Hundreds of stray dogs are roaming the countryside in Costa Rica.

And, believe it or not, this is actually a happy headline.

You see, these strays are at home in a spacious sanctuary called Territorio de Zaguates (Land of the Strays). This privately funded sanctuary, run by volunteers, turns no stray away.

Multitudes of mutts at Territorio de Zaguates roam grassy fields, lounge on cozy beds and mattresses,

nibble from troughs of kibble,

and generally play their days away while they await adoption.

For some, that day never comes, but they still have a comfortable, loving place to retire.

In addition to providing a haven for homeless dogs and actively seeking potential pooch parents for their residents, the clever Territorio staff created a campaign to make mutts more appealing to the masses. Take a look:

If you would like to help Territorio de Zaguates continue caring and finding homes for dogs, you can donate directly through Paypal at territorio.de.zaguates.oficial@gmail.com or contribute to the sanctuary’s ongoing campaign at GoFundMe.com/costarica-dogs.

Keep up with the Costa Rican canine capers on the Land of the Strays’ Facebook page.

Behold the beauty of Houston’s Bus Lady, Janis Scott, who may singlehandedly boost public transportation with her bountiful enthusiasm for the humble city bus …

Houston was in the midst of a big effort to redesign their bus system from scratch when Janis Scott appeared, as if by magic. It turns out she had been there, boosting bus morale behind the scenes, for years. Documentary filmmakers, out to make a movie about the rebirth of the city’s public transportation, decided to give Janis her own 4 minutes of fame in the flick above.

Her smile and simply wonderful wisdom are arguably more persuasive than an entire city’s propaganda.

“There’s all types of reasons to ride the bus,” Janis encourages. “Make new friends, learn about things … you want to get people out of their cars and mix, mix, mix. That’s true in any city. Try it, you’ll like it!”

 

Seventeen-year-old Cedrick Argueta was one of only 12 students worldwide to recently attain a perfect score on the grueling Advanced Placement Calculus exam. More than 302,000 students took the 3 1/4 hour test last year, said to be one of the most difficult college-level tests. Cedrick also aced the English and math sections of his ACT college-entrance exam.

You might guess that Cedrick comes from a privileged private-school background. Nope. He’s the son of two immigrants who came to the U.S. as young adults, his mother from the Philippines and his father from El Salvador. His father never attended high school and works in maintenance at a nursing home, where his mother also works as a licensed vocational nurse.

Cedrick attends Lincoln High School, a public school of about 1,200 students in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, where the majority of students are low-income and 20 percent are English-language learners.

Kudos to calculus teacher Anthony Yom, whose 21 AP Calculus students taking the exam ALL passed—and 17 of them received the highest score of 5, indicating that a student is “extremely well qualified” for a college course in that subject. It was the third year in a row that all of Yom’s students passed the test.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Yom “treats his students like a sports team.” They even wore matching t-shirts on test day, “like they’re wearing jerseys to the game,” Yom said.

Kudos to Cedrick, and extra kudos to Anthony for making a difference in these students’ lives!