The current absence of good news and uplifting stories is just stunning to me. I can’t think of any parallel. Am I missing something here, or does it seem that way to you? The Carter years and “stagflation” never soured the entire people to this extent.
The closest to “good” news is stuff like this, which isn’t good at all. It’s terrible that freedom-loving Americans must do such unneighborly stuff to get “their” government’s attention. And sure, I laughed at this. But that it’s newsworthy and provocative is the opposite of “good”.
I could list the latest litany of lachrymose lamentations but would loathe the labor. It’s just so horrible to keep up with society these days.
Okay, maybe there’s one single part of America where doom and gloom don’t rule the day: Williston, North Dakota. And I bet you never expected to read that sentence, didja? You can get a job at Mickey D’s for $15/hour or Wal-Mart for $17 per.
And that’s the way it is in America, 2013: it’s either bad news or fracking news.
World's Only Rational Man 
Honestly, it’s not just you, and believe it or not, it’s not just the US. Mrs. Xpat suffers the Putrid Prognostication Perception disorder worse than me, though.
Maybe God allows this so people might stop hoping in the world and hope in Him instead?
Just a theory.
But I loved that “l” alliteration. Lucid. Luminous. Yet lighthearted.
“V is for Vendetta”, “L is for Leucrotta“. Or perhaps Lammasu.
OK, here’s a lovely story, though also poignant.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/For-40-Years-This-Russian-Family-Was-Cut-Off-From-Human-Contact-Unaware-of-World-War-II-188843001.html
And this story was mind-bogglingly cool:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/01/07/130107fa_fact_green
There is plenty of good news, just ask the professor: