Friday, March 20, 2009

Good News for March 20 (posted by Mary Beth)

Helping Us Pull Our Ox Cart: The Holy Spirit

"A friend of mine is a rabbi in the Reformed Jewish tradition. After we had become good friends, he gave me a word to the wise. “You’re going to have trouble with Jews and Muslims with this talk of Jesus taking care of your sins for you,” he said in a friendly way."

Read more of Stephen Reed's commentary. Click here.


Want some good environmental news? NASA study finds we dodged global ozone layer catastrophe

"Here's rare good news about an environmental crisis: We dodged disaster with the ozone layer.

A NASA study about ozone-munching chemicals from aerosol sprays and refrigeration used a computer model to play a game of what-if. What if the world 22 years ago didn't agree to cut back on chlorofluorocarbons which cause a seasonal ozone hole to form near the South Pole?"

Click here for more details on the study.


New Orleans actor Patrick Gendusa survives violent attack to get back onstage and in the classroom

"One night in May 2006, local actor and teacher Patrick Gendusa nearly lost his life while walking to his condo in Fauborg Marigny.

A mugger crept up behind him, threw him to the ground and repeatedly kicked his face, leaving him for dead steps from his home."

Gendusa's journey back is chronicled here.


Time to Plant the Peas!

"For gardeners, this week is like the start of the Indy 500, with the announcer saying, “Gentlemen, start your engines!” (Wait, do they still say that now that Danica Patrick is racing?), and the subsequent revving that signals the beginning of a long and exciting race. Friday is the first day of spring, and that means it’s time to plant the peas…"

Click here to learn more about gardening timetables.


World Water Day, March 22nd: Cause for Celebration -- and Indignation)

"If you wake up to clean, running water on World Water Day or any other, count yourself blessed and celebrate, no matter how ordinary it may seem to you. More than 884 million people worldwide don’t have that luxury – roughly one in eight people on the planet."

To learn more about World Water Day, click here



Dubai Cares Supplies School, Hygiene Kits in Gaza


"CARE has distributed more than 10,000 school and hygiene kits to children in the Gaza Strip, courtesy of the charitable organization Dubai Cares, based in the United Arab Emirates. CARE partnered with a number of community-based organizations to distribute the supplies in the aftermath of the Israeli incursion into Gaza that started on December 27, 2008 and ended January 18, 2009."

Click here read more on CARE's activities in the Gaza Strip.


Before you forward that email, check it out!

Email makes mass communications easy and efficient. It can also make an excellent instrument for misinformation. A rumor or hoax can be spread worldwide in a matter of hours. Before you send that story on to someone else, check out the validity of the information by checking with one or more of the Internet myth-busters."

TruthorFiction.com offers one resource for checking out emails. Click here.

Snopes.com is another source for verifying or debunking that hot story. Click here.

About.com offers an urban legends resource as well. Click here.


She's square with life: Hospice brings partners for resident's last dance

"Marilyn Coyne survived the Depression with little food and no heat in her parents' flat in Portland, Maine. She married and sent four kids to college. She saw her husband and one of their children die. And, in November, after three years of fighting breast cancer, she was told by a doctor that she had months to live."

Click here for more of this heartwarming story.

Good News From Mary March 29, 2009

Why it is Good to Give Thanks

Every Sunday morning for over 20 years, with very few exceptions, I have gathered with a group of prayer partners to read a Psalm and then spend an hour in worship-based prayer. Typically, we have started at 6:15 AM. The worship in the Word is sweet and the Spirit always guides us as we take time to specifically focus on prayers for the Sunday services of the church and all God wants to do through them.

Click here to read the rest of this story.

Marking Wall's fall by toppling giant "dominos"

Berliners plan to topple a two kilometer-long chain of giant "dominoes" along the path of the wall that once separated communist east from the west, to mark the 20th anniversary of its fall.

Click here to read the rest of this story.

Pink elephant is caught on camera

A pink baby elephant has been caught on camera in Botswana.

A wildlife cameraman took pictures of the calf when he spotted it among a herd of about 80 elephants in the Okavango Delta.

Click here to read the rest of this story.

Serious Overtones to Jon Stewart's Smack Down

I was mesmerized by the most fascinating financial program recently.

Surprisingly, it was not on one of the business cable networks. It was on Comedy Central, where Jon Stewart took down Jim Cramer, the host of CNBC's "Mad Money."

Click here to read the rest of this story.

Dayton's Flyin' High After Upset of West Virginia

Dayton is haunted by Bob Huggins no longer.

Chris Wright scored a career-high 27 points to lead the 11th-seeded Flyers to a 68-60 win over sixth-seeded West Virginia on Friday in the first round of the Midwest Regional.

Click here to read the rest of this story.

Friday, March 20, 2009 Good News Stories

Lighting the way for those in need

"Ruth Beckman's job is to solve other people's problems. She has plenty of experience. As a younger woman, Beckman raised eight children. Now 73, she mothers the poor, hungry and desperate in Columbus."

Click here to read more.


Lettuce

Here are some tips are growing lettuce along with a list of the different varieties of lettuce available.

Click here to read the article.


Biodiversity Found In Unexpected Regions: More Than 200 Plant Species Found In Semi-arid Rivers In South Eastern Spain

"The prevailing belief to date has been that the streams of south eastern Spain contained nothing of interest. However, a research project by the University of Murcia has shown that these ecosystems, which are unique in Europe, are home to great plant and animal biodiversity. This has enabled the research team to explode the myth that arid systems do not contain any organisms of interest, and to call for them to be protected because of their ecological value."

Click here to read more about this discovery.


Emotions Evoked by Music Are Universal

"Three basic emotions evoked by Western music affect people everywhere, regardless of culture or habits, a new study shows.
People in Africa who've never listened to a radio can still pick up on happy, sad, and fearful emotions in Western music, researchers say in the journal Current Biology."

Click here to read more on this study.


Idled workers volunteer more

"Nonprofits are reporting record-setting volunteer interest, helped in part by high unemployment, which has given people more free time and resume gaps to fill. Charity groups also attribute the rise to President Barack Obama's call to community service and a general sense of wanting to help others through tough economic times."

Click here to read more.

Shot of the Day for March 19, 2009

Curve

By Flickr Member Glen's Pics