44-year-old Dale Buettner shed nearly half his body weight — 280 pounds. He had been overweight since the first grade, where his mom had to custom-make Little League uniforms for him.
In 2010, at more than 400 pounds, he joined Weight Watchers with his wife and started dealing with the underlying emotional issues that caused him to overeat.
One year later he had lost 100 pounds and with renewed hope started walking regularly.
A high school physics teach became well known in Louisville, Ky., for his exploding antics in the classroom and letting kids ride hover boards they make in class.
But Jeffrey Wright’s most influential lecture comes annually without the use of props. The talk teaches about the life-lessons learned via Mr. Wright’s son, who has a developmental disorder. Through this story, he explains the reason why things work, and the purpose of life.
The story has been documented in an award-winning short film called “Wright’s Law” by Zack Conkle
(WATCH the video below)
Wright’s Law from Zack Conkle on Vimeo.
Scotland has become a Fair Trade Nation after achieving its target of having all six cities and 18 of its 32 councils garnering fair trade status.
It follows Wales in becoming one of the first nations to earn the accolade.
Fair Trade products are about knowing where the products are produced and offering a better deal to workers who produce those goods in developing countries.
– WATCH the video below
– READ the story from the BBC (Feb. 25)
In an ecologically approved “green burial,” loved ones are laid to rest without caskets on plots surrounded by trees in places like the Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery.
Green burial options have become a small but growing trend in the U.S. funeral industry, with an increasing number of funeral homes offering eco-friendly services and about 30 green cemeteries across the country.
President Obama welcomed to the White House Saturday the winners of the TOP COPS award for law enforcement who have shown extraordinary bravery and valor in the line of duty.
The 2013 group named by the National Association of Police Organizations includes Lieutenant Brian Murphy, who was the first officer on the scene in response to the shooting at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin last year, and who attended the State of the Union speech in February as a guest of the First Lady.
“He fought back until help arrived and ordered his fellow officers, who are here today, to protect the safety of the Americans worshiping inside — even though he was lying there bleeding from 12 bullet wounds,” President Obama said. “When he was asked how he did it, he said, ‘That’s just the way we’re made.'”
In closing, the President spoke to the public, “I’d ask all Americans — everybody who is watching all across the country — when you see a police officer, let them know how much you appreciate it.”
(WATCH the ceremony below, READ full transcript at Whitehouse.gov)
On Sunday morning, a dog that had been lost for days was spotted atop a 75 foot cliff near a waterfall in Elma, New York.
The Elma Dog Control Officer, Spring Brook Volunteer Fire Department and Erie County Sheriff’s Office sprang into action.
“We hoisted volunteer fireman D.J. Thompson about 10 to 15 feet up a rock face, where he was able to grab onto some trees and get his hands on the dog,” a fire official said.
Greater Cincinnati is on the leading edge of the green movement – maybe not in showy ways like curbside composting or light rail, but in all the green you don’t see.
Cincinnati is the largest city in the country to get all of its electricity from alternative energy sources, and it has the third-most homes certified under the U.S. Green Business Council’s Leadership in Engineering and Design standards. The region is also a leader in LEED-certified schools.
Mother’s Day comes on a different date every year and earlier in the season for the United Kingdom. But it was especially sweet this year for one British mom who wrote a touching note to us following her “Mothering Day” celebration March 10. I wanted to share it today for all the moms in the USA and around the world.
“My daughter Lucy has suffered from Panic Disorder for 10 years, and at her worst was practically housebound,” began the email from Anne Todd.
“But on Sunday, she managed to get into Brighton with me and my other daughter, Jenny, for the first time in almost 10 years, and even sit in a restaurant, and visit 2 small shops.”
The National Park Foundation announced last week the winners of the 2012 Share the Experience photo contest, an annual competition to encourage exploration in Americas federal lands.
The grand prize winner was captured from her family’s tent in Bridger Teton National Forest by Katherine Hawkins of Hyde Park, New York. Her prize is $15,000 and a one-year free pass to every national park and property.
Born missing both legs and one arm, Kayla Wheeler’s doctor recommended swimming as a form of physical therapy.
Now, at age 16, Wheeler is literally breaking world records.
And when she’s not swimming, Wheeler also plays baseball, bowls and skis.
Nine more wealthy families and individuals have pledged to give at least half of their fortunes to charity as part of a giving campaign by two of the world’s richest men, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.
Some of the big names joining The Giving Pledge, which was launched in 2010, include real estate magnate and Miami Dolphin team owner Stephen Ross, Sara Blakely, the founder of SPANX, and Britain’s Lord Ashcroft.
This brings the total number of signers of The Giving Pledge to 114. The group includes CNN founder Ted Turner, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Sir Richard Branson, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Hollywood director George Lucas. See the full list at GivingPledge.org.
(READ the news story from Reuters)
Valerie Crabbe already had three children when she married a man who also happened to have three kids.
But the vivacious Pennsylvania ‘Brady Bunch’ didn’t stop there.
Valerie was moved to adopt two girls in foster care creating a blended family of 10, with members who are black, Hispanic and white — all feeling loved and engaged with the world.
A huge landfill site in Essex, containing waste from six London boroughs, has been transformed into a 120-acre nature reserve.
The Thurrock Thameside Nature Park at Mucking, which now lies on top of 50 years of waste, has been restored to grasslands, woodland, ponds and reedbeds.
Setting out to find a solution to the problem of accidentally reading spoilers of your favorite TV shows, 17-year-old Jen Lamere created the Twivo app, a mobile solution that acts as a Tivo for tweets.
The app took home the top prize at the TVnext hack event in Boston, where she was the only female participating, according to Mashable.com.
Twivo puts a block on tweets with keywords relevant to any show during certain periods of tim, so you don’t have to stay away from Twitter while waiting to get to watch the final episode of The Office.
Saving a life sometimes could take something as simple as a call back.
Just ask Thomas Buck, an 84-year-old from Pennsylvania whose life was saved by a complete stranger more than 1,000 miles away – who called him back.
The stranger is Ashley Yasick, a 27-year-old banker in Delray Beach who checked her messages Monday, only to find a voicemail from a distressed Buck asking for help.
(READ the story from the Sun-Sentinel)
A crane lifted the last of a 408-foot tall spire on top of One World Trade Center this morning, a capstone to an emotional 12-year effort to replace the twin towers destroyed by terrorists.
The 18-piece silver spire will top out the tower at a symbolic 1,776 feet, a nod to the year America signed the Declaration of Independence.
The New York office building is just north of the original towers, now the hallowed ground known as Ground Zero.
A U.S. ship carrying enough wheat to feed more than one million people for four months was delivered for distribution to the Syrian people. The United Nations World Food Program received the contribution, worth more than $19 million, on April 21 in Beirut, Lebanon. The ship’s cargo gave the WFP the ability to add flour to the monthly food basket of more than one million people.
The 25,000 metric tons of wheat is being distributed in 50-lb bags (25 kg) of flour to people in areas where there are severe shortages of bread, especially in the rural parts of the country.
Amid mounting concern about the deepening suffering caused by conflict in Syria, the United Nations World Food Program last week welcomed a generous contribution from the Government of the United Kingdom of $43 million (£28.3 mil) to help provide much-needed food assistance to thousands of Syrians both inside and outside their country.
The donation will supply food rations to displaced families in Syria itself, as well as to half a million refugees in neighboring countries.
Cheers erupted among workers today when a woman was pulled alive from the ruins of an eight-story factory in Bangladesh — more than 16 days after it collapsed. She said later that she “never dreamed I’d see the daylight again.”
Reshma Begum, a seamstress who is married with a young son, was found trapped in the basement mosque of the building after about 391 hours in the rubble.
Although a teen was killed in a hit-and-run crash, his heart is now giving his ailing friend a chance to live.
When Kyle Wilkerson heard the good news, that doctors had a heart for the Maryland teenager, he had a suspicion. The 15-year-old looked up at the cardiologist and asked, “Is it Skylar’s heart?”
