All the Wheel of Fortune player knew was that the answer was a ‘thing’, it was three words of varying length and started with an “NE”.
Incredibly, Emil, who the host Pat Sajak called a very good puzzle solver, pulled the answer out of nowhere.
Sajak was so amazed, he became suspicious and playfully pretended to search him for hidden devices.
A Canadian photographer is taking the wildest dreams of sick children and turning them into reality.
Since May of 2012 Shawn Van Daele has devoted his skills as a digital artist to a mission of mercy, creating gorgeous whimsical worlds for youngsters who are overcoming heart transplants and chemotherapy.
To start, the 37-year-old asks for drawings from the child that represent their biggest passion – from dinosaurs to castles, from pirates to fairies. Then he produces a dreamscape in which they are the main character.
“It’s really doing wonders for all the kids involved in the project,” Van Daele told the Good News Network. “It’s warming a ton of hearts.”
It’s called Drawing Hope, and starting in May 2014, Van Daele will be doing one ‘magical photo’ each month.
Van Daele wants to collect the artwork, the children’s stories and original drawings, under the common theme that “anything is possible,” for an inspirational storybook to be distributed to clinics, hospitals and therapy centres across Ontario, Canada, and elsewhere.
You can follow his imaginitive generosity play out on Facebook.
(SEE more photos below, and WATCH the video of a boy’s Thomas the Tank Engine dream coming true)
A new car from Hyundai runs on a fuel that has a truly endless supply: human waste.
Hydrogen created from sewage at a waste treatment plant in Orange County, California, will power fuel cells in the Hyundai Tuscon, available for leasing later this spring in a limited area around Los Angeles.
The new technology can make hydrogen cheaply by processing solid waste and feeding it to microbes that turn it into methane. The fuel will be pumped to local stations, making it possible for Hyundai to put its car on the streets.
The Korean automaker will start leasing the H2 compact utility vehicle for $499 a month ($2,999 down) for 36 months, including free hydrogen refueling and Maintenance. The company says it has had a surprising number of people express an interest in the vehicle.
(READ the story from Fast CoExist)
The Dubai Metro stations are being turned into art museums to display artworks and creations from different themes and cultures, by order of the city’s royal sheikh.
“We want to reach everyone through arts,” said Sheikh Mohammed. “We want creativity to reach every individual in the society (and) to inspire and communicate with every employee on his way to work, every student on his way to pursuing education and every tourist visiting Dubai.
The BBC reports it’s not only the stations that are getting a make-over: “The driverless trains will also be decorated inside and out to reflect the project.”
(READ full story with photos from Emirates247.com)
The inspiring story of a father and son who wouldn’t give into labels of disability just because the boy was born without eyes.
Patrick Henry Hughes is blind but plays in the University of Louisville pep band thanks to the lengths his father will go to help his son.
(WATCH the video above)
Following a series of crashes that shut down one of the busiest highways in America last Wednesday, Monroeville residents John and Sharon Ambrose gathered as much food as they could, and John delivered it to motorists who had been stranded for hours on the Ohio Turnpike.
Pulling a makeshift sled made from a wheelbarrow, he trudged through the snow pulling a case-and-a-half of water, bananas, sandwiches, applesauce, snacks, and even some diapers, on a mission to find motorists in need.
“It was such a good experience,” he told the Norwalk Reflector. “It was just a really good experience.”
(READ the story, w/ more photos, from the Norwalk Reflector)
Building a strong connection to a social group helps clinically depressed patients recover and helps prevent relapse, according to a new study.
Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Senior Fellow Alexander Haslam and his colleagues at the University of Queensland conducted two studies of patients diagnosed with depression or anxiety. The patients either joined a community group with activities such as sewing, yoga, sports and art, or partook in group therapy at a psychiatric hospital.
In both cases, patients responding to survey questions who did not identify strongly with the social group had about a 50 percent likelihood of continued depression a month later. But of those who developed a stronger connection to the group and who came to see its members as ‘us’ rather than ‘them,’ less than a third still met the criteria for clinical depression after that time. Many patients said the group made them feel supported because everyone was “in it together.”
If Konrad Lightner and his wife, Jennifer had not been stuck in an elevator for 30 minutes earlier in the day, they would not have been at exactly the right place to rescue a child who fell from a third-story window.
It was moving day for the Burbank, California couple, when they were exiting the apartment carrying another load — this time, the box spring mattress to their bed.
They saw a toddler dangling from something like a television cable and placed the mattress under the window just before he fell.
Konrad guided the boy to fall on the mattress instead of the pavement. Paramedics who were called to the scene said it saved the boy’s life.
(WATCH the video below, or READ the story from KGO San Francisco)
Misty Shaffer of North Carolina has been struggling with her weight all of her life.
Misty and her husband Larry — an Army specialist — were married five and a half years ago (Oct 2008) and stated dating in high school. In all that time, Larry has never said a word about Misty’s weight. In fact, he had never even seen Misty — who is a petite 5.5 feet tall — weigh less than 200 pounds! (Close your eyes and think about that for a moment.)
In 2012, Larry was deployed to Afghanistan, and Misty decided she wanted to get into shape. It wasn’t easy and she had relapses, but by the time Larry returned in the spring of 2013, Misty had reduced from size 22-24 to size 6 — and she has stayed thin since them.
“There’s no way that’s my wife that I left a year ago,” he thought when he first saw her, and recounted later for CNN.
(WATCH the video below or READ the story from CNN)
The percentage of California residents walking, biking, or using public transportation has more than doubled since 2000 — from 11 percent to 23 percent for the typical daily household trips.
(CA DOT survey)
With shovels, rakes, and hoes in hand, the women of a Mississauga housing complex transformed a vacant piece of land into a bountiful garden that grew into a small business and changed their neighborhood.
The garden was more than an opportunity to get their hands dirty. It brought together women from the culturally diverse neighborhood to create possibilities where there had been none.
(READ the story from the Toronto Star)
U.S. factory output rebounded strongly in February 2014, surging 0.8 percent, the largest gain in six months, according to the Federal Reserve.
American philanthropist Howard Buffett donated $24 million to South Africa’s national parks service on Friday to fund a high-tech campaign against rhino poaching which he compared to the United States’ war on drugs on its southern border.
The money will fund a 30-month campaign to try to reverse a troubling trend in Kruger Park, where illegal hunters infiltrating from Mozambique have been decimating the rhino population.
(READ the story from Reuters)
South African Girda McKenna asked her friends for just one thing after she was diagnosed with cancer. She wanted them to sit together for a photograph.
The portrait turned into something much more, and blessed her with a memory of true friendship. Luckily, photographer Albert Bredenhann documented the magical journey as all eleven ladies decide to shave their heads in solidarity.
“That is the least I can do,” one woman said before a stylist took an electric shaver to her blonde locks. “If I can do just a little for her to feel better, I will do it with love.”
When Girda walked onto the patio where they all had gathered she was shocked and overcome with tears. She hugged each friend, saying “You girls look amazing.”
All their hair was donated to the Cancer Association of South Africa, according to the Metro, to be weaved into wigs for other cancer patients.
The entire process was made into an incredible video that was anchored by the perfect song, “I will do anything for love (but I won’t do that).”
Photo by Albert Bredenhann
An ambitious renovation has begun on an aging iconic landmark, the Eiffel Tower.
The project, which began in 2012 and is slated for completion later this year, aims to include many new sustainable features on the aging tower’s first floor, such as solar, hydraulic and wind power.
The renovation, by French architecture studio Moatti- Rivière, will add new accessibility options that will finally allow disabled visitors to visit the first floor, an area that will be newly equipped with solar panels and LED lighting.
(READ the story the with more photos at Inhabitat.com)
Having just performed at the Academy Awards, where he sang his Oscar-nominated hit “Happy” and danced with A-list actresses in the front row, Pharrell Williams is partnering with the United Nations Foundation to promote the annual International Day of Happiness, Thursday, March 20.
Since the song, “Happy,” which made its bubbly debut on the film Despicable Me 2, it has become an international phenomenon with its album, G I R L, reaching #1 in more than 75 countries. Happy people from Toronto to Ireland have edited dance videos to the catchy song and posted them on YouTube. Two of those were featured as Top Videos on Good News Network.
Drawing inspiration from the “Happy” videos that fans worldwide have already posted, Williams is calling on all his fans to post videos of themselves demonstrating their happiness using the song, and the hashtag #HAPPYDAY, and then registering their submission at 24hoursofhappiness.com.
As part of this global digital engagement, people will be reminded that everyone deserves a chance to be happy, and their donations to the UN humanitarian efforts around the globe can make that happen. This is where you can donate.
Ways To Participate:
A dog that got stuck on cliff high above Portugese Beach in Sonoma County, Calif. was rescued Saturday afternoon after a sheriff’s deputy dangling from a helicopter plucked it off a sheer rock face and returned it unharmed to its owner.
The black and white Labrador named Oreo somehow made her way about 40 feet down a 90-foot high cliff, where there was no way of return.
Deputy Henri Boustany attached himself to the bottom of a 100-foot rope strung from the helicopter and was lifted to the ledge where the dog was waiting.
— WATCH the amazing rescue below
— READ the story from the Press-Democrat)
When San Francisco restaurateur Andrew Stoloff agreed to consult on the finances of an inner-city bakery in nearby Richmond, he found a failing business, a part-time staff of 14 former prison inmates, and decrepit equipment 20 to 30 years old.
Over several months, as he spent time with the employees, Stoloff learned how the bakery had changed their lives. He fell in love with the mission and, against the advice of family and friends, he bought the bakery himself.
Today, Rubicon Bakery is a moneymaking business, employing 105 full-time staff, some with only a sixth-grade education and many having served time in prison.
(READ the story from Christian Science Monitor)
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3D printing, in which a three-dimensional object of virtually any shape can be created from computer data, has enormous potential in the field of medicine, as one pioneering British surgeon has shown.
Orthopedic surgeon Craig Gerrand used 3D printing to create a pelvis – the first of its kind – for a patient who had lost his to cancer. The man, a retired professional in his sixties, had been diagnosed with a rare bone tumor for which there was no treatment.
Following the successful procedure, he can now walk with a cane.
(READ the story from in the Telegraph)
I enjoy my espresso in the morning. I love my wine in the evening. And, I adore all manner of cheese at any time, day or night. But I’m giving all these up — plus wheat, dairy, sugar, and red meat — for 14 days to give my body a much needed cleansing.
For the first time I am willing to go without my culinary loves (or addictive habits, if you prefer) because I found a program that seemed doable, and I really wanted some extra energy in the final weeks of my website redesign project for the Good News Network. Plus, it’s spring, a great time to think about detoxing the body.
When my friend in Montana, who’d just started a two-week cleanse, listed the foods and snacks that were acceptable to consume — fruits and vegetables, stir-frys, hummus, organic fish and chicken — I knew I would be able to do it, but I hoped the benefits would outweigh the aggravation. Everyone I know who has done a cleanse has concurred that the benefits are worth it.
