While waiting for mom to arrive home from work, Andrew Lister decided to share a Popsicle with his baby boy.
Dad decided to continue his ‘coughing’ sounds, which evoked belly laughs from the baby, each one heartier than the last.
(WATCH the video above, via YouTube)
But they’ve also snapped freeze-frames that encapsulate the crazy, haunting, beautiful, and ecstatic life that ever moves around us.
Here are nine memorable moments from streets around the world:
(Google has blurred any faces to protect privacy.)
A young TV news cameraman in Australia and his friend have hollowed out a van to fit a pair of washers and dryers to offer free laundry services for Brisbane’s homeless.
Lucas Patchett and Nic Marchesi retrofitted the van themselves and bought a generator to run the four machines that were donated by sponsors. Washing powder has also been donated.
They hope Orange Sky Laundry will catch on and that one day there will be a fleet of vans servicing locations around the country.
See how you can get involved, volunteer, and donate to help Orange Sky Laundry at their website.
READ the story from Channel 7 News)
A blind toddler from a small village near the Slovakia capital is being hailed a “true little Mozart” for his keyboard renditions of classical musical, despite never having a piano lesson.
Little Branko Dvorecky began playing piano, learning songs by ear when he was just two years old, stunning his parents. A year later, he now plays Wagner, Bach and Tchaikovsky.
(WATCH the video below and READ the story from Express.co.uk)
Instead of taking your laptop to a coffee shop in Northern Israel, you might want to go sit under a tree instead.
A brown metal sculpture of a tree trunk with branches rising to the sun holding seven solar panels aloft was unveiled in a park this month near Mount Carmel. The eTree provides shade and power as well as wi-fi and chilled drinking water for dogs and people.
ETree provides a relaxing shaded resting area for passers by and, with the energy produced from the solar panels, offers services such as: mobile phone charging stations, free Wi-Fi, drinking water from a water cooler, night lighting and a water trough for animals.
The energy also activates a camera and LCD screen displaying information such as: weather, educational and environmental contents. The LCD screen was designed to allow for communication between eTrees planted in different locations around the world.
The unique renewable community station from Sologic’s Solar Giving project, withstands any weather condition and is radiation-free.
(WATCH the video below and READ the feature story from NPR)
YouTube channel OckTV decided to see what would happen if they asked random people outside a pizza place to share a slice.
As expected, many people didn’t want to give up their pizza, but one homeless man generously shared a slice, after he’d just received a hand-out.
The sharing man started to cry after they gave him a tip for being such a nice guy.
(WATCH the video below)
Photo by OckTV via YouTube – Story tip from Robin Ann Claudio
Harvard scientists have discovered “a way of turning stem cells into killing machines to fight brain cancer,” reports the BBC.
In experiments on mice, the stem cells were genetically engineered to produce and secrete toxins which kill brain tumors, without killing normal cells or themselves.
Researchers said the next stage was to test the procedure in humans.
(READ the story from BBC)
Image via Nephron (CC license)
In the first week of Seattle’s bike-share program, the 500 green bikes were rented around 4,000 times with 1,450 cyclists signing up as member, according to Pronto Cycle Share’s executive director.
Seattle Mayor Ed Murray plans to expand the program, which currently operates at 50 stations throughout the city.
(LEARN more in the video below or READ about the program from KIRO-TV)
There were no Canadian hockey teams playing in Wednesday’s match, but their neighbors to the North were remembered in spirit when Pittsburgh Penguins fans belted out “O Canada” at the team’s game following a deadly shooting in Ottawa.
The Canadian national anthem is not usually sung when two American NHL teams are facing off, but an exception was made and singer Jeff Jimerson led the crowd in sweet tribute, while a pair of maple leaves were projected onto the ice.
(WATCH the inspiring video below, following an ad)
Finding a way to deal with thousands of blighted buildings is critical to Detroit’s future. That’s why the city is cheering the good news last week that it received a $3.2 million bid on 6000 such properties—which equals about $500 each, the minimum bid allowable.
In fact, Business Week reports the deal could end up costing the winner “a small fortune beyond the auction price,” because the buyer must demolish the rundown buildings within six months, at an estimated cost of about $24 million.
Officials speculate the buyer is doing it for purely altruistic reasons.
(READ the story from Business Week)
Detroit photo by Brimley (CC license)
Students in 22 high schools in the largest county in Virginia will get extra sleep next fall under a new plan approved this week that will push back the first class of the day in high schools to 8 a.m. or later.
The Fairfax County plan was designed with the help of sleep experts from National Children’s Medical Center, who found that the current high school schedule, where classes begin at 7:20 a.m., could be negatively affecting student health.
The chairman of the school board that voted 11-1 in favor of the change said, “The growing body of research on the health benefits for adolescents has become so clear and compelling, we felt that we had to make a change.”
(READ the story from the Washington Post)
Photo by Ed Yourdon (CC license)
As negative political advertising blankets American media with just a week before Election Day, Hawaii News Now discovered a story about two men running for the same office who have formed a friendship after one of them faced a difficult illness during the campaign.
Sam Kong’s Republican opponent, minister Robert Helsham, “visited Kong in the hospital five times, played guitar and sang for him, and prayed with him.”
“When he leaves, man, I’m almost in tears,” Kong told KFVE reporter Keoki Kerr. “Just so touched by his heart, his generosity, just so awesome.”
(WATCH the video below or READ the story from Hawaii News Now)
Story tip from Lenley Lewis
Two species of prairie butterflies which have vanished from many areas of the midwestern United States have been granted protection under the Endangered Species Act.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in a statement Thursday, said the Dakota skipper and the poweshiek skipperlings, have been given the protection, which becomes effective Nov. 23.
Surveys indicate the Dakota skipper’s numbers have declined in almost 75 percent of the sites where it was previously found. and poweshieks have vanished from about 96 percent of the sites where they were once found and now only are found in Wisconsin, Michigan and Manitoba.
(READ the story from the Bismarck Tribune)
Painted Butterfly photo by Lori Taggart
A woman’s voice was heard in a panic as she recorded video while flames were shooting out of a home’s windows: “There’s a man in there!”
After a huge explosion, likely from a propane tank, the people who were trying to help all ran for cover, except one 49-year-old man wearing Los Angeles Dodgers cap. Tom Artiaga walked toward the now-raging fire.
He emerged minutes later carrying 73-year-old Robert Wells over his shoulder.
Just as quickly, Mr. Artiaga disappeared from the scene, not wanting any glory following his rescue. CNN found the man later and insisted on interviewing him.
(WATCH the video below or READ the story from CNN)
Photo credit: Beth Lederach cell phone video
European leaders agreed to a $1.26 Billion funding boost for the fight against Ebola in West Africa. (VOA)
A two-day European Union summit concluded in the wee hours this morning with leaders announcing they’d reached a climate deal to cut carbon emissions through 2030 by 40 percent over 1990 levels.
The 28-nation bloc has already come close to an existing goal of cutting 20 percent of emissions over 1990 levels by 2020.
“Europe is setting an example,” said French President Francois Hollande, who hopes the United States and China might follow their lead.
The leaders also agreed to cut energy consumption by 27-percent and boost the use of renewables, although these targets are non-binding.
(READ the story from Reuters)
Photo by tristam sparks (CC license)
Is it a solar cell? Or a rechargeable battery?
Actually, the patent-pending device is both. The inventors at Ohio State University call it the world’s first solar battery.
In the October 3, 2014 issue of the journal Nature Communications, the researchers report that they’ve succeeded in combining a battery and a solar cell into one hybrid device.
The university will license the solar battery to industry, where Yiying Wu (pictured above), professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Ohio State, says it will help tame the costs of renewable energy.
“The state of the art is to use a solar panel to capture the light, and then use a cheap battery to store the energy,” Wu said. “We’ve integrated both functions into one device. Any time you can do that, you reduce cost.”
He and his students believe that their device brings down costs by 25 percent.
The invention also solves a longstanding problem in solar energy efficiency, by eliminating the loss of electricity that normally occurs when electrons have to travel between a solar cell and an external battery. Typically, only 80 percent of electrons emerging from a solar cell make it into a battery.
With this new design, light is converted to electrons inside the battery, so nearly 100 percent of the electrons are saved.
(READ the full article by Pam Frost Gorder at Ohio State University News)
At the end of last night’s Gentlemen’s Ball in New York City, emcee Andy Cohen said he felt like his life “is a waste.” After sitting in a room full of celebrity humanitarians, who can blame him?
For the seventh year, the GQ Gentlemen’s Ball saluted ten men, five movie stars and five non-celebs, whose commitment to their communities defines what it means to be a gentleman today.
In recognition of their efforts, Ambassador Awards were awarded to Andrew Garfield, for his support of Worldwide Orphans and Youth Mentoring Connection, Joshua Jackson, for his support of Oceana, Taylor Kitsch, for his support of the African Children’s Choir, George Lopez, for his involvement with the Lopez Foundation, and Zachary Quinto, for his support of The Trevor Project.
Awards were also given to the five non-celebrities who are working to help people in Congo and the US, and women across Africa, Sean Carasso, F.K. Day, Nick Ehrmann, Stephen Powell and Barrett Ward.
(READ the full story in the GQ)
Photo credits: (top) Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for GQ (bottom) Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for GQ
As the official airline of Middle Earth, New Zealand Air proves they are huge Hobbit fans, spending millions of dollars to produce a new fantasy-laden safety video for passengers.
“Lord of the Rings” star Elijah Wood and director Peter Jackson are among those who make appearances in the video entitled, “The Most Epic Safety Video Ever Made.”
Characters from J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy world make appearances throughout, with dwarves, orcs and elves fastening seat belts, securing oxygen masks and finding the nearest exit.
(WATCH the video below)
Every single day of the school year, gang members in New Zealand deliver hundreds of handmade sandwiches to schools in Waikato, making sure no children go hungry like they did when they were young.
In a Waikato Times video you can see Tribal Huk gang members huddled in their hair nets carefully spreading mustard and assembling the tomatoes and ham that will feed 450-500 children in 25 schools.
Letters from children that begin “Dear sandwich makers” line the wall, attesting to the gang’s more than two years of service.
Tattooed gang members have been left speechless, including Jamie Pink their leader, “the angry man with a soft heart.”
“I wanna say thank you so much for the support. I’m not sayin’ we’re angels and that, but we’re not bad people. We didn’t expect this.”
Interviewed by the newspaper, Jamie Pink said he was fed by gang members when he was young and remembers them as generous people who looked after him and his mum when they had nothing.
Yes, he says, it should be the parents responsibility, but some kids just have “crappy parents.”
This is not recruitment, he says. ”If we thought like that, we’re not worth existing, to be honest with you.”
(WATCH the video or READ the story from Stuff.co.nz) – NOTE* The Video auto-plays if cursor is hovering over top.
