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
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