Good news reporter, Steve Hartman believes he can pick at random a name in the phone book and find an inspiring story there — even in the country of Oman.
Meet the man who proved Steve to be correct. He is living the “American Dream”, but in the Middle East, and partly, he has an American corporation to thank.
WATCH the video below, or at CBS News…
While three Illinois school districts have formed the School Wind Consortium to provide power and generate income, one California elementary school joins a growing number of others debuting all-solar systems to open the new school year.
Grant Elementary School in Redding has installed a 202.50kW solar energy system, which was built and financed at no capital cost to the district through a partnership with Solar Power Partners of Mill Valley, California.
Signing a purchase agreement, the school pays only for the power produced by the system at a pre-determined rate over 20 years, which will reportedly save an estimated total of $600,000 over the life of the agreement. (Photo: Solar rooftop from Solar Power Partners for Ventura County)
While three Illinois school districts have formed the School Wind Consortium to provide power and generate income, one California elementary school joins a growing number of others debuting all-solar systems to open the new school year.
Grant Elementary School in Redding has installed a 202.50kW solar energy system, which was built and financed at no capital cost to the district through a partnership with Solar Power Partners of Mill Valley, California.
Signing a purchase agreement, the school pays only for the power produced by the system at a pre-determined rate over 20 years, which will reportedly save an estimated total of $600,000 over the life of the agreement. (Photo: Solar rooftop from Solar Power Partners for Ventura County)
Bruno Serato, owner of the White House Restaurant in Anaheim, admits he had a pretty carefree life – hosting and hobnobbing with Orange County’s most rich and famous, until his Italian mother convinced him to start feeding the hungry.
He told her about homeless kids who often go hungry and she grabbed his arm, chided him in Italian, and insisted that he feed them pasta immediately.
On mama’s orders, Bruno fed a room full of kids that night.
It was a lot of food to just give away. But his mother wouldn’t leave the kitchen until he did it. That was actually April 18, 2005 – and it’s happened every day since.
Bruno has continued to serve the kids every weeknight for the past 5 years – that’s nearly a quarter of a million, very nice meals.
WATCH the video below, or read the story at CBS News…
An Afghan gentleman begged a squad of Marines, out on a routine visit to a village in southern Afghanistan, to come to his nephew’s rescue. They entered the man’s compound and found a 10-year-old boy curled up in pain from severe burns over his back.
This group of Marines normally spend their days training Afghanistan security forces, but had witnessed many injuries to their own unit members due to enemy ambush with explosives. Even so, finding a child in this condition was a much different experience, according to Navy corpsman Seaman Markie Smith, from Syracuse, N.Y., who responded to the family’s pleas for help.
In the end, the Afgan child along with his family witnessed the compassion of coalition forces and will remember their actions for a long time.
Liu Wei lost both of his arms in a freak accident when he was 10, after touching an electrified wire while playing hide-and-seek. But, his tragic circumstances did not stop Liu from pursuing his goal of a music career.
His parents convinced him of the importance of doing everything for himself. So, at age 19, he began the daily practice of playing the piano with his feet, and today at 23 shocked audiences and judges on China’s Got Talent.
The audience applause let Liu know that has more talent in one of his pinky toes than many piano players have in both their hands.
“For people like me, there were only two options. One was to abandon all dreams, which would lead to a quick, hopeless death. The other was to struggle without arms to live an outstanding life,” he explained to the judges.
Watch Liu’s flawless and heartfelt performance of “Mariage D’amour” via YouTube below, with English subtitles…
Liu Wei lost both of his arms in a freak accident when he was 10, after touching an electrified wire while playing hide-and-seek. But, his tragic circumstances did not stop Liu from pursuing his goal of a music career.
His parents convinced him of the importance of doing everything for himself. So, at age 19, he began the daily practice of playing the piano with his feet, and today at 23 shocked audiences and judges on China’s Got Talent.
The audience applause let Liu know that has more talent in one of his pinky toes than many piano players have in both their hands.
Israeli and Palestinian leaders will tackle their toughest disputes in direct talks beginning early next month in Washington, U.S. officials announced Friday.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued the invitation to the two sides, asking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Abbas to launch the talks in Washington on Sept. 2.
Clinton conceded that there would be difficulties ahead. “Without a doubt, we will hit more obstacles,” but she added that negotiators should be able to reach a comprehensive peace agreement within one year.
(READ full story from NPR News)
Tonight Show host Jay Leno will perform a benefit Saturday night for Mississippians impacted by the Gulf oil spill.
Proceeds from ticket sales will go to the Gulf Coast Community Foundation’s Mississippi Oil Spill Recovery Fund, established to support non-profits working to help the state’s fishermen, coastal communities and wildlife impacted by the disaster.
“It’s great to be able to do shows like this,” said Mr. Leno about the benefit, which carries the long title, Stand Up for the Gulf Coast: A Special Evening with Jay Leno to Benefit the Gulf Coast Community Foundation.
Tickets cost between $40 and $150 for the show at the MGM Beau Rivage Theatre in Biloxi. The $150 tickets include an exclusive Jay Leno meet & greet reception with hors d’oeuvres and cocktails.
In a recent study, children who were reading to dogs became more confident and their reading scores increased by 12 percent over kids who didn’t read regularly with a canine companion.
WATCH the video below, or at ABC News… (Thanks to Cheryl Vukelich for submitting the link!)
The last U.S. combat brigade rolled out of Iraq August 19 ending a seven-year military operation that toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein.
The focus of the U.S. mission now has shifted, and by the end of August the remaining 50,000 U.S. military personnel left in Iraq will train and support Iraqi security forces, senior U.S. defense officials say.
In June 2009, U.S. forces withdrew from Iraqi cities entirely and missions conducted after that date were at the specific request of the Iraqi government and were joint missions with Iraqi security forces, he added.
The remaining 50,000 U.S. military personnel will be withdrawn from the country by December 2011 under an agreement reached between the United States and Iraq earlier, another Pentagon spokesman, Bryan Whitman, said, according to news reports.
When Spencer Conway decided to combine his love of motorbikes with his love for Africa by attempting to solo circumnavigate the continent on two wheels —something that no one has ever been able to achieve — he knew it would be an adventure to remember. But he could not have predicted that the 60,000-kilometer journey would have such a profound effect on him. After being robbed, attacked several times and almost killed, he finally arrived home in the UK this weekend with a new world record to claim — and a check for almost $43,500 for Save the Children.
Raising money for Save the Children was something that as a father he felt compelled to do. “I wanted to be an ambassador for Africa, so to make it even more worthwhile, I contacted the charity.” Allowing him full use of their logos, he started his own website Africa-Bike-Adventure.com and began to prepare for the biggest and most dangerous ride of his life.
(READ the full story at Tonic.com)
Tae Tae got an idea last year after her school cut art supplies from the budget. She worried that kids who could not afford their own supplies would be left out. So she traded the brush for a pen and started writing letters to big companies asking for help. She wrote 50 letters in all, and heard back from 45.
Donations flooded in from some of the biggest art and office supply companies in the country. She collected more then $32,000 in supplies and started her own nonprofit called “The Traveling Canvas,” to bring art supplies to homeless kids.
She recently went to the White House and received the President’s Volunteer Service Award.
(WATCH the video or read the story from CBS Evening News)
A day for the solar history books.
The country’s first community-owned solar installation began delivering clean, renewable electricity to the grid in El Jebel, Colorado. The 340-panel solar installation is unique because it is owned by an array of local residents rather than any single person, utility, developer or corporation. The El Jebel “solar garden” represents a budding trend, pioneered in Colorado, toward community solar power. The benefits are many, including lower costs and the distribution of clean electricity from the sun.
Colorado and several other states have legislation or incentives that help promote community solar power, i.e. feed-in tariffs, net metering or equal eligibility under tax incentive programs, but support at the federal level would be ideal to facilitate a nationwide movement. For this reason, Colorado Senator Mark Udall introduced the Community Solar Gardens Bill in the U.S. Congress, which would legally allow homeowners to collectively install solar arrays in their neighborhoods; overriding any state legislation that may bar solar garden development.
(READ the full story in CalFinder.com)
Many of New York City’s Muslims will fast, pray and give alms to the poor in their observance of Ramadan, but Yusef Ramelize has left behind all the comforts of home for an entire week to help the city’s homeless.
Ramelize is spending part of the holy month living on the street, as a way to draw attention to the growing local homeless population and help create positive change by raising money.
Ramelize first lived on the street for 7 nights in 2009, founding his Homeless for One Week project, after it became clear to him that people needed to understand homelessness.
“I asked myself, ‘What can I do to raise awareness?’ and then I decided that I was going to go homeless for a day,” Ramelize said. “But then I said, ‘You know what? I want to make the biggest sacrifice that I can’ and I decided to come up with the idea of going homeless for a week.”
Ramelize, a production manager at an information services company, makes good use of his time on the street. Through his website, HomelessforOneWeek.com, Ramelize aims to raise $5,000 for the Food Bank for New York City, and already has collected more $2,600 toward this year’s goal.
Many of New York City’s Muslims will fast, pray and give alms to the poor in their observance of Ramadan, but Yusef Ramelize has left behind all the comforts of home for an entire week to help the city’s homeless.
Ramelize is spending part of the holy month living on the street, as a way to draw attention to the growing local homeless population and help create positive change by raising money.
Ramelize first lived on the street for 7 nights in 2009, founding his Homeless for One Week project, after it became clear to him that people needed to understand homelessness.
“I asked myself, ‘What can I do to raise awareness?’ and then I decided that I was going to go homeless for a day,” Ramelize said. “But then I said, ‘You know what? I want to make the biggest sacrifice that I can’ and I decided to come up with the idea of going homeless for a week.”
Ramelize, a production manager at an information services company, makes good use of his time on the street. Through his website, HomelessforOneWeek.com, Ramelize aims to raise $5,000 for the Food Bank for New York City, and already has collected more $2,600 toward this year’s goal.
Marisa Lynch set herself a challenge: Transform 365 unattractive frocks in 365 days, for $365.
Just before her 30th birthday, she got laid off. To some, losing a job means hitting the streets with a resume or wallowing in grief. But for Marisa, it meant getting the sewing machine out and upcycling thrifted fashions. Every day.
“I was just in this not-feeling-good, crummy kind of mood, and I didn’t know how to kick it,” says Marisa. That’s when Marisa saw the movie, Julie & Julia. “[Julie] was finding something to do every day that made her feel great. I was jealous. I thought, I want to find that.”
Thus, New Dress A Day entered the blogosphere. The task: To make a new fashion piece a day — on a budget of a dollar a day — for an entire year.
Inflammation caused by an automobile accident left Christina suffering for 16 years with a headache that wouldn’t go away. After hearing about a health clinic, True North, she decided to take a leap of faith and try a water fast.
After 41 days of fasting, the constant pain disappeared.
WATCH her tell her story below, via Renegade Health blog...
Inflammation caused by an automobile accident left Christina suffering for 16 years with a headache that wouldn’t go away. After hearing about a health clinic, True North, she decided to take a leap of faith and try a water fast.
After 41 days of fasting, the constant pain disappeared.
WATCH her tell her story below, via Renegade Health blog...
Afghanistan said on Sunday it had discovered an oilfield with an estimated 1.8 billion barrels in the north of the war-ravaged country, after a survey conducted by Afghan and international geologists.
Vast tracts of mineral deposits also have been discovered recently. Afghanistan hopes that untapped mineral deposits valued at $3 trillion could help reduce the need to rely on Western cash for bankrolling its impoverished economy and for its soldiers to maintain security when foreign troops draw down numbers.
(READ the full story in Reuters)
