It finally feels like spring here and I’ve been out in the garden almost every day, which has really elevated my mood and energy. So it felt like time to do the same here with another good news post.
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The fact that Temple Grandin lives a short drive from here makes me smile, every time she’s in the news.
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I rarely ever, ever, ever recommend reading YouTube comments, but the comments on this video about the maternal care center were almost as good as the video good news:
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Moose enjoys some popcorn, skips the movie
KENAI, Alaska (KTUU) – When a new patron stopped by the Kenai Cinemas on Wednesday night, he wasn’t interested in showings for “The Pope’s Exorcist,” “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” or “John Wick: Chapter 4.″
Instead, this visitor only wanted to indulge in one particular concession stand snack.
“Our popcorn had him enticed,” Kenai Cinemas General Manager Ricky Black said. “He was pretty focused on that. I guess he was tired of eating bark for the winter.”
A young moose entered the cinema around 9 p.m. and stayed for about five minutes, Black said. Surveillance video shows the moose sniffing around the concession stand before following his nose to a nearby tray of popcorn left by the trash can. The moose had his nose in a trash can, at one point getting his nose and mouth stuck inside a spent McDonald’s Happy Meal box.
“They were just letting some of the cold air in, and that’s how this happened,” said Black, whose niece was also working at the time. “We prop the door open quite often during this time of the year because it’s just so nice outside, and you want to let some of that fresh air in.”
Black and another employee were able to direct the moose to the exit. Black, who is from Arkansas, said the event was a cool thing to experience, especially as he and his niece Jasmynne are new to Alaska.
“We both think this is just so awesome,” he said, “because we’re both just kind of fascinated with moose in general. Like, we’re still in that new-to-Alaska phase.”
He said the situation would have been much different had an adult moose stopped by.
“I would not have the same reaction to a bull moose in rut season, or a mama moose,” Black said.
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This is one of my favorite things, I make sure to DVR it because it reminds me every night that there is so much good out there:
We’ve built playgrounds, houses, helped animal shelters, provided kids with toys, filled in-school stores with free food and supplies kids can take home, filled food banks, given people living in cars a safe place to park, helped a volunteer fire department..and so much more. Almost 11 million raised in 3 years, $5 at a time.
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I know someone sent this to me – I think either Steeplejack or HumboldtBlue sent it, as they send me happy stuff at least once a day:
https://twitter.com/RachaelHasIdeas/status/1650447531187535873?s=20
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I made Key Lime Coconut Bars yesterday, they are so yummy. (Recipe here)
I have no pet pix for you today, but here’s my garden finally starting to show some color. This is the front yard, where I took out the grass and planted native plants. These bulbs are actually from the previous owner and the fact they survived the upheaval and seem to thrive delights me.
That’s it for this edition. Share your good news in the comments. And as always, be kind, especially to yourself.
War for Ukraine Day 434: There’s Supposed To Be an Earth Shattering Kaboom!
zhena gogolia
Great post.
Kristine
The nail clip Tik Tok is hilarious, and the key lime bars look *yum.
Scout211
I look forward to these threads. Thanks, TaMara for posting them.
I’m not sure if any jackal has posted this one yet, but last week, a Michigan 7th grader safely brings full school bus to a stop after driver loses consciousness
(video at the link)
schrodingers_cat
I want this kitty
OT: My fountain pen inks have arrived. Also, the Inktense pencils and Albrecht Durer pencils’
Alison Rose
The Green brothers are such good dudes, and that video was incredible. It’s gut-wrenching to think of how many people there lost babies, and maybe also their own lives, simply because the health care they needed wasn’t available due only to a lack of money, not will or drive. I hope PIH is able to replicate this success elsewhere around the continent where it is sorely needed.
I remember many years ago watching a documentary called A Walk to Beautiful, about women in Ethiopia afflicted with obstetric fistula, and how many of them were sort of cast out from their communities, and the only possibility for medical help was to travel miles and miles and miles – often alone and by foot – to a hospital. I hadn’t been naive about the stark differences in medical reality between my suburban middle-class California life and the life of many people in developing nations, but that documentary really opened my eyes. I started supporting groups like PIH and Fistula Foundation when I could. It’s wonderful to see so many people doing their own part to try to bring safety and ease to those who need it most.
Miss Bianca
@Scout211: Wow. I could only have dreamed of that kind of presence of mind at his age!
West of the Rockies
I’m really loving the celebration of love and friendship that is Somebody Somewhere.
cain
It feels like spring, but it Smells like Teen Spirit.
TaMara
@Alison Rose: Literally their little 3 minute weekly videos lift my spirit.
@West of the Rockies: Love that show, can’t wait to watch season 2 when I get around to my month of HBO
Geminid
My friend Debbie located a new queen for the bee hive she keeps here. A local bee keeper has one, so she’ll pick it up and install it in the hive tomorrow morning. It will come in a small screened box with a hole plugged with wax. The worker bees will take a while to chew through the wax, and that gives them time to get used to her.
Debbie found the queen was gone yesterday when she checked on the hive and saw no new brood. She did find some some honey comb that was excess to the bees needs, and took about 20 pounds worth of honey home.
cain
@cain: I apologize for the ear worm. Really sorry about it.
Dan B
Tulips are native to high elevations in the Middle East and western Asia. Their environs are arid. The only moisture is from snowmelt in Spring so that’s similar to Colorado. Even the cultivated Tulips like that. You would probably enjoy the species (wild) that are mostly smaller and they are likely to spread unless a vole finds them.
Ruckus
TaMara
This entire thread is really, really great. Thank You.
@Miss Bianca:
It is pretty amazing that he could just do it, didn’t have to think that much, he acted and stayed calm. A lot of people can’t stay all that calm in an emergency situation, the adrenaline or the fear takes over. I don’t think it has a lot to do with his age but just him and how his brain works. The critical thing was that he had a concept of what to do, and as he said, he watched her drive every day. He had an interest in how and what and that is how many people work but it’s not how everyone works.
Jackie
This qualifies as feel good news😊
“Former first lady Michelle Obama has co-founded a new kids’ nutrition company geared at improving access to healthier foods, rolling out a low-sugar drink as its first product.”
”Obama on Wednesday announced the launch of PLEZi Nutrition, a public benefit company, and the fruit-juice drink PLEZi, with plans to expand into other drinks and snacks in the coming years.”
“I’ve learned that on this issue, if you want to change the game, you can’t just work from the outside. You’ve got to get inside — you’ve got to find ways to change the food and beverage industry itself,” Obama said.”
“PLEZi Nutrition builds on Obama’s Let’s Move! project, an initiative she started while in the White House to encourage physical exercise and better nutrition among children, with the overall goal of addressing childhood obesity in the U.S.”
thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/3986801-michelle-obama-launches-kids-nutrition-firm/
satby
So many great videos, thanks TaMara!
Ohio Mom
The “dogs” getting their nails clipped was hilarious; that senior project, where the group both created “arms” for their fellow student and a mechanism to allow him to drive a car, was impressive and extremely moving. More humanist engineers like them, please.
And a note about autism. There are many versions, Temple Grandin’s is but one. Lots of autistics don’t think in pictures, lots of them have a combination of poor eye/hand coordination and poor spatial perception and are not going to excel in shop classes. I mean, for those who can, full speed ahead.
One of the hallmarks of autism is impaired ability to see things from others’ perspective. You can often see that in Grandin, she forgets how broad the autism spectrum is.
For those wondering how and why Grandin’s mother was able to buck the the conventional wisdom of the day and provide her daughter with what she needed to fully realize her potential, you need to know that her family had old Pennsylvania oil money.
As having money can, her mother felt empowered to do things her way. She could pay for a governess — how that governess instinctually knew how to use behaviorism to teach Grandin, I don’t know.
The family could also afford private school, one that was unregimented and would let Grandin follow her muses. Finally, an aunt had a ranch out west, where Grandin visited and found her calling, working with farm animals.
MagdaInBlack
@cain: I’m fine with that ear worm.
Roger Moore
@Ruckus:
I think the key is how people react to danger or stress. The reaction is divided between thinking about the danger or stress and thinking about the response to it. The more someone thinks about their own reaction, the calmer they will be in reacting to danger or stress. The more they think about the outside danger or stress and the less they think about their reaction, the more they tend to panic. It’s possible to train to get better about this kind of thing, but some people are just naturally good at it.
Ohio Mom
@Dan B: The first time I saw a photo of tulips growing wild in the steppes of one of the ‘Stans, it was a revelation. They were scattered willy-nilly among very scrubby grasses. They looked like the weeds they started out as.
So different than every other view of tulips I had ever seen, either in real life or in photos, where the flowers are carefully and closely planted in rows, with groupings of many different colors — the wild ones in the photo I saw were all red.
CarolPW
@Ohio Mom: One of the most astonishing things I have seen is blooming mariposa lilies in sage shrub-steppe habitat only suitable for sheep grazing. Crap land and exquisite flowers.
NutmegAgain
I’m (re)watching the Smithsonian channel’s series Dogs with Extraordinary jobs, and in S1E1 there’s a Gt Dane named George who utterly changes a little girl’s life for the better. Of course, I thought of you, TaMara, and your crew!
AJ of the Mustard Search and Rescue Team
@Geminid: Beautiful to read! Ty for sharing.
AJ of the Mustard Search and Rescue Team
Thank you TaMara, much needed and much appreciated.
No One You Know
@Ohio Mom: I appreciate knowing this. I was a bit of an outcast on a previous group for saying behaviorism worked really well for me. I got “re-educated” very quickly.
Ohio Mom
@No One You Know: Nothing works all the time, 100%, and behaviorism has been oversold to parents of newly diagnosed children. It is not going to “cure”’ their children of autism.
All that said, it can be a useful and powerful tool. It certainly was a help to Ohio Son at various points.
The field has evolved and become much more sophisticated. But don’t say any of this to an Autistic self-advocate, they have not progressed from being disgusted with Lovass.
Rachel Bakes
Coconut lime bars. Mmmm. Reminds me of the margarita/coconut lime cheesecake I made a few years ago. Need to make that again
Doug
@cain:
Smells Like Nirvana
Weird Al ftw
Doug
YouTube comments have gotten a lot better recent(ish)ly. Somewhere (maybe in the context of twitter replies, and how they’ve gotten worse) I came across a note from a person who had worked on that, who said they had put a lot of effort into cleaning up YouTube comments, it had succeeded, and practically nobody noticed.
I mostly use YouTube as a jukebox, so maybe comments are different elsewhere, but nowadays they are at worst wholesome and at best truly moving as one of the top few comments is someone telling how a particular song moved them or was their late dad’s favorite or how the artist was kind to them or whatever. They’ve turned internet wisdom on its head: do read the comments!
Maxim
These are all wonderful, TaMara. Thank you.
@West of the Rockies: I keep hearing about that show. Thanks for the reminder to check it out.
TerryC
Three beautiful days coming up and we will finish our spring 2023 tree plantings. We have two persimmon, 6 chestnut, and 75 paw paw yet to plant. I am so excited because a couple of my oldest paw paw trees have flowers for the first time. And some of my grafts onto wild pear and apple have taken and new varieties are growing. One of them from last year has flowers so I will be getting Baldwin apples from a former crabapple :)