Greetings!
Welcome, dear reader, whether you’re a Gnusie, an occasional drop-in, a silent regular, or a first-timer. Come sit with us to find and share messages of hope and to celebrate all the ways good people are solving problems and triumphing over evil-doers.
The task we have set ourselves here at the Good News Roundup is to search out hope no matter how difficult the situation might be. We learned during The Former Guy’s four years of error and terror that hope can be found even in the darkest times. Now we find ourselves in a time when despite a lot of good news, it’s still the bad news and contentious commentary that gets the most attention from the media. So our mission of boosting good news is especially important now.
The Good News Roundup is a collaborative effort. We warmly encourage you to add your own good news finds in our comment section, The Best Comment Section on the Internet™, where sanity reigns, Gloomy Guses and Debbie Downers are encouraged to see the light, and pie fights are forbidden.
Settle in with a cup of whatever morning beverage you prefer and see what good news I’ve been able to dig out from under this week’s headlines.
The stories I’ve found for today show that we’re gradually making progress toward a more just, healthy, and compassionate world. We and the world are in sore need of healing. So this beautiful Leonard Cohen song, written shortly before his death, feels like the right music to introduce today’s GNR.
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Good news in politics
Democrats are on it. Rethugs are out of it.
Biden Tells Top Democrats He’s Preparing Lobbying Blitz on Filibuster Reform, Voting Rights
Kossack poopdogcomedy posted a diary on this on Sunday.
From Rolling Stone:
With a make-or-break vote looming in the Senate on a sweeping voting-rights and anti-corruption bill, President Joe Biden and his advisers have said in recent weeks that Biden will pressure wavering Democrats to support reforming the filibuster if necessary to pass the voting bill.
According to three people briefed on the White House’s position and its recent communications with outside groups, Biden assured Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that he was ready to push for filibuster reform. Biden’s pressure would aim to help Schumer convince moderate Democrats to support a carveout to the filibuster, a must for the party if it’s going to pass new voting protections without Republican votes. According to a source briefed on the White House’s position, Biden told Schumer: “Chuck, you tell me when you need me to start making phone calls.” ✂️
“I think there’s a clear recognition the president will have a role to play in bringing this over the finish line, and if in order to do that, we need [filibuster] rules reform, then so be it,” says Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.), who helped write the original version of the For the People Act. “I think Joe Biden with his long history and experience in the Senate can see that.”
Biden, Dems push Civilian Climate Corps in echo of New Deal
This is such a great idea, and it appears to be almost universally popular. It might help move Biden’s larger domestic agenda forward, since the lack of jobs for young adults is a major concern for so many American families all along the political spectrum.
From AP:
Inspired by the New Deal-era Civilian Conservation Corps, President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats are pushing for a modern counterpart: a Civilian Climate Corps that would create hundreds of thousands of jobs building trails, restoring streams and helping prevent catastrophic wildfires.
Building on Biden’s oft-repeated comment that when he thinks of climate change, he thinks of jobs, the White House says the multibillion-dollar program would address both priorities as young adults find work installing solar panels, planting trees, digging irrigation ditches and boosting outdoor recreation. ✂️
The effort comes as the White House and many Democrats are intensifying their focus on climate change after a series of devastating storms recently battered much of the nation. Touring neighborhoods in New York and New Jersey this week that were devastated by flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Ida, Biden said climate change has become “everybody’s crisis.” ✂️
The proposed climate corps was not included in a bipartisan infrastructure bill approved by the Senate, but it is a key part of an emerging $3.5 trillion package backed by Democrats to help families and address climate change. The White House proposed $10 billion for the climate corps, but some Democrats and environmental groups want to spend significantly more. A final spending figure remains to be determined as multiple House committees consider the proposal.
The Unemployment Insurance System Is Set to Get a Tech Makeover — but It Needs Much More, the Biden Administration Says
I sure hope that the proposed shared software services for state unemployment departments roll out soon — Oregon’s UI situation is a disaster.
From Pro Publica:
The technologists who once overhauled the federal government’s HealthCare.gov website after the disastrous rollout of Obamacare are now being deployed to help modernize and streamline the nation’s aging unemployment insurance system, which buckled under a pandemic-driven wave of legitimate and fraudulent claims.
The U.S. Digital Service, an arm of the White House that works across the federal government to tackle big technological challenges, has embarked on a reconstruction that will cover the entire UI system, from initial claim filing to benefit appeals, according to a memo and presentation obtained by ProPublica through a public records request. “We envision a future in which the federal government provides software that states may use to fully administer their UI program,” the agency said in the June memo to state UI systems.
The federal agency aims to deliver on that vision by creating shared software services that states can choose to plug into their UI operations to handle tasks such as claim intake, fraud prevention and identity-verification. If Congress boosts unemployment aid in the future, as it temporarily did during the pandemic, the software is intended to update to implement such changes instead of leaving it up to the states and territories to manually update their systems. ✂️
A spokesperson for the White House said President Biden is committed to unemployment insurance reform, which he included in his proposed budget.
Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Michael Bennet, D-Colo., have introduced legislation that would require state UI programs to meet minimum benefit standards and cover more workers. All states would have to offer at least 26 weeks of unemployment benefits and replace 75% or more of a worker’s wages, among other changes.
Attendance calamity at Kentucky rally featuring pro-Trump conspiracy theorists
The GQP losers just keep on losing.
From Raw Story:
Some of the biggest names pushing pro-Trump conspiracy theories were unable to draw much of a crowd at a "We the People Reunion" rally in Kentucky [last Friday].
"The event is hosting speakers such as the CEO of MyPillow, Mike Lindell, former national security advisor Michael Flynn and Pastor Greg Locke, who has in the past admitted to being at the Capitol during the January 6 Capitol riot," WFIE 14 News reported.
The station reported on attendance at the event.
"Promoters said they expected crowds of around 10,000 people. Fewer than 300 were at the event when 14 News arrived," the network reported.
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Good news from my corner of the world
Oregon public schools can offer free lunch, breakfast to every child; pandemic program allows meals for all students
Universal school meals (no means testing) should be the policy everywhere.
From The Oregonian:
Every Oregon district, like those nationwide, can provide free school breakfasts and lunches to any student who wants one, regardless of family income, this school year.
Under a special pandemic-related provision of the federal school nutrition program, the districts can receive federal reimbursement for meals served.
Many districts are not requiring the usual eligibility application either. “Students are eligible for one breakfast and one lunch per school day at no cost,” Portland Public Schools says on its website. “Therefore, a meal application does not need to be submitted this school year.” ✂️
The free meal program for the 2021-22 school year was announced in April by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as part of its response to the coronavirus pandemic. “Schools nationwide will be allowed to serve meals through USDA’s National School Lunch Program Seamless Summer Option (SSO), which is typically only available during the summer months,” the announcement said. “This option maintains the nutrition standards of the standard school meal programs – including a strong emphasis on providing fruits and vegetables, fluid milk, whole grains, and sensible calorie levels, while allowing schools to serve free meals to all children. In addition, schools that choose this option will receive higher-than-normal meal reimbursements for every meal they serve.”
Oregon governor signs country's second EPR law for packaging
EPR laws require producers of packaging, paper products and food service ware to share responsibility for funding in-state recycling programs.
From Waste Dive:
UPDATE: Aug. 9, 2021: Gov. Kate Brown signed SB 582 into law on Friday, making Oregon the second state to pass an extended producer responsibility (EPR) law for packaging. Maine's governor signed the first EPR law in July.
Under the law, most producers will need to become a member of a producer responsibility organization (PRO). The PRO will need to submit an EPR plan to Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) by March 31, 2024, and begin implementing the plan by July 1, 2025. Local governments will be able to use producer funding for improvements such as recycling facility upgrades, increased collection services, certain transportation needs and contamination reduction programs, according to the bill.
After Demise of Post Office Development Deal, a Renewed Call Comes to Use 14-Acre Space for Homeless
The wrangling and back-and-forthing about how to use this former Main Post Office site in the heart of downtown Portland has been going on for years. This strikes me as the best idea yet for giving it a truly useful second life.
From Willamette Week:
The abrupt end of [Portland’s] development agreement on the 14-acre downtown U.S. Post Office site dealt the city an economic blow, but it could offer a solution to a vexing challenge for City Hall—where to site six “safe rest villages” the Portland City Council promised by year’s end.
...The former post office, now owned by [the city], is the biggest parcel of land in the proposed 34-acre Broadway Corridor development, which the city hopes to build out over 20 years.
...Mark New, a longtime downtown real estate broker and developer, suggested in an email [to Housing Commissioner Dan Ryan]... that there could be a bright side.“We have been discussing safe sleeping zones as a solution for months, saw a long list of possible sites published, yet specific sites are not coming forward in preparation for winter,” New wrote...
“The post office site should be embraced and a plan prepared to turn this into a safe sleeping zone immediately. The property is city-owned and paved, has numerous reusable buildings for support, is isolated on three sides from surrounding neighborhoods, and is in close proximity to public transportation and social services.”
[Ryan’s spokesperson said,] “Our safe rest villages team will evaluate the post office location to determine if it meets the siting criteria we developed for Commissioner Ryan’s initiative, but it’s premature for us to make any decisions at this time,” she says. “We are on track to announce the locations of three safe rest villages before the end of the month.”
Oregon's First High School Vineyard
I love this story for many reasons, including that Mark Gould, a former chef in Portland and an old friend, has helped so much to make this program a success. Oregon-grown viticulturists for our Oregon-grown wines!
From TigerVinesWine.org:
Yamhill-Carlton’s viticulture program started in 2013 when local winery Ken Wright Cellars, Chemeketa Community College and Yamhill-Carlton American Viticulture Area partnered with the high school to help students learn about the cultivation and harvesting of grapes.
Yamhill-Carlton High School’s vineyard covers about an acre, and agriculture students help with trimming vines, testing soil, and pruning and harvesting grapes. The grapes are sent to
Ken Wright Cellars and made into wine, which is sold as a fundraiser for the
Yamhill-Carlton FFA. All proceeds are used to sustain the school’s viticulture program.
The custom-made Pinot Noir is called Tiger Vines Wine, in honor of the
Yamhill-Carlton high schoolmascot.The school’s vineyard typically produces 120 cases of wine each year, which totals 1,440 bottles. Mark Gould, the vineyard manager at
Ken Wright Cellars, has been instrumental in making Yamhill-
Carlton’s vineyard a success.
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Good news from around the nation
A more diverse Boston prepares for a true changing of the guard
This truly is an historic step forward.
From The Washington Post:
For two centuries, this historic city has elected only White men as mayor. This fall, its history will be upended.
Bostonians will go to the polls Tuesday in what is locally called a preliminary election, winnowing more than half a dozen mayoral candidates down to two for the general contest in November. All the leading candidates are women of color.
The coming milestone — one already marked by nearly every other major U.S. city — follows a remarkable decade of change and growth here. Residents of color now comprise a majority of the population, with Black and Hispanic communities each representing about 19 percent and Asian residents about 11 percent.
Many community leaders see Boston’s politics finally catching up with its demographics and moving it further beyond other aspects of its past — particularly, in the 1970s and 1980s, the city being the center of some of the country’s nastiest battles over the desegregation of schools and public housing.
US faith groups unite to help Afghanistan refugees after war
As always, look for the helpers.
From AP:
America’s major religions and denominations, often divided on other big issues, have united behind the effort to help receive an influx of refugees from Afghanistan following the end of the United States’ longest war and one of the largest airlifts in history.
Among those gearing up to help are Jewish refugee resettlement agencies and Islamic groups; conservative and liberal Protestant churches; and prominent Catholic relief organizations, providing everything from food and clothes to legal assistance and housing.
“It’s incredible. It’s an interfaith effort that involved Catholic, Lutheran, Muslim, Jews, Episcopalians ... Hindus ... as well as nonfaith communities who just believe that maybe it’s not a matter of faith, but it’s just a matter of who we are as a nation,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.
The U.S. and its coalition partners have evacuated more than 100,000 people from Afghanistan since the airlift began Aug. 14, including more than 5,400 American citizens and many Afghans who helped the U.S. during the 20-year war.
For Gen Z, climate careers are the clear path to success
Our kids and grandkids are awake, aware, and ready to pitch in to heal the planet. More power to them!
From The Optimist Daily:
For many Gen Z students contemplating their future careers, the answer is clear: addressing the climate crisis. Multiple surveys have found that overwhelming numbers of students and professionals under 25 are pursuing environmental-related degrees and careers.
This shift in career aspirations among the world’s youngest workers is a reflection of the heightened sense of climate awareness among Gen Z and even Gen Alpha. A 2021 Pew Research survey found that among Gen Z individuals, 76 percent of them cite climate change as one of their biggest societal concerns, and 32 percent have participated in at least one major environmental action in the last year.
Seeing the demand for climate action and training among students, universities are matching their interests with initiatives like the University of Southern California’s Sustainability Across the Curriculum program. The program aims to teach students from all disciplines how their majors intersect with sustainability and the environment. ✂️
The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that job opportunities for environmental scientists and “related specialists” will grow by eight percent over the next decade. This transition is expected to be pushed along by the establishment of the proposed Civilian Climate Corps, a federal program which would help young people fight the climate crisis and conserve public lands with training and job placement.
A New Website Catalogs More Than 250 Black Films Currently Streaming
The more we can access the voices and viewpoints of Black Americans, the better we’ll be able to build an equitable future. “To intentionally preserve is to remember, and to remember is to reimagine what the future can hold.”
From Mother Jones:
Forget the idea that Black cinema primarily depicts a singular set of storylines and themes centered on shared trauma, says screenwriter Maya Cade, who spent a year cataloging more than 250 currently streaming Black films from between 1915 and 1979. Her effort to make that rich history easily accessible culminated in the launch of the Black Film Archive last week. From silent films to horror flicks to blockbuster comedies and romance, Black cinema spans ever-expanding genres and generations, now archived on her site.
In her introductory note, Cade writes that the films in the archive “have something significant to say about the Black experience; speak to Black audiences; and/or have a Black star, writer, producer, or director.” The intentionally broad criteria is an attempt to expand the ways Black films are framed. “I’ve been thinking a lot about the fact that the act of making Black film history accessible is the act of transforming collective memory,” Cade told me. “To intentionally preserve is to remember, and to remember is to reimagine what the future can hold. Here, the films can be many things, and among those things are being remembered, treasured, and seen.” ✂️
Explore the rich range of Black film: If you find yourself with an hour to spare, pick a movie and start streaming.
An artist was homeless for years. Now he sells his work to celebrities like Oprah.
Note the horrifying detail that Hutchins was in jail for two years awaiting trial before being found not guilty of the charges against him. In a piece of more recent good news, the California Supreme Court has now ruled that courts must weigh a defendant’s finances in setting bail, which should keep indigent people like Hutchins from suffering unjust pre-trial imprisonment.
From The Washington Post:
[Richard] Hutchins — a lifelong artist whose passion for painting began when he was 6 — crafted about 15 portraits per day in jail, sketching each one onto a standard white envelope [using colors from Skittles, M&Ms, coffee, and Kool-Aid]. He then mailed the finished pieces to friends, family and total strangers — whose addresses he found in newspapers. ✂️
Hutchins spent two years in jail awaiting trial, then was found not guilty of the charges against him and was released in 2015. ✂️
Just as his life was finally getting on track again, the studio [where he was an artist in residence] — along with Hutchins’s valuable artwork — was demolished in a fire in December 2015. “It destroyed my life,” Hutchins said. “I lost about 800 pieces of work; my sketches, my finished paintings.”
He hopped from hotel to hotel until he drained his savings, and before long, Hutchins found himself sleeping on the streets of Skid Row. He was homeless for six years — until a chance encounter at a grocery store parking lot in April changed everything. ✂️
[Charlie “Rocket” Jabaley, an entrepreneur and former music manager, struck up a conversation with Hutchins and] was touched by [his] story. What moved him most, he said, was Hutchins’s relentless drive to carry on with his craft despite all the hardships he faced.
As [their first] conversation continued, Jabaley, who runs a nonprofit called the Dream Machine that works to help people in need pursue their goals, asked Hutchins: “What’s your dream?” Hutchins shared his long-held wish to one day see his work in an art gallery or museum. At the end of their unexpected interaction, Jabaley asked Hutchins for his phone number, and the following day, he took him to an art store and bought him $2,000 worth of supplies.
The story continues with Hutchins’ almost immediate success selling his work online and at a gallery show. He’s now “in the process of setting up a nonprofit foundation, named after his late mother, Jessie Hutchins, with the goal of supporting people who find themselves stuck in the same cycle of poverty that he found himself in for many years.”
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Good news from around the world
They risked their lives on the covid front line. Now France has made 12,000 of them citizens.
This is a model all nations should follow — including, of course, the U.S. We should immediately grant citizenship to all undocumented and DACA front line workers who risked their lives during the pandemic.
From The Washington Post:
...around 12,000 people have just become French, under a special fast-track program for workers standing on the front line of the battle against covid-19.
They include doctors, nurses, cleaning staff, cashiers and garbage collectors, France’s citizenship minister, Marlène Schiappa, said Thursday.
“These front-line workers responded to the call of the nation. It is normal for the nation to take a step toward them,” she added. “The country pulled through, thanks to them.”
The pandemic has also prompted calls in other countries for visa and residency restrictions to be lifted for foreign workers who have put their lives at risk in health-care systems that need them.
Africa announces the rollout of 400m vaccine doses to the African Union Member States and the Caribbean
From the World Bank:
...Cyril Ramaphosa, President of the Republic of South Africa...[announced] the start of monthly shipments of vaccines acquired by the AU / African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) to the AU Member States [on August 5th]. An initiative by the AU Member States to pool their purchasing power, the AVAT, on 28 March 2021, [resulted in this] historic agreement for the purchase of 220 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson single-shot COVID-19 vaccine, with the potential to order an additional 180 million doses. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was selected for this first pooled procurement for three reasons: first of all, as a single-shot vaccine, it is easier and cheaper to administer; second, the vaccine has a long shelf-life and favourable storage conditions. Last but not least, the vaccine is partly manufactured on the African continent, with fill-finish activities taking place in South Africa. ✂️
This vaccine acquisition is a unique milestone for the African continent. It is the first time Africa has undertaken a procurement of this magnitude involving all Member States. It also marks the first time that the AU Member States have collectively purchased vaccines to safeguard the health of the African population – 400m vaccines are sufficient to immunise a third of the African people and bring Africa halfway towards its continental goal of vaccinating at least 60 per cent of the population.
Record 80m rural households [in India] have piped drinking water
Amazing progress.
From Hindustan Times (via Future Crunch):
Official data show there has been a four-fold increase in the rate at which functional piped water is being provided to households in India’s 117 so-called aspirational districts, home to some of the poorest Indians, overtaking the pace at which piped water is bring provided nationally under the flagship Jal Jeevan Mission. ✂️
Under the Jal Jeevan Mission-Har Ghar Jal scheme, every rural household is to be provided with a functional tap water connection by 2024. Over 120 million households in India lack access to clean water near their homes, the highest in the world, according to a UN Water report of 2014.
India has 189 million rural households, according to Census data. Across India, slightly over 80 million or 42.5% of total rural households have been covered under the piped drinking water mission so far, official data show.
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Good news in science and the environment
Used Solar Panels Are Powering the Developing World
A terrific win-win: less trash, electricity for more people.
From Bloomberg:
An overlooked niche in the energy trade is keeping high-tech waste out of the trash — and helping to connect millions of people to reliable electricity.
Across the developing world, homeowners, farmers, and businesses are turning to cheap, secondhand solar to fill power gaps left by governments and utilities. To meet that demand, businesses ranging from individual sellers on Facebook Marketplace to specialized brokerages are getting into the trade. Earlier this month, Marubeni Corp., one of Japan’s largest trading houses, announced that it’s establishing a blockchain-based market for such panels. Collectively, these businesses will likely play a crucial role in bringing renewable energy to the world’s emerging markets — and keeping high-tech waste out of the trash. ✂️
...waste panels often aren’t waste; they’re just degraded by time in the sun or less efficient than newer models. They may not be good enough for San Francisco homeowners and cutting-edge utilities, but they work perfectly well for anyone in a sunny climate in need of stable, off-grid power who doesn’t want to pay full price.
That’s potentially a huge market. Between 2010 and 2019, the number of people living without electricity declined from 1.2 billion to 759 million worldwide. Some of that gap was closed by new power lines and other transmission facilities. But most of it was achieved by installing small solar systems designed to power a village, farm or even a single home. As of last year, 420 million people got their electricity from off-grid solar systems. By 2030, according to the World Bank, that number could nearly double.
Here’s one for you, tlj!
Thailand is Making COVID-19 Protective Gear From Upcycled Bottles
From Good News Network:
At Thai Taffeta, a textile factory near Bangkok, Thailand, a mountain of discarded plastic bottles has been broken down into filaments which are then woven into a water-resistant fabric used to make personal protective equipment (PPE) suits.
In addition to the PPE designated for hospitals, the safeguarding outfits are also being distributed to non-medical personnel at high risk for exposure to the virus.
A good portion of the fabric—dyed in the sect’s iconic red-orange hue—has been sent to Thailand’s Buddhist temples, where monks are overseeing the cremation of coronavirus victims. ✂️
It takes approximately 18 bottles to make each PPE suit. An estimated 18 million bottles have been collected and recycled thus far.
Amazing film compiled from Cassini photos
Click that Streamable link! You’ll thank me.
From Future Crunch:
A few years ago, filmmaker Steven Van Vuuren created a movie from the 7.5 million photographs taken by Cassini, as it flew between the rings of Saturn. We're so used to seeing this stuff in CGI that it's hard to fathom this is actual footage from a robot we sent into space. A timely reminder of the magic, and the wonder, that humans are capable of.
Streamable
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Good news for and about animals
Brought to you by Rosy, Nora, and Rascal.
Rosy chose the first story. Now she wants a pool.
Family Discovers What Their Dog Does Outside When No One's Watching
From The Dodo:
What does this dog named Hamilton do exactly when no one’s around to see it?
He has the time of his life — that’s what.
Recently, Hamilton’s family set up a Ring security camera in their backyard to capture the happy pup in action when he’s on his own. And, well, it apparently doesn’t take long for things to get wet and wild.
Nora has been pushing me to let her publish this story. She thinks that when people find out that Owl Kitty is from Portland, they’ll assume she’s the black cat in the videos. Sorry, Nora, I’m going to have to reveal that Owl Kitty’s real name is Lizzy.
This Portland Cat Went Viral Getting Spliced into Classic Movie Scenes
From Willamette Week:
Like most things on the internet, the legend of OwlKitty (owl-kitty.com) was born of sheer boredom.
A few years ago, Portland-based video editor Tibo Charroppin was working from home when, on a whim, he decided to make a video splicing his cat, Lizzy, into a scene from Jurassic Park—instead of being hunted by a velociraptor, the Murphy kids suddenly found themselves menaced by a fluffy black tabby.
It went viral overnight. Charroppin’s partner, Olivia Boone, made an Instagram page, and OwlKitty was born. Since then, Lizzy has appeared in the trailer for Jaws, as Baby Yoda and as the balrog from Lord of the Rings, earning a million followers across her platforms.
Judging by her ultra-popular YouTube channel, you’d think she’s sponsored by Friskies and going to influencer conventions. But OwlKitty has never left the house. Boone and Charroppin have been approached by brands, but they don’t want to do anything that would make Lizzy uncomfortable.
“That’s what helps earn trust in the following,” says Boone. “We stuck to everything we said she’d do. She doesn’t leave the house. We get invitations to bring her to cat conventions and we’re like, ‘No, that’s the opposite of what cats enjoy.’”
Here’s the original video and then one of my personal favorites.
Here’s Rascal’s choice. If Rascal had a hat, he’d tip it to Getting1 for mentioning it in a comment on Friday’s GNR:
Can Birds Tip Us Off to Natural Disasters?
From The Smithsonian Magazine:
Five years ago, French navy officer Jérôme Chardon was listening to a radio program about the extraordinary journey of the bar-tailed godwit, a bird that migrates 14,000 kilometers between New Zealand and Alaska. In his job as the coordinator of rescue operations across Southeast Asia and French Polynesia, Chardon understood better than most how treacherous the journey would be, as ferocious storms frequently disrupt Pacific island communities. Yet, somehow, bar-tailed godwits routinely pass through the area unscathed. Chardon wondered whether learning how godwits navigate could help coastal communities avoid disaster. Could tracking birds help save lives?
This past January, a team from France’s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), funded primarily by the French Ministry for the Armed Forces, began experiments designed to test Chardon’s idea. Researchers with the new Kivi Kuaka project, led by Frédéric Jiguet, an ornithologist at NMNH, equipped 56 birds of five species with cutting-edge animal tracking technology. The French navy ferried the team to remote atolls and islands in French Polynesia, where the scientists attached tags using ICARUS tracking technology. These tags transmit the birds’ locations to the International Space Station, which bounces the data back to scientists on Earth who can then follow the birds as they forage, migrate, and rest—all the while waiting to see how the birds respond to natural disasters. ✂️
The Kivi Kuaka project is focusing on birds’ ability to hear infrasound, the low-frequency sound inaudible to humans that the researchers believe is the most likely signal birds would use to sense storms and tsunamis. ✂️
There is some evidence that birds dodge storms by listening to infrasound. In a 2014 study, scientists tracking golden-winged warblers in the central and southeastern United States recorded what’s known as an evacuation migration when the birds flew up to 1,500 kilometers to evade an outbreak of tornadoes that killed 35 people and caused more than US $1-billion in damage. … The idea that birds avoid tsunamis, on the other hand, is based primarily on anecdotal evidence from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, when survivors reported birds traveling inland in advance of the deadly wave.
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Hot lynx
talkingpointsmemo.com/… Taking Stock Of The Great and Cowardly Press Freakout Of August 2021. Josh Marshall is an always reliable source of perceptiveness and sanity. “There was no pretty exit. That is what kept the US there for two decades.”
www.washingtonpost.com/… Afghanistan is not the country the Taliban last ruled. Will that matter? A thoughtful analysis by Afghani novelist Khaled Hosseini. “...perhaps, in these 20 years, the Taliban changed as well. Perhaps it sees the wisdom of inclusive, more moderate methods. After all, it is one thing to conquer a nation but a whole other matter to govern it.”
www.democracydocket.com/… Working Toward Full Suffrage. Singer-songwriter and producer John Legend has been fighting for the right of Americans with felony convictions, both in and out of prison, to vote. Marc Elias published this passionately argued piece in Democracy Docket.
www.theatlantic.com/… Maybe You Missed It, but the Internet ‘Died’ Five Years Ago. Has AI replaced real humans on social media? ”A conspiracy theory spreading online says the whole internet is now fake ... Person or bot: Does it really matter?”
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Wherever is herd…
A tip of the hat to 2thanks for creating this handy info sheet for all Gnusies new and old!
Morning Good News Roundups at 7 x 7: These Gnusies lead the herd at 7 a.m. ET, 7 days a week:
- The Monday GNR Newsroom (Jessiestaf, Killer300, and Bhu). With their five, we survive and thrive.
- Alternating Tuesdays: NotNowNotEver and arhpdx.
- Wednesdays: niftywriter.
- Thursdays: Mokurai the 1st and 2nd Thursdays, oldhippiedude the 3rd, MCUBernieFanthe 4th, and Mokurai the 5th (when there is one).
- Fridays: chloris creator. Regular links to the White House Briefing Room.
- Saturdays: GoodNewsRoundup. Heart-stirring and soul-healing introduction and sometimes memes to succumb to.
- Sundays: 2thanks. A brief roundup of Roundups, a retrospective, a smorgasbord, a bulletin board, an oasis, a watering hole, a thunder of hooves, a wellness, a place for beginners to learn the rules of the veldt.
hpg posts Evening Shade diaries at 7:30 p.m. ET every day! After a long day, Gnusies meet in the evening shade and continue sharing Good News, good community, and good actions. In the words of NotNowNotEver: “hpg ably continues the tradition of Evening Shade.” Find Evening Shades here.
oldhippiedude posts Tweets of the Week on Sundays at 6:00 p.m. Central Time — New time! Our second evening Gnusie hangout zone! In search of a TOTW diary? Look here or here.
For more information about the Good News group, please see our detailed Welcoming comment, one of the first comments in our morning diaries.
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How to Resist: Do Something …
I’m going to follow 2thanks’ lead and include this invaluable list from chloris creator:
Indivisible has created a Truth Brigade to push back against the lies.
Propaganda, false characterizations, intentionally misleading messages, and outright lies threaten our democracy and even our lives. We can effectively combat disinformation, despite the well-funded machines that drive it. They may have money, but we have truth and we have people. People believe sources they trust. When we share and amplify unified, factual messages to those who trust us, we shift the narrative. When we do this by the thousands--we’re part of the Indivisible Truth Brigade, and we get our country back. Join us.️
Our own Mokurai is a member. You can see his diary on the California recall here.
From GoodNewsRoundup (aka Goodie):
Most important: DON'T LOSE HOPE. This is a giant and important fight for us but, win or lose, we keep fighting and voting and organizing and spreading truth and light. We never give up.
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Closing music
While the 9/11 20th anniversary commemorations are still fresh in our minds, I want to share a very special piece of music with you. It’s the final movement of a requiem composed by a dear friend of ours, Robert Moran. From the liner notes: “Moran was commissioned by Trinity Wall Street (the ‘Ground Zero’ church) to write a Requiem for their youth chorus to commemorate the 10th anniversary of September 11, 2001. The result is a heartfelt and heavenly work for angelic voices with organ, harps and cellos.” Time Out Chicago called this recording “the best classical album of 2011” and Moran “one of the world’s great living composers of choral music.”
It’s well worth taking five minutes out of your day to listen to this exquisite music.
❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️
Thanks to all of you for your smarts, your hearts, and
your faithful attendance at our daily Gathering of the Herd.
❤️💙 RESIST, PERSIST, REBUILD, REJOICE! 💙❤️