Three months ago, Donald Gould was living on the streets. This week, he performed America’s national anthem before 70,000 people at the NFL Monday Night Football game.
Gould rocketed to fame over the summer when he sat down at a piano on a Sarasota, Florida sidewalk and started playing – magnificently. A video of the bearded, homeless musician tallied nearly six million views on Facebook. Within days of its posting, a restaurant offered him a paying gig and he reconnected with the son he hadn’t seen in years.
Gould (pictured, left) entered rehab, turned his life around and celebrated 80 days sober this week.
The San Francisco 49ers invited the former U.S. Marine to perform the Star Spangled Banner at their game against the Minnesota Vikings, and flew him, his life coach, Jacqueline Bevan (pictured, center), and bandmate Paul Lonardo (right) to California.
“This is surreal!” Gould wrote on his band’s Facebook page. “We are feeling so blessed!!”
“Never in my wildest dreams,” Gould told WTVT News. “Three months ago, if someone on the street came up to me and said, ‘you’re going to play the National Anthem for the 49ers,’ I’d say you’re crazy.”
He has been documenting his amazing last few months on the Facebook page shared by he and bandmate.
(WATCH the WTVT News video) Photos: Jacqueline Bevan, FB – Story tip from Jim Kelly
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After spending 1,700 hours analyzing different pairs of birds, researchers found that the ones who got to live with their chosen mates—the “lovebirds,” if you will—were a lot happier than the ones that were forced into “incompatible” pairs.
Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Munich, Germany set up a “speed dating” session for 20 male and 20 female zebra finches, allowing half of the naturally-selected pairs to live ‘happily ever after’ and breaking up the other half into “arranged marriages” with mates they hadn’t chosen.
The ones who got to choose their mates had a 37% higher birth rate than the birds who didn’t get to choose, while the birds in arranged pairings laid three times as many unfertilized eggs. They also weren’t very good at parenting.
The scientists found males in both situations were equally willing to court their mates, but females in the forced pairings were far less receptive to their advances, refusing to simply “love the one you’re with.” The males in the non-choice pairings also strayed and had affairs with other birds — which only tended to upset their mates even more.
Writing in the journal PLOS Biology, Wolfgang Forstmeier, one of the study’s authors, concluded that the freedom to find a compatible mate is important “in order to motivate each other and to coordinate and share the various tasks.”
Indian food may seem elaborate to make, intimidating to eat, and overall, too exotic.
But there are good reasons to get past all that: multiple studies have shown that ingredients like curry and turmeric have multiple health benefits because they contain antioxidants and anti-inflammatories. The powerful one-two punch helps with digestion and may even aid in the prevention of certain illnesses.
These and other spices found in Indian cooking have proven in studies to be a nutritional way to treat or prevent some cancers, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, autoimmune problems, and even neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s disease.
If you don’t know any quality Indian restaurants, fear not. Turmeric and curry can be found at most grocery stores and you can literally just add a few shakes of these spices to the dishes you normally prepare–especially turmeric, which adds very little perceptible flavor.
For those feeling adventurous, take a crack at the recipes below. These dishes are just as easy to make as any other meal you might whip up–but will make you look like an international chef de cuisine.
4 tablespoons shredded/desiccated coconut (can be found in baking section)
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
1 tablespoon ground cumin & coriander
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
½ teaspoon chili powder
Instructions:
Dice the eggplant into ½ inch pieces
Peel and dice the sweet potato into ½ inch pieces
Cut the cauliflower florets into 1 inch pieces
Peel and chop the garlic as finely as possible
Peel and chop the ginger as finely as possible
Have all ingredients ready at hand to pour
Heat the oil in the pan so it’s hot, then with the lid in your hand add the mustard seeds and cover quickly, let it pop for about 30 seconds
Put the heat on low for 1 minute and carefully open the lid and add the crushed canned tomatoes, garlic, ginger, coconut, salt, water, ground cumin & coriander, turmeric powder and chili powder. Stir it well and then add the sweet potato, cauliflower and eggplant and stir again
Simmer on a low to medium heat for 30 minutes with the lid on, stirring occasionally
Serve. We suggest accompanying with rice, quinoa or cous cous, or non gluten free options such as naan or pita bread.
WATCH the video below to see her do it!
Pork Koftas with Jalfrezi
Prep time 10 minutes, cooking time 10-12 minutes, serves 2-3
1 tablespoon or a thumb size knob of ginger, minced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small chili pepper, minced
1 small aubergine (eggplant), cubed
6 tomatoes, diced
1 cup hericot-verts or small green beans
1 medium sweet potato, cubed
1 cup reduced fat coconut milk
6 coriander seeds
1 tablespoon garam masala (a blend of ground spices common in India containing peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon or cassia bark, nutmeg and mace, cardamom, bay leaf and cumin)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon curry
1/4 teaspoon mustard
kosher salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
Put the eggplant in a strainer and toss with salt. Let sit while you
start cooking the other ingredients.
Saute the onion, pepper and ginger in olive oil for about 3-4
minutes. Season with a pinch of everything. Add in the garlic and cook for
a minute at most. Toss in the potatoes and saute for another minute or so
with a pinch of the spices. Pour in the coconut milk and simmer for about
10 minutes.
Toss in the eggplant and tomatoes, adjust seasoning, simmer for 7
minutes.
Finally, throw in the green beans and the rest of the seasoning and
let simmer for another 7-10 minutes.
Serve over some basmati rice or naan bread and garnish with cilantro
Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Vegetable Kofta:
Recipe From Darshi Shah, upcoming author of R.I.G.H.T. Diet for Autoimmunity
Ingredients
4 large tomatoes, skinned & pureed
2 cups water for gravy
¼ head cauliflower
1 large Russet potato, quartered
2 small carrots
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
¼ cup total of mix of Corn meal and rice flour for coating
1 clove garlic, minced
1-inch piece ginger, finely chopped
2 Tablespoons of coriander leaves, finely sliced
1 ½ Tablespoons oil
½ teaspoon salt (to taste – for gravy)
¼ teaspoon cinnamon powder
¼ teaspoon clove powder
¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
¼ teaspoon chili powder
¼ teaspoon salt (to taste – for koftas)
Several grinds of black pepper
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Meanwhile wash and place the potato, cauliflower and peeled carrots in a baking pan. Cook for 30 minutes.
After cooking, the vegetables are cooled and grated into a mixing bowl.
Add ¼ teaspoon salt to the mixture.
Form into 18 small balls (koftas) and roll into plate filled with cornmeal and rice flour to coat.
Deep fry the balls (medium heat) until golden brown and crisp. Keep aside on paper towels.
Heat oil in a nonstick wok/pan.
Add and sauté onions until golden brown.
Lower heat and add ginger, garlic, and powder of clove, cinnamon, turmeric. Stir.
Cook through and mix the spices evenly. (2 minutes)
Add tomato puree and simmer on low until well cooked.
Add 2 cups water, salt, pepper, and chili powder and increase the heat to high.
NOTE: partially cover the sauce. Be careful about splashing of hot tomato gravy
Once a boil has been reached, turn off the heat.
When serving, add the koftas to the hot gravy and garnish with coriander leaves.
Heat the oil in the pan so it’s hot then add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds and garlic. Let it sizzle for 30 seconds with the lid on.
Put the heat on low for 1 minute then carefully take the lid off and add the onions, cashew nuts, corn and raisins, stir and simmer for 5 minutes
Now add the cooked rice, chili powder, turmeric powder, water, salt and ¾ handful of cilantro. Stir and let it simmer for 5 minutes with the lid on (careful not to let the rice stick to the pan)
Serve and garnish with remaining fresh cilantro
Suggest serving with plain yogurt.
Thai Green Chicken Curry
Prep time 5 minutes, cooking time 5 minutes, serves 2-3
An airline pilot swiftly redirected his plane to save the life of one of his passengers — a seven-year-old French bulldog named Simba.
The Air Canada flight from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Toronto, Canada, was cruising over Europe when the pilot noticed a problem with the heating system in the cargo hold. The pilot also realized there was a small dog down there.
At cruising altitude, the outside temperature can be 50 degrees below zero, and air in the hold can drop below freezing in a matter of minutes.
That’s why the pilot diverted the flight to Frankfurt, Germany, where Simba was put on another flight before the plane continued to Toronto. The decision added about 75 minutes to the travel time for the flight’s passengers and cost the airline about $10,000 in fuel costs and landing fees, but Air Canada says it was the right thing to do.
Many of the students in Detroit, Michigan’s schools show up to class with used or secondhand school supplies, making it harder for them to concentrate on learning.
One lawyer decided to change the game for every elementary public school student in the city.
The Mike Morse Law Firm decided to invest a quarter million dollars to buy 23,000 backpacks filled with school supplies like markers, erasers, folders, pencils, notebooks, and other educational goodies for each student in grades K through 5.
Needless to say, the new gifts brought excited back-to-school smiles to children’s faces in 65 Detroit schools.
“I think it teaches them that there are people out there in the community that care about them,” Mike Morse said in a video highlighting the firm’s efforts. “They want them to succeed, that want them to win at life.”
A few days after the video was shot, filmmaker Sean O’Grady spoke with a family who just moved to the city under some tough circumstances and couldn’t afford to buy any uniforms or supplies for their twin fifth graders.
“As a result of the donation, they now have all the supplies they need to start the year. The entire family of 5 was incredibly grateful and it was really moving,” O’Grady told the Good News Network. “They heard nothing but bad things about Detroit before moving there, but this helped them realize that there are generous people everywhere.”
In preparation for next year, The Mike Morse Backpack Fund is raising more money from public donations to try to give every Michigan student a great start to the school year. Donate at the link above, or at the partnering nonprofit Kids In Need Foundation.
(Previously we reported the backpacks each cost $20, but, learned later they were valued at twenty dollars, but purchased at a discount for half the calculated amount.)
Four years ago today, the Occupy Wall Street movement began in New York City’s financial district. Although the encampments that sprang up around the world in solidarity were eventually closed, an amazing effort was soon underway to help “the 99%”.
Since it organized one year later, this positive protest movement has, to date, paid off nearly $32 million in Americans’ personal debt.
Called the “Rolling Jubilee,” the nonprofit buys the debt the same way collection companies do, but instead of trying to collect the money, they simply forgive the debt.
The project can afford to do this because they buy a dollar’s worth of debt for about five cents on the “secondary debt market.”
Banks and credit card companies bundle together bad debt after people declare bankruptcy or default on payments. They’re willing to sell the debt so cheaply because they don’t expect to get the full amount back from the people they lent it to.
That philosophy has allowed Rolling Jubilee to pay off that multi-million dollar bill using just over $700,000 in donations over the last three years.
Because of the nature of the market, the project can’t specify whose debt it buys, but once Rolling Jubilee owns it they contact the debtors and let them know their bill is paid in full.
The lucky recipients get a letter in the mail declaring, “You no longer owe the balance of this particular debt. It is gone, a gift with no strings attached.”
If you remember that Kel loves orange soda, that the Spice Girls had their own line of lollipops, and that you can never have too many butterfly clips in your hair, you really should have been at 90sFest.
The event, which drew thousands to the 50 Kent Avenue performance space in Brooklyn, (mostly) defied the pending rain and featured a 90’s-themed musical lineup that included Lisa Loeb, Salt ‘n’ Pepa, Coolio, Blind Melon, Naughty by Nature, and Smash Mouth. It was was sponsored by The Splat, which is more good news for 90’s babies everywhere: the Nickelodeon throwback channel will run old favorites like Rugrats, All That, and Rocko’s Modern Life.
Smile Train, the event’s official charity partner, said the festival was a success because of how many people became aware of the work they do.
“From the artists, to the sitcoms to the style, the 90’s always makes us smile. It was a great way to raise awareness for our work and efforts to share smiles across the world,” said Smile Train CEO Susannah Schaefer.
The crowd took a break from playing a giant game of Jenga and scarfing down chow from food trucks to watch the charity’s video about their very first cleft surgery recipient, Wang Li, who is now mother to a healthy baby of her own.
For the past 16 years, Smile Train has been providing free cleft repair surgery to children in the developing world—one child every five minutes, every single day of the year. The operation helps them to eat, breathe, hear and speak properly again, restoring functions that are lost due to cleft lips and palates.
Only in the name of a good cause like this one can I tolerate MC Pauly Shore in a backwards cap and a hoards of millennials rushing the stage to scream-rap along with Coolio’s Gangsta’s Paradise.
Photo by Helaina Hovitz
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Mark Zuckerberg, a famous astronaut, and the White House are all rallying behind a brilliant teenager whose love of science accidentally landed him in jail.
When Ahmed Mohamed brought a clock to his Irving, Texas school yesterday to show his engineering teacher, administrators called police, thinking it looked suspicious.
Since the incident, the 14-year-old science-loving teenager has received personal invitations from President Obama and astronaut Chris Hadfield, as well as support from scientists and tech tycoons. Ahmed has also been invited to tour the headquarters of both Google and Facebook.
All charges were dropped and administrators lifted his suspension, but he says he is already in the process of transferring to a different school.
President Obama has invited Ahmed to astronomy night at the White House where he can hang out with scientists, astronauts, and other STEM students like himself.
Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It's what makes America great.
Former International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield invited him to a “science-based variety show” he is hosting in Canada.
Photo from Anil Dash, Twitter
Ahmed only wanted to show off his electronics project to impress an engineering teacher, but was soon led away in handcuffs. The photo, showing the teen in a NASA t-shirt, swirled around the Internet, turning him into a poster boy for science and technology education.
The arrest touched a nerve throughout the tech industry and #IStandWithAhmed was the top trending hashtag for most of the day on Twitter.
“Having the skill and ambition to build something cool should lead to applause, not arrest,” Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zukerberg wrote on his profile page.
Ahmed seems to be taking it in stride, smiling and joking during a news conference later that day where he said he hopes to one day attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
(WATCH the KFAA News video) — Photos: WFAA Video and @Anil Dash
A Dutch artist is turning smog into jewelry using the world’s largest portable air purifier.
Daan Roosegaarde first got the idea for the device while visiting smog-filled Beijing. Inspiration struck when he realized that air pollution is largely CO2, which is made up of tiny little particles of carbon–and if you put a lot of carbon under enough pressure, it turns into diamonds.
He envisioned a “Smog Free Tower” that would operate using the same air purifying technology hospitals do. His large, portable tower would clean the air while simultaneously leaving behind tiny black carbon particles that could be recycled into jewelry.
After collecting $127,000 to build it through a Kickstarter fundraising page that offered rings and cufflinks as rewards for donations, Roosegaarde switched the machine on for the first time in Rotterdam on September 4.
As onlookers breathed in bubbles of the fresh, clean air wafting into the town square, the Smog Free Tower was cranking out the bits of carbon that would be compressed into tiny cubes.
Each of those cubes, less than one half-inch squared, is the equivalent of 1,000 cubic meters of air cleansed of smog by the white machine. The little black bundles, framed by stainless steel, were promised to anyone who donated €50 or more. Rings or cufflinks are going to anyone who donated €250 or more.
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No… it’s the asthmatic boy wonder!
A regular six-year-old kid with asthma has become the lead superhero in a new comic book written by doctors, and for kids.
Savion Johnson was immortalized as heroic thanks to his mother, Tresha, who was inspired to create the comic book after her son was first diagnosed with the lung disease.
Having lost her own mother to asthma, the preschool teacher and book lover began thinking of ways that she could educate not just her own son, but children everywhere, on how the condition will affect their lives, and how they can best cope with it.
Filled with typical adventurous illustration, each issue explores, in a child-friendly way, how asthma works, how other illnesses affect it, what happens during asthma attacks, and how kids can learn to power through it all like the heroes they are.
“I’m excited to share the comic book series with other families who are affected by asthma,” Tresha told the Good News Network. “It’s important to have this information presented to children in a way they will understand. Savion of course loves sharing with his friends that he is the star of his own comic book – he’s always sharing it with friends!”
The first issue of “Medikidz Explain Asthma” was released earlier this year in May, coinciding with Asthma Awareness Month thanks to the Allergy And Asthma Network.
More than 3.5 million comic books about a variety of health related topics have been published by doctors from Medikidz, a children’s medical education organization based in London.
The third installment of the comic book series is scheduled for release in the fall, and Tresha hopes that it’ll inspire more asthmatic kids to take their disease in stride just like Savion.
If stereotypes have taught us anything, it’s to expect that little old ladies are always the ones shaking their fists at young folks as they spray-paint graffiti around the neighborhood.
But in this Portugal city, the “Graffiti Grannies” have ditched their knitting circles and picked up paint cans in a hands-on workshop run by street artist Adrião Resende and architect Lara Seixo Rodrigues.
The group, called Lata65—or “Can 65” in English—is a street art collective that paints murals around the city of Lisbon, a town that prides itself on being the “global center of street art.”
It all started four years ago after Rodrigues noticed how fascinated the older residents of her home village were by the graffiti featured in a local art festival—more than even the young folks in attendance.
She and street artist Adrião Resende teamed up to conduct workshops for seniors interested in learning the art form. Together they have been painting the town red, pink, and purple, ever since.
Class begins with an art history lesson on topics ranging from illicit taggers to the high-end works from artists like Banksy. Then, the women, ranging in age from 59 to 90 years old, pull on rubber gloves and snap on face masks, shuffling—sometimes nervously—over to the “legal” walls that Lisbon’s Urban Art Gallery has scouted out for them to leave their mark.
The spunky seniors have a blast using colorful stencils and free-hand signature tags to transform bland sidewalks into works of art exploding with color.
“I didn’t really like street art that much before this; I always thought it was just kids making a mess of the walls,” Olinda Rodrigues, 66, told the Guardian. “It’s great fun. The more I paint, the more I want to paint.”
The biggest complaints about this Elder graffiti come not from onlookers, but within the group itself. They want more walls to paint and more strength to hold the can all day long.
(READ more at The Guardian) Photos: Lata65 on FB — Story tip from Joel Arellano
Covering 38 yards with a pass is nothing in the National Football League, but losing 38 yards on an epic series of fumbles in one play is downright hilarious to watch.
Especially when Nicholas Todor syncs up the action to “Yakety Sax” and posts it on Vimeo as part of his collection.
During Sunday’s game, Miami Dolphins players managed to fumble the football three times in one play, and a Washington Redskins player fumbled once more before Washington finally recovered the ball.
Ordering the “catch of the day” may help keep your waistline from expanding every time you eat a french fry.
According to a new study, adding more fish to your diet or taking fish oil supplements could counteract the effects of a greasy diet and help you shed some weight.
Swedish researchers at Sahlgrenska Academy in Gothenburg arrived at this conclusion after cooking up two different menus for mice in their labs.
Some of them ate lard-based meals, while the others dined on meals rich in fish oil. The two different diets allowed for different kinds of microbes to flourish inside each respective group of mice.
The lard-based diet promoted growth of a bacteria called Bilophila, which has been linked to inflammation. Mice eating the fish oil diet saw higher levels of a different bacteria called Akkermansia muciniphila, which has been linked to improved metabolism and slowing weight gain.
Scientists then transplanted the microbes from the fish oil-fed mice to the lard-fed ones to see if there was any benefit. The transplanted microbes reduced inflammation in the lard-fed mice and helped prevent further weight gain.
The results suggest that microbes associated with fish oil may benefit humans by reducing weight gain from fatty foods.
Their research, published in the journal Cell Metabolism, provides yet another reason to focus on getting a regular intake of fish oil.
(READ more at Pulse Headlines) — Photo by Susanne Nilsson, CC
You’re never too young to appreciate a well-designed sports car.
A pair of five-year-olds in Russia recently made a mad dash for freedom after digging under their kindergarten fence from a sandbox with toy spades.
The boys had been planning their escape for a week, using the time that is usually spent for supervised playtime on the kindergarten grounds to scoop away the sand with their plastic shovels.
Finally, when the right moment presented itself, the youngsters took a mile-long stroll through Magnitogorsk in the Urals region to the nearest luxury car showroom.
It wasn’t until a young female driver noticed the whippersnappers admiring the sports cars that someone finally asked what on earth they were doing.
The boys politely informed the lady that they were looking to purchase a Jaguar and tactfully started their haggling with “we don’t have any money.”
The woman proceeded to escort the boys to the police station, where they were taken back to school to carry out what must have been a much less exciting rest of the day.
Though the boys weren’t noted as missing for 30 minutes, the parents did not submit any complaints against the kindergarten.
Eat your heart out, Steve McQueen.
(READ more at The Guardian) File Photo by Goombay, CC
After taking a look at teacher salaries across America, a hedge fund billionaire decided that something just wasn’t adding up.
Jim Simons, who made his fortune on Wall Street, actually began his career as a mathematician. Being partial to the field—and having deep pockets—drove him to begin personally allocating an extra $15,000 per year to 800 New York City math teachers.
Simons (pictured left) decided to use some of his $22 billion fortune to fund the Math for America foundation, a charity he now focuses on full-time after leaving his job at Renaissance Technologies, the company he founded six years ago.
Math for America plans to expand its reach to 1,000 teachers in 2016, giving pay raises to 10% of the city’s public school math teachers.
The National Center for Education Statistics reports the average teacher salary in the U.S. is just above $56,000 per year, and the starting salary for a NYC public school teacher is just above $45,000.
(READ more at Business Insider) — Photos: BurningQuestion, Gleuschk, CC
When little Keaton asked if he could be a pirate for Halloween, dad knew he had to find a way to make it happen.
It would be a bit of a challenge, since Ryan Weimer’s son needs a wheelchair to get around. But with a little creativity and a lot of heart, Ryan was able to build a costume that incorporated the chair itself as the actual ship with which Keaton the pirate could plunder treats.
The costume ended up being the talk of the town, and a photo of Captain Keaton made it to the front page of their local Portland, Oregon newspaper.
Following that October success in 2008, Weimer decided to create a nonprofit that would make every kid in a wheelchair the most envied in the neighborhood at Halloween. Magic Wheelchair volunteers have since been helping construct these costumes, making fantastic memories for kids whenever its trick-or-treat time.
Three out of five of Weimer’s children have been diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, so the kids have been around wheelchairs most of their lives. It’s been their father’s goal to give them that one special day out of the year when being wheelchair-bound is an asset, not a disability.
In 2015, Magic Wheelchairs took to Kickstarter asking for donations to fund five lucky kids’ Halloween costumes with a goal of raising $15,000. The innovative team surged past their goal, collecting over $25,000 dollars for that year’s batch of Halloween costumes.
Whales and dolphins are getting some long sought peace and quiet from the U.S. Navy.
The service has agreed to stop using certain types of sonar—or sound waves—believed to harm the marine mammals after signing a deal with several environmental groups that have been fighting the practice in court for ten years.
Conservationists have argued that the sonar waves disrupt the marine animals’ feeding patterns, and can even cause deafness. They also blame the practice for causing whales to beach themselves as they try to escape the sound.
The agreement will create safe havens for the mammals between California and Hawaii, locations where the Navy will not use mid-frequency sonar and refrain from conducting explosives training.
In addition, the Navy will no longer use sonar in habitat and feeding areas and reduce the number of training exercises that take place in the region.
The government’s National Marine Fisheries Service will also keep an eye on ocean mammals to determine if there are any negative effects that result from the exercises that are still being performed in the area.
Navy spokesman Lieutenant Commander Matt Knight said the agreement will not affect readiness and the military “will continue to be good environmental stewards” under the deal.
(READ more at BBC News) — Photo: Center for Whale Research, Released
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Over the weekend, two officers went above and beyond their duty in response to a routine welfare call, and made one elderly woman and her family very grateful.
Upon arriving at the local 92-year-old’s apartment, they noticed that all of the food in her fridge had gone bad, and that she had run out of drinking water, after the power had gone out.
Deciding to help, Officer Christen Miller from the Gainesville, Georgia Police Department went shopping and purchased the woman a bunch of new groceries using her own money. Corporal Jessica Van stayed with the woman while Miller went out.
The photos received over 20,000 likes on Facebook, with commenters offering to pay money themselves to help keep the senior’s lights on.
After going on a cleaning binge, the former Beatle and his wife, Barbara Bach, have decided to put 800 pieces of music history up for auction to raise money for charity.
“We’re fed up with having the stuff in storage when it could be put to some good use and also give a lot of people joy,” Starr told the Associated Press.
That “stuff” is a rock fan’s treasure-trove including John Lennon’s “Beatle-Backer” — a Rickenbacker guitar that Lennon gave to Starr.
Other pieces include one of the first four pressings of the White Album — there was one for each Beatle — and a three-piece Ludwig drum kit Ringo used in 200 performances from 1963-64.
While sifting through 50 years of memorabilia, Starr also found a box of old photographs he shot while on tour with his former bandmates. He’s collected the never-before published images into a book, “Photograph” (on Amazon) which debuts September 21.
“We have corresponded with the owners and expressed our interest to go into negotiation with them,” he said.
Naguib Sawiris heads Orascom, a transportation, construction and communication company (World Economic Forum, CC)
Earlier this month, Sawiris suggested the idea of buying an island where he could pay refugees to build their own homes, schools and basic services and then provide them with jobs after they settled the island.
He estimated that he could afford to house as many as 200,000 refugees, and offered the possibility that they might create their very own country instead of simply returning home when their countries stabilized.
There are more than 1,200 Greek islands – fewer than 300 of them are populated. Sawiris has not identified the islands’ current owners, but says it will cost about $100 million to get the project started.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has shown interest in cooperating on his plan.
Jim Simons, who made his fortune on 
