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Heroes

These 7 inventions could've been invented by MacGyver or your 7-year-old neighbor. But they're real.

Some folks are addressing climate change in fun ways. Read on and prepare to *not* be depressed about the future!

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Unilever and the United Nations

Climate change: It's happening.

We need to care about it, sure. But how? A water bottle? A bike? Turning off the water? Recycling? Yes to all those things, but we're not here for that.


We're here for the 7 MacGyver-est ways to care about climate change.

Don't believe me?

1. Ask this donkey carrying your Internet on its butt.

Donkeys in Turkey carry cargo, and also ... the Internet. No, seriously. Herdsmen are using donkeys to carry solar panels that are powering Internet connections for them.

2. Or ask this floating bike highway that is also super beautiful.

The Hovenring, located in the Netherlands, is the first suspended bike roundabout in the world. It carries cyclists and pedestrians over a busy highway.

3. Or this electric school bus. Pretty magical.

There are nearly half a million school buses in the United States. While they are far more energy-efficient than single rides to school, they aren't exactly environmentally friendly. Until now! A school district in California became the first to order the modified school buses.

4. Or this electric super-insanely-speedy rechargeable boat.

This 75-foot ferry that carries 100 passengers in Sweden was retrofitted to run on electricity. Even better, a full charge takes just 10 minutes. I wish my iPhone recharged that quickly.

5. Or this super-efficient hair salon. 87% is a LOT.

Élan Hair Design, a salon in Aberdeenshire, committed to becoming an environmentally friendly place of business. The salon made changes in *every way* it could, including composting hair waste and recycling the aluminum foil used in hair services, and cut its energy usage by 87%.

6. Or this electric garbage truck!

In September 2014, Chicago got its first fully electric garbage truck. With the route it's set for, using this electric truck over a traditional one will eliminate the use of 2,688 gallons of diesel fuel every year. And more trucks are on the way.

7. A sun-powered hospital? Yep.

Nepal has 6,000 health centers and clinics, and every single one of them faces issues with power cuts. As you can imagine, having the power go out for nine hours or more, which it often does, is dangerous in hospitals where machines that run on power keep folks alive. Rent-to-own solar systems are keeping some of these hospitals running while cutting carbon emissions at the same time.

To see even more awesome innovations from across the globe, (like an amusement park in Japan that is heated with seawater or electric taxi trikes in Taiwan), head over to #itshappening for more real-life problem-solving that's also super cool.

Positive news, smart people, problems being solved? #itshappening!

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Making new friends as an adult is challenging. While people crave meaningful IRL connections, it can be hard to know where to find them. But thanks to one Facebook Group, meeting your new best friends is easier than ever.

Founded in 2018, NYC Brunch Squad brings together hundreds of people who come as strangers and leave as friends through its in-person events.

“Witnessing the transformative impact our community has on the lives of our members is truly remarkable. We provide the essential support and connections needed to thrive amid the city's chaos,” shares Liza Rubin, the group’s founder.

Despite its name, the group doesn’t just do brunch. They also have book clubs, seasonal parties, and picnics, among other activities.

NYC Brunch Squad curates up to 10 monthly events tailored to the specific interests of its members. Liza handles all the details, taking into account different budgets and event sizes – all people have to do is show up.

“We have members who met at our events and became friends and went on to embark on international journeys to celebrate birthdays together. We have had members get married with bridesmaids by their sides who were women they first connected with at our events. We’ve had members decide to live together and become roommates,” Liza says.

Members also bond over their passion for giving back to their community. The group has hosted many impact-driven events, including a “Picnic with Purpose” to create self-care packages for homeless shelters and recently participated in the #SquadSpreadsJoy challenge. Each day, the 100 members participating receive random acts of kindness to complete. They can also share their stories on the group page to earn extra points. The member with the most points at the end wins a free seat at the group's Friendsgiving event.

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Democracy

This Map Reveals The True Value Of $100 In Each State

Your purchasing power can swing by 30% from state to state.

Image by Tax Foundation.

Map represents the value of 100 dollars.

As the cost of living in large cities continues to rise, more and more people are realizing that the value of a dollar in the United States is a very relative concept. For decades, cost of living indices have sought to address and benchmark the inconsistencies in what money will buy, but they are often so specific as to prevent a holistic picture or the ability to "browse" the data based on geographic location.

The Tax Foundation addressed many of these shortcomings using the most recent (2015) Bureau of Economic Analysis data to provide a familiar map of the United States overlaid with the relative value of what $100 is "worth" in each state. Granted, going state-by-state still introduces a fair amount of "smoothing" into the process — $100 will go farther in Los Angeles than in Fresno, for instance — but it does provide insight into where the value lies.

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Identity

One man turned nursing home design on its head when he created this stunning facility

"What if we design an environment that looks like outside?" he said. "What if I can have a sunrise and sunset inside the building?



92-year-old Norma had a strange and heartbreaking routine.

Every night around 5:30 p.m., she stood up and told the staff at her Ohio nursing home that she needed to leave. When they asked why, she said she needed to go home to take care of her mother. Her mom, of course, had long since passed away.

Behavior like Norma's is quite common for older folks suffering from Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia. Walter, another man in the same assisted living facility, demanded breakfast from the staff every night around 7:30.

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via PixaBay

Being an adult is tough.

Nothing can ever fully prepare you for being an adult. Once you leave childhood behind, the responsibilities, let-downs and setbacks come at you fast. It’s tiring and expensive, and there's no easy-to-follow roadmap for happiness and success.

A Reddit user named u/Frequent-Pilot5243 asked the online forum, “What’s an adult problem nobody prepared you for?” and there were a lot of profound answers that get to the heart of the disappointing side of being an adult.

One theme that ran through many responses is the feeling of being set adrift. When you’re a kid, the world is laid out as a series of accomplishments. You learn to walk, you figure out how to use the bathroom, you start school, you finish school, maybe you go to college, and so on.

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Joy

7 things Black people want their well-meaning white friends to know

"You, white friend, need to speak up and say something when I can't."

Growing up black in a white neighborhood.

I grew up black in a very white neighborhood in a very white city in a very white state.

As such, I am a lot of people's only black friend.

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Charlie Munger of Berkshire Hathaway.

Charles Munger, Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffet’s closest business partner, passed away on Tuesday, November 28, at 99. Buffett and Munger's partnership lasted over 50 years, producing Berkshire Hathaway, one of the largest and most successful conglomerates in history.

When Munger passed, his estimated worth was $2.6 billion. Buffet, 93, is believed to be worth $119 billion.

But Munger was far more than just a wealthy man. Apple CEO Tim Cook called Munger a “keen observer of the world around him,” and he was known for his pithy bits of common-sense wisdom known as “Mungerisms.”

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Health

If you're grieving a loved one this holiday season, here's a gift you can give yourself

After losing her almost-4-year-old daughter to epilepsy, Kelly Cervantes created a "grief companion" that meets people wherever they are in their grief journey.

Images courtesy of Kelly Cervantes

Kelly Cervantes wrote her way through grieving the loss of her daughter, Adelaide.

Kelly Cervantes begins the Introduction to her book with five words: "Grief sucks. It's also weird." It's a concise truth that anyone who has lost a loved one knows all too well.

Grief is a universal experience—none of us get through life without loss—but it's also unique to each person. Most of us are familiar with the popular "stages of grief" theory, but denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance (along with guilt and a host of things) are less like sequential rungs on a ladder and more like pools you fall into at various times as you stumble your way through the grief process. Grief is not linear and it's not neat and tidy and it's not predictable.

Take it from someone who's been there. Kelly Cervantes lost her daughter, Adelaide, to epilepsy just shy of her 4th birthday. Using writing as a therapeutic tool to help her process Adelaide's medically complex life, death and everything that came after, Kelly created the book she wished she'd had as she was trying to navigate her own grieving process.

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