Another week has flown by. I am happy to note that there is now more good news being posted to this blog than bad news. For a while I was focusing on many of the current events that are plaguing the world…and I still believe it’s important to stay informed…but I needed a place where everything was not just BAD news. So…here is some GOOD news!

Students in Uruguay Get Laptops

Computers are being provided to children of Uruguay by the One Laptop Per Child Foundation (a nonprofit group).

So far 400,000 laptops have been delivered and more are on the way before the end of 2009. Children have access to the computers both during school and outside of school and the laptops have been designed to be easily portable. There are no hard drives in the laptops. Instead the computers use flashdrives to store data.

Subway Hero Rescues Man, then Disappears

Subway heroes happen occasionally in New York subways. Chad Lindsey recently became one himself.

Lindsey was waiting for a train at Penn Station when he saw a man walk quickly toward the edge of the platform. The man fell, hit his head, and passed out. Lindsey jumped down and tried unsuccessfully to wake the man up. He finally grabbed the man and hoisted him back up onto the platform. The train came about 10 seconds later.

After the police arrived, Lindsey stepped onto another train and left. The man was treated at a hospital and released.

Robot Legs May Lift People From Wheelchairs

In 1986, Monty Reed was an Army Ranger. On a routine night jump another ranger accidentally got too close to his parachute causing his chute to close. Monty crashed to the ground and broke his back in five places.

Not realizing how seriously he was hurt, Monty actually was able to walk eight miles to a waiting helicopter in this condition. The next morning, however, he could not move. Doctors told him he would never walk again.

While recovering, Monty began to envision the concept of man-made muscles that would help people with disabilities.

Monty himself worked hard for years and was able to recover to the point of even jumping out of another airplane. However, his experience with disability fueled the desire to help those who are not able to recover. His project was to create a robot that people could wear to help them out of their wheelchairs.

While the design is rough, it works. Now Monty is receiving help from volunteers and is hoping to have a working model ready for testing soon.