Tell Me Something Good
June 28, 2024 10:24 AM Subscribe
The US presidential debate last night has got me down and anxious about the fate of the world. So please tell me about something good and positive happening in your corner of the world.
This is NOT and invitation to rehash the debate or complain about political parties or candidates. I just want to hear about things that are giving people hope.
Best answer: This isn't brand-new news, but the Chicago River keeps getting cleaner and gaining new residents. I was thinking about it yesterday as I strolled along the Riverwalk, something nobody would've done back when I moved here.
posted by goodbyewaffles at 10:34 AM on June 28 [12 favorites]
posted by goodbyewaffles at 10:34 AM on June 28 [12 favorites]
You want Only Good News. At the other end of that link you will find the promised land.
Here is a particularly good sample.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:41 AM on June 28 [7 favorites]
Here is a particularly good sample.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:41 AM on June 28 [7 favorites]
Best answer: Scottish wildcats bred in captivity and then released into the Cairngorms National Park have had kittens.
posted by offog at 10:47 AM on June 28 [16 favorites]
posted by offog at 10:47 AM on June 28 [16 favorites]
I made a real card game, started a comic to help walk through a tutorial, got distracted making a videogame rpgmaker sequel to the comic, and the videogame now contains the most detailed depiction of a beloved place in my town and I'm hopeful and pretty confident they'll sell/give copies of it away at the store depicted in the game. Got a few other local places started and some audio recordings for authentic interior ambience lol. Might also try and show these to the local Arts Council to see if they'd give me some of the arts money they seem to dump on outsiders every so often for public art I dislike lol. I haven't been this motivated or firing on so many different art cylinders in a long time, it's been supremely satisfying making so much cool art in such a short time. People seemed to really enjoy the card game and it was a lifelong dream to get to make it, had a good friend and coworker champion the project and get the ball rolling to get the client to let me make it. Volunteered hundreds of hours art game design and art labor, I designed the game and cards and 95% of the art -- and I might get to do more in future updates to the game if they re-order and sounds like they will.
I know of other artists who likewise have been having success or making excellent things recently and find it inspiring to see them making brilliant lights in dark times. Helps me look away from the gloom, put my head down and keep making stuff -- and I always hope what I'm making will be good, stupid, funny, weird, or interesting. Sometimes it takes a long time to see that hope pan out, but sometimes it takes only as long as a quick drawing does and I find it really satisfying to have those shorter interval rewards for my hopes, particularly attainable ones.
Reckon just about everybody makes something in their lives on way or the other, for me when the goings get tough, I look for hope in art and in making anything. Also got about a hundred sunflowers growing from a new interest in gardening because I needed more good things to hope for and make. Each day a new hope for blooms and spouts, I hope to have a grand harvest sometime this year. Not sure if this all counts for what you seek, I clicked AskMeFi feeling pretty similar to your urge in the OP. The part of me that is embarrassed for talking about myself barely prompted wants me to not hit post, but I am only calm enough to feel embarrassed about it because I'm no longer anxious about what I was anxious about before. If the writing of it helped, maybe the reading of it will, if nothing else, it is good when people are making cool things and it is good to hear of others making such things. I know I am always interested to hear what folks are making. We were making things before we were We and I have endless hope will will be making things for as long as we are.
posted by GoblinHoney at 10:54 AM on June 28 [11 favorites]
I know of other artists who likewise have been having success or making excellent things recently and find it inspiring to see them making brilliant lights in dark times. Helps me look away from the gloom, put my head down and keep making stuff -- and I always hope what I'm making will be good, stupid, funny, weird, or interesting. Sometimes it takes a long time to see that hope pan out, but sometimes it takes only as long as a quick drawing does and I find it really satisfying to have those shorter interval rewards for my hopes, particularly attainable ones.
Reckon just about everybody makes something in their lives on way or the other, for me when the goings get tough, I look for hope in art and in making anything. Also got about a hundred sunflowers growing from a new interest in gardening because I needed more good things to hope for and make. Each day a new hope for blooms and spouts, I hope to have a grand harvest sometime this year. Not sure if this all counts for what you seek, I clicked AskMeFi feeling pretty similar to your urge in the OP. The part of me that is embarrassed for talking about myself barely prompted wants me to not hit post, but I am only calm enough to feel embarrassed about it because I'm no longer anxious about what I was anxious about before. If the writing of it helped, maybe the reading of it will, if nothing else, it is good when people are making cool things and it is good to hear of others making such things. I know I am always interested to hear what folks are making. We were making things before we were We and I have endless hope will will be making things for as long as we are.
posted by GoblinHoney at 10:54 AM on June 28 [11 favorites]
A really scary bridge that I bike along regularly (and get stuck in bus traffic on occasionally) just got funding for a redesign including separated bus and bike lanes. It's a relatively small thing and the change won't happen right away but aside from being nice for me personally, this is going to provide much-improved transit access to some underserved communities and make active travel a possibility for a lot of people who currently don't feel comfortable crossing the bridge.
Also did you know that eight US states are now providing free school lunch for all public school students? It's an idea that's been picking up steam over the past couple of years but I didn't know about it until like last week. And several other states are in the process of passing legislation and funding similar initiatives.
posted by mskyle at 11:01 AM on June 28 [11 favorites]
Also did you know that eight US states are now providing free school lunch for all public school students? It's an idea that's been picking up steam over the past couple of years but I didn't know about it until like last week. And several other states are in the process of passing legislation and funding similar initiatives.
posted by mskyle at 11:01 AM on June 28 [11 favorites]
This is a bit insider baseball but…in Toronto we have the Ontario Science Centre which is a boondoggle of a beautiful brutalist, Loki would have shot well there aging attraction that has been underfunded by governments for decades. So our Conservative Premier used a roofing report as an excuse to abruptly close it, because he plans to anyway and to sell the land to developers probably.
Anyways, a whole whack of people including AI “grandfather” Geoffrey Hinton have come out of the woodwork with money - like here have a million dollars - to repair the roof. Engineers, and also the architectural firm that built it 50+years ago, have all come out to say the roof repairs are doable. There’s kind of a rally for science-is-great that is really heartening to see. Whether it gets saved or not, all those people are out there.
(They need 7 million.)
(Our taxes should have paid for this all along. Also the OSC is a little sad but doesn’t have to be.)
posted by warriorqueen at 11:03 AM on June 28 [15 favorites]
Anyways, a whole whack of people including AI “grandfather” Geoffrey Hinton have come out of the woodwork with money - like here have a million dollars - to repair the roof. Engineers, and also the architectural firm that built it 50+years ago, have all come out to say the roof repairs are doable. There’s kind of a rally for science-is-great that is really heartening to see. Whether it gets saved or not, all those people are out there.
(They need 7 million.)
(Our taxes should have paid for this all along. Also the OSC is a little sad but doesn’t have to be.)
posted by warriorqueen at 11:03 AM on June 28 [15 favorites]
Best answer: 77 year old caretaker for 74 year old brother with ALS. We both survived serious cases of COVID at same time. I dropped weight to 175 from 225 in two months. It was a rough one. Then I successfully had a 9 mm kidney stone laser blasted away under general anesthesia. Had a UTI infection successfully treated with drugs. And had very successful cataract surgery...all this in 6 months period. I'm doing well now ...Some knee arthritis but that's to be expected.
posted by Czjewel at 11:18 AM on June 28 [33 favorites]
posted by Czjewel at 11:18 AM on June 28 [33 favorites]
My prairie plots are doing well and my milkweed is blooming. Over the past 3 years, I have installed 5X8 prairie plots in my front yard. Seeing the plants take root and return gives me joy every day. Waiting for the Monarchs!
posted by zerobyproxy at 11:21 AM on June 28 [18 favorites]
posted by zerobyproxy at 11:21 AM on June 28 [18 favorites]
Best answer: Americans of Conscience: Good News
posted by oxisos at 11:23 AM on June 28 [3 favorites]
posted by oxisos at 11:23 AM on June 28 [3 favorites]
Best answer: My kid is neurodivergent and started at a new school. The kids are friendly, his teacher was sensitive and saw potential in him, and he’s now got a couple of buddies to goof around with over summer.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 11:23 AM on June 28 [17 favorites]
posted by St. Peepsburg at 11:23 AM on June 28 [17 favorites]
The mentally ill senior dog I adopted in 2021 likes me now. It's been a running joke for several years to say "he's doing better every day but still hates me," but I can't say that anymore.
Is he still nasty? Yes. Is he still in many ways an awful dog? Yes. But something shifted in him just in the last couple months, and he likes me like 98% of the time now. Follows me from room to room, lets me pet him (almost) whenever I want, and wags his tail when I look at him. He has also stopped barking at bicycles and (some) children.
He was broken when I brought him home, but he's improved so much and become such a wonderful little friend. You love to see it.
posted by phunniemee at 11:25 AM on June 28 [41 favorites]
Is he still nasty? Yes. Is he still in many ways an awful dog? Yes. But something shifted in him just in the last couple months, and he likes me like 98% of the time now. Follows me from room to room, lets me pet him (almost) whenever I want, and wags his tail when I look at him. He has also stopped barking at bicycles and (some) children.
He was broken when I brought him home, but he's improved so much and become such a wonderful little friend. You love to see it.
posted by phunniemee at 11:25 AM on June 28 [41 favorites]
Fundraising is for buying ads. If you don't have money, post solid memes on social media, repost ads on tiktok, stand up and be a vocal ally. Reach out to friends, family, coworkers, neighbors to make sure people register and vote. Action is the best antidote for discouragement, and there is action that you can take. There are also lots of local and state candidates - knock on doors or drive someone, make calls, put up signs. Write letters and postcards. I work with local Dems, which is hella frustrating at times, but we get some things done, and I've made some really great friends.
I am discouraged by the Jo Biden who showed up. I am discouraged that the lying is considered acceptable. But we won before and we must win again. And if we don't win, we won't have to beat ourselves up for not doing enough.
Phunniemee, I got my poorly cared for pup at 10 months old. She's still kind of a hot mess of insecurity, but there was a clear turning point when she decided, mostly, to trust me, and it's was really gratifying.
Good News? There's a treatment for Cystic Fibrosis that allows people to just their lives taking medication, probably have normal life spans.
brookeb, we're in it together; not huge comfort, but real.
posted by theora55 at 11:32 AM on June 28 [10 favorites]
I am discouraged by the Jo Biden who showed up. I am discouraged that the lying is considered acceptable. But we won before and we must win again. And if we don't win, we won't have to beat ourselves up for not doing enough.
Phunniemee, I got my poorly cared for pup at 10 months old. She's still kind of a hot mess of insecurity, but there was a clear turning point when she decided, mostly, to trust me, and it's was really gratifying.
Good News? There's a treatment for Cystic Fibrosis that allows people to just their lives taking medication, probably have normal life spans.
brookeb, we're in it together; not huge comfort, but real.
posted by theora55 at 11:32 AM on June 28 [10 favorites]
Best answer: I like to find out what my local nonprofits are up to. It's inspiring to me to learn about all the individual programs and projects happening every minute of every day to make the world (and my country and my community) a better place.
For example, one of my favorite San Francisco nonprofits, Larkin Street Youth Services, is celebrating 40 years of providing services to homeless young people, and they just did a major renovation of one of their main facilities.
Your profile mentions Seattle, and the Seattle Giving Guide lists a ton of local causes. I like to click through lists like that and glance at the News sections on the nonprofits' websites to see what they've been up to. Here are a few recent stories:
Canine Companions, Jason Brooks and his new friend Mira
Tilth Alliance is celebrating 50 years
United Indians of All Tribes Foundation got a major workforce services grant
Puget Soundworks is fostering community and inclusivity
Every day. People are building communities and helping one another every day.
The other thing I look at is Jessica Craven's weekly Extra Extra newsletter. She has a daily Substack that lists one action you can take to influence things for the better (usually a script for calling your congressfolk), but then on weekends she publishes Extra Extra listing all the good things from the past week. And it's a LONG list. Here's the June 23 Extra Extra, which includes:
Thank you for asking this.
posted by kristi at 11:34 AM on June 28 [11 favorites]
For example, one of my favorite San Francisco nonprofits, Larkin Street Youth Services, is celebrating 40 years of providing services to homeless young people, and they just did a major renovation of one of their main facilities.
Your profile mentions Seattle, and the Seattle Giving Guide lists a ton of local causes. I like to click through lists like that and glance at the News sections on the nonprofits' websites to see what they've been up to. Here are a few recent stories:
Canine Companions, Jason Brooks and his new friend Mira
Tilth Alliance is celebrating 50 years
United Indians of All Tribes Foundation got a major workforce services grant
Puget Soundworks is fostering community and inclusivity
Every day. People are building communities and helping one another every day.
The other thing I look at is Jessica Craven's weekly Extra Extra newsletter. She has a daily Substack that lists one action you can take to influence things for the better (usually a script for calling your congressfolk), but then on weekends she publishes Extra Extra listing all the good things from the past week. And it's a LONG list. Here's the June 23 Extra Extra, which includes:
Nevada lawmakers awarded $9 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to the nonprofit SafeNest to build out a Las Vegas campus that centralizes and expands services for survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence and trafficking.(That's, like, a quarter of the list, or less. That weekly newsletter is GOLD.)
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore issued a mass pardon of more than 175,000 marijuana convictions, one of the nation’s most sweeping acts of clemency involving a drug now in widespread recreational use.
Green energy continues to make EXCELLENT progress around the world.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s government has been stockpiling mifepristone for its residents in case Trump is elected and attempts to cut off access to the drug. It’s one of several pre-emptive steps officials and activists are taking to resist a potential Trump administration.
Gun violence has decreased in most major U.S. cities this year, with Philadelphia seeing the biggest drop so far.
President Biden announced new executive actions that will offer protection against deportation to an estimated half a million undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens. HUGE.
The Minnesota Legislature approved a bill that will return 18 acres of state trust lands to the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, a win for the international land back movement aiming to put Indigenous peoples back in control of their ancestral territories.
Thank you for asking this.
posted by kristi at 11:34 AM on June 28 [11 favorites]
I’m going to say something that starts out sounding like bad news but it’s actually extremely good news, so hang on til the end
1) we’ve learned that a whole bunch of illnesses are partly or even primarily airborne - colds, flus, Covid, rsv, etc.
2) we’ve learned that some people develop me/cfs or other chronic health problems after catching these illnesses, that it’s worse for some of the illnesses than others, and that it’s more common than we thought.
3) catching these illnesses also contributes to our risk of all kinds of diseases later in life, like dementia and Parkinson’s and heart problems
4) the flu has a surprisingly big risk of developing ongoing illness and contributing to other illness later, but we only catch it about once every 10 years. Covid mutates faster and we’re catching it once or twice a year - and it’s got risks as big as or bigger than flu.
5) all these illnesses kill people, Covid most of all
This is a lot of sober and depressing science that’s come together since the pandemic. But when you add it up, there’s something wonderful hidden.
Almost all of that illness and death is preventable with relatively cheap existing technology - ventilation, air filters, and germicidal uv.
We’ve had a John Snow moment with Covid. Sanitation has saved untold lives and changed the world. It’s hard to imagine that we have the chance to do it again, that we’ve discovered something so simple that could have such an enormous public health benefit. But we have!
Now we just have to make it part of our infrastructure - and it’s way cheaper and easier than sanitation!
posted by congen at 12:25 PM on June 28 [8 favorites]
1) we’ve learned that a whole bunch of illnesses are partly or even primarily airborne - colds, flus, Covid, rsv, etc.
2) we’ve learned that some people develop me/cfs or other chronic health problems after catching these illnesses, that it’s worse for some of the illnesses than others, and that it’s more common than we thought.
3) catching these illnesses also contributes to our risk of all kinds of diseases later in life, like dementia and Parkinson’s and heart problems
4) the flu has a surprisingly big risk of developing ongoing illness and contributing to other illness later, but we only catch it about once every 10 years. Covid mutates faster and we’re catching it once or twice a year - and it’s got risks as big as or bigger than flu.
5) all these illnesses kill people, Covid most of all
This is a lot of sober and depressing science that’s come together since the pandemic. But when you add it up, there’s something wonderful hidden.
Almost all of that illness and death is preventable with relatively cheap existing technology - ventilation, air filters, and germicidal uv.
We’ve had a John Snow moment with Covid. Sanitation has saved untold lives and changed the world. It’s hard to imagine that we have the chance to do it again, that we’ve discovered something so simple that could have such an enormous public health benefit. But we have!
Now we just have to make it part of our infrastructure - and it’s way cheaper and easier than sanitation!
posted by congen at 12:25 PM on June 28 [8 favorites]
Last week I was traveling in Albuquerque, and one of the places open at 6 am was Ancora, a super hipster-ish coffee house. I also discovered it was founded to hire and train addicts in recovery. I don't know the story of the guy who brought my order over when I wandered away from the counter - lots of very thin people have hand tremors - but he was warm and friendly in a way that made me feel really good. So did the fact that all 5 of the employees started singing at full volume when a cover of Take On Me came over the sound system.
posted by BlueBlueElectricBlue at 12:27 PM on June 28 [15 favorites]
posted by BlueBlueElectricBlue at 12:27 PM on June 28 [15 favorites]
the key to despair is service. make your own good news, and post back. maybe bring a homeless dude a bottle of water and a sammy.
posted by j_curiouser at 12:33 PM on June 28 [4 favorites]
posted by j_curiouser at 12:33 PM on June 28 [4 favorites]
Best answer: Seeing you mark offog's answer as a best answer, I was reminded of all the amazing posts by chariot pulled by cassowaries. About half of those are stories about good things happening - like
How this remote Indigenous community reduced every resident's power bill
and
Inmates nurse injured wildlife to health in prison program
and
Baby moose rescued from Alaskan lake
and
Beavers create habitat suitable for water voles in Scottish rainforest
Yay chariot pulled by cassowaries!
posted by kristi at 12:52 PM on June 28 [19 favorites]
How this remote Indigenous community reduced every resident's power bill
and
Inmates nurse injured wildlife to health in prison program
and
Baby moose rescued from Alaskan lake
and
Beavers create habitat suitable for water voles in Scottish rainforest
Yay chariot pulled by cassowaries!
posted by kristi at 12:52 PM on June 28 [19 favorites]
Dr Chuck Tingle is out there, and every day is a new opportunity to prove love is real
posted by kerf at 12:53 PM on June 28 [10 favorites]
posted by kerf at 12:53 PM on June 28 [10 favorites]
Best answer: There's a new twice yearly shot that prevented AIDs in women in an African drug trial; none of the women who received it ended up with AIDs. This is a really big breakthrough because it's so, so much easier for people to get a shot twice a year instead of taking a pill every day, especially in marginalized at risk populations, if we only have the will to get it to them.
posted by foxfirefey at 12:53 PM on June 28 [16 favorites]
posted by foxfirefey at 12:53 PM on June 28 [16 favorites]
we had an unfortunate round of layoffs where i work but thankfully i wasn't affected. During my yearly review a few weeks afterwards my manager told me that i had been at the top of his list of "people to protect and keep". so that was nice and made me feel appreciated.
posted by alchemist at 1:14 PM on June 28 [7 favorites]
posted by alchemist at 1:14 PM on June 28 [7 favorites]
FYI: I subscribe to the free weekly newsletter Fix the News which describes itself as having "stories of progress for people and the planet". Since it's global in focus you won't always get a lot of US related stories, but yesterday's issue had a number of US/Canada news. Plus maybe (?) it's good to look at the Earth as a whole and not be too narrowly focused.
posted by forthright at 1:27 PM on June 28 [3 favorites]
posted by forthright at 1:27 PM on June 28 [3 favorites]
Best answer: There's a new Tiny Desk concert with Chaka Khan and it starts with that song.
posted by The Half Language Plant at 2:04 PM on June 28 [6 favorites]
posted by The Half Language Plant at 2:04 PM on June 28 [6 favorites]
There is a well-known, long-standing LGBTQIA+ bookstore in Vancouver, BC called Little Sister’s Book and Art Emporium. In 1990, owner Janine Fuller brought a very public anti-censorship court case against the Canadian government: Canada Customs had seized shipments of books bound for Little Sister’s claiming they were “obscene materials,” while the same books were shipped to other stores without issue. Finally in 2000, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Canada Customs had systemically targeted and discriminated against Little Sister’s.
This week, the same government that had fought for over a decade against Janine Fuller named her to the Order of Canada, the country’s second-highest honour for merit.
This week, the same government that had fought for over a decade against Janine Fuller named her to the Order of Canada, the country’s second-highest honour for merit.
Janine Elizabeth Fuller, C.M.posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 4:33 PM on June 28 [7 favorites]
Vancouver, British Columbia
Janine Fuller is a lifelong champion of intellectual freedom and an advocate for 2SLGBTQI+ communities. At Little Sister’s Book and Art Emporium in Vancouver, she played an instrumental role in the shop’s fight against censorship, which led to a landmark Supreme Court of Canada ruling and a breakthrough in the recognition of 2SLGBTQI+ rights. As someone living with Huntington’s disease, she has been a beacon of hope for others with the condition.
Nonprofit radio station KEXP in Seattle won a bankruptcy auction from a commercial station and is now also at 92.7 FM in the Bay Area.
posted by credulous at 4:34 PM on June 28 [8 favorites]
posted by credulous at 4:34 PM on June 28 [8 favorites]
Response by poster: After all the US Supreme Court news today all of these stories are a welcome balm to my increasingly despairing soul. Keep 'em coming!
posted by brookeb at 4:40 PM on June 28 [4 favorites]
posted by brookeb at 4:40 PM on June 28 [4 favorites]
I’m about to travel to New Zealand with my younger son (20) and my dad (83) and my sis to bring my mom’s ashes home to be interred. We’re going to have an awesome and special memorial service with about 50 beloved cousins, aunts, uncles, etc - many of whom we haven’t seen in over 10 years. Here’s me and my mom in 1970.
posted by chr1sb0y at 5:08 PM on June 28 [6 favorites]
posted by chr1sb0y at 5:08 PM on June 28 [6 favorites]
For many years, I have been chronically ill with a set of symptoms including fatigue, trouble eating, muscle weakness, all kinds of stuff. The kind of vague, troublesome symptoms that don't show up in simple tests, that doctors get tired of trying to treat, that some doctors attribute to your weight if you're fat. It's been a long hard journey.
Not quite two months ago, my new rheumatologist figured it out. I have a pretty rare condition called Autoimmune Hepatitis. I started a medication that is commonly given to people with autoimmune conditions, and it's making a huge difference. Even some symptoms, like these weird foot problems I'd been having, that I wouldn't have thought could be attributed to a liver-related thing, are improving.
It is an amazing thing to be able to stay awake all day after so many many years of not being able to. Sometimes I don't know what to do with myself. I mean, I used to sleep a normal amount at night and then sleep for three hours in the late afternoon.
I have a lot of friends with similar kinds of conditions, and they are hailing me as a unicorn. People like me don't usually get diagnoses. Kudos to my new rheumatologist for putting the pieces together. It's changing my life.
posted by Well I never at 7:51 PM on June 28 [25 favorites]
Not quite two months ago, my new rheumatologist figured it out. I have a pretty rare condition called Autoimmune Hepatitis. I started a medication that is commonly given to people with autoimmune conditions, and it's making a huge difference. Even some symptoms, like these weird foot problems I'd been having, that I wouldn't have thought could be attributed to a liver-related thing, are improving.
It is an amazing thing to be able to stay awake all day after so many many years of not being able to. Sometimes I don't know what to do with myself. I mean, I used to sleep a normal amount at night and then sleep for three hours in the late afternoon.
I have a lot of friends with similar kinds of conditions, and they are hailing me as a unicorn. People like me don't usually get diagnoses. Kudos to my new rheumatologist for putting the pieces together. It's changing my life.
posted by Well I never at 7:51 PM on June 28 [25 favorites]
Best answer: My uncle is about to begin CAR T-cell therapy for his relapsed multiple myeloma. This is, on its surface, not particularly great news. Multiple myeloma is incurable, it will always relapse eventually, so the best anyone can do is buy time. CAR T has more risks, worse side-effects. It is a second line treatment, for cases that have already checked off the first line options.
However. He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2004. The average 5-year survival rate for multiple myeloma is 57%. But they're actually having a really hard time getting a clear picture on the survival rate because treatments keep improving so damn fast. My uncle has had incurable cancer for 20 years. He just happened to get diagnosed right as the cutting edge therapies were coming out. He's had a tandem stem cell transplant, first from donated cord blood, then from his own cells. The first proteasome inhibitor was approved in 2003, since then two more have been approved (and I think he's taken them all). CAR T-cell therapy is so new that it's only been an option for patients since 2017. It all feels like that bit in Wallace & Gromit where Gromit is riding on a runaway model train and frantically trying to lay down more track in front of him as it races along, but, it's worked out pretty well and they somehow keep handing my uncle more train tracks.
posted by castlebravo at 8:53 PM on June 28 [14 favorites]
However. He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2004. The average 5-year survival rate for multiple myeloma is 57%. But they're actually having a really hard time getting a clear picture on the survival rate because treatments keep improving so damn fast. My uncle has had incurable cancer for 20 years. He just happened to get diagnosed right as the cutting edge therapies were coming out. He's had a tandem stem cell transplant, first from donated cord blood, then from his own cells. The first proteasome inhibitor was approved in 2003, since then two more have been approved (and I think he's taken them all). CAR T-cell therapy is so new that it's only been an option for patients since 2017. It all feels like that bit in Wallace & Gromit where Gromit is riding on a runaway model train and frantically trying to lay down more track in front of him as it races along, but, it's worked out pretty well and they somehow keep handing my uncle more train tracks.
posted by castlebravo at 8:53 PM on June 28 [14 favorites]
Best answer: There is a malaria vaccine and it's already being administered in the Central African Republic. This could save millions of lives.
posted by Threeve at 9:02 PM on June 28 [10 favorites]
posted by Threeve at 9:02 PM on June 28 [10 favorites]
Best answer: This is so small, but, I bike to work and the municipality is allowing the grass beside the bike path to grow much taller before it gets trimmed (to help insects, I guess) and it's like this ever-changing wildflower bouquet during my commute. "Ooh, poppies! Thistles! Bright pink flowers that I don't know the name of, I didn't see those before!"
posted by demi-octopus at 3:28 AM on June 29 [6 favorites]
posted by demi-octopus at 3:28 AM on June 29 [6 favorites]
Best answer: My husband accidentally disturbed a robin’s nest a couple weeks ago. It was on a ladder and had been there for what seemed like a long while. When he took it down and saw the four blue eggs, he quickly put it back and watched for mama to come back - which she did! Yesterday I was walking by and saw one of the parents feeding the nestlings. So that made us both really happy. Hope that gives you some happy thoughts too!
posted by eekernohan at 7:05 AM on June 29 [7 favorites]
posted by eekernohan at 7:05 AM on June 29 [7 favorites]
Best answer: My tomatoes are growing and the chipmunks haven’t gotten to them yet.
posted by slateyness at 9:29 AM on June 29 [2 favorites]
posted by slateyness at 9:29 AM on June 29 [2 favorites]
There are new cancer therapies which work better than anything we've ever seen, and have far less side effects than any of the therapies we've been using. Immunotherapy is what it's called.
My father got it a few years ago, and it helped him a lot. In turn, he was very good experimental material and I like to think that he provided good information that others will benefit from. He died at the age of 86 but not from cancer even though he had had no less than three different kinds of cancer. He helped science progress, and it keeps on progressing.
And right now a friend who was hit badly by long covid is going through a new and experimental therapy (hyperbaric oxygen therapy) and it seems to be helping him.
Science is progressing and it's providing relief from suffering, to the benefit of many of us.
posted by Too-Ticky at 4:37 PM on June 29 [1 favorite]
My father got it a few years ago, and it helped him a lot. In turn, he was very good experimental material and I like to think that he provided good information that others will benefit from. He died at the age of 86 but not from cancer even though he had had no less than three different kinds of cancer. He helped science progress, and it keeps on progressing.
And right now a friend who was hit badly by long covid is going through a new and experimental therapy (hyperbaric oxygen therapy) and it seems to be helping him.
Science is progressing and it's providing relief from suffering, to the benefit of many of us.
posted by Too-Ticky at 4:37 PM on June 29 [1 favorite]
Best answer: This is a wonderful thread to read!
This is small in the grand scheme of things, but very soon the convention my friends and I have been planning for the last 18 months will kick off. We'll spend three days celebrating the life and works of our favourite author, Sir Terry Pratchett.
There's guests and panels and crafting and workshops and a gala dinner, and best of all, many of the attendees haven't seen each other since the last convention (pre-covid!) so we'll be able to catch up with old friends and make some new ones.
Without these people I wouldn't be where or who I am today, so when I think of them I'm filled with gratitude and joy.
posted by eloeth-starr at 4:55 PM on June 29 [3 favorites]
This is small in the grand scheme of things, but very soon the convention my friends and I have been planning for the last 18 months will kick off. We'll spend three days celebrating the life and works of our favourite author, Sir Terry Pratchett.
There's guests and panels and crafting and workshops and a gala dinner, and best of all, many of the attendees haven't seen each other since the last convention (pre-covid!) so we'll be able to catch up with old friends and make some new ones.
Without these people I wouldn't be where or who I am today, so when I think of them I'm filled with gratitude and joy.
posted by eloeth-starr at 4:55 PM on June 29 [3 favorites]
It started pouring 10 minutes before a local 1 mile/5K was supposed to start and then completely stopped 5 minutes later. I didn't get wet. I also got to eat very good pierogi at for breakfast at 8 am.
posted by kathrynm at 4:58 PM on June 29
posted by kathrynm at 4:58 PM on June 29
Something special happened with the weather in Pittsburgh/western PA this year and we just have so many fireflies.
posted by Nibbly Fang at 5:01 PM on June 29 [5 favorites]
posted by Nibbly Fang at 5:01 PM on June 29 [5 favorites]
There is a guy on YouTube who will go in and sit with a shelter dog and slowly socialize them so they are more likely to be adopted. You can learn how to do it by watching.
Rocky Kanaka
posted by cda at 1:13 PM on June 30
Rocky Kanaka
posted by cda at 1:13 PM on June 30
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posted by pairofshades at 10:31 AM on June 28 [14 favorites]