Tuesday Awesome

This is Eddie, the tortoiseshell kitten. Isn't he a cutie?

He's also one in a million. You see, two X chromosomes are needed for the tortoiseshell colouring, but Eddie is quite emphatically a boy. His owner, veterinarian Karen Horne, calls him "a genetic impossibility".

"Of eight million pet cats in Britain only a couple a year are born male tortoiseshells," reports the Daily Mail. And the web site VeterinaryPartner.com reports that "about one in every 3,000 calico cats is male, with an extra X chromosome -- XXY instead of the XY of a normal male."

Impossibility or simply improbability, Eddie's one cute kitten. Horne has named him Eddie, for crossdressing British comedian Eddie Izzard -- another "boy dressed in girls' clothing."

Friday Awesome: Impossible Planet Found

Astrophysicists puzzle over planet that's too close to its sun

By all current measures, newly discovered planet Wasp-18b should have burned up a billion years ago.

Roughly the size of Jupiter, this massive planet whips around its sun in less than an Earth day. That's awesome enough, but what's even awesomer is the fact that it shouldn't even be there. Orbital dynamics, which we thought we'd had a handle on for the last four hundred years, says that Wasp-18b should have spiraled inwards and been consumed by its parent star within a million years of its formation.

Both star and planet are around a billion years old, though, and while Douglas P. Hamilton, an astronomer at the University of Maryland, has some possible explanations, he doesn't like any of them. He thinks it's most likely that "we're just missing something -- there is some property of stars or tides that we just don't understand."

Frustrating as that may be, it's also an opportunity to learn more about our universe. And to my mind, that's pretty awesome.

Image from here

Bears, babies, and missing girls found

Bear climbs ladder to escape Snowmass skate park

Bears have been getting bolder and bolder as we spread through more of their habitat, but this is a new one on me.

Park officials in Snowmass, Colorado arrived at work Tuesday morning to find a bear who'd apparently decided to go skating -- or at least had gotten stuck down in the recessed area of the skate park.

After some consultation, they found a good long ladder, set it down into the skateboard bowl, and got out of the way. Though I'm glad someone stayed close enough to get pictures.

By all reports the bear is fine.

Genetic advance raises IVF hopes

There's a new chance for women with faulty eggs to bear healthy babies.

Up until now, doctors had no luck finding a safe and effective way to treat women with defective mitochondria in their eggs. Moving mitochondria from healthy eggs introduced further birth defects, because mitochondria are very fragile.

But now they may have, if the monkeys above are any indication. Now instead of moving the mitochondria, they're leaving them in place and moving everything else -- all the genetic material needed to make a baby, right into an emptied-out egg with perfectly healthy mitochondria already in place.

Dr. Shoukhrat Mitalipov, lead researcher on the project at the Oregon Health and Science University, says that human trials could begin very quickly, within two or three years. Let's hope that they do, and that the process works as well on humans as it obviously does on monkeys.

Missing girl 'found 18 years on'

Eighteen years ago Carl Probyn watched as a man and a woman kidnapped his daughter from outside his Lake Tahoe, California home.

Eighteen years later, he just wanted the people who'd taken her found. "I had personally given up hope" of seeing her again, he said.

But a few weeks ago a women walked into a San Francisco Bay area police station claiming to be Jaycee Lee Dugard, and while DNA testing is underway, the cops are "99% sure it's her", says Lt. Les Lovell of the El Dorado Sheriff's Department.

Two men are in custody, and Jaycee and her family will be reunited soon.

Please share your good news in the comments!

Feeding the Hungry, Healing the Sick

Five-Year-Old Girl Feeds Nearly 18,000 Hungry

After asking her parents about a homeless man holding a sign on a street corner, five-year-old Phoebe of San Francisco decided to do something about it, and raised almost four thousand dollars to feed the homeless.



Maine EMT struck by monster truck, saved by mud


Slightly smaller in scale, to be certain, but just as important to the Maine EMT in question. He was watching a monster truck show when one of the big bruisers lost control and smacked into him -- fortunately throwing him into a mud slick instead of running him over. He was treated at a local hospital and released, and by all reports is just fine.

After tragedy, an immigrant finds kindness here


Michael Kogen, 28 and newly moved to America to be with his parents, pulled over late one night to help a woman whose car had broken down. Despite turning on the flashers in both cars and putting out a reflective orange triangle, the woman's car was hit, severing both of Michael's legs above the knee.

The good news, though? In addition to Michael's reflexive offer to help -- an offer which we at Cold Waters thoroughly approve of -- lots of folks, many of them strangers to Michael before the accident, have stepped forward to help. The founder of a local prosthetics company designed and built legs for Michael -- a gift worth about $60,000. Local community members stopped by to visit and give support, and some of them started a web site to help raise money -- http://www.help4mike.com/.

Despite lingering pain and the difficulty of adjusting to his new prosthesis, Michael plans to dance again. "He said one phrase to me that made me shiver," said Maria Breyman, the La Salle student whose raised over $7000 to help defray Michael's medical expenses: "'We are going to dance soon. I'll get up and I will fall, but I will get up, and fall again, but I give you my word as a soldier in the Israeli Army that I will make you proud.'"

Trees, gardens and farms, heart treatment and the Special Olympics.

My dearest Plain Foolish has multiple pieces of good news -- not only can she now play all the way through Skip to my Lou, she'll soon be able to play it for her father, in person. He's received his orders to return home from Iraq and should be home within the next few months.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6569283.stm

A new, less-invasive treatment for heart disease is undergoing testing on pigs. The HeartLander device, which looks like a robotic caterpillar, will be able to complete certain operations -- such as attaching pacemaker leads or injecting dye into the heart -- without the necessity of stopping the patient's heart for the operation. The device crawls across the surface of the heart on sucker-like feet.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/dorset/6567365.stm

104-year-old Jim Webber, a gardener in Dorset, UK, for the last 93 years, will be retiring from his work -- though he and his 68-year-old daughter, Kathleen, will continue to work his own gardens for a bit of extra income. Jim felt that it was only fair to retire from the gardening job he's held at the New Inn since, as he puts it, "I'd do about 10 minutes and have to sit down - I couldn't carry on. That wasn't fair for the people I was working for."

May I be half as tough at half his age.

http://www.voanews.com/english/americanlife/2007-04-03-voa31.cfm?rss=united%20states

Natural food grocery store Whole Foods is sponsoring a workshop in Lakewood, Colorado, for local food producers. The workshop is intended to encourage small local farmers to find a broader if still local market with Whole Foods. Whole Foods' Grocery Coordinator Scott Price explains that buying local reduces the use of fossil fuels for transportation and gives consumers a better chance to see how their local growers work. With global warming a growing concern, both are more important to consumers. Whole Foods is offering small growers advice on everything from how to make their packaging more appealing to how to draw up a business plan. They're even offering low-cost loans to growers who will use them to upgrade their farms.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9136962

Something I didn't know until I found this article -- the Kennedy family has done more to raise awareness and improve the lives of the mentally retarded in the world than anyone else. John Kennedy began it; in 1963, when he was President, he spoke freely about his sister Rosemary, who was born with mild mental retardation. Before that it was a subject which was simply not spoken of. He and his brothers Robert and Ted were all among the early pioneers in securing proper treatment and funding research.

His sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver took up the torch in 1962, when a mother of a mentally retarded child called her in desperation, because she had not been able to find a summer camp which would accept her child. Eunice immediately opened her own home to the woman's child, and the summer camp she ran at her own home was the inspiration for the first Special Olympics in 1968.

The Special Olympics continue today, now run by Eunice's children; her son Tim is now in charge of the organization. The 2007 Special Olympics will be held in Shanghai, and Eunice will be there.

http://www.mnsun.com/articles/2007/04/27/local_news_update/fo03arborday.txt

This Arbor Day, students in Fridley, MN spent the day planting trees at the local Springbrook Nature Center. The trees will help hold the soil in place, as well as providing shade, nesting places for birds, and will also provide a buffer between the park and a nearby industrial complex. Thirty-one students got the day out of school and spent five dollars apiece for transportation to the nature center, and after a day of hard work, they'd planted a thousand trees.

That's it for today!

Exercise and fishing, horn music of a new type, unplundered tombs, and freedom.

Life has once again been exciting and I must apologize for the delay in postings. Further job change has me working in a lovely little shop in Lyons, CO, and trying to sell bath salts and jewelry on the side. With luck things will settle enough to bring back the writing soon...

Further good news from Plain Foolish, who can now play three chords on her banjo and thus can play Wild Thing.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9356870

Fifteen British sailors and marines, held captive in Iran for the last thirteen days, have been freed and will fly out of Iran Thursday morning. Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister, says that Britain bears no ill will towards the Iranian people over the incident.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9115707

A New Orleans-style sendoff, complete with horns and percussion -- but this is the traditional funeral for truck drivers in Ghana, who are sent to their rest to the tune of por por music. It's played on tire rims and old-fashioned squeeze-bulb horns, and a CD of the traditional style, Por Por: Honk Horn Music of Ghana, is being released this month. The style originated with truck drivers stuck replacing tires on deserted roads late at night. To keep away animals, they'd bang their wrenches on the tire rims and honk their horns; perhaps sixty years ago someone got the idea to set traditional bell and horn rhythms from around the country on the newly-discovered instruments.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=8996447

Injured soldiers staying at Walter Reed Medical Hospital have a new escape from the depression which often follows a severe injury. A program called Project Healing Waters takes these men and women out for a day in the great outdoors, fishing in local creeks and rivers. Says Captain Eivind Forseth, whose right arm was severely injured in an IED explosion in January 2005, "When I started helping with this program, that became my mission. That's just kinda what I started living for, besides my family."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070404/ap_on_sc/greece_ancient_tomb;_ylt=Ajg316QQMOMOZND2hCoankLMWM0F

Archaeologists in Greece have found a tomb that the grave robbers missed -- and it's in such good shape that the stone door still pivots open just as well as it did when it was last closed. The tomb contains gold jewelry and clothing ornaments as well as more everyday items in pottery, glass and bronze.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070404/ap_on_he_me/fitness_arthritis;_ylt=AkzqSOsN77Hre8ZXeh9o4lDMWM0F

Older women who exercise as little as seventy-five minutes a week suffer less pain and debility from arthritis than those who do not exercise, says a study recently published in the journal Arthritis Research & Therapy. The study, carried out by the University of Queensland in Australia, found a direct correlation between the amount of time women in their 70s spent exercising and how much their arthritis symptoms alleviated. The study suggests that yoga, walking, tai chi, swimming, and even light weight training are all helpful for older women, with their doctor's approval.

That's it for today; please send in your good news as well!

Bison and compost, autism and Woodstock, rescued dogs and banjo lessons

Some good news from a dear friend: Plain Foolish, whose father is currently deployed to Iraq, got to sing with him Saturday. Over the phone, mind you, and 7000 miles of various lag meant they weren't so much singing the same thing at the same time, but she was just pleased to have the time with her father. Glad to hear it, hun. Though I do want to hear how the banjo homework went.

Quite a bit of what goes into your trash, most likely, is food waste; it's an even higher percentage for restaurants. Ned Foley, of Montgomery County, PA, is trying to reduce that. His farm, Two Particular Acres, accepts food waste from the Four Seasons Hotel in Philadelphia and turns it into rich, black compost -- saving ten thousand pounds a month from being put into landfills. The Four Seasons buys some of the compast back for use in flower beds and an herb garden, and the rest goes to grow Foley's crops.

http://www.topix.net/content/kri/4174670412269833228530377551533895180235

One in 150 children these days is autistic, and currently Connecticut has no centralized agency to help these children -- but that could change, if legislation under consideration is passed. Such an agency would make is much easier for families to find the support they need, says Florence Bourque, a retired music teacher and also grandmother of three children with autism. Right now, says Patrice Peterson, who teaches in the Department of Mental Retardation, "everything is fragmented or nonexistent."

http://www.norwalkadvocate.com/news/local/state/hc-17113457.apds.m0736.bc-ct-xgr--mar17,0,6907635.story

Zero carbon emissions for an entire town? Is it possible? The Town Board of Woodstock, New York -- yes, that Woodstock -- doesn't know, but they're going to give it a try. The Board last Tuesday night passed a resolution that the town should reduce its carbon emissions to zero by 2017. They've already begun the task: a solar hating system atop Town Hall is so efficient it produces more energy than the building uses, and they're planning another for atop the public parking garage. The next step, proponents say, is to encourage similar efforts among individuals. They plan to offer tax incentives to those who make their homes more energy efficient, for example. And they hope their efforts will affect more than just the town itself: "We’re trying to set a template for other towns throughout the region to follow, and we’re doing that with the magic of the Woodstock name," says Randolph Horner, one author of the measure and a member of the Woodstock Environmental Commission.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/18/nyregion/18carbon.html?ex=1174795200&en=5f61f4656169d875&ei=5099&partner=TOPIXNEWS

This story is good news spurred by previous good news -- climbers rescued from Mt. Hood a month ago will be holding a fundraiser to benefit the several organizations that helped resuce them. The benefit will be held at the Lucky Lab, a pub in Portland, Oregon. The pub will also unveil a new brew, Velvet Oatmeal Porter, named for the dog who was rescued at the same time. Information on the fundraiser is available at http://www.missvelvet.net/.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2007/03/rescued_climbers_throw_bash_to.html

And finally a piece close to my heart. Not only is it with an hours' drive of my home, it's bison -- and I've loved bison since I first saw them in the flesh back in 1994. Lovely, huge and shaggy, and looking like they wanted nothing more than a good brushing. A herd of 16 bison have been released in the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, within ten miles of downtown Denver. The former Rocky Mountain Arsenal, previously home to factories manufacturing nerve gas and other chemical weapons, is in the process of being cleaned up and is already home to deer bald eagles and mny other species.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070317/ap_on_sc/arsenal_bison

That's the news, and as always, your good news is welcome as well!