A bit of good news

Another bit of good news:

Thank you Crowan.

Do people here know about this link?

Ah, it's great isn't it?!

It's official - positive thinking is scientifically backed i.e. called neuroplasticity.

Not specifically good news - but not bad news either. It cheered me up. As the man said, "It’s cathedrals talking to each other. What’s not to like?"

Not specifically good news - but not bad news either. It cheered me up. As the man said, "It’s cathedrals talking to each other. What’s not to like?"

I like it! 😀

I haven't been around here much lately, but just found this and thought others on HP might like it too, and this seems a good place to share it. It's the latest from the BBC World Hacks series (short videos about clever ideas for solving problems around the world): [url]How to deradicalise a Neo-Nazi[/url]

Yay!

These are the stories I'd like to see splashed across the tabloids.

What a heart-warming story Jane - thank you for posting it! 🙂 Last night I went to a service of 9 Lessons and Carols at our local university and one of the lessons was read by a Muslim girl, reading about Mary's anunciation, from the Qu'arn.

Love and peace,

Judy

🙂

This page has encouraging news on it:

I was especially struck by the way that attitudes to animal welfare in China are improving. It's slow, but positive.

I know that most of you here would rather that animals were not eaten at all, but these are all little steps in the right direction.

QUOTE: A 2016 survey by ICCAW found that two thirds of Chinese shoppers would pay more for pork that had lived better lives. And it’s not just pigs: China is also changing the way it thinks about dog meat, animal testing, and the ivory trade...

Jill Robinson, animal activist and founder of Animals Asia, says she has seen China’s attitude towards animal welfare improve over the years. In the 1980s there was only one animal welfare organization in the country, says Ms. Robinson, and now there are hundreds.

“The people of China are often the recipients of criticism from around the world when it comes to animal welfare,” Robinson told the South China Morning Post. “But there is an enormous and growing movement of animal activists in China today.” END OF QUOTE

Today I was looking at the [url]World Progress Watch[/url] pages in the Christian Science Monitor and found this, which I thought some of you might appreciate: <a class="go2wpf-bbcode" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="">
[url]Global River Cleanups Grow[/url]

I think it was the photo of all those people enjoying themselves safely, in the river that grabbed my attention! It reminded me of when I was a kid in SIngapore and we used to go to a holiday bungalow every year, which had what they called a "pagar" out into the sea. It was like a fenced-off structure, with a walk way on top (and at the end, a covered area to sit and have tea - bliss). It meant you could swim safely, as the sea snakes, jelly fish, electric eels, sting rays, sharks etc couldn't swim through the wire mesh, but of course the tide came in and out.

By contrast, with the French river, it was the pollution that caused the river to be off limits - glad to see these steps to clean all this pollution.

Well here's a novel way to use plastic bottles:

Just hope no-one plants any of this on his home!

Well here's a novel way to use plastic bottles:

I've read of plastic bottles being filled with sand and used as bricks. It seems very effective.

And, of course, the greenhouses that can be made -https://

I'd be tempted to try this but I don't drink anything from plastic bottles, and the few I get (from visitors who leave their empties here) get cut down for mini-cloches.

And an idea I came across this morning - a water filled bottle being used in a greenhouse as a heat mass.

And an idea I came across this morning - a water filled bottle being used in a greenhouse as a heat mass.

Interesting Jane, but, just to show my ignorance, what is a heat mass?

Judy

Interesting Jane, but, just to show my ignorance, what is a heat mass?

Judy

The sun, through the greenhouse glass and through the plastic of the bottle, warms the water. During the night the water gives out its heat, slowly. It wouldn't heat the whole greenhouse (although people with bigger greenhouses sometimes have a large water container for this), but it would be enough to protect a tender plant.

Well you learn something every day! Thanks Jane. 🙂

Now you probably won't approve of this, (using systemic weedkiller) but our garden was infested with bindweed. I tried digging it out and just couldn't believe how long the roots were (according to one source I read, they can grow to 30 feet!). Of course, every time a bit breaks, it becomes a new plant, so that wasn't working. Then I read about what has been a solution.

At church we only have a small fridge, so we re-fill a large water bottle, until the plastic starts to look discoloured (several months). I've started bringing them home and I cut off the base, having put sticks in the ground, beside the new bindweed coming through, which then curls around it. I place the bottle over the stick of bindweed and spray systemic weed killer through the top, then close it. The spray doesn't touch any other plants and the rain doesn't wash the chemical away and it only affects that one weed, not the soil or anything else. It looks awful, but it works as nothing else did.

At the Savill Garden, near here, there were several flowerbeds infected with it, they actually cleared them and left them bare for two years, trying to destroy all the bindweed. Thankfully they are back to looking glorious again. You can mulch them on bare ground, but our flowerbeds are not bare! So am grateful for the plastic bottles.

Bindweed is a real pain on our allotment. Always having to try and dig it out and, like you say, the roots can go for miles.

Bindweed is a real pain on our allotment. Always having to try and dig it out and, like you say, the roots can go for miles.

🙁

We only have bindweed in a part of the garden and make an effort to keep it that way. I did my first 'bindweed patrol' of the year yesterday, just pulling it up (I don't dig). Eventually it weakens.

Thanks Jane, I'll try that. We were OK until I had to make a new pond because we added a sun room. The bindweed appeared in all the soil that I'd dug up and which is now around the pond. Which just goes to show it's best not to disturb it! 🙁

Absolutely. The one part of our garden that has it is across a lane that runs through the garden and, in the growing season, we patrol the lane every couple of days to ensure none is creeping across. The bit of the garden across the lane used to be a couple of allotments and, according to the people who have lived around here for years, was double dug and rotovated. Perfect for bindweed and other weeds of cultivation.

By the way, bindweed is edible. They do contain several alkeloids so best to cook them (boil or steam). Use the young leaves. Also, they make a good plant food. Put them into water (in a lidded bucket) for a few weeks. Use the water to feed plants and - because the bindweed is then dead - put the plant into the compost. Obviously, you don't want to put the freshly pulled up plant in the compost - that's a great way to spread it!

And continuing the plastic thread - this time, plastic bags. This is a heart-warming story as it helps the homeless and the ladies.

This is an interesting development - not sure of the tobacco fuel, but the waste product sounds hopeful.

This lifted my spirits today! 🙂

This is interesting. Thanks for sharing!

This is an interesting development - not sure of the tobacco fuel, but the waste product sounds hopeful.

Hope that this will push people to action and not only to find but to use an alternative to conventional fuel.

So so true! I always learn from your post. Grateful for your sharing and keeping us aware

Here are a couple of hopeful items I came across this evening:

[url]A project to remove 88,000 tons of plastic from the Pacific has begun[/url]

[url]Some Cool Chemistry — using light to turn waste plastic into hydrogen fuel[/url]

Only small steps, but they are at least something! If a new technology or initiative turns out to work, even if it starts out only on a small scale, you never know how it might develop from there.

Yes. Yes. Each step small or large is worth the effort!
Thank you for this informative information.