Dogs arrive – Photo Denise O’Brian

You may have seen today’s good news story, but it is such a heart warmer I couldn’t pass it up. The story comes to us from USA Today. Here it is in its entirety.

Hundreds of dogs parade for man’s 100th birthday party

When Robert Moore’s family started planning his 100th birthday party, they wanted to make sure it was special.

There was going to be a big family dinner, of course, but since a lot of Moore’s friends are no longer alive, his daughter, Alison, thought including man’s best friend – dogs – in the celebration would be a good idea.

“My father loves dogs. He just loves them all,” said Alison speaking to USA Today.

A few days before the party, Alison shared a post on Facebook and Nextdoor explaining her idea and asking friends, neighbors, and members of her community in San Jose, California, to drop by for a parade with their dogs on June 17.

Robert Moore pets a dog – Photo Holly Barr

Though her post was widely shared, Alison had little expectation and was prepared for only a handful of people to show up. However, hundreds of dogs and their owners lined up on the streets outside their house, waiting patiently to be petted by the birthday boy.

What was even more exciting was that the furry creatures arrived in all sorts of costumes, from tuxedos to cowboy hats and bumble bee costumes. There were pups riding in classic cars, as well as dogs with disabilities pulling carts.

“It was all so amazing,” said Alison. “I thought only a few would show up, and they’d just walk in front of the house and be done. But the response was so overwhelming. People not only brought their dogs but families also came with their little ones who wished my father a happy birthday.”

Denise O’Brian with her father Robert Moore – Photo by Denise O’Brian

Many of the surprise guests also brought gifts for Moore, including flowers, cupcakes, handmade drawings, and posters.

“My sister and brother-in-law picked him up from his assisted living center and told him about the surprise party,” Alison said. “He was shocked, but at the same time, he was so excited for it. By the end of the event, he was so overwhelmed [with the response].”

“He petted every single dog that came through. It was so lovely,” said Alison.

Denise O’Brien, who brought her father to the celebration, told USA Today that her father couldn’t stop “talking about that wonderful dog parade party.” She added that despite her father’s Alzheimer’s condition, he enjoyed every minute of the party and spending time with dogs.

Alison said that ever since pictures and videos of the dog parade were shared on social media, people have been reaching out to her to tell her how much they enjoyed seeing the celebrations and that they hope to do something like this in their own community as well.

The good news here is kindness is rewarded. Today’s JohnKu talks about paying it forward. I hope you have a great weekend.

Reward by John W.Howell © 2023

Have you noticed that,

Kindness shown for no reason. . .

Comes back in no time.

Today’s good news story comes from the Good News Network. Here it is in full.

In New Zealand, a young boy has become the world’s youngest recipient of the Mountbatten Award after saving his younger brother from a treacherous stretch of coastal water last year.

The hero was Kalya Gamage, 14, who must have paralyzed his mother with fear when he saw his brother Kithmi being pulled out to sea by 3-meter waves and said to her, “OK, Mum, I’m going out. I might not be back.’’

12-year-old Kithmi was a good swimmer in his own right but couldn’t resist being ripped off his feet by several large waves that broke ashore on Chrystalls Beach in South Otago. Quickly tiring himself out trying to fight his way back to land, he was out around 60 meters (180 feet) treading water in a “notoriously dangerous” patch of coastal ocean where the Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS) notes “no one survives.”

Kalya jumped into the frigid water and had little difficulty reaching his brother but became nervous about whether he could reach the shore.

But he was relieved that they did, cold and tired but alive.

“Undoubtedly, Kalya’s brave response saved his brother’s life that day,” said the RLSS.

Kalya wants to start a business or be an engineer when he grows up but has spent time specifically improving his swimming skills. Those skills and the rescue they afforded won Kalya the 2022 Mountbatten Award, given to a single member of the whole British Commonwealth per year—over 2 billion people in 56 countries.

While his high school and even the Kiwi government expressed their pride at Kalya’s bravery and presence of mind, the greatest reward will, of course, be having his brother around for many decades to come. The good news here is a boy was saved because his brother thought quickly. Today’s JohnKu talks about saving others. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Someone Else by John W. Howell © 2023

We protect ourselves,

But the question still remains . . .

Would we protect others?

Today’s good news story comes from the Good News Network. I have purposely left in several links since they show other photos taken from the Webb Telescope. If you have the time, they are spectacular. Here’s the story.

It’s been a long and successful year for the James Webb Space Telescope, and to mark the anniversary of its entry into service, NASA has shown off Webb’s vibrant picture of a small star-forming region in the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex.

“From our cosmic backyard in the solar system to distant galaxies near the dawn of time, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has delivered on its promise of revealing the universe like never before in its first year of science operations,” NASA stated.

The first-anniversary image displays star birth “like it’s never been seen before,” full of detailed, impressionistic texture. The subject is the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, the closest star-forming region to Earth.

“It is a relatively small, quiet stellar nursery, but you’d never know it from Webb’s chaotic close-up,” boasts NASA. “Jets bursting from young stars crisscross the image, impacting the surrounding interstellar gas and lighting up molecular hydrogen, shown in red. Some stars display the telltale shadow of a circumstellar disk (dust and matter), the makings of future planetary systems.”

Two critical differences single out the JWST as such a remarkable machine: the first is that it sees into infrared light—a spectrum which the human eye cannot see, and the second is that it orbits the second LaGrange Point a million miles from Earth, removing any light pollution of our world from diluting its imagery.

It’s made some important discoveries and snapped some incredible photographs. From our own solar system, Webb has clarified details on Jupiter, such as the planet’s minuscule rings, as well as the Jovian aurorae, on Neptune, where the telescope was able to clearly image the planet’s rings and moons together for the first time, and from Saturn where it was able to gather exquisite data on the effect of methane clouds in Saturn’s atmosphere.

Webb has also been studying Saturn’s moons and managed to record a plume of water erupting from the surface of the ocean world Enceladus that was 6,000 miles long.

Outside the solar system, the JWST has taken amazing photos of the oldest galaxies ever found, created just 500 million years after the Big Bang, of an exploding star in the constellation Cassiopeia, and also lent a hand to a European effort to study X-ray light in the universe with a 4-panel mosaic of technological artwork. 

“In just one year, the James Webb Space Telescope has transformed humanity’s view of the cosmos, peering into dust clouds and seeing light from faraway corners of the universe for the very first time,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “Every new image is a new discovery, empowering scientists around the globe to ask and answer questions they once could never dream of.”

“Thousands of engineers, scientists, and leaders poured their life’s passion into this mission, and their efforts will continue to improve our understanding of the origins of the universe—and our place in it.”

The good news here is the human quest for knowledge is being met. Today’s JohnKu talks about the value of learning new things. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Learning by John W. Howell © 2023

Like an ocean swell,

Lifts every boat the same way . . .

Learning lifts us all.

Today’s good news story comes from my favorite source, The Good News Network.

Dock Worker Brings Stranded Ferry Passengers Home: ‘You’re all staying at my house tonight.’

Today’s good news story comes from the Good News Network.

First Recorded Birth of Critically-Endangered Burmese Peacock Turtle Hatchlings

By Andy Corbley Jun 29, 2023

This little fellow is the Burmese peacock softshell turtle, and he’s sitting here in the hands of one of the first humans to ever hatch them in captivity.

As one of the planet’s most endangered freshwater turtle species, it’s hoped the 15 hatchlings will go a long way towards preserving these beautiful reptiles for future generations of Myanmar’s people.

The breeding program was undertaken by the conservation group Flora and Fauna International, along with support from local volunteers and knowledge keepers around Myanmar’s Indawgyi Lake, one of the largest freshwater lakes in Southeast Asia.

The locals, trained by FFI, nominated “turtle guardians” to patrol the shores and look for nesting areas—of which they found 5 in the 2022 breeding season. They fenced them off and kept regular watch over them.

According to the conservation group, the video of the turtles hatching is the first known recording of the species born in the wild.

FFI has worked around Indawgyi for many years and was instrumental in its designation as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2017. Home to 160 endemic birds, the lake also hosts fish, reptiles, primates, and mammals unique to the area.

The Burmese peacock turtles are named for the orange spots on their shells reminiscent of peacock feathers. They are considered a delicacy in the poverty-stricken country and have been overhunted.

The good news here is efforts are being made to replenish what mankind has endangered. Today’s JohnKu talks about dedication. I hope you have a wonderful week.

The Volunteers by John W. Howell © 2023

There is no pay earned,

The work can have no reward . . .

Yet they volunteer.

Today’s good news story comes from (where else) the Good News Network. Here it is in its entirety.

Don’t call it a comeback; blue whales have been here for years, rocking their peers and putting sailors in fear.

The largest animals on Earth are returning to the coastal Californian waters in larger and larger numbers, with sightings on whale-watching trips becoming increasingly common.

According to a 2014 study investigating the impact of ship strikes on the blue whale population, the western Pacific population of these cetaceans has reached 97% of its pre-whaling levels.

“When we’re able to take collective action and think about balance, such that people and the activities that we want to support like shipping, like recreational use, like commercial fishing, all of those things can coexist.”

Commercial fishing tackle can harm whales, so the industry took measures to reduce this, and it worked.

Too many blue whales were killed every year in ship strikes, and so Pacific shipping narrowed their lanes to avoid areas where whales congregate, and are now agreeing to reduce their speeds when entering and exiting harbor areas.

The current estimates suggest that as many as 2,000 blue whales travel up from Mexico to Southern California waters every year, a large chunk of a global population that may be topping 25,000.

Scientists believe there is a population of 200 such animals near the city of Ostend.

“I was born in Ostend. I’ve lived my whole life here, and I couldn’t remember seeing a seal,” says Inge De Bruycker, founder of the North Seal Team to Euronews. “It’s new. It’s like, come on, when we built this dam here about seven, eight years ago, we sometimes had one. Occasionally, but just one.”

The good news here is that combined efforts are bringing these animals back from endangerment. Today’s JohnKu talks about how to help the planet. I hope you have a terrific weekend.

Co-operation by John W. Howell © 2023

It takes more than one,

Working together for good . . .

The animals thrive.

Today’s good news comes from the Good News Network and is a story with a twist. Finding a tooth is in itself not the best good news. What happens later is definitely good news.

Woman Finds Foot-long Mastodon Tooth From Ice Age on a California Beach

By Andy Corbley Jun 15, 2023

When a California woman found what looked like used firewood on a beach, she snapped some photographs of the nevertheless strange-looking object and went on her way.

As it turns out, she had stumbled across something remarkable—a mastodon tooth, and after posting pictures of it on Facebook, set off a chain reaction that led to quite the saga.

“She didn’t know what it was, the importance of it. It looks like a piece of old firewood. So she left it there. It’s understandable,” said Wayne Thompson, a paleontology collections advisor for the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History.

KRON4 News reports that Santa Cruz is a hotspot for mastodon remains, and Thompson himself actually reassembled a whole mastodon skull for the museum once: it took 2 years.

Thompson contacted the woman, Jennifer Schuh, explaining the situation and asking her to go back and retrieve the foot-long bone, but, as she arrived there, she realized that unlike her, someone else didn’t pass up the chance to pocket the super rare find.

A weekend of beachcombing didn’t turn it up, and so Thompson went to social media pleading to the new mystery owner to do the right thing and turn it over to the museum.

Then, a call came in from the nearby town of Aptos. Jim Smith had found it on a regular beach jog. According to Mr. Smith, he also didn’t know what it was but took it home rather than to social media.

Jim donated it to the museum.

“It’s super, super, super important for understanding elephant life in Santa Cruz County during the last Ice Age. There are only a few mammoth specimens, and mammoths are more common than mastodons. Aptos was a popular destination for Ice Age proboscideans,” Thompson told KRON4. “It’s a piece of Santa Cruz history.”

Alive for between 5 million and 10,000 years ago, mastodons are the smaller, rarer cousins of mammoths, and while Santa Cruz is famous for their remains, this is only the third-locally recorded mastodon fossil.

Schuh didn’t get to take home such an important piece of natural history and set it above her mantle, but she went online and bought a scaled replica to wear as a necklace, saying it’s not often one gets to touch something with so much history.

The good news here is Jim Smith was a conscientious citizen and turned the tooth over to the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History. Today’s JohnKu talks about conscientiousness. I hope you have a super weekend.

The Right Thing by John W. Howell © 2023

Doing the right thing,

Is not a glory matter . . .

But citizenship.

Today’s good news story comes from my favorite source, The Good News Network. Here it is unabridged.

New York Cop Grabs Suicidal Passenger in First Rescue of its Kind on Staten Island Ferry

It was a rescue that police said had never been done before hanging off the edge of a Staten Island ferry boat.

They were there because an emotionally disturbed man had inexplicably climbed out of the window onto a railing on the outside of the ship, seemingly ready to jump.

Then, after trying to reason with the silent would-be jumper, Officer Gambino, who was roped to the boat from an anchor point above, moved like lightning to grab hold of the individual and press him up against the side of the boat.

“Some people were in dry suits, and some were in rope harnesses in case he went into the water or stayed on the ferry,” said NYPD Emergency Service Unit Sgt. Darion Brooks. “We were prepared for both.”

Brooks told ABC 7 news that this particular rescue strategy had never been attempted before but that the ESU trains for dozens of different situations, some of which have involved potential jumpers.

The moment of arrest was captured in stunning detail by a news helicopter, and the man was transported to a hospital where he could receive psychiatric attention.

Here is the video of the rescue.

The good news here is that there were trained police officers who were able to save a life. Today’s JohnKu talks about rescues. I hope you have a great weekend.

Response by John W. Howell © 2023

Thinking of police,

More comes to mind than defunding . . .

Think rescue response.