Author: The Hippo Press

Cookies for heroes

There is still time to buy Girl Scout cookies for “Hometown Heroes.” According to Ginger Kozlowski, spokesperson for the Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains, the Gift of Caring program is a way for community members to thank active military members and other professionals who give of themselves to their communities: “Police, fire, hospitals, food banks — almost any charitable or nonprofit kind of [organization].” Gifts may be made online at https://bit.ly/4fquQeW for the rest of cookie season.

QOL score: +1

Comment: According to the website of the Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains (1 Commerce Drive, Bedford, 888-471-9686,girlscoutsgwm.org), their most popular cookie is the Thin Mint. This year each box of cookies is $6, which helps support the Girl Scouts and their mission.

Concord man sets medical milestone

As reported in a March 7 online article by New Hampshire Public Radio, a Concord man has received a kidney transplanted from a pig. According to the story, 66-year-old Tim Andrews “is one of only four people in the world who have ever received pig kidneys. And he’s one of just two still living.” The two-and-a-half-hour operation took place on Feb. 7 at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. According to a press release from Mass General, the kidney was “a genetically edited pig kidney with 69 genomic edits.” According to the NHPR report, Andrews is on his feet and walking independently.

QOL score: +1

Comment: As reported by NHPR, “Mass General is planning two more pig-to-human kidney transplants this year, as part of a federally approved study.” To hear more from Tim Andrews and his doctors, visit YouTube and search for “Our Milestone Second Successful Xenotransplant.”

Big winners for tiny films

The Nashua Public Library has announced the winners of this year’s Tiny Film Festival. The Library showcased 20 local filmmakers on Friday, March 7, at this third annual event. According to a March 10 press release from the Library, “film submissions were open to everyone and featured only two criteria: the film had to be under 60 seconds and must be suitable for viewing by all ages.” The winner of the Kids 12 and Under category was Skunk Movie by Elizabeth Goemans, and the runner-up was Little Worm by Laurel Guarneri. In the Teen category, Lyriq Rivera, Vidhi Pawar and Chase Coffin won for The Other Side, with Yin vs. Yang by Gil and Roy Costa taking second-place honors. In the Adult category, Case of the Missing Pizza by Ronit Sinha and Dark by 3 by Andi Cass took first and second place.

QOL score: +1

Comment: View the films at nashualibrary.org/tinyfilmfestival.

QOL score last week: 57

Net change: +3

QOL this week: 60

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire?

Let us know at [email protected].

Pi Day

Friday, March 14, is National Pi Day — as in π, 3.14… . The McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord is holding a Pi Day Lunar Eclipse celebration from 12:01 to 3 a.m. on Friday, an all ages event that includes Pi activities, watching the lunar eclipse and pizza, according to starhop.com (registration required). Sal’s Pizza in Manchester and Derry is tossing itself into the spirit of the day, by offering $3.14 off every extra-large pizza when you use the code “PIDAY” in store or online.

QOL score: +1 (.1415926….)

Comment: According to the Sal’s website, an extra-large pizza is 19 inches in diameter. Using the formula C=πd, that works out to a circumference of approximately 59.7 inches.

Potholes will get worse from now on

Between fluctuations in temperature and the hard wear we put our roads through, potholes are an unavoidable hazard of driving in New Hampshire. According to a Feb. 17 article in Discover magazine, we should expect them to only get worse. The article quoted Jennifer Jacobs, a civil engineer at the University of New Hampshire. “[Roads] are designed to operate under certain climate or weather conditions,” she said. Jacobs and her team have used climate change models to calculate the damage to roads under hotter weather and more extreme temperature shifts, and have determined that the calculations that are used to estimate how much maintenance our roads will need might be significantly inaccurate in coming decades.

QOL score: -1

Comment: The Discover magazine article went on: “To resist the forces of climate change, the team recommends making asphalt layers 7 to 32 percent thicker, with layers getting heftier as temperatures rise. ”

Winnie graduates

As reported by WMUR in a March 5 online article, Winnie, an emotional support dog with the state’s 911 call centers, has graduated from her training and is ready to start full-time work providing support to New Hampshire’s emergency dispatchers. According to WMUR, with the help of her trainer Abigail and the Hero Pups organization, Winnie “was recognized by the New Hampshire Department of Safety’s Division of Emergency Services and Communications for completing training.”

QOL score: +1

Comment: WMUR quoted Mark Doyle, the director of emergency services and communications: “Winni has been specifically trained to provide emotional support and mental health wellness for our team. Since Winni completed her training and joined the team full-time around the start of the new year, her impact has been immediate and overwhelmingly positive.”

Downward dog. And cat. And maybe bunny.

As reported by The Concord Monitor in a March 10 online story, a local program is pairing yoga practitioners with animal partners. “To encourage the adoption of animals in their shelter and foster connections between humans and their four-legged counterparts,” the article reads, “Pope Memorial SPCA holds yoga classes twice a month where participants can practice poses alongside shelter pets.”

QOL score: +1

Comment: Spending time with an animal has been shown to lower stress in humans, the SPCA said in the article, as does yoga.

QOL score last week: 57

Net change: +2

QOL this week: 59

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire?

Let us know at [email protected].