As the world’s fastest animals, the big cats can run up to 65 mph and need to get up to speed to burn off metabolic compounds. But the two who live at the Houston Zoo don’t have much opportunity to do that. Until now.
In early November, an entourage of 10 people took a pair of 5-year-old cheetah brothers to the Sam Houston Race Park.
As the world’s fastest animals, the big cats can run up to 65 mph and need to get up to speed to burn off metabolic compounds. But the two who live at the Houston Zoo don’t have much opportunity to do that. Until now.
In early November, an entourage of 10 people took a pair of 5-year-old cheetah brothers to the Sam Houston Race Park.
In October, oystermen on the Chesapeake Bay began to experience the best year in decades with officials estimating the harvest to double over last year.
2012’s dry weather encouraged high water salinities this season, playing a big part in oyster growth.
It’s been a “blessing” for watermen, who have endured a gradual reduction in past seasons.
Thousands of bus drivers around Britain are being given special training so they can help passengers with dementia.
It’s part of an initiative by the Prime Minister which is trying to encourage everyone to be more aware of the needs of older people who have dementia, to help them in their daily lives.
The briefing includes details about how different forms of dementia affect the brain. This leads into a discussion about how drivers can help confused passengers.
The first evidence of empathy-driven helping behavior in rodents has been observed in laboratory rats that repeatedly free companions from a restraint, according to a new study by University of Chicago neuroscientists.
The observation, published today in Science, places the origin of pro-social helping behavior earlier in the evolutionary tree than previously thought.
A mysterious package arrived last week at the University of Chicago addressed to Henry Walton Jones, Jr., which looked like it had been postmarked in Egypt. Admissions officials had no clue who Jones was, but a student “snapped out of his finals-tired haze” realizing who Dr. Jones was: the fabled archeology professor, Indiana Jones.
The mystery grew deeper when they realized the postage was faked and inside was an incredibly detailed replica of “University of Chicago Professor” Abner Ravenwood’s journal from the film, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.
A mysterious package arrived last week at the University of Chicago addressed to Henry Walton Jones, Jr., which looked like it had been postmarked in Egypt. Admissions officials had no clue who Jones was, but a student “snapped out of his finals-tired haze” realizing who Dr. Jones was: the fabled archeology professor, Indiana Jones.
The mystery grew deeper when they realized the postage was faked and inside was an incredibly detailed replica of “University of Chicago Professor” Abner Ravenwood’s journal from the film, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.
A surprise gift during an Eastman School of Music concert drew a standing ovation and prompted the conductor to say it was the best moment he’d ever witnessed.
Tara Fayazi, a tuba player, works really hard to afford classes at the conservatory but she’s never been able to own her own instrument. 11 months ago, her friends began organizing fundraisers to help pay for one.
But, recently, the parents of a student who had died heard about the effort and donated their son’s beloved Mirafone tuba, worth $8,000. Her colleagues surprised her while she was in the midst of a solo during a school concert, which was videotaped.
(WATCH the video below)
Are you tired of misplacing your keys, remote control or iPad? A clever invention called Stick-N-Find can help you find anything within 100 feet using your smart phone and Bluetooth. The application uses small tokens that you can affix to anything — a device, a child or an animal — for instant location using your Apple or Android phone.
The Stick-N-Find is small and thin, the size of a quarter and looks like a black Necco Wafer. The stickers have a buzzer and light, so that you can also find stuff in the dark. More than 4,500 people on the internet were impressed enough with the device that they’ve funded the project to the tune of $340,000.
In the midst of unspeakable tragedy in Connecticut , all kinds of offers of help have been pouring in from around the world, including assistance of the four-legged variety.
A group of Golden Retrievers arrived on the scene to bring the kind of comfort that, one little girl says, “help you get over how sad it is.”
Researchers in the United States have developed a robotic arm controlled directly by thought with a level of agility closer than ever to a normal human limb.
Jan Scheuermann, 53, from Pittsburgh, who is paralyzed from the neck down, has been able to feed herself chocolate and move everyday items using a robotic arm directly controlled by her mind.
“It’s so cool,” said Scheuermann during a news conference. “I’m moving things. I have not moved things for about 10 years.”
(WATCH the video below, or READ the Reuters story at Fox News)
The number of New York City homicide deaths this year, already plummeting to historic lows, is actually lower than police statistics show.
That’s because of the way older killings are counted.
Removing four of those older cases further reduces the homicide count to 388 through Wednesday; compared with 493 during the same period in 2011.
Six-year-old Noah Pozner’s family wanted letters from his friends and relatives buried with him, and now thanks to social media and the compassion displayed by one airline, their wish will be granted –and some family members who live far away will feel closer.
On Sunday, Noah’s aunt, who lives in Seattle, tweeted to Delta and JetBlue asking for help getting notes from her and the boy’s 5-year-old cousin to Connecticut in time for today’s funeral.
JetBlue immediately sprang into action and got the letters onto the red-eye flight from Seattle to New York.
In response, Noah’s aunt, Victoria Heller (@VDog) tweeted, “Deepest thanks to @JetBlue flight attendant Craig Myers for carrying the notes from Seattle (and) Trisha & Heather @JFK for helping receive them”.
Six-year-old Noah Pozner’s family wanted letters from his friends and relatives buried with him, and now thanks to social media and the compassion displayed by one airline, their wish will be granted — and some family members living far away will feel closer.
On Sunday, Noah’s aunt, who lives in Seattle, tweeted to Delta and JetBlue asking for help getting notes from her and the boy’s 5-year-old cousin to Connecticut in time for today’s funeral.
More than 1,700 children and spouses of American soldiers killed in action were treated to an all-expense-paid visit to the Dallas/Fort Worth area for the seventh annual Snowball Express – a five day event to honor their sacrifice and bring joy and new memories to the families during the holidays.
Snowball Express is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization established in 2006. Their partners, American Airlines, donated nine chartered aircraft to bring families from 54 cities in the US, and Puerto Rico and Guam.
American’s CEO, Tom Horton called it a privilege. “Especially for our hundreds of volunteers, to once again bring these families to Dallas/Fort Worth – our hometown – for a few days of fun and the opportunity to find new friendships and memories.”
Upon arrival at the airport near Dallas, Snowball Express families were greeted by cheering crowds at “American Candy Land”, which featured decorated gates, holiday crafts, appearances by Santa and Mrs. Claus, and colorful treats.
This year’s weekend events included a visit to the AT&T Performing Arts Center for the annual tree-lighting celebration; participation in the Dallas Children’s Parade; a trip to Six Flags Over Texas; and a private concert by Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band at Billy Bob’s, the famed Texas honkytonk in the Fort Worth Stockyards.
To learn more about Snowball Express sponsorship opportunities, or to view a complete list of corporate and nonprofit sponsors, visit SnowballExpress.org.
(WATCH the video below, or READ the article from NBC Dallas)
More than 1,700 children and spouses of American soldiers killed in action were treated to an all-expense-paid visit to the Dallas/Fort Worth area for the seventh annual Snowball Express – a five day event to honor their sacrifice and bring joy and new memories to the families during the holidays.
Snowball Express is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization established in 2006. Their partners, American Airlines, donated nine chartered aircraft to bring families from 54 cities in the US, and Puerto Rico and Guam.
Every now and then, during this era of heated partisanship, an event emerges that brings both sides together in the U.S. Congress. When news broke yesterday, tributes began pouring in for a beloved member and war hero, Hawaiian Senator Daniel Inouye, who died yesterday at the age of 88.
He served more than five decades in Congress, representing Hawaii since 1959, when the islands achieved statehood. As the President pro tempore of the United States Senate, he was third in the line of succession to the U.S. presidency, behind Vice President Biden and House Speaker John Boehner.
Vice President Joe Biden, who also served with Inouye as a Democrat in the Senate, said, “He was one of the most honorable men I ever met in my life.”
Across the aisle, Republican Senator John McCain, who regularly fought with Inouye over appropriation matters said, “No one — no one — ever, ever accused Dan Inouye of partisanship or unfairness.” Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) called Inouye “a true role model, not only for his acts of valor as a hero in World War II… but also for his humility and graciousness.”
“He was a counselor to younger members like me, a great listener, and a Senator who always put his nation and the people of Hawaii ahead of partisan politics and his own ambition,” Portman said.
While many Japanese-Americans were being in internment camps based on their race, Inouye, who was of Japanese heritage, gave up his pre-medical studies at a university to enlist in the US Army. His battalion, made up of Japanese-Americans, was the most decorated unit of the war.
He was leading an assault on the last and most unyielding line of German defense in Italy. As he led his platoon in a flanking maneuver, three German machine guns opened fire from covered positions just 40 yards away, pinning his men to the ground. Inouye stood up to attack and was shot in the stomach; ignoring his wound, he proceeded to attack and destroy the first machine gun nest with hand grenades and fire from his Thompson submachine gun. After being informed of the severity of his wound by his platoon sergeant, he refused treatment and rallied his men for an attack on the second machine gun position, which he also successfully destroyed.
As his squad distracted the third machine gunner, Inouye crawled toward the final bunker, eventually drawing within 10 yards. As he raised himself up and cocked his arm to throw his last grenade into the fighting position, a German inside the bunker fired a rifle grenade that struck him on the right elbow, severing most of his arm and leaving his own primed grenade reflexively “clenched in a fist that suddenly didn’t belong to me anymore”. He ordered his comrades to stay back, while he pried the live grenade from his right hand and used his left to toss the grenade into the bunker destroying it.
Due to the loss of his arm, Inouye abandoned his plans to become a surgeon, and returned to college to study political science under the G.I. Bill.
In a statement, President Obama praised his record of service and spirit of bipartisanship in Congress calling him, “someone revered by all of us lucky enough to know him.”
Fellow Hawaiian Senator Daniel Akaka said, “Every child born in Hawaii will learn of Dan Inouye, a man who changed the islands forever.”
Zynga Inc., the provider of some of Facebook’s most popular games like FarmVille and Mafia Wars, has partnered with Water.org to raise money for a resource precious to both FarmVille 2 farmers and actual communities all over the world – water.
Last year FarmVille players could receive a an item for their online game world with a contribution of $5 or more to the World Food Programme in a promotion sponsored by Pizza Hut. This month players can make donations when they buy certain items, because Zynga is donating 100 percent of the proceeds to Water.org.
Fighting back tears, the father of a 6-year-old daughter killed in Friday’s school shooting shared with reporters some surprising words of sympathy for the gunman’s family.
Robbie Parker expressed no animosity or anger, offering only prayers for the family of the man who killed 26 people and himself.
“It’s a horrific tragedy, and we want everybody to know that our hearts and our prayers go out to them– this includes the family of the shooter. I can’t imagine how hard this experience must be for you, and I want you to know that our family, and our love and our support goes out to you as well.”
(SOURCE: The Blaze)
Fighting back tears, the father of a 6-year-old daughter killed in Friday’s school shooting shared with reporters some surprising words of sympathy for the gunman’s family.
Robbie Parker expressed no animosity or anger, offering only prayers for the family of the man who killed 26 people and himself.
“It’s a horrific tragedy, and we want everybody to know that our hearts and our prayers go out to them– this includes the family of the shooter. I can’t imagine how hard this experience must be for you, and I want you to know that our family, and our love and our support goes out to you as well.”
