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)
The Jolie-Pitt Foundation donated $500,000 on Friday to the Joplin Recovery Fund for rebuilding efforts in the tornado-ravaged Missouri city. The Community Foundation of the Ozarks has raised now one million dollars to support mid- and long-term rebuilding for the residents.
Brad Pitt said in a statement, “With the devastating loss of thirty percent of the city, the Joplin community faces great challenges ahead. Having spent much of my childhood there, I know these people to be hardworking, humble and especially resilient.”
A woman who claimed a charitable deduction for taking care of 70 stray cats won her case against the IRS, a victory for animal-rescue volunteers across the U.S. that helped clarify the treatment of unreimbursed expenses for 1.5 million IRS-recognized charities.
The decision paves the way for volunteers of animal-rescue groups like the ASPCA and Humane Society of the U.S. to deduct unreimbursed expenses that further the groups’ missions, such as fostering stray animals.
In morning rush hour, Carole Markowitz was about to get on the subway when the car door started coming toward her, trapping her leg completely between the train and the platform.
In the narrow space less than six inches wide Carole lost her shoe onto the track and started to panic. She screamed.
That was when she felt arms under her shoulders, lifting her like a rag doll.
A passenger saved her then disappeared into the crowd.
The Obama administration is leading a global effort to deploy “shadow” Internet and mobile phone systems that dissidents can use to undermine repressive governments that seek to silence them by censoring or shutting down telecommunications networks.
One prototype, an “Internet in a suitcase,” has been financed with a $2 million State Department grant.
The housing market in many US cities is performing better than recent national data would suggest, leading some analysts and real estate brokers to express cautious optimism about the prospects for a recovery.
List prices rose in 24 of 26 cities tracked by Altos Research in May, with San Francisco, Washington and San Jose, California, showing the biggest gains. New York and Las Vegas were the only two cities in the index where prices declined.
