In a historic accord to save Africa’s elephants from poaching, President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping agreed Friday to ban ivory sales in the United States and China.
As China is the largest market for legal and illegal ivory in the world, this ban on all exports and imports has the potential to save tens of thousands of elephants from poachers every year.
“Mr Xi has today delivered a tremendous victory in the battle to save elephants,” said Azzedine Downes, CEO of the International Fund for Animal Welfare. “China has slammed the door in the face of all those who are profiting from the slaughter of elephants.”
China has also vowed to crackdown on ivory trade within its borders, driven by a growing middle class that frequently buys the products as a sign of their wealth. It also promised to eliminate the commercial importation of ivory into the country “in a timely manner.”
In addition to a long-standing commercial ban on ivory, the U.S., last year, banned imports of antique ivory and put limits on hunting trophies.
“This photo is a great reminder that deputies are human beings,” the Collier county Sheriff’s Office posted on its Facebook page. “They are fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters….they have families at home that are praying for their safety every day.”
The photo has stirred an outpouring of thanks for police officers in general and Deputy Dillman and his little girl in particular.
“What a special dad and daughter moment!” Cherie Taylor Shannon posted in comments on the photo.
Supermoon rises over Cohasset, Massachusetts by Jeff Cutler, CC license
If you missed last night’s “Supermoon” lunar eclipse and you don’t want to wait 18 years to see the next one, here you go.
The time-lapse video produced by Danish photographer Thomas H. captures the supermoon’s
rise over the Øresund Bridge in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the total lunar eclipse later in the night.
There are stunning images of the moon climbing over the city, reflecting off the water, and fading into darkness as it passes through the earth’s shadow.
He even caught a commercial airliner skimming the edge of the moon before the celestial event (pictured at left).
(WATCH the video above) — Top Photo: Jeff Cutler, CC license
Students at a severely under-performing public high school got a huge morale boost to start the year when they walked into a tsunami of color decorating the once-gray courtyard.
The outdoor cafeteria and recreation area at Jordan High School in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles had always been a drab landscape until a group of volunteers converted it into a beautiful plant-lined cafe, buoyed by positive messages in bold splashes of color.
“So much good work is being done inside the building, but when the students come out to eat, the cafeteria literally looked like a prison ground,” said Griffin Matthews, the project’s leader.
Photo credits: TakePart video
The school has been talking with the Green Dot initiative, which converts low-achieving public schools into charter schools. Principal Ronnie Cole hopes that the makeover will help keep momentum going.
“A transformation like this takes time, and we need visible signs that change is happening,” she said.
When the kids arrived at school on a Monday in late August, they were definitely surprised and delighted.
“Now, we look like a bright school with bright people,” said one student in a red feathered boa.
“They couldn’t believe that there would be outsiders who would come in and care about their school and what they’re doing,” said Flora Gomez, a parent coordinator.
In the 22 years since the Miami Chamber of Commerce decided to do something about the growing number of homeless individuals in their county, more than 10,000 have been placed into housing, including 145 families in the most unique solution yet– an organic farm and market.
A military base reduced to rubble during Hurricane Andrew became the site for this sustainable community which features LEED-certified townhouses, social services to transition people from the streets, a 22-acre certified organic farm and year-round farmers market with job training for the cultivation of nursery plants.
Most recently, the Verde Gardens community debuted an open-air restaurant that employs ten residents in the kitchen and cafe. Revenue from all these eco-friendly ventures goes toward paying good wages to the cafe staff and the five resident farmers.
Eventually, the hope is that the staffers, many of whom have little or no prior work experience, will have learned enough through working there to prepare them for “real-world” jobs outside of the Verde community.
“To see our vision for Verde Gardens finally coming to life is very exciting,” said Stephanie Berman, president and CEO of Carrfour Supportive Housing, the nonprofit set up by the Chamber more than 20 years ago to develop and manage communities for low income people in South Florida.
Photos courtesy of Carrfour Supportive Housing
“We have seen the farm encourage self-sufficiency and togetherness among residents for two years now and hope that the restaurant will do the same.”
Resident Alma Santos summed up the residents’ feelings about the Carrfour community. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Santos said tearfully, standing beside her 14-year-old son at a ceremony marking the opening of Verde Gardens. “You have forever changed our lives and made it possible for us to now help others.”
Like farmers markets nationwide, Verde Market and Café allows food stamp customers (SNAP-eligible) to receive up to $40 worth of fresh produce for $20.
The restaurant offers a true farm-to-table experience, with lunch options including mozzarella margherita thin-crust pizza, fresh-made hummus salad with organic red dragonfruit, and eggplant burgers. A rotating healthy menu was created by Chef Adri Garcia, the owner of a local catering company.
A second person, the “inquirer,” is shown a list of items the respondent may be looking at — say a dog. The inquirer then clicks on questions to narrow down the object’s identity — such as “Is the object an animal?”
The respondent answers simply by looking at one of two flashing lights on his computer screen — one for “yes” and one for “no.”
The action sends a response from the respondent’s brain activity to a magnetic coil behind the inquirer’s head, but only a “yes” response will generate enough energy to cause the inquirer to believe he’s seen a flash of light.
It’s a phenomenon called a phosphene — seeing light without light actually entering the eye.
Five pairs of people played 20 rounds of the game — ten using an operational brain-to-brain link and ten where the subjects didn’t know the link was turned off.
The scientists found when the link worked, subjects got the answers right 72% of the time compared to just 18% of the time when the link was shut off.
The scientists believe it is the most complex brain-to-brain experiment ever conducted. It was underwritten in part by a one million dollar grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation and their results have been published in the journal PLOS One.
“What we are doing is…opening up this box and taking signals from the brain and with minimal translation, putting them back in another person’s brain,” lead author Andrea Stocco said.
The researchers say their work could one day in the distant future allow people to “upload” information directly to their brain.
(WATCH the University of Washington video or READ more at NBC News) Photo: University of Washington
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It ain’t easy being wheely – especially for this new mother who couldn’t easily take her baby out in a stroller because of her wheelchair.
That was her sad reality until a 16-year-old Michigan high school student had the brains – and the compassion – to invent the perfect contraption for the paraplegic mom.
Sharina Jones has been confined to a wheelchair for 30 years and had adapted to all other obstacles in her way. However, after she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, Sharina lamented that she was not able to take her son out in a stroller with her friends.
Alden Kane, a young STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) student going to school at the University of Detroit Jesuit High School heard about Sharina’s dilemma and, after collaborating with the University Of Detroit Mercy, got to work on a solution.
Alden toiled away in the school workshop for six months until he finally completed a clip-on baby carrier made out of lightweight steel-tubing that Sharina can attach to the front of her wheelchair. All she needs to do is use her baby’s own car seat, slip it into the attachment, and she is ready to roll.
“After six months of hard work,” Alden told WJBK News in Detroit, “it was priceless seeing the design on her wheelchair, being used with her child in it.”
Alden plans on perfecting and patenting the unit so he can use his design to help mobile mommas with disabilities everywhere.
Renee Hendrix, a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit nurse, works with some of the most critical newborns at WellStar Kennestone Hospital in Marietta, Georgia. These are children so fragile at birth, their parents can’t even touch them.
She was asked to be in a Kleenex tissue commercial, but the producers had a surprise for her.
They asked her to watch a video but didn’t tell her it featured parents thanking her for what she’d done for their children.
“Renee saved my son’s life — multiple times,” one father said in the video. “You are our hero,” said another.
Renee was brought to tears as the words of thanks kept adding up. Afterward, the big reveal was unveiled, which she never expected.
(WATCH the Tiny Miracles video and READ more at WSBT News)
Ever feel insecure about the path you’re taking? Do you ever feel like you’ve lost a bit of direction in knowing who you are as a person?
I came across the first question listed below from Stephen Levine in Chicken Soup for the Soul. Stephen’s questions were fantastic and made me think about other questions I should be asking myself as well.
The world’s first airport for drones will become a hub for shipping emergency supplies to people in remote parts of Rwanda.
“Droneport” is designed to ship cargo by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to places where roads are unreliable or don’t even exist, giving people access to medication and healthcare previously available only rarely.
The open, vaulted airport structure will be built by locals, using local materials.
The hub will allow people to build, service, and dispatch two types of drones (pictured at left).
The smaller “Redline” will deliver lightweight, critical supplies such as blood, the larger “Blueline” will deliver larger loads that aren’t as urgent.
The UAVs will be able to reach roughly half of Rwanda’s population from Droneport.
Foster + Partners teamed with Afrotech to envision the hub and the concept for the unmanned aerial delivery network, which they believe could be a major paradigm shift for the delivery of physical goods. Construction will start next year.
Eventually, the designers see Droneports becoming more commonplace across remote parts of the world, acting as refueling and repair stops for drones the same way gas stations have become part of the infrastructure of highway traffic.
(READ more at BBC News) — Photos: Foster + Partners
This epic cosmic event only lights up the sky once in a red moon.
On September 27th at 9:07PM EDT, Earthlings will get to witness a harvest moon mixed with a lunar eclipse. Known as a “supermoon” because of its close proximity to Earth, the distance makes it appear 14% larger as the planet orbits into Earth’s shadow.
When the sunlight that passes through Earth’s atmosphere reflects off of the enlarged moon, it produces an eerie red glow that can only be seen once every 18 years.
The partial eclipse will begin at 9:07PM, but the full eclipse of the moon will be going from 10:11PM to 11:23PM. The second partial eclipse will end at 12:27AM.
According to NASA, farmers used to would work late into the autumnal night to finish their crops, and would end up laboring by moonlight to finish the job. The harvest moon became known as the full moon that fell closest to the autumn equinox marking the start of the busy season.
This September also happens to bear the largest full moon of the year, making the rare occurrence all the more significant.
Weather permitting, the supermoon lunar eclipse will be visible from the Americas, Africa, and Europe.
(WATCH the video from NASA below to learn more…)
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Prince William painted walls while Harry laid slabs, as part of a BBC home improvement show, “DIY SOS,” centered around renovating eight buildings and 62 homes in Manchester.
Twenty-six of them will be set aside for homeless veterans—but a spokesman for the royal brothers pointed out there are nearly 500,000 empty buildings in the kingdom that could be renovated. (Story continues below)
Compare that to current Ebola tests which cost about $1,000 each, require trained medical personnel using complex equipment to administer them, and take 12 hours to conclude a diagnosis. Current kits need to be stored in refrigerators, which may not be available in rural Africa or Asia.
What makes her test kit unique is that it can be left at room temperature for up to three weeks and still work. She found a way to stabilize the chemicals by attaching silk thread to card stock that eliminates the need for refrigeration.
The test card is cross-shaped with a circle at the center. The three chemicals used to detect Ebola are added to three ends of the cross, and a drop of blood serum for the patient being tested is added to the end of the fourth arm.
The person conducting the test puts drops of water on the end of each arm, washing chemicals and serum to the center. The paper changes color to show positive or negative results (shown in the time lapse video below).
Hallisey says her test can be modified to detect Dengue fever, HIV, Lyme disease, and some cancers.
She won the top prize in a field of 22 other finalists, to take home a $50,000 scholarship from Google — and a cool, Lego-inspired trophy.
Tech companies are facing a shortage of new engineers coming out of America’s schools and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella sees the investment as a way of getting students to pursue careers in computer science.
The tech giant will donate money and resources to nonprofit groups that support computer science programs around the world.
Microsoft will also expand its TEALS (Technology Education and Literacy in Schools) program that pairs tech company engineers with teachers in K-12 schools. The company wants TEALS in 4,000 schools within the next ten years.
The program, part of Microsoft’s YouthSpark effort, will aim to create a more diverse crop of engineer candidates by focusing on rural and inner city schools.
An activity book filled with puzzles, mazes, and ‘Find the Lump’ word searches may seem like an unconventional way to spend time in the chemo chair, but for women like Kim Kovel who are trying to make light of a very dark situation, it could be exactly what the doctor ordered.
While undergoing chemo, Kovel called in a favor from Nike illustrator and friend Mark Smith, asking him to create an activity book for her—something that could satisfy her short attention span.
The result: HELLO my name is CANCER is a coloring book for adults undergoing treatment for cancer that utilizes edgy humor to garner laughs, which could lower blood pressure, boost t-cells, trigger endorphins and reduce stress levels.
“It’s ok to laugh and say, ‘You have cancer and it’s going to be okay,’” she said.
Chicagoans were certainly inspired by the lesson of this kind lad.
Destiny Carrero was waiting in line to order her meal at a McDonalds when she overheard an old man in a wheelchair ahead of her politely ask his cashier to “please help me.”
After the fast food worker – known only as Kenny – took a few guesses at what the man was requesting help with, Destiny was shocked to see him emerge from the kitchen armed with rubber gloves and start cutting up the food for the elderly customer.
Carrero was even more surprised when the sneaky photo she snapped of the two men tallied over 250,000 shares on Facebook and over 700,000 views since September 16th.
“Neither of us knew what help he needed, and the cashier suggested a few things before he figured out the gentleman needed help cutting and eating his meal,” Destiny mentioned in the Facebook post. “To be honest, I thought the cashier wasn’t going to help, especially during rush hour in downtown Chicago, but to my shock, he shut down his register and disappeared from view.”
The franchise owner, Rod Buveznik has said in a statement to NBC that they’re very proud of their young employee who went above and beyond the call of fast food work to help someone in need.
“It’s a true testament to who Kenny is, and a reminder to us all that one seemingly small act of kindness can touch the hearts of so many,” the statement read.
“This kid has a heart of gold,” St. Paul Police Spokesman Steve Linders told ABC News.
Bullet-proof vests for dogs are expensive, as much as $2,500 each for the type the St. Paul Police Department uses. Ethan’s money will be combined with a restaurant’s donation to buy two vests.
(WATCH the video below or READ more at CBS News) – Photo: KSTP video
A California man did the right thing when a pizza place got his order wrong. He asked for chicken wings but Domino’s delivered $1,300 in cash to him instead.
The delivery driver, who was supposed to drop off the money at a bank, had hidden the cash in a delivery box. He didn’t realized he’d accidentally given Mike Vegas the box with the money, until he arrived at the bank.
Vegas, meanwhile, had put the unopened box in his fridge and ignored the flurry of frantic phone calls from numbers he didn’t recognize throughout the workday.
Only after opening the box that night did he realized what all the calls must’ve been about.
Vegas did the right thing and returned the cash to the pizza shop, where he another surprise waiting for him: the manager promised him free pizza for a year as a reward for his honesty.
(WATCH the video and READ more at KGO News) – Photo: KGO video
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If you were to make a list of people willing to donate bone marrow to save your life, a man you placed behind bars for 25 years would probably not be your first pick.
Supreme Court Judge Carl Fox, however, found the exception.
After being diagnosed with blood cancer in April, Fox has been on a desperate search for a bone marrow donor to throw him a lifeline – what he didn’t expect was a letter from an inmate he had convicted offering to help.
Committed for armed robbery, Charles Alston received a 25-year sentence while Fox was serving as district attorney, which he is still currently serving. Alston wrote to Fox in July volunteering to test as a donor, crediting his wish to help to his recent spiritual conversion into a changed man.
“There is no hatred or animosity in my heart towards you or any man,” Alston writes in his letter. “I have forgiven you for the verdict I received and [am] serving that time in all humility of heart.”
Because inmates aren’t able to sign onto the donor list for risk of infectious diseases, Alston is not able to donate, however Fox was touched by the gesture.
“I was very touched by it … totally surprised. I never thought Charles Alston would’ve written me and offered me the right hand of fellowship and offer to do something to save my life,” Fox told WRAL. “He had every reason to be angry with me, given where he is and the sentence he was given. It means even that much more he did that given the circumstances.”
If you would like to join Fox in his rallying for awareness of blood cancer, you can register as a bone marrow donor at Delete Blood Cancer.
Most recently, the Verde Gardens community debuted an open-air restaurant that employs ten residents in the kitchen and cafe. Revenue from all these eco-friendly ventures goes toward paying good wages to the cafe staff and the five resident farmers.
