Good News Friday

  • India witnessed 85.1% decline in malaria cases between 2015-2022. Healthworld.
  • Over the past couple of decades, global suicide prevention efforts have reduced deaths by a third. Wired.
  • Murder rates in the United States are down by 12.5% so far in 2023. Datalytics.
  • Early warning, preparedness likely saved thousands of lives during Cyclone Mocha. AP.
  • Electric car range set to double with first production of breakthrough battery. Independent.
  • The end of acid rain. Works in Progress.
  • The European countries setting new wind and solar records. Euronews.

For more good news, check out The Progress Network, and Future Crunch.

Jacksonland by Steve Inskeep

Andrew Jackson had bushy, bristling hair. At six foot two and only 145 pounds, he was rail thin. His stomach gave him constant trouble, so he didn’t eat much. He did contortions to ease the pain, sometimes draping himself over a sapling knocked sideways.

Jackson was an orphan. His father died before he was born and his mother died of cholera during the Revolution. As a teenager, Jackson was a messenger and fighter for the rebels during the Revolutionary War. Captured by the British along with his brother Robert, he refused to clean an officer’s boots and was struck by a sword, leaving a mark on his head.

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Good News Friday

  • Poverty is down in Indonesia. The number of those living on less than $3.20 a day dropped from 61% in 2002 to 16% in 2022. World Bank (PDF link).
  • In Uganda, new HIV infections declined by 39% between 2010 and 2021, and AIDS-related deaths fell from 51,000 a year to 17,000 a year, a decline of 67%. New Vision.
  • Philippines rescues over 1,000 trafficking victims. The Straits Times.
  • Black rhino populations are starting to thrive in Zimbabwe for the first time in decades. ABC News.
  • British wind power overtakes gas for the first time in Q1 2023. Reuters.
  • About 80 percent of new cars sold in Norway are battery-powered. As a result, the air is cleaner, the streets are quieter and the grid hasn’t collapsed. New York Times.
  • In San Francisco, Waymo is now covering the entire peninsula, operating a free, 24/7 robotaxi service and Waymo’s service area in Phoenix is doubling. The Verge.
  • Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon falls 68% in April. Reuters.
  • Bangladesh eliminates lymphatic filariasis. WHO.
  • Thai voters choose democracy in a stunning election. Vox.

For more good news, check out The Progress Network, and Future Crunch.

Discourses of Brigham Young

Nearly four hundred of Brigham Young’s sermons were recorded in the Journal of Discourses. In this 1925 volume, John A. Widtsoe selects excerpts from Young’s sermons and arranges them thematically. Some of Young’s most controversial teachings (polygamy, blood atonement, the curse of black skin) are mentioned in passing, but the famous quotes about punishing interracial marriage or adultery with death on the spot are left out. I don’t think the doctrine that Adam is God is included in this volume and Brigham Young’s belief that there is life on the sun is also left out of this collection. There are still a lot of interesting things left in, though.

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Good News Friday

  • Globally, the death rate due to chronic respiratory diseases fell by 41.7% between 1990 to 2019. The Lancet.
  • Despite doom and gloom news reports, France has one of the lowest levels of inequality in the world, one of the highest life expectancies, its workers retire earlier than anywhere else in Europe, unemployment is the lowest it’s been since 2008, and it has the lowest climate footprint of any large wealthy country. The Guardian.
  • Australia’s murder rate has fallen by 55% since the early 1990s. Since 2009, physical assaults are down by 39%, face-to-face threatened assaults are down 44%, and robberies are down 50%. The Conversation.
  • Meet the 2023 Goldman Environmental Prize Winners: Alessandra Munduruku, who saved indigenous lands in the Amazon from mining, Chilekwa Mumba, who successfully sued the owners of a copper mine in Zambia, Delima Silalahi, who reclaimed swathes of Indonesia from a paper company, Zafer Kizilkaya, who expanded Turkey’s marine protected areas, Tero Mustonen, who pioneered peatland restoration in Finland, and Diane Wilson, who held a plastics company to account for dumping in Texas. Goldman Prize.
  • 50 years ago, Project Puffin brought puffins back to Maine. There are now more than 1,300 breeding pairs. Down East.
  • An estimated 68 million child marriages have been averted globally over the past 25 years. Unicef.
  • World’s largest battery maker announces major breakthrough in energy density. The Driven.

For more good news, check out The Progress Network, and Future Crunch.

Good News Friday

  • This year marks the 20th anniversary of Bush’s mammoth program to fight HIV and AIDS that turned the tide of the epidemic and has saved 25 million lives so far. The New York Times.
  • Breast cancer survivorship doubles in Canada compared to 2007. Science Daily.
  • Black unemployment rate hits record low 5 percent. The Washington Post.
  • Last year, an initiative called Deworm the World helped India, Pakistan, Kenya and Nigeria provide treatment to around 249 million children. Evidence Action.
  • Poland has experienced the longest uninterrupted period of growth in European history. Real GDP has increased sixfold in three decades, and the country has a record-low unemployment rate of 3%, lower infant mortality than Canada, higher female life expectancy than the US, and less violent crime than the UK. The Guardian.

For more good news, check out The Progress Network, and Future Crunch.

John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, a Private Life by Paul C. Nagel

John Quincy Adams kept a diary almost continuously from the time he was eleven until his death, giving us a lot of insight into his private life. When he was seven, he watched the Battle of Bunker Hill in which the family physician, Dr. Warren, died. Not long before, Dr. Warren had saved JQA’s finger from amputation.

He considered himself the man of the house during his father’s frequent absences. One responsibility he claimed for himself before he was ten, was riding horseback for several miles to fetch the mail.

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