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Facebook Saves a Life with its AI Alerting Local Police of a Suicide in Progress

By
Andy Corbley
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By Kasia Derenda
By Kasia Derenda

Today, when people mention mental health and Facebook in the same sentence, it almost never bears a positive connotation.

But at least for one young woman in Lucknow, India, there’s a very good reason to make such a connection, as an AI working for Meta alerted local police that she was about to commit suicide.

The 23-year-old was distraught over what Indian media claims was an abandonment by her husband, and uploaded a video Sunday night on Facebook akin to a suicide letter. A noose hung ominously in the background, fastened around her neck as she spoke.

While the video was going viral, the Social Media Center of the office of the Directorate General of Lucknow Police received an automated alert from Meta AI that included the rough location of her phone.

A female police officer closest to the woman’s village was alerted, and she arrived before the deed was done. The officer spoke to the woman who eventually removed the noose. Declining to take her into protective custody, the Print reports that the police remain in constant contact.

The victim was engaged in a love affair with a young man from another village. The two eloped but declined to form a legal union. He eventually ended their pseudo-marriage, leaving her in despair. The man has been arrested and is undergoing questioning.

Using artificial intelligence to scan social media for suicidal intent is done by more than just Meta—there are whole companies developing AIs for this purpose. One, Sentinet, says that its algorithms flag 400 posts on social media every day that display an actionable level of suicidal intent.

Meta leverages this in their AI division to keep track of these posts, which when identified can lead to several actions—one of which is the direct message.

“We stumbled upon your post…and it looks like you are going through some challenging times,” one such message begins from Samurai Labs, another AI firm trying to combat suicide through social media observation.

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“We are here to share with you materials and resources that might bring you some comfort.” A list of resources and stories of people overcoming suicidal thoughts follow, with the message concluding with a virtual hug.

According to Time Magazine, a human supervisor looks at posts flagged by Samurai Labs’ AI and decides whether the user should be messaged with instructions about how to get help. About 10% of people who received these messages contacted a suicide helpline, and the company’s representatives worked with first responders to complete four in-person rescues like the one in Lucknow.

MORE POSITIVE AI STORIES: Korea is Using Artificial Intelligence to Prevent Suicide Attempts on Bridges

We often see discussions about AI’s disruptive power in society, up to and including how it might affect human social interaction. The story is a nice reminder that in many cases AI is simply a tool, and it can be used for good just as well as for any other purpose.

SHARE This Positive Use Of AI With Your Friends Worried About Its Impact… 

“The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves.” – William Hazlitt

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves.” – William Hazlitt

Photo by: Zoltan Tasi

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

Good News in History, September 6

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Good News Network
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In 1993, by Rdikeman, CC license

29 years ago today, Cal Ripken Jr. broke Lou Gehrig’s baseball record when he played in his 2,131st consecutive game. Once considered a near-impossible feat, “the streak,” which continued for 2,632 games, earned Cal the nickname, Iron Man. The televised game, between the Orioles and the California Angels, still ranks as one of the most watched baseball events, with Cal’s kids throwing out the first pitch. In the fifth inning, as it was tallied a full game, the crowds in the stands, the opposing players, and the four umpires gave Ripken a standing ovation lasting more than 22 minutes, one of the longest ovations for any athlete. WATCH a series of interviews throughout this long streak… (1995)

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Watch This Mushroom Propel a Robot Across the Ground—We’re Not Joking

By
Andy Corbley
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Mycelium photo by Lex VB (CC 3.0. license) with robot by Cornell University
Mycelium photo by Lex VB (CC 3.0. license) with robot by Cornell University

There’s no question that when most people think of robotics, they imagine a field of metal, mechanisms, and wires.

Yet today, in the growing field of biohybrid robotics, one can watch as a traditional robot is animated to mechanical life at the command of a mushroom.

A mushroom’s fungal filaments, known as mycelia, are known to carry electrical impulses in a way not too dissimilar from how human neurons control our muscle tissues. Knowing this, scientists at Cornell University wanted to see if mycelia, which are sort of like a mushroom’s root system, could, if mapped onto a circuit board, drive a robotic starfish’s locomotion.

Turns out, it can—quite easily, in fact (see the video below). It’s just a shame that there’s no cockpit where the mushroom can be positioned.

“The mycelia sense their environment and issue… control signals to the motors and valves of the robots that we designed and built,” the authors of the study write in their abstract.

“We used these signals to control a walking soft robot as well as a wheeled hard one. We also demonstrated the use of mycelia to respond to environmental cues by using ultraviolet light stimulation to augment the robots’ gaits.”

The researchers were looking to create biohybrid robotic systems without using plant or animal cells. Cells are, in general, a great tool in robotics because of all the ways they respond to stimuli. But there are ethical entanglements from using mouse muscle tissues or neurons to build robots, and plant cells are often, like the plants themselves, very slow to respond to commands.

Furthermore, plant and animal cells are delicate and will die quite easily if any hostile environmental factors are introduced, leaving the robot a derelict piece of e-waste.

“The conditions to keep the mycelium alive seem to be easier to achieve in a robot than the systems we need to keep mouse muscle alive, for example,” Vickie Webster-Wood, an engineer at Carnegie Mellon University not involved in the mushroom robotics study, told Nat Geo.

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“So there’s some potential there to do longer-mission environmental work.”

Biohybrid robotics has similar concepts to so-called soft robotics, which is a sub-field that seeks to produce constructs that move but don’t need mechanical components, or sometimes even electrical ones.

ALSO LOOK AT THIS: Porcini Mushrooms Rank Among Highest in the World for Rare ‘Essential Vitamin’

These include flabby gel bots that expand and contract based on changes in the surrounding magnetic field, which could be used inside human bodies to deliver targeted medication at wound sites or tumors.

Using king oyster mushrooms, the researchers cultivated fungal mycelium onto a 3D-printed scaffold full of electrodes. The electrical impulses given off by the mycelium could be picked up by the electrodes which could then be translated into computer commands to control the robot.

MORE MUSHROOM-BASED STORIES: Mushrooms Help Turn Toxic Brownfields into Blooming Meadows

Because fungal cells can survive in radioactive environments, salt water, and extreme cold, it gives a mycelia-connected robot a much greater range of uses. They could be used in agriculture to gather soil and crop data or sent into radioactive sites to clean up contamination.

WATCH the robot move via mushroom commands below…

SET MUSHROOM FANS A-HOPPIN’ By Sharing This on Social Media!

Lion Rescued in Ukraine from a Tiny Cage Tentatively Walks on Grass for First Time–WATCH

By
Andy Corbley
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credit - The Big Cat Sanctuary, retrieved from YouTube
credit – The Big Cat Sanctuary, retrieved from YouTube

An animal rescue charity has successfully evacuated two lionesses from a war-affected part of Ukraine, and one has just been filmed taking her first steps into a new, calmer world.

Yuna the lioness had never even felt grass beneath her paws—having been raised in captivity in a small concrete enclosure. She had been traumatized long before the arrival of Russian bombs.

In concert with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) The Big Cat Sanctuary in Kent, England, organized the retrieval and air transport of Yuna out of Ukraine in an operation that took 30 hours.

But it was a big success, with Yuna safely arriving at their 32-acre facility in Kent, and another lioness being dropped off at a similar sanctuary in Belgium.

At first, Yuna chose to remain in her artificial den sleeping on straw. For days she stayed there, traumatized by the sound of explosions and unwilling to venture out into the glowing light at the entrance of her new home.

“Yuna’s confidence is growing day by day, and it’s truly moving to see. After more than two and a half years since the war, Yuna had her first opportunity to step outside,” states Cam Whitnall, Project Lead at Big Cat Sanctuary.

“Although she didn’t quite venture out, watching her tentatively peek at her outdoor space was such a heartwarming sight. It felt like a small but significant step forward in her journey of recovery. Each day here at the sanctuary, she’s becoming a little braver and more assured.”

MORE ANIMAL RESCUES FROM UKRAINE: ARK Becomes ‘Life Raft’ Saving Over 15,000 Animals from Ukraine With Rescue Partners in Germany

But all that was to change recently when Big Cat Sanctuary recently released the footage of brave Yuna taking her first steps out onto the grassy slopes of her large, natural enclosure.

Preparations and fundraising are ongoing to rescue another three lionesses from Kyiv, all of which are kept in awful conditions for this beast of the savannah.

MORE ANIMAL RESCUES FROM UKRAINE: Bear Rescued from Abandoned Zoo in Ukraine Finds New Home in UK

Amani and Lira are sisters and are assumed to have been illegally bred for photo exploitation purposes. Both lionesses appear fit and healthy and have not required any veterinary treatment thus far.

MORE ANIMAL RESCUES FROM UKRAINE: A Zoo Is Fighting to Bring Lioness and Her 3 Cubs Abandoned in War-Torn Ukraine to Britain

Vanda is thought to have been kept in an apartment for 5-6 months without any outdoor access or sunlight, and raised on an inappropriate diet. She was infested with parasites and displayed signs of rickets. She’s under the care of the veterinary team and showing signs of improvement.

Donations for this operation can be made to the registered charity in the UK here.

WATCH those first steps below…

Quick-thinking 4-year-old Girl Uses Alexa to Call for Help as Mom Suffers Epileptic Seizure

By
Andy Corbley
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Leah Biggs with daughter Lyla Leathem - credit SWNS
Leah Biggs with daughter Lyla Leathem – credit SWNS

When Lyla Leathem saw her mom collapse into an epileptic seizure, she remained calm and knew just what to do.

She knew she was supposed to call her great-grandmother—but her mom’s phone was locked. The four-year-old ran upstairs and asked Amazon Alexa to make the call instead.

Her mother, Leah Bigg, had fallen unwell at her home in Somerset on August 25th. Family members had previously shown Lyla how to use Alexa for phone calls as her mom often suffers from seizures at night which can be life-threatening. But they had no idea the youngster had listened—until she was called into action.

The women in Lyla’s family tree don’t wait around, so to speak, and the spry great-grandmother, only 54 years of age, rushed over and helped Leah recover at home.

“I had had a call from Leah in the morning. She said she had had a big fit in the night and bitten her tongue,” the 54-year-old told the British news media outlet, SWNS.

“Then we texted a few hours later and she said she didn’t need me to come over and was just resting. It wasn’t long after that that I had a call come through from Leah’s number—not a video call as usual, and when I answered it, it was Lyla saying ‘Nana, Mummy’s having a fit.'”

“I told her ‘Go to Mummy and stroke her hair and tell her it’s all going to be ok. I’m on my way.'”

‘Nana’ said that they had put Alexa in Leah’s bedroom because of the frequency with which the young mother suffered from nocturnal seizures. She then added that Lyla showed tremendous deductive reasoning to override her instructions of not leaving her mother’s side and using her phone to call for help, and then to run upstairs to use the Alexa unit instead.

CHILDREN BEING HEROES: 

“I’m so proud of her. That must have been such a difficult decision for a four-year-old.”

Lyla’s great-gran was so proud of her that she posted on a local Facebook group for help finding a ‘well done’ certificate.

Lyla Leathem with trophy and certificate for helping her mother – SWNS

Her request was met with dozens of offers of help, messages praising her for her “incredible bravery,” and even a corner story in the local gazette.

With their help, Lyla got a certificate and a trophy for her quick thinking and bravery.

“I’ve been carrying around the newspaper from the County Gazette showing everyone I bump into about how amazing my little Lyla is,” said the understandably proud mother Leah.

SHARE This Heroic Little Girl With Your Friends On Social Media… 

Choctaw Nation Unveils ‘Sister Sculpture’ For Irish People–Honoring the Heart Connection Forged 170 Years Ago

By
Andy Corbley
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Choctaw Nation Photo
Choctaw Nation Photo

In the Choctaw Nation’s territory in Oklahoma, a knotted statue has been erected by tribal leaders to honor a cross-continental connection over 170 years old.

The “Eternal Heart” sculpture, combining a heart with a Celtic trinity shape, was designed to honor the eternal bond forged between the Choctaw Nation and the most unlikely of people: the Irish.

In 1847, when Ireland was experiencing years of starvation due to a potato blight, the North American Choctaw tribe joined a compassionate campaign in the U.S. to help these strangers a whole ocean away from them.

Despite their own suffering, having been forced to relocate hundreds of miles from their native land, the tribe pooled their pennies and raised $170 (almost $5,000 in today’s currency) to send to Midleton in County Cork through a relief fund.

9 years ago, a soaring silver monument to honor these donations was unveiled in Cork—and Choctaw leaders were invited to the grand unveiling.

“The bond between our nations has strengthened over the years,” Chief Batton said at the time. “We are blessed to have the opportunity to share our cultures, and meet the generous people who have continued to honor a gift from the heart.”

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Navajo and Hopi nations were experiencing high rates of infection, and the Irish saw their moment to demonstrate that they remembered the kindness shown to them by America’s native peoples. $2.7 million was raised for water and supplies by Irish donors through a GoFundMe, with many leaving messages of remembrance and hope.

An early artist impression of the sculpture in Cork—released to the press.

“Ours is a debt that can never be repaid, but please consider this a small token of love and solidarity from your Irish brothers and sisters. Praying for the strength, wellbeing and prosperity of your community always” said Caroline Kelly, adding a Gaelic message of unity. “Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine.”

“When the Choctaw people had nothing, they gave Ireland all they could at a time when we needed it most. I know it’s not much, but I hope this helps our friends in their time of need,” added Ciaran Mc brearty.

One of the truly wild parts of this historical story is that the people of 19th century Ireland who ultimately benefitted from the Choctaw donations didn’t learn about the aid money’s origin until decades after the famine had ended.

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One can only imagine their surprise when, the Midleton residents found out that it came, not from Catholics or countrymen, but from a group of ‘Indians,’ the conceptualizations of whom the Irish would have only possessed via written accounts of colonial explorers, and the high drama contained in early Wild West, Cowboys and Indians-like material distributed by publishers in America.

In 1995, then-Irish President Mary Robinson visited the Choctaw Nation to express gratitude and rekindle the friendship between the two nations. During the visit, President Robinson was appointed “Honorary Chief of the Choctaw Nation.” This historic visit marked the beginning of a renewed commitment to honor the bond forged by the Choctaws’ selfless act.

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“It is a great honor to have a hand in exemplifying the Choctaw-Irish connection through my art,” said Choctaw sculptor Samuel Stitt. “The Choctaw culture of giving and caring for others is passed down to each generation. The ‘Eternal Heart’ is an artistic interpretation of how the Irish people and Choctaw Nation will forever be connected by that human characteristic of compassion—one people for another.”

The unveiling of the “Eternal Heart” sculpture serves as a reminder of the power of compassion and solidarity and stands as a testament to the enduring friendship between the Choctaw Nation and people of Ireland.

SHARE The Conclusion To 9 Years Of Memorializing This Incredible Inter-Continental Connection… 

“The best artists know what to leave out.” – Charles de Lint

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “The best artists know what to leave out.” – Charles de Lint

Photo by: Trac Vu

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

Good News in History, September 5

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Good News Network
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The First Continental Congress mural in the Capitol building

A quarter millennium ago, the First Continental Congress was organized in Carpenter’s Hall, Philadelphia, after the British Navy implemented a blockade of Boston Harbor and the Parliament of Great Britain passed the punitive Intolerable Acts in response to the Boston Tea Party. The result of the Congress was the drawing up of the Continental Association, a proposal for an embargo on British trade. They also drew up a Petition to the King pleading for redress of their grievances and repeal of the Intolerable Acts. READ more about this milestone marker in our history… (1774)

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4-year-old Shattered a Bronze Age Jar in Museum. Now, He’ll Get to See How Experts Restored It

By
Andy Corbley
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The jar, broken by the 4-year-old - credit Hecht Musuem
The jar, broken by the 4-year-old – credit Hecht Museum

Have you ever felt anxious in sympathy with a parent whose child just caused a catastrophic accident in a public place?

From Haifa, Israel, comes a story that will twist your insides just reading it—a 4-year-old who knocked over a Bronze Age vase that dates back 3,500 years.

Father Alex Geller didn’t see the vase crash on the floor, but he did hear the tell-tale sound of a ceramic object breaking, as he was just ahead of his son and wife in the Hecht Museum. Turning around, he said he was completely in shock.

“My wife responded faster than me,” he told AP. “She grabbed our son to take him outside and calm him down and explain that it was not okay what had happened.”

“My whole body and heart cringed for [the boy’s] poor parents,” writes the Guardian’s Isabelle Oderberg, just one of the flurry of media outlets covering the story. “I think if that had been me, I would have dug into the ground with my bare hands to live as a mole woman.”

But the tale took a happy turn, as despite being told the vase was exceptionally rare, being that it was found intact and not in pieces, the museum officials responded with poise and gentleness, saying that the museum is “not a mausoleum,” and is rather “a living place, open to families [and] accessible.”

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In fact, the museum has stated it wants to use the incident as a teaching opportunity—and it asked specifically for Geller and, most importantly, his son to come back and see how staff will put it back together.

“The jar was most likely originally intended to be used to carry local supplies, such as wine and olive oil,” reports the BBC. “It predates the time of the Biblical King David and King Solomon and is characteristic of the Canaan region on the eastern Mediterranean coast.”

SIMILAR STORIES: Father’s Day Miracle: Random Meeting With a Child Reunites Woman With Dad Who Abandoned Her

“Whenever possible, items are displayed without barriers or glass walls,” Inbal Rivlin, the museum’s general director, said in a statement. “The museum believes that there is a special charm in experiencing an archaeological find without any obstructions.”

The statement added the museum intends to continue the policy despite the mishap.

SHARE This Story Of Forgiveness And Compassion With Your Friends Who Have Kids… 

Oceanographers Explore Underwater Mountain Bigger Than Mount Olympus Teeming with Wonders

By
Andy Corbley
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The Casper octopus - credit, Schmidt Ocean Institute, released (Copy)
The Casper octopus – credit, Schmidt Ocean Institute, released

900 miles off the coast of Chile in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a scientific expedition recently found a plethora of wonders hidden under the waves.

Clustered around several seamounts, or underwater mountains, oceanographers at the Schmidt Ocean Institute discovered what are believed to be 20 new species, including a ghostly octopus and a sea urchin.

They also captured priceless pics of a rare squid and what appears to be the flying spaghetti monster—all hovering around a seamount taller than Mount Olympus.

“Across the three expeditions, we managed to map and explore 25 seamounts, which is quite a number to explore,” Jyotika Virmani, the institute’s executive director, told CNN. “I think we’ve got some good data as a community that could be put forward to make the case that this is a really interesting region for protection.”

Located on the Nazca ridge, the seamount rises more than 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) from the seafloor, and it was there the institute research team aboard the vessel Falkor (too) caught a glimpse of a blue and white octopus which they nicknamed the ‘Casper octopus.’

“The (Casper) octopus has never been captured, so it doesn’t actually have a scientific name yet,” Virmani said.

A close-up photo of bubblegum coral – credit, Schmidt Ocean Institute, released

They recorded the first footage of a live Promachoteuthis squid, known only from a few collected specimens. It’s a small, weakly muscled squid that lives in the deep ocean. They also snapped photos of a rarely seen Bathyphysa conifera, which is nicknamed the flying spaghetti monster because of its likeness to the internet creation.

Separate photos of a Promachoteuthis squid and a Bathyphysa conifera, filmed during the expedition – credit, Schmidt Ocean Institute, released

The expedition was something of a contribution to an ambitious international scientific objective called the Ocean Census, which aims to discover 100,000 new species under the ocean waves in the next ten years to demonstrate the incredible biodiversity and value found in the 70% of the planet’s surface covered in seawater.

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100,000 would be just 5-10% of the species the Ocean Census claims are believed to remain undiscovered underwater.

CNN reports that in 2023, the United Nations agreed on the framework of a treaty, now undergoing ratification, that would allow the world parliament to designate marine protected areas in international waters.

MORE AMAZING MARINE EXPEDITIONS: Thar’ Be a Kraken! First Video Footage of a Possible Colossal Squid in its Own Habitat Captured

The protection that Director Virmani was referring to would be the kind established by the treaty.

WATCH some footage from their expedition…

SHARE These Wonderful Discoveries With Your Friends On Social Media… 

Tennessee Veterans Find Healing Working with ‘Bio-feedback machine’ Horses

By
Andy Corbley
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A veteran enrolled in the CERV program handles her horse - credit DoVA
A veteran enrolled in the CERV program handles her horse – credit DoVA

In Tennessee, the US Department of Veterans Affairs is having success with the tried and true rehabilitation method of equine therapy.

The Department recently shared some of their stories of success using the healing power of horses to confront past trauma.

Joanne Parchetta is one of many veterans helped by the Center for Equine Recovery (CERV), a program at Middle Tennessee State University. The idea behind the program was to bring veterans in from the Tennessee Valley VA and help them learn about the behaviors of horses through interactions and learning.

Veterans also learn about themselves through their development in class, in part because horses are so emotionally sensitive to their handlers that in order to be safe working with them, one more or less must be in a state of calm. One of the class organizers described them as “big bio-feedback machines that’ll tell you like it is.”

“I know that you are not defined by chronic illness or physical disability but it can demoralize you and cause you to give up. This class with horses showed me that I can still achieve and I can still dream,” Parchetta said.

According to CERV, horses mirror their guide or rider and provide a physical reflection of a veteran’s emotions. With this feedback, a veteran can better see, process, and work through their behaviors.

“The program is set up to safely assist and encourage veterans to succeed in overcoming some of the fears we might have of large animals or horses but also to build our self-confidence and learn to trust others and ourselves again,” said Lee Farris, who has been a part of CERV since 2023.

“My horse Penny showed me patience,” said Parchetta who has been a part of CERV since 2024. “She wasn’t judgmental, but expected me to do my part with confidence. The staff were the experts and took their time to ensure I was confident.”

Confidence, patience, and courage are vital skills that are tantamount to the VA’s Whole Health Service. CERV works with the recreational therapy portion of Whole Health. The class walks veterans through both classroom and hands-on demonstrations.

How to groom, care for, and get to know the horse are part of the initial few weeks of the 10-week program. veterans learn how to walk and guide their horses while dismounted and then how to lead their horses through various obstacles.

“You have to work as a team with your horse emotionally and physically for it to work,” said Parchetta. “When trusting in this amazing animal, it makes you trust in yourself and rediscover things in yourself you thought were lost.”

For Farris, the professionalism of the instructors provided a place for him to feel comfortable to grow.

“I learned how to trust the staff—not only because they were the experts—but they patiently took their time to ensure I was confident with the skills I was learning. I was able to be myself and not worry about being judged for my mistakes.”

ALL THE WAYS ORINDARY PEOPLE SUPPORT AMERICAN VETERANS: 

If nothing else, being out in nature wearing a cowboy hat is bound to help in some way.

CERV is the only program of its kind in the nation, but more are likely needed. Veterans of all ages, including veterans of World War II, are at substantially higher risk of suicide than the general public.

Animal therapy methods have been used for decades as part of rebab and therapy for prisoners, with GNN just featuring a story about prisoners in Las Cruces Federal Correctional Facility in New Mexico working alongside hard-to-adopt dogs to try and make these neglected and nervous animals more trusting and welcoming.

In 2023, GNN reported on “therapy sheep” being used in cases of mental health deterioration in children, adolescents, and adults. EWE Talk utilizes the animals’ dog-like behavior and wooly cuddling skills to help melt down barriers erected by overly stressed members of society.

SHARE This Important Therapy Going Well For Veterans In Tennessee…

Town Is Missing its Clothing as 4-Pawed Cat Burglar Pilfers Items from Neighbors and Brings Them Home

By
Andy Corbley
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Taboo pictured with her stash of hot property - credit SWNS
Taboo pictured with her stash of hot property – credit SWNS

There are cat burglars, then there are cat-burglars.

Taboo, a 12-year-old black and white resident of West Yorkshire in England, has stolen gloves, socks, underpants, and shoes from properties across the area.

Her owner, Sandra Danskin has now been forced to share regular pictures of the loot on social media so residents can reclaim their stolen items.

But Danskin, who works night shifts, said sneaky Taboo is rarely caught and has become a master of her criminal trade.

“Whenever I come home from my shift there are all sorts of things waiting for me, either dragged in through the cat flap or left on the drive,” Danskin told the British news media service SWNS. “This morning I had four pairs of socks and a pair of underpants. She loves bringing back items of clothing like that, but also we’ve had a mop head and kitchen rolls.”

“We even had half a dozen eggs once, still in their box, but all broken. We think she must have taken them off someone’s doorstep when the milkman dropped them off.”

Neighbors have joked that they changed the locks of their houses, and that Danskin should figure out how to train her little thief to discern worthless goods from high-end goods like Rolexes.

Sandra believes that Taboo steals clothes from people’s washing lines or sneaks into their houses if their doors are left open. The little Lupin has only been caught once so far when a neighbor spotted her trying to take a T-shirt from his clothes dryer in the kitchen.

SIMILAR TROUBLEMAKERS: Cat Who Sneaks into School Gets His Class Photo Taken – And Portrait Packet is Sent Home to Mom

“If she brings back a sock she will always go back and get the matching one so there’s a pair,” Danskin said. “I have a box full of stuff she’s brought for me and every now and then I go on Facebook and post a photo of it all so people can claim it.”

Taboo was originally a house cat and belonged to Sandra’s daughter, Gemma. Eventually, Gemma could not bear the kleptomaniac cat any longer, and Taboo went to live with Sandra and her three other cats.

THE BRITS LOVE THEIR CATS: England Team Players Adopt ‘Big Dave’ the Stray Cat Who Made Himself a Social Media Star Like a Mascot

Now the cat burglar loves to let her current owner know when she’s pulled off a successful heist by emitting a signature howl.

“Whenever she gets something she sits outside and makes this high-pitched whining noise to let me know,” says Danskin. “I’ve tried talking to her about it but she doesn’t change her ways. Underwear, socks, shoes… she just keeps bringing them.”

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE LAW: ‘Cat-ching Criminals’ Just Became a Lot Easier Thanks to New Method for Analyzing Cat Hair

“I can’t tell you how many pairs of gardening gloves she’s brought me. I’ve never heard of a cat doing anything like this before, and she shows no signs of stopping.”

Evidently, she’s never heard of Charlie, the Klepto-Cat of Bristol. Charlie became famous some years ago for stealing toys from the houses around her owner’s home in very similar circumstances. Must be something with tuxedo cats.

SHARE This Hilarious Story With Your Friends Who Love A Cat With Attitude… 

“Misunderstandings and lethargy produce more wrong in the world than deceit and malice do.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “Misunderstandings and lethargy produce more wrong in the world than deceit and malice do.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Photo by: Luke Stackpoole

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

Good News in History, September 4

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Good News Network
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Shinya Yamanaka in 2010

Happy 62nd birthday to the Japanese Nobel laureate, Sinya Yamanaka, whose pioneering work in the science of stem cells led him to identify the “Yamanaka Factors”— 4 different genetic transcription factors that he used to turn any adult human cell into a stem cell. He shared the prize jointly with Sir John Gordon of England, and his discovery was described as world-changing. READ a bit more about his work… (1962)

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Tuscany’s New Airport Terminal Will Have a Vineyard on the Roof, Obviously

By
Andy Corbley
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The Florence Airport International Terminal - credit, Rafael Viñoly Architects.
The Florence Airport International Terminal – credit, Rafael Viñoly Architects.

With more visitors than ever before, the new airport terminal in Florence will have a green roof and sport a vineyard.

The Italians are passionate about greening their buildings, with the famous Bosco Verticale in Milan being the flagship example.

To celebrate its heritage as one of the wine capitals of the world, the Amerigo Vespucci International Airport in Florence will feature an eight-hectare (19-acre) vineyard on top of its long, sloping roof.

A local, prestigious wine company will harvest the grapes and manage the green vineyard roof, and the vinting will also be done on-site in a cellar on the airport grounds.

The creative minds behind the project are Rafael Viñoly Architects, an American firm that was tasked with redesigning the international terminal as part of renovations to reorient the existing airport runway which is inadequately short and adversely affected by nearby hills.

Linear structures of precast concrete contain the soil and irrigation to sustain the vineyard and are held aloft by a network of branching columns, inspired by the vines they hold up.

The Florence Airport International Terminal and its branching columns – credit, Rafael Viñoly Architects

The columns shade most of the terminal areas, which will help reduce energy from heating. Skylights will flood these areas with natural light.

“This enormous surface, which hides the airport terminal when viewed from Brunelleschi’s Duomo and other prominent vantage points in the city, will not only serve as a new landmark for the city’s sustainable future, but also as a symbol of the traditions, history and innovative spirit that continue to drive the Italian economy into the 21st century,” the firm wrote on their website. 

GREAT SYMBIOTIC ARCHITECTURE AROUND THE WORLD:

Speaking with CNN, Román Viñoly, director of Rafael Viñoly Architects, said that heat exchanger technology will allow for low-emission heating and cooling by using the thermal properties of the soil embedded in the roof above.

“In the summer, when you need to cool the interior of the space, you do heat exchange into that mass of earth,” he says. “It holds that temperature very effectively for a very long time such that when winter comes and you need to warm the interior, you can do heat exchange again and pull the heat out of that soil and put it into the terminal.”

Buone Notizie explains that green roofs in Italy have a history dating back to Roman times, when the cover of the Domus Aurea near the Colosseum in Rome was covered in gardens.

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Michigan’s Robust Renewable Energy Powered 1 Million Homes in 2023 from Wind and Solar

By
Andy Corbley
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Wind farm near Pigeon, Michigan in Huron County – Photo by eXtension Farm Energy, via Creative Commons license
Wind farm near Pigeon, Michigan in Huron County – Photo by eXtension Farm Energy, via Creative Commons license

Michigan, a state once famous for carbon-heavy automotive manufacturing, is now among the leaders of renewable energy installation in America.

A recent report shows that the state added 350 megawatts of solar power in 2023, increasing the total renewable resources in the state by 10%.

Combined with an existing inventory of 3,500 megawatts of solar and wind, the state’s green energy covered the power demands of 944,000 Michigan homes last year.

Michigan is by no means a leader in renewable energy generation in the country, but it is looking to become one. By various metrics, Michigan ranks between 25th and 15th for renewable capacity.

MORE RENEWABLE NEWS: NFL Scores Touchdown for Renewables: The Super Bowl Was 100% Solar Powered

Michigan relies heavily on wind power from its arsenal of turbines along the coast of Lake Huron, where strong onshore winds create consistent electricity.

MORE GREEN STATES: Solar-Rich California Hits 95% Renewable Energy On a Recent Day Across 80 Percent of the State

Midwest Today reports that another 630 megawatts of solar energy are slated for installation by 2025.

The growth in renewable energy is part of Governor Gretchen Witmer’s Clean Energy and Jobs Act signed in November 2023, which aimed to expand green energy and make utility bills more affordable for consumers. While this hasn’t happened (electricity and gas bills have remained constant), there are more renewable installations on the horizon that could achieve that goal.

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LEGO Invests to Make Half the Plastic in Its Bricks from Renewable Materials by 2026

By
Andy Corbley
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Markus Spiske - public domain.
Markus Spiske – public domain.

LEGO has announced it will pay out of pocket to increase the amount of recycled plastic in its bricks to 50% by 2026.

Estimated to increase the production costs by around 70%, the company’s CEO stated its bottom line will bear the burden as it hopes continued investment by LEGO will allow companies that make recycled plastic monomers to expand and reduce these high costs.

In a bleak year for the toy industry, LEGO’s operating revenue grew 26%. Its strategy of targeting all age groups with sets ranging from Star Wars and Harry Potter scenes to limited-edition sets based on community creativity, to bonsai trees and Lamborghinis for adults, led it to announce record profits this year.

“Our portfolio continues to be relevant for all ages and interests, and this is driving significant demand across markets. We used our solid financial foundation to further increase spending on strategic initiatives which will support growth now and in the future to enable us to bring learning through play to even more children,” Niels Christiansen, CEO of LEGO, said according to the Guardian. 

But this isn’t enough for Christiansen, who hopes that an 8-year investment strategy amounting to over $350 million will allow them to replace up to half of the fossil fuels in their plastics with a sustainable resin made out of used cooking oil and food industry waste fats, or outright recycled plastic.

The market, Christiansen says, is still developing, which means these alternatives are two to three times as expensive as using fossil fuels. If you’ve bought a LEGO set recently, you’ll know they aren’t exactly cheap—they’ve really never been cheap, and passing on such high additional costs to the consumer is not an option.

GREAT CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY: Subtle, Imperceptible Tweaks at HarperCollins have Saved 245 Million Pages–Equal to 5,618 Trees

So Christiansen and the board have decided to take it all out of the company’s revenue, hoping that through financial support and broad publicity, the firms making these sustainable alternatives to oil-based plastics can grow and innovate until such a time when costs may be at parity with fossil fuels.

LEGO has also expanded its Replay program—a recycled supply chain of LEGO bricks and pieces that are repurposed for LEGO sets. The bricks are mailed in by users who no longer want their LEGOS, with shipping covered by the company.

ANOTHER SWEET LEGO STORY: Teen Creates LEGO Charity to Collect and Wash Old Bricks to Give Away New Sets–For 3,000 Kids So Far

Over a million pounds of LEGO bricks have already been received through the Replay program, and over 400,000 sets of repurposed bricks have been given to children.

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Norway’s Forests Have More Than Tripled in a Hundred Years

By
Andy Corbley
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Photo by Robert Bye, Unsplash
Photo by Robert Bye, Unsplash

Over the course of the last hundred years, Norwegian forests have tripled in size according to a new report.

They have doubled in size in just the last 40 years, which the report claims is because of more CO2 and warmer temperatures in Norway than in previous decades.

Published by Statistics Norway, the survey is the 11th national land forest inventory to be conducted in the country, which achieved full independence from Sweden in 1905. The news outlet Forskning claims that Norway was the first nation-state on Earth to conduct such a survey—that measured forest cover by cubic meters of tree trunks.

Today there are over 1 billion cubic meters, or about one-30th of the water volume of Lake Mead (whether that helps with perspective at all) in Norway.

The survey from Statistics Norway shows that forest growth continued for the whole of the 20th and much of the 21st century, but has begun tapering off as spruce saplings planted by schoolchildren in the 1960s are now fully mature and beginning in some cases to die or be logged.

TREES TREES AND MORE TREES: 

“We have also had very good growth conditions for the forest over the past 10-20 years. There have been higher temperatures and longer summers,” Rasmus Astrup head of research at the firm NIBIO, told forskning.no.

Of the 47 million metric tons of CO2 that Norway released into the atmosphere last year, 18 million were taken up by the forests. But as more of the trees born in the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s reach maturity, their efficiency at pulling this CO2 out will drop.

Forests provide just about everything a modern 21st-century society needs. They are fonts of raw materials, landscape engineers that keep the most nutrient-dense soils from washing away into the sea, breeding grounds for biodiversity that can be harvested for food, pharmaceuticals, and more, and they offer the key in a human’s mind to the door into our past—when we lived wild lives and depended on the landscape for everything.

As such they are endless sources of recreation and, quite simply, the perfect tool for the management of stress during a time when our wild brains have to cope with the pressures of the modern world.

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“It is not so much our friends’ help that helps us, as the confidence of their help.” – Epicurus

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “It is not so much our friends’ help that helps us, as the confidence of their help.” – Epicurus

Photo by: Kingsley Osei-Abrah

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