Strong job growth in May shows that employers continue to remain confident about the US economy going forward.
The monthly federal report surprised economists with an increase of 280,000 jobs.
The government also revised up its estimate of job growth in March and April by a combined net 32,000.
(READ more about the report at NBC) Photo by Reyner Media – Story tip from carilyn
Television and movie diva, best-selling author and outspoken champion of porcine rights, Miss Piggy, was honored this week with a major feminist award. On top of that, she’s published an essay on feminism in TIME magazine.
The Muppet was honored Thursday in Brooklyn, New York, taking the stage to give a speech at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art. She joins the ranks of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, journalist Connie Chung and author Toni Morrison, who have also received the Sackler Center First Award.
“Moi is thrilled,” Miss Piggy said in a statement. “It is truly wonderful to be celebrated and share this honor with fellow legends, role models, and pioneers of female fabulosity. We rock!”
Center founder, Elizabeth Sackler, said in a statement that Miss Piggy was chosen for her “determination and grit” in teaching important lessons through television and film.
In her TIME essay, Miss Piggy says “feminism’s future must be proud, positive, powerful, perseverant, and, wherever possible, alliterative.”
(WATCH the video below – READ more from Reuters) Photo by ross hawkes, CC
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Drew Broderick knows how important a shower can be if you’re looking for work, or trying to keep your job, when you have no home. He’s been there.
When he lost his business and his home in 2008, what Broderick missed most was a hot shower. So, he turned his old construction trailer into a mobile shower and started towing it to missions and homeless shelters around North Fort Myers, Florida.
Since 2013, he has provided the homeless with more than 1,000 “hot heavenly showers” through the use of this innovative mobile device.
“They come out of there looking like a million bucks, giving me big hugs and crying,” Broderick told WBBH-TV with tears filling his eyes. “It’s been a beautiful experience.”
Now, he’s hit a bit of a road block: his truck broke down earlier this year, and the mobile shower has been sitting in a backyard ever since, unable to go where it’s needed.
Broderick’s not giving up, though. He founded “Showers for Homeless Fort Myers,” created a Giveforward fundraising page to get his shower back on the road, and is looking for people to help him take the gift of a hot shower to the homeless again.
(WATCH the WBBH News video below) – Story tip: Jennifer Nasworthy
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We should all be this lucky during a six-hour flight lay-over.
On Sunday, in an amazing cosmic turn of events, both the cast of the Lion King and of Aladdin got stranded at LaGuardia Airport in New York City.
Rather than breaking out their tablets or heading off to buy a paperback, they decided to break out into a Disney-fueled sing-off.
(Watch what happens in the video above) – Story tip from Monica Sedore
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Playtime can be lonely for children with physical challenges preventing them from keeping up with all the other kids. That’s why one man, Cole Galloway, decided to begin retrofitting children’s vehicles to create a way for these kids to get around in style–and it’s taken off worldwide.
In the past ten years, the ‘GoBabyGo!’ movement has spread to Poland, Canada, Brazil, New Zealand and over two dozen U.S. States, where people use Galloway’s DIY instructions to revamp vehicles that are already sold in toy stores. The best part is, each time they hop in, it’s a physical therapy session.
These modified miniature cars bring a form of mobility to children with crawling and walking problems, and tots can use these cool cars everywhere–at home, at school, or on the playground. The start/stop button on these machines can be located wherever the child needs the most muscle work: If your legs need strengthening, for instance, you must stand to make the car go.
“Fun is key here—it unlocks brain development and exploratory drive for the child, and ignites active, engaged play from adults and peers,” Galloway says. “When your main goal is mobility and socialization of young children and their families, you can’t ask for better collaborators than Barbie and Mater.”
The organization relies heavily on donations, both monetary and vehicular, to operate, and there is an ongoing list of parents who are interested in, or in the process of, creating a GoBabyGo! program in their hometown.
Most recently, GoBabyGo! found three legs of support in Israel.
When a two-year-old boy with muscular dystrophy was brought in to Nilly Waiserberg’s clinic six months ago, the doctor had the unfortunate task of telling his parents that their son was unlikely to walk on his own. Later that day, she and a former student, Stephanie Libzon, began researching alternative therapy options for kids and stumbled upon GoBabyGo!
They teamed up with Michael Nudelman, another physiotherapist from Tel Aviv, and formed an official nonprofit to help develop the device.
“Disabled children – most of the time – go around with wheelchairs or walkers, and they look different with some kind of negative point of view,” told ShalomLife.com. “When they go around in the cars, they look cool. From being the last one in the group, they are getting the ability to be the… leader.”
Watch this NBC video that captures the adorable essence of the program below.
Photos courtesy of Go Baby Go Israel, Facebook.
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At first glance, Natalia Juanero and Rhonda the Rhino may seem an odd match.
But the spunky six-year-old girl and the celebrity rhinoceros bonded instantly during a hands-on visit at the Los Angeles Zoo.
Rhonda and Natalia share the same goal: beating cancer.
The two met this week at a preview of the zoo’s annual “Dream Night,” which gives patients from Children’s Hospital some one-on-one time with animals.
“I think it’s really significant to see that kids have a hard fight against cancer, and so do the animals,” one parent told KCBS News.
Natalia, a huge animal lover, wants to be a veterinarian. She has a dog, a cat and an aquarium full of fish at home. She said Rhonda felt like a lizard. She should know. She has two of those at home, too.
Two-year-old Charlie Pope has a condition which damaged one of his eyes. He got to slide up alongside a seal who also sees life through injured eyes.
“Dream Night” is celebrated annually at zoos around the world on the first Friday of June. You can contact your local zoo to learn more.
(WATCH the video below or READ more at KCBS News) – Photo via KCBS video
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Hooray, it’s National Doughnut Day! Did you know this giveaway started during America’s Great Depression?
Large national chains are joining mom-and-pop shops across America June 5 to offer up a single dose of the sweet stuff, so, if you want to take advantage, you can visit these nearby locations for Krispy Kreme or Dunkin Donuts.
It was the Salvation Army’s Chicago, Illinois, branch that created National Doughnut Day in 1938 as a way to raise money to help people in their community struggling through the Depression. The organizers also wanted to honor the Salvation Army’s 250 “dough girls” and “dough lassies” who made donuts for troops fighting in Europe.
The American Red Cross picked up doughnut duty for troops in World War II.
Today’s doughnut giveaways can be a reminder of that volunteer spirit–or it can be a way to get a free donut if you don’t usually have the money, or waste-line for such luxuries.
(READ more from TIME) Photo by DaveCrosby
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We are so blessed. For real. Need proof?
Let’s do an exercise right now…
Look around at the abundance that surrounds you. See this incredible scene that you are blessed to look into and the furniture that you might be sitting on.
Notice the photos, art, decorations, environment, and beautiful things that might be surrounding you.
Look outside and see how plentiful the world is. See the cars, trees, birds, food, and resources around you.
Open your address book and look at how many people are in your life.
We are surrounded by abundance. We have supermarkets that offer produce flown in from around the world so that we can experience a massive variety of foreign fruits and veggies. We have roads bustling with thousands of cars, buses and taxis. We have millions of people ready to help anyone in need. We have a supply of fresh air. We are truly blessed.
Often we focus on lack rather than abundance. We get caught up in everything we don’t have rather than focusing on everything that we do.
There is a fear that has been reinforced through our industrialized society that insists that we never have enough; and even if we do have enough, everything might be only moments away from disappearing.
If there is one way to be happy today, it’s by focusing on how much you have and expressing gratitude for it.
Imagine the possible shifts in your perspective as you are actively and consciously looking for proof of abundance.
Please join me in this journey by posting your best #ProofofAbundance pictures on social media.
Be sure to use #ProofofAbundance and tag me in the photo so that I can enjoy it too!
Together we can have a ripple effect of gratitude and abundance on each other and beyond!
Much Love and BIG smiles,
Michelle Ploog
www.michelleploog.com Follow me at @michelleploog
(Photo Credit: Simaje, CC)
Robyn Willson says she’ll always remember her mother’s cancer treatments as “something that we enjoyed.” That’s because she and her mother decided to make chemotherapy fun.
After learning that her mother had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, Robyn decided that the two of them would dress up in different costumes each time Carla had to go in for a chemotherapy treatment.
From rubber noses to tutus to bumble bees, the dress-ups got her mom motivated. Robyn says the costumes worked like “throwing a switch” to completely change her mother’s attitude.
The mother and daughter dubbed their dress-up stunt “Operation Choose Joy.” They quit limiting it to just chemo treatments, and began exuding joy in bright colors on just about every outing they took together.
Carla passed away May 29– and she was in costume.
Robyn says she knew cancer would take her mother one day, but it will never take the laugh-filled memories they made every time they played dress up.
(WATCH the video below from Steve Hartman and CBS)
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Give a chimpanzee a banana and he’ll eat for a day, give a chimp an oven, and he might just cook that banana.
A new study by Harvard and Yale researchers found that chimps have the cognitive ability to cook — they just don’t know how.
At an animal sanctuary in the Republic of Congo researchers created a “magic oven” that was really just a gadget with a piece of cooked sweet potato hidden inside.
The chimps were given slices of raw sweet potato which they would put into the device. The researchers would then shake it and open the compartment containing the pre-cooked slice. The apes saw raw food go in and cooked food come out.
It’s surprising to see any animal willing to give up food when there’s no guarantee they’ll get it back, but this experiment showed the chimps had the ability to grasp the complicated idea of turning raw food into cooked food.
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That’s a concept anthropologists argue was crucial to human evolution.
While the chimps didn’t do any cooking themselves, the video below humorously suggests it does show they may be smart enough to go to a restaurant.
(WATCH the video below or READ more at the New York Times) Photo by Delphine Bruyere, CC
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IKEA will spend more than a billion dollars over the next five years to boost its use of wind and solar energy and helping people in developing countries hardest hit by climate change.
The world’s largest furniture maker set a series of goals to reach by 2020. These include spending $675 million on wind turbines and solar panels so that one hundred percent of IKEA stores and factories are run on renewable sources. It also plans to plant as many trees as it cuts down every year.
IKEA’s chief executive, Peter Agnefjall, was one of 43 CEOs who declared themselves “Ambassadors for Climate Action” earlier this year in a open letter to world leaders demanding a response to climate change.
Agnefjall told Reuters the steps will be “good for customers, good for the climate and good for IKEA too.”
In addition, IKEA’s charitable foundation will spend $450 million to help families in places around the world especially affected by the effects of climate change, such as drought and floods.
(READ more at Reuters)
Photo by hnnbz, CC
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Over the weekend, an incredible 5,277 shelter pets found homes in a multi-state adoption event orchestrated by Maddie’s Fund, named for a cherished miniature schnauzer.
With it’s endowment of $300 million, the organization’s mission is to turn America into a “No-Kill Nation,” with one of its key events being the May 29-31 Pet Adoption Days. The unique catalyst sparking the adoptions is the promise of free grants to shelters for every animal that they can place. Grants ranging from $200 – $2,500 per animal helped incentivize adoption by covering the fee for prospective pet parents.
For pets who are harder to place, these adoption weekends can mean the difference between life and death.
“Senior pets and those with critical medical conditions, like those with diabetes or who have lost an eye or a limb, don’t get adopted as quickly,” said Sharon Fletcher, a spokesperson for Maddie’s Fund. “I just got off a call with someone who told me two of their pets who’d been there 6 months and a year finally got adopted last weekend.”
Co-founder David Duffield created the foundation in honor of his miniature schnauzer, Maddie, who offered him comfort while he built his now successful software business, Workday. Maddie’s legacy now lives on through the 31,000 companion animals around the country who have found homes thanks to her namesake nonprofit.
“David loved that little dog so much, he wanted to give other people the opportunity to see what joy a companion animal can bring,” Fletcher told Good News Network. “When he got down on the floor and played with Maddie, he wasn’t stressed out about anything.”
Maddie’s fund also produces webcasts and educational programs within the organization, which are free to the public. The educational arm of the organization also invests in case studies, like how to most effectively raise awareness for adoption of harder to place pets.
Maddie’s Fund partners closely with the Humane Society of the United States and the Shelter Pet Project, among countless others. This year’s participating states included Nevada, Wisconsin, and six counties in California.
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The Obama administration is teaming up with 150 private companies and groups to rein in antibiotics in the U.S. food supply.
During a White House summit on antibiotic use this week, voluntary pledges poured in from 150 food processors, restaurant chains, hospitals and drug companies to phase out the use of meat from animals treated regularly with antibiotics.
Scientists and medical doctors have consistently warned that the overuse of antibiotics in farm animals has decreased the effectiveness of “miracle drugs” that once were potent against bacterial infections.
The White House issued a memorandum directing the 350 federal government cafeterias nationwide to begin using low-antibiotic food starting the first of next year.
At the same time, companies ranging from Tyson Foods and Perdue, to McDonald’s and Chick-fil-A joined the effort to produce and provide low antibiotic meat to their customers in the private sector.
Wal-Mart is already asking it’s meat suppliers to make details of its annual antibiotic use public.
“This is music to our ears,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
(READ more at the New York Times)
Photo: Secretary of State John Kerry pays for his lunch at the State Department cafeteria
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Director Clint Eastwood will attempt to land yet another award-winning American Hero movie with a new film based on the life of US Airways pilot Chesley Sullenberger.
In 2009, shortly after take-off from LaGuardia Airport, Captain “Sully” Sullenberger’s jet flew into a flock of geese and lost both engines. With no power to stay airborne and no time to reach an airport, he steadily and expertly maneuvered the crowded jetliner over New York City and landed it in the Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 people aboard.
It made Sully an instant hero, earning him the title “Captain Cool” from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Afterward, Sully was surprised by all the accolades that he received, but, he wrote, “I realize how this event had touched people’s lives, how ready they were for good news, how much they wanted to feel hopeful again… We’ve had a worldwide economic downturn, and people are confused, fearful and just so ready for good news. They want to feel reassured that all the things we value, all our ideals, still exist.”
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Eastwood’s film will be based on Sullenberger’s memoir, Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters.
Filming starts in the fall, no title has been announced and no actors have yet been named, but we already know it’s going to have a happy ending.
(READ more at The Hollywood Reporter) – Photo credit: Greg L, and gdcgraphics, via CC
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Tech-giant Twitter is taking some of its poorest neighbors under its wing by providing computer skills training at its new “NeighborNest.”
The social media titan has opened a $3 million, 4,000-square-foot community center down the block from its headquarters in the Tenderloin District, one of San Francisco’s poorest neighborhoods.
Twitter employees will volunteer alongside professional social workers in order to help parents search for housing and learn new computer skills. Their kids can either play in the child care center or get help with basic computing or learning to write code.
The company was offered a six-year tax break to invest in the community around their headquarters.
In addition to the NeighborNest, Twitter is investing another $3 million in grants to non-profit organizations serving poorer neighborhoods around the city.
(WATCH the video below from KGO News or READ more in The Chronicle) – Photo: KGO video
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A retired policeman and his former foe have joined forces to provide jobs for ex-offenders.
Officer Ray Robakowski and former gang member Jacob Maclin were bitter enemies through multiple arrests over a decade. But that changed eight years ago when Maclin turned his life around — with Robakowski’s help.
The cop helped Maclin get a job with Community Warehouse — a Milwaukee non-profit home improvement business that puts ex-convicts to work while teaching them job skills.
Ironically, years later, when Robakowski went looking for something to do after he retired from the police force, he came to see the manager at Community Warehouse — it was his one-time enemy, and now long-time friend.
Together, they’ve helped more than a dozen former criminals turn their lives around.
(WATCH the CBS News video above or READ the story via the Bradley Foundation) – Photo: CBS video
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I went to see my ponies out in the fields on Valentine’s Day. I told my partner I would only be gone for forty-five minutes, since I was only making a quick check on them, but when I got there, I decided it was such a nice day, I’d have a look around with my dog Tess for any dangers in the overgrowth.
Well I was about three quarters of the way around the field before I arrived at the bottom of a very steep hill. To my surprise, I found a sheep stuck on its back, completely tangled in brambles…. And somehow it was still alive!
Eventually I got it free from the brambles — not easy without gloves — but it was too weak to walk; it could barely lift its own head. I knew I had to get this sheep back up to the farm, but carrying her up the hill was difficult since to get a hold of her and it was about the size of my border collie Tess, except heavier! It was too big for me to put my arms around, but I managed by heaving her up by the scruff of the neck and hips.
About twenty minutes later with Tess hot on our heels, I was thankful to reach the top. We finally made it to the farm gate but it wouldn’t open and I had no more strength in my hands to undo it. I called my horses over; Tim – a 12.2hh fiery grey Welsh X who is always happy to stick his nose in all goings, and Foxy the 13.3 Highland Mare.
“Foxy, I need your help: I need to get this sheep to the other gate. Will you please allow me to put it on your back and carry it over? It’s very ill and needs your help!” Yes, this is actually what I said to my horse. I’m sure she understood, because she gave me a trusting gaze and stood still. Up the sheep went and I asked Foxy to walk slowly and steadily (There was no head collar or lead rope, it was just 100% trust.) She walked as straight as an arrow to the other gate. The sheep kept kicking her side but she stayed calm. Foxy is a very sensitive horse so for her to ignore it was amazing.
Once at the other gate, I took the sheep off of Foxy and placed her onto a pile of hay. I still had at least 2 acres of field to go through to get the sheep back to the yard, but I knew that there was no possible way I could manage to carry her that far. Leaving the sheep (I had named it Juliet by that point) on some hay, I went to get a wheelbarrow to carry her to the farm.
When the farmer showed up, he looked at the dying sheep and knew from many years of experience that there was no hope for her. Sheep never fight to live. It’s a sad but true fact.
Juliet staid determined through the night to stay alive. I knew nothing about sheep, but I was ready to do anything to make sure this sheep survived. Tess cared for this her as much as I did, always going to lie next to her, or watching her balefully from afar.
That following week, she had more control of her head but still could not stand. I noticed that she wasn’t using her right hind leg, so I decided to phone a clinic. They informed me that since Juliet was still living, it probably wasn’t broken or dislocated since both of these are excruciating injuries and sheep will die because the pain is too much. The vet was impressed that I had gotten her to eat and drink, but told me not to get my hopes up.
By this point, I was more than attached to little Juliet. I had a friend who happened to be a sheep expert and she confirmed that a sheep will die if in the slightest pain, so I took on the responsibility of massaging Juliet’s legs twice a day, and the pleasant job of trimming her rear end. In an effort to get her to move, I was advised to start challenging her to move 30cm to reach her hay and water — sheep won’t use their legs unless you encourage them to.
I’d spoken to the farmer again and he said he would get one of his stable hands to make a frame for her to sit in that would let her feet move freely and strengthen the muscles. He congratulated me on my effort to nurse the sheep back to health, and said I could keep it if I wanted to. This definitely kept her off of the butcher’s list.
Over the weeks, Juliet had gotten used to Tess always wanting to be close to her, so I took a cute photo of them together and put it on Facebook, calling it “We’ll always be friends forever, wont we?” It spread fast and got over 4700 Likes. I couldn’t believe it, to be honest!
On March 10th, after being in her swing for 4 days, Juliet the sheep could walk by herself. She was wobbly at first, but I felt like a proud mom watching her child take its first steps. We reckon that Juliet was stuck for more than 2 days at the bottom of the hill — how a fox didn’t find her is amazing in itself. She is a true fighter who I have had the privilege to care for.
(WATCH a video below, or SEE pictures of Tess on Facebook and updates for Juliet on her forum posts at RSPB.org)
When Nibbles was just a duckling, he imprinted a little boy as his rightful parent. With no mother of his own, the animal needed a full-time caregiver–and he got one.
The daily adventures of Johnny and Nibbles range from diving in the kiddie pool to riding on bikes and wagons of all kinds.
Most adorable, though, is when mom takes Nibbles to the bus stop in her car, where the duck waits inside the window and longs for Johnny to return from school. Check out his excited reaction, in the video below, when he sees Johnny finally emerge.
It seems like Nibbles has overtaken the pups of this world as man’s best friend. Follow them on The Adventures of Johnny and Nibbles Facebook page.
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The total number of people using drugs in Portugal has actually fallen by more than a third since the country began focusing on treatment programs instead of punishment.
In 2001, critics worried that drug addiction rates would skyrocket, but not only have they come down, heroin addiction rates have been cut in half.
HIV infections, which are spread by shared needles, have also been cut in half, while the number of drug-related deaths has been cut by 75%.
RELATED: Massachusetts Cops Decide Heroin Addicts Will Be Helped With Rehab, Not Arrested
Under the decriminalization law, users are allowed to possess a 10-day supply of illicit drugs — anything from marijuana to heroin – and those who have more are sent before a three-person drug commission. The panel decides on a fine or treatment, but opts for treatment in four out of every five cases.
About 25 countries have reduced criminal penalties for drug use since Portugal changed its approach on illicit drugs from a criminal matter to one of public health.
(LEARN more at Mic.com) – Photo by Jonik, CC
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The kids at Amber Watt’s Gigglez and Grinz Daycare in Murrayville always get super excited whenever they see the police drive by–and even more excited when they can get a wave out of them.
Imagine their elation when one officer got out of his squad car and sat down on the ground beside them.
“This will be a forever memory for these kids, and something I’m sure they will brag about forever. It was the day they had circle time on the sidewalk with a hero,” Watt wrote in a letter to the Langley Times.
The kids clung to every word British Columbia Const. Joel Shoihet uttered to make them feel special.
(READ the letter submitted to the Langley Times)
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