This past Tuesday, I woke up early, drove to Starbucks and ordered a pumpkin spice latte the very first morning it was back on the menu. Yes, I am a pumpkin spice girl. And over the years, the PSL has become an emblem of sorts for things that are basic. Boring. Predictable. Pedestrian. Unoriginal.
... and that's supposed to be a bad thing? In this day and age, with all of this [gestures broadly to everything from global to personal] going on? Being boring is a treat! Normalcy, however you choose to define it, is a downright privilege. Drink your same old comforting drink. Wake up and have breakfast with the same people at the same table you've been sitting at for years. Let the day pass slowly without a single remarkable moment. Life is glorious, even when -- and sometimes especially when -- it's a little boring.
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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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Happy feet
Lucas, a penguin at the San Diego Zoo, was feeling kind of low. He had bumblefoot, a type of infection that causes inflammation and lesions and makes it hard to walk. To make matters worse, the other penguins in his enclosure didn't want to hang out with him because of his condition. (For shame!) However, wherever there is an animal in need, there are often bright humans willing to go the distance to make it better. Zookeepers had Lucas walk across sand to create an impression, and then created molds of his feet. Thera-Paw, a company that specializes in protective boots for animals, then crafted special orthopedic shoes for the little guy. They even made them as close to his natural foot color as possible so he wouldn't stand out. It worked! Lucas took to them immediately, and even more importantly, he was able to socialize again.
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Little smiles, big impact
A nursing home in Japan is taking on some new employees. They're a little green, one could say. It's mostly a personality hire thing. But the residents at Moyai Seiyukai home in Kitakyushu city definitely approve. Gondo Kimie, the head of the facility, noticed that the elderly residents at the home really perked up when her infant grandchild visited. So, the home began distributing leaflets around the neighborhood and posting open calls for babies on social media. Their offer includes some nice perks for the baby freelancers, including baby formula, diapers, and cups of tea from the in-house cafe for their managers attending parents. In exchange, the babies are asked simply to "visit whenever you want" and "walk around as much as you like."
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Cute AND hard-working
Admit it, if you saw this face at the airport, it would make the stress of flying just a liiiittle bit better. Eebbers (what a name!) is a passenger-screening canine at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, and the recent winner of the Transportation Security Administration's 2022 "Cutest Canine Contest." Adorable Eebbers was chosen out of a field of 92 contenders. TSA held a nationwide social media contest and encouraged members of the public to vote on their favorite. Eebbers has quite the resume: He's been with the TSA for 10 years and has assisted with security for two Super Bowls, the Special Olympics World Games, a NCAA National Championship Football game, the Indianapolis 500 and a NASCAR event. After his big win, Eeebbers did something else laudable: He retired.
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Scientists in Spain have unlocked the genetic code of the "immortal jellyfish" -- a creature capable of repeatedly reverting into a juvenile state. The word "immortal" is a little hyperbolic, but the Turritopsis dohrnii is the only known species of jellyfish able to repeatedly revert back into a larval stage after sexual reproduction. Many types of jellyfish have two-phase existence where they revert back to a larval stage at some point, but this mysterious jelly is the only kind that can do it after it reaches sexual maturity. Scientists hope to continue to study their DNA to pinpoint the processes that help them live so long. That could provide fascinating new clue to human aging.
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Think this guy is on his way to get a pumpkin spice latte, too? Duane Hansen of Nebraska paddled 38 miles down the Missouri River on Saturday in a "boat" made from a hollowed out pumpkin to celebrate his 60th birthday and hopefully set a Guinness World Record. (The current record is about 25 miles, which implies multiple people have at some point thought, "Hey, today I'm gonna float down the river in a giant gourd, and I'm really aiming for distance.") Hansen named his 846-pound pumpkin craft the S.S. Berta, and it even had a cupholder carved into its interior. Along with family and friends, he asked Bellevue city officials to serve as witnesses for his record-setting attempt. "They say if you stay in your job long enough you might see just about everything and this morning was one of those days!" a city witness said on Facebook.
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Image credit: Logan/Adobe Stock |
Quick! What's North America's most populous city? If you guessed Mexico City, you're correct! This massive cultural metropolis is home to historical sites, world-class museums and cool neighborhoods. For the foodies, it also boasts two of the world's top 10 restaurants of 2022: Pujol and Quintanil. Mexico City is on CNN Travel's list of the best places to go this fall -- and the pleasant weather this time of year is definitely a factor, too.
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You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.
- Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese-American poet, writer and artist |
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It's fall, and frankly I'm a little offended that the mosquitos are still out and hungrier than ever. Knowing why mosquito bites itch won't make them less annoying, but at least it's interesting. When a mosquito bites you, it pierces the skin using its proboscis to suck up blood. As the mosquito is feeding on your blood, it injects saliva into your skin. A mosquito's saliva has a quality similar to an anesthetic, so you don't feel the bite until after the insect flies away. IT also has a lot of proteins in it that our bodies see as foreign. So the itch comes from our body's attempts to fight the foreign invasion. That's one reason why some people are relatively unbothered by bug bites, and others are itching all season long. (Oh, and scratching definitely makes it worse. It's just science!)
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Rec of the week
Brought to you by CNN Underscored
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Shameless animal video
There's always time for cute animal videos. That time is now.
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It's football season again, hooray! But if you're not into that, perhaps you'd prefer a camel playing soccer? (Click here to view)
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A newsletter for the good in life |
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