It has often annoyed me while watching television that the commercials are turned up louder than the actual programming volume.
Now the U.S. House and Senate are acting to force the Federal Communications Commission to “adopt guidelines that would level off the abrupt spikes in volume” during advertising breaks.
The House approved the bill by a voice vote and an identical measure has been introduced in the Senate.
(Read the AP story on Google News)
“Growing up I was very fortunate to live with a family and in a community that gave me the opportunity to have a healthy life style. There are so many kids who don’t have the same chances I had,” said film and television actor Cuyle Carvin.
Now the star has found a creative vehicle for being a healthy role model: He became a cartoon character in a free coloring book for kids.
He teamed up with illustrator David Hudon and writer Fred M. Grandinetti, both from Massachusetts, to produce the “Cuyle Carvin Coloring Book.”
The publication is being distributed free to various children’s groups and churches. Request a copy by contacting the actor via his web site at www.CuyleCarvin.com
A World Health Organization report released yesterday confirmed a reversal in the course of malaria, with far fewer children dying from the disease. The UN organization documented the increased use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets and better treatment across sub-Saharan Africa, where 90 percent of all malaria deaths occur.
More than 140 million long-lasting insecticidal mosquito nets were delivered to the region between 2006 and 2008, protecting over 280 million lives, and doubling the number of households in Africa with access to a net.
“The 2009 WHO World Malaria Report demonstrates that we are succeeding in the global campaign to end deaths from a disease that takes the lives over one million people each year,” said Ray Chambers, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Malaria. “Thanks to unprecedented levels of funding and extraordinary collaboration among partners, the malaria community has achieved remarkable progress.”
A World Health Organization report released yesterday confirmed a reversal in the course of malaria, with far fewer children dying from the disease. The UN organization documented the increased use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets and better treatment across sub-Saharan Africa, where 90 percent of all malaria deaths occur.
More than 140 million long-lasting insecticidal mosquito nets were delivered to the region between 2006 and 2008, protecting over 280 million lives, and doubling the number of households in Africa with access to a net.
“The 2009 WHO World Malaria Report demonstrates that we are succeeding in the global campaign to end deaths from a disease that takes the lives over one million people each year,” said Ray Chambers, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Malaria. “Thanks to unprecedented levels of funding and extraordinary collaboration among partners, the malaria community has achieved remarkable progress.”
The latest viral video sweeping the Web is a music video featuring 200 doctors, nurses, lab technicians, kitchen and janitorial staff dancing while wearing pink hospital gloves to promote breast cancer awareness.
A portion of sales from the pink hospital gloves, made by Medline Industries in Illinois, will provide mammograms for uninsured women. The company also produced the video.
As of this morning, the “Pink Glove Dance” performed by employees at the Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, Oregon had been viewed by more than 5.2 million people.
(I hope to hear some sales figures for the pink gloves soon…)
At the U.N. climate talks yesterday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced an agreement with U.S. dairy producers to accelerate adoption of innovative manure-to-energy projects on American dairy farms with the goal of reducing methane gas emissions by 25% by 2020.
Agriculture accounts for about 7 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, according to the AP.
“This historic agreement, the first of its kind, will help us achieve the ambitious goal of drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions while benefitting dairy farmers,” said Vilsack. “Use of manure to electricity technology is a win for everyone because it provides an untapped source of income for famers, provides a source of renewable electricity, reduces our dependence on foreign fossil fuels, and provides a wealth of additional environmental benefits.”
What better way to make our soldiers feel at home than by providing them with a beautifully photographed and printed portrait of the ones they love and miss the most?
Professional photographers and image manufacturers have teamed up to send 10,000 free family portraits to deployed soldiers around the globe this holiday season in the the Portraits of Love project.
The call went out from the PhotoImaging Manufacturers and Distributors Association (PMDA) for volunteers and got 400 members to join the cause.
Watch the Making a Difference video below, which shows the incredible motivation a simple photograph can provide to a solider away from home. (From MSNBC)
Solar Christmas lights let homeowners save electrical power and brighten the holiday season while going green.
If you decorate with outdoor lights, you might be interested in the wide variety of solar-powered decorative lights available online. Some are rather pricey, and solar-powered lights may not shine as brightly as the ones you’re used to, but they save electricity (and fossil fuels that are burned to make that electricity) and lower your power bill.
(Continue reading in the CS Monitor)
An unknown couple started a chain reaction at Aramingo Diner in Port Richmond, PA by paying for their own meal and for the tab including tip, of another table of diners at the restaurant. For the next five hours, dozens of patrons got into that same holiday spirit paying the favor forward — generously picking up the tab for strangers, in gratitude for the meal that had been paid for them.
READ the story from NBC Philadelphia, or watch the video below…
As world leaders in Copenhagen try to thrash out a deal on tackling climate change, a small village in northern Italy is providing inspiration to other small communities in Europe with its own initiatives to protect the environment. In recent years, Varese Ligure has used solar and wind power to drastically cut its carbon emissions, and provide dozens of jobs to residents.
Watch the AFP video below, or at Clip Syndicate.
Toyota has announced it will offer a plug-in Prius to the masses in 2011 and it will be an “affordable” car. For starters, it will be the first Toyota with lithium-ion batteries. It will allow the corded car to travel 14.5 miles on electricity alone. Not much, but it’s a start. More impressive is the fuel economy offered — 134 miles per gallon.
Read more at Wired.com
The warm-hearted knitters behind a Minnesota project to sew hats and mittens for as many people as need them, give their time to a charitable cause, while a fabric maker donates all the material. During this day, the husbands watched the babies and children while the women all sewed together in one room.
Watch the Making a Difference video below, or at MSNBC.
In Banda Aceh, Indonesia, students who survived the tsunami were able to resume their lessons quickly, thanks to the overwhelming international response that allowed UNICEF and its partners to get children back into class – first in temporary schools, and now into 346 earthquake resistant, permanent buildings.
Common to all the schools has been the introduction of improved teaching methods, as well as better physical structures.
Watch the UNICEF video…
An Ohio family is living with a Deer in the house. They rescued it after its mother abandoned the fawn, then, blind and sickly. Now, Dillie, the growing deer, eats almost everything in sight around the happy home and even sleeps on the bed.
Watch the video below…
A team of doctors in the nation’s capital just performed a 13-way kidney swap — the largest kidney exchange ever recorded. Twenty-six operations gave healthy kidneys to 13 desperately ill people, with family members donating to strangers who were better matches than loved ones.
Watch the video below, or at Clip Syndicate…
On Thursday, a Roto-Rooter crew used their drain equipment to help find a dog trapped in a foxhole in Upstate New York. After locating the dog with a tiny camera, they eventually helped a group of firemen dig out the 8-year-old jack russell terrier called Bella.
Watch the video below, or at Clip Syndicate.
Troubled teens in the nation’s capital stay out of trouble as they learn how to build handcrafted boats along the Potomac River. The youth learn carpentry and job skills that will serve throughout their lives.
The program’s founder says it costs just $15,000 to subsidize a teen’s training for one year, compared to $100,000 for incarceration.
Watch the Making a Difference video below, or at MSNBC…
The recession decimated some of the country’s largest University endowments, but student investors managing an $11 million fund at the University of Dayton have outperformed the pros — for ten years in a row.
Watch the CNBC report below, or at MSNBC…
The Ugandan parliament unanimously passed a bill banning female genital mutilation, a traditional, but barbaric, rite performed on young girls that has sparked an international outcry.
Convicted offenders face 10 years in prison, but if the girl dies during the act, those involved will get a life sentence, according to officials in the east African country, one of several to still allow the practice in Africa and Asia.
(Continue reading at CNN.com)
Photo courtesy of Sun Star
In another victory for equal rights, Houston became the largest U.S. city to elect an openly gay mayor, with voters handing a solid victory to City Controller Annise Parker after a hotly contested runoff.
Parker defeated former city attorney Gene Locke with 53.6 percent of the vote Saturday in a race that had a turnout of only 16.5 percent.
(Continue reading the AP story at NPR)
