Only good news in this thread [News that makes you smile/feel happy]

[Norphy]

This is pretty cool:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-64939558

 

I've sent an email to a local swimming pool that recently closed thanks to raising heating costs with that link in. I wouldn't blame them if they ignored it but it could be helpful if they want to get it open again!

[HarryMonkey]

Wow!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-65017575

[6Foot2]

Link 1: Escaped cow that tore through Brooklyn finds home at sanctuary | Brooklyn | The Guardian

 

It’s been one hell of a week for the Canarsie cow, a black angus calf who started this week on his way to a slaughterhouse and will end it settling into his new home on a New Jersey farm.

 

After he escaped a truck hauling him from a Pennsylvania farm to certain death at Saba Live Poultry in Canarsie, Brooklyn, he went on a rampage through the streets. Slaughterhouse employees and workers at a nearby pizza shop tried to catch up with him, in a chase that lasted several minutes.

 

Though the liberated calf was eventually subdued and brought to the slaughterhouse, he found a hero in Mike Stura, owner of Skylands animal sanctuary and an animal rights advocate who makes a habit of rescuing renegade livestock...

 

Link 2:

[Video Tweet]

 

Footage of the cow that escaped a slaughterhouse in Canarsie this afternoon, courtesy of Original Pizza

 

Click the link above for the video.

[6Foot2]

Link: Facebook [Carlisle Police]

 

 

[6Foot2]

[Yesterday] I was going to our local Sainsbury's, but I stopped at the key cutting kiosk on the off chance that they might be able to help with my belt.

 

I have, apparently, lost weight (something the young assistant in the kiosk found amusing for some reason?)

 

I asked the guy running the kiosk if he could cut some new holes in my belt so that it would actually hold up my trousers rather than simply sit around my waist. He said he could and was finished in under a minute.

 

Nice thing: Asked how much I owed, and he said there was no charge. It's not much, I know, but this cheered me for the day knowing that this can still happen.

 

Occasionally.

 

[enjay]

Nice thing: Asked how much I owed, and he said there was no charge. It's not much, I know, but this cheered me for the day knowing that this can still happen.

 

I needed an unusual type of screw for our kitchen tap. After striking out in one plumbers' merchant and two hardware stores, I was pointed to a motoring parts shop. They had the right size of screw but it was the wrong length and had a flat-head not cross-head on it. The guy cut it down to length then fixed it in a vice and carved the cross-head into it. He charged me less than 20p for it.

[6Foot2]

Link: All baa myself: Is this Britain's loneliest sheep? - BBC News

 

Update:

 

Link: Resc-ewed: Britain's loneliest sheep saved from shoreline - BBC News

 

A ewe that was dubbed Britain's loneliest sheep has been rescued from a remote shore in the Scottish Highlands.

 

The sheep, now named Fiona, had been stranded at the foot of cliffs on the Cromarty Firth for at least two years.

 

An animal welfare charity had said any attempts to rescue her would be "incredibly complex".

 

But a group of five farmers have now managed to haul her up a steep slope. They plan to shear her overgrown fleece and hand her over to a farm park.

 

The rescue mission was organised by Cammy Wilson, a sheep shearer from Ayrshire, after seeing media coverage of the ewe's plight.

 

Mr Wilson, who is a presenter on the BBC's Landward programme, organised the rescue in a personal capacity along with four others.

 

Speaking in the video posted on Facebook, he said: "We've come up here with some heavy equipment and we've got this sheep up an incredibly steep slope.

 

"She's in incredible condition. She is about a condition score of about 4.5, she is overfat - it was some job lifting her up that slope.

 

"She is going to a very special place that a lot of you know very well, where you'll be able to see her virtually every day."

 

Mr Wilson later told BBC News he became determined to rescue the sheep after reading unfair comments about the farmer whose flock she came from.

 

He said the farmer had made previous attempts to retrieve her but was unable to do so without putting himself or his employees in danger.

 

He said: "I just hated seeing the misinformation online, the comments from people not in the know about 'farmers don't care.'

 

"People were starting to show up on his land and it wasn't fair."

 

Found in a cave

 

He said he anticipated some people would criticise his rescue mission as foolhardy, and he accepted it was risky.

 

"The only difference between us being heroes and idiots is a slip of the foot," he said.

 

"I would do it again, maybe not tomorrow though because I'm knackered."

 

He was joined in the rescue by fellow farmers Graeme Parker, Als Couzens, Ally Williamson and James Parker.

 

Two of them stayed at the top to operate a winch while three others were lowered 250m (820ft) down the cliff to reach Fiona.

 

They found her in a cave...

[Norphy]

Regarding the above

 

Britain's loneliest sheep in hiding after rehoming row

 

A row has broken out over plans to rehome Britain's loneliest sheep.

 

The ewe, now named Fiona, was rescued on Saturday after being stranded for more than two years at the foot of cliffs in the Scottish Highlands.

 

But an animal rights group says plans to rehome her to a farm park near Dumfries would make her a "spectacle".

 

Fiona is now a shorn sheep after her overgrown fleece was removed but remains in hiding after activists turned up at Dalscone Farm.

 

This farm is quite close to where I live. It's a nice place and I think the sheep will be treated well there, but there's always someone who will do their best to ruin things. Do people really have nothing better to do?

[enjay]

So would the animal rights group prefer her to have been left on her own in cave at the bottom of a cliff?

[Norphy]

Looking at other articles, it sounds like the group behind the protests were planning to rescue the sheep themselves then take her to an animal sanctuary near Glasgow. Instead, the owner of the land got the farmer behind The Sheep Game to rescue her instead and they decided to take her to Dalscone. Sounds like sour grapes more than anything else.

[enjay]

Looking at other articles, it sounds like the group behind the protests were planning to rescue the sheep themselves

 

Wouldn't that be theft?!

[Andrew_C]

Wouldn't that be theft?!

 

BAAANDITRY- surely?

[6Foot2]

The Punny Thread awaits any further contributions similar to those above. This thread needs more good news.

 

[Norphy]

They've sneaked her in

 

The sheep described as the loneliest in Britain is said to be settling in well to her new home.

 

The ewe, now named Fiona, was rescued on Saturday after being stranded for more than two years at the foot of cliffs in the Scottish Highlands.

 

A protest was staged at the weekend by an animal rights group over plans to move her to a farm park, near Dumfries.

 

But she arrived at Dalscone Farm "under cover of darkness" on Sunday and is said to be in good condition.

[jmak]

The Punny Thread awaits any further contributions similar to those above. This thread needs more good news.

 

Like this?

 

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/millionaire-builds-99-tiny-homes-to-cut-homelessness-in-his-community-he-even-provides-jobs-on-site-for-them/

 

After selling his company for eight figures to a competitor, one Canadian entrepreneur is using his profit to build a community of tiny homes for those who need it most.

Edited November 6, 2023 by jmak

[6Foot2]

Link: A door at a Swedish library was accidentally left open — 446 people came in, borrowed 245 books. Every single one was returned

 

They say a reader does not steal and a thief does not read. In the city of Gothenburg, Sweden, that's definitely true.

 

When Anna Carin Elf arrived at her workplace in Gothenburg, she immediately realized something was not right. She works at a library, and she was greeted by several visitors, just like any other day. But this was not any other day — the library was supposed to be closed.

 

“They were surprised. They thought it was a bit empty,” she says. “The people in the library behaved as usual. Many were sitting reading newspapers, some families were in the children’s section and others were searching for books on the computer.”

 

The library was supposed to be closed for All Saints Day — a celebration sometimes also called All Hallows Day, the precursor of Halloween. But the library staff had forgotten to close a door. So people came in, thinking the library was open. Some visitors realized the library was technically closed and went home, but others did not.

 

As people were coming in and out of the library, one librarian (Elf) walked by and noticed the people using the library. She realized what was happening, called her manager and a colleague, and then announced that the library was closing. The visitors calmly folded their books closed and left.

 

But some left with books.

 

During that day, 446 people visited the city library. A total of 246 books were borrowed. To date, all the books have been returned.

 

Through a door mistakenly left ajar, the people of Gothenburg demonstrated the power of community and the value they place on the guardianship of shared resources. It was a quiet revolution, an act of civil responsibility that spoke volumes, reaffirming the notion that a library is much more than a building; it is a cornerstone of community, education, and trust.

 

The City Library published a loving post, thanking people for their well-behaved visits. “Thank you for Saturday, dear Gothenburg,” the library’s post read.

 

“It felt good that everyone behaved exactly as usual, they borrowed books, read the newspaper and so on… the citizens of Gothenburg take care of their library. There is obviously a desire to be there,” said one of the library’s visitors, Arvid Jadenius, for a local publisher.

 

In a world often marred by headlines of chaos and discord, the story of Gothenburg’s library stands as a testament to the inherent good in society — and shows that libraries truly are one of the beacons of our society. It seems almost poetic that on All Saints Day, a day of remembrance and reverence, the citizens of Gothenburg would unknowingly participate in an act of collective respect and honor for their beloved library.

[6Foot2]

Link: 100 Positive News from 2023 | Gapminder

[LeMarchand]

When a bunch of US college kids find out that one of their security guards hasn't been able to see his family in Nigeria for over a decade, they start a GoFundMe to get him home.

 

[LeMarchand]

Green grocer orders 80 cases of Easter eggs instead of 80, but ends up making loads for charity: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/mar/28/orkney-shop-owner-raises-3000-for-charity-after-easter-egg-error

 

Guess he no longer has egg on his face.

[elsiegee40]

Kent police officer helps deliver baby by driving expecting parents to hospital after crash

 

https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/kent-police-officer-helps-deliver-9229526

 

A police officer helped deliver a baby girl - by giving the soon-to-be parents a lift after a car crash.

 

PC Ronnie Barrett rushed Ollie Clarke and wife Abbey to hospital in his patrol car after a collision caused roads to be closed in Tonbridge, Kent.

 

The pair approached the officer at the scene, saying Abbey had gone into labour. PC Barrett then made sure they got to Tunbridge Wells Hospital - just under four miles away in Tunbridge Wells - in good time. Little Willow arrived safe and healthy on March 15, weighing five pounds and six ounces.

 

And, while the labour was happening, another Kent Police officer - PC Liam Wright - made sure the family car's tyres were cleaned as they had been covered in oil following the collision.

 

He then arranged for their vehicle which still had Willow's car seat and baby clothes inside to be taken to hospital ready for their journey home as a family of three.

 

Abbey and Ollie said: "When telling our family about the journey of our little girl's full arrival, it soon appeared we had the coolest birth story ever and that it needed to be remembered."

 

They added that they had kept the paperwork given to them with PC Barrett's badge number on it and would be including it in their family memory box.

 

Exactly a month after taking them to hospital, PC Barrett got to meet Willow. He said: "Being an officer is more than just investigating crime, it's about helping members of the community to stay safe. It was an honour and privilege to help Abbey and Ollie get to hospital in time to meet their daughter."

 

The collision, which happened on Hectorage Road at 7:30pm on March 14 and involved a black BMW X3 colliding with three stationary vehicles, caused a number of roads to be closed.

[LeMarchand]

This happened a couple of weeks ago, but seems to have passed me by. Jon Bon Jovi was filming a music video in Nashville and was involved in talking a woman down from jumping off a bridge.

 

[LeMarchand]

From Reddit around 3 weeks ago.

 

 

So I've got to say this guy is an absolute hero. He has no shoes on for a reason...

 

Today a blind man tried to get on at Kings Cross. The man was being assisted by tfl to get on but as getting on the blind man tripped. A few of us on the train then helped the gentleman find a seat. Once the man sat down he realised he had a missing shoe. It slipped between the platform and the train.

 

Before the train left the platform we all tried to tell the tfl driver... But I'm guessing a miss communication occured and the train left the platform. On doing so the blindman got a bit panicked as he only had one shoe.

 

This absolute hero with out hesitation took off his shoe and gave it to the blindman. He didn't want thanks or praise, he simply did it. It is a damn cold day after he got out at Liverpool street to try and find a pair of shoes.

 

I've covered the guys face as he doesn't know I have posted this and I want to respect a bit of his privacy. I'm not one for sharing feel good posts etc, but when I saw this happen it sent a shiver down my spine.

 

I want to share this with other people and let them know there are incredible people in the world! The world is a good place, we all just need to do our bit!

[HarryMonkey]

100 good news stories

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c62z5p016x8t

[CHiLL]

100 good news stories

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c62z5p016x8t

That cat has the look of "I'll do it again". Also that baby is more scouse than me and I was born and raised in Merseyside!

[6Foot2]

Link: Word of the Year: Kindness wins children's 2024 vote - BBC News

 

Kindness has been chosen as Children's Word of the Year for 2024 after a survey of thousands of young people.

 

Oxford University Press (OUP) said "artificial intelligence" and "conflict" were also among the most common suggestions.

 

It follows 2023's winning phrase "climate change", and "Queen", which was the winner in 2022 following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

 

More than 3,000 children aged six to14 were asked for their suggestions, with the top three then put to vote by a further 2,000 children.

 

Andrea Quincey, a director at OUP, said the choice was "encouraging" and reflected children's increasing awareness of mental health.

 

She sad: "We know from previous years that young people are very conscious of the big issues that can divide us as a society and attuned to the important role which language can play in bringing people together.

 

"It tells us that empathy and tolerance and the language we use matter, and that kindness is not only a solution to so many problems but is something everyone and anyone can do to make a difference."

 

"Slay", "sigma" and "skibidi" were chosen as the top three slang words, which OUP said demonstrated the role of social media in influencing children's vocabulary.

 

"Slay" as a slang term means to greatly impress or amuse, and "sigma" means popular or successful.

 

Ms Quincey said the choice of these two words also reflected children's positivity in wanting to celebrate their friends.

 

She added that in the final vote kindness had been chosen by 61% of children while a quarter chose "artificial intelligence".