An anonymous Tube rider in London’s Underground found and turned into authorities a purse containing more than $3,300 in cash. The bag, left in the Tube Monday by Sri Lanken tourists, also contained passports and credit cards.
A LU spokeswoman said: “We don’t know who handed the bag in – we would like him or her to come forward so we can add our thanks.”
(Read story w/ photo at London Evening Standard)
Image by Sun Star
Musician Kid Rock sent a check for $1,500 to a stranger he read about in the paper.
While in Cincinnati for a July 22 concert, Kid Rock read an Enquirer story about a brutal attack on a pizza delivery man and was moved to help.
When questioned about the gesture, Nick Stern, the musician’s representative said the rocker often quietly helps those in need.
Kid Rock performs for military men and women as part of a USO show onboard Camp Phoenix – free license photo
Kenya said on Wednesday it would plant 7.6 billion trees over the next 20 years to redress decades of chopping down forest cover, the effect of which is now being felt in acute water and power shortages.
The government set a target of covering 10 percent of their heavily-agricultural nation with trees and estimated the cost to be $20 billion over 20 years.
South Africa tree: photo from VCU.edu blog
GM announced yesterday that the Chevy Volt electric sedan, due out in late 2010, tallied 230 miles per gallon on the EPA’s city fuel economy test.
10,000 of the electric cars will be produced next year with a sticker price of $40,000, although consumers would get a $7,500 rebate from the government. The vehicle is powered by battery alone for the first 40 miles on every charge, then uses gasoline to the battery. The combined fuel economy of city and highway driving is expected to be rated over 100 miles per gallon.
Chevrolet promises 50,000 more cars in each of the two years following its debut in 2010.
One of the downsides is its long charging time when using standard home outlets — 23 hours. A fast charging box is planned to provide 3-hour charges.
Watch the video news report below, from WWLP…
To help meet the federal mandate of quadrupling biofuel use by 2020, a public-private consortium announced plans to construct a new facility on Cape Cod to produce renewable biofuels from algae.
Plankton Power and the Regional Technology Development Corp. (RTDC) of Cape Cod said their Cape Cod Algae Biorefinery will focus on pilot- and commercial-scale manufacturing of the 100% renewable fuel, which is cost-competitive with other biofuels made with petroleum, animal or vegetable-based materials.
The planned biorefinery is proposed for construction on five acres of land on the Massachusetts Military Reservation (MMR) in Bourne, Massachusetts, supported by the Massachusetts National Guard pending legal and regulatory reviews.
Authorities in eastern India are distributing free radio sets to lower-caste villagers so that they can listen to music and news after a hard day’s work and improve their awareness, officials said Wednesday.
Officials are distributing transistors costing 400 rupees ($8) each among hundreds of “Dalits” or the formerly “Untouchables” at the bottom of India’s ancient Hindu caste system.
850,000 New York children in low-income families will receive $200 each for back to school supplies from wealthy financier George Soros. Soros and his Open Society Institute today announced a $35 million gift for kids across the state for purchasing supplies and clothing for the new school year.
The grants enable the state to draw upon another $140 million in federal stimulus matching funds. Governor Paterson, who announced with Soros the program at a Harlem elementary school, said helping families who are on public assistance and food stamps was most definitely an economic stimulus.
“Even in the toughest of economic times, starting the school year right is key to a child’s success,” said Mr. Soros. “When I was a student after World War II, I had no money. I received financial help, and I remember how important that was to my education. Since then I have been very fortunate and am happy to have the opportunity today to help others. I hope these funds will relieve some of the financial burden on New York’s families,” added Mr. Soros.
A 140-year-old shipyard in San Francisco Bay, left for dead in the early 1970’s as a radioactive wasteland contaminated by heavy metals, is to be reborn as an urban green business and residential district featuring parks and shops as well as a green technology complex to house a United Nations think tank for climate change and sustainable technologies.
Once the US military’s largest facility for applied nuclear research, the Hunters Point Shipyard has been undergoing a $500-million clean-up of its 417 acres since the early 1990s, spearheaded by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Brad Blauser lives in war-torn Baghdad, where he doesn’t earn a paycheck and is thousands of miles from his family. But he has no intention of leaving anytime soon.
For the past four years, the Dallas, Texas, native has been providing hope to hundreds of disabled Iraqi children and their families through the distribution of pediatric wheelchairs.
Since 2005, Brad Blauser’s Wheelchairs for Iraqi Kids program has distributed nearly 650 free wheelchairs.
(WATCH the video below – or READ the story from CNN Heroes)
An Israeli company has developed a revolutionary new drug that could solve the problem of Colony Collapse Disorder, the disturbing syndrome that has been wiping out bee communities and threatening agricultural production all over the world.
The drug, Remembee, which was developed by Beeologics, has completed successful clinical trials on millions of bees in North America. Not only has it proved effective in maintaining bee health, but it also improved the longevity of bees and increased the honey in the hives.
Based on Nobel prize-winning RNAI technology, Remembee helps the bees overcome IAVP virus, also discovered in Israel, which has been associated with colony collapse in scientific literature.
“It’s really a tug of war between the virus and the host. We are helping the bee tug the rope more strongly and beat the virus. We take advantage of an immune system that the bees elicit for viral disease. But we are really using naturally occurring phenomenon. It’s not a pesticide and it’s not toxic,” says Nitzan Paldi, CTO of Beeologics.
The US Department of Agriculture has been accompanying Beeologics with its FDA certification process due to the urgency of the need for the drug.
Thanks to Israel 21c for the story. Watch their video report below…
Every summer, a white Washington, D.C. bar owner brings a mix of 40 city kids to his home on the Delaware shore, to frolic in the ocean, go motor-boating and trap blue crabs — a generous impulse that has become a tradition.
The beach makes street-tough kids drop their defenses and act like children again, playing in the waves, reaching for a grown-up’s hand.
(Continue reading and see lovely photos in the Washington Post)
Photo courtesy of Sun Star
Just like the “Cash for Clunkers” program that helped the auto industry, the homebuyer tax credit is helping turn around the housing market. The National Association of Realtors said last week that the number of contracts to buy previously owned homes rose in June for a fifth straight month.
They point to an $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers, which Congress decided to create in February, as “having a big impact.”
General Motors Co.’s product development chief says the company will introduce a plug-in rechargeable midsize sport utility vehicle sometime in 2011.
The new vehicle, to be added to its Buick line, will be about the size of a Chevy Equinox SUV, right, but get double the city gas mileage with the help of an electric motor alongside the traditional one.
Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis on Friday hailed an 11 percent drop in homicides and a 9 percent dip in all crimes during the first seven months of 2009 as a “very encouraging” sign that his department’s strategies are working.
(Continue reading in Chicago Sun-Times)
Although the term “spirituality” can refer to religious activity (attending formal worship services or believing in God), it can also describe a commitment to anything greater than oneself, including helping others or being attuned to nature. People can express spirituality through prayer, meditation, community service, or being mindful while hiking in the forest.
A therapist can reap benefits by encouraging a patient’s spirituality. One example is in the case of bereavement. If a person has a religious or spiritual belief in a higher power, the therapist can help them approach issues of grief from this vantage point. The therapist may help the client to process his or her belief that the deceased person still lives on. Even if the client does not believe in a higher power, the therapist can help them to think of ways in which the deceased person lives on through especially fond memories.
An increasing number of trendy hotels across North America, Europe and Asia are offering guests free use of bikes during their stay, as a fun and green way to explore the city.
“The bikes are hugely popular and are usually out all day in the spring and summer months,” said one hotel manager.
In a unanimous vote, the Senate on Friday confirmed Dr. Francis Collins, a scientist who helped unravel the human genetic code, as director of the National Institutes of Health. (USA Today)
Collins may be most widely known for his 2007 best-selling book, “The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.” The book examines and rejects creationism and intelligent design, in favor of theistic evolution, and describes scientific discovery an “opportunity to worship.”
Collins led the Human Genome Project that mapped the genetic code and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award. Collins’s commitment to free, rapid access to genomic information helped to make all data immediately available to the worldwide scientific community, according to Wikipedia.
Watch this charming YouTube video of Dr. Collins singing his message to graduating college students at the University of Michigan.
(Thanks to G. Davenport for submitting the link!)
There’s no need to lock your doors on the southern shore of Lake Erie in the tiny town of Lakeside, Ohio. Unlike almost every other place in America, people still actually trust one another. In most of the town’s stores money is exchanged on the honor system. Bikes are rented without the need for any credit cards or drivers’ licenses.
“If you expect the best of people, that’s what you are going to receive,” says the owner of the bike shop.
Even in the candy shop, a handwritten note encourages children to make their own change from a jar of cash.
Read the inspiring story from Steve Hartman, or watch the video below –or at CBS News.
Paper products giant Kimberly-Clark joined forces with Greenpeace on Wednesday, pledging to conserve forests by getting wood fiber from environmentally responsible sources and using more recycled fiber.
Greenpeace activists had waged a nearly 5-year campaign against the maker of Kleenex and Cottonelle for clear-cutting in Canada’s ancient boreal forest, part of the world’s largest intact forest.
