A lonely otter has found love after being set up with a Tinder-style dating profile.

Asian short clawed otter Harris had been left single after his partner of four years Apricot recently passed away.

His keepers desperately wanted to find him a new partner, so they set him up on “Fishing for Love,” a website created just for him.

Staff at Cornish Seal Sanctuary made the dating profile for Harris, highlighting all he has to offer and sent it out in the hope of finding his new perfect match.

The team were delighted to receive photos back from a female otter called Pumpkin who was also looking for love at Scarborough SEA LIFE after recently losing her elderly partner Eric.

RELATED: Baby Otter Learns How to be an Otter From Expert Humans

The ‘first date’ has now been arranged, but the matchmakers said the introduction of Asian short-clawed otters can be nerve-racking and difficult to get right.

Experts say to ensure the best chance of a new pairing getting off on the right foot, it’s best to introduce a new male into a female’s territory so that the male more easily submits to the female on first meeting.

For this reason, Harris will be moving up to Pumpkin’s enclosure to ensure it goes as smoothly as possible.

Tamara Cooper, curator at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary said “Harris came to us from the Welsh Mountain Zoo in 2016 after being rejected by his family.

“There was certainly something about Harris that ticked all the boxes for our female otter Apricot, and after a few days of careful introductions they settled in beautifully together.

WATCH: Adorable Otter Jump on Boat to Befriend Dogs

“We will be very sad to see Harris go as he is such a character but we will be keeping in touch regularly to see how him and Pumpkin get on.”

We have our fingers crossed that it’ll be love at first sight (or should that be sniff?) for the furry pair.

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Fabric cuttings and textile leftovers are a difficult class of waste to recycle, but in a fashion industry first—a door-to-door New York City recycling service meant exclusively for textile waste is helping the uglier side of fashion get a green makeover.

Fabscrap runs an internet store and a physical location that’s part second-hand shop, part recycling facility based around fashion industry waste collected from top brands like J. Crew, Nautica, and Macy’s.

Jessica Schreiber, the founder of Fabscrap, discovered while working at New York City’s Bureau of Recycling and Sustainability that many of the city’s iconic fashion industry names were ringing her office asking what to do with textile waste.

Being that NYC law requires the recycling of any material if it amounts to more than 10% commercial waste, she realized the problem represented an unfulfilled niche that would make a great business model.

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She pitched her idea to “Project Runway: Fashion Startup” and was awarded seed money for her vision of a company that would pick up textile waste from fashion houses and find ways to reuse or recycle it.

Accumulating 20 clients in her first year, Schreiber now manages the waste of 434 different brands, and her work has seen 600,000 pounds of textiles and fabric spared from entering New York City’s landfill network, with each pound saved representing around 2.06 pounds of CO2.

A volunteer effort

The cutting room floor of a fashion brand’s studios is a messy place, and the bags of waste Fabscrap collects weekly must be sorted by hand. In the past year alone, 2,017 volunteers have helped out at the warehouse.

Separating the textiles by fiber—from cotton to wool and more, the people at Fabscrap will weigh and document each bag. The organization sells the fabric by the pound on their website and out of their retail headquarters in Brooklyn, and ships the unsellable waste to be recycled and turned into stuffing for furniture, or insulation for things like moving blankets.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, textile and fabric represents 5% of total landfill space, while a life-cycle analysis found that fabrics for all purposes account for 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions— most of which is methane, a GHG that is 28 times more powerful than CO2.

Furthermore, the dyes and other chemicals used to treat clothing can contaminate groundwater sources.

New York City has very progressive recycling laws on the books for fabric and textiles. However, these laws are difficult to track or enforce since private companies haul away trash, and the waste of buildings tends to get mixed together.

MORE: Fashion Designers Replace Plastic-Based Vegan ‘Leather’ With Fabric Made Out of Apple Peels

For fashion brands that value sustainability over other corporate goals, Fabscrap represents the ultimate partner, and Schreiber has made several close connections with brands focused on reducing waste.

Schreiber hopes to expand to other cities and countries, notably Los Angeles, the center of the country’s largest cut-and-sew manufacturing facilities.

“I think opening in LA gives us a really good blueprint for how we might be able to franchise this to other major cities,” Schreiber said in an interview with the Sierra Club.

CHECK OUT: Fashion Industry Eyes Alternative Leather Made Out of Cactus–And it’s Sustainable and Eco-Friendly

That’s an exciting move for the fashion industry, and for the planet.

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Stressful times call for stressless measures, and one of the most important ways to improve your ability to resist stress and anxiety is to get a good night’s sleep.

However, in our 24-hour, interconnected world, sleep is an illusive necessity that’s often the first thing to be sacrificed in a busy schedule. A reduction of regular sleeping hours has been linked with everything from Alzheimer’s to younger mortality rates.

Furthermore, with the presence of the coronavirus, it’s worth noting the results of two studies: the first finding that a night of sleep lasting less than 7 hours resulted in 70% fewer immune cells being produced the following day, and the second finding that a person sleeping less than 6 hours is four times more susceptible to the flu.

Fortunately, polysomnography sleep studies can offer us science-backed insights into better habits to improve the quality, if not the quantity, of the sleep we do manage to get.

According to renowned English sleep expert Dr. Matthew Walker, author of “Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams,” every living thing on Earth is attached in some way to the day-night cycle, and spends at least part of the day in something resembling sleep.

He reminds us of our evolution, and that if sleep was not an absolutely necessary trait in animals, it would strongly be selected against during natural selection: as sleeping animals cannot reproduce, search for food, or protect themselves from predators.

CHECK OUT: Here Are the Best Foods You Can Eat to Get a Good Night’s Sleep

Indeed, time spent sleeping proved to be more valuable—for all cellular life, than these three most critical activities which it could have otherwise been engaged in.

Here are 10 good habits, tips and tricks, and scientific findings to help you sleep better tonight, and in all the nights to come.

1) Keep your room like outer space: cold and dark

The Mayo Clinic, along with the CDC and others, suggest creating a cold, dark sleeping environment (around 60-67 Fahrenheit).

This has to do with our history as hunter gatherers, who were exposed to the elements and the day/night cycle. Drops in temperature and light perception signals to our brain that the hour of sleep is nigh, and a bedroom that reflects those changes is typically ideal.

2) Clean up your room

All kinds of strange things can affect sleep performance, including serious clutter. A study from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine found that people at risk of hoarding disorder scored significantly higher on several categories in two different academic scales meant to measure sleep performance.

RELATED: Want to Stop Eating Junk Food? New Research Says You Should Get More Sleep

What you see before you go to sleep could potentially be preventing you from entering the deepest reaches of sleep cycles, thereby withholding the most powerful restorative effects.

3) Avoid blue light

Most devices, including smartphones, tablets, and computers come with built in blue-light filters, and those that don’t will have access to the internet or an app store where you can download a filter.

Blue light is the prominent spectrum present in daylight, while the red or orange light spectrum is the one experienced during the setting of the sun. Most of us are able to stay up far later because cool-white, blue-spectrum rays from our indoor lighting tricks our brains into thinking it’s still the day.

Therefore, put orange light filters on your devices so you correctly begin to feel the effects of melatonin secretion in response to the perception of the red light spectrum.

4) Find your extra-special mattress

One of the most significant technological advances in the last two decades has been in mattress technology. In our parents’ time, you had to wait until a public holiday to get a good deal and avoid paying $2,000 for a queen size mattress.

Now, you can go on Amazon and use their buying guide—which helps you find mattress of different firmnesses, made for back, side, and stomach sleepers—and it will be sent rolled up in a box to your house for less than $400.

WATCH: Watch a Soothing Montage of Inspiring Quotes to Uplift Your Day—or Help You Sleep—NEW From GNN

5) Spend part of your day like a hunter-gatherer

Melatonin, the hormone secreted from the pineal gland that signals cells to enter sleep mode, is increased with several activities.

Daylight exposure, physical exercise, and a day totally void of naps will all take you a little bit further towards a good night of sleep, and a simple Google Scholar search can reveal studies examining these activities and their consequences — especially sunlight exposure, in every aspect of circadian biology.

6) Take note of your coffee consumption

The biological half-life of a molecule of caffeine is between 3-7 hours, after which it has another half-life to burn before the psychoactive effects are finally finished.

Caffeine, normally consumed in coffee, has many health benefits. However, most sleep experts would recommend calling it curtains on coffee consumption by noon: that way very little of the caffeine molecules are left in your bloodstream by the time you lay down to sleep.

One cup of coffee in the evening is enough to disrupt sleep by 20%, according to Dr. Matthew Walker.

7) Stick to a sleep schedule

Another of the CDC and Mayo Clinic’s suggestions for sleep quality is to try and stick to a schedule, going to bed and waking up at the same time every day.

Obviously this can be difficult, especially on the weekends, but it’s a very powerful acclimatizer for the brain’s sleep hardware.

MORE: Having Trouble Sleeping? New Research Says a Dose of Saffron Can Help You Doze

8) Ignore your text tones

The popular mediation and mental wellness app Headspace adds this to the list of things that can disrupt sleep: checking emails before bed.

They note a study done at Virginia Tech from 2018 which found that the mere expectation of checking work email after hours can cause anxiety and stress, not to mention expose your eyes to the blue light of your tablet, phone, or computer screen.

CHECK OUT: Stressed to the Max? New Study Shows Deep Sleep Can Reduce Anxiety By 30%

9) Make your bedroom the most quiet room in the house

Returning to Dr. Walker’s commentaries on sleep, the Englishman notes in a radio interview that a study found the brain can detect noise while sleeping, which rather than causing us to wake up, can actually cause it to lift itself out of the deeper, more restorative cycles of sleep, and into shallower, less-restorative ones.

The host, Rhonda Patrick Ph.D., suggests that street noise, such as cars honking or doors slamming, could be enough to cause this shift, however the study mentioned was done only with ambient tones in a sleep laboratory.

If you sometimes wake up feeling weak and disoriented, and the windows of your bedroom face the street you live on, try relocating to a different room to prevent yourself from being partially woken in the night. Ear plugs may also help.

LOOK: This Hi-Tech Bed With Revolving Blanket Could Prevent Blanket-Hogging Between Couples

10) Take supplements, not Ambien

Walker concluded the same radio interview by suggesting Ambien and other sleep aids are not sleeping pills, but sedatives. As such, they don’t place the brain in the same level of restorative sleep as natural sleep does.

If you feel you need help, there are several natural chemicals you can try, these include melatonin, aka “the Sleep Hormone,” or tryptophan, one of the essential amino acids—it’s a primary precursor to melatonin production.

READ: Smelling Your Lover’s Shirt Could Improve Your Sleep As Much as Sleeping Aids

One can also acquire tryptophan from their diet. As an amino acid it is most abundantly found in meat, but bananas, nuts, and seeds are also sources of tryptophan.

Don’t Snooze! Share These Handy Sleeping Tips With Your Friends…

On this day, 60 years ago, The Flintstones premiered on American television. Produced by Hanna-Barbera studio, it follows two couples living next door during the Stone Age—Wilma and Fred Flintstone and their best friends Betty and Barney Rubble. It was the first animated series to hold an evening prime time slot on television, and was designed to capture an adult audience watching alongside kids, like their Tom and Jerry cartoon series did.

The show juxtaposed everyday family concerns of the era, such as raising children and pets, fathers going off to work, and living in a home with modern conveniences (but powered by animals, in this case). An homage to The Honeymooners, it showcased the “modern stone-age family” set in the town of Bedrock.

The Flintstones was the most financially successful and longest-running network animated television series for three decades, until The Simpsons. A little trivia: Mel Blanc, famous for voicing Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig, did the voice of Barney, who often was the victim of Fred’s short temper but always remained a loyal bowling buddy and best friend. WATCH some ‘Yabba Dabba Doo’ highlights… (1960)

More Good News on this Date:

• Rumi, the beloved Persian poet and Sufi mystic of the thirteenth century was born (1207)
• Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute premiered in Vienna, Austria (1791)
• The American amateur astronomer Henry Draper made the first ever photograph of the Orion Nebula, using his 11-inch Clark Brothers photographic refractor with a 50-minute exposure, becoming a pioneer in the use of astrophotography (1880)
• The author and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel was born (1928–2016)
• League of Nations unanimously outlawed intentionally bombing civilians (1938)
• Mexican-American labor leader César Chávez founded the United Farm Workers (1962)
• Botswana celebrating Independence Day (1966)
• The UK’s first national pop radio station, BBC Radio 1 was launched in the UK to take over from the very successful pirate radio stations, which had been forced off-air by the government—and former pirate DJ Tony Blackburn of Radio Caroline became the first presenter on air (1967)
• Roberto Clemente reached his 3,000th hit, the last of his baseball career, before his death in a plane crash while in route to deliver humanitarian aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua (1972)
• The first president chosen in free elections by the Serbian people, Vojislav Kostunica, was sworn in after defeating Slobodan Milosevic, Europe’s last dictator, by a wide margin (2000)
• A giant squid in its natural habitat is photographed for the first time 600 miles south of Tokyo (2004)

And, on this day in 1968, the first Boeing 747 aircraft was rolled out of the assembly plant before the world’s press and the 26 airline company officials who had ordered the Jumbo Jet.

The wide-body plane could be used as either a cargo aircraft—with its distinctive upper-deck accessible through an optional front cargo door—or as a passenger jet with an upper deck used for a first–class lounge or extra seating. Designed to transport 150 percent more people than the Boeing 707, it held the record for passenger capacity for 37 years. It exceeded critics’ expectations and as of this summer, 1,546 aircraft had been built, with 22 still on order.

91 years ago today, automaker Fritz von Opel flew the first manned rocket plane. The Opel RAK.1 (also known as the RAK.3, as it was his third design) was the world’s first purpose-built rocket-powered aircraft.

Grandson of the Opel company founder, he developed a rocket-powered car and train with the assistance of a pyrotechnics manufacturer and rocketry advocate Max Valier—but their most notable success was the RAK.1, designed and built by Julius Hatry.

Opel singlehandedly piloted the small glider with a wingspan of 36 feet, which was attached to sixteen solid rocket engines, in front of a large crowd at Rebstock airport near Frankfurt, Germany. It flew as fast as 93 mph (150 km/h) for almost a mile (1.5 km) in 75 seconds, before it landed hard, damaging the aircraft beyond repair. Opel planned to build a second rocket plane, but apparently lost interest before the project was completed. WATCH the short filmed flight… (1929)

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Not that long ago, LaShenda Williams was living in her car and wondering where her next meal was coming from. Raised in the foster care system, Williams never had a stable home life.

“I spent my life moving from foster care to foster care, dealing with child abuse and things like that,” Williams told CNN. “In the end, nobody wanted me, and I stayed in the system until my senior year [of high school].”

In addition to the abuse she suffered in foster care, Williams was hampered by a learning disability that made finding jobs more difficult. But even so, she never stopped trying.

Whether it was luck or fate that led her to the parking lot of an East Nashville, Tennessee Kroger grocery store, Williams’ life was about to change for the better.

By day, she became a store regular, striking up conversations and making friends, even when she couldn’t afford to buy food. At night, she’d move her car to a new location, hoping that the staff wouldn’t realize she was living in the parking lot.

RELATED: The Homeless In Oxford Won’t Need to Go Back to Sleeping Outside, Even if Pandemic Ends This Year

When associate store manager Jackie Vandal heard Williams mention her goal of working at the store one day, she told her about an upcoming job fair.

Impressed by Williams’ can-do, upbeat people skills, Vandal made sure she made the cut from candidate to new hire, helping Williams with her application and even tweaking her résumé.

READ Hotel Stays Open During Lockdowns to House Homeless Locals; And They’re Repaying the Favor With Odd Jobs

It only took Williams a month to get her first promotion, from part-time cashier to full-time checkout associate. Soon after, she was able to afford a new place to live. As it turned out, it was the very first apartment she’d ever had with her name on the lease.

When Kroger customer V.L. Williams (no relation) learned his favorite sales associate was getting her first place but didn’t have anything to furnish it with, he looked to social media for help. “She is always trying to help someone always trying to be a light in a world that may seem very dark,” V.L. told WZTV Nashville.

His post to the East Nashville Facebook group got more than 200 responses. Furniture, small appliances, and just about anything you’d need to furnish a home started pouring in.

“You don’t know how good this feels. I’ve been through a lot. Thank you… this means the world to me,” an emotional Williams told her benefactors.

Thanks to the life-altering chain of events that started in a Kroger parking lot, Williams now considers her co-workers and her customers—whom she calls “her babies”—to be her true family.

“When I was hungry, they fed me. When I needed a pair of gloves, they gave them to me. These workers that I work with, they are my family,” she told Good Morning America.

The feeling is more than mutual, with manager Jackie saying, “I wish we had 120 of her!”

MORE: Face-Masked Batman is ‘The Superhero to the Homeless’, Bringing Food to Them Across Santiago

With her indomitable spirit, welcoming attitude, and warm as sunshine energy, happily for Williams, sometimes what goes around really does come around—and nowhere has it been more well-deserved.

(WATCH LaShenda Williams’ uplifting story on Nashville’s WKRN-TV.)

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Nearly six in 10 Americans have a new appreciation of nature during quarantine, according to a new survey.

The poll asked 2,000 Americans about how they’re keeping their moods up in light of social-distancing measures.

58% of respondents shared they didn’t appreciate nature as much as they should have before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conducted by OnePoll on behalf of the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation and their Get on Board campaign, the survey showed three-quarters of respondents are starting to feel a boost in their moods thanks to spending more time outdoors—with 66% sharing they’re doing more outdoor activities close to home.

RELATED: The Science Behind Why We Need More of the ‘Secret Sauce’ of Kindness

Six in 10 shared they’ve been able to finally take the time to explore their local communities, with local parks, trails, and lakes topping the list of new-found areas.

A time to bond

Just over half of respondents have also gone fishing during their time in quarantine, and 27% have specifically done so to boost their mental health. That this activity can be done while adhering to social distancing guidelines is also a boon for many. A quarter of those who go out with a rod also said a perk of the activity is the bond they can share with their loved ones.

With a plethora of options for outdoor activities, nearly four in 10 respondents have actually become more physically active during their time in quarantine. In fact, 32% of respondents are participating in more outdoor activities than ever.

One of the joys of this newfound appreciation of nature? It brings many people right back to happy childhood memories of being out in the open air with family.

It looks like few want to stop with their nature-based activities anytime soon: 69% of respondents are planning to incorporate more outdoor activities into their lifestyle even after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides.

MORE: Stressed? This Study Says You Simply Need a 20-Minute ‘Nature Pill’

“We can all use a little mood boost these days,” said Stephanie Vatalaro, RBFF’s Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications. “The outdoors has lots of activities to pick from, so there’s something for everyone.”

TOP OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES THAT BRING AMERICANS’ BACK TO CHILDHOOD

1. Fishing – 37%
2. Camping – 34%
3. Going to the beach – 31%
4. Going to a lake – 31%
5. Outdoor cycling – 28%
6. Running – 24%
7. Going to a river – 23%
8. Boating – 23%
9. Flying a kite – 23%
10. Hiking – 22%
11. Gardening – 21%
12. Bird watching – 17%
13. Outdoor rock climbing – 11%
14. Kayaking – 10%

SHARE The Results With Others Who Love To Be Out In The Fresh Air…

The construction of an electric road will make Tel Aviv the first city worldwide to institute the large-scale rollout of a technology that can charge vehicles as they drive.

Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, in partnership with ElectReon and Dan Bus Company, has launched a pilot to install wireless electric roads for charging public transportation in the city.

RELATED: Downtown Sydney is Now Powered By 100% Renewable Energy Thanks to Historic Deal

The project will be carried out between Tel Aviv University Railway Station and Klatzkin Terminal in Ramat Aviv—a two-kilometer route including 600 meters of electric road.​

According to a statement, the project will enable specially equipped electric buses, capable of being charged directly from under-road electric infrastructure, to travel on the route.

This means the buses won’t need expensive, heavy batteries. They won’t need to go to charging or gas stations. When traveling along the necessary infrastructure, they’ll actually have unlimited journey times.

Following the completion of tests and integration of the technology, a Dan Bus Company electric bus will commence regular journeys on the route, serving passengers traveling to Tel Aviv University.

MORE: Eco-Friendly Behavior In This Finnish Town Gets You Free Cake

From there, the city will evaluate the possibility of additional electric transportation: including distribution trucks and private and autonomous vehicles.

The execution of the pilot project forms part of a wider municipal policy that attaches great importance to electric vehicles and reducing air pollution in the city.

The electric roads will also aid municipal efforts to reduce noise pollution in order to improve quality of life for residents and visitors to the city.

Meital Lehavi, Deputy Mayor for Transportation at Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, said, “We have no doubt that, if the wide-scale experiment is successful, it will not only benefit the public, but also save resources, improve the operational efficiency of public transportation, and maybe even a new world-class method of electrification will emanate from Tel Aviv-Yafo.”

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It’s not often you hear good news about the health and prosperity of bee colonies in the United States or globally for that matter, but recent data collections released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture show that some states are experiencing growths in colony numbers of 70% or more.

Not only was there a 14% increase in the number of honey bee colonies from the period of January 2019 to January 2020, but the states experiencing the broadest increase in colony growth—Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Maine—added tens of thousands of colonies.

Maine, the number one state for thriving bees, grew colony numbers by 73% since 2018, while Michigan also saw a 50% increase over the same period.

Between January and June 2020, Texas saw its bee population grow by 38%; between 2018-2019, it added almost 100,000 colonies, roughly totaling another 33% overall increase.

Indeed, in the first half of 2020, the United States as a whole added roughly 420,000 more colonies to its bee populations than were lost.

RELATED: Minnesota Will Pay for Your Landscaping Costs If You Plant Bee-Friendly Greenery

The New York Bee Sanctuary offers gardening and landscape practices to maintain nearby bee populations, as pollen and nectar from flowers are an important source of food for bees who could be out foraging and in need of energy.

MORE: Want to Help Bees? Leave the Dandelions Alone This Spring

Good News Network also describes in this article how there are plants—dandelions for instance—that are often treated as weeds but which also offer bees important nectar and pollen supplies. Time to start thinking about next spring’s planting?

BUZZ The Good Bee News Over To Your Friends On Social Media…

A California company is employing ocean microorganisms to convert methane into physical material in order to make a line of single-use straws and cutlery.

Newlight hopes their revolutionary technology, which Popular Science called “the most important innovation of the year,” will go a long way in removing the burden of single-use plastic straws and other takeaway food components from the ocean.

The manner in which the material, that Newlight calls “Air Carbon,” is made, comes straight from the example of nature—taking in a greenhouse gas is something co-founder and CEO Mark Herrema notes happens every day in the form of photosynthesis in plants. Since 2003, the company has been wondering if it were possible to harness that action.

Underwater, however, microorganisms don’t merely dine on CO2, but more powerful greenhouse gases like methane as well.

Harvesting methane from an abandoned mine in California, engineers at Newlight add the gas to a tank containing 15,000 gallons of seawater and millions of microbes.

RELATED: These Scientists Are Fighting Ocean Plastic With Biodegradable Flip Flops Made From Algae

The microbes consumed the methane and turned it into a meltable energy source inside themselves, which Newlight promptly extracted and dried into a fine white powder that’s dishwasher-safe, carbon-negative, and ocean-degradable.

Form and Function

Newlight has been able to generate a line of hyper-sustainable products; the aforementioned flatware and straws, but also fashion products.

CHECK OUT: BeyondPlastic Awards For Innovative Packaging: Bags that Melt When Boiled and Sustainable Toothpaste Tube

Covalent makes a line of wallets and sunglasses out of the same Air Carbon material, neutralizing the greenhouse gases associated with the production of leather and synthetic materials with the special carbon-negative ocean-born material, eliminating greenhouse gasses in every stage of the value chain.

Meanwhile, Restore Foodware, dissolves in seawater like cellulose, which actually provides food to everything from microorganisms to fish.

Their line of cocktail and jumbo straws along with takeaway flatware won Technology Pioneer Award from the World Economic Forum.

The cutlery and fashion items are available for pre-order—with shipping estimated to begin by October 30 as production ramps up at a new facility in Southern California.

The people at Newlight feel that the unique way in which Air Carbon is made infuses a bit of the earth and humanity into our day-to-day lives, and can represent the circular economy in a meaningful way.

MORE: This Vending Machine Refills Cleaning Products—Reining in Plastic And Saving You Money

The methane born of human productivity goes to feed nature’s microbes that create a product which we can then use in our homes again; the cycle concludes after it returns to the ocean, whose waters it and ourselves also emerged from, to breakdown and feed the life which produces the material once again.

INFLUENCE Your Friends to See Eco-Friendly Items Anew – SHARE On Social Media…

30 years ago today, construction on the National Cathedral in Washington, DC was finally completed—83 years-to-the-day after the foundation stone was laid in the presence of President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907.

Including 112 gargoyles, many carved by master stone carver Roger Morigi, this Episcopal Church features a dizzying array of whimsy, including—one of its most popular attractions—a stone carving of Darth Vader installed as a gargoyle in 1986 on the building’s north “dark” side.

The sixth largest cathedral in the world and the second largest in America, it is filled with memorials to persons or events of national significance, including statues of Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, Presidents Washington and Lincoln, and stained glass commemorating events like the Lewis and Clark expedition and the raising of the American flag at Iwo Jima. Tours of the grounds host a quarter million visitors every year.

There are many other works of art including over 215 stained glass windows, the most familiar of which may be The Space Window, honoring mankind’s landing on the Moon, which actually has a fragment of lunar rock embedded at its center.

Sitting on 57 acres atop a hill with a tower that constitutes the highest point in the nation’s capital, more than 220 people are interred in the Cathedral, including President Woodrow Wilson and Helen Keller, who is buried alongside her teacher Annie Sullivan in the Cathedral crypt. TAKE a quick video tour… (1990)

– Exterior photo by Siubo11A, CC license

More Good News on This Date:

• New York Giants center-fielder Willie Mays made what is widely considered to be the greatest catch ever made in baseball with his back to home plate, running down a ball hit by a Cleveland Indians player in Game 1 of the World Series—Watch below (1954)
• Pope John Paul II became the first pope to set foot on Irish soil with his visit to the Republic of Ireland (1979)
• The space shuttle Discovery blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., marking America’s return to manned space flight, which was grounded after the Challenger disaster (1988)
• Bruce Springsteen, while traveling on his motorbike from Los Angeles, stopped in at Matt’s Saloon in Prescott, Arizona where he jammed with the house band–playing classics like ‘Don’t Be Cruel’ and ‘Route 66’– and also donated $100,000 to a barmaid’s hospital bill (1989)
• The Nintendo 64 gaming console was released in North America, and with its speedy advanced 3D graphics and gameplay, 32 million units were sold for $200 worldwide (1996)
• 62,000 people attended the Global Citizen Festival in Central Park, enjoying concert performances by Neil Young, Foo Fighters, and The Black Keys to promote anti-poverty initiatives with the Global Poverty Project—$167.5 million in new commitments were raised (2012)

And, on this day 473 years ago, Miguel de Cervantes, the Spanish author thought to be the father of the modern novel, was born. In prison, he hatched the idea for his masterpiece, Don Quixote, published in 1605.

He conceived it to be a parody of the romance genre that was popular in the day. Cervantes said, “Too much sanity may be madness, and the maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be.” (1547)

And, on this day in 1986, Designing Women premiered on CBS, bringing laughs and Southern hospitality to American TV screens. Created by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, the Emmy and Golden Globe nominated sitcom aired for seven seasons and depicted the lives of four women and one man working together at an interior design firm in Atlanta, Georgia.

The show’s memorable cast of smart, feisty women included Dixie Carter playing the self-confident Julia Sugarbaker, president of the company; Delta Burke as her self-centered beauty-queen sister, Annie Potts as the sarcastic head designer Mary Jo; and Jean Smart as Charlene, the naive and sunny office manager. Meshach Taylor played the ex-con deliveryman who was attending law school to improve his life.

51 years ago today, Love, American Style, the anthology comedy series produced by Paramount Television first aired. The show—considered risqué at the time—featured unrelated humorous tales of romance (or break-ups) filmed in different locations with new or returning actors and characters each week. For several seasons, it topped-off a powerhouse ABC lineup on Friday nights with The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, Room 222, and The Odd Couple.

Two of the show’s segments served as pilots for successful TV shows. In 1972, Love, American Style aired an episode with a segment entitled Love and the Television Set, about Richie Cunningham, his family, and friends. The premise and characters would later be spun into the television series Happy Days, with that original segment serving as the de facto pilot for the series.

The series, which derived its name from an Oscar-nominated 1961 film called Divorce, Italian Style, received several Emmy nominations, including two in 1970–1971 for Best Comedy Series.  (1969)

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In “The Mandalorian,” Baby Yoda (a.k.a “the Child”) has a habit of popping up in places where grown men fear to tread and facing danger head-on with a wisdom beyond his years.

Perhaps it was the outsized courage of the diminutive Disney hero that inspired one big-hearted little boy to tap the foot-tall green toddler from a galaxy far away for a perilous but crucial assignment.

When Carver and his grandmother, Sasha Tinning, were putting together supplies to send to first responders battling California’s latest outbreak of wildfires, the 5-year-old spotted a solitary plush toy Baby Yoda sitting on a shelf.

Whether he truly understood the exhausting emotional toll tirelessly fighting the devastating infernos was taking on fire crews, the 5-year-old’s course of action was immediately clear.

That’s because, like Baby Yoda, Carver is also wise beyond his years. “I have always wanted to help and uplift anyone that’s around me. And this really was a bright spot in a dark time I wanted to share with everyone,” he told KSAT.

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Along with his grandmother’s help and a handwritten note that read:

“Thank you, firefighters. Here is a friend for you, in case you get lonely <3 Love, Carver”

Carver sent Baby Yoda on a mission of comfort and care to the front lines.

Sporting a jaunty stars-and-stripes headband, the alien mascot has since traveled to the sites of numerous West Coast hot spots, bringing solace to the brave women and men battling the blazes there.

Highlights of his exploits have even been chronicled on his own ‘Baby Yoda fights fires’ Facebook page.

While Star Wars fans may be most familiar with Yoda’s famous refrain, “a Jedi’s strength flows from the force,” the astute Jedi Master also believed, “truly wonderful, the mind of a child is.”

MORE: Watch the Adorable Moment a Little Girl in Star Wars Costume Gets to Meet Her Hero BB-8 Droid in Real Life

One thing we know for certain—the force is strong with Carver.

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