<p>deb922,
Congratulations on a medical miracle for you and your husband! May he recover well.</p>
<p>I am also grateful for my own, certainly less significant, though life-changing, medical miracle: a hip replacement. What a gift that has been.</p>
<p>deb922…great story…</p>
<p>deb922 - your story certainly puts things in perspective. Thank you for that. And congrats.</p>
<p>I am grateful that they have portable oxygen concentrators that people can use to fly and stay active and mobile. Liquid oxygen is also a great innovation that allows people to have a lightweight source of supplemental oxygen when their lungs can’t supply what they otherwise need.</p>
<p>Congrats to Deb’s BIL & his successful heart transplant. I hope one day they will be able to do a better job with lung transplants than they do (patients survive the transplant only to develop a LOT of problems within a very short period down the road), but they’re working on it.</p>
<p>A new lightweight portable artificial heart, allowing patients to wait at home for transplant:</p>
<p>[An</a> artificial heart offers a real chance - latimes.com](<a href=“http://www.latimes.com/health/la-me-artificial-heart-20111109,0,7491771.story]An”>An artificial heart offers a real chance)</p>
<p>[Nordstrom’s</a> 3Q profits rose 6.7 percent | Seattle Times Newspaper](<a href=“http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2016738425_apusearnsnordstrom1stldwritethru.html?syndication=rss]Nordstrom’s”>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2016738425_apusearnsnordstrom1stldwritethru.html?syndication=rss)</p>
<p>Not without my help. :)</p>
<p>Lol…I think Planestate’s post is a little more positive…</p>
<p>[Falling</a> Silicon Prices Making Solar Panels Competitive with Fossil Fuels at Oil Price](<a href=“Falling Silicon Prices Making Solar Panels Competitive with Fossil Fuels | OilPrice.com”>Falling Silicon Prices Making Solar Panels Competitive with Fossil Fuels | OilPrice.com)</p>
<p>Caveat to yours, dstark:
In keeping with the debacle of Solyndra, how much of these price cuts are driven by the Chinese…???</p>
<p>Minus 437. Tomorrow will be even better at Minus 436. Cryptic but so true.</p>
<p>dstark: sorry, slow bio/pharma news day. :)</p>
<p>Bunsenburner…lol…it was good news…</p>
<p>Performersmom…this is a positive news thread…remember? There are going to be many variables going forward…but I’m optimistic…</p>
<p>Xiggi…cryptic?</p>
<p>Xiggi…this is a Positive news thread…</p>
<p>Was drowning in forms and information. Had a friend’s D & her new husband looking for a job. Got approval from my board to hire them to help us do data entry & scan the forms. They’re able to input the forms in 2-3 minutes vs. the 8-15 minutes the volunteers were taking & helping us get control over the mountain of forms we have collected but not been able to input this year. They are organized and so grateful for the work!
YIPPEE–it’s a win-win!</p>
<p>:)…</p>
<p>Oh, trust me, it was a positive comment. Although I could be off by 1460.</p>
<p>Ok…</p>
<p>Good news of the day:
Trade balance was better than expected due to a rise in exports.
Unemployment claims came in better than expected at below 400,000.</p>
<p>dstark- sorry, I just am not as positive as you are about that- smile.</p>
<p>XIGGI- I hereby challenge you to put only positive comments on this thread. I know you will find that hard and rather dull. We are simple folk here!</p>
<p>(Next: I think we need to start a humor thread- funny jokes, stories, whatever!!!)</p>
<p>Billy Crystal will be hosting the Oscars!</p>
<p>Why is looking forward to January 2013 not positive? Change and hope … Is it different from hoping that silicon will stay cheap when demand inches up? That is all hope and prayer. Just as nuclear fusion. </p>
<p>Tomorrow will be better than yesterday. It has to be.</p>
<p>Definitely agree with Billy Crystal hosting the Oscars…</p>
<p>[EPIC</a> biosensor chip tracks heart signals remotely | SmartPlanet](<a href=“EPIC biosensor chip tracks heart signals remotely | ZDNET”>EPIC biosensor chip tracks heart signals remotely | ZDNET)</p>
<p>"Just 2 sensors (pictured) placed on a subject’s chest delivers electrocardiogram (ECG) readings. What’s cool is that the sensors were placed on top of the person’s shirt, and in future iterations, the sensors could be integrated into clothes or hospital gurneys – no cords, gels, awkward leads, hair-pulling sticky tapes, or even the need to remove clothes.</p>
<p>EPIC can also sense the electrical activity of skeletal muscles – such as those that control the eyes – making it a noninvasive interface between the nerves/muscles and the prosthesis, allowing it to respond like a natural limb.</p>
<pre><code>Quadriplegics can control a cursor on a computer screen or operate a motorized wheelchair with just eye movements.
Not to mention amputees, who often have residual electrical activity in the muscle at the amputation site.
Waving a hand near sensors could switch lights, TVs, and computers on or off.
EPIC’s sensitivity can even pick up minute changes in electrical fields through walls, possibly allowing firefighters to tell if someone is inside a burning room."
</code></pre>
<p>positive economic news locally: :)</p>
<p>My neighbor breeds hunting dogs. New litter this week. Eight of nine survived.
Her chickens are still laying even though it is getting cold.
Deer season is just around the corner and there are some huge bucks hanging out on our road. We’ve been admiring them most evenings from the front porch.</p>