Given the current miserable situation, I think we could all do with a bit. Whatever you have would be welcome as long as it isn't on a personal level i.e. "Me or my friend or whoever had something good happen to them". Actual things of a national or international interest. Anything at all.
I was reading about a town in America where they have introduced a living wage as an experiment and that idea is being highlighted once more by the current situation. I would call that good news. It isn't much but it's something positive even if it never takes off. Michael D Higgins alluded to something similar on the radio when speaking about signing emergency measures. The fact that idea is being brought to the fore can only be a good thing unless you happen to be some massive corporation intent on enslaving the masses.
What have ye got?
1)Clean hands back in fashion
!!!!
2)Help for the elderly
Panic buying is especially hard on older people, some of whom are less able to get to the shops regularly.
So supermarkets have responded, offering slots reserved for the elderly to make sure they don't miss out on essentials. Even now with the lockdown in place in Ireland, in my hometown the local guards are doing shopping/deliveries for the elderly including my dad where needed.
3)Pollution down
Up to 100,000 premature deaths caused by air pollution in China could be avoided if the country's economic slowdown continues at its current rate over the next year, researchers say.
As the burning of fossil fuels has dropped, air quality has improved significantly, the Centre for International Climate Research in Oslo (Cicero) has said and the impact will be felt worldwide.
4)Footballers play online games to raise money
128 professional clubs from the Premier League, EFL and across the globe are competing in an online FIFA tournament, with fans watching online encouraged to donate money.
Each club nominates one of its players to go up against another star from a different side - with the knockout tournament whittling its way down to two teams who will play in a final.
It is hoped £50,000 will be raised for research into COVID-19.
5)The Chelsea hotel opens to medical workers
Premier League club Chelsea has offered NHS workers free accommodation for the next two months at the Millennium Hotel at its Stamford Bridge ground.
The cost of the rooms will be covered by club owner Roman Abramovich.
6)Venice cleans up its act
Staying with pollution, Venice has been benefiting from the lockdown in Italy.
The city's famous canals have never been cleaner, according to many reports.
7)Sing-a-long-a-lockdown
Italians have been making their own entertainment since the country went into lockdown, not least in its crowded cities, where people have been channelling their inner Pavarotti to help pass the time.
8)Companies working hard
So many companies around the world coming up with plans/ideas and processes to help in this time.
In 10 days - Dyson developed and is producing ventilators to help treat COVID-19 patients. the company plans to produce 15,000 ventilators
9)Meme's galore
With all the negative things happeing from this epademic.. the meme crew are out in full force. While everyone realises the seriousness of this virus, it's good to see all of these meme's with the intention of adding some levity to the situation and not to make little of it.
Yeah things like that but also anything not pandemic-related, although I suspect most of this good news will be related to triumphs of the human spirit in the face of this current adversity. Like don't get me wrong I welcome every one of those snippets of good news I'm not knocking those at all, every one of them is brilliant to hear.
I'm also thinking that maybe the good news element is a lot of the reason I go on forums in general; because they are usually about discussing what is good about something or what is bad about something good . The new album is always shit but at least we will always have x, y or z is even some form of positivity in a roundabout sort of way. Even when I'm giving out about the way they are after going too commercial with the last two albums at least, it's because I have something less commercial to measure it against.
The whole scene is gone to shit though. I remember the halcyon days when the tunes were unreal and the seas were calm etc
Apparently there'll be a comet visible in the sky throughout April (I think). Looking forward to that.
I love stuff like that. It reminds me that there is so much out there in the universe and we are just the tiny speck that we are. It's a bit like the feeling I get when I look out over the ocean and feel all tiny and insignificant but in a good way.
I wonder is it the one that the Daily Mirror told me was going to end all civilization? Being the gullible sort I am, I clicked it. Directly under the headline came the clarification "the text of this article may have lead some to believe that there was any chance at all that this comet/asteroid was going to impact earth and also the graphic we used made it look way bigger than NASA said it was so like sorry about trying to mislead you all and feed into all of your fears and general feelings of impending doom and we are a small bit sorry really we are but thanks for the clicks"
On a related note did any of ye get a look at the ISS passing over a few minutes ago? Great night for it. I saw 2 shooting stars while I was waiting as well
Seeing the ISS is always a surreal event, the fact that there's people who could be staring right back at you from so far away, yet your entire city would just be a thumb print to them. They put a video up last night of their orbit from Berlin to Jakarta. It's condensed down to a minute but the journey only takes them 27 minutes.
For the first time in a few years when I stand in the back garden I don't hear the traffic from a motorway, unreal 😀
I thought of that several times, how apart from the impending doom factor it is actually quite peaceful about the place.
https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2020/some-good-news-on-the-covid-19-front-we-fact-checked-10-positive-coronavirus-claims/
Few more positives here
Quote from: astfgyl on March 31, 2020, 02:50:20 PM
https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2020/some-good-news-on-the-covid-19-front-we-fact-checked-10-positive-coronavirus-claims/
Few more positives here
This is the bit from that article that he me hollering with joy....
6. Apple reopens all 42 China stores
Keyword search
I did a keyword search for "China opens Apple stores", and got multiple articles confirming this. One from the BBC on March 13 explains, "All 42 official Apple retail stores opened on Friday, although some stores had special business hours. It shut the stores in mid-February, as China put several cities on effective lockdown in a bid to contain the virus." Going back to the original keyword search, multiple articles from Business Insider, The Verge, and CNBC all confirm this.
Our rating
Stores remain closed outside of China, but in China they have opened — so this is legit!
Yeah that was a bit fucking ridiculous. I also noticed after I shared it that the author has been working for some sort of teen girl website, so that would explain that but the rest of the stuff is positive so I'll take it. I suppose that is their way of confirming that China is indeed reopening for business. Indeed, their fact checking method of googling stuff is something I could have done myself as well but they saved me the bother so thanks to them I guess
Using my free time to get some more work done in the garden and start back into a bit of exercise.
Quote from: Eoin McLove on March 31, 2020, 06:58:15 PM
Using my free time to get some more work done in the garden and start back into a bit of exercise.
Don't forget to clean that bird shit off the wall Andy. :laugh:
It's a feature at this stage.
Like a shooting star
My lazy bastard veg bag (chopped onions and peppers) had two sachets of fajita spices instead of one. Highlight of the day for sure
Quote from: kiehozero on March 30, 2020, 12:26:37 PM
Seeing the ISS is always a surreal event, the fact that there's people who could be staring right back at you from so far away, yet your entire city would just be a thumb print to them. They put a video up last night of their orbit from Berlin to Jakarta. It's condensed down to a minute but the journey only takes them 27 minutes.
Too cloudy to see it tonight, will it be visible tomorrow?
Good news eh? This takes me back to the Larry Gogan Show on 2FM back in the midst of the 80's when unemployment was rampant...
Caller: I'd like to play a request there Larry.
Larry: You can of course. Is it for anyone in particular?
Caller: It's for myself Larry, I got a job today!
Larry: Ah congratulations! What type of job did you get?
Caller: A blow job Larry!!
Ah happy days when callers were actually live on air.
Actually reminds me of another time when we got a call on the landline in 1988 from a local radio station for a quiz with whatever prize was going at the time. After successfully answering all the questions I found out it was a few of my cousins winding me up, bastards!! :-[ :laugh: :laugh:
Oh yeah we didn't get anywhere near 15,000 infections for March thankfully. Now it that's down to testing limits I don't know but I'll take the positives from it anyway.
Quote from: Carnage on March 31, 2020, 10:53:55 PM
Quote from: kiehozero on March 30, 2020, 12:26:37 PM
Seeing the ISS is always a surreal event, the fact that there's people who could be staring right back at you from so far away, yet your entire city would just be a thumb print to them. They put a video up last night of their orbit from Berlin to Jakarta. It's condensed down to a minute but the journey only takes them 27 minutes.
Too cloudy to see it tonight, will it be visible tomorrow?
Enter your location here:
https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/sightings/view.cfm?country=Ireland®ion=None&city=Cork#.XoO83CXhSEc
Nice one, cheers!
Quote from: Eoin McLove on March 31, 2020, 08:47:24 PM
It's a feature at this stage.
Yeah, on the fookin Pet Peeves thread. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Scooting around for good news today again and all I can seem to find is more of the same "promising drugs in development/testing" things and "certain old people not dying from virus but nobody knows why", but nothing particularly new.
On the home front, I see that so far the measures appear to be working and keeping the curve less curvy. It would be refreshing to think the majority of people are not in fact total eejits and do share some compassion for others. That probably constitutes good news if it gets confirmed over the next few weeks. Could probably add that to the covid 19 thread though. I'm having a hard time finding any non related news at all at the moment, good or bad. Probably a pointless thread at the moment but it could be useful if resurrected after all of this rather than kicking off a new thread for every new good thing that comes up. Maybe.
Quote from: astfgyl on April 01, 2020, 06:08:26 PM
Scooting around for good news today again and all I can seem to find is more of the same "promising drugs in development/testing" things and "certain old people not dying from virus but nobody knows why", but nothing particularly new.
On the home front, I see that so far the measures appear to be working and keeping the curve less curvy. It would be refreshing to think the majority of people are not in fact total eejits and do share some compassion for others. That probably constitutes good news if it gets confirmed over the next few weeks. Could probably add that to the covid 19 thread though. I'm having a hard time finding any non related news at all at the moment, good or bad. Probably a pointless thread at the moment but it could be useful if resurrected after all of this rather than kicking off a new thread for every new good thing that comes up. Maybe.
If you want a quick way of avoiding coronavirus news then the Guardian have started including a blue background to all related stories on their website, so just scroll down until you don't see blue boxes around things anymore and you'll be grand. What I can't guarantee is that it will be all good news!
Sound for that. Seems to be a decent paper, The Guardian. I started off reading their soccer coverage a few years back and got to liking their general style along the way. They are always reminding me how many articles I've read though and making me feel bad for not paying. Not bad enough to pay as of yet though.
They're the least bad of the main papers, but they're still often unbearable
Quote from: Black Shepherd Carnage on April 03, 2020, 01:20:33 AM
They're the least bad of the main papers, but they're still often unbearable
I find it's often the opinion pieces that are the worst, much the case with every newspaper though. I'm tending towards longer-read websites now, stuff like n+1, Atlantic, New Yorker etc.
In good news, the number of new cases has dropped in Spain today!
That is great news and hopefully a trend that continues. The dashing of hopes is a terrible thing and any little glimmer of it is more than welcome. says captain obvious.
I have read a few pieces on the New Yorker and Atlantic. I don't know N+1. All I really want from my news is a general presentation of the facts so I have the chance to make my own mind up what I think about it rather than feeling badgered into having certain feelings about things. Mr Gradgrind would love me in his own utilitarian way
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/hospital-robot-uses-uv-light-to-kill-viruses-and-germs/
Will be a good one if it takes off.
Good news... not having to fork out this weekend for my kids Communion celebrations 🤣
Bad news... they will eventually be further indoctrinated into the god-forsaken Church 😡 Crush a priest..
https://www.rte.ie/news/coronavirus/2020/0429/1135682-coronavirus-remdesivir/
Sounds promising.
Indeed it does. I had heard of this drug a week or two ago from a chap on twitter that I check up on every few days as he tends to stick to the purely scientific element of things and usually posts positive sounding things vs the doom and gloom we mostly are exposed to. @therealcolmryan if you have any interest. His Dublin based company also invented a 15 minute test in early March which seems to have disappeared into the aether (for no reason i know of) in this country at least despite him saying it was ready to go in mid March. But nonetheless this one has sounded promising for a while and I wonder about the motivations of the WHO in pushing out the results of the Chinese study where it wasn't proven to work.
Chinese data indeed. They fucked up the rest of the world with their doctored stats. The Chinese government should be punished for lying about such a serious issue.
I think the WHO should be similarly punished for their part in all of this. The more I look into their response and follow the trail of breadcrumbs the more dicey and complicit they are looking.
Potential here https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/mobile/southern-alberta-researchers-say-medical-cannabis-could-help-fight-covid-19-1.4906249
Apparently simply getting stoned won't do the trick, unfortunately