This family’s black and white pit bull pup, Jules, is obsessed with anything new, especially babies—and she loves watching the new chicks just born on the farm.
“There’s a few words Jules knows, and babies is one of them,” said her dad, the farmer. “The first thing she does in the morning when she wakes up is she wants to be with them.”
WATCH what happens when Jules is finally let into the baby bird cage in the video above.
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Three of America’s iconic landmarks are leading the way toward eliminating landfill waste from all national parks.
As part of their centennial celebration, Yosemite, Grand Teton and Denali National Parks will be part of a pilot program with Subaru – the first automotive plant to recycle 99.99% of its waste.
RELATED: Subaru Factory Sends Nothing to the Dump for 3 Years
The National Parks Conservation Association said the three parks are already diverting 42% of their 16.6 million pounds of trash from landfills through recycling and composting. The plan is to study Subaru’s practices to further reduce the amount of waste generated by the parks, its concessioners and visitors.
Over the years, Subaru has shared its zero landfill techniques with hundreds of businesses, schools and organizations to help them reach their own zero landfill goals.
(READ more at NPCA) – Photo: toddwendy
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No amount of money could ever make up for 24 years of wrongfully imprisonment, but the financial support of hundreds of strangers can go a long way toward helping a man make a new start.
Jonathan Fleming was sentenced to 35 years in prison for a 1989 shooting in New York, one that happened while Fleming was actually more than a thousand miles away.
Fleming was on a family vacation at Disney World in Florida at the time, but he couldn’t prove it— until earlier this year, when lawyers found a phone receipt showing he was, in fact, in Florida at the time of the shooting.
When Fleming was released from prison in April, he only had $93 dollars to his name. That’s when Wall Street banker Alex Sutaru, a man he’d never met, stepped in and set up a crowdfunding site for the newly exonerated Fleming.
In a matter of months, 900 people from more than a dozen countries chipped in more nearly $50,000 to help Fleming pay his bills while he searched for a job.
Fleming had never before heard of crowdfunding and couldn’t believe strangers would donate money for him to rebuild his life.
“I was terrified, and I had no idea how i would be able to survive,” Fleming wrote in a thank you statement on the Indiegogo site. “And then, in a moment, I became one of the luckiest people alive.”
(READ more at the New York Daily News) – Photo: Indiegogo
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Today is the Dalai Lama’s 80th birthday, and he’s celebrating it with a three-day forum centered around compassion. His Holiness is using the three days to lecture on education, creativity and climate change.
The festivities kicked off Sunday in Anaheim, California, with a star-studded assembly that included Hollywood actors Sharon Stone and George Lopez as well as Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi of Iran.
The Tibetan word “lama” means guru, a fitting title for the man who has dedicated his life to teaching us how to be happy. In honor of his 80th birthday, we’re bringing you eight more reasons to love this guru of happiness.
In his acceptance speech in 1989, the Dalai Lama said, “No matter what part of the world we come from, we are all basically the same human beings. We all seek happiness and try to avoid suffering. We have the same basic human needs and is concerns. All of us human beings want freedom and the right to determine our own destiny as individuals and as peoples.”
The Dalai Lama has long had an interest in science. As a child he taught himself to fix broken machines, from cars to clocks and movie projectors. He spoke in September, 2010 about human neurology and the intricate distinctions between mind and body that led him to be a founding benefactor for Stanford’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research.
At the 2009 opening of the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values on the MIT campus, he urged professors to teach ethics and compassion without a basis in religious belief.
He told the audience gathered in Anaheim Sunday, the only thing he wanted for his 80th birthday was that people exercise compassion toward one another. This video from his lecture on compassion was posted to His Holiness’ Facebook page.
In just a few hours, His Holiness the Dalai Lama will turn 80 years old. He asks no gifts, only that we live #WithCompassion. Today, in front of tens of thousands of people, he shared why. We look forward to continuing the celebration tomorrow with University of California, Irvine, Center for Living Peace and Honda Center!
Posted by Friends of the Dalai Lama on Sunday, July 5, 2015
The Dalai Lama brought his message of peace and compassion — and his trademark humor — to Hawaii in April, 2012, celebrating the coming together of two native cultures. Similar to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the indigenous culture of Hawaii has its own inherent spirituality– and “Aloha” means more than hello.
The Dalai Lama actually co-wrote a best-selling book to explain how we, too can be happy. He says that “the very motion of our life is towards happiness.” The Art of Happiness shows us how to cope with day-to-day anxiety, insecurity, anger, and discouragement– and how to smile more often.
“Inner Peace”Speaking at the U.S. Capitol in July, 2011, the Dalai Lama suggested a roadmap to world peace that begins at an individual level, with each one finding inner peace by feeling compassion.
He broke his regular schedule, normally planned seven years in advance, and accepted an invitation from the Muslim community in April, 2006, to discuss how to mitigate religious extremism, to celebrate unity and denounce religious intolerance.
(READ more about his Forum at the LA Times) – Photos: Sun Star, Christopher.Michel, Luca Galuzzi, Jack Hubbard, via CC; and International Campaign for Tibet
A beloved character on the long-running PBS children’s show is leaving Sesame Street after 44 years.
Sonia Manzano has played ‘Maria’ on Sesame Street since 1971, and became the first Hispanic actress to be featured on a national TV show.
Since then, millions of young viewers have grown up watching her and pals Grover, Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird, and learning life lessons along the way. Here are some of our favorites:
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Hope Holland spotted a familiar picture online that showed two young brothers in a bathtub. It was a photo she, herself, had taken in 2000 — it was a picture of the son she had been missing terribly for 15 years.
The Campbell, California woman spent more than a decade looking for Jonathan, after his father fled with him to Mexico when he was only three.
True to her name, she never gave up hope that she’d see him again, but was shocked to find him suddenly on Facebook.
“Tears uncontrollably fell down my face, my hands were shaking, my body was shaking,” she wrote later on a GoFundMe page set up to take care of all of the expenses involved in bringing Jonathan back to the U.S.
“I scrolled through picture after picture, crying,” she said as she looked at his other photos from a life with him she’d missed out on. “It was like flashes of little movie trailers, giving me insight to pieces of his life.”
When Jonathan turned 18, he posted the photo hoping his mother or older brother, Jacob, might see it.
He was reunited with them last week, and Jonathan plans to move home to Campbell after he graduates from high school in Mexico next spring.
(WATCH the KGTV video below and READ more at TIME) – Photos: KNTV News
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For many of us, a trip to the market is all about satisfying the taste buds and satiating our bellies.
Yet, grocery stores are brimming with food items that are packed with healing nutrients. Since there are so many more potential benefits to be enjoyed by the food we eat, why not make the market your own personal pharmacy?
Here’s how to use them to your advantage, boosting your health the natural way.
Otherwise known as the plum. This incredibly antioxidant-rich fruit uniquely contains phenols, which protect against free radical damage.
In addition to being delicious, avocados are also powerful detoxifiers due to the unique way these high-fiber fruits combine with oils. Thus, avocados help our organs to function better. Science now indicates eating one a day may lower bad cholesterol, too.
The heart pepperChili peppers containing capsaicin have been shown to decrease the risk of heart attacks and strokes in individuals. An added benefit: capsaicin revs up our metabolism to help us burn fat and lose weight.
“I Take Cayenne Pepper Every Day and Feel 15 Years Younger”
Heart healthy and anti-inflammatory, garlic and onions are loaded with beneficial sulfur compounds. They’ve been known to reduce joint pain and swelling, help lower cholesterol, and could even help you lose weight.
Pure virgin coconut oil is a special fat made up of medium-chain triglycerides, which are immediately used for energy, rather than stored as belly fat. It also boosts digestion and nutrient absorption.
The cancer fighterTomatoes are packed with lycopene, which has been clinically proven to protect our bodies from prostate cancer. They also provide cardiovascular support and promote bone health.
Stocking your freezer with frozen berries is an easy and cost-effective way to get your daily dose of nutrients, antioxidants, and anti-inflammatory compounds. Throw them in a morning smoothie and you may even reduce the rate at which your body ages.
If you can’t have caffeine, try this alternative: a green apple and a glass of H2O. They’re going to give you more energy, for a longer period of time, than a cup of black coffee.
Pineapple contains key enzymes that help break down proteins and eliminate those acids that build up in our bodies and eventually lead to disease and ailments.
Adopting these functional foods into your regular shopping routine will ensure your body is nourished, protected, and actually thriving. What healing recipes will you cook up?
Photos: CC: Trishhhh, arash rk, Maja Dumat, Danielle Scott, Marc Wellekötter, tungl
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After dozens of bikes were stolen in Rochester, New York a community group experienced an outpouring of support from neighbors who donated 400 bicycles to the organization who gives them away.
“The theft happened over the weekend at Conkey Cruisers, a program that promotes exercise in the city with bikes it donates to kids and adults,“ reports KEHC-TV. “A bike drive was held in hopes of replacing what was lost and they got– and so much more.”
“The bike represents freedom at a young age,’’ says a Conkley Cruiser leader.
(WATCH the video below or READ the story from KHEC-TV)
Lego’s half century of toy dominance was built on petroleum-based plastic. But now the Danish company is investing millions into finding a way to produce a quality toy that is also good for the environment.
By 2030, it hopes to have eliminated from its supply chain all the extraction and refinement of oil used in its toys. It won’t be easy though.
LEGO plans to open a new sustainable materials center within the year and hire 100 new employees focused specifically on finding new materials for their toys and packaging.
(READ the full story from FastCo-Exist) – Photo via LEGO
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In a video for Vanity Fair, Channing Tatum is given thirty seconds to render seven dance steps:
The Running Man
The Funky Chicken
The Twist
The Hula
The Pony
The Robot
and Voguing
The Hollywood actor, known for being a great dancer, has some fun in this video while on a promotion tour for his latest film, Magic Mike XXL.
(WATCH the video above – and SHARE it with friends below)
A New York City firefighter who responded to the World Trade Center after the Sept. 11 terror attacks – then had to retire because of the resulting health problems – just hit the jackpot.
Carmelo Mercado, a firefighter from Queens picked up his $5 million dollar prize on Thursday saying, “Talk about Jackie Gleason: Hamana-hamana-hamana that’s a lot of money,” he said. “Beautiful!”
(WATCH the video below or READ the story from NBC-NY)
Nicholas Winton quietly organized the escape of 669 mostly Jewish children from Czechoslovakia at the start of World War II when the Nazis were marching in.
Winton was a 29-year-old stockbroker in 1938, when he spent nights and weekends helping a diplomat friend by organizing logistics, raising money and cutting through red tape to transport the children to safety. He also found foster families for all the children.
The survivors call themselves “Winton’s Children” and on his 100th birthday, the individuals he saved–now with families of their own– joined him aboard a special steam train that traveled from Prague to London, to retrace their original route to safety. (Watch the video)
Sir Nicholas, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, died on Wednesday in Maidenhead, England. He was 106.
(WATCH the video tribute below – or READ the obituary from the New York Times)
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A new gene therapy attacks cystic fibrosis at its cause, improving or stabilizing lung function while potentially reducing or eliminating the dozens of drugs patients have to rely on currently for treatment.
Cystic fibrosis, which often kills patients in their 20s, causes mucus to collect in the lungs, making it difficult to breath and disrupting digestion.
Scientists in the UK took healthy copies of the gene that causes cystic fibrosis and created a way for patients to inhale them, essentially “smuggling” healthy copies of genes into the lungs of people with the genetic disorder. In the small trial, a group of 136 patients either inhaled the gene once a month or inhaled a placebo.
Patients who inhaled the gene saw an average 3% improvement in their lungs, rather than the average 3- 4% decline for those who received a placebo.
The study was carried out by the Imperial College London, Universities of Oxford and Edinburgh, along with NHS research groups, and was jointly funded by the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, National Institute for Health Research and Just Gene Therapy. The results were published in the journal Lancet.
The leader of the study at Imperial College London, Prof. Eric Aldon, warned, “The effect is modest and it is variable. It is not ready to go straight into the clinic yet.”
The trial was small but research into the treatment is just beginning. The next trial will use a larger dose to see if it is even more effective.
(WATCH the video below from Online Demand News, or READ more at the BBC) – Photo: Imperial College London, Released
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It’s hard enough to believe a lizard can walk on water, but you also need to imagine it happening when the badlands of the American west were a tropical rain forest.
A newly discovered lizard fossil has shown scientists as much about the changing climate of Wyoming as it has about a unique family of “Jesus lizards.”
They get their name because the lizards can walk — or more accurately, run — on water at six miles per hour for as far as 15 feet. There are nine living species, like the one pictured above, and most live in the tropics.
Jack Conrad from the American Museum of Natural History says the fossil tells researchers as much, if not more, about the climate as it does about the corytophanid lizards, also known by the common genus name of basilisk. He published his findings this week in the journal PLOS ONE.
Scientists thought running on water was a relatively new skill, but the fossil shows that lizards were doing it 48 million years ago. It also suggests that while the animals they were running around Wyoming, the now-arid badlands of the west were more like the rain forests of Southeast Asia.
(WATCH the National Geographic video and READ more at CBS News) — Photo by Benjamint444, CC
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A boy, rescued from the Indonesian tsunami wearing a Cristiano Ronaldo soccer jersey, is learning to play “the beautiful game” where his hero trained.
The 17-year-old Martunis — he goes by just one name, like football stars sometimes do — has joined Sporting Lisbon’s youth academy where Ronaldo got his start in Portugal.
Martunis was only six when he survived for three weeks on noodles and water from puddles after losing his mother and two brothers in the 2004 tsunami. Journalists found him wandering on the beach and images of the little boy in the football jersey appeared in newspapers around the world.
Ronaldo flew to Indonesia to meet the boy and help finance his education. The Portugal Football Association donated 40,000 euros to rebuild his house in 2005. Now, the teen’s education will include the same athletic training that prepared Ronaldo to become the world’s greatest footballer.
“Martunis, the survivor of the Indonesian tsunami, is going to live, grow and become a football player at the Sporting Academy,” Sporting Lisbon posted on its Facebook page.
“It’s great to be here, this club makes my dream possible,” Martunis said at his presentation. “Viva Sporting!”
(READ more at the Daily Mail) – Photo: Sporting Lisbon Facebook
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He’s not your father’s tennis star, but, with signature dreadlocks he hasn’t cut in 19 years, underdog Dustin Brown just stunned the crowds at Wimbledon by knocking out the 10th ranked player in the world.
Brown was only ranked the 102nd best player in the world this week when he defeated Rafael Nadal in the second round of tennis’ premier event. The win has thrust the six-and-a-half foot, German-Jamaican into the spotlight, but he, along with his parents, had been working toward a big win for a long time.
Born in Germany and raised in Montego Bay, Brown made his tennis debut playing for the Jamaican national team in 2003 — after trying his hand at soccer, handball and judo. 
That tattoo on his torso, pictured left, is of his father, Leroy — it symbolically says, “my father is on my side.”
When Brown left the Jamaican team, his parents bought him a camper van to follow the European tennis circuit. It took them six years to pay it off, and Brown spent three years living in that van as he worked his way up the rankings toward the top 100 in the world.
In the end, his underdog, four-set victory over Nadal was really a family effort played out over many long years.
“It’s easy for me to play my game against someone like him because I have nothing to lose,” Brown told the BBC after his win. “I just kept saying, ‘Dustin, just try to concentrate. Even if you lose this, no one is going to say anything bad.’”
(WATCH the Tennis Channel video and READ more at the Telegraph) – Photos by Ethreon, CC; Steven Pisano, CC
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Alex Deans has a lot to reflect on this summer. The eighteen-year-old Ontario, Canada native just graduated high school as valedictorian and is getting ready to attend McGill University in the fall.
He’s also changing the way blind people everywhere will be able navigate the world around them.
For the past six years, Deans has been working tirelessly on a device now known as the iAid, a navigation system that uses ultrasonic technology and GPS technology to help the visually impaired get where they need to go.
The belt-like structure comes with a joy stick and operates using four ultrasonic sensors, which send out sound waves that ricochet off objects and alert the user as to how far away that object is (currently, some cars use the technology to alert drivers as they back up).
The idea first came to him at age 12, when he went to help a blind woman across the street. All that was at her disposal was a cane and the option of a guide dog, which is often hard to come by.
“When we use the navigation map on our iPhones, we know how to get where we’re going. We can see things directly in front of us and know where they are in relation to us,” Dean told Good News Network. “Guide Canes tell you what’s directly in front of you, but they don’t help you figure out where you are in relation your destination and objects that are farther away.”
The iAid helps users steer around objects in their vicinity and includes a joystick that swivels in their hands, pointing them in the direction they need to go in.
“You can feel it moving in the direction you need to go in, and if you’re far away, it will tilt far away, and as you get closer, it becomes more vertical,” he said.
These sophisticated concepts derived from a modest knowledge gained as a boy watching a couple of TV shows about robotics and sound, and a penchant for breaking everything he could get his hands on just to see how things worked.
“At the beginning it was really a hobby. I didn’t think anything would come from it,” he said. “It took me 2-3 years just to get the programming and coding knowledge.”
But once he had a prototype ready, he decided to bring it to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.
“When I saw the reaction from people using the device, it motivated me to to continue doing it,” he said.
For years, Deans returned again and again, using their feedback to build an updated, better prototype until he got it right.
The iAid won the 2015 Weston Youth Innovation Award this past May, and he was presented with $2,000 at a ceremony at the Ontario Science Centre on June 2. There, he had the chance to demonstrate his device to local community organizations and school groups.
“It was really cool to be able to tell them about the history behind the device and my journey building it,” he said.
Now, he’s working with a multimedia team at the Science Centre to create an animated exhibit for his project, which should debut within the next two weeks. Deans also presented at We Day, a tour of inspirational, youth leadership concert-type events for youth across the U.S., Canada, and UK.
Better still, the patent he is vying for in both the U.S. and Canada should be finalized within the next month or two, bringing the device one step closer to the mass market.
“I want to make it smaller and aesthetically pleasing first,” he said. “I would also like to team up with the Foundation Fighting Blindness or another institution to distribute it.”
As far as pricing goes, he estimates the device will only cost about $50-$70 per unit, if he can get the cost of materials down.
He hopes his invention will one day replace canes and give blind people the ability to maneuver more easily on their own – an admirable goal from a guy who can not only see the world around him, but the future, as well.
Photo (top) by Karen Wray; (homepage) by Mike Kovaliv
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A beloved school custodian had reason to jump for joy one year after a tragic fire destroyed her South Carolina home.
Brenda Hurst is adored by staff and students alike at Boiling Springs High School—that’s why they didn’t waste any time devising a way to help her.
A group of teens enrolled in the school’s career center knew exactly what to do, and decided to put the construction skills they were learning to good use.
Working alongside volunteers from a group called “Carpenters for Christ” and making use of donations that poured in from the school and the community of Campobello, they were able to rebuild Hurst’s house in a little over a year’s time.
They kept her away until the work was done, and asked her to keep her eyes covered as a police officer drove her to the new home.
When the bus blocking her view of the new house rolled away to reveal the work, Hurst burst out in excitement.
Her squeals of delight and tears of joy are better than any grade they could’ve gotten on the project.
(WATCH the WSPA News video below) — Photo: WSPA
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The weather may be getting hotter, but Californians are exceeding the state government’s expectations by conserving a record amount of water.
The State Water Resources Control Board reports that consumers cut their usage by 29% in May, one-upping the government’s request for a 25% reduction by the end of June.
“My first response is almost disbelief,” Mark Gold of UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability told the L.A. Times. “These results are beyond encouraging; they’re heartening. They make you realize that as a whole, people in urban areas are making the sacrifices necessary to get through this unprecedented drought.”
People in dozens of communities across the Golden State have risen to the occasion by shortening showers, using water-efficient appliances, and turning lawns into drought-resistant gardens, cutting their use upwards of 30% in some cases.
The State Water Board again called on Californians to continue conserving as the drought persists through the critical summer months.
(READ more at L.A. Times) – Photo: CC-David-Eppstein
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What started out as a novelty on the sidewalks of Sarasota, Florida, may end up helping a homeless man get off the streets.
It all began when the city installed “public pianos” around town — and a homeless man sat down and started playing amazing music.
“I was thinking I could just put my hat on the piano and make a couple dollars and get tips,” Donald “Boone” Gould told WWSB. Instead, he may wind up with a paying gig, because a local piano bar has offered Gould an audition.
Aroar Natasha was walking by as Gould played his cover of Styx’s “Come Sail Away.” She recorded it, posted it to her Facebook page and made Gould an overnight sensation — her video of his performance has been viewed more than three million times in four days.
Sarasota installed 'public pianos' throughout downtown. This homeless man now has the opportunity to be something other than 'just a nuisance' to all the people downtown. Just took my breath away. Wow.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCguq3hTC2M
Posted by Aroar Natasha on Monday, June 29, 2015
In the meantime, Jacqueline Bevan is helping make his dreams come true. She has set up a fundraising page that has already collected donations of $8,700 in one day.
“All funds will go to Donald (Boone) Gould to secure a home, a car and to possibly return to school for his last 3 classes for his music theory degree,” she says on the GoFundMe page.
Gould had played clarinet as a U.S. Marine and wanted to be a music teacher, but his life didn’t turn out as planned and he wound up on the street in 1998. He lost most of what he had, but he never lost his talent.
It could be the veritable ticket to his second act.
(WATCH the WWSB News video) — Photo: WWSB Video
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