A chain of e-mails and friends talking to friends grew the caroling idea into something bigger than the organizers could have possibly imagined. Close to 400 people huddled together Wednesday evening in the yard of a woman diagnosed with ovarian cancer to sing a joyous round of Christmas carols that could be heard from blocks away.
(Continue reading the story w/ nice photo in the Dayton Daily News)
Poinsettia image by Alex Cube, GNN supporter and artist
New Zealand scientists have developed tiny “light” particles that can seek out and destroy cancer cells.
Victoria University synthetic chemist Richard Tilley said researchers had established the tools to detect cancer when it was at the stage of a single diseased cell – well ahead of some MRI scans which cannot identify tumors until they are about 2.5 centimetres wide.
The lit particles can be attached to cancer drugs, which could treat the disease in a targeted way.
(Continue reading in the New Zealand Herald)
Photo by National Cancer Institute, CC license, via Wikipedia
Video cameras set up by the Starbucks LOVE Project filmed singers simultaneously in 156 countries as they each performed their own version of the Beatles’ anthem, All You Need Is Love.
Each group of musicians plays in a different country and all the sounds are blended to make a beautiful video for sharing. You can watch the names of countries go by in the corner as the different singers appear — like these folks (right) in Ukraine.
You can join others on the chorus by uploading your own version to their website at www.starbucksloveproject.com. Or choose a country and browse through their entries.
The purpose of the project, filmed on December 7, the day before the anniversary of Lennon’s death, was to raise awareness for AIDS in Africa, but I’d say that raising excitement about the idea of love is… well… all you need.
Video cameras set up by the Starbucks LOVE Project filmed singers simultaneously in 156 countries as they each performed their own version of the Beatles’ anthem, All You Need Is Love.
Each group of musicians plays in a different country and all the sounds are blended to make a beautiful video for sharing. You can watch the names of countries go by in the corner as the different singers appear — like these folks (right) in Ukraine.
You can join others on the chorus by uploading your own version to their website at www.starbucksloveproject.com. Or choose a country and browse through their entries.
The purpose of the project, filmed on December 7, the day before the anniversary of Lennon’s death, was to raise awareness for AIDS in Africa, but I’d say that raising excitement about the idea of love is… well… all you need.
Spend some time with Faith the Dog, who was born with only two legs but still walks with dignity, and you will see why Faith’s owners say their animal offers inspiration for all, including military families who may have loved ones injured by conflict.
Watch the video below, or on Clip Syndicate.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed the deal on climate change reached by world leaders at a United Nations summit in Copenhagen, calling it an “essential beginning” that contains progress on all key fronts, but adding that work must now focus on turning the deal into a legally binding treaty.
Nations attending the Copenhagen conference agreed overnight to “take note” of an agreement reached by the leaders of five countries – the United States, China, India, Brazil and South Africa – after two weeks of marathon negotiations in the Danish capital.
“We have the foundation for the first truly global agreement that will limit and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, support adaptation for the most vulnerable and launch a new era of green growth,” Mr. Ban told journalists at the conference today.
He said results have been made on all four of the benchmarks for success that he laid out during the special leader summit on climate change held in New York in September.
“All countries have agreed to work towards a common long-term goal to limit the global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius many governments have made important commitments to reduce or limit emissions countries have achieved significant progress on preserving forests and countries have agreed to provide comprehensive support to help the most vulnerable cope with climate change.”
The Secretary-General said these commitments have been backed up by $30 billion of pledges for adaptation and mitigation measures for poorer countries, and further commitments to spend more money between now and 2020 to achieve those goals.
But he cautioned that serious work lies ahead in turning the Copenhagen Accord into a legally binding treaty, and said he would work closely with world leaders to make that happen.
The Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has found that to stave off the worst effects of global warming, industrialized countries must slash emission s by 25 to 40 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020, and global emissions must be halved by 2050.
“We still face serious consequences. So while I am satisfied we have a deal here in Copenhagen, I am aware
that it is just the beginning. It will take more than this to definitively tackle climate change, but it is a step in the right direction.”
President Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo in which he pledged a new U.S. relationship with Muslim countries, has been named the top religion story for 2009 by journalists who cover religion in the United States.
The June speech in Egypt was seen as offering an olive branch to the Muslim world and was named the top story by more than 100 members of the Religion Newswriters Association .
During his talk, Obama invoked the Qur’an, Talmud and the Bible while declaring that America was not at war with Islam.
A young girl is calling her neighbor a superhero because of his superhuman actions while she was trapped beneath a car.
Nick Harris doesn’t know where or how he got the strength to lift the car from the six-year-old girl, but called it a “Christmas miracle”.
See the local news report from KCTV below, or at Clip Syndicate.
A newly-adopted dog out for a walk, suddenly bolted, pulling his owner for a half mile down the street arriving at a baby on the ground who wasn’t breathing. The Florida woman then proceeded to revive the baby with CPR, while her frantic mother said the child had been drowning in the bath tub.
It turns out the dog had been trained in child rescue but hadn’t passed the course, and was put up for adoption!
Watch the incredible KVVU report below, or at Clip Syndicate…
A newly-adopted dog out for a walk, suddenly bolted, pulling his owner for a half mile down the street arriving at a baby on the ground who wasn’t breathing. The Florida woman then proceeded to revive the baby with CPR, while her frantic mother said the child had been drowning in the bath tub.
It turns out the dog had been trained in child rescue but hadn’t passed the course, and was put up for adoption!
Watch the incredible KVVU report below, or at Clip Syndicate…
Florida resident James Bain was exonerated and released from prison Thursday, after spending 35 years behind bars for a wrongful conviction.
Bain had spent more time in prison than any of the 246 inmates previously exonerated by DNA evidence nationwide, yet despite the serious injustice of this situation, Bain said, “No, I am not angry.” His religious faith helped him remain positive while he was incarcerated, and it is the source of his current positive outlook.
The Florida Innocence Project helped Bain win freedom. Mr. Bains submitted handwritten motions four times seeking DNA testing, but he was denied each time. He was denied the fifth time, too, but an appeals court overturned that denial. The Innocence Project of Florida (IPF) stepped in to help, finally winning the DNA test that ultimately proved his innocence.
He was only 19 years old when he went into prison and today he walks out a 54-year-old man. He is looking forward to seeing his mother in Tampa, and spending the holidays as a free man with his family.
On Monday, the NBA and the United Nations Foundation launched a promotion that gets you two free tickets to an NBA game if you donate $10 or more to send an anti-malaria bed net to Africa as part of the Nothing But Nets campaign. The promotion, with corporate support from HP, runs through January 31, 2010.
Just log on to www.NothingButNets.net to send life-saving bed nets to displaced families in Africa to help protect them from malaria, the number one killer of refugees on the continent. The basketball tickets are subject to availability.
The promotion will help the United Nations Foundation’s Nothing But Nets, in partnership with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), to reach its goal of protecting more than one million refugees in Africa from malaria this year.
Rain and snowfall over the past few days has made a significant dent in the water deficit around the Bay Area and California; even though it is only about a quarter of the way through the rainfall season. In the San Francisco Bay Area, rainfall-to-date ranges from about 72% of normal in Santa Rosa to 91% in San Francisco, 119% in San Jose and 124% in Oakland.
Snowfall from the past week is still be tabulated, but precipitation totals for both the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River drainages has nearly doubled since the first of December. This good news for both water officials and ski resorts heading into the holidays.
(Continue reading at the Examiner)
Photo courtesy of Sun Star
It has often annoyed me while watching television that the commercials are turned up louder than the actual programming volume.
Now the U.S. House and Senate are acting to force the Federal Communications Commission to “adopt guidelines that would level off the abrupt spikes in volume” during advertising breaks.
The House approved the bill by a voice vote and an identical measure has been introduced in the Senate.
(Read the AP story on Google News)
“Growing up I was very fortunate to live with a family and in a community that gave me the opportunity to have a healthy life style. There are so many kids who don’t have the same chances I had,” said film and television actor Cuyle Carvin.
Now the star has found a creative vehicle for being a healthy role model: He became a cartoon character in a free coloring book for kids.
He teamed up with illustrator David Hudon and writer Fred M. Grandinetti, both from Massachusetts, to produce the “Cuyle Carvin Coloring Book.”
The publication is being distributed free to various children’s groups and churches. Request a copy by contacting the actor via his web site at www.CuyleCarvin.com
A World Health Organization report released yesterday confirmed a reversal in the course of malaria, with far fewer children dying from the disease. The UN organization documented the increased use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets and better treatment across sub-Saharan Africa, where 90 percent of all malaria deaths occur.
More than 140 million long-lasting insecticidal mosquito nets were delivered to the region between 2006 and 2008, protecting over 280 million lives, and doubling the number of households in Africa with access to a net.
“The 2009 WHO World Malaria Report demonstrates that we are succeeding in the global campaign to end deaths from a disease that takes the lives over one million people each year,” said Ray Chambers, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Malaria. “Thanks to unprecedented levels of funding and extraordinary collaboration among partners, the malaria community has achieved remarkable progress.”
A World Health Organization report released yesterday confirmed a reversal in the course of malaria, with far fewer children dying from the disease. The UN organization documented the increased use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets and better treatment across sub-Saharan Africa, where 90 percent of all malaria deaths occur.
More than 140 million long-lasting insecticidal mosquito nets were delivered to the region between 2006 and 2008, protecting over 280 million lives, and doubling the number of households in Africa with access to a net.
“The 2009 WHO World Malaria Report demonstrates that we are succeeding in the global campaign to end deaths from a disease that takes the lives over one million people each year,” said Ray Chambers, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Malaria. “Thanks to unprecedented levels of funding and extraordinary collaboration among partners, the malaria community has achieved remarkable progress.”
The latest viral video sweeping the Web is a music video featuring 200 doctors, nurses, lab technicians, kitchen and janitorial staff dancing while wearing pink hospital gloves to promote breast cancer awareness.
A portion of sales from the pink hospital gloves, made by Medline Industries in Illinois, will provide mammograms for uninsured women. The company also produced the video.
As of this morning, the “Pink Glove Dance” performed by employees at the Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, Oregon had been viewed by more than 5.2 million people.
(I hope to hear some sales figures for the pink gloves soon…)
At the U.N. climate talks yesterday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced an agreement with U.S. dairy producers to accelerate adoption of innovative manure-to-energy projects on American dairy farms with the goal of reducing methane gas emissions by 25% by 2020.
Agriculture accounts for about 7 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, according to the AP.
“This historic agreement, the first of its kind, will help us achieve the ambitious goal of drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions while benefitting dairy farmers,” said Vilsack. “Use of manure to electricity technology is a win for everyone because it provides an untapped source of income for famers, provides a source of renewable electricity, reduces our dependence on foreign fossil fuels, and provides a wealth of additional environmental benefits.”
