The Japanese officials understand the bond between pets and their families.
While thousands of citizens are now stuck, living in evacuation centers and shelters, they find comfort in the companionship of their four-legged friends. Despite the dire conditions, dogs are welcome there.
South Korean media have been filled with reports of celebrities making donations or finding other ways to help out in Japan.
Heartthrobs from TV and music who have became popular in Japan donated generously to aid earthquake victims. Some gave between $90,000 and $180,000 each, but actor Bae Yong-joon, who became a superstar in the TV drama “Winter Sonata”, donated 1 billion won, or about $900,000, to a relief organization in Japan.
With millions of hits on YouTube this home video shows a 5-month-old boy who isn’t sure what to think when mom blows her nose. Sometimes he’s terrified, then he can’t stop laughing.
Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed Thursday that Germany would accelerate the transition to renewable energy and called for a “measured exit” from nuclear power.
On March 15, Merkel ordered Germany’s seven oldest nuclear plants closed for three months while the government carries out safety probes.
If the stay becomes permanent, lights will not go dark in Germany thanks in part to the country’s steady growth in solar power. An achievement notable in a country that stays cloudy much of the year.
Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed Thursday that Germany would accelerate the transition to renewable energy and called for a “measured exit” from nuclear power.
On March 15, Merkel ordered Germany’s seven oldest nuclear plants closed for three months while the government carries out safety probes.
If the stay becomes permanent, lights will not go dark in Germany thanks in part to the country’s steady growth in solar power. An achievement notable in a country that stays cloudy much of the year.
38 years ago, a young Australian doctor arrived in Launceston from the mainland, and stumbled upon a slice of paradise. He bought the land for $8000 and, soon after, an environmental activist was born.
Today, Bob Brown — now a Senator — will hand over the Tasmania property to Bush Heritage Australia, the conservation group he created in 1991 while retreating to his small cottage there.
The gift of his land, called ‘Oura Oura’ located in the majestic Liffey Valley, marks the 20th anniversary of Bush Heritage Australia, founded after Brown (by then, a Tasmanian MP) saved two parcels of Tasmanian forest destined for woodchipping by using his Goldman Environmental Prize as a deposit.
38 years ago, a young Australian doctor arrived in Launceston from the mainland, and stumbled upon a slice of paradise. He bought the land for $8000 and, soon after, an environmental activist was born.
Today, Bob Brown — now a Senator — will hand over the Tasmania property to Bush Heritage Australia, the conservation group he created in 1991 while retreating to his small cottage there.
The gift of his land, called ‘Oura Oura’ located in the majestic Liffey Valley, marks the 20th anniversary of Bush Heritage Australia, founded after Brown (by then, a Tasmanian MP) saved two parcels of Tasmanian forest destined for woodchipping by using his Goldman Environmental Prize as a deposit.
Akiko Kosaka, a student from Japan attending the University of California at Riverside, had lost all hope for her family in Minamisanriku, the fishing village where more than half of the 17,000 residents are missing and feared dead in the aftermath of last week’s tsunami.
After scouring the internet for three days, Kosaka expected the worst.
Then she received word Sunday night from a friend in Japan of the existence of a 45-second YouTube video showing her family home as the only one standing amid the rubble.
The video highlighted her older sister holding a sign to a TV news crew saying in Japanese “we are all safe.”
(WATCH the video below, or read the story at CNN)
Basketball star LeBron James hopes to change one statistic that has always been too high: the high school drop-out rate.
James will lead a new stay-in-school initiative being unveiled in Washington DC on Monday called “26 Seconds,” a reference to how often studies show a high school student drops out of school.
The project is sponsored by State Farm, the insurance company with whom James has had a business relationship with for many years.
An increase in the number of U.S. medical students choosing internal medicine residencies in 2011 is a positive sign that the primary care workforce shortage may soon be in decline, according to the American College of Physicians (ACP), the nation’s second-largest doctors group.
To the decorating-obsessed among us, John and Sherry Petersik have a gig we dream about: They fix up their home, blog about it and get paid.
As the writers of Young House Love, an addictive home-improvement blog, the Petersiks chronicle the do-it-yourself decorating “adventures (and misadventures)” in their Richmond home. They’re not trained carpenters or interior designers. It’s the story they tell about their renovations that has made them successful.
“Things here in Sendai have been rather surreal. But I am very blessed to have wonderful friends who are helping me a lot. I am now staying at a friend’s home. We share supplies like water, food and a kerosene heater. We sleep lined up in one room, eat by candlelight, share stories. It is warm, friendly, and beautiful,” wrote Anne Thomas, an American citizen who has lived in Sendai for 22 years.
“During the day we help each other clean up the mess in our homes. People sit in their cars, looking at news on their navigation screens, or line up to get drinking water when a source is open. If someone has water running in their home, they put out a sign so people can come to fill up their jugs and buckets.”
“It’s utterly amazingly that where I am there has been no looting, no pushing in lines. . . A restaurant owner, who also lost his home, but not his business, opened up shop and offered hot bowls of noodle soup to evacuees for free.”
(READ other signs of hope from Anne in Ode Magazine)
Hypnosis can help people to quit smoking or lose weight, but did you know it also helps treat depression?
Struggling with depression for as long as she can remember, Nadeen Manuel knew she needed to do something to combat it.
It was during her first hypnosis session that she found the key to become free from her life-long depression.
PepsiCo this week unveiled the world’s first PET plastic bottle made entirely from plant-based, fully renewable resources, enabling the company to manufacture a beverage container with a significantly reduced carbon footprint.
PepsiCo’s “green” bottle is 100 percent recyclable, made from bio-based raw materials, including switch grass, pine bark and corn husks. In the future, the company expects to broaden the renewable sources used to create the “green” bottle to include orange peels, potato peels, oat hulls and other agricultural byproducts from its foods business.
PepsiCo this week unveiled the world’s first PET plastic bottle made entirely from plant-based, fully renewable resources, enabling the company to manufacture a beverage container with a significantly reduced carbon footprint.
PepsiCo’s “green” bottle is 100 percent recyclable, made from bio-based raw materials, including switch grass, pine bark and corn husks. In the future, the company expects to broaden the renewable sources used to create the “green” bottle to include orange peels, potato peels, oat hulls and other agricultural byproducts from its foods business.
A stray dog who survived an attempt to put him to sleep at an Oklahoma animal shelter has become a canine celebrity, with thousands seeking to adopt him, an appearance on a national television show and growing concerns about his safety as his fan base increases.
(READ the story in KTVU)
Like white knights, dressed in their hazmat suits, a band of 180 men have volunteered to continue working in extreme conditions, to help keep strangers safe from nuclear radiation at the Fukushima plant.
In groups of 50, they rotate into the dark confines of the plant, technicians on a mission to keep feeding the cooling sea water into the chamber without the help of electricity.
An outpouring of prayers and gratitude expressed especially by family members fill the social media sphere.
A 27-year-old woman whose Twitter name is @NamicoAoto tweeted earlier this week that her father had volunteered for Fukushima duty.
“I heard that he volunteered even though he will be retiring in just half a year… At home, he doesn’t seem like someone who could handle big jobs…but today, I was really proud of him.”
An admirer of the Fukushima crew tweeted, “Whatever’s the closest int’l equivalent to the Medal of Honor – Nobel Peace Prize? — The Fukushima 50 deserve that, and more,” he wrote.
(WATCH the video below, or read the story at ABC News)
Like white knights, dressed in their hazmat suits, a band of 180 men have volunteered to continue working in extreme conditions, to help keep strangers safe from nuclear radiation at the Fukushima plant.
In groups of 50, they rotate into the dark confines of the plant, technicians on a mission to keep feeding the cooling sea water into the chamber without the help of electricity.
An outpouring of prayers and gratitude expressed especially by family members fill the social media sphere.
Future camouflage uniforms for soldiers will draw energy from the sun providing continuous power for a radio, GPS and weapons, but at half the weight of traditional battery packs.
The Engineering and Physical Research Sciences Center in the UK is working on a new type of fabric that uses solar photovoltaic cells, thermoelectric devices and advanced lightweight batteries. Because the system absorbs heat, it could even serve as a type of wearable stealth cloak, making a soldier less susceptible to detection with infrared cameras.
(READ the article in Pop Science)
A Louisiana charity for sick kids granted a dying wish for ten-year-old Brennan Daigle who always wanted to become a soldier in the US Army.
Brennan has been battling a deadly disease but recently received a birthday party that included a “reception from a formation of soldiers, a ride in a camouflaged National Guard Humvee–and induction as an honorary member of the Army”.
After his mother created a Facebook page, people from around the world, including soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, have left comments of encouragement and support. One group of soldiers in Afghanistan posted a picture of themselves holding an American flag, and told Brennan: “We’re flying this flag in honor of you; we’re here to back you. Stay Army strong.”
(READ the story in Yahoo News)
