good news break pla media

Good News Break!

They say “No news is good news” but here at PLA Media our news is good news! We at PLA want to remind our friends that there are still stories to smile about. The negativity that surrounds news headlines today has become somewhat of a buzz-kill, so we’ve given your typical morning news update a make-over. We hope you’ll take a minute for yourself to read through our newsletter and hopefully brighten your day. Good news, pass it on.

Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. Philippians 4:8

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that counts, it’s the life in your years .”

– Abraham Lincoln

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”

– C.S. Lewis

Vision of the future: The bionic eye that could help millions of blind to see again.

Scientists have taken an important step towards helping visually impaired people lead independent lives after a bionic eye gave a blind Australian woman partial sight.

Dianne Ashworth, who has severe vision loss due to the inherited condition retinitis pigmentosa, was fitted with a prototype bionic eye in May at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital.

It was switched on a month later, and today researchers revealed the results.

‘It was really funny when it switched on I was waiting, waiting,’ she said.

‘I had these goggles on and I didn’t know what to expect, and I don’t know if anyone did know what I was going to see.

‘Then all of a sudden I went ‘yep’ I could see a little flash and it was like a little, I suppose, a splinter.

‘There were different shapes and dark black, lines of dark black and white lines together.

‘Then that turned into splotches of black with white around them and cloud-like images.

‘I can remember when the first bigger image came I just went “Wow”, because I just didn’t expect it at all but it was amazing.’

The bionic eye, designed, built and tested by the Bionic Vision Australia, a consortium of researchers partially funded by the Australian government, is equipped with 24 electrodes with a small wire that extends from the back of the eye to a receptor attached behind the ear.

It is inserted into the choroidal space, the space next to the retina within the eye.

‘The device electrically stimulates the retina,’ said Dr Penny Allen, a specialist surgeon who implanted the prototype.

‘Electrical impulses are passed through the device, which then stimulate the retina.

Those impulses then pass back to the brain, creating the image.’

To read more about the bionic eye visit here.

BAKED PANZANELLA CAPRESE
(serves 4-6)

Here’s an end of the summer recipe from our client, contemporary country songstress Joanna Mosca. “From my frequent trips to Tuscany, I’ve realized that great Italian dishes often involve only a few ingredients,” says Joanna. The trick is to use the highest quality, freshest ingredients available.” Here’s a great, simple summer appetizer that you can share with your family and friend one last time before the fall weather hits. ENJOY!

Ingredients:

Olive oil spray for greasing
baking pan
5 ripe, beef steak tomatoes
cut into ½ in slices drained on paper towels
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (from
Modena, if available)
1 pound fresh mozzarella
cheese (1/4 in slices drained and patted dry on paper towels)
2 cloves of fresh garlic
minced
½ packed cup chopped fresh
basil leaves
Extra virgin olive oil for
drizzling
Kosher salt and freshly
ground black pepper
4-8 slices (1/2 inch thick)
country white bread or rustic bread cut into 1 inch cubes

Directions:

Put an oven rack in the
center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 9×12 inch
shallow baking sheet/pan. Set aside.
Arrange the tomato slices on
the bottom of the baking pan in a single layer.
Drizzle with the balsamic
vinegar.
Lay the cheese slices on top in a single layer.
Sprinkle evenly with
the garlic and basil and drizzle with olive oil.
Season with salt and pepper to
taste.
Arrange the bread on top and drizzle with olive oil.
Bake for 25 minutes
until the filling is bubbling and the bread is crisp and golden.
Remove the pan from
the oven and let cool for 5 minutes before slicing. Use a slotted spatula/spoon since there will be liquid at the bottom of the pan and place on an individual
dish or appetizer plate.
Cut, share and enjoy!

Ty Warner, Beanie Baby Billionaire, Gives a $20,000 Tip to Jennifer Vasilakos For Driving Directions

Ty Warner, the Beanie Babies billionaire of Ty Inc., found himself lost in Santa Barbara, Calif. this summer and pulled into a parking lot to ask someone for directions.

At the time, resident Jennifer Vasilakos was in the lot raising money for a stem cell treatment she needed, and the two got to chatting about her health condition. Vasilakos’ kidneys failed in 2011, and she had been rejected for a kidney transplant because of a previous bout with skin cancer.

According to her blog, she spent 14 hours a week in dialysis and hoped to raise enough money to undergo the procedure at a hospital in another country, since no U.S. hospitals performed autologous stem cell treatment.

After getting his driving directions, Ty cut her a $50 check and promised to be back with more. When Vasilakos received a $20,000 check in the mail, she broke into tears. On her blog, she describes how it felt to receive Warner’s letter:

It was the type of letter you keep forever, and accompanying it was the check. A check that could change my life in an instant. Streaming tears of relief and amazement fell uncontrollably from my eyes, as I walked out of the room back towards the exit. I was flooded with indescribable emotion.

After an initial hiccup (authorities were worried the check had fallen into the wrong hands), the funds were released and she was able to book her airline tickets. In a statement released Tuesday, Warner explained that his donation wasn’t just about Vasilakos’ immediate need. Instead, he also wanted to raise awareness about alternative treatments like stem cells. From the release:

After I serendipitously met Jennifer, I further educated myself on her stem cell needs. I was shocked that this particular type of treatment wasn’t available to her in the U.S…. My hope is that we can bring this lifesaving treatment to the forefront so that it can become more readily available and provide alternatives for people like Jennifer.

You can visit here to continue reading about the donation.

Besse Cooper, World’s Oldest Living Person, Celebrates 116th Birthday

At 116 years of age, Besse Cooper’s life bridges the 19th century and the 21st century.

So it’s fitting that the woman recognized as the world’s oldest living person has had a bridge named after her.

Cooper turned 116 on August 26 in her home town of Monroe, Ga., and one of her gifts was a bridge named after her by the city leaders.

She didn’t attend the ceremony, but sent a message through her son, Sidney: “I’m glad I gave them a reason to name it,” the Walton Tribune reported.

Cooper was first recognized as the world’s oldest living person by Guinness World Records in January 2011, but had to give up the title a few months later when officials discovered that Brazilian-born Maria Gomes Valentim was 48 days older.

However, Valentim died on June 21, 2011, and Cooper was reinstated and has held that title ever since.

She is one of only eight people — and four Americans — who have been confirmed to be at least 116.

Born in 1896 in Tennessee, Cooper, who worked as a teacher, married her husband Luther in 1924, and they had four children.

Today, she has 12 grandchildren and more than a dozen great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren.

Her secret to longevity: “I mind my own business,” Cooper said. “And I don’t eat junk food.”

Cait the Intern says:

Feeling stressed or overwhelmed? Here are some simple ways to cut back and make for a calmer day and work week.

Never underestimate the power of a good night’s sleep. Your mind prepares for negative stressors during the vital hours in which you sleep.
Remember to find the time in your day to laugh over something silly or outrageous. A healthy dosage of laughing can change your attitude immediately.
Release endorphins through exercise! It only takes 20 minutes of physical activity to release endorphins.
Prioritize and make a list. Remembering everything for the day can be stressful, but breaking what you have to do down can help you sift through what is most important.
Keep a positive outlook and remain
realistic. Having huge goals and dreams aren’t a bad thing, but don’t let it stress you if that isn’t where you are at today. Celebrate the small victories and don’t expect yourself to be perfect.

Favorite Fortunes of the Month

“In order to be someone, you must first be yourself.”

“Failure is success if we learn from it.”

“Life is a journey and only you hold the map.”

Labor Day History

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well being of our country.

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883. In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow and celebrate a “workingmen’s holiday” on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.

Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories on July 28, 1894. The workforce in the United States contributed to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pays tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation’s strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.