Buzz
March is upon us, and we’re beginning with a dose of joy. This roundup features some of the most inspiring and lighthearted stories from the past few days. For a more offbeat collection of odd and unusual tales, be sure to check out the offbeat list here.
This week highlights contrasts as we bring you stories from both ends of the age spectrum. A senior citizen spends his days collecting coins to donate, while a grandmother in her 100s jumps out of an airplane.
At the same time, a teenager sets the record as the youngest person to achieve nuclear fusion, a premature baby defies the odds and goes home, and a 12-year-old journalist-in-the-making shows the kind of perseverance we all hope to see in the field. And of course, there are also dogs and a chubby rat.
10. The Coin Collector
A Canadian retiree has a distinctive way of spending his spare time: He combs the streets of Montreal in search of loose change to gather and donate.
Young S. New embraces a simple philosophy that his father passed down to him in Korea: Honor the penny. After retiring, he took up a new hobby. Every day, he would stroll through his west-end Montreal neighborhood, hunting for forgotten coins. It served as both a good workout and a way to perform a daily act of kindness.
New has been on this mission for 12 years now. Others joined him, and he even founded a group known as the Montreal Hainneville Collectors (MHC). Initially, the collected funds were shared between New’s church and the Gazette Christmas Fund. Today, he prefers to directly help the homeless with the money he gathers.
9. Jackson’s Laboratory
An American teen and nuclear engineering enthusiast may have become the youngest person in the world to achieve nuclear fusion.
At just 14 years old, Jackson Oswalt from Memphis, Tennessee, is a regular contributor to the Open Source Fusor Research Consortium’s online forum. With approximately $10,000 worth of equipment purchased from eBay, he transformed an old playroom in his parents' house into a makeshift nuclear lab.
Forum posts indicate that Jackson successfully heated deuterium gas and fused the nuclei to produce energy, effectively triggering a nuclear reaction. He accomplished this feat in early January 2018, when he was only 12 years old.
While the hobbyist research community acknowledges Oswalt’s achievement, it must be confirmed by an official body and published in an academic journal for full acceptance in the scientific world. If validated, Jackson will officially become the youngest person ever to achieve nuclear fusion, surpassing the previous record-holder, Taylor Wilson, who accomplished it at age 14.
8. A Bad Person Doing a Kind Deed?
A stranger performed a good deed when he approached a Girl Scout troop selling cookies and bought all of their remaining stock so they could escape the cold.
Last Friday, Troop 1574 from Greenville, South Carolina, was diligently selling Girl Scout cookies despite the chilly 1 degree Celsius (34 °F) weather. Kayla Dillard, one of the mothers, was there acting as the ‘cookie manager.’
A kind-hearted man walked up to their table, first purchasing seven boxes of cookies and handing over $40, telling the girls to keep the change. He then reconsidered, returned, and bought the rest of the cookies, allowing the scouts to pack up early. In total, he spent another $540 on cookies.
The troop managed to sell more than 220 boxes of cookies that evening. The majority of them were purchased by the stranger, who chose to remain anonymous, though he did take a photo with two of the scouts.
The story took an unexpected twist this week. After his photo went viral, the man, later identified as Detric McGowan, was arrested in a DEA operation on multiple federal drug charges.
7. Firefighters Perform a Rodent Rescue
Firefighters from Bensheim, Germany, were called for an unusual rescue this week. A plump rat, still carrying some extra winter weight, found herself stuck in the hole of a manhole cover and needed help to get free.
A young girl was the first to notice the distressed rat. She quickly reached out to animal rescuer Michael Sehr. After struggling to free the animal on his own, Sehr called for help from the fire department. Eight volunteer firefighters arrived to assist, though most of them spent their time either watching or filming the strange rescue operation.
The real challenge wasn’t just rescuing the rat from the hole but doing so in a way that ensured no one, including the rat, was harmed. One firefighter held the animal steady while others lifted the manhole cover and propped it up with wedges. Sehr then carefully removed the chubby rat and released her back into the sewer.
6. Grandma Soars Into the Sky
A centenarian marked her 100th birthday in an exhilarating way: she went skydiving for the very first time.
Jane Haynes is far from the typical pensioner. As her daughter, Patricia, describes it, “[Jane’s] life truly began at 60.” That’s when Jane made the decision to embrace every moment of her life and embarked on a series of adventures. She hiked the Grand Canyon, explored the ancient Mayan ruins in Guatemala, and even went whitewater rafting in Alaska.
Recently, Jane set her sights on a new challenge—skydiving. It had been a dream of hers ever since she watched her granddaughter take the leap. What better way to celebrate her 100th birthday than by ticking that box off her bucket list?
Jane traveled to Skydive Arizona in Eloy, where she jumped tandem from 4,000 meters (13,000 ft). She landed safely and is likely already planning her next big adventure.
5. Sully Takes on a New Role
Sully, the loyal service dog of President George H.W. Bush, has started a new chapter in his life by helping veterans at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center with the US Navy.
This yellow Labrador underwent training and earned his certification as a service dog from the nonprofit America’s VetDogs. After Barbara Bush passed away in April 2018, Sully became the companion of George H.W. Bush. When George Bush Sr. passed away in November 2018, Sully’s image of lying beside his master’s coffin went viral, earning him worldwide attention.
Now, Sully has transitioned to working at the medical center alongside other service dogs. His role will involve interacting with both the staff and patients to alleviate stress and promote overall well-being.
In a formal ceremony, Sully was promoted to the rank of hospital corpsman second class and received his military vest as part of his new “uniform.” His personalized oath of enlistment vows that Sully will “comfort and cure warriors and their families, active and retired,” and will do so selflessly, “without any promise of treats or tummy rubs.”
4. Ready for Business
In Canada, a grocery store staff made the mistake of leaving the supermarket completely open, with the doors unlocked. While this could easily have led to chaos, the result was instead an impressive display of honesty.
On February 18, Family Day in Canada, the Food Basics supermarket in Kingston, Ontario, was expected to be closed. However, no employees arrived for their shifts, and the doors were unintentionally left unlocked. Shoppers began to enter, unaware that the store was unattended.
While some might have seen this as an opportunity for free shopping, the reality was quite different. The customers, though confused and maybe slightly frustrated, left without taking anything.
One witness reported seeing a man exiting the store with two packs of cherry tomatoes. When asked if he was just going to take them, the shopper replied that he had left $5 on the counter to pay for them.
The police were alerted, and they quickly contacted the store management. By the afternoon, staff arrived and conducted an inventory check. They confirmed that several other shoppers had followed the example set by the first customer, listing the groceries they took and leaving money on the counters.
3. The Story of Cuddles
Born to be a fierce fighter, she was rescued from a dog fighting ring only to be sentenced to death. She received a second chance and spent time in prison, where she earned her PhD. Now, Cuddles the pit bull has found her happily ever after with a former veteran and retired firefighter.
In 2015, Cuddles and 20 other pit bulls were rescued after a police raid on a dog fighting operation in Ontario, Canada. An animal behavior expert from the SPCA suggested that the dogs be euthanized due to their aggression, making them difficult to rehome.
The pit bulls came to be known as the Ontario 21. Animal rights activists rallied against the death sentence, taking their fight to court. After two years of legal battles, they brought in a third-party evaluator to reassess the dogs' behavior, who approved all but two for retraining.
Cuddles was entrusted to a nonprofit organization in Florida called Pit Sisters. She was enrolled in the Teaching Animals and Inmates Life Skills (TAILS) prison program. She thrived in the program and graduated with a PhD from the Association of Professional Dog Trainers (APDT) and a Canine Good Citizen certification from the American Kennel Club (AKC).
Late last year, Cuddles finally found her forever home in New York with Billy Brauer. The 73-year-old former firefighter, who had suffered a stroke, was seeking companionship, and the two immediately bonded.
2. The Fight for the Fourth Estate
A town in Arizona issued a formal apology to a determined 12-year-old reporter after a marshal infringed on her First Amendment rights.
Hilde Lysiak stands out from most girls her age. With ambitious goals in journalism, she has been working toward her dream since a young age. She is already a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
She runs her own online newspaper, the Orange Street News, where she curates and publishes news about her hometown of Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. In 2016, at just nine years old, Hilde made headlines when she reported on a murder in her neighborhood, breaking the story hours before other news outlets.
Hilde recently traveled to Patagonia, Arizona, to follow up on a tip. While there, she encountered town marshal Joseph Patterson. When she introduced herself as a reporter, the officer allegedly told her to stop with the “freedom of the press stuff” and threatened to arrest her, even suggesting she could be sent to juvie.
Most children would have been intimidated by this, but Hilde took it as an opportunity to dig deeper. She approached the marshal again and recorded their exchange, capturing him lying on camera, claiming that posting the video online was illegal.
The incident stirred up some controversy. After a town council meeting, Patagonia's Mayor, Andrea Wood, issued an apology to Hilde Lysiak. The young journalist accepted the apology, eager to continue her work and cover the news.
1. Tiny Baby Boy Goes Home
A premature baby boy has made history as the smallest male to ever survive treatment and leave the hospital in healthy condition.
The baby was born prematurely in August at just 24 weeks gestation through an emergency C-section at Keio University Hospital in Tokyo, Japan. He weighed a mere 268 grams (9.45 oz), 6 grams (0.2 oz) lighter than the previous record-holder.
Babies weighing under 300 grams (10.6 oz) face very low survival chances, and these odds are even worse for boys. Although doctors are unsure of the exact cause, they suspect it may be related to slower development of the lungs in male infants.
The boy spent the initial five months of his life in the hospital, but against all expectations, he pulled through. After receiving care in the intensive care unit, the baby now weighs 3.2 kilograms (7 lbs) and is feeding well. He was finally able to leave the hospital and return home with his family last week.
