To learn more visit http://www.raisehopeforcongo.org/content/crisis

How to Help

RAISE Hope for Congo seeks to fundamentally change the equation for Congo by using The Enough Project’s robust field research, advocacy, and communications to bolster a broad grassroots movement that promotes lasting solutions. Our initiatives work to educate and empower individuals to be a part of these solutions to the conflict.

It’s important to keep a focus on two of the most powerful players in the conflict minerals equation – the U.S. government and electronics companies. They are responsive to consumer and voter concerns, and it’s up to us to keep up the pressure. The blood diamonds campaign didn’t take off until a considerable number of consumers demanded that diamonds be conflict-free. We believe the same model that led to the Kimberley Process can be replicated and strengthened, and that we can end the illicit minerals trade that helps fuel violence in Congo.

One of the most important things we can do is raise awareness and grow the movement by engaging our friends, family, and social networks. Here are some links to help:

http://www.facebook.com/raisehopeforcongo

Speak Up for Conflict Minerals Regulations

Help Us Grow the Conflict-Free Movement

Commit to Purchase Conflict-Free Cell Phones, Laptops and Other Electronics

Urge Your School to Go Conflict-Free

Is Your Favorite Tech Company Conflict-Free?

Understanding Stress and its Effects

Chronic over-secretion of stress hormones adversely affects brain function, especially memory. Too much cortisol can prevent the brain from laying down a new memory, or from accessing already existing memories. The renowned brain researcher, Robert M. Sapolsky, has shown that sustained stress can damage the hippocampus, the part of the limbic brain which is central to learning and memory. The culprits are “glucocorticoids,” a class of steroid hormones secreted from the adrenal glands during stress. They are more commonly known as corticosteroids or cortisol.

During a perceived threat, the adrenal glands immediately release adrenalin. If the threat is severe or still persists after a couple of minutes, the adrenals then release cortisol. Once in the brain cortisol remains much longer than adrenalin, where it continues to affect brain cells. When levels of cortisol rise to a certain level, several areas of the brain – especially the hippocampus – tell the hypothalamus to turn off the cortisol-producing mechanism. The hippocampus, however, is the area most damaged by cortisol. In his book Brain Longevity, Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D., describes how older people often have lost 20-25% of the cells in their hippocampus, so it cannot provide proper feedback to the hypothalamus, so cortisol continues to be secreted. This, in turn, causes more damage to the hippocampus, and even more cortisol production. Thus, a Catch-22 “degenerative cascade” begins, which can be very difficult to stop.

Shrinking Hippocampus, Memory Loss, and Alzheimer’s-Study

Using magnetic resonance imaging, Mayo Clinic researchers found that specific changes in the hippocampus were linked to changes in behavior associated with aging and Alzheimer’s disease. “When certain parts of the hippocampus shrink or deteriorate, specific, related memory abilities are affected,” says neurologist Ronald C. Petersen, the principal author of the study. Furthermore, individuals with a shrunken hippocampus tend to progress more rapidly towards Alzheimer’s.

“In earlier studies we were able to show that the volume of the hippocampus could help diagnose early Alzheimer’s disease or help predict which patients may develop Alzheimer’s disease in the future. Now we can look specifically at which part or parts of the hippocampus are affected and match that with particular memory functions which are impaired in that particular patient,” says Dr. Petersen. Elizabeth Gould, Researcher at Princeton University, notes that “levels of stress hormones rise with aging, and are very likely to be responsible for the decline in neurogenesis (the formation of new neurons). The good news, though, is that the aging brain doesn’t appear to lose the ability to generate new neurons,” when you relieve the stress.

High Levels of Cortisol also Effect:

Collagen: In laboratory rats, cortisol-induced collagen loss in the skin is ten times greater than in any other tissue.

Gastric and Renal Secretion: Cortisol stimulates gastric-acid secretion.

Immune System: Cortisol suppresses the immune response. It is known in the medical world as the “mute button.”

Bone Metabolism: Cortisol reduces bone formation, favoring long-term development of osteoporosis.

Additional Effects:

• Increases blood pressureby increasing the sensitivity of the vasculature to epinephrine and norepinephrine.
• Shuts down the reproductive system, resulting in an increased chance of miscarriage and (in some cases) temporary infertility. Fertility returns after cortisol levels return to normal.

What You Can Do

Learn to conquer your stress. You fight a cold. You bandage a cut. You get rid of a headache. The point is if something impacts you negatively, you do something about it. Stressing brings about a negative impact, so do something about it. Don’t allow stress to build.  Don’t allow stress to steal your joy. When you feel stress coming on, push it away. Resist it. Fight back. Use whatever tools or stress relief tips that work for you, but do not let stress take control of you.

Studies show that 10 to 20 minutes of quiet reflection or meditation a day can bring relief from stress and increase your tolerance of the dynamic situations around you. There are many more tips and techniques that can help you overcome your stress. Thousands of websites are dedicated to the topic as well as community support resources. Here are some additional tips:

Self-Help Stress Relief Tips:

• Eat right and exercise
• Set realistic goals
• Handle important tasks first and eliminate unessential tasks
• Take a break and meditate to slow down “mind-racing”
• Reduce the urge to be “perfect”
• Reduce criticism of yourself and others
• Don’t stress when expectations are not met
• Manage your anger
• Push away negativity of any kind
• Give yourself “me” time
• Choose to keep quiet when you feel a negative reaction
• Silence your phone at night
• Utilize relaxation techniques; Yoga, Meditation, Breathing, etc.
• Laugh and smile more often
• Remember you can only change yourself

The human brain is a mysterious and wonderful thing. We learn more about it every day. New discoveries allow us to gain the knowledge we need to make conscious decisions and changes to better our lives. “Being in control of your life and having realistic expectations about your day-to-day challenges are the keys to stress management, which is perhaps the most important ingredient to living a happy, healthy and rewarding life.” -Marilu Henner

Sources: www.fi.edu/learn/brain/stress.html#stressmemory, www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortisol

A giant tortoise named "Lonesome George" is seen in the Galapagos islands, an archipelago off Ecuador's Pacific coast. The remote islands draw an estimated 100,000 visitors a year eager for a glimpse of the unique creatures and flora that Darwin called "a little world within itself." (AP Photo/Galapagos National Park, File)

Scientists have located members of a giant Galapagos tortoise species thought to have gone extinct in the 1840s. Researchers who tested the DNA of 1,600 tortoises on the Galapagos island of Isabela found that at least 84 were offspring of a species that originally lived on Floreana Island. It was previously believed that poachers had wiped out the tortoises. “To have a species that was thought to be extinct in the middle of the 1800s come back is amazing,” one researcher told the paper.

Whalers decimated the Floreana population of tortoises in the years after naturalist Charles Darwin made his famous voyage in 1835. Researchers speculate that some escaped from the ships and made their way to Isabela, where their descendants now survive. Researchers eventually hope to resettle them back on their native island.

Source: www.foxnews.com

Intel Semifinalist Samantha Garvey, 17, right, gets a hug from her science research teacher, Rebecca Grella.

A homeless Long Island teen, who is in the running for a $100,000 national science prize, has been invited to Washington, D.C., to watch President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address. Samantha Garvey, an aspiring marine biologist currently living in a homeless shelter, will sit in the Capitol gallery for the Jan. 24 speech as a guest of her representative, Democrat Steve Israel.

“The State of the Union attracts the most powerful people on Earth, but I really think Samantha can teach them all a lesson in perseverance,” Israel, who is head the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told Newsday. “She is the epitome of the American dream. She worked hard and she is a story that I want to share with my colleagues and even with the president of the United States.”

The Brentwood High School student, who just turned 18 on Monday, “can’t wait” for the big day, her father told Newsday. “She deserves it. She needs to meet people like that,” Leo Garvey, a taxi driver, told the paper. The teen’s inspiring story made headlines this month after she was named one of the 300 semifinalists in Intel’s prestigious national science competition. Both of her parents were seriously injured in a car accident, which put them temporarily out of work, and the Garveys became homeless on New Year’s Day when they fell behind on their rent. As part of the outpouring of support in response to the girl’s story, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone announced that the teen and her family will be able to secure a three-bedroom, rent-subsidized home in Bay Shore.

Source: www.foxnews.com

The school’s concept arose from a conversation Winfrey had with former South African president Nelson Mandela years ago. “When I had the conversation with Madiba in his living room, our conversation revolved around how do we end poverty. This is how we do it. This is the beginning of the ending of poverty,” she said. “These girls have now broken the cycle of poverty in their families, being the first to go on to college and to do whatever they choose to do – key word, what they choose to do – with their lives, they no longer have to accept the standard that their mothers and their forefathers had to bear, because there were not the opportunities.”

Education is currently in the spotlight in South Africa, where a number of students who leave school are not able to gain admission to universities, either because their grades are not good enough, or tertiary institutions are full for the year. Winfrey says there is a lesson to be learned from her academy’s success. “This model was created specifically to say to South Africa, if you invest in leadership, not just in schools, not just in passing tests, not just in trying to get the exams, but you invest in leadership, the leadership will pay off to your communities and to your nation,” she added.

Now, it is with great excitement – and a bit of fear – that these talented young women leave their academic home. But Mashadi Kekana says she is prepared for the road ahead. “I do feel pressure, pressure from myself, pressure from family, from the school – even though I’m not here anymore after this, pressure from my community,” said Kekana. “But one thing I’ve noticed about OWLA girls, is that pressure makes us thrive. And as human beings, everybody reaches a point where they ask, am I good enough? And thanks to Mum Oprah and the support team we have here at school, the answer to that question now after five years is yes, I am good enough.” The future appears decidedly brighter, since Oprah Winfrey stepped into their lives.

Source: www.voanews.com

“Much of women’s history is still not in our history textbooks, not in our national parks,” said Joan Wages, an advocate for the museum. “If you go to the nation’s Capitol, only 13 of 217 statues are of women leaders.” Wages is on a crusade to bring the museum to the National Mall and has gathered some star-studded support, featured in this month’s Vogue magazine. One of the biggest names is actress Meryl Streep, known for playing strong female characters like the “Iron Lady.” Streep alone has committed $1 million to the effort.

There are logistical and financial challenges along with legislative challenges. Senators Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn have stopped Congressional approval of the museum. Wages argues that women’s history deserves a national platform in Washington, D.C. and she’s working to gain support from the two senators. “It’s very bi-partisan and we’ve worked at that over the years,” Wages said. “Women from both sides of the aisle have done some phenomenal things.”

Watch Meryl Streep explain why she donated her entire salary! (Remarkable story of Deborah Sampson included.)

Source: www.wjla.com

FreeRice.com, once a small seedling, has sprouted into something huge. The online game that allows players to donate grains of rice for correctly answered trivia questions announced Thursday it had reached 1 million registered users since its founding in 2007. “When one million people each do their small part, the collective effect is beyond impressive — it’s extraordinary,” Nancy Roman, World Food Programme Director of Communications, Public Policy and Private Partnerships, said in the release. “Beyond the remarkable benefits for those most in need, this is a significant milestone for WFP in our mission to engage millions of people online in the fight against hunger.”

Its appeal is simple: Answer a vocabulary question correctly, and 10 grains of rice are donated to the United Nations World Food Programme. And that simplicity is likely part of its popularity and success. Since its beginning, an estimated 100 billion grains of rice have been donated from players in 179 countries by answering 2.5 million trivia questions. According to the release, that’s enough to feed nearly 5 million people for a day.

The money FreeRice.com uses to purchase the rice comes from advertisers on the site. Since June 2011, the game has also supported the World Food Programme’s efforts in Cambodia, purchasing all the rice locally to be used in school meal programs. That’s one small grain making a global difference. Visit FreeRice.com to play the game and support the fight against hunger.

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

O’Neill was returning to Malawi on the five-year anniversary of her first trip to the country. It was Thanksgiving week in 2006 when she first made a commitment to sew and hand out dresses to a few thousand girls – five years ago, almost to the day, when she promised to do something small to bring smiles to the faces of girls who she knew held so much promise. O’Neill didn’t know it at the time, but her simple idea to help a few thousand girls would end up touching the lives of hundreds of thousands of women around the world. Since the first coverage of her story was aired on NBC Nightly News in December 2010, O’Neill has received more than 400,000 dresses from all 50 states. The dresses arrive on her home doorstep and she, along with a dedicated army of volunteers, makes sure they get to needy girls throughout Africa.

There’s no easy way to get to Lilongwe. Eighteen hours in flight and three connections to the capital city, then a two-and-a-half hour drive south to the countryside, picking up fuel when you can, because Malawi suffers from a fuel shortage. But when you get to the end of the dirt road that leads to the village, you know instantly why O’Neill makes the trip. Thobola is a simple town perched on a hill overlooking a green valley. Most people live in small, thatched-roof huts, pump their water from a well and only have basic nourishment. Still, despite their lack of traditional western resources, the kids’ smiles are radiant and their singing is contagious. They incorporate all the names of those who have come to visit into a song; the names of O’Neill’s family and friends.

It is a long, hot day in the unrelenting sunshine, but the girls are patient. It’s striking when O’Neill states that the dresses may be the only new things these girls have ever been given. The larger message only sinks in later. In a place like Thobola, a brand-new, handmade dress is not just a piece of clothing, it’s a symbol of hope and a gesture of friendship from women 8,000 miles away.

To watch the inspiring video visit: http://dailynightly.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/20/9584376-little-dresses-bring-hope-and-friendship-to-malawi

Source: www.dailynightly.msnbc.msn.com

It wasn’t until recently, while Paahlsson was gardening at her farm in central Sweden, that she found the long-lost ring around a carrot. “The carrot was sprouting in the middle of the ring. It was quite incredible,” Paahlsson’s husband, Ola Paahlsson, told the local paper. The couple believes the ring could have been lost in vegetable peelings that were turned into compost, according to the BBC. The ring no longer fits Paahlsson, but she is planning to have it resized. “Now that I have found the ring again, I want to be able to use it,” Lena Paahlsson told the paper.

That’s a one *carrot diamond ring!

Source: www.abcnews.go.com

The majority of the giving happens in schools zone. Police stop people dropping off their kids to surprise them with the $10 gift cards. “There’s such a high concentration of drivers at pick-up and drop-off times that we can safely approach those vehicles,” Assistant Prosper Police Chief Gary McHone said. “Maybe they had a safe speed coming into a parking lot, their inspections were up-to-date, they were using the safety belts in the vehicles, and their child was in a safety restraint.” McHone said it’s their way to live up to a well-known police motto. “To protect and serve — I think this is a key component in serving is to acknowledge and give thanks to our community,” McHone said.

Source: www.nbcdfw.com

Google and Yahoo have long provided the phone number to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline as the first result when someone searches for “suicide” using their sites. Through email, Facebook also directed users to the hotline or encouraged friends to call law enforcement if they perceived someone was about to do harm. The new service goes a step further by enabling an instant chat session that experts say can make all the difference with someone seeking help. “The science shows that people experience reductions in suicidal thinking when there is quick intervention,” said Lidia Bernik, associate project director of Lifeline. “We’ve heard from many people who say they want to talk to someone but don’t want to call. Instant message is perfect for that.”

Nearly 100 Americans die by suicide every day, and 36,035 a year, according to U.S Surgeon General Regina Benjamin’s office. “We have effective treatments to help suicidal individuals regain hope and a desire to live and we know how powerful personal connections and support can be,” Benjamin said in a statement. “Facebook and the Lifeline are to be commended for addressing one of this nation’s most tragic public health problems.” The Lifeline currently responds to dozens of users on Facebook each day. Crisis center workers will be available 24 hours a day to respond to users selecting the chat option.

Source: www.businessweek.com

Image credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech

NASA’s Kepler mission has confirmed its first planet in the “habitable zone,” the region where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface. Kepler also has discovered more than 1,000 new planet candidates, nearly doubling its previously known count. Ten of these candidates are near-Earth-size and orbit in the habitable zone of their host star. Candidates require follow-up observations to verify they are actual planets.

The newly confirmed planet, Kepler-22b, is the smallest yet found to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone of a star similar to our sun. The planet is about 2.4 times the radius of Earth. Scientists don’t yet know if Kepler-22b has a predominantly rocky, gaseous or liquid composition, but its discovery is a step closer to finding Earth-like planets. Kepler-22b is located 600 light-years away. While the planet is larger than Earth, its orbit of 290 days around a sun-like star resembles that of our world. The planet’s host star belongs to the same class as our sun, called G-type, although it is slightly smaller and cooler.

This diagram compares our own solar system to Kepler-22, a star system containing the first "habitable zone" planet discovered by NASA's Kepler mission. Image credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech

Source: www.nasa.gov

and another…

If it seems odd to see a giant bear wave to a human, this particular bear has show business in its blood. Its home, the Olympic Game Farm, is a park for retired show animals that have previously worked in TV, films and at theme parks. The farm worked exclusively for Walt Disney Studios for 28 years, providing animal actors for productions like “The Incredible Journey,” “White Wilderness” and the “Grizzly Adams” television and movie series, according to its website. In 1972, the farm opened its doors to the public and now offers tours, a petting farm and educational activities, in addition to caring for the animals that call it home.

Source: www.abcnews.go.com

Many women in the developing world do not have access to contraception or maternal care. According to the United Nations Population Fund, three out of five women giving birth in South Asia do so without a skilled birth attendant on hand. In Indonesia, the average family earns the equivalent of $8 a day, according to the International Monetary Fund. But a baby delivery costs about $70 at a hospital, and a Caesarian section can cost as much as $700. Lim believes Indonesia’s high maternal and infant mortality rates are caused in part by these costs, which many women cannot meet. “The situation is bad … babies are unattended, deliveries have become commercialized, and mothers die from hemorrhage after childbirth because they can’t afford proper care,” Lim told CNN earlier this year.

The CNN Hero of the Year was chosen by the public after an 11-week vote on CNN.com. For being named Hero of the Year, Lim will receive $250,000 for her cause. That’s in addition to the $50,000 that she and the rest of the top 10 Heroes each received for making the top 10. This is the fifth year that CNN, with the help of entertainers and other celebrities, have honored everyday people changing the world.

Turlington Burns introduced Lim’s video tribute during Sunday’s show, before the Hero of the Year announcement. As founder of Every Mother Counts, she is also a passionate advocate for maternal health around the world. “Eight years ago, after giving birth to my first child Grace, I felt what could have been a life-threatening complication,” she told the audience of nearly 5,000. “It suddenly got very scary, very fast. If I hadn’t received the expert care in the hospital birthing center I was in, then I may have not been so fortunate. “My wish is that every mother all over the world has the same chance surviving childbirth I had. My friend Robin Lim shares that wish and she spends her days and nights making it so.”

Lim became a midwife after her sister — and her sister’s baby — died from complications during childbirth several years ago. She and her husband then sold their home in Hawaii and moved to Bali to “reinvent their lives,” she said. “It was there she learned she could make a difference,” Turlington Burns said. “She opened a clinic, Bumi Sehat, so poor mothers can give birth safely and be treated with dignity and respect. She has delivered thousands of babies, and that is why they call her ‘Ibu’ — Mother.”

Source: www.cnn.com

Resources:

1. Free College Curriculums: There are a handful of  traditional education institutions that have started to embrace this trend. Fortunately one of the very first to do so was MIT, a world class institution where tuition would run you a hefty chunk of change. However, through open courseware an MIT education is suddenly available to anybody who wants one.  Courses are available in engineering, management, science, architecture and a number of other areas. If other institutions start to follow suit, people who have been denied the privilege of education for financial reasons will finally have an opportunity if they want it.

2. The Blogosphere: In a recent feature, the CBS Sunday morning show said that there were approximately 50 million active blogs online. There are blogs on nearly every subject you can possibly imagine. What’s interesting about the blogosphere is that it has created a trend of unconventional education and the opportunity to study any subject you have an interest in. You’re no longer limited to the confines of assigned reading, class lectures and your major.

• Want to learn how to get in shape? Steve Kamb’s Nerd Fitness will help you get there.
• Want to Learn a Foreign Language: Benny Lewis will get you Fluent in 3 Months
• Want to get an MBA without spending 100 Grand? Josh Kauffman’s Personal MBA will give you everything you need.
• Want a Harvard Business School Quality Education? The Harvard Business Review has a blog that’s updated daily with advice from absolutely stellar business professionals.
• Want to learn how to take amazing photos? Enroll yourself in Darren Rowse’s Digital Photography School? 

3. Books: In the movie Good Will Hunting Matt Damon’s famous quote was “You just spent 150 grand on an education you could have gotten for $1.50 in late fees at the public library.”  While it was a bit facetious, anybody who has received a college education probably had a bit of a chuckle because there was a kernel of truth to what was said.  One of the biggest expenses for any college student is textbooks.  But, the beauty of a public library is that it makes books accessible to everybody and it’s completely free. It might be tempting to dismiss the library as an obsolete resource, but today libraries have their whole book selection available online and even have audio books that can be downloaded directly from some of their web sites.

4. Podcasts: Do a quick search through the iTunes directory and you’ll find podcasts on a wide variety of subjects ranging from learning a language to online marketing. The other thing that makes a podcast a fantastic option for increasing your knowledge is the fact that you can listen to it while you’re working out, stuck in traffic or cleaning your house.

5. Online Videos:

• TED: One of the most inspirational educational resources at everybody’s disposal is the TED web site. World class authors, entrepreneurs and scientists share their very best ideas with the world. I’d recommend watching at least one TED talk every single day. Most TED talks are an average of about 15 minutes and will inspire, entertain, and inform you.
• Youtube can also be a great educational resource. These days just do a search for the words “How to”, fill in the blank and you’ll have numerous options at your finger tips.
• Instructables: If there’s ones site that really provides an opportunity to type in the words  “how to” followed by whatever you want to learn how to do, it’s Instructables. This user generated community has over x videos specifically designed to teach you how to do something.

With nothing more than internet connection and a computer, you have the potential to develop a conglomerate of knowledge and skills. The great thing about seeking out your own interests is that there are no grades, no tests or requirements. It’s purely about the joy of learning.

Source: www.theskooloflife.com

Looking for an inspiring film to watch? Found one! One Revolution cinematically captures Chris Waddell’s very human journey to dare greatly and ultimately to live fully. This film chronicles the heart and spirit behind an extraordinary achievement as it documents the first almost entirely unassisted paraplegic ascent of 19,340-foot Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Awards

Memphis Int’l Music & Film Fest. – Best Documentary
Geneva Film Festival – Best Documentary
Mexico Int’l Film Fest – Bronze Palm
Las Vegas Film Fest – Silver Ace
Amsterdam Film Festival – Best Sports Film
Foursite Film Fest – Best Feature Film
Breckenridge Film Festival – Official Selection
Newport Film Fest – Official Selection
Alabama International Film Festival – Official Selection
Ohio Independent Film Fest – Official Selection

Sitting in Reading’s Inter-City Bus Terminal on Tuesday night, Thomas Coates Jr. was out of work and out of hope. Then, out of the blue, a stranger sat next to him and restored his faith in human kindness. Identifying himself only as Secret Santa, the stranger handed Coates two crisp $100 bills and wished him a Merry Christmas. Coates, 36, who lives in Pottstown with his girlfriend and son, wept. “I was brought up to believe that you take care of your family, but I can’t find a job,” said Coates, burying his face in his hands. “This man said to me, ‘You’re a good man,’ and it felt good to hear that.” The bus terminal was only one stop on a whirlwind tour of downtown Reading and beyond, where Secret Santa handed $100 bills to people he felt needed a helping hand at Christmastime.

Reading has the highest poverty rate of cities across the nation with more than 65,000 residents, according to figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. The unnamed Good Samaritan Santa had read about the plight of Reading’s residents. Secret Santa traversed the city, handing out cash to those he thought could use it. In all, he gave away an estimated $20,000 of his own money, mostly in $100 bills stamped “Secret Santa” in red. “Cities like Reading are experiencing tough economic times,” Secret Santa said. “It’s time for us to step up, not step back.”

At the Salvation Army, Secret Santa handed $100 bills to volunteers, children, a dishwasher and a housekeeper. Leaving the building, he encountered a woman waiting in the rain to pick up her children from an after-school program. “How many children do you have?” he asked. “Six,” replied Elizabeth Colon, 37, of Reading. “You have six children?” he repeated. “Well, here, one hundred, two hundred, three hundred, four hundred, five hundred, six hundred – a hundred for each child.”

Sitting nearby was Lara Walkoff, 24, a medical student at George Washington University who had been to Reading Hospital for a job interview and was waiting for the bus to arrive. Santa sat next to her, chatted briefly and gave her $100. Walkoff, who’s from Florida, had never heard of anything like it. “I’m sure there are a lot of people who can use the money,” she said. And, as a medical student who’s graduating in May, she could certainly use the cash. “I don’t have a lot of money; that’s why I’m riding the bus,” she confided. “But I think I will find someone who needs this $100 more than I do.” Secret Santa would be proud.

The current Secret Santa is continuing a tradition begun by the late Larry Stewart in Kansas City, KS. Stewart had once been down and out and received a handout from the owner of the Dixie Diner in Houston, MO. Although he went on to make millions in cable television, Stewart never forgot the kindness. Posing as Secret Santa, he gave away $1.3 million over 25 years until his death in 2006. “I promised him on his deathbed that I would continue the tradition of Secret Santa,” the current Santa said. Secret Santa will visit cities ranging from San Diego to Detroit in the coming weeks, enlisting the help of “elves” like NFL great Dick Butkus and comedian Larry the Cable Guy.

Source: www.readingeagle.com

Children write letters from the Telugu alphabet as a teacher conducts lessons inside a bus converted into a school at a slum in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad.

On a hot afternoon, a bright orange bus drives into a slum area of the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, parking amidst shelters made of tarpaulins and bits of wood. Barefoot children come running, eyes shining, and troop inside.  It’s a school on wheels that brings education to the doorstep of disadvantaged children such as these every day, halting for several hours at a time in different parts of the sprawling city.

The children, whose parents are day laborers on construction sites, or work as rag pickers and maids, either never go to school or drop out once enrolled. Many have to work as hard as their parents to pay off family debts. “These children have no time to go to school, unless the school comes to them,” said T.L. Reddy, founder of the CLAP Foundation, a non-governmental organization that runs the mobile school. “At first we prepared a temporary tent in their slum to give basic education for the children. Then slowly we developed the concept of a school inside a vehicle to attract more.”

Reddy, a teacher for 25 years, first thought of doing something for the children when they caught his attention a decade ago. After gathering donations and setting up the tent first, they began operating the bus three years ago. The inside of the bus is bright and clean, its walls festooned with the alphabet, numbers and pictures of fruit and animals. Children perch on seats around the inside of the bus, writing on slates they hold on their laps. Some days, the bus is so full that children sit cross-legged on the floor as a sari-clad teacher talks to them.

Manjula, a 10-year-old girl, bubbles with excitement about her studies and wants to be a doctor to bring medical care to slum children such as herself. “Now I can read and write from 1 to 200 numbers,” she said. The goal, Reddy said, is to teach the children enough for them to be mainstreamed into government schools. “This is the only chance they get to be kids, even if it is for only two hours.”

Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

Norvig’s tracking found that more than 3 million users have come to the page since the university announced the artificial intelligence class. And more than 35,000 of the people who signed up have stuck with Intro to A.I., turning in assignments and taking midterm exams right along with the 175 students paying to take the class in person.

Because of the interest, Stanford plans to offer seven more computer science classes beginning in January, and will expand its offerings to two entrepreneurship courses. Next semester, students will be able to take Technology Entrepreneurship—a class on how to launch a successful startup, and The Lean Launchpad, which will teach how to turn “a great idea into a great company.”

The unique aspect of Stanford’s effort compared to MIT’s decade-old Open CourseWare and other first-generation online learning projects is that Stanford’s professors aren’t just posting a syllabus and hoping people follow along. Norvig and Thrun have worked to give their virtual lectures the same feel as the in-person Stanford experience. They even take questions from their virtual students and respond to them in live office hours via Google Hangouts.

Of course, the online students don’t get credit for the classes—Stanford verifies a “badge of completion” instead. But that hasn’t cut down on demand, and a growing number of professors are invested in making knowledge available to the masses, regardless of their ability to pay.

Source: www.good.is

Keseteberhan said the nation-wide malnutrition rate has been slashed by 32 percent, with prevalence to being underweight dropping to 28.7 percent in 2010 from 42.1 percent in 2000. The U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) attributed the reductions to increased access to health posts in remote and drought-stricken areas, and a growing number of health workers. The number of health posts has surged to more than 9,000 in 2011 from a handful in 2004 with priority shifted towards food-insecure areas, UNICEF said. “The vigorous training of health extension workers who are on the frontline in the work to provide integrated health, nutrition, sanitation and hygiene services to rural communities … has paid off,” said Ted Chaiban, UNICEF’s representative to Ethiopia.

To find out more about UNICEF and how to help support these continued efforts, visit www.unicef.org.

Source: www.af.reuters.com

Families that are eligible for free lunches in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National School Lunch Program will be eligible for the discounted broadband service and computers. This year, a family of four with income of less than $29,055 is eligible for free meals in the USDA program.

Many U.S. residents are struggling because of a continued soft economy, Michael Powell, NCTA’s president and CEO, said at a launch event in Washington, D.C. “As every parent and teacher knows, a strong education and technical skills are essential ingredients for any child hoping to realize the promise of the American dream,” he said. “Increasingly, as we all know, the path to opportunity and prosperity must travel, in some way, along the information superhighway.”

Cable companies are “proud” to answer a call from FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski to provide low-cost broadband to low-income families, Powell said.The discounted broadband service and computers are part of a new program, called Connect to Compete initiative, launched in October by a coalition of IT vendors, online companies and nonprofit organizations, with support from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

About 100 million U.S. residents don’t subscribe to broadband service, according to the FCC. More than 10 million students eligible for USDA free lunches, in approximately 5.5 million homes, do not have home broadband, the NCTA estimated. The reduced-cost broadband program will start in the 2012 school year. The new program could bring broadband to up to 25 million U.S. residents, the FCC said. The $150 computers will have duo-core processors and 4GB of RAM, and will include the Windows 7 operating system and Microsoft’s Office suite.

In addition to the reduced-cost broadband and PCs, Morgan Stanley will offer affordable financing options for families that cannot afford to pay $150 up front for a computer. Genachowski praised the new program, saying it will help close the digital divide in the U.S. The program, offering broadband at a discount of about 70%, will be a “game changer,” he said. “It used to be that being disconnected was an inconvenience,” he added. “Not any more. Whether we’re talking about jobs, education, or health care, in this day and age, getting online is a necessity, not a convenience.”

Source: www.computerworld.com

But one Thursday morning in 2007, he told his son he’d like a cup of coffee. Before Dan Dewey left for the Starbucks down the street, they asked other patients in the room whether they’d like a cup, too. “He’s treating. I’ve got his wallet, and the nurse is holding him down,” Dewey recalled saying at the time. One cup became several. And now, Dewey’s weekly order consists of 20 or more drinks, depending on how many patients are at the cancer center when he arrives. He is there every Thursday morning, even though his dad died in 2008.

“We love Dan,” said oncology nurse and unit manager Kathy Courtney. “He’s here rain or shine; blizzard or tornado. No matter what’s going on out there, we know at 10 o’clock, he’s going to be here. We have some patients who schedule their treatments when they know he’s going to be here.” And it’s not just the java that has the staff and patients looking forward to his visits. It’s Dewey, the Orion Township man who jokes with the patients and their caregivers and teases the staff. “He just lights up the room,” Courtney said. “He’s an inspiration to all of us.”

At 10 a.m. every Thursday Dan heads out for his weekly stop. By about 10:30 a.m., he’s at the Starbucks down the street. Everyone knows to expect him: the staff and patients at the hospital, as well as the folks at Starbucks, where workers have come to fill Dewey’s orders so efficiently, they rarely get complaints from customers anymore. But every now and then, someone wonders why that guy in white shorts and a gray sweatshirt is holding up the line buying so many cups of lattes, cappuccinos, espressos, strawberry smoothies, and, oh yeah, somebody wanted hot chocolate. But the regulars know. And when the complainers find out, well, they fall silent. And some of them put money down to help cover the costs.

Dewey buys the coffee for cancer patients every Thursday because his dad, Edgar Dewey, told him to. His dad had cancer, but the cancer didn’t kill him. He conquered cancer twice. Dewey swears he died of a broken heart, just a few months after the passing of his wife of 62 years, Mary Jane Dandison Dewey. He simply lost the will to fight a third bout with cancer after his high school sweetheart died. But the sweet essence of his heart lives on in Dan’s Coffee Run.

Dan Dewey, 65, a retired educational broadcasting operator for Birmingham Public Schools, used to pay for the drinks, averaging about $50 a trip, out of his own pocket before a Starbucks staffer stepped in. One of the baristas, Valerie Edgington, 46, of Waterford, decided last year to create a special debit-like card through which people can donate money for coffee runs. People can put money on the card in person at the Starbucks on Woodward at Square Lake Road in Bloomfield Hills or via www.danscoffeerun.net or a Facebook page she set up. She also made T-shirts that sell for $20 and stickers ($5) to help spread the word and encourage contributions. “He never asked for anything special,” Edgington said. “He just came in every Thursday ordering all these different drinks. Finally, I asked him what he was doing, and I wanted to help.”

Oncologist Rajan Krishnan, the doctor who treated Dewey’s dad, said the visits remind him of times gone by in his native India, when people stopped by simply to share a cup of tea or coffee. Doing so showed people they mattered. Krishnan’s mom in India misses those days; she recently lamented their loss in a telephone conversation with her doctor-son. “She said no one just stops by to drink tea. They stop by to get my blood pressure, to check the electricity meter. But no one just stops by to share a cup of tea or coffee,” he recalled her saying. “Sharing a beverage is a way to say I care about you. And that’s what Dan’s visit reminds me of.”

Sharon Donley, 68, of Port Huron was at the center getting treatment for a recurrence of ovarian cancer. She remembers Dewey from when she was treated in the past and was pleased to see he’s still making his weekly rounds at the unit. “He just brings a smile to your face,” Donley said. “It’s such a wonderful thing to do for the patients. He brings you coffee, and he makes you laugh. It’s such a wonderful thing to know that there’s someone who doesn’t even know you who cares. It makes a difference because when you’re here, you’re always a little nervous. And then you have this pleasant familiar experience.” Patients such as Mechelle Burdette, 45, of Eastpointe appreciate that. “It’s so special it brings tears to your eyes,” Burdette said of the coffee visits. “This is so sweet. It really picks you up. It gives you to the strength to make it through, just knowing the kind of people who are out there. It warms your heart.”

Source: www.freep.com

Teacher Carrie Gelson gets a hug from student Deandra at Vancouver's Seymour Elementary. Photograph by: Ward Perrin, PNG

Admiral Seymour elementary teacher, Carrie Gelson, never dreamed her letter would have such an effect… The school year had barely begun at Admiral Seymour elementary when teacher Carrie Gelson, frustrated after a difficult day at work, wrote an impassioned open letter to Vancouver residents asking if anyone cared about her inner-city students who were coming to school with empty tummies and holes in their shoes.

The response was astonishing. Just minutes after her plea was published in The Vancouver Sun, donations and offers of help began to arrive at the school, turning into a flood of generosity that continues to this day. For a little school on Keefer Street in Vancouver’s troubled Downtown Eastside, the experience has been profound and inspiring.

“Magical” is the word head-teacher Andrea Wilks uses to describe the extraordinary events of the past six weeks, and the magic promises to keep coming. The school has received thousands of dollars in cash and gift cards, hundreds of pairs of shoes and socks, scores of warm coats, sweaters and pants in all sizes, and so much snack food for the hungry kids that the cupboards are full to overflowing. She uses file folders to keep track of all the emails and letters, but would need buckets to hold all the love. “It’s overwhelming,” she said as her eyes filled with tears. “So many people … It’s just amazing.”

Many donations have already been distributed to children mired in poverty in nearby housing projects and more pile up in the office every day. Gelson’s initial request was for socks, shoes and snacks, and while she got more than enough of those to satisfy the need this year and next, she was stunned by dozens of completely unexpected offers. For example, a woman with a home-based cupcake business now brings sweet treats to the school every month to celebrate students’ birthdays, another woman is outfitting the school’s art room with supplies and a four-foot-high dollhouse, and a North Shore group has offered to create gingerbread houses with the children before Christmas.

Two Surrey mothers drive into Vancouver once a week to spend a half-day helping in the classroom, a young woman who’s studying social work at the University of the Fraser Valley is on hand every Wednesday and two newly graduated teachers who have yet to land jobs are now regular volunteers. In total, the school has 25 new volunteers. Businesses, community organizations, school groups, churches and celebrities have joined individuals from around the Lower Mainland and beyond with offers that exceeded Gelson’s fondest hopes. The Salvation Army is now delivering food regularly for distribution to deserving families, Sport Chek donated more than 100 pairs of new shoes and boots, and more help is coming from the Better Business Bureau. CIBC Wood Gundy is continuing with the hot breakfast program it’s offered at the school for almost 20 years.

A newly graduated teacher, Christopher Lam, now affectionately known at the school as The Gecko Guy, brought exotic animals into classrooms for a biology lesson, the Zajac Foundation has invited two dozen students to spend a weekend on a ranch for children, and teenage star Brendan Meyer arranged to have 60 students watch the taping of his YTV hit show Mr. Young while munching pizza at the Burnaby studio last week. Later this month, a group of Calgary volunteers will visit the school as part of the celebrations leading up to the Grey Cup on Nov. 27. They’ve promised to bring a band, clowns and their mascot along with this year’s Stampede Queen and the Indian Princess to entertain students from Seymour and nearby Strathcona elementary. “It’s been like Christmas,” said Wilks as she laughingly demonstrated the “happy dance” that staff members do as the kindness rolls in.

Gelson, who has taught at Seymour for 16 years, said she expected some reaction when she penned her plea at the end of a rough day, but never imagined it would be so massive. On the day her letter was published, when she arrived at the school at 9 a.m., “People had already dropped off thousands of dollars in cash by that time. They literally drove into work that morning bringing donations.” One of her favorite responses is pinned to the bulletin board in her classroom. It’s a letter, decorated with brightly colored stamps of cars, that reads: “My name is Logan and I am in Grade 2 in Edmonton, I have socks for all of the kids in your class. I hope they like them.”

Gelson believes the community and her small school are developing bonds that will endure. “It’s all about relationships, and once you start to develop a relationship with these children, you feel compelled to come back and to keep supporting them.” Some have chided the teachers for begging for handouts rather than lobbying government for action to eradicate child poverty, but Parry shrugs off the criticism. Policy changes are needed, she said, but someone else will have to fight that battle. “My concern, my urgency is here every day and quite frankly, my students can’t wait. When you’re on the front lines … you take whatever people will give.” Through all of this, Seymour students may be learning the most valuable lesson of all — that their community cares. “When volunteers and donors show up, that means the world to these kids,” Gelson said. “It’s saying ‘you matter to me’ and that’s huge.”

Source: www.vancouversun.com

After being thanked again, the Giesbrechts, of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, pulled their truck back onto eastbound freeway. Berg and Meier followed shortly thereafter, talking about how nice it was for the couple to stop and help them. Just down the road, the women saw that the Giesbrechts had pulled onto the shoulder. Initially, Berg thought maybe they were waiting to make sure she and her cousin were back on the road. She passed their truck, pulled over and saw Ann Giesbrecht waving her arms.

Berg got out of her vehicle and found Giesbrecht unconscious and not breathing.  She immediately jumped into his truck and began performing CPR. Fortunately, Berg is a Mayo Clinic Health System Home Health & Hospice employee trained in CPR. Less than two minutes later a sheriff and a reserve deputy arrived to the scene with an automated external defibrillator (AED). The portable electronic devices are used to try to restore normal heart rhythm to patients in cardiac arrest. Once Giesbrecht had been removed from the truck and the AED had been properly placed, the machine indicated a shock was necessary. After the device delivered three separate shocks, Sampson felt a pulse, and Giesbrecht began breathing. Giesbrecht was then airlifted to Mayo Clinic Health System.

“The key here is he got help right away,” said Newton, highlighting Berg’s quick action to perform CPR, the arrival of the deputies with the defibrillator and the Mayo One helicopter with its medical personnel. Ann Giesbrecht said she and her family will be forever in the debt of Meier and Berg, who she spoke to the following night, telling her “she actually saved his life.” Victor Giesbrecht “always wants to stop” and help when he sees stranded motorists, his wife said. “He’s the type of person who gives you 100 percent and worries about himself later.” Ann Giesbrecht thanked the staff at Mayo Clinic Health System, the Dunn County deputies and the Mayo One flight crew. “We’ve had such terrific care,” she said. “People are so nice.”

It was beneficial the Dunn County deputies had an AED with them. Dunn County Sheriff, Dennis Smith, couldn’t agree more. His personnel have had the devices – purchased with money raised through local fundraisers – in their cars for several years. State troopers don’t carry the devices with them, nor do Chippewa County sheriff’s deputies, officials said. Deputies in Eau Claire County do – thanks to grant awards and donations from the Masonic Temple, Sheriff Ron Cramer said.

Curious about AEDs and if  you should have one at home? Read more @ http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/automated-external-defibrillators/HB00053.

Source: www.leadertelegram.com

The holiday season is just around the corner and it’s time again to start thinking about being part of the 2011 American Red Cross Holiday Mail for Heroes. For a fifth year, American Red Cross and Pitney Bowes are partnering to ensure all Americans have an opportunity to send a touch of home this holiday season to members of our U.S. military, veterans and their families, many of whom will be far away from home this holiday season.

Starting this fall and throughout the holiday season, the Red Cross is working with Pitney Bowes, a mail stream technology company, to collect and distribute holiday cards to American service members, veterans and their families in the United States and around the world.

The process is very simple and takes no time at all – All you need is a pen and piece of paper to share your appreciation for the sacrifices members of the U.S. Armed Forces make to protect our freedoms The Holiday Mail for Heroes mail box is open and ready to receive for your cards. Please send all mail to:

Holiday Mail For Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456

Sending a “touch of home” to American men and women who serve our country is the perfect way to express your appreciation and support during the holiday season. (www.redcross.org/holidaymail)

The donors Robert E. King and his wife, Dorothy, also founded the Thrive Foundation for Youth.

Stanford University will open an institution aimed at alleviating poverty in developing nations, using $150 million donated by a Silicon Valley investor and his wife. “More than a billion people live on less than $1.25 a day,” said Robert E. King, who, together with his wife, Dorothy, made the gift. “That’s just not right.”

The new Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies, which has been nicknamed SEED, will be housed in the Graduate School of Business but will draw students and faculty from around the university. The gift is one of the largest Stanford has received this year. The Kings said that was one reason they had decided to give the money to Stanford rather than starting a freestanding nonprofit like the Thrive Foundation for Youth, which they established to support research into programs helping young people and their parents. “The relationships the university has in Silicon Valley, the range of expertise it has among its professors — it can’t be replicated,” Mrs. King said. “The university can make our money more fruitful than we could on our own.”

Hau Lee, a supply chain expert at the Stanford business school will be the one to lead the new institute. “Many people are doing relief or aid operations, but at the institute, we will be asking how we can stimulate entrepreneurs and business ideas so that the people receiving aid today can become self-sufficient so they won’t need aid in the future,” Professor Lee said. The Kings demurred when Stanford offered to put their name on the new institute, and Mr. King was reluctant to talk much about the investments that had made him wealthy. “We’ve had success,” he said simply.

Source: www.nytimes.com

After finding their ideal breathing rate, animated exercises show users how to breathe at that rate, while the heart monitor provides feedback about the variability of their heart rate. “Normally people think of 65 beats per minute as a good resting heart rate. But we’re not necessarily looking at heart rate — we’re looking at the degree to which the space between consecutive heart beats varies,” DeVarney explained. When a person is stressed their heart rate becomes consistent and variability is minimized. But when relaxed, variability is maximized, slowing down as you breathe out and speeding up as you breathe in.

“We know that for most people their resonant frequency is between 7.5 and 4.5 breaths per minute. The software maps your heart rate variability through each of those rates to find the breathing rate where it becomes maximized,” said DeVarney. This frequency remains consistent throughout adult life, and usually only varies during childhood or pregnancy.

DeVarney said the company collaborated with Dr. Richard Gevirtz, a professor at the Alliant International University in San Diego, California, who conducts research in heart rate variability. She said in people who meditate for hours increased heart rate variability is one of the characteristics of being in a highly relaxed state. “Meditators will find their resonant frequency naturally through trial and error, so we know that there’s something in that.”

Other biofeedback-based heart rate monitor apps include Instant Heart Rate which uses the iPhone’s camera to detect a user’s heart rate, rather than an external ear clip. The company recommends training ten minutes a day, three times a week. The app is available for iPhone, Android and Blackberry.

Source: http://www.reuters.com

And another… it’s just really cute.

The gentle giant placed the hapless rodent down and nudged it with his hoof, as if checking it for signs of life, before calmly watching it scamper off into the bushes. Zoo staff caught the entire rescue on camera. ‘It really was amazing,’ said Kate O’Conner, Pocatello’s education co-ordinator.

]]> http://choicenews.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/awesome-street-art/feed/ 0 jaydekat street_art_3 street_art_78_3d street_art_85_3d street_art_95 http://choicenews.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/from-harm-to-home/ http://choicenews.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/from-harm-to-home/#comments Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:40:25 +0000 www.choicenews.wordpress.com http://choicenews.wordpress.com/?p=1640 ]]> Meaningful Gifts from the IRC Gift Store (International Rescue Committee)

$35 can buy school clothes for a newly resettled refugee child including a clean shirt, pants and shoes.

The holidays are approaching and the warmth of love and thoughtfulness is all around. The International Rescue Committee has created a one-stop shop for those looking to give. The IRC gift store is entirely dedicated to those in need around the world (www.fromharmtohome.org). You can shop by program; including Health, Education, Emergency Relief & Refuge. Learn more about the IRC. Happy Holidays!

“I will love the rain for it cleanses my spirit. I will love the light for it shows me the way; yet I will love the darkness for it shows me the stars. I will welcome happiness for it enlarges my heart; yet I will endure sadness for it opens my soul. I will acknowledge rewards for they are my due; yet I will welcome obstacles for they are my challenge.” -Og Mandino

WATCH the video below…

Source: www.goodnewsnetwork.com

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently…They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

Last month Forbes penned the Top Ten Lessons Steve Jobs Taught Us. The list is just another reminder of the legacy he created and the inspiring man he was.

1. The most enduring innovations marry art and science – Steve has always pointed out that the biggest difference between Apple and all the other computer (and post-PC) companies through history is that Apple always tried to marry art and science.  Jobs pointed out the original team working on the Mac had backgrounds in anthropology, art, history, and poetry.  That’s always been important in making Apple’s products stand out.  It’s the difference between the iPad and every other tablet computer that came before it or since.  It is the look and feel of a product.  It is its soul.  But it is such a difficult thing for computer scientists or engineers to see that importance, so any company must have a leader that sees that importance.

2. To create the future, you can’t do it through focus groups – There is a school of thought in management theory that — if you’re in the consumer-facing space building products and services — you’ve got to listen to your customer.  Steve Jobs was one of the first businessmen to say that was a waste of time.  The customers today don’t always know what they want, especially if it’s something they’ve never seen, heard, or touched before.  When it became clear that Apple would come out with a tablet, many were skeptical.  When people heard the name (iPad), it was a joke in the Twitter-sphere for a day.  But when people held one, and used it, it became a ‘must have.’  They didn’t know how they’d previously lived without one.  It became the fastest growing Apple product in its history.  Jobs (and the Apple team) trusted himself more than others.  Picasso and great artists have done that for centuries.  Jobs was the first in business.

3. Never fear failure – Jobs was fired by the successor he picked.  It was one of the most public embarrassments of the last 30 years in business.  Yet, he didn’t become a venture capitalist never to be heard from again.  He didn’t start a production company and do a lot of lunches.  He picked himself up and got back to work following his passion.  Eight years ago, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and told he only had a few weeks to live.  As Samuel Johnson said, there’s nothing like your impending death to focus the mind.  From Jobs’ 2005 Stanford commencement speech:

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.”

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

4. You can’t connect the dots forward – only backward – This is another gem from the 2005 Stanford speech.  The idea behind the concept is that, as much as we try to plan our lives ahead in advance, there’s always something that’s completely unpredictable about life.  What seems like bitter anguish and defeat in the moment — getting dumped by a girlfriend, not getting that job at McKinsey, “wasting” 4 years of your life on a start-up that didn’t pan out as you wanted — can turn out to sow the seeds of your unimaginable success years from now.  You can’t be too attached to how you think your life is supposed to work out and instead trust that all the dots will be connected in the future.  This is all part of the plan.

“Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

5. Listen to that voice in the back of your head that tells you if you’re on the right track or not – Most of us don’t hear a voice inside our heads.  We’ve simply decided that we’re going to work in finance or be a doctor because that’s what our parents told us we should do or because we wanted to make a lot of money.  When we consciously or unconsciously make that decision, we snuff out that little voice in our head.  From then on, most of us put it on automatic pilot.  We mail it in.  You have met these people.  They’re nice people.  But they’re not changing the world.  Jobs has always been a restless soul.  A man in a hurry.  A man with a plan.  His plan isn’t for everyone.  It was his plan. He wanted to build computers.  Some people have a voice that tells them to fight for democracy.  Some have one that tells them to become an expert in miniature spoons.  When Jobs first saw an example of a Graphical User Interface — a GUI — he knew this was the future of computing and that he had to create it.  That became the Macintosh.  Whatever your voice is telling you, you would be smart to listen to it.  Even if it tells you to quit your job, or move to China, or leave your partner.

6. Expect a lot from yourself and others – We have heard stories of Steve Jobs yelling or dressing down staff.  He’s a control freak, we’ve heard – a perfectionist.  The bottom line is that he is in touch with his passion and that little voice in the back of his head.  He gives a damn.  He wants the best from himself and everyone who works for him.  If they don’t give a damn, he doesn’t want them around.  And yet — he keeps attracting amazing talent around him.  Why?  Because talent gives a damn too.  There’s a saying: if you’re a “B” player, you’ll hire “C” players below you because you don’t want them to look smarter than you.  If you’re an “A” player, you’ll hire “A+” players below you, because you want the best result.

7. Don’t care about being right.  Care about succeeding – Jobs used this line in an interview after he was fired by Apple.  If you have to steal others’ great ideas to make yours better, do it.  You can’t be married to your vision of how a product is going to work out, such that you forget about current reality.  When the Apple III came out, it was hot and warped its motherboard even though Jobs had insisted it would be quiet and sleek.  If Jobs had stuck with Lisa, Apple would have never developed the Mac.

8. Find the most talented people to surround yourself with – There is a misconception that Apple is Steve Jobs.  Everyone else in the company is a faceless minion working to please the all-seeing and all-knowing Jobs.  In reality, Jobs has surrounded himself with talent: Phil Schiller, Jony Ive, Peter Oppenheimer, Tim Cook, the former head of stores Ron Johnson.  These are all super-talented people who don’t get the credit they deserve.  The fact that Apple’s stock price has been so strong since Jobs left as CEO is a credit to the strength of the team.  Jobs has hired bad managerial talent before.  John Sculley ended up firing Jobs and — according to Jobs — almost killing the company.  Give credit to Jobs for learning from this mistake and realizing that he can’t do anything without great talent around him.

9. Stay hungry, stay foolish - Again from the end of Jobs’ memorable Stanford speech:

“When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960′s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.”

“Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: ‘Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.’ It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.”

“Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.”

10. Anything is possible through hard work, determination, and a sense of vision – Although he’s the greatest CEO ever and the father of the modern computer, at the end of the day, Steve Jobs is just a guy.  He’s a husband, a father, a friend — like you and me.  We can be just as special as he is — if we learn his lessons and start applying them in our lives.  When Jobs returned to Apple in the 1990s, it was was weeks away from bankruptcy.  It’s now the biggest company in the world.  Anything’s possible in life if you continue to follow the simple lessons laid out above.

May you change the world.

Source: www.goodnewsnetwork.org

“Beginning the week of Thanksgiving, many companies’ hiring processes start coming to a slow grind, due in a large part to many people using the holidays as vacation time, adding extra days off to the holiday schedule,” says Dorothy Tannahill Moran, owner of Next Chapter, New Life, a career coaching firm. “For a job seeker … this means they need to be networking, conducting informational interviews and sending applications immediately so they can be focused on by the hiring company while a full staff is still available.”Looking for a job? It’s time to kick your search into high gear. To give you a jump start, here’s a list of 15 companies that are hiring new employees this month.

1. Addison Search
Industry: Recruiting
Sample job titles: Coder, customer service, escrow, credit analyst
Location: Texas, N.Y., Ill. , N.J., Mass.

2. Bethesda Lutheran Communities
Industry: Nonprofit/Healthcare
Sample job titles: Registered nurse, behavior support specialist, caregiver/ direct support professional, area director
Location: Calif., Colo., Ill., Ind., Kan., Mich., Mo., N.J., Ohio, Ore., Texas, Wash., Wis.

3. Captech
Industry: Professional consulting
Sample job titles: Java developer, Java architect, SharePoint developer, and SharePoint architect
Location: Richmond, Va.; Charlotte, N.C.; Philadelphia

4. Carfax
Industry: Consumer services
Sample job titles: Marketing manager, business analyst / operations analyst, customer support specialist, field sales consultant, production support specialist, Java developer, senior web designer, project manager, national accounts manager
Location: Nationwide

5. Dollar General
Industry: Retail
Sample job titles: District managers, store managers, store manager candidates
Location: Nationwide

6. Family Home Health Services
Industry: Healthcare
Sample job titles: Business development manager, occupational therapist, physical therapist, nurse
Location: Fla., Mich., Ind., Mo., Ohio

7. Farmers Insurance
Industry: Insurance
Sample job titles: Insurance sales agent
Location: (cities or states): Ill., Ind., Minn., N.J., Ohio, Penn., Va., Wis.

8. John Knox Village
Industry: Health care
Sample job titles: Food service, CNA, LPN, RN, EMT
Location: Mo., Kan.

9. Men’s Wearhouse
Industry: Retail
Sample job titles: Sales consultant, sales manager
Location: Nationwide

10. Modern Woodmen of America
Industry: Insurance and banking
Sample job titles: Managing partner, financial representative
Location: Nationwide

11. PricewaterhouseCoopers
Industry: Professional services
Sample job titles: Accountant, auditor, tax accountant, consultant
Location: Nationwide

12. The Prudential Insurance Company of America
Industry: Financial services
Sample job titles: Financial professional associate (entry level and experienced)
Location: Nationwide

13. Titlemax
Industry: Consumer services
Sample job titles: Store manager, district manager, bilingual customer service representative, commercial construction field estimator, customer service representative, general manager trainee, store manager trainee, regional manager
Location: Nationwide

14. TMG Health
Industry: Business process outsourcing/professional services
Sample job titles: Analyst, senior market research; supervisor, operations compliance; supervisor, workforce management, analyst II, systems, account executive
Location: Dunmore, Penn.; King of Prussia, Penn.; Dallas; Little Rock, Ark.

15. Warner Chilcott
Industry: Pharmaceutical
Sample job titles: Pharmaceutical sales rep, women’s healthcare pharmaceutical rep, osteoporosis pharmaceutical sales rep
Location: Multiple states

Source: www.msn.careerbuilder.com

Her husband decided to film her as nurses turned on the implant. She posted the video on YouTube and wrote underneath: “I was born deaf and 8 weeks ago I received a hearing implant. This is the video of them turning it on and me hearing myself for the first time.”

At the end of the video, when asked if she wants to hear her husband’s voice, she can only cry even more, pressing a tissue over her face as her husband is heard chuckling with happiness. Sarah will also now be able to hear her three-year-old daughter’s voice.

The implant was that of Esteem, offered by Envoy Medical. The Esteem implant is embedded in the ear and works through ear drum vibrations, unlike most hearing aids, which use microphones and speakers.

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Other members of the pride attempt to rescue the cub but stop trying when they realize it is too steep.

Only the mother lion is willing to take the risk.

Just as the exhausted cub seems about to fall, his mother circles beneath him and he is snatched up in her jaws, according to the Daily Mail. She then begins the difficult journey back to the top.

Safe and sound, the lioness gives the cub a big welcome-back lick.

These dramatic frames were taken by wildlife photographer Jean-Francois Largot at Kenya’s Masai Mara game reserve in August.

Source: www.animaltracks.today.com

Each of the Top 10 CNN Heroes will receive a $50,000 grant and one of the honorees, as voted by fans across the globe, will be named the “CNN Hero of the Year”, receiving an additional $250,000 grant to further aid their cause. During the live broadcast, the Top 10 CNN Heroes will each have their story told by a celebrity.

The honorees for 2011, whose profiles are available to view at www.cnnheroes.com, are:

• Amy Stokes (Yonkers, NY) In sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 15 million children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS. New York resident Amy Stokes decided to bring the effect of caring adults living elsewhere into the lives of South African children. She started Infinite Family (http://www.infinitefamily.org/) in 2006, using the internet to connect hundreds of teen ‘Net Buddies’ with adult mentor volunteers from around the world. Pairs meet face-to-face via the internet, and the children learn survival, language and computer skills that help prepare them for their future in a global marketplace.
• Bruno Serato (Anaheim, CA) For two decades, Bruno Serato has been doing what he loves: feeding customers at his restaurant in Anaheim, California. But six years ago, he realized that many of the children at his local Boys and Girls Club often go to bed hungry. They are “motel kids” – children whose families stay one step ahead of homelessness by living week-to-week in cheap motels. Serato’s “Caterina’s Club” (http://www.thecaterinasclub.org/) started serving them pasta dinners, and now he feeds nearly 200 children seven nights a week.
• Derreck Kayongo (Atlanta, GA (birthplace: Uganda)) Millions of bars of soap left behind at hotels are simply thrown away. Since 2009, Kayongo and his Global Soap Project (http://www.globalsoap.org/) have collected 100 tons of partially used hotel soap and reprocessed it into more than 100,000 bars for communities in nine countries, including Haiti, Kenya and Uganda – for free. The Atlanta-area resident and Ugandan war refugee considers the soap he provides for poverty-stricken children as “a first line of defense” to help fight disease. The need is real: an estimated 2 million children die annually due to sanitation issues.
• Diane Latiker (Roseland (Chicago), IL) Youth gun violence runs especially rampant on Chicago’s South Side. Instead of hiding from it, Diane Latiker opened her doors to area kids in 2003 and started a community center in her living room. Today, the mother of eight has turned the building next door into a haven for youngsters. Latiker’s “Kids Off the Block” (http://kidsofftheblock.bbnow.org/) program offers tutoring, mentoring, job training and other activities to keep young people off the streets, out of gangs and focused on their futures.
• Eddie Canales (Schertz, TX) In 2001, Canales watched as his son Chris, a high school senior, made a tackle during a football game that left him paralyzed. Just over a year later, he and Chris watched from the stands as another high school player went down with a spinal cord injury. That moment pushed Eddie Canales to start “Gridiron Heroes,” (http://www.gridironheroes.org/) which provides emotional and financial support to high school football athletes who’ve sustained spinal cord injuries. It’s a fraternity that includes 19 injured players in the state of Texas.
• Elena Durón Miranda (Bariloche, Argentina) Elena Durón Miranda traveled to Argentina in 2001 to research impoverished communities. She witnessed children collecting food and other items in the Bariloche trash dump to eat and sell. She decided to stay in the country and in 2002, she founded “P.E.T.I.S.O.S.” (Prevention and Eradication of Child Labor – http://oneworldchildrensfund.org/projects/petisos) to get children out of the garbage dump and into school. Today P.E.T.I.S.O.S. provides free after school programs and access to education, counseling and medical care to about 200 children.
• Patrice Millet (Port-au-Prince, Haiti) After Patrice Millet was diagnosed with cancer, he dedicated his life to helping needy kids in his native Haiti. In 2007, he sold his business and started the “FONDAPS” youth soccer program, which has provided free equipment, coaching and food to hundreds of children from the slums of Port-au-Prince. But Millet’s program mainly aims to help teach participants to become responsible citizens. Many children in the program lost relatives in the 2010 earthquake and now live in tent cities. Millet believes his work is even more important now to give “his kids” a shot at a better life.
• Robin Lim (Ubud, Bali, Indonesia (Birthplace: Arizona)) In Indonesia, women are 300 times more likely to die in childbirth or from pregnancy-related complications than women in developed countries. After her youngest sister died from pregnancy complications, Lim became a professional midwife and dedicated her life to offering free prenatal and birthing services to low-income Indonesian women. Since 2003, Lim’s “Yayasan Bumi Sehat” (Healthy Mother Earth Clinic – http://www.bumisehatbali.org/)  has provided medical assistance to thousands of women in Bali and Aceh, Indonesia.
• Sal Dimicelli (Lake Geneva, WI) Raised in poverty, Sal Dimicelli vowed when he was 12 years old that he’d always help people in need, and he’s spent nearly all of his adult life making good on that promise. Through a local newspaper column, Sal invites people who’ve fallen on hard times to write him letters, describing their situation. His nonprofit, “The Time Is Now To Help,” (http://www.timeisnowtohelp.org/) assists about 500 people a year with food, rent, utilities and other necessities.
• Taryn Davis (Buda, TX) Taryn Davis’ husband died in Iraq when she was 21. She felt alone with her pain while others moved on with their lives and encouraged her to do the same. Unable to find a community that could honor her husband’s memory and spirit in a way she could relate to, Taryn created one. Since 2007, her American Widow Project (http://www.americanwidowproject.org/) has connected 900 young military widows in a sisterhood that helps them honor their husbands while celebrating life.

Previous CNN Heroes have gained global recognition and earned increased support, allowing them to make an even greater difference. For example, last year’s “Hero of the Year”, Anuradha Koirala, was honored by actress Demi Moore. Moore’s organization, the DNA Foundation, later partnered with the CNN Freedom Project for a documentary on Koirala’s project “Maiti Nepal,” which details her efforts to end human trafficking. The DNA Foundation will also fund future Maiti Nepal prevention efforts. CNN’s 2009 “Hero of the Year”, Efren Peñaflorida, saw his pushcart classroom model replicated more than 50 times by different organizations and institutions across the Philippines. He can also be seen hosting his own search for heroes on the Philippine television show “Ako Mismo” (“I Myself”), which features people working in the Philippines to better the lives of others.

“Over the past five years, the CNN Heroes Initiative has profiled more than 150 heroes and honored 50 everyday men and women from around the world for their tireless efforts to improve the lives of others,” said Jim Walton, President of CNN Worldwide. “We hope to empower these selfless individuals to persevere in their humanitarian efforts to create progress, and are proud to share the stories of this year’s Top 10 Heroes.”

Those interested in learning more about the 2011 honorees and casting their vote for “Hero of the Year” can visit www.cnnheroes.com online or on their mobile device. For the latest updates, fans can follow CNN Heroes on Facebook and Twitter.

Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan environmentalist who went on to become the first African woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize, died of cancer at the age of 71. Tributes from leaders around the world in the press praise her as one of the most widely respected women on the continent.

She founded a movement in 1977 to plant trees across Kenya that would fight erosion while creating firewood for fuel and jobs for women. Her Green Belt Movement spread across the continent planting more than 30 million trees and helping nearly 900,000 women.

She won the Peace Prize in 2004 for what the Nobel committee called “her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.” It was a moment of immense pride in Kenya and across Africa.

Her ideas for promoting sustainability and community-building inspired similar environmental efforts in other countries.

Full story in the New York Times

Photograph by Paul Nicklen, National Geographic

A mother of two cubs climbs a Pacific crab apple tree to grab its tart and tiny fruit. In years when autumn salmon numbers are low, the bears must find other food, such as wild berries, lupine roots and mussels.

See more pictures from the August 2011 feature story “Spirit Bear.”

Wrangler Erin Bolster and Tonk, a Percheron mix.

A 25-year-old wrangler likely saved an 8-year-old boy’s life . On July 30, Erin Bolster of Swan Mountain Outfitters was guiding eight clients on a horse ride on the Flathead National Forest between West Glacier and Hungry Horse. “It’s the shortest ride we offer,” she said recently, recalling the incident. “We’d already led two trips that morning. It’s always been a very routine hour-long loop, until that day.”

The group included a family of six plus a vacationing Illinois man, who’d booked the trip for his 8-year-old son’s first horse-riding experience. The young boy was riding Scout, a steady obedient mount, following directly behind Bolster, who was leading the group on Tonk, a burly 10-year-old white horse. “He’s a very large horse – 18 hands high. That intimidates a lot of riders. But I’ve always loved big horses. He’s kind of high-strung and spooky, the largest of our wrangling horses. I like a horse with a lot of spirit, and I was really glad to be on him that day.”

Bolster has accumulated a wealth of experience on and around horses of national and even world class. She started riding at 4 years old, became a professional trainer at 15, graduated from high school at 16 in Roanoke, VA, and ran a riding academy for several years. Seeking a more laid-back lifestyle, she wrangled in Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic before moving to Whitefish three years ago.

Because they guide around Glacier Park, bear awareness is part of the preparation wranglers get when hired by Swan Mountain Outfitters. “We go over a lot of wildlife scenarios in our training,” Bolster said. “We learn to watch our horses for signals of possible trouble so we can steer clear. It was a pleasant ride until we came around a corner on the trail and my horse stopped firm and wouldn’t move,” Bolster said. “He never refuses to go, so that caught my attention quick.” But not fast enough to avoid the spike white-tailed deer that burst out of the brush and glanced off Tonk’s left front shoulder. As Tonk spun from the impact, Bolster saw a huge grizzly bear crashing through the forest right at the group in pursuit of the deer. Horses panicked and guests grabbed saddle horns for the ride of their lives.

“No amount of training could keep a horse from running from a 700-pound charging bear,” she said. Seven of the horses sensed the danger, peeled out and galloped back on the trail toward the barn. But Scout bolted perpendicular to the trail into the timber, packing the 8-year-old boy. “The deer peeled off and joined the horses sprinting down the trail,” Bolster said. “So the bear just continued running right past me. I’m not sure the bear even knew the roles had changed, but now it was chasing a horse instead of a deer.”

The grizzly was zeroed in on Scout and the boy – the isolated prey in the woods. Adding to the drama, the boy’s father, an experienced rider, could not convince his horse that it was a good plan to ride to his son’s rescue. “The last thing he saw over his shoulder as his horse ran away was the grizzly chasing his boy,” Bolster said.

With the bear on Scout’s heels, Tonk’s instinct was to flee with the group of horses. But Tonk responded to Bolster’s heels in his ribs as she spun the horse around. They bolted into the trees to wedge between the predator and the prey. “I bent down, screamed and yelled, but the bear was growling and snarling and staying very focused on Scout. As it tried to circle back toward Scout, I realized I had to get Tonk to square off and face the bear. We had to get the bear to acknowledge us. We did. We got its attention – and the bear charged. So I charged at the bear. I had no hesitation, honestly,” Bolster said. “Nothing in my body was going to let that little boy get hurt by that bear. That wasn’t an option.” Tonk was on the same page. And the bear got the point. Bolster then gathered the boy up with her on Tonk, grabbed Scout’s lead and left the scene. It wasn’t until Bolster reunited with her riders and found everyone ok and rounded up, that she started to shake. “I looked at Tonk, and he was wet with sweat and shaking, too,” she said.

“Some of the horses I’ve ridden would have absolutely refused to do what Tonk did; others would have thrown me off in the process. Some horses can never overcome their flight-animal instinct to run away.” Tonk’s mettle moved Bolster. She wasn’t about to send him back to Wyoming with the other leased horses. “Two weeks ago, I closed the deal and bought him,” Bolster said as she was wrapping up her 2011 wrangling season. “After what he did that day, he had to be mine.”

Source: www. missoulian.com

The 2010 figures showed a continued decline in violence that began decades ago and has been uninterrupted since 2006. Figures in 2009 showed a drop of 5.3% in total violent crime from the previous year. From 1997 to 2006, violent crime dropped a total of 13%.

Experts can only speculate on why the crime rate continues a steep decline. Possibilities include stepped-up community policing, government programs targeted at youth and programs aimed to reduce recidivism in newly released prison inmates.

Source: www.goodnewsnetwork.org

Curtis Watkins has a simple plan: Make sure that children who live in the troubled communities east of the Anacostia River see welcoming male faces on their way to school in the mornings. Four times a week, at the crack of dawn, he and a small group of men walk the streets of Marshall Heights and Lincoln Heights in Ward 7, greeting students. Their opening line is often: “Good morning, young brother! Good morning, young sister!” “Most of these kids don’t see positive male role models, brothers who are just out and about looking out for their well-being,” Watkins said. “It’s just about having a presence in the community.”

The walk-around is known as “Safe Passage,” and it’s meant as a building block in developing long-term relationships between kids and their elders in the neighborhoods. Many of the men who walk the streets are ex-offenders searching for opportunities to give back to the communities they once committed crimes in. “Just being out here is part of giving back to a community where I was part of the problem,” said Bryant, 52, a District native who was released from prison several years ago. “But what’s most important to me is talking with these young folks and letting them know they can make different decisions, trying to plant seeds that get them thinking differently.”

The morning walks — usually about six men show up rain or shine — is an effort to address a persistent problem: groups of kids from different neighborhoods fighting over turf and bullying each other as they go to and from school. Watkins, 55, first started his version of the Safe Passage program 10 years ago in Ward 8. Children he knew from several middle schools would tip him off to after-school fights. As the director of a social service agency, he would often round up staff members and intervene before any violence occurred. “The kids came to us because they knew they didn’t want to fight and they felt they could trust us not to tell anyone who tipped us off . . . and they knew we could stop stuff from going down,” Watkins said.

Parents in the Glencrest community said the presence of the Safe Passage volunteers is a start toward fostering a community where neighbors look after one another. “It’s very hectic around here, but it’s important to have a presence of folks who are looking out for our kids,” said Donna Crews, 42, a single mother of six children ranging in age from 11 to 19.

Cmdr. Robert Contee, head of the Metropolitan Police Department’s 6th District, said that the volunteers’ work is an extension of the supervising of children’s routes to school that officers have done over the years in troubled neighborhoods. He added that last year’s violence in Lincoln Heights pushed them to look at expanding the role of morning monitors to Watkins’s group. “We can’t be everywhere and unfortunately we can’t do it all,” he said in an interview. “We never know what we’re not preventing, but it’s important to have the Homecomers involved in these neighborhoods.” In addition to public safety, Watkins said, it’s a chance for adults to be present in the children’s lives — in an old-school way. The interactions of the men can be casual at first — a high-five here and a playful conversation there — but as the volunteers get to know the youngsters, they feel at liberty to challenge the students on grades and behavior. “We want these kids to feel warm,” said William Lawson, 55, another of the walkers. “Who knows, maybe just our presence one morning will make one of these kids’ day.”

Source: www.washingtonpost.com

The saving of 21-year-old Wright has become a national feel-good story, fueled by dramatically clear video of the rescue captured by an office worker in a nearby building. As the video shows, just seconds after Wright grounded his motorcycle to avoid a collision with a black BMW and slid under the burning vehicle, an ad hoc rescue team assembled to lift the car out from on top of him. Wright’s accident occurred just 50 yards from the construction crew working on the bustling Utah State University campus. Seemingly out of nowhere, students, businessman and passersby joined the workers in an on-the-spot rescue team that likely saved Wright’s life.

Johnson initially tried to lift the 2-ton car on his own, but even after five others joined him, they were unable to do it. But a split-second after the mystery woman determined Wright was still alive, others arrived to pitch in. All told, about a dozen people put their muscle into lifting the car on its right side, enabling a construction worker to drag Wright out from under. All the while, the citizen rescuers were not only dealing with flames blazing out from the car, but also from Wright’s motorcycle, which was nearly engulfed in fire.

Wright was airlifted to Intermountain Medical Center, and while he is dealing with broken bones, he is expected to make a full recovery. “I’m just very thankful for everyone that helped me out,” Wright told The Associated Press by telephone from his hospital bed. “They saved my life.”

Source: www. today.msnbc.msn.com

Meet Sam Fox.

Who is he?  Sam is a 23-year-old in the midst of an unbelievable, treacherous, and inspiring challenge: to run the entire 2,650 miles of the Pacific Coast Trail in less than 65 days. If he completes this challenge, he’ll break the current speed record, but that entails running an average of 40 miles a day for two months.

Did you hear that? 40 miles a day for two months! That’s nuts! But Sam has trained all year for this—and he’s determined to complete the challenge which started on August 25th.

Why is he doing this? His run is a charitable endeavor organized by his foundation, Run While You Can, to raise awareness and money for Parkinson’s disease research. Sam’s mom, Lucy, was diagnosed with the disease more than a decade ago—and Sam started his foundation in her honor. The runner’s goal is to raise $250,000 for the Michael J. Fox Foundation. 

Where is he? Right now Sam is trekking through California, making his way south over tricky terrain. Sam’s run, which will take him over 60 major mountain passes and past more than 1,000 lakes will be daunting and sometimes impossible, not to mention filled with blisters, strained muscles and constant exhaustion.

RunWhileYouCan.org’s blog is chronicling Sam’s adventure: the good, the bad and everything in between. Besides amazing photos and very witty commentary, you get an unfiltered look at the athlete and the challenge. The blog is incredibly inspiring.

What can you do? Donate at RunWhileYouCan.org. Volunteer or even run a section of the trail with him if you are in the area. Follow his blog, cheer him on from afar, and watch him make his dream come true.

It all starts with Kimeli Naiyomah.  Kimeli, a member of a Masai tribe, grew up in a small rural town called Enoosaen near the Masai Mara National Reserve.  The town had no water, no electricity, no phones and no roads. After accompanying his ailing mother to the hospital as a young boy, Kimeli says he knew he wanted to grow up to heal others like her.  He didn’t know such people were called doctors – he just knew he wanted to be one.

Dreaming of being a doctor is ambitious even in America.  But in Kimeli’s part of Africa, one could have easily dismissed that dream as impossible. This was especially true in Kimeli’s particular situation.  He says he had no father.  His grandmother had been murdered.  And his mother – his only remaining caretaker – was battling alcoholism. Moreover, nobody that Kimeli knew from his tribe had gone to high school, let alone college or medical school.

He knew he had to change his situation, so he ran away – to another village where he had heard that there was a school that was taught under a tree.  It was a church school and it became his grade school and his home. When he grew beyond this school-under-a-tree,  Kimeli found the nearest high school, which was 9 hours away.  So he walked there and told the principal that he had no money, no uniform, no books, no shoes and no family, but he wanted to attend school.  And, as Kimeli tells the story, the principal was so amazed by Kimeli’s gumption that he welcomed him to the school.

Kimeli soon realized he probably couldn’t achieve his dream of becoming a doctor if he remained in Kenya.  So he started applying for universities in America.  He says, “My elders got together to try to raise money to help me achieve my goals.” They raised $5,000 for him. A Washington Post reporter then caught wind of the story and came to Enoosaen to write a story about Kimeli’s doctoral dreams.  That story ended up on the front page of the paper. The article inspired an outpouring of support, including a scholarship offer from the University of Oregon, a plane ticket from a businessman in Florida and clothes and other materials he needed to survive in America paid for by another total stranger. “You can imagine how I felt,” Kimeli says, “when I received a letter offering me a scholarship in America.  It’s like getting a letter from God when you know you’re not qualified for heaven.”

Kimeli enrolled at the University of Oregon in 1996.  A few years later, Kimeli heard about Stanford University (after Chelsea Clinton enrolled there) and decided after seeing the school that that was where he belonged.  He says, “It looked like a village to me”.  And once again, Kimeli made his own luck, getting accepted at Stanford after getting his grades up in Oregon.

Kimeli had become a celebrity of sorts back home.  In September of 2001, the President of Kenya was scheduled to be in New York and Kimeli says he was invited to meet with him.  And that’s how Kimeli – now officially a full Masai warrior back home – found himself in New York City on September 11, 2001.

As a warrior, Kimeli is trained to rush to the scene of crisis.  “You run to the battleground,” he says, “I don’t run away from tragedy, I run to tragedy.  But I was realistic enough to know I couldn’t help [at Ground Zero].” Kimeli says he is also a very emotional warrior.  9/11 touched him deeply. The country that had given him so much had been brutally attacked.  He had to figure out a way to help.  He had to do something.

So, on a trip back home in May of 2002, he asked to meet with the elders of his tribe. First, Kimeli told them of the horrors he had witnessed in New York.  Many of Kimeli’s people had never even heard of 9/11.  They couldn’t even fathom buildings that tall and most people in the village had never seen a plane except way high up in the sky.

Then, Kimeli told them of his plan.  He wanted to buy a cow (something this formerly homeless boy had never been able to do) and turn right around and give that cow to America. In Kimeli’s tradition, a cow is the most precious property one can own.  And it is believed to bring great comfort to its owner.  As one elder told a reporter, a cow is a “handkerchief to wipe away tears.” He wanted his elders’ blessing for his plan. But, unexpectedly, one-by-one the elders stood up and said they were so inspired by his plan they wanted to do the same.  In the end there were 14 cows that had been pledged to the American people to help bring them peace.

On June 3rd, 2002, U.S. charges d’affairs William Brencick travelled to Enoosaen to formally accept the cows.  He says it took him more than half-a-day to get there – a flight and then a long drive over treacherous terrain.  But after he heard Kimeli’s story, he wanted to go. Brencick expected to be greeted by a handful of people, but when he arrived, he found a large crowd. Kimeli says more than a thousand people were in attendance.  Kimeli had brought American flags with him.  The “Star Spangled Banner” played on a loudspeaker.  Some in the crowd held up banners that said: “To the people of America,” “We are touched by your loss” and “We give these cows to help you.”  Brencick says it was “overwhelmingly emotional” and he couldn’t help but tear up.

But there was a hitch. Logistical and monetary problems prevented the U.S. from taking possession of the cattle.  The herd was worth much less than the considerable amount it would cost to ship it 7,250 miles to New York City.  And there were health hurdles: African cows weren’t allowed in America.  In addition, there was concern that the cows might not survive the voyage anyway.

Washington Times columnist Tony Blankley heard what was going on and wondered how the U.S. could get 80,000 troops into Afghanistan, but couldn’t get 14 head of cattle out of Africa.  As for the Masai, they couldn’t quite understand why this American came to accept the cows, but then didn’t take them home with him.  Some wondered why he didn’t just load the cattle on a truck and drive them to America.

Four years later, on the 5th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, all was made right.  Then-U.S. Ambassador Michael Ranneberger traveled to Enoosaen to cement a deal for Kimeli’s tribe to take care of “America’s” herd in perpetuity.  And, as a way of saying thanks, the Ambassador announced the establishment of a scholarship for 14 boys and girls in the village to go to local schools.  Those scholarships continue to this day. 
And today the herd continues to grow.  As of right now, 35 “American” cattle roam the plains near Enoosaen, tended lovingly by one of the elders in Kimeli’s tribe. As for Kimeli, he’s decided he can do more for the world as a diplomat than a doctor.  Next fall, Kimeli hopes to become a Rotary International World Peace fellow at Duke University.

If you’re interested in reading more. Kimeli’s story is featured in a children’s book 14 Cows for America.

Source: www.cnn.com

Students read a comic book with an anti-extremist theme at a primary school Friday, Sept. 9, 2011 in Jakarta, Indonesia. The real life adventures of former al-Qaida-linked terrorist Nasir Abas have become a new comic book in Indonesia, chronicling his transformation from militant to invaluable ally in the fight against terrorism. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)

The real life adventures of former al-Qaida-linked militant Nasir Abas have become a new comic book in Indonesia, chronicling his transformation from foe to invaluable ally in the fight against terrorism. The story of the soft-spoken, seemingly mild-mannered 42-year-old — recognized by strangers on the streets and even asked for the occasional autograph — is well-known in the world’s most populous Muslim country.

Abas went from helping train Muslim extremists who carried out some of Southeast Asia’s deadliest attacks to informing police about the inner-workings of the Jemaah Islamiyah network. He’s also joined a government program to convince convicted terrorists that killing unarmed civilians in the name of their faith is wrong.

“I want children to learn from my experience,” Abas said of the colorful 137-page comic book I Found the Meaning of Jihad, which will appear in bookstores and be handed out at some schools and libraries. “I don’t want them to make the same mistakes.”

Indonesia, hit by a string of suicide bombings that has killed more than 260 people since Sept. 11, 2001, has been widely praised for its anti-terror fight. The government, partly through the use of paid informants and former militants working to persuade hard-liners to change sides, has rounded 680 suspects, trying and convicting many of them in open courts. Abas, a Malaysian national who now lives in Jakarta with his family, has been one of its biggest success stories.

Kids at an elementary school squealed when shown a copy of the book by nonprofit publisher Lazuardi Birru and called out to their friends, who eagerly huddled around and flipped through the lively, glossy pages. More than 10,000 copies have been printed so far. The comic traces Abas’ early days at an Islamic boarding school to his recruitment as a fighter against Western oppression in Afghanistan in the late 1980s.

Security experts say it’s good to find creative ways to battle hateful ideologies spread by al-Qaida and other extremist groups, as long as it’s part of a comprehensive counter-radicalization strategy. “We know young people are often targeted for recruitment by jihadist groups,” said Kumar Ramakrishna, a terrorism expert in Singapore. “So reaching out in innovative ways, such as through pop music and comics … is certainly a very good idea in my view.”

Source: www.sfgate.com

In the time it takes you to read this post, a child will have been killed by malaria. But by the end of this post, you will learn how to save another child from dying.

$20 from the sale of every book End Malaria (100% of the Kindle price and 80% of the hardcover price) will be donated to Malaria No More, whose mission it is to end malaria deaths in Africa by the year 2015. Your $20 sends a mosquito net to a family in need to support the fight against malaria.

The page-turner features 62 essays written by America’s most treasured business authors, on the topic of great work and how to do more of the stuff that truly matters in life. Divided into three sections: Focus, Courage and Resilience, in which luminaries inspire you to seek answers to everyday dilemmas from within, motivating you to bring your desires to fruition, the compilation will change your life as well.

The hope is that this book smart campaign results in unprecedented ‘net’ profits.

 To learn more about Malaria or to get involved in other ways, visit http://www.malarianomore.org/.

 Source: www.getmilkshake.com

Love this video and love the message!

(National Geographic)

 “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou

 Brett Westcott, a sophomore in civil engineering, said he woke up with the idea at the beginning of the school year and quickly recruited his friend. “I love giving free compliments – there’s nothing else I’d rather do,” Westcott said. “The first day I was a little bit nervous because I wasn’t sure how people were going to take it. But we’ve had a good response.”

Source: www.purdue.edu

Yoshie Arai and her son Tatsuki, 10, pick blueberries near Portland, Ore.

A girl makes mud pies in the dirt, a toddler takes wobbly steps in the grass, a boy picks blueberries and another builds a snowman. Those are simple pleasures in Oregon, but not for the children of Fukushima, Japan, where a nuclear disaster in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami forced them indoors for months and required them to wear protective gear when they did venture outside.

At least 11 kids and their parents, refugees from Fukushima and other parts of Japan, are visiting Oregon this month and living with U.S. host families as part of a grass-roots effort to give them a break from the stress and health risks they had been facing at home.

More than 46,000 people living in Fukushima Prefecture have left since the triple disaster. Worries about the impact of radiation on their children were paramount for the mothers who brought their families to Oregon. Children under the age of 18 are most sensitive to the effects of radioactive iodine, one of the main isotopes released during the disaster, according to the Centers of Disease Control. Researchers released a study showing that low levels of radioactive iodine had been found in the thyroid glands of children from Fukushima. The announcements have stirred great fears among the Fukushima mothers, some who said they don’t want to go back.

Chifumi Brown, a Japanese-American therapist who is hosting a Japanese family, is holding a weekly informal therapy session for the mothers. “They’re really in the survival mode of needing to get away,” she said. They need “a breath of fresh air, literally,” Brown’s husband, Christopher, later added.

The families connected with each other through “Boshi sokai-shien network hahako”, a network set up days after the disaster struck by Yuko Kida, a part-time English teacher living in southern Japan who wanted to help out families looking to escape Fukushima. The name of the network means “mother-child,” Kida explained, noting that pregnant women and babies are most vulnerable to radiation. To date, about 45 families from countries such as the U.S., Australia, Britain, Thailand and Malaysia have offered to host families, with another 500 to 600 offers from elsewhere in Japan. A few hundred Japanese families have been placed with host homes so far.

“I wanted to do something directly, not just donating the money to some organization. I just really wanted to do person-to-person … help,” said Kurumi Conley, a Japanese-American glass artist hosting the Fujimori family in her home with her husband and two daughters.

Abe, the mother of a 3-year-old, said the stay with their host family was critical to their mental health. “I wanted my daughter to have a summer, to be able to go outside, and so I started looking abroad,” she said. Abe added that the U.S. break had given her a new resolve to confront the challenges she and the others will face when they soon head home. “I think this made me stronger.”

Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

Nordstrom might be a guilty pleasure for you but there is nothing guilty about the pleasure of shopping at one new Nordstrom-owned store. The store, Treasure & Bond, which opened Friday, August 19^th in New York City and Nordstrom have committed to donating store profits to charity. That’s right, Nordstrom will not be pocketing the profits from Treasure & Bond. The Seattle-based company is donating proceeds from the store to nonprofit organizations that benefit New York City children.

The store will support two charities each quarter. Eight organizations have already been selected.

August – October 2011

The New York Public Library Programs for Children and Young Adults

New York City’s Young Men’s Initiative

November 2011 – January 2012

Children’s Health Fund

Coalition for the Homeless: Camp Homeward Bound Sleep-Away Camp and After School Services

February 2012 – April 2012

The Edible Schoolyard NYC

Friends of the High Line’s Family and Education Programs

May 2012 – July 2012

Pediatric Cancer Care, Memorial Sloan Kettering

Association to Benefit Children (ABC)

At the end of each quarter, the net profits will be split equally between the two charities selected. In order to ensure that these organizations receive the maximum donation possible, Treasure & Bond is cutting expenses wherever possible including the use of recycled, reclaimed or repurposed materials from Nordstrom locations.

While Nordstrom owns the new boutique, shoppers familiar with the upscale retailer won’t recognize Treasure & Bond. The store is much smaller and features clothing and accessories you may not find at a Nordstrom store including custom couture hats from Satya Twena and vintage glasses from The Vintage Frame Company.

Treasure & Bond is located at 350 West Broadway in SoHo, but if you want to get a sneak peek inside Nordstrom’s new philanthropic shopping experience, check out this feature on Vogue.com.

Source: www.mnn.com

1. Move for Hunger created by Adam Lowy – By teaming up with moving companies across the country, Move for Hunger is creating one of the nation’s largest year-round service programs.  Movers offer to pick up the unwanted, non-perishable food items from those who are moving and deliver it to their local food banks. http://moveforhunger.org/

2. TwitChange – TwitChange was launched in August of 2010 in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Haiti to bring fans, celebrities, and a great cause together to change the world. Their 1st campaign received over 35 million hits, won the Mashable Award for Most Creative Social Good Campaign, and made a huge impact for people in need. After 3 more very successful campaigns in 2011, TwitChange also aims to be the leading provider of breaking news and content on how social media is making the world a better place. http://twitchange.com/

3. Unite for Children – UNICEF is a driving force that helps build a world where the rights of every child are realized. They have the global authority to influence decision-makers, and the variety of partners at grassroots level to turn the most innovative ideas into reality.  That makes them unique among world organizations, and unique among those working with the young. http://www.unicef.org/index.php

4. Malaria No More – Determined to end malaria deaths in Africa by 2015—and they’re helping the world get it done. Malaria No More leverages high-impact awareness campaigns to engage the world, global advocacy to rally leadership and strategic investments in Africa to accelerate progress, build capacity and save lives. http://www.malarianomore.org/

5. Sport Relief – Fundraisers that do something fun and active to raise cash and help make the world of difference. All the money raised by the public is spent by Comic Relief (a major charity based in the UK which strives to create a just world free from poverty) to help transform the lives of poor and vulnerable people, both at home and across the world’s poorest countries. http://www.sportrelief.com/

6. Elton John Aids Foundation – Supports innovative HIV prevention programs, efforts to eliminate stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS, and direct care and support services for people living with HIV/AIDS. Collectively, its organizations have raised over $220 million since inception in support of projects in 55 countries around the world, including significant funding dedicated to programs in their respective home countries. http://www.ejaf.org/index.html

7. DonorsChoose.org – An online charity that makes it easy for anyone to help students in need. http://www.donorschoose.org/

8. The Sparkle Effect created by Sarah Cronk – A student-run program encourages teens nationwide to include students with disabilities in high-school cheerleading programs. An on-line Quick-Start kit, grants for uniforms, and free on-site training makes starting a squad easy and fun! The result: students with disabilities experience true acceptance and gain confidence as high-school students inspire entire communities to embrace inclusion. http://www.thesparkleeffect.org/index.php

9. Artists for Peace and Justice – Established in early 2009, APJ is a fundraising effort founded by Paul Haggis and friends that encourages peace and social justice and addresses issues of poverty and enfranchisement in communities around the world. The organization’s immediate goal is to build schools to serve the poorest areas of Haiti, providing an education, hot meals, clean drinking water and regular medical treatments to the children living in the slums. http://www.apjnow.org/index.html

10. The Trevor Project – Determined to end suicide among LGBTQ youth by providing life-saving and life-affirming resources including a nationwide 24/7 crisis intervention lifeline and digital community and advocacy/educational programs that create a safe, supportive and positive environment for everyone. http://www.thetrevorproject.org/

11. YALLA created by Mark Kabban – YALLA‘s mission is to empower immigrant families and their children, guiding their community through soccer, eco-therapy and education to develop the knowledge and confidence to pursue their physical and intellectual goals. They work to cultivate a healthy disposition, honesty, and hope in refugee youth as they learn the merit of commitment and grasp the dynamics of leadership. http://yallasd.com/index.php

12. Real Food Challenge created by David Schwartz – Serves as both a campaign and a network. The campaign is to increase the procurement of real food on college and university campuses, with the national goal of 20% real food by 2020. Already these efforts have created a shift of $35,000,000.00 in food decision distribution. By leveraging purchasing power transformation of the larger food system can take place. The network offers a chance for students and their allies (those working on the campaign along with those who’ve yet to sign on) to make connections, learn from one another, and grow the movement. http://realfoodchallenge.org/ & http://www.liverealnow.org/

13. Pencils of Promise – Pencils of Promise builds schools in the developing world and trains young leaders to take action at home and abroad. http://www.pencilsofpromise.org/

And another just because I love this stuff…

14. Spokes of Change – Millennium Promise is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to reduce worldwide extreme poverty within our lifetime. One of Millennium Promise’s campaigns is Spokes of Change. The project helps provide bicycles, training, and equipment for Community Health Workers in rural Africa, who in turn deliver much needed services for young moms and children (just one health worker can care for up to 750 people!). Buying just one 100% cotton T-shirt—designed by Tommy Hilfiger—can cover the costs for an entire month’s worth of medical supplies for a health worker. (Source: www.getmilkshake.com)

Feeling inspired? Yeah, me too!

Ryan Gosling posed as a hero in real life, stopping a New York City street fight over the weekend. He was walking down the street in the East Village when he came upon an escalating scuffle and immediately intervened. The 31-year-old actor dropped his bags on the ground, pulling an aggravated man to the side.

The whole scene was captured on video, thanks to a bystander who began squealing after she learned of the actor’s identity. Gosling is currently in New York City filming “The Place Beyond the Pines,” a film due out in 2013 starring the Canadian actor along with Bradley Cooper, Rose Byrne and Eva Mendes.

Source: www.goodnewsnetwork.org

To help Duracell’s “Power of Those Who Protect Us” program to benefit the National Volunteer Fire Council, the Grammy Award-winning artist re-recorded his hit song, ‘Forget You’ as ‘Thank You’ to honor volunteer firemen. The always-catchy new tune (which you can download for free) sings the praises of firefighters everywhere and thanks them for all they do.

The former Gnarls Barkley singer has strong personal ties to this specific cause. Green’s mother was a volunteer firefighter—in fact, Green revealed to MTV that she was one of the first African-American female firefighters in Georgia. Volunteer firemen are also credited with saving his mother’s life after a devastating car accident when Green was 18.

Source: www.getmilkshake.com

“Every day, volunteers of all ages are giving their time and talents to solve problems and make our country stronger,” said Robert Velasco II, acting CEO of CNCS. Minneapolis – St.Paul ranked No. 1 in volunteerism among large U.S. cities, with 37.1 percent of people giving their services. Portland, Salt Lake City, Seattle, and Rochester, New York were other urban areas with strong volunteer rates. On the state level, Utah led the way followed by Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota.

People born between 1965-1981, known as Generation X, volunteered more of their time to volunteering than ever before, contributing 2.3 billion hours in 2010 — 110 million hours more than the year before. Velasco said the figures show that civic involvement increases as people become more deeply rooted in their community through family, work and school ties.

Partly thanks to social networking, teen volunteer rates have been significantly higher between 2002 and 2010 than they were in 1989, according to the report called “Volunteering in America.” It attributed high teen volunteer rates to greater emphasis on service-learning in high schools, the influence of parents who volunteer and the ease of finding volunteer opportunities with the Internet. “Technology in the broad sense of social networking has been an asset to volunteerism. I think young people are much more attuned to volunteering at an earlier age than some of us were,” Velasco said in an interview. “They have much more social engagement and networks, and, as a result, they are just much more engaged.”

CNCS recently partnered with the White House to launch a website, serve.gov, where potential volunteers can find opportunities in their areas by entering their interests and zip code.

Source: www. uk.reuters.com

Well, you’re in luck. DoSomething.org and VH1 continue their partnership that honors young people’s commitment to social change with The Do Something Awards. Jane Lynch, the Emmy and Golden Globe winner who plays Glee’s tough-as-nails coach with a heart of gold returns as the show’s host for the second year in a row.

Each of the final five nominees was honored in May for his or her commitment to humanitarian efforts with a community grant of $10,000. From helping with food and hunger issues to creating a support group for Iraq and Afghanistan war-widows, these individuals, all 25 and younger, are striving to nurture and care for those in need — many of whom have stories much like their own. Do Something, Inc. will select one grand prize winner who will receive $100,000 in grant funds at today’s live broadcast.

Though the show will of course feature high-profile performances and all-star appearances, the focus will be on the five individuals whose life calling is to make the world a better place. Tune into VH1 tonight, August 18 at 9/8c to see who wins.

Source: www.getmilkshake.com

Compelling, right? Yep, we’re going to see it, too. But the minds behind the film know that warriors in the real world don’t always get to go head-to-head in a ring. Most of the time, warriors are in board meetings, working to change legislation, or running a charity for causes they believe in, or putting their lives on the line, fighting fires in their neighborhoods. Real warriors are changing their communities – and the world.

As part of the “We Are Warriors” initiative, it’s time to call attention to these unsung heroes. Nominate someone that you see working to affect change by uploading a video to the WARRIOR website and answering the question, “What do you fight for?” The video will be shown to thousands of viewers across Lionsgate’s social media channels.

The winning warrior gets a hometown screening of WARRIOR for himself or herself—and 200 guests. Now that’s a party! Nominations are open until August 29th, so get those video cameras rolling. Bet you know a warrior working to make a difference in the world. Hey, maybe it’s you…

Source: www.getmilkshake.com

Laid-off workers win lottery. (Montreal Gazette)

It was a sweet payday for 18 Ottawa-area co-workers who shared a $7.1 million jackpot one day after 10 of them lost their jobs. The lucky men were at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming office in downtown Toronto on Friday to collect their check and share the winnings. They are expected to take home about $400,000 each after splitting the pot.

“I am going to use my share to pay off my mortgage,” said Tim Shanks, 33, who was laid-off and has four weeks of work remaining at Smart Technologies, in Ottawa, which is laying-off staffers and transferring its operations to Mexico. “The lottery winnings couldn’t have come at a better time for me and my family.”

Colin Willard, 49, said the group had been working together for 10 years and playing Lotto 6/49 for five. “We can’t believe our luck because we never thought that we would actually win,” Willard said. “I plan to pay off all my bills and take it easy a bit.”

Shaun Hogan, 33, said he will use some cash to return to school for retraining. “I want to change my life and do something else,” Hogan said. “I have been doing this job for years and now I want to do something else.” The money will come in handy given the layoff notices that went out, he said. “We are having the last laugh. I was always hoping for a big win.”

Source: www.torontosun.com

For those craving competitive thrill and the chance to make the world a better place, check out the X PRIZE Foundation. The educational nonprofit’s mission is to make the impossible possible, one prize at a time.

The X PRIZE tagline is “Revolution through competition” – since humans are hardwired to compete, it’s only natural to use that drive to push capabilities beyond limits. Think about it: 100 years ago, people would never believe a transatlantic aircraft flight could happen. But in 1927, Charles Lindbergh made the impossible possible — all because of the $25,000 Orteig Prize.

The U.S. based X Prize organization’s first competition was in 1996 and called for the first private team to build a spaceship. Teams from around the world worked towards the goal … and the $10 million prize. However, the initiative inspired not just competition, but created businesses and industries that are worth more than the original incentive — thanks to the human drive. Today, groups are competing for the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE, which aims to reach the moon with a new generation of low-cost robots.

If you’re innovative and want to help create a better future, look into the X PRIZE Foundation. Somewhere in the world, someone will have the solution. Maybe you will be one of the ones that make the impossible … possible.

Source: www.getmilkshake.com

Amanda Lindhout, in Somalia, talks with Sameya Mohamed, who thanked her for bringing food and said, "my grandchildren are starving." (Kate Snow)

In August 2008, Amanda Lindhout was working as a freelance journalist when her car was surrounded by about a dozen teenage men in Mogadishu. “They ordered us out of the vehicle, made us lay face down on the dirt, guns pointed at the back of our heads,” she says. “We were then put back into the vehicle. And then what followed was many months of moving around, actually all over south central Somalia in different houses, but always with the same group.”

She was held captive for more than 15 months. Her captors abused her daily. At one point she was able to call the media, and complained of suffering from dysentery and a broken tooth. “There’s no one to take care of me here,” she pleaded. “I don’t want to die here.”

As Lindhout sat alone in a dark room, she thought about what she would do if she ever got out. “I found that the most positive way to spend the time was really to think about programs that I could create that would one day transform Somalia into a better place — a country that would not be producing these generations of young people that grow up knowing nothing but violence,” she says.

When she was released a year and a half ago, she created a foundation named the Global Enrichment Foundation to help build schools for Somali refugee camps in Kenya. She raised over half a million dollars. She says she never thought she’d return to Somalia. That would be too much. She’d run the operation from her home in Canada. But what she never anticipated was the famine. On a trip to visit the refugee camps in Kenya, Lindhout couldn’t help but see all the malnourished children. She began to think that maybe there was something she could do for them.

And so the idea of a convoy of aid was born. And so she set off for the very country she once begged to leave. “I had to do whatever I could to get food to these people and food where it was needed the most, which is inside Somalia,” she says in a car speeding toward the Somali border. When she saw the small blue Somali flag at the border, she welled up with tears. The Somali transitional government welcomed her in — along with her convoy of two large trucks. They unloaded enough food for 14,000 people.

Sameya Mohamed sat crouched on the ground and offered her thanks. “My grandchildren are starving,” she told Lindhout. “You look at the little kids here, and that’s the whole reason,” Lindhout said tearfully. Feeding the hungry was the reason she came. But for Lindhout, the trip had another effect. It was also about reclaiming a part of herself. “I think it is an opportunity for me to look at that fear and maybe let it go…”

Source: www.today.msnbc.msn.com

From Veronika Scott’s blog:

‘This is my story about the humanitarian project called The Empowerment Plan. Meet the re-designed coat: Element S. It is self-heated, waterproof, and transforms into a sleeping bag at night. It is made by a group of homeless women who are paid minimum wage, fed and housed while creating these coats made for those living on the streets. The focus is on the humanitarian system to create jobs for those that desire them and coats for those that need them at no cost. The goal is to empower, employ, educate, and instill pride. The importance is not with the product but with the people.’

What inspired the empowerment plan was a school project. Veronika is a product design student at the College for Creative Studies. She was working in studio class and a humanitarian group came in to sponsor our studio and really became a catalyst. “They said to ‘design to fill a need’ and from there I realized that as a college student, I had ramen and a roof over my head, so my needs were being met. From there I reached out to the homeless community, which in Detroit has a pretty large number of people, an estimated 20,000 individuals living on the street. I spent three days a week, every week, for five months working in a homeless shelter downtown. The people there became an integral part of the entire design, they were there every step of the way and tested all four prototypes. When the semester ended the project did not; it couldn’t because I didn’t feel it was over. I continued the project not just because I was passionate about it but because actual people needed, wanted, and desired it. I realized I had to take it to the next level and make it a system.”

Source: www.fastcompany.com

Photograph by Mick Tsikas

Twelve-year-old male lion brothers Tonyi, left, and Tombo lie with each other at Werribee Open Range Zoo, 30 kilometers (19 miles) west of Melbourne, Australia, in September 2008. Werribee Open Range Zoo occupies 225 hectares (556 acres) of land, which allows visitors in safari buses to get closer to animals. The photographs were taken by a camera in a hide and triggered remotely.

Source: www.photography.nationalgeographic.com

Photo by Carren Jao

Long before MOCA’s Art in the Streets show opened, Los Angeles’s Downtown Arts District already had more than a few monumental works of street art on display with a little help from a group named LA Freewalls. Anyone can see this art in its natural environment for free.

A local art dealer by day – Daniel Lahoda, curator of LA Freewalls, turned his passion for art and existential “hunger for the other” into a hobby that became much bigger than he ever imagined. LA Freewalls is a community-supported arts initiative that connects international street artists with building owners ready to get experimental with their walls. According to Lahoda, LA Freewalls has been the catalyst of more than fifty murals around the Los Angeles area primarily within the 52 blocks that make up the Downtown Arts District. Since its inception December 2009, the project has enticed well-known names in the street art circuit like JR, Shepard Fairey, and Saber (all artists also featured at MOCA a few blocks away).

Despite its successful reception downtown and rising interest in street art, increased calls for police to crack down on L.A.’s graffiti have some opposed to Freewalls’s work. But Lahoda says he sees the art really making a positive impact. For example? After ROA came into town and painted on Metal Preparations Inc.’s walls, the owner was so pleased with the extra attention his building got from locals and tourists that he decided to spiff up the space around the mural with a fresh coat of paint, specifically asking contractors to carefully navigate around every feather on ROA’s avian artwork. Responses like these are what keep Lahoda committed to his project. “Street art like this transforms a community not just physically, but psychologically as well,” he says. “It changes how people interact with each other and their environment.”

Source: www.good.is/

Founded in 2002, Modest Needs is an award-winning public charity with a simple but critical mission: to stop the cycle of poverty BEFORE it starts for the low-income workers whom conventional philanthropy has forgotten. “Together, we can make sure that no hard-working person is ever forced to choose between taking a child to the doctor and putting food on the table.”

They do this by empowering compassionate members of the general public to safely and securely help hard-working, low-income households to afford the kinds of short-term emergency expenses that we’ve all encountered before: the unexpected car repair, the unanticipated visit to the doctor, or the unusually large heating bill, for example.

Since 2002, by working together in this very ‘modest’ way, Modest Needs’ donors have stopped 9,868 low-income individuals and families from entering the vicious cycle of poverty and a lifetime of dependence on the public welfare system for their survival. And, through their unique Non-Profit Grant program, they simultaneously empower our donors to invest directly in small non-profit organizations struggling to serve their communities, but whose needs are generally too small to be considered a funding priority by larger, more conventional grant-makers.

Modest Needs has earned the highest possible charity ratings from both Charity Navigator and the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance.

In keeping with its mission, Modest Needs offers the following four types of grants:

• Self-Sufficiency Grants

Modest Needs makes Self-Sufficiency Grants by remitting payment to a creditor for an expense on behalf of an otherwise self-sufficient individual or family for a relatively small, emergency expense which the individual or family could not have anticipated or prepared for. In making a Self-Sufficiency Grant, our goal is to prevent an otherwise self-sufficient individual or family from entering the cycle of poverty as a result of the financial burden posed by a relatively small emergency expense. For example, we might make a Self-Sufficiency Grant to cover the cost of an emergency auto repair that must be made if an individual is to continue working.

• Back-to-Work Grants

Modest Needs makes Back-to-Work grants by remitting payment for a small work-related fee or expense on behalf of a temporarily unemployed individual. In making a Back-to-Work grant, our goal is to provide a willing but temporarily unemployed individual with the means to return to work. For example, we might make a Back to Work grant to cover the cost of a professional license renewal for a temporarily displaced worker.

• Independent Living Grants

Modest Needs makes Independent Living Grants by remitting payment to a creditor for an expense on behalf of persons who are permanently unable to work but who nevertheless are living independently on the limited income to which they are entitled – their retirement income, or their permanent disability income, for example. In making an Independent Living Grant, our goal is to empower financially responsible persons who cannot work to continue to live independently on their limited incomes, despite an unexpected expense which no conventional agency is prepared to address. For example, we might make an Independent Living Grant to cover the cost of maintenance on a piece of accessibility equipment not covered by Medicaid, to cover an unexpectedly large prescription medication co-pay, or to assist with a large summer cooling bill.

• Non-Profit Grants

Modest Needs makes Non-Profit Grants by remitting payment to a creditor for an expense incurred by a small non-profit organization that will demonstrably strengthen that organization’s ability to serve its clients and community. In making Non-Profit Grants, our goal is to provide a forum whereby small non-profit organizations can apply directly to members of the public for the assistance they need to complete the small projects that will allow these organizations to more effectively carry out their missions, but which most larger grant makers would not generally consider a funding priority. For example, we might make a Non-Profit Grant to cover the cost of a handful of new beds for a small but expanding women’s shelter or to assist with the creation of a basic website for a small non-profit with no ability to communicate directly with its own constituents.

Source: www.modestneeds.org

Allan Guei makes a free throw during a scholarship contest at Compton High School in March. He won the competition and scored a $40,000 scholarship, but the story didn't end there. (Sean Hiller / The Daily Breeze)

Allan Guei, 18, was a star basketball player at Compton High School in the Los Angeles area before he graduated in June. He also had a GPA above 3.0, and his good grades made him eligible for an unusual competition: A free-throw contest in the Compton High gymnasium. The top prize: $40,000 in scholarship money.

Guei, whose parents immigrated to the United States from the Ivory Coast, knew how much that financial aid could mean for his family. So he was feeling a fair share of pressure as students and teachers crushed into the gym to watch Guei and seven other randomly selected, academically successful students make foul shots.

Guei won the free-throw contest by one basket and netted the $40,000. But it’s what he did next that’s truly astonishing. In the weeks following the March free-throw competition, Guei learned that he’d scored a full-ride basketball scholarship to California State University-Northridge. NCAA rules allowed Guei to accept the athletic scholarship and also keep most of the $40,000 he had won. But Guei couldn’t stop thinking about the seven talented runners-up from the free-throw contest. They, too, had dreams — and very real needs. So, he asked Principal Jesse Jones to make a surprise announcement at Compton High’s graduation ceremony: Guei wanted to donate the $40,000 to the other seven students.

“I’ve already been blessed so much and I know we’re living with a bad economy, so I know this money can really help my classmates,” Guei said in a statement. “It was the right decision.” Guei elaborated on his decision to give the money away in an interview with ESPN: “I was already well taken care of to go to school, to go to university for free. … I felt like they needed it more than I did.”

The beneficiaries of Guei’s generosity were ecstatic. “It was a shock,” said Omar Guzman, 17, a runner-up who plans to use the money to attend San Diego State University. “I’m really grateful there are people like that out there. It was generous.” Another of the seven runners-up, Donald Dotson, also plans to start at Cal State Northridge in the fall. Dotson described Guei as “a very deep, intelligent and warm person.” “He’s going to go really far in life,” he said in a statement. “Because of what he’s done for us, God will bless him. That’s what life is all about — stepping forward to help other people.”

The free-throw competition was the idea of Court Crandall, the Hollywood screenwriter behind the movie “Old School” and a partner at a Southern California advertising firm. Crandall was well aware of Compton’s image problems due to gang-related crime. Many of the city’s residents also deal with extreme financial pressures; according to Census data, more than 25 percent of the city’s families live below the poverty line.

One day Crandall was watching his teenage son play basketball with some bright, ambitious Compton students, and he got to thinking about the lines that divide us. Then inspiration struck: Could a free-throw line bring people together? He decided to create the free-throw scholarship competition and make a stereotype-busting documentary film about the lives of Compton students in the process. Compton’s senior class had about 80 students with a GPA of 3.0 or higher; the eight students who participated in the competition got selected randomly from that group. Crandall’s advertising firm, Wong, Doody, Crandall, Wiener, raised more than $75,000 for scholarships, making it possible to give $40,000 to the first-place winner and more than $5,000 — enough to cover about a year of college expenses — to each of the seven runners-up. Now, with Guei’s added generosity, each of those seven runners-up has around $11,000 in scholarship money.

“It was the perfect ending,” Crandall told TODAY.com. “I was ecstatic about how everything turned out. … Most kids don’t have the sense of composure or leadership that [Allan] does, so after spending time with him and getting to know him, I really wasn’t that surprised by what he did.” Crandall plans to submit his full-length documentary film, “Free Throw,” to the Sundance Film Festival in September.

Source: www.happynews.com

The study, “It Hurts When I Do This (or You Do That)” published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, found that by simply adopting more dominant poses, people feel more powerful, in control and able to tolerate more distress. Out of the individuals studied, those who used the most dominant posture were able to comfortably handle more pain than those assigned a more neutral or submissive stance.

Fake It Until You Make It – While most people will crawl up into a ball when they are in pain, Bohn’s and Wiltermuth’s research suggests that one should do the opposite. In fact, their research suggests that curling up into a ball may make the experience more painful because it will make you feel like you have no control over your circumstances, which may in turn intensify your anticipation of the pain. Instead, try sitting or standing up straight, pushing your chest out and expanding your body. These behaviors can help create a sense of power and control that may in turn make the procedure more tolerable. Based on previous research, adopting a powerful, expansive posture rather than constricting your body, may also lead to elevated testosterone, which is associated with increased pain tolerance, and decreased cortisol, which may make the experience less stressful.

Source: www.happynews.com

Source: www.happynews.com

E-waste is one of the fastest growing forms of garbage in America. It’s become one of our biggest exports. And it’s nasty waste too. According to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) the United States made 3.19 million tons of e-waste in 2009. Only 17.7 percent of that was recycled.

So let’s start to fix it. It’s really a lot easier than you think. Since the average cell user gets a new handset every two years, phones are one of the most frequently tossed gadgets. ”We want to change that by making cell phone recycling as quick and easy as possible,” says Jeremy Cohen, founder of ExchangeMyPhone. Phones are some of the easiest electronics to put back in circulation. ”You can go on our site, get an instant price quote, request a postage paid envelope, and drop it in any U.S. post box on your way to work.” He even takes broken phones.

Cohen’s company is the latest addition to a growing industry. CellforCash and PaceButler have been doing this for a while now, with slightly different mail-in methods. Gazelle.com and YouRenew will take just about any gadget. There are in-store Eco ATMs that accept donations, big box chain store buy-backs, even programs that give the phones to soldiers, or use them to help African gorillas. There are so many options because these things have value! So don’t toss them.

Cohen’s family business is used books, but as paper looks more and more obsolete, he got this idea. “I have been involved in finding new homes for used items for as long as I can remember. I learned the benefits of re-use working at my father’s used book business in Chicago and I wanted to bring those same values to the recycling of used and broken phones.” But he’s not giving up books altogether. ExchangeMyPhone also donates a book for every phone you recycle. “It gives our customers the chance to be green and give back to their communities.”

If you really want to go the extra mile to reduce your e-waste, don’t just sell your old phone, buy a used one.

Want even more options than linked to above?  ReCellular has a longer list of cell phone recycling locations and programs.

Source: www.good.is

Fourth-year-medical students at UCSF, Brad Cohn and Alex Blau, invented a new medical translation app that helps break the language barriers they encountered while working at San Francisco General Hospital.

Brad Cohn had just finished a long shift at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH) during which he had struggled to communicate with a diverse lineup of patients, none of whom spoke English. UCSF’s partner in public health since 1873, SFGH offers assistance in more than 65 languages through a combination of staff medical interpreters, a telephone language line and a video medical interpretation system proving real-time access to providers and patients within four minutes. However, at night and on the weekend, staffing is reduced and the waits can be longer.

Later that night at the coffee shop, Cohn’s friend Alex Blau listened intently to his fellow med student’s frustration. Blau had run into language barriers on his rounds, too. “Ninety percent of diagnoses come from the patient’s self-reported medical history, so the ability to communicate is critical,” Blau said. “Time is not an asset doctors or patients have. You need that information when you need it.”

What was needed, they agreed, was a tool – a software application for a PDA or an iPhone – that would translate medical history questions from English into other languages. The tool didn’t exist.  So they invented it, inspired, they say, by UCSF’s core values – excellence and efficiency in patient care, a global vision and dedication to community service. After nearly three years of late nights, tapping their own bank accounts, and forging new alliances, the duo’s early-morning dream became a reality.

Their free mobile translation application, MediBabble, made its debut on the iTunes Store in April, and with more than 8,000 downloads to date, the software is winning critical praise. It was immediately declared a standard-setting “must-have” application by iMedicalApps.com, the premiere mobile health application review site, and was voted number one by public vote in the 2011 Medical App Awards on Scrubdin – a website for choosing health-related software where Blau is now a contributing editor.

MediBabble uses touch-screen software that allows health care providers to play medical history questions and instructions out loud, so far in five languages. From questions as simple as “Can you tell me your name?” to more specific inquiries like, “Do you get recurring lung infections?” the app translates more than 2,500 exam questions into Russian, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin and Haitian Creole.

The first four languages were chosen to match San Francisco’s demographics; the last was added as an immediate response to the need for disaster medical care in Haiti after its January 2010 earthquake. Once downloaded, MediBabble does not require an Internet connection, so it’s usable anywhere – from commonly shielded hospital settings to resource-strapped urban clinics and disaster zones.

MediBabble relies on a symptom-based approach already commonly used by medical practitioners worldwide. It starts by gathering information about the current complaint – such as cough, fever, or chest pain – then segues into the patient’s history. Designed to draw out medical, social, occupational and family histories, as well as sensitivities to medicines and allergies, the application uses closed-ended questions to elicit yes/no answers or gestures from the patient, who can then point to certain body parts or dates on a calendar, for example, to convey the date a problem began.

To create MediBabble, Blau and Cohn enlisted a team of UCSF faculty, doctors and medical translators, including their own professor, Lawrence M. Tierney, MD, professor of medicine, UCSF School of Medicine and associate chief of San Francisco’s VA Hospital, who co-wrote the book on medical history-taking. With patient safety a primary concern, all of the app’s phrases were written and reviewed by the team for accuracy and cultural appropriateness.

The team grew to include other medical students as well as outside software programmers and interface designers from technical giants in the area – Apple, Google and Twitter – who donated not only time, but funding to the project. “This is really a collection of people that have been dedicated to serving the community,” Blau said. “We’ve been incredibly lucky, specifically here at UCSF, to have access to the resources that we do here. I don’t think it would be possible to put together this kind of project without having the support that we’ve had from our colleagues.”

Cohn and Blau decided to offer the software free of charge in recognition of the pool of collaborators who helped create it and in service to their fellow medical students, doctors, nurses and paramedics worldwide – the people who, in Cohn’s words, “need it most.”

Source: www.ucsf.edu

America is a great country for many reasons, big and small. The website goodnewsnetwork.org asked their Facebook fans to list the things they love about the USA and received some heartfelt responses, some of which are included below.

1. The Founding Fathers – The first men in the modern world to wrestle with the meaning of freedom and natural-born rights, and how these should be the foundation of any government. Jefferson, Washington, Franklin, Adams and Madison were outstanding for both their convictions and courage — and their compromise, which was necessary to get anything of importance accomplished.

2. The First Amendment to the US Constitution – Freedom of speech — and religion — is guaranteed in the US under amendment I of the United States Constitution, as part of the Bill of Rights.

3. American Music – Rock and Roll greats always attribute their success to the soulful Blues music that grew up in the south and migrated to Chicago. Jazz also was an American original, flourishing in New Orleans and Harlem.

4. Its Natural Beauty – Tourists and Americans alike know the awesome splendor of America. You can drive from the seashore to the Rocky Mountains to the desert in a matter of hours. Along with the Great Lakes, the Appalachian range and the Mississippi River, these natural wonders create an unforgettable tapestry of recreation and industry.

5. Business Innovation like Apple, Inc. – Co-founded by college drop-out Steve Jobs, and Steve Wozniak 35 years ago, Apple this year became the most valuable technology company in the world and was named by Fortune magazine as the most admired one on the planet. The drive and imagination it took to create one of the world’s first personal computers and to transform the music industry with its iPod and iTunes — and mobile phones, with the beloved iPhone — exemplifies the American spirit of innovation. Also noteworthy is the company’s perseverance in lean times, not giving up when market share and stock prices plummeted in the early 1990′s.

6. The National Parks – One of our greatest treasures. Yellowstone National Park was the first one established, in 1872. The National Park Service, since its inception in 1916, has managed all the parks, now totaling 58 — each inspiring with a different vista, and offering new learning opportunities, from canyons — at the Grand Canyon — to volcanoes, to seashores, to hot springs, to sand dunes, to wetlands, like the great Florida Everglades.

7. Citizenship – One of the things that is unique about America is how you can become an American just because you believe in its ideals. By signifying your assent, you are ‘in.’ Citizenship ceremonies all over the nation show the multi-colored hue of the nation.

8. Great Cities – A great country has great cities, of course, and the US is no exception. From San Francisco, the golden gateway of the Pacific, to the Big Apple on the Atlantic, with Chicago nestled on the Great Lakes and Austin, Texas bringing up the south.

9. Election Day – Parents bring children to the polls to witness the inspiring spectacle of Americans choosing their leaders. Regardless of affiliation, we all get to go the polls and — without fear — cast our ballots.

10. American Entertainment – Hollywood has produced some ‘national treasures’, like Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Steven Spielberg and Sidney Poitier. Frank Sinatra, Barbara Streisand and Bob Dylan have sung their way into history. Television, also born in America, has left its mark – The Lucy Show, The Simpsons — along with stand-up comedians, like Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Cosby have kept us laughing.

11. The Diversity and Generosity of its People – The great “Melting Pot.” From great migrations of Irish people fleeing famine, and Italians looking for jobs, America has welcomed, for the most part, people of all cultures to join their ancestry to ours. One of the greatest traits of the American people is their generosity. And that includes the generosity of those who serve in the military.

Happy 235th birthday, USA!

Source: www.goodnewsnetwork.org

Viewed at a magnification of over 250 times of what the ordinary eye can see, tiny grains of sand are shown to be delicate, colorful structures as unique as snowflakes.

When seen well beyond the limits of human eyesight, the miniature particles are exposed as fragments of crystals, spiral fragments of shells and crumbs of volcanic rock. Professor Gary Greenberg, PhD in biomedical research from University College London, said, “It is incredible to think when you are walking on the beach you are standing on these tiny treasures… Every time I look through my microscope I am fascinated by the complexity and individuality created by a combination of nature and the repeated tumbling of the surf on a beach.”

Greenberg’s pictures are available on his website sandgrains.com and his book A Grain of Sand is available on Amazon.

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

A macaque monkey in Indonesia took a camera from a wildlife photographer before snapping himself in a variety of poses.

The primate went to investigate the equipment before becoming fascinated with his own reflection in the lens. It wasn’t long before the crested black macaque hijacked the camera and started snapping away, sending award-winning photographer David Slater bananas.

David said, “One of them must have accidentally knocked the camera and set it off because the sound caused a bit of a frenzy. At first there was a lot of grimacing with their teeth showing because it was probably the first time they had ever seen a reflection. They were quite mischievous jumping all over my equipment, and it looked like they were already posing for the camera when one hit the button. The sound got his attention and he kept pressing it. At first it scared the rest of them away but they soon came back – it was amazing to watch.”

David, from Coleford, Gloucestershire, was on a trip to a small national park north of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi when he met the incredibly friendly bunch. The crested black macaque is extremely rare and critically endangered. David added, “I teamed up with a local guide because I knew about the apes and wanted to photograph them. I walked with them for about three days in a row. They befriended us and showed absolutely no aggression.”

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Often times our servicemen come home to a very different place—especially if they are one of the 40,000 who have been injured or one of the other 300,000 suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

For the founders of the Wounded Warrior Project, that scenario was all too real. The veterans and their friends were impacted by the stories of wounded service members who had served in Afghanistan and Iraq and they wanted to help. What began with providing injured vets and their families with simple comfort items has blossomed into a full nonprofit rehabilitation program. The organization has 13 different programs that provide aid in every part of a wounded veteran’s life—mind, body, finances, and relationships.

Let’s celebrate this Fourth of July and salute those that have fought so bravely to protect our country and welcome them back to USA.  You can Purchase a Pack (backpacks filled with new clothing, toiletries, and playing cards), make a donation in someone’s honor, or take a look at the many other ways you could help WWP.

Source: www.getmilkshake.com

The site allows users to generate static lists of which schools have the highest and lowest tuition and net prices. You simply choose what kind of school you want to attend—public, private, four-year, or two-year. Then you decide if you want to sort by highest or lowest price, click “generate report,” and the tool makes a nice, easy-to-understand list of around 50 schools.

The site has a second useful tool that can come in handy – a link to another database, the College Navigator, that allows users to search for specific colleges and get even more detailed information—enrollment, available majors and student loan default rates—about a school. College Navigator also allows users to do side-by-side comparisons of up to four schools they’re interested in. When you once thought a specific school to be more expensive than another, you can now accurately evaluate the information because you can see what financial aid options are available at each school. Thus, the original school you thought to be too expensive might actually be cheaper than others you are comparing based off of other pertinent information. This new resource is arguably clearer, more comprehensive, and more accessible than any other.

Source: www.good.is/

David Lundberg said he found Max Melitzer pushing a shopping cart filled with personal possessions in a Salt Lake City park Saturday afternoon. Lundberg declined to disclose how much money Melitzer will receive, but said the man’s brother died of cancer last year and left him a “significant” amount in his will.

Melitzer was “in shock” after learning of the inheritance, Lundberg said. Lundberg was hired by the family’s New York law firm to locate Melitzer. Melitzer has been on the streets for years, floating between Salt Lake City and Ogden and becoming somewhat of a fixture among social service providers such as the Rescue Mission of Salt Lake City, The Deseret News reported.

Melitzer’s family wishes to remain private, and lawyers are deferring questions to Lundberg. “He’d have money where he could take care of himself or hire someone to take care of him,” Lundberg said earlier. “Apparently, he does have some emotional issues. The family just wants to make sure he’s set up and he’s taken care of.”

Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

George Weiss and his granddaughter, Jennifer Litt, play Dabble. Weiss came up with the word game in his basement; now it’s on sale nationwide. (Michelle Leifer for TODAY.com)

Some people golf. Some collect stamps. George Weiss tinkers. For the past 50 years, Weiss, 84, has spent much of his free time dreaming up new inventions and building them.“I was a wallpaper hanger until I retired nine years ago, but my hobby was tinkering in the basement,” he says. “And one tinker leads to another tinker, you know?”

Half a century of tinkering has produced more than 80 inventions, many of which are piled up in the basement of the Brooklyn, N.Y., home in which Weiss has lived for the last 45 years. Among his favorites are the car-key buckle, the “Do It Your Shelf” storage system and a Christmas ornament that opens to form a cross.

His products have won rave reviews from his friends and family, yet he was unable to get companies to invest in them. “Everywhere I’d go I’d get rejected,” he told TODAY.com. “They have form letters at all the companies. I just couldn’t get a foot in the door.”

But all that changed when a small company named Ideas Never Implemented agreed to invest in a word game Weiss came up with. Fittingly, its name is “Dabble.” Dabble is now sold in 50 stores nationwide. And recently it won the 2011 Game of the Year Award from Creative Child Magazine.

Weiss came up with the idea for Dabble three years ago and made the prototype in his basement, cutting plastic tiles and building a five-tiered wooden rack by hand. As with all his brainchildren, Weiss says the concept was an inspiration. “I don’t sit down and think, ‘What should I invent?’” he told TODAY.com. “It just comes to me out of thin air.”

“I fell in love with the game the first time I played it,” says Jay Vohra, president of Ideas Never Implemented, which brought Dabble out of Weiss’ basement and on to the market just three weeks ago. “It’s also a great time for it, since word games are very popular right now.” The company is scheduled to launch a Dabble app on July 1.

Dabble is especially meaningful to Weiss because he played the game with Faye, his wife of 61 years, who has Alzheimer’s disease. “Faye saw the beginning stages of the game, but she’s been sick for a year,” Weiss said. His wife now lives in a nearby care facility. If Dabble makes his fortune, Weiss insists that it won’t change his life. “I don’t need a bigger house,” he said. “My wife is close by and I can see her every day. I’m happy here.” His advice to other dabblers with big dreams? Don’t create a product just because you think it will make you rich. “Work on something that’s meaningful to you,” Weiss advised. “If you do that, you’re more likely to find success.”

Source:  www. today.msnbc.msn.com

For this groundbreaking collaborative project, J.K. Rowling has written extensive new material about the characters, places and objects in the much-loved stories, which will inform, inspire and entertain readers as they journey through the storylines of the books. Pottermore will later incorporate an online shop where people can purchase exclusively the long-awaited Harry Potter eBooks, in partnership with J.K. Rowling’s publishers worldwide, and is ultimately intended to become an online reading experience, extending the relevance of Harry Potter to new generations of readers, while still appealing to existing fans. As the Pottermore Shop develops, it is intended that it should include further products designed specifically for Harry Potter fans, offering a potential outlet for Sony products and services related to Pottermore. In keeping with Harry Potter’s international appeal, the site will launch in English, French, Italian, German and Spanish, with more languages to follow.

In the new website, the storyline will be brought to life with sumptuous newly-commissioned illustrations and interactive ‘Moments’ through which you can navigate, starting with the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s (Sorcerer’s) Stone. On entering, you choose a magic username and begin your experience. As you move through the chapters, you can read and share exclusive writing from J.K. Rowling, and, just as Harry joins Hogwarts, so can you. You visit Diagon Alley, get sorted into a house, cast spells and mix potions to help your house compete for the House Cup.

At a press conference at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Rowling revealed some key features of the website. In an announcement which will thrill fans, she described how she has brought to life both the Sorting Hat and Ollivanders experiences from her books for the first time on Pottermore, by revealing the questions asked by the Sorting Hat – which places newcomers into their Hogwarts houses according to their characteristics – and the magic behind the Wand Chooser – which finds the right wand for each user from over 33,000 possible combinations. She also revealed glimpses of the new information she has provided on some of the best-loved characters.

J.K. Rowling’s announcement on YouTube and sony.com revealed that Pottermore (along with the Pottermore Shop) will be open to all users in October 2011. Fans can submit their email addresses on Pottermore.com in order to be contacted by the site following the opening of registration on 31st July, Harry’s birthday. Also on that date, an online challenge will be launched, whereby the first million people to complete their registration will gain early entry into the website, and help put final touches to the experience.

J.K. Rowling commented, “I wanted to give something back to the fans that have followed Harry so devotedly over the years, and to bring the stories to a new digital generation. I hope fans and those new to Harry will have as much fun helping to shape Pottermore as I have. Just as I have contributed to the website, everyone else will be able to join in by submitting their own comments, drawings and other content in a safe and friendly environment – Pottermore has been designed as a place to share the stories with your friends as you journey through the site.”

Source: www.iconvsicon.com

It’s a message that young leaders in Africa will hear as Mrs. Obama visits South Africa and Botswana in her second solo tour abroad. “In so many ways, I see myself in you all. And I want you to see yourselves in me,” she recently told Washington high school students, hoping to inspire them with her personal story.

Mrs. Obama, accompanied by her two daughters, a niece, a nephew and her mother, received a warm welcome upon her arrival Monday night at the air force base in the capital of South Africa, Pretoria, after 18 hours and more than 1,800 miles of travel. The weeklong visit is intended to improve relations between the U.S. and Africa and promote youth engagement, education, health and wellness.

It was during Mrs. Obama’s first solo trip outside the U.S., to Mexico in April 2010, that she started an effort to encourage young people to become involved in their communities and countries and not shy away from trying to solve persistent global problems. The youth population outside the U.S. is growing fast, with young people ages 15 to 24 making up 20 percent of the world’s population. “The fact is that responsibility for meeting the defining challenges of our time will soon fall to all of you,” Mrs. Obama told thousands of university students in Mexico City. “Soon, the world will be looking to your generation to make the discoveries and to build the industries that will fuel our prosperity and ensure our well-being for decades to come.”

That message is likely to resonate in a place such as South Africa, where two of three residents are younger than 30, said Jennifer Cooke, an Africa scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. Many of the stops on Mrs. Obama’s trip will highlight South Africa’s past under apartheid, the system of white-minority rule. She’ll also pay tribute to the legacy of Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison for his role in the anti-apartheid movement. He later became South Africa’s first elected black president.

Source: www.washingtonpost.com

Make a video of the best teachers teaching…  Make everyone pick up garbage…  Disallow any chemicals to be used for farming…  Make sure every child has a book to read…

The single biggest pool of untapped natural resource in the world is human good intentions that never translate into actions. If We Ran the World (www.ifwerantheworld.com), a new site, has set out to change that. They have created a platform that takes good intentions and makes it easy to turn them into actions.

First things first. When you open the site you answer the question that you probably haven’t been asked since you were in Kindergarten: If You Ran the World What Would You Do? Your answer becomes a micro-action that other people on the site can connect to, forming a group.  A group who cares about the same things you do. Together you can actually take those good intentions and turn them into real live actions. It can be anything, really. Something small (like create promotional materials) or something not-so-small (like make my house sustainable). Just type it in. Then start with picking up a microaction, and join forces on actionplatforms with people already working to make it happen. Or start an actionplatform of your own.

Source: www.getmilkshake.com

“Social entrepreneurship programs have exploded in business schools across the U.S. and Europe,” says Suzanne Biegel, chief executive of Investors’ Circle, a San Francisco-based impact investment group. Wharton, Stanford, and other leading business schools have launched social impact initiatives.

U.S. News & World Report recently reported on MBA programs that invest in social good. It pointed to Cornell University’s Graduate School of Management and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, which hosted the first International Impact Investing Challenge this year. The challenge awarded more than $40,000 in prizes for innovative impact investment vehicles. Students pitched their ideas to institutional investors, including endowments, pension funds, and family foundations. (The winner was a real estate investment trust called The Grain Fund Depot, which rented storage space to small farmers in India.)

The business school trend is important because it foreshadows what types of investments will drive the financial world in the future. In the Washington area, there are regular impact investing “meetups” for students and investors alike. They host happy hours, and discuss career opportunities, as well as investing ideas. The meetups are sponsored by the Calvert Foundation, DC Net Impact Professional Chapter, American University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Maryland, among other groups.

In addition to graduates focusing on business plans that incorporate social welfare, 88.3% of graduating MBA students say they’d take a pay cut to work for firms that have ethical business practices, according to a survey of 759 students in North America and Europe. The researchers, David B. Montgomery of Stanford University and Catherine A. Ramus of the University of California, Santa Barbara, suggest that the finding should be seen by the public as a hopeful sign for the management profession.

Over the next decade, you can bet that ethical companies and businesses operating to solve social and environmental problems will be all the rage. It’s the future. And we can all benefit from investments that do more than turn a financial profit.

Source: web.hbr.org, www.marketwatch.com

America’s national parks get even better with several fee-free days at more than 100 national parks that usually charge entrance fees.

Mark your calendar for these fee-free days in 2011:

• June 21
  (First day of summer)
• September 24
  (Public Lands Day)
• November 11-13
  (Veterans Day weekend)

Source: www.nps.gov

The state-of-the-art device uses an in-built SIM card and existing mobile technology to let you hold a conversation with whoever is at the door.

Laurence Rook, 13, has invented a doorbell that tricks potential burglars into thinking you’re at home, even when you’re not. The ‘Smart Bell’ calls your cell phone when someone rings on the door bell, allowing for a conversation with whomever is at the door. The doorbell can also be used to help delivery workers to complete their deliveries.

Rook, who is from Whyteleafe, Surrey in England, has already sold 20,000 units to communications firm Commtel Innovate, and has other potential buyers. Rook says he had the idea for the product when his mother complained about going to the post office to collect deliveries when she wasn’t home. He said he also realized the bell could be a burglar-deterrent. His mother, Margaret Rook, 39, says Laurence’s accomplishment is “extra-ordinary but I’m just trying to keep Laurence grounded at the moment.”

Source: www.ibtimes.com

So, she started her own support group. Through the American Widow Project, Davis connects young widows across the country to share their experiences coping with tragedy. Using social networking, she encourages them to share their memories of their husbands and learn from each other. “One widow told me…the first time you meet another military widow, it’s like someone holding a mirror up to you. And it’s a mirror that…you haven’t wanted to look into, because for once, you’re finally seeing who you are, and you’re seeing it through them. It’s liberating.”

On the American Widow Project’s website, a section is devoted to widow’s stories from around the country. Sometimes humorous but always sincere, the stories tell personal accounts of love, loss, and the work toward regaining their former lives.

As the average age of women involved with the group is 25, many of their activities cater to a younger crowd. From skydiving to surfing retreats, Davis encourages her fellow widows to not only remember the men they once loved, but remember who they were before their grief.

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Ricardo ‘Tinha’ Carvalho became a famous local celebrity by training big Rio personalities, including soap opera stars and newscasters, in his popular boxing gyms. He has also started, at his own expense, free gyms for at-risk youths in low-income areas to entice kids to stay in school.

Celebrity trainer Ricardo “Tinha” Carvalho will not budge on the price to become a member at his gym: one report, signed by the school principal, proving that the child is regularly attending class. That’s a privilege Mr. Carvalho, a high school dropout in a family of 10, didn’t have himself growing up.

On his gym wall hang the pictures of his career’s “peak moments”: a chummy photo with popular former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and another with Kevin Richardson, formerly of the Backstreet Boys pop singing group, who trained with Tinha while on vacation here. But when Tinha reached the status of local celebrity himself, he chose to turn his time and money back to the poor communities he first called home.

As the youngest child in a family living in a small favela (shantytown) house on a steep hill behind the Ipanema beach neighborhood, Tinha had dropped out of school in his mid-teens to make early-morning deliveries for a local bakery. “I snuck milk and bread because sometimes I myself was delivering bread without having eaten breakfast,” the now-hulk-of-a-man says laughing. His dad was a doorman and his mom was a maid. “Everyone my age either entered into crime or found something to do,” he says. “But my mom … always showed what was right and wrong.” Tinha recalls hearing early-morning shootouts between rival drug traffickers as he descended his morro (common Rio slang for its hillside shantytowns) down to the asfalto (the wealthier neighborhoods on paved ground below). Though he later returned to school to earn his high school equivalency, he still takes classes to try to improve his written Portuguese.

Tinha had studied a year of martial arts when a friend of his mother suggested that he fix up a decrepit gym attached to the school in Cantagalo, the favela where he was raised. He knew personally about poverty. “I saw that all the children of the community of Cantagalo, Pavão-Pavãozinho were still having that same difficulty. So I said, man, I’m going to try,” he says of starting his judo and boxing academy. As his morro gym took off, residents of the asfalto below started to take note. “When my work started to get articles, interviews on the TV, new clients started to get my phone number,” Tinha says. His students soon included a newscaster, soap opera actors, lawyers, policemen, and judges.

Four years ago he rented a bare studio lit only by five fluorescent bulbs and the streetlights that shine through its big broken window. He pays the rent out of his own pocket. The grade-school age kids who attend bring only their principal’s notes to join the daily afternoon workout sessions. Tinha asks the dozen students – from muscular teenagers to skinny wide-eyed girls – to form two lines. They pump doll-sized dumbbells and alternate between crunches and punches. An older boy leads the counting – “um, dois, tres!” – in an exhausted huff of a voice. The tiniest girl, Thamires, stands up straight and practices with cartoonish, oversized boxing gloves. “He’s not like those other teachers who yell. He goes along calmly,” says one 9-year-old girl. Tinha later explains that this student began coming to the gym the week before, telling him her mother was working and her father had left her home alone.

“Here they have … their second home,” says Tinha, a father of four himself. He says his dream is to buy uniforms for the kids. Tinha’s fellow boxer Rosolieres Junior has donated 12 pairs of gloves. The value of the project, he says, is to get kids out of their communities and introduce them to something larger.

These local projects are what will keep this generation from turning to crime, Tinha says. Each child “has already formed a new identity there,” he says of his gym. “He won’t want to go back. He’ll see the world, embrace it.”

Source: www.csmonitor.com

In one day, Mount Mourne eighth-graders assembled and packed 21,000 nutritious meal packets for shipment to Azerbaijan. (jsimmons@charlotteobserver.com)

Eighth-graders at Mount Mourne I.B. World School (http://www.ibo.org/school/) worked in assembly-line fashion in the school’s gym to package 21,000 nutritious meals for malnourished children a world away.

This wasn’t Principal Jason Van Heukelum’s idea or that of their parents. Samantha Freeman and Kendall Castillo, both 14 and friends since kindergarten, dreamed up and led the effort at the southern Iredell County school near the Lowe’s corporate campus. The girls organized fundraisers that netted $5,300 to provide the meals through Stop Hunger Now, an international hunger relief organization that has distributed 42 million meals since 1998.

Steve Deal, who manages Stop Hunger Now’s warehouse on Westinghouse Boulevard in Charlotte, said he’s never seen such an initiative sustained over so many months by students so young. “To this level, this is exceptional,” their principal said. Even Samantha was surprised at how many meals the students were able to assemble. “Our goal at first was 10,000,” she said. But she never expected their Phoenix Phun Run 5K in March to raise what it did, at least $4,000.

The meals will be shipped from Charleston to the former Soviet satellite country of Azerbaijan. The meals will be given to schools and orphanages. Each meal packet includes rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables and a flavoring mix with 21 essential vitamins and minerals.

While the students packed the meal together, top-40 music blared in the gym, and a gong sounded each time the students packaged another 1,000 meals to be loaded onto a Stop Hunger Now truck outside. The students erupted into cheers at each sounding of the gong. Each of the more than 100 eighth-graders had a task.

Samantha’s parents, Joe and Carol Freeman, helped out, too. “We didn’t plant the seed in her mind,” Joe Freeman said. “She did herself. My wife and I have just tried to support her. We are really proud.” Samantha learned about Stop Hunger Now on a 2009 youth religious retreat. Last year, she and Kendall attended a retreat that challenged them to open their eyes to the world’s needs. “We felt it was our responsibility to at least make an effort, to make a small act,” Samantha said. “It turned out much larger than we thought.”

Source: www.charlotteobserver.com

Mary Johnson, 59, spoke with Oshea Israel, 34, at StoryCorps in Minneapolis.

It would be easy — expected, even — for Mary Johnson and Oshea Israel to be enemies. After all, Israel killed Johnson’s only son, in 1993. Israel went to prison for that — and toward the end of his sentence, he and Johnson made peace. Today, they’re neighbors.

As a teenager in Minneapolis, Israel was involved with gangs and drugs. One night at a party, he got into a fight with Laramiun Byrd, 20, and shot and killed him. Oshea is now 34; he finished serving his prison sentence for murder about a year and a half ago. Israel recently visited StoryCorps with Johnson, to discuss their relationship — and the forgiveness it is built upon. As Johnson recalls, their first face-to-face conversation took place at Stillwater Prison, when Israel agreed to her repeated requests to see him.

“I wanted to know if you were in the same mindset of what I remembered from court, where I wanted to go over and hurt you,” Johnson tells Israel. “But you were not that 16-year-old. You were a grown man.” “He became human to me,” Israel says. At the end of their meeting at the prison, Johnson was overcome by emotion. “The initial thing to do was just try and hold you up as best I can,” Israel says, “just hug you like I would my own mother.” “After you left the room, I began to say, ‘I just hugged the man that murdered my son,” Johnson said. “And I instantly knew that all that anger and the animosity, all the stuff I had in my heart for 12 years for you — I knew it was over, that I had totally forgiven you.”

Johnson founded From Death To Life: Two Mothers Coming Together for Heal­ing, a support group for mothers who have lost their children to violence. And for Israel, Johnson’s forgiveness has brought both changes and challenges to his life. “Sometimes I still don’t know how to take it,” he says, “because I haven’t totally forgiven myself yet. It’s something that I’m learning from you. I won’t say that I have learned yet, because it’s still a process that I’m going through.”

“I treat you as I would treat my son,” Johnson says. “And our relationship is beyond belief.” In fact, the two live right next door to one another in Minneapolis. “So you can see what I’m doing — you know firsthand,” Israel says. And if he falls out of touch, Israel is sure to hear about it from Johnson — who calls out to him, “Boy, how come you ain’t called over here to check on me in a couple of days? You ain’t even asked me if I need my garbage to go out!” “I find those things funny, because it’s a relationship with a mother for real,” Israel says.

“Well, my natural son is no longer here. I didn’t see him graduate. Now you’re going to college. I’ll have the opportunity to see you graduate,” Johnson says. “I didn’t see him getting married. Hopefully one day, I’ll be able to experience that with you.” Hearing her say those things, Israel says, gives him a reason to reach his goals. “It motivates me to make sure that I stay on the right path…You still believe in me. And the fact that you can do it, despite how much pain I caused you — it’s amazing.”

Source: www.scpr.org

But the costs for adopting in the United States can be steep. While foster care adoptions are often under $2,500, licensed private agency adoptions or independent adoptions can total more than $40,000. After Fawcett and her husband experienced those high costs firsthand, they dedicated themselves to alleviating some of the expenses for other adoptive parents. In 2005, the couple was sitting in their lawyer’s office going over the paperwork for Jake’s adoption, which cost about $40,000. It struck Fawcett that many loving and fit parents couldn’t adopt a child if they didn’t have a lump sum of cash at their disposal. “I sat there and thought if … I was told that I was not going to be a mother because I couldn’t afford adoption, I don’t even know what I would have done,” said Fawcett, 40. “I don’t know who I would have turned to for help. It just hit me. I knew how lucky we were.”

With their own savings and support from family and friends, Fawcett and her husband created Helpusadopt.org. Since 2007, the group has awarded more than $300,000 in financial assistance toward adoption expenses. Couples and individuals who submit applications to Helpusadopt.org come from all walks of life and are already in the process of adopting a child.

For Fawcett, it was important that her organization help all families regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or marital status. “Our applicants … are amazing. They are hardworking, educated Americans who just don’t have $30,000, $40,000, $50,000 sitting in the bank at the time they go to have children,” Fawcett said. “Some have graduate degrees. They have great jobs. They are in some cases fighting to protect our country. They are public school teachers. They are doing whatever it takes to pay for this adoption on their own, but they’re coming up short. And that’s where Helpusadopt.org comes in.”

Grants range from $500 up to $15,000 and help with costs related to domestic, international, foster care and special needs adoption. Those can include fees for a lawyer, social worker visits, travel, or legal and medical expenses for the birth mother. And in the cases of international adoptions, there can be orphanage and country fees involved. “We wanted to give sizeable grants that would be life-changing,” Fawcett said. “Building families — that’s what we do.”

The Fawcetts, along with a grant-selection committee comprised of five trusted friends and colleagues, sift through the applications to decide who will receive grants. They review applicants’ financials and the amount that they’re requesting, as well as applicants’ personal statements highlighting special considerations, adoption experiences or what inspired them to adopt. Grants are awarded two times per year. Fawcett and her group write the checks directly to the service providers, such as the lawyer or agency facilitating the adoption. Checks are never written directly to adoptive families.

In 2008, a couple from Nebraska, both working professionals with full time jobs, had saved up money for their first adoption. Then they learned that their adoption agency was raising its fees by roughly $7,000. “We had no idea where we were going to come up with the extra money,” they said. After learning about Helpusadopt.org online, the couple applied for a grant in April 2008. Five weeks later, the couple received a call from Fawcett — they had been chosen as one of the group’s first grant recipients. They were awarded a $7,500 grant to help cover their agency fees. In November 2008, they welcomed their daughter Delaney home. They credit Helpusadopt.org with making their family possible.

Fawcett runs the organization fulltime out of her New York City apartment. While she and her husband are the largest private donors, the group’s funding also comes from other donations, special events, and online bracelet sales. “I think about people becoming mothers every living, waking moment of my life. And no matter how you’re doing it, I’m always hoping for other people’s successes,” said Fawcett. “To those seeking adoption … there is a happy moment at the end of your story. It takes us all a long time to get there, but it’s worth the wait.”

Check out CNN’s video coverage and interview with Becky Fawcett @ http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/05/19/cnnheroes.becky.fawcett/index.html.

Want to get involved? Check out Helpusadopt.org’s website at www.helpusadopt.org and see how to help.

Source: www.cnn.com

Dreams are a luxury few can afford in Kenya’s largest slum. That is, until you turn the corner, walk down a small alleyway and arrive at a bright pink and blue makeshift building. Little girls in bright red sweaters and bright blue skirts are running around, giggling and playing, indoors and out. And when you look at the mud on their shoes, or the tin houses that surround the school, you come to realize that 60 little girls are getting the chance of their lives and they know it. This is the Kibera School for Girls – a refuge from abuse and hunger.  (http://shininghopeforcommunities.org/projects/ksg/) 

Girls in Kibera generally don’t have a lot of reason to sing or play. Like most young girls in extreme poverty all over the world, they have little value in their communities. They mostly can’t afford school and are highly vulnerable to sexual crime and HIV. (http://www.girlup.org/) If they are lucky enough to have access to a school, and to stay there, girls have less risk for exposure to HIV, are less likely to get married early or get pregnant, and are more likely to fight for their own rights, raise healthy children of their own and enter the workforce. This very concept has been highlighted in a compelling campaign by the NIKE foundation. (http://www.girleffect.org/video) “The Girl Effect” campaign argues that girls can be game changers in the economic development of a country if they get help them bypassing the extreme challenges they face from birth. It’s also what many other organizations including CARE, are focused on entirely. (http://www.care.org/)

In many communities where resources are already stretched to the breaking point, girls are generally last in line. But simple interventions can have profound impacts. The school featured in NBC’s Making a Difference report has taught the community to invest in the education of their girls. The families invest in their girls’ education, and contribute time to the school and, by doing so, the entire family receives health care, access to clean water and even clean toilets they don’t have to pay to use.

One of the co founders of the Kibera school for girls, Kennedy Odede reported: “People see hope and people are really surprised. And most are overwhelmed, because it’s unbelievable. There’s no way an organization in the slum can be able to do this amazing thing, you know. There’s no way our girls could get an education. No way to get a health clinic. What I really love is that I kind of show a hope to those who are hopeless, who never went to school. There’s a better life for you.”

He should know.  He’s from there.  He grew up watching the young girls around him sell sex for food. And that’s why the school is one of the most remarkable places I have ever visited.  The founders not only continue to teach the community that girls have value but they have also given these little girls a safe place to dream.  As Kennedy said,” They have passed through horrors. I am welcoming them back to a world they never lived in, to a world where they are important.”

To find out more visit: http://shininghopeforcommunities.org/projects/ksg/

Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

Source: www.ciracar.com

Matteo’s entry was selected from 107,000 total submissions and was featured on Google’s home page last Friday. The entries were judged on artistic merit, creativity, how well the theme was expressed and its adherence to the supporting statement. Judges included Whoopi Goldberg, “Garfield” creator Jim Davis, Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps, and others.

Matteo and 39 other finalists were flown to New York City for the awards ceremony and winner announcement. In an interview with the TODAY Show, Matteo said, “I drew with color pencils and drew it for three weeks and threw out lots of paper until I got it perfect.” The doodles of the 40 finalists are on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art until June 16 and also at SFMOMA until July 19.

Source: www.parenting.com

The movie effects team at Weta (a multi-award winning conceptual design and physical manufacturing facility servicing the world’s entertainment and creative industries) have recently completed work on a rather unusual project – creating a fully functional Mermaid tail for Auckland woman named Nadya Vessey, who is a double leg amputee. Weta has donated staff time and expertise into making the tail, and Vessey has been able to cover the costs of the materials from a grant that she received from the Kerr-Taylor Foundation Trust.

The unique articulated construction of the tail will allow Vessey to propel herself through the water with an undulating movement as if she was a mermaid. Every aspect of the tail has been custom made to Vessey’s body using a blend of 3D modeling and milling technology, combined with Vi Vac vacforming, and a poly carbonate spine and tail fin. The skin of the tail has been made from a layer of neoprene and a lycra outer-layer digitally printed with a stunning ‘scale’ pattern that was designed by one of the concept artists.

Vessey was born with a condition that meant her legs would never develop properly, but began swimming after she had her first leg amputated at seven. Despite having her other leg amputated at 16, she swam competitively in high school and now swims as often as she can. Vessey says she is thinking of using the tail to help her complete the swimming section of a triathlon. “I thought rather than just having it as a plaything, I would take it further.” Vessey, who is in her 50s, was inspired to get a tail a few summers ago after an encounter at the beach. “A little boy came up and started asking all the `why’ questions about my legs (she was removing her prosthetic legs),” she says. Rather than having to go through the logistics of amputation with a four-year-old, Vessey said: “Do you know about the Little Mermaid? “He said he did, so I told him: `Well I’m a mermaid’.”

Source: www.wetanz.com

The phenomenon is caused by light reflecting off tiny ice crystals inside the body of the cloud’s water vapor. “I only took a couple of shots as I was overwhelmed with feelings and wanted to see everything with my eyes and prolong the moment,” Mr. Bartunov said.

When he witnessed the event he could hardly believe his eyes, so he asked others nearby to confirm that it really was a rainbow cloud. “There was a group of elderly English women there. I told them to look at the clouds and they started to moan and sigh and started to photograph the clouds with their small photo cameras. Later I asked many local people who were there if they saw these clouds,” he added. “Not many had seen them before either, so it must be a very rare event. If this was the 60s I could have sworn it was some kind of album by The Beatles.”

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Best friends for 16 years, two women discover that they are half-sisters after Alison, right, tracked down her birth mother.

Two best friends who have known each other 16 years have made an amazing discovery: they are sisters. Alison Slavin, 41, and Sam Davies, 43, found they share the same father after adopted child Alison tracked down her biological mother.

The pair from Bristol, UK never suspected they were related despite living remarkably similar lives – they look alike, have similar taste in clothes, both work as nannies, have two children and live less than a mile apart. Alison made the discovery when a friend helped her trace her birth mother, who revealed her natural father was called Terry Cox. She immediately recognized it as the name of Sam’s father and DNA tests later confirmed the pair are half sisters.

Alison, who was a bridesmaid at Sam’s wedding, said: “We had joked in the past we were sisters as people used to always ask us if we were, saying we looked alike. But I was shocked to find out we were actually half sisters. I could not get hold of Sam by phone so I texted her the words: Hello Sis!”

The pair met in 1993 through a mutual friend and soon became best friends. Having had a happy upbringing with her adoptive parents, Alison felt no need to trace her birth family. “I was adopted from birth and never looked into my natural parents because I had a lovely and fantastic childhood so I didn’t feel the need,” Alison said. That was until she got talking to a friend in February this year who said she may know how to trace her birth mother. A few weeks later the friend supplied a phone number. Alison said she nervously met her mother after getting in touch by telephone, but never expected this second twist in the tale. “She told me she was 19 when she put me up for adoption and gave me the news that my biological father was Terry Cox.” Alison recognized the name instantly as being the same as Sam’s father’s. “I felt the color drain from my face: that was Sam’s biological father’s name. What were the chances of this being the same chap as Sam’s father, but he was.”

Alison explained everything and I just thought, “Wow,” Sam said. “I had always wanted a sister, and what better sister could I have than my best friend? Two weeks ago we had DNA tests back which confirmed we are related. Both of us have had happy childhoods so I suppose this is just the icing on the cake. Second to getting married and giving birth to my children, it was the most exciting thing I have ever been told.”

Source: /www.dailymail.co.uk

So she started a website, DoOneNiceThing.com, and each week she posted an easy way to help people around town or across the globe (check out each week’s idea @ http://www.doonenicething.com/d1nt-ideas.php). Good news traveled fast, and now Debbie is the leader of a worldwide kindness movement in more than ninety countries. By working together, Do One Nice Thing members’ accomplishments have included:

• Mailing more than 100 tons of school supplies to U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq, who give them to local children so they can study.

• Sending countless books to schools, libraries, and hospitals.

• Contributing numerous gifts for foster children, whose birthdays are often forgotten.

Debbie’s book, Do One Nice Thing, has over 100 new, easy ideas for small deeds that anyone can do (and includes explicit information on how exactly to execute the ideas). There’s even a chapter of nice things you can do in minutes without leaving your desk. (www.doonenicething.com/d1nt-book) “We mail school supplies, food, and books, but what we really send is hope,” Tenzer says. “And when you give someone hope, it makes you hopeful too.”

Source: www.happynews.com

The Israeli researchers collected breath samples from 82 people who either had head-and-neck cancer, lung cancer, or were cancer-free. The Nano Artificial NOSE (NA-NOSE) device was able to tell apart breath molecules from head and neck cancer patients and healthy individuals. It also distinguished between lung cancer patients and healthy participants, and between head-and-neck cancer and lung cancer patients.

Lead researcher Professor Hossam Haick, from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, said: “There’s an urgent need to develop new ways to detect head and neck cancer because diagnosis of the disease is complicated, requiring specialist examinations.”We’ve shown that a simple ‘breath test’ can spot the patterns of molecules which are found in head and neck patients in a small, early study. “We now need to test these results in larger studies to find if this could lead to a potential screening method for the disease.” The study is published in the Journal of Cancer Research, owned by Cancer Research UK.

Source: www.news.ninemsn.com

Gravity Probe B has returned from its seven year adventure in orbit, and it has brought some rather mind-blowing news: A space-time vortex exists around the Earth, just like Einstein theorized. A culmination of 47 years of scientific research, Gravity Probe B has not disappointed us in this discovery; NASA is calling it nothing short of “epic”.

In order to test Einstein’s theory, scientists sent a spinning gyroscope to orbit around the Earth. Space and time are melded together into something like a four-dimensional quilt (don’t try making one at home), aptly called space-time. The Earth applies weight to this quilt, causing an indentation “much like a heavy person sitting in the middle of a trampoline.” Gravity, then, is the path an object takes following the curve of that indentation.

Einstein theorized that the Earth’s rotation then causes that indentation to twist into a four dimensional swirl. With the axis of the gyroscope’s spin pointed at a fixed object (like a star), the Theory of Relativity indicates that without that swirl (or its “frame-dragging effect”) it would remain that way indefinitely, but with it the axis should drift out of alignment over time. The Gravity Probe B showed that Einstein was right, as the axis did in fact stray.

NASA didn’t just use one gyroscope; they used four, and they needed to be nearly perfect spheres in order to minimize any wobbling. NASA says these were the most perfect made to-date, never varying from a perfect sphere by more than 40 atomic layers.

The experiment resulted in calculations exactly as Einstein predicted. The Gravity Probe B Mission will go down in history as one of the greatest physics experiments of all time. Clifford Will, who chairs an independent panel of the National Research Council tasked with monitoring and reviewing the results of the Gravity Probe B Mission said, “this will be written up in textbooks as one of the classic experiments in the history of physics.”

As if proving one of Einstein’s theories wasn’t enough, it’s interesting to note that this study was taken up by hundreds of young scientists across the US, including some high school students. It’s exciting to see such involvement in the next generation of great minds. It speaks volumes for impressive things still to come from science.

Source: www.pcworld.com

Namkung reveals his simplest and most accessible truth early in his interview. He sweeps his hand past the marble floors, the spacious hallway and the English garden around his home in Newport Coast’s Pelican Hill. It’s a gesture that says, “None of this matters.”

Dismissing wealth might seem easy for a guy with an ocean view in one of Orange County’s most exclusive communities. But study Namkung’s face for a moment and you realize he doesn’t just mean what he says. He feels it. Deeply. At a certain point, things are only that — things.

That’s why Namkung is downsizing. He’s selling the house and retiring from Namkung Promotions Inc., the marketing business he spent most of his life building. Instead, Namkung, 68, will focus on his passion: Raising money to feed children who live in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain. Namkung’s commitment to helping kids was born six years ago, in a dirt-floor school house.

Namkung was born in 1942, in Shanghai, in war-torn China. His father was a doctor and his parents kept a large bucket of rice near the front door to help feed the starving. It’s something Namkung never forgot. The civil war ended in 1949, when Namkung was 7, and the violence turned into chaos. The Namkungs fled on for Hong Kong. But after three years, Namkung’s father feared the Chinese would invade the British colony. So the Namkungs hopped a freighter to Japan and, during the trip, a huge typhoon nearly sank the ship. The family lost everything.

Coming of age as an English-speaking Korean in post-World War II Japan was tough. But there also was excitement in the air, as Japan rebuilt itself as a modern country. Namkung was admitted to the prestigious International Christian University in Tokyo. It meant he would need to learn to read and write Japanese. On the wooded campus of ICU, Namkung worked day and night. He mastered Japanese, aced his classes and started a school to prepare Japanese businessmen for working overseas.

After living through a civil war, nearly drowning at sea and surviving roughnecks, Namkung thought he could do anything. The entrepreneur offers perhaps his most significant bit of wisdom: “We all have more potential than we realize.”

To fulfill his potential, Namkung moved to the United States. In San Francisco, Namkung tapped into his entrepreneurial expertise and turned Namkung Promotions Inc. into a leading maker of so-called in-pak toys, the kinds of toys you find in cereal boxes and, of late, in the “Cool Kids Combo” sold at Carl’s Jr. But even as the business grew, he never forgot what he learned while handing out rice from his front door in Shanghai. Give back. He became a Big Brother and, later, a volunteer instructor in Junior Achievement.

Namkung and his wife Joanne raised two daughters, Chelsea and Victoria, and eventually moved to Pelican Hill. As his 60th birthday approached, in 2002, Namkung was in the best health of his life, playing tennis, working out and kick boxing. That’s when he learned that the snows of Kilimanjaro are melting. He decided to climb the mountain and see the African glaciers before they disappeared.

After the climb, Namkung visited local schools. On his last day, he stood in front of a class and saw kids in tattered clothes. They couldn’t afford lunch, but they greeted Namkung with smiles. Namkung had never seen a group of children so eager to learn, not in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, San Francisco or Orange County. Namkung wondered if he could help.

Then a girl said her goodbyes. “May you live a long and healthy life so we may have the opportunity to meet again.” Namkung had no choice. Since then, Namkung, along with his wife and daughters, has built Kids of Kilimanjaro into a foundation that spends $300,000 a year to feed lunch five days a week to 15,000 children. Much of the effort has been funded by business. Recently, GNLD, an international nutrition company, came aboard as the founding corporate sponsor. One of Namkung’s final comments seems to echo off the walls. “I have lots of hungry kids waiting for me.”

Source: www. articles.ocregister.com

The first production diary video from The Hobbit, as posted by Peter Jackson on his facebook page. Enjoy!

(VA graphic)

Veterans dealing with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder can turn to their smartphones for help any time with the “PTSD Coach” application created by the Veterans Affairs and Defense departments. “This is about giving veterans and service members the help they earned when and where they need it,” Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki said. “We hope they, their families and friends download this free app. Understanding PTSD and those who live with it, is too important to ignore.”

PTSD Coach lets users track their symptoms, links them with local sources of support, provides accurate information and also helpful individualized strategies for managing symptoms, officials said. The app is now available for download from the iTunes Store and will be available for Android devices by the end of the spring. “This application acknowledges the frequency with which our warriors and veterans use technology and allows them to get help when and where they feel most comfortable,” said Dr. Jonathan Woodson, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs.

PTSD Coach is primarily designed to enhance services for individuals who are already receiving mental health care, though it is helpful for those considering entering mental health care and those who just want to learn more about post-traumatic stress, officials said. “This is a great service we are providing to veterans, service members, their families and friends, but it should not be seen as a replacement for traditional therapy,” said Dr. Robert Petzel, VA’s undersecretary for health. “Veterans should utilize all of the benefits they have earned with their service, and one of the best things about this app is it will get veterans connected to the places that are out there to provide help.”

The application is one of the first in a series of jointly designed resources by the VA National Center for PTSD and the Defense Department’s National Center for Telehealth and Technology to help service members, veterans, their families and friends manage their readjustment challenges and get anonymous assistance, officials said.

(Courtesy of the Department of Veterans Affairs)

Source: www.af.mil

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Lions romp after being released for the first time into their outdoor habitat Thursday at the Wild Animal Sanctuary near Keenesburg. (Joe Amon, The Denver Post)

Three lionesses explore their 20-acre outdoor habitat for the first time Thursday. (Joe Amon, The Denver Post)

Campeon is a 2-year-old male whose legs were deformed by disease and injury while in captivity in Bolivia. (Joe Amon, The Denver Post)

Maria was the first, and then came Rosita. Soon other members of a pride of eight lions, rescued last fall from a life of deprivation in a Bolivian circus, braved their way out of their shelter at the Wild Animal Sanctuary and into a spring snow shower. “It’s something they’ve never seen, not to mention grass and dirt, but snow,” said Pat Craig, executive director of the sanctuary near Keenesburg.

This pride, or family group, was the first of the 25 circus lions airlifted from Bolivia this year to be released into four specially built lion habitats that cover 80 acres. There are four prides in the group, each of which will have access to 20 acres of habitat. In Keenesburg, the female lions eased out first, lured by hunks of raw chicken and turkey thrown just beyond the shelter walls. The head of the pride, a 6-year-old male named Bam Bam, eventually made his appearance and immediately began staking out his turf. The other prides will be released from their enclosures into the habitats as they grow more confident in the coming weeks.

In November and December, a team from Animal Defenders International working with Bolivian officials raided every circus in the country, rescuing animals in the most wide-ranging enforcement action of its kind, said ADI president Jan Creamer. “When we arrived, there was a huge confrontation. The circus owner pulled out a knife and then slashed the tires of the vehicle we were loading the lions into,” Creamer said. “Eventually we calmed the situation down, changed the wheels and took the lions to safety.” In addition to the lion airlift, the work of “Operation Lion Ark” also resulted in Bolivia banning the use of all animals in traveling circuses.

The arrival of the Bolivian lions in the U.S. on February 16^th drew national attention. Since they arrived in Keenesburg, the lions have lived in a special 15,000-square-foot, 44- foot-tall biosphere where they have become acclimated to living outside of a cramped cage. They also encountered snow in small open-air enclosures adjacent to the lion house a few times over the winter. “They were running around, rolling around in it,” Craig said. “They were having a good time.”

On Thursday, after just a few minutes of gingerly inching their way through the enclosure barrier into the habitat, the lions were bounding over the terrain, nipping at one another and nosing around their new surroundings. It wasn’t long before the sun was shining on their backs. “I think they are going to like it here,” Craig said.

Source: www.denverpost.com

Some of the most innovative architects and planners are in on this event. In May, they will rally the international design community to create proposals for many of your suggested sites and situations. Then they’ll gather everything together, publish an atlas of opportunity for the future for the city, and celebrate this collective civic vision at the first-ever Urban Design Week festival from September 15–20, 2011.

Post your ideas at By the City/For the City and have designers around the world tackle your problems! Designers will address the opportunities they find most interesting. Once you’ve shared an idea, invite your friends, family, and neighbors to comment and vote on your suggestion. That way, designers will be able to see that people are excited about your idea, and you’re much more likely to get design responses.

Who are the organizations behind this?

Institute for Urban Design:

For thirty years the Institute for Urban Design has positioned itself as a central platform for debate over issues related to urban planning, development, and design. By creating a common territory for architects, planners, policy-makers, developers, academics, journalists, and urban enthusiasts, we acknowledge that to ensure quality in planning and urban design, a dialogue must emerge that represents the diversity of stakeholder voices affected by urban development. Learn more at ifud.org.

Project for Public Spaces:

An international non-profit planning and design organization with project experience in over 40 countries and 2,500
communities. Learn more at PPS.org.

Source: www.urbandesignweek.org

HIV-positive children at an orphanage in Odessa, Ukraine

While most adoptions present challenges, there’s a distinctive set of them facing parents who decide to adopt children living with HIV – a twice-daily medication regimen, lingering prejudice and fear, uncertainty about the child’s longevity and marriage prospects. Yet the number of U.S. parents undertaking HIV adoptions, or seriously considering them, is surging. Most involve orphans from foreign countries where they faced stigma, neglect and the risk of early death. “I can’t think of a more significant way to make an impact than to do this,” said Margaret Fleming, a 74-year-old Chicagoan whose nine adopted children include three HIV-positive first graders. “These kids were, in many ways, the modern-day lepers,” she said.

Ignorance and bias related to HIV haven’t vanished in the United States. But the stigma is steadily lessening, especially compared to many of the other countries that are home to an estimated 2.5 million children with the disease. At forums and over the Internet, parents who have adopted HIV-positive kids are offering advice and encouragement to those who might follow suit. Ryan Vander Zwaag, the youth pastor at a Baptist church, said he and his wife had talked about adoption ever since they married right out of high school. The more they learned about the vast numbers of HIV-positive orphans, the more interested they became in bringing one into their family. Fears about exposing their own family to health risks and prejudice gradually faded as they read articles, attended a conference, and spoke with other parents who had undertaken HIV adoptions. “It’s not that hard,” said Stacy Vander Zwaag. “And there are so many kids who would die without it.”

Throughout most of the AIDS epidemic, only a relative handful of HIV-positive foreign children came to the U.S. because of strict U.S. immigration policies that limited entry for anyone with the disease. In January 2010, that restriction ended – enabling children with HIV to enter as easily as other adoptive children. “That change helped drastically,” said Erin Henderson of Afton, Wyo., who is HIV coordinator for Adoption Advocates. The agency handled 37 adoptions of HIV-positive Ethiopian children in 2010, up from four in 2006, and is also working on HIV adoptions from India, Ghana, Thailand, China and Eastern Europe.

Source: www.aolnews.com

A new book of stories from the late Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel, seen here in 1987, will be published in September.

Fans of iconic children’s author Theodor Seuss Geisel, otherwise known as Dr. Seuss, have reason to celebrate. In September, Random House will release “The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories,” a collection of seven virtually unknown stories that the author wrote in the 1950s, a time that many consider Seuss’ most productive creative period — when he wrote both “The Cat in the Hat” and “The Grinch.” Random House says the new Seuss stories are the “literary equivalent of buried treasure.”

“In these stories, we’ll meet new characters,” Susan Brandt, president of Dr. Seuss Enterprises in LaJolla, Calif., told Fox News. “So you’re going to meet the twins Todd and Tadd, you’ll meet Gustav the Goldfish and a small boy name Henry McBride, as well as the other characters Dr. Seuss is known for…Readers of all ages are in for a treat.”

Source: www.aolnews.com

“As a boy, I loved cars. When I turned 18, I lost my best friend to a car accident, like this,” Thrun said, snapping his fingers before an audience at the TED 2011 conference in Long Beach last month. “And then I decided I’d dedicate my life to saving 1 million people every year. Now, I haven’t succeeded, so this is just a progress report. But I need to tell you a little bit about self-driving cars.”

Thrun is a Stanford University robotics professor and a project leader on Google’s Driverless Car effort — a system that enables cars to drive on their own, safely, without human input. So far, Google’s driverless cars have safely logged more than 140,000 miles on California roads, including San Francisco’s crooked Lombard Street and Hollywood Boulevard packed with pedestrians.

While Thrun’s contributions to the Google project are personally motivated, the engineer believes that the technology can eradicate traffic jams and curb fuel consumption, as well as save humans now-wasted time and prevent needless deaths.

“Did you know that driving accidents are the No. 1 cause of death for young people? And do you realize that almost all of those are due to human error and not machine error and can therefore be prevented by machines?” Thrun said at TED. He added that he foresees a future in which driverless cars become the norm. “I’m really looking forward to a time when generations after us look back and say how ridiculous it was that humans were driving cars.”

Google is hardly alone in this effort. General Motors has been developing driverless cars for some time, but wasn’t expected to begin road tests until 2015. If the technology becomes fully operational, it could mark a return to a benefit of an old-fashioned method of transportation. During the 1918 flu epidemic, exhausted country doctors making house calls resisted making the switch from horse-and-carriage to Model T, simply because they needed sleep and knew Old Betsy could find the way home.

Source: www.sfgate.com, www.latimesblogs.latimes.com

On the other side of the world, Anne Wells is managing orders for the Ashé Collection (ashé is “thank you” in Kimaa), featuring TMWA jewelry. “Our buyers here in the West have the opportunity to connect – even in the tiniest of ways – with people living and working in some of the most remote and impoverished places on our planet. And hopefully that will inspire a deeper sense of respect, curiosity and appreciation.” 100% of the Ashé Collection profit supports women’s health, education and micro-finance programs throughout Tanzania.

Anne Wells is also the founder and director of the social organization UNITE The World With Africa.
UNITE The World With Africa, LLC, is an independent, social organization founded in January 2010 by Anne Wells to provide impactful connections, resources and expertise to advance and grow women’s health, education and microfinance programs in select communities throughout Tanzania, East Africa.

Source: www.getmilkshake.com

“Chi più conosce più ama, più amando più gusta.”

“When foster children become young adults they often find themselves struggling to make it in the world. But now some colleges are providing the kind of support that can make a difference helping these young people become successful…”

Watch the NBC video coverage here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#42297761

The Guardian Scholar Program is a comprehensive program that supports former foster youth in their efforts to gain a university, community college or trade school education. The program leverages the expertise and resources of the private sector and public agencies to achieve significant synergies to support students effectively and cost-efficiently. Academic institutions, Orangewood Children’s Foundation, public agencies and private citizens create a powerful team dedicated to assisting deserving foster youth in achieving their dreams of an education, realizing true independence and reaching their full potential.

The need for these programs is great. Currently, only approximately 10% of foster youth go on to higher education, and of that group, only 2% ever graduate. However, 70% of foster youth have aspirations to attend college. Foster youth face challenges receiving the information, support, preparation and basic needs necessary to access higher education. Guardian Scholars programs are critical to bridging the gap between foster youth’s goals and dreams and the reality of their life situations.

Modeling after the successful Guardian Scholars Program started by Ron Davis in Orange County, California in 1997, students are equipped with the educational and interpersonal skills necessary to become self-supporting, competent adults. Success is dependant on a team effort that combines participating colleges, donors, mentors, and the determination of the student. Guardian Scholar students have already overcome significant psychological, emotional, displacement and financial challenges. The combined effort of colleges, donors, mentors, and of course the student creates success. The Guardian Scholars model maximizes state and federal financial aid, foundation financial support and many warm hearts providing an emotional safety net.

“The daily challenges and obstacles that young people, raised in the foster care system, must overcome have left a deep impact on my life. Their stories of abandonment, abuse, poverty, and displacement are horrific. To help these young people, I founded the Guardian Scholars Program in 1998 at Cal State Fullerton,” states Ron Davis. “The purpose of the program is to ‘Make Dreams Come True’ by giving deserving students a scholarship and personalized life support. It is very rewarding to see students grow from frightened and confused freshman, into professionals, social services leaders, teachers, parents, and contributing members of society. The goal of our program is to create a family of support along with the gift of a scholarship.” The Guardian Scholars program began in 1998 with three students. Today, the program has expanded to 20 colleges in California, Washington, Colorado, Indiana, and Massachusetts serving hundreds of students. “We are proud that we have reached our ten year anniversary graduating over 50 former foster youth!” Ron Davis said.

Following is a list of schools that have either an established “Guardian Scholars” type program, or plans to implement this type of program for former foster youth students:

Bay Area • Heald College, SF • SFSU • SJSU • UC Santa Cruz • San Francisco City College • Chabot College • Ohlone College • CSU East Bay

Orange County • CSU Fullerton • UC Irvine • Orange Coast College • Hope International University • Chapman University • American Career College • Concordia University • Taller San Jose • Fullerton College

Southern California • CSU Pomona • CSU LA • CSU San Bernandino • San Diego State • UC San Diego • CSU San Marcos

Other States • Ball University, Indiana

UC Santa Cruz has a similar program called the Page & Eloise Smith Scholastic Society: http://www.smithsociety.ucsc.edu

Cal Poly in Pomona has Renaissance Scholars: http://www.csupomona.edu/~eop/ees_rscholars.html

National Foster Care Youth Statistics:

• There are more than 500,000 children and youth in foster care in the U.S.; approximately 20,000 youth “age out” or emancipate from foster care each year.
• 100,000 foster youth live in California.
• In California, 65% of youth leaving foster care do so without a place to live.
• Up to 50% of former foster/probation youth become homeless within the first 18 months of emancipation.
• Twenty seven percent (27%) of the homeless population spent time in foster care.
• Youth in foster care are 44% less likely to graduate from high school and after emancipation, 40 – 50 percent never complete high school.
• Girls in foster care are six times more likely to give birth before the age of 21 than the general population.
• Sixty percent (60%) of women who emancipate from foster care become parents within 2.5-4 years after exiting care.
• (Research shows that foster youth have a better chance of getting pregnant or going to prison, than getting a degree.)

(Source: www.onthemovebayarea.org, www.fullerton.edu/guardianscholars/, www.calyouthconn.org)

Ways To Give: http://www.fullerton.edu/guardianscholars/giving/ways.asp

Hideaki Akaiwa, 43, startled at work by the now infamous earthquake and tsunami that shook and overtook Japan on March 11^th, rushed to high ground and immediately called his wife of two decades. When she didn’t answer, Akaiwa ignored friends’ pleas to wait for a military rescue, instead rummaging up some scuba gear and diving into the dark, cold, debris-filled tsunami. Hundreds of yards of swimming later, Akaiwa found his wife struggling against the 10-foot current that had overtaken the couple’s Ishinomaki home.

Once he’d gotten his wife to safety, Akaiwa suffered for four days with worry for his elderly mother. When she didn’t turn up at any of the official evacuation centers, Akaiwa dove once again into the filthy, neck-high waters and swam to her neighborhood, determined to track her down. After some searching, Akaiwa found her, scared and alone, on the second floor of neighbor’s house. “She was very much panicked because she was trapped with all this water around,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “I didn’t know where she was. It was such a relief to find her.”

With his family accounted for, Akaiwa hasn’t rested on his laurels. Rather, he’s spent the past two weeks heading into Ishinomaki in search of other trapped survivors. Armed with a backpack, a flashlight, a Swiss Army knife, and some water, he rides his bike around the wreckage determined to help others.

Source: http://www.good.is/

Music for Relief’s ‘Download to Donate‘, established during the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake, is offering free downloads of new songs for a $10 (€7.10) donation, featuring recordings by Glitch Mob, Linkin Park, OK Go, and Caribou.

Find out more about how you can donate:

Music for Relief: http://www.musicforrelief.org/main/

Music for Relief’s Download to Donate: http://www.downloadtodonate.org

Citizen Effect: http://www.citizeneffect.org/projects/japan-earthquake-relief-fund

Lady Gaga’s wristband: http://ladygaga.shop.bravadousa.com/Product.aspx?cp=14781_42444&pc=BGAMLG88

Source: www.independent.co.uk

*Ghulam Sughra of Pakistan
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Marvi Rural Development Organization
Ghulam Sughra created the Marvi Rural Development Organization (MRDO), an NGO focused on creating community savings funds and raising awareness of education, health, human rights, and social development issues. While originally focused in her home village, Ms. Sughra has expanded to the rural areas of Sindh, Punjab, and Baluchistan provinces. Born in rural Sindh Province, Ms. Sughra was forced to marry at the age of 12. Six years later, Ms. Sughra became the first woman in her village to divorce, and consequently, became a social outcast. Severely beaten by her brothers when she tried to attend school, she pursued her studies at home. She later succeeded in becoming her village’s first female high school graduate and the first teacher at the first school for girls.
Age: 40
Languages Spoken: English, Urdu, Sindhi*

Since the inception of this award in 2007, the Department of State has honored 38 women from 27 countries. This is the only Department of State award that pays tribute to women activists worldwide. At an awards presentation at the State Department March 8, the first lady praised the Women of Courage winners for not standing silent in the face of violence, oppression, poverty or inequality.

“Time and again, these women have discovered a very simple truth: that courage can actually be contagious,” Obama said to an audience filled with diplomats, members of Congress and business people. The first lady used as an example Yoani Sanchez, a writer in Cuba whose blog “caught fire” on the Internet and was being downloaded onto computer flash drives and passed from person to person. When it was censored by the state, she distributed her blog through what she calls a “citizen network” – people outside of Cuba who helped publish her posts. Her writing is now translated into 15 languages.

This year’s Women of Courage awardees are:

• Roza Otunbayeva, president of the Kyrgyz Republic (Central Asia’s first female head of state and head of government in a traditional, majority Muslim country).

• Maria Bashir, prosecutor general for Herat province in Afghanistan (Secretly taught her sisters and local girls at home despite the risks of reprisal, and in 2006 was appointed Prosecutor General for Herat, the only woman to ever hold such a position in Afghan history).

• Nasta Palazhanka, deputy chairwoman for Malady Front (Young Front), a nongovernmental organization in Belarus (Advocates for civil society freedoms and promotes respect for fundamental human rights. Imprisoned repeatedly for her convictions yet prevails in her belief that a brighter future is possible).

• Henriette Ekwe Ebongo, journalist and publisher of Bebela, a weekly independent newspaper in Cameroon (Has spent a lifetime advancing press freedom, freedom of expression, human rights, good governance, and gender equality).

• Guo Jianmei, lawyer and director of the Beijing Zhongze Women’s Legal Counseling and Service Center in China (The country’s best-known female lawyer, a passionate activist, and pioneer of legal advocacy).

• Yoani Sanchez, innovator, writer and founder of the Generación Y blog in Cuba (Has been credited as the “founder” of the independent Cuban blogosphere).

• Agnes Osztolykan, member of parliament and the Politics Can Be Different Party in Hungary (Only female Roma Member of Parliament (MP) in Hungary).

• Eva Abu Halaweh, executive director of Mizan Law Group for Human Rights in Jordan.

• Marisela Morales Ibañez, deputy attorney general for special investigations against organized crime in Mexico (The first woman ever appointed to the position of Assistant Attorney General for Specialized Investigation of Organized Crime).

• Ghulam Sughra, founder and chief executive officer of the Marvi Rural Development Organization in Pakistan.

Clinton announced an initiative in partnership with Goldman Sachs Group Inc., a New York-based investment bank, to educate women in the business skills needed to be successful entrepreneurs. Lloyd Blankfein, chairman of Goldman Sachs, explained that the program will be an extension of Goldman Sachs’ “10,000 Women” program launched in 2008. That $100 million, five-year campaign has trained dozens of women from more than 20 countries.

The Women of Courage awards ceremony fell on March 8, the 100th anniversary of the first International Women’s Day. Clinton stated there are now more than 200 million women entrepreneurs worldwide and that women earn more than $10 trillion every year, most of which they invest in their families and communities. The United States is working to close the educational and income gap between women and men, the secretary said. Programs like the mWomen Initiative, which gives women access to mobile technology, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which helps women gain access to markets, and the Pathways to Prosperity Initiative, which helps women develop their business skills and economic opportunities, all fall into that effort.

“This is a central focus of my diplomatic outreach,” Clinton said. “Wherever I go around the world, I meet with governments, international organizations and civic groups to talk about economic policies that will help their countries grow by expanding women’s access to jobs and finance. “If we decide as societies, governments and businesses to invest in women and girls, we will strengthen our efforts to fight poverty, drive development and spread stability…When women thrive, families, communities and countries thrive,” she said, “and the world becomes more peaceful and prosperous.”

Follow here for “Biographies of the Secretary of State’s 2011 International Women of Courage Awardees”: http://www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2011/March/20110308111446su0.9021527.html#ixzz1GKI64gCu

Source:www.america.gov

Heart attack survivor Howard Snitzer of Goodhue, Minn., center, reunites with the more than two dozen first responders who saved his life performing CPR for more than one and a half hours.

When Howard Snitzer clutched his chest and crumpled on a freezing sidewalk outside Don’s Foods in Goodhue, MN, (located in rural Goodhue, pop. about 900 and a town without a traffic light) he was wearing gym shorts, fresh from his daily workout. Across the street, at Roy and Al’s Auto Service, the Lodermeier brothers were getting ready to close.  Then, a local high school teacher ran up.  ”He said a guy had fallen on the sidewalk,” Al Lodermeier says. At that moment, Don Shulte, owner of the grocery store, walked in. The three ran back to where Snitzer lay on the sidewalk. He wasn’t breathing. He had no pulse. If he didn’t get help soon, he would die.

For the next 96 minutes, more than an hour and a half, Al, his brother Roy, bystander Candace Koehn, who saw Snitzer fall, and more than two dozen other first responders took turns performing CPR on the fallen man. Their teamwork saved Snitzer’s life, in what may be one of the longest, successful out-of-hospital resuscitations ever. “It’s remarkable,” says Bruce Wilkoff, a Clevland Clinic heart rhythm specialist. “It’s a great example of people doing the right thing and having it work out.”

Along with the Lodermeier brothers, both veteran first responders with more than three decades of experience on the volunteer Goodhue Fire Department, Snitzer’s rescuers included police, volunteer fire fighters and rescue squads from the neighboring towns of Zumbrota and Red Wing. The Mayo Clinic’s emergency helicopter, Mayo One, flew in from Rochester, MN, almost 35 miles away. Their teamwork kept blood flowing to Snitzer’s brain, making each rescuer a surrogate for his failing heart.

Nationwide, only about 5% of people who suffer cardiac arrest on the street are resuscitated and leave the hospital. “…I don’t think the story’s about me,” says Snitzer, 54, who suffered his cardiac arrest on Jan. 5 and spent 10 days in the hospital. “It’s about the guys in Goodhue and Mayo One… My end of this bargain is to honor the guys who did this for me.”

“The number one thing in this case was that someone recognized very quickly that (Snitzer) had arrested and began good, hard, fast CPR,” says Mayo One paramedic Bruce Goodman. When they met in his hospital room, Goodman says, he was stunned to see a man he didn’t think would survive sitting up and talking with his brother. Snitzer asked Gooman, “Why didn’t you stop?” It’s a question, Goodman says, that he still doesn’t have a good answer for. His survival reflects a triumph over doubt as much as perseverance. The first responders who raced to Snitzer’s assistance knew when they arrived that the odds were stacked against them. “This is the first case I know of, of someone who walks and talks and is getting around like (Snitzer) is,” says Roy Lodermeier. Survivors sometimes suffer brain damage, White says, “a very compelling concern” in Snitzer’s case. “If you’d told me that night that this guy was going to get up and walk out of the hospital,” says Mayo One’s Goodman, “I would probably have said, ‘I’ll bet my house against yours he won’t.’ “

“When I came to work five or six days later, I looked him up to see when he had died. I found out he had a room number,” Goodman said. Goodman and Svoboda went down to see him and told him for the first time what occurred. Snitzer says he’s still sore from the CPR and weak from the heart attack. But he’s extremely grateful to all the people who saved his life. “I’m a chef. I told them I’d be fattening them up every chance I get.”

On Tuesday, White flew to Goodhue to attend the monthly meeting of the Goodhue Fire Department and offer a seminar on the case. Snitzer and Ryan went too and Snitzer met White for the first time. “I was floored,” Snitzer says. “He hugged me for a long time. He wouldn’t let go.”

Heart attack survivor Howard Snitzer.

Source: www.yourlife.usatoday.com

The newest edition to that exclusive club is the “laughing baby,” Mica McArthur, who dissolves into giggles when his father rips up a piece of paper. Watch:

Source: www.aolnews.com

In the United States, which contains 8 percent of the world’s forests, there are more trees than there were 100 years ago. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), “Forest growth nationally has exceeded harvest since the 1940s. The greatest gains have been seen on the East Coast (with average volumes of wood per acre almost doubling since the ’50s) which was the area most heavily logged by European settlers beginning in the 1600s, soon after their arrival.

As a society, we are likely in the middle of our cultural (and scientific understanding) of the value of forests. The history of conservation in this country is still young, after all. According to Chuck Leavell, director of Environmental Affairs at MNN and a tree farmer, “It was during the Theodore Roosevelt administration that conservation began to take hold, and along with Roosevelt, figures like Gifford Pinchot, John Muir and others began to warn Americans about overuse of our natural resources. Eventually, programs were put into place that encouraged landowners to plant trees … in some cases encouraging farmers to convert some of their farm lands into forests.”

That makes for some happy tree-huggers out there!

Source: www.mnn.com

In conjunction with the in-store fundraising campaign, the company has also redesigned its dedicated microsite, Toysrus.com/AutismSpeaks, to feature images of children dressed as super-heroes. Throughout the site, customers will be introduced to even more heroes in a special “scrapbook.” This digital album of children with autism highlights their heroic efforts – everyday tasks they have mastered, which are made difficult by the disorder. Featured children include: Hunter, age 9, who learned how to complete a jigsaw puzzle in order to join his family’s favorite pastime; Justin, age 10, who practices his culinary skills as he bakes muffins, among others.

Toysrus.com/AutismSpeaks serves as a year-round resource to parents, caregivers, families and friends of children with autism. Visitors can find a list of “Ten Toys That Speak To Autism,” which provides toy suggestions to help guide anyone purchasing toys for a child with autism, as well as Safe Play Tips designed to help ensure the well-being of children on the spectrum, while encouraging the benefits of play.

Since the partnership began in 2007, Toys“R”Us, Inc., the Toys“R”Us Children’s Fund and customer contributions have combined to provide Autism Speaks with more than $8.4 million. Last year’s in-store and online fundraising campaign raised nearly $1.8 million for Autism Speaks in the U.S. Additionally, Toys“R”Us, Canada will once again lend its support to the cause by collecting donations in its nearly 70 stores and online at Toysrus.ca. Last year, Toys“R”Us Canada raised an additional $600,000 to support Autism Speaks.

Source: www.prnewswire.com

During the protests, Christians stood in a circle around Muslims during their Friday prayers to protect them from police. And last Monday, Muslims stood around Christians in Tahrir Square as they conducted mass, and joined them in prayer for those who were injured or died in the protests.

Prior to the demonstrations, there was a growing fear in Egypt that tensions between Muslims and Christians would escalate and culminate in violence. In a preventative effort, Egyptians began to mobilise through a new online initiative called “An Internet Free of Sectarian Strife”, launched by Amr Khaled, who is described by The New York Times as “the world’s most famous and influential Muslim television preacher.” He began the initiative in January after he saw how the Internet was being used to disseminate rumors and agitate tensions between Muslims and Christians in the country.

Word of the initiative spread quickly, and it has proven very popular among Egyptian youth primarily because of Khaled’s huge following in the country. The roots of this initiative began with his lectures in 1998, after years of terrorist incidents claimed the lives of innocent people and religious bigotry began spreading among groups that were adopting extremist interpretations of Islam.

Many have found messages of balance and harmony in the young, dynamic preacher’s rhetoric, which are all too rare in other speakers’ lectures. Between 2000 and 2002, his lectures – mainly about tolerance in Islam – were being attended by audiences of 35,000. Today, his Facebook page has around two million friends and his lectures are watched by millions across the Muslim world. It is clear that youth are playing a key role in the initiative’s implementation and development.

The initiative’s main partners are influential media outlets in Egypt and the Arab world. They have identified ten basic items that they hope will become “rules for internet users and a code of honour for Internet media outlets to abide by.” The rules are to not use the following: blanket generalisations, foul language; rumours without credible sources, sarcasm, videos that could enflame tensions and violent or hateful fatwas (non-binding legal opinions). The rules also encourage words of peace and compassion, respect for others’ faith and disagreement with ideas, but respect for individuals. Finally, partners have agreed that users should never post their opinions while angry.

Khaled’s positive initiative is an important first step to address the core causes of extremism that lead to sectarian tension. The solidarity amongst Muslims and Christians during the recent protests shows that both groups can overcome divisions, and offers new hope that coexistence and religious equality can be the foundation of a new Egypt.

Source: www.commongroundnews.org (Yasser Khalil)

Every correct answer earns 1 day of safe drinking water for a child in Africa through charity partner Blood:Water Mission.

A new and addictive trivia game from the Webby-honored government blog OhMyGov.com gives people the power to save lives. The “Real or UnReal” game (http://ohmygov.com/pages/realunreal.aspx) presents factoids taken from breaking news, political history, science and technology, and the strange-but-true stories of government that OhMyGov is known for, and asks readers to cast their vote: Are they Real or UnReal? For every correct guess, OhMyGov donates funds to its charity partner, Blood:Water Mission, to provide one day’s worth of safe drinking water for a child in Africa.

Already, during the game’s pilot phase, over 10,000 days of safe drinking water have been earned. Correct clicks turn into dollars donated by OhMyGov, which go directly toward projects by Blood:Water Mission to reduce disease and provide a hopeful future by giving communities access to safe, potable water. Real or UnReal is entirely web-based and can be played on a variety of devices, including iPads and iPhones – perfect for spicing up long commutes, waiting-room delays, and dull office meetings. The animated game features a water truck that fills up with every correct click, and a calendar marking off your progress toward a month of safe, clean water.

OhMyGov’s charitable partner, Blood:Water Mission, has provided locally relevant water solutions to over 600,000 people in 11 countries across sub-Saharan Africa. Founded in 2005 by the GRAMMY Award-winning band, Jars of Clay, Blood:Water Mission has worked  with over 1000 local communities to construct wells, rehabilitate springs, and promote rain tanks. “As a grassroots organization, we are fueled by the passions and creativity of others to impact the lives of our friends in Africa,” explains Mike Lenda, US Programs Director for Blood:Water Mission. “Real or UnReal invites those who enjoy the challenge of putting their knowledge to the test to creatively make a real difference in the lives of others.”

About OhMyGov

Founded in 2007, OhMyGov.com is the news arm of OhMyGov Inc., a media and technology firm that helps governments navigate the new media landscape through advanced analytics, tools and training. OhMyGov Inc. is privately held, with backing from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Virginia-based investment group New Dominion Angels.

About Blood:Water Mission

Blood:Water Mission (http://bloodwatermission.com) is a non-profit organization based in Nashville, TN, established to empower community to work together against the HIV/AIDS & water crises in sub-Saharan Africa through creative grassroots efforts.  Founded in 2005 by the multi-platinum, GRAMMY Award-winning band, Jars of Clay, Blood:Water Mission has provided safe water access through locally relevant water solutions to over 600,000 people in 1000 communities and access to health care for thousands living with HIV/AIDS through clinics and community health care.

Source: www.ohmygov.com

Lubic and her team of midwives run a birthing clinic in one of the city’s poorest areas. After 800 babies in eight years, they have never lost a child in childbirth, and have cut the rate of premature births – the biggest risk factor for infant mortality – in half.

Ruth built her clinic in Washington, D.C., on purpose. She figured if her ideas worked there, if she could tackle infant mortality in Washington, she’d set an example everywhere. Her approach is simple. She believes low-income women, many on Medicaid, need the prenatal education that midwives provide – everything from posture, to nutrition, to how the baby grows.

What’s most remarkable is that Lubic still does it at 81-years-old. Lubic’s biggest fan is D.C. city councilman David Catania. He says because she keeps hundreds of babies out of prenatal care, she saves the city around $1 million a year. That’s why he supports her when Ruth hounds the city council for funding. “While I tease her a lot about being a pit bull with a smile, I look at her sometimes with complete envy about how you can have such a burning drive at 81,” Catania said. “And it’s a great inspiration.” Lubic says infant mortality is a national disgrace, but a disgrace that midwives can help solve. And this pit bull with a smile won’t let go of that idea until it sinks in nationwide.

Source: www.cbsnews.com

It’s a cool idea if you think about it, this $1-per-day donation. Whenever I go to my local grocery store I’m asked to add a dollar to fight breast cancer or leukemia, and you bet I say yes. It’s just a dollar. Philanthroper operates on the same principle: Limit yourself to giving “only” a dollar, and you’ll ultimately give more overall – without feeling the sting. Besides, since there’s a new charity featured on the site every day (except Sunday), you can learn about many worthy causes as you participate.

The founders of Philanthroper, likening the service to a Nike Plus for giving, also provide a stats page for you to track your giving. You can see what categories have benefitted from your dollars, what causes you’ve championed and, yes, what opportunities for micro-philanthropy you might have missed.

The George Washingtons are handed over via a pay-processing service called mPayy, which only takes a penny each time, a rate that’s unprecedentedly low, according to the charity site. Philanthroper itself won’t take any money from donations. They are self-funded at the start, with the intention of eventually covering their own costs (and making money) from ad revenue. It’s the ”less profitable but far more honest solution,” according to the site’s FAQ. And don’t worry about losing track come tax time. Every donation is tax deductible, and every charity’s credentials are linked from the site for easy verification.

The site launched on January 24^th, 2011 and hopes to gather steam in the coming weeks, applying the usual Facebook and Twitter buttons for maximum peer pressurizing. What if you still want to give more than a dollar? Philanthroper provides all of the information for you to make a larger donation directly to the charity.

Source: www. technolog.msnbc.msn.com

Don Ritchie moved to a house outside Sydney, Australia, for the clifftop view. But soon he was stopping suicides by inviting potential jumpers inside for a cup of tea.

Don Ritchie has been awarded a medal for bravery and an Order of Australia (the nation’s second highest honor) for averting hundreds of would-be suicides by approaching people and offering them a cup of tea. ‘I used to sell kitchen scales and bacon cutters,’ he says. Now, ‘I’m trying to sell people life.’

Don Ritchie bought his house for the beautiful views it affords of Sydney Harbor and “the Gap,” the tall sandstone cliffs that guard the harbor mouth. Rather than simply admiring those views, though, he has spent the past 40 or so years persuading tortured souls not to jump to their deaths.

When he moved to the spot with his with his wife, Mr. Ritchie was aware of the Gap’s reputation as Australia’s most notorious suicide spot. But he didn’t think much about it. Almost from Day 1, though, he found himself keeping an eye on the rugged cliff tops. Since then, he has coaxed hundreds of people back from the brink: the desperate, the depressed, and the mentally disturbed.

To some, he’s the “Angel of the Gap.” It’s an accolade that makes him smile with embarrassment. “Now I’m an old angel,” he says during an interview at his home. Through the picture window in their living room, he has a bird’s-eye view of the cliffs, which attract a steady flow of tourists and joggers. If he sees someone lingering a little too long, he crosses the road and offers them a cup of tea.

Over the years, many have followed him home. The self-effacing former salesman shrugs when you ask him why he does what he does. “I’m just trying to save a life,” he says. Over the decades, Ritchie says, many of the faces of the people he’s saved have blurred. But some he still remembers clearly, such as the woman he spotted from his bedroom window early one morning, sitting right on the cliff’s edge. “I quickly got dressed and went over,” he recalls. “I said to her: ‘Why don’t you come over and have a cup of tea?’ She came with me, and Moya made her breakfast. When she got home, she rang to say she was feeling much better. Two or three months later, she walked up the garden path with a magnum of French champagne.”

Dawn O’Neil, chief executive of Lifeline Australia, a counseling service for the suicidal and depressed, says the intervention of someone like Ritchie can be crucial when people are considering killing themselves. “We know from research around the world that most people who are suicidal are ambivalent about dying,” she says. “Most don’t want to die; they just want to end their pain. So there’s a hesitation, and anyone or anything that can distract them, or assist them to get help, can save their lives.”

Those who describe Don say that he has a charisma about him. “He makes people feel safe, secure, and calm…He is one special man.”

Source: www.csmonitor.com

It all started when Brenda Jones was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2008. She’s the first to tell you she was mad as hell – and the fact that, come January, she was expected to do radiation five times a week in a flimsy, unflattering hospital gown just made her angrier. “I wanted some control over cancer,” Jones told AOL News. “I was freezing and I wanted to wear something that didn’t make me feel like a patient.”

The answer, it seemed, was to create a better hospital gown that didn’t just cover her body, but also helped her recover her self-respect. In order to stitch her life back together, she first had to learn to sew. “Looking back, the anger forced me to learn to sew,” she said. “There’s no question how much that influenced me…I spent three eight-hour days learning, but it was kind of a fun thing,” she said. “It kept my hands and mind busy…It was better than screaming and yelling,” she said. “I just felt like I was slapping the face of the hospital.”

Finally, Jones finished her own personalized hospital gown, something she called a Hug Wrap. The prototype was a kimono-style gown made from flannel that she picked out at Wal-Mart (“a bright, bold pattern,” she said). She made the sleeves longer for warmth and comfort, and she made it shorter than traditional gowns so she could leave her pants on during her radiation treatments.

She was surprised at the effect making the gown had on her. “It never occurred to me it would help, but it made me a better patient,” she said. Jones was also surprised at the reaction from other cancer patients when she walked in the first day of her seven weeks of radiation treatment. “People were asking me, ‘Where did you get that?’” she said. “A woman I knew who was going through radiation at the same time really loved it. I told her, ‘What’s the fuss? I’ll make you one.’” She did just that. Her Hug Wraps got a great reaction not only from fellow patients but from the doctors and nurses who treated her. In fact, she came out of her treatment with a calling: to make her Hug Wraps, which she jokes are “louder than cancer.”

“I’ve made more than 400 so far, most of which I gave away, but now I want to turn it into a nonprofit company,” Jones said. She accepts donations to make them – $50, plus shipping, is the suggested amount, but once she gets official 501 CB status (“They tell me any day now!” she said, fingers crossed), she hopes she can get grants and sponsorships to help bring down the cost.
Most of her patients are women, but she is also making versions for men. Jones realizes that she will never get over the fear of a recurrence of breast cancer, but she has seen the disease, or at least her reaction to it, as a positive experience.

Source: www.aolnews.com

Everybody wants to know where the jobs are, of course, so data has been analyzed from the Department of Labor on employment levels in dozens of industries over the last three years. Here are 20 fields where jobs are starting to return:

Admin and Support – Jobs gained in 2010: 286,000

Employment Services – Jobs gained in 2010: 262,000

Healthcare – Jobs gained in 2010: 204,000

Restaurants – Jobs gained in 2010: 143,000

Retail – Jobs gained in 2010: 128,000

Mining – Jobs gained in 2010: 79,000

Religious and Nonprofit Groups – Jobs gained in 2010: 56,000

Salespeople and Customer-Service Reps. – Jobs gained in 2010: 36,000

Computer Systems Design – Jobs gained in 2010: 43,000

Transit and Ground Transportation - Jobs gained in 2010: 20,000

Hotels – Jobs gained in 2010: 27,000

Federal Government – Jobs gained in 2010: 19,000

Management – Jobs gained in 2010: 16,000

Performing Arts and Recreation – Jobs gained in 2010: 24,000

Warehousing – Jobs gained in 2010: 12,000

Oil and Gas Extraction – Jobs gained in 2010: 11,000

Rail Transportation – Jobs gained in 2010: 9,000

Waste Management – Jobs gained in 2010: 8,000

Web Portals and Internet Publishing – Jobs gained in 2010: 6,000

Management and Technical Consulting – Jobs gained in 2010: 2,000

Source: www.money.usnews.com

Photo credit: Keith Slausen/US Forest Service. According to some estimates, a species is lost every 20 minutes.

1. Sierra Nevada Red Fox: One such species was the Sierra Nevada red fox. It was thought extinct until U.S. Forest Service biologists captured photos of the fox with a camera trap in 2010. Researchers also took DNA samples of saliva pulled from a bait bag the fox bit into to experts at the University of California, Davis. Lab tests proved that the Sierra Nevada red fox was back.

2. Giant Palouse Earthworm

3. Horton Plains Slender Loris: After it had disappeared from 1939 to 2002, conservationists thought this little mammal was extinct. But the Horton Plains slender loris, photographed for the first time in 2010 by the Zoological Society of London’s EDGE project, had indeed survived. There have only been four documented sightings of the small, reclusive primate since 1937.

4. Ghost Orchid: The ghost orchid, a rare plant named for its almost transparent flowers and habit of hiding underground for years, has been found again in the UK after being declared extinct there in 2005. The small flower does not rely on photosynthesis for sustenance and instead lives in symbiosis with an underground fungus that supplies nutrients. This allows the plant to survive underground for years without blooming.

5. Black Kokanee Salmon: In 1940, a hydroelectric dam was constructed in northern Akita Prefecture, Japan. The project, it was known at the time, would destroy the only native habitat of the black kokanee salmon by making the waters too acidic for the fish to survive. Still, developers went ahead with their plans. 70 years later, a small population of the extremely rare fish was discovered in nearby Saiko Lake.

6. Gray Whale

7. Yellow Spotted Bell Frog

8. Short Tailed Albatross: In just a few short decades, the short tailed albatross declined from a population of millions, at the beginning of the 20th century, to suspected extinction in the 1940s. Years later, small nesting populations were found on remote islands in the Pacific.

9. Rosser’s Sac Spider

Source: www.treehugger.com

Some believe popular culture has played an important role. The issue of teen pregnancy got a lot of attention through Bristol Palin, the unmarried pregnant daughter of former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Teen pregnancy is also cast in a harsh light by “Sixteen and Pregnant,” a popular MTV reality show which first aired in 2009 and chronicles the difficulties teen moms face.

Also, health officials and advocates may deserve some credit. For decades, they and others have been emphasizing the hazards of teen pregnancy, including higher high school dropout rates among the mothers and higher odds for health and other problems for their children. The cumulative effect of public health campaigns may have played an important role in pushing down the teen birth rate.

We’re still grateful for the teen-moms who have had the courage to raise some of us, but it’s nice to know that more young girls are getting the chance to finish their education and are taking the time to consider parenthood.

Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

About four months after launching a plan to convince the wealthiest Americans to donate large portions of their accumulated wealth, The Giving Pledge has logged 57 signatories. Gates and Buffett estimated in August their efforts could generate $600 billion dollars in charitable giving. “We’re off to a terrific start,” Buffett said.

Among those making up the latest round of pledges is Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “People wait until late in their career to give back. But why wait when there is so much to be done?” said Zuckerberg. “With a generation of younger folks who have thrived on the success of their companies, there is a big opportunity for many of us to give back earlier in our lifetime and see the impact of our philanthropic efforts,” Zuckerberg continued.

Other well known names that have signed on to the pledge include New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, movie producer George Lucas, media magnate Ted Turner, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, and Texas oilman-turned-wind-energy-advocate T. Boone Pickens. Much like the structure of the Clinton Global Initiative, those who take the pledge will come together at an annual event to share ideas, learn from (and keep tabs) on each other.

Source: www. earthandindustry.com

Community members, the American Veterans Traveling Tribute and the Lake Havasu Hospitality Association presented the group with a check for $35,000 and personal items for holiday packages. Operation Gratitude is a program that sends care packages to American troops deployed overseas. More than 2,000 volunteers gathered in Van Nuys, CA, to celebrate the wrapping of the 600,000th package.

Carolyn Blashek, who started Operation Gratitude in 2003, thanked Victory Motorcycles, a division of Polaris Industries, for their generous donation of a motorcycle, according to a press release. Keys for the motorcycle were placed in the 600,000th package.

“Operation Gratitude Care Packages are an expression of enormous respect and appreciation for those who voluntarily put themselves in harm’s way to protect our freedom,” Blashek said in the release.  “This exciting 600,000th package event represents a celebration of all the brave Americans who wear the uniform of our great nation.  We are honored to send this package to a young service member currently deployed in harm’s way, who represents all our courageous heroes – past, present and future – from all branches of the military.”

Source: www.havasunews.com

Dog lover Lauren Sarazen, a Chapman University freshman, gets several wet kisses from Libby, a 5-year-old chocolate Lab. The school hosts Furry Friends for Finals for the second year. The therapy dogs help reduce stress during finals week. CINDY YAMANAKA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Chapman University students got a chance for a quick stress relief from studying for finals – by petting and hugging dogs.  Nearly 300 students showed up for the two-hour Furry Friends for Finals, hosted for the second year by the campus club Active Minds, which promotes mental-health awareness. The dogs were brought in by a volunteer program in Long Beach, Beach Animals Reading with Kids. It encourages children to increase their reading skills and self-confidence by reading aloud to therapy dogs.

Students signed waivers and stood in line for a chance to spend several minutes with their choice of eight different dogs, including a Labrador, a French bulldog and a Shetland sheepdog. “Animals help relieve anxiety,” said Megan Kauffman, a therapist with the university’s Student Psychological Counseling Services. “It’s really therapeutic to pet a dog and relax, especially during finals.” Freshman Eddie Lopez said the sight of a dog was welcome. “Since we can’t have dogs in the dorms, it’s been forever since I’ve seen a dog,” Lopez said. “It’s fun to be able to pet one.”

Source: www.ocregister.com

The 450-square-kilometre Virunga Massif is composed of three national parks: the Volcanoes national park in Rwanda, the Mgahinga gorilla national park in Uganda and Parc National des Virunga in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  The mountain gorillas of the Virunga Massif are making a comeback for a variety of reasons. One key driver is the International Gorilla Conservation Programme, which started to engage local communities in projects that would help them to develop economically in 2003.  Many of these communities now keep bees to make honey or make handicrafts for tourists. They don’t need to poach.

A mountain gorilla in Parc Nacional des Volcans, Rwanda. Photograph: Andy Rouse/Corbis

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

CJ George loves to cruise. Last year, he and his family took an all-expense paid treat on the Bahamas Celebration. “I really hope I can come again, and this won’t be my last because I love it so much,” said CJ. CJ is battling Lymphoma Blood Cancer. After receiving the devastating news, CJ began two years of chemotherapy where he learned his best weapon was joining forces with kids battling the same disease. In fact, he invited some of those kids and their families to cruise with him!

“They don’t have to worry about anything because the ship has already taken care of it,” said CJ’s mom, Dawn George. Dawn founded “Children Battling Cancer,” a support organization which bridges the gap between the community and families raising children with cancer. Through her organization, Celebration Cruise Line sends a family a month on a free trip.

Source: www.wflx.com

A woman whose group has rescued more than 12,000 women and girls from sex slavery has been named the 2010 CNN Hero of the Year. Anuradha Koirala was chosen by the public in an online poll that ran for eight weeks on CNN.com. CNN’s Anderson Cooper revealed the result at the conclusion of the fourth annual “CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute.”

“Human trafficking is a crime, a heinous crime, a shame to humanity,” Koirala said earlier in the evening after being introduced as one of the top 10 CNN Heroes of 2010. “I ask everyone to join me to create a society free of trafficking. We need to do this for all our daughters.”

Koirala was introduced by actress Demi Moore, who along with her husband, Ashton Kutcher, created DNA, The Demi and Ashton Foundation, which aims to eliminate child sex slavery worldwide. “Every day this woman confronts the worst of what humanity has to offer,” Moore said of Koirala. “She says, ‘Stop. Stop selling our girls.’ By raiding brothels and patrolling the India-Nepal border, she saves girls from being sold into the sex trade, where they are being repeatedly raped for profit, tortured and enslaved.

“Since 1993, she has helped rescue more than 12,000 women and girls. Through her organization Maiti Nepal, she has provided more than a shelter for these girls and young women, she has created a home. It is a place for them to heal, go to school, learn a skill, and for some who are infected with HIV/AIDS, it is the place where they can spend their days surrounded by love.” Koirala will receive $100,000 to continue her work with Maiti Nepal, in addition to the $25,000 awarded to each of the top 10 Heroes honored.

Celebrity presenters, including Halle Berry, Demi Moore, Jessica Alba, Kid Rock, LL Cool J, Renee Zellweger, Gerard Butler, Kiefer Sutherland, Marisa Tomei, Aaron Eckhart and Holly Robinson Peete, and performances echoed the spirit of the CNN Heroes campaign, which salutes everyday people whose extraordinary accomplishments are making a difference in their communities and beyond.

www.cnn.com

French photographer Sacha Goldberger found his 91-year-old Hungarian grandmother Frederika feeling lonely and depressed. To cheer her up, he suggested that they shoot a series of outrageous photographs. Grandma reluctantly agreed, but once they got rolling, she couldn’t stop smiling.

Frederika was born in Budapest 20 years before World War II. During the war, at the peril of her own life, she courageously saved the lives of ten people. When asked how, Goldberger told us “she hid the Jewish people she knew, moving them around to different places every day.” As a survivor of Nazism and Communism, she then immigrated away from Hungary to France, forced by the Communist regime to leave her homeland illegally or face death. Aside from great strength, Frederika has an incredible sense of humor, one that defies time and misfortune.

With the unexpected success of this photo series, titled “Mamika,” Goldberger created a MySpace page for his grandmother. She now has over 2,200 friends and receives messages like: “You’re the grandmother that I have dreamed of, would you adopt me?” and “You made my day, I hope to be like you at your age.”

"I was not nearly the same person I am right now before I traveled to Brazil," Nataly Luque said about her experience with Karuna International, which allowed her to teach English to children who, in turn, taught her much more. (Courtesy Michelle Martin)

Traveling is a broadening experience no matter your age, but thanks to the vision of a San Diego woman, teenagers are getting a chance to see their world.

Michelle Martin is the co-founder of Karuna International, an organization with the goal of increasing global awareness among young adults by promoting and supporting international volunteerism and providing education about international development issues.

The organization has been around since 2003, but was first inspired when Michelle was 19-years-old and visited Poland as a volunteer.  “It was a very cross-cultural experience, working with kids who only spoke Polish, and alongside volunteers from all around the world, such as Italy, Japan, Czech Republic, Canada and of course, Poland,” she said. “It changed my life and sparked an interest to continue volunteering abroad.”

When Michelle finished college, she considered joining several different agencies and nonprofits that offered global volunteer programs, but found that many of them had drawbacks.  The problem was the program fee, which was typically $2,000 to $3,000 for a two- to three-week placement. “It was very expensive and not very realistic for a young college grad,” Michelle said. So rather than save money to go on her next trip, Michelle started Karuna International to offer scholarships to other young adults to have a life-changing experience of their own. “The students we are able to provide scholarships for are all around 15, 16 years of age and each have had that life-changing experience at a crucial point in their lives when they are trying to determine their role in our world.”

Michelle says the programs and trips are designed to give participating teens a sense of purpose and empowerment so they know they can be active agents of social change. “Many of the teens we work with are low-income minorities and have always been told that they are the ones who are at-risk and disadvantaged,” she said. “Once they visit an even poorer part of the world and have the opportunity to experience severe poverty, they realize how many opportunities they have here and the potential they have to make a positive difference in the lives of the individuals they meet on their trip.”

That’s how it worked for Nataly Luque, who credits her Karuna experience to Brazil with changing her forever.  “I was not nearly the same person I am right now before I traveled to Brazil,” Luque said. “I was materialistic and trapped in a bubble where only my problems mattered…There are so many people that need our help, my help, and after going through this experience I was thankful to see how fortunate I really am and how my problems are not nearly as big as theirs.”

Source: www.gnn.com

A picture taken on November 2, 2010 shows the building from which a 18 month-old child fell from the 7th floor the day before, bouncing on the canopy of the "Le Vincennes" cafe and landing in the arms of a passing man. The toddler landed safely in the arms of a doctor who was warned by his son of the falling child. (MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/Getty Images)

A real miracle – An 18-month-old boy survived after falling seven floors and bouncing off a Paris cafe awning into the arms of a passer-by.

“My son saw a little boy on a balcony. He had gone right outside the railing… I said to myself I mustn’t miss him,” the toddler’s savior, local doctor Philippe Bensignor, told reporters, recounting the drama.  “I had time to move from side to side to get in the right position,” he added. “The little boy was fine. He cried a little bit but calmed down straightaway.”

An official involved in investigating the incident said the boy had been left alone in the family apartment in northern Paris with his sister by their parents, who were taken into custody afterwards.

“It’s a real miracle,” said the cafe’s barman, pointing to a small tear in the awning where the toddler bounced off.  “We were closed yesterday but the mechanical device for closing the awning wasn’t working…”

Source: www.news.yahoo.com

Scientists searching the Amazon have discovered new species – creatures such as a baldheaded parrot, a blue-fanged tarantula and a bright red catfish, at the rate of about one every three days for the past 10 years, reports the World Wildlife Fund.

“What we say now, and we’re very conservative, is one in 10 known species is found in the Amazon,” said Meg Symington, a tropical ecologist and the fund’s managing director for the Amazon. “We think when all the counting is done, the Amazon could account for up to 30 percent of the species on Earth.”

The great diversity of life in the Amazon includes species and habitats that have direct benefits for people worldwide, Symington said. Compounds found on the skin of the poison dart frog, for example, turned out to be important for anesthesia and other medical products.

The Amazon rainforests also have an impact on the regional and global climate. Some climate models show that the Amazon influences rainfall in the U.S. Midwest.

The World Wildlife Fund reviewed scientific literature and counted more than 1,200 new species, including 637 plants, 257 fish, 216 amphibians, 55 reptiles, 16 birds and 39 mammals, that were discovered in the Amazon from 1999 to 2009. The full count would be much higher, because the report didn’t include the vast majority of newly found invertebrates.

The World Wildlife Fund reported that at least 17 percent of the Amazon rainforest has been destroyed in the last 50 years. The fund has a program in Brazil and the seven other countries of the Amazon Basin to protect the rainforest from agriculture, ranching and roads while promoting sustainable economic development.

Source: www.mcclatchydc.com

James Doty, left, director and founder of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, and the Dalai Lama at the morning lecture at Maples Pavilion.

The Dalai Lama recently spoke to about 6,300 people on “The Centrality of Compassion in Human Life and Society” at Standford University.  He repeatedly stressed a secular approach to compassion that reaches beyond individual creeds and beliefs. He spoke of the need for mutual respect and friendship, the care and education of children, and ongoing dialogue for conflict resolution.

Evident throughout was his fascination with science, the neurology of the mind and brain, the interest in the intricate distinctions between mind and body that led him to be a founding benefactor for the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford.

The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is an old friend at Stanford: This event marks his third visit in recent years, with the promise of more to come. His talk was peppered with personal anecdotes, and although he spoke in a broken, heavily accented English, occasionally consulting his translator, his infectious chuckle quickly had the audience eating out of his hand.

He chose to focus on what unifies us: Beyond race, ethnicity, nationality and religion, “We all have the desire to achieve a happy life, and everyone has the right to achieve a happy life,” he said.  “We are 100 percent the same on this level,” he said. “We human beings are created as social animals. Any social animal in order to survive depends on community,” he said.

In answer to complicated situations of deceit and injustice, he emphasized taking a holistic view – “compassion, combined with wisdom, always helps a broader perspective…Affection begins in the home, he said, and particularly from mothers – but this biologically rooted compassion will not extend far beyond the family unless extended by reasoning and unless the understanding our own well-being is linked to the love of others.”

During a question-and-answer session, about the poor – why one is unable to bridge the “compassion gap” from feeling sympathy to acting with compassion – “You should be realistic: If you can do something on the spot, do it.”

In a valedictory note, he turned the future over to the students gathered to hear him. “This century, whenever we face problems, we have to find ways through dialogue,” he said. The 200 million people murdered in the last century, he said, underscore the need for non-violence, mutual respect and compassion.  “You belong to the 21st century,” he said. “My people belong to the 20th century. We’re ready to say goodbye.”

Stanford neurosurgeon James Doty, the director of CCARE, told the Maples Pavilion gathering: “Often when we see immeasurable suffering, we feel overwhelmed. But every one of us has the capacity to make one person suffer less every day. Every day go forth and do what you can do.”

Source: www.myscience.us

The food is being made available under the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program, which supports education, child development and food security in low-income, food-deficit countries that are committed to universal education.

“The food provided through the McGovern-Dole program is an important part of our efforts to alleviate child hunger around the world,” Vilsack said. “The feeding programs in Haiti and Afghanistan receiving this food will lay the groundwork for future success long after funding ends.”

The program provides donations of U.S. agricultural products as well as financial and technical assistance for school feeding and maternal and child nutrition projects. Currently, the United States funds 32 active agreements with 15 sponsors in 28 countries, assisting more than 5 million beneficiaries. To date, the McGovern-Dole Program has provided meals to more than 22 million children.

The program is named in honor of former Senator George McGovern and former Senator Robert Dole for their efforts to encourage a global commitment to school feeding and child nutrition. In October of 2008, the men were recognized with the World Food Prize for their leadership in forging the link between the productivity of American farmers and the needs of hungry children around the world.

Additional information about the McGovern-Dole Program is available on the U.S. Agriculture Department’s website.

Source: www.america.gov

The title of homecoming queen is typically reserved for the head cheerleader or student class president, but not so at one Texas high school where this year’s queen saw hundreds of onlookers moved to tears as she was crowned.

“There wasn’t a dry eye to be seen,” said Carolyn Pass, the mother of newly crowned queen Kristin Pass, who was born with Down syndrome 18 years ago.  Kristin was thrilled to receive the crown.  “I was surprised and happy,” she said.  The crowd at the Aledo High School football stadium erupted into cheers and gave her a standing ovation during halftime. “Her smile was probably as big as the state of Texas,” said Hust of her niece’s reaction to her prize. “She kept mouthing ‘thank you’ from the stage.

Down syndrome affects one in every 733 babies born each year, according to the National Down Syndrome Society, and occurs when a person has three, not two, copies of the 21st chromosome.   And while some may assume Pass’ condition might alienate her from her peers, the teen’s family and friends say that she’s always had a lot of friends. “I don’t think there is another human in this world who has as many friends as Kristin does,” said Chari Hust, Kristin’s aunt. “She’s a great kid.”

“Everyone in the stands burst into tears – I’ve never heard anything so loud in my life,” Hust said. “Everyone was on their feet yelling, ‘Yeah, Kristin!’ louder than they had been cheering during the game…There was no campaign to make sure that Kristin won — this naturally happened,” Hust said. “She is the coolest kid in the whole wide world.”

On top of battling the hardships of living with Down syndrome, Kristin’s father died suddenly two years ago. Her father’s absence meant tweaking the high school’s tradition of having the homecoming queen candidates escorted to the event by their fathers.  For Kristin, it was her grandfather, David Campbell, who led her onstage to be crowned.  “It was very emotional,” said Campbell, who also drove the red convertible Kristin rode in during the homecoming parade. “You can’t measure how proud I was. Every fiber in my body was happy for her.  “She didn’t say much (when she was crowned), she was too busy smiling,” he said. “I gave her a kiss on the cheek and a hug and she was kind-of letting it soak in. It got real when we got to the sidelines. All her friends came over and she was giving high-fives to everyone.”

Source: www. abcnews.go.com

The T-130 drill operators, Jeff Hart, left, and Matt Staffel, right, both from Denver, Colorado, embrace Elizabeth Segovia, sister of trapped miner Dario Segovia Rojo at the San Jose mine near Copiapo, Chile Saturday, Oct. 9, 2010. A drilling rig punched through to the underground site where the 33 miners have been trapped for 66 days under the Chilean desert, raising cheers, tears and hopes. (AP Photo/Roberto Candia)

Jeff Hart was drilling water wells for the U.S. Army’s forward operating bases in Afghanistan when he got the call to fly to Chile.  He spent the next 33 days on his feet, operating the drill that finally provided a way out Saturday for 33 trapped miners.

“You have to feel through your feet what the drill is doing; it’s a vibration you get so that you know what’s happening,” explained Hart, a contractor from Denver, Colorado.  A muscular, taciturn man with callused hands and a sunburned face, Hart normally pounds rock for oil or water.  He’s used to extreme conditions while he works the hydraulic levers that guide the drills’ hammers.  But this was something different – 33 lives were depending on him.

“I was nervous today,” said Hart, 40.  He joked that he thought it was his heart stopping when he felt an unexplained “pop” just before the drill broke through into a chamber far underground. “I didn’t want anything to go wrong.  Within hours after the gold and copper mine collapsed August 5^th, Chile’s government realized the mine’s owners were ill-equipped to handle the rescue and asked the state-owned Codelco mining company to take the lead.

Codelco turned to Geotec Boyles Bros., a U.S.-Chilean company, to handle the “Plan B” escape shaft, one of three simultaneous drilling efforts that raced to reach the miners.  Geotec operations manager James Stefanic said he quickly assembled “a top of the line team” of drillers.  Hart was called in from Afghanistan, “simply because he’s the best,” Stefanic said.

Standing before the levers, pressure meters and gauges on the T130′s control panel, Hart and the rest of the team faced many challenges in drilling the shaft. At one point, the drill struck a metal support beam in the poorly mapped mine, shattering its hammers. Fresh equipment had to be flown in from the United States and progress was delayed for days as powerful magnets were lowered to pull out the pieces.

Fisher, Stefanic and Hart called it the most difficult hole they had ever drilled, because of the lives at stake.  “If you’re drilling for oil and you lose the hole, it’s different. This time there’s people down below,” Stefanic said.  “We got the job done,” Hart said simply.  “I’m very happy now.”

Source: The Associated Press

The California man who helped rescue an 8-year-old girl abducted outside her Fresno home says he is grateful he was able to intervene, but doesn’t feel he did anything out of the ordinary.  “I thank God that he put me here to help out that little girl, that’s for sure,” said Victor Perez, the man police are now hailing as a “good Samaritan” and a “hero.”

The girl was abducted in front of her Fresno home Monday night.  A statewide Amber Alert was issued after the abduction.  Perez, a 29-year-old local grape picker and father of two who had decided not to go to work because of inclement weather, had heard the Amber Alert and spotted a suspect vehicle around 7 a.m. on Tuesday.

When driving that day, Perez saw the truck from the Amber Alert, followed him and cut him off of the road.  “I thought, that could be the truck,” Perez said.  Perez did not initially see the girl inside the vehicle, but decided to pursue it and eventually saw the child stick her head up. “I kept telling him, ‘That’s not your little girl!’ ” Perez said. “We argued. We exchanged words.” Perez said it took him several attempts to cut off the suspect vehicle, but when he finally managed to block it, the suspect pushed the child out of the vehicle.

“When she was dropped off, I just stayed with her, and the guy took off.”  The girl was taken to Community Regional Medical Center, where she was treated and reunited with her mother. Less than an hour after the rescue, the California Highway Patrol arrested the perpetrator.

Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer told “The Early Show” that Perez is a hero whose intervention probably saved the girl’s life.  Perez, however, is modest about his involvement in the ordeal and thanks a higher power for placing him in the right place at the right time.  “I just felt like I was doing my part…I just felt like everybody should step up in their own communities and when something like this happens, come together and try to do your part to help out,” Perez said. “And, you know, I just thank that God I was put in the right situation to do what I did. Thank the man above for that.”

Source: www.gnn.com

Earth as seen from Voyager 1 while on the edge of our solar system (approximately 3,762,136,324 miles from home).

Carl Sagan’s words are worth remembering:

“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every ‘superstar,’ every ‘supreme leader,’ every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”

Boxing clubs in inner-cities have produced champions like Riddick Bowe of Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, and Hasim Rahman of Baltimore. One boxing coach in Rochester, N.Y., though, is looking to produce more than just boxing champions. He uses the sport of boxing to build self-esteem for some of the hardest to reach young people, believing that “self-confident children will be successful.”

Phil Greene, a construction worker in Rochester, came up with the idea of using boxing as a vehicle to keep kids off the street 10 years ago, and he’s been volunteering his time ever since. He uses money he earns from working construction, along with grants, and volunteer workers to keep the boxing club afloat. Coaches like Charles Murray, former IBF World Champion and Robert Johnson, 72, train the children on their own time, from their own hearts.

“This is all from the heart from the whole staff,” says Greene, founder of Future Boxing. “This program is not just about boxing, it’s about strengthening the body, strengthening the mind. That goes together. When you’ve got a strong body, you’ve got a strong mind.”

But more than just building future boxers, he is building disciplined and well-rounded individuals. One of his former boxers recently became a fireman, another a police officer:  “We build a lot of self-confidence. Matt Brown was a chubby kid. His mother brought him in, he played video games and couldn’t even do one push-up,” remembers Green. “We had all of the kids cheering him on. In one month, he was doing 15 push-ups, just because of the kids pushing him on.

Green says every ethnicity and socioeconomic group comes through the gym. “White, black, Chinese, Spanish – kids from suburbs, kids from cities, all come in there. They are able to interact with different kids, different lifestyles.”

Kids from the program travel all over the United States. Two of Green’s fighters, Randall Williams and Levias Williams (ranked No. 1 in the country for the past 3 years) represented the United States in Russia last year. “Underprivileged kids see cities they will never see in their life,” says Greene, who thinks some of his fighters this year will be good enough to make the Olympics.

Source: www.bvonsports.com

For all the problems in the world, there are many inspirational people who dedicate their lives to finding solutions and improving life for people all over the planet. Whether it’s fighting against human trafficking or providing free health care for people who can’t afford it, CNN profiles many of these people with their CNN Heroes series. CNN announced the Top Ten Heroes of 2010, a group that will be introduced in a CNN Heroes special on Thanksgiving. During the “CNN Heroes: All Start Tribute,” one of these 10 people will also be announced as the CNN Hero of the Year. The hero of the year will be voted on by any willing voter at home. You can learn more about the CNN Heroes and vote for your favorite on the CNN Heroes site and learn how to support their causes as well (http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cnn.heroes/).  Here’s a quick preview:

Susan Burton spent much of her life facing addiction and incarceration, but after battling the issues in her own life, she’s worked to provide sober housing to more than 400 incarcerated women in California.

Linda Fondren has united her Mississippi community with a weight loss challenge and free weight loss and nutrition classes. Residents have lost nearly 15,000 combined pounds to date.

Dan Wallrath and his Operation Finally Home team have built nine homes, and are constructing many more, for injured Afghanistan and Iraq veterans – mortgage free.

Aki Ra was a child soldier in Cambodia. Today he is working to clear land mines in the country, many of which he planted himself when he was young. So far, his organization has cleared more than 50,000 land mines and unexploded weapons.

Harmon Parker has built more than 45 footbridges in Kenya. The bridges are over dangerous rivers and protect locals from flash floods and predatory animals, as well as connecting isolated residents to new resources.

Anuradha Koirala and her organization, Maiti Nepal, have helped rescue and rehabilitate more than 12,000 victims of sex trafficking and sexual exploitation in Nepal.

Evans Wadongo brought solar power to Kenya. His assistance allows them to replace kerosene and fire with solar lanterns. So far he’s distributed more than 10,000 of these lanterns.

Narayanan Krishnan has brought more than 1.2 million meals to the homeless in India with his nonprofit Akshaya Trust.

Guadalupe Arizpe De La Vega found a hospital that cares for people in Jaurez, Mexico, whether they can pay or not. At this time, they serve about 900 people a day even amidst increasing violence in the area.

Magnus McFarlane-Barrow runs the program Mary’s Meals, which provides free daily meals to more than 400,000 children around the world, all from a shed in the Scottish Highlands.

Source: www.globalshift.org

The oldest man in the world has celebrated his 114th birthday with a slice of cake and few pearls of wisdom.  Walter Breuning gave a short speech telling the guests at a small gathering what they all wanted to know – the secret of living a long life.

Hard work, according to Mr. Breuning, is the key to living a long time.  The pensioner held down a management job until he was 99, meaning he has spent longer working than some people have lived their whole lives.  He also tells those younger than him to be kind to others. ‘When you help someone else, you’re actually helping yourself even more,’ he said.

Mr. Breuning was born on September 21, 1896 in the rural town of Melrose in Minnesota.  He moved to Great Falls, Montana in 1918, where he has stayed ever since.  He worked for more than 50 years for the Great Northern Railway, saw some 20 U.S. Presidents come and go, lived in three centuries and survived two World Wars.  Few who have met Mr. Breuning would call him an ordinary centenarian, if that is ever possible, and consider him as remarkable for his attitude as his achievement.

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

If you have never visited the widely celebrated TED website, let me elaborate on what it is before you continue reading this good news story.  TED began in 1984 as a conference convening top thinkers from the design, technology and entertainment sectors. Today, the nonprofit is devoted to broadly defined “Ideas Worth Spreading.”  You can attend the organization’s events around the world and watch the speakers elaborate on their discoveries in person, or, you can watch these advanced thinkers right from your own home on their website (http://www.ted.com/).  This year’s lineup has included director James Cameron, celebrity chef and food revolutionary Jamie Oliver, singer Natalie Merchant, behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman and Adora, a young literary prodigy.  Adora’s love of writing led her not only to pen more than 250,000 words at age 7, but also to take up the cause of literacy. TED invited the Washington-Stater to speak in February. She delivered “What Adults Can Learn from Kids.”

Now, child prodigies of various stripes take to the podiums at the kid-organized, kid-attended TEDx Redmond, held on Microsoft’s campus in Washington.  The inspirational organizer Adora Svitak, 12, isn’t speaking at TEDx Redmond, though her experience delivering her TED talk inspired her to organize the event.  What kids can learn from kids seemed a natural next step. The TEDx format allows independent organizers to host their own TED-inspired conferences.  “When I spoke at TED, I realized that conference stages, even those of very innovative ones like TED, rarely play host to youth,” Adora told AOL News. “Yet, I knew that we had a lot to share.   ”By taking what everyone loves about TED – the spirit of discussion, sharing and innovation, and starting TEDx Redmond, I wanted to make a change from our typically adult-centric world and give kids a chance to speak and share their opinions, expressions, voices and, ultimately, their ‘ideas worth spreading.’”

Adora scoured the Internet and queried acquaintances to come up with today’s TEDx roster, which not only features Perry and AOL artist Oliva Bouler, but also a young entrepreneur, an anti-bullying crusader, a race car drive and a tribal interpreter, Cayle Diefenbach.  Cayle, 16, is a rodeo rider, wrestler, middle school student and amateur Native American historian.  He’s translated young people’s books from English into native tongues and works with the Colville (Washington) Tribal History and Archaeology Program to reclaim tribal artifacts, making sure they are identified and preserved for future generations. Cayle’s passion for his own culture inspired his upcoming talk.  “I will be talking about the importance of culture and how it influences daily life,” he told AOL News. “I think that kids at the conference will be able to bring closer a sense of identity by learning to accept and embrace their heritage.”

Movie reviewer Perry Chen found summer fantasy flick “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” entertaining, though weighted down by extraneous special effects. ‘’The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ is about love, friendship, adventure, and the risks and rewards of magical power,” Chen wrote in his column for the San Diego Entertainer. “It has fantasy, visually stunning actions, romance and great humor.” Final verdict: four starfish. This award-winning reviewer adopted a five-starfish system because he believed it would be more appealing to viewers like himself, a 10-year-old kid.  Chen will speak along with the other 12 child prodigies.  He is the youngest speaker on tap and will encourage his audience to reach for their potential now.  “In my talk I will say you can achieve your dream if you work hard enough,” he told AOL News. “All of the speakers are older than I am. That’s why I’m telling everybody that you’re never too young to start. Every child has something special and unique.”

Jessica Markowitz, 15, (former good news spotlight – http://choicenews.wordpress.com/2010/03/02/jessica-markowitz-helps-heal-the-world/) has embraced a group of girls from a culture very different from her own.  The high school freshman and her family hosted Rwandan Richard Kananga in 2006. He told her horrifying tales of the 1994 civil war and the many children orphaned by genocide. “I was so saddened by his stories that I asked Richard what I can do to help,” Markowitz told AOL News.  He suggested she reach out to girls living in rural Rwanda. She recruited school friends, who operate under the name Richard’s Rwanda. “For four years, we have been fundraising for school fees, school supplies, shoes and lunch. We have held bake sales, car washes, selling apparel, and special events to raise money.  “We have additionally applied for several grants. We continuously send letters and art supplies to the girls in Nyamata. We want to make sure we maintain a strong friendship even if they live across the world.”  Jessica, who hopes to join the Peace Corps after college, will speak about “the power of one” this weekend.  “I believe youth can positively impact and contribute so much to make the world a better place,” she said. “Once you find your passion, go for it!”

To read more on each child TEDx speaker and their empowering inspirations, visit: http://tedxredmond.com/speakers/

(Source: gnn.com)

Nine-year-old Logan Hearn learned CPR and used it to save his little brother, Brendan on Thursday after his mother found him floating in the family pool.

Logan Hearn, 9, performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on his 2-year-old brother after the toddler fell into a pool and was found unconscious by his family.

Brendan Hearn had sneaked outside his family’s Joliet home and had fallen in the backyard pool. His mother noticed that he was not in the house, and found him less than two minutes later.  “I just had a sick feeling that he was in the pool. My first thought was to look in the pool,” said Tabitha Hearn, the boys’ mother. “I looked there, and I saw him, floating, face down, blue, unresponsive.”

Tabitha panicked, but was able to get Brendan out of the water. She placed him right beside the pool, and called 911.  Logan had been trained in CPR, she said.  As Brendan lay unresponsive, Logan approached his mother and said he would take over.  “I just said, ‘Move,’” Logan said.  His efforts worked.  Brendan was resuscitated and is doing well.

Source: www.goodnewsdaily.com

It took 64 years, but the story of how a middle-class family in Coulee Dam made sure that life was just a bit more bearable in post World War II Germany for a war widow and her young daughter finally has come to a close.

A now-67-year-old German woman finally got to thank an 88-year-old American woman in person, after all these years.  Every four or five weeks starting in 1946, packages stuffed with clothing and food would arrive in the town of Syke in northern Germany, in what was known as the British Zone.  It was like Christmas for the war widow and the young daughter, now 67, whose married name is Barbara Mathes.  Now, after all those years, Mathes wanted to find someone from that American family, the Benjamins, and thank them personally.

It turned out the last remaining member of the Benjamins is Lois Lobdell, the 88-year-old.  Mathes was 4 when those first packages arrived in postwar Germany.  The packages kept arriving until the mid-1950s, more than 70 boxes in all. By then, the 4-year-old had become a teenager.

After the war, Germany was shattered economically. There was a barter economy. Kids would pick up coal that had dropped off trains, and their parents would trade that coal for food from farmers.  Americans responded to the plight of their former enemy in that typical American manner: They sent help. Movie stars from Bob Hope to Ingrid Bergman to Ronald Reagan posed alongside CARE boxes.

Among some of the prizes to be found in the boxes sent to Erna Wagner and her daughter were clothing, shoes, tins of meat, coffee, Burpee vegetable seeds for planting their own garden, and the ever-prized Cadbury chocolate bars.

The packages were sent by the family of an engineer working on the construction of Grand Coulee Dam – Chester Benjamin. He and his wife, Marie, lived in what was known as “Engineer’s Town.”  When the Coulee Dam Community Church asked its members to help with the CARE packages, the Benjamins signed up.

“Hitler and the government was the enemy. My dad considered the people the victims,” said Lobdell.  Many families simply gave money to CARE, which then bought the package contents. The Benjamins bought the items themselves.  But Chester Benjamin also did something else: He wanted to establish a personal connection with the German family. He even took it upon himself to learn German.  Over the years, a sizable stack of photos, letters and postcards accumulated on both sides.

In those years, Mathes and her mother were living with her grandparents in Syke. Mathes’ father was in the German army and had been killed in the Battle of Leningrad. He died never knowing his baby daughter had been born.

Back then, before Bubble Wrap, Lobdell remembered, dry popcorn, “not buttered,” was used as packing material for items like the chocolates, homemade cookies and anything else that was breakable.  “My mother would put the chocolate in the cupboard, and I got one piece a day,” said Mathes.

From Germany, Erna Wagner wrote the Benjamins, thanking them for what in America were everyday items, “We’re always very proud if someone comes to see us, and we offer him a cup of tea, and cookies.”  The mother put to use the Burpee vegetable seeds the Benjamins sent.  “I am digging in the garden to prepare it for the winter. It is hard work but I enjoy it. I like to work outside. I hope you also have a good harvest in your garden,” she wrote.

From America, Benjamin would send a postcard with an arrow showing housing by Grand Coulee Dam. “Onkel Ben wohnt hier,” he wrote, for, “Uncle Ben lives here.” …”Yesterday, I sent package No. 59. There are four pairs of long stockings and three pairs of short stockings, and also three pieces of fine soap. I love you. Good-bye, Uncle Ben.”

From Germany, Mathes sometimes made drawings to send the Benjamins – of a Christmas tree, of a vase with flowers.  The Benjamins got photos of Mathes in pigtails, playing an accordion, or posing with a neighborhood dog.

Mathes, who had taught German and French in public schools, and her husband, Nikolaus, a patent attorney, decided to make a trip to America. Planning their U.S. trip, the couple looked at a map of this country, and there it was, Grand Coulee Dam.  Google searches didn’t help much in locating what had happened to the Benjamins. But with the help of a weekly newspaper serving the Grand Coulee Dam area, which ran an article asking if anybody remembered the Benjamins, Lois Lobdell was located in Portland.

Lobdell e-mailed Mathes, “Just today I learned that you were alive and going to be in the United States. I have thought of you many times and this is like a dream come true.”  The two women met and it really was like old friends seeing each other again.  In this Internet age, they plan to stay in touch.  Lobdell signs off her e-mails to Mathes, “Much love.”  Mathes responds, “With love and many hugs.”

Source: seattletimes.nwsource.com

In this photo provided by SICS (Scuola Italiana Cani Salvataggio-Italian School of Canine Lifeguards), Mas the dog, jumps from a helicopter.

In the United States, lifeguards are required to save swimmers who are in need of help, but in Italy, our four-legged friends are putting their best paw forward as well.

According to the Associated Press, “lifedogs” have become a vital component to saving swimmers on the many beaches located in the boot-shaped country. The pups are relied on because of their ability to jump easily from helicopters and into the water.

“The dog becomes a sort of intelligent lifebuoy. It is a buoy that goes by itself to a person in need of help, and comes back to the shore also by himself, choosing the best landing point and swimming through the safest currents,” Roberto Gasbarri, who coordinates the Italian School of Canine Lifeguards, told the news source.

Gasbarri said he will train any breed, as long as they weigh more than 66 pounds. However, Labrador retrievers, Golden retrievers and Newfoundlands are the pups most commonly sought, because of their swimming instincts.

Source: www.theanimalrescuesite.com

“Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling has donated $15.4 million to set up a new clinic to carry out research into multiple sclerosis, the disease which killed her mother.  The clinic, based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, will be named after Rowling’s mother Anne and the author said she hoped it would become a world center for excellence into neurological conditions.

“I have just turned 45, the age at which my mother, Anne, died of complications related to her MS,” Rowling said in a statement on Tuesday.  “I know that she would rather have had her name on this clinic than on any statue, flower garden or commemorative plaque, so this donation is on her behalf, too; and in gratitude for everything she gave me in her far-too-short life.”

“This exceptionally generous donation will provide great help in the worldwide effort to improve treatments for multiple sclerosis,” said Professor Timothy O’Shea, Principal of the University of Edinburgh.  The Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic follows the setting up of the Center for Multiple Sclerosis Research at Rowling’s home town of Edinburgh which she also supported.

The new center will also look into other degenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and Huntingdon’s disease, which like MS are progressive and incurable.  “I cannot think of anything more important, or of more lasting value, than to help the university attract world-class minds in the field on neuroregeneration, to build on its long and illustrious history of medical research and, ultimately, to seek a cure for a very Scottish disease,” Rowling said.

Source: www.gnn.com

1. Eggs – Egg yolks are home to tons of essential but hard-to-get nutrients, including choline, which is linked to lower rates of breast cancer (one yolk supplies 25% of your daily need) and antioxidants that may help prevent macular degeneration and cataracts.

2. Greek Yogurt – Yogurt is a great way to get calcium, and it’s also rich in immune-boosting bacteria. But next time you hit the yogurt aisle, pick up the Greek kind, compared with regular yogurt, it has twice the protein.

3. Fat-Free Milk – Yes, it does a body good: Studies show that calcium isn’t just a bone booster but a fat fighter too. Vitamin D not only allows your body to absorb calcium, it’s also a super nutrient in its own right. Recent research found that adequate D levels can reduce heart disease risk, ward off certain types of cancer, relieve back pain, and even help prevent depression.

4. Salmon – Salmon is a rich source of vitamin D and one of the best sources of omega-3s you can find. These essential fatty acids have a wide range of impressive health benefits – from preventing heart disease to smoothing your skin and aiding weight loss to boosting your mood and minimizing the effects of arthritis.

5. Lean Beef – Lean beef is one of the best-absorbed sources of iron there is. Adding as little as 1 ounce of beef per day can make a big difference in the body’s ability to absorb iron from other sources.  Beef also packs plenty of zinc and B vitamins, which help your body turn food into energy.   If you can, splurge on grass-fed. Compared with grain-fed beef, it has twice the concentration of vitamin E, a powerful brain-boosting antioxidant. It’s also high in omega-3 fatty acids.

6. Beans – It’s hard to imagine a more perfect food than beans. One cooked cupful can provide as much as 17 g fiber. They’re also loaded with protein and dozens of key nutrients, including a few most women fall short on – calcium, potassium, and magnesium. Studies tie beans to a reduced risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and breast and colon cancers.

7. Nuts – In a nutshell: USDA researchers say that eating 1½ ounces of tree nuts daily can reduce your risk of heart disease and diabetes. Walnuts are rich in omega-3s. Hazelnuts contain arginine, an amino acid that may lower blood pressure. An ounce of almonds has as many heart-healthy polyphenols as a cup of green tea and 1/2 cup of steamed broccoli combined; they may help lower LDL cholesterol as well.

8. Edamame and Tofu – Soy contains heart-healthy polyunsaturated fats, a good amount of fiber, and some important vitamins. Soy’s isoflavones, or plant estrogens, may also help prevent breast cancer. Some researchers believe these bind with estrogen receptors, reducing your exposure to the more powerful effects of your own estrogen. Don’t take soy supplements, which contain high and possibly dangerous amounts of isoflavones.

9. Oatmeal – Fiber-rich oats are even healthier than the FDA thought when it first stamped them with a heart disease–reducing seal 10 years ago. According to new research, they can also cut your risk of type 2 diabetes. When Finnish researchers tracked 4,316 men and women over the course of 10 years, they found that people who ate the highest percentage of cereal fiber were 61% less likely to develop type 2 diabetes.

10. Flaxseed – Flaxseed is the most potent plant source of omega-3 fats. Studies indicate that adding flaxseed to your diet can reduce the development of heart disease by 46%—it helps keep red blood cells from clumping together and forming clots that can block arteries. It may also reduce breast cancer odds. In one study, women who ate 10 g of flaxseed (about 1 rounded tablespoon) every day for 2 months had a 25% improvement in the ratio of breast cancer–protective to breast cancer–promoting chemicals in their blood.

11. Olive Oil – Olive oil is full of heart-healthy monounsaturated fats (MUFAs), which lower “bad” LDL cholesterol and raise “good” HDL cholesterol. It’s rich in antioxidants, which may help reduce the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases, like Alzheimer’s.

12. Avocado – These smooth, buttery fruits are a great source of not only MUFAs but other key nutrients as well. One Ohio State University study found that when avocado was added to salads and salsa, it helped increase the absorption of specific carotenoids, plant compounds linked to lower risk of heart disease and macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness. “Avocados are packed with heart-protective compounds, such as soluble fiber, vitamin E, folate, and potassium.

13. Broccoli – Pick any life-threatening disease—cancer, heart disease, you name it—and eating more broccoli and its cruciferous cousins may help you beat it, Johns Hopkins research suggests. Averaging just four weekly servings of veggies like broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower slashed the risk of dying from any disease by 26% among 6,100 people studied for 28 years.

14. Spinach – For one thing, it contains lots of lutein, the sunshine-yellow pigment found in egg yolks. Aside from guarding against age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness, lutein may prevent heart attacks by keeping artery walls clear of cholesterol.  Spinach is also rich in iron, which helps deliver oxygen to your cells for energy, and folate, a B vitamin that prevents birth defects.

15. Tomatoes – Tomatoes are our most common source of lycopene, an antioxidant that may protect against heart disease and breast cancer.

16. Sweet Potatoes – One of the best ways to get vitamin A—an essential nutrient that protects and maintains eyes, skin, and the linings of our respiratory, urinary, and intestinal tracts—is from foods containing beta-carotene, which your body converts into the vitamin. Beta carotene–rich foods include carrots, squash, kale, and cantaloupe, but sweet potatoes have among the most.

17. Garlic – The onion relative contains more than 70 active phytochemicals, including allicin, which studies show may decrease high blood pressure by as much as 30 points. High consumption of garlic lowered rates of ovarian, colorectal, and other cancers, according to a research review in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Allicin also fights infection and bacteria. British researchers gave 146 people either a placebo or a garlic extract for 12 weeks; garlic takers were two-thirds less likely to catch a cold.

18. Red Peppers – Citrus fruits get all the credit for vitamin C, but red peppers are actually the best source. Vitamin C may be best known for skin and immunity benefits. Vitamin C has other important credentials too. Finnish researchers found that men with low levels were 2.4 times likelier to have a stroke, and Australian scientists recently discovered that the antioxidant reduces knee pain by protecting your knees against arthritis.

19. Figs – When you think of potassium-rich produce, figs probably don’t come to mind, but you may be surprised to learn that six fresh figs have 891 mg of the blood pressure-lowering mineral, nearly 20% of your daily need—and about double what you’d find in one large banana. In a recent 5-year study from the Netherlands, high-potassium diets were linked with lower rates of death from all causes in healthy adults age 55 and older. Figs are one of the best fruit sources of calcium, with nearly as much per serving (six figs) as 1/2 cup of fat-free milk.

20. Blueberries – Blueberries may very well be the most potent age-defying food—they’re jam-packed with antioxidants. Research shows a diet rich in blueberries can help with memory loss, prevent urinary tract infections, and relieve eyestrain.

21. Asian Pears – One large Asian pear has a whopping 10 g of cholesterol-lowering fiber, about 40% of your daily need.

22. Lychee – A French study published in the Journal of Nutrition found that lychee has the second-highest level of heart-healthy polyphenols of all fruits tested—nearly 15% more than the amount found in grapes (cited by many as polyphenol powerhouses). The compounds may also play an important role in the prevention of degenerative diseases such as cancer.

23. Apples – One of the healthiest fruits you should be eating is one you probably already are: the apple. The Iowa Women’s Health Study named apples as one of only three foods (along with pears and red wine) that are most effective at reducing the risk of death from heart disease among postmenopausal women. Other massive studies have found the fruit to lower risk of lung cancer and type 2 diabetes.

24. Guava – Native to South America, this tropical fruit is an excellent source of skin-healing vitamin C, with 250% of your RDA per serving. One cup of guava has nearly 5 times as much C as a medium orange (377 mg versus 83 mg)—that’s more than 5 times your daily need. It’s also loaded with lycopene (26% more than a tomato), which may help lower your risk of heart disease. And according to research by microbiologists in Bangladesh, guava can even protect against foodborne pathogens such as Listeria and staph.

25. Dark Chocolate – Thank you, dark chocolate, for making us feel good—not guilty—about dessert. Dark chocolate is filled with flavonoid antioxidants (more than 3 times the amount in milk chocolate) that keep blood platelets from sticking together and may even unclog your arteries.

Source: www.prevention.com

Darryl (DMC) McDaniels helps hundreds of foster kids cope with family situations and make special bonds with others at Camp Felix.

Run-D.M.C. member and Hip Hop pioneer Darryl “D.M.C.” McDaniels first found out that he was adopted in his mid-thirties. The experience led him to later co-found Camp Felix, an upstate New York camp that helps form bonds among young foster children. D.M.C. recalled the moment in which he first found out he was adopted.

“I was hurt, confused…it felt totally unreal,” he told NY Daily News. “At the time it meant that they are not my mom and pop.”  The Felix Organization donates $500 for each camper. Actor Mark Wahlberg also supported the camp, giving $100,000.

Last week, 171 foster children attended the camp and a few hundred more have had the opportunity to attend and share their experiences. In addition to sharing stories about their lives, the young campers are able to experience a close-knit unit that they may not have had before.  “We are a family,” D.M.C. said.

Most of the foster kids at the upstate camp weren’t even alive when its co-founder rose to fame as a rap pioneer.  They just know the Queens native as the guy who creates a safe place for them during the summer to talk about the difficulties they face in the child welfare system.

Hundreds of kids ages 8 to 14 have visited the camp, swapping stories of fear, abandonment and their struggles with identity. They form bonds that organizers hope will last a lifetime.  “These kids say, ‘I am just a foster kid. I have nothing going for me other than just being miserable,’” said McDaniels. “I tell them, ‘You are wrong. Your situation doesn’t define who you are.’”

McDaniels also won an Emmy for his 2004 documentary “DMC: My Adoption Journey,” which chronicled his emotional search through court records and other obstacles to finally meet his birth mother.  Two years later, McDaniels met “Sopranos” casting director Sheila Jaffee, who learned when she was 11 that she also was adopted. The two of them formed the Felix Organization, targeting kids in foster care. The nonprofit shells out $500 per camper each summer.

Source: www.nydailynews.com