The 2010 World Series Of Poker, which started yesterday, is encouraging players to donate one percent of their winnings to help find a cure through its Put A Bad Beat On Cancer campaign.
The event’s host, Harrah’s Entertainment, will feature a payout program for players cashing in to donate by checking a box that would safely transfer the funds.
Since its inception six years ago, Put A Bad Beat on Cancer has raised over $2 million for cancer prevention research and has grown to include other major poker tournaments, leagues and home games.
Also part of the 41st annual tournament, the third annual Ante Up For Africa celebrity poker match, has so far raised in excess of $1.5 million for groups working in Africa.
A junior varsity girls’ softball team from inner city Indianapolis was playing their first-ever game with only scant equipment and no experienced coaching staff.
Losing 50-0, they were determined to finish the game, until the opposing team offered to forfeit the win in order to spend the rest of the time helping the new players improve their skills.
The scene that broke out next, was a demonstration of true compassion: The all-white Roncalli High School team began teaching the kids from the Marshall Community team the right batting stance, throwing them soft-toss in the outfield, teaching them how to play catch. They showed them how to put on catching gear, how to pitch, and how to run the bases. Even the umps stuck around to watch.
It was the end of the night, but the affluent Roncalli team wasn’t done helping. The coach asked all the parents of his players and anybody else he knew for more help for Marshall — used bats, gloves, helmets, money for cleats, gloves, sliders, socks and team shirts.
A junior varsity girls’ softball team from inner city Indianapolis was playing their first-ever game with only scant equipment and no experienced coaching staff.
Trailing badly, they were determined to finish the game, until the opposing team offered to forfeit the win in order to spend the rest of the time helping the new players improve their skills.
The scene that broke out next, was a demonstration of true compassion: The all-white Roncalli High School team began teaching the kids from the Marshall Community team the right batting stance, throwing them soft-toss in the outfield, teaching them how to play catch. They showed them how to put on catching gear, how to pitch, and how to run the bases. Even the umps stuck around to watch.
It was the end of the night, but the affluent Roncalli team wasn’t done helping. The coach asked all the parents of his players and anybody else he knew for more help for Marshall — used bats, gloves, helmets, money for cleats, gloves, sliders, socks and team shirts.
John Finn, the oldest living Medal of Honor recipient, whose modest demeanor belied his legendary status as an American hero, died Thursday at age 100.
Assigned to Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay on Dec. 7, 1941, he was believed to be one of the first Americans to take up arms against the Japanese when they bombed the air base at Pearl Harbor, securing a .50-caliber machine gun mounted on a training stand in an exposed area of the parking ramp, which was under heavy machine-gun fire from Japanese planes. He continued for more than two hours despite being hit 21 times by bomb and bullet fragments.
His Medal of Honor citation credited him with “extraordinary heroism” and “devotion above and beyond the call of duty.”
The citation read, “Although painfully wounded many times, he continued to man this gun and to return the enemy’s fire vigorously and with telling effect throughout the enemy strafing and bombing attacks and with complete disregard for his own personal safety.”
Apple, Inc. shot past Microsoft, the computer software giant, on Wednesday to become the world’s most valuable technology company. This changing of the guard caps one of the most stunning turnarounds in business history.
As of Wednesday, Wall Street valued Apple at $222.12 billion and Microsoft at $219.18 billion. The only American company valued higher is Exxon Mobil, with a market capitalization of $278.64 billion.
A little more than a decade ago, Apple was widely believed to be on the path to extinction.
Michael Dell, the founder and chief executive of Dell computer, went so far as to suggest that Apple should shut down and return any money to shareholders. (Dell is now worth about a tenth of Apple.) Around the same time, Microsoft’s chief technology officer called Apple “already dead.”
Coast Guard Cmdr. Thad Allen, who is in charge of overseeing the federal response to the BP oil leak, announced yesterday that BP’s “top kill” is working, halting the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico since last month’s Deepwater Horizon explosion.
Allen was tapped to run the Obama administration’s response to the environmental crisis. And with good reason. Allen has played a major part in many of the nation’s recent crises from September 11th to Hurricane Katrina. After Michael Brown was removed as head of FEMA, Allen ran the government’s response team.
“He performed magnificently in a crisis,” said Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to USA Today. “Nobody could have done it better.” (Read the rest of the profile at Politics Daily)
Meanwhile, “President Barack Obama is encouraging Americans to visit the Gulf Coast despite the huge offshore oil spill, reports the AP.
At a White House news conference Thursday, Obama said while three beaches in Louisiana have been fouled by oil, the rest of the region’s beaches are clean and safe. He says Gulf state governors have asked him “to remind everybody” the beaches are open.
The rate of teen pregnancies in Canada dropped 36.9 percent between 1996 and 2006, according to research released today by the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada. Teen pregnancies also dropped 25 percent in the U.S.A. during the same period, and 4.75 per cent in England and Wales.
The researchers postulate that declining trends in teen pregnancy rates likely reflect increasing levels of effective contraceptive use and exposure to higher quality sexual health education.
An Omaha man decided to take on the pothole problem himself. Now he’s a neighborhood hero.
Dennis Swanson said he’s not angry about the city’s response to the potholes left behind by the extraordinary winter weather. He said he just wanted to do something about them.
“I know the city is pretty well buried, so I wanted to pitch in and help out,” said Swanson.
A 15-month-old boy escaped with just a few cuts and bruises on Wednesday after a train struck his stroller, which rolled onto the tracks when his grandmother looked away for just a moment.
Driver Steve Ryan, was being praised for slamming on the emergency brakes, then pulling the baby from under the train. He said it was a miracle the baby was alive.
I am writing to let you know about a life-affirming income opportunity that is just now taking off — and I have jumped aboard!
(Sorry, but, this opportunity is only available to residents of Canada, U.S. and Mexico.)
Though some of you have jobs you love — yoga instructor, life coach, entrepreneur, teacher — most of these, not even the noble business I’ve built, the Good News Network, could sustain itself if I were to lose my good health, become disabled, or get sued for millions of dollars.
We could all benefit from additional thousands of dollars each month in income that never goes away even if crisis should strike, however, the real beauty of the brand new venture I’ve joined is that involvement not only promises extra income, but also improved health and freedom from fear.
There are two men — giants in their fields of business and health — who have joined forces, determined to create a billion dollar brand, while sharing the opportunity with the rest of us. (Theirs is a rising tide of good fortune. Imagine if you had bought hundreds of shares of Apple, Inc. 15 years ago!)
From Apple to Volkswagen, these top global companies have built their reputations on trust and admiration. What is the secret to earning customer esteem that spans the world? And which companies are best at doing it?
Reputation Institute, a global private consulting firm based in New York, surveyed customers around the world to uncover 28 companies that have earned such merit.
Companies at the top of the list all had one thing in common: innovation. These top ten firms — four of which are American and three are German — excel at innovation:
Eight-year-old Jonathan Krouse of Pennsylvania was able to donate $8,500 to the Alzheimer’s Association from proceeds he raised from the sale of a comic book that he created.
After he started making comics in his art class at school, he thought it would be a great idea to use his creation to help his grandmom and others like her by raising money for the Alzheimer’s.
London has opened its first exercise playground for older people, with specially designed fitness equipment to help the capital’s aging baby boomers stay fit.
Organizers say people lined up at central London’s Hyde Park beginning early Wednesday to use the equipment, which includes a sit-up bench, a cross-trainer and a stationary bicycle.
Thousands of volunteers have been working in Nashville since floods devastated the city three weeks ago. College and high school students especially have given up leisurely weekends to become Good Samaritans simply trying to ease a stranger’s pain.
Schools in Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Minneapolis and Seattle will receive solar panel arrays paid for by the Walmart Foundation.
The grant for $1.2 million will pay for solar installations on 20 schools as part of the National Energy Education Development Project (NEED), it was announced yesterday.
Not only will the schools save money on energy, the Walmart Solar School program will teach the next generation about the benefits of using renewable energy.
Three weeks ago in Nepal, 1,000 villagers gathered to mark a momentous day in the history of Room To Read, a charity that builds children’s libraries around the developing world. They celebrated the opening of the group’s 10,000th library.
John Wood, founder and executive chairman, launched Room to Read 10 years ago after a trek through Nepal where he visited several local schools. He was amazed by the warmth and enthusiasm of the students and teachers, but also saddened by the shocking lack of resources. Driven to help, John quit his senior executive position with Microsoft and built a global team to work with rural villages in furthering the educating of young people.
Wood wrote on his blog, “This achievement was not just an achievement for me but it was an achievement for all of us -– for our staff that has worked tirelessly over these past ten years to enable us to reach this point, and for our partners who have helped us to create a global movement to bring change to the world through education.”
Room To Read boasts an astonishing average of 6 library openings every day in the developing world -– that’s 3,000 kids every day who gain access to a well-stocked library with the tools they need to further their education.
Since 2000, the team has supplied more than seven million books to more than four million children in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Zambia. The non-profit organization has also built 1,000 schools, particularly empowering girls with increased access to high-quality educational opportunities – including 10,000 girls this year who are attending school on scholarship.
“Marrying the best business practices John and I learned from the private sector with those from the nonprofit sector has allowed us to scale to the degree that we have with maximum efficiency and quality,” said Erin Ganju, Room to Read Co-Founder and CEO.
WATCH the Room To Read Video below, Celebrating its 10,000th library:
Three weeks ago in Nepal, 1,000 villagers gathered to mark a momentous day in the history of Room To Read, a charity that builds children’s libraries around the developing world. They celebrated the opening of the group’s 10,000th library.
John Wood, founder and executive chairman, launched Room to Read 10 years ago after a trek through Nepal where he visited several local schools. He was amazed by the warmth and enthusiasm of the students and teachers, but also saddened by the shocking lack of resources. Driven to help, John quit his senior executive position with Microsoft and built a global team to work with rural villages in furthering the educating of young people.
The 2010 World Series Of Poker, which started yesterday, is encouraging players to donate one percent of their winnings to help find a cure through its Put A Bad Beat On Cancer campaign.
