Wheelchair Tumbles into Lake, But 81-Year-old is Saved From Drowning By His Dog’s Barking

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Feb 27, 2022

man in wheelchair rescued-Port St. Lucie Police Department - Facebook — Port St. Lucie Police Department on Facebook

Port St. Lucie Police Department on Facebook

An 81-year-old man and his dog were on their morning walk around the lake when he lost control of his electric wheelchair. Soon, he was nearly drowning—but, ‘man’s best friend’ jumped into action.

Harry Smith’s electric wheelchair lost traction in the mulch which caused him to slide down the bank and flip off his wheelchair into water in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

Mr. Smith needed help as he could not swim and struggled to stay afloat.

Knowing his owner was in trouble, Sarah Jane began barking like crazy—which alerted 2 bystanders across the street.

Edward Suhling and his friend Jacob rushed over to the lake and flagged down a local police officer.

When Officer Doty arrived, he saw Smith submerged up to his neck in the water.

The 2 bystanders and Officer Doty worked together to pull him out of the water and up the bank. Fortunately, he was healthy enough to return home.

His electric wheelchair was damaged from tumbling into the water, so the first responders pushed him back to his house, with Sarah Jane wagging her tail all the way back.

“The saying remains true…A man’s best friend is his dog,” the Port St. Lucie Police Department wrote on their Facebook page.

“I gave her a treat,” grinned Smith. “I love her so much.”

Watch the local news coverage from WPTV-TV below…

LOOK: Firefighters Rescue a Dog Trapped Down a 15-Foot Underground Burrow Overnight

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Students in Five Chicago High Schools Surprised With Free College Ride–All Expenses Paid–And For Some Parents, Too

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Feb 27, 2022

Students celebrate at Chicago public high school-released Hope Chicago — Students celebrate at Noble Johnson College Prep in Englewood - Hope Chicago

Students at five Chicago Public Schools this week got the news that all their college tuition will be paid for—along with room and board, books, fees and taxes.

Students celebrate at Noble Johnson College Prep in Englewood – Hope Chicago

Not only are these freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors getting the free ride, but also one of their parents or guardians.

The multi-generation scholarship program is being launched by Hope Chicago, the nonprofit led by former Chicago Public Schools CEO Dr. Janice Jackson.

HOPE Chicago has committed to raising $1 billion in support and funding over the next decade—and has raised $40 million already with funding partners that include several corporations, financial institutions, and private family foundations.

Students at the five inaugural schools gathered in gymnasiums across the city to hear the stunning news. 90 percent of kids attending citywide public schools are students of color and 80 percent are low-income.

4,000 students at these five high schools will get their postsecondary educations fully funded: Benito Juarez, Al Raby, Morgan Park, Noble-Johnson College Prep, and Farragut Career Academy.

HOPE Chicago scholarships will cover the full cost of attendance at any of 20 participating 2-and 4-year higher education institutions and industry certification programs.

One of those is the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Its chancellor, Robert J. Jones, said his school is excited to be a partner. “This is some of the best news I have heard in this space for years and this is a transformational moment for so many Chicago families.”

With its $1 billion goal, HOPE Chicago vows to provide scholarships for 24,000 students and more than 6,000 parents/guardians through its two-generation model, which is expected to increase the likelihood of students actually completing and graduating. A survey showed that only 27 percent of Chicago Public School students earn their degree, after 63% enroll.

Launched in fall 2021, Hope Chicago says they used census data, as well as their college enrollment and completion statistics to help identify neighborhoods and schools that need a boost. Each year, they hope to add more schools.

Watch the moment students learned of the surprise – and read more details below…
(NOTE: Outside the USA, view the Steve Hartman video here, on CBS)

Providing All the Support Needed

Through investments of more than $20 million by The Kadens Family Foundation and HOPE Chicago Co-Founder, Ted Koenig, the nonprofit’s operational and administrative costs are fully funded for the next three years so that every dollar raised will go directly to the scholarship fund and back to students.

“A scholarship program of this magnitude has never been done before, but we are betting big on Chicago’s families most in need. With that in mind, it’s our goal that HOPE Chicago will positively disrupt the post-secondary education system and serve as a potential model for the nation,” said Pete Kadens, Co-Founder and Chairman of HOPE Chicago

A Chicago Tribune reporter, who talked to excited students and parents, wrote that enrolled students will also get a laptop and a small annual stipend to cover other necessities—as well as “wraparound support such as academic advising, mentoring, tutoring and various workshops” from their first day at school until the end.

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“Anything you do from the heart enriches you—but sometimes not till years later.” – Mignon McLaughlin

Quote of the Day

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Feb 27, 2022

magic future-wish-pubdomain Almos Bechtold — Almos Bechtold

Quote of the Day: “Anything you do from the heart enriches you—but sometimes not till years later.” – Mignon McLaughlin

Photo: Almos Bechtold

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?

600 More Hospitals Get Free LEGO MRI Scanners – to Reduce Anxiety in Young Patients

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Feb 26, 2022

The LEGO Foundation has announced it is donating another 600 LEGO kits to hospitals worldwide for miniature MRI Scanners—to help children cope with the intimidating process of having a Magnetic Resonance Imaging scan.

What started in 2015 as a passion project for LEGO employee Erik Ullerlund Staehr and a Denmark hospital, is now being scaled and piloted with new training material for hospital staffs.

The 500-piece sets allow clinicians to help patients understand what the large and complex MRI machine is all about.

“I’m extremely proud of this project and the positive impact it’s already had,” said Erik. “I’ve seen first-hand how children have responded to these models; feeling more relaxed and turning an often highly stressful experience into a positive, playful one.”

Since the first prototype was made, the radiology department team at Odense University Hospital has used the LEGO MRI Scanners as part of their playful learning approach to help over 200 children aged 4-9 annually.

The model facilitates both role-play and dialogue so that the child feels safe and can build confidence and resilience before the actual journey, by reducing stress and anxiety.

The LEGO kits also reduce the use of anesthesia, as it reduces stress and anxiety, says the Danish company.

“MRI Scanners make a lot of noise which can be very daunting for children. Our team has found that using the LEGO model has led to more positive, calm experiences for many children,” said Ulla Jensen from the Department of Radiology. “This also benefits the quality of the MRI scan, which relies on the person being very still for up to an hour to work.”

Reaching More Children

Close to 100 hospitals across the world have already benefitted from IKEA’s pilot program. Then, last month, in order to create an even bigger impact, the LEGO Foundation scaled the project by encouraging hospitals across the world to apply for one of 600 models they made available—to be shipped completely free of charge to the hospitals.

They opened the application process again recently, to give away another 600—and received 1500 applications in one day.

LOOK: Hospital Janitor Forges Lasting Friendship Between 2 Boys in Isolation After Noticing a Love of LEGOS

The Foundation has also developed four training videos to accompany the model, to help medical staff guide children through the process of an MRI scan. The model facilitates both role-play and dialogue so that the child feels safe and can build confidence and resilience before the actual journey.

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Mom Whose Facial Tumor Left Her Barely Able to Eat Now Lives Normal Life Thanks to Mercy Ship

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Feb 26, 2022

Tumor before and after Mercy Ships / SWNS — Mercy Ships/ SWNS

A mother whose massive facial tumor left her barely able to eat or breathe is now living a normal life, thanks to the charity work of surgeons aboard a ship.

Mabouba first noticed the facial tumor in her teenage years and, as she grew older, her condition rapidly worsened.

By 2014, the tumor was so big that it began blocking her oesophagus and windpipe—leaving her unable to swallow anything more than bits of rice, egg and bread, and struggling for air during the night.

Sadly, emergency surgery in Ghana didn’t help, after the 29-year-old nearly lost her life on the operating table.

But, thanks to the arrival of Mercy Ships, a charity which provides medical care, she is now living a happy life.

Mercy Ships operates the largest non-governmental hospital ship in the world, transporting hundreds of volunteer health professionals to more than 57 developing nations. Since 1978, the Christian-based charity has performed over 100,000 life-saving surgeries—and trained 42,000 local nurses and doctors in modern procedures. while the ship at port.

“I remember when I woke up I was completely transformed,” said Mabouba. “I was a new person.”

Her family had previously collected money from uncles, grandparents, and cousins, to send Mabouba to Ghana for emergency surgery, but upon arrival, she was informed they needed to remove some teeth before completing the surgery—an operation that went horribly wrong.

Then the family learned that the hospital ship, Africa Mercy, was scheduled to dock in Togo and Mabouba would be seen.

“Those days my mind was always preoccupied with the tumor,” she said. “Day and night I could think of little else.”

Once on board, the surgeons were determined to do everything they could for her, and after nine hours of surgery they successfully removed the tumor.

Today, Mabouba is a seamstress in her own tailor shop and mother to a five-year-old daughter. She also recently celebrated getting married to a man she met one day outside a bank—and says it was love at first sight.

mom after surgery with daughter — Mercy Ships/ SWNS

“I used to think I wasn’t beautiful, and that I would never get married. If I hadn’t had this operation, I don’t know what would have happened to me.

LOOK: See Another Mercy Ships Miracle That Transformed Teen’s Extreme Bow-Legs So Now She Can Go to School

“That’s why I give thanks to those great people who gave me this life.”

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Your Inspired Weekly Horoscope From Rob Brezsny’s ‘Free Will Astrology’

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Feb 26, 2022

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 February 26, 2022
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Author Deb Caletti made the following observation: “You have ordinary moments and ordinary moments and more ordinary moments, and then, suddenly, there is something monumental right there. You have past and future colliding in the present, your own personal Big Bang, and nothing will ever be the same.” In my vision of your destiny in 2022, Pisces, there could be several of these personal Big Bangs, and one of them seems to be imminent. To prepare—that is, to ensure that the changes are primarily uplifting and enjoyable—I suggest you chant the following mantra at least five times every day: “I love and expect good changes.”

ARIES (March 21-April 19):
“A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it,” wrote author G. K. Chesterton. Amen to that! Please regard his observation as the first part of your horoscope. Here’s the second part: It’s sometimes the right approach to move in harmony with the flow, to allow the momentum of elemental forces to carry you along. But now is not one of those times. I suggest you experiment with journeys against the flow. Go in quest of what the followers of easy options will never experience. Do it humbly, of course, and with your curiosity fully deployed.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
“You’re never allowed to step on people to get ahead,” said TV personality and author Star Jones, “but you can step over them if they’re in your way.” I suspect the coming months will be a time when you really should step over people who are in your way. There’s no need to be mad at them, criticize them, or gossip about them. That would sap your energy to follow your increasingly clear dreams. Your main task is to free yourself from influences that obstruct your ability to be the Royal Sovereign of Your Own Destiny.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
Gemini-born Gena Rowlands is retired now, but she had an award-winning six-decade career as an actor. At age 20, she decided what she wanted to do with her life, and her parents offered her their blessings. She testified: “I went home and I told my mom that I wanted to quit college and be an actress, and she said, ‘Huh, that sounds fascinating. It’s wonderful!’ And I told my father, and he literally said, ‘I don’t care if you want to be an elephant trainer if it makes you happy.'” Dear Gemini, in the coming months, I would love for you to receive similar encouragement for your budding ideas and plans. What can you do to ensure you’re surrounded by influences like Rowlands’ parents? I hope you embark on a long-term project to get all the support you need.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):
As you enter an astrological phase when vast, expansive ruminations will be fun and healthy for you, I will offer you some vast, expansive thoughts. Hopefully, they will inspire your own spacious musings. First, here’s artist M. C. Escher: “Wonder is the salt of the earth.” Next, author Salman Rushdie: “What’s real and what’s true aren’t necessarily the same.” Here’s poet Allen Ginsberg: “When you notice something clearly and see it vividly, it then becomes sacred.” A proverb from the Omaha people: “Ask questions from your heart, and you will be answered from the heart.” G. K. Chesterton: “Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair.” Finally, playwright Tony Kushner: “I’m not religious, but I like God, and he likes me.”

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
“Out of love, you can speak with straight fury,” wrote author Eudora Welty. Here’s how I interpret that in light of the current chapter of your life story: You have an opportunity to recalibrate some misaligned energy. You have the necessary insight to fix an imbalance or dissolve an illusion or correct a flow that has gone off-course. And by far the best way to do that is by wielding the power of love. It will need to be expressed with vehemence and intense clarity, however. It will require you to be both compassionate and firm. Your homework: Figure out how to express transformative truths with kindness.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Virgo political science professor Tatah Mentan was born and raised in the African country of Cameroon, which has never fully recovered from its grueling colonization. When Mentan first taught at a university in the Cameroonian capital, authorities found his ideas too controversial. For the next 16 years, he attempted to be true to himself while avoiding governmental censorship, but the strain proved too stressful. Fearing for his safety, he fled to the US. I’m turning to him for advice that will serve you well in the coming weeks. He tells us, “Peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart.”

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
“Anything you do from the heart enriches you, but sometimes not till years later,” wrote author Mignon McLaughlin. I’m pleased to inform you, Libra, that you will soon receive your rewards for generous actions you accomplished in the past. On behalf of the cosmic rhythms, I apologize for how long it has taken. But at least it’s finally here. Don’t underestimate how big this is. And don’t allow sadness about your earlier deprivation to inhibit your enthusiastic embrace of compensation.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
No matter how reasonable and analytical you are, Scorpio, you possess a robust attraction to magic. You yearn for the refreshing invigoration of non-rational mysteries. You nurture urges to be delighted by outbreaks of the raw, primal lust for life. According to my astrological assessment, you are especially inclined to want and need these feelings in the next few weeks. And that’s good and healthy and holy! At the same time, don’t abandon your powers of discernment. Keep them running in the background as you enjoy your rejuvenating communions with the enigmatic pleasures of the Great Unknown.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Author Diane Ackerman tells us, “In the absence of touching and being touched, people of all ages can sicken and grow touch starved. Touch seems to be as essential as sunlight.” This is always important to remember, but it will be extra crucial for you to keep in mind during the coming weeks. I advise you to be ingenious and humble and frank as you collect as much physical contact as you can. Be polite and respectful, of course. Never force yourself on anyone. Always seek permission. With those as your guidelines, be greedy for hugs and cuddling and caresses.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
“Education, fundamentally, is the increase of the percentage of the conscious in relation to the unconscious.” Author and educator Sylvia Ashton-Warner said that, and now I’m telling you—just in time for one of the most lesson-rich times of a year that will be full of rich lessons. In the next nine months, dear Capricorn, the proportion of your consciousness in relation to your unconsciousness should markedly increase. And the coming weeks will be a favorable phase to upgrade your educational ambitions.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
You’re entering a phase of your cycle when your ability to boost your finances will be stronger than usual. You’ll be more likely to attract good luck with money and more apt to discover useful tips on how to generate greater abundance. To inspire your efforts, I offer you this observation by author Katharine Butler Hathaway: “To me, money is alive. It is almost human. If you treat it with real sympathy and kindness and consideration, it will be a good servant and work hard for you, and stay with you and take care of you.”

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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Changing Your Diet Could Add Up to 13 Years to Your Life, Study Says

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Andy Corbley

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Feb 26, 2022

nuts and legumes almonds-carbs-pubdomain Maddi Bazzocco — Maddi Bazzocco

Small changes in our diets could reduce mortality from heart disease and cancer such that it adds 10-13 years to our lives.

Large dietary studies are often somewhat useless, as the larger they become, the more impossible for them to replicate real-world scenarios and depict the genetics of who they’re surveying.

However, a large meta-analysis has found that, if a 20 year-old woman replaces refined grains with legumes and whole grains, and increases her intake of fish and nuts, she is likely to add 10 years of life expectancy vis-à-vis heart disease and cancer, while a 20 year-old man could add 13 years to their life expectancy.

These results are based on studies that don’t take into account nutritional requirements, but merely caloric intake, which excludes the well-established principle that energy restriction often equals longevity if nutrient specific needs are met.

However, with perhaps a decade extra of protection from the most common causes of death, they are findings worth investigating.

Looking at food consumption data, the researchers found that most Americans eat closer to the optimal amounts of fruits and vegetables than they did for the optimal amounts of whole grains, legumes, and nuts, and suggest that increasing the intake of these foods and decreasing the intake of processed grains and grain-based processed foods, is the strongest driver of this increase in life-expectancy.

What the findings do tell us though about nuts, legumes, and whole grains, is striking. These sources of complex carbs are rich in fiber, another nutrient of concern in America, that can have huge impacts on health and cancer risks down the years.

Along with switching rice and pasta out with more beans or lentils as the carbohydrate at dinner, there’s actually an easy rule of thumb to apply when selecting a grain to eat for breakfast and lunch. Under a food’s “Total Carbs” will be the amount equal to both of the fiber and simple carbohydrates. The percentage of carbs from fiber should be as high as you can make it.

Refined grains means they’ve been stripped of the bran, germ, casing, and other aspects of the grain that are less-immediately digestible. The food doesn’t stay intact long enough to arrive in the colon and large intestines, where bacterial species ferment it and produce short-chain fatty acids like butyrate. This process is absolutely vital to the health of the GI-tract, the immune system, and considering the influence of gut microbes on our mental capacity through the activity of the vagus nerve, our neural health as well.

The elephant in the room of course is the call, unsurprisingly, to reduce consumption of red and processed meats. However like this 2019 meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials warns, observational studies are routinely open to bias, and difficult to control for all the confounding factors which can come in an almost infinitely-variable number. In it, the researchers at the Cochrane Centers in Spain and Poland found that of all the randomized, placebo-controlled trials done on red and processed meat consumption, there’s no health benefit to be gained for limiting its consumption.

Furthermore, one could look at the prevalence of nutritional deficiencies of vitamin B12, choline, and iron in America, nutrients found in large amounts in red meat, and reason that since this new longevity finding didn’t control for nutrient deficiencies, red meat consumption should be maintained along with proper exercise (or less sitting).

While the studies used control for exercise, it’s not clear the degree of exercise that is counted, nor is it clear the hours spent sitting in a day, which is sometimes more important than time spent exercising. Therefore, like other huge dietary studies, they should be taken with a pinch of salt.

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“I like to think of home as a verb—something we keep recreating.” – Madeleine Thien

Quote of the Day

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Feb 26, 2022

Quote of the Day: “I like to think of home as a verb—something we keep recreating.” – Madeleine Thien

Photo: Francesca Tosolini

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?

Magpies Outwit Scientists, by Helping Each Other Remove Tracking Devices

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Andy Corbley

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Feb 25, 2022

australian magpie wikimedia commons video cc license Jason Antony (Alexanderino)

Australian ornithologists have stumbled upon an extremely rare cognitive ability in magpies after fitting five of the birds with little backpack tracking devices.

Demonstrating a mix of rescue behavior/altruism and clever problem solving, the magpies saw their friends had a strange metal parasite on them, and within hours the group had cut them free from almost all of the trackers.

Australian magpies live in social groups of up to 12 individuals. They display group behavior through things like defending their territory with swooping, and through sharing child-rearing responsibilities with their siblings.

When Dominique Potvin, Senior Lecturer in Animal Ecology at the University of the Sunshine Coast, came up with the unique harness design for her team’s GPS trackers, she was excited to gather data and learn how far magpies travel, whether they have patterns or schedules throughout the day in terms of movement and socializing, and if age, sex, or dominance rank affected their activities.

“Within ten minutes of fitting the final tracker, we witnessed an adult female without a tracker working with her bill to try and remove the harness off of a younger bird,” said Potvin in The Conservation, noting in a different sort of study than she planned to write that they figured out to target the only weak point in the harnesses’ design.

“Within hours, most of the other trackers had been removed. By day three, even the dominant male of the group had its tracker successfully dismantled.”

As well as intelligence, this demonstrates a behavior that’s extremely rare in birds, which is the attempt to help another individual out of a period of distress, known as “rescuing.” This has been seen only once before in the Seychelles warbler, which has been documented rescuing its neighbors if they get sticky and prickly seed clusters stuck on their wings, which can actually lead to mortality in some cases.

MORE: Biologists Identify First Animal That Uses the Complexity of Human Language: the Song Sparrow – LISTEN

Magpies are corvids, one of the most successful and intelligent families in the animal kingdom. Including recognizing oneself in a mirror test, they regularly display tool-use, tool-crafting, joking around, social cooperation, the concept of zero, and much, much more. New Caledonian Crows, a relative of the magpie, are widely-regarded as the smartest of all birds.

Now scientists can add rescuing to the repertoire.

This research has been published in Australian Field Ornithology.

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Artist’s Painting is the First to Be Curated on the Moon: ‘It Will Last Forever’

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Andy Corbley

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Feb 25, 2022

artwork to the moon Sacha Jafri Reuters video via Rumble license

British artist Sacha Jafri has prepared the first ever painting to be placed on the Lunar service when it blasts off with NASA later this year.

The painting, called We Rise Together With the Light of the Moon, is engraved into a specially-designed aluminum-gold plate to survive the massive temperature swings on the Moon.

The small work depicts stick figures inside a heart, surrounded by other hearts and sweet messages. A second, fully-colored work will be sold at a charity auction around the same time, and 5 NFTs (non-fungible tokens) will go up for auction online at each critical moment in the mission, from liftoff to separation to landing.

Jafri’s work will arrive aboard NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which contracts private companies to operate freight lines to and from the Moon so that private and non-profit entities can conduct research there.

The aerospace firms Spacebit and Astrobotic will be running the mission. Astrobotic has pioneered a line of express delivery services to the Moon that will begin its virgin delivery route with Peregrine-1, a landing mission that will be carrying science instruments including rovers and spectrometers from multiple firms and governments.

It will also be carrying the ashes of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry’s wife, Majel Barret Roddenberry.

We Rise Together is not actually the first piece of art on the Moon, but rather it’s the first painting, since NASA astronauts already placed an aluminum sculpture up there commemorating all those—both American and Soviet—lost in the course of manned-space exploration.

(WATCH the video for this story below.)

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‘The Greatest American Frontier Hero’ Was a Former Slave: The Story of Bass Reeves

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Andy Corbley

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Feb 25, 2022

Bass Reeves American deputy U.S. marshal-pubdomain

Even the most clichéd screenwriter in Hollywood could be made to feel ridiculous and over-the-top if they wrote a story with a character called “Bass Reeves,” and doubly so if that was character was a legendary lawman who was deadly with his revolver.

Fortunately it was reality that produced this real-life Wyatt Earp and not Hollywood, and as Black History Month winds to a close, it’s worth remembering one of the finest officers of the law who ever wore a badge in this country.

Born in 1838, Bass Reeves made over 3,000 arrests over a 32-year career as a deputy marshal, and shot down 14 criminals in self-defense in a part of the country where one-third of all law enforcement agents were killed by outlaws.

A freed-slave who knocked his enslaver out during a fight over a card game, Reeves fled to the Indian Territory, and lived among the Cherokee, Creeks, and Seminoles until he was freed by the 13th Amendment, after which he moved to Arkansas to start a new life as a farmer.

Historians speaking with People magazine detail how he became the first Black U.S. deputy marshal west of the Mississippi. Before he was a marshal though, he was a guide for marshals, as he had learned to speak the languages of many Native American groups, and so the district judge called on him help track outlaws that would often go to hide out in their territory.

CHECK OUT: 94-Year-old Grandmother Wears Dream Wedding Dress, 70 Years After Being Denied Entry to Bridal Shop

“Bass was the most prolific law enforcement officer we’ve ever had in the United States,” David Kennedy, the curator at the United States Marshals Museum told People.

During his time he worked the territories of Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma.

“There were lots of places to hide and the outlaws there were always ready to fight,” said Art Burton, a Reeves historian. “It was the most dangerous area in the Wild West, a real killing field for federal lawmen. Bass basically walked into this valley of death every day for 32 years.”

LOOK: This Woman Escaped Slavery by Hiding in Plain Sight – Disguised as a White Man

According to this pair of historians, along with being part Wyatt Earp, he was also part Sherlock Holmes and part Robin Hood, as he was always kind and considerate with everyone he met, and often donned disguises to improve his reportedly excellent detective skills while hunting fugitives.

MORE: California Returns Prime Beachfront to Black Heirs After Land Was Taken in 1924 From L.A. Couple

And if those traits didn’t succeed in apprehending his mark, then the Wyatt Earp part would, and he could shoot someone down from a quarter-mile with his Winchester rifle.

He even volunteered to go solo in arresting his own son, found guilty of murdering his wife, because he didn’t want any other deputies getting hurt. His son came quietly.

The historians conclude that it’s impossible to know for sure if Reeves was the inspiration for the Lone Ranger, but his legend lives on.

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A Gorgeous Bat Falcon Spotted for the First Time in the United States

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Andy Corbley

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Feb 25, 2022

OFalco_rufigularis_Bat_Falcon_(cropped) Joao Quental cc license wikimedia commons

Birders are flocking to Texas to see a bird that lives thousands of leagues to the south make its first ever recorded appearance on U.S. shores.

The bat falcon, though small, is as beautiful a bird of prey as one could hope to see.

This particular individual, suspected of being only a juvenile, has actually been here since last year, but only began making headlines after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service posted some images of the bird, snapped by one Peter Witt, resting on a branch with a big juicy dragonfly in its beak.

Living in Mexico, Trinidad, and South America, the bat falcon is characterized by a white and rust neck, rust rump, white chest bars, and yellow spectacles.

“The Bat Falcon at the refuge is thought to be a juvenile for its buff-cinnamon throat and chest bars, judging by the thickness of the tarsus and beak it seem like a male,” says Julio Gallardo, a staff member at the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge.

Border Report tells the story of Ray Sharpton, a 77-year old retiree, who hopped in his car at 3 a.m. and drove 34 hours from upstate New York to see the bird, adding that there are even birders coming from Europe to see it.

In their native habitat in Latin America, they feed on small mammals, bats, insects, and other birds, and are considered a species of Least Concern by the IUCN.

MORE: Bird Scientists Need Some Help Finding Species – They’re Turning to Birdwatchers

It’s not the first “vagrant” that has appeared in the U.S. of late. Late last year, a Steller’s sea eagle, the heaviest bird of its kind, has been hanging about in Maine, drawing birders from around the country to see this winged Russian/Japanese giant on U.S. shores.

Throughout 2020 it was spotted at various points during a wild and unscripted flight across Canada and the northern U.S. before dipping down into Massachusetts, and choosing an area near Boothbay Harbor, Maine to rest for awhile.

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“You face your greatest opposition when you’re closest to your biggest miracle.” – T. D. Jakes

Quote of the Day

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Feb 25, 2022

Quote of the Day: “You face your greatest opposition when you’re closest to your biggest miracle.” – T. D. Jakes

Photo: Davide Cantelli

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These Superfoods Can Provide Important Nutrients With a Single Bite

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Andy Corbley

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Feb 24, 2022

kiwi public domain engin-akyurt-jPVcZsxRGJo-unsplash — Engin Akyurt

Reprinted with permission from World At Large, a news website of nature, politics, science, health, and travel.

What daily habits have you tried out in the name of good health?

Diana Rodgers, an author and registered dietician, is the host of the Sustainable Dish Podcast where she sometimes recounts her attempt to eat 100% of her daily values of all nutrients for a whole month, that is, to consume 100% without supplements. A nearly impossible task, Rodgers relied on eating liver, oysters, and other particular and sometimes expensive food sources every day to meet the demand.

Yet there are certain foods that are so rich in a particular nutrient that a mere bite can satisfy one’s daily requirements. Sometimes these foods are not advocated for by government agencies in particular, because they go against existing nationwide recommendations against eating too much meat, or fatty foods.

It bears repeating that RDAs, or recommended daily allowances, set by government agencies, have long been established at the bare-minimum for survival.

Harri Hemilä, a researcher at the Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki in Finland, details that even as late as 1990, the RDA recommendations for Vitamin C were “arbitrarily set at 60 mg/day to ‘provide an adequate margin of safety’ against scurvy,” even though the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who first discovered Vitamin C advocated for a gram per day, and that there were all kinds, (and there are) of problems that can arise from low C intake before the “pre-mortal” condition of scurvy.

MORE: Calorie Restriction is Key Factor in Enhancing Human Health, Say Yale Researchers

However if a single bite covers the bare minimum, it isn’t outlandish to imagine a second would serve as a realistic 100% dose, and here are some of those 1-3 bite doses.

Selenium — The Brazil Nut

Selenium is important for many processes. It is one of the principal resources for neurogenesis, and its dietary addition increases creation of new neuro stem cells even in mice aged the equivalent of 80 years in humans.

Also in the body it’s used to create antioxidants, while its effects preventing cancer are currently being investigated. Deficiency in selenium can lead to severely compromised intestinal function, and dysregulation in the use of zinc and copper in the body.

According to Nutrition Data one solitary Brazil nut, weighing 5 grams, contains 132% of the USDA’s RDA for a 2,000 calorie per day diet.

Vitamin C — Kiwi or Guava

Vitamin C is important for creating antioxidant defenses, synthesizing collagen, fighting off diseases, and much more. One medium kiwi will provide 273%, of the already discussed RDA of vitamin C.

Picking up a kiwi is much easier to eat, and is more familiar than a guava, but a guava fruit contains far more dehydroascorbic acid, a form a vitamin C, than a kiwi. Dehydroascorbic acid is used by two of the major glucose transporters, and therefore vital for metabolic health.

Vitamin B12 — Sardines

A cofactor in DNA synthesis, vitamin B12 is critical in both fatty acid and amino acid metabolism. It is important in the normal functioning of the nervous system via its role in the synthesis of myelin, and in the maturation of red blood cells in the bone marrow. It is a common deficiency in the diets of vegetarians and vegans, based on the fact that plants use other biological equipment to perform the functions which animals do with B12.

LOOK: Higher Olive Oil Intake Associated With Much Lower Risk of Death From Various Diseases

A single can of sardines in olive oil will provide 137% of one’s B12 needs.

Copper/Vitamin A — Beef Liver

Yes, beef liver isn’t commonly eaten in the United States, or most other places. Modern society has lost its custom for the metallic and slightly bitter flavor of organ meat. However if one can but fry beef liver in a pan and cut it into 1 ounce (28 gram) slices, and eat just one of those a day, they would be conferring upon themselves and their family, 208% of the RDA for copper, and 146% of their RDA for vitamin A.

Because of its role in facilitating iron uptake, copper deficiency can produce anemia-like symptoms, neutropenia, bone abnormalities, hypopigmentation, impaired growth, increased incidence of infections, osteoporosis, hyperthyroidism, and abnormalities in glucose and cholesterol metabolism.

Vitamin A on the other hand is a class of different compounds, some well-known of which are retinol and beta-carotene, which have a large variety of functions. It’s essential for embryo development and growth, for maintenance of the immune system, and for vision, where it combines with the protein opsin to form rhodopsin, the light-sensing molecules in our keys key for both high and low light environments, which also trigger hormonal responses to day and night cycles.

Vitamin K — Collards (greens)

Vitamin K is vital for blood health, in particular the function of blood coagulation is seriously impaired under low-K conditions. It allows the liver to create a secondary molecule that chelates calcium, and regulates the binding of calcium to bones.

Just one ounce of collard greens contains 154% of one’s RDA for vitamin K. K isn’t usually a common deficiency, but can be found within people with a particular aversion to green vegetables.

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Snowmobilers Spotted a Moose Stuck Under Ice and Worked for Hours to Free it – WATCH

By

Andy Corbley

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Feb 24, 2022

Last week, a pair of Anchorage snowmobilers rescued a moose trapped beneath the ice of a frozen creek.

To an Alaskan, a moose is not a cuddly member of the deer family, but rather a very dangerous and ornery animal, yet Andrew Koerner and his friend Terry White wasted no time digging an eight-foot wide hole around the creature to allow it to escape.

“You could just tell by his eyes that he was just so ready to get out of that hole,” Koerner told local news. “That’s when me and Terry looked at each other and were like, we’re not going to leave until this little guy is out of this hole.”

Koerner and White could tell immediately that the moose had been in there awhile. It had rubbed off a lot of the hair on the back of its neck, and looked thin.

It took an hour and a half, during which several passersby stopped to pitch in with the digging, and one even happened to have a sledgehammer to break apart the ice. Finally though, when it was clear the moose had enough room to escape, they gave it some space and time to relax and climb out.

MORE: 80-Year-old Man Walks Through Blizzard to Rescue 3 Cars of People

“It felt amazing, it felt great,” said Kroener, who had seen plenty of moose before, just not in such an intimate way.

(WATCH the KTUU video for this story below.)

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Sound Waves Convert Stem Cells Into Bone in Regenerative Breakthrough

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Good News Network

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Feb 24, 2022

A microscope image of stem cells turning into bone cells – green indicates collagen, which the cells produce as a by-product of the process rmit released — RMIT

Researchers have used sound waves to turn stem cells into bone cells, in a tissue engineering advance that could one day help patients regrow bone lost to cancer or degenerative disease.

The innovative stem cell treatment from RMIT researchers offers a smart way forward for overcoming some of the field’s biggest challenges, through the precision power of high-frequency sound waves.

Tissue engineering is an emerging field that aims to rebuild bone and muscle by harnessing the human body’s natural ability to heal itself.

A key challenge in regrowing bone is the need for large amounts of bone cells that will thrive and flourish once implanted in the target area.

To date, experimental processes to change adult stem cells into bone cells have used complicated and expensive equipment and have struggled with mass production, making widespread clinical application unrealistic.

Additionally, the few clinical trials attempting to regrow bone have largely used stem cells extracted from a patient’s bone marrow—a highly painful procedure.

MORE: A New Stem-Cell Treatment Looks to Have Cured a Man of Type 1 Diabetes

In a new study, the RMIT research team showed stem cells treated with high-frequency sound waves turned into bone cells quickly and efficiently.

Importantly, the treatment was effective on multiple types of cells including fat-derived stem cells, which are far less painful to extract from a patient.

Co-lead researcher Dr Amy Gelmi said the new approach was faster and simpler than other methods.

“The sound waves cut the treatment time usually required to get stem cells to begin to turn into bone cells by several days,” said Gelmi, a Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellow at RMIT.

“This method also doesn’t require any special ‘bone-inducing’ drugs and it’s very easy to apply to the stem cells.

“Our study found this new approach has strong potential to be used for treating the stem cells, before we either coat them onto an implant or inject them directly into the body for tissue engineering.”

The high-frequency sound waves used in the stem cell treatment were generated on a low-cost microchip device developed by RMIT.

Co-lead researcher Distinguished Professor Leslie Yeo and his team have spent over a decade researching the interaction of sound waves at frequencies above 10 MHz with different materials.

The sound wave-generating device they developed can be used to precisely manipulate cells, fluids or materials.

“We can use the sound waves to apply just the right amount of pressure in the right places to the stem cells, to trigger the change process,” Yeo said.

“Our device is cheap and simple to use, so could easily be upscaled for treating large numbers of cells simultaneously – vital for effective tissue engineering.”

The next stage in the research is investigating methods to upscale the platform, working towards the development of practical bioreactors to drive efficient stem cell differentiation.

The research has been published in the journal Small.

Source: RMIT

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Ohio Family Converts a 1903 Church Into Their Home – and it’s Pretty Amazing (Look)

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Good News Network

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Feb 24, 2022

ohio church transformed to home-SWNS — Matt and Kristen Gray's completed church home renovation. See SWNS story SWFHchurch. A family-of-seven have converted a 1903 church into their home – and use the pews as seats at the dining room table and font as the kitchen sink Parents Matt and Kristen Gray, 38 and 39, were looking to move somewhere so their kids wouldn’t have to cross busy roads to get to school when they heard that the local church was moving site. After a few years of waiting for the building to become available, they finally purchased it for $50,000 in December 2020 and spent five months turning it into a family home.

A family of seven have converted a 1903 church into their home, using the pews as seats at the dining room table, and even adding a slide for quick exits from the balcony.

Parents Matt and Kristen Gray, were looking to move somewhere so their kids wouldn’t have to cross busy roads on their way to school, when they heard about the local church moving.

They purchased the building in Troy, Ohio, for $50,000 in December 2020, and spent five months turning it into a very comfortable family home.

After painting the exterior completely black, they built four bedrooms, three full bathrooms, and three half-bathrooms.

They also created two offices, a workout room, lobby, game room, a laundry room, and two TV rooms.

“The best thing about living in a church is absolutely everything about it,” said 38-year-old Kristen. “The slide is a huge hit…the kids laugh every time they go down!

“We’ve never had a house where all seven of us can cook in the kitchen together but here we can and we love that so much.”

“We have always loved historic restoration and reuse,” added Matt. “My wonderfully creative wife, Kristen, came up with this idea—crazy at the time, yet the idea grew legs.”

Matt says Pleasant Hill Church of God really appreciated the idea and the fact that the building would now house a new purpose. And, it wasn’t going to be torn down to create a parking lot as previously proposed.

Decorating started as soon as Matt and Kristen received the green light from the village community.

“I fell in love and began to decorate each room,” said designer and homeschool teacher Kristen.

They added a new metal roof and upgraded the plumbing and electric wiring, before painting the exterior black. They also wanted to involve their five children, ages 8-15, to design their bedrooms and other spaces like a craft room, game room, TV room and home-schooling area.

“We can spread out and have our separate spaces, yet are close to each other. It truly feels like home.”

The parents added a huge master bedroom with a soaking bath and walk-in shower. Along with modern features, the couple was able to keep original items from the church to use in their design.

The pews are used for seating in the dining and home-schooling rooms, and the basin used for baptisms has been repurposed as their kitchen sink.

“To think of all the lives that were transformed in this steel tub gives you goosebumps,” commented Matt, who is a contractor by trade. “We are excited that it could be salvaged and used.”

MORE: Making Terrariums at Home: They’re Beautiful AND Good for the Mind

They also had a run-in with a bat colony which had taken up residence in the 100-year-old church, before the Grays did.

After five months, the conversion was complete, but the family still wanted to make the building available for use by the community, for religion classes and as a food bank.

“This small town has a huge heart, full of amazing people,” said Matt.

The church attendance board from the entrance hall, which once displayed numbers in the hundreds, is now in the bell tower showing a count of “7”.

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“The viciousness and wrongs of life stick out very plainly but there is a great deal of goodness, kindness, and day-to-day decency that goes unnoticed.” – Isaac Asimov

Quote of the Day

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Good News Network

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Feb 24, 2022

Quote of the Day: “The viciousness and wrongs of life stick out very plainly but there is a great deal of goodness, kindness, and day-to-day decency that goes unnoticed.” – Isaac Asimov

Photo: Fotolia licensed

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?

This Inuk Woman Is Teaching Her Indigenous Language Online to Help Others Reconnect With Inuit Culture

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Andy Corbley

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Feb 23, 2022

“Allurvik” means “place to take your next step” in the language of Inuktitut. It’s also the name of the first online language tutoring service for those looking to learn the Inuit language in Canada, or wherever they are logging in.

During the tyranny of residential schooling of Indigenous children in Canada, many were forbidden from using their native languages, severing one of the most critical connections between people and their culture.

This impacted the Inuit, of whom there are hundreds of thousands living across Canada, Greenland, and Alaska. Around 65,000 Inuit live in Canada, most in Nunavut, and around 40,000 speak their native language.

Miali Coley-Sudlovenick is a ten-year tutor of Inuktitut, teaching out of Iqaluit, Nunavat. Her mother endured an upbringing in the federal schools, but still retained her knowledge of Inuktitut enough to share with her daughter, even though she was mocked and abused for using it. Together they vowed, according to CTV, to preserve their language and ensure it lasted throughout the centuries.

“Asking why this is important is just like asking why water is important. We need it, there’s an innate need inside us searching for a part of ourselves we can identify with. I want to give people their language, and allow them to grasp something they’ve been searching for,” Coley-Sudlovenick told CNN.

Allurvik also sells a variety of Inuit-made products and services, and runs a podcast which features both English and Inuktitut.

Going digital

While translation technologies can make one feel most languages are just saying the same things with different sounds, other programs, such as the Positive Lexicography Project, reveal quite the opposite—that some words simply aren’t translatable. Cultures are shaped by their natural environment, their history, their overcoming of challenges, all of which leave an indelible imprint on linguistic development.

Have you ever had that feeling of being repeatedly drawn to look out of the window towards the approach to your house in expectation that someone will soon be arriving? “Iktsuarpok” is that feeling summarized in a single word in Inuktitut.

“To be able to advocate for my community and be an activist for all Indigenous people, I need to be able to explain myself in a way that’s truly Inuit,” Tabisa Kilabuk told CNN.

MORE: Inspired to Save Their Arctic Home, This First Nation Installs 300KW Solar Station

A University of Calgary student majoring in international Indigenous studies, Kilabuk is also one of Coley-Sudlovenick’s students.

“Doing that in English isn’t enough. By connecting with our language, I’m offered a much stronger foundation than doing [it in] English. It inspires me to keep going in my work to restore and revitalize our language.”

February 21st was International Mother Language Day, when UNESCO leads the world in celebrating the great linguistic diversity of the world. The theme this year was how technology can save some languages from becoming extinct.

LOOK: This Cycling Group is Repairing Bikes for Free All Over the Navajo Nation

“Technology can provide new tools for protecting linguistic diversity,” said Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO. “Such tools, for example, facilitating their spread and analysis, allow us to record and preserve languages which sometimes exist only in oral form. Put simply, they make local dialects a shared heritage.”

With access to the internet being so widespread, more and more of these language tutoring services could be made available, and the slow extinction of many regional dialects, and Indigenous languages can be halted.

(WATCH the CTV video for this story below.)

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Your Brain Doesn’t Slow Down Until You’re in Your 60s – Later Than Thought

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Good News Network

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Feb 23, 2022

Mental speed—the speed at which we can deal with issues requiring rapid decision-making —does not change substantially over decades.

Psychologists at Heidelberg University have come to this conclusion. Under the leadership of Dr Mischa von Krause and Dr Stefan Radev, they evaluated data from a large-scale online experiment with over a million participants.

The findings of the new study suggest that the speed of cognitive information processing remains largely stable between the ages of 20 and 60, and only deteriorates at higher ages. The Heidelberg researchers have hereby called into question the assumption to date that mental speed starts to decline already in early adulthood.

“The common assumption is that the older we get, the more slowly we react to external stimuli. If that were so, mental speed would be fastest at the age of about twenty and would then decline with increasing age,” says Dr von Krause, a researcher in the Quantitative Research Methods department headed by Prof. Dr Andreas Voß at Heidelberg University’s Institute of Psychology.

In order to verify this theory, the researchers reevaluated data from a large-scale American study on implicit biases. In the online experiment with over a million participants, subjects had to press a button to sort pictures of people into the categories “white” or “black” and words into the categories “good” or “bad.”

According to Dr von Krause, the content focus was of minor importance in the Heidelberg study. Instead, the researchers used the large batch of data as an example of a response-time task to measure the duration of cognitive decisions.

When evaluating the data, Dr von Krause and his colleagues noted that, on average, the response times of the test subjects rose with increasing age. However, with the aid of a mathematical model, they were able to show that this phenomenon was not due to changes in mental speed.

“Instead, we think that older test subjects are mainly slower because they reply more cautiously and concentrate more on avoiding mistakes,” Mischa von Krause explains. At the same time, motor execution speed slows down during the course of adult life: older participants in the experiment needed longer to press the appropriate key after they had found the right answer.

MORE: Calorie Restriction is Key Factor in Enhancing Human Health, Say Yale Researchers

Another finding of the study was that average information processing speed only progressively declined with participants over the age of 60. “It looks as though, in the course of our life, we don’t need to fear any substantial losses of mental speed—particularly not in the course of a typical working life,” says Mischa von Krause.

“Generally speaking, we should also note that the test subjects in all age groups included individuals with high and low mental speeds. Our results relate to the average trend.”

The results were published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.

Source: Heidelberg University

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