Stunning Bubble Hotel Under the Icelandic Stars is Truly the Perfect ‘Socially Distancing’ Destination

A secluded retreat in South Iceland caters to guests who want to be surrounded by nature—and you will be literally immersed in it, staying in your own private bubble nestled in the forest.

You can sleep under the vast sea of twinkling stars and be entirely enclosed in the glass bubble—and if you are lucky, you’ll get a once-in-a-lifetime view of the aurora borealis over your head.

Robert Robertsson, the owner and managing director of the Buubble project based in Reykjavík summed it up saying, “Some childhood dreams stay with us for our whole lives.”

“Sleeping under the stars or watching the aurora borealis dance is one of those lifelong dreams.”

The entrepreneur created the Bubble concept to fulfill those dreams. And, now with COVID-19 cases down to one or two per day in Iceland, it might be the perfect pandemic getaway.

“Forget the city, forget work, and enjoy watching the aurora borealis dance for you. We can‘t guarantee you will see the lights, but if they show up you will have a magical night.”

Licensed as a travel agency, Buubble.com has two location in South Iceland.

Up to 2 guests can stay in the bubbles, with children under the age of 6 can staying in the bed with the parents.

The regular cost is $830, but Robertsson is offering a COVID-19 discount which would bring the amount down to $618, and allow you to book anytime using the open ticket in the next five years.

 

By Good News Network

Volunteer sewing squad distributes more than 55,000 masks

A volunteer sewing squad distributed more than 55,000 masks to vulnerable communities in 3 months. They’re not slowing down.

 

Kristina Wong is an actress and comedian known for her one-women shows. But she traded the stage for a sewing machine and formed a team of volunteers to make masks during the coronavirus pandemic.

The artist was preparing for the debut of her new show right before the pandemic hit the US.

“I was set to tour all over the country. The pandemic happened and I was like, ‘Oh, of course this happened.'”

Although the tour’s postponement financially hurt Wong, she did not despair.

“I’m not going to be depressed the way I was after 9/11 or during the recession in 2008,” she said. “I’m going to do stuff. I’m going to stay busy. And I’m going to fix other people’s problems.”

Pandemic spawns a new mission

At the beginning of the pandemic, people frantically searched for masks. Material to make them was limited. But Wong had scraps of fabric laying around her home as she sews her own stage props. She learned the basics of sewing helping her mother quilt as a kindergartener and picked up sewing machine skills in her sixth-grade home economics class.

“I was like ‘I can do this. I can sew.’ I just sort of refuse to believe that we’re powerless in these situations,” she said. “I made my first mask on March 20th. I posted on my Facebook page ‘If you are immunocompromised or don’t have access to masks, I’ll make you a mask. Just reimburse me $5 for postage.'”

Hundreds of requests for masks poured in, and Wong soon realized she couldn’t do it alone.

“I was saying ‘yes’ faster than I could sew.”

So, she posted a plea for help.

Soon, others began volunteering and Wong launched a Facebook group called the “Auntie Sewing Squad.” It started with just 26 people. Now, it has more than 800 sewers across the country.

So far, the group has distributed more than 55,000 masks to communities in need. Wong is proud of the group. But she is also frustrated.

“I do refer to our group as a ‘sweatshop’ because I don’t want to romanticize it. While we are enjoying each other’s company in this very strange time in history, we shouldn’t have to be doing this work. This is absolutely the government’s job. We should not have had to turn our homes upside down into sweatshops and pull the sheets off our beds to make masks.”

Serving the underserved

The aunties are focused on serving communities disproportionately affected by the pandemic like farmworkers, immigrants, Black and Brown citizens. They’ve also provided masks to Native Americans like those living in South Dakota’s Bear Soldier District.

“Bear Solider District has 1,500 residents, including many non-tribal members, and we are the second-most populated city on the Standing Rock reservation,” Jon Edwards, manager with the Bear Soldier Volunteer Fire Rescue told CNN. “We have a huge vulnerable high-risk population here with elderly patients and diabetic patients. The Auntie Squad has already sent a thousand masks so far. Another 600 are on the way. That was one of our main issues two to three months ago — a shortage of personal protective equipment, so it was really nice to get packages.”

Theresa Hatathlie is a volunteers with Navajo and Hopi Families Covid-19 Relief. She said 33% of the Navajo Nation members are without running water and electricity.

“Now we are leading the whole nation in terms of cases now,” Hatathlie said. “The Auntie Squad has really given us so much. Not just the masks, but we received sewing machines, diapers, baby wipes, laundry supplies and sanitizers.”

With the sewing machine donations, Hatathlie’s group is now able to make masks on their own. So far, they’ve made more than 40,000 for the Navajo Nation.

“For me personally, in our Navajo culture, we have a teaching that if you are able to help, you shouldn’t have to be asked,” Hatathlie said.

You can support Navajo and Hopi Families Covid-19 Relief by donating to this fund.

The Auntie Sewing Squad continues to grow

Currently, there are aunties working all over the country: from Arizona to Oregon, Pennsylvania to Florida. They sew the masks in whatever free time they have between their own jobs and family commitments.

“Many of us had never met before, and if we have met, now it’s usually just a quick exchange of handing things off,” Jessica Arna of Los Angeles, California, told CNN.

The aunties help each other by supplying fabric, sewing machines and sometimes food.

“Super aunties” in the group, like Arna, connect with organizations or individuals in vulnerable communities to access needs.

“I will announce a campaign to our group and collect pledges and make sure that the aunties know exactly what is needed for a very specific group,” Arna said.

The aunties will pledge an amount to sew by a deadline and mail the finished masks. They’re reimbursed for postage from the group’s fundraising funds.

Grace Yoo learned how to sew so she could help. Yoo, an Asian American studies professor at San Francisco State University, recruited her students to help as well. Nine students learned how to sew via Zoom.

“With the support of some of my friends and the Auntie Squad donating sewing machines, fabric, thread and elastic, I personally send out things to my students every week. And then I do a self-stamped envelope to different organizations that they send those masks to. We have sent 100 masks to First Nations,” Yoo said.

According to Arna, these aunties aren’t stopping any time soon.

“I am in awe of the labor, all of the labor that everyone has given,” she said. “I mean it’s an incredible amount of time and effort that people have shared. But it’s nothing compared to what the communities who are bearing the brunt of the pandemic are going through.”

 

By Bethany Hines, CNN

NASA names D.C. headquarters for 'Hidden Figures' Mary W. Jackson

NASA has named its Washington, D.C., headquarters for Mary W. Jackson, the first Black woman engineer at the space agency. Her role and contributions were celebrated in the movie “Hidden Figures.”

Jackson “was part of a group of very important women who helped NASA succeed in getting American astronauts into space” and helped break barriers, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement Wednesday announcing the honor.

Jackson, who died in 2005, was among those featured in the 2016 film about trailblazing Black women whose work at NASA was integral during the space race.

“Hidden Figures” was nominated for several Oscars, including best picture, and based on the book “Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race” by Margot Lee Shetterly.

Jackson, a native of Hampton, Virginia, was recruited by the agency that preceded NASA, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, in 1951, and worked in the West Area Computing Unit, which was segregated.

She later entered a training program to be promoted from mathematician to engineer — because the classes were held at a segregated location, she needed special permission, NASA said — and in 1958, she became NASA’s first Black woman engineer.

Jackson was an engineer for two decades. She joined Langley’s Federal Women’s Program in 1979 and “worked hard to address the hiring and promotion of the next generation of female mathematicians, engineers and scientists,” NASA said.

“We are honored that NASA continues to celebrate the legacy of our mother and grandmother Mary W. Jackson.” her daughter, Carolyn Lewis, said in the NASA statement.

“She was a scientist, humanitarian, wife, mother and trailblazer who paved the way for thousands of others to succeed, not only at NASA, but throughout this nation,” Lewis said.

Last year, the street in front of NASA headquarters was renamed “Hidden Figures Way.”

Katherine Johnson, who was featured in the book and film and whose calculations helped synch Project Apollo’s Lunar Module with the lunar-orbiting Command and Service Module, died in February at the age of 101. She also worked on the Space Shuttle.

 

By Phil Helsel – Today

Port St. Lucie lands on list of Best Small Cities in America

Now for some good news about Port St. Lucie.

It’s one of the best small cities in America — according to a report generated by Resonance Consultancy, a specialist in the destination-branding industry.

While the spread of the coronavirus continues to monopolize local and national headlines and rock the U.S. economy, the city has something positive to celebrate.

Port St. Lucie landed at No. 72 on this year’s list of Best Small Cities.

The rankings recognize top-performing cities with metro populations between 100,000 and 500,000. The list is designed to “quantify and benchmark the relative quality of place, reputation and competitive identity” of smaller cities.

There are 100 cities in the 2020 rankings, including a handful in Florida.

Here’s how other Florida cities stack up: Naples (2), Pensacola (31), Gainesville (32), Punta Gorda (38), Tallahassee (42), Panama City (94), and the Villages (99).

Reno, Nevada, came in at No. 1.

According to the study, Reno is where “young talent is pouring in,” as well as visitors, because of the city’s natural offerings, growing infrastructure and active nightlife — which includes the draw of its neon-lit casinos.

Previously, the rankings included cities with populations of less than 1 million, instead of 500,000, the new threshold for the study.

The rankings are based on six categories: Place, product, programming, people, prosperity and promotion, referred to as the six pillars — or “Ps.”

There are 22 factors considered under those broader categories, said Tom Gierasimczuk, a vice president for business development and chief content officer at Resonance Consultancy Ltd. based in Canada.

For its rankings, Resonance Consultancy relies in part on reviews posted on TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel platform, and other websites, on top of using core statistics.

This year, the company decided to tweak its methodology in part due to the growing trend that has people moving away from larger urban centers.

“It was going on even before COVID-19 and the pandemic,” Gierasimczuk said. “The pandemic, the crisis really exacerbated that.”

Resonance Consultancy’s rankings have been used by well-known media outlets ranging from National Geographic to the Lonely Planet.

Bloomberg has called the rankings “the most comprehensive study of its kind,” identifying the cities that are the most desirable to live, work and play in — as well as to visit.

 

Laura Layden – TCPalm

Man renowned for his bad dad jokes.

He’s renowned for his bad dad jokes. Now he’s hunting for the worst dad jokes of all — for a good cause.

 

The “Bad Dad Jokes” sign that stands proudly in front of Tom and Ann Schruben’s Maryland home has become a neighborhood destination in recent months.

The jokes Tom scribbles each morning are supposed to be bad — and they are — but people love them anyway, which is why there is a steady stream of people ambling or driving by the family’s Kensington home on any given day.

Example: A rabbit, a priest and a minister walk into a bar. The bartender looks at them and says, “Is this a typo?”

Tom started posting the jokes soon after the coronavirus stay-at-home orders came about as a way to jump-start his mood, which was getting a little grumpy as a self-employed worker in the environmental field. It was the suggestion of his wife, who pointed out that he loves all things corny.

His jokes — which he often selects with daughter Darcy, 11 — became a hit, and after The Washington Post ran an article, the Schrubens began noticing a lot more foot traffic in front of their home, and also started hearing from people around the country. Everyone had a joke to share.

A favorite of Tom’s: If two vegans get into an argument, is it still considered a beef?

Tom, 62, was flooded with new jokes and happy about all the goodwill in an otherwise uncertain time. He wanted to pay it forward.

So he decided to look for the worst-of-the-worst dad joke. He’s holding a Father’s Day Bad Dad Joke contest, with entries costing a suggested donation of at least $5. He plans to send all money he collects to Martha’s Table, the D.C.-based nonprofit that supports children and families.

Jokes are being accepted until Saturday, and the winner will have the honor of seeing the joke shared on Tom’s sign for Father’s Day. Tom says he’ll read each joke and drop all entries into a mixing bowl, then will pick the winner at random. Jokes can be submitted on Tom’s Facebook page, Instagram or by placing them in a box in front of his home.

Tom Schruben and daughter Darcy just posted the daily “bad dad joke” in front of their home in Kensington, Md., on Friday. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)

His rules state: “While we love original humor — the BAD DAD JOKES genre is rooted in sharing the collected wisdom of the ages — so stealing a great joke is expected but attribute if you can. Of course kids are welcome to send me their jokes as there’s no age limit for Bad Dad Jokes! And no worries if not a DAD as we welcome “FAUX PAS” too.”

He added that his daughters and their spouses are not eligible to win, but his granddaughter, who is 3, “can do whatever she wants!”

Tom said that he, like generations of dads before him, has wholeheartedly embraced the bad dad joke.

“Why dads?” he asked. “There’s always been a tradition of dads embarrassing their children.”

Tom Schruben and his 11-year-old daughter, Darcy, with the “bad dad joke” sign they posted outside their Kensington, Md., home on Friday. Schruben and Darcy write a “bad” (corny) joke on a whiteboard each morning. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)

Young kids are drawn to the sign, Tom said, as he sometimes hears children who are about 5 or 6 stopping by and carefully sounding out the words. One mother told him she counted the sign as part of her daughter’s school-required 15 minutes of daily reading. And Darcy once ran outside to comfort a youngster who arrived at the sign on his bike ahead of his big brother but was crying because he didn’t know how to read yet.

The candy brand Laffy Taffy got wind of the sign and sent the Schrubens 60 pounds of sweets, each piece with a signature printed joke.

Joey, the family dog, perches on the candy. (Ann Schruben)

But after George Floyd was killed at the hands of police in Minneapolis, and the country erupted in protests, Tom didn’t feel comfortable using his well-read sign only to be frivolous. So he posted a few puns that he thought gave a nod to protesters:

What kind of tea is the hardest? Reality.

What’s the biggest room in the world? Room for improvement.

“I don’t want to ignore what’s going on in society,” he said.

Tom said he has been touched by the many emails he has received from afar in recent weeks, and said they often start with, “My dad used to tell this joke … ”

“I love that I have gotten people to remember happy times with their dads,” he said.

One email he received was particularly meaningful. It was from the neurologist who treated his daughter, Alana, who died in 2009. She was Darcy’s twin.

“While treatment was never successful, having a young doctor that cared meant the world to us,” Tom said.

The death of Alana, and also a son who died of medical issues several years earlier, is what prompts the Schrubens to look for things that bring joy to them and others.

After losing two of their six children, they vowed: “We will find happiness again,” Ann said.

To that end, early each morning, Tom sends the day’s joke to a group text with his daughters and sons-in-law.

“I try not to let on how much a thumbs-up emoji means to me,” he said. “And a ‘ha-ha’ means the day’s going to be great.”

Tom started posting the jokes soon after the coronavirus stay-at-home orders came about as a way to jump-start his mood, which was getting a little grumpy as a self-employed worker in the environmental field. It was the suggestion of his wife, who pointed out that he loves all things corny.

His jokes — which he often selects with daughter Darcy, 11 — became a hit, and after The Washington Post ran an article, the Schrubens began noticing a lot more foot traffic in front of their home, and also started hearing from people around the country. Everyone had a joke to share.

A favorite of Tom’s: If two vegans get into an argument, is it still considered a beef?

Tom, 62, was flooded with new jokes and happy about all the goodwill in an otherwise uncertain time. He wanted to pay it forward.

So he decided to look for the worst-of-the-worst dad joke. He’s holding a Father’s Day Bad Dad Joke contest, with entries costing a suggested donation of at least $5. He plans to send all money he collects to Martha’s Table, the D.C.-based nonprofit that supports children and families.

Jokes are being accepted until Saturday, and the winner will have the honor of seeing the joke shared on Tom’s sign for Father’s Day. Tom says he’ll read each joke and drop all entries into a mixing bowl, then will pick the winner at random. Jokes can be submitted on Tom’s Facebook page, Instagram or by placing them in a box in front of his home.

His rules state: “While we love original humor — the BAD DAD JOKES genre is rooted in sharing the collected wisdom of the ages — so stealing a great joke is expected but attribute if you can. Of course kids are welcome to send me their jokes as there’s no age limit for Bad Dad Jokes! And no worries if not a DAD as we welcome “FAUX PAS” too.”

He added that his daughters and their spouses are not eligible to win, but his granddaughter, who is 3, “can do whatever she wants!”

Tom said that he, like generations of dads before him, has wholeheartedly embraced the bad dad joke.

“Why dads?” he asked. “There’s always been a tradition of dads embarrassing their children.”

Young kids are drawn to the sign, Tom said, as he sometimes hears children who are about 5 or 6 stopping by and carefully sounding out the words. One mother told him she counted the sign as part of her daughter’s school-required 15 minutes of daily reading. And Darcy once ran outside to comfort a youngster who arrived at the sign on his bike ahead of his big brother but was crying because he didn’t know how to read yet.

The candy brand Laffy Taffy got wind of the sign and sent the Schrubens 60 pounds of sweets, each piece with a signature printed joke.

But after George Floyd was killed at the hands of police in Minneapolis, and the country erupted in protests, Tom didn’t feel comfortable using his well-read sign only to be frivolous. So he posted a few puns that he thought gave a nod to protesters:

What kind of tea is the hardest? Reality.

What’s the biggest room in the world? Room for improvement.

“I don’t want to ignore what’s going on in society,” he said.

Tom said he has been touched by the many emails he has received from afar in recent weeks, and said they often start with, “My dad used to tell this joke … ”

“I love that I have gotten people to remember happy times with their dads,” he said.

One email he received was particularly meaningful. It was from the neurologist who treated his daughter, Alana, who died in 2009. She was Darcy’s twin.

“While treatment was never successful, having a young doctor that cared meant the world to us,” Tom said.

The death of Alana, and also a son who died of medical issues several years earlier, is what prompts the Schrubens to look for things that bring joy to them and others.

After losing two of their six children, they vowed: “We will find happiness again,” Ann said.

To that end, early each morning, Tom sends the day’s joke to a group text with his daughters and sons-in-law.

“I try not to let on how much a thumbs-up emoji means to me,” he said. “And a ‘ha-ha’ means the day’s going to be great.”

Allison Klein – Washington Post

Tiny Forests Are Springing Up All Around Europe

Tiny Forests Are Springing Up All Around Europe, Inspired By Japan, to Help Restore Biodiversity.

 

Using the methods of Japan’s most famous botanist, European countries are beginning to dot their urban landscapes with tiny forests, as productive and biodiverse as any in wilderness areas, yet sometimes only as big as a tennis court.

The idea is that volunteers can plant densely-packed clusters of seedlings from indigenous plants to create a small functional ecosystem that can restore soil, protect resources like water and air quality, and act as a biodiversity hotspot that can have a measurable effect on both the local and regional environment.

Akira Miyawaki was the botanist who in 1970 observed that trees around Japan’s Shinto and Buddhist shrines tended to be native species, well-adapted to the soil and climate of the islands of Japan.

He later found that only 0.06% of contemporary Japanese forests were indigenous forests, with the sizable remainder populated by non-native tree species, or planted in unnatural ways.

He pioneered a method of restoring indigenous forests on degraded or deforested land which had been devoid of humus. It came to be known as the Miyawaki method. Using this formula he created over 1,700 forests throughout Asia, 96.7% of which developed into a resilient ecosystem within ten years.

Miyawaki in Europe

Growing more than 10x faster, and possessing up to 20x more biodiversity potential than contemporary forests, the Miyawaki method is perfect for organizations like Urban Forests in France and Belgium, and the Tiny Forest initiative in Holland, with their strong desire to prevent the worst of climate change upon their nations’ relatively small landmass.

On March 2nd Urban Forests finished a 22-species, 1,200-tree Miyawaki forest in Toulouse, France, planted on 400 square meters—the first such forest in Toulouse.

“The plantations are made in a very dense way, in order to favor the cooperation between the species,” Audrey, one of Urban Forests’ volunteers explained to Actu Toulouse. “It captures more CO2 and trees grow up to ten times faster than in a conventional forest.”

It’s just one of many Urban Forests’ projects, and the fifth that the nonprofit has completed this year. In total their Miyawaki forests across Belgium and France consist of 21,000 trees over 7,000 square meters.

The Tiny Forest Initiative started in 2015 in the Dutch city of Zaandam by the Institute for Nature Education and Sustainability (IVN), has created 100 Miyawaki forests across the country, and had planned an additional 30 for the first three months of 2020.

In 2017, ecologists at Wageningen University in Holland examined the newly planted mini-forests and concluded that tiny forests “increase the biodiversity compared to the nearby forest. Both the number of species groups and the number of individuals is generally higher than in the reference forests.”

They also found that biodiversity was improved because sunlight was able to reach more species of local plants known to local pollinators. The forests also provided “more variety in food and shelter for a higher diversity of animals like insects, snails, butterflies, amphibians, bugs, grasshoppers.”

“This is a great thing to do,” said wildlife researcher Eric Dinerstein in a recent scientific publication. “So this could be another aspect for suburban and urban areas, to create wildlife corridors through contiguous ribbons of mini-forest.”

Plant Some Positivity Amongst Your Friends By Sharing This Cool Story To Social Media…

New Guidance For Paycheck Protection Loan Forgiveness

Congressman Brian Mast has working closely with federal, state and local officials to help individuals and small businesses recover from coronavirus. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) released a simplified application for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness for borrowers who meet the following criteria:

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    • Are self-employed and have no employees; OR
    
    
    • Did not reduce the salaries or wages of their employees by more than 25%, and did not reduce the number or hours of their employees; OR
    
    
    • Experienced reductions in business activity as a result of health directives related to COVID-19, and did not reduce the salaries or wages of their employees by more than 25%.
    
    
  
  

 

This new application requires fewer calculations and less documentation for eligible borrowers, making it easier for you to apply for forgiveness.

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    • Click here to view the new EZ Forgiveness Application
    
    
    • Click here to view the Full Forgiveness Application
    
    
    • Click here for more information from the Treasury Department
    
    
  
  

 

His office is stands ready to assist with any issues you are having with the Small Business Administration or any other agency. Please do not hesitate to reach out at 202-225-3026 or visit his website for more information.