A powerful photo of John Unger’s arthritic 19-year-old dog, Schoep, being cradled in his father’s arms in the warm waters of Lake Superior led to unsolicited donations from people who wanted to help pay for the dog’s care.
Before the photo swept across the web, John was considering euthanasia because he didn’t have the money to pay extensive veterinary bills.
The leaders of Sudan and South Sudan signed deals on Thursday to secure their shared border and boost trade, including a restart of crucial oil exports. The deal, reached after more than three weeks of negotiations, will throw both ailing economies a lifeline and prevent, for now, a resumption of the fighting that broke out along the border in April and nearly led to all-out war.
Nick Ruth has been playing the Maryland Lottery for just over a year, but this past Friday, he said it “just felt right.” Following that intuition made him $250,000 richer.
A beaming Nick said he checked the numbers again and again. “I couldn’t believe it, so I asked my mom to look at the ticket. Once we figured out how much I’d won, we started to run all over the house screaming. After we calmed down, we looked at each other and started screaming and running again.”
Nick Ruth has been playing the Maryland Lottery for just over a year, but this past Friday, he said it “just felt right.” Following that intuition made him $250,000 richer.
A beaming Nick said he checked the numbers again and again. “I couldn’t believe it, so I asked my mom to look at the ticket. Once we figured out how much I’d won, we started to run all over the house screaming. After we calmed down, we looked at each other and started screaming and running again.”
Robert Thome’s dream of becoming a professional athlete was shattered when he broke his neck during a high school football game. As a 15-year-old quadriplegic, he thought his life was over until in rehabilitation he learned how to use his mouth to actively pursue his second-favorite subject, art.
Without the use of his hands, Robert began painting with his mouth. At age 30, he became a member of a global for-profit company that allows him to live independently with a thriving career as an artist.
Since joining the Mouth and Foot Painting Artists (MFPA) Robert has painted more than 1,000 pieces and has participated in over 200 exhibitions worldwide.
When not painting, Robert spends time mentoring young artists and teaching at schools and rehabilitation centers. The story of his successful life — with his wife, 2 kids, and a career in Whittier, California — inspires hope, courage and determination in those facing the same trauma he overcame when he was just a teenager.
I interviewed Thome by telephone yesterday. WATCH the video below. See more of Mr. Thome’s artwork at the bottom of the page…
Learn more about the artists at www.mfpausa.com.
Robert Thome’s dream of becoming a professional athlete was shattered when he broke his neck during a high school football game. As a 15-year-old quadriplegic, he thought his life was over until in rehabilitation he learned how to use his mouth to actively pursue his second-favorite subject, art.
Without the use of his hands, Robert began painting with his mouth. At age 30, he became a member of a global for-profit company that allows him to live independently with a thriving career as an artist.
For the past 12 years, the Akshaya Patra Foundation has served cooked food to nearly 1.4 million children in government schools across the India. And now, it has reached an important milestone serving its billionth meal in August.
From a very modest beginning, the foundation — working with government, corporations and private individuals — now covers most government schools in nine states across the country.
Attorneys for 21 UC Davis students and recent alumni have just announced the details of a million-dollar settlement in the federal class-action lawsuit filed against UC Davis over the widely-reported incident in which campus police “repeatedly doused seated, non-violent student demonstrators with military grade pepper spray at close range.”
That act violated state and federal constitutional protections, including the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, according to the lawsuit.
A young start-up called Mango Materials has won a Green Challenge prize of $630,000 for its plan to use bacteria to turn the most abundant organic compound on earth, methane, into a biodegradable material that would be a low cost substitute for plastic.
CEO and engineer Molly Morse says her patented process would also benefit the environment because it consumes methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
The 2012 winner of the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge was announced at a dinner this week in New York City during the Clinton Global Initiative. The sixth annual prize is sponsored this year by the Netherlands branch of the charitable lottery, which dreamed up the idea for the contest after Bill Clinton spoke to the group about the challenge of mitigating climate change.
A young start-up called Mango Materials has won a Green Challenge prize of $630,000 for its plan to use bacteria to turn the most abundant organic compound on earth, methane, into a biodegradable material that would be a low cost substitute for plastic.
CEO and engineer Molly Morse says her patented process would also benefit the environment because it consumes methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
The 2012 winner of the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge was announced at a dinner this week in New York City during the Clinton Global Initiative. The sixth annual prize is sponsored this year by the Netherlands branch of the charitable lottery, which dreamed up the idea for the contest after Bill Clinton spoke to the group about the challenge of mitigating climate change.
Inspired by a video showing a Lego man launched into the stratosphere by high school kids using a weather balloon, a California dad decided to launch his son’s toy 18 miles high using the same procedure. Last month they documented the liftoff of the boy’s favorite train “Stanley” into space via balloon.
Dad added music to the video — and animated some facial expressions on the train bringing Stanley to life, like in the “Thomas the Tank Engine” series on PBS, from which the toy is derived.
They attached a small HD camera and an old cell phone to the balloon that could provide GPS tracking after the landing. Dad estimates that Stanley traveled 18 miles high before the balloon broke.
Inspired by a video showing a Lego man launched into the stratosphere by high school kids using a weather balloon, a California dad decided to launch his son’s toy 18 miles high using the same procedure. Last month they documented the liftoff of the boy’s favorite train “Stanley” into space in a highly entertaining video.
Dad added music to the video — and animated some facial expressions on the train bringing Stanley to life, like in the “Thomas the Tank Engine” series on PBS, from which the toy is derived.
They attached a small HD camera and an old cell phone to the balloon that could provide GPS tracking after the landing. Dad estimates that Stanley traveled 18 miles high before the balloon broke.
Lady Gaga, criticized in the press recently for gaining weight, launched a new “Body Revolution” project on her LittleMonsters website, hoping to help build confidence in her fans who might have body-image issues.
The pop star revealed she has suffered from bulimia and anorexia since she was 15 and released a photo of herself dressed in underwear with no make-up to show solidarity with her fans who have posted their own images.
“My weight/loss/gain since I was child has tormented me. No amount of help has ever healed my pain about it,” she wrote. “But YOU have.”
Consumer confidence jumped to its highest level in seven months in September as Americans were more optimistic about the job market and income prospects, a private sector report showed on Tuesday.
The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes rose to 70.3 from an upwardly revised 61.3 in August. It was the highest level since February and topped economists’ expectations for a much lower 63.
Marte Byrne’s mom sent him a guitar for his birthday when he was deployed to Iraq. Little did he know that this one gift would soon turn into a charitable organization, aptly named Operation Happy Note, that would deliver 4,500 free instruments to soldiers serving overseas in the next 6 years.
After he received his present, Marte sent requests for several more instruments to help relieve stress and raise morale in his unit. His parents, after all, owned a music store.
Eventually, they were sending out “fifty, sixty — at one point, ninety — guitars in one day,” said his mother, Barbara Baker, who began fundraising to pay for all the shipments.
A young man in dire need of a heart transplant shocked doctors and loved ones alike when his failing heart mended itself, the Omaha World-Herald reports.
Michael Crowe, 23, was admitted to a Nebraska hospital last month with a life-threatening heart problem. Crowe’s heart was functioning at only 10 percent efficiency, and his other organs were starting to fail.
At first, Crowe’s doctors ordered him to undergo a heart transplant.
His friends and church members prayed for a miracle.
Is there a gallery or museum you’ve wanted to visit, but never wanted to pay the double-digit admission price?
This Saturday you can get your culture fix for free.
Smithsonian magazine hosts this event each year to encourage people to revisit their favorite museum or learn about a new one in their area.
Here’s how it works: Go to the Museum Day website and register to download a free pass for two admission tickets to any museum on the list, good for one visit on September 29.
Is there a gallery or museum you’ve wanted to visit, but never wanted to pay the double-digit admission price?
This Saturday you can get your culture fix for free.
Smithsonian magazine hosts this event each year to encourage people to revisit their favorite museum or learn about a new one in their area.
Here’s how it works: Go to the Museum Day website and register to download a free pass for two admission tickets to any museum on the list, good for one visit on September 29.
There is a school at one Virginia county juvenile detention center where troubled youths work toward high school diplomas and credit their teachers with saving their lives from ruin.
The jail’s educational program is a little-known entity within Fairfax County Public Schools that offers the students hope for better days ahead.
A tiny farming town in Michigan is rallying around a 16-year-old girl who became humiliated when her high school voted to elevate her to the homecoming court as a joke and then laughed at her in the hallways for having so few friends.
In an inspiring turnaround, Whitney Kropp’s embarrassment gained her thousands of new friends.
A campaign was started by an alumni student of the school who is now a mom. She was sick about the bullying prank and started a Facebook page that quickly attracted thousands of compassionate fans donating their support.
Businesses have donated services for her hair, nails, and make up. They have donated her gown, shoes and tiara. Even dinner is “on the house” for her and her escort this Saturday.
Citizens swarmed the football stadium dressed in orange to cheer loudly when school officials announced her name.
(READ the story from NBC News
