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Good News!

Friends,
As I stare at the "gray screen of #&@%!" and listen to the looped high volume 5 second music followed by the whispering instructions IT has set-up, the temptation to go negative is strong -human nature and all that. Then I am reminded of a recent Ted talk exploring the question of whether the world is geting worse or better. The answer is better! My favorite stat is about extreme poverty. Despite population growth, over the past 50 years people living in extreme poverty have gone from 2.2 billion to 800 million (round numbers). That means that over the past 50 years, the daily headline in the newspapers could have been 80K more people came out of extreme poverty today! Of course the world is more complex and nuanced (and news gravitate towards the negative). Still, we need to be reminded of the overwhelming positive from time to time. Perhaps mull it over with a donut and hot coffee in hand. 
Happy Friday!

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