Family Goes to Playoff Despite Cancer – With Encouragement From 49ers Themselves

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Jan 20, 2014

visiting Seattle 49ers fan w cancer-KTVUvid

Even though his favorite team, the San Francisco 49ers, lost yesterday, Brian Rozelle, who has terminal cancer, will never forget the cheers echoing from his football idols who sent him an email after his family decided to trek up to Seattle for the playoff game.

“I decided I wanted to come up to Seattle and (my parents) said – ‘Fine, let’s make it a family adventure.’”

So, the Rozelle family piled into a van on Thursday morning, but before they left the 28-year-old got a surprise email. The 49ers had heard about Rozelle’s story and wrote to share some touching and supportive thoughts.

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MLK Day: Ex-White Supremacist Thanks Black Teen Who Said No to Violence in 1996

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Jan 20, 2014

Arno Michaelis was once a thriving member of the Neo-Nazi movement who frequented white supremacist rallies. Michaelis says that “single parenthood, love for my daughter, and the forgiveness shown by people I once hated,” changed him and guided him toward a life of tolerance, acceptance and peace.

This week he wrote a short tribute to Keshia Thomas, a black teenager who during a 1996 KKK rally saved the life of a white supremacist in danger of being killed by a mob of counter-demonstrators.

(READ the stories in the Huffington Post)

U.S. Bankers Voice New Optimism as Businesses Line Up for Loans

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Jan 20, 2014

Loans to businesses have risen to a record high and bank executives say they are increasingly optimistic about the U.S. economy.

Increasing demand for bank loans often is a prelude to higher economic growth. With the U.S. government budget crisis fixed for now and Europe showing signs of economic recovery, companies feel more comfortable borrowing to invest in machinery, factories, and buildings.

(READ the story from Reuters)

Photo: First Wisconsin Bank headquarters, Milwaukee

Incredible Animal Communicator Translates Deadly Leopard’s Woes

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Jan 19, 2014

leopard in The Animal Communicator video

Anna Breytenbach believes she can communicate with animals through her thoughts. If you watch this video shot at a wildlife sanctuary in South Africa, which documents a deadly snarling leopard seemingly transformed into a relaxed cat after a visit from Anna, you likely will believe it too.

She ends up delivering a solution like a therapist would, translating his woes into human language so the keepers can understand what’s going on.

You’ve got to see to believe it!

This video excerpt is from a full-length documentary called The Animal Communicator produced in 2012 by Vyv Simson and directed by Craig Foster.

Born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, Breytenbach holds a degree in Psychology, Economics and Marketing from the University of Cape Town. Today she works with both domestic animals and wildlife, and runs workshops around southern Africa, Europe and the US. Her work includes working with wild dolphins and whales, elephant and lion management, leading animal communication safaris in Botswana, interspecies projects at organic farms, and giving numerous public talks. You can learn more about Anna at her website, www.animalspirit.org.

The DVD is sold through the South African website, Kalahari.com

YOU MUST SEE this video below…

Autistic Man’s Gift for IKEA Assembly Turns into Business

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Jan 19, 2014

furniture assembly from IKEA-julessilver-Flickr-CC

Canadians in Edmonton who are baffled by assembly instructions for IKEA furniture can hire Brad Fremmerlid, a 24-year-old man with severe autism who can build anything.

Although he doesn’t read or speak, Fremmerlid has an amazing ability to understand the most complex diagrams, blueprints and pictorial instructions.

His father is helping him market his skill to bring more meaning to his life. For a small fee — currently about $20 — he’ll put together any piece of furniture in your home.

(READ the story from the Toronto Star)

Thanks to Gordon Gray for submitting the link!

16-yo Lewis Clarke Youngest to Reach the South Pole

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Jan 19, 2014

A British teenager has become the youngest person to reach the South Pole.

Lewis Clarke, 16, from Bristol, spent almost 50 days on ice, skiing for an average of eight hours a day and battling temperatures as low as -50C (-58F) and winds of 120mph.

His father, Steven, said he had set off on Saturday “really motivated to make it – but it was -50, the coldest so far, and with really ferocious winds”.

But on Saturday night, Lewis was celebrating in a heated tent eating pasta with fresh parmesan — his first real meal in nearly seven weeks.

Lewis will stay overnight at the Pole and then he has been offered a tour of the Amundsen Scott Polar Research base tomorrow. He will fly back to Union Glacier base camp tomorrow afternoon and will be back in the UK on January 24th.

– READ the story from the Telegraph

– LEARN more at Clarke’s blog, youngesttosouthpole.wordpress.com

Gene Simmons Raises $450,000 For Saskatchewan Children’s Hospital

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Jan 19, 2014

The lead singer for the rock group Kiss has raised $450,000 for the new Saskatchewan Children’s Hospital, the hospital where Simmons’ wife, Shannon Tweed, grew up.

Gene Simmons auctioned off a custom 1956 Ford F-100 truck, named Snakebit, which was built in Saskatoon and has the front end of a Shelby Mustang.

(READ the story from CTV News)

Woman Can Buy Her Home Thanks to the Honesty of a Stranger

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A&G Lindsey

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Jan 18, 2014

On Friday, Jan. 10, a Portland woman lost an envelope containing $2,000 in cash and a $38,000 cashier’s check. It was the down payment she needed for a house.

She dropped it on the pavement of a parking lot in front of a Safeway store in Clackamas.

Lucky for her, Brian DiCarlo, a 23-year-old aspiring teacher, found the envelope.

“I never really had the ‘I could keep this’ thought,” he said.

(READ the story from KATU News)

New Gene Therapy Holds Blindness At Bay

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Jan 18, 2014

Surgeons in Oxford have used a gene therapy technique to improve the vision of six patients who would otherwise have gone blind.

The operation involved inserting a gene into the eye, a treatment that revived light-detecting cells.

The doctors involved believe that the treatment could in time be used to treat common forms of blindness.

(READ the story – or watch the video –watch the video – from the BBC)

Thanks to Andrew N. for submitting the link!

Safer Bike Helmet Crumples Before You Stop, Inspired by a Bird

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Jan 18, 2014

The unique design of a woodpecker and the cycling crash where he landed on his head has led Londoner Anirudha Surabhi to come up with a more effective design for a bike helmet.

The woodpecker pecks at about ten times per second and every time it pecks it sustains the same amount of force as us crashing at 50 miles per hour,” says Surabhi. “It’s the only bird in the world where the skull and the beak are completely disjointed, and there’s a soft corrugated cartilage in the middle that absorbs all the impact.”

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‘What Addicts Know’: Realizations From Recovery That Can Help Us All

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Christopher Kennedy Lawford

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Jan 18, 2014

In his new book What Addicts Know: 10 Lessons from Recovery to Benefit Everyone, Christopher Kennedy Lawford writes, “I’ve dealt with a wide variety of individuals afflicted with the disease of addiction, and in my estimation they are the most interesting, fascinating, and gifted people I’ve come across.” Yet, they are also the most challenging. “Addicts are deviously manipulative and self-absorbed. Their illness causes suffering and pain for themselves, their loved ones, and the rest of society. Yet from their struggle comes an opportunity for all.” Here is an excerpt:

The “Gifts” of Addiction

Recovery is about exposing and healing the darker sides of being human. And honing the skills necessary for sustained recovery from addiction reveals a life-enhancing recipe that can benefit everyone. From the darkness come exquisite, profound gifts.

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New Zealand Couple Moves to India to Upend the Business of Slavery

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Jan 17, 2014

Freeset organic cotton bags are at the heart of a business set up to abolish the enslaving trade of prostitution for India’s poorest women and girls.

In 1999, New Zealanders Kerry and Annie Hilton left their country with their four children to work with the poor in Calcutta. When they moved into their new house, they discovered that in the evening the neighborhood turned into a sex-trafficing district. As they started to get to know their neighbors, ideas began forming about creating a business that could employ the woman and restore their self-esteem.

Each bag tells a story of one woman’s journey to freedom. She used to stand with 6,000 other prostitutes in North Calcutta. She didn’t choose her profession; it chose her because of her poverty.

She still lives in the same area, but instead of selling her body she creates Freeset Bags.

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Pope Auctions His Harley To Help Rome Soup Kitchen

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Chelsea

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Jan 17, 2014

The Vatican plans to auction off one of Pope Francis’ two Harley-Davidson motorcycles and donate the proceeds to a soup kitchen that feeds the homeless in Rome.

The Dyna Super Glide is signed “Francisco” and was a gift from the Milwaukee manufacturer during a June 2013 event where he blessed a thundering parade of bikers in Rome at an event to mark the iconic company’s 110th anniversary.

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Prison Takes In Four New Kitten Residents

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Jan 17, 2014

Four stray kittens were discovered hungry and covered in fleas in the Great Meadow Correctional Facility in upstate New York. A loving staff came together to buy food and inmates crafted a kitty condo in the facility’s carpentry shop.

On weekends, the convicts pitch in to help care for the mewing babies.

According to VetStreet.com, the kittens have each been given names associated with the prison: Doc (an abbreviation for the Department of Correctional Services), Comstock (for prison’s location), Annie (for Fort Ann) and Meadow (for Great Meadow).

(READ more at VetStreet)

Photo by chelle via morguefile

Twin Gives Up Olympic Spot So Sister Can Compete

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Jan 16, 2014

Already there is a heartwarming story out of the Olympic games in Sochi, even though they haven’t started.

Identical twin sisters Lanny and Tracy Barnes have competed together in biathlon careers that have spanned 15 years. Their shooting and cross-country skiing earned each of them spots on the US Olympic team in the 2006 Italy games. But this year, luck dealt Lanny a brutal blow as she fell ill and missed the qualifying races that could have earned her the fifth spot on the five-person team.

Tracy, 31, competed well and earned a spot, but this week said she was declining the opportunity to compete in Sochi — so that Lanny could take her place.

“It just was one of those moments that I think changed my life forever,’’ Lanny told TODAY Thursday.

“She’s having a great year, and I think when you care enough about someone you’re willing to make that kind of sacrifice,’’ Tracy told TODAY.

(WATCH the video below or READ the full story from TODAY)

UPDATE: Although Tracy honestly believed that Lanny had a better shot at a medal than she did, her sister finished poorly, in 64th place. But Tracy’s Olympic spirit inspired the world.

World Sea Piracy Falls for Third Straight Year

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Jan 16, 2014

“World sea piracy fell for a third straight year in 2013, as Somali pirates were curbed by international naval patrols and improved ship vigilance.” (AP)

Teen Hits Full-Court Shot Twice in 2 Tries

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Jim Kelly

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Jan 16, 2014

A 13-year-old boy, Easton Gamoke, scored a full-court shot for his Minnesota basketball team in the last second of the game, bringing his team to victory last weekend.

Not only that, when he returned home, Gamoke re-created it on his first try — another full-court shot for a Minneapolis news team to the amazement of everyone in the gym.

(WATCH the shots below, or READ the story at KRON)

Oscars to Celebrate Heroes at This Year’s Ceremony

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Jan 16, 2014

Atticus Finch movie hero-To Kill a Mockingbird

The 86th Academy Awards will be a celebration of movie heroes, the producers announced this week. The theme for the March 2 live broadcast, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, will honor big-screen real-life heroes, like “Gandhi” and “Erin Brockovich,” as well as super heroes and animated heroes, both past and present.

“We wanted to unify the show with an entertaining and emotional theme,” said Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. “People around the world go to the movies to be inspired by the characters they see on the screen.”

To coincide with the Oscar night theme, the Academy will present an ode to movie heroes in the lobby of its Beverly Hills headquarters. The exhibition, on display beginning tomorrow through March 5, will feature still photographs and posters from 70 titles spanning nine decades, as well as video montages with excerpts from classic and contemporary films.

The exhibit will include films centered on real-life role models, like “Gandhi” and “Silkwood”, super heroes, like “Superman” and “The Dark Knight”, animated heroes, like “Shrek” and “The Incredibles”, and action heroes like “Seven Samurai” and “Gladiator”.

Also included will be literary heroes, like Atticus Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird”. The character Finch (pictured above) as portrayed by Gregory Peck in the 1962 film adaptation, was voted by the American Film Institute to be the greatest hero in American film.

Los Angeles Violent Crime Rate Lowest in 40 Years

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Jan 16, 2014

The number of homicides in the United States’ biggest cities continue to hit record lows again in 2013 with murder rates dropping to levels not seen in nearly a half century.

Los Angeles, the second-biggest U.S. city, reported this week that murders and other serious crimes dipped to more than 40-year lows in 2013. Total violent crime was down in the city 12 percent over the previous year.

Officials credit a citywide focus on prevention and intervention.

Crime rates in other US cities, such as Philadelphia, New York, and even Chicago, have also fallen to record lows, according to TIME magazine.

(READ the Reuters story from KFGO)

Photo by Click via Morguefile

Stanford Whiz Kids Develop an Amazing Cheap Fix for Clubfoot

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Jan 15, 2014

Clubfoot affects one in every thousand newborns, causing their feet to turn inwards, making it look like they’re walking on their ankles. Treatment can correct the condition in most cases, but post-operative physical therapy involves years of wearing an ugly, uncomfortable, and expensive “orthopedic brace” that consists of a pair of clumsy shoes separated by a steel shank with a $300-700 price tag.

Fortunately, a pair of Stanford students have invented a cheap, attractive — even fun — way to treat “clubfoot” in children, that will work well in developing countries and in the U.S., but costs just $20. It’s called Miracle Feet.

– WATCH the video below…

– READ the full story in WIRED

Photo: First Wisconsin Bank headquarters, Milwaukee

Thanks to Gordon Gray for submitting the link!

Thanks to Andrew N. for submitting the link!

The “Gifts” of Addiction

Photo by chelle via morguefile

Photo by Click via Morguefile

Thanks to Harley Hahn for submitting the link!