- May 16, 2022

Good News Monday

Updated: Jun 13, 2022

Getting the week off to a positive start with an eclectic bundle of good news nuggets.

Anybody Out There?

For decades, the question was met with irreverent eye-rolls more often than serious concern or curiosity. But that might be about to change, in favor of earnest consideration. Congress is holding the first public hearing on unidentified aerial vehicles (UAVs, or, what we used to call UFOs) tomorrow for the first in 50 years. While we probably won't hear groundbreaking reports of confirmed extraterrestrial activity at the hearing, this event will help bring legitimacy to a subject that is often too stigmatized for many alleged accounts to come forward. In other words, once Congress' hearing is complete, new reports from military and government officials might start to trickle in.

Mariupol Escapees

This story is being widely circulated on social media. We hope it's true. Told to a reporter by a man who escaped Mariupol: "I left the bomb shelter and spotted a car with the keys in the ignition. I watched it for two hours, waiting for the owner. When nobody turned up, I took my family, got in the car and drove to Vinnitsa to visit relatives. I found a phone number in the glove compartment and called the owner: "Sorry I stole your car. It saved my family." He replied: "Thank God. Don't worry! I have four cars. I took my family out in my jeep. The rest of the cars I filled with fuel and left in different places with the keys in the ignition and my number in the glove compartment. I received calls from all the cars. There will be peace - you'll see. Take care of yourself."

Bird Box

A post box in the Scottish Highlands has been temporarily put out of use after birds built a nest inside it. A family of starlings is being raised in the box near Lochinver. Clever choice: rock solid and waterproof! Happily, a spokesman for Royal Mail said: "We have a legal responsibility never to disturb nesting birds, and we apologise for any inconvenience caused."

Keep at it George

George Linton, now 96, has been singing for in Toronto hospitals for the last three decades. Last month, the Governor General gave him an award to recognize his work. Linton started playing for people in nursing homes and hospitals with his late first wife, Peggy, while he was still a Globe and Mail reporter. The gig became full time after he retired. "Not only is he a wonderful musician, he has a very kind and gentle manner with people," said Susan Bertoldi, a volunteer services employee at St. Joseph's Health Centre. Linton says he hopes his award inspires others to use their talents to spread joy. "If you can find something you not only like doing, but other people are going to enjoy," he says, "why not keep at it if you can?"

Today's obscure word: Umbriferous - casting or making shade.

Solar Hospital

Solar panels at a hospital site in Yorkshire, England, are now generating enough electricity to meet its entire daytime running needs, officials say. Hull University Teaching Hospitals Trust said the £4.2m grant-funded scheme for the 11,000-panel solar farm meant that the trust was currently saving a whopping £250,000 a month. It's part of plans for the trust to be carbon-neutral by 2030.

Spinal Checks

Adjustments by osteopaths and chiropractors can improve brain function, and especially the functioning of your pre-frontal cortex which controls decision making, focus and intelligence. If you are suffering from brain fog, anxiety, depression or frequent headaches, your back may be a good place to start.

Groundless Fears

In a letter, titled On Groundless Fears, Seneca writes: "There are more things… likely to frighten us than there are to crush us; we suffer more often in imagination than in reality." With an eye to the self-defeating and wearying human habit of bracing ourselves for imaginary disaster, Seneca counsels his young friend: "What I advise you to do is, not to be unhappy before the crisis comes; since it may be that the dangers before which you paled as if they were threatening you, will never come upon you; they certainly have not yet come. Accordingly, some things torment us more than they ought; some torment us before they ought; and some torment us when they ought not to torment us at all. We are in the habit of exaggerating, or imagining, or anticipating, sorrow."

Quote of the Day

"In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed." Khalil Gibran

On this Day

16 May 1966: The Beach Boys released their masterwork, Pet Sounds, a bittersweet pastiche of songs recalling the pangs of unrequited love and other coming-of-age trials.