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Letters to Santa Flood Alaskan Town
120,000 letters arrive yearly from dozens of countries having made their way to the small town of North Pole, Alaska. "They usually get a reply and a North Pole postmark in a holiday effort that has delighted children all over the world for decades." (AP)
…And, here are a few excerpts from Santa’s letters from children… curious about the facts and eager to show they’ve been good. (AP)
Car Reaches 1 Million Miles Then Retires
If you were told that a car was driven 1 million miles before its retirement by the happy owner, which make of car would you guess it to be?
Think of all the stories you’ve heard about long-lasting automobiles, which brand is the most rugged? You KNOW it’s not an American car, right?…
Iraq’s “Garden of Eden” Wetlands Has Finally Been Restored After Saddam’s Destruction
At the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, considered by some to be the original Garden of Eden, almost half of Iraq’s fabled marshlands of Mesopotamia have once again been restored with water and wildlife, 15 years after nearly being annihilated by Saddam Hussein.
The progress is thanks to a multi-million dollar effort managed by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
Satellite images released this week showed that almost 50 percent of the total area, one of the world’s largest wetland ecosystems, had been re-flooded, in sharp contrast to agency images in 2001 revealing 90 percent of the marshlands had already been lost.
They were ravaged by a vast drainage operation carried out by Hussein’s government after the 1991 Persian Gulf War intending to punish and displace the area’s indigenous Shiite people who made their living entirely from the free-flowing water.
He ordered that a large dam be built. The result was the desertification of the Tigres and Euphrates rivers’ millennia-old wetlands, and the near destruction of a unique cultural heritage.
Once an area totaling almost 9,000 square km (7,700 square miles), only 9 percent of the marshlands remained in 2002.
As the regime fell in 2003, people began to open dams and break down the embankments that had been built in an operation led by the local community, funded by Japan and Italy, and managed by UNEP.
Up to 22,000 people living in the region are now getting access to safe drinking water, UNEP said. The program aims eventually to provide clean water for up to 100,000.
300 Iraqis have been trained in marshland management techniques.
By mid 2006, 23 kilometers of water distribution pipes and 86 distribution taps had been installed. A sanitation system pilot project is also being implemented in the community of Al-Chibayish.
The area is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
WATCH the short story with satellite images from the US Geological Survey…
Dogs Make a Difference for Autistic Children
"Monique Clement said she wasn’t going to cry while viewing a video of her children interacting with a dog trained to help autistic children, but she couldn’t hold back the tears…" Founded in 2000, the non-profit North Star Foundation has placed over 50 dogs with families dealing with cancer and autism. Max, right, a golden retriever, will help a young boy to deal with his severe separation anxiety and autism. (The State newspaper in South Carolina featured the story of Max, but expired the link — the on site search engine isn’t any help.)
Brushing and Flossing Helps Your Heart and Arteries, Too
Can a toothbrush help clean out your heart? Surprisingly, yes. Brushing and flossing your teeth has been shown to be a simple preventative step that can help you avoid heart disease, stroke, diabetes complications and even cancer.
Periodontal disease raises the level of harmful bacteria in the mouth, which travels through the bloodstream to other organs in the body, and can lead to a plaque buildup in arteries surrounding the heart…
Surprisingly, 80 percent of adults have gum disease and don’t know it, according to Dr. Chris Kammer of the Center for Cosmetic Dentistry.
“Most people don’t think of their dentist when it comes to health problems that are not found in one’s mouth,” says Dr. Kammer. “But a dentist can actually be the first line of defense in reducing the risk for many deadly diseases like Diabetes, Stroke, Heart Disease, and Pancreatic Cancer.”
New studies published in the Journal of Periodontology are linking periodontal disease to diabetes and heart disease. And the American Association for Cancer Research has even found that diseased gums raise the risk of pancreatic cancer by 63 percent. Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of death from cancer in the U.S.
Bleeding gums is one of many symptoms that may indicate that you have periodontal disease. The process begins when the plaque that settles around your gum lines fails to be removed by daily brushing and flossing. When plaque stays on your teeth, it turns into tartar, and only your dentist can remove tartar. The plaque and the tartar are irritants that house the bacteria that cause the gums to become infected.
Brushing and flossing are effective means of prevention. Here are some other tips:
- Twice a Day: Brush your teeth. Also remember to brush your tongue and the roof of your mouth.
- Once a Day: Floss your teeth. Use an irrigator like a Waterpick or Hydrofloss for even deeper cleaning of the gum pockets.
- Two to four times a year: Visit your dentist for a cleaning (50 percent of patients must go to the dentist more than twice a year to maintain gum wellness). More frequent visits are required by those who have the disease, until it is under control.
- Be Proactive! Visit your dentist if you have any of these warning signs of periodontal disease: Bleeding gums when brushing, flossing or using flossing alternative systems; red, swollen, or tender gums; gums that have pulled away from teeth; bad breath
Dr. Chris Kammer has been an expert for USA Today, Reader’s Digest, Fox
News and CNN. He is available to provide more information at 608-827-6453,
or visit the Center for Cosmetic Dentistry online.
Secret Santa Strikes Again- Handing out $100 Bills to the Needy
People wept with joy as a Kansas City businessman handed out $100 bills from his pocket to people in thrift stores and coin-operated laundries in Columbus, Ohio, a total of $4,500. (AP via MSNBC, with photos)
Having Coffee With a Beggar
He was dirty. His nose was black. His nails were black. His blue jeans were black. He had been begging the whole day and only managed to buy a hamburger and a Dixie cola.
He hates begging, but no one will give him work. He was happy to see me as I’d bought breakfasts for him over the years.
I was going to movies and had 15 minutes. He offered to share half of his hamburger and Dixie cola with me.
I declined his offer, thanked him and offered to get him some coffee.
How humble I felt and privileged to be able to sit and have coffee with John.
He was so appreciative and thanked me for the coffee and all the breakfasts I’d bought for him.
We got chatting and I asked him how his medication was. He replied that he had overslept on Thursday morning and missed his injection. He would have to wait till next Thursday for his monthly injection for schizophrenia. The doctor always asks him if he hears voices; He says no. What would they do to him if he said yes!
He said “I have been lying to the doctors for 35 years!”
I told him that he should get himself cleaned up, have a hair and beard cut, clothes cleaned and have a bath. He would feel better and people would react better to him.
He said that he went to this one woman’s house and was begging. She shouted at him and told him that he was useless!
“I am not useless; people just won’t let me work! I don’t know why I can’t work at Clicks Stores (a local store and pharmacy)”
“She said it in such a horrible way that she meant it.”
He said,” I live in a little wendyhouse at the back of someone’s garden. I just wash my hands and face at the tap with the dogs.”
“Thank you for sitting down and talking to me – no one ever does that. Thank you for telling me what to do-I really appreciate that and I will make an effort now. I am really going to come right.”
I had to leave, my movie was starting.
We shook hands — worlds apart — and I went to my movie.
Mike Kaufmann, 8th Feb. 2002
South Africa
Honest Man Turns in 10K to Authorities, Gets Back Ten Years Later
Ten years ago a maintainance worker found $10,000 in the pipes of Brigham Young University. He turned in the money to campus officials but his honesty — and patience — have paid off, after exhausive investigation into the nature of the money, and he received an unexpected holiday bonus… (AP report via MSNBC — with additional happy news about the Salvation Army receiving a rare Indian Head coin in its red holiday bucket, a donation possibly worth thousands!)
The Power of Touch Reduces Pain and Fights Disease
Research indicates that the touch of a loved one — even the touch of a stranger — can boost the immune system, halt or slow the progress of disease, and reduce the experience of pain. Scientists now guess that touch communicates emotion:
"When people were touched by a stranger they could not see, who had been instructed to try to communicate a particular emotion, they were able to tell the emotional state of the other person with great accuracy." (The Independent)
Hero Dog Digs Snow Tunnel To Save Couple
Check out this link to a story about a German Shepherd-timberwolf pet that saved an elderly couple in New York from freezing by digging a 20-foot tunnel to shelter after a sudden snow storm trapped them outside — photos included. (WNBC.com)
Encouraging Voice Will Never Be Heard Again
The first time Doris Barton phoned me, I was having a bad day… I probably answered by barking my name like a perturbed Jack Russell terrier. Undeterred, she said, "I just want to tell you reading your column makes my day." … Doris had me at hello after that. This retired lady rang me, maybe, once a month over the past five years, and her message was almost always affirming: "You’re getting better and better" or "you’re really going great, girl."…
500 Good Things for the Mind, Body, Soul, Home and Business
Editor’s Announcement
The Good News Network has just launched a new web page — a way for YOU to share your good news with the GNN community. It’s a directory of all the good sites, people, products and enlightened services, together in one place!
The best part is GNN readers can advertise — or pay tribute to their own good things — while supporting the Good News Network at the same time. It’s called 500goodthings.com.
Whether it benefits the mind, body, spirit, home, or business, your good is worth sharing and what better community of readers, than the network of GNN for a target…
Zambian Tailor Wins AIDS Award for Providing Orphans with Free School Uniforms
Six years after a teenage Zambian tailor started using his only sewing machine to make free school uniforms for AIDS orphans, the organization he founded has won the Red Ribbon grand prize of $20,000, part of a new UN effort to honor grassroots generosity on World AIDS Day (Friday). Jonsen Habachimba was 18 when he began sewing free uniforms…
Volunteering Reaches 30-Year High in U.S.
The percentage of Americans volunteering has reached a 30-year high says a new study, due in part to a boom in teens’ dedication to community service. “We may be on the cusp of a new civic generation,” said the director of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which has tracked volunteer rates since 1974…
The report, Volunteer Growth in America: A Review of Trends Since 1974, finds that adult volunteering rose sharply between 1989 and 2005, increasing more than 32 percent over the last 16 years.
“Americans help their nation, their communities and themselves when they mentor at-risk youth, care for seniors, respond to disasters, and meet a wide range of other critical needs,” said David Eisner, CEO of the Corporation, which is spearheading a national effort to engage an additional 10 million volunteers by 2010.
The brief analyzes volunteering rates in 1974, 1989 and 2002-05, using information collected by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It finds that the growth in volunteering is driven primarily by three age groups: teenagers 16 to 19, Baby Boomers ages 45 to 65, and older adults 65 and over. Among their findings:
- Older teenagers (ages 16-19) have more than doubled their time spent volunteering since 1989.
- Far from being a “Me Generation,” Baby Boomers are volunteering at sharply higher rates than did the previous generation at mid-life.
- The volunteer rate for Americans ages 65 years and over has increased 64 percent since 1974.
- The proportion of Americans volunteering with an educational or youth service organization has seen a 63 percent increase just since just 1989.
“Boomers’ high engagement in service today (along with teen increases) has the potential to foster a volunteer explosion among older Americans in the years to come,” said Robert T. Grimm, Jr., Director of Research and Policy Development at the Corporation.
Educational and youth service organizations (such as schools, 4-H, and Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts) are benefiting from the growth because they have received the largest increase in volunteers between 1989 and 2006. Nearly 24.6 percent of all adult volunteers serve through such organizations, a 63 percent increase since 1989. The biggest percentage of volunteers — 35.5 percent — serve through religious organizations.Grimm cited several reasons for heightened civic engagement today:
- Teenagers are volunteering in greater numbers, in part, because of an increase in service-learning programs in schools and colleges that combine classroom study with community activity. Another reason may be a response to traumatic national events such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks and recent natural disasters.
- Mid-life adults are more likely to have children in the home because Americans are delaying marriage and childbearing. The result is increased exposure to volunteering opportunities connected to their children’s school and extracurricular activities.
- Older Americans are living longer, are better educated, and more financially secure – creating an increased desire for them to remain active and seek ways to give back to communities.
“America needs more volunteers to mentor and tutor at-risk youth, care for seniors, respond to disasters, and meet a wide range of other critical needs,” said Eisner. “We are committed to working with volunteer and service-driven organizations everywhere to expand the number of Americans who volunteer by 15 percent over the next five years. I encourage any American who wants to make a difference to visit www.volunteer.gov to find the right volunteer opportunity for you.”
The Corporation’s 10 x 10 campaign aims to increase the number of volunteers in America from 65 million in 2005 to 75 million in 2010 while achieving the agency’s strategic goals, which include engaging more students and harnessing the experience of Baby Boomers.
(Video) Using Soccer to Fight AIDS in Africa
25-year-old filmmaker Silas Hagerty spent this summer in Zambia documenting the rise of football (soccer) as a tool to fight HIV/AIDS in local African communities.
As Zambian Football announcer Denis Lewewe states in Hagerty’s new film, “Football is religion.” When a soccer ball hits the ground in Africa, people unite. Through this powerful platform, knowledge is spreading and stories are being told…
Recycle Old Cell Phones and Aid Domestic Abuse Survivors
Verizon Wireless was the first wireless carrier in the nation to collect and recycle old cell phones to protect the environment, and has done so since 1999, but even more inspiring, the proceeds from recycling and selling older wireless phones have been donated to assist survivors of domestic violence…
On Road to Clean Fuels, Automakers Debut 21 New Innovations
Electric vehicles, gasoline-electric hybrids, diesels, and flex-fuel and hydrogen-powered cars are inching up the consumer on-ramp at a faster pace, judging from world debuts of 21 alternative-fuel vehicles. (CM Monitor)
Change Your Life, No Matter the Circumstances
Part 3 in our series on Gratitude and how it can change your life features a man so down on his luck that calling him a victim would be the sensible story line. But, as Harry Tucker explains, his Attitude lifted him to a place where his own story became the impetus for a positive, inspiring life — much like the moth (right) emerges from a cocoon. The A in Gratitude stands for Attitude. If we assume that our world is filled with problems and impossible odds, then we are right. Conversely, if we believe that our world is filled with beauty, opportunity and infinite love, then we are also right…
Wal-Mart Goal: Selling 100 Million Energy Efficient Light Bulbs
In the face of global warming peril and consumers facing higher energy costs, the world’s leading retailer yesterday announced an ambitious campaign to sell 100 million compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) at its Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club locations by the end of 2007. If achieved, this goal has the potential to save customers as much as $3 billion in electrical costs over the life of the bulbs. In addition to saving money for consumers, 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gases can be prevented from entering our atmosphere…
