Good News Moment

i like this disease

2008-12-14T22:18:00.000-08:00

I pulled this from here

Joy to the world is contagious: study

Last Updated: Thursday, December 4, 2008 | 7:32 PM ET

CBC News

Happiness is contagious, and the more people you know who are full of good cheer, the more likely it is that you're also happy, a study of our social connections suggests.

In Thursday's online issue of the British Medical Journal, researchers analyzed data from more than 4,700 participants in Framingham, Mass., who took part in a heart study from 1983 to 2003.

The research trove included information on births, marriages, death, divorces and contact information of close friends, co-workers and neighbours of the volunteers, allowing Nicholas Christakis, a professor of medical sociology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, and his colleagues to assess happiness.

"What we are dealing with is an emotional stampede," Christakis said.

"Whether you're happy depends not just on your own actions and behaviours and thoughts, but on those of people you don't even know."

Happiness was assessed based on scores for four statements:

"I feel hopeful about the future."
"I am happy."
"I enjoy life."
"I feel that I am just as good as other people."

The 60 per cent of people who gave high scores to all four statements were rated as happy, and the rest as unhappy.

Happy and unhappy clusters were found that were significantly bigger than would be expected by chance alone, said the researchers, who previously reported that obesity and smoking habits are also spread socially as well.

Joy clusters

Happiness extended to three degrees of separation, from friends to friends of friends, said study co-author James Fowler, a political scientist at the University of California, San Diego.

If a social contact such as spouse, sibling or friend was happy, it increased the likelihood that you were happy by 15 per cent, Fowler said.

"The pursuit of happiness is not a solitary goal," Fowler said. "We are connected, and so is our joy."

Christakis likened it to sitting on a quilt of humanity, with each person sitting on a different-coloured patch that is connected to the next one.

"Imagine that these patches are happy and unhappy patches. Your happiness depends on what is going on in the patch around you," Christakis said.

"It is not just happy people connecting with happy people, which they do. Above and beyond, there is this contagious process going on."

Each happy friend boosts your own happiness by nine per cent, the researchers suggest. On the other hand, having grumpy friends decreased the chances by about seven per cent.

As for why, happiness is known to produce fewer stress hormones, said Andrew Steptoe, a professor of psychology at University College London who was not involved in the study.

The study was conducted before the rise of online social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, but Christakis speculated the sites might support emotional contagion.

The researchers are also looking at the spread of depression, loneliness and drinking behaviour.

With files from Associated Press, Reuter

airport security?

2008-12-02T16:17:00.000-08:00

this story is one of my own.

steve and i recently went on a trip with friends to washington, d.c. on the way home, we accidentally left a leatherman in steve's camera case. we remembered when the bag was stuck in the x-ray machine.

the security guard was really nice and wasn't mad at us for having a knife in security. we asked him if there were any options for mailing it back to utah, since it would be about $90 to replace. he said there were some machines that might work. steve went with the guard. he called and said that the machines wouldn't work. so, he decided to take a risk on someone being nice. he found someone at the information desk and gave them some money and the leatherman and asked him to mail it to us.

well, of course we know that person didn't have to mail it, but about 2 weeks later, we got a package in the mail. yep, the guy from the airport came through.

it's great to risk on someone's good will and find out that it was worth the risk. so thanks to the guy at the dulles information desk!

Character

2008-10-22T17:35:00.001-07:00

My apologies for having posted my pictures from DC on this blog. They were supposed to only go to my blog about me and Steve. Anyway, I ran across this article while reading Chase Jarvis's blog. I like learning about amazing people, even when they aren't flashing across the t.v. or the Times.

It's about a young guy ready to do anything to get the job done right and a lady who brought about goodness by just being around her. Check it out.

the world's best energy source, kids!

2008-09-14T18:12:00.000-07:00

POWER PLAY

Most children in Essam, Ghana, had never seen a merry-go-round until a BYU-led team arrived to install the curious device in their village. For more than 200 children, the installation day was memorable: not only did they take the new toy for a joyous, dizzying spin—or two, or three—but they also lit up their school with kid power.

“It’s a double dream come true,” says Monica Opare, founder of the Golden Sunbeam charity school, “because we are going to get equipment that the children can play with and then at the same time we are going to get electricity from it.”

“As children push the merry-go-round, it will generate electricity that will light the school rooms,” says BYU’s Charles R. Harrell (BS ’76), associate professor from the Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology. Harrell advised a team of five technology students who designed the device and then, with their Ghanaian colleagues, built and installed it at the Golden Sunbeam School.

The Essam merry-go-round is the first to be installed in a village where there is no electricity. The power generated by the merry-go-round is stored in a car battery that in turn recharges several dozen portable LED lights that can be used in classrooms and homes. To make sure the toy was easy to push and fun to ride, BYU students used a gearbox to multiply the rotation speed and modified the circuitry to limit power drained from the system.

“This project will enhance education by providing power for lighting, giving children opportunities for fun and also giving them a hands-on science laboratory,” says project sponsor Ben S. Markham (BES ’71), founder of Empower Playgrounds.

Ghana’s Ministry of Education has asked that six more merry-go-rounds be installed in 2008 to see if they can provide a viable power option for some 10,000 Ghanaian public schools that currently have no power source.

Watch a video of the installation online at more.byu.edu/merry-go-round.

This article from: http://magazine.byu.edu/?act=view&a=2278 check it out for pictures.

blogging rebirth

2008-08-11T00:20:00.000-07:00

I don't have a lot of time to post right now, but I think I've made it. I think I'm all done with school (waiting for one more grade to be posted). If I pass, I'm done with school!!!! Also means that I can start posting more.

Tomorrow, Steve and I are off to Salmon, Idaho, for a 5-day rafting trip. I'll put up some pictures when we get back.

Anyway, it's good to be back to blog.

Latex coated silver lining

2007-09-24T19:25:00.000-07:00

My mom pointed me towards this good news moment.

A man chokes on an onion ring while driving, passes out, crashes car, airbag deploys, onion ring dislodged, man saved.

Read the article here.

Airbags do save lives!!

Can everyone care?

2007-09-03T23:19:00.000-07:00

Despite not being a Nickelback fan, I have to add this to the blog. It's always good to see big names supporting real things, like humanity and doing good. Thanks!!

Support the Effort

2007-08-21T21:31:00.000-07:00

I get excited when I see major companies putting their money and support into real, good causes. Here's one that I've know about for awhile, but Steve just showed me the video on YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=hibyAJOSW8U.

Ok, this is my story

2007-08-12T15:03:00.000-07:00

So, I need to tell our good news of accomplishing goals. In January, Steve and I set a goal to complete a Half Ironman triathlon this year. So, after our trip to New Zealand in February, we started training. Our training went okay until about six weeks ago. Then it was fairly sparse. But, on Saturday, August 11th, we completed the Utah Half! It definitely wasn't the easiest thing I've done, but completely worth all the pain and sacrifice. We even want to do another one next year. So the good news is we set a goal, we worked for it, we prepared for it, we did it, we survived it and we'll probably try to do it again.

August at last

2007-08-02T06:39:00.000-07:00

This is from me, Kjrstin. I'm excited because it's August, which is my favorite month. And, other good news, I went to the dentist, and I actually don't have any cavities.

Super Hero

2007-07-22T16:40:00.000-07:00

We had an adventuresome trip to NY last weekend. My husband and our four children ages 7mos to 6 yrs packed tightly into our suburban fought the Pennsylvania traffic, bad online directions to finally arrive at our State Park camping destination around midnight-3 hrs later than anticipated. While he set up tents in the dark I arranged crying children neatly in their sleeping bags in the suburban hoping that my over tired 2 yr old didn't fall out of the front seat or get lost in the woods and that my baby didn't eat anything scary sitting in the dark grass at my feet.
When they were settle safely in I took on my next task, babe in arms and 2yr old zipped into a tent, of blowing up the air matress(those 4 baby hips can't take the dirt anymore). I was discouraged when I discovered the pump wouldn't do the job but I moved right on to putting baby and mommy to bed only to discover that somewhere in my dark tracks I had lost the pacifier. This was the only way my bedless baby was going to sleep next to me quietly and allow me to go to sleep and it was nowhere to be found. I retraced all my steps and I tearfully resigned myself to a night of torture. As I lay on the hard ground w/ baby on my tummy patting her little wiggly bum I heard my husband puttering around outside and wondered what he was up to. about 30 min later, still patting, I heard my tent being unzipped and in popped a fully inflated bed from heaven. My darling husband, tired though he was, had blown the whole thing up with his own breath. About 2 min after that, I heard my tent unzip for the second time and there shaking quietly so as not to undo the work I was doing trying to get the baby to sleep, was her pacifier.
Talk about a super hero!

Perspective and education help

2007-07-22T14:11:00.000-07:00

My boyfriend has "way more respect for people with eating disorders even though (he) still doesn't really understand them"

The world doesn't completely suck all the time.

Soon comes the tooth fairy

2007-07-22T14:09:00.001-07:00

My little 7 mo. old cut his first tooth! Not only is it fun and something different but it is a physical reminder that he just keeps growing up. Its a bit overwhelming to be reminded how quickly they grow especially when you feel like every minute counts. I guess we'll take it one day at a time, one tooth at a time!

Love of family

2007-07-22T14:04:00.000-07:00

Here's a good news video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjBQgOpC5TU

The warming power of one

2007-07-22T14:02:00.000-07:00

Ohio had some bitterly cold weather in January. For a couple of weeks, it was way below freezing with the windchill. That may not seem REALLY cold to you Utah folk, but when you factor in the humidity, it's darn cold!!! Anyway, there were news stories every night about how the homeless shelters were overcrowded and how the city wouldn't be opening up its emergency shelters unless the temperature hit (or passed) a predetermined low---I think it was zero, but I'm not sure.
Anyway, everyone seemed to be talking about it, but my friend's neighbor decided to do something about it. She went around to all her neighbors and friends and told them that she was gathering up blankets and food to take down to the shelter the next day, and that she'd happily take anything they wanted to send. She had no idea the kind of response she was going to get. She not only loaded up her vehicle, but my friend Brenda ended up loading up her SUV as well. Everyone seemed to have a blanket or two that they could donate, and it added up quickly. My friend had a bunch of food in her food storage that was about to expire, so she took that down as well. What a great way to rotate your food storage!
When they got to the shelter, they were warmly welcomed, and the volunteers there were amazed that so many donations came because of just one woman. She was so galvanized by the experience that she organized another donation drive in her neighborhood for later that month. She bought a gift card for a local grocery store and gave a raffle ticket to each family for each item donated. At the end of the drive, she drew a ticket and awarded the gift card to the winning family. Most people who donated, didn't really care about winning the gift card. They just wanted to help, and their neighbor provided an easy, painless way of helping. The power of one is amazing!!! She influenced an untold number of lives---both the givers' and the receivers'---because she saw a need and found a way to fulfill it.

Twins make it joyful

2007-07-22T14:01:00.000-07:00

Well, the best thing that has happened to us is giving birth to our beautiful twins, Claire and Clay. There is nothing like bringing home your very own children from the hospital and feeling that wonderful responsibility and overwhelming love for two little lives. I would do anything for these kids. The best part is that we have a loving home and they have a father who adores them and looks forward to spending time with them. My good news is how wonderful it is to have a faithful and loving husband, a fun and honest marriage, and then to have children together- what a fun adventure we have in front of us! There is no way I would want to do this alone! The Joy is in the partnership!

Don't stop at 90

2007-07-22T13:58:00.000-07:00

I was talking with Grandma about her 90th Birthday party and she said she had called Eddie and told him not to make it TOO Big. She had been to the dentist and he said that by the looks of her teeth, she was going to live to be over 100 years old. (Do you really think the dentist can tell your age by your teeth?) So she wanted Eddie to know that he might have to give her a really BIG BIRTHDAY PARTY WHEN SHE TURNS 100 YEARS OLD. I thought that was really funny.

The beginning

2007-07-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

A little while ago, I wanted to spread the word of the good things that happen in the world. So I started an email account for that purpose. But I realized that it's hard to spread the word that way. So, I decided to try a blog, that way other's can access it. So, stay tuned for the good news that comes this way. So, if you still have good news, continue to email it to goodnewsmoment@gmail.com and then I'll post it here for others to benefit from.