Two sets of proud parents from opposite ends of the world met for the first time this weekend to cheer on a graduating senior who picked up a second family while studying abroad.
Molly DiLeonardi, who studied in Cameroon last spring, used a bonus from her first job to fund her host parents’ trip to Pennsylvania for graduation day at Dickinson college.
(WATCH the happy video below)
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The world’s largest oil exporting country is considering an end to the use of fossil fuels by the middle of the century.
Saudi Arabia’s oil minister, Ali al-Naimi, says the kingdom plans to become a “global power in solar and wind energy” with a goal of exporting electricity instead of oil as early as 2040.
“The statement represents a stunning admission by a nation whose wealth, power and outsize influence in the world are predicated on its vast reserves of crude oil,” reports the Financial Times.
“In Saudi Arabia, we recognize that eventually, one of these days, we are not going to need fossil fuels. I don’t know when, in 2040, 2050 or thereafter.”
(READ the full Financial Times story at CNBC) – Photo by dsearls, CC
Almost fifteen years ago, I left the only life I had ever known in pursuit of something different… something better. I took my first real leap of faith and joined the Air Force. I knew I wasn’t military material, but I made the choice after my mother kicked me out of her life and hear. After a few months of trying to figure out how exactly to create a living, I decided the military was my best option.
I mean, at 19, how on earth can someone be expected to figure their life out?
I certainly tried. I worked at a dental office during that time and thought about pursuing a career path in that field. I even found a cute little apartment in Bristol, CT. However, when I looked around that apartment, I couldn’t help but think, “This is it. This will be my life. I won’t ever go anywhere or do anything. I will be stuck in this little life forever.” Visions of a dead-end job, an even more dead-end boyfriend and children I wasn’t ready to have flooded my consciousness. I didn’t want that life. I knew there was something better in store for me and though I knew the Air Force would never be a career choice, it was a ticket out of the dead-end I was living in. It was a ticket into the unknown; a wild card for my future.
Within 24 hours, I was sitting with an Air Force recruiter discussing my options for a better life. Within weeks, I was sitting in the MEPS office (in Massachusetts) fighting tears from spilling out of my eyes as I listened through the phone for the last time to my mother expressing frustration about my existence. She called me an idiot as we said good-bye and I headed for a bus which would take me to the airport, which would then take me to Basic Training.
During that phone call, the flood gates did open and I couldn’t help but cry. I mean, I was making a big choice and the one person who is kind of always supposed to be unconditionally supportive was the one person who took the opportunity to kick me while I was down. I felt alone, scared, confused and generally awful about myself, so the flood gates did open wide and I cried the ugliest cry (you know, the one with all sorts of unnatural twisty faces and boogers… and enough tears to stop a drought).
When I hung up the phone, I suddenly felt assaulted by the bright fluorescent lights which shone brightly everywhere. I felt like a deer in headlights as I looked around the official military office I was sitting in, with a maze of gray furniture, filing cabinets and random files of young men and women strewn about as if we were not real people, but merely disposable and replaceable pieces of paper….. I know I surely felt disposed of already, even before the new adventure would officially begin. I looked around and saw several men walking through the office in perfectly pressed uniforms trying to avoid eye contact with me. I was simply frozen. I couldn’t move. I didn’t want to move. I didn’t want to exist. I remained frozen until one of the men probably realized I wasn’t simply going to walk away. I watched him as his body language remained cold and professional, but his eyes were filled with warmth and concern as he said, “It’s okay. Here, take a Kleenex…. well, take the whole box. Why don’t you walk away for a minute… or however long you need and come back when you feel ready. Okay?”
I gathered my belongings and boarded the bus which waited to take me to a new life. As the six of us sat on the super large coach bus which would deposit us at the airport, I was still struggling with being weepy. The other guys did take notice and didn’t ask why… which is good because I wouldn’t have known how to answer them. One of the guys simply said, “It’s alright. It’s only six weeks (basic training). Don’t be scared.” I told him I wasn’t scared. I didn’t tell him that I was sad because I was alone, no one seemed to care about me and I was mourning the loss of a life I never got to have…
As time passed, my sniffles subsided. The six of us made small talk until our plans to get to Lackland, Airbase in San Antonio, Texas got derailed by a huge snowstorm in Missouri and we had to start talking more so we could figure out what we were supposed to do since our flight got cancelled.
As we figured stuff out, the six of us simply had fun walking around the airport talking and laughing about how funny it was that we were going to be late to basic training. I mean, the beginning of the whole ordeal is supposed to be pretty scary as you arrive in the middle of the night with all sorts of yelling and culture shock and what not…. and we were going to be casually late.
The government eventually approved us to get a hotel room and as we walked into the room, it suddenly dawned on us: Five guys. One girl. Two beds. Tiny room. I was informed by our “leader” (before you leave MEPS, the oldest of the group is officially appointed “leader” until you get to your final destination), that I would have one bed and everyone else would figure it out. I actually did protest at that because I knew how tired everyone was. I mean, the whole military intake process is a long, invasive, boring and often sleep deprived experience, so I assured them that I was okay to share a bed.
I was vetoed. I slept alone.
We did have fun though. We stayed up watching TV and laughing for a long time.
The next day, I was sort of spoiled again. Since we had to squeeze into a flight leaving the next day and there wasn’t enough room, someone had to be bumped to first class. Again, our leader chose me. I didn’t exactly protest this time…
As I gratefully cozied into the roomier seat with the warm blanket and smiled hello to the person sitting next to me, I thought for sure I might actually get some good rest before I arrived to the inevitable stress awaiting me in Texas. I was wrong. My neighbor wanted to talk. I guess after a week of very little sleep and lots of stress, my exhaustion was obvious. Maybe the clothes which I had been wearing for too long smelled more than they should have… or maybe my sweet naivety mixed with the exhaustion and dirty clothes made my neighbor intrigued about this little mess of a person sitting beside her in first class. She wanted to know my story.
I was too tired to wear a social mask, so I shared how I came to be sitting next to her that very snowy day to fly from St. Louis to San Antonio. I told her the heart-breaking tale of the day my drunk of a mother kicked me out. I told her about the apartment I found and how I didn’t want that to be my life. I told her about the supremely ungraceful day before in the MEPS station weepily being sworn in to the Air Force…. As she watched my terribly young and tired face tell the story, I watched her jaw drop. “Surely you have other options… What about family?” I told her that my whole family really was quite dysfunctional and that as my personal choice did not want help from my biological family, if any of them really could help anyway. I didn’t see how anyone I was related to could actually help me up….. I saw my family as people willing to help me down and hold me there, but not as a valuable support system in any way. My first class neighbor said, “I’m sorry.” It’s okay, I told her. It really was. Though I knew my life was a mess, it was my mess and even as a very young person, I understood that.
We didn’t talk for a while. I figured I had creeped her out by being so honest, which was okay… I wasn’t surprised. Then my neighbor turned to me and said, “I don’t want you to do this. I can help you.” I assured her that I had been sworn in to the military and I was officially government property and there was no way to change that. She went on to tell me that she could… or at the very least that she really wanted to help me out of the military and help me build a different life for myself. I assured her that I would be okay. I was honest and told her that I didn’t like the idea of the military, but the decision had been made and I signed on the dotted line already and again that I would be okay.
We sat in silence until our descent into San Antonio. As we got closer to touching ground, discomfort bubbled in my stomach, but I tried to hide it. My neighbor told me that since she couldn’t help me out of my situation, that she wanted to give me money. I refused. Again, I assured her that I wouldn’t need any in basic training and after that, I would have a government paycheck and a roof over my head, so money would not be needed. I would be okay. As I told her I couldn’t take her money, she told me a little about herself. “Please don’t refuse me. I’m not going to let you. I am a brain surgeon, trust me, helping you, if even a little does not hurt me.” She handed me some cash and her address. She asked that I write to her if I ever felt scared.
As I waited for the other five to my San Antonio six, I felt strangely peaceful. It wasn’t the money, I think it was the interaction I had shared with that woman. For the first time since I chose to join the military, someone- a strong female figure- truly cared. She didn’t want to see me tossed out. She believed in me. She cared what my future held. Though I didn’t know her and I wouldn’t see her again, I suddenly didn’t feel like I was embarking on the unknown quite so alone anymore. I mattered to someone… Someone who didn’t need to have any sort of attachment to my well-being simply cared and listened with an open heart.
I do remember that I wrote her one letter at the height of my stress, but I honestly can’t remember if I sent it. At any rate, I did hold on to her address until the end of basic. It was a nice reminder every time I opened my teeny tiny drawer of personal belongings that I was not alone and I like to think that I have paid that random act of loving kindness forward in many ways.
I wonder if she remembers me.
I actually do wish that someday, somewhere in this life that there will be a twisty turn of fate which crosses our paths again so that I can tell her I was and am okay. I want to thank her for planting a seed for me to never stop believing that there will always be support in the most unexpected places at the most unexpected times to help me remember that I am never alone and just when I think life has handed me far too many lemons that there will always be a tall, sweet pitcher of lemonade waiting just around the corner.
Please remember that everyone you come in contact with has a story and one small act of love really can turn someone’s outlook on life around completely. Be kind to everyone. You never know how you can plant a seed of hope in the life of others.
Top Photo by Harud, CC
Global food prices fell in March to their lowest in almost five years as supplies for most commodities, including cereals and meat, remained robust, the United Nations food agency in April. (Reuters)
A shy, 4th grade student in Winlock, Washington was having a horrible day, being teased about his newly shaven head, which revealed a scar.
Seeing him crying so moved teacher Tori Nelson that she let him shave her own hair off at recess, while the other students cheered.
This nine-year-old’s worst day quickly became his “best day ever.”
(WATCH the video below or READ the story from KCPQ) – Story tip from Debbie Westbeld
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Cartwheeling spiders, pufferfish that make crop circles on the sea bed, and a “chicken from hell” — the top ten list of new species contains fascinating life forms never before imagined.
You have to wonder how we missed spotting them for so long. Maybe some of them were just difficult to catch, like the cartwheeling spider of Morocco. It can tumble end-over-end twice as fast as it can run, making for speedy getaways from predators in the desert.
An Indonesian frog gives birth to live tadpoles instead of laying eggs. The only frog species known to reproduce this way, its discovery instantly creates the need to update every science textbook.
For two decades scientists wondered what was making circular geometric patterns in the sea floor off the coast of Japan. An artistic pufferfish creates the sand art as a nest to attract a mate. Also in Japan a sea slug was found shimmering in shades of red, blue and gold, certainly the most beautiful slug ever seen.
The “chicken from hell” — a feathered dinosaur that lived in the Dakota states alongside Tyrannosaurus Rex — is the only species on the top ten list that’s extinct. The dinosaur’s name comes from the location where the fossils were entombed, the prehistoric rocks of famous Hell Creek Formation.
An international panel of scientists picked the top ten new species from among around 18,000 discovered last year. State University of New York’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) compiles the annual list to call attention to “how little we know about life on earth” and to promote efforts to protect rare species.
Rounding out the top ten new species are a plant that looks like coral, the X-Phyla, a bone-house wasp, a bromeliad plant, and a nine-inch long walking stick. Best estimates for the number of species yet to be discovered? Ten million!
(WATCH the video below or READ more from ESF)
Pufferfish circle photo by Yoji Okata
Robert Lee really, really hates to see food go to waste.
That’s why he left his finance job at J.P Morgan to rescue leftover food from various restaurants around New York City and deliver them to homeless shelters. Every day, Robert and a band of volunteers collect the bagels, deli items, and catered food many of us shake our heads at, knowing they’ll be tossed in the trash.
Over the past two years, Rescuing Leftover Cuisine has delivered 100,000 pounds of food to those in need by partnering with 50 food providers citywide.
The 24-year-old son of Korean immigrants is no stranger to food insecurity himself.
“Since an early age we were moving around a lot. It was difficult even to get food sometimes,” he told CNN.
New York, it seems, is just the first stop; Lee has confirmed that the program is on it’s way to six other cities across the U.S. An app is also currently in the works, which may do for food donation deliveries what Uber has done for “people” deliveries.
For his work, Robert Lee last week was named a CNN Hero.
(Watch the video and READ the full interview at CNN)
You can actually see this circus lion’s face light up the moment he knows he’s free.
This big cat named Will was freed from a tiny cage where he’d been housed for 13 years. When he stepped into the grassy enclosure at Brazil’s Rancho do Gnomos wildlife sanctuary, he kicked up a dust cloud, pawing at the ground and rolled around in the grass.
The sanctuary’s staff believe it was the first time the lion had ever felt grass under his paws.
The video of Will’s release was shot in 2006, but the sanctuary just published it on Facebook this week.
The sanctuary’s founder Marco Pompeo says Will passed away from natural causes in 2011, but he had five great years of freedom — in the company of other lions — after he arrived at Ranco do Gnomos.
“He loved to lie in grass and look at the sky,” Pompeo told The Dodo. “He was a very happy lion.”
(WATCH the video below)
Story tip Denny Hall
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France’s National Assembly this week voted on a new zero-waste policy that will require all supermarket chains to convert leftover food into animal feed, energy, or compost, or donate it to charity. Ultimately, the government hopes to slice food waste in half by the year 2025.
Until now, many chains have been dumping their food into bins and “bleaching” it so that nobody else can take it. Now, grocery stores will be expected to sign contracts with various charities in order to give that food new life.
The man who fought for this law, town councilman Arash Derambarsh, deserves much of the credit for its passing.
(READ more from The Guardian)
Photo by Franz Venhaus, CC
One good deed has led to another for a man who broke a tenet of his religion to help a little boy hurt in an accident.
We told you earlier this week how, even though Sikhs are never supposed to take off their turbans in public, Harman Singh (right) removed his and used it to help an injured boy.
When a New Zealand television news crew interviewed Singh later in his apartment, they noticed his empty rooms held very little furniture.
The staff at the station, spurred by comments from viewers, contacted a local furniture store owner and together they surprised Singh with a reward for his kindness. They showed up with a new bed, sofa, chair and coffee table.
Through tears, Mr. Singh, whose father died last year, said, “This the biggest surprise of my life.”
Muslim Man on Bus Gives His Shoes to Homeless Guy Who Had None
He said he knew his father would be proud of him, too.
(WATCH their video below or READ more at TVNZ) Photo: TVNZ video
Do you avoid getting shots in the arm because you’re afraid of needles? You may soon be able to get a vaccination as easily as slapping on a Band-Aid.
The microneedle patch is an adhesive bandage with up to 100 needles so small you can’t even feel them. Soaked in a mix of vaccine and sugar, you put it on and wear it for 15 to 20 minutes. When you take it off, you’re vaccinated against the flu, measles or rubella.
Its most compelling advantages would be for people in the developing world.
There’s no need for refrigeration to preserve the vaccine and no need to train someone how to use and properly dispose of needles. And people no longer have to travel miles to vaccination centers — health workers can easily go door-to-door to do their job.
MORE Good News: World’s First Blood Test To Diagnose Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Georgia Tech University’s Mark Prausnitz came up with the idea and has been testing it in the lab. The Centers for Disease Control wants to start human trials in 2017 — and possibly use it to reaching its goal of eradicating measles and rubella by 2020.
(WATCH the video below) – Photos: Georgia Tech University video
Sometimes, it really does take a village.
Two-year-old Paxton McClung was born with cortical displaysia, a condition that results in epilepsy. He’s gone through several surgeries, but one piece of equipment called a “stander” is needed to further improve his mobility.
The trouble is, insurance companies won’t cover the cost of the $4,300 device.
Paxton’s mother called on the community to participate in a garage sale, and their neighbors obliged: together they raised $3,600 to purchase the stander, which will help stabilize Paxton’s joints, among other things.
“It will help him build muscle in his legs and his abs so that he’ll be able to hopefully walk, and stand up and crawl and sit up and all the things we’ve been looking forward to,” Paxton’s mother told WSB-TV Atlanta.
The family also set up a fundraising page, where they have raised an additional $3,000, with many donations coming in from strangers, including one for $410, since this news report aired.
(WATCH the video below or READ the full story at WSB)
Story tip by Judy Ritchie
A revolutionary breakthrough in healthcare was unveiled that could help millions of people to avoid years of invasive tests, unpredictable pain and misdiagnosis. New blood tests can now quickly and accurately diagnose one of the most common digestive disorders – one that until now, has been nearly impossible to diagnose.
Two simple tests, developed by gastroenterologist Dr. Mark Pimentel of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, finally gives doctors the ability to confirm whether a person actually has developed irritable bowel syndrome – a common disorder that includes bouts of relentless diarrhea, which plagues about ten percent of the world’s population and nearly 40 million Americans.
“Most IBS patients have been told at one time or another that the disease was psychological, all in their head,” said Dr Pimentel. “The fact that we can now confirm the disease through their blood, not their head, is going to end a lot of the emotional suffering I have seen these patients endure.”
His nearly eight years of research centered around antibodies in the blood that had previously interacted with toxins during food poisoning.
(WATCH the video below or READ more at Daily Mail)
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Dozens of bird species across the South Pacific have been listed as endangered, or nearly so, after non-native rats began eating their eggs. The predators, having arrived on visiting boats, are threatening to wipe out entire bird populations.
This made Angry Birds’ creator, Rovio Entertainment, well…angry.
The popular mobile app swooped in to fight back with their latest installment, “Tropigal Paradise.” It features 26 levels of play, but more importantly raises awareness about — and money for — the endangered birds.
Rovio partnered with BirdLife International in a crowdfunding campaign to raise $150,000 that will pay for boats, bait-spreading helicopters and expert conservationists who will carefully vanquish the rats from the French Polynesian islands of Kamaka and Manui, protecting the eggs of two endangered bird species there.
BirdLife International has already rescued 30 South Pacific bird species from extinction on islands in five countries.
With 10 days to go, there’s still time to help transform Angry Birds into happy birds and raise the money needed to meet their goal and score a win for the stunning real-life birds of French Polynesia.
And your contributions can earn you rewards — including digital artwork featuring cartoon versions of the real-life birds on the islands, a chance to name one of the characters in the new version of Angry Birds and a photo of a personalized thank-you note written in the sand of Kamaka Island.
(WATCH the video below and READ more at EcoWatch) – Images from BirdLife International
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If you’ve ever seen a mile-long freight train and wondered how safe those tank cars were, know this: they are about to get a lot safer.
After recent accidents caused oil tank cars to explode, officials realized it was time to update railroad regulations and give these old tanks an upgrade.
The U.S. and Canada have devised new standards, requiring tougher railroad cars for carrying flammable liquids, and a retrofit plan for the older ones.
Since 2008, the number of crude oil shipments by rail in North America has increased by 4,000 percent, but safety regulations were unchanged.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx says even a 99.9% safety record isn’t good enough. He said the U.S. and Canada “have to strive for perfection” in preventing all tank car crashes and fires.
(WATCH the video below and READ more at NBC News) Photo by Sam Beebe, Ecotrust – Story tip by Carilyn
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Back in the 1940s, Betty Soskin was a file clerk for a segregated boilermakers union. She waited until she was 85 to join the National Park Service.
Now, five days a week, the 93-year-old takes tourists through Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Park, telling her own personal World War II story and highlighting the historic role other women played supplying the war effort.
“I tell the story of the African-American workers,” Soskin said in an Interior Department profile. “My job as a clerk in a Jim Crow union hall was a step up; the equivalent of today’s young woman of color being the first in her family to enter college.”
Her mother and great-grandmother both lived past 100, and Soskin has no plans to quit, as long as “life keeps opening up”.
(WATCH the inspiring video below, or READ more from the Dept of Interior) Photos by Dept of the Interior
Utah has slashed chronic homelessness by 91 percent in the last ten years with a simple solution — give the homeless a home.
The turnaround in Utah means that only 178 people remain chronically homeless in the state — so few that Utah’s housing officials know them all by name.
The state adopted a policy called “Housing First” which calls for putting the homeless in housing before addressing the issues that caused their homelessness in the first place.
WATCH: How Does A Homeless Man Spend $100? You Won’t Believe It
Traditionally in social service sectors, homeless people are required to get a job, deal with substance abuse or treat mental health issues first before they can even be considered for housing.
Chronically homeless people are those who’ve been without a home for a full year or homeless three times in four years. They make up only about 10% of the homeless population, but account for about 50% of the costs associated with homelessness.
CHECK Out: Woman Donates Entire Toy Store to Kids in Homeless Shelters
It costs more than $19,000 a year to take care of someone living on the street, according to Deseret News, but less than $8,000 to house and help someone through the Housing First plan in Utah.
Since Utah’s dramatic success, other states, including Indiana, Hawaii and Washington state, are considering the model.
(WATCH the NBC News video below) – Photo by Jason Riedy, CC license
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Doctors had once counted her out, but next week, this teen will be walking alongside her graduating classmates to get her high school diploma.
Four years ago, 17-year-old Taylor Hale accidentally slid off a car hood and hit her head, hard, against the pavement.
Declaring her brain dead, doctors told her family she would certainly never wake up, claims her mother, Stacy Henningsen.
But then something miraculous happened. Hours after the doctors began taking her off medications and life support, Henningsen said her daughter began breathing on her own. Her mother still reminisces about the incredible moment.
“I think about it quite often,” Hennsingsen told NBC News. “It’s definitely a miracle.”
Despite doctors’ uncertainty about Hale regaining her ability to walk, eat, and move, she persevered. Not only is she graduating on time, but also headed to college. She plans to become an event planner.
(WATCH video below or READ more at NBC News)
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Religious law states that a turban must always cover a Sikh’s head.
But when a devout follower, twenty-two-year-old Singh Harman, saw a five-year-old boy bleeding from the head at the scene of an accident, he had no reservations about uncovering his own so he could comfort the child.
“I wasn’t thinking about the turban. I was thinking about the accident and I just thought, ‘He needs something on his head because he’s bleeding.’ And I think anyone else would have done the same as me,” he said.
Harman recently reunited with young Daejon Pahia, and took photos while visiting him at an Auckland hospital. The boy’s family greeted him with flowers and a balloon, and showered him with thanks.
(READ more at The New Zealand Herald)
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One of the most popular characters on Game of Thrones has teamed up with British band Coldplay to create a musical skit mocking the HBO show as part of a star-studded charity event this week.
In a video teaser for Thursday night’s show, Peter Dinklage who plays the charming “imp,” Tyrion Lannister, sings about being one the few surviving original characters.
“Remember Ned Stark? He was a lot of fun, but he didn’t make it past season one,” Dinklage croons. “Robert Barathion was part of that crew, but he never made it to season two.” (see the video below)
The pre-taped song is just one of several “Game of Thrones” tunes to be featured on the live 3-hour telethon airing on NBC May 21. Other cast members will perform alongside Coldplay–all in support of the British comic charity drive, Red Nose Day.
This event marks the first time Red Nose Day has officially raised money in a big way in the United States. Julia Roberts, Liam Neeson, Will Ferrell and Gwyneth Paltrow are performing for the show and might even wear the traditional red foam clown’s noses for which the charity is known. For 30 years, British comedians and entertainers have raised more than a billion dollars to lift children out of poverty.
You can also participate by buying red noses at Walgreens pharmacies for $1 each, with all proceeds going to children’s charities.
(WATCH the video below and READ the story from AP)
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