On Sunday, Islamist Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood was declared Egypt’s first freely elected president in modern history.
He reached out Tuesday to Christians, women and secular revolutionaries to join his new Islamist-led government.
New Islamist Egypt President Envisions Unity Government for All
Good Samaritan and Employer Help Boy Whose New Bike was Stolen
Two teens grabbed a brand new, beautiful BMX bike worth $400, leaving its owner, a 13-year-old boy, crying on the sidewalk. But when a passer-by stopped to see if he was okay, the boy’s luck began to change.
The man followed the thieves and called police, but the bike was not recovered.
The concerned man also told his employer about the incident. After hearing his story, All-Lifts Inc., an industrial rigging company in Albany, sent him out with money to purchase a new bike.
The new bike was delivered to the boy Tuesday afternoon.
(WATCH the video, or READ the story in the Times Union)
File photo of NYC bike-rider
Thanks to Auto Security Features, US Car Thefts Decline for Eighth Year
U.S. auto thefts likely fell for an eighth straight year in 2011 as security features made cars more difficult to steal, an insurance-industry group said.
According to preliminary data released today by the National Insurance Crime Bureau, thefts dropped 3.3 percent last year, to the lowest level since 1967.
Unemployed Hero Saves Baby from Oncoming Subway – Job Offers Pour in
A sudden gust of wind blew a baby stroller onto the tracks as a train rumbled into a Brooklyn station yesterday — but an unemployed Brooklyn man on his way to a job interview jumped off the platform and saved the tot from certain death, authorities and witnesses said.
“Right before the train came, I was able to pull up the stroller and myself, too,” said Delroy Simmonds, 30.
“He got the baby just in time,” a witness said.
He missed the job interview but after news of his heroics spread, he received numerous job offers and accepted one as a maintenance man at Kennedy Airport.
“It says a lot about his character that he would jump on the tracks to save a (child),” Guy Rodriguez, who hired Simmonds, told the NY Daily News.
(READ the original story in the NY Post – Also, updated story w/ job offering at NY Daily News)
Photo by Sun Star
CodeNow Teaches City Kids Coding, Sparking Lifelong Interest
Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Steve Jobs, who changed the way we live, all had this in common: Access to technology at an early age.
A Washington, DC nonprofit called CodeNow is teaching underrepresented youth the fundamental skills of computer programming. While taking free courses, the city kids — almost 40% are girls — build robots, Twitter apps, and a better future.
Since launching in 2011, CodeNow has provided nearly 2,000 hours of free training and distributed 41 Netbooks to students who otherwise might have minimal access to a personal computer.
“During trainings, we were amazed to watch students take to programming,” said one CodeNow staffer. “They were like sponges ready to soak up everything we gave them. Their thirst to learn was far greater than we ever expected.”
To better equip volunteers and the kids, who each receive a Netbook upon graduation, CodeNow has launched a campaign to raise awareness. Get more info on their IndieGoGo campaign where they are halfway to their goal of raising $15,000.
(WATCH the video below)
Man Finds Beloved Stolen Sports Car After 40 years
One night last month, Bob Russell, who was unable to sleep, climbed out of bed and sat down at his computer to do some late night eBay searching. Russell, who lives in Southland, Texas, says that every so often he’d do a search for his 1967 Austin Healey, a beloved sports car that was stolen in 1970.
“I used to always look at Austin Healeys parked on the side of the road. Every once in a while, I’d search the Internet. I knew finding it would be impossible,” Russell told The Hamilton Spectator in Ontario.
His wife was happy, too. lt was the car in which they had their first date as a couple.
Thanks to Craig Withers for sending the link!
Family Dog Saves Boy from Drowning
A heroic dog saved a toddler from drowning after the boy fell into a pool this weekend in Michigan.
When his mother finally found the 14-month-old, he looked like he was floating in the pool, but actually the black labrador was holding him up, not moving an inch until help could arrive.
Find Health and Happiness on a Walk in the Woods
Do you want to be happier, healthier, and smarter? I have just the prescription for you: add a daily dose of nature to your routine.
Over the past decade, researchers from fields as diverse as biology, psychiatry, engineering, horticulture, neuroscience and medicine have realized what most of us know intuitively: nature is good for our health and wellbeing.
These experts have discovered countless links between time spent outdoors and cognitive, physical, and emotional improvement. Studies show that enjoying a natural setting — like a park, beach, wetland, or forest — can reduce blood pressure, anxiety, and stress levels. Exposure to nature can help you sleep well and increase vigor and liveliness. It can even boost your immune system.
Find Health and Happiness on a Walk in the Woods
Do you want to be happier, healthier, and smarter? I have just the prescription for you: add a daily dose of nature to your routine.
Over the past decade, researchers from fields as diverse as biology, psychiatry, engineering, horticulture, neuroscience and medicine have realized what most of us know intuitively: nature is good for our health and wellbeing.
These experts have discovered countless links between time spent outdoors and cognitive, physical, and emotional improvement. Studies show that enjoying a natural setting — like a park, beach, wetland, or forest — can reduce blood pressure, anxiety, and stress levels. Exposure to nature can help you sleep well and increase vigor and liveliness. It can even boost your immune system.
Final Steel Beam Lifted at 4 World Trade Center
Gospel singer BeBe Winans sang “God Bless America” and more than 100 workers signed the final steel beam that was lifted into place at the new World Trade Center skyscraper, the first expected to be open for business since the twin towers were decimated on 9/11.
Workers raised their hardhats in tribute as the mammoth beam rose slowly into the Manhattan sky at the ceremony Monday to mark the completion of the structure at 4 World Trade Center.
Across the site in the opposite corner stands the uncompleted One World Trade Center which is already New York’s tallest structure.
(READ the story in the CS Monitor)
Putin Unveils Red Army WWII ‘Victory Monument’ in Israel
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin joined Israeli leader Shimon Peres to unveil a Victory Monument in Israel honoring the contributions of the Red Army to the victory in the Second World War.
Israel’s President Peres said the memorial, which includes giant wings made of white stone, symbolized a profound feeling of gratitude to the Russian people who helped saved the world from Nazism and lost 30 million of their own people in the struggle.
3 Encouraging Trends in Housing for the U.S.
Trend No. 1 for inspiring optimism in the real estate sector? Higher home prices.
March, April, and May showed solid increases in median existing single-family home prices compared to the same months last year. Three months of gains might not sound all that impressive, but consider this: The last time there were three consecutive monthly gains in home prices was back in 2006, before the housing market plummeted.
While higher prices aren’t good news if you’re buying a new home, they present good news for the economy. Rising prices mean increasing demand.
Trend No. 2: is the encouraging increase in housing permits for new home construction. The bottom appears to be behind us and housing permits are clearly trending upward over the past year and a half, according to the chart from the Census Bureau.
Women Secretly Deliver Cakes to Poor Families for Over 34 Years
For more than three decades, nine women have been secretly baking and delivering hundreds of pound cakes during the middle of the night to people in West Tennessee who could benefit from knowing that “somebody out there loves them.”
“We check the newspapers for births and deaths. The evening news is also another good source, said Nana Pearl, one of the four sisters who are the core of the group. Eavesdropping in the local shops and beauty salon is one of the preferred methods of picking up the scent of someone in need. “If we hear of someone who could use a little happiness, we do our darnest to track them down.”
The secret baking angels are not so surreptitious anymore. Since their kids are all grown now and most of the husbands are retired, they created a website at Happiness-Happens.com, where they sell their cakes online — about 100 each day — and raise money for charity. Their specialty lemon and curd cakes have been placed in expensive ‘swag bags’ at America’s most prestigious award shows.
They carry out their motto, “Give and give,” instead of ‘give and take’ in other ways, too.
Benefitting local battered women, Happiness Happens donated lush towels, robes, linens, and spa products to the YWCA. In the last 35 years, The 9 Nanas have contributed nearly $900,000 of happiness to their local community.
The organized do-gooding started over weekly bridge games. After awhile they’d pool together what money they had and buy groceries and pay utility bills for the sick and shut-in and help widows and single moms young children.
“At the start of the school year, we’d trek to the stores for new school clothes,” said Nana Pearl. “When we shopped for our children, we shopped for someone else’s.”
Learn about becoming a Happiness-Happens Ambassador in your area on the website, www.happiness-happens.com.
Women Secretly Deliver Cakes to Poor Families for Over 34 Years
For more than three decades, nine women have been secretly baking and delivering hundreds of pound cakes during the middle of the night to people in West Tennessee who could benefit from knowing that “somebody out there loves them.”
“We check the newspapers for births and deaths. The evening news is also another good source, said Nana Pearl, one of the four sisters who are the core of the group. Eavesdropping in the local shops and beauty salon is one of the preferred methods of picking up the scent of someone in need. “If we hear of someone who could use a little happiness, we do our darnest to track them down.”
The secret baking angels are not so surreptitious anymore. Since their kids are all grown now and most of the husbands are retired, they created a website at Happiness-Happens.com, where they sell their cakes online — about 100 each day — and raise money for charity. Their specialty lemon and curd cakes have been placed in expensive ‘swag bags’ at America’s most prestigious award shows.
Two Glasses of Wine a Day Improves Quality of Life for Middle-aged
A study of Canadians ages 50 and older showed a positive correlation between moderate consumption of alcohol and a higher quality of life.
Of the 5,400 people studied, those who drink no more than 14 drinks a week — and no more than three a day for women and four a day for men — have better overall scores than those who abstain completely.
Olympic Runner Rises Out of Poverty
World champion Lolo Jones will be making news this weekend, showing off her speed and fighting spirit as she makes her third attempt to qualify for Team USA with the ultimate goal of winning gold at the 2012 London Games to make her mom proud of the champion she created.
“I always wanted to use track as a way to get out of poverty,” she says.
US Supreme Court Strikes Mandatory Life Terms For Juveniles
The United States Supreme Court ruled that an Alabama law that gave juveniles convicted of murder mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole was unconstitutional.
To slap juveniles with a mandatory sentence, which does not allow a judge to take into consideration the circumstances of a murder — such as lack of intent to kill — violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
One of the cases brought before the court was that of a 14-year-old who was convicted of being an accomplice in an Arkansas robbery that ended in murder.
Healthiest Meal Ever: Scientists Devise Menu to Include 222 Health Claims
Food researchers pored over thousands of health claims for various food items and found only 222 that were judged to have basis in scientific fact – and from these they have concocted a menu that is being hailed as the healthiest ever.
It was created by Leatherhead Food Research, an independent British research center for food science, using the 222 health claims labeled as proven by the European Food Safety Authority. Leatherhead CEO Dr Paul Berryman challenged his team of scientific, regulatory and marketing experts to devise a meal that could incorporate every claim.
It took one week to meet the goal, and was even designed to be served as a high quality in-flight meal for airline passengers.
Healthiest Meal Ever: Scientists Devise Menu to Include 222 Health Claims
Food researchers pored over thousands of health claims for various food items and found only 222 that were judged to have basis in scientific fact – and from these they have concocted a menu that is being hailed as the healthiest ever.
It was created by Leatherhead Food Research, an independent British research center for food science, using the 222 health claims labeled as proven by the European Food Safety Authority. Leatherhead CEO Dr Paul Berryman challenged his team of scientific, regulatory and marketing experts to devise a meal that could incorporate every claim.
It took one week to meet the goal, and was even designed to be served as a high quality in-flight meal for airline passengers.
Couple Plans Unusual Honeymoon Taking Strangers to Breakfast Across America
This July, after Courtney Dillard and Matt Webber walk down the aisle, they will hit the open road on a unique journey from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine, taking a leap of faith with dozens of people they’ve never met. The leap? The new bride and groom will sit down to breakfast with strangers across America.
The Oregon couple wants to challenge the negative narratives of ‘stranger danger’ and how America is hopelessly divided.
Seeking strangers from bulletin boards, through word of mouth, social media, and pure chance, Matt and Courtney plan to select 50 of the breakfasts to highlight in a book, “Breakfast with Strangers: 50 Meals across America”.
“Living in Portland for the last decade has inspired us to invest in community and to foster it in novel ways,” says Courtney, a teacher in the Rhetoric & Media Studies department at Willamette University.
“Each person has their unique story and yet there are common themes we already see emerging,” noted Matt.
“We have all been told it is the most important meal of the day, but breakfast isn’t just important for the body, it’s also great for community,” said Matt, a community organizer whose favorite breakfast is corn griddle cakes at the Paradox Cafe in Portland, OR.
“We’ve found that sharing coffee and toast is a wonderful way to get to know a stranger better.”
Now that the word is getting out via their website and Kickstarter campaign, the couple has already received over 600 breakfast request emails sent from big cities, like Los Angeles, and small towns like Enterprise, Alabama. The two also recently tweeted Portland Mayor Sam Adams to ask him to breakfast and are waiting to hear back from his office.
Strangers seem to like the couple’s idea and are even willing to fund it. The Kickstarter campaign reached its goal this week, successfully funding their adventure to the tune of more than $8,000. (Visit their facebook at BreakfastWithStrangers.com)