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Best News of Last Week

Hey there, it’s Erica! Welcome to another edition of Feel Good News — here’s your weekly dose of uplifting stories.

1. ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic Turned Down Million-Dollar Offer to Perform in Saudi Arabia: ‘I Don’t Need to Take Any Money if It Makes Me Feel Icky’

“Weird Al” Yankovic recently disclosed that he declined an offer of at least $1 million to perform at the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia last year, expressing discomfort with participating in the event. He emphasized his decision by stating that he wished for offers he could accept without feeling bad. The festival, which featured several prominent American comedians, faced criticism due to its ties to the regime of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and human rights violations, including the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Several comedians, like Atsuko Okatsuka and Shane Gillis, also turned down offers due to similar ethical concerns, while others defended their participation, suggesting that comedy could promote openness in the region. The future of the Riyadh Comedy Festival remains uncertain.

2. Illinois has erased more than $2 billion in medical debt for over 1 million residents across all 102 counties, and recipients don’t apply, they simply receive a letter saying their debt is gone.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker announced the elimination of $2.6 billion in medical debt during a meeting with Cook County health officials. Of this, $1.5 billion was erased through a Cook County program. The initiative provides relief to over a million residents across the state, averaging $1,200 in debt relief per patient. The state’s Medical Debt Relief Program was established in July 2024, partnering with the nonprofit Undue Medical Debt, which committed $10 million to address these debts. CEO Allison Sesso explained that they buy debts from collections agencies at low prices and notify individuals of their debt relief. Cook County Health’s Erik Mikaitis emphasized that the relief could support families financially amid potential Medicaid cuts. However, a 2024 study suggested that the relief’s impact on financial wellbeing and healthcare usage was minimal and may harm the repayment of other medical bills. Despite losing federal stimulus funding, Cook County plans to continue the debt relief program.

3. Trained rats that sniff out landmines have destroyed more than 31,700 landmines, cleared an area the size of Paris, helped make Mozambique mine free, are clearing land in Cambodia, and are now helping 33,000 displaced families return home in Azerbaijan

In December 2023, APOPO celebrated a significant achievement in humanitarian mine action by clearing 100 million square meters of land since its inception. This area is comparable to the size of Paris and was previously contaminated by landmines and explosive remnants of war, threatening local communities. By the end of 2023, APOPO had removed 31,739 landmines, 90,140 explosive remnants, 36,205 small arms, and 2,731 cluster munitions, benefitting over 2 million people in affected regions. Their programs also emphasize mine risk education, victim assistance, and community support for socio-economic development. APOPO employs trained animals, such as HeroRATs and HeroDOGs, alongside traditional manual demining techniques for effective mine detection and clearance. Their operations have restored land for productive use, aiding community recovery. Key contributions include: - Angola: 8.2 million sqm cleared, supporting post-civil war recovery. - Azerbaijan: 1.3 million sqm cleared, focusing on landmine issues from the 2020 Karabakh conflict. - Cambodia: Nearly 50 million sqm cleared, contributing to safety and cultural heritage protection. - Laos: Over 22 million sqm cleared, addressing WWII-era unexploded ordnance. - Mozambique: 11.5 million sqm cleared, aiding the country’s path to becoming mine-free. - South Sudan: 1.7 million sqm cleared, enhancing safety in conflict regions. - Türkiye: 641,029 sqm cleared to improve safety along borders. APOPO remains dedicated to eliminating landmine threats and enhancing community safety, expressing gratitude to its donors and partners who support its mission.

4. Cambodia has become the first country in Asia and the Pacific to meet the UN’s toughest HIV targets, with 95% of people living with HIV now knowing their status, receiving treatment, and achieving viral suppression

The announcement jointly made by the Royal Government of Cambodia and Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS marks a major step in Cambodia’s progress towards ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. It also comes as 2026 marks 30 years of Joint United Nations Programme support to Cambodia’s HIV response - three decades of partnership with the Royal Government of Cambodia, communities, civil society, development partners and people living with and affected by HIV.

5. A brain injury left a Seattle man unable to remember the career he’d spent 20 years building, but he still remembered how to fix bicycles. Now he repairs broken bikes for free and gives them away to people who need them.

Rob P. spends hours restoring a broken bicycle shifter instead of replacing it for $10. He repairs bikes for free and gives them away to reduce waste and find purpose after a traumatic brain injury from a car accident in 2017. This injury led to cognitive and physical challenges, including memory loss and partial blindness. Previously a computer programmer, Rob revived his bike repair skills from youth to engage in meaningful work, slowly overcoming depression. He began fixing bikes for friends and expanded his efforts through an online group, making hundreds of repairs. Rob’s meticulous approach, supported by his wife Becky, has helped him regain a sense of identity and accomplishment, offering joy to both donors and recipients of the bikes. Experts note that fixing bicycles taps into procedural memory, enhancing recovery possibilities. Rob, focused on his abilities rather than his limitations, finds fulfillment in helping others while navigating the challenges of life after injury.

6. Hawaii just signed healthcare measures that could erase up to $91 million in medical debt for 50,000 residents, with qualified people simply getting a letter saying their debt has been canceled, while also expanding fertility preservation coverage and colorectal cancer screening access

Gov. Josh Green signed three health measures into law on July 9 aimed at expanding care and creating a state program to forgive medical debt. The package includes new insurance rules for fertility preservation, financial help for colorectal cancer screenings, and a Medical Debt Acquisition and Forgiveness Program to cancel qualifying bills. One bill (Act 218) requires insurers to cover standard fertility preservation for patients facing medically necessary treatments that could cause infertility — think chemo, radiation or certain surgeries — and applies to policies issued or renewed after Dec. 31, 2026; Hawaii will be the 22nd state with this requirement. Another (Act 219) directs the Department of Human Services to provide financial assistance for colorectal screening for people who are uninsured, underinsured or ineligible for Medicaid, and forces some plans to cover necessary follow-up colonoscopies after a positive screen with no deductibles, copays, or coinsurance; colorectal cancer is the state’s second-leading cancer killer, about 260 deaths a year. The debt bill (Act 220) sets up a program under the Office of Wellness and Resilience to partner with nonprofits to buy outstanding medical debt for a fraction of its value and cancel it, potentially wiping out as much as $91 million for up to 50,000 residents, though it’s subject to available funding. Officials say about 1 in 20 Hawaiians has medical debt on their credit report; people won’t apply — if their debt is purchased and erased they’ll just get a notice. Supporters called it a major step to prevent medical bills from wrecking families’ finances, noting estimates that a relatively small state investment could cancel huge amounts of debt.

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That’s it for last week :)

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mitchipedia

isotopeboy

I've seen so many posts lately like "trans men have got to get more feminine" and it's lowkey pissing me off because we haven't even normalized trans men being masculine yet. Have you not been paying attention to trans men when they talk about being kicked out of LGBT spaces for "appearing too cishet" like can we lock in and understand that sexuality and oftentimes gender aren't something you can visually tell before we start trying to normalize something that's already normalized

transmascfeminism

OP, I'd like to add something that is absolutely not meant to detract from your very good point but rather to enrich the discussion, I hope it's okay.

Something else I have noticed on top of what you describe is that very often transmascs (of any ‘type’, gender identity, sexuality, and so on) that are not medicalized or not medicalized enough to pass are ALSO sidelined and dismissed, if not outright treated with hostility, in LGBT+ spaces, including ones that explicitly say they are 'trans inclusive'. So we are also sidelined if a person in these spaces deems us to be 'too cishet', but in the opposite sense - too much like a cis woman whose masculinity is not 100% irrefutable and unclockable.

And this applies not just to transmascs that choose to have a more 'feminine' gender presentation, but also just as much to transmascs that DO style themselves as masculine as possible but get still read as ‘tryhard girls wanting to feel special’ by onlookers entirely because of physical characteristics they cannot (yet) change such as facial features, voice, height, visible breasts even through binders &/or tape, body fat distribution, etc.

So we’re essentially damned if we do and damned if we don’t: we either aren’t trying hard enough and are silly little girl interlopers bothering the Real Queers or, the second we start to pass a bit too well, we’re evil rapey threats scaring the Real Queers.

The entire system is rigged against our existence in LGBT+ spaces as equal and valued participants, because people either don't care if we live or die or actively want us to disappear.

normystical

wedding dresses are white specifically so that if the bride goes axe-crazy you can rest assured you will see the blood stains all over her and it'll be sick as fuck

riessene

sparkle on! its saturday! dont forget to please look forward to it!

ltwilliammowett

Eye of the Storm, by Harut Danielyan, 2025

Source

ekjohnston

Everything I know about colour theory I learned from this hellsite (ie I know nothing about colour theory), but this soothes me.

what-even-is-thiss

Kids sitcom about a group of friends where all of them are a part of secret magical or superhero based underground society that don’t know about each other and they all think that the others are ignorant normies that they have to protect from their magical shenanigans.

what-even-is-thiss

The witch kid, the superhero sidekick, the cryptid hunter, and the half fairy kid are all unknowingly trying to hide the same talking cat from the principal of their school and the talking cat doesn’t tell any of them about each other because it’s currently getting many extra helpings of treats in exchange for its silence.

what-even-is-thiss

During the episode where they all find out about each other’s secret lives there’s obviously a slow look over to the cat who’s like “well you never asked. Anyways, completely unrelated but I’ve gotta go.”

fairycosmos

airpods are literally such a massive downgrade like remember when headphones cost £2 didn’t need charging didn’t randomly disconnect and didn’t get lost all the time. remember when tech kinda worked for kinda cheap

fairycosmos

remember when phones just fucking had headphone jacks

90108s

the world is counting on you [ get it as a print here! ]

[ID: An illustration of Ryland Grace from the Project Hail Mary film adaptation. He’s in side view, wearing the mustard-yellow overall, looking at a glowing crocheted earth hovering over his hand. A warm light shines over him. Behind him is the Hail Mary spacecraft. The background is outer space, filled with stars. END ID]

cheerfullycatholic

When medicine is holding the migraine back but you can still kinda feel it in the distance waiting to return

simzart

Exam Knight. ⚜️

heroineimages

I did a double-take when I realized those aren't football pads.

tlirsgender

Maybe one day we can stop moralizing the concept of privilege & everyone will get normaler about being told they have relative privilege over other people. Like literally everyone everywhere in some way. It's fine. Being aware of it can't hurt you

tlirsgender

There's such an endless chorus of outraged "but what if I'm poor? What if I'm autistic" and it's like. Ok. You're not getting this at all let's just start over

thelastsongimwastingonyou

no way

thelastsongimwastingonyou

thydungeongal

D&D as a game has reward structures in place that intrinsically reward being An Adventurer who Puts Themselves in Situations. Situations are where most of the game's most meaningful mechanical interactions (combat, resource management) lie, and it's by engaging with those situations you get Rewards with which you grow stronger and become able to overcome more difficult Situations.

The game is agnostic as to what your character's motivations are. The game doesn't care if you killed four bandits because they had stolen goods you were tasked with recovering or if you killed four bandits because they had kidnapped your loved one (and in the process happened to liberate some stolen goods).

Now, character motivations are not necessarily contrary to a good experience of playing D&D, but ultimately it is up to players to create characters willing to engage with whatever the GM is putting forward. But some players will still be passive and expect to be prodded along. What gives?

I still feel the issue should be addressed outside the game. Why are players not engaged? Do they not actually enjoy the game? What type of gameplay do they actually enjoy and is there maybe a game with actual mechanics for players to engage with that would facilitate that type of gameplay? Do players feel disengaged from the game for some other reason? Actually put a pin on that last one, cause I want to speak from experience:

Anecdotally speaking, the times I have felt the most disengaged from a game have been in games that have felt either too heavily authored or too aimless. In the former type of game the GM has clearly thought of a singular overarching narrative for us to engage with but ultimately the engagement has felt shallow. Like, we're spectators to a plot happening in front of us, simply moving from one plot beat to the next, with some combat and puzzles in between. It has engendered passivity in me because my input hasn't felt necessary. The plot will happen regardless. Yeah, sure, let's go to the place the GM has signposted for us.

This has sometimes been combined with GMs who for some reason don't trust players to engage with the fiction. If every time I enter a room the GM says "And you can go ahead and roll Perception/Investigation" unprompted then I as a player start feeling like the game is on autopilot and my input isn't needed.

The latter has been a case of too much to do: the GM has dangled all these potential plot threads in front of us, but there have been simply too many of them. But also how engaging with any particular plot thread will reflect on the world has also been very opaque. Sure, there was a lot to do, but it felt like I as a player couldn't make meaningful informed decisions about what should be done next. And it led to me disengaging and basically going "okay the rest of you decide what we should do next because I simply can't."

My advice for players: You should always be enthusiastically engaging with what the GM is providing you with. If you're not, why not? Does it feel like you have no actual input or does it feel there is no clear direction? Is there a part of the game you enjoy particularly and maybe you would like the game to be more focused on that. Talk to your GM and the rest of your group.

My advice for GMs: Examine the way you run games. Is your game so heavily authored that your players don't feel they have any agency on what happens and are just left following a breadcrumb trail? Is the game directionless to the point where players don't feel like they can make informed decisions? Are you accidentally teaching players to be passive by having the plot always happen to the players? It might be that your players are simply not engaging because they expect the game to come to them. Talk to them. Find out why they don't feel like engaging with your content.