A vaccine against Ebola has been shown to be 100% successful in trials conducted during the outbreak in Guinea and is likely to bring the west African epidemic to an end, the Guardian reported Friday.
Scientists, doctors, donors and drug companies collaborated to race the vaccine through a process that usually takes more than a decade in just 12 months.
(READ more from The Guardian) – Photo: USAID
I stopped at a local convenience store tonight to cash in some scratcher lottery tickets that have been on my desk for a few months. When I got inside there was an old Black gentleman with a cane making a purchase at the register. The cashier told him the items he wanted would be $4.65 so the man pulled some dollar bills out of his wallet and handed them to her.
“How many is that?” he asked. The cashier told him it was four dollars. “How many more you need?” the man inquired. The reply came that he needed to give her one more dollar, which he did.
When I turned around the man was looking at me and seemed confused. “Do you need some help?” I asked. Before he could answer a younger woman came into the store and wanted to know what was taking the old man so long. She then looked at me. I told her I was trying to see if he needed some help because he seemed confused.
The old man blurted out, “That’s my daughter.” I acknowledged that fact and, seeing he was in good hands said, “I get confused sometimes too. Take care.”
As I turned to leave the old gentleman enthusiastically called out, “Keep on living.” I turned and smiled and said, “You too friend.”
At that point the lotto winnings were meaningless. I had won something a whole lot more valuable than money. I had won a new friend.
Today was a good day.
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Feeding the hungry is a time-honored tradition among people of many faiths, all over the world.
In Amritsar, India, the Sikh gather in a Golden Temple to serve 100,000 meals every single day of the year in a kitchen that never closes.
The langar, or community kitchen, found in this temple is the largest free kitchen on the planet, serving literally tons of food from a sprawling complex of white marble and gold.
The food never runs out, all are welcome, and no one ever pays a single rupee.
With its crowds swelling to some 150,000 on holy days, this Sikh temple sees more daily traffic than the India’s most popular tourist attraction, the Taj Mahal.
Look closely and you’ll see that, beyond merely filling empty tummies, there is something more radical going on here.
In a society still heavily influenced by a class system, an ancient caste of hierarchies that for millennia dictated (among other things) who got to eat what, and with whom, this is a place where all people are considered equal.
From the volunteers who come from various religions to the diners of all socioeconomic backgrounds, they sit row upon row, cross-legged on the floor, enjoying the same meal. The langar embodies the ideal of equality and thus has always been more than just a place to eat for free.
“Sikh gurus worked very intentionally to challenge social distinctions in various forms,” said Samran Jeet Singh, the senior religion fellow for the Sikh Coalition in the U.S.
RELATED: Bangladesh Slashes Hunger Rates in Half, Becomes Model for Rest of World
For that reason, Sikhism’s founder, Guru Nanak, told all male Sikh followers to wear turbans. Before that, tradition in India dictated that only the noble elite would wear them. Similarly, every Sikh man has taken the middle or last name of ‘Singh,’ to remove outward allusions to inequality.
So, too, with the langar.
But just who pays for all this?
A staggering volume of foodstuffs is needed in the Golden Temple kitchen daily—12,000 kilos of flour, 1,500 kilos of rice, 13,000 kilos of lentils, and up to 2,000 kilos of vegetables. Like every bit of the labor, the budget is entirely donated, sometimes up to two years in advance. People give, mostly anonymously, out of a sense of religious and social obligation.
“There are only three things in our religion,” a 55-year-old Sikh volunteer from California who moved to Amritsar in 2013 told the Munchies TV show. “Chant the name of God, sing religious hymns, and volunteer. I work as long as my legs allow me to stand.”
(READ more from the TV show Munchies on Vice) Photos: (top) Arian Zwegers (bottom) Fulvio Spada, CC
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The entire island nation of Sri Lanka is about to be blanketed with Internet service — all of it beamed from balloons – thanks to a contract with Google to create Internet connections in the sky.
Google’s Project Loon uses a network of 13 giant balloons, riding air currents, to deliver smartphone-based Internet service to the people below. Through this, all 21 million people living in Sri Lanka will be able to access the Internet through their smartphones or tablets, just as those devices would connect to a cell tower.
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Google created the project to deliver cheap internet to remote and inaccessible parts of the world where running cables and fiber optics are impractical or too expensive.
Each balloon can stay aloft for 100 days, flying twice as high as commercial airliners. Google can build each balloon in a matter of hours and launch 12 per day with a single crane. They eventually plan to have thousands of the balloons in the air at a time, covering remote corners of the world from the Arctic to Australia.
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Project Loon began testing the idea in New Zealand in 2012, but Sri Lanka will be the first place the project delivers Internet when it goes online in the next few months.
(WATCH the video and READ more at SD Net) – Photo: Google video
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They say music brings us together and although this performance only lasted four minutes, its epic orchestration brought together 1000 drummers, bassists, singers and guitarists united in a single plea–directed at five guys.
“Please come and play for us in Cesena, Italy.”
Fabio Zaffagnini worked a year on producing the project. The result is a stunning video that is making his dream of seeing the Foo Fighters in concert come true.
The song, played on July 26 by 1000 musicians in an open field with amplifiers–and 250 drum kits, was the uplifting Foo Fighters anthem, Learn to Fly.
The multi-camera video has tallied almost 12 million views in two days, but one viewer mattered the most.
There’s a reason Dave Grohl is the “nicest guy in rock and roll.” 23 hours ago, a day after it went up on YouTube, he posted his response, speaking in Italian, the band’s Facebook page.
“Hi, Cesena. I am David. I’m sorry I don’t speak Italian. Only a little, a little. That video…how beautiful! Very beautiful. Thank you very much–a thousand times. We are coming, I promise. We’ll see each other soon. Thank you very much. I love you. Bye.”
Ci vediamo a presto, Cesena.... xxx Davide
Posted by Foo Fighters on Friday, July 31, 2015
Learn more at the project’s website, www.Rockin1000.com
Within days of the anniversary that a Spanish fleet wrecked in a hurricane off the coast of Florida 300 years ago, a family of treasure divers uncovered a million dollars in rare gold coins and artifacts hiding in just 15 feet of water.
1,000 feet off the coast of Fort Pierce, Eric Schmitt and his family rejoiced in the discovery after diving in the area for several years. They will get half the bounty of everything recovered, once the state claims up to 20% if some rarities should be in a museum.
The Florida salvage company who owns the rights to excavate the 300 square-mile underwater area, Queens Jewels, LLC, will get the other half.
The gold was part of a huge bounty of riches aboard eleven ships returning to Spain from the New World. The cargo aboard the Tierra Firme fleet included jewels for the new bride of King Philip V of Spain–but all was lost on July 31, 1715, when all eleven ships sunk in the hurricane.
Since 2010, crews have scoured the area contracted by the salvage company. Divers this time around recovered 51 gold coins and 40 feet of ornate gold chain, a haul that left the co-founder of Queen Jewels shaking.
“I was blown away,” he told National Geographic.
If any metal detectors owners in the area are interested in searching for treasure, they will need to stay on shore. If any gold coins wash up, they’re up for grabs.
(WATCH the video below, or READ more at Nat’l Geographic) Photo: YouTube – Story tip from Carilyn
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A waitress who did a good deed for a pair of firefighters was overwhelmed when they returned the favor—for her father.
Instead of a bill for their breakfast, Liz Woodward brought a pair of New Jersey firefighters a thank you note. They’d just spent 24 hours battling the blaze at a local warehouse, and the waitress wanted to do something nice for them.
“Your breakfast is on me today,” the note read, along with little drawings of a fire ax and helmet. “Thank you for all that you do.”
Firefighter Tim Young posted the story and a photo of the note to Facebook, urging people to eat at the diner where she worked. But then, he found out the waitress had a GoFundMe campaign that she was using to raise $17,000 to buy her father a wheelchair-accessible van.
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“Turns out, the young lady who gave us a free meal is really the one that could use the help,” Young wrote in another post.
The firefighter’s plea spread like wildfire. His posts were shared thousands of times and 1,000 people donated more than $67,000 — $50,000 above her goal.
“This is just one example of how so many people in this world have incredible hearts and they pay it forward, so the circle keeps on moving,” Woodward told TODAY.
(WATCH the video below from WPVI News)
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If you happen to live in Canada, you can take a year off to travel the world before college and use those frequent flyer miles to pay your tuition.
Thanks to a team effort by Air Canada’s frequent flyer program, Aeroplan, and HigherEdPoints, miles can now be converted into education dollars.
Users can cash in 35,000 miles for a $250 certificate accepted by 70 colleges and universities in Canada.
The money can go toward tuition, fees or even paying down student loan debt.
Recent college graduate Charles Bernatchez swapped 210,000 frequent flyer miles he collected from friends and family to pay off $1,500 in student loan debt.
“I have a crap ton of debt that I have to pay off,” Bernatchez told Bloomberg Business. He gets some help from the 150,000 miles a year he runs up by using a credit card offering mileage points.
The program has been slow to take off, with only about $125,000 in certificates issued since the program started in 2013, but HigherEdPoints hopes to expand into the U.S. soon.
(READ more at Bloomberg) — Photo: Brian, CC; Theivorytower, GNU
Of course 11 species of color-changing lizards have been hiding in plain sight — they’re masters of disguise.
Now that they’ve officially been discovered, scientists believe the critters could actually help save a rainforest.
Panther chameleons, who are native to Madagascar, were initially thought to be a single species.
New DNA tests, however, reveal that there are really 11 different species of panther chameleons living on the island nation.
As it turns out, Chameleons have a “super power” of sorts when it comes to environmental issues — a cuteness factor. Just check out the video here of a chameleon popping soap bubbles.
No really, bear with us a moment.
That kind of cuteness makes chameleons a “charismatic species,” according to conservation biologists.
Like polar bears and pandas, they posses a quality that makes people sympathetic to them; in other words, people are more likely to want to save cute tigers than an endangered and ugly (sorry, guys) fruit fly species.
Let’s hope those 11 species have enough cuteness among them to help rally support for the rainforests—come on, just look at those faces!
You can donate to rainforest conservation efforts at the World Land Trust, a charity with a 20 year track record of successful environmental projects and Sir David Attenborough as a patron.
(WATCH the Newsy video below) – Photo: Florence Ivy, CC
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Sixty-two years after the Korean War ended, residents of a South Korean town reached out to veterans in New Jersey to remind them that their sacrifice in the 1950s will never be forgotten.
A refurbished monument that honors local veterans of the Asian conflict was unveiled Monday in Jersey City, after vandals had defaced the circular memorial in October. When word of the vandalism reached the city of Uijeongbu, folks there decided to send $100,000 to pay for the repairs.
The memorial’s lights had been ripped out and scratches marred some of the engraved names lining the interior of the structure. Now, the scratches are gone, and 18 new pictures, depicting scenes from modern-day South Korea and moments from the war, adorn the inner ring of polished granite panels.
Speaking at Monday’s unveiling ceremony, Hyung Gil Kim, deputy counsel general of the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in New York, expressed his deepest gratitude on behalf of all South Koreans.
“The Korean War is not forgotten,” Kim said. “Koreans will never, ever forget the services and sacrifice of your brothers and husbands and your fathers and grandfathers.”
The Jersey Journal reports that new floodlights donated by the Fields Development Group will deter further vandalism.
(READ more at The New Jersey Journal) – Photos via NJ Department of Military & Veterans Affairs
Warren Buffett’s summer tradition of giving continued with a gift of $2.8 billion to foundations that work on global health, college scholarships, poverty and opportunities for children, especially girls, around the world.
The billionaire’s latest donation was given in the form of 20.6 million shares of Berkshire Hathaway stock divided among five foundations.
As it has been for ten years, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was among the recipients, along with foundations set up by Buffett’s family that tackle the issues of education, development and poverty.
Buffett has promised to give away 99 percent of his fortune and so far has donated $25.5 billion to nonprofit charities.
Buffett and the Gates’ created the “Giving Pledge” to encourage other wealthy families to give their fortunes away before they die. As of today, 132 millionaires and billionaires have joined the pledge.
(READ more at Forbes) — Photo: Mark Hirschey, CC
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Aside from being absolutely adorable—and the ideal posterboy for #TongueOutTuesday—Mervin is a champion for second chance pups everywhere.
Initially found as a stray and brought to the ASPCA, Mervin, a very special-needs dog, has made a major splash all over social media.
After being properly nourished, undergoing knee surgery, and having all of his teeth removed—it’s soft food for life—he was adopted by Joey, a kind man who works at the ASPCA in New York City.
Now, the five-year-old chihuahua is happy as a clam and hamming it up for the camera, showing us all just how much of a difference a little TLC can make.
Together, Joey and Mervin are on a mission to show support against animal cruelty and to promote the adoption of dogs.
With 30K followers on Instagram alone, we suggest you take a look, if you want to have your entire day made and then some.
For more on Mervin, visit him on Facebook.
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For his fifth birthday, Haylen Astalos’s parents threw him a “five for five party.” They asked guests to bring two $5 dollar bills: one for the birthday boy, and another for him to donate to a charity of his choice.
After buying a tricked-out monster truck for himself, Haylen decided to donate the $100 to Ronald McDonald House—and requested an official tour of the place.
Shortly after taking a look around the facility, he decided to open an ice cream shop. With some help from his family, he built the “ice cream truck” with wood, painted it, loaded it with frozen treats, and welcomed the people of Blackfalds, in Alberta, Canada.
When his mother asked him what he wanted to do with the ice cream money, Haylen replied by saying, “I’m going to give all the money to the Ronald McDonald House. I will fill up my bucket and give it to them, then fill it again and again and keep giving it to them.”
Haylen, who’s favorite flavor is Kit-Kat, sometimes gets help from his three-year-old sister Farah and neighbors who donate ice cream to the stand.
“I just want to help a bunch and bunch and bunch of kids so they can buy medicine,” Haylen told Good News Network.
He says he “doesn’t know” how often he sets up shop (time is an overrated concept, anyway), but when asked where he sets up—specifically, if it’s outside of his house—he responded, “Yes, how would I do it inside? We don’t want strangers inside.”
Now that he has successfully reached his initial goal of $2,011, Haylen has set a new goal of $3,009—a number that we trust he has a specific plan for.
Additionally, he says, he will switch to hot chocolate once the weather turns cold.
To keep up with “Haylen’s Ice Cream Shop” and it’s fundraising progress, visit them on Facebook.
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How fast can you solve a Rubik’s Cube? The reigning world champ did it in 5.695 seconds — that’s a decimal point, not a comma.
Feliks Zemdegs took less than six seconds to line up all the colors on all six sides of the classic puzzle during the Rubik’s Cube World Championship in Sao Paulo, Brazil, last week.
It’s the second time the Australian has taken the title and Zemdegs said winning it before prevented him from being as nervous in this year’s competition.
Believe it or not, Zemdegs’ time wasn’t fast enough to set a new record — that’s still 5.25 seconds flat.
(WATCH the video and READ more at the New York Post) – Photo: huangjiahui, CC
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The gift of life that was given ten years ago is being paid back by a grateful mother to a now-ailing father.
In 2005, Bill Millard and his wife decided to donate their son’s organs when he died in an accident.
That donation saved the life of fellow San Francisco, California resident Janice McKinnon’s son.
Ten years later, she is returning the favor, donating her own kidney to Mr. Millard who is now in need of a kidney transplant.
“It’s hard for me to wrap my head around it, because 10 years ago we donated my son’s organs and that is actually saving my life now,” Millard said.
The two families became close after the organ donation in 2005, but the odds of a non-relative being a perfect match for a kidney transplant are extremely high — about 1 in 100,000.
Both families are taking the fact that they beat those odds as a sign that the match, and their friendship, was meant to be.
(WATCH the KPIX News video)
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At first read, this poem can be a downer, but the surprise ending will simply change your entire perspective on what you just read.
Ronnie Joice spotted it hanging in a London bar and when he discovered the clever trick the poet used, Joice had to share it on Twitter.
— Ronnie Joice (@ronniejoice) July 22, 2015
The poem’s been shared more than 3,300 times in the past week, as people discover and delight in the fact that it is really two poems in one.
It was written by Brooklyn, New York, 11th grader Chanie Gorkin, who posted the original at Poetry Nation. No one seems to know how a copy wound up hanging in a bar in London, but when Ronnie Joice shared the poem, it “was a good day.”
(READ more at Some Life) – Photo: Ronnie Joice, Twitter; Terry Turner, CC
A street sweeper was so happy to see a little girl’s roadside chalk drawing that he moved his brushes out of the way to preserve it.
Seven-year-old Brielle Pronick was hard at work on her latest chalk mural outside her home, when she noticed her masterpiece was in jeopardy – a street sweeper was heading right for it.
Wendel Lamb, who’s been cleaning the streets of Courtenay, British Columbia for 16 years, saw what was at stake, lifted his truck’s sweepers over the young girl’s art, and went on his way.
Brielle’s father just happened to record the sweet gesture.
“The timing was uncanny as my husband was just taking pictures of my daughter’s art when the street sweeper came around the corner,” Kristen Pronick wrote when uploading the video on the city’s Facebook page. “Please pass on my thanks to the driver, he made her day and she still talks about it.”
(READ or watch the full report from Vancouver Island’s CHEK News) – File photo: Wyoming Jackrabbit, CC
Check out what happened recently when City employee Wendel L., operating the street sweeper, came across a chalk art masterpiece. The artist's mom, Kristen Pronick, says, "The timing was uncanny as my husband was just taking pictures of my daughter's art when the street sweeper came around the corner. Please pass on my thanks to the driver, he made her day and she still talks about it." Thanks for sharing this video with us Kristen!
Posted by City of Courtenay on Tuesday, July 14, 2015
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Child advocates cheered the news in April when Malawi, an African nation with one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world, raised the minimum age for marriage to 18.
But what about the legions of underage children who were legally wed before the new law took effect?
Last month, one regional chief—a woman— annulled the marriages of more than 300 youth in her district and sent them back to school.
Further, she fired several village heads who had sanctioned the unions.
“They must go to school,” said Senior Chief Inkosi Kachindamoto, of Dedza District who has terminated 330 marriages, of which 175 were girl-wives and 155 were boy-fathers.
Malawi’s new Marriage Act still allows children over 16 to marry with parental consent, but human rights activists are pushing to change that.
“Marriage is often the end for girls like me,” Memory Banda, an 18-year-old Malawian, told The Guardian in February. “But if our leaders will invest in us and give us the chance to be educated, we will become women who create a better society for everyone.”
(READ more from Malawi’s Nyasa Times) UN Photo: Emmanuel Tobey
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When New York public school teacher Adriana Lopez was diagnosed with breast cancer, her students wanted her to know they ‘had her back’.
So they sat her on the stage and, with pink carnations in hand, sang Martina McBride’s, “I’m Gonna Love You Through It,” as part of their final class of the year.
For Lopez, who teaches in Staten Island, the heartfelt serenade was overwhelming, hitting just the right note.
“I just felt so supported and from all these little kids, who don’t know what cancer really is,” she told TODAY. “I just couldn’t stop crying.”
Lopez has been a teacher for over thirty years, and said that even though school’s out for summer, people from P.S. 22 have been checking in to see how she’s doing.
(WATCH the video below or READ more from TODAY)
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Tom Cruise has played a jet pilot, a spy, and a teenager engaged in “Risky Business,” but can he trump Mick Jagger?
One of our favorite regular segments on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show is when he asks celebrities to grab a mic and pretend to be singers performing on stage. “Lip Sync Battle” is so popular it was spun off into its own TV game show.
Cruise did not disappoint his fans Monday night. Using choreographed moves and nearly perfect timing, he performed two different songs, including a classic rock number from his high school days in the 70s.
In the finale, the pair teamed up to recreate one of Cruise’s iconic scenes from “Top Gun” — serenading a woman in the audience with the Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling.”
(WATCH the video below from the Tonight Show) Photo: YouTube