Week 4: 22nd - 28th January 2012

I got sick of hearing all the doom and gloom given to us as 'news' by the media so decided to look every day for some good news. Sometimes it's quite difficult to find. I post the good news for the day on Twitter and every week I plan on posting a summary here.

Found some good news? If I didn't spot it please feel free to add it.

Well here goes - the fourth week of January 2012

22nd January 2012 - Chinese man breaks his little finger after being hit by 8 cars.

Li Tao was hit by a taxi, bounced over the roof and broke his little finger. "I'm fine," he said. What makes this story unusual is that this was the eighth time he'd been hit by a car that day! It's a day's work for Li, a chinese stuntman. Full story http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2012-01/16/content_14455388.htm


Of course there's a downside to any story - Li Tao does this for just $32 a day.


Today was a truly rotten day for finding good news so in best 'Some Better News' tradition you'll be pleased to hear that:

• Thousands of people were not killed by an earthquake in southern Syria as in 1837
• A ship called the SS Northfleet did not sink at Dungeness, England. 300 people were not drowned as in 1873.
• There wasn't a train crash in Los Angeles so 30 people lived unlike 1956
• There wasn't a mine disaster in Johnburg meaning 417 didn't die as in 1960.

23rd January 2012 - EU proposes 'Right to be forgotten' law.

You probably won't understand why this is good news unless you've ever tried to get your Facebook, Twitter or other website account deleted. You may think it's gone but the data you posted is often still there on sites such as the Internet Archive or Google's cache. Certainly you can delete the account but the data is still there.


To most people that doesn't matter. many make in-discrete statements on our accounts which we later regret. 

• In December 2011 a congressman fired three aids who made remarks about him on Twitter
• In April 2011 a policeman was confined to desk duties after making remarks about his job on Facebook
• Families have split up after Facebook pictures and posts were made
• Young people have posted items on social media sites which years later prevented them getting jobs
• The Child Support Agency and other government agencies keep an eye on the Facebook pages of people they deal with.

The European Union is proposing new laws which give people the right to have data concerning them forgotten as part of it's laws reforming data protection. 

Full story http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16677370 

24th January 2012 - Fold-up car unveiled in Europe.

A lot has been made of the pollution caused by cars over the last few years and car manufacturers have responded by producing smaller, fuel efficient and electric cars. The trouble is that many of them are treated more as a joke than as a car. Yet back in the 50's and early 60s there were small 'fun' cars around which cost very little to run. I remember owning a 'Bubble car' as a student. It cost me £5 to buy, £5 to insure, £5 to tax and in a year I spent less than £5 on petrol/gas. 


Today a similar car was unveiled and tried out by the European Commisionar of Spain.
Like a child's stroller it can fold up to save space. It's electrically powered and can reach a top speed of 31mph and travel 75 miles on a single charge. Three of them will fit in a normal parking bay. It seats two.


Details at http://www.theverge.com/2012/1/25/2733709/hiriko-folding-car-electric-ev-citycar-mit

Incidentally my bubble car could reach 55mph and travel 200 miles on it's 2 gallon tank. Like the car tested by the commissioner it's door opened at the front. It could seat 3 (5 at a struggle) Impressive how we've advanced since the 60's

25th January 2012 - Like fried food? It CAN be healthy!

Lots of people love that fried breakfast but are concerned that it can be bad for the heart. Now a report indicates that it can be a healthy breakfast..


Apparently it's all a question of what sort of oil you use. Olive and sunflower oils seem to be the best. 


I have to admit this report didn't come as news to me but it's nice to have it confirmed by a scientific study.

26th January 2012 - The 'Cash Mob' hits an Ohio store.

Chagrin Falls hardware totals up the day's takings.
 Picture by  AP Photo/Amy Sancetta  the Denver Post 

Supermarkets and 'big box' stores have meant that many small businesses struggle to make a living. One such store in Chagrin Falls, Ohio was feeling the pinch. E-mail, Facebook and Twitter made a difference though. A challenge was sent out by Jim Black, a resident of the town,  for people in the area to support these 'good people' by spending at least $20 at the store on 21 January. The message was passed around by Internet and on the appointed day hundreds visited the store to buy. 


What a great idea. Can you think of 'good people' in your area who would benefit from similar action?


Full story: http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_19816216

27th January 2012 - Asteroid near miss.

An asteroid, discovered on Wednesday, passed the Earth within one fifth of the distance of the Moon. That's considered a near miss. It wasn't by any means a huge object - just 36 feet across, but it passed within 60,000 Km and, had it been on a collision course, was discovered too late for us to do anything about it.


In this case it was too small to cause much  damage if it had impacted but there are others out there which could wipe out humanity. In the last three months there have been two near misses (that we know of)


Full story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16756450

28th January 2012 - A bad day for good news.
To find good news I search the UK, US, Canadian, Australian, Indian, Sri Lankan, New Zealand, South African and Chinese news services. Today, apart from an article about a new method of growing new bone for people who are disfigured (South Africa), I couldn't find any good news. Weekends do tend to be slow for good news so far this year but today was the worst case. So today's good news is....

• The Pope did NOT have to give up his son as a hostage to the French (unlike 1495!)
• Syria was not in any danger from besieging Christians (unlike 1099)
• The English didn't ship any convicts to Australia (unlike 1788)
• Paris wasn't invaded by Prussians (unlike 1871)

			Take a touch of humour, add some genetic science and nanotechnology. Steep with conspiracy and stir in murder and despair. Season with romance between three people in a secret location. Garnish with morality. The result is 'A Vested Interest', a novel series by John and Shelia Chapman
UK £9.29	UK £1.91	UK £1.53

15th - 21st January 2012

I got sick of hearing all the doom and gloom given to us as 'news' by the media so decided to look every day for some good news. Sometimes it's quite difficult to find. I post the good news for the day on Twitter and every week I plan on posting a summary here.

Found some good news? If I didn't spot it please feel free to add it.

Well here goes - the third week of January 2012

15th January 2012 - Three survivors found on stricken cruise ship.

24 hours after the cruise ship Costa Concordia sank rescue workers found three survivors trapped within the ship.


One of the survivors had a broken leg. It later transpired that this Italian crew member, Manrico Gianpetroni, had made repeated trips inside the ship to guide passengers to safety. On his last trip he had fallen and broken his leg.


Full story at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16564789

16th January 2012 - Dramatic rescue on round-the-world yacht race.

A British sailor was plucked from the sea by his new Zealand co-skipper when he was washed overboard while changing sails on their yacht. The yacht was out of sight before it could be turned around and the Brit was left alone in heavy seas without a lifejacket. After 25 minutes the rescue was finally made and the yacht went on to win that leg of the race.


Full story: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10779199

17th January 2012 - World's first tidal current generator gets 24 hour go-ahead.

It may not be the first site to produce power from the tides; the tidal barrage at the Rance River in France has that honour, but today the go-ahead was given to the Seagen generator at Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland to run 24 hours a day. This generator uses the strong current produced by the tide to turn a turbine and produce electricity. Unlike other tidal schemes there is no barrage involved. Until now there have been concernes that the blades of the generator could injure the local wildlife - seals especially. As a result the generator has only been allowed to run during daylight hours. Those fears have now been proved unfounded and the generator will run full time producing the power needed for 1,500 homes.


Full story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-16595752 and http://www.seageneration.co.uk/faq.asp

18th January 2012 - Meet the accidental billionaire.

Several years ago I waited at an ATM in Scotland. The man in front of me asked for £20 and the machine threw a fit and kept pumping out money at him until he had over £200, far more than he had in the bank at that time. Something similar happened to Parijat Saha in India. He went to an ATM expecting his balance to be about 10,000 rupees (about $200) and found he had 490 billion rupees ($9.8 bn). 


For someone who normally earns $700 a month as a teacher he doesn't look too happy though! The Indian State Bank is looking into the problem.


I wonder how much daily interest they are going to give him on that ultimate 'bank error in your favour'?


Full story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-16607018

19th January 2012 - Apple producing digital textbooks.

Apple launched the iBook2 textbooks today. 


So why is a product launch by Apple good news? 


The answer is that for years schools have regularly paid a small fortune for textbooks each year. At universities and colleges too cash strapped students have struggled to carry round weighty textbooks which cost a fortune to buy. Apple, throwing it's weight behind digital textbooks can only be good news since:

• It will encourage others to do the same
• There will be an ever increasing number of textbooks available
• The textbooks are far easier to update than a printed book
• The cost should be lower
• It will encourage the development of colour liquid paper displays
• Textbook shortages will not be a problem
• It will encourage other reading and the development of ebook readers
• Authors will make more money
• A single e-reader can hold an entire student library

20th January 2012 - NEOShield gets funding.

NEOShield stands for Near Earth Object Shield and this project could mean the difference between the survival of humanity and humans going the same way as the dinosaurs.


Throughout the Earth's history our planet has been bombarded by objects from space. On average there's a major impact every 2,000 years where a rock from space produces a similar effect to a nuclear detonation. Every few million years a much bigger object hits and an ELE occurs (Extinction Level Event). 75 million years ago one such event wiped out the dinosaurs.


We've seen the films but so far little progress has been made in protecting ourselves from an ELE. The dinosaurs didn't have the ability to do so but we are now at a level of technology where we might be able to protect ourselves. All we need is the funding and the will to do something before it's too late.


Today we got that funding from the EU and a program drawing on expertise in Europe, the US and Russia will start investigating what we could do.


Full story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16651642

21st January 2012 - Average age of cars increasing AND Snake bit.
Again two odd subjects for good news but...

My 11 year old car and, still serviceable, 19 year old car

In the US (and elsewhere) the average age of cars has been slowly increasing for a number of years. Today it was announced that the average car age is eleven years. That's good news!
A car is considered to be the second major purchase we make in life. We spend thousands on them and for years we've thrown them away after just a few years. This is a tremendous waste of resources both in terms of materials and energy. 


In the past our cars have wasted a huge amount of energy and added greatly to pollution. I remember having cars which were rust heaps within five years too. That is no longer the case!


An eleven year old car today is reasonably fuel efficient, mechanically sound and rust free. There is no need to throw it away!


Full story: http://tiny.cc/s5nvo


And finally...

The normal pattern of events is:

• Extremely venomous snake bites human. 
• Human dies
• Snake escapes. 

Not so in this case. In South Africa a farmer was bitten on the toe by a puff adder. It wouldn't let go. The farmer's dog, a Jack Russell terrier, bit the snake and killed it. The farmer was rushed to hospital, was treated and survived. She even kept her toe. The dog is being treated as a hero.

Puff adder venom is cytotoxic (tissue destroying). An untreated bite can cause an edema (extensive watery blood oozing from the puncture wounds) nausea, vomiting, swelling of the lymph nodes, necrosis, gangrene and can often be fatal.

Full story: http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Dog-kills-snake-which-bit-owner-20120121

			Take a touch of humour, add some genetic science and nanotechnology. Steep with conspiracy and stir in murder and despair. Season with romance between three people in a secret location. Garnish with morality. The result is 'A Vested Interest', a novel series by John and Shelia Chapman
UK £9.29	UK £1.91	UK £1.53

8th - 14 January

I got sick of hearing all the doom and gloom given to us as 'news' by the media so decided to look every day for some good news. Sometimes it's quite difficult to find. I post the good news for the day on Twitter (Follow @JChapmanAuthor ) and every week I plan on posting a summary here.

Found some good news? If I didn't spot it please feel free to add it.

Well here goes - the second week of January 2012

8th January 2012 - Girl survives plunge into crocodile infested river when bungee cord breaks.

Erin Langworthy went bungee jumping from the Victoria Falls Bridge above the Zambezi River and survived the 420 foot drop when the bungee cord broke.


Personally, I think anyone who trusts a frayed bungee cord (see picture) probably qualifies for a Darwin survivor award. She's lucky to be alive. The fall should have killed her, the river should have drowned her and the crocodiles should have eaten her. Impeccable jumping style though!


Full story and video at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16459489

9th January 2012 - Don't Panic! All that CO₂ is keeping an ice age at bay.

This story didn't come as a surprise to me since I wrote something similar in November 2009. Not at all sure about the dates suggested though. I make the start of the next ice age around 2040. I also note that the so called 'related links' on the BBC's page are totally at odds with the story, so since we are concentrating on the 'good news', I suggest you don't read them.


Incidentally back in 2009 I predicted here in the UK a bad winter 2009/10, another bad one in 2010/11 and that things would get warmer until we had a scorching hot summer in 2013. I'm right so far.


Full story - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16439807

10th January 2012 - Seven year old girl saves her sister.

Seven year old Breanna Marks spotted her two year old sister underwater in the middle of their swimming pool. She pulled her out and shrieked for Mum. Apparently the two year old had been wearing floatation armbands but had taken them off when she went inside the house for a drink. Her mother, distracted by a baby, had not seen her go back to the pool.


Full story - http://www.news.com.au/national/hero-girl-rescues-her-2-year-old-sister-from-drowning-in-their-backyard-pool/story-e6frfkvr-1226241164894

11th January 2012 - A bad day for good news!

Meanwhile in Alaska National Guardsmen help
 clear snow of a roof to prevent it collapsing and
 some people are beginning to doubt global warming.

After searching the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa and then Europe news agencies I could only find two stories which were mildly good news
1. Homicide is no longer one of the top 15 causes of death in the US - full story http://t.co/evFxGxM3
2. In the UK one of the major suppliers of natural gas reduced their prices by 5% leading to hopes that other suppliers would do the same. Full story http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16501880


Neither story is amazingly good news so to make up for this here's some good news about events which didn't happen:
An earthquake didn't destroy Port Royal in Martinique; 700 people were not killed as in 1839.
Alabama decided to stay in the US unlike it's decision in 1861.
The Zulus didn't war against the British in South Africa unlike 1879.
It didn't snow in Los Angeles unlike 1949.
Congress didn't authorise the president to attack Iraq or anywhere else unlike 1991.

12th January 2012 - Gorilla Glass 2 announced at CES.

An odd bit of good news? Gorrilla Glass will be familiar to many people since it's the extremely tough glass used as the touchscreen on many cell phones. Without it we would have far more fragile mobile phones. Now an improved version has been produced which should be available to manufacturers this year. It's 20% stronger still. That means the next generation of phones will be tougher, thinner, lighter. Screens will be less likely to break like the one on my old O2 Exec phone.
Maybe some manufacturer will even get round to building a new version of this phone not quite so much like a brick?


Full story http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16523817

13th January 2012 - Coffee Shop - Pay it forward.

Customers at the Corner Perk in Bluffton, South Carolina have been delighted to find that someone who visited earlier has bought their refreshments for them. It seems there's a tradition here of people doing this in the manner of the Pay It Forward film. What a nice idea - lets hope it catches on elsewhere.
Full story http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45989343/ns/today-good_news/#.TxC5bG_tssJ

14th January 2012 - Good news from Sri Lanka.

India and Sri Lanka have been quarrelling over fishing rights for some time with fishermen being attacked frequently. Today India and Sri Lanka reached agreement on fishing rights at last. Another bit of good news is that Sri Lanka has opened it's first motorway. Full story at http://www.lankapage.com/


I had to scour the world's media to find this, the only other bit of good news being a shore fisherman at Philip Island near Melbourne in Australia who was washed into the sea and owes his life to the bravery of two off-duty policeman, a fisheries officer and a life saver who jumped into the huge seas to save him. Full story http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-01-14/bystanders-rescue-fisherman-swept-into-sea/3772902

I was beginning to give up hope of finding these so had already prepared some good news about events which didn't happen. having collected them it seems a waste not to use them:

• The catholic Church in Rome didn't have a book burning session, unlike 1601 when all the hebrew books they could find were burnt
• 160 Hindu pilgrims were not crushed by a collapsing jetty in India, unlike 1946
• 231 people were not killed by an earthquake in Sicily, unlike 1967
• No Polish ferry boats capsised today so 50 people didn't drown unlike 1993

			Take a touch of humour, add some genetic science and nanotechnology. Steep with conspiracy and stir in murder and despair. Season with romance between three people in a secret location. Garnish with morality. The result is 'A Vested Interest', a novel series by John and Shelia Chapman
UK £9.29	UK £1.91	UK £1.53

1st - 7th January 2012

I got sick of hearing all the doom and gloom given to us as 'news' by the media so decided to look every day for some good news. Sometimes it's quite difficult to find. I post the good news for the day on Twitter and every week I plan on posting a summary here.

Found some good news? If I didn't spot it please feel free to add it.

Well here goes - the first week of January 2012

1st January 2012 - A long lost wedding ring is found on a Swedish carrot.
Lena Paahlsson lost a wedding ring 16 years ago and found it again while harvesting carrots in her garden. She thinks it must have come off her finger while she peeled vegetables and got thrown out into the compost heap with the peelings. When she pulled up the carrot she almost threw it out again since the carrot was 'too small'. (It was, however better shaped than the ones I grew.)
I wouldn't be that lucky since in the last 16 years I've moved house 14 times


Full story - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16374283

2 Jan 2012 - Winning the war against Amazon deforestation

The Brazilian government has been waging war on illegal logging in the Amazon rainforest and they are winning at last.


The BBC's Justin Rowlatt reported on the progress being made. Yet more good news - he didn't get eaten by a 2 metre long cayman


Full story -  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16295830

3 Jan 2012 - 6 arrested in India for spam/phishing

Someone getting arrested is good news? When they add to the huge amount of spam circulating on Internet you bet it is! I once calculated spam cost me £470 in lost time just deleting the stuff. I hate spam and when one of them gets his/her just deserts that's great news. Guess what? These were all Nigerians working in India. They'll be out of action until at least 12th January. 




Full story - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16392960

4 Jan 2012 - Car industry declining? Not Nissan UK

Nissan reported that sales were up 14% on last year. Apparently not only Nissan have had a good year, other manufacturers in the UK are doing well too including several luxury firms. Someone out there is making money! 


Full story - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16408511

5 Jan 2012 - Saved from a watery grave - by an ice box.

Two men and two boys were saved by using an ice box as a flotation device when their boat sank off eastern Australia. The icebox and a GPS device were all that they managed to save from the boat which sank in just one minute.


The GPS sent out a distress call and the four were quickly rescued by a helicopter and police boat.


Full story and video - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16421996

6 Jan 2012 - US Unemployment declining.

It seems that it's not just the UK's car industry showing signs of a recovery. Unemployment in the US is dropping and now stands at it's lowest for three years - 8.5%
Of course politicians were quick to take the credit and the BBC showed a picture of Obama with their article on this. Since politicians and bankers got the US in the mess in the first place, I don't feel this is appropriate here so include a picture from my other blog (The most informative political survey ever) instead which is much better looking. Full story (and that picture of Obama doing a goldfish impersonation) at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16445441.

7 Jan 2012 - US Thanked by Iran.

Iran and the US always seem to be at loggerheads but today Iran actually thanked the US for a 'humanitarian gesture'. The story relates to a Iranian fishing boat which had been captured by Somalian pirates in the Arabian Sea. The 13 Iranian crew had been held prisoner for over a month before they were rescued by the crew of USS Kidd on Thursday. They were given food and fuel to return home. Full story - http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57354437/iran-welcomes-u.s-rescue-of-sailors/

OK so that's the good news for the first week of 2012 and I have to admit that the news for 6th and 7th was a bit tricky to find, especially since the Iranian 'thank you' actually relates to an event which occurred on the 5th. To make up for these weak news stories I'm going to take a leaf out of the media's book and give you some good news 'non-events', (I'll just make it up)


On 6th January a major earthquake did not occur in New England, unlike 1663; Seattle wasn't buried under 120cm of snow, unlike 1880; In South Africa the Boers had a quiet day unlike 1900 when 1,000 were killed or injured by them at Ladysmith. Finally no buses fell off a mountain in the Philippines so 140 people didn't die as they did in 1967.


On 7th January fire didn't destroy Jamestown, Virginia, unlike 1608; President Obama didn't raise taxes, unlike Truman in 1948; a new weapon of mass destruction was not announced to the world, unlike 1953 when the hydrogen bomb was revealed; President Obama didn't get his salary doubled, unlike Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon in 1969. Finally the Leaning Tower of Pisa didn't fall down. It was closed in 1990 after leaning too far.

			Take a touch of humour, add some genetic science and nanotechnology. Steep with conspiracy and stir in murder and despair. Season with romance between three people in a secret location. Garnish with morality. The result is 'A Vested Interest', a novel series by John and Shelia Chapman
UK £9.29	UK £1.91	UK £1.53