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When Art Studio For Mentally Ill Loses Funding, Money Flows in From Strangers

By
McKinley Corbley
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This art studio has worked wonders on the health of those suffering from mental illness – so when they lost federal funding in 2015, things looked grim.

Artbeat Studios is an art studio based out of Winnipeg, Manitoba. The founder himself, Nigel Bart, was first diagnosed with schizophrenia 12 years ago. As he struggled to deal with his mental health, he started pursuing art as a method of healing and therapy. After realizing the miracles that art therapy worked on his health, he founded Artbeat in 2005.

The studio provides valuable programs for people with depression, anxiety, and other disabilities.

RELATED: Dementia Patients Live in the Moment, Become Touring Artists and Hen Keepers

But then Artbeat lost a $100,000 federal grant because they failed to meet a certain criteria.

While the studio struggled to make ends meet, Artbeat turned to the community. Within three months of fundraising, however, Winnipeg residents raised $153,000.

“Our community came through,” Bart told CBC. “It just shows that people care about mental health and people care about recovery. Artbeat really saves lives.”

The money raised will help to fill the financial gap left by the lost grant throughout 2017. The studio is still accepting donations via their website, and they are also seeking a long-term sponsor for the future.

(WATCH the video below)

 

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Heroic 10-Year-old Foils Robbers Who Targeted His Mother

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McKinley Corbley
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This 10-year-old son only had seconds to act when two burglars started accosting his mother for her earrings – but impressively, his reaction directly helped in putting both of the crooks in jail.

Didier and Tanya Levenfiche had just arrived at their home near London on an August night in 2016. As they were getting out of the car, two men came out of the shadows and put Tanya in a headlock. While the men were trying to tear off the 48-year-old mother’s earrings, Didier pressed the panic button on their home security system and started memorizing the men’s faces.

The men were scared off by the alarm, leaving the mother and son stunned by the ordeal.

Due to Didier’s quick thinking, however, he was later able to identify one of the men in a police lineup on Tuesday.

RELATED: 12-Year-old Girl Outsmarts Carjacker and Saves Little Sister

The criminals, brothers Devlin and Eugene Williams, were arrested and charged with over 14 years worth of robberies around the Westminster area. They have both been sentenced to up to 8 years in prison.

Since law enforcement had been struggling to catch the brothers for years, Didier was honored as Westminster’s police hero of 2016.

“Eugene and Devlin Williams are dangerous criminals who targeted innocent people across London,” said Detective Constable Martin Thomas, according to the Telegraph. “Thanks to Didier’s attention to detail, both men were arrested in August 2016 and successfully picked out at an ID parade. Didier’s brave actions directly led to them being brought to justice and we are very proud to have named him as our hero of the year.”

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Woman Stunned to Get Lost Wallet Back With $1,600 Inside

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McKinley Corbley
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This woman was heartbroken to discover that she had left her wallet in a Walmart shopping cart last week – but she soon became overjoyed when a family returned it to her with everything still inside.

Shayna Keliiholokai was shopping at the Walmart in Kapolei, Hawaii last Friday when her husband returned their cart to the store, not realizing that Shayna’s wallet was still in one of the compartments.

Thirty minutes later, Shayna realized her mistake and drove back to the store, hoping that the wallet would still be inside the cart. Her heart sank when it was nowhere to be found.

Not only did the wallet contain hers and her children’s medical cards, but it also contained $1,612 in rent money.

RELATED: Homeless Woman and Her Dog Stop Burglary, Receive Thousands for New Home

Then she received a message on Facebook from a couple saying that their son had found her wallet and they wanted to meet up and return it. When they all arrived at the Walmart later that evening, the family had her wallet – and everything was still inside.

“They returned everything to me!” says Shayna. “I tried to give them $100 for returning my things to me and they refused to take it. I begged them to let their son spend the $100 in Walmart and they still refused.”

“So we exchanged phone numbers and I have new amazing friends!”

(WATCH the video below)

 

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Canadian Crowd Belts Out U.S. National Anthem When Mic Fails

By
McKinley Corbley
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Singing the national anthem before a game is possibly the most patriotic part of any sports event – especially if it isn’t even your own national anthem.

During a November game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Nashville Predators, the mic cut out partway through the US national anthem—but the Canadian fans took it from there.

Despite a large percentage of the audience being Canadian, the Ontario crowd knew every word.

Eric Bosman happened to be filming the anthem because he has 2 small daughters who always stand up with him at home to sing both countries’ anthems while watching hockey games on TV.

“Since I had the chance to watch a game live, I thought I’d record it for them to see later at home.”

“Turns out it was a feel-good moment for Canadians and Americans, and I’m glad I caught it on video and could share it on YouTube.”

RELATED: Canadian Youth Braves Storm on Horseback to Deliver Food to Stranded Driver

The heartwarming moment was yet another reason why Canada is one of the nicest neighbors any country could have.

(WATCH the video below)

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Bullying Rates Have Fallen By Half in the Last Decade: Study

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McKinley Corbley
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Reports of bullying amongst American students have been on a continuous downturn for the last ten years – and now, they have reached a new low.

According to Health Day News, rates of students grade 4 through 12 who were experiencing some form of bullying (e.g. physical, cyber, relational, or verbal bullying) ranged as high as 29% between 2005 and 2014, but that number steadily dropped by roughly 2% every year until it fell below 10%.

There was reportedly a 1%-2% drop in students doing the bullying themselves. The study also said that 23% fewer students witnessed bullying while at school.

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This could be because of proactive campaigns taken by schools and communities to stop and discourage student bullying.

“We found that bullying and related behaviors were decreasing, which indicated improvements in student behaviors and school climate,” said study lead author Tracy Evian Waasdorp of Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland.

“The good news here is that some of the national attention to this important public health issue appears to be having a positive impact.”

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Congregation ‘Miraculously’ Unharmed After Tornado Destroys Church Around Them

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McKinley Corbley
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This congregation was attending a service at their church on Saturday night when they were told terrifying news: a tornado was headed right in their direction.

Roughly 45 attendees – children and adults alike – were at the parish hall of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church near Dallas, Texas when they were warned of the impending danger.

The parishioners crowded into the hallway connecting their parish hall and the main church. 30 seconds later, the tornado tore the outside of the building to pieces.

RELATED: Hero Patron Delivers Choking Baby in McDonald’s Bathroom

Everyone made sure to keep each other safe as they stayed low to the ground, praying all the while. Others struggled to keep the hallway doors shut against the wind.

“We could see the beams bending and the aluminum roof being ripped away,” one of the youth pastors told CNN. “As soon as the worst was over, we began to sing to keep the kids calm.”

The chaos eventually subsided, leaving heaps of brick and rubble in its wake. The congregation, however, was miraculously unharmed.

St. John’s was the only church in the town of Emory, Texas with a population of roughly 1,200 people. One of the men who was due to deliver a speech to the parishioners that night started a GoFundMe page to help fund the reconstruction of the church. The page has already raised $1,200 of its $5,000 goal.

(WATCH the video below)

 

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Long-term Fate of Tropical Forests May Not Be So Dire

By
McKinley Corbley
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After years of believing that our rainforests were drowning in water, one man found that they were actually flourishing – which means a much more hopeful future for tropical climates everywhere.

According to the study conducted by researchers from the University of Colorado, rainforests are valuable carbon sinks that absorb massive amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere. Without these tropical ecosystems, the earth would not have nearly the mitigation of global effects from climate change.

Up until now, scientists have believed for decades that as global temperatures rise and rainfall increases, the rainforests essentially would start to drown and die out due to the excess water.

WATCH: How This Couple Nursed a Rainforest Back to Life

However, this groundbreaking research conducted by Phillip Taylor, a research associate with the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), suggests otherwise.

Taylor reportedly spent four years studying the growth and climate of rainforests in 42 different countries. While ecologists have believed that rainforests start to suffer after 8 feet (2.44m) of annual rainfall, Taylor found that some of the most prosperous rainforests in the world were receiving more than 16 feet (4.87m) of precipitation per year.

CHECK OUT: The Great Bear Rainforest is a Model for How to Save Trees

“The old model was formed with a lack of data from warm tropical forests,” said Taylor. “It turns out that in the big tropical forests that do the vast majority of the ‘breathing’ the situation is flipped. Instead of water slowing growth down, it accelerates it.”

Though Taylor says that there are still caveats to the positive effects of climate change on rainforests, his discovery has provided a definite silver lining for future eco-studies.

“Our findings fundamentally change a view of the tropical forest carbon cycle that has been published in textbooks and incorporated into models of future climate change for years,” said Taylor. “Given how much these forests matter to the climate, these new relationships need to be a part of future climate assessments.”

Pass On Some Positivity: Click To Share With Your Friends (Photo by Douglas Brown, CC)

Instagram Actually Helps Users Eat Healthily, Study Says

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Good News Network
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Instagram users post millions of food photos – whether to show off a sophisticated palate, make friends drool over chicken and waffles, or artfully arrange colorful macaroni.

A new study from University of Washington researchers found that some people are also posting photos on Instagram to track their food intake or to be held accountable by followers when striving to meet healthy eating or weight loss goals.

After conducting in-depth interviews with 16 people who consistently record and share photos of everything they eat, the researchers learned the benefits and challenges of using the social media platform to achieve eating and fitness goals. Instead of simply using a traditional food journal or app that requires users to write down or log everything they eat, the interviewees snapped pictures of what they ate in a day – from bowls of healthy fruit to the burrito they gobbled in the car. They then shared them on Instagram using the #fooddiary or #foodjournal hashtags. Some also used the photos as a reference so they could remember to log their food later in the day.

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“The benefit of photos is that it’s more fun to do than taking out a booklet or typing hundreds of words of description in an app,” said lead author and engineering doctoral student Christina Chung. “Plus, it’s more socially appropriate for people who are trying to track their diets to snap a photo of their plate when they’re out with friends – everyone’s doing it and it doesn’t look weird.”

Plus, having a visual account of everything one eats in a day – both in terms of volume and quality – can help people spot trouble.

“When you only have one data point for a pizza or donut, it’s easy to rationalize that away as a special occasion,” said senior author Sean Munson, assistant professor of human centered design and engineering at the UW. “But when you see a whole tiled grid of them, you have to say to yourself, ‘Wait, I don’t actually have that many special days.’”

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The interviewees said that social and emotional support from other Instagram users helped them stick to their own tracking and healthy eating goals, and many strove to provide that support for others. In some cases, feeling accountable to other Instagram users and followers caused people to be more honest about their eating habits. One woman who previously used the MyFitnessPal app to track her diet said she would make excuses to herself about why she didn’t need to log a bag of chips because it was so tiny.

“With Instagram, it helped me because I was taking a picture of it – it’s real and it does exist and it does count towards what I was eating. And then putting up a visual image of it really helped me stay honest,” the user said.

Because Instagram allows one to create different accounts for different purposes under the same user profile, people reported that they could easily find communities and followers with similar interests by using food tracking, weight loss or healthy eating hashtags – and could avoid overwhelming friends and family who weren’t interested in seeing pictures of everything they ate. That differs from Facebook, for instance, which doesn’t allow for multiple accounts or identities.

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“With Instagram, you can have a separate part of your profile dedicated to food journaling and you don’t have to be worried that your family member or neighbor who just wants to see pictures of your dogs or vacations will be turned off,” Chung said. “It’s not funneling everything to the same channel.”

People did report some tensions between wanting to remain honest about what they ate and feeling reluctant to photograph food that would be perceived as undesirable.

But users who ultimately met their weight loss, eating or fitness goals also found that remaining on Instagram – and helping mentor and encourage others – made it easier for them to maintain their desired behaviors and to continue to be mindful about their health, the study found.

“Maintenance becomes pretty boring for a lot of people because your quest to hit a goal has worn off,” Munson said. “This made things more interesting and meaningful for people because after they got to their goal, they turned to thinking about how they could help others and stay accountable to people who were relying on them for support.”

(Source: University of Washington)

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‘Saved By a Sandwich’: Woman Has Life Saving Lunch

By
McKinley Corbley
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If this woman hadn’t gone back inside to back a little lunch before walking her dogs, she may have been rolling down her wheelchair ramp – which is exactly where a woman crashed her truck on Sunday afternoon.

Ellen Meharey of Tarentum, Pennsylvania skipped breakfast on her way to church that morning and was about to go out with her pups Joey and Bella when she felt her stomach rumble. The senior decided to make a sandwich before heading out the door.

As she was putting the snack together in her kitchen, Ellen heard a sudden screech and a crash from outside.

RELATED: This Tortoise Accidentally Saved a Bunny’s Life – and Now They’re Best Buds

When she went to the front of her house, she saw that a truck had careened into her yard, destroying her railing and knocking over her wheelchair ramp. Since the truck was on its side, Ellen couldn’t tell whether the driver was harmed or not; she simply called 911.

As she was waiting for paramedics to arrive, she realized the consequences of her decision; if Ellen hadn’t switched up her Sunday routine, she may have been struck by the rogue vehicle.

“I wanted to get something to eat before I took the dogs out,” Ellen Meharey told WISN. “I just decided to make a half a sandwich and get something to eat before I went out, and I am so glad I did.”

The driver was treated on the spot and was healthy enough to abstain from a trip to the hospital.

(WATCH the video below)

 

Click To Share This Inspiring Story With Your Friends (Photo by Eureka Fire Department)

Watch Dramatic Rescue of Drowning Family From Overturned Truck

By
McKinley Corbley
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After tornadoes ravaged Texas this weekend, Tom Mitchell felt compelled to go out into his community and help in any way that he could.

That’s when he found a family in need of rescuing.

In Myrtle Springs, Tom found an overturned SUV that was stuck in fast-moving water. When he saw there were strangers trying to get inside the vehicle, he asked a nearby person what the situation was – and he was told that there was a father, a toddler, and an infant trapped inside the car.

Tom didn’t have the strength to help – because of the water’s strength – so he settled for filming the unfolding events.

WATCH: Man Rescues Unconscious Stranger From Subway Tracks

After lots of struggling, the men finally managed to pull out the family. The infant, however, was stark-white and motionless.

The men brought the infant to the shore and Tom leapt into action. He started giving the infant CPR, while a nearby woman started praying over the child. Eventually, it was able to start breathing again.

Tom then conducted CPR on the toddler, who also regained consciousness.

An update from the father on social media said that he and his children are recovering well. If Tom and the heroic strangers hadn’t found them when they did, the family may not have made it out alive.

(WATCH the video below)

 

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Watch Veterinarian Soothe Anxious Dogs by Singing to Them

By
McKinley Corbley
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Ross Henderson doesn’t just care for his patients’ physical health – he cares for their feelings too.

Ross is a veterinarian at the Fox Hollow Animal Hospital in Lakewood, Colorado. He’s also a part-time musician with a guitar always at his side.

The animal doctor decided to combine his two talents and soothe the nerves of resident pups with his music.

CHECK OUT: Stag Climbs to Elderly Woman’s Window Twice a Day For a Snack

In a video that has already been shared thousands of times, Ross can be seen singing Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Stop Fallin’ In Love” to Ruby, one of the shelter’s more anxious dogs.

Soothed by the singer’s sweet crooning, Ruby curls up and falls asleep in his lap – and it’s pawsitively adorable.

(WATCH the video below)

 

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India Unveils Ambitious Plan to Make Every Single Car Electric by 2030

By
McKinley Corbley
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In a bid against the hazardous air pollution plaguing the country, the energy minister of India has just announced earlier this week that they will be making sure that every car in the nation will be electrically-powered by 2030.

The Indian government will be assisting the renewable automotive industry for the next two to three years, until the market stabilizes. Officials believe that electric cars will then become the more affordable option for consumers, as prices are driven down “by demand and not by subsidy”.

Though electric power stations can be powered by coal plants, studies show that electric cars are still drastically safer for the environment and the public’s health than petrol or diesel-fueled cars.

RELATED: All Cars Sold in Norway to be Electric by 2025

According to Sherry Boschert, author of Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars that Will Recharge America, using hybrids and electric cars that draw power from a main grid would still dramatically reduce the amount of nitrogen oxide released into the air by 32% to 99%. Switching to low emission vehicles could also reduce CO2 emissions by as much as 17% to 71%, depending on the area.

The energy plan comes as a welcome follow-up to a similar initiative launched by India’s capital territory of Delhi, in which the city announced plans to ban all diesel-powered vehicles from the roads by 2025.

The campaign couldn’t come at a better time, either; according to a recent Greenpeace report, India’s air toxicity levels surpassed China in 2015, making it one of the most toxic nations in the world.

“We are going to introduce electric vehicles in a very big way. We are going to make electric vehicles self- sufficient like UJALA. The idea is that by 2030, not a single petrol or diesel car should be sold in the country,” said Power minister Piyush Goyal during the CII Annual Session 2017.

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Metallica Replaces Stolen Equipment of Tribute Band

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McKinley Corbley
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What started out as ONE unfortunate situation for a humble Metallica tribute band, turned into a shining example of kindness.

Blistered Earth, a four-piece cover band from Spokane, Washington, was playing a show in Portland, Oregon when their trailer full of musical gear was stolen.

All of their guitars, basses, amplifiers, pedals, and drum pieces were gone, leaving them unable to play any more shows.

RELATED: Bikers Stop to Help Stranded Motorcyclist Only to Find It’s ‘The Boss’

As attention was drawn to the situation by fans and local news outlets, the band caught the attention of the very musicians whom they were covering: Metallica.

The revered metal titans then decided to lend a hand.

“Sometimes when bad things happen, it really brings out the best in people,” wrote the band members on Facebook. “James and the rest of the guys in Metallica … have seen fit to replace our equipment.”

Though it’s unfortunate that their gear got stolen in the first place, it seems safe to say that nothing else matters for Blistered Earth except for their heroes pulling through when it mattered to them most.

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8 of the Best – and Latest – Innovations for Social Good

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Good News Network
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Hunting poachers, detecting early autism spectrum disorders, and preventing pedestrian deaths – these are all examples of potentially life-changing innovations announced last week as finalists in the Wireless Innovation Project.

Each year, the competition created by Vodafone Americas Foundation awards $600,000 to three organizations that offer the highest potential to drive social good.

The eight finalists stem from non-profits, universities, and social entrepreneurs, but all have created solutions with a potential to make a difference for communities around the world and direct lasting social change.

RELATED: Student Invents Biodegradable Packaging From Seagrass That Washes Up on Beaches

“Each year we review incredible technologies and our 2017 finalists continue that pattern with projects across healthcare, wildlife preservation, augmented reality, childhood education, banking, and more,” said June Sugiyama, Director, Vodafone Americas Foundation. “The creative and innovative solutions presented this year show the potential ability of technology and connectivity to uniquely benefit communities worldwide.”

Since launching in 2009, the Wireless Innovation Project has awarded $4.9 million to scalable solutions which have directly impacted 40 million individual lives across more than 40 countries.

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From the eight finalists announced today, a panel of judges will select three winners, to be showcased during the Social Innovation Summit 2017 in Chicago, IL on June 6-8. The first place winner will be awarded $300,000, second place $200,000, and third place $100,000, paid over a period of three years, to continue developing their projects.

The Wireless Innovation Project’s 2017 Finalists:

EarlySee – A potentially revolutionary smartphone-based mobile application which can detect Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in children earlier, more efficiently, and at lower cost. Parents can administer this test within their own home, to recognize ASD as soon as possible, as some symptoms can occur as early as the first to second year. This ease of use can help identify the signs of autism earlier than current practices so appropriate service and supports can be put into place to provide the most successful outcomes for children with ASD.

SafetyAR – Roughly 135 children die daily due to pedestrian injuries- a tragic but preventable death. Safety AR leverages the power of smartphone-based augmented reality to create virtual environments to help children gain cognitive and perceptual abilities needed to develop safe pedestrian skills. Using the best of today’s technology, child pedestrians can learn how to navigate chaotic and dangerous traffic environments, potentially saving 50,000 children over the course of one year.

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Community Cellular– This project aims to bring cellular connectivity to the roughly 10 percent of the world’s population, or 800 million people, who live beyond the reach of a traditional mobile tower and are isolated from the rest of their country with no simple way to communicate. Mobile access will have positive social and economic impacts on these individuals. Through a new mobile phone technology that provides local coverage at a fraction of the cost of current mobile towers, CCN hopes to bridge the “last mile” connectivity issue.

DreamSave – An innovative mobile solution with the potential to help millions of unbanked members of informal savings groups around the world break the cycle of poverty. For the first time ever, people who have been invisible to the global economy will have direct access to a wide range of modern financial services, even if they live miles from the nearest bank. DreamSave will leverage mobile money integration, machine learning, behavioral science, and ground breaking new technology optimized for remote areas with limited internet access. By designing DreamSave as part of a broader digitally-connected community, users will also have access to a wide range of related services, unlocking their potential to create lasting social and economic change.

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ENVision – Between 30-50 percent of people in developing countries are working in the informal economy, not out of choice, but necessity. Low-literate and with little education, many are unable to distinguish between revenue and profit. ENVision is a simple open source offline mobile application that helps these workers understand their business performance without needing a computer. Utilizing a pictorial interface and real-time data visualization, informal workers can see their inventory levels, place orders, and calculate sales, which will ultimately improve their livelihoods.

Health-Aware Personal Assistant – Recent research has shown that mobile health applications tend to neglect several important user groups, such as users with low literacy, the elderly, or people with minor visual impairment. On the other hand, most personal assistant systems only search through the internet and bulk-feed the information. Health-Aware Personal Assistant personalizes the available health information based on the user’s mobile health data collected through mobile and wearable sensors. It also has a verbal component that interprets the data, allowing immediate, and easily digestible information for those groups commonly neglected by mobile health systems.

PathVis – A smartphone-based detection platform built to directly monitor and detect infectious diseases afflicting over 250 million people world-wide. This detection technology can provide data in less than 30 minutes- which can provide health organizations with real-time surveillance to decrease costs and increase efficiency in identifying outbreaks and preventing further spread of disease.

WIPER – A wireless anti-poaching collar for elephants and other animals across Africa that will automatically send the location of the animal to authorities when a gunshot is detected. WIPER can disrupt poaching and prevent irreparable damages to the environmental ecosystem through innovative ballistic shockwave detection, a tool that cannot be tricked by gun mufflers regularly used by poachers.

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They’ve Been Pen Pals for 42 Years; Watch Them Meet for First Time

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George Ghossn and Lori Gertz have been writing to each other using pen and paper for nearly a half century. Now each finally got the chance to embrace their longest-lasting friend.

Ghossn, from East Islip, New York, told ABC News that he and Gertz, who lives near San Diego began writing each other “when I was 15 and she was 12. We started writing through a chain letter. It said to send out five letters, and you were supposed to receive thousands back. I got four letters back … One was from Lori.”

The pen pals shared feelings and details about their lives in newsy notes mailed about once a month—and they’ve both kept all the handwritten letters.

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Since Lori was already going to be in New York taking her son to visit a university there, she thought it was time they both met.

“I love George. George is a staple in my life. My whole family knows George … It’s my longest relationship that I’ve had with anybody. It’s beautiful,” Gertz said.

(WATCH the touching video of the reunion below

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Ailing 130-Year-old Tree Adorned With Prayer Flags in Tribute Before Being Felled

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In a final tribute before chainsaws would cut this giant down due to poor health, gardeners adorned a 130-year-old Monterey cypress tree with Tibetan prayer flags.

The tree has stood on the the great lawn of the famous Lotusland gardens in Montecito, California for more than thirteen decades. With the announcement that the tree, which is breaking away from its support cables, had to be cut down, the garden staff lovingly strung the flags from the very top of the cypress, where brown, dead branches were signaling its end.

Now that the heavy rains have cleared along the Central Coast, the tree is finally scheduled to be felled at the end of May. In its place, a small Monterey cypress, grown from the seed of the current tree, will be planted anew.

RELATED: Ireland is Creating the Largest Grove of Redwoods Outside of California

School children wrote words of remembrance on the individual prayer flags, and the public was invited to leave their own notes of gratitude on a table at its base.

Named one of the 10 Best Gardens in the World by The Telegraph, Lotusland is a public garden operated by a private nonprofit organization on 37 acres (15 ha) at the historic estate of Madame Ganna Walska.

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The gardens at Lotusland, including a Japanese garden that contains an extensive collection of antique ishidoro stone lanterns, were created over a four decade period by the eccentric opera singer who owned the property as a private residence from 1941 until her death in 1984.

Monterey cypress trees grow best in their native habitat along the cold, foggy shoreline further north up California’s Central Coast—and can live to be 200 years old. The specimen at Lotusland had endure a much warmer climate in the hills, three miles inland.

MORE: America Has More Trees Now Than It Had a Century Ago

Lotusland is located on Cold Springs Road in Montecito, 108 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, and open Wed-Sat. Due to its location in a residential neighborhood, advance reservations for tours are required for all visitors.

Make Your Own Tribute to this Magnificent Tree: Click to Share! –Or,  (Photos by Geri Weis-Corbley and LotusLand video via FB)

Facebook Provides Valuable Safety Net for the Bereaved, Study Finds

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Good News Network
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Neuroscientists have long noted that if certain brain cells are destroyed by, say, a stroke, new circuits may be laid in another location to compensate, essentially rewiring the brain.

One expert in computational social science, wanted to know if social networks responded similarly after the death of a close mutual friend.

In new research published on Monday, Northeastern’s William R. Hobbs found that friends on Facebook did provide new avenues of communication, pointing to a strength of social networks—providing resilience.

Hobbs, who led the study, collaborated with Facebook data scientist Moira Burke. The researchers found that close friends of the deceased immediately increased their interactions with one another by 30 percent, peaking in volume.

RELATED: Now You Can Turn Cremated Remains of Loved Ones into Blossoming Coral Reefs

The interactions faded a bit in the following months and ultimately stabilized at the same volume of interaction as before, but this insight into how social networks adapt to significant losses could lead to new ways to help people with the grieving process.

“Most people don’t have very many friends, so when we lose one, that leaves a hole in our networks as well as in our lives,” says Hobbs, a Professor of Political Science and Computer and Information Science.

He then wondered: Would a social network unravel with a central member gone? If it recovered, how might it heal?

WATCH: Mom Brought To Tears When Wild Bird Comforts Her at Son’s Grave

“We expected to see a spike in interactions among close friends immediately after the loss, corresponding with the acute grieving period,” says Hobbs. “What surprised us was that the stronger ties continued for years. People made up for the loss of interacting with the friend who had died by increasing interactions with one another.”

Hobbs came to the study from a crisis of his own. After college, he lived and worked in China studying local governments. But when he entered graduate school at the University of California, San Diego, his father was dying. “So I switched to American politics, then to studying chronic illnesses, and then moving into the effect of deaths on others,” he says.

That switch led to this first large-scale investigation of recovery and resilience after a death in social networks.

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Using sophisticated data counters and computer analysis, the researchers compared monthly interactions–wall posts, comments, and photo tags – of approximately 15,000 Facebook networks that had experienced the death of a friend with monthly interactions of approximately 30,000 similar Facebook networks that had not.

The first group comprised more than 770,000 people, the latter more than 2 million. They learned about the deaths from California state vital records, and characterized “close friends” as those who had interacted with the person who died before the study began. To maintain the users’ privacy, the data was aggregated and “de-identified” – that is, all elements that associated the data with the individual were removed.

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“The response was different from what other researchers have found regarding natural disasters or other kinds of trauma— a spike in communications that disappears quickly afterward,” says Hobbs.

In particular, the researchers found that networks comprising young adults, ages 18 to 24, showed the strongest recovery. They were not only more likely to recover than others, their interaction levels also stayed elevated – higher than before the loss. Networks experiencing suicides, on the other hand, showed the least amount of recovery. Further research is necessary to understand why, says Hobbs.

“We didn’t study the subjective experience of loss, or how people feel,” cautions Hobbs. “We looked at recovery only in terms of connectivity.”

What they show is that online social networks appear to function as a safety net. “They do so quickly, and the effect persists,” he says. “There are so few studies on the effect of the death of a friend on a network. This is a big step forward.”

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Serious Violence in England and Wales Plummets in Recent Years

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The Number of people injured in serious violence dropped by 10% in 2016 compared to 2015, according to a national report studying England and Wales published by Cardiff University.

“Since 2010, we have identified a decline of 40% in people needing treatment in emergency departments after violence,” said lead author of the study and Director of the Violence Research Group at the university, Professor Jonathan Shepherd.

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The study is produced from a scientific sample of 152 emergency room departments, minor injury units, and walk-in centers in the two countries. All are certified members of the National Violence Surveillance Network (NVSN), which has published an annual report for the past 16 years.

“The substantial year-on-year decline in serious violence for both men and women is welcome news for citizens and communities across England and Wales. Moreover, costs imposed on health services and the criminal justice system by violence have been substantially reduced along with burdens on stretched emergency departments.”

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Overall, an estimated 188,803 people attended EDs in England and Wales for treatment following violence in 2016, 21,437 fewer than in 2015.

Whilst the study does not examine the reasons for the steady decline in serious violence, the report cites a number of possible reasons, including better detection and reporting of serious violence, better targeted policing, improved sharing of data by emergency departments, and local inter-agency collaboration to tackle violence on the streets and in licensed premises.

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Family of 6 Boys Donates Combined 17 Feet Of Hair After Friend’s Death

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This gorgeous family had some pretty glorious locks – but they were only growing them out so they could donate them to charity.

In honor of a family friend who lost their life to cancer, Phoebe Kannisto and her six sons spent a couple years growing out their hair.

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The resulting mop tops were all sheared off at a barber shop earlier this week and donated to Locks of Love.

It had been two years since the boys had visited a barber – and they say they plan on growing out their hair for another donation again sometime in the future.

Perhaps next time, their 3-year-old sister will have the strands to be able to join them in the campaign.

(WATCH the video below)

 

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Victim’s Family Buys Airfare for Loved Ones of Inmate About to be Executed

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The man who is responsible for the deaths of three people has been forgiven by the family of one of the victims. Their compassion was not enough to grant clemency for the prisoner, who was on death row in Arkansas, but, as a gesture of kindness, they flew his family out to see him one last time.

38-year-old Kenneth Williams who was first jailed in 1998, and later convicted of murder and manslaughter, was to be executed for his crimes last week.

Michael Greenwood’s wife Stacy and his daughter Kayla had already, years earlier, forgiven Williams for his actions. But they recently found out that the prisoner had a daughter named Jasmine – whom he had not seen in 17 years – and a granddaughter he had never met. In a final gesture of empathy, the Greenwoods decided to buy airline tickets from Washington to Arkansas so the pair could see Williams before he was executed on Thursday.

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Jasmine and her daughter arrived in Little Rock the day before his death sentence would be carried out—and the Greenwoods were waiting for them at the airport, ready to take them to the prison.

Though the Greenwoods were not allowed inside the facility to visit Williams, they wrote out a note that was delivered to the inmate.

“I told him we forgive him and where I stood on it,” Kayla told News-Leader. “[Jasmine] said that when the warden read the email to him, he broke out in tears.”

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The Greenwood family had pushed for William’s clemency, but family members of another victim, Cecil Boren, resisted, insisting on the death penalty, according to AP. After Wednesday’s reunion, however, it was clear that the Greenwoods still were able to ease some of the pain for Williams and his family.

“When he found out that we are bringing his daughter and granddaughter to see him and that my mom and dad bought the tickets, he was crying to the attorney,” Kayla said. “He was sad he couldn’t talk to us.”

(Family photo of Michael Greenwood, his wife Stacey and young daughter Kayla)

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