Two years ago, residents of Kamich village in the Ghor province of Afghanistan tried to get the government to build a road so they can reach neighboring Herat province easier and more quickly. According to them, the government wasn’t able to meet their needs and so they took matters into their own hands.
On Sunday they officially inaugurated the 14-kilometer road which they built themselves.
(READ more in Good Afghan News)
Five years his Army vehicle ran over a buried explosive in Afghanistan, he and two other former soldiers, three men with one leg between them, came down from summiting 19,340-foot Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa. You read correctly: Three soldiers, one leg. Mountain success.
(READ the story in the Wash Post)
Do you feel stuck? Do you lack the time to regularly renew yourself and enjoy your interests? Are you relying on caffeine, anti-depressants or alcohol to manage your stress and emotional well-being?
If so, you might be suffering from Inspiration Deficit Disorder.
An inspiration deficit occurs whenever we feel unfulfilled or somehow unexpressed in an important aspect of life – something is missing; a job we don’t like, a struggle with self image, a relationship we aren’t satisfied with, are all examples of where we may feel an inspiration deficit. When we let these deficits persist they translate into addictions, bad habits, poor health, and high stress. Sadly, most people have it to some degree and it impacts their health and happiness more than they know.
Once people understand Inspiration Deficit Disorder, one of the more common questions is: “How do I know what my soul wants? If I’ve been disconnected from my essence for so long, how do I begin to feed it and make decisions with it in mind again?”
Fortunately, the Essential Self never goes away, and it never stops speaking to us. It does get covered up, and we can get out of practice with it, like a language we once studied years ago but rarely use. But, in fact, the Essential Self expresses itself in hundreds of ways and in every facet of life. From simple things such as taste in clothing and music, to the hobbies, foods, people, jobs, and pets that attract us, the soul is always being revealed.
Do you feel stuck? Do you lack the time to regularly renew yourself and enjoy your interests? Are you relying on caffeine, anti-depressants or alcohol to manage your stress and emotional well-being?
If so, you might be suffering from Inspiration Deficit Disorder.
An inspiration deficit occurs whenever we feel unfulfilled or somehow unexpressed in an important aspect of life – something is missing; a job we don’t like, a struggle with self image, a relationship we aren’t satisfied with, are all examples of where we may feel an inspiration deficit. When we let these deficits persist they translate into addictions, bad habits, poor health, and high stress. Sadly, most people have it to some degree and it impacts their health and happiness more than they know.
Once people understand Inspiration Deficit Disorder, one of the more common questions is: “How do I know what my soul wants? If I’ve been disconnected from my essence for so long, how do I begin to feed it and make decisions with it in mind again?”
Fortunately, the Essential Self never goes away, and it never stops speaking to us. It does get covered up, and we can get out of practice with it, like a language we once studied years ago but rarely use. But, in fact, the Essential Self expresses itself in hundreds of ways and in every facet of life. From simple things such as taste in clothing and music, to the hobbies, foods, people, jobs, and pets that attract us, the soul is always being revealed.
A Michigan man credited his dog with saving his life by chewing off his diseased big toe as he lay passed out in a drunken stupor.
Douthett’s wife, Rosee, rushed him to a hospital where doctors found he was suffering from Type 2 diabetes. His toe was badly infected and surgeons amputated the remainder of the digit.
Douthett’s wife, a registered nurse, had been urging him for weeks to have his infected toe examined by a doctor.
(READ the story from Reuters)
The wonderful thing about finding your life’s purpose is that you never know when it will be revealed. Years after her tortured grieving over the death of both parents, Lynn Hughes started a summer camp for bereaving kids.
The non-profit Comfort Zone Camp is designed to bring healing during the beginning of the grieving process. The camp now operates in five states and has served 2,900 children, ages 7-17.
Visit their website for more information, or…
WATCH the video below, or at the TODAY Show on MSNBC…
Chefs need to introduce this “delicious” fish to consumers, says a new government study looking at how to curb the rapid growth of lionfish, an invasive species not native to the Atlantic Ocean. NOAA researchers suggest that approximately 27 percent of mature lionfish will have to be removed monthly during an entire year for its population growth rate to be reduced to zero.
But the good news is that the invasive fish happens to be delicious, with a delicate white meat tasting similar to a snapper or grouper.
Lionfish are native to the Pacific Ocean, but have established themselves from North Carolina to South America. Scientists and public officials are seriously concerned at the effect lionfish are having on reef ecosystems, since this predator is capable of rapid population growth and outcompeting native fish for food and territory.
They are a popular aquarium fish that were likely first released in Florida waters in the mid-1980s. Since then, the species has spread rapidly.
A new study headed by researchers at the University of Rochester finds that women are attracted to men wearing the color red.
Even though women are unaware of the effect, the study shows there is a marked increases in men’s attractiveness, status, and sexual desirability when women view men wearing or bordered in red.
(READ the story in the Examiner)
A car that is powered by methane gas produced by human waste has been launched and its makers claim drivers cannot tell the difference.
The Bio-Bug is a Volkswagen Beetle converted by a team of British engineers to run on biogas, which is produced from human waste at sewage works across the country.
They believe the car is a viable alternative to electric vehicles.
(READ the story in the Telegraph)
Missy, the dachshund, knew there was something wrong with 66-year-old Charlie Burdon, even though she was in the yard and couldn’t see him.
She scampered across the street — something she never does — and went for help.
The neighbor told her to go home but she wouldn’t budge. When he finally accompanied her back home they found Charlie collapsed. A rescue ensued.
(WATCH the story below, or see the story at ABC-2 news)
Missy, the dachshund, knew there was something wrong with 66-year-old Charlie Burdon, even though she was in the yard and couldn’t see him.
She scampered across the street — something she never does — and went for help.
The neighbor told her to go home but she wouldn’t budge. When he finally accompanied her back home they found Charlie collapsed. A rescue ensued.
(WATCH the story below, or see the story at ABC-2 news)
The International Press Institute named Iranian journalist and dissident Akbar Ganji as this year’s World Press Freedom Hero, in recognition of his decades of work defending freedom of speech and equal rights for all, in the face of continued harassment and imprisonment.
Often called ‘Iran’s most prominent political dissident’, Ganji spent six years in Iran’s infamous Evin prison for a 1999 series of articles which he, (along with investigative journalist Emadeddin Baghi) wrote on Iran’s notorious ‘chain murders’, for the daily publication, Sobh Emrouz.
His expose is credited with spurring the defeat of a number of conservative candidates in the 2000 elections.
In December 2000, two months after the elections, Ganji was arrested and accused of endangering national security and spreading propaganda. He was eventually sentenced to six years in prison, much of which he spent in solitary confinement.
Despite the brutal prison conditions, Ganji continued to write.
His ‘Republican Manifesto’ outlined the steps by which Iran could achieve a secular democracy, and emphasized respect for human rights, an independent press and an independent judiciary.
He was released in 2006, and left Iran immediately. He has since continued campaigning for freedom and liberty for Iran and for all nations.
Ganji was involved with the Iranian revolution at an early age, even joining the Revolutionary Guard, a branch of Iran’s military constituted after the 1979 revolution, but he soon grew disillusioned with the ideology of the revolution he had supported, as ‘one despotic kingdom replaced another despotic kingdom’.
In the mid-1990s, he turned to journalism. In 1998, a year after the election of then-obscure cleric and reformist Mohammad Khatami to the presidency in the 1997 elections, Ganji spoke out against the dangers of a fascist interpretation of religion. He was arrested and sentenced to a year in prison, but was released after three months. He has also written about his opposition to velayat-e-faqih, (the clause in the Iranian constitution that calls for an Islamic jurist to serve as the Supreme Leader of the government).
The honoring of Akbar Ganji was unanimously approved by the five-member IPI World Press Freedom Hero jury. Ganji will be one of 60 World Press Freedom Heroes honoured in a ceremony to commemorate IPI’s 60th year of defending press freedom worldwide at the IPI World Congress in Vienna and Bratislava, from 11-14 September 2010.
Jewish businessman Robert Harush who grew up in France decided to spend part of his fortune on renovation of a large Muslim house of worship outside Paris, in an effort to promote co-existence.
Even after living through a rocket landing near his second home in Israel, he has not harbored any ill-feelings against the Arab side and is a strong supporter of co-existence.
(READ the inspiring story in YNetNews.com)
Many states are implementing a tax holiday in the coming weeks, hoping to boost retail sales and let struggling families get more for their money in a down economy.
Illinois began on Friday waiving its 5 percent state sales tax for ten days on certain purchases, including school backpacks, pens, notebooks, and most clothing items under $100.
The Land of Lincoln joins 18 other states, ranging from Florida to New Mexico, Maryland to Virginia, in offering a tax break this year — the highest number since New York first launched a tax holiday in 1997. Most of them begin this weekend and are pegged to school shopping.
North Carolina’s back-to-school tax holiday this weekend is the nation’s most generous. The state’s 5.75 percent sales tax is waived not only on clothing and school supplies under $100 per item, but also on computers under $3,500, computer equipment under $250, and instructional materials under $300.
(READ the full article in the CS Monitor)
Dustin Platt celebrated his 100th article last week as a food writer for the San Francisco Examiner. In addition to recipes, he discusses food history, philosophy, and the culture that develops around the table.
This is one of my favorite recent articles:
In the heat of early afternoon, when the kitchen is already the hottest room in the house, the desire to cook wanes fast.
Why not take the opportunity to appreciate the fresh plethora of fruits and vegetables available from your local gardens and farmer’s markets. As with strawberry bruschetta, it also gives one the opportunity to experience foods in their natural state, as well as experiment with favorites new and old.
Fresh sweet tomatoes off the vine tantalize the tongue, while creamy cheeses wash the acid away. Red onion becomes an artform all its own when seasoned with red wine vinegar.
Click below to find more examples of how to combine oils, vinegars, sugars and salts to create a tap dance of flavors, like the food-loving rodent Remy does, in the great animated foodie movie, Ratatouille…
(READ the article in the SF Examiner)
According to Energy Collective, a historic era is upon us because solar power has become affordable. More specifically, solar power has become cheaper than nuclear power.
The article sites researchers from Duke University in North Carolina, who found that the cost of “producing photovoltaic cells (PV) has been dropping for years … at the same time, estimated costs for building new nuclear power plants have ballooned.” Thus, it’s cheaper to put solar panels on houses than to build a new nuclear power plant to service them.
(READ more in the Miami Herald)
Stranded by a severe thunderstorm in eastern Ohio with a group of soaked strangers in a glassed-in gas station booth with no power, all of us cowering from fear of the lightning strikes all around and 60-mph winds, I realized I really, really needed a dose of good news… I asked the other travelers if anything good had happened to them lately…
(READ more from Ann McFeatters at Reporter News)
The number of terrorist attacks worldwide in 2009 fell by about 6 percent from the previous year, and the number of deaths from these attacks declined by about 5 percent — marking the second consecutive year that attacks and fatalities from terrorism declined, according to the State Department’s annual Country Reports on Terrorism 2009, released August 5.
The 2009 report states that al-Qaida suffered several significant setbacks in 2009 as the result of Pakistani military operations aimed at eliminating militant strongholds. According to the report, al-Qaida also suffered leadership losses and experienced increased difficulty in raising money, training recruits and planning attacks outside of the region.
“The Obama administration has been working to strengthen the nation’s counterterrorism strategy,” said Ambassador Daniel Benjamin, the State Department’s coordinator for counter-terrorism, particularly seeking to “shape and constrain the environments where terrorists operate.”
Watch this video of Mr. Happy, a man in Bermuda who spends all day “spreading the love” on a busy street corner…
A British solar energy firm is encouraging UK homeowners to embrace energy-saving technology by installing free rooftop photovoltaic panels on their homes.
HomeSun has stated it intends to give away £1 billion worth of free solar panel installations in England over the next three years — retrofitting up to 2.4 million homes.
Envisioning a new business model, the company plans to recoup its outlay by collecting money from the government’s new feed-in tariff program, which allows solar energy to be sold back to the National Grid.
(READ more in Sky News)
