Decent News, 2004

Some of the more decent news in the world: hopeful, courageous, funny, or just cool. A few are not pleasant, but are stories I think need to be heard. The following are all LINKS to external sites. Some links (e.g., many boston.com, many NY Times) stop working after a few days; some do not. URLs are added when appropriate (not necessarily daily).

Also on this page: News to Think Over

Link to: HappyNews.com and HeroicStories.com.

  • Americans finds creative ways to help tsunami victims Boston.com 12/31/04
  • Massive public response for tsunami aid appeal Boston.com 12/30/04
  • Christmas spirit warms San Quentin Inmates play Santa and his elves for prisoners' kids SFGate.com 12/25/04
  • SAN FRANCISCO SEASON OF SHARING: Bluesman's dream comes true Record promoter picks up tab for cancer victim's CD SFgate.com 12/25/04
  • Monarch migration sets hearts aflutter SFGate.com 12/24/04
  • Fast-thinking fast-food worker saves driver before car plunges into La. canal AP at Boston.com 12/24/04
  • Goat is a popular gift with Britons AP at Boston.com 12/23/04
  • 'Protecting land can avert war' The newly crowned Nobel Peace Prize winner, Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai, has said that land degradation is behind some of Africa's wars. BBC News 12/16/04 More here BBC News 10/08/04
  • Lifting the curtains on disability BBC News 12/18/04
  • Success in the City of Brotherly Love The city that knows how - Philly Philadelphia Effort stems tide of homelessness -- can S.F. learn from it? SFGate.com 6/13/04
  • Paralyzed woman walks again after stem cell therapy Yahoo News 11/27/04
  • A great gardening idea on SFGate.com: using potting soil bags as planters on rooftops! 11/24/04 (I assume you'd have to check the weight-bearing properties of a rooftop, and own it, etc.)
  • A different kind of wastepaper: Fair-trade paper made from elephant POO! SF Gate.com 11/24/04
  • Salgado takes photos of suffering. But he doesn't stop there. SFGate.com 11/24/04
  • Dolphins saved us from shark, lifeguards say NZ Herald.co.nz 11/24/04
  • Sowing seeds of hope: A plot to nurture needy families and put fresh produce on their tables SFGate.com 11/20/04
  • New ally against Nile virus Biologist breeds rare native fish that has a taste for mosquito larvae SFGate.com 11/13/04 - using a native fish (Sacramento perch) to control mosquitos.
  • Washington dog phones 911 for fallen owner Boston.com 10/29/04
  • New Englanders greet the day with wings on their heels Boston Globe 10/29/04 ...Cute story.
  • Pandas benefit from wireless net BBC News 10/26/04 "To foster cultural links across the globe, a children's learning lab has been incorporated in the network" - if only the adult world cared more about this sort of thing than about wars and profit....
  • 15 SECONDS THAT CHANGED SAN FRANCISCO: The sweeping makeover that transformed the city began 15 years ago today with the Loma Prieta earthquake. SFGate.com 10/17/04
  • Firefighters revive dog with mouth-to-snout CPR Boston.com 10/18/04
  • Fishermen, scientists herd shark to freedom Boston.com 10/5/04
  • MacArthur 'genius' grants go to three from MIT MIT News Office 9/28/04 ... the entry for Amy Smith (who is the inventor working hard to help third world countries).
  • Telescope snaps distant 'planet' BBC News 10/10/04
  • Ingredients of a Best Seller: Faith, Luck and Hard Work NY Times 9/10/04
  • Keeping Creativity Alive, Even in Hell NY Times 9/10/04
  • A house built with steel Boston.com 9/9/04
  • The return of South Africa's Black Christ BBC News 9/6/04
  • Classmate's final assignment moves many AP at Boston.com 9/7/04
  • Firm Walls and Calm Words in Shelter for the Weakest NY TImes 9/5/04
  • Catching Nell NY Times 9/4/04
  • The world's youngest country BBC News 9/4/04
  • Farmer creates cornfield maze of the U.S. AP at Boston.com 8/31/04
  • "Blessed Voices" New Scientist. "But late last year she became one of the first people to be given a radical new type of implant that attempts to recreate hearing by stimulating the brainstem directly."
  • Couple quits smoking for health of parrot Boston.com 8/5/04
  • Indians Go Home, but Don't Leave U.S. Behind NY Times 7/24/04
  • Gunman ditches shooting plans after meeting dog CTV.ca 6/24/04 ... contrast with this NOT decent news: Schwarzenegger backs speedier killing of strays. CNN.com 6/25/04
  • From Puppy to Lifeline: Service Dogs NY Times 6/6/04
  • An Aging Island Embraces Japan's Young Dropouts NY Times 6/6/04
  • Saving a Reef for the Fish, and the People NY Times 6/1/04 Fascinating fish info.
  • http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Music/05/22/music.liladowns.ap/index.html CNN.com 5/22/04 "Her fourth and latest album, "Una Sangre" (One Blood), due for release this summer, continues that tradition, underscoring the message that all humans share the same origin, and should celebrate their differences -- not fight over them."
  • Parents Try to Protect Their Son in Iraq, Any Way They Can NY Times 5/22/04
  • Grease and God: Mechanics resurrect cars, jump-start spirituality Boston.com 5/21/04
  • Test program allows pets to visit owners in hospital Boston.com 5/21/04
  • Vegetable Fuel Oils Take Root In India 5/17/04 Global Village News and Resources (http://www.gvnr.com/)
  • For Sniffing Out Land Mines, a Platoon of Twitching Noses NY Times.com 5/18/04: Gambian giant pouched rats take on TNT.
  • Quest to restore 'champion' trees CNN.com 4/30/04
  • Germans and Czechs and the Little Bridge That Binds NY Times 4/29/04
  • Speaking From the Art Boston Globe Magazine 4/25/04 "Silenced by cerebral palsy, painter and poet Jessica Vohs communicates with considerable effort and a passion stirred by her love of beauty."
  • Taming Ethiopia's hyenas BBC News 4/12/04
  • Dying child left legacy for playmates Boston.com 4/11/04
  • Chess team overcomes prejudice, odds to go to national tournament Boston.com 4/9/04
  • 'The Bones Tell the Story': Revealing History's Darker Days NY Times 3/30/04
  • 'Lost boy' of Sudan runs for brothers Boston.com 3/28/04
  • Food Fighter NY Times 3/7/04
  • Constantly In Motion, Like DNA Itself NY Times 3/2/04
  • Hnida Happy As a Lobo After Leaving Colorado www.collegesports.com 2/20/04
  • A Mind Emerges Joyfully After Years Lost in a Cloud NYTimes.com 2/10/04
  • A Loathsome Frog, Perhaps, but Surely Lionhearted NY Times.com 1/29/04
    News to Think Over
    And Pray About....

  • Africa's World of Forced Labor, in a 6-Year-Old's Eyes NYTimes.com 10/29/06
  • An Elephant Crackup? 10/8/06 NYTimes.com What have we done to elephants? Why do some of them still treat us like one of their own?
  • Let Us Now Kill All The Dogs China slaughters tens of thousands of canines with giant clubs. How appalling is it? SFGate.com 8/9/06 Asks some tough questions.
  • New energy law limits public's say in decisions. Activists dismayed: Cash flows from gas pumps to industry's pockets, they say The Salt Lake Tribune 8/12/05
  • Tracking the Imperiled Bluefin From Ocean to Sushi Platter" NYTImes.com 5/3/05 "...the intensifying trade in bluefin may soon empty the waters of this master of the sea"
  • LIVING IN THE SHADOWS: Bay Area doctors join fight against a rare genetic skin disorder that afflicts an alarming number of Mayan children in rural Guatemala. SFGate.com 11/28/04
  • Decapitating Appalachia NY Times.com 1/13/04 "In 2002, the administration essentially repealed a longstanding provision of the Clean Water Act prohibiting the dumping of mining wastes in streams. Now...."
  • Quarantining dissent: How the Secret Service protects Bush from free speech SF Gate.com 1/4/04
  • Searching for hope in Uganda BBC News 12/28/03
  • U.S. Proposes Easing Rules on Emissions of Mercury NY Times 12/3/03 ...Mercury is a potent toxin that causes brain damage, folks....
  • For Billions of Birds, an Endangered Haven NY Times 9/23/03
  • New lessons from a look at Hitler's rise 5/15/03 Particularly: "Ed Gernon, an executive producer, lost his job last month after telling TV Guide that the social climate in Germany during Hitler's rise was similar to that in the United States as it headed into war with Iraq." Might the action of firing him be another step down the same road?....
  • The press and freedom: some disturbing trends courier-journal.com 4/20/03
  • Groups Fault Rule on Automatic Detention NY Times 3/31/03 Yes, we are the land of the secret tribunal. "One Sudanese woman, who said she had fled to the United States to escape slavery that she lived under in Kenya for 14 years, said she was handcuffed, placed in leg shackles and paraded through the Newark International Airport after she filed for asylum in November 2001." `Referring to the automatic detention of new applicants, the woman, who was once jailed for a month in Iraq, said, "That's horrible. It's not much different than what I went though in Baghdad."'
  • Bush Administration Wins Court Victory on Guantanamo Detentions NY Times 3/12/03
  • Plastic Invades Ocean KGO-TV from 11/12/02 ...pretty alarming and really disgusting.
  • Rep. Howard Coble's support of the internment of American citizens during WWII....
  • NASA Dismissed Advisers Who Warned About Safety NY Times 2/3/03
  • KMart reports evidence of wrongdoing: Internal investigation uncovers evidence of "grossly derelict" actions by former top managers. CNN.com 1/25/03 ... in other words ... the way our laws are now, if you want to be a thief and live the high life, become a CEO.
  • Two Scientists Contend U.S. Suppressed Dolphin Studies NY Times 1/8/03 ... maybe minor on the human scale of things, but more indications of the usual politics, this time hurting other species.
  • Court says military may hold citizens: Panel finds broad powers for president during warfare Boston Globe 1/9/03 ... sure some stuff is necessary, but is the government so trustworthy this won't be abused?
  • Half a Million Afghan Refugees Left Homeless and Cold in Cities NY Times and Orangutans Said to Exhibit Hallmarks of Culture NY Times (reg. req'd) 1/2/03 - just as we begin to learn, we are destroying them....
  • Current Decent News
  • Previous
    Some spiritual up-links