Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment

“To go to war is easy. It is peace that is hard.”

This is very reminiscent of Dune at first. There’s mentats (called scholiasts), sword masters, transparent shields that block fast projectiles but not swords, and a ban on thinking machines due to trouble in the past. The saying “Fear is the death of reason” replaces Dune’s “Fear is the mind killer.” Doctors also have a symbol tattooed on their foreheads. Moisture‐recycling clothing gets mentioned and the hero has a vision of countless billions of deaths that will occur in the future.

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Good News Friday

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment
  • New HIV infections fell by 40% between 2010 and 2024. WHO.
  • Gambia reports 46% drop in malaria cases in a single year. The Voice.
  • South Korea cut stroke deaths by more than 80%. The Formula.
  • Oklahoma is now the 17th state in the United States to ban child marriage. Oklahoma Voice.
  • South Africa’s share of people living below the food poverty line fell from 27.4% in 2006 to 17.6% in 2023. The Citizen.
  • China’s transition away from oil has cut PM2.5 concentrations by 23.8% and carbon monoxide by 30.7% across 150 cities, preventing an estimated 262,000 deaths. Nature.
  • China added a Germany-sized electricity grid last year. Almost all of it came from low-carbon sources. Our World in Data.
  • A modified algae is a ‘little vacuum’ for microplastics. Nebraska Public Media.

For more good news, check out Fix the News and The Progress Network.

We Ate the Dark by Mallory Pearson

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment

“The floor creaked down the hall, the kind of sound her mom would have told her was settling. Cass found it to have the opposite effect.”

Frankie’s twin sister Sofia disappeared years ago. Now, her body has finally been discovered inside a tree in an old abandoned house. Frankie reconnects with her old friends Poppy and Cass and new friend Marya to investigate what happened to her sister. Since the body doesn’t provide any additional clues, it’s not clear why Frankie didn’t investigate Sofia’s disappearance sooner, but whatever.

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Good News Friday

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment
  • Colombia’s multidimensional poverty rate has dropped from 29.7% in 2010 to 9.9% last year. Colombia Reports.
  • Violent crime rates continue to plunge in America’s big cities. Axios.
  • Australia, the first ever country to roll out a national HPV vaccination program, is now seeing zero cervical cancer in women under 25. BBC.
  • Mariska Hargitay’s Joyful Heart Foundation has successfully achieved rape kit reform in all 50 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. People.
  • Wind and solar have saved UK from gas imports worth £1.7bn since Iran war began. CarbonBrief.

For more good news, check out Fix the News and The Progress Network.

Good News Friday

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment
  • Maternal and neonatal tetanus eliminated in South Sudan and Sudan. Unicef.
  • Jamaica’s murder rate dropped 40% compared to the previous year. The Gleaner.
  • The worldwide teen pregnancy rate has fallen by over one-third since 2000. Our World in Data.
  • European Parliament backs EU-wide conversion therapy ban. Washington Blade.
  • India went from 15% to 70% Internet access in a decade, mostly through mobile phones. Our World in Data.
  • AI finds signs of pancreatic cancer up to three years before tumors develop. NBC News.

For more good news, check out Fix the News and The Progress Network.

Good News Friday

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment
  • Australia becomes the 30th country to eliminate trachoma as a public health problem. WHO.
  • In Burkina Faso between 2024 and 2025 malaria cases fell by 32% and malaria‑related deaths by 44% thanks to vaccines. Gavi.
  • The rate of suicides among young people in the United States dropped 11 percent thanks to new 988 hotline. The New York Times.
  • By reducing electricity prices, solar has saved Europe over €3 billion since March. Euronews.
  • CATL claims 6-minute charge and 1,500km range for new electric vehicle batteries. Financial Times.
  • High school student’s low-cost teabag solution for millions threatened by arsenic passes peer review. IFL Science.
  • New research finds pressurized iron-rich brine beneath Taylor Glacier powers Antarctica’s mysterious Blood Falls. The Science Times.

For more good news, check out Fix the News and The Progress Network.

Good News Friday

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment
  • Nearly 20 million lives saved in Africa through measles vaccinations. WHO.
  • In the last 20 years, poverty in Paraguay has plummeted from over 50 percent to only 16 percent in 2025. World Bank.
  • Teen births plummet in the United States to 11.7 births per 1,000 in 2025, down from 61.8 in 1991. NPR.
  • Mexico’s president to roll out universal healthcare for 120 million people. Novara Media.
  • The share of renewables in global power generation hit nearly 34% in 2025, overtaking coal for the first time. Ember.
  • Man unexpectedly cured of HIV after stem cell transplant. Tech Fixated.
  • This 13-year-old has earned nearly half a million followers by cooking meals for his unhoused neighbors. Good Good Good.

For more good news, check out Fix the News and The Progress Network.