I keep a list of perfect foods. While the concept of perfection is largely a fallacy outside of, say, mathematics, you know a perfect food when you eat it. You want to weep. Ironically, you want to swear off the food entirely, to instead retire it at the height of excellence like a jersey number. My fifth and most recent Perfect Food Experience was just last year, when I ate the platonic ideal of a strawberry while berry picking in Musella, Georgia. Every other strawberry since has paled in comparison. Truly, a blessing and a curse. Is this behavior pushing the concept of simple pleasures to the extreme? Perhaps. Or maybe it's fun to imagine there's always a delicacy just around the corner, waiting to change your life.
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Our favorites this week
Get going with some of our most popular good news stories of the week
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Fruit salad
Speaking of perfect foods, an elephant living at the Berlin Zoo has learned how to peel a banana! Pang Pha, an Asian elephant at the zoo, is such a little princess (seriously, a researcher even called her that) that she somehow convinced her zoo caretakers to peel her bananas before feeding her. Usually, elephants just scarf them down whole, but the discerning Pang Pha needed a little culinary flair. Years later, she figured out how to do it herself, wowing her caretaking team. They alerted a group of researchers who study how elephant trunks work. While the team had seen elephants peel bananas before, they were eager to record her peeling skills to study how elephants use their amazing trunks to adapt to their environment. Plus, Pang Pha of course has to add a little drama: she rips the peel open with her trunk and then flings the banana on the ground to free it.
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Fly on
A new museum just opened in Kansas honoring one of the most famous flight icons of all time. The Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum is located in Atchison, Earhart's hometown. The centerpiece of the museum is Muriel, the world’s only remaining Lockheed Electra 10-E aircraft. Muriel is a twin to the plane Earhart flew on her fateful journey over the Pacific Ocean. Founder Karen Seaburg says the museum expands on Earhart's legacy. “What we’ve done is combine STEM and history into a unique museum about her life but also learning about the STEM of flying, aviation and centrifugal force – all the different things kids need to learn and adults, too.” Seaburg also pointed out Earhart isn't just known for being the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. She was also a voting rights advocate, and even met with President Herbert Hoover about securing women their right to vote.
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Turning pain into purpose
Ten years ago, the Boston Marathon bombing sent survivors on a difficult path of healing and discovery. In the years since, they have turned their experience into sustainable change. This article details five organizations started by Boston bombing survivors and families, but here's a little about each one:
The Brittany Fund for Trauma and Recovery was started by Brittany Loring to provide financial support to fellow trauma survivors and their families. Some of the fund's volunteers include first responders who aided Loring that day.
The Heather Abbott Foundation was started by Heather Abbott (above right), who lost her lower left leg as a result of the blasts. Her foundation helps provide custom prostheses to amputees across the country.
The Martin Richard Foundation was started by the parents of eight-year-old Martin Richard, who was killed in the attack. The foundation promotes sportsmanship, inclusion, kindness, and peace, and has awarded more than $2.9 million in grants to youth-led community service projects and inclusive sports programs.
One World Strong was started by survivor Dave Fortier. Inspired by the compassion of injured Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who came to help, Fortier created his foundation to build an international support network for survivors and families affected by terrorism, hate crimes, and mass casualties.
Rebekah’s Angels was founded by survivor Rebekah Gregory, who, along with her young son, was mere feet away from the first bomb. She was later diagnosed with PTSD and started her foundation in 2018 to raise awareness of childhood trauma and help children and families with PTSD and trauma find and pay for specialized mental health treatment.
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Jack-of-all-trades Arnold Schwarzenegger! When he's not starring in an action movie, encouraging people to reach their health goals or speaking out against hate, he's ... fixing potholes, apparently! The former governor of California posted a video showing him and his team patching up a hole on a street that had worsened after bad weather delayed attempts to fill in a temporary paving job. In the video, a man even stops by and exclaims that he'd been waiting a long time for the hole to be fixed. Yeah, we've all been there.
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Three Boeing aerospace engineers put their credentials to the test and broke the world record for the farthest flight by a paper airplane. (There really is a record for everything!) After nearly 500 hours of origami folding and studying aerodynamics, Nathan Erickson, Dillon Ruble and Garrett Jensen got their design to fly a whopping 289 feet, 9 inches -- almost the length of an American football field. The trio says they were inspired by various hypersonic aircraft, and everything from the angle of the path (40 degrees off the ground) to the type of paper (A4) had to be meticulously tested.
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Dr. Kwane Stewart started his organization, Project Street Vet, to provide medical care to the pets of people experiencing homelessness. He also did it to soothe his own aching heart. Stewart's emotional strength was wearing thin in 2011, as he found himself euthanizing more and more animals in the California shelter where he worked. It was the recession, he notes, and people were surrendering pets they didn't want to -- or more often, couldn't afford to -- care for. One day, he stopped to offer care for a homeless man's dog, and the exchange change his mindset. "I’m going to do more of this," he told himself. "I’m going to get back to saving animals on my terms. And I’m going to do it for passion, not for pay." Now, Stewart and his team of volunteers visit homeless camps and Los Angeles’ Skid Row to care for people's special friends with no judgment and no expectations. Just love.
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A giant tunnel of snow winds its way near Mount Tateyama, one of Japan’s three sacred mountains, spanning 56 miles through the Toyama and Nagano prefectures north of Tokyo. The sightseeing route, dubbed "The Roof of Japan," treats travelers to amazing views of mountains, waterfalls, and more snow than one could reasonably want to see in a lifetime. A little too much snow, maybe. The route's most popular leg is Yuki no Otani, or Great Valley of Snow, which cuts through towering walls of snow that can rise up to 60 feet, thanks to a team of very dedicated snow plow operators. Is there a name for a newly-discovered fear of massive snow walls? There should be. Just saying.
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Rec of the week
Brought to you by CNN Underscored
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40 unique Mother’s Day gifts for the coolest moms you know
If you're always in constant competition with a sibling, Mother's Day is a great time to prove you're the favorite child. We rounded up 40 unique gifts that'll be sure to wow the maternal figure in your life. We also have zero judgement if you just want to buy something nice for yourself.
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Shameless animal video
There's always time for cute animal videos. That time is now.
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"Why am I crying? Oh, just watching an elephant listen to Moonlight Sonata, no big deal."
(Click here to view)
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