Lemme Succeed in Making Your Day (a Counter to Joe's Depressing Thread)

[JayhawkLifer]

Lawnmower man finishes his US tour.

Rodney Smith Jr. has visited all 50 US states twice, but you'll have to forgive him if he doesn't recall any as particularly distinctive. There was little time for sightseeing as Smith spent much of his time mowing lawns voluntarily. The 29-year-old founder of Raising Men Lawn Care Service in Huntsville, Ala., which encourages kids to get involved in community service, set out on his second round-the-country trip in May, pledging to mow two to three lawns for strangers in need in each state, provided they were within a 30-mile radius of a major city. Starting in Milwaukee, Wis., he drove around the 48 continuous states, assisting a Korean War veteran in Minneapolis, Minn., and an amputee in Casper, Wy. He then flew to Alaska and on to Hawaii. It was there, after mowing the lawn of a stage 4 cancer patient, that he completed his mission Tuesday, per the BBC.

http://www.newser.com/story/262128/5...awn-mower.html

[JayhawkLifer]

Loyalty is a dog's middle name...

.
A little girl is home in the arms of her mother after reportedly getting lost in a Missouri cornfield for nearly 12 hours, during which her beloved pooch never left her side. Per KFVS, 3-year-old Remy Elliott had a friend in the family's Yorkshire Terrier, named Fat Heath, when she wandered into the field around 8pm Thursday. For nearly 12 hours, the girl and dog were missing as a search party ballooned from five to nearly 100 people, according to Remy's mother, Timber Merritt. According to the Kansas City Star, Merritt's brother even drove in from Kentucky to aid in the search. Ultimately, he was the one who discovered the dog and little Remy, who was asleep at the time.

Exhausted and covered in mosquito bites, Remy reportedly said she wasn't scared at all during the ordeal because she had Fat Heath there at her side. Local authorities who aided in the search called the help of all involved, including the pup, an admirable community effort. "Law enforcement, 1st Responders and community volunteers coming together to find a missing child. Her dog stayed by her side all night," wrote the Missouri State Highway Patrol in a Twitter post that shared a snapshot of Fat Heath and of Merritt hugging her newly found daughter. Merritt joked that now might be time to put a fence around the yard.

http://www.newser.com/story/260732/d...orn-field.html

[JayhawkLifer]

HOT DOG!!


Instead of shutting down a teenager’s hot dog stand for not having a permit, the city helped him turn his stand into a business.

13-year-old Jaequan Faulkner started his hot dog stand in 2016 as a means of doing something creative to fend off his depression. Additionally, he wanted to use the money to buy himself some new clothes.

So with his tabletop business set up in front of his home in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the youngster started selling hot dogs, chips, and sodas to the locals – and everybody loved it.

As his stand garnered more and more attention, however, someone complained to the city’s health department for Jaequan’s lack of permit.

But instead of shutting down the entrepreneurial venture, a dozen different city departments came together to help the teen get a permit and start a business.

“When I realized what [the complaint] was, I said, ‘No, we’re not going to just go and shut him down’ like we would an unlicensed vendor,” Minneapolis Environmental Health Director Dan Huff told WTVR. “We can help him get the permit. Let’s make this a positive thing and help him become a business owner.”

Several Minneapolis health inspectors volunteered to train the youngster on food safety. They gave him a thermometer that he could use to make sure the food was above 140 degrees; they got him a hand-washing station and a tent; and they even paid for Jaequan’s permit fee.

Not only that, a local nonprofit has been teaching Jaequan entrepreneurial skills and helping him to establish his new business: Mr. Faulkner’s Old-Fashioned Hot Dogs.

The team is now raising money through a GoFundMe campaign so they can get Jaequan a mobile hot dog stand. The teen says that he will be donating a portion of the proceeds to mental health charities, and any additional funds will be put into his college fund.

But while the 13-year-old says that he has enjoyed making money and learning about business, he mostly enjoys using his hot dog stand to make people happy.

“It’s the cooking and the people,” he said. “I see someone go by with a frown on their face. I’m there with a smile, then I see a smile on their face. I just made a smile on somebody’s face by selling them a hot dog.”


https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/inst...rt-a-business/

[GardArmighty]

That is awesome.

[FrobozMumbar]

JayhawkLifer Thank you

[JayhawkLifer]

Lost Dog Found

“Angels walk amongst us,” starts Rick’s GoFundMe campaign.

The California man started the fundraiser for James, a homeless man who cared for one of the most important individuals in Rick’s life: his dog Maya.

Recently, the 9-month-old rat terrier ran away from home, and even after his searches turned up nothing, Rick was confident his furry friend was all right.

“I just had this crazy feeling that she wasn’t hiding out or dead but in the company of someone that temporarily needed her. Maya means ‘magic’ and that’s what this dog is,” Rick writes on GoFundMe.

It turns out, the owner was right. After escaping her house, Maya crossed paths with an “angel man” named James. James is man living out of his car in East Hollywood; he’s also known as ‘Canine’ because of his deep love for dogs.

When a friend and fellow homeless man first found Maya, he brought her to James because he knew the man deeply cared about dogs and had recently gone through the death of his own canine companion.

In the first few hours of caring for Maya, James noticed the dog was wearing ID tags with a phone number on them. James, who does not have a cellphone, tracked down a phone and called the number, which connected him with Rick.

“I can’t truly express the emotions I felt when I finally got that call. I could feel the warmth of James’ heart through that conversation. He said that once he saw that she belonged to someone, he was devastated and knew what I was going through,” Rick shares.

Touched by the man who had so little giving back so much, Rick decided he had to pay it forward and find a way to help James as well. Maya’s owner gave James $200 when he first gave the dog back to Rick, but it was a struggle to get him to accept even that much.

“He just wanted to get her back to the person who loves her the most. It was all about love for James. After several attempts, I insisted he take the money and wouldn’t accept NO for an answer. James started to cry. He needed the money but didn’t want to make it about that. He was so grateful,” Rick writes on GoFundMe.

James, Rick believes, thinks he will never seen the dog owner and Maya again — but Rick wants to prove him wrong. He is raising money to help the angel who saved his dog so James knows his kind actions matter, and so he will have the means to continue to do good for himself and others.

Rick has already raised more than $3,000 for James thanks to 125 donations. You can contribute to the campaign here.

https://people.com/pets/fundraiser-f...n-rescued-dog/

[JayhawkLifer]

Breakthrough in Spinal Cord Injury Research

Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital showed that a small-molecule compound could revive neural circuits in paralyzed mice, restoring their ability to walk, according to a study published on Thursday in the journal Cell.

"For this fairly severe type of spinal cord injury, this is most significant functional recovery we know of," said He Zhigang in Boston Children's F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center. "We saw 80 percent of mice treated with this compound recover their stepping ability."

Inspired by the success of epidural electrical stimulation-based strategies, He and colleagues applied an electric current to the lower portion of the spinal cord. Combined with rehabilitation training, it had enabled some patients to regain movement.

"Epidural stimulation seems to affect the excitability of neurons," said He. "However, in these studies, when you turn off the stimulation, the effect is gone. We tried to come up with a pharmacologic approach to mimic the stimulation and better understand how it works."

Then, He's team selected a handful of compounds that are already known to alter the excitability of neurons, and are able to cross the blood-brain barrier.

One compound called CLP290 showed the most potent effect, enabling paralyzed mice to regain stepping ability after four to five weeks of treatment.

Electromyography recordings showed that the two relevant groups of hindlimb muscles were active, and the animals' walking scores remained higher than the controls' up to two weeks after stopping treatment. Side effects were minimal.

CLP290 is known to activate a protein called KCC2, found in cell membranes, that transports chloride out of neurons.

The new study showed that inhibitory neurons in the injured spinal cord are crucial to recovery of motor function.

After spinal cord injury, these neurons produce dramatically less KCC2. As a result they can't properly respond to inhibitory signals from the brain, instead respond only to excitatory signals that tell them to keep firing.

Since these neurons' signals are inhibitory, the result is too much inhibitory signaling in the overall spinal circuit. Therefore, the brain's commands telling the limbs to move aren't relayed.

By restoring KCC2 with CLP290, the inhibitory neurons can again receive inhibitory signals from the brain, so they fire less.

This shifts the overall circuit back toward excitation, the researchers found, making it more responsive to input from the brain. This had the effect of reanimating spinal circuits disabled by the injury.

"Restoring inhibition will allow the whole system to be excited more easily," said He. "Too much excitation not good, and too much inhibition is not good either. You really need to get a balance."

He and colleagues are now investigating other compounds that act as KCC2 agonists. They believe such drugs, or perhaps gene therapy to restore KCC2, could be combined with epidural stimulation to maximize a patient's function after spinal cord injury.


http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/201..._137336212.htm

[JayhawkLifer]

Saving Lives with Uplifting Notes

A teenager who attached uplifting messages to a bridge to help people facing a mental health crisis has helped save six lives, police said.

Paige Hunter, 18, tied more than 40 notes to Sunderland's Wearmouth Bridge.

One note says: "Even though things are difficult, your life matters; you're a shining light in a dark world, so just hold on."

Northumbria Police Ch Supt Sarah Pitt said it was an "innovative way to reach out to those in a dark place".

She said it was important to encourage people to speak out about mental health problems, adding: "Paige has shown an incredible understanding of vulnerable people in need of support.

"For somebody so young, Paige has shown a real maturity and we thought it would only be right to thank her personally.

"She should be very proud of herself."

The East Durham College student, who also works at Poundworld, was given a commendation certificate from the force.

Paige said: "Since I put the messages up I've had a lot of comments from people. They've said it's been really inspiring.

"It's just amazing, the response it has had. I wasn't doing this for an award; it was just something that I wanted to do."


https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tyne-44916409

[LARPHawk]

"The East Durham College student, who also works at Poundworld..."

Niiice

[JayhawkLifer]

RETIRED MARINE SAVING HORSES FROM CA WILDFIRES

COTTONWOOD, Calif., July 29 (Reuters) - Tucker Zimmerman has gotten little sleep during the raging deadly fire in Shasta County, California. The retired U.S. Marine has rushed into a new battle, as a volunteer rescuing stranded horses and other livestock.

"I'm just the guy who moves stuff around," he said modestly. The "stuff" he speaks of refers to the panicked horses and other livestock he wrangles out of harm's way when they get left behind after the humans have fled.

With a large trailer borrowed from his job selling tractor equipment, Zimmerman has ventured daily into various evacuation zones just as homeowners threatened by the Carr Fire were rushing in the other direction.

RELATED: Wildfires near Redding, California




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Wildfires near Redding, California
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On Saturday, he had just delivered to safety five horses he managed to capture in one newly evacuated area, before receiving a call to pick up others nearby.

The horses were being taken to stables, rodeo grounds and ranches whose owners have opened their property to the steady stream of livestock rescued by Zimmerman since Wednesday.

"He restored my faith in humanity," said Noah Urban, an Oregon resident whose stranded 6-year-old horse named Bolt was saved by Zimmerman. The two connected through Facebook.

"You're not just helping the animals, he's helping people to alleviate their stress," Urban said. "It would be like losing your children. If you had to leave them behind, I can't even think about it."

Zimmerman is not alone. Communicating through social media, text messages, radio and word-of-mouth, a network of animal lovers and animal-control authorities have banded together over the past few days to rescue as many stranded critters as possible.

At an outlet mall in nearby Anderson, the din of barking fills an empty storefront used as overflow housing for the animals of Haven Humane Society. Besides their usual charges seeking full-time homes, volunteers were accepting dogs and cats brought in by evacuated residents unable to care for their pets while displaced.

Four Pomeranians delivered in two armfuls sniffed their new cages, a fuzzy Newfoundland mix pawed at his cage, and a tabby cat huddled wide-eyed gazing at the commotion. Only a small green turtle delivered in a glass tank seemed unfazed.

Dan Fults, 47, and his wife had dropped off their Huskies, Balto and Lucian, to be cared for at the facility, an hour after fleeing their home. The couple were keeping their two cats and a parrot for the time being.

"Sure, I have valuable things in my home, but the pets obviously take priority," Fults said.

Back at the Cottonwood Creek Ranch, Zimmerman was in his truck responding to the latest calls for assistance.

"When I was deployed (in the military), I couldn't have animals, but I am an animal lover," he said.

While Zimmerman has a proven talent for handling nervous horses, he doesn't discriminate against two-legged creatures in need of help.

"I saved a guy named Matt. He was trying to water down his house" as flames erupted, Zimmerman recalled. "I said, 'Let's go!'" (Reporting by Alexandria Sage; Editing by Steve Gorman and Sandra Maler)

https://www.aol.com/article/news/201...fire/23491667/

[Joe Norris]

You’ll never defeat me! Haha

[JayhawkLifer]

Joe Norris I'll never stop trying though!

[Joe Norris]

I’m coming for you Lifer, but this belongs here

[Joe Norris]

Ha, the funny thing is, I’m in a bad mood, so I’m trying to dig myself out

[JayhawkLifer]

Well good luck. The weekend's here, so you got that going for you...which is nice.

[Joe Norris]

yup, one more meeting this afternoon (that I know of) and then it's the weekend, so, let's party

[JayhawkLifer]

Young man invents "water you can eat" after watching his grandmother, who has dementia, become dehydrated due to her illness.

https://blog.thealzheimerssite.com/jelly-drops/

[WolfShirtSophomore]

Young man invents "water you can eat" after watching his grandmother, who has dementia, become dehydrated due to her illness.

https://blog.thealzheimerssite.com/jelly-drops/

Man didn't invent ice. It's always existed........ oh wait.

[MissTCShore]

Young man invents "water you can eat" after watching his grandmother, who has dementia, become dehydrated due to her illness.

https://blog.thealzheimerssite.com/jelly-drops/

That "Water" looks like it may have come from Flint Michigan.

[Joe Norris]

That "Water" looks like it may have come from Flint Michigan.

Yeah that's the stock photo as noted beneath it

[JayhawkLifer]