Quote of the Day: “In exchange for the promise of security, many people put a barrier between themselves and the adventures in consciousness that could put a whole new light on their personal lives.” – June Singer, Boundaries of the Soul: The Practice of Jung’s Psychology
Photo: by h.koppdelaney, CC
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Dry, hot, and windy weather conditions have fed a dozen wildfires across Colorado forcing the safe evacuation of thousands of homes in the West and South, but one furry resident ‘bearly’ made it out.
Firefighters spotted a bear cub wandering alone in a burned-out area north of Durango with no sign of her mother.
The cub suffered severe burns to its feet, according to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff who have been treating the animal, estimated to be 4-5 month-old, at their Frisco Creek wildlife facility near Del Norte.
“When the bear was brought in I wasn’t sure if it was going to make it,” said Michael Sirochman, manager of the facility. “But she’s responding very well to treatment and by winter we believe we’ll be able to return her to the wild.”
WATCH: Childless Couple Rescued an Orphaned Bear—Now 7-feet Tall, He Loves to Cuddle
Firefighters working on the massive 416 fire, which burned 47,000-acres of national forest, but is 37 percent contained as of Saturday morning, kept an eye on the bear for a couple of days but didn’t see a mother bear nearby.
Matt Thorpe, area wildlife manager in Durango, then made the decision to send the bear to Frisco Creek to determine if it could be treated.
“We weren’t optimistic at first,” Thorpe said. “It probably hadn’t eaten in a couple of days, but it had survived on its own so we wanted to give it a chance.”
WATCH: Amusing Video of Two Cats Trying to Pass Each Other Atop a Narrow Doorframe
How the cub became separated from its mother is unknown, but Sirochman speculated that ‒ as is common with most wildlife species ‒ the mother placed the cub in a safe place but was unable to return.
One concern about treating bears for injuries is that they could become habituated to humans which, in turn, can makes them unfit to return to the wild. Consequently, Sirochman and his staff have set up Frisco Creek so that bears have almost no contact with humans. In the case of the injured cub, it must be anesthetized for every treatment, and when it wakes up the human is gone.
“We have good luck returning young bears to the wild,” Sirochman said.
The bear is being fed a liquid milk replacement that imitates the milk of a sow. It’s also receiving solid food.
MORE: Gorilla Hugging Man Who Saved Her Life: The Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award
Sirochman estimated that bandaging the feet will continue for up to a month. After the feet are healed it will be placed in an enclosure with the four other cubs currently at the facility. The bears will grow and fatten up throughout the summer and fall.
While no decisions have been made about how the bears will be released, it’s likely that after they begin to hibernate in late fall Colorado wildlife officers will build a den close to the area where the bears were found. Responding to the natural hibernation cycle, the bears will emerge in the spring of 2019, probably by April.
The fires are also affecting communities across the state with smoke inundating towns as far as a hundred miles away. One employee at a Conoco gas station in Pueblo told Good News Network, “The smoke has been really bad… A friend of mine had ashes falling all over his car.”
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It has been four years since this French school banned the use of cell phones – and while some people might have expected negative backlash, the students and teachers are quite happy with the regulation.
According to The Guardian, the 290 teenager pupils at La Gautrais Middle School in Plouasne have displayed “more social interaction between children, more empathy and a readiness to learn at the start of lessons”.
Students are talking and playing more at recess; the youngsters are active and engaged on school field trips, rather than staring at screens; and they say that they are closer with their friends as a result of conversing more with each other.
“When I’m with my friends I prefer a proper conversation,” one of the kids told the news outlet. “If you’re all standing around with phones, you talk about what’s on the screen rather than really listening to each other.”
LOOK: These Little Athletes Glued to Their Phones Are Not Ignoring Each Other Like Adults Assume
While the staff of the school had initially expressed anxiety over enforcing the ban, teachers and administrators say it’s been relatively easy. There is only about 10 cell phones that are confiscated per year. Another French school that implemented a cell phone ban has actually seen a decrease in cell phone confiscations.
“We thought the toilets would be monopolized by children sneaking a look at their phones, but that hasn’t happened at all,” said one headteacher. “What we have seen is that pupils seem less addicted to phones.”
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Scientists have discovered a new family of enzymes that could pave the way to converting plant waste into sustainable and high-value products such as fuel, nylon, plastics, chemicals.
The discovery was made by members of the same UK-US enzyme engineering team that, in April, improved a plastic-digesting enzyme, a potential breakthrough for the recycling of plastic waste.
The new enzymes can directly act on the building blocks of lignin: one of the main components of plants, which scientists have been trying for decades to break down efficiently.
“Enzymes are biological catalysts that can perform incredible reactions, breaking down some of our toughest natural and man-made polymers,” said Professor McGeehan of the University of Portsmouth.
RELATED: Scientists Accidentally Create Super Enzyme That Can Devour Plastic Pollution
“To protect their sugar-containing cellulose, plants have evolved a fascinatingly complicated material called lignin that only a small selection of fungi and bacteria can tackle. However, lignin represents a vast potential source of sustainable chemicals, so if we can find a way to extract and use those building blocks, we can create great things.”
Lignin acts as scaffolding in plants and is central to water-delivery. It provides strength and also defense against pathogens.
“It’s an amazing material,” Professor McGeehan said. “Cellulose and lignin are among the most abundant biopolymers on earth. The success of plants is largely due to the clever mixture of these polymers to create lignocellulose, a material that is challenging to digest.”
MORE: Australia May Become First Country to Eliminate Cervical Cancer – Rate Drops From 22% to 1%
The research team found a way of releasing a key bottleneck in the process of breaking down lignin to its basic chemicals. The results provide a route to making new materials and chemicals – such as nylon, bioplastics, and even carbon fibre – from what has previously been a waste product.
The discovery also offers additional environmental benefits. Creating products from lignin reduces our reliance on oil to make everyday products and offers an attractive alternative to burning it, which would help to reduce CO2 emissions.
Sam Mallinson, a student in structural biology at the university and first author on the paper, said: “There is a long-standing phrase – you can make anything out of lignin except money – but by harnessing the power of enzymes.”
RELATED: Scientists Have Found an ‘Off Switch’ For Celiac’s Disease
The enzyme is a new class of cytochrome P450, and it is promiscuous, meaning it’s able to work on a wide range of molecules.
Dr Beckham said: “This new cytochrome P450 enzyme can degrade a lot of different lignin-based substrates. That’s good because it means it can then be engineered to be a specialist for a specific molecule and we can evolve it further to push it in a certain direction.
“We now have one of the most well-known, versatile, engineerable and evolvable classes of enzymes ready to go as a foothold for biotechnology to move forward and make the enzyme better.”
The group is now working together to discover and evolve even faster enzymes for turning lignin into high-value sustainable products.
The study was published in Nature Communications.
(Source: University of Portsmouth)
Be Sure And Share The Intriguing News With Your Friends – Representative photo by jkrebs, CC
Phillip Hancock was only 27 years-old when he passed away two months ago – but the compassionate young man’s death made history in Chongqing, China.
Hancock had been working as an English teacher there for four years until he fell ill from complications with type 1 diabetes.
When he was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, his heart had temporarily stopped beating. By the time his family arrived, he had fallen into a coma and died.
While this may seem like a fairly common tragedy, there was something remarkable about the Australian man’s passing because he was an organ donor.
WATCH Emotional Meeting Between Woman and the Man Who Received Her Late Husband’s Face
Not just any donor, he became the first foreign donor in the city’s history and only the seventh foreign donor in China—and his story may inspire more Chinese to rethink their end-of-life wishes.
“He had always thought that if he was ever in that situation, he would like his organs donated – whatever they could take – so he could help out in some way,” Phillip’s father Peter told the BBC. “He always wanted to help people in whatever way possible. That’s why he wanted to be a teacher.”
And help he did; his liver and kidneys were reportedly used in three life-saving operations and his corneas restored sight to two different people.
LOOK: When Wife Needed Kidney, He Walked For Miles Holding a Sign – and He Just Found a Donor
The donation is also significant because organ donation is very uncommon in China due to a cultural belief that a person’s body should remain intact after death. The BBC says that this mindset, compared to a general misunderstanding of the organ donor process, is part of the reason why China has one of the lowest rates of organ donation in the world.
So when Hancock’s story hit social media, it touched the hearts of many and inspired users to call him a “hero” and an “angel” who will “live on” through the people who he saved.
One could even dare to be hopeful that his story will inspire others to change their thoughts on organ donation in the future.
Share The Inspiring Story With Your Friends – Photo by Peter Hancock
Kids say the darndest things, but this no-nonsense youngster is speaking up for all the folks who’ve accidentally flopped on a toilet when the seat was up.
3-year-old Bradlee Rae Hayes did not hesitate to give her father Jeremiah a thorough talking to about his habit of not returning the toilet seat to the proper position.
In a video that was recorded by the bemused father, Bradlee delivers an exasperated lecture on why it’s important to put the seat back down “for the girls”.
(WATCH the amusing video below)
Be Sure And Share This Sweet Video With Your Friends – Screenshot image from YouTube
Quote of the Day: “Be mindful when it comes to your words. A string of some that don’t mean much to you, may stick with someone else for a lifetime.” – Rachel Wolchin
Photo: by Ed Yourdon, CC
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?
The Lesson: If you often find yourself complaining about other people and the things going on around you, it may time to seek happiness by trying to change yourself first. ‘The Four Agreements’ provide a great starting point, and the author talks about each one in the podcast below. The agreements revolve around how we use our words, how we take things too personally, and how we too often make assumptions.
Notable Excerpt: “Whatever we want to change, first we need to start with ourselves. Happiness only can come from inside of us; it does not really come from outside. If you make an agreement with yourself to be impeccable with your word, just with that intention alone, the truth will manifest through you and clean all the emotional poison that exists within you.”
The Guest: Don Miguel Ruiz is a medical doctor and renowned spiritual teacher and internationally best-selling author who has spent the past 30 years teaching students about personal freedom through his insights concerning the nature of human reality. He is also affectionately called a ”National Heirloom of Mexico”.
The Host: Oprah Winfrey is an American talk show host, actress, producer, author, philanthropist, and media tycoon. In addition to being the richest African-American person in history, she also hosted the highest-rated television show of its kind and has been called the most influential woman in the world.
Podcast: Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday Talks podcast is available for free on iTunes. The OWN television network series is also available on YouTube.
(LISTEN to the inspiring talk below)
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There may be plenty of other fish in the sea, but not for Lawrence Tufnel – which is why he orchestrated a very special proposal for his longtime girlfriend.
29-year-old Tufnel recently popped the question to 25-year-old Jasmine Robertson when they were both on an underwater tour of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.
As the Perth couple was on a metal walkway overlooking the reef in Queensland, Tufnel turned to Robertson and pulled out the ring that had been secured inside the pocket of his swimming trunks. Their diving instructor then holds up a sign behind Tufnel saying: “Jasmine Robertson, will you marry me?”
Grinning, Tufnel indicated that she could simply give a thumbs up or thumbs down.
Needless to say, she gave a thumbs up.
Tufnel says that he chose the unique proposal spot because he and Jasmine had gone diving for their first date six years ago.
“We had done a lot of diving in the past, so when the idea came to me I knew it would be something special,” said Tufnel, according to The Daily Mail.
“Jasmine had no idea what was going on. I just told her we were going underwater to see the reef, so she didn’t know about all the planning behind the scenes.”
(WATCH the video below)
It’s Not Hard To Sea That You Should Share This Sweet Story With Your Friends – Photo by Caters News Agency
In a fitting farewell to one of the closing Toys “R” Us stores, an anonymous donor bought all of the remaining toys so they could be donated to local children.
A staff member at the Triangle Town Center location in Raleigh, North Carolina told CBS that a mystery philanthropist had bought $1 million worth of toys.
RELATED: Boy With Autism Sells Drawings to Buy Toys For Sick Brother
Instead of closing up shop on the same day as other Toys “R” Us locations, the employees spent their final day at the store boxing up all of the goodies and preparing them for delivery.
While the news outlet was not able to give further details on the compassionate gesture, it’s an inspiring silver-lining to the toy company’s closure.
Be Sure And Share The News With Your Friends
A mystery man is being credited for saving the life of a police officer who was involved in a near-fatal automotive accident earlier this month.
Officer Carlos Basurto of the San Mateo Police Department in California was driving home from work earlier this week when he dozed off at the wheel, resulting in his car turning off the road and flipping several times.
As Basurto was lying in the wreck, he knew that he was in grave danger and he had to stay awake long enough for paramedics to arrive. Luckily, he was soon joined by several good Samaritans who stopped their cars and rushed to help.
Basurto asked one of the helpers to tie a tourniquet on his arm to slow the bleeding. He then proceeded to instruct a man on how to tie off his arm as he was still entangled in the wreck.
WATCH: Migrant Pulls Off Incredible ‘Spider-Man’ Rescue That Earned Him Citizenship and a Job
The injured officer had only learned how to perform the life-saving technique himself during a police training course two months previously – and it’s a good thing that he did.
When emergency crews arrived on the scene, they managed to extract Basurto from the wreck and rushed him to the hospital.
“When he got to the emergency room the operating doctor said whoever placed that tourniquet on his arm saved his life,” Basurto’s brother Alfy wrote in a Facebook post. “[Carlos] had ruptured the major artery in his right arm and would have died at the scene.
WATCH: Police Officer Handles a Crisis With Toddler Wandering On the Side of Highway
“Had Carlos not attended that training, and had that caring man not stopped to help my little brother, he wouldn’t be here today. The nurses said Carlos arrived at the ER and told staff that he has 4 boys and a wife, and to please take good care of him.”
Though Basurto has undergone multiple surgeries, he still has a long way to go before he can return to a relatively normal state – although Alfy is quick to say that he is just glad his brother is alive.
“Thank you to that caring person that helped my little brother to remain on earth with us. We have no idea who that person is,” says Alfy. “They left the scene before police arrived.”
RELATED: Instead of Plane Making Emergency Landing, Engineer Fixes Medical Device Using Only a Pen
The San Mateo Police Department set up a GoFundMe campaign to care for the Basurto family and offset medical costs. It has already raised $63,000 of their $100,000 goal.
Alfy, meanwhile, remains optimistic for the future.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that Carlos will recover from this and will defy all of the odds. He already has.”
Share The Incredible Story Of Fate With Your Friends – Photo by Alfy Basurto
In another bid to reduce their environmental impact, IKEA has launched a pilot program for taking back used furniture.
The Swedish retailer is offering to buy back customers’ used furniture in exchange for a voucher worth up to 50% of the original value of the product.
All customers have to do to sell their furniture is submit photos of their product to IKEA workers for appraisal. If the item is deemed to be in fair condition, they will buy back the furniture either for resale or for recycling.
RELATED: IKEA is Ditching All of Their Single-Use Plastics Throughout Stores
IKEA has even partnered with GoGet vehicle services to provide customers with a van for up to two hours so they have enough time to move and return the item without worrying about transportation or disassembly.
The initiative will not only save tons of furniture from ending up in landfills landfills, it is also an ingenious strategy for maintaining customer loyalty and return rates.
The take-back program is currently only running out of the Tempe location in Australia, but should it prove successful, it may expand to more of their stores around the world.
Make Sure Your Friends See The Good News By Sharing It To Social Media – Representational photo by Sunset Removals, CC
This crafty group of women is determinedly creating comfort for traumatized children one stitch at a time.
The Stitch and Chat sewing group of Rockhampton, Australia has made over 80 different “rescue quilts” that law enforcement officers can use to comfort children who may have endured a traumatic situation, such as a house burning down, domestic violence, or an automotive accident.
The gender-neutral patchwork quilts are made out of donated fabrics featuring everything from paisley prints to cartoon animals. Originally, the group only intended on creating enough quilts to put two in every police cruiser in the region – but according to Sandra McClelland, the organizer of the effort, the group doesn’t plan on stopping any time soon.
They have already surged past their original goal of 48 quilts, and they hope to expand their project into the future.
RELATED: ‘Cuddle Crew’ Cops Comfort Premature Baby, Giving Relief to Parents
“When I read about how beneficial the quilts were to children, I thought it was a good idea to see if we could do something locally,” McClelland told the Morning Bulletin. “It’s a small way we can provide instant comfort to any child who is undergoing trauma.”
The oldest member of the Stitch and Chat group is 97, but they all put the same amount of care into their creations.
“There is a small label on the back of each quilt, that says ‘made with love’,” McClelland told the news outlet.
Patch Up Some Love And Positivity For Your Friends By Sharing The Good News – Photo by Stitch and Chat Rockhampton
Quote of the Day: “So long as there’s a bit of a laugh going, things are all right.” – D.H. Lawrence
Photo: by cheriejoyful, CC
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?
When a desperate independent bookseller tweeted about experiencing the “worst day ever” in sales, the community responded in full force.
28-year-old Georgia Duffy took to social media earlier this week saying that her book store, Imagined Things in Harrogate, England, had only earned $16.16 (£12.34) in sales on Monday.
LOOK: Woman Accidentally Buys the Same Book She Sold 5 Years Ago and Finds Mother’s Last Words
Duffy first opened up the store in July after she decided to quit her job as a radiographer and open a book shop. Though the shop has experienced some tough times here and there, the last few weeks have apparently been especially difficult.
“If anyone was thinking about buying a book, now would be a great time!” she wrote. “A card, a book, anything makes a huge difference to a small business like ours. We’d be very grateful for your support.”
We only took £12.34 today?...if anyone was thinking about buying a book now would be a great time! Things have been tough recently - today the worst day ever. A card,a book,anything makes a huge difference to a small business like ours. We'd be very grateful for your support.
— ImaginedThings Books (@ImaginedThings) June 25, 2018
Within a few days, Duffy became inundated with support. Book orders, donations, and messages of encourage started pouring in from all over the country.
According to the BBC, the store sold 70 books on Tuesday, compared to its average of 12.
Additionally, Welsh author and columnist Allison Pearson offered to stop by the store to do a book reading and signing.
“The response has been phenomenal,” Duffy told the news outlet.
Help Your Friends Read About This Sweet Piece Of Good News By Sharing It To Social Media – Photo by Georgia Duffy
Herman Gordon may simply work as a janitor, but his students affectionately know him as the “jolliest” man to walk their campus.
The youngsters at the University of Bristol in England have regularly praised the beloved custodian on their anonymous Facebook confessions group called “Bistruths”. Some of the group members have taken to the page specifically to call Gordon a “hero” and a “legend” of the school.
So when they found out that the Jamaican janitor had not been to see his family in four years, they decided to surprise him with a little gift.
Dozens of students donated to a crowdfunding campaign until they had raised roughly $2,000 (£1,500) – enough for a week-long vacation to Jamaica for Gordon and his wife.
WATCH: ‘Misbehaved’ Class Comes Together to Help Cash-Strapped Teacher
Once they had raised the money, one of the students put all the cash in an envelope along with a little note reading: “Dear Herman, on behalf of the students at Bristol, we would like to thank you for all the positive energy you have given to us throughout the years.
“You have brightened many of our days and we want you to know that we love and appreciate you.
“We have come together to give you a special gift as our way of saying thank you. Have a lovely summer.”
WATCH: Single Mom Pizza Delivery Driver Moved to Tears After Church Surprises Her With Massive Tip
The student then recorded a video of Gordon’s tearful reaction to the gift – and it was understandably emotional.
Afterwards, the video was posted to the Bistruths Facebook group where the members were able to rejoice in their accomplishment.
“We would like to thank everyone who contributed to this incredible gift,” reads the video caption. “It is truly amazing what we can achieve when we come together. It is thanks to your generosity that we’ve been able to raise about £1,500 – meaning both Herman and his wife will be able to visit Jamaica for the first time in 4 years!”
(WATCH the emotional video below)
Share This Sweet Story Of Student Kindness With Your Friends – Photo by Bistruths
There are now 30 million more trees in the world thanks to people who are casually surfing the web.
The environmental milestone is thanks to Ecosia, a search engine that uses all of their profits generated from internet searches to plant trees around the world.
It works similarly to any other search engine (like Google), except for the fact that since Ecosia started in 2009, their reforestation efforts have removed 1.5 million tons of CO2 from the atmosphere.
MORE: India Plants Record-breaking 66 Million Trees in 12 Hours
According to the organization, people make over 3.5 billion Google searches every day – and if just a fraction of those searches were made through their service, then the world would get a lot greener a lot more quickly.
The browser is easy to implement, too – all you have to do is download a web browser extension from their website (for free), and then you go about your business.
This way, when you’re searching for funny cat videos, you’re helping to passively plant trees around the world.
(WATCH the video below)
Plant Some Positivity With Your Friends And Share The News – Photo by Stanley Zimny, CC
Hero the dog has made international headlines for his skills before, but his most recent stunt takes the cake.
Hero and his owner, Sara Carson, just broke the Guinness World Record for most doggie tricks performed in one minute. The collie is capable of performing hundreds of tricks, but his final tally came to 49 tricks in 60 seconds, which is almost double the previous record.
Carson has been working with her canine companion since he was a 4-month-old rescue puppy. Now 5 years old, Hero and Carson have traveled around the world to show off his super skills.
Many people might recognize the dynamic duo as finalists in the 12th season of America’s Got Talent. Others might have seen them on The Ellen Show or The Late Show With David Letterman.
WATCH: This Four-Foot Cat is the Biggest – and Most Lovable – in New York City
Regardless, their career is clearly becoming more and more impressive.
“The pair have been best friends since the very beginning, even when Sara’s family and friends didn’t support her career choice as a dog trainer,” says the Guinness website. “She adopted him at a time when she really needed hope and someone to save her, which is how Hero got his name.
“Now after several television opportunities, a growing fanbase and a Guinness World Records title, the two have much to be proud of.”
(WATCH the video below)
Share This Pawesome Story With Your Friends – Photo by Guinness World Records
Quote of the Day: “Seek truth and you will find a path.” – Frank Slaughter
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?
Mark Clark may be the luckiest man in Michigan after winning a second $4 million prize in the state’s instant game lottery.
Clark, who lives in South Rockwood, Michigan, won the prize after using a coin given to him by his father who died last year.
“I scratched the ticket off in the store…and I can’t help but think maybe that lucky coin helped me win this.”
The first time Clark won a $4 million prize was in December 2017, when he played the Lottery’s Millionaire’s Club instant game.
“You don’t think you’ll win millions once—and you definitely never think it would happen twice,” said the 50 year old, who he kept playing the lottery, anyway.
MORE: Amateur Golfer Hits 3 Holes-In-One in “World’s Greatest Round”
“After the first win, I retired from my job and spent a lot of time fishing. My dad and I always used to fish together and have great memories of that, so this will help me keep fishing and enjoying time with my son and family.”
Clark chose to accept his prize as a one-time lump sum payment of about $2.5 million rather than annuity payments for the full amount.
CHECK OUT: See All GNN’s Stories About How Other Lucky Lottery Winners Did It
“I’ve had a lot of ups and a lot of downs in my life, but everything is pretty amazing right now,” Clark said. “It’s hard to put into words exactly what I am feeling.
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