A Daily Antidote to Everything Else
“I spent a lot of time taking chances doing negative things,” said Freddie Sherrill. “It was time for me to start taking chances doing positive things.”
Source: Once a homeless addict, he learned to read at 37. Now, he’s a college graduate. – Washington Post
Positive things here also includes inspiring others.
(May be paywalled: please see my note about that.)
A LeFlore High School senior was in the hospital and could not walk the stage with her fellow Class of 2018 Monday. At least not in person, anyway.
Source: Hospitalized LeFlore High School student virtually “walks” across stage at graduation – WKRG
The next best thing to being there? I like it!
Students at a Wisconsin high school staged a “car crash” using an optical illusion for a spectacle that even the police applauded.
Source: Teens stage ‘one of the best senior pranks’ the cops have ever seen
Heh. The ingenuity made me smile. 🙂
Every kid has dreamt of having their own ball pit – so this guy took advantage of his local toy store’s closing sale and bought 5,400 balls for a doggie ball pit.
Source: Guy Takes Advantage of Toys ‘R’ Us Closing Sale to Make Giant Ball Pit For His Dog in His Hallway
Genius. Dog + ball pit = joy. 
Over the past 22 years, the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation and its alumni have saved lives in nearly 170 disasters, from Hurricanes Katrina, Harvey and Irma to the Montecito mudslides.
Source: Giving shelter dogs a new chance at life — as search and rescue K-9s – CNN
FourPaws, the international animal welfare organization, has begun construction of Elephant’s Lake in the Bago region of Myanmar, which will be one of the largest elephant sanctuaries in Southeast Asia.
The future of transportation looks to be merging with sci-fi. But the bike-tech revolution reminds us that innovation isn’t always about the totally new.
Source: The Vehicle of the Future Has Two Wheels, Handlebars, and Is a Bike
It doesn’t make sense everywhere, but having just returned from The Netherlands I can say that this is a technology that still has a lot of promise.
On Friday, after 1173 bags of blood and 2.4 million babies saved, Anti-D pioneer James Harrison made his last blood donation.
Source: Final donation for man whose blood helped save 2.4 million babies
Amazing.
Nearly 3,000 missing children have been traced in four days, thanks to the facial recognition system (FRS) software that the Delhi Police is using on a trial basis to track down such children.
Source: Facial Recognition System Helps Trace 3,000 Missing Children In 4 Days
Mainstream media tends to focus on the scarier aspects of new technologies — this is a fantastic outcome.
Millennials and Generation Z have far lower rates of crime, gun death, smoking, dropouts, births and other bad behavior than their parents’ generation, yet California law still treats teens as a problem. They should be given the vote, and attitudes should change.
Source: California teenagers: Statistics on Millennials and Generation Z | The Sacramento Bee
There is hope. Lots and lots of hope.