Wonderful World

[Stargazer86]

There is always so much negativity in the news and in the world in general that I thought it might be nice to share some positive things that happen. It's very important to be aware of what's going on in the world around us, both good and bad. Let's help restore some faith in humanity and good deeds. MSNBC.com has a "wonderful world" section that I like to read from time to time when the front page stuff starts to weigh in too heavily. No matter how big or small, whether you read about it or it's something that happened in your community, please share with us some positive things that are happening in the world :)

as reported by msnbc.com
Mystery Donar gives $7 million to Alaska school

"ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The University of Alaska Anchorage has been given $7 million by a mystery donor who has now gifted at least $81.5 million in total to 15 colleges run by women.

School chancellor Fran Ulmer announced the donation on Friday.

School officials say $6 million will be used for scholarships targeting women and minorities and the rest for a new science learning center opening next fall.

About 20,000 students are enrolled at the school.

The anonymous donor has been giving the money over the past two months.

Michigan's Kalamazoo College and New York's Hunter College also announced gifts from the anonymous donor this week."


also from msnbc.com

Snowplows Clear Roads for Transplant Patient

"CASPER, Wyo. - Chuck Forbes has battled liver disease for half of his 59 years. When the time finally came for a transplant, a blizzard blocked his route to the hospital — until a corps of snowplow drivers saved the day.

Forbes was recovering after undergoing transplant surgery Sunday at the University of Colorado Hospital in Denver. He and his wife, Ruth, made it there from their home in northwest Wyoming despite the storm that closed roads Saturday in the southeastern part of the state.

"I hope those WYDOT (Wyoming Department of Transportation) guys know they performed a miracle," Ruth Forbes said.

She said her husband had been on a transplant waiting list for about a year when "we got a surprise call totally out of the blue at 7:30 on Saturday morning."

They had already made it all the way to Wheatland, some 250 miles southeast of their home in Meeteetse, when they encountered a road-closing barrier Saturday afternoon. A bit panicked, Ruth Forbes called 911.

"The operator said 'The road is closed, we've been forecasting this storm all week,'" she said. "Then she said 'Hang on, I'll get a patrolman to come talk to you.'"

Trooper Chuck Bloom arrived, talked to the couple and then returned to his patrol car.

"He came back to our car and said, 'If you wait right here, the area boss for WYDOT will be right here,'" Ruth Forbes said. "In a matter of 10 minutes, we had a convoy of plow trucks."

The couple followed nearly on the bumper of a plow truck from Wheatland in whiteout conditions.

Other trucks joined their caravan to plow a wider path.

In Cheyenne, one plow led them through the city. South of the city, another snowplow driver got them to the state line.

In all, the escort involved eight snowplows and covered some 80 miles.

They made it to the hospital at about 9:30 p.m. Chuck Forbes underwent his transplant at 7 a.m. Sunday.

"He is having a heck of a time getting out of the anesthesia, but they say that's normal because of all of the meds he's on," his wife said. "But the transplant went wonderfully."

[Stargazer86]

From my local newspaper
Well I don't know that it falls under "wonderful"..perhaps more amusing. I think it is good. At the very least, it should be decriminalized.


reported by Thedesertsun.com

Million Marijuana March Comes to Palm Springs

"Palm Springs residents joined demonstrators around the world today for the Million Marijuana March through downtown to adress law makers to end a federal ban on the drug
Organizer Aurora Maldonado, who led a similar march last year in Palm Springs, will conduct the march to celebrate medical marijuana and press law makers to end the federal ban.


"It's all about liberating marijuana,'' Maldonado said. ``Marijuana is good medicine for a lot of people and it is time to stop arresting people for using this harmless plant.''


The marchers were scheduled to meet at 10:30 a.m. at the parking structure at Baristo Road and Indian Canyon Drive and then march through downtown.


Maldonado said she is aware that the city of Palm Springs passed an ordinance that will allow two medical marijuana dispensaries within certain industrial zones in the city in March.


"What most people don't know is it's legal under state law, but still illegal under federal law even though Obama and the attorney general said that the D.E.A. could not do anymore raids on cooperatives and dispensaries, raids are still going on,'' she said.


U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced in March that raids by the Drug Enforcement Administration on marijuana dispensaries in the states where medical marijuana is legal will be stopped.


Proposition 215, approved by California voters in 1996, made it legal to sell marijuana -- on a non-profit basis -- to people who have a doctor's prescription. Since then hundreds of dispensaries have sprung up throughout the state."

All of our local dispensaries have been raided/closed at some point or another. Obama put a stop to that which was announced by a DEA spokesperson after that huge drug cartel arrest in Mexico a few months back.

[Maximilianus]

Just found this thread and I second this idea, only that now I feel too sleepy to look for good news :yawnb: (it's almost 4:00 here).
I promise I'll share something positive by tomorrow. Word given on it. :thumbs_up
Good night!

[blazeofglory]

Wonderful things happen everywhere; generous people are born anywhere. In Nepal I knew people do charitable things out of great generosity.

People give even they have no abundance and they are no so rich; others do not give if they are awfully rich.

I have read about a woman who threw all her jewels while congregating at a religious program. She was a poor woman, had a hands to mouths problem. A beggar came up with a bowel and emptied all that he had when he listened to some religious speeches.

It matters little when the effects happen and people choose to donate.

This too proves that the world is not just full of people of heinousness,but of generousness also.

I do not think anybody is inherently bad or good, and it is out of the circumstances he is in, particular behavioral sets.

I can say people are likely to be good or bad depending upon the way he or she responds to a particular socioeconomic environment in point of fact.

[blazeofglory]

I agree without reservation that the world is not getting worse in every respect. As far as development is concerned we are much ahead, and of course we are more democratic and cherish values and we have great discoveries.

We think that today there is more violence and the world is too much obsessed with war. '

This notion is wrong. Given the first and second world war in which so many people died, now it is not worse.

Of course on the issue of ecology we are getting worse. Barring ecology our world is getting better than what it was a few centuries ago.

[Stargazer86]

The world is not worse nor more violent. We just have better access to information which makes it seem as if it is.

Copied from msnbc.com


JERUSALEM - Hebrew University has received a surprise donation of more than $100,000 from an unexpected benefactor — a woman who survived the Nazi Holocaust and appeared to be destitute, a university official said Sunday.

Upon her death two years ago, a homeless Holocaust survivor living on the streets of New York City willed the gift to the university. The Jewish woman lived out of a shopping cart in Manhattan and had no known relatives, said Yefet Ozery, Hebrew University's director of development and public relations.

"She lived as a very poor woman. And when she died at the age of 92, it was discovered she had accumulated close to $300,000," Ozery said.

The university first learned about the gift three months ago but did not receive the money until this week. It will be used to fund scholarships for medical research students, according to the woman's wishes, Ozery said, refusing to disclose her name. The story was first reported by The Jerusalem Post daily.

Not much is known about the woman, who had no known connection to the university. She left the other half of her savings to various causes and beneficiaries, though Ozery said it is unknown how she amassed the small fortune.
"No one knows where she got it from. But she probably lived penny to penny. She probably saved it to do good for the world and for the Jewish people," Ozery said.

The woman's last known employer was a Jewish man in New York, who hired her to move his car to avoid parking tickets in exchange for a hot meal and a room, Ozery said. The woman also left that employer a portion of her savings.

[Lynne50]

Well, this wasn't in the news because it happened to someone in my own family. I just wanted to share this with all of you, because I am so proud of my daughter. She's 22 and signed up in April to be a Bone Marrow Donor. Well, 4 months later they called her and she was a match for someone. She had never even had a blood test, so this was a big deal to her. She had to endure an injection a day for 5 days and then they harvested her stem cells. It took 8 hours. The procedure is like giving blood, but they use both arms simultaneously. The only glitch was that her veins weren't that good, she's very skinny, so they had to put in a central line which is a minor surgical procedure, but that made us stay an extra 2 hours.
Good news, the stem cells were flown to receipent an hour after her donation. And my daughter is doing well, too. No ill effects from the whole procedure. Some people are on the donation list for years and years, but it only took 4 months for my daughter to be called. We won't know for some time how the receipent is doing.

[Stargazer86]

Well, this wasn't in the news because it happened to someone in my own family. I just wanted to share this with all of you, because I am so proud of my daughter. She's 22 and signed up in April to be a Bone Marrow Donor. Well, 4 months later they called her and she was a match for someone. She had never even had a blood test, so this was a big deal to her. She had to endure an injection a day for 5 days and then they harvested her stem cells. It took 8 hours. The procedure is like giving blood, but they use both arms simultaneously. The only glitch was that her veins weren't that good, she's very skinny, so they had to put in a central line which is a minor surgical procedure, but that made us stay an extra 2 hours.
Good news, the stem cells were flown to receipent an hour after her donation. And my daughter is doing well, too. No ill effects from the whole procedure. Some people are on the donation list for years and years, but it only took 4 months for my daughter to be called. We won't know for some time how the receipent is doing.
That is wonderful! She did such a great thing :) Glad to hear both your daughter and the recipiant are doing well. Thank you for sharing that. That is inspirational.

[blazeofglory]

This world is really a beautiful place, and wonderful too. It is really a matter of looking at things and if you look at things positively everything is positively.

Of course this world is really chaotic and if we see it through a very negative perspective it turns out to be negative.

I have learned to see the world from a brighter angle.

[Maximilianus]

The Swiss pharmaceutical laboratory Novartis announced on Thursday that one of their vaccines against the swine flu might have effect with only one dose, instead of two as it was supposed; a find that might increase the world supply.

In the first results of human tests of one of their possible vaccines, Novartis AG said that only one injection gave sufficient protection from the virus, according to the criteria of the American and European regulators.

The majority of experts supposed that two doses were needed because the swine flu is caused by a new virus to which practically nobody is immune. On Thursday, China approved a vaccine for the swine flu, of which their producer, Sinovac, also said it works with only one dose.

The World Health Organization did not comment specifically on Novartis' vaccine, since they have not seen the information yet. The agency said that several companies are working with formulations of a dose that theoretically would increase the world supply of the vaccine.

Novartis pointed out that results are based on a British test carried out on 100 people, from 18 to 50 years old, that received one or two vaccines. Also they are testing other formulations of the vaccine in more than 6000 subjects in the world.
According to Novartis, people who received two injections of the vaccine had a better immunological response, but only one injection also gave appropriate protection within two weeks.
It's not yet clear what this would mean to the world supply. Not every laboratory can copy Novartis' formula (their vaccine was prepared by cellular cultivations, whereas 90% of the vaccines against flu are prepared from hen's eggs).

[blazeofglory]

This is a fantastic thread and I know that many persons like for simple reasons that this world is not too bad and we have kind of presumptions about what is going around the world. We simply jump to conclusion rather than arrive at facts and figures, and this in essence is human tendency. Every one of us is a saint and culprit at the same time and man cannot be of saintliness alone and there is vile and villainy too within us, and when the saint in us is awake the villain within us is sleeping. That said, the villain is not absent, just resting, and hibernating waiting of course for a better and more conducive moments and will become manifest .

I feel that man hemmed in particular circumstances is likely to sin and in fact it is not the man alone to blame but the circumstance he is in accounts for accordingly. No man is completely evil and no one completely good, and all of us feature both and from this stand point nobody to be despised completely.

I am rather positive in my attitudes, and I look in the eyes of man with innocence despite the fact that he wears a gown of hatred or abhorrence. Inside every culprit there is something of the saint. We must try to discover for ourselves this mystery, and once this truth gets demystified the world will turn into a wonderful place to live in.