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Good News
Do you remember the story two years ago about the homeless man with the golden voice who was discovered pan-handling for change on a cold Ohio street? It turns out, he didn’t fall back into old habits and end up on the street again as some had worried. Williams now helps the homeless and the addicted whenever he can. He maintains an apartment and continues recording voice-overs for Kraft Mac and Cheese commercials.
Once in a while, you hear an old war story that restores your faith in humanity. A new book explores the incredible encounter of two WWII pilots in mid-air — a rookie American on his first bombing mission, piloting a crippled aircraft that was missing an engine and a German flying ace who not only saluted, then spared the rookie, but escorted him out of enemy airspace.
Thousands of Mormons volunteered for weeks following Hurricane Sandy, assisting the devastated families in digging out their flooded homes. A beautiful video was made on November 11th, when thousands of these church members cancelled their Sunday services and arrived by air, bus and train from all across the country to help. (
6 Photos That Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity Plus, Top 10 Good News of the Week!
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This photo taken by a tourist in Times Square, shows a 25 year-old police officer stooping on his knee against the cold sidewalk to talk to a homeless man with bare feet. He asked his shoe size, went into the Skechers store and bought all-weather boots. Here are 6 photos posted in November on social media that serve to inspire and restore your faith in humanity.
A wealthy Missouri man posing as Secret Santa stunned New Yorkers, handing $100 bills to many in Staten Island who had lost everything to Superstorm Sandy. The Kansas City businessman is giving away $100,000 this holiday season, and spent the day in New Jersey and New York giving away thousands.
Man Drives Hummer in Path of Car to Save Children; Plus, Top 10 Good News of the Week
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Jessica lost her home in a tornado last year and has been living in shelters. Now she’s fighting a cancer diagnosis. But, lunchtime conversations with strangers can sometimes lead to miraculous luck. Such was the outcome for this Alabama woman working at a sandwich shop whose friendship with a compassionate Methodist Pastor led to a fresh start. (Video)
The double amputee Olympic runner, Oscar Pistorius was the inspiration for a veterinary technician in St. Cloud, Florida to stop the request to put down a 2-week-old chihuahua puppy born without functioning front legs. Vickie Dryer decided to rehabilitate him instead. (Video)
President Obama got a lift in Fort Pierce, Florida recently by a pizzeria owner who can bench-press 350 pounds. Even though the business owner is a registered Republican, he said he was swept away by Obama’s enthusiasm — and he swept the President off his feet in a huge bear hug. (Good News: Father and Son Save 120 From Rooftops During Flooding
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I want to give you a GIFT, just for telling me how you define good news, Karah. Four great prizes include an artisan ceramic piece (right), 7 personal coaching sessions, or Astrology and Numerology charts that will spur you to success. In honor of the Good News Network’s 15th anniversary, we will choose four winners who best answer the question, "What Good News Means to Me." But you must answer this week: 
They stayed behind rather than evacuating their Louisiana home in the path of Hurricane Isaac. While police and the fire department were unable to reach stranded people using their vehicles, Jesse Shaffer, 25, and his father were able to save dozens of lives using boats in their Plaquemines Parish. (Video)
Bleary-eyed drivers entering Washington, DC on Monday mornings, have been jolted into happiness by people waving with signs with optimistic slogans from the side of the road. Held by 29-year-old Massoud Adibpour and 4 other volunteers, the signs were scrawled with uplifting messages — "Honk if you love someone!" and "Don’t be so hard on yourself" and "Smile!" — aiming to affect hundreds of workers who might otherwise be blue because it’s Monday.
Security Video Surveillance is always looking for wrongdoers. Rarely do we see clips highlighting the actions of good Samaritans or friends. This is a great example of people doing good things when no one is looking. (Crafted by Kids: Delicious Recipes from the Healthy Lunchtime Challenge
First Look: Delicious Recipes from the Healthy Lunchtime Challenge
Posted by Colleen Curtis on August 17, 2012
On Monday August 20, First Lady Michelle Obama will welcome 54 talented young chefs to the White House for the first-ever Kids State Dinner. The guests — ages 8-12 — are all winners of the Healthy Lunchtime Challenge, and each of them created an original recipe that is healthy, original and affordable, and contains the five food groups (fruits, veggies, protein, low-fat dairy, and whole grains).
The recipes have been gathered into a digital cookbook, which will be published by Epicurious and available as a free download starting this week. But we’re previewing a few of them here — just click the links below and get cooking!
via First Look: Delicious Recipes from the Healthy Lunchtime Challenge | Let’s Move!.
Top 10 Good News of the Week: Dude Spends Summer Traveling the World Doing Favors for Strangers
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Reserve your spot on our 85-foot charter boat to help celebrate the Good News Network’s 15th anniversary! "Good News Goes To Washington" will launch in DC on Sunday, Sept. 9 with several inspiring people aboard to receive special awards. RSVP to reserve your spot; limited seating available, so 
An American college graduate decided to travel around the world using a family member’s free airline miles, but the grateful 22-year-old wanted to give back in return for his good fortune. He posted a message on a social media bulletin board asking strangers how he could help. 300 requests came in from people all across the globe.
19-year-old Schoep is cradled in his father’s arms in the warm waters of Lake Superior every night, where the buoyancy of the water soothes his aching arthritic body. The man’s friend is a professional photographer who took this photo during one of their therapeutic evening swims. She posted it on Facebook and it went wildly viral, with thousands sharing it and 21,936 comments.
Good News: Girl Lifts a Car to Save Her Father; Plus, Top 10 Good News of the Week
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A 22 year-old woman performed ‘the impossible’ when she found her father unconscious having been crushed by his car that slipped off its jack. She managed to pick up the BMW weighing a ton and a half and shove it away from her father’s body. When she discovered he was not breathing, her skills as a former lifeguard kicked in and she brought his limp body back to life.
Belarus’ authoritarian President Lukashenko has sacked two of the nation’s top generals after two Swedish ad agency employees piloted a light plane into the country’s heavily guarded airspace, dropping 879 teddy bears decked out in parachutes and slogans supporting human rights. Following the incident, Belarus officials denied the flight took place, but then jailed a journalist for posting a photo of these bears on the internet. Fellow journalists are now rallying with their own photos.
Just before the 4th of July, local New York media started reporting about dozens of flags stolen, ripped right off the flag poles pushed in the ground at the graves of veterans. Town residents were angry and disgusted by the "dirtbag who did this," until cameras caught the real culprit. (Top 10 Good News Stories of the Week!
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A 51-year-old man was cleaning out the contents of an old house that belonged to his grandfather and found a soot-covered box that had been tucked away in the attic. Inside he found hundreds of new baseball cards bundled with twine, including 16 mint-condition ‘Ty Cobbs’. They remained untouched for a century, making them perhaps the most significant sports card find in history.
A bereaved husband painstakingly planted a tribute to his late wife, Janet using 6,000 oak trees to imprint a giant heart-shaped meadow in the middle of his 112-acre farm in South Gloucestershire, England. In a sudden flash of inspiration to mark her legacy, Winston Howe hired a gardener and spent weeks planning and setting out each oak.
Two and a half million people around the world have been laughing at an Australia man’s prank to trick his friends and family using a wig of his own hair.GOOD NEWS NETWORK, PO Box 428, MANASSAS, VA 20108, USA
9 Women Secretly Deliver Cakes to Poor People for 30 Years; Plus, Top 10 Good News Stories of the Week!
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For more than three decades, nine women have been secretly baking and delivering hundreds of pound cakes in the middle of the night to people in Tennessee who could benefit from knowing that somebody out there loves them. They also secretly pay utility bills for widows or single moms in need. In all, they have contributed nearly $900,000 to the happiness of others.
This July, after an Oregon couple walk down the aisle, they will hit the open road on a unique journey from Portland, Ore., to Portland, Maine, taking a leap of faith with dozens of people they have never met. The leap? The new bride and groom will sit down to breakfast with strangers across America and select 50 of those breakfasts to highlight in a book, Breakfast with Strangers: 50 Meals across America.
Covenant House is an L.A. shelter that serves homeless and disadvantaged youth. When the team at Dell found out that the shelter’s computer lab was in desperate need of an upgrade — and still using floppy disks — they donated all new equipment to create a state of the art classroom where the young people can pursue job skills, high school GED diplomas, and entrepreneurial dreams. (Meditation Research: Mechanisms of white matter changes induced by meditation
Mechanisms of white matter changes induced by meditation
+ Author Affiliations
aDepartment of Psychology, Texas Tech Neuroimaging Institute, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409;
bInstitute of Neuroinformatics and Laboratory for Body and Mind, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China;
cDepartment of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403;
dInstitute of Basic Medical Sciences, Beijing 100850, China; and
eNeuroimaging Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse-Intramural Research Program, Baltimore, MD 21224
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Contributed by Michael I. Posner, May 9, 2012 (sent for review April 6, 2012)
Abstract
Using diffusion tensor imaging, several recent studies have shown that training results in changes in white matter efficiency as measured by fractional anisotropy (FA). In our work, we found that a form of mindfulness meditation, integrative body–mind training (IBMT), improved FA in areas surrounding the anterior cingulate cortex after 4-wk training more than controls given relaxation training. Reductions in radial diffusivity (RD) have been interpreted as improved myelin but reductions in axial diffusivity (AD) involve other mechanisms, such as axonal density. We now report that after 4-wk training with IBMT, both RD and AD decrease accompanied by increased FA, indicating improved efficiency of white matter involves increased myelin as well as other axonal changes. However, 2-wk IBMT reduced AD, but not RD or FA, and improved moods. Our results demonstrate the time-course of white matter neuroplasticity in short-term meditation. This dynamic pattern of white matter change involving the anterior cingulate cortex, a part of the brain network related to self-regulation, could provide a means for intervention to improve or prevent mental disorders.
Karah Pino 