A donkey that wandered up to the Marine camp in Anbar province soon became such a part of the unit that he received his own care packages and cards. Marines took care of him for a year until 2009 when they left the area.
One of the Marines formed a bond with the animal named Smoke he used to walk daily, and continued to worry about the donkey’s fate.
The Make A Wish Foundation of Colorado held a coronation gala for a 7-year-old girl with heart troubles who wanted to be a princess.
The state’s governor proclaimed Princess Natalie Day on May 14th, 2011 when the girl was given the royal treatment, which included limo rides, high tea and a horse drawn carriage.
A new book explains a decade of research by psychologists that finds that self-compassion may be the most important life skill, imparting resilience, courage, energy and creativity. It’s also a skill many people lack.
“Compassion is sensitivity to the suffering of self and others and a commitment to do something about it,” explains one researcher.
Kristin Neff, an associate professor at the University of Texas wrote the book, Self-Compassion: Stop Beating Yourself Up and Leave Insecurity Behind
(READ the article in LiveScience)
A couple who won millions last year from a lottery ticket are giving back to the community where their blue collar families have lived for generations.
After being fortunate enough to receive a scholarship that allowed him to get a college education, Gilbert Cisneros said he and his wife are donating some of their winnings to give college scholarships to Latino students in Pico Rivera who need them.
(WATCH the video below, or at MSNBC)
Two decades ago, a wedding photographer battled breast cancer. Now, Cheryl Ungar is giving back by making wedding dreams come true for couples like Melissa and Jeff whose budding romance was struck early by the same harsh diagnosis.
On Sunday, April 17th, Melissa and Jeff became the first couple to be married with the help of Cheryl Ungar her Denver group, “The Wedding Pink.”
Ungar organized a team to create the dream wedding for Melissa and Jeff — a $30,000 wedding donated by 30 different Colorado wedding vendors, including the wedding planner, the venue, the caterer, the deejay, the florist, and the cake.
(WATCH the video or read the story at ABC-Denver)
The Japan Animal Rescue Shelter has undertaken several clandestine and dangerous trips into the exclusion zone to rescue 200 dogs and cats from the now off-limits towns around the power plant.
“It’s like a mission,” explains Sugano Hoso, who runs the shelter with her husband. “And as a human being — since people have been evacuated from there, why do these dogs have to be left there?”
Doctors have been using electrocorticography, or ECoG, since the 1950s to figure out which area of the brain is causing seizures. But now, by placing the array of sensors directly on the brain and connecting them to a computer, researchers are able to control robotic arms, and even determine which word a person is imagining.
“It really goes pretty close to what people used to call mind reading,” says Gerwin Schalk, a researcher who studies ECoG at the New York State Department of Health’s Wadsworth Center in Albany.
The combination of a strong energy mandate passed by the former Governor Jon Corzine, and a generous carbon offset program has made New Jersey a shining example as the nation’s second largest producer of solar power, behind California.
Solar panels have sprung up on utility poles, vacant lots, farmland and university campuses, and atop rooftops across the state. Recently approved legislation calls for opening access to old landfills.
How do you determine where in the world is the best place to live the good life?
International Living magazine ranked 194 countries in nine different categories — cost of living, culture/leisure, economy, environment, freedom, health, infrastructure, safety, and climate — to come up with some answers.
For the fifth year in a row, France takes first in the annual Quality of Life Index. “No surprise,” says the editors. “Its tiresome bureaucracy and high taxes are outweighed by an unsurpassable quality of life, including the world’s best health care, and ‘bon vivant’ lifestyle.”
How do you determine where in the world is the best place to live the good life?
International Living magazine ranked 194 countries in nine different categories — cost of living, culture/leisure, economy, environment, freedom, health, infrastructure, safety, and climate — to come up with some answers.
For the fifth year in a row, France takes first in the annual Quality of Life Index. “No surprise,” says the editors. “Its tiresome bureaucracy and high taxes are outweighed by an unsurpassable quality of life, including the world’s best health care, and ‘bon vivant’ lifestyle.”
A Connecticut high school headmaster has reversed her decision to ban a student from the prom after he broke school rules by hanging his prospective date’s invitation at the school entrance in big cardboard letters.
Outraged students and parents at the school started a Facebook page to urge school officials to let James Tate and his prom date attend the dance.
Tate even appeared on talk shows like Jimmy Kimmel and Good Morning America and phone calls to the school came from people around the world.
(WATCH the video below from AP – or READ the story in the Hartford Courant)
A Connecticut high school headmaster has reversed her decision to ban a student from the prom after he broke school rules by hanging his prospective date’s invitation at the school entrance in big cardboard letters.
Outraged students and parents at the school started a Facebook page to urge school officials to let James Tate and his prom date attend the dance.
Four years ago, a Southern California teen with a 4.0 GPA who loved sports and theater was forced to adapt to life in a wheelchair after he got behind the wheel while drunk and crashed into a tree.
Over the weekend, with mechanical braces and motorized joints directed by a computer brain, he triumphantly walked across the stage at commencement — a moment that reflected more than just the achievement of a four-year college degree.
WATCH the video (advertisement at the top) or READ the story at ABC News…
Alison Slavin, 41, and Sam Davies, 43, have been best friends for 16 years.
The lookalike pair, who both have blonde hair, two children, careers in childcare and live in Bristol, England, could be mistaken for sisters.
As they should be.
The best friends recently discovered that they share the same father.
Michael Brosowski moved to Vietnam to teach English at the national university, but the students that inspired him to change his life were those he met outside the classroom — the impoverished youth living on the streets, performing odd jobs to earn money for their own survival.
Since 2004, Brosowski’s Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation has helped more than 350 Vietnamese youngsters get off the streets and into school and safe shelter — and has provided more than 2,500 children with education, health, housing, career and legal assistance.
(WATCH the CNN Heroes profile below, or read the story at CNN)
A Vietnamese family faced certain death trying to escape communist rule in a crowded fishing boat that was taking on water as a storm approached.
If not for the kindness of an American captain aboard the USS Morton, who knows the importance of making an exception, their daughter would never have been born, and would not be graduating this month from George Washington University law school.
(READ the inspiring story in the Washington Post)
(Family photo)
Country superstar Kenny Chesney is turning his May 25th tour stop in Tuscaloosa, Ala., into a benefit concert, with his management and booking agents also donating their fees to the tornado-ravaged town.
Knowing that empowerment comes with the ability to read, journalist Swagat Thorat launched India’s only newspaper for the blind.
Now, thanks to Thorat — who is not blind himself — 24,000 blind individuals can read the news twice a month.
Initially inspired to learn braille by the story of Helen Keller, Thorat has since taught the skill to about 138 sighted people. He has also produced acclaimed plays featuring blind artists.
(READ the story in Yahoo News- Canada)
A Japanese lingerie maker Wednesday unveiled a line of “Support Japan” clothing that carries messages of encouragement from overseas as the country struggles to recover from a devastating quake and tsunami.
The white, bustier-style garment and matching skirt by Triumph are covered with 54 messages from 36 different countries received in the aftermath of the disaster, each accompanied by a tiny flag of the nation that sent it.
(READ the full story in Reuters)
This is the story of a romance that began with a typo. In 2007, Rachel Salazar was living in Bangkok, Thailand, and Ruben Salazar was in Waco, Texas. Their email addresses were nearly identical.
Ruben received an email sent to the wrong person and forwarded it adding his own little message. “Something to the effect of ‘Hi, Rachel, it seems as if this message came to me instead of you. I’m in Waco, Texas, U.S.A. Have a great day. P.S. How’s the weather there in Bangkok?'”
