The numbers have never worked out right for Garrett Becker.
He was born four months early. His chance of living six months: 20%. Diagnosed at age 1 with cerebral palsy.
But he blew past the numbers and now, at age 19 and a quadriplegic, Garrett has become a leader, working towared the coveted Eagle Scout level.
Vitoria-based athlete Iván Fernández Anaya refused to take advantage when his Kenyan rival mistakenly stopped short of the finish line in a December cross-country race.
“I didn’t deserve to win it,” says 24-year-old Fernández Anaya. “I did what I had to do. He was the rightful winner.”
The Kenyan runner – the certain winner of the race – mistakenly pull up about 10 meters before the finish, thinking he had already crossed the line.
(READ the story, w/ photo, in El Pais)
Scholastic has donated one million books to schools and libraries that applied for help after Hurricane Sandy.
They are providing replacement copies of beloved books stories lost to the storm waters.
400,000 have already been delivered. Said one teacher, “It’s like Christmas morning for teachers.”
Michael Lewis still vividly remembers the day in 2008 when his world came crashing down.
With a wife, a baby son and another on the way, the 38-year-old had been running an electrical contracting company in Essex with his brother Steven.
“But suddenly the phones stopped ringing for four months. It was very scary.”
With expenses to pay and no money coming in, Michael decided to take a desperate gamble and took a loan of £25,000 to pay expenses and start up a new business.
(READ the story from the Mirror)
A team of Dutch designers is pioneering technology to make winter journeys even safer for and more attractive to cyclists.
Reflective crystals make lines in the road visible without electric lights, while other roads are getting underground geothermal heating for de-icing.
Antifreeze and engine coolant manufacturers who sell products in the United States must now add a bitter flavoring agent to prevent animals and children from being poisoned by the sweet-tasting liquid.
Although legislation has been previously enacted in 17 states, the Consumer Specialty Products Association (CSPA) and the Humane Society Legislative Fund jointly announced Dec. 13 that the industry would now voluntarily add the bitter taste to all coolant products sold in all 50 states.
The concept e-bike, called the NCycle, has everything a cyclist could dream about: a holographic display, an innovative locking system, even a hidden pocket for your stuff.
The skinny concept foldable electric bike even comes with a handlebar locking system–no outside lock necessary.
“The handle bar is appropriately loop-shaped to fit most of the poles and steel bars in the city,” explain the designers, Skyrill and Marin Myftiu. “Closing the loop when locked is a hardened steel tube sliding from one of the handles, which makes the locking [mechanism] virtually impossible to break or cut with any kind of man-powered pliers, in the end, making it almost impossible to steal the vehicle.”
About 550 University of Wollongong students will have their well-being – as well as their academic performance – catered to when they move into the world’s first “positive residence” this year.
The $40 million, five-story residence with 360 beds will be managed, organized and led using the principles of positive psychology.
Through coaching and educational programs, along with community engagement, their psychological wellness will be addressed, likely using a focus on gratitude, resilience, and strengths, the hallmarks of positive psychology.
Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim says his foundation is funding the translation of thousands of Khan Academy online classes into Spanish.
The telecommunications billionaire says the Carlos Slim Foundation shares the academy’s goal to make “a free world-class education available to everyone.”
Salman Khan is a math and science whiz kid, and a natural-born teacher, who is now devoting his life to tutoring people around the world using YouTube videos.
A project that hangs small wind chimes with bells is becoming a healing remedy for grieving communities following tragic mass shootings.
An Arizona mom in mourning started “Ben’s Bells” after her little boy passed away from illness. She wanted to say thank-you for the many kindnesses that were shown her, passing it forward so other people would remember how kindness heals.
A few years later, the project grew, embraced by a shocked Tucson community following the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords and thirteen other citizens. Hundreds of volunteers painted, assembled and hung the ceramic wind chimes from random branches, and doorknobs and playgrounds around the city.
Last week Ben’s mom, Jeannette Maté, traveled with friends to the location of the latest tragedy, Newtown, Conn., carrying 1,000 bells to distribute to a community in need of smiles. Once unpacked, the group stood in the snow and rang the little bells in solidarity with Tucson bell-ringers marking two years to the day since the Arizona shooting.
The chimes were then hung from trees and in doorways along, each with a note that reads: “You have found a Ben’s Bell. Take it home, hang it and remember to spread kindness throughout our world.”
On the flip side of the tag for these particular bells, a note was added, “This bell symbolizes our connection as a community and the power we each have to change the world by committing to kindness, one interaction at a time. We surround all of those who were affected by the events of Dec. 14 with love and kindness.”
The love came from other communities too, where people sent their own handmade wind chimes — mailed from North Carolina, Illinois and Idaho — to help blanket this town with reminders of solidarity.
One graduate of Newtown High School, Kristin Savopoulos, said her sister found one of the bells on January 9, and called it “amazing”.
“It was the talk of the town, and changed her spirits.”
(READ the local story, w/ photos, in the Newtown Bee – Video from Tucson’s KGUN)
A project that hangs small wind chimes with bells is becoming a healing remedy for grieving communities following tragic mass shootings.
An Arizona mom in mourning started “Ben’s Bells” after her little boy passed away from illness. She wanted to say thank-you for the many kindnesses that were shown her, passing it forward so other people would remember how kindness heals.
A few years later, the project grew, embraced by a shocked Tucson community following the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords and thirteen other citizens. Hundreds of volunteers painted, assembled and hung the ceramic wind chimes from random branches, and doorknobs and playgrounds around the city.
Last week Ben’s mom, Jeannette Maté, traveled with friends to the location of the latest tragedy, Newtown, Conn., carrying 1,000 bells to distribute to a community in need of smiles. Once unpacked, the group stood in the snow and rang the little bells in solidarity with Tucson bell-ringers marking two years to the day since the Arizona shooting.
North Carolina State may have upset top-ranked Duke over the weekend, but the real play of the game came after the victory when Wolfpack fans stormed the court.
Wheelchair user Will Privette was one of the first students to rush the court, only to be swallowed up seconds later by the rowdy celebrants. The senior communications major, who had been recording the victory with his cell phone, immediately got knocked to the ground.
Luckily, C.J. Leslie spotted Privette on the floor and sprung into action.
Many of the 11 million Cubans have been eagerly awaiting this day since the government announced the change in October.
Starting Monday, a new kind of migration commences as the communist government eliminates a long-standing restriction on Cubans’ ability to leave the country.
“People on the island are positioned like runners crouched into the starting blocks on a track.”
The last time Jacob and Bonnie Richter saw their 4-year-old tortoiseshell cat Holly, she bolted out of their motor home at the Daytona International Speedway on Nov. 4, apparently frightened by fireworks.
For days, the distraught couple searched for Holly, putting up flyers and alerting rescue agencies before despondently heading home to West Palm Beach.
Then, two months later the cat appeared, emaciated and weak, on the lawn of a neighbor just one mile away from her home.
The last time Jacob and Bonnie Richter saw their 4-year-old tortoiseshell cat Holly, she bolted out of their motor home at the Daytona International Speedway on Nov. 4, apparently frightened by fireworks.
For days, the distraught couple searched for Holly, putting up flyers and alerting rescue agencies before despondently heading home to West Palm Beach.
Then, two months later the cat appeared, emaciated and weak, on the lawn of a neighbor just one mile away from her home.
Retired grandparents Jeanne and Burt Metz lost their home when Superstorm Sandy hit Breezy Point, New York.
A volunteer organization told the couple that their floors and walls would be rebuilt – but little did the Metz family know that hundreds of people were working to resurrect their entire house.
(WATCH the video below from NBC)
Retired grandparents Jeanne and Burt Metz lost their home when Superstorm Sandy hit Breezy Point, New York.
A volunteer organization told the couple that their floors and walls would be rebuilt – but little did the Metz family know that hundreds of people were working to resurrect their entire house.
Going beyond his normal duties, a Kansas police officer responded to an elderly woman’s house and ended up going grocery shopping for her and bringing back $50 worth of supplies, as well as a Christmas ham and poinsettia.
The 86-year-old Overland Park woman couldn’t drive because she was on new medication. Her son and another close relative who normally helped out had both recently died.
When police officer Derrick Hogan was dispatched to the lady’s home, something stirred him to do more than simply help her to contact her local church for food.
On his police blog, Chief John Douglass told how he received a letter commending the cop’s good deed: “He responded to a call on the eve of Christmas Eve for an elderly lady who was not expecting the police department to do anything but help her contact her church.”
“Officer Hogan went to her house to check on her. He handwrote the grocery list and returned with over $50 of groceries for her. She must have mentioned she’d be spending Christmas alone, because he also returned with a small ham, saying you can’t have Christmas without a ham. Also, he returned with a beautiful poinsettia to sit in her house for some Christmas cheer. She tried to pay him, but he refused and wished her a Merry Christmas!”
The letter, which was signed, ‘A Very Grateful Citizen”, went on, saying the Overland Park Police force “should be proud to have Officer Hogan.”
“He deserves to be recognized not only for this commitment to serve, but his commitment to compassion.”
(WATCH the video below or READ the story from KCTV)
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg is the ultimate success story, and he is a generous guy. This is typical of the latest generation of wealthy entrepreneurs.
Young donors are more interested in creating partnerships and being actively involved in their giving, unlike older philanthropists, who simply wrote checks every year.
Big donors like Zuckerberg undeniably do make a difference to other budding philanthropists.
Totally blind mice have had their sight restored by injections of light-sensing cells into the eye, UK researchers report.
The team in Oxford said their studies closely resemble the treatments that would be needed in people with degenerative eye disease.
Experts said the field was advancing rapidly.
