Risen and Rising.

''The Dow powered to a close above 13,000 for the first time and the broader market rose to its highest level in more than six years Wednesday, buoyed by a steady parade of strong profit reports and reassuring news on the economy.''

Link: DJIA

You're the Cure

Thanks to Dave for the link to this one.

This is an article talking about the newest development in antibiotics. As someone that strongly believes in the importance of preventive medicine I like that this new technology strengthens the body's natural ability to fight infection instead of simply killing the bacteria directly, which often leads to the mutation and resistence. The more medicine can strengthen the patient, rather than treating symptons and becoming a crutch, the better. Augment a person's ability to cure himself. Anyway, here's the link:

Researchers Find New Superbug Weapon for Failing Antibiotics Arsenal

"This study provides important insights into how we can fight infection by harnessing the body's own immune system," said Dr. Bhagirath Singh

Algae is the Answer

This amazing little organism might just be the answer to solving our energy and environmental problems. Check out this article to see how just a little research has shown that algae can be used for bio-fuel and to convert CO2 to O2.

Link: Algae

''By cultivating algae as the choice food stock for biodiesel we would not only produce up to 60 times more oil per acre than if we used traditional agricultural crops, like soybeans, corn, or canola, we'd also help cut the level of our most problematic global warming gas, CO2, as the algae devours it while emitting clean oxygen.''

Good News from Gitmo

The mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks was caught and he confessed. I know catching Bin Laden would be considered a greater stride, but he is only a figure-head compared to these guys that actually orchestrate terrorism.

Link: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/14/guantanamo.mohammed/index.html

I always thought that evil geniuses would be less...hairy.

"'I don't like to kill people,'" he said. 'I feel very sorry they been killed kids in 9/11.'"

...then you're in the wrong line of work.

Bring back naptime

My occasional naps in the teacher's lounge are finally justified. Apparently, short naps during the work day lower blood pressure, relieve stress, promote creativity and increase productivity.

Link: Some Respect, Please, for the Afternoon Nap

Thomas Edison had it, Winston Churchill had it; we should all have naptime.

Favorite quote from the article:

“'You must sleep sometime between lunch and dinner, don’t think you will be doing less work because you sleep during the day. That’s a foolish notion held by people who have no imaginations. You will be able to accomplish more. You get two days in one.'”

--Winston Churchill

Free and Wealthy

Here's an article that shows how the American middle class is getting richer and how the president is addressing (or trying to address) health care, welfare and education. So yes, the ''super rich'' aren't the only ones getting richer and the president does have some good ideas here, which promote choice and individual accountability rather than government control:

http://www.nysun.com/article/48053?page_no=1

Favorite quote from this article:

''Although there are always people in our society who need support, most Americans can make better decisions for themselves than can the government.'' Amen.

Follow your dream$.

I'm not quite sure how this falls under ''good news'' but I thought it was interesting. It's a list of the top 50 highest paying jobs in America. I don't think it's good to just ''follow the money'' when deciding a career path but it's fun to look at this list with your interests in mind.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/Careers/02/12/cb.big.bucks/index.html

Astronomers at 100k+, who woulda thunk it?

Sweet!

Aphrodisiac, cancer prevention, heart disease prevention, healthy stimulant, memory enhancer...What can't chocolate do?

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/healthnews.php?newsid=63368

Wait, what?!

I don't know why this isn't bigger news, frankly, I don't know why people aren't dancing in the streets. Or, maybe it was big news and I just couldn't understand the Japanese, and I don't think Japanese would ever dance in the streets. But am I reading this right? A CURE FOR CANCER???

link: Cheap Safe Drug Kills Most Cancers

Capitalist Piggie Bank

One of the many assumptions about capitalism and, by default, most Americans is that saving money is neither promoted or done. Spend, spend, spend and ask questions later, right? Well, here's an article that debunks the myth that Americans don't save:

Link: Think Again

Summary:
Most savings figures show that, on average, Americans have a savings rate of negative 1% a year. BUT, that does not include: retirement plans, pension plans, 401(k) plans, stocks, mutual funds and a myriad of other investments. And, considering that 7 out of 10 Americans are invested in the stock market the negative 1% savings rate is an utter misrepresentation of the facts.

So, considering all the ways Americans save, we put away an average of $700 a month, which isn't terrific, we can do better but its more than most industrialized nations and 10 times more than China.

Myth busted, Americans do save; take THAT pessimism!

Big Mac, little yen

Here's an article that should assuage some of the worry about the weakness of the yen. It compares the price of a Big Mac in countries around the world. It shows that the yen is currently way undervalued as the yen shows more buying power compared to the value at which it is traded. The yen is actually undervalued by 28% against the dollar whereas the euro is 19% overvalued. Traditionally, actual domestic buying power of a currency determines its long term international value.

Link: The Big Mac index

So fear not my fellow yen making friends. Even though you can't buy many dollars right now with those yen you can buy more Big Macs then your non-expat friends. You get more Mac for your buck today and, hopefully, more dollars for yen tomorrow.

Not another one...

Yes! I've made yet another blog. I want to dedicate this one to optimistic news I encounter. I will mostly just post links to articles containing good news. Hopefully in doing so, I will counter a lot of the pessimistic outlooks out there about the world, politics and especially the economy.