A mother duck and her ducklings visited the White House Wednesday, but the mom was the only one of the group big enough to jump the concrete barrier beneath the fence.
Her young ducklings were stuck milling about on the sidewalk below until armed guards came to the rescue.
Two uniformed Secret Service agents saw the separation and came to the ducklings’ aid, lifting each baby through the fence.
Tom Porter says he doesn’t think he’s a hero, but he’ll soon have a bronze medal that says he is.
The Texas resident was awarded a Carnegie Hero medal for pulling a 1-year-old girl from a burning vehicle.
The national award is given to people who perform extraordinary acts of bravery to save the lives of others. Porter was among 20 people from across the country, some of whom died during their attempted rescues, recognized by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission Wednesday.
Not wanting to be outdone by her 75-year-old paragliding son, Mary Allen Hardison of Ogden, Utah, took flight on her birthday, becoming the “Oldest Female to Paraglide Tandem” — an achievement described Tuesday by Guinness World Records as a “celebration of the start of spring and life rejuvenated.”
“I didn’t want him to do something that I couldn’t do,” the 101-year-old great, great grandmother said.
She didn’t know anything about breaking a record. She just wanted to have fun.
Not wanting to be outdone by her 75-year-old paragliding son, Mary Allen Hardison of Ogden, Utah, took flight on her birthday, becoming the “Oldest Female to Paraglide Tandem” — an achievement described Tuesday by Guinness World Records as a “celebration of the start of spring and life rejuvenated.”
“I didn’t want him to do something that I couldn’t do,” the 101-year-old great, great grandmother said.
She didn’t know anything about breaking a record. She just wanted to have fun.
A New York City site once known for the size of its garbage heaps will be home to alternative energy sources that could power 6,000 homes, now that the city is soliciting bids to build and operate a wind farm and solar power plant at Staten Island’s Fresh Kills landfill.
With 75 acres available for lease, city officials say the project at the closed landfill could generate 20 megawatts of renewable energy.
A Boston cat miraculously survived a fall from a 19th floor apartment window, walking away with only minor bruising.
The feline’s owner, who left the window open a crack before leaving for work, says that the white cat luckily landed on a small patch of grass and mulch.
Orlando Bloom has an eco-house; Prince Charles has built a sustainable home, and now a major developer plans to build 500 eco-homes in Devon. Despite the economic gloom, the green way of building has never been more popular – 7,000 projects last year, a number that has more than doubled since 2009.
For instance, the “greenest” dog rescue center in the world (photo, right) is a cutting edge £5.25 million eco-friendly re-development for the Dogs Trust in Shrewsbury built by the McPhillips contracting group.
And soon, it seems, all building work in Britain could be green.
The windows of an empty storefront on one corner of Harvard Square are covered with colorful Post-it Note tributes, personal messages about those who inspire us, from fourth-grade teachers to Tim Tebow to Aunt Lindsay.
It all started with one, simple little message:
“Who Inspires You?”
Pedestrians walking by have contributed to the public displays of affection with enthusiasm.
The young man in this video looks like he’s riding a Segway. But Yusuf Akturkoglu was paralyzed after falling from a horse five years ago, and he’s being mobilized by an amazing device invented by Turkish scientists. It’s going to change lives.
It’s called the Tek Robotic Mobilization Device, and it not only allows people who can’t walk get around more independently than any device has before, but it also helps them stand up on their own, which is crucial for maintaining basic health functions in people who have spinal cord injuries.
The young man in this video looks like he’s riding a Segway. But Yusuf Akturkoglu was paralyzed after falling from a horse five years ago, and he’s being mobilized by an amazing device invented by Turkish scientists. It’s going to change lives.
It’s called the Tek Robotic Mobilization Device, and it not only allows people who can’t walk get around more independently than any device has before, but it also helps them stand up on their own, which is crucial for maintaining basic health functions in people who have spinal cord injuries.
Today, Washington, DC celebrates the first day of Spring and the opening of the annual Cherry Blossom Festival, commemorating the 100th anniversary of a gift of cherry trees that symbolized the enduring friendship between the United States and Japan.
Each year, the National Cherry Blossom Festival honors the 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo to the city of Washington, DC. More than a million people visit the U.S. capital during the blooming period to admire the blanket of pink blossoms gracing the trees planted alongside the Jefferson Memorial and National Mall.
Today, Washington, DC celebrates the first day of Spring and the opening of the annual Cherry Blossom Festival, commemorating the 100th anniversary of a gift of cherry trees that symbolized the enduring friendship between the United States and Japan.
Each year, the National Cherry Blossom Festival honors the 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo to the city of Washington, DC. More than a million people visit the U.S. capital during the blooming period to admire the blanket of pink blossoms gracing the trees planted alongside the Jefferson Memorial and National Mall.
With his mother currently living in a shelter, he is carrying more weight on his shoulders than most Penn State University students. He is the first member of his family to go to college and the Harlem native, Joshua Johnson, helps pay for the expensive classes with donations he receives while tap dancing in the New York City subways every weekend.
“You have to figure out a way for the whole family to come up,” Johnson told The New York Times. “That’s what I’m working towards, to make things better for my younger brother and my mom.”
With his mother currently living in a shelter, he is carrying more weight on his shoulders than most Penn State University students. He is the first member of his family to go to college and the Harlem native, Joshua Johnson, helps pay for the expensive classes with donations he receives while tap dancing in the New York City subways every weekend.
“You have to figure out a way for the whole family to come up,” Johnson told The New York Times. “That’s what I’m working towards, to make things better for my younger brother and my mom.”
Impressed by the passion and persistence of the communications and marketing major, Ellen DeGeneres invited the performer to dance on her TV talk show last week. But that’s not all she had scheduled for the tapper.
Ellen lightened the 20-year-old’s burden substantially when she suddenly presented him a giant check for $35,000 paid for by the social education platform, Chegg.
That was enough to make him dance for joy, but Ellen also threw in a pair of top-of-the-line tap shoes to help him continue doing what he loves, making people happy in New York City.
(READ more in the NY Times)
An online call for peace started by an Israeli couple is bypassing the official realms of government and targeting the hearts of Iranian people via the internet. Both Israelis and Iranians have responded over the weekend, posting photos with messages of love for the citizens of their Mideast foes.
Ronny Edry and his wife Michal Tamir uploaded pink and green posters to Facebook last week depicting images of themselves with their children alongside the words, “Iranians, we will never bomb your country… We love you.”
An online call for peace started by an Israeli couple is bypassing the official realms of government and targeting the hearts of Iranian people via the internet. Both Israelis and Iranians have responded over the weekend, posting photos with messages of love for the citizens of their Mideast foes.
Ronny Edry and his wife Michal Tamir uploaded pink and green posters to Facebook last week depicting images of themselves with their children alongside the words, “Iranians, we will never bomb your country… We love you.”
Looking for happiness? Now there’s a map for that.
Mobile web app Happstr lets users mark the locations at which they’re happy on a map and browse for happy spots left by others nearby.
It was built last week during a mobile hackathon called The Startup Bus. The team of six entrepreneurs completed the project en route to South by Southwest.
Kids with one type of leukemia are living longer than they used to, most likely thanks to new drug combinations that mean fewer patients are relapsing after a first round of treatment.
In a study including more than 20,000 children, patients’ chances of surviving at least five years after their diagnosis increased from 84 percent in the early 1990s to over 90 percent a decade later.
While many drivers are paying up to $4.00 per gallon of gasoline across America, Volt owners and others with EV’s are finding more charging stations open for business.
On Friday, following a trail blazed by Indians and pioneers in covered wagons, electric car drivers hit the road to inaugurate the first major section of a West Coast ‘Electric Highway’ dotted with stations where they can charge up in 20 minutes.
The stations go from the California border north to the Oregon city of Cottage Grove and are located at gas stations, restaurants and motels just off the nation’s second-busiest interstate.
A UCSD grad student has traded in his lab coat for an apron and sunglasses, disguising his identity and keeping his new cookie service a secret, to avoid criticism from friends and family.
Now, the passionate cookie-maker is seeing his dream pay off and the “secret cookie service” is not so secret anymore.
The young man known as “Agent Snickerdoodle” delivers his famous cookies to hungry UCSD students who simply text or call him requesting a delivery.
