Author: D. J. Moore

The Peacekeeper by B.L. Blanchard

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“Love can justify just about any action, no matter how horrible.”

This novel takes place in an alternate universe in which America was never colonized by Europeans. (However, the native tribes did assimilate each other.) The world is similar to ours in terms of technological level, but society is organized differently. Different cultures from around the world get along with each other better than in our world. Skyscrapers are designed to incorporate plant growth making for carbon negative cities. There’s nationalized health care and universal basic income, however there are still beggars so the system isn’t perfect.

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Good News Friday

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  • Emergency vaccinations cut outbreak deaths by nearly 60% preventing millions of infections and saving billions of dollars in economic losses. Gavi.
  • Senegal joins growing list of countries that have eliminated trachoma. WHO.
  • New Orleans recorded fewer murders through June 2025 than any year since 1970. New York City has only recorded fewer murders once through June since 1960. Philadelphia recorded the fewest murders since 1969, Los Angeles since 1966, Baltimore since 1965, Detroit since 1964, and San Francisco had the fewest ever recorded. Jeff-alytics.
  • Ozzy Osbourne’s final show was the highest-grossing charity concert of all time, raising more than $190 million for three charities. Billboard.
  • Divorce in decline: only about 40% of today’s marriages will end in divorce. Institute for Family Studies.
  • Since 2010, there has been a 65% decline in the amount of coal used by the power sector in the United States and there’s been six times more coal power plants retired than constructed this century. Reuters.
  • How persistence and dedication brought a rare bat species back from the brink. Conservation Optimism.
  • Baltic ringed seal numbers increase five fold since the toxic ’70s. Oceanographic.
  • Electric cars are so fast that a Ferrari can’t catch a Kia now. Inside EVs.
  • AI helps prevent medical errors in real-world clinics. Time.

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

Breathe In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley

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After the mysterious death of her fiancé, Hannah goes on a healing retreat with her friends. The retreat is located in a remote spot, so there’s no cell service, but this is a feature since less time with phones helps mental health. All five friends are suffering from trauma of their own, although this isn’t apparent at first. Even the former frat boy Jared ends up having hidden depths.

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Good News Friday

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  • Republicans scrap plan to cut $400 million from PEPFAR, an anti-AIDS program that has saved 25 million lives since 2003. Time.
  • The rate of children aged 5 to 14 living in multidimensional poverty in Rwanda has more than halved from 25.3 per cent in 2016/17 to 11.9 per cent in 2023/24. The New Times.
  • London’s low-traffic zones cut deaths and injuries by more than a third. The Guardian.
  • Missouri becomes 31st state to end luxury tax on menstrual products and diapers. stlpr.
  • Smart brain-zapping implants could revolutionize Parkinson’s treatment. Nature.

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

The Simpsons Season 6

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In “Bart of Darkness” (S6, E1), there’s a scene in which Bart falls from a tree. Nelson points and laughs with his characteristic “Haw Haw”. When another child says Bart’s really hurt and has probably broken his leg, Nelson replies, “I said Haw Haw.” It’s funny because it’s so horrible. My brother really liked this line and would quote it often.

“Lisa’s Rival” (S6, E2) is pretty funny. A new girl in school is smarter than Lisa which causes her to sabotage her Tell Tale Heart diorama. Ralph Wiggum gets a couple of good lines. “I crushed my Wookie” and “My cat’s breath smells like cat food” are hilarious. The funniest part of the episode is the subplot in which Homer steals sugar from a crashed truck. He keeps the pile of sugar in the backyard and guards it, paranoid that someone will steal it. He mangles a quote from Scarface, claiming that in America, first you get the sugar, then you get the money, then you get the women. His monologue in which he impersonates the blue bloods wondering what is to be done about this Homer Simpson was great.

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Good News Friday

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  • Mexican first responders arrive in Texas to support flood relief efforts. Good Good Good.
  • Baltimore has had its fewest homicides in 50 years. Fox Baltimore.
  • Burundi eliminates trachoma as a public health problem. WHO.
  • People are now putting up a gigawatt’s worth of solar panels, the rough equivalent of the power generated by one coal-fired plant, every fifteen hours. The New Yorker.
  • India hits 50% non-fossil power milestone five years ahead of schedule. Reuters.
  • In an historic first, solar power generated more electricity than any other source in the EU last month. Euronews.
  • A secret population of one of the most endangered animals in South America was just discovered in Chile. Good Good Good.
  • Paris reopens Seine River to public swimming for first time in a hundred years after clean up program. The Guardian.
  • Robot performs 1st realistic surgery without human help. EurekAlert!

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

Good News Friday

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  • In 1987, 30% of countries were classified as low-income and 25% as high-income. By 2024, these ratios shifted to 12% low-income and 40% high-income. World Bank.
  • In the US, deaths attributable to heart attacks plummeted by 89 percent between 1970 and 2022. Journal of the American Heart Association.
  • New York City recorded its fewest number of shooting victims in three decades — and the second-lowest murder rate — in the first half of 2025. NY Daily News.
  • Poland’s clean energy usage overtakes coal for first time. Financial Times.
  • Norway offered residents a chance to win a $1,000 prize for recycling; now 97% of all plastic bottles are returned. Good Good Good.
  • Flint replaces most lead pipes 10 years after the Michigan water crisis. NBC News.
  • About 1,000 lost pets are being found each month thanks to AI-powered facial recognition software. CNET.

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

Theodore Roosevelt by Henry F. Pringle

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Happy Independence Day! Last year for the Fourth of July, I wrote about Rutherford B. Hayes. Two years ago, on July 1st I wrote about John Tyler. This year, I’m writing about Theodore Roosevelt.

Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. was born to a well-off family in New York in 1858. Called Teedie, he was a sickly child who suffered from asthma and was extremely nearsighted. He read constantly and wanted to be a naturalist (he smelled of formaldehyde until he left for college). His mother once ordered the maid to clean the dead mice out of his bureau and he mourned “The loss to Science!”

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Good News Friday

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment
  • Before the 1970s, most children affected by leukemia would quickly die from it. Now, most children in rich countries are cured. Our World in Data.
  • In the US, drug overdoses killed more than 31,000 people under the age of 35 in 2021. That number plummeted to only 16,690 fatal overdoses in 2024. NPR.
  • In the early 1980s, nearly 1,400 out of every 100,000 children under five died of pneumonia every year in Nepal. By 2021, the death rate dropped to only 75 per 100,000. Our World in Data.
  • Suriname certified malaria-free. WHO.
  • Homicide rates in Italy have dropped by 80% since 1990. Our World in Data.
  • After peaking at more than 1.6 million Americans in 2009, the prison population was just more than 1.2 million at the end of 2023, and is on track to fall to about 600,000. The Atlantic.
  • So far in 2025, solar power has accounted for 25% of Pakistan’s utility-supplied electricity, which makes it one of fewer than 20 nations globally that have sourced a quarter or more of monthly electricity supplies from solar farms. Reuters.
  • In recent months, about 70% of all new passenger vehicles sold in Nepal were electric. Clean Technica.
  • Amazonian scorpion venom can kill breast cancer cells. Science Alert.
  • New Zealand scientists stumble upon way to reduce cow dung methane emissions by 90%. Bloomberg.

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