Saturday, October 15, 2022 |
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Someone needs to explain why pumpkins from a pumpkin patch are so much better than any other kind. These days, you can get some real beauties from the grocery store -- even classy little green and white ones! But somehow, they're just not as festive as the ones you trudge through a muddy field to find yourself. It's doubly festive, of course, when you do it all with little cup of hot apple cider in your hand.
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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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Image credit: Robin Spring |
A vicious (ball) predator
Marlo the cavapoo is a seasoned hunter. Granted, his prey is of the round and dimpled variety, but the instincts are still there! During the past five years, Marlo has prowled the woods and long grasses of local golf courses to help owner Charles Jefferson collect over 6,000 golf balls left behind by stray-shooting players. Golf balls aren't cheap, and Marlo's top finds retail for nearly $5.00 a pop. Jefferson works for a branding agency, so naturally when it came time for his team to promote a ball-collecting container on the DP World Tour, his colleagues wanted Marlo to be a part of it. The ball collector itself is a great idea. The repurposed 20 foot shipping container has been steadily filled with balls donated at various Tour events throughout the season, totaling about 40,000 balls so far that will be redistributed to golf foundations with special causes. For his part, Marlo proudly delivered 600 of his very own finds.
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Brain games
Sometimes the line between "good, exciting news" and "good, exciting news that carries a nonzero chance of ushering in a dystopian technofuture is ... a fine one. Scientists at Cortical Labs in Melbourne, Australia say they observed a dish of brain cells play the old-school video game Pong. Researchers connected the neurons – the cells responsible for receiving sensory input from the external world and for sending motor commands to muscles – of humans and mice to a computer, where the neurons were made aware if their paddle was making contact with the ball. In a paper published Wednesday in the journal Neuron, researchers claim they were able to demonstrate “the neurons could adapt activity to a changing environment, in a goal-oriented way, in real time.” They said this achievement could help the science community further understand how intelligence is developed. Which is all well and good, but once those petri dish brain cells start playing MarioKart, I'm out.
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All creatures great and small
Nadeem Shehzad and Mohammad Saud (above), a pair of former bodybuilder brothers from Delhi, have spent years saving black kites, a medium-sized bird of prey that's a familiar sight over the city sky. Smog, sweltering heat and toy kite flying -- a popular pasttime in the area -- are major threats to Delhi's black kites. Two decades ago, the Saud brothers opened up a wildlife rescue center to care for the birds, one wing at a time. They learned veterinary procedures, like suturing muscles and even repairing bones. Now, their story is the subject of “All That Breathes,” the first film to win top documentary prizes at both Sundance and Cannes film festivals. But Shehzad and Saud aren't doing it for fame or fortune. In fact, the documentary's director says it's hard to explain exactly why the brothers are called to this kind of work. Perhaps it is the life-affirming sacrament of saving something broken, and setting it free again.
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Bear 747, who is the chubby champion of this year's Fat Bear Week! Few bears ever reach 747's girth, according to Explore.org, which organizes the contest. The site says he's one of the biggest brown bears on Earth, possibly weighing as much as 1,400 pounds. He's been working hard at fattening up, fishing at Brooks Falls in Alaska's Katmai National Park & Preserve nearly every day from late June to mid-September. He doesn't even have to fight for it! The big bear's profile says he "keeps his status by sheer size alone." Sensational. Fat Bear Week is an annual treat at the park, and though this year's contest was plagued by an online voting scandal (is nothing sacred?!), it seems a worthy winner prevailed.
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This spooky season, Sony and vacation rental company Vacasa have teamed up to offer one courageous group of friends a getaway in the Ghostbusters Firehouse. Though the classic 1984 Halloween hit is based in NYC, this faithful reproduction is located in Portland, Oregon. The three-story firehouse features all the essentials: a P.K.E. Meter, Ghost Traps, Proton Packs, an Aura Video-Analyzer and an Ecto-Containment Unit to store the evil spirits you catch. Ecto-1, the Ghostbusters' vehicle, is even parked in the firehouse bay. Guests can wear the famous Ghostbusters fight suits and snack on Stay Puft Marshmallows, among other creepy activities. Hmmm ... new haunted house idea? New haunted house idea!
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Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that this new world is born.
- Anaïs Nin, American writer and novelist |
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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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This spy cam video from a robotic otter is probably the closest we'll ever get to actually being otters. (Click here to view) |
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A newsletter for the good in life |
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