I spotted one March 20th.
Others have been seen in Calgary close to the beginning of March.
Though it looks like a BLIZZARD outside right now, Spring has nearly sprung.
Category Archives: good news
saving jobs in 2009
Dana sent me an inspiring story about this guy:
Paul Levy, the guy who runs Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, was standing in Sherman Auditorium the other day, before some of the very people to whom he might soon be sending pink slips. …
He looked out into a sea of people and recognized faces: technicians, secretaries, administrators, therapists, nurses, the people who are the heart and soul of any hospital. People who knew that Beth Israel had hired about a quarter of its 8,000 staff over the last six years and that the chances that they could all keep their jobs and benefits in an economy in freefall ranged between slim and none.
“I want to run an idea by you that I think is important, and I’d like to get your reaction to it,” Levy began. “I’d like to do what we can to protect the lower-wage earners – the transporters, the housekeepers, the food service people. A lot of these people work really hard, and I don’t want to put an additional burden on them.
“Now, if we protect these workers, it means the rest of us will have to make a bigger sacrifice,” he continued. “It means that others will have to give up more of their salary or benefits.”
He had barely gotten the words out of his mouth when Sherman Auditorium erupted in applause. Thunderous, heartfelt, sustained applause. …
read the rest of this good news story – Boston.com – A Head with a Heart
he had a DREAM
life-changing invention – adaptive glasses
About half the people in the world need corrective lenses.
Yet when you travel in the developing world, very few people wear glasses or contact lenses. They can’t afford them.
Taxi drivers, bus drivers work “blind”. It’s terrifying!
Josh Silver, a retired physics professor at Oxford University, has developed what he calls “adaptive glasses”. His specs are made of “tough plastic with with silicone liquid in the lenses. When purchased, each lense will have a syringe attached to it, and the wearer will be able to adjust the amount of liquid in the lenses — which essentially changes the prescription — without the need for an optician.”
About 30,000 pairs of his glasses have been distributed in trials in Africa. They work.
Zulu man wearing adaptive glasses. Photograph: Michael Lewis
They plan to sell these at $1 each.
… Silver calls his flash of insight a “tremendous glimpse of the obvious” – namely that opticians weren’t necessary to provide glasses. This is a crucial factor in the developing world where trained specialists are desperately in demand: in Britain there is one optometrist for every 4,500 people, in sub-Saharan Africa the ratio is 1:1,000,000.
The implications of bringing glasses within the reach of poor communities are enormous, says the scientist. Literacy rates improve hugely, fishermen are able to mend their nets, women to weave clothing. During an early field trial, funded by the British government, in Ghana, Silver met a man called Henry Adjei-Mensah, whose sight had deteriorated with age, as all human sight does, and who had been forced to retire as a tailor because he could no longer see to thread the needle of his sewing machine. “So he retires. He was about 35. He could have worked for at least another 20 years. We put these specs on him, and he smiled, and threaded his needle, and sped up with this sewing machine. He can work now. He can see.” …
Guardian – Inventor’s 2020 vision: to help 1bn of the world’s poorest see better
official website – Adaptive Eyewear
(via Engadget)
construct an island out of plastic debris
TreeHugger readers will know of the Pacific Gyre, the “island of garbage twice the size of Texas” slowly spinning in the ocean. Like everything in life, it can be seen as a serious problem, or an opportunity. Michael Barton, in his graduating thesis at the University of British Columbia, proposes to gather it together for “the construction of a synthetic land commodity.” He won an award of Excellence from in the Annual Canadian Architect Awards for “The Enthalpy of Empty Space.” …
Good idea.
best news of 2008
This is what I’ll remember about the past year.
I first learned about him due to the buzz online 2-years-ago. In that short time he’s become the most powerful man on Earth.
Amazing.
Sheena and Jeremy’s Engagement Celebration
Excellent evening … at least for those of us wise enough to go home early.
Congratulations!
Some were lonely while waiting up for their loved ones.
new baby – Anderson Manjak
8lb 5oz
Anderson
CONGRATULATIONS KELLY AND SUE.
welcome Kashis Glen Jason Boychuk
Mom Krystal is the Recreation Director at Altadore Gymnastics.
Bill Gates – Thank You for Not Smoking
XLNT.
Smoking is stupid and unhealthy. I applaud this action.
Bill Gates and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced on Wednesday that they would spend $500 million to stop people around the world from smoking.
The World Health Organization estimates that tobacco will kill up to a billion people in the 21st century, 10 times as many as it killed in the 20th.
This time, most are expected to be in poor countries like Bangladesh and middle-income countries like Russia. In an effort to cut that number, Mr. Bloomberg’s foundation plans to commit $250 million over four years on top of a $125 million gift he announced two years ago. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is allocating $125 million over five years.
Since 1999, the Gates Foundation has spent more than $2 billion on AIDS programs and about $1.2 billion on malaria. Mr. Gates has just left his Microsoft post for full-time foundation work and said he intends to form partnerships with other philanthropists. …
NY Times – Billionaires Back Antismoking Effort
I first got so tremendously angered when I saw what Big Tobacco was doing in South America to addict a new generation: enticing third world youth to smoke (2006)
