Not All News is Bad!

When the pandemic forced artist and video game developer Steve Derrick to work from home, he found himself with extra time on his hands that he said he did not want to spend watching Netflix or Hulu. When he stumbled on a magazine photo of a nurse who had just spent a long shift treating Covid-19 patients, he decided to paint her with marks from her PPE and all. This led him to paint more than 100 portraits of frontline medical workers and send the paintings to his subjects, free of charge.

Source: This artist portraits of frontline medical workers capture their exhaustion treating Covid-19 patients – CNN

Wow.

‘Please when you see someone on the street, don’t look away if they say hello.’

Source: Couple reunites homeless man with family he hasn’t seen in 20 years | Metro News

Touching.

A dog treading water nearly four miles offshore in Lake Michigan has been rescued by a family out on a boating trip

Source: Family rescues dog nearly 4 miles offshore in Lake Michigan

Lucky dog, and very grateful owners.

A 15-year-old boy has raised over $13,000 in donations for homeless veterans, special needs children, and first responders by selling and donating wooden flags he carves himself.

Source: 15-year-old boy is carving wooden flags to support ‘forgotten heroes’ during the pandemic – CNN

Wow.

Access to clean, safe drinking water is a necessity that’s worryingly not being met in many parts of the world. A new study has used a material called a metal-organic framework (MOF) to filter pollutants out of seawater, generating large amounts of fresh water per day while using much less energy than other methods.

Source: Highly efficient process makes seawater drinkable in 30 minutes

Promising!

Their first round of registration started small in July with 5 students signed up the day they launched. Then, the demand piled up.

Source: College students pay it forward with free tutoring during pandemic

Great idea.

A Portland labradoodle returned home, 9 days after going missing and presumably falling off a ridge during a backpacking trip near Mount Shuksan in Washington.

Source: ‘Miracle dog’ survives 9 days in Washington wilderness after falling over ridge – oregonlive.com

The organization I volunteer for — WASART — was involved initially. We’re all absolutely thrilled.

Big Baby Hooves. In the Asian field habitat at the Safari Park, our greater one-horned rhino population grew by two. Mother rhinos Asha and Tanaya gave birth to… #babyanimals #babygiraffe #puggle

Source: Pitter-patter, Flutter-flap – ZOONOOZ

I know I don’t often do “cute”, but these are tool cool to pass up. Enjoy some baby critters (many more than just the rhino pictured above).

Two young Peoria brothers are hoping to bring smiles to COVID-19 patients by sending homemade cards to Valley hospitals.

Source: Project Smile AZ: Two Arizona brothers sending hundreds of homemade cards to COVID-19 patients

Very cool.

Photojournalist Bilal Jawich was at home on the outskirts of Beirut when an explosion, which has left at least 100 dead and thousands injured, rocked the Lebanese capital.

Source: Nurse saves three infants from hospital destroyed in Beirut blast – CNN

Pretty amazing.