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Thread: Good News!

  1. #16
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    Growing Up Surrounded by Books Could Have Powerful, Lasting Effect on the Mind

    This new study from the Australian National University School of Sociology found that people who grew up in book-filled homes have higher reading, math, and technological skills.

    The researchers analyzed data that was taken from surveys between 2011 and 2015. The data featured 160,000 adults (ages 25 to 65) across 31 nations, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Singapore, and Turkey.

    Literacy was defined as “the ability to read effectively to participate in society and achieve personal goals.” Participants took tests that “captured a range of basic through advanced comprehension skills, from reading brief texts for a single piece of information to synthesizing information from complex texts.”


    My parents read all the time and in their last house they had a large room with floor to ceiling built-in shelves, filled with books. My brother reads. My sister-in-law was never much of a reader but does more now. Their daughter loves to read.

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  3. #17
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    Turns out SHTF means...Hits the Fire.


    Instead of Burning Coal, New Fuel Emits Zero Harmful Emissions – and It’s Made From Sewage

    This company has developed an ingenious replacement for coal – and they did it using mankind’s most common byproduct.

    Ingelia is a Spanish business that has created a biocarbon product called “biochar” out of sewage waste. In addition to the little pellets giving off zero CO2 emissions, they also give off surprisingly low rates of harmful substances such as sulphur, nitrogen, and chlorine.

    “We use the organic collection of trash, the organic portion of municipal waste, sewage from treatment plants, and even waste from gardening,” says Hernández.

    Ingelia...uses a process called “hydrothermal carbonization” to burn off all of the harmful substances in the sewage until it becomes a hard, dry pellet of fuel. The process only takes about 6 to 8 hours to complete, and because it is kept within a sealed tank, there are little to no bad smells as a result of the procedure.
    Last edited by Dreamtimer, 30th October 2018 at 14:49.

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    Quote Originally posted by Dreamtimer View Post
    Turns out SHTF means...Hits the Fire.
    Tickling the funny bone!

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    I have a dehydrator....

    Sorry, that's just gross.

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    In Americal we love Halloween. And we love Reeses peanut butter cups. And for those who do, this is great news.


    "Reese's Halloween Candy Converter Machine" was first released to the public on Sunday, October 28, during a Halloween parade in Tarrytown, New York.
    The machine allows people to trade in the candy they don't want for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

    But why is Reese's helping us with our candy struggles this year?

    Well, according to a recent survey commissioned by Reese's, 90% of Americans say that they have traded, or wish they could have traded, their unwanted candy on Halloween, Anna Lingeris, a spokeswoman for Reese's distributor Hershey, [said].

    "As the #1 Halloween candy (with over half of candy buyers purchasing Reese's), Reese's has come up with a solution -- give us your unwanted candy, and we'll give you what you actually want -- Reese's Peanut Butter Cups," Lingeris said.

    Brilliant. They get more product out there and get some free market research.


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    Quote Originally posted by Dreamtimer View Post
    I have a dehydrator....

    Sorry, that's just gross.
    Yes it is...my goodness... again.

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  13. #22
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    Quote Originally posted by Dreamtimer View Post
    Growing Up Surrounded by Books Could Have Powerful, Lasting Effect on the Mind

    This new study from the Australian National University School of Sociology found that people who grew up in book-filled homes have higher reading, math, and technological skills.

    The researchers analyzed data that was taken from surveys between 2011 and 2015. The data featured 160,000 adults (ages 25 to 65) across 31 nations, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Singapore, and Turkey.

    Literacy was defined as “the ability to read effectively to participate in society and achieve personal goals.” Participants took tests that “captured a range of basic through advanced comprehension skills, from reading brief texts for a single piece of information to synthesizing information from complex texts.”


    My parents read all the time and in their last house they had a large room with floor to ceiling built-in shelves, filled with books. My brother reads. My sister-in-law was never much of a reader but does more now. Their daughter loves to read.
    It is so wonderful when we get studies to back up what we already know.

    I'd like to tell you about one of my best friends, whom I have never met in person, who is an award-winning poet, writer, and author and is passionate about getting books into children's hands who do not grow up in homes with parents who are readers, themselves. She had a very challenging childhood, and was quite isolated, but in the few precious moments when she did get her hands on books, they provided a connection to the wider world of ideas and values and kindness that ultimately were the rungs of her ladder out.

    She has worked in the field of literacy for a long time, and knows first-hand the challenges of well-meaning programs that have inadvertent barriers for the kids that need them the most. A key one being that an adult has to get the books to the children, and the parents have to trust the adult to let them into their house! These are not homes with floor to ceiling bookcases.

    So she has taken direct action. Her own funds are quite limited, but she is very resourceful, and has found several programs that provide both print and electronic books at an extreme discount for her purposes, without the requirement that she set up a non-profit corp. Once a month, she visits the families she has built relationships with, and drops off books for the kids. And because she is tuned-in to the dynamics of rural life and small towns, she can do things like set it up so that the other kids come to that front yard for their books, raise the status of that family, and do a little towards reducing bullying, etc.

    Palooka and I have been so excited about her vision and her progress. She is our own "Good News" thread! Her latest accomplishments are to get on the Board of the local literacy program (she has been offering to help for a decade, but now that she has gone on and done things independently, they are willing to see past their class assumptions, apparently), and to offer books for kids in a neighboring town that was looking for ideas to connect the cops with the community. The Mayor called her (she didn't realize that was who she was speaking to, at first), and he was so excited about it, he said he would put her program in the budget for next year!

    She has taught me a lot about direct action, and direct aid. I bought her a collapable wagon, because she doesn't have transporation at the moment. I've promised a small toboggan in December and ten books about Chinese New Year for kids in January. It's so much fun to participate!

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  15. #23
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    You Can Now Apply to Be a ‘Puptern’ So You Can Get Paid $100 Per Hour to Play With Dogs


    Dream job alert!

    Do you love petting dogs? Do you also enjoy making money? Well, now you can get paid to play with puppies.

    Mutts Canine Cantina is a dog park, bar and restaurant that is based in Dallas, Texas – but they are now hiring interns for their new location in Fort Worth.

    The lucky candidate to land the fall “pupternship” will be paid $100 per hour to play with the dogs in the dog park for 4 hours a week for 6 to 8 weeks.

    If that isn’t enough, pupterns are also given free food from the restaurant.


    Free lunch? Yeah, man.

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  17. #24
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    Customers Keep Buying Up All of Donut Shop’s Pastries So He Can Go Home Early to Be With Ailing Wife



    The only thing sweeter than the donuts at Donut City is the community’s love for the restaurant owners.

    Almost every day for the last 28 years, John and Stella Chhan have opened up their donut shop in Seal Beach, California at 4:30AM. They’re always greeting customers with a smile, and they barely ever take a day off.

    So when Stella stopped showing up behind the counter, the customers asked John about her absence – and they were shocked by his response.

    Since Stella suffered a brain aneurysm last month, she has been recovering at a nursing care facility. Though she has slowly regained some of her strength, she was in bad shape after being taken to the emergency room.

    One of the Chhan’s regular customers at Donut City heard about their situation and came up with an idea: if everyone in the community bought more of the restaurant’s donuts, then John could close the shop early and spend more time with his wife.

    After posting her idea to a community social media page, locals immediately stepped up to the plate. People started buying donuts, croissants, and muffins by the dozen.

    Over the course of the last few weeks, John has sold out of pastries several hours earlier than usual—sometimes he can even close the store at 10AM.

    The people of Seal Beach are more than happy to help out their favorite donut shop proprietors. They even tried to set up a GoFundMe page for the Chhans, but John said that he already has enough money – he is just happy to spend time with Stella.



    Donut let it be said that people aren't kind and caring.

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  19. #25
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    This is why we say "people of the Book":


    Muslims Raise $250,000 for Pittsburgh Synagogue: ‘Whatever you need … let us know, we’ll be there’

    Whenever there is tragedy, Fred Rogers says that it is always important to “look for the helpers” – and in this case, the helpers are two Muslim-American organizations that are rushing to support their Jewish neighbors.

    Celebrate Mercy and MPower Change teamed up to create a crowdfunding page that has been raising money for the victims and families of the shooting that took place at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh last week.

    “The Muslim-American community extends its hands to help the shooting victims, whether it is the injured victims or the Jewish families who have lost loved ones,” says the campaign page. “We wish to respond to evil with good, as our faith instructs us, and send a powerful message of compassion through action.”

    Within six hours of publishing the Launch Good page, the campaign reached its goal of $25,000. Now, just days after its creation, the page has managed to raise a quarter-million dollars and counting.

    Muslims aren’t the only ones lending a hand, either. According to the New York Times, there have been dozens of candlelit vigils to show solidarity with the synagogue. Blood banks have stayed open late to accommodate the crowd of donors.

    An Iranian-American man from Washington DC named Shay Khatiri created a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for the synagogue as well. In four days, it has raised over $1 million, and he says that the donor list has revealed very similar results to the Launch Good page.

    “There are Steins and Bergs, and there are Mohammeds. There are generic American names, and there are Asian ones,” says Khatiri. “It is only fitting that Americans of all backgrounds — immigrant, native-born, Jewish, atheist, Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, Muslim, etc. — are uniting against this hateful act. America is beautiful!”

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  21. #26
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    Anyone see this first-hand?


    Human Chain of People Help Move A Bookstore, Book By Book


    This small independent book store in England isn’t just surviving – it is thriving thanks to the city that adores its literary services.

    October Books of Southampton had been struggling to afford the rising rent prices of the building that they had occupied since 1977. The owners created a crowdfunding page for $400,000 in hopes of buying out an old bank building down the block.

    Hundreds of devoted customers and regular visitors offered donations and loans to help meet the crowdfunding goal.

    Then on Sunday, the shop ran into another financial issue – how would they be able to move their stock to the new location without having to pay for expensive moving services?

    October Books put out a call for volunteers to form a “human conveyor belt” between their old store and the new location 500 feet down the street.

    They expected maybe a few dozen people to show up – but to their surprise, over 200 people – young and old – lined up on the sidewalk to pass each of the store’s 2,000 books to their new home.


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  23. #27
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    Hmmm...is this good news actually? I guess it depends on your perspective...

    Russian 'birth tourists' are flocking to Miami, and Trump condos, to give birth to American citizens

    A growing number of pregnant Russian women have been traveling to Miami to give birth, with the wealthier ones buying birth tourism packages and those of more modest means putting together DIY packages. Giving birth in the U.S., and Miami in particular, is a status symbol in Moscow...and the big draw is birthright citizenship.

    All children born in the U.S. are U.S. citizens. "The child gets a lifelong right to live and work and collect benefits in the U.S."..."And when they turn 21 they can sponsor their parents' application for an American green card."

    President Trump, a critic of birthright citizenship, has been insisting on getting rid of such "chain migration" in immigration talks going on in Washington. But as The Daily Beast reported last year, Trump-branded condos in Miami, especially its Sunny Isles Beach area — dubbed "Little Russia" — are especially popular birth tourism bases for women who can afford the rent. Some Russian birth tourism outfits tout the Trump name in their packages.

    Birth tourism is perfectly legal — for now — as long as the birth tourists don't lie on their immigration or insurance forms, and California is a popular destination for Chinese mothers-to-be — as Jeb Bush awkwardly highlighted in 2015.

    There are no official numbers for how many foreign women come to the U.S. to give birth to U.S. citizens each year, but Florida says the number of births there by all foreign nationals who live outside the U.S. has spiked 200 percent since 2000.

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  25. #28
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    Warming my heart...Donuts and then books! Oh yeas we do need a break in the endless negative output...and a BIG thanks to you, Dreamtimer!

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  27. #29
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    Babies are great too!

    It's the s***hole double standards that suck.

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  29. #30
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    Quote Originally posted by Dreamtimer View Post
    Babies are great too!

    It's the s***hole double standards that suck.
    All babies are welcome...I agree...who's to know which one is good or bad...

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