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Police Officer Reaches Out to Help a Homeless Man and His Dogs

German Shepherd Facebook community leader-Cheryl Goede

German Shepherd Facebook community leader-Cheryl  GoedeA few days ago, Police Officer Cheryl Goede responded to a call about a “suspicious vehicle” and found a man who’d lost his job and lost his house. He lived in the car because he considered his family to be his two German shepherd companions and would never think of dropping them off at a shelter.

Little did he know that the woman officer was also a passionate dog-lover who heads up the wildly popular Facebook page, The German Shepherd Dog Community.

Dow Chemical Agrees to Clean 1,400 Dioxin-tainted Properties

rivers-into-sea-satellite-image-NASA

rivers-into-sea-satellite-image-NASAMichigan environmental regulators said Thursday that they reached a long-sought deal with Dow Chemical Co. to clean up to 1,400 residential properties in Midland, home of its corporate headquarters and a plant that polluted the area with dioxin for much of the past century.

The agreement marked a milestone in on-and-off negotiations that began in the mid-1990s. Dow will cover all of the costs, offer to buy some many of the homes, and clean up a nearby river after polluting the Great Lakes region for much of the 20th Century.

Dog Rescued on Craigslist Competes in Westminster Dog Show

Dog show Westminster Craigslist champ

Dog show Westminster Craigslist champThe Westminster Dog Show is where purebreds are shampooed, trimmed and blown dry, where they’re hand-fed steak, dressed in bowties and followed around endlessly, but Maverick is an exception. He was found on Craigslist.

“He was a rescue that was abused and neglected and in terrible shape,” Maverick’s owner, Dan Stallings, told ABC News.

Five months after rescuing Maverick, Stallings started entering him in shows, and Maverick started winning, making it to the biggest stage of all.

(WATCH the video on YouTube — or read the story from ABC)

Dog Rescued on Craigslist Competes in Westminster Dog Show

Dog show Westminster Craigslist champ

Dog show Westminster Craigslist champThe Westminster Dog Show is where purebreds are shampooed, trimmed and blown dry, where they’re hand-fed steak, dressed in bowties and followed around endlessly, but Maverick is an exception. He was found on Craigslist.

“He was a rescue that was abused and neglected and in terrible shape,” Maverick’s owner, Dan Stallings, told ABC News.

Five months after rescuing Maverick, Stallings started entering him in shows, and Maverick started winning, making it to the biggest stage of all.

GM Posts Highest Profit Ever; Workers to Share Wealth

Auto plant - GM photo

Auto plant - GM photoGeneral Motors earned its largest profit ever in 2011, two years after it nearly collapsed.

Strong sales in the United States and China helped the automaker turn a profit of $7.6 billion, beating its old record of $6.7 billion set during the pickup and SUV boom of 1997.

GM said 47,500 blue-collar workers in the United States will get $7,000 profit-sharing checks in March.

$1 Million in Gold Coins Rain Down on Workers From French Rafters

gold coins Sotheby's photo

gold coins Sotheby's photoA French Champagne producer is spreading the wealth with his workers after they discovered nearly $1 million in gold coins stashed away in the building’s rafters, according to Agence France Press (AFP).

“One of the workers (was) attacking the building’s ceiling with a crowbar when gold coins started to rain down on him, followed by sacks of gold,” Francois Lange, head of Alexandre Bonnet in Les Riceys France, told AFP.

(READ the story in the Daily News)

Starbucks Wristbands Created These Jobs

Bracelets create jobs Starbucks-graphic

Bracelets create jobs Starbucks-graphicStarbucks has raised more than $7 million by selling ‘Create Jobs’ wristbands. The company expects the program to create 2,300 jobs as the money makes its way to small businesses and nonprofits.

The coffee giant has distributed more than 500,000 red, white and blue “Indivisible” wristbands in the last three months, selling them for $5 each, with proceeds funneled to groups offering loans to small businesses and organizations that will create American jobs.

Basketball Phenom Jeremy Lin is “Lin-spiration”

Jeremy Lin with the Knicks -by nikk la -CC

Jeremy Lin with the Knicks -by nikk la -CCAll his life they told him he wasn’t big enough for basketball. Now, the Asian economics major from Harvard, having been cut by two other pro teams, has become a global sensation driving his once-faltering team, the New York Knicks, to 7 straight wins. His sudden emergence as a New York phenomenon has earned him nicknames like, “Lin-sanity” and “Super Lintendo”.

Until recently, the Taiwanese-American was confined to his team’s bench and sleeping on his brother-in-law’s couch to save money. Since February 4th, however, the 6-foot-3-inch guard has been the hottest thing in American sports, scoring more points in his first five starts (136) than anyone since 1977, topping stars like Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal.

The Life of a Heart: Muslims and Jews Saving Lives Together

Jewish ambulance helpers -United Hatzalah photo

Jewish ambulance helpers -United Hatzalah photoAs a Muslim woman who teaches classes about the Holocaust at a Catholic college, I am constantly frustrated by the media coverage of the Middle East which overwhelmingly serves to highlight and entrench national and religious tensions, prejudice and conflict.

A documentary recently aired on Al Jazeera was an extremely heartening exception to the rule. The film, Jerusalem SOS, told the stories of Jews and Muslims saving each other’s lives.

U.S. Jobless Claims Drop to Near 4-year Low

job classified ads - Kevin P. via Morguefile

photo by Kevin P via morguefileClaims for jobless benefits unexpectedly dropped last week to the lowest level in four years, showing the U.S. job market is on the mend.

Applications for unemployment insurance payments decreased 13,000 in the week ended Feb. 11 to 348,000, the fewest since March 2008, Labor Department figures showed today.

U.S. Health Care: The Good News – A New PBS Documentary

hospital surgery pictured in the documentary, US Health Care: The Good News

hospital surgery pictured in the documentary, US Health Care: The Good NewsYou don’t often find the words “health care” and “good news” in the same sentence, but in a new Public Television documentary, we learn that while groups on all sides argue the merits and limitations of reform initiatives, a few American communities are already getting the job done. Correspondent T.R. Reid reports they are accomplishing what few have been able to do – deliver quality care for reasonable cost, and in some cases cover just about everybody in town.

The hopeful stories profiled in “U.S. Health Care: The Good News,” begin with Mesa County, Colorado, the region of the country with the nation’s lowest health care spending, according to the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care. Outcomes there are just as good as places that spend twice as much.

U.S. Health Care: The Good News – A New PBS Documentary

hospital surgery pictured in the documentary, US Health Care: The Good News

hospital surgery pictured in the documentary, US Health Care: The Good NewsYou don’t often find the words “health care” and “good news” in the same sentence, but in a new Public Television documentary, we learn that while groups on all sides argue the merits and limitations of reform initiatives, a few American communities are already getting the job done. Correspondent T.R. Reid reports they are accomplishing what few have been able to do – deliver quality care for reasonable cost, and in some cases cover just about everybody in town.

The hopeful stories profiled in “U.S. Health Care: The Good News,” begin with Mesa County, Colorado, the region of the country with the nation’s lowest health care spending, according to the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care. Outcomes there are just as good as places that spend twice as much.

Dusty African Village Fights Crime with Twitter

Twitter logo

Twitter logoWhen the administrative chief of a western Kenyan village received an urgent 4 a.m. call that thieves were invading a school teacher’s home, he sent a message on Twitter. Within minutes residents in this village of stone houses gathered outside the home, and the thugs fled.

The tweet from Francis Kariuki was only his latest attempt to improve village life by using the micro-blogging site Twitter. Kariuki regularly sends out tweets that have found missing children and farm animals, showing that the power of social media has reached even into a dusty African village.

Obama Launches Marshmallow Cannon at WH Science Fair (Video)

Obama fires marshmellow cannon-WH

Obama fires marshmellow cannon-WHWho says science can’t be fun?

At the second annual White House Science Fair last week, President Obama got the chance to shoot a marshmallow across the State Dining Room using 14-year-old inventor Joey Hudy’s “Extreme Marshmallow Cannon.” Hudy designed and built the machine, which can launch the fluffy white confections up to 175 feet away using pressurized air.

“This is great!” exclaimed Obama, as the two pumped up machine using a tire pump. “The Secret Service is not too happy right now.”

The White House Science Fair featured research and inventions from more than 100 students. From robots in the Blue Room to rockets in the Red Room to marshmallow cannons in the State Dining Room, projects showcased the talents of America’s next generation of scientists, engineers, inventors, and innovators. One girl has even designed a targeted cancer treatment using nanotechnology.

Samantha Garvey, 18, of Long Island, N.Y., was on hand for the event after gaining media fame last month when her family received help after its eviction from their home. The newly homeless girl was given a place to live for her family from local social services after winning a spot on this year’s Intel Science Competition. Her environmental science project examines the effect of pollutants and predators on mussels.

Taylor Wilson, 17, of Reno, Nevada (pictured below) showed off his research on novel techniques for detecting nuclear threats and developed an environmentally friendly, cost-effective, and highly sensitive system capable of detecting small quantities of nuclear material.

Obama at the WH science fair with Taylor Wilson -WH photoHayley Hoverter, a 16 year-old student from Downtown Business Magnet High School in Los Angeles, wants to reduce waste with her idea for a patent-pending dissolvable sugar packet.

After viewing some of the displays and talking with students about their work, the President addressed students, parents, and teachers in the East Room.

“When students excel in math and science, they help America compete for the jobs and industries of the future,” said President Obama. “That’s why I’m proud to celebrate outstanding students at the White House Science Fair, and to announce new steps my Administration and its partners are taking to help more young people succeed in these critical subjects.”

Hudy, from Phoenix, Arizona, maker of the Extreme Marshmallow Cannon  — and an LED Cube Microcontroller Shield — has started a small business to sell his inventions.

WATCH the video below, to see the President and Joey firing the cannon. Read about all the science projects in the WhiteHouse.gov press release.

Obama Launches Marshmallow Cannon at Science Fair

Obama fires marshmellow cannon-WH

Obama fires marshmellow cannon-WHWho says science can’t be fun?

At the second annual White House Science Fair last week, President Obama got the chance to shoot a marshmallow across the State Dining Room using 14-year-old inventor Joey Hudy’s “Extreme Marshmallow Cannon.” Hudy designed and built the machine, which can launch the fluffy white confections up to 175 feet away using pressurized air.

“This is great!” exclaimed Obama, as the two pumped up machine using a tire pump. “The Secret Service is not too happy right now.”

Rewire Your Brain for Love

Rewire Your Brain for Love-bookcover

Rewire Your Brain for Love-bookcoverValentine’s Day can be the bane of any person’s year. It can fling daggers of loneliness, rather than gentle arrows from Cupid. Instead of dreading another February 14th, use the science of mindfulness to make a healthy relationship resolution.

Clinical psychologist and neuropsychologist, Marsha Lucas, PhD, author of Rewire Your Brain for Love: Creating Vibrant Relationships Using the Science of Mindfulness, suggests her clients download a new operating system for their relationship brains, what she calls Love 2.0.

Luckily, the latest neuroscience – from researchers at Harvard, UCLA, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, and Cambridge — supports her theory that we can literally rewire our brains.

Here’s Marsha’s advice for any lover just in time for Valentine’s Day.
_____________________________

Rewire Your Brain for Love

Rewire Your Brain for Love-bookcover

Rewire Your Brain for Love-bookcoverValentine’s Day can be the bane of any person’s year. It can fling daggers of loneliness, rather than gentle arrows from Cupid. Instead of dreading another February 14th, use the science of mindfulness to make a healthy relationship resolution.

Clinical psychologist and neuropsychologist, Marsha Lucas, PhD, author of Rewire Your Brain for Love: Creating Vibrant Relationships Using the Science of Mindfulness, suggests her clients download a new operating system for their relationship brains, what she calls Love 2.0.

Luckily, the latest neuroscience – from researchers at Harvard, UCLA, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, and Cambridge — supports her theory that we can literally rewire our brains.

Here’s Marsha’s advice for any lover just in time for Valentine’s Day.
_____________________________

McDonald’s Says Pigs Need Better Conditions, Demands Changes by Suppliers

pigs in pens - Humane Society

pigs in pens - Humane SocietyMcDonald’s Corp., the world’s largest restaurant chain, will require its pork suppliers to get rid of gestation pens that animal-rights groups have long deemed cruel to pigs.

The statement, released yesterday in coordination with the Humane Society of the U.S., said the company will require its suppliers to submit plans by May to phase out the tiny metal cages.

Great-grandson of Auschwitz Victims Taking the Ice for Germany

Evan Kaufmann hockey Jewish

Evan Kaufmann hockey JewishMore than 65 years ago, Evan Kaufmann’s great-grandparents were murdered in the Auschwitz death camp. Now he is taking the ice for the German national hockey team.

Being chosen to play for the national team carried with it mixed emotions for Kaufmann, a Jew, but “Germany is so different today than it was back then,” he said. “I wish more people could come over here today so they wouldn’t have to carry that stereotype forever.”

Love Letters of Barrett, Browning Go Online

Barrett Browning love letters

Barrett Browning love letters“I love your verses with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett …”

So begins the first love letter to 19th century poet Elizabeth Barrett from her future husband, fellow poet Robert Browning.

Now, in honor of Valentine’s Day, their 573 love letters, which capture their courtship, their blossoming love and their forbidden marriage, are available online for the first time as part of a digitization collaboration between Wellesley and Baylor University in Texas.

(READ the AP story in the GuardianSee the letters online here)

[Editor’s Note: The website of digital letters may be very busy today and may not be working optimally.]