After over 20 years of campaigning, ethical beauty retailer The Body Shop and non-profit organization Cruelty Free International are finally celebrating the end to animal testing for cosmetics in Europe with the anticipated announcement that the import and sale of animal tested cosmetic products and ingredients is to be banned in the EU on 11th March 2013.
EU Set to Ban Animal Testing for Cosmetics Forever
EU Set to Ban Animal Testing for Cosmetics Forever
After over 20 years of campaigning, ethical beauty retailer The Body Shop and non-profit organization Cruelty Free International are finally celebrating the end to animal testing for cosmetics in Europe with the anticipated announcement that the import and sale of animal tested cosmetic products and ingredients is to be banned in the EU on March 11, 2013.
10 Cheap Ways to Avoid the Doctor
Prevention goes well beyond the mammograms, prostate screenings or blood tests at the doctor’s office. It’s the little steps you take every day that can keep you healthy.
“Ideally, prevention should also emphasize healthy lifestyles, a practice that isn’t only health-conscious, but (is) inexpensive,” said James Pivarnik, president of the American College of Sports Medicine.
Here are 10 easy ways to get started, beyond simply washing your hands when you’re out in public — which is a great tip for keeping you out of the doctor’s office.
‘Brilliant Bus’ Mobile Classroom Gains Support for Retired Teacher’s Effort
A retired teacher, who has poured her $900,000 retirement nest egg into a technology classroom on wheels for underprivileged children, has gained an outpouring of national support, after her story aired last week on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.
Estella Pyfrom has driven the “Brilliant Bus” throughout the West Palm Beach area for the last four years, offering homework help and computer access to kids who have no technology at in their homes.
Since her story aired last Monday, she’s received about $5,000 worth of donations.
(WATCH the Making a Difference videos below, or READ the inspiring story from WPTV)
Three Pennsylvania Classmates Get Perfect SAT Scores
Three students from Montgomery County, Pa., accomplished something extremely rare — they all scored a perfect score of 2400 on their SAT.
And what’s even more rare is that all three students are classmates at the same school.
The Upper Dublin High School juniors dedicated years, studying for this one test.
Robot Built to Harvest Space Junk, Recycle Dead Satellite Parts
Earlier this year, a government agency known for its futuristic technologies, introduced its Phoenix program–an initiative that aims to “develop and demonstrate technologies to cooperatively harvest and re-use valuable components from retired, nonworking satellites (already in orbit).
As you can see in the video below, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) demonstrated the ability to create new space systems at greatly reduced cost by creating robots that harvest antennas from dead satellites.
Boys & Girls Clubs of America Receives $464,425 Contribution from Toyota
Combatting the high school dropout crisis and preparing millions of American teens for college, Toyota donated $464,425 to Boys & Girls Clubs of America to be divided equally among 19 local Clubs currently running the Diplomas to Degrees college readiness program.
Launched in 2012, d2D is a partnership between Toyota and Boys & Girls Clubs of America that provides resources and support to teens to help prepare them for moving from high school to college graduation.
Smile! Crow’s Feet Make You Look Clever and More Attractive
Crow’s feet – often regarded as an unwelcome sign of ageing – could actually be something to smile about.
People are judged more attractive and more intelligent if their eyes wrinkle around the corners when they smile, research shows.
Psychologists asked a group of men and women about their impressions of a set of photographs showing people smiling.
When crow’s feet were present in the faces on photographs, the people were thought to be more intelligent and more attractive.
(READ the story in the Daily Mail)
How To Save A Public Library: Make It A Seed Bank
Some signs of spring are starting to break through in Colorado. The public library in the small town of Basalt is trying an experiment: In addition to borrowing books, residents can now check out seeds.
After you borrow the packet of seeds, you grow the crop and harvest new seeds from your best produce. You return them so the library can lend your seeds out to others.
Mini Cooper Sends Spam Apology, Care Package To Customers After Email Glitch
To fix an email spam catastrophe, the car company Mini Cooper sent a humorous and lovely package to those customers whose inboxes were inundated by hundreds of messages. On Wednesday, a Reddit user posted a photo of the way the car company apologized for their server glitch.
The company sent chocolate and other items along with a note that read:
France to Turn Off Office and Shop Lights at Night
French shops and office buildings will have to turn off their lights at night to save energy and reduce light pollution, the French environment ministry said on Wednesday.
From July 1, all non-residential buildings will have to switch off interior lights one hour after the last worker leaves the premises. All exterior and shop window lighting will have to be turned off by 1 am.
Prison Inmates Jump in to Rescue 3 Boys From Raging Creek
Prisoners working in a nearby park jumped into strong moving current to help save three boys floating downstream after their kayak overturned in a Washington state creek.
Ten prison inmates from the Larch Corrections Center near Yacolt, Wash., were doing park maintenance when they heard screams for help and responded quickly, fire officials told The Columbian newspaper in Vancouver, Wash.
(READ the story from NBC News)
Study Finds Beer Ingredient Could Help Brew New Medicine
A recent discovery by scientists at the University of Washington means that a main beer ingredient – hops – could be used to treat a number of health issues.
The authors point out that while “excessive beer consumption cannot be recommended to propagate good health, isolated humulones and their derivatives can be prescribed with documented health benefits.”
War Amputee Flashes New Limbs After Historic Double Arm Transplant
A quadruple-amputee GI from Staten Island proudly showed off his two newly transplanted arms yesterday by using them to push his wheelchair into a press conference — then vowed to drive a car again.
“The arms feel great!” said beaming Iraq War vet Brendan Marrocco, as he displayed his new limbs at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he underwent the extraordinary double transplant Dec. 18.
The 26-year-old U.S. soldier who lost all four limbs in a 2009 roadside bomb attack is now celebrated as the Baltimore hospital’s first bilateral arm transplant patient. The innovative treatment, which entails an infusion of the deceased donor’s bone marrow cells, was designed to prevent rejection of the new limbs.
War Amputee Flashes New Limbs After Historic Double Arm Transplant
A quadruple-amputee GI from Staten Island proudly showed off his two newly transplanted arms yesterday by using them to push his wheelchair into a press conference — then vowed to drive a car again.
“The arms feel great!” said beaming Iraq War vet Brendan Marrocco, as he displayed his new limbs at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he underwent the extraordinary double transplant Dec. 18.
The 26-year-old U.S. soldier who lost all four limbs in a 2009 roadside bomb attack is now celebrated as the Baltimore hospital’s first bilateral arm transplant patient. The innovative treatment, which entails an infusion of the deceased donor’s bone marrow cells, was designed to prevent rejection of the new limbs.
Cops Do Their Routine Paperwork at Schools, a Cheap Way to Add Security
Inspired to bolster school security by the December shooting inside Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School, deputies in Douglas County are voluntarily doing their paperwork in parking lots outside their district’s 40-plus elementary schools. The result, they say, is more security without additional resources.
First Black South African Billionaire Donates Fortune to Poor
South Africa’s first black billionaire, Patrice Motsepe, on Wednesday said he has signed up for the Giving Pledge, becoming the first African to join some of the world’s wealthiest people in donating vast sums of personal wealth to the poor.
The Giving Pledge is a philanthropic initiative started by US billionaire Warren Buffet along with Bill and Melinda Gates that has recruited nearly 100 billionaires, mostly Americans, who have pledged to donate the majority of their wealth to charity.
George Clooney Picks Up Stranger’s Tab at Restaurant
George Clooney has once again shown himself to be the perfect gentleman.
Fearing that he and his party had been too loud while dining at the Grill Royal restaurant in Berlin, the actor picked up the $120 tab for a nearby table, Oliver Hermann, told the newspaper Bild.
Super Bowl: Real Life ‘Blind Side’ Players are Survivors in Life and On Field
Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman Michael Ohre, who was made famous by the movie “Blind Side”, will be facing a player on the opposing team Sunday, who also was blessed in the same way with a happy ending.
The two, who aren’t brothers by birth, are brothers in survival — both having been adopted by white families showing what love really is.
San Francisco 49er linebacker Patrick Willis (in photo, with his adoptive mom) was Oher’s teammate in college and travelled the same difficult road to Sunday’s game.
Super Bowl: Real Life ‘Blind Side’ Players are Survivors in Life and On Field
Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman Michael Ohre, who was made famous by the movie “Blind Side”, will be facing a player on the opposing team Sunday, who also was blessed in the same way with a happy ending.
The two, who aren’t brothers by birth, are brothers in survival — both having been adopted by white families showing what love really is.
San Francisco 49er linebacker Patrick Willis (in photo, with his adoptive mom) was Oher’s teammate in college and travelled the same difficult road to Sunday’s game.
(WATCH the video below – with ad – from ABC)