Saturday, October 29, 2022 |
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Trick or treat! Scottie Andrew filling in for our dear AJ this week. Onto the Good Stuff!
Perhaps you love Halloween because it's a holiday dedicated to sugar, or maybe because it's one of the few times of the year you can be your weirdest, truest self and don an adhesive fake beard and wizard hat to look like Gandalf for a few hours. (Just me?) But Halloween always brings with it bittersweet feelings, too — once the trick-or-treaters have shuffled home, the candy's been unwrapped and the beards have been packed up for the season, winter will soon follow. Before you know it, the year will be over and we'll have to wait months before things get spooky. I plan to stave off the post-holiday blues with copious amounts of Reese's-induced sugar high.
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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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A slam-dunk dad
Michael McGuire might be the University of Kentucky basketball team's most dedicated fan – controversial, I know, but hear me out! The Kentucky coal miner had a choice when his shift ended last weekend: Drive 45 minutes to the Wildcats’ charity scrimmage game and arrive on time, or drive back home and clean up but miss half the game. The decision was easy, though – McGuire wanted to be there when his young son Easton went wild for the home team at his first-ever basketball tourney. So McGuire arrived straight from work, still coated in black dust in his work clothes. The decision was worth it, McGuire said: “(Easton) had a blast. He was dancing and every time they would slam dunk it, he would go crazy.” His fatherly dedication caught the eye of legendary Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari, who invited the family to attend a home game at the school’s stadium (VIP treatment included). “Isn’t it neat for someone like that, who is a quiet, humble guy to know people appreciate you, and we appreciate what you stand for?” Calipari said after meeting McGuire and his family. It’s safe to say Easton is certainly proud to be a coal miner’s son!
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Skating without limits
Dan Mancina skateboards for an audience of thousands, defying gravity and managing to stay on that slim wooden board even when he's airborne. And he does it all with a cane in his right hand, which he uses to help orient himself before he attempts a trick. Mancina lost his vision in his 20s from a neurodegenerative disease after a lifetime of skating. He quit the sport, at first, convinced he wouldn't be able to skate without sight. But after undergoing training to improve his mobility, Mancina learned to skate in a new way, cane in hand. With the support of over 200,000 followers and sponsors like Adidas, Mancina has raised money to build a fully adaptive skatepark for skaters with visual impairments in Michigan, his home state. Next, he hopes to conquer the Paralympic Games. And to disbelievers, Mancina has this to say: "Some people think it’s crazy and not possible to skate. It’s not that crazy … in my head. It’s just, I enjoy skating. So I’m going to do it."
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And baby makes history!
This big-eyed, bushy-tailed baby is the very first bison calf born in the wild in the UK in thousands of years. Oh, and its very existence can help defend one of the UK’s most iconic counties from climate change. All that in such a teensy, fuzzy package. Its mother was one of three female bison released into the county of Kent, but rangers didn’t know at the time that she was pregnant – until, surprise, the baby bison plopped into their lives just over a month ago. The bison reintroduction is part of an effort to restore their natural populations, which haven't existed in the wild for millennia, but also so they’ll engage in behaviors like tree-felling, which helps reduce the flood risk in local forests. One day, this knobby-kneed sweetheart with enviable eyelashes will grow up to be a hulking bison with a hump and horns. But for now, it’s enjoying its life in the English countryside, unaware of just how monumental its arrival is. And who knows, this little miracle might one day see a sibling: The three ladies and their baby will soon be joined by a male bison from Germany. Happy breeding, bison!
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... Dale Haney, the White House groundskeeper and perhaps the truest nonpartisan employee in Washington. Haney this week celebrated 50 years at the White House. He's definitely got a plum gig — imagine spending all that time tending to roses, trimming cherry trees and walking generations of precious presidential pups, from George W. Bush's sassy Scottie dogs to President Joe Biden's rambunctious German shepherds. The Bidens surprised Haney for his anniversary at the White House by planting an elm tree, which can live between 175 to 200 years, in his honor. Fifty years, 10 presidents and one commemorative elm tree later, Haney's hardly done — after all, Biden's newest dog, Commander, still needs bathroom breaks.
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BOO! Did this monstrous, dragon-esque beast send you shuddering under the covers? What if I told you that this is no fictional monster but a minuscule, Earth-bound ant? Look at those gnashers, that stubble — those beady red eyes and a snout that looks like it could breathe fire. This impressively horrifying shot of an ant in close-up is one of many honored in Nikon's Small World Photomicrography Competition, which awards photos captured by light microscope. Apologies for the scare, but isn't it cool?
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OK, that was your trick for today. Here's a treat — a baby white-bellied pangolin, curling its tail around the arm of its caretaker. This pic is among the photos honored by the 2022 Benjamin Mkapa African Wildlife Photography Awards, which aims to raise awareness — and share beautiful photos — of endangered and threatened African species. Let's end on a less-monstrous note with this scaled sweetie.
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Antsy to hop on a plane and get lost? National Geographic hears you — it's released its top 25 destinations for 2023 a few months early for all of us with wanderlust. Among Nat Geo's picks are Portugal's lush Azores Islands, the conservation-friendly country of Botswana and Milwaukee, the charming riverside gem of Wisconsin (pictured). Nat Geo broke down its choices by interest, so whether you're seeking a natural escape, a history lesson or arts-heavy trip, you'll likely find something to love — and somewhere to go!
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“I found that happiness is a habit. Happiness is a choice. And happiness is something you have to work really hard at.”
— Leslie Jordan in his 2008 book, “My Trip Down the Pink Carpet.” Jordan, a beloved comedian and reliable source of social media joy, died this week at 67.
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Meet the aye-aye, an endangered lemur with a freakishly long middle finger that they use to tap tree trunks, find hollow holes and dig out the bugs within them. But oh, that's not the only purpose that witchy finger serves: Aye-ayes also use it to pick their nose, according to a study released this week. A CT scan of an aye-aye I will NOT attach here because — well, it's yucky — showed that the lemur was able to reach through its nasal passages all the way into its throat, where it can dig for mucus and then ... I won't gross you out further. But I'm an avowed fan of the aye-aye, mostly because it's so misunderstood — in its native Madagascar, it's sometimes considered a harbinger of death because of its bizarre appearance. Underneath those buck teeth, orange eyes and off-putting digits lies a gentle creature who'd much rather spend its days diggin' for gold than scaring its human neighbors.
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Consider this your reminder in big, bold, capital letters to rediscover joy this week. CNN's Leah Asmelash spoke with the poet Ross Gay on his latest addition to the positive literature canon, "Inciting Joy," a book about "noticing what you love, articulating what you love, and sharing what you love." It's not the easiest task, finding joy, particularly when the present seems bleak and the future feels too far away to imagine. But that's life, Gay says — "Joy does not exist without sorrow. No one gets out of sorrow." But we can lighten each other's loads and alleviate the burden for those we love — and that's what joy is, he says: "the light that emanates from us when we help each other carry our sorrows." What a beautiful, empowering idea to make life feel a bit less lonely, and a bit brighter, too.
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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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These tawny owl chicks are ready to fledge and fly! Best of luck out in the real world, cuties. (Click here to watch.) |
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A newsletter for the good in life |
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