Quote of the Day: “There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” – Nelson Mandela, on the 100th anniversary of his birth
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Have you ever been so happy that you began to celebrate with total strangers? Well, in the wake of a historic peace agreement in East Africa, the people of the region have every cause to do so.
Ethiopia and Eritrea – two East African countries that have been at odds since 1993 when Eritrea voted with a super majority to separate from Ethiopia – have just agreed to end the conflict which saw many families split apart as the borders shut down and phone lines were cut off.
Now, however, as telecommunications reboot between the two East African neighbors, people are celebrating in a very unusual fashion. Selehadin Eshetu, an Ethiopian, spent 3 days dialing random phone numbers before someone from Eritrea picked up.
“I am Selehadin and I am calling from Ethiopia,” said Eshetu, according to NPR, “and I am calling randomly to say hi and to tell you how happy I am.”
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Eshetu told the news outlet that he “heard the same happiness from the voice at the other end of the line.” The voice told Eshetu that the peace agreement was huge for him and he wanted this relationship to continue. “And he said, ‘I am going to save your number; I am going to call you regularly. We will be family.’”
Selehadin is just one of a large number of people reaching out from both countries to express their joy over such a wonderfully positive and historic moment. Feeling like she wanted to be part of history, Frehiwot Negash did a Google search for Asmara, the Eritrean capital, and found the number for the Crystal Hotel.
“When I called,” she told NPR, “the receptionist answered, and I said, ‘I am calling from Ethiopia to say congratulations.’ And I told her, ‘I am very happy.’ The receptionist then told her she was happy too. Negash told her that someday she would fly to Asmara – and the receptionist replied, “We will welcome you.”
Early in April, Abiy Ahmed took over as Ethiopian Prime Minister after the previous leader resigned suddenly in February amid massive anti-government protests. In Ahmed’s inaugural address, he called upon Eritrean leaders to aid him in ending the deadly 20-year-old border conflict and resolved to create a new chapter in the two nation’s histories.
Mr. Ahmed’s administration has also been praised for its release of thousands of jailed political prisoners, and a greater focus on maintaining the basic rights of Ethiopians, as well as a more open relationship with the press.
Spread The Joy By Sharing This Inspiring News With Your Friends – Photo by Simon Berry, CC
The Lesson: When somebody loses weight, where does the fat go? Confused? You aren’t alone. In these modern times, obesity is one of the most pressing health issues plaguing the world. Millions of people have struggled with weight loss, and the overwhelming majority of Americans are grossly undereducated on their basic high school math and chemistry. Businesses, “health gurus”, and various other so-called specialists gleefully take advantage of these two facts in order to sell useless products that are based on pseudo-science. In his simple yet effective talk, Ruben Meerman utilizes fun chemistry demonstrations and simple mathematics in order to give listeners an easy-to-understand explanation about where fat actually goes and the only proven way to lose it.
Notable Excerpt: “And the question was this: When somebody loses weight, where does it go? What does it become? How does it get out of your body? You’re probably dumbstruck by the question. These people were, so listen to this. ‘Um. These are the mysteries of science. I have no idea. I’d like to say into the ether? It gets used up. The universe. Another dimension. It doesn’t go anywhere. It becomes nothing. It doesn’t exist anymore I guess. Sweat. Moisture. It evaporates…Well, basically, you burn it up as energy.’ So, what the heck is going on? We’re in the middle of an obesity epidemic. I don’t need to tell you about it. So why don’t these people know the answer to this fundamental question? Because not one of them was right. And we do know the answer. This is not ground-breaking stuff I’m about to tell you.”
The Speaker: Ruben Meerman is an Australian researcher, public speaker, and television science presenter. Passionate about education for all, Meerman visits schools as “The Surfing Scientist” in order to capture kids’ attention and curiosity about science with exciting demonstrations. Recently, he has published research in the British Medical Journal concerning weight loss and fat metabolism pathways.
Books: Meerman’s book “Big Fat Myths” simplifies the world of health into a few simple, science-based truths while casting aside harmful weight loss myths.
(LISTEN to the fascinating talk below)
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Two anonymous police officers are being hailed for protecting the feet of a young boy and serving up a sweet treat in the process.
According to a Facebook post from the Tukwila Police Department in Washington, two cops were patrolling a local park when they spotted a youngster who was wearing dirty, torn-up socks and sporting a large bloodied cut on his foot.
When asked why he wasn’t wearing shoes, the boy said that his shoes were too small for him to wear.
So while one of the officers kept the boy company, his partner went to the store and bought a new pair of shoes. Not only that, he returned to the park with several ice pops for the three of them to enjoy.
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“Because what isn’t better than a cold popsicle on a hot summer day?!” wrote the department on Facebook.
One of the officers was photographed tying up the boy’s shoes while the kid enjoyed his sweet treat.
The compassionate cops were only identified as “Sergeant Modest and Officer Bashful” as a means of “protecting their bashfulness”, but the photo of the policeman and the boy has already garnered tons of praise on social media.
Don’t Freeze: Share This Sweet Story With Your Friends – Photo by Tukwila Police Department
As a means of boosting bee populations, Virginia has launched a new program that distributes beehives and beekeeping equipment directly to state beekeepers.
The Beehive Distribution Program, which is being administered by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS), provides beehive equipment directly to eligible beekeepers.
Residents of Virginia who are 18 years of age or older are eligible to receive up to three beehive units per year. Individuals who receive a beehive unit will be registered as beekeepers with VDACS, allowing for periodic inspection of beehives by the agency.
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Staff will review applications for the Beehive Distribution Program in the order in which they are received. If all available beehive units are distributed before the fiscal year ends on June 30, 2019, VDACS will stop accepting applications and notify applicants that the program has ceased processing applications for the fiscal year. Applications will not carry forward to the next fiscal year.
To apply for the program as a beekeeper, click here.
Be Sure And Share The Buzz With Your Friends – Photo by Orangeaurochs, CC
Dingong the dog is a perfect example of why canines are man’s best friend.
The 7-month-old pup was spotted on the streets of Davao in the Philippines pushing his disabled owner along in a wheelchair.
His 46-year-old owner, Danila Alarcon, lost the use of this legs in a motorcycle accident several years ago – which is why Dingong helps to push his wheelchair through Davao.
A woman named Faith Revilla had been driving home with her husband when she spotted the heartwarming duo last month.
WATCH: Hummingbird Refuses to Leave the Dog Who Saved Her Life
She pulled out her phone and filmed the pup pushing the back of the wheelchair with his head.
Revilla was so touched by the Dingong and Alarcon’s bond, she stopped the man and offered to buy him lunch.
“t was a really beautiful moment when we saw the pair of them,” says Revilla. “We took Danilo to our favorite buffet. We wanted to treat him.”
(WATCH the video below)
Be Sure And Share This Pawesome Story Of Companionship With Your Friends
70 years ago today, a US Air Force pilot went down in history as the man who started dropping candy with miniature parachutes – because every child deserves a sweet treat, even in times of war.
In 1948, the Soviet Union instituted the cruel ‘Berlin Blockade’ as an attempt to cut off all inroads to West Berlin, yet they refrained from stopping the massive humanitarian airlift led by American, British, and French flyers.
For nearly a year, more than a quarter million flights delivered thousands of tons of food and fuel, coal, and liquid fuel to the otherwise strangled German city, which was surrounded by 1.5 million Soviet military troops. Despite the Germans having been the sworn enemy of the West just three years earlier, the merciful airlift—dubbed Operation Vittles—gained popular support and was called “America’s greatest humanitarian mission”.
Gail Halvorsen, one of the many Airlift pilots, decided to use his off-time to fly into Berlin and make movies with his hand-held camera. He arrived at Tempelhof on July 17th, 1948 on one of the C-54s and walked over to a crowd of children who had gathered at the end of the runway to watch the aircraft. He introduced himself and they started to ask him questions about the aircraft and their flights. As a goodwill gesture, he handed out his only two sticks of Wrigley’s Doublemint Gum. The children quickly divided up the pieces as best they could, even passing around the wrapper for others to smell.
He was so impressed by their gratitude and that they didn’t fight over the gum, he promised the children that he would drop off more candy the next time he returned. Before he left them, a child asked him how they would know it was him flying over. He replied, “I’ll wiggle my wings.”
The next day on his approach to Berlin, he rocked the aircraft and dropped some chocolate bars attached to a handmade handkerchief parachute to the children waiting below. Every day after that, the number of children increased and he made several more drops. Soon, there was a stack of mail in Base Ops addressed to “Uncle Wiggly Wings”, “The Chocolate Uncle” and “The Chocolate Flier”.
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When an officer heard about it, he immediately expanded it into “Operation Little Vittles”. Other pilots participated, and when news reached the US, children all over the country sent in their own candy to help out. Soon, major candy manufacturers joined in.
In the end, over twenty three tons of candy were dropped on Berlin during the airlift that kept that blockaded city alive and the operation became a major propaganda success.
(WATCH the video below)
Be Sure And Share This Sweet Piece Of History With Your Friends
Quote of the Day: “Self love isn’t a destination, it’s a journey that doesn’t end. Never stop searching for more ways to love yourself.” – Reyna Biddy
Photo: by Nathan Russell, CC license
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
A young couple’s weekend camping trick took a turn for the worst when Juliette Moore exited their tent to find her boyfriend face down in the grass without a pulse.
Juliette and her 18-year-old boyfriend Isaiah Cormier had been camping near Denver, Colorado when a lightning storm rolled into the area. Isaiah had been standing next to the tent when authorities believe that a bolt of lightning jumped from a nearby tree into his neck.
Upon seeing the flash of light from inside the tent, Juliette walked out of the tent and saw Isaiah on the ground.
As fate would have it, she had taken a CPR class one month before the camping trip, and she immediately began chest compressions. After one round of resuscitation, her boyfriend started gasping for air, only to stop breathing once more. After the second round, he finally regained consciousness.
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“Luckily, his girlfriend was right there, moved into swift action, started resuscitation efforts and began CPR,” Sgt. David Salaman of the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office told WMUR. “It’s very important that resuscitation efforts were started right away.”
The couple rushed to meet paramedics near the campsite so Isaiah could be taken to a hospital in Boulder County. Despite now having a scar on his neck from the incident, his family is stunned by his miraculous recovery – and they credit Juliette with his survival.
“I was going to die. She brought me back. I was going to die again. She brought me back,” Isaiah told WPIV.
(WATCH the interview below)
Be Sure And Share The News Flash With Your Friends – Photo by WPIV
Illuminating fishing nets with low-cost lights could reduce the impact that they have on seabirds and marine-dwellers by more than 85%, new research has shown.
A team of international researchers has shown the number of birds caught in gillnets can be drastically reduced by attaching green battery-powered light-emitting diodes (LEDs).
For the study, the researchers led by Dr Jeffrey Mangel from the University of Exeter compared 114 pairs of gillnets – which are anchored in fixed positions at sea and designed to snare fish by the gills – in fishing waters off the coast of Peru.
They discovered that the nets fitted with the LEDs caught 85% fewer guanay cormorants – a native diving bird that commonly becomes entangled in nets – compared with those without lights.
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Coupled with previous research conducted by the same team, that showed LED lighting also reduced the number of sea turtles caught in fishing nets by 64%, the researchers believe the lights offer a cheap, reliable and durable way to dramatically reduce the capture and death of birds and turtles, without reducing the intended catch of fish.
The research is published in the Royal Society journal Open Science on Wednesday, July 11 2018.
“We are very encouraged by the results from this study,” said lead author Dr Mangel. “It shows us that we may be able to find cost-effective ways to reduce bycatch of multiple taxa of protected species, and do so while still making it possible for fishers to earn a livelihood.”
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Peru’s gillnet fleet comprises the largest component of the nation’s small-scale fleet and is conservatively estimated to set 100,000km of net per year in which thousands of turtles and seabirds become entangled.
The innovative study, carried out in Sechura Bay in northern Peru, saw the LED lights attached at regular intervals to commercial fishing gillnets which are anchored to the bottom of the water. The nets are left in situ from late afternoon until sunlight, when the fishermen collect their haul.
The researchers used 114 pairs of nets, each typically around 500-metres in length. In each pair, one was illuminated with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) placed every ten metres along the gillnet floatline. The other net in the pair was the control and not illuminated. The control nets caught 39 cormorants, while the illuminated nets caught just six.
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A previous study, using the same LED technology, showed they also reduced the number of sea turtles also caught in gillnets. Multiple populations of sea turtle species use Peruvian coastal waters as foraging grounds including green, olive ridley, hawksbill, loggerhead and leatherback.
Professor Brendan Godley who is an author of the study and Marine Strategy Lead for the University of Exeter, said: “It is satisfying to see the work coming from our Exeter Marine PhDs leading to such positive impact in the world. We need to find ways for coastal peoples to fish with the least impact on the rest of the biodiversity in their seas.”
(Source: University of Exeter)
Be Sure And Share The Good News With Your Friends – Photo by ProDelphinus / University of Exeter
Garrett Mathias was only 5 years old when he passed away from cancer earlier this month – but not before he was able to leave behind some humor and fun for his family and community.
The boy from Urbandale, Iowa was diagnosed with a rare form of pediatric cancer nine months ago. Despite being treated for the illness, he was given a terminal prognosis.
So as a means of helping him to write his own obituary, his parents sat down with Garrett and asked him several questions about his life and funeral requests. The obit is now getting national attention for its humor and simple wisdom.
For starters, Garrett identifies himself using his pseudonym, which is “The Great Garrett Underpants”. He goes on to say that his favorite people in the world are his family members and Batman. His says that his favorite things are “playing with my sister, my blue bunny, thrash metal, Legos, my daycare friends, Batman and when they put me to sleep before they access my port.”
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His dislikes are “pants!, dirty stupid cancer, when they access my port, and needles.”
When he dies, he says: “I am going to be a gorilla and throw poo at Daddy!”
He also adds that “I want to be burned (like when Thor’s Mommy died) and made into a tree so I can live in it when I’m a gorilla.”
Finally, to top off the unusual obit, Garrett says that “funerals are sad” and he would rather have a fun celebration of life with snowcones, 5 bouncy castles – one for each year of his life – and an appearance from Batman.
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He also finished up the interview with a final remark: “See ya later, suckas!”
On Saturday, his parents held the funeral with all of the youngster’s requests – and they’re glad that they did.
Instead of having to stand in a church for several hours, Garrett’s family, friends, and community enjoyed a “Celebration of Life” featuring superhero appearances, snowcones, fireworks, face painting, and a symbolic Asgardian viking funeral with flaming arrows.
“A private burial of Garrett’s ashes will be held at a later time once his parents figure out how the hell to get his ashes made into a tree and locate a nature preserve, so his tree resides in a protected area,” wrote the family.
If you’d like to donate to the Mathias family fundraiser, you can visit their GoFundMe page.
(WATCH the video below)
Be Sure And Share This Moving Story With Your Friends – Photo by Des Moines Register
The French soccer team claimed a 4-2 victory against Croatia during yesterday’s World Cup final, but one of their “wonderkid” players is winning hearts for showing his true character off the field.
19-year-old Kylian Mbappe, who is a forward player for the team, made roughly $22,500 for each of the seven games that France played in the World Cup. On top of that, he was given a $350,000 bonus for winning the tournament, which totals up to half a million dollars in earnings.
But instead of spending his winnings on a Bugatti Roadster, he is donating every Euro to charity.
Premiers de Cordee helps disabled and hospitalized children to enjoy sports, and is the favorite charity for Mbappe, who has donated his time previously.
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“Kylian, he’s a great person,” Sebastien Ruffin, general manager of the charity, told Le Parisien.
“When his schedule allows it, he intervenes for us with pleasure,” he added. “He has a very good [relationship] with children, he always finds the right [words] to encourage them. I sometimes even feel that [he] takes more pleasure to play with the kids than the kids themselves.”
OUR LOVE ???⭐️⭐️ https://t.co/fKz7iC6GNQ
— Premiers de Cordée (@PremiersdCordee) July 15, 2018
Mbappe also pays proper respect to his elders. Upon becoming the second youngest soccer player to score in a World Cup final, Brazilian football legend Pelé posted to Twitter saying: “If Kylian keeps equalling my records like this I may have to dust my boots off again…”
Mbappe’s humble response? “The king will always be the king.”
The king will always remain king ?
— Kylian Mbappé (@KMbappe) July 16, 2018
Score Big With Your Friends And Share This Sweet Story With Your Friends – Photo by FIFA World Cup Twitter embed
Quote of the Day: “Remember there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.” – Scott Adams
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Many musicians move to Los Angeles, but fail to find success. Instead of going home, this immigrant stayed—and persevered through agonizing years—until he serendipitously stumbled onto a brilliant idea that unlocked the American Dream. Click above to hear The Good News Guru tell the inspiring story (from the July 13, 2018 Ellen K. Morning Show on KOST-103.5 radio).
WATCH a video and learn more, at Good News Network…
LISTEN to this story on the radio with The Good News Guru, from Friday’s broadcast with Ellen K and Geri, GNN’s founder, on KOST-103.5 — Or, READ the story below… (Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes – or for Androids, on Podbean)
Many musicians migrate to Los Angeles, but fail to find success. Instead of quitting and going home, this guy stayed—and persevered through agonizing years—until he serendipitously stumbled onto a brilliant idea.
He discovered his path to prosperity in an unlikely way, too—by becoming depressed and gaining 50 pounds.
There were many days when he felt like quitting, reports Entrepreneur. But, during all the lousy dishwasher and janitorial jobs, Robbie Cabral kept hearing a voice inside saying, ‘This will lead to something else—keep pushing forward—stay positive’.
He finally did find fortune—but only after he was laid-off from a good job in management right before Christmas, when his wife was about to give birth to their first child.
The young man from the Dominican Republic became so depressed he gained 50 pounds. Then, he joined a gym.
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Every time he went, he would notice people having trouble with their locks, forgetting their combinations, losing their keys, or having cheap ones broken into and their possessions stolen.
Cabral got the idea to make a smart lock that can only be opened with your fingerprint.
Despite having no tech experience, he managed to find an engineer to help him build a prototype. He also needed to endure family pressure for three years, as they told him to ‘get a REAL job.’
Finally, he signed up for the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas—with his prototype called Benjilock— and it was a huge success. It won an innovation award there, and someone suggested that he audition for the Shark Tank television show, which was hosting a casting call at the very same convention.
Sure enough, he was featured on the show in October, passionately pitching his Benjilock. He was offered nearly a quarter million dollars of investment money, in exchange for 15% of his company. In December, he was surprised during a television interview with his first royalty check for $100,000, and he wept.
Throughout all those crappy jobs, he listened to his gut and followed his passions until he eventually unlocked the door to the American Dream.
(WATCH an interview below)
Encourage Your Friends…Share the Inspiration – Photo by CNBC
When Cody Nichols discovered that someone had stolen several thousand dollars worth of equipment from his veteran-run landscaping business, he feared the worst for his employees.
The former Marine had started a company called Our Troops Services so he could hire fellow vets who were having trouble adjusting to civilian life. He and his employees normally work on fences, construction, and lawn care in Tulsa, Oklahoma – but their work came to a halt back in May when someone robbed them of their equipment.
The crew tried to fulfill their lawn contracts by using push mowers on acres and acres worth of greenery, but they soon fell behind on the work.
Little did they know, a nonprofit called Soldier’s Wish had heard about their predicament and had already begun rallying people to assist the small business.
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“People came out of the woodwork wanting to help,” one of the charity’s workers told Tulsa World. “We were able to raise the money to replace everything.”
Within weeks of the theft, when Nichols was saying that he was “just barely hanging in”, the charity surprised him and his workers with $15,000 worth of shiny new equipment.
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“You really saved us,” Nichols told the charity, according to Tulsa World. “I really thought our company was going to die.”
As a means of making up for his employees’ lost income, Nichols started a GoFundMe page which has already raised over $7,000 in donations.
(WATCH the interview with Nichols below)
Share The Inspiring Story Of Charity With Your Friends – Photo by Cody Nichols
When a certain work assignment brought me to Nebraska for two weeks, this Canadian was given a wonderful opportunity to become immersed not only in the passion and pride of American culture, but in the generous nature of the Heartland.
I was celebrating my first ever Memorial Day when one of my local friends invited me to join her, along with many other community members, to place 900 American flags in the small town’s park before the holiday ceremony to commemorate veterans lost in war. I enthusiastically accept her thoughtful invitation.
Following the emotional service, we wandered over to see a display of military memorabilia from the little American town. Scattered among these reminders of the past were hundreds of postcards written to veterans by local school children.
It was quickly obvious that the teachers must have coached the children with examples of what to write, because table after table was filled with postcards that contained the same three messages – except for one that was written by a child named Emily, saying: “THANK YOU FOR PROTECTING THE GOOD.”
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I stood and stared at the postcard for a long time, contemplating this big message from such a little girl. For me, its meaning went far beyond the original intention of the postcard.
As I absorbed Emily’s words, Mike McCardell suddenly jumped into my mind. Mike is a reporter for a local news program in my home province of British Columbia. For more than thirty years, Mike wrapped up the last five minutes of the six o’clock news with a feel good story, celebrating the people and places of Vancouver. Some BC-er’s would even go so far as to say that Mike’s segment was the best part of the program – and it was the only reason why they watched the news.
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He has since retired from broadcasting, but his lens on the world and his eye for the human condition still inspires me to look for, and even protect, the good in everyday life – to make a conscious decision to celebrate what’s right.
In a world that can often be preoccupied with the bad, I am grateful for guides like Emily and Mike who remind me to seek, celebrate and protect THE GOOD… in myself, in others, and in life.
Since 1997, Lauri Gwilt has centered her career on assisting people from across North America to discover the connection between how they’re thinking, and how their lives go. She is co-author and co-host of The Habit of Celebration, an e-course from the Celebrate What’s Right initiative developed with former National Geographic Photographer, Dewitt Jones.
Be Sure And Share The Moving Story With Your Friends
Quote of the Day: “Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” – Tony Robbins
Photo: by Charlie f, CC license
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
30 years ago today, a cobbled-together action film called Die Hard was released into select US theaters. Costing $28 million, it ended up grossing over $140 million that summer, and turned Bruce Willis—a comedic TV actor—into a blockbuster superstar.
Its success sparked a franchise of four sequels, video games, and a comic book—it also spawned a string of movies that involve a random citizen turns into a hero against overwhelming odds.
Considered a Christmas picture, Die Hard portrays off-duty NYC cop John McClane (Willis) trying to rescue his wife in a skyscraper where her office holiday party is being terrorized by gunmen. The lead villain, Hans Gruber, was played by Alan Rickman in his very first film role ever.
You might know all this already, but chances are you don’t know these interesting trivia tidbits… SPOILER Alert: Some of these facts will give away certain details of the film.
1) The script is based on Roderick Thorp’s 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever, the sequel to The Detective, which was adapted for a film starring Frank Sinatra. The studio, 20th Century Fox, was contractually obligated to offer Sinatra the lead role in Die Hard, but he turned it down.
2) Arnold Schwarzenegger declined to shoot the film as a sequel to Commando, so the script was offered to a variety of action stars, including Sylvester Stallone, Harrison Ford, Don Johnson, Clint Eastwood, Richard Gere, and Burt Reynolds—all of whom turned it down.
3) Fox reluctantly gave the role to Willis, who was known as a comedic television actor. Plus, they paid him $5 million, a figure virtually unheard of at the time for an actor who had starred in only one moderately successful film. (Some speculate it was done to make Willis seem desirable to the public.)
4) The plot’s ending had not been finalized by the time filming commenced, which resulted in a truck (used for transporting the terrorists to the building) appearing too small to contain the ambulance that was later revealed to be inside it.
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5) In the original script, the events took place over three days, but director John McTiernan decided they should take place all in a single night, inspired by Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
6) The building’s 30th floor (filmed in the actual Fox building that was under construction), where the hostages are held, was a recreation of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house Fallingwater, including a large rock with water dripping from it.
7) The scene of McClane falling down a ventilation shaft and catching onto a lower opening was the result of an accident after Willis’ stunt man fell. Editor Frank Urioste chose to use the unintentional scene in the final film.
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8) During Alan Rickman’s death scene, he was dropped on a green screen set, with cityscape to be added later. The shot used was the first take; Rickman was dropped sooner than he had been told he would be, so the startled look on his face is genuine.
9) The DVD commentary revealed that the script did not originally include the scene where McClane runs into Gruber who pretends to be a hostage; it was later added when it was discovered that the British Rickman could do an amazing American accent. (See the scene below)
10) Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (more commonly known as “Ode to Joy“) was featured prominently in the film score, as well as variations on “Singin‘ in the Rain”. McTiernan said he used them in the soundtrack as an homage to Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (which featured both pieces of music).
11) The film’s final four minutes were tracked with music from two other Fox features and meant to be temporary—but they made the final cut: in the reunion scene with McClane and wife, from the film Man on Fire, and the rifle scene from the score of Aliens.
12) Bruce Willis donated the undershirt worn in the film to the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution in 2017.
13) The film was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry last year by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
(WATCH the original 2-min trailer to hear all the iconic lines…)
Yippie-Ki-Yay! Share the Die Hard Birthday Trivia…
It’s been fifteen years since these two sisters have seen each other – and despite both of them having Alzheimer’s disease, they immediately recognize each other during this heartfelt reunion.
Even though 88-year-old Ann Patrick is nine years older than 79-year-old Marguerita Wilson, her little sister’s neurodegenerative disease has progressed more severely.
The siblings normally had been very involved in each other’s lives – but due to their circumstances, it became harder for them to see each other. The recent unexpected reunion came about because Ann Patrick’s granddaughter, Louise Gover, works for a nonprofit that helps people with Alzheimer’s to live more fully their daily lives.
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Gover had been hosting an event for the British charity when she serendipitously met her Great Aunt Marguerita. Gover noticed that the senior had an accent that was similar to her own grandmother’s, so she struck up a conversation.
As they chatted, the young woman was shocked to suddenly discover her identity.
When she learned the sisters had not seen each other in 15 years, she facilitated a reunion–and the results were incredibly emotional.
(WATCH the heartwarming clip below)
Be Sure And Share The Sisterly Love With Your Friends – Photo by Caters News Agency
