Call for Good News

Here's a web resource (still being developed) that helps donors choose which charities they'd like to support!

From the Philanthropedia website: "Today, individual donors who care about and want to give to a specific social issue lack reliable, accessible, and useful information on the top performing nonprofits in that issue area.

Philanthropedia solves this problem by connecting individuals with expert knowledge, empowering them to become strategic philanthropists.

We build networks of experts such as foundation professionals and academics, survey them, and aggregate the results. We then make it simple to be smart about donating by organizing these rankings into donor-friendly nonprofit profiles with the option for one-click donations."

For more, visit http://www.myphilanthropedia.org/home/about

Somebody makes tiny paper art (thanks to rowanf for the link).

A new fish has been discovered off the coast of Brazil (thanks to blackthornglade for the link).

There's a restaurant in Japan where you can play with bunnies.

* After legalizing same-sex marriage over 4 years ago, Massachusetts saw its already-low divorce rate go even lower. Massachusetts now has the lowest divorce rate in the 50 states; the lowest since the 1940s.

* There's more quality television programming on now than ever before in my entire life. Of course, I have to look hard to find it, but if I've been recommended a show by one of my media-savvy friends, it's almost certainly an intelligent, well-written show that will make me laugh, cry, and think.

* Fathers are spending more and more time with their kids. Mothers are still spending lots of time with their kids. Yeah, the housework is really suffering, but when it comes to the choice between more housework or spending time with their kids, I think people are getting their priorities straight.

* We're seeing a vast increase in the ability of good ideas to flow around the world and find fertile ground. Here are just two I've seen recently: Tweel, a car tire that doesn't need any air inside, making punctures, air compressors, and related injuries a thing of the past... and fuel made by bacteria that is nearly pump-ready.

As ideas flow around the world and are taken up by interested people, it seems clear to me that useful ideas will have more of a chance to take hold than in any previous age. I'm always so happy to see what amazing ideas people are coming up with now.

* "A Cheerful Giver," a candle company that reserves job openings for mentally challenged people. "These mentally challenged adults work as little as 5 minutes a day or as much as 5 hours a day wicking candle jars...it’s all up to them. At the end of the day, each of the “Wickers” receives a paycheck that they bring home to their families."

and finally, if this current recession / depression / decession / whatever-you-call-it can help people realize that money is not the be-all and end-all of their lives, and help people rediscover a passion for life, then it's a much-needed wakeup call to our entire nation. Maybe people will start structuring their lives around building authentic families rather than running after paychecks and perks.

Some wonderful news in an article about how a college student received donations to help him pay off his tuition (and he only had one day to pay $5000):

http://news.aol.com/philanthropy/article/facebook-fundraiser-saves-college/675645?icid=main|main|dl2|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Fphilanthropy%2Farticle%2Ffacebook-fundraiser-saves-college%2F675645

This is the perfect illustration about how people are willing to get behind a person and a cause. :)

There's all kinds of awesome, cool, and often good news stuff over at Daily Grail: http://www.dailygrail.com/