Wal-Mart Stores expect to hire about 22,000 people for new positions, including plenty of cashiers and stock clerks, but also store managers, pharmacists and personnel workers.
The world’s largest retailer is still the target of criticism from union-backed groups for its pay and benefits, has improved its health insurance coverage and opened it to full- and part-time employees. The company says 94 percent of its employees have health coverage, either through Wal-Mart or another family member.
Dining at top-notch restaurants just got more meaningful with a charity drive that hopes to turn gourmet meals across Asia into food for children in one of the world’s poorest nations, East Timor.
More than 50 restaurants across Asia will donate 15 percent of their proceeds from special menus or promotions during August to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) in East Timor.
When you lose a leg, or two, it is hard to exercise. You gain a belly and sometimes a lot more. Especially at Walter Reed where, thanks to an outpouring of goodwill, we are surrounded by boxes and boxes of homemade chocolate chip cookies…
But an idea to bring the guys to the local pool turned into an ideal way to uplift and exercise. They also were blessed by free admission.
(Read more at the Washington Post)
Photo courtesy of Sun Star
Like a freeform painting, the Sydney Opera House will glow with rich, continuously changing configurations of color as part of its new exhibition of music, light and performance curated by rock musician Brian Eno.
The two-week LUMINOUS festival, launched last week with the lighting of the iconic building’s sails, also features a plethora of music acts, alongside public talks and art installations.
Part of Vivid Sydney, a city wide mid-year festival, its musical highlights include Battles, Ladytron, Lee Scratch Perry, Jon Hassell, Reggie Watts and Karl Hyde.
Eno’s spectacular visual light show will be projected on the sails from 6pm – 1am during the three weeks of LUMINOUS May 26-June 14.
Watch video report below… NOTE: UK residents need to watch it at ITN
Dr. Lawrence Farwell has invented a technology that he believes will make torture obsolete. The system, which detects recognition of information stored in a subject’s brain, has already been used to convict a suspected murderer and more importantly, to exonerate a man convicted of a crime he did not commit.
The Brain Fingerprinting system has proven 100 percent reliable in more than 120 tests involving the FBI, the US Navy, and tests involving real-life situations, such as actual crimes, reported the Fairfield Ledger.
In early tests Dr. Farwell scanned the brains of 21 people — 17 FBI new agent trainees along with 4 control subjects who lacked knowledge of the FBI. He correctly identified 100% of the 17 new agent trainees as FBI agents using an FBI-related stimulus presented on a computer screen.
This year’s “No Barriers Festival” in Florida includes eighteen disabled veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who are gathering along with hundreds of other amputees for four days of classes in sailing, scuba diving and rock climbing.
Video below may take a moment to load…
See also www.NoBarriersUSA.org
A woman from the lowest “untouchable” caste in India has been unanimously elected as speaker of the parliament. Meira Kumar, a 64-year old diplomat and legislator welcomed the historic outcome and vowed to be neutral in her duties as the first female speaker.
(Read more in Aljazeera)
You’ll get free entry to Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Yellow Stone and 144 other national parks on three weekends this summer, including Father’s Day weekend, thanks to the government’s desire to help you through “these tough economic times.”
The hand-up can save you $20 per car, or $10 if you ride a bicycle or motorcycle. The offer extends through the weekends of June 20, July 18 and Aug.15. Freebies include no-cost tours, boat rides, shopping bags and other extras. Don’t forget the many historical landmark national parks, Wright Brothers Park, Manassas Battlefield Park, and Saratoga Park.
(The LA Times has more info)
Click here to find a fee-free national park near you
A baby penguin is lucky to be alive. Its parents repeatedly rejected the egg until zookeepers decided to try giving it to a pair of gay penguins. And, it worked. The two kept the egg warm for nearly 30 days before it hatched and the two dads continue to care for the chick…
Watch the Video below…
A store owner who was being robbed turned the tables on the man pulling a shotgun from behind the counter. When the man started to beg and said he was only trying to feed his family, the shopkeeper provided the man with forty dollars and a loaf of bread and made him promise never to rob again. They even prayed together after the thief said he was inspired.
Watch the interview with the inspiring shop owner (in the first of two videos)…
Have you ever altered your behavior in an attempt to make someone else feel better? If you have, you may be pleased to know that you are entirely normal. We’ve been trained since the moment of birth to put others’ needs ahead of our own. Perhaps our parents or care-givers wanted us to be quiet when we wanted to be loud, or they wanted us to wear something we didn’t want to wear, or eat something we didn’t want to eat. They were relentless until we complied.
Our teachers often wanted us to learn the way they wanted to teach, society expected us to value what they thought we should value, friends subtly pressured us until we acquiesced to the vision of the pack, lovers withheld love until we gave them what they wanted and bosses withheld favor until we gave them what they required. Many religions even encourage us to deny our desires with the promise of future reward if we comply.
After age 30, exercising for more than an hour a week may help cut a woman’s chances of developing breast cancer, according to a study presented at the American College of Sports Medicine’s annual meeting in Seattle.
Photo courtesy of Sun Star
The South Pacific nation of New Zealand, already renowned for it’s scenic beauty, has strengthened its idyllic image by being named the Most Peacful Nation on Earth.
The Global Peace Index, a report prepared annually by the Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace, ranks 144 nations on the basis of how peaceful they seem. The ranking takes into consideration 23 different factors such as political stability, risk of terrorism, murder rate, likelihood of violent demonstrations, respect for human rights, internal conflicts, arms imports and involvement in foreign wars.
New Zealand scored top marks for its low homicide rate, stable governement and low defense spending, helping it to outrank the always-strong Nordic countries.
President Obama today delivered an unprecedented speech calling for a new beginning in relations between the United States and Muslim communities around the world.
Amidst tension between the United States and some Muslim communities the President said, if all sides face the sources of tension squarely and focus on mutual interests, we can find a new way forward.
He outlined some big goals for the future in this highly-anticipated speech, including disrupting, dismantling, and defeating violent extremism. But, first he detailed what our nations have in common.
(Watch the video, or read more, below)
Starting this month, every sale of a solar powered bedside lamp at IKEA will generate an additional lamp as a donation to a child in the developing world, enabling them to play, read, write or study at night, even without electricity.
The first shipments will be delivered by UNICEF to Pakistani refugees, helping children in camps for families who had to flee their homes in Balochistan and the North West Frontier province.
The IKEA lamp, called SUNNAN, was made especially sturdy for the developing world, designed to resist the wear and tear of difficult living situations and includes a battery capable of withstanding high temperatures. Just expose the solar panel to 9 hours of sun and get four hours of full light from the low-energy LED technology.
The 18-wheel truck was a gift of uncommon generosity, given to a man of uncommon bravery.
Jorge Orozco-Sanchez went into a burning SUV, not once but twice, to pull two little girls from a fiery wreckage. The fire also destroyed his tractor trailer rig – the source of his only income. After months of struggling to make ends meet after the accident, the Independant Truckers Association and Goodyear stepped in to help Jorge replace his truck.
“We haven’t done this for any highway hero in the past, and we don’t want future ones to expect it,” said Tim Miller. Goodyear’s marketing and communication manager. So why do it now? “Well, have you met Jorge?” Miller asked.
Parents who lost their son to street violence are now giving back to the community with a new student scholarship created with the loving donations of family and friends.
“When our son died, the community was so supportive,” Zenobia Drakeford said. “We decided to take that and pay it forward for a child to continue their education.”
Is the economy still tanking? Not in Ocean City, Maryland where the beach resort enjoyed a marvelous May spike in tourism, including its biggest Memorial Day crowd since 1993.
“I think people are just ready to travel,” said resort spokeswoman Donna Abbott. “All the gloom and doom and the long cold winter. It was a pent-up demand to hit the road and hit the beach. It was just a spectacular weekend.”
(Continue reading at DelMarvaNow.com)
Photo courtesy of Sun Star
Traditional brick school facades could become a thing of the past as educational institutions aim for sustainability. Take, for example, the first U.S. school building constructed entirely of sustainable bamboo:
The 1,200 square foot building in Maui, Hawaii, uses bamboo that has twice the compression strength of concrete and a higher strength-to-weight ratio than steel. That means it’s an ideal material for hurricane and earthquake-prone areas.
In 1991, 20 bamboo houses built for the National Bamboo Foundation in Costa Rica survived a 7.5 Richter scale earthquake, and Bamboo Living homes held up against three Cook Islands hurricanes in 2005 with winds up to 175 MPH.
US stocks rose sharply Monday to hit seven-month highs as investors took the General Motors bankruptcy filing in their stride and focused on encouraging economic data.
Stocks were further boosted by better than expected US manufacturing data suggesting the economy was bottoming out. Separate data showed that the income of Americans increased in April.
