Business school students want to learn how to make profits in the business world. That’s a given. But now, they are wanting to make a profit by doing good — and scores of programs, like those at Wharton and Stanford which combine social consciousness with financial returns, are popping up at universities around the world.
“Social entrepreneurship programs have exploded in business schools across the U.S. and Europe.”
A recent video segment of Korea’s Got Talent racked up more than 6.6 million hits on YouTube, when it featured a shy orphan boy who lived on the streets for many years, stunning an audience with his amazing singing voice on national television.
One of the judges even pledged to pay for a singing coach, as she and her colleagues moved the boy to the next round of competition.
The occasional climate phenomenon known as ‘La Nina’ that may have helped boost last year’s hurricane season and this spring’s tornadoes has ended and the ocean returned to neutral conditions, said the Climate Prediction Center last Thursday.
During a period of La Niña, the sea surface temperature across the equatorial Eastern Central Pacific Ocean is lower than normal by 3–5 °C (8-15°F).
Wanting to pay less for fuel now, Virgin America has invested in a remarkable new engine from GE. “This is one of these significant breakthroughs in technology and engine efficiency that come along once every 10 to 15 years,” David Cush, Virgin America’s CEO, tells us.
Virgin Air isn’t waiting for major innovation in the biodiesel sector — even though it has invested heavily in fuel made from algae — the company’s American airline this week announced a $1.4 billion order for ultra fuel-efficient engines.
President Barack Obama announced a new effort Monday to eliminate government waste, citing as an example the daily printing of the Federal Register, which has been available on the Internet for years.
He said some of the cuts aren’t big, like duplication among federal websites, but so far his administration has identified $33 billion in savings for this year alone, including thousands of surplus federal buildings he hopes to begin selling off.
General Motors says it will spend $47 million at a factory in Defiance, Ohio, so it can build more parts that go into the company’s small four-cylinder engine and its Chevrolet Volt electric car.
Additionally, GM will invest $20 million in machinery and equipment at its assembly plant in Kansas City, Kansas, to add technologies to its Buick LaCrosse sedan.
The investment is part of a plan announced by GM in May to invest $2 billion in 17 U.S. plants.
Babies who are breastfed – especially those only fed breast milk, and not formula as well – are less likely to die of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, suggests a new analysis of past studies.
While the findings can’t prove that breastfeeding causes the lower risk of SIDS, it could be linked to SIDS because breast milk protects infants against minor infections that have also been shown to make sudden death more likely, the authors note.
Decluttering your home or workspace can often seem overwhelming, but in truth it can be as peaceful as meditation, and can be a way to practice living mindfully and in the present moment.
Clutter is a manifestation of either holding onto the past or a fear of what might happen in the future or it could be an unexamined thrifty nature that goes back generations.
Why do we have clutter in the first place? Why do we keep it when we don’t really need it? Maybe we think we do need it — for one of three reasons:
Decluttering your home or workspace can often seem overwhelming, but in truth it can be as peaceful as meditation, and can be a way to practice living mindfully and in the present moment.
Clutter is a manifestation of either holding onto the past or a fear of what might happen in the future or it could be an unexamined thrifty nature that goes back generations.
Why do we have clutter in the first place? Why do we keep it when we don’t really need it? Maybe we think we do need it — for one of three reasons:
Columbia University engineers were awarded $1.5 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for their project to develop a revolutionary new model that turns waste water to energy.
Kartik Chandran, an associate professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering is working with partners in Ghana on the development of an innovative technology to transform fecal sludge into biodiesel and create the “Next-Generation Urban Sanitation Facility” in the city of Accra.
If you love coffee, you will be interested in a new study that says men who are heavy coffee drinkers are at a much lower risk for prostate cancer.
Harvard scientists followed 47,911 men for two decades and asked how much coffee they were drinking. The researchers found that those who consumed six or more cups a day — with or without caffeine — were almost 20 percent less likely to develop prostate cancer than those who drank none.
More important, the heavy coffee drinkers were 60 percent less likely than the nondrinkers to develop a lethal form of the disease.
(READ the story in the New York Times)
Because of his extraordinary contribution to his family of foster kids, Christopher Battle, of Ypsilanti, Michigan, was named “Wonder Dad Hero” by the Wonder bread company, as part of its effort to honor “Everyday Heroes”.
Christopher has devoted his life to helping children and has been a parent to foster kids, some with special needs, for more than 10 years. In addition to providing a caring and nurturing home for his wife and family, he works to instill in his children a commitment to giving back by encouraging them to do one good deed a week for someone they do not know.
Because of an extraordinary contribution to his family of foster kids, Christopher Battle, of Ypsilanti, Michigan, was named “Wonder Dad Hero” by the Wonder bread company, as part of its effort to honor “Everyday Heroes”.
Christopher has devoted his life to helping children and has been a parent to foster kids, some with special needs, for more than 10 years. In addition to providing a caring and nurturing home for his wife and family, he works to instill in his children a commitment to giving back by encouraging them to do one good deed a week for someone they do not know.
Renowned for its infamous smog and severe pollution for centuries, London today has the cleanest air that it has had since the Middle Ages.
In virtually every developed country, the air is more breathable and the water is more drinkable than they were 40 years ago.
Some of the most polluted places are the megacities of the developing world — Shanghai, New Delhi, and Mexico City — but in the 1930s and 1940s, London was more polluted than any of these cities are today.
The National Park Service is encouraging visitors to celebrate the start of summer with a free visit to one of America’s 394 national parks! All entrance fees to parks will be waived on June 21 – the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere – the official first day of summer.
With 394 national parks across the country, you could easily explore a new place, perhaps a historical home or landmark.
Since 2003, growth has been skyrocketing in sub-Saharan Africa, fueled mostly by the rise of cellphones. It’s a glorious wave of change, sweeping across a continent that had stagnated for decades.
“Today the rate of return on foreign investment in Africa is higher than in any other developing region.”
Oskar Schindler entered history when he saved approximately 1,200 Jews from concentration camps during World War II, as memorably recounted in Steven Spielberg’s 1993 film. He established his own factory in Krakow, where he protected his Jewish employees from deportation by falsifying the employee registers, changing workers’ age, and inventing job descriptions related to the war effort.
Now Schindler’s Poland factory is taking on a new mission becoming a contemporary art museum.
In 2010, a travel insurance company collected unlucky travel stories and crowned the “World’s Unluckiest Traveler” who won a $10,000 dream vacation. This year, Travel Guard is looking for good deeds that turned around some travel nightmares for its new contest, “World’s Unluckiest Traveler: The Rescue”.
Travelers are already posting at the website stories featuring the kindness of strangers, how one kind person salvaged a mishap or saved an entire vacation. The hero of the most inspiring story will win a $10,000 vacation.
Stories submitted during the first two weeks are racking up “Likes” in the contest which ends on Labor Day weekend. Inspiring stories include a Toronto visitor whose wallet was suddenly lost leaving him stranded without transportation, when a woman overheard him on the phone and bought him a bus ticket. “I will never forget what she did for me.”
“Travel mishaps, major or minor, are frustrating for everyone, and we’re inspired by the stories we hear every day about good deeds of other travelers turning things around,” said Carol Mueller, Vice President of Travel Guard North America.
One story tells of a Pennsylvania family packed for a thousand mile journey, excited to visit far away relatives for the holidays. But only 90 minutes into their trip, the van broke down. There was no other option than to return home. The mother called her best friend to come pick them up, which would have been help enough. But the friend and her husband showed up with two cars. One for them to get back home, and one van for the family to take to Kansas. “She thought nothing about the cost to her but only about saving our family’s Christmas vacation.”
Entries will be accepted through Labor Day, September 5. On September 27, World Tourism Day, Travel Guard will announce the ten best stories, as chosen by a panel of travel experts. Throughout the month of October, the public will vote for the ultimate act of kindness. The winning “Hero,” as voted by North America, will be awarded a $10,000 “Hero’s Vacation.” The person who nominated the winning story will win $2,000 in airfare for two anywhere in the U.S.
The contest is open to all legal residents of the United States and Canada. For more information on the contest and a full set of rules and regulations, visit www.TravelGuard.com.
In 2010, a travel insurance company collected unlucky travel stories and crowned the “World’s Unluckiest Traveler” who won a $10,000 dream vacation. This year, Travel Guard is looking for good deeds that turned around a travel nightmare for its new contest, “World’s Unluckiest Traveler: The Rescue”.
Travelers are already posting at the website stories featuring the kindness of strangers, how one kind person salvaged a mishap or saved an entire vacation. The hero of the most inspiring story will win a $10,000 vacation.
Just two years after losing all four limbs in an explosion in Iraq, Army Specialist Brendan Marrocco was given the keys to a brand new home designed especially with his injuries in mind.
The first quadruple amputee to survive the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan, Marrocco was given the state-of-the-art home in Staten Island, NY on Saturday by the group Building Homes for Heroes.
The maintenance-free, high-tech residence is equipped with an elevator, sensors that operate the lighting and front door, and electronic controls that raise and lower the sink, stove, and kitchen shelves.
“I can finally just try to live my life like everybody else,” said the 24-year old. “I really appreciate this.”
Specialist Marrocco is the first of four severely wounded veterans who will have new homes built by Building Homes for Heroes in 2011. (See photos of Brendan’s home, or donate to help build a home at www.buildinghomesforheroes.org)
(READ the full story from NY Daily News)
