# Everything Else

Hospital Visitation Rights for Unmarried and Gay Couples Take Effect Nationwide

This week, a new rule went into effect for hospitals across the nation to ease the longtime burden on unmarried or gay partners who, until now, could be prohibited from visiting loved ones who may lie sick and dying without a hand to hold. The rule ensures that hospitals choosing to participate in Medicare and Medicaid programs must respect the rights of patients to designate visitors.

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Man With the Golden Voice: Why do We Gravitate to Good News Stories?

It is a popular adage that good news doesn't sell when the mainstream media's motto seems to be, if it bleeds, it leads. Why then, are we seeing some of their most popular stories trumpeting triumphs of the heart? In the cases of the Chilean miners and the man with the golden voice, happy feelings of success have trumped every other news story around.

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Custom Tricycles Give Burst of Freedom to Disabled Kids

A retired couple in Michigan believes that every child should have the exalted feeling of riding alone with the wind in their face. So, they build custom-made tricycles for small children with disabilities.

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Female Iraq War Vet Who Lost Legs is Elected to U.S. Congress

Not only is she one of the historic class of 2012 women elected to the US Congress this week. Not only is she the first Thai-American woman to be sent to Capitol Hill. Tammy Duckworth is an Iraq War veteran, a U.S. Army helicopter pilot who lost both of her legs in combat. The impressive Duckworth was born in Bangkok, Thailand, to an American father, a U.S. Marine Corps officer.

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UK Scientists Invent Hydrogen-based Fuel for Cars - Emits No Emissions

Researchers at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, near Oxford have invented a synthetic fuel, which costs just $1.50 per gallon and could run in existing cars. Because it is hydrogen based, it would produce zero carbon emissions and could be available in as little as three years.

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Teenage Physics Wonder Turns to Nuclear Safety

It may sound scary for a teenager to be handling radiation, but Taylor Wilson's radioactive rocks are safe. There's never been any reason for concern, until he decided to build his own reactor -- in his garage. He was trying to produce nuclear fission -- because he thought he could. There's nothing that's impossible to me. You can ask my parents, he said.

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Video Gamers Raise Thousands for Animator's Surgery After Insurance Co. Rejects Claim

Creators of a podcast for video gamers were shocked after their illustrator suffered a shoulder injury and her insurance company refused to pay. With her drawing ability in jeopardy, the show's creators humbly asked their viewers for donations and in two days had already collected $64,000 -- more than four times their original goal.

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Diner Owner With Down Syndrome Serves Breakfast, Lunch and Hugs

Tim Harris, owner of Tim's Place, is the country's only restaurant owner with Down's Syndrome, and the joy he gets from serving people good food carries over into his diner's most famous export: hugs.