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McDonald’s Gives FREE Food to Customers Who Want to Pay With Love

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Jan 31, 2015

No matter what you think of McDonald’s, their new campaign to conjure some loving is pretty darn sweet.

Beginning February 2, the day after the Super Bowl, and running through Valentine’s Day, every McDonald’s restaurant in the US will be giving random visitors free meals if they agree to perform a random act of lovin’ in the store, such as fist-bumping a cashier, hugging the one you’re with, or calling your mom to show you care.

Playing up their slogan, “I’m Lovin’ It”, they already rewarded some customers for doing random acts of lovin’ for a new Super Bowl commercial that will melt your heart.

“For your payment today, call up your mom and tell her you love her…”

One mother in the commercial, ordering a meal with her teenaged son, was asked to tell the cashier what she most loved about him. She answered, hugged him close, and left with a free order.

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Winners don’t even need to be a paying customer. Each store will hand out 100 free orders during the two week period at pre-assigned times. The first person to walk through the door, even if they are only using the restroom, are deemed a winner when they agree to show some love. The manager will provide two Extra Value Meal coupons, instead.

WATCH the beautiful video below / Story tip from Jürgen N

The Tibetan Monk Who Has Taken in 170 Children

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Jan 30, 2015

A Tibetan Buddhist monk took in 33 orphans after an earthquake in 2010 – now he is looking after 170 children.

Lama Lobsang originally started caring for the children on a temporary basis, but it has turned into a home for them, rather than orphanage, he told the BBC.

“It shouldn’t be my job to take care of these kids but I had to do it,” he says.

“They may be orphans, or from single-parent families,” he says, “but I want to give them all a home.”

CHECK Out: Couple Leaves $100 Tip For Horrible Service

WATCH part of the BBC documentary via YouTube above / Story tip from Erin

Man Who Daily Visits Memorial Bench to Wife Gets Help From Volunteer Shovelers

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Jan 29, 2015

An 82-year-old Wisconsin widower spent more than half his life with Betty, and didn’t want to let her go. So every day he walks to the park, brings a daisy, and talks to his wife on a bench he bought and dedicated to her after she died two years ago.

After it snowed in Fond du Lac a few weeks ago, Bud had to stay in his car and talk to Betty, reports WJDT-TV. “The previous year he had tried to make his way through the snow and fell; this winter he didn’t want to risk it.”

But, two Fond du Lac Parks employees who had noticed the man’s routine, decided to help.

Jerrod Ebert and Kevin Schultz grabbed shovels, saying, “We have to make sure he can get to his bench and talk to his wife.”

The two have vowed to continue servicing the path through the entire winter.

(WATCH the video above, or READ the full story from Milwaukee’s WJDT-58)

Photo credit: WJDT video / Story tip from Robin Rhein Hurwitz

100-Year Return of Rare Sierra Nevada Red Fox to Yosemite Nat’l Park

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Jan 29, 2015

Excited Yosemite National Park officials yesterday reported the first confirmed sighting of a rare Sierra Nevada red fox in the park in nearly 100 years. The Sierra Nevada red fox of California is one of the rarest mammals in North America, likely consisting of fewer than 50 individuals.

Park wildlife biologists had gone on a five-day backcountry trip to the far northern part of the park to check on previously deployed motion-sensitive cameras. They documented a sighting of the fox(Vulpes vulpes necator) on two separate instances (December 13 and January 4) within the park boundary.

“We are thrilled to hear about the sighting of the Sierra Nevada red fox, one of the most rare and elusive animals in the Sierra Nevada,” stated Don Neubacher, Yosemite National Park Superintendent. “National parks like Yosemite provide habitat for all wildlife and it is encouraging to see that the red fox was sighted in the park.”

CHECK Out: India Man Plants Forest Bigger Than Central Park to Save His Island

The nearest verified sightings of the rare foxes have been north of the park in the Sonora Pass area, where biologists from U.C. Davis, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and U.S. Forest Service have been monitoring a small population, first discovered in 2010.

The Yosemite carnivore crew will continue to survey for Sierra Nevada red fox using remote cameras in hopes of detecting additional individuals. At each camera station, the crew also set up hair snare stations in the hopes of obtaining hair samples for genetic analysis. Through genetic analysis, the park can learn more about the diversity within the population and to confirm whether the fox(es) detected in Yosemite is genetically related to individuals from the Sonora Pass area.

These Sierra Nevada red fox detections are funded by the Yosemite Conservancy, which raises money for restoration of trails, animal monitoring, youth programs, and more.

Photo: National Park Service / Story tip from Mike McGinley

Harry Potter Fans and J.K. Rowling Win Deal to Get Child Labor Out of Chocolate

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Jan 28, 2015

After a four-year campaign by the fan activist group the Harry Potter Alliance and its favorite author, J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros. has relented and announced they would stop buying cocoa from a company known for its poor record on human rights and child labor.

The group, whose motto is “The Weapon We Have is Love,” submitted 400,000 signatures to the film studio and recently scored a victory, receiving a letter, and a public announcement.

“By the end of 2015, and sooner when possible, all Harry Potter chocolate products sold at Warner Bros. outlets and through our licensed partners will be 100-percent UTZ or Fair Trade certified.”

Now the Potter fans can resume munching on their favorite snacks of chocolate frogs.

(READ the story from CS Monitor)

Photo: chocolate frog package by ehpien via CC license

Mystery Train Passenger Encourages Young Mum

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Jan 28, 2015

A mystery man gave a young mum a kind note of encouragement and a £5 tip for being “polite” and teaching her child “good manners”.

As the passenger was getting off the train, he passed her a handwritten note that described the young mother as a “credit to her generation.”

Sammie Welch, 23, was traveling with her three-year-old son on a busy First Great Western train in England last week when she pulled the child out of a seat and placed the boy on her lap so another passenger could sit down.

She explained: ‘As he walked by he tapped me on the shoulder and said, “I think you’ve dropped this out of your bag,” handed me the note and got off.

She launched a social media campaign to find the man so she could thank him for his kindness. Now the two have been reunited to talk about what happened.

(READ the story from the Daily Mail)

Photo credit: Flickr user R~P~M (CC) / Story tip from Lin Peason

Eagles Rebound in NJ: From a Mere Two to 156 Pairs

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Jan 28, 2015

“The bald eagle population, once so decimated by the pesticide DDT that only a single pair nested in New Jersey, is on the rebound,” reports The Record.

The statewide population now numbers 156 nesting pairs — up from 128 last year — thanks to efforts by the federal government and several generations of conservationists.

According to a Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey bald eagle report, Twenty-five new eagle pairs were found in 2014, eleven in the south, three in central and eleven in northern NJ.

79 percent of the known nests produced 201 new fledglings.

“The state’s eagle population would not be thriving without the efforts of the dedicated eagle volunteers who observe nests, report sightings, and help protect critical habitat,” said Larissa Smith and Kathleen E. Clark, who prepared the report.

(READ the story in The Record)

Photo credit: Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey

Too Big for a Flat, Fans of Esther the Pig Help Start Animal Sanctuary

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Jan 27, 2015

Derek Walters and Steve Jenkins adopted a piglet whose owner wanted to give her up, under the mistaken belief that there was such a thing as a “minipig.”

When Esther grew into the hundreds of pounds, they realized that she needed to get out of their small home in the quiet Georgetown neighborhood of Ontario. And so was born the idea of a farm sanctuary.

Esther had also grown into an Internet sensation with thousands of fans enjoying photos on EstherTheWonderPig.com showing their pet growing up. With the support of 8,000 Internet crowdfunding fans, they were able to realize their dream to buy a farm.

The new sanctuary to be called “Happily Ever Esther” will open this summer in the nearby countryside of rural Campbellville.

Calling themselves “accidental activists,” Jenkins, who’s a realtor says Happily Ever Esther will have its grand opening July 1, which happens to be Esther’s birthday. Afterward, Walters, who will run the sanctuary will offer individualized, pre-booked tours, along with school tours and educational visits for groups at the farm and community garden. (READ the full story from the Toronto Star)

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Story from Dianne Cunningham / Photo from Esther The Pig on Facebook

Hitchhiker Gets Ride from The President of Uruguay- Hero to the Poor

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Jan 27, 2015

Uruguay’s president has become legendary for giving 90 percent of his salary to the poor, choosing to live on an austere farm, instead of the presidential palace, and using his 28-year-old Volkswagen Beetle to get around town.

Earlier this month President Jose Mujica and his wife, a senator, were traveling in a government vehicle in the south of the country when they stopped to give a hitchhiking mill-worker a ride.

After 25 or 30 cars passed him by, Gerhald Acosta, who was heading home after work, told the Uruguayan newspaper El Observador, “I couldn’t believe it. The president was giving me a ride.”

He managed to snap a couple photos, which he later posted to Facebook, and when he got out, he said, “I thanked them profusely, because not everyone helps someone out on the road, and much less a president.”

I ❤️ Mujica RT @ObservadorUY: Hacía dedo en la ruta y lo levantó el presidente José Mujica http://t.co/BAuDbXyKcH pic.twitter.com/DvPlPcE1MM
— Diana (@About_Di) January 17, 2015

The vegetarian president who turns eighty years old on May 20 also grows and sells flowers on his farm and lives with a three-legged dog.

In the 60s Mujica fought as a guerrilla leader in the Tupamaros movement. He was arrested several times and almost killed in the 70s and spent 13 years in horrific captivity. He was freed in 1985 under an amnesty law that covered political and related military crimes. He later helped create the Movement of Popular Participation, a political party that was accepted into a broader left-wing coalition through which he was elected as a deputy minister, and twice as a senator. Due in part to Mujica’s charisma and economic gains of the previous government, he was elected president in 2009.

The poverty rate in Uruguay has plummeted from a high of 39.9 percent in 2004 to 12.4 percent in 2012 due to efforts on behalf of successive governments to provide more funds for programs to benefit the poor.

(READ the story en español, or READ a translated version from RT)

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