In a year when gifts are down for the biggest US charities, three generous donations were featured on the Today show, including a 5-year-old boy who decided to give his old toys — and forego new ones on his birthday — to help the Ronald McDonald House charity.
Another of the gifts was from a pair of newlyweds who became homeless shortly after their wedding, but who have pledged to give $5,000 each year to the Salvation Army, who helped them when they were down.
WATCH the video below from MSNBC
In a year when gifts are down for the biggest US charities, three generous donations were featured on the Today show, including a 5-year-old boy who decided to give his old toys — and forego new ones on his birthday — to help the Ronald McDonald House charity.
Another of the gifts was from a pair of newlyweds who became homeless shortly after their wedding, but who have pledged to give $5,000 each year to the Salvation Army, who helped them when they were down.
WATCH the video below, or on MSNBC…
On Nov. 2, instant run-off voting, in which voters rank candidates in order of preference, and the winner is picked by tallying second and third choices, will be used for the first time in a statewide election.
It’s a small race—North Carolina court of appeals judge—but proponents hope it will encourage the more than 20 states that have mulled the system since 2000.
One of the important advantages of instant run-offs is the boost it gives to third party voting. At the poll, you can vote your conscious — for instance, a Liberal can choose the green party candidate — but, also choose a second favorite choice, in the case that the Green candidate doesn’t get enough votes to win.
(READ the report at Newsweek)
A scrappy group of moms and their grade school kids in Chicago have shown the nation what determined activism powered by love can do.
Families in a largely Mexican-American, working class community are fighting to defend an old building on the grounds of Whittier Elementary School from a planned demolition.
Instead, they want the city to use the building to add a library there for the school students, who have none currently.
The moms have occupied the building for 37 days, and begun a lending library on their own, using 1,000 books donated from around the city.
They won concessions already and are meeting with the Chicago school officials on Wednesday to see if an agreement can be reached.
(READ the story in ColorLines blog)
Is your grandmother’s mink stored away in the attic? Maybe not, but with so many people relegating fur coats — theirs, or a loved one’s — to the back of the closet, the Humane Society hopes to round up piles of pelts in their renewed Coats for Cubs recycling program.
Wildlife rehabilitators know that injured baby possums and orphaned raccoons naturally respond when their boxes are lined with remnants of fur clothing.
The Humane Society along with second-hand retailer Buffalo Exchange will host another fur recycling initiative, which provides bedding and comfort to orphaned and injured wildlife and also offers the added benefit of a tax credit for those who donate. (Watch the video below.)
Is your grandmother’s mink stored away in the attic? Maybe not, but with so many people relegating fur coats — theirs, or a loved one’s — to the back of the closet, the Humane Society hopes to round up piles of pelts in their renewed Coats for Cubs recycling program.
Wildlife rehabilitators know that injured baby possums and orphaned raccoons naturally respond when their boxes are lined with remnants of fur clothing.
The Humane Society along with second-hand retailer Buffalo Exchange will host another fur recycling initiative, which provides bedding and comfort to orphaned and injured wildlife and also offers the added benefit of a tax credit for those who donate. (Watch the video below.)
The University of Tennessee is claiming a big victory this football season, no matter what scoring takes place on the field.
Last year, UT Recycling, the campus crew in charge of recycling, collected 35 tons of cans, bottles, plastic and paper during the football season. But this year, with 500 recycling bins in tailgate areas alone, up from 125 last year, the effort is on track to redirect a record 50 tons of material that would otherwise end up in landfills.
The University of Tennessee is claiming a big victory this football season, no matter what scoring takes place on the field.
Last year, UT Recycling, the campus crew in charge of recycling, collected 35 tons of cans, bottles, plastic and paper during the football season. But this year, with 500 recycling bins in tailgate areas alone, up from 125 last year, the effort is on track to redirect a record 50 tons of material that would otherwise end up in landfills.
Chen Wei-yih purchased the flowing white dress, enlisted a wedding planner and rented a banquet hall for a marriage celebration with 30 friends.
But there is no groom. Chen will marry herself.
Uninspired by the men she’s met but facing social pressure to get married, the 30-year-old woman says, “It’s not that I’m anti-marriage. I just hope that I can express a different idea within the bounds of a tradition.”
(READ the Reuters story at the UK’s Telegraph)
Jewish women have never been allowed to create a Torah, or even buy the parchment.
But this week, a Seattle group spearheaded by Wendy Graff has completed the first known Torah scribed by women. The project, which has been a collaboration of women from around the world, has cost $100,000 and taken nearly eight years to complete.
Earlier in the week, women arrived from Israel, Brazil, Canada and across the United States to witness the 62 parchment panels of the Women’s Torah Project being stitched together. Yesterday the women read from it during a Sabbath service for the first time at Hillel UW, near the University of Washington campus.
(WATCH the video below, and read the story w/ photos in the Seattle Times)
Jewish women have never been allowed to create a Torah, or even buy the parchment.
But this week, a Seattle group spearheaded by Wendy Graff has completed the first known Torah scribed by women. The project, which has been a collaboration of women from around the world, has cost $100,000 and taken nearly eight years to complete.
Earlier in the week, women arrived from Israel, Brazil, Canada and across the United States to witness the 62 parchment panels of the Women’s Torah Project being stitched together. Yesterday the women read from it during a Sabbath service for the first time at Hillel UW, near the University of Washington campus.
(WATCH the video below, and read the story w/ photos in the Seattle Times)
The book The Happiness Project
Sex and the City star Kristin Davis will star in the half-hour project.
The book by Rubin, who was once a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, came out in December 2009 and immediately hit the NY Times Bestseller List reaching #1.
Gretchin Tweeted today that she is still in shock over the successful TV deal.
In August, one of Rubin’s articles was reprinted in the Good News Network: 12 Tips for Getting Regular Exercise — and the Benefits for Happiness
(READ more about the TV show in the Hollywood Reporter)
The book The Happiness Project
Sex and the City star Kristin Davis will star in the half-hour project.
The book by Rubin, who was once a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, came out in December 2009 and immediately hit the NY Times Bestseller List reaching #1.
Gretchin Tweeted today that she is still in shock over the successful TV deal.
In August, one of Rubin’s articles was reprinted in the Good News Network: 12 Tips for Getting Regular Exercise — and the Benefits for Happiness
(READ more about the TV show in the Hollywood Reporter)
A Connecticut man used a live streaming application on his iPhone to catch a burglar attempting to break into his home.
WVIT reports on the homeowner, who was inspired to install the system after three previous break-in’s.
WATCH the video below, or at MSNBC…
A man said he was robbed at gun point in York, Pennsylvania — but when he told the robber he was homeless, the man gave all the items back, police said.
Larry Sanderson said the thief replied, “I can respect that,” and walked away after handing back his wallet, iPod, and cell phone.
(READ the story in the York Daily Record)
A computer-controlled device that fits around the leg of stroke victim is helping speed the physical rehabilitation of patients as they relearn how to walk.
“I feel like I should be in the ‘Matrix’ movies,” one patient joked.
With the assistance of the device she walked up and down stairs at UCSF Mission Bay’s fitness center with remarkable fluidity.
“Usually I would stumble and my foot would be dragging,” Hoy said. “I feel like I’m working muscles I’ve been shying away from.”
The Tibion Bionic Leg has been named a winner in the 2010 Medical Design Excellence Awards (MDEA) competition at the Medical Design & Manufacturing East 2010 Conference and Exposition
(READ the story in the San Francisco Chronicle)
They are the green generation. Six young people who are doing incredible things to safeguard the environment were honored this week with the prestigious Brower Youth Award for 2010.
Out of 1,000 applicants, six were chosen. The youngest, Freya Chay, 15, created and helped pass legislation to reform Alaska’s energy policy, giving any municipality in the state the option to exempt residential renewable energy systems from property taxes.
De’Anthony Jones, 18, works in seven San Francisco public high schools to connect the issue of global climate change to the lives of students of color, helping to create a new youth culture that takes environmental stewardship as a given.
They are the green generation. Six young people who are doing incredible things to safeguard the environment were honored this week with the prestigious Brower Youth Award for 2010.
Out of 1,000 applicants, six were chosen. The youngest, Freya Chay, 15, created and helped pass legislation to reform Alaska’s energy policy, giving any municipality in the state the option to exempt residential renewable energy systems from property taxes.
De’Anthony Jones, 18, works in seven San Francisco public high schools to connect the issue of global climate change to the lives of students of color, helping to create a new youth culture that takes environmental stewardship as a given.
A group of dolphins has been caught performing a remarkable display never before seen in the wild.
A video of their antics in Southern Australia seems to show that a trained dolphin has transferred its skill to others in the wild.
Al Jazeera’s Emike Umolu reports on why scientists think it is so special.
The Israel Antiquities Authority and Google announced Tuesday that they are collaborating to produce digitized images of the entire collection of the Dead Sea Scrolls and put them on the Internet, making the archaeological treasure available to anyone with the click of a mouse.
(READ the story in the Washington Post)
