snow, most of which falls over extremely flat areas. And the Red Planet’s elliptical orbit means it takes many more months for winter to come around: a single Mars year is around two Earth years.”
The Mars “thawing” causes geysers to erupt where translucent ice allows sunlight to heat up gas underneath it, and that gas eventually bursts out, sending fans of dust onto the surface.
Scientists have begun to study these fans as a way to learn more about which way Martian winds are blowing.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been orbiting and studying Mars since 2006.
The spacecraft is designed to study the geology and climate of Mars, provide reconnaissance of future landing sites, and relay data from surface missions back to Earth.
WATCH NASA Explain it Below…
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Typical of sciencefiction is the scene wherein a space warrior sustains an injury and some kind of medical spray instantly repairs the damage. This could soon be sciencefact, thanks to a medical science breakthrough.
Researchers at the Univ. of California San Francisco have engineered molecules that act like a “cellular glue” for direct bonding of tissues—a long sought goal of regenerative medicine.
In a first-of-its-kind demonstration, the UCSF team produced customized adhesion molecules which bound select cells in a predictable manner, giving them de-facto control of the regenerative potential of the body.
“We were able to engineer cells in a manner that allows us to control which cells they interact with, and also to control the nature of that interaction,“ said senior author Wendell Lim, PhD, director of UCSF’s Cell Design Institute. “This opens the door to building novel structures like tissues and organs.”
Adhesive molecules can be found all throughout the human body creating communicative-bonds and immune pathways between tens of trillions of cells, but manipulating them has been beyond the reach of scientists so far.
Cellular bonding creates the characteristics of the structure they create. Tighter bonds form complex, solid organs like the liver or lungs, while looser bonds permit structures like immune molecules to do their disease fighting work with flexibility.
The artificial adhesion molecules designed by Lim et al. come in two parts: one which sits on the outside of the cell and determines which other cells it binds to, and another which sits inside and determines the strength of the bond.
“It’s very exciting that we now understand much more about how evolution may have started building bodies,” Lim said.
“Our work reveals a flexible molecular adhesion code that determines which cells will interact, and in what way. Now that we are starting to understand it, we can harness this code to direct how cells assemble into tissues and organs.”
Quote of the Day: “Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” – Jim Rohn
Photo by: Zoltan Tasi
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 remarkable story from the Christmas blizzard blanketing the Northeastern United States featured the kind of ‘smash and grab’ we all need to hear about.
The school’s alarm went off at Edge Academy on Christmas Eve, but due to the ‘worst snow storm in a generation‘ the local police near Buffalo, New York, were unable to quickly respond.
When the Cheektowaga Police did arrive, they found one of the windows had been broken out—but checking the school building, they found nothing out of place.
They thought maybe the damage was caused from the hurricane-force winds—untill they saw a handwritten note left on a table.
The note started with an apology for causing damage to the window—and having to borrow the snow blower to rescue others who had run out of gas while trapped in their cars.
“Got stuck at 8 p.m. Friday and slept in my truck with two strangers. Just trying not to die.”
“There were 7 elderly people also stuck and out of fuel. I had to do it to save everyone and get them shelter and food and a bathroom.”
Cheektowaga Police Department
The note was signed, Merry Christmas, Jay.
When officers watched the video surveillance from the school, they were astonished. “We witnessed people taking care of people,” said a report on the Department’s Facebook Page.
After breaking in, Jay went back out into the storm and found others who were freezing in their cars, and brought them inside—24 in total, and 2 dogs.
In the school, he found granola bars, water, and blankets in the nurses office, and gathered apples, juice, and cereal from the kitchen.
Kids played in the gym and adults watched football games and storm updates on television, while the hours on Saturday turned into a Christmas Day Sunday, spent sheltering at the school.
Cheektowaga Police Department
“When they were finally able to leave safely, you never would have known anyone was there,” said the police on Facebook. “This group of amazing people cleaned up all the tables… and the building they found shelter in.”
Cheektowaga Police Department
“There was a freezer full of food but no one touched it. They only ate what was necessary to stay alive.
Soon, police wanted to identify the mysterious ‘Jay,’ so they could commend him for “actions that one-hundred-percent saved lives”.
Cheektowaga Police released this photo to find ‘Merry Christmas Jay’
After they did find the 27-year-old, they announced on Facebook: ‘Because of Jay Withey, people are still alive.’
Sandy Black was one of those people. She said, “It was an ordeal but thanks to Jay we all had a place to stay warm.” (See the video below…)
Jay even used the school’s snowblower to dig out other stuck cars, to help clear the streets for plows.
“I’m just grateful that I had the opportunity, and I had the will to do it,” Jay told ABC News.
Cheektowaga Police Department
The group is “like family” now—and is already planning a reunion in Spring.
Mario Johnson vowed to return to the school after Christmas to replace the snacks they ate and the water they drank. He also inquired about the cost of the window.
Not only did the school declined to press charges, they told Mario not to worry about it, when he offered several times to pay for the broken window. “They’re just happy that we were safe and warm.”
A new U.S. law that will allow the Federal Communications Commission to regulate prison phone calls needs only President Biden’s signature to put an end to a largely unknown, yet famously predatory, prison practice.
Telecom companies that specialize in providing phone service for inmates have long made the process of signing up for their service and placing calls as expensive as possible, with a nationwide average of about $3 per call.
The telecom fees are often too great for inmates to be able to afford regular calls to loved ones or lawyers—and too costly for families to keep in touch with those behind bars.
Private prisons have profited by granting monopoly telephone contracts to the company that will charge families the most.
The Martha Wright-Reed Act, as the legislation will be called, gives the FCC the authority to “ensure just and reasonable charges for telephone and advanced communications services in correctional and detention facilities.”
“The FCC has for years moved aggressively to address this terrible problem, but we have been limited in the extent to which we can address rates for calls made within a state’s borders,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel says in a statement.
President Biden is expected to sign the Democrat-sponsored legislation, which passed both the House and Senate, and will include both video and phone calls.
This year, don’t set inflated goals to make up for every choice you didn’t make in 2022.
This year, I want you to cultivate a power and presence within you that allows you to choose your good all the time, in every circumstance of your life.
You are worth so much more than one year can offer. You are worth so much more than a few paltry achievements, even if they sound like the moon to you.
That said, a worthy goal or two, can help you realize how powerful you are. Sometimes we have to want something, in order to spread our formidable wings—or even to discover that we have them.
As a career and success coach, I love to use any goal as an excuse to part the veils, and step between the worlds. Whenever we commit to a dream or desire, it means we are willing to walk past resistance, distraction, the drone of old stories, and inner ogres. I want you to have the experience of being invincible—and realizing your strength and abundance in this life.
I know you will have days that throw you off. But I want you to learn the skills of getting on course, even more than I want you to reach just one particular goal. I want you to adopt attitudes that release magic and velocity.
The secret of being invincible is learning practices in which nothing can defeat you. It’s not about the goals you set, but the attitudes you employ. It’s an outcome of beautiful choices.
So, I want to look at 3 mental habits that will help you get “there,” wherever there is for you—and help you with every other area of your life as well.
Choose Kindness Over Self-Cruelty:
It’s time to fire the Marine drill sergeant screaming orders, setting stop watches, and shoving your face in the mud. Maybe it works for a war. But I don’t want you living in a war. I want you planting an orchard that flourishes for generations. You will accomplish more through love than you ever will through fear.
Self-brutality may induce temporary changes, but they are not sustainable results. The ulcer gets in the way, the nervous breakdown, or the divorce. Abuse always brings more pain, not less. You may achieve a result, only to spiral out of control in a bigger way.
I blazed through Harvard Law School on autopilot and the high-pitched drive of anxiety. But I could not sustain that success. It wasn’t coming from a renewable place within me. I had to crash.
Only love gives you endless energy. Only love will go the distance.
As you dare to stretch, be kinder to yourself than you have ever been. Kindness reminds you of your unquestionable worth, no matter what you’ve done. And then it encourages you to do what you came here to do.
Kindness isn’t a doormat, but a launch pad. Kindness gives you permission to try over and over without any fear of failure. But real kindness doesn’t let you off the hook. Self-love doesn’t let you give up on yourself or choose less than your best.
In these years, I’ve discovered that I am slower to achieve “big” success. There are the times I have to sit by the side of the road and feel my feelings—instead of push past them. But I am in this game forever now. I am resilient. I’m also going for a broader success too: I don’t just want to end up on the mountain top. I want to end up as my own dear friend, my bestie, along the way.
And I don’t want to wait to reach my goal in order to celebrate my life. I want to reach the mountain top with a thousand pink tulips already in my arms.
Choose Again and Again:
Rigidity will break your spirit. If you have to do something perfectly, there’s no breathing room for expansion. I’d rather you know going in, that you are going to stumble. You are going to miss a workout or a parent teachers’ meeting. You are going to scarf down a brownie or dive into a trough of butter pecan ice cream. You are going to be out of control and endearingly human.
For me, invincibility comes down to flexibility. It’s the willingness to begin again and again. If you blew your goal yesterday, don’t waste a second of time berating yourself or fearing consequences. The present moment can heal most anything. Choose again. Choose now. Drop the ball in Times Square all over again, ten times a day if you need to, 10-9-8…and give yourself a clean slate, a new beginning, another chance. It’s not weak to give yourself chances. It’s dedication. It means you want your goal, even more than you want to be perfect.
Here’s something else to consider: I believe I found more peace of mind in losing my way and finding it again than if I’d never lost it at all.
This devotion helped me build self-trust. I saw that even if I tripped up, I could count on myself to come back.
Also, I’ve found that not doing what I desire, teaches me how much I desire it. It teaches me how much I want to climb this mountain—whatever it takes. Then, it becomes less about discipline; I am simply thirsty for the dream and craving my own integrity.
If you do not dedicate yourself to something you will dissipate your potential. It’s too easy to drift without focus or stay in the swamp of numbness or soul-sabotaging casualness. Commitment activates awareness. When you dedicate yourself to an intention you become alive and present. You show up—or you evaluate why you are not showing up.
Dedication also helps you to realize that you don’t have to be in the mood to pursue the goal.
I’ve shown up to write a book, even when I’ve felt nervous, tired, and hostile. I wandered around the blank page like a homeless person looking for grub. I showed up believing nothing good could come out of the bog of my sad mind. And like many writers before me, I was wrong. Talk about poetic justice.
Dedication helped me to ignore my ego, the guardian that strives to keep me safe. On days when I felt absolute dread, I still found myself discovering another self, one who was weightless, giddy and skipping towards the horizon.
You will be stunned to discover your full capacities. We all house secret genies. We all have embedded powers we have yet to set free. Sometimes it takes a tiny bit of discomfort to discover the sweeter comfort of becoming our true selves.
I wish each and every one of you an invincible new year. You have so many gifts to give—and your life is poised for success. May you know courage, strength and the ability to walk yourself through anything—with love.
Tama Kieves, an honors graduate of Harvard Law School, left her law practice to write and help others create their most extraordinary lives. She is the bestselling author of 4 books including A Year Without Fear: 365 Days of Magnificence and her latest Thriving Through Uncertainty. A sought-after speaker and career/success coach, she has helped thousands to thrive in their life, calling, and businesses. Sign up for your FREE digital fortune cookies and a free copy of her popular webinar Dare to Decide at www.tamakieves.com/dare.
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Jason Bateman created and starred in Ozark – Netflix
Jason Bateman created and starred in Ozark – Netflix
Despite recent setbacks, a new survey suggests that Netflix is still a heavyweight contender in the television world.
More than 2,000 American adults were surveyed by OnePoll, and each chose their favorites from among all the television series they watched in 2022.
In addition to securing the No. 1 choice with Season 4 of Ozark, Netflix represented half of the overall top ten list, as well as half of the best scripted series choices.
The streaming service did well with their new releases, too. Three of their shows—Wednesday, Mo, and Inventing Anna—appeared in the list of highest-ranked series premieres.
Although Netflix famously never reveals official viewership data for its content, the company was recently forced to disclose its biggest customer losses in almost a decade: roughly 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter of the year and 970,000 in the second quarter.
In October, however, the company said they’d bounced back with 2.4 million new subscribers, possibly influenced by reviews of the Ozark finale in May and the conclusion of season 4 of Stranger Things in July.
The poll also reveals other trends in this year’s television landscape.
Despite actual week-to-week ratings that showed HBO’s House of the Dragon beating out Amazon Prime’s fantasy offering Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, respondents in this survey were more likely to choose Rings of Power as their favorite.
Although critics loved the Tony Gilroy-penned Andor over the rest of the Disney+ series this year, viewers surveyed were more drawn to Marvel’s She Hulk: Attorney At Law.
Out of 40 shows lauded by respondents in the poll, the broadcast TV networks only produced 4 winners—which is just 10%. A favorite show on ABC, Grey’s Anatomy, which is the network’s O.G medical drama now in its 19th season, was ranked No. 5 in Best Scripted and Best Overall Series.
CBS’s The Amazing Race, Season 33, ranked sixth in Best Unscripted Reality Series shows. And the ABC Emmy-winning sitcom Abbott Elementary (having completed two seasons) stood out among the Best New Series releases.
BEST OVERALL SHOWS OF 2022
Ozark, Season 4 (Netflix) – 8%
Stranger Things, Season 4 (Netflix) – 8%
Wednesday (Netflix) – 8%
Yellowjackets (Showtime) – 7%
Grey’s Anatomy, Season 19 (ABC) – 6%
Inventing Anna (Netflix) – 6%
Love is Blind, Season 3 (Netflix) – 6%
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Amazon Prime) – 6%
The Last Movie Stars (HBO Max) – 6%
Married At First Sight, Season 15 (A&E) – 6%
BEST SCRIPTED SERIES OF 2022
Ozark, Season 4 (Netflix) – 8%
Stranger Things, Season 4 (Netflix) – 8%
Wednesday (Netflix) – 8%
Yellowjackets (Showtime) – 7%
Grey’s Anatomy, Season 19 (ABC) – 6%
Inventing Anna (Netflix) – 6%
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Amazon Prime) – 6%
The Crown, Season 5 (Netflix) – 6%
Yellowstone, Season 5 (Paramount Network) – 6%
House of the Dragon (HBO) – 5%
BEST UNSCRIPTED/REALITY SERIES OF 2022
Love is Blind, Season 3 (Netflix) – 6%
The Last Movie Stars (HBO Max) – 6%
Married At First Sight, Season 15 (A&E) – 6%
Love is Blind, Season 2 (Netflix) – 5%
The Great British Baking Show, Season 13 (Netflix) – 5%
The Amazing Race, Season 33 (CBS) – 5%
Below Deck Sailing Yacht, Season 3 (Bravo) – 4%
The Rehearsal (HBO) – 4%
We Need To Talk About Cosby (Showtime) – 4%
Lizzo’s Watch Out For The Big Grrrls (Amazon Prime) – 4%
BEST NEW SERIES OF 2022
Wednesday (Netflix) – 8%
Yellowjackets (Showtime) – 7%
Inventing Anna (Netflix) – 6%
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Amazon Prime) – 6%
House of the Dragon (HBO) – 5%
The Legend of Vox Machina (Amazon Prime) – 5%
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount+) – 5%
Mo (Neftlix) – 5%
She-Hulk: Attorney At Law (Disney+) – 5%
Abbott Elementary (ABC) – 5%
Quote of the Day: “Approach the New Year with resolve to find the opportunities hidden in each new day.” – Michael Josephson
Photo by: Klim Musalimov
HAPPY NEW YEAR to you! – From the GNN team
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?
“It’s like a Christmas present from Mother Nature,” exclaimed one onlooker.
She stood among rows of birdwatchers and photographers who flocked to a California neighborhood for a rare glimpse of a beautiful snowy owl.
These huge white birds rarely make their way to sunny Orange County. In fact, the frozen Minnesota tundra, thousands of miles away, is their normal destination during their winter migration. There, they are difficult to spot with their white plumage that camouflages well with snow and gray trees.
Perched atop a neighborhood roof in Cypress, however, the owl was easy to spot. Arriving last Tuesday, it is the first evidence of an errant individual from that species in Southern California in over 100 years.
One sighting in 1918, without photographic evidence, is the only history of a snowy owl in that part of the country, though they occasionally dip into the northernmost part of the massive state.
“It’s not unheard of for a migratory bird to become turned around or blown off-course,” Dee Dee Salisbury, a volunteer for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, told the LA Times on Thursday.
“Most of the northwest U.S. did just experience a blizzard/storm this past weekend, so there’s a possibility it could have followed the cold front down.”
Other experts believe the bird could have hitched a ride on a south-bound freighter ship, and been content to hang out for the long journey.
Birdwatchers from all over the region traveled to the neighborhood, where the owner of the home has been a great sport about the line of silent people outside their window staring upwards with telescopic camera lenses and binoculars.
Regardless of how it got there or how long it remains, its arrival certainly made it easier for any birdwatchers who had embarked on a ‘Big Year’ in 2022, trying to tally sightings of as many species as possible—like in the delightful film, The Big Year, with Jack Black, Steve Martin, and Owen Wilson.
WATCH the local news coverage from KTLA, and experience it for yourself…
KNOW Any Birders? Share This Amazing Happenstance On Social Media…
When three employees of a New York McDonald’s were forced to accept the fact that they weren’t going home during the Christmas storm that blanketed the northern US, they opened up the store to stranded motorists—and ended up hosting 50 people over Christmas weekend.
Amherst, like neighboring Buffalo, received upwards of 40 inches of snow—and it wasn’t long before police began dropping people off at their store on Sweet Home Road and Sheridan Drive last Friday night.
“We accepted the fact that we weren’t going home, so we might as well open up,” said Kristin Kosha, one of the workers there. “We figured someone might need some help.”
Expecting maybe a dozen, more than 50 New Yorkers sheltered in their store which, even before the act of kindness, was known as the “Sweethome McDonald’s” after the street on which it was built.
“We fed them, and had the coffees and hot chocolates going,” she told ABC-7 Buffalo.
“Saturday we had the Bills football game on, and they chatted amongst themselves and mingled—while we kept them fed.”
Dozens of stories of humans helping humans were published over the Christmas weekend, as a patch of terrible weather coincided with the holiday that celebrates goodwill towards man.
In Buffalo, a resident opened his home up to a tour bus of 10 South Koreans when they got stuck and knocked on his door asking for shovels, while elsewhere, a group of strangers found shelter by breaking a window and entering a school, before leaving a note asking for forgiveness for their impromptu lock-in.
Back in Amherst, people from all over the state ended up at the McDonald’s, including a 7-month-old baby and her mother, utility crews, and several animals.
Kosha, along with her colleagues Jeffrey Spangler and Amanda Kendall, said they just did what anyone would do, claiming ‘you don’t really think about it.’
An act of kindness is like lighting a candle in a dark room, reminding everyone that such a point of light will always penetrate the darkness.
They happen every day all over the world for a variety of reasons, and while they don’t always make headlines, they do make heartlines—and these ten stories are like a North Star that shines a path for us all to follow in 2023.
1) Gordon Ramsay Shocks School Cafeteria Manager Who Called in to Talk Show Asking For Substitute Chef For the Day
Tina told the radio show: “I’m cooking here on my own, I work in a school kitchen and my chef has gone off sick and I have another one off with covid, and I just wondered if Gordon would help me today and give me a hand?”
Although Ramsay had prior engagements, he sent one of his chefs, Rob Roy Cameron, directly to Bedfordshire to grant Tina’s whale-of-a-wish.
2) Watch the Moment a Guy Jumps Out of His Car to Give Umbrella to Couple Stuck in D.C. Downpour
Not only did the driver go out of his way, jumping out into the rain to help provide some shelter for a stranger, the woman being drenched on the sidewalk used the umbrella to shelter a person in a wheelchair instead of herself.
3) High School Teens Swoop in to Support 6th Grade Stranger, When No One Would Sign His Yearbook
Courtesy of Simone Lightfoot – KDVR
A sixth grader at a charter school in Colorado, was depressed and disgusted with himself because almost no one would sign his class yearbook.
After it broke his mother’s heart, she posted a photo to a school Facebook group, and was “overwhelmed with how much love and encouragement” she received from the parents.
Known for having a heart of gold and a pair of green thumbs, Linda Taylor was a beloved neighbor in her Minneapolis community for 19 years, a volunteer who helped the homeless and needy as a “bright star”.
5) Sikh Gas Station Owner Sells Gas 50 Cents per Gallon Cheaper than What it Costs to Help Customers
Jaswiendre Singh
In June, a Sikh man in Phoenix chose to lose hundreds of dollars a day by selling gasoline for 50 cents cheaper than what he paid for it—all to relieve pressured motorists.
Jaswiendre Singh praises God for his ability to help his neighbors.
“God gave me help. It doesn’t matter. We are not here to make money right now. I’m very happy to help the other people,” he told AZ Family.
6) Burger King Worker of 27 Years Gets $270K From Strangers When They See Lack of Company Goodbye Gift
Burger King worker Kevin Ford / TikTok video
In July, social media got fired-up for Kevin Ford, a fast-food employee, who posted an Instagram video unwrapping a thank you gift he received for 27 years of perfect attendance on the job.
Let it be noted that in the original unwrapping video, Kevin was happy and grateful, saying “thank you” for every item he received in the gift bag.
7) Teen Finds Woman’s Purse and is Rewarded With $17,000 After He Delivers it to Her Door
In July, a 17-year-old teen in San Diego returned a purse left in a grocery store parking lot—and although he expected nothing in return, hundreds of strangers provided him with a big reward.
8) Mice Families Move into Dream Village Built By Gardener–And Are Hand Fed Flowers Everyday
– SWNS
In an example of inter-mammalian kindness, an Englishman created a wildlife area at the bottom of his garden to boost his nature photography—and that’s where he first found two families of mice.
9) Southwest Airlines Workers Looked After a Passenger’s Pet Fish for 4 Months After it was Banned From Flight
Jamee, Kira, and Ismael with Theo in box – released by Southwest
In one of the most disrupted and difficult years in the history of aviation, a pair of Southwest Airline employees volunteered to become mom and dad to a stranger’s fish, after the passenger was told she could not embark with the animal.
10) Best Friends Win Million Dollar Lottery and Spread the Wealth in Hometown to Help Others
Lottery winners Joann MacQueen and Marlisa Mercer – released.
In an example of extra-territorial kindness, Canadian besties JoAnn MacQueen and Marlisa Mercer won a million dollars playing the lottery, and immediately decided to keep the good vibes rolling by giving heaps and heaps of it away to the community.
Tama Kieves, an honors graduate of Harvard Law School, left her law practice to write and help others create their most extraordinary lives. She is the bestselling author of 4 books including 
