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Affordable Housing Landlord Starts Eviction Fund and is Shocked –Raising $9Mil Kept 3,000 Families in Their Homes

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Mstagmeier
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When Marjy Stagmeier was 11 years old, she was the Monopoly champion of her 6th grade class in Atlanta Georgia—and she knew right then that she wanted to be landlord when she grew up—and what a compassionate landlord she became.

After graduating from Georgia State University, she started investing in old affordable apartment communities and quickly realized that many of her renter families were low-income single parents who needed services like after-school programs and playgrounds for their communities.

In response to the demand for social services, Marjy launched her own 501c3 nonprofit that provides free on-site services to families living in affordable apartments communities—and Star-C has since become a Godsend for families.

“Many children have come through the Star-C after-school program, who are now doctors, plumbers, and school-teachers, earning good wages that moved them out of poverty,” she told GNN. “Almost 100 families have elevated from renting to home ownership because we kept rents low so families can save their money.”

A chance meeting in 2017 with Bill and Melinda Gates—and Mathew Desmond, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning book Evicted—opened her eyes: Even with her rents below market, some of the tenants struggled to pay rent, so she began to build an informal resource network for families to get rental assistance.

RELATED: Innovative Renovations of Old Hotels Make Perfect Affordable Housing –Including Great Amenities

After COVID-19 struck in March 2020, many of Marjy’s tenants were laid off from their jobs or had to manage multiple children that were suddenly at home during the day, which made the need even greater.

So, in April, Star-C launched an ambitious $50,000 GoFundMe campaign for eviction relief—and the response completely shocked Marjy—when they raised nearly $50,000.

Adding icing to the cake, the local municipal government of Cobb County found out about the Star-C Eviction Relief Fund and quickly voted to donate $1.5 million of their federal stimulus funding. Other municipalities, like Fulton County, followed, and Star-C has now raised over $9 million from governments and foundations, giving the ability to help over 3,000 families avoid eviction.

Cobb County Chief Magistrate Brendan Murphy and Fulton County Chief Magistrate Cassandra Kirk offer rental assistance and courtroom partnership to Marjy and Star-C

Marjy’s staff has spoken personally with thousands of Atlanta families through their hotline, and has, so far, partnered with over 330 landlords representing 65,000 apartment units.

“The eviction relief fund works with landlords who offer affordable rents for low-income families,” says Marjy. “Our landlords know their neediest tenants and assists them with their applications.”

Janice Abrams Cries when she finds out she’s getting financial help

The Star-C program has been a game-changer not only for tenants but landlords who have struggled as well.

“So many of our tenants and landlords are simply grateful. Our Star-C staff often receives thank you notes and calls from families who have now found work and can pay their rent.”

CHECK OUT: Gorgeous 3D-Printed Home Just Popped Up on Zillow for Half the Price of Comparable Houses

And more good news came with the 2021 federal relief package, which has provided another $4.1 million so they can give even more assistance.

“If tenants and their children are stable in their community, it is a win-win for everyone, including the tenant, child, landlord, and local school.”

You can help by donating to Marjy’s nonprofit here or volunteer at their website.

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“To become a master of desire, keep talking yourself out of being attached to trivial goals and keep talking yourself into being thrilled about the precious few goals that are really important.” – Rob Brezsny

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Good News Network
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By Becca Tapert

Quote of the Day: “To become a master of desire, keep talking yourself out of being attached to trivial goals and keep talking yourself into being thrilled about the precious few goals that are really important.” – Rob Brezsny

Photo by: Becca Tapert

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

A Single Injection Reverses Blindness in Patient with Rare Genetic Disorder – Another RNA Success

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Good News Network
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Vanessa Bumbeers

A patient with a genetic form of childhood blindness gained vision, which lasted more than a year, after receiving a single injection of an experimental RNA therapy into the eye.

Vanessa Bumbeers

The gene editing research was conducted at the Perelman School of Medicine in the University of Pennsylvania. Results of the case, detailed in a paper published April 1 in Nature Medicine, show that the treatment led to marked changes at the fovea, the most important point of human central vision.

In the international clinical trial, participants received an intraocular injection of an antisense oligonucleotide called sepofarsen. This short RNA molecule works by increasing normal CEP290 protein levels in the eye’s photoreceptors and improving retinal function under day vision conditions.

The treatment was designed for patients diagnosed with Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) — an eye disorder that primarily affects the retina — who have a CEP290 mutation, which is one of the more commonly implicated genes in patients with the disease. Patients with this form of LCA suffer from severe visual impairment, typically beginning in infancy.

RELATED: Man Regains Sight And Sees His Family Again After Becoming First Person Ever to Receive an Artificial Cornea

“Our results set a new standard of what biological improvements are possible,” said co-lead author Artur Cideciyan, PhD, a research professor of Ophthalmology at Penn Medicine’s Scheie Eye Institute. “Importantly, we established a comparator for currently-ongoing gene editing therapies for the same disease, which will allow comparison of the relative merits of two different interventions.”

In a 2019 study published in Nature Medicine, Cideciyan and collaborators including Dr. Samuel G. Jacobson, found that injections of sepofarsen repeated every three months resulted in continued vision gains in 10 patients.

The eleventh patient, whose treatment was detailed in the latest paper, received only one injection and was examined over a 15-month period. Prior to treatment, the patient had reduced visual acuity, small visual fields, and no night vision. After the initial dose, the patient decided to forgo the quarterly maintenance doses, because the regular dosing could lead to cataracts.

Major improvement in one ‘micro’ dose

After a single injection of sepofarsen, more than a dozen measurements of visual function and retinal structure showed large improvements supporting a biological effect from the treatment. A key finding from the case was that this biological effect was relatively slow in uptake. The researchers saw vision improvement after one month, but the patient’s vision reached a peak effect after month two. Most striking, the improvements remained when tested over 15 months after the first and only injection.

LOOK: 8-Year-old Sees Stars for the First Time After His Blindness is Treated With Gene Therapy

According to the researchers, the extended durability of vision improvement was unexpected and provides implications for treating other ciliopathies — the name of the large category of diseases associated with genetic mutations encoding defective proteins, which results in the abnormal function of cilia, a protruding sensory organelle found on cells.

“This work represents a really exciting direction for RNA antisense therapy. It’s been 30 years since there were new drugs using RNA antisense oligonucleotides, even though everybody realized that there was great promise for these treatments,” said Jacobson. “The unexpected stability of the ciliary transition zone noted in the patient prompts reconsideration of dosing schedules for sepofarsen, as well as other cilium-targeted therapies.”

One reason why antisense oligonucleotide has proven successful in treating this rare disease, according to the researchers, is that these tiny RNA molecules are small enough to get into the cell nucleus, but are not cleared very quickly, so they remain long enough to do their work.

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For future studies, the Penn authors are planning gene-specific therapies for other currently incurable blinding inherited retinal disorders.

Source: Penn Medicine

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This Week’s Inspiring Horoscopes From Rob Brezsny’s ‘Free Will Astrology’

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Good News Network
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Our partner Rob Brezsny provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicated weekly column appearing in over a hundred publications. He is also the author of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How All of Creation Is Conspiring To Shower You with Blessings. (A free preview of the book is available here.)

Here is your weekly horoscope…

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week beginning April 1, 2021
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com

ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Playwright August Strindberg (1849–1912) was a maverick innovator who loved to experiment with plot and language. One of his stories takes place in a dream and the hero is the Christ-like daughter of a Vedic god. He once said that he felt “an immense need to become a savage and create a new world.” Given your current astrological potentials, Aries, I suspect that might be an apt motto for you right now. APRIL FOOL! I half-lied. There’s no need for you to become a savage. In fact, it’s better if you don’t. But the coming weeks will definitely be a good time to create a new world.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Who says all Tauruses are dependable, gentle, risk-avoidant, sensible, and reliable? Taurus author Mary MacLane (1861–1929), known as the “Wild Woman of Butte, Montana,” authored shocking, scandalous books. In I Await the Devil’s Coming, she testified, “I am not good. I am not virtuous. I am not generous. I am merely a creature of intense passionate feeling. I feel—everything. It is my genius. It burns me like fire.” Can I convince you, Taurus, to make her your role model for the coming weeks? APRIL FOOL! I don’t think you should be EXACTLY like MacLane. Please leave out the part about “I am not good. I am not virtuous. I am not generous,” as well as the “I await the devil’s coming” part. But yes, do be a creature of intensely passionate feeling. Let your feelings be your genius, burning in you like a fire.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
Poet Emily Dickinson had a good sense of humor, so she was probably making a wry joke when she wrote, “The lovely flowers embarrass me. They make me regret I am not a bee.” But who knows? Maybe Emily was being a bit sincere, too. In any case, I advise you to make a list of all the things you regret not being—all the qualities and assets you wish you had, but don’t. It’s a favorable time to wallow in remorse. APRIL FOOL! I was totally lying! In fact, I hope you will do the reverse: Engage in an orgy of self-appreciation, celebrating yourself for being exactly who you are.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):
Provocation specialist Lydia Lunch is a singer and poet who’s skilled at generating interesting mischief. She testifies, “My daily existence is a battlecade of extreme fluctuations where chaos clobbers apathy, which beats the s— out of depression which follows irritability which slams into anger which eclipses ecstasy which slips through my fingers far too often.” In the coming weeks, Cancerian, I recommend you adopt her melodramatic approach to living the intense life. APRIL FOOL! I lied. Please don’t be like Lydia Lunch in the near future. On the contrary: Cultivate regal elegance, sovereign poise, and dynamic equanimity.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
In 1692, a Swedish man named Thiess of Kaltenbrun was put on trial for being a werewolf. He claimed to be a noble werewolf, however. He said he regularly went down to Hell to do holy combat against the Devil. I suggest you make him your inspirational role model in the coming weeks. Be as weird as you need to be in order to fight for what’s good and right. APRIL FOOL! I half-lied. What I really meant to say was: Be as weird as you need to be, but without turning into a werewolf, zombie, vampire, goblin, or other supernatural monster.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
“I want to hear raucous music, to brush against bodies, to drink fiery Benedictine,” wrote author Anais Nin. “Beautiful women and handsome men arouse fierce desires in me. I want to dance. I want drugs. I want to know perverse people, to be intimate with them. I want to bite into life, and to be torn by it.” All that sounds like perfect counsel for you to consider right now, dear Virgo! APRIL FOOL! I lied. Nin’s exuberant testimony might be an interesting perspective to flirt with—but I must, instead, suggest that you find ways to express this lively, unruly energy in safe and sublimated ways.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Here are affirmations that will serve you well in the coming days. 1. “I am willing to make mistakes if someone else is willing to learn from them.” 2. “I am grateful that I’m not as judgmental as all the shortsighted, self-righteous people.” 3. “I assume full responsibility for my actions, except those that are someone else’s fault.” 4. “A good scapegoat is as welcome as a solution to the problem.” APRIL FOOL! All the preceding affirmations are total bunk! Don’t you dare use them. Use these instead: 1. “I enjoy taking responsibility for my actions.” 2. “Rather than indulging in the reflex to blame, I turn my attention to fixing the problem.” 3. “No one can make me feel something I don’t want to feel.” 4. “I’m free from believing in the images people have of me.”

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
According to author Kahlil Gibran, “If we were all to sit in a circle and confess our sins, we would laugh at each other for lack of originality.” But I challenge you Scorpios to refute that theory in the coming days. For the sake of your sanity and health, you need to commit highly original sins—the more, the better. APRIL FOOL! I lied. Save your novel, imaginative sinning for later. The truth is that now is an excellent time to explore the joyous and healthy practice of being extremely virtuous. Imitate author Susan Sontag: “My idolatry: I’ve lusted after goodness. Wanting it here, now, absolutely, increasingly.”

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
The coming months would be a great time to start your own university and then award yourself a PhD in Drugless Healing or Mathematical Reincarnation or Political Metaphysics—or any other subject you’d like to be considered an expert in. Hey, why not give yourself three PhDs and call yourself a Professor Emeritus? APRIL FOOL! I’m just joking. The coming months will indeed be an extremely favorable time to advance your education, but with real learning, not fake credentials.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
After his Nirvana bandmate Kurt Cobain committed suicide, Capricorn drummer Dave Grohl was depressed for months. To cheer himself up, he wrote and recorded an album’s worth of songs, playing almost all the instruments himself: drums, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass, and vocals. I think you should try a similar spectacularly heroic solo task in the coming weeks. APRIL FOOL! I lied. Here’s my true and actual advice: Now is a time when you should gather all the support and help and cooperation you can possibly garner for a beloved project.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Argentine poet Alejandra Pizarnik told her psychoanalyst León Ostrov that if she were going to steal something, it would be “the façade of a certain collapsed house in a little town called Fontenay-aux-Roses [near Paris].” What was so special about this façade? Its windows were made of “magical” lilac-colored glass that was “like a beautiful dream.” In accordance with astrological omens, I invite you, too, to decide what marvel you would steal—and then go steal it! APRIL FOOL! I half-lied. Yes, definitely decide what you would steal—it’s important to give your imagination permission to be outrageous—but don’t actually steal it.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
I’ve never understood the appeal of singer-songwriter Morrissey. However, I want to recommend that you adopt the attitude he once expressed in a letter to a friend. “It was a terrible blow to hear that you actually worked,” he wrote. “It’s so old-fashioned to work. I’d much rather lounge about the house all day looking fascinating.” Be like that in the coming weeks, Pisces! APRIL FOOL! I lied. In fact, you’d be making a silly mistake to lie around the house looking fascinating. It’s a highly favorable time for you to find ways to work harder and smarter.

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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Watch a Mama Black Bear Struggle Hilariously to Get All Four Cubs Across The Road

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Good News Network
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Fresh out of their winter den, this mama black bear in Connecticut had her paws full—trying to get all four cubs across the road as cars piled up in both directions.

25 miles northwest of Hartford, the state capital, a driver in the city of Winsted had a front row seat to the amusing scene unfolding.

Four cubs is a lot for a bear, an animal that usually has to manage caring for only two or three.

The adorable video, shot on March 27, depicts the difficulty she had, with the fourth cub refusing to cross, and trying to climb a utility pole instead.

The police from nearby Winchester were called to the scene, but drivers were waiting patiently for the bear to get her brood safely to the other side.

She BEAR-LY made it across! Watch the video below…

ALSO Check Out: Puppy Gets Tooth Pulled at the Dentist, And Adorably Smiles for the Camera

 

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Parole Officer ‘Empathy Training’ Leads to a 13% Drop in Offenders Returning to Jail

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Good News Network
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Karsten Winegeart

A new study suggests that empathy training for parole and probation officers helps deter their clients from reoffending.

Karsten Winegeart

Heavy caseloads, job stress, and biases can negatively affect relations between these officers and their clients, leading to the likelihood of offenders landing back behind bars.

A positive psychology intervention developed by UC Berkeley suggests that nonjudgmental empathy training helps court-appointed supervision officers feel more emotionally connected to their clients, which, the new study shows, might deter them from criminal backsliding.

The findings, published last month in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show, on average, a 13% decrease in recidivism among the clients of parole and probation officers who participated in the empathy training experiment.

“If an officer received this empathic training, real-world behavioral outcomes changed for the people they supervised, who, in turn, were less likely to go back to jail,” said study lead and senior author Jason Okonofua, an assistant professor of psychology at UC Berkeley.

The results are particularly salient because the U.S. criminal justice system has among the highest rates of recidivism, with approximately 66% of incarcerated people rearrested within three years of their release, with one-half being sent back behind bars.

RELATED: Inmates Are Earning Free College Degrees Behind Bars, And Their Recidivism Rate Plunges to 2%

Okonofua, who has led similar interventions for school teachers to check their biases before disciplining students, points out that “ongoing criminal justice reforms are diverting more people away from incarceration and toward probation or parole, which is why we need to develop scalable ways to keep pace with this change.”

At the invitation of a correctional department in a large East Coast city, Okonofua and graduate students in his lab at UC Berkeley sought to find out if a more caring approach on the part of court-appointed supervision officers would reverse trends in recidivism.

For the study, the researchers surveyed more than 200 parole and probation officers who oversee more than 20,000 people convicted of crimes ranging from violent crimes to petty theft. They make sure their clients don’t miss a drug test or court hearing, and provide resources to help them stay out of trouble and out of jail.

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The researchers designed and administered a 30-minute online empathy survey that focused on the officers’ job motivation, biases, and views on relationships and responsibilities.

Tapping into empathy through suggestion

To trigger their sense of purpose and values, and tap into their empathy, the UC Berkeley survey asked what parts of the work they found fulfilling. One respondent talked about how, “When I run across those guys, and they’re doing well, I’m like, ‘Awesome!’” Others reported that being an advocate for people in need was most important to them.

As for addressing biases — including assumptions that certain people are predisposed to a life of crime — the survey cited egregious cases in which probation and parole officers abused their power over those under their supervision.

LOOK: Bob Ross’s Legacy is Helping Inmates Plant ‘Happy Little Trees’ Throughout State Parks

Survey takers were also asked to rate how much responsibility they bear, as officers and members of a profession, for their peers’ transgressions. Most answered that they bore no responsibility.

Courtesy of UC Berkeley

Ten months after administering the training, researchers found a 13% decrease in recidivism among the offenders whose parole and probation officers had completed the empathy survey. Research protocols bar identifying the agency and its location.

While the study yielded no specifics on what prevented the parolees and people on probation for reoffending in the period following the officers’ empathy training, the results suggest that a change in relationship dynamics played a key role.

“The officer is in a position of power to influence if it’s going to be an empathic or punitive relationship in ways that the person on parole or probation is not,” Okonofua said. “As our study shows, the relationship between probation and parole officers and the people they supervise plays a pivotal role and can lead to positive outcomes, if efforts to be more understanding are taken into consideration.

Source: Yasmin Anwar/UC Berkeley

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“April is the kindest month. April gets you out of your head and out working in the garden.” – Marty Rubin

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “April is the kindest month. April gets you out of your head and out working in the garden.” – Marty Rubin

Photo by: Jez Timms

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

 

 

Fog-Catching Towers Could Supply Water to the World’s Driest Megacity Using The Ocean Air

By
Andy Corbley
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Artist rendering, Alberto Fernandez

How can a megacity find water for 10 million people if it exists in the desert? Fog-catching nets, erected on hills over the city of Lima could solve the city’s water shortages for good.

A twenty-meter high (60 feet) tower of spiraling nets will be unveiled this summer in the city as a solution to the threat which a warming climate poses to the shaky foundations of water availability in Lima.

Aside from glacial runoff from the Andes, and water from the stressed Rímac River, Peru’s capital city accumulates just one inch of rain a year. The city sees high annual temperatures, and water consumption rates, despite being located in a desert, are higher than world averages.

However, a unique feature of Lima’s weather offers a way of relieving some of this demand. Situated on the coast, Lima’s surrounding hills are constantly bathed in waves of fog coming off the Pacific Ocean, and the moisture captured by plants ensures they stay green year-round.

Inspired by rudimentary, two-dimensional fog nets installed by rural communities across the continent, Alberto Fernandez, a Chilean designer currently studying for a Ph.D. from University College London, wanted to extrapolate the technology to its most sophisticated conclusion, because while the nets had major flaws, their basic principles were brilliant.

The towers and fog-catching nets unveiled by Fernandez are made of aluminum wrapped in copper mesh covered in plastic, and could create as much as 1,000 liters of water per day, amounting to 3.6 million liters per year, if enough are installed.

RELATED: New Device Can Power 100 Small LED Lights Simply By Harnessing the Energy of a Single Water Droplet

Their towering structure allows them to get into the clouds, collecting more vital water vapor, and their spiral shape means that no matter the direction of the wind, the moisture-rich fog will strike some part of the structure directly.

The water will largely be used for agriculture—as the water would require filtering before consumption—helping free up resources for city-dwellers.

Cheaper than seawater desalination or filtering water from the Rímac, the towers and nets, which Fernandez says could be built up to 200 meters high, are part of a myriad of designs for the Lima 2035 project.

MORE: Solar-Powered Panels Pull Water Out of the Air For Navajo Families Who Have None

It aims at reversing current desertification trends to create a re-generative oasis for sustainable and human-centered food systems that promote healthy diets and improved incomes in the driest megacity on Earth.

(WATCH the video about fog-catching towers below.)

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Italy Bans Cruise Ships from Entering Historic Venice City Center

By
Andy Corbley
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Wolfgang Moroder, CC license

After more than 10 years of cruise ships plowing through Venice’s historic Giudecca Canal, they’ve been permanently banned.

Italian Cultural Minister Dario Franceschini announced the news on Wednesday, stating it was in response to a request from UNESCO, and described it as “a correct decision, awaited for years.”

Wolfgang Moroder, CC license

After a 2019 collision between one of these floating cities and a Venetian harbor left five people injured, pressure mounted to ban cruise ships from stopping in the Italian city. They will now have to dock at the industrial port until a new solution can be found.

MORE: Inflatable Floodgates in Venice Named After Moses Save the City for a Second Time

Scientists and civil servants have argued that the wake from the huge vessels, which can legally enter as long as they weigh less than 96,000 tones, have eroded the foundations of the city—which suffers regularly from flooding.

The Giudecca Canal goes right past the iconic Saint Mark’s Square, or Piazza San Marco: seat of the Duchy of Venice when it was the most prosperous merchant republic in the world, as well as the jaw-dropping Basilica di San Marco.

CHECK OUT: Formerly Vacant Lot in Milan Wins ‘Reinventing Cities’ Contest With Vineyard Atop Building With Public Sidewalk

Cruise ships have not been able to enter Venice since the outbreak of COVID-19, and it seems the 2019 tourist season was the last to feature them, at least until a permanent alternative port can be found—a topic for which the government plans to hold a “call for ideas.”

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School Surprises Hero Custodian With $35,000 Collected As Special Gift of Thanks

By
Judy Cole
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Adrian Wood
Adrian Wood

The world is full of everyday heroes. People behind the scenes who go out of their way to make life better for all of us. Sometimes, they’re recognized; oftentimes they’re not.

When Raymond Brown, head custodian at Edenton’s White Oak Elementary didn’t take home the North Carolina School Hero Award he’d been nominated for last year, an entire community—led by one determined mom—got together to let him know just how much they appreciated him.

“He’s kind of our rock, our foundation of what we do here,” White Oak principal Michelle Newsome told WRAL. “Probably what makes Mr. Brown the most special is he works really hard to build relationships with the students.”

No one knows that better than Adrian Wood, whose son Amos has formed a special bond with Brown. Amos has autism, which can make finding friends among his peers a challenge. He and Brown, however, encountered no such obstacle.

“He got attached to me and I got attached to him, so I gave him the name Famous Amos,” Brown told WRAL.

When the kids at his school realized there was something special going on between the 7-year-old and the school’s favorite grownup, it helped them see Amos in a way they hadn’t before.

“[Mr. Brown] welcomed my son,” Wood told WITN. “And when the most popular man in school gives you a nice nickname, it draws other children in. All the kids started talking to him. Even now, if you walk down the hall, you’ll hear children say, ‘There’s Famous Amos! Hey, Famous Amos!’ And as a mom of a child with a disability, there’s nothing more I want in the world to include him.”

MORE: Embarrassed Student Hid Bad Haircut Under a Hat, Then the Principal Gave Him a Great New Do (WATCH)

With her other two children, Wood went through the usual school-related worries, but having a child with special needs was another experience entirely. “Sending Amos to school was such a different path,” she told TODAY. “He was 3 when he started school. He was in diapers and he didn’t speak. But after Mr. Brown started saying hello to him and calling him Famous Amos,’ Amos started saying, ‘Hey Brown,’ when he saw him. He wasn’t even saying ‘Daddy,’ at that point, so it was really something.”

Wood admits to crying tears of frustration when she learned Brown was passed over for the NC Heroes Award, but rather than admit defeat, she decided to find another means of honoring him.

Wood used her Facebook blog, Tales of an Educated Debutante, as a platform to, as she saw it, right a wrong. Within a week, she’d raised $35,000 from nearly 2,000 people from around the globe and had a plan in the works to shower Brown with the kudos he deserved.

On March 20, in a surprise ceremony that coincided with Brown and his wife’s 38th wedding anniversary, the Browns’ grown children along with hundreds of well-wishers—including Edenton’s mayor, the chief of police, and Miss North Carolina—were on hand to sing their beloved custodian’s praises and present him with a $35,000 honorarium dubbed “The Famous Amos Award.”

RELATED: Preschool Director With Big Heart Drives For Uber to Ensure Kids Get Holiday Gifts – So Community Rallies to Buy Her a Car

“I just hope that people will look around and see…it’s not hard to do—it’s not hard to be kind and it’s not hard to recognize kindness,” Wood told WITN.

And so it’s fitting that the most precious accolade for the small-town hero came from Amos himself, who simply said, “I love you, Mr. Brown.”

(WATCH the WRAL video for this story below.)

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North Carolina-based writer Judy Cole has a new rom-com murder mystery debuting on Amazon: And Jilly Came Tumbling After (from Red Sky Presents).

Two Dogs Rescued From the Streets Now Live Their Best Life on the Road—Seeing the Sights of Europe

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Good News Network
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SWNS

The amazing lives of two rescued street dogs who travel with their owner on trips around Europe have been captured in a series of stunning photographs.

SWNS

Finn and Yuri were plucked from the streets of Romania by photographer Anne Geier where they faced being abused or put down in a shelter.

Now Anne and her two doggy companions enjoy traveling to some of Europe’s most spectacular beauty spots in her VW T4 camper van.

In her latest adventure with her two loyal canine companions, Anne spent two weeks touring the mountains and fjords of Norway and documenting their trip with her camera.

MORE: Stray Dog Kept Sneaking Into Dollar Store For a Stuffed Unicorn – Now He and the Toy Have a New Forever Home

The result is a stunning series of beautifully crafted portraits.

In the photos, you can see the two dogs in a landscape of crystal clear lakes, snow-bound mountain peaks, and foggy forests.

SWNS

Anne, who lives in Tauplitz in Austria, said of van life with her best friends: “It’s perfect, we can go wherever we want and whenever we want… [and] I think moving from hotel to hotel every few days would be too stressful.

SWNS

She said that, as a group, they have been to South Tirol, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany—and of course all around Austria as well as Norway.

SWNS

Finn, a fox-terrier and Labrador cross, was adopted by Anne in 2014 and was joined by Yuri—an Australian cattle dog/border collie cross—in 2017.

SWNS

Together, they make the perfect companions for each other, don’t you think?

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NASA Confirmation: Earth is Safe From Asteroid for 100 Years

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Good News Network
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NASA/JPL-Caltech

Earthlings can feel some relief for now, as NASA has confirmed our planet is safe from a particularly worrisome asteroid for the next century at least.

NASA

99942 Apophis—which was discovered in 2004—had been identified as one of the most hazardous asteroids that could impact the planet. But results from a new radar observation campaign, combined with precise orbit analysis, have helped astronomers conclude that Apophis won’t hit Earth in 2068—as had been the fear.

Estimated to be about 1,100 feet across, when Apophis—named after the Egyptian god of destruction—made a flyby of Earth in early March, NASA states its scientists took the opportunity to use powerful radar observations to refine the estimate of its orbit around the Sun with extreme precision, enabling them to confidently rule out any impact risk in 2068 and long after.

“Although Apophis made a recent close approach with Earth, it was still nearly 10.6 million miles away. Even so, we were able to acquire incredibly precise information about its distance to an accuracy of about 150 meters [490 feet],” said JPL scientist Marina Brozovic, who led the radar campaign. “This campaign not only helped us rule out any impact risk, it set us up for a wonderful science opportunity.”

RELATED: NASA Technology to Map The Stars Could Now Help Save World’s Largest Fish

On April 13, 2029, NASA says the asteroid will pass less than 20,000 miles (32,000 kilometers) from our planet’s surface. During that close approach, Apophis will be visible to observers on the ground in the Eastern Hemisphere without the aid of a telescope or binoculars.

NASA explains this makes for an unrivaled chance for astronomers to get a close-up view of a solar system relic.

CHECK OUT: These Stunning 4K Space Videos From NASA Will Help You Escape Earth’s Orbit For a While

“When I started working with asteroids after college, Apophis was the poster child for hazardous asteroids,” said Davide Farnocchia of NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies. “There’s a certain sense of satisfaction to see it removed from the risk list, and we’re looking forward to the science we might uncover during its close approach in 2029.”

MORE: 50 Years Ago NASA Sent a Map Into Space to Help Aliens Find Earth—Now They’ve Got An Awesome Update

Sounds like we should all be making a note in our diaries about an amazing night sky-watching opportunity in 8 years’ time.

(WATCH the video about the Apophis asteroid below).

Source: NASA 

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“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.” – Shunryu Suzuki

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Quote of the Day: “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.” – Shunryu Suzuki, Zen master

Photo by: Bruno Martins

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

 

India Donates 200,000 COVID Vaccinations to Protect UN Peacekeepers Around the World

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United Nations, CC license
United Nations, CC license

200,000 donated AstraZeneca vaccines left Mumbai for Denmark last week—where they will be safely stored and distributed to UN peacekeepers serving in various mission around the globe.

Lauding India as “a longstanding and steadfast supporter of peacekeeping”, UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said, “an effective roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine to all peacekeepers is a key priority for the United Nations in order to protect our personnel and their capacity to continue their crucial work, help protect vulnerable communities and deliver on their mandates.”

He thanked the government and people of India for their generous donation to safeguard peacekeeping personnel and “enable them to continue their life-saving work in a safe manner.”

Vaccinating peacekeepers

The head of UN Operational Support, Atul Khare, said the donation will ensure that UN peacekeepers remain healthy and “deliver in some of the most difficult environments in the world without relying on already stretched national health systems or ongoing COVAX efforts.”

MORE: Anyone in These States Can Get a Covid-19 Vaccine, Thanks to Several Native Tribes

At the same time, Mr. Khare’s department is leading UN system-wide arrangements to support national efforts in vaccinating UN civilian personnel and family members.

India has long played an important role in peacekeeping, particularly though its contribution of troops. Currently, more than 95,000 UN peacekeepers are deployed in 12 missions.

Meanwhile, the UN Resident Coordinator in India, Renata Desalien, “heartily” thanked India for its “generous gesture of solidarity and support.”

RELATED: Same Technology Behind Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine is Leading Researchers to Possible MS Breakthrough

“This step, especially for the United Nations, reflects India’s strong commitment to global peace and multilateralism,” she stated. We’ll be sure to share more of these acts of generosity from around the world as they come in.

Source: UN News

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Look For the Pyramid of Light in the Night Sky Known as the Zodiacal Glow

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Until April 13, a phenomenon that can only be sighted twice a year is occurring above our heads.

Look towards the western horizon around an hour after sunset, and if the air is clear you could see ‘zodiacal light’.

ESOY. Beletsky, CC license

Seen in the Northern Hemisphere just after twilight, according to NASA, what we’re seeing in that faint glow is “sunlight reflected toward Earth by a cloud of tiny dust particles orbiting the Sun.”

According to the U.S. space agency, while there’s now solid evidence that Mars—the dustiest planet scientists know of—is the source of zodiacal light, it cannot yet be explained exactly how this dust “could have escaped the grip of Martian gravity.”

CHECK OUT:  50 Years Ago NASA Sent a Map Into Space to Help Aliens Find Earth—Now They’ve Got An Awesome Update

For the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Dr. Roy Bishop, Emeritus Professor of Physics at Acadia University, describes the celestial sight beautifully: “The zodiacal light appears as a huge, softly radiant pyramid of white light with its base near the horizon and its axis centred on the zodiac (or better, the ecliptic). In its brightest parts, it exceeds the luminance of the central Milky Way.”

Who wouldn’t want to see that? With the weather getting milder, it’s a very good time to gaze up at the night sky. Let us know if you see this particular light pillar shooting up, and good luck with your zodiacal hunt.

MORE: Scientist Thinks He Finally Knows Why People Hear Sounds Coming From the Northern Lights

P.S. There’s always the September equinox for another chance to see this special, pyramid-shaped glow.

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Tweet This Hashtag Today, and T-Mobile Will Donate $500k to Classrooms Across the U.S.

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T-Mobile

Global companies have put on a lot of fun jokes this April Fools’ Day, but instead of joining in with the high jinks this year, T-Mobile is instead partaking in high fives—by launching the hashtag movement #GiveThanksNotPranks.

Inspired by a study finding that those who witness even a single act of gratitude are more inspired to join in and express gratitude themselves—T-Mobile is donating $5 to classrooms every time their new hashtag is shared.

Through the nonprofit education crowdfunding site DonorsChoose, the company is helping the USA’s hardworking and often under-resourced teachers purchase critical classroom supplies to support students—to help educators and teachers adapting to all the changes in learning during the pandemic.

Motorola, OnePlus, SanMar, Wattpad, Mattress Firm, Sleep.com, and Drone Racing League have already pledged their support to join the movement with T-Mobile.

MORE: Scott Kolbrenner Won $145,000 on ‘Wheel of Fortune.’ Now He’s Giving It All to Charity

They’ll pause the pranks today and instead give donations to non-profit organizations and drive a wave of shout-outs through their social media channels with the #GiveThanksNotPranks hashtag.

TikTok is participating too, bringing their community in with a hashtag challenge.

CHECK OUT: #WallStreetBets Traders Donate $300,000 to Adopt Gorillas From Dian Fossey Fund

So who’s in? You can join the movement by doing any of the following:

  • Share: Customers and fans can thank any person who has gone the extra mile by sharing stories on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram with #GiveThanksNotPranks. T-Mobile will donate $5 to DonorsChoose for each post up to the $500,000 campaign total.
  • Donate: T-Mobile will match individual donations made directly to its DonorsChoose campaign up to the $500,000 campaign total.
  • Text: Customers and fans can donate $5 of their own to DonorsChoose by texting THANKS to 50555.

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Check Out These New April Fools Gags From Some Clever Companies Online

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We’ve scoured the web to bring you the best April Fools’ jokes from brands around the world.

From cauliflower-flavored Peeps to an anti-gravity trampoline that we really wish existed, check them out—and share your own favorites.

The Canadian Space Agency figures out an enduring mystery…

And, we thought they went out the hold in the Hozone.

New tea bags are ‘self-jiggling’…

To be honest, we’re kind of hoping that Lipton does put some of their innovators onto a bag-jiggle technology that “guarantees even infusion, and aids milk dispersement.”

Toilet tissue to make you smarter

The language-learning app Duolingo knows that some of us spend at least a little toilet time playing on apps. So they created the Duolingo Roll that “turns your bathroom into a classroom.”

These joke-rolls have actually been made. Head over to their social media channels today for a giveaway of loo rolls in Japanese, Portuguese, English, Chinese, and Spanish. ¡Olé!

The ultimate perfume for book lovers…

Kobo Rakuten

eBooks company Rakuten Kobo has described its new perfume as having “just a hint of the musty smell of aged paper.”

“Our new signature fragrance conjures memories of old-school reading with a sprinkling of violets and a dash of tasteful potpourri. For those who just *need* the scent of paper to dive into a good story, we’re here for you too.” Sounds good to us.

Cauliflower-flavored Easter Peeps!

Green Giant/Peeps

Regular Peeps are pretty much straight injections of sugar. But Green Giant’s April Fools peeps? They taste of sugar… and boiled vegetables. Sound good to you?

The jigsaw puzzle to end all jigsaw puzzles…

Blue Kazoo

It’s been a good year for jigsaw puzzle manufacturers, but we’re not sure this $100,000 one, made up of 100,000 brilliantly blue pieces—of “unadulterated azure agony”—would actually do well if it went on the market. But it’s a great play for a company called Blue Kazoo.

MORE LAUGHS: Wife’s Humorous Obituary For Late Husband Goes Viral – ‘Cause of death: Being dead sexy’

Garlic and Guacamole Toothpaste for everyone…

Doesn’t this ‘hand-scooped’ GuacPaste toothpaste from Chosen Foods look mighty fine? Who wouldn’t want to freshen their breath with “aromatic savory flavors.”

The ultimate face mask…

Peanut butter is super popular. Beauty subscription services are super popular. Put the two together and what do you get? Ipsy plus Jif came up with creamy peanut butter sheet masks and more.

The world’s first anti-gravity trampoline is launched (sort of)…

Outdoor play company Vuly has gone more than a little sci-fi, with an anti-gravity trampoline that… turns out to be just a joke. Still, watch the video and imagine something this fun was real!

CHECK OUT: Max the Cockatoo is Known as a Cluckatoo – For His Flawless Chicken Impression

The most authentic campfire marshmallows around…

Jet Puffed

So the fire pits are all sold at the local hardware store—but that shouldn’t mean you can’t get your fix of perfectly toasty mallows. Jet-Puffed, for one day only, is giving a glimpse of something people might actually pay good money for: marshmallows flavored so they’re already “burnt to that perfect level of crisp.”

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Biodegradable Algae Solar Panels Clean The Air While Growing Green Energy

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Andy Corbley
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Adán Ramirez Sánchez/GreenFluidics
Adán Ramirez Sánchez/GreenFluidics

What can generate clean energy, biomass for fertilizers, convert CO2 into oxygen, and be used in space? Algae.

Pursuing this incredible organism’s potential is young Adán Ramirez Sánchez—23-year-old Mexican biotechnician and winner of MIT’s 2019 Latin American Innovators Under 35—who has made solar panels powered by algae instead of minerals mined from the earth.

His Intelligent Solar Biopanels, made at his firm GreenFluidics, are one part microalgae, one part nanotechnology, and they absorb CO2 before converting it into electricity and oxygen, potentially solving two of the largest problems of our time.

If you paid attention in biology class, you may notice a similarity between this and the evolutionary strategy of photosynthesis, the method by which plants generate energy from CO2 and sunlight.

The invention just gets better and better however, as the panels are totally biodegradable—since they are made from algae and abundant marine material—and they produce biomass while running, which can be collected and used as fertilizer.

Measuring a meter across, the green triangular panels are quirky and avant-garde, and can lend an office a unique touch while purifying the air within.

Consumption of fuel to generate electricity or thrust is the largest source of emissions by an enormous margin. For comparison’s sake, the U.S. would have to multiply the number of horses, sheep, goats, and cows in the country by roughly 50 to come close to matching it through the animals’ enteric fermentation.

MORE: After Massive Wildfires, DroneSeed is Replanting Forests 6x Faster By Using Special Drones

Ramirez defines GreenFluidics as Mexico’s first technology firm to produce biotech for outer space exploration, saying upon receiving his award from MIT that “we are looking to connect outer space with planet Earth through the technology we have developed.”

He hopes they can be taken onboard spaceships or within colonies, as they can simply be set on a window and generate electricity and oxygen for the astronauts inside using the sun. The biomass produced can be used to fertilize space crops—another biotech that’s being developed by NASA and ESA.

CHECK OUT: A Team of Maverick Engineers Want to Roll the Geological Clock Back on Sinai and Replace Desert with Lush Greenery

Sometimes when you want to dream big and reach for the sky, the first step is looking down, in this case, into a pond perhaps.

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“Over the winter glaciers, I see the summer glow. And through the wind-piled snowdrift, the warm rosebuds below.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Quote of the Day: “Over the winter glaciers, I see the summer glow. And through the wind-piled snowdrift, the warm rosebuds below.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Photo by: Bernd Dittrich

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

 

 

Down the Rabbit Hole: Bunnies in Wales Dig Up Treasure of 9,000-Year-old Artifacts

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

Richard Brown and Giselle Eagle, WTSWW

Alone on the windswept island Skokholm, wardens have found Stone Age tools and a pottery shard from an unlikely survey plot—down a rabbit burrow.

The finds date to 3,750—9,000 years ago, and include tools for making seal hide clothes and boats and the shard of a funerary urn, suggesting the small island could have been used for ritual burial.

Richard Brown and Giselle Eagle, the only humans on the island since COVID-19 arrived, discovered the first of two “bevelled pebbles” outside of a burrow where, rather than tomb-robbers or artifact hunters, it had been dug up from the ground by the island’s rabbits as they strove to make their underground home.

Snapping a photograph, they sent it to Dr. Toby Driver of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, who replied back that “the photos are clearly of a late Mesolithic ‘bevelled pebble.”

Richard Brown and Giselle Eagle, WTSWW

“These are common and distinctive finds amongst flint scatters of this age found on coastal sites all the way from [northern] France up to western Scotland, and also on some northern English coasts,” he added, according to the Skokholm Blog, managed by Brown and Eagle.

“We had our eye in, and it wasn’t long before we found another very likely candidate for a bevelled pebble along Little Bay Wall (again exposed by the digging of Rabbits),” wrote the pair two days later when they happened upon another find.

“Although we couldn’t find any more stones at the original site in the lee of the knoll, we did find a piece of pottery which to our (very) untrained eyes looked old.”

Richard Brown and Giselle Eagle, WTSWW

Once again they alerted an expert and received an analysis that the thick-walled pottery shard was part, not of ancient food storage, but rather of a funerary urn. Jody Deacon at the National Museum of Wales told them that they are “common in Ireland and seem to turn up more frequently in the western areas of Wales”.

“[This is the] First Bronze Age burial urn fragment from the west Pembrokeshire islands,” remarked Dr. Driver upon hearing the news. “The prehistory of Skokholm has changed completely in only a few days.”

CHECK OUT: Ancient Biblical Scrolls and Rare Coins of ‘Immeasurable Worth for Mankind’ Discovered in Desert Cave

Similar examples from west Wales dated to about 2,100 and 1,750 BCE, or around 3,750 years ago.

From nature reserve to national reserve

Skokholm Island/Bob Embleton, CC license

Situated two miles off the coast of Pembrokeshire, in Wales, the island of Skokholm, meaning “wooded island” in the language of the Norse peoples who settled it in the Viking Age, is just one-mile long and a half mile across at the widest point.

MORE: Paleontologists Uncover Rarer-than-Rare Fossil of Oviraptor on Nest of Eggs With 24 Embryos Inside

Nicknamed, “Dream Island,” rabbits and seabirds, along with other sea life are the only inhabitants outside of primitive campers seeking an overnight experience in nature. The island was bought and turned into a nature reserve by the The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales.

Colonized every summer by tens of thousands of shearwaters, petrels, gulls, guillemots, puffins, and razorbills, there is also a plentiful population of rabbits. Rabbits, according to Danièle Cybulskie writing at Medievalists, were brought over to Britain by the Normans, and warrens were created for them on islands like Bannow, and probably Skokholm, to protect them from predators so as to supply a stable food and fur resource.

Nearby Skomer Island is better known for its well-preserved prehistoric archaeology, and archaeologists Driver and Louise Barker from the Royal Commission, who have carried out archaeological surveys there, intend to pay a little visit to Skokholm after quarantine restrictions ease to investigate the site further.

RELATED: One of Archaeology’s Great Mysteries Nearly Solved as Scientists Piece Together 2,000-yo Astronomy Calculator

“Now Skokholm is producing some amazing prehistoric finds,” write the Commission in a release. “It seems we may have an Early Bronze burial mound built over a Middle Stone Age hunter gatherer site, disturbed by rabbits. It’s a sheltered spot, where the island’s cottage now stands, and has clearly been settled for millennia.”

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