Off Topic And in good news...

One of those things i think should be advertised more widely, or maybe it has been and I’ve ignorantly missed it. I’ve given blood since I was old enough to do so, and it was only at one of those donations earlier this year when I noticed a booklet about it. I sat down and read it whilst waiting to donate and promptly asked to be put on the register, filled in a short form and they took the extra little blood sample there and then. I’m now on the register until I’m too old and hopefully one day I’ll be a match for someone. Absolutely worth getting on that register if you can. It’s not every day you get the opportunity to potentially save someone’s life.

 

I can’t register as I am too old, plus my location goes against me as well.
60 year old age limit.

 

You tried; that's important.

Vin

 

Done. Took 5 mins to register.

 

The Dutch, looking after lonely people.






Then again, as a northerner, every checkout is like that for me.

Vin

 

We all appear to have chosen a good time to be born...

Childhood mortality rates worldwide down from 46% pre industrial revolution to 4.6% nowadays.

Still room for improvement but great news.

 

UN announces that within 40 years the Ozone layer will be completely healed.

https://reasonstobecheerful.world/ozone-layer-healed-40-years/

Humans can effect massive change when we work together!

Vin

 

I know the Covid deniers will disagree, but I thought this with the vaccine. In record time a safe vaccination was developed that saved millions of lives and livelihoods. The world worked together to get it to production and we are back to ‘normal’ once again. Think back to the dark days of March/April 2020, and it felt like normality would never come back. Well done us.

 

This won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but as someone who was born with hearing deficiencies, I can relate in part to this lady, with regards to the difficulty of going to school and being in an environment where your disability isn’t catered for to the extent that you miss vital instructions and your work suffers as a result.
I can also, as a result of my wife’s illness, understand this woman’s reaction to being given 6-12 months to live and being told she wouldn’t walk again, as my wife’s response was “We’ll see about that”, before learning to walk again and surviving for 7 years from having been given a 6-12 months prognosis.
This video is possibly the most wonderful and inspiring video I have seen in many a year, and shows how much positivity can help.

 

It's going to take a mass awareness campaign to overcome the fossil fuel lobby here's hoping the actions being brought on petrochemical majors help galvanise people and politicians for change.

 

That was excellent! Thanks Badger.

 

Ethnic segregation in England and Wales is waning

Ethnic segregation is on the wane in England and Wales as neighbourhoods become more mixed, according to analysis of the 2021 census.

The findings, published in The Geographical Journal, confirm the steady decline in segregation noted in all censuses since 1991.

“Residential segregation of all ethnic groups is declining,” the study concluded. “At the local level, many more neighbourhoods are ethnically diverse, and diversity has been spreading out to new locales.”

The authors of the study said their work provided a nuanced picture of the latest census, challenging the damaging “minority-majority” rhetoric that followed its publication.

 

I defy you to follow this chap and not feel the better for it. Gurdeep lives in a cabin in the Yukon and works every day to make people happier.



Vin

 

https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysi...as-coal-use-drops-to-lowest-level-since-1757/

UK's carbon emissions fell by 3.4% in 2022. Good news indeed.

Vin

 

In Canada, a drone is being tested that can plant 5 (different species of) trees a second. They're aiming at planting a billion trees in five years.

https://reasonstobecheerful.world/drone-tree-planting-reforesting-after-wildfires/#

 

Unable to get to the game but it's Friday, good weather, laundry done and ingredients assembled for StJab's spicy carrot, coriander and bacon soup. Texel skuumkoppe is on offer at a 25% discount, fridge stocked, and it's a dear friend's birthday party this evening. Several reasons to be cheerful!

 

In good news I am going to miss the spurs match, as I going to a 70s weekend at Butlin’s Minehead with good friends and lots of fun to be had.

 

In good news, the Spanish government has finally agreed to allow Brits, resident in Spain, to drive on their UK licence, something that had been withdrawn at some point following Brexit. They have 6 months to exchange for a Spanish licence or they will have to stop driving again.
With the Spanish administration system being so slow I think a lot of people will still be waiting for a new licence to come through at Christmas. Also, the agreement was reached in December but only signed off on 14th of this month and entered into law on the 16th March.

 

Not so good news . I tried to register as a stem cell donor as per Onionmans link , and age limit is 55 not 6o , so I couldn’t register ( 58 next month ) .

Yes I know I should act my age not my shoe size .

 

Oh, that's a shame - I didn't know. However, in good news, once you're 55 you can donate your brain to the UK dementia brain tissue bank in Bristol.

When people die with dementia, relatives offer their brains for research. However researchers badly need healthy brains for comparison research and they are desperately short.

All you do is sign up and do a memory test by phone every five years. Then, when you croak it they pop along and have away with your brain to help people who will live after you. How wonderful is that? Why have it burned or buried when you're gone when it could help to rid the world of the scourge of dementia?

To get on the register you have to call them on 0117 414 7821. They send a form that you fill in and drop off at your GP.*

Once you've shuffled off this mortal coil your brain is just going to disappear and you're going to have no further use for it so this is a noble and painless thing to do to help improve lives.

Vin


* I may have blotted my copybook when, on being told my brain would be treated with care and reverence, I said it wouldn't bother me if they dropped it in a blender as I wouldn't be using it at the time - something of a shocked silence then a rather nervous laugh from the lovely doctor who runs the tissue bank.