A beautiful mandarin duck, who flew the coup from his north Toronto farm earlier this month, is safe and back home and has been named the Honorary Duck of Newmarket. Eddie the duck was given the title by Newmarket City Council.
Legendary actress Betty White is celebrating her 99th birthday on Sunday and she seems keen to let her many fans in on the celebration. The five-time Emmy-winner’s longtime friend and agent, Jeff Witjas, told Fox News that, although she’s happy to mark the occasion of her last birthday in double digits, she’s playing it safe because of the coronavirus pandemic. “Betty had planned to run a couple miles for her birthday but COVID has canceled this so she will remain safe in her home doing various activities,” Witjas joked.
The Mega Millions jackpot has soared to nearly half a billion dollars. The prize is currently at a whopping $490 million – with a lump-sum payment cash option of $372.3 million – after no tickets matched all six numbers in Tuesday night’s drawing. However, four tickets matched five of the numbers, with winners taking home prizes of at least $1 million out of the $432 million up for grabs. Those tickets were sold in California, Minnesota, New Jersey and New York, the lottery says. The next Mega Millions drawing is scheduled for Friday at 11 pm ET. Odds of winning the jackpot are one in 302,575,350. Meanwhile, those hoping to strike it rich before then are awaiting Wednesday night’s Powerball drawing at 10:59 pm ET.
Article Link: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/success-of-the-2006-amazon-soy-moratorium/
Over the last 14 years, a unique public-private initiative has reduced soy farming deforestation in the Amazon, so much so, that almost no soy coming from the Amazon currently contributes to deforestation. It began in 2006 when Greenpeace launched a campaign exposing the damage of forest clear-cutting for soy the previous year—more than 1,600 square kilometers (nearly 4 million acres)—and demanded action to curtail the devastation. In response to the public outcry, major soy companies in the region reached a landmark agreement as signatories to the Amazon Soy Moratorium (ASM), pledging not to purchase any crops grown on recently cleared land—and the success has been remarkable. Today, new research shows that 98.6% of all soy grown in the region complies with the moratorium.
Driving for Perdue Farms, [Joe Hylton] was traveling at night down Delaware’s Route 1 recently, when he came across the scene of a bad accident. Both cars were nearly destroyed, and a man was frantically running down the highway. Hylton pulled over and walked out into the middle of high-speed traffic in the dark to direct drivers away from the two wrecked cars. Then one of the drivers started to scream that he couldn’t find his daughter. As a father of three, Hylton recalled, “I see a frantic father running around. He’s looking in the back of his truck and saying ‘I can’t find my daughter, I can’t find my daughter.’ I looked in and I saw an empty car seat in the back of the truck.”
Article Link: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/50-good-news-stories-from-2020/
It’s truly been a year like no other, yet people around the world have done so much good in 2020. Scientists have not just been working on COVID vaccines, researchers have made major diabetes breakthroughs, discovered new cancer therapies, and launched critical green innovations to make the world a better place for us all. And though this year has been difficult for our favorite restaurants and bars, and people losing jobs—millions of people have done whatever it takes to keep them afloat. From all of us at GNN, thank you to our readers, for your hilarious and heartwarming comments, and for sharing our positive stories with your friends.
There are many moments when people commit unbelievable acts of bravery. Meet Marine Gunnery Sgt. Kyle Wetter, who is stationed at Camp Pendleton, near San Diego. When Wetter noticed two parents struggling to free their 18-month-old baby from a car seat when their vehicle was engulfed in flames, Wetter took action on Dec. 7. “Seatbelt was locked. The dad wasn’t going to get it out as much as he tried, other than taking the baby out of the seat, and even at that point, the fuel tank could’ve ruptured on the car,” Wetter said, according to KSWB-TV. Wetter was driving in Fallbrook, California, when he noticed the car was completely in flames within “four or five minutes.”
Article Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/santa-chalmers-hospital-bucket-1.5853513
Santa used to spread gifts and good cheer in person to the kids at Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital in Fredericton. Then came COVID-19 restrictions, and the big elf couldn’t get to the pediatric ward in the usual way. That got firefighters at Base Gagetown working on another way to get Santa to the kids. It helps to have a ladder truck. “We put him in the bucket and we flew him outside,” said Jared Hartley, a fire rescue technician at the military base near Fredericton. Hartley worked with hospital staff and his fellow firefighters to make Santa’s annual visit possible this week.
Article Link: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/638780/a-ha-take-on-me-christmas-light-display
“Take On Me” by A-ha isn’t technically a holiday song, but you wouldn’t know it from watching the video below. As Nerdist reports, professional light display-installer Tom BetGeorge has put together a festive light show set to the Scandinavian pop song, and he’s making it free for anyone to view in-person or online. In Tracy, California, Tom BetGeorge has become a local celebrity, thanks to his elaborate light displays. In past years, he’s transformed his home into flashing spectacles that sync to music like “Christmas Can-Can” by Straight No Chaser and the Star Wars theme. For the 2020 holiday season, BetGeorge has revived a 1980s hit. The lights outside his home flash along with the catchy synth melody of “Take On Me.” He has even programmed smiling Christmas tree shapes to mouth the vocals.
Cannabis resin, otherwise known as “hash,” has become 25% more potent over the last five decades, a new study out of the United Kingdom has found. Other countries, including Canada, are also seeing more potency with its hashish supply over time because dealers want to make it more addictive, says Bernard Le Foll, of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
