http://www.dailygood.org/ Extraordinary, positive changes are happening all around the world and are often overlooked. Come in and get inspired as we showcase the uplifting news stories you might have otherwise missed. en-us qad@charityfocus.org The Hadza tribe in Tanzania do not engage in warfare. They've never lived densely enough to be seriously threatened by an infectious outbreak. They have no known history of famine; rather, there is evidence of people from a farming group coming to live with them during a time of crop failure. The Hadza diet remains even today more stable and varied than that of most of the world's citizens. They enjoy an extraordinary amount of leisure time. Anthropologists have estimated that they "work" -- actively pursue food -- four to six hours a day. And over all these thousands of years, they've left hardly more than a footprint on the land. The Hadza recognize no official leaders. None has more wealth; or, rather, they all have no wealth. There are few social obligations -- no birthdays, no religious holidays, no anniversaries. National Geographic asks, "What do they know that we've forgotten?" http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?qid=4056 http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?qid=4056 Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800 Ever wonder how Michael Dell came up with the idea to create his own computer company? Or how Pierre Omidyar dreamed up the online marketplace eBay? Or how Jeff Bezos came up with the bold moves needed to develop Amazon.com into one of America's most successful companies? "I always thought creativity was genetic -- that some people have it, some people don't," Jeff Dyer said. But that was before he did six years of research at BYU. Now, he thinks otherwise. One key characteristic among the visionaries? The tendency to ask questions -- a lot of them -- and to challenge the status quo -- plenty. http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?qid=4055 http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?qid=4055 Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800 Garrett Hardin's famous essay, "The Tragedy of the Commons," argued that individual self-interest would always destroy any land or resource collectively held by a community. Elinor Ostrom, the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Economics last year, thinks otherwise. Citing examples from Swiss peasants to African farmers, Ostrom argues that community property often does flourish and people do come together to solve communal problems. Read more in an interview with Ostrom. http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?qid=4043 http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?qid=4043 Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800 Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee discovered the power of "oneness" in jazz music. An accomplished bass player who was performing and teaching jazz by his mid-20s, he recalls with reverence those rare moments when an ensemble melds into something special that transcends the skills of the individual players. For the past five years, Mr. Vaughan-Lee has put that concept of "oneness" into practice on a larger scale: The musician has become a filmmaker. He has traveled the world producing short films that, while honoring diversity, seek to demonstrate the underlying bonds of humanity. http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?qid=4052 http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?qid=4052 Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800 Six years ago, Elias Khoury's 20-year-old son, George, was killed in a Palestinian terrorist attack. The Khourys are Palestinian, so the murder of George -- who was out for a jog and shot from behind by gunmen in a car -- produced an apology. Sorry, the killers said, we assumed the jogger was a Jew. Now, in memory of his son, Mr. Khoury did something that shocked many in his community. He paid for the translation into Arabic of the autobiography of Israel's most prominent author and dove, Amos Oz -- A Tale of Love and Darkness. http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?qid=4051 http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?qid=4051 Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800 The moments just before deployment can be highly stressful for those in the military, but a new study published in the journal Emotion finds that meditation improved mood and bolstered working memory -- the short-term memory used for managing information, controlling emotions, problem solving and complex thought. By just meditating 12 minutes a day, the Marines were able to boost their scores on mood and working memory evaluations. http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?qid=4050 http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?qid=4050 Sat, 06 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800 The crowd, straining every muscle to get a brief touch of his robe, was violently thrown back by Indian police as the Dalai Lama passed. It was unlike anything I had experienced before or have since: such extreme fervor of religious devotion for a single man. How, I wondered, could this gentle, mild-mannered monk support such a high level of expectation? "I've never seen anything like this in my life. How do you deal with it?" I ask. He thinks for a few moments, apparently oblivious to the small riot developing from this brief delay (and much to the aggravation of the Indian police and a wandering cow). "I'm carrying Buddha's message," he finally replies. "People have affinity for Buddha, and therefore they have affinity for me." The humility was characteristically disarming. http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?qid=3936 http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?qid=3936 Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800