Watch New Zealand Dad Do Humorous Imitation of How Fathers Handle Christmas Shopping

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Dec 13, 2017

With the Christmas season comes Christmas shopping – and while some parents might be used to playing Santa, others might not have the hang of it.

In spirit of the holiday madness, Jordan Watson did an amusing series of imitations based on how different dads do their holiday shopping.

Watson, who is a father of two from Auckland, New Zealand, is no stranger to the trials of parenting – he is the star behind the hilarious YouTube channel “How to Dad”: a video series dedicated to the struggles of being a confused parental figure.

WATCH: New Zealand Needs Police Officers– and Their Recruitment Video is Hilariously Compelling

From the “No Clue” dad who doesn’t know what he is doing, to the “Pretend it’s For Her, But Really it’s For You” dad, and – of course – the “Big Kid” dad who insists on buying the newest LEGO Star Wars play sets for himself.

Despite his mad methods, Watson is sure to reassure his viewers at the end of the clip that no Christmas gifts were harmed in the making of this video.

(WATCH the video below)

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In Historic Announcement, World Bank Says it Will No Longer Finance Oil and Gas Exploration

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McKinley Corbley

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Dec 13, 2017

The World Bank has just announced their groundbreaking decision to cease all investments in oil and gas exploration over the course of the next two years.

The announcement comes as a welcome followup to the financial institution’s decision to drop all investment in the coal industry back in 2010. Now, after years of pressuring from environmentalists, the World Bank will withdraw almost $1 billion in annual loans from oil and gas groups.

The bank also said that it was on track to meet its goal of investing at least 28% of their lending wealth in more environmentally friendly efforts by 2020.

The organization shared their decision with world leaders at the One Planet Summit in France this week, which marked the two-year anniversary of the Paris climate change treaty that was initiated in 2015. This week’s summit was co-sponsored and hosted by French president Emmanuel Macron, World Bank president Yim Yong Kim, and UN secretary general António Guterres.

MORE: Google Just Became the Largest Corporate Buyer of Renewable Energy

According to the Guardian, Stephen Kretzmann of Oil Change International said: “It is hard to overstate the significance of this historic announcement by the World Bank.

“The World Bank has raised the bar for climate leadership by recognizing the simple yet inconvenient truth that achieving the Paris agreement’s climate goals requires an end to the expansion of the fossil fuel industry. It is time for all of the institutions, countries, investors and individuals who are still in the Paris agreement to stop funding fossils – once and for all.”

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Burger King Drive-thru Worker Goes Viral After Helping Diabetic Woman

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Good News Network

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Dec 13, 2017

Rebecca Boening was driving by herself on the interstate when her blood sugar became dangerously low. After stopping at a fast food restaurant, however, she found a guardian angel in the drive-thru worker.

Because Boening has diabetes, her low blood sugar “makes it difficult to think or act”. When she felt herself start to get faint, she pulled off onto the first highway exit and went to a Burger King drive-thru so she could get something to eat.

Boening, who is from Amarillo, Texas, described the event on Facebook: “As I stumbled through placing my order I mentioned to the voice on the speaker that I was diabetic and in need of food. I pulled up to the first window in order to pay for my food.”

Before she could reach the first window, Burger King employee Tina Hardy came running out of the restaurant towards Boening’s car.

“She squeezed between the front of my car and the building just to bring me a small serving of ice cream,” says Boening. “Tina later explained that her husband was also diabetic and she could tell that I needed help.

“After paying, I pulled up to Tina’s window where she gave me my food. She instructed me to park across the driveway so that she could keep an eye on me until I felt better.”

Once Boening was finished with her food, she waited until business died down so she could go back in and thank Hardy for her kindness.

LOOK: Neighbor Sees Police Officer Battling to Push Senior’s Broken Electric Wheelchair Uphill

“I then took this picture and spoke with Tina’s supervisor, telling him what she did for me.”

“Hopefully, Tina Hardy will receive the recognition that she truly deserves from the public and from the big bosses at Burger King,” she added.

Since Boening posted the photo to Facebook, it has been shared hundreds of thousands of times by users praising the employee’s kindness.

“I am a type 1 diabetic and have had sudden big lows too. This was wonderful what she did for you,” said Ronda Gaston in a comment. “When a low sets in you literally have a minute or so BEFORE you pass out. I’m glad you got help so quickly.”

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London Train Station to Throw Christmas Party for City’s Homeless

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Dec 13, 2017

Over 200 homeless people in London will be treated to an extravagant holiday party thanks to some rail workers at the Euston Train station.

30 volunteers from Britain’s transit company, Network Rail, will be working alongside charity staff in order to throw a Christmas bash complete with decorations, lunch, and dinner on December 25th.

WATCH: Teen Boys Filmed Giving Duvet to Homeless Man and Tucking Him In

The rail workers will reportedly be serving up the meals, chatting up the homeless visitors throughout the celebration, supervising the event, and cleaning up afterwards.

St Mungos and Streets Kitchen, the two charities that are helping to coordinate the event, say that they have already distributed invitations to individuals sleeping on the streets.

Steve Naybour, head of transformation in Network Rail’s track team, said: “Using a station to give homeless people a Christmas dinner and some festive cheer is a great thing to do.

“Thousands and thousands of my colleagues will already be working on Christmas Day to improve the railway for passengers. Working on Christmas Day is pretty much par for the course for many of us who work for Network Rail, but this year – because I wasn’t scheduled to work – myself and a handful of colleagues came up with this plan to feed some of London’s homeless instead.”

“Everything, including people’s time, has been donated. And I can’t think of a better way to spend my Christmas Day – it even beats working on the railway!”

Spread The Merry News: Click To Share With Your Friends (Photo by Rept0n1x)

The 8 Purposes of Being in Business

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Good News Network

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Dec 13, 2017

Title: The 8 Purposes of Being in Business

The Lesson: Why are you in your area of business? What is your motivation and purpose? What do you want to achieve with your business? If you can’t answer those questions, then you may face more obstacles over the course of your career than those who can.

Notable Excerpt: “You are in the dream-making profession. Your job is to look at the people who you are blessed to serve: your clients and your customers. The people who put food on your table every night.”

The Speaker: Robin Sharma’s talks on business have attracted over 750,000 people seeking his unique insight on strategy, leadership, and entrepreneurial mastery – and those viewers are already starting to see results in their personal growth. A best-selling author and motivational speaker, Sharma’s has spent the last twenty years of his career delivering talks to thousands of people all over the world, as well as to the massive corporate workforces of Nike, Microsoft, and HP.

Books: The Canadian speaker has published 11 groundbreaking self-help books, the most notable of which include “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari” and “The Leader Who Had No Title”.

Podcast: Sharma’s first two Mastery classes are totally free to view and you can also download his free Mastery Sessions podcast on iTunes and Soundcloud, or watch his talks on YouTube.

(LISTEN to the inspiring talk below)

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Anonymous Donor Buys Every Toy at Goodwill, Gives Them to Children For Free

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Dec 12, 2017

For the last decade, this anonymous philanthropist has routinely bought out the entire children’s section of Goodwill so each kid in the store could take home one gift for free.

When asked why this Secret Santa does what he does, he simply said it had become “an important part of his family’s Christmas tradition”, according to the Coloradoan.

On the days leading up to the special holiday event, the Goodwill store in Fort Collins, Colorado had set aside plenty of children’s books, toys, and stuffed animals so there would be enough goodies for all their little customers throughout the day. Any child who entered the store on Saturday was told that they could select one item to take home with them – no strings attached.

After the donor had written out a check to cover the cost of the gifts earlier in the day, one of the company’s staff members got on the intercom and announced the good news to the customers – much to the delight of the youngsters.

The Coloradoan says that the donor and his wife briefly stayed to watch the joyous reactions before “slipping out the front door, unnoticed”.

(WATCH the video below)

Click To Share This Sweet Christmas Story With Your Friends – Representative photo by U.S. Air Force / Osakabe Yasuo

‘Hair is Not What Makes You Beautiful’ –Woman Inspires Millions With Engagement Photos

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McKinley Corbley

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Dec 12, 2017

Makenzee Meaux has spent years hiding her alopecia by wearing a wig. But now, she’s inspiring millions of other people by embracing her condition and showing that “hair is not what makes you beautiful.”

In a breathtaking engagement photoshoot that has gone viral, Meaux can be seen posing with her fiancé Bryan Ballard; except halfway through the shoot, the bride-to-be whips off her wig and shows off her natural beauty – alopecia and all.

The 21-year-old college student from Crosby, Texas was first diagnosed with alopecia when she was 8 years old.

Meaux says: “It is a disease where all of your hair follicles suddenly stop growing and the doctors can not figure out why or what will bring it back. They call it the mystery disease. Nothing else is wrong with the body other than hair will not grow, which – as you can imagine for a young girl – is a huge confidence killer.”

“I experienced lots of bullying in the early years and along the way I lost all hope that I could ever feel beautiful again.”

Meaux says that she was so self-conscious about her condition, it took her two and a half months to tell Ballard about her baldness.

But after they got engaged five and half years later in May, Meaux says that she has never felt more confident than when she is supported by Ballard.

“He has helped me be brave and realize that hair is not what makes you beautiful and is not what makes people love you, it is truly all about what’s on the inside,” writes Meaux. “He has shown me that the people who love you do not care whether or not you have hair and the ones who do are not worth your time or your love. So this is me, the true me.”

The photoshoot, which was captured by The Frost Collective, has spurred dozens of other people with alopecia to reach out to Meaux and express their gratitude over her courageous statement.

According to TODAY, Meaux even met up with a 3-year-old girl with alopecia in her city because she was so inspired by the college student’s photos.

“I never expected it to grow this large,” Meaux told TODAY. “It’s been amazing.”

Click To Share The Stunning Photos With Your Friends – Photos by The Frost Collective

Bambi On Ice: Watch Firefighter Nudge Trapped Deer to Safety

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McKinley Corbley

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Dec 12, 2017

This panicked little deer may not have had a happy ending if it weren’t for some trepidatious firefighters.

Earlier this week, the L4262 Sunriver Professional Firefighters of Sunriver, Oregon posted a video of themselves edging onto a frozen lake in order to save a deer that had become trapped at the center.

Though the critter can be seen repeatedly trying to stand on its spindly little legs, it keeps slipping back down onto its knees.

WATCH: Hummingbird Refuses to Leave the Dog Who Saved Her Life

Using gear that the organization had purchased with grant money back in spring, firefighter Jeff “JJ” Johnson edges onto the lake with an ice sled.

Slowly but surely, Johnson nudges the deer all the way across the lake until it reaches the embankment.

Even though the deer has landed on solid ground, it doesn’t seem to understand that it is free to go.

Johnson gives the animal a few head scratches and a pat on the neck until it finally stands up and gracefully wanders off into the wilderness.

“We are blessed to have receive so many positive comments about our recent deer rescue,” says the organization. “[But] most importantly, we are happy to have helped our valuable wildlife.”

(WATCH the video below)

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Needle-Free Injections: New Device For Insulin and Vaccines to Hit Market

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Good News Network

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Dec 11, 2017

Startup’s Needle-free Drug Injector Gets Commercialization Deal
Collaboration with pharmaceutical giant will bring smart jet-injection device to market.
Written by Rob Matheson
MIT News

Certain treatments for patients suffering from chronic diseases, such as inflammatory bowel diseases, require multiple intravenous or subcutaneous injections of specific drugs. Because of the pain and anxiety associated with needles, some patients stop adhering to these treatments.

MIT spinout Portal Instruments has now landed a commercialization deal for a smart, needle-free injection device that could reduce the pain and anxiety associated with needle injections, shorten administration time, and improve patient adherence.

Based on years of MIT research, the startup developed a jet-injection device that delivers a rapid, high-pressure stream of medicine, as thin as a strand of hair, through the skin in adjustable dosages, causing little to no pain. A connected app tracks each dose and the medicine’s effects, and uploads that information to the cloud, for patients and doctors. The device would be sold as a drug-device combination product to medical professionals and provided to patients with a prescription.

The device was developed by Ian Hunter, the George N. Hatsopoulos Professor in Thermodynamics, research scientist Catherine Hogan, and postdocs and students in the MIT BioInstrumentation Laboratory.

Last month, Portal Instruments announced a collaboration with Japanese pharmaceutical giant Takeda to further develop and commercialize the device, called PRIME. The first potential drug candidate is Takeda’s Entyvio, an antibody for adults with ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease. Entyvio is currently administered through intravenous infusion and undergoing phase III clinical trials for subcutaneous injections. Portal will receive an initial payment, with potential to earn milestone payments of up to $100 million.

“It’s an exciting opportunity to improve the lives of patients with Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis,” says CEO Patrick Anquetil PhD ’04, who co-founded Portal with Hunter in 2012. The collaboration allows Portal to work alongside Takeda’s research and development team on the product while growing the startup’s business, Anquetil adds.

PRIME accommodates a wide range of biologics — therapeutics made from biological components, such as proteins and living cells — that currently require needle injections. These include hormone treatments, insulin, vaccines, and other therapeutics for various chronic diseases. Because these drugs have a high molecular weight, they require high volumes and have high viscosity, meaning patients must push down with increasing pressure on the syringe for 10 to 20 seconds, which can be painful. According to estimates from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control, adherence rates for injected biologics range from around 40 to 70 percent.

MORE: Ingenious Device That Can Detect Melanoma Chosen by Dyson as Top Design of 2017

PRIME is about the size of an electric razor. Drugs are loaded into a single-use, disposable vessel, which has a tiny nozzle at its tip. Once the vessel is placed into the device, a powerful linear electromagnetic actuator pushes on a piston in the vessel, pressurizing the drug and ejecting a hair-thin jet at high pressure through the nozzle.

Exiting the nozzle at about 200 meters per second, the stream penetrates skin and tissue. “If you do the math, the jet comes out at about Mach 0.7, so almost the cruising speed of an average commercial airliner,” Anquetil says.

Other commercial jet-injection devices exist. But these offer no effective method for controlling the jet, “which causes patient discomfort and suboptimal injections” of certain therapeutics, Anquetil says. Primarily, these spring-loaded devices always eject the same drug dosage, at the same skin depth.

Portal’s device automatically adjusts injection velocity up to 1,000 times in the half-second it takes to deliver a 1-milliliter dose. The key is a closed-loop feedback control system developed at MIT. This system constantly monitors the injection trajectory and provides real-time feedback to the actuator to control the exiting stream. It can thus target a specific skin depth and location for exact drug doses. The first paper co-authored by Hunter detailing the system was published in 2012 in the journal Medical Engineering and Physics.

CHECK OUT: Thousands of Blind Dogs Get New Leash on Life With This Wearable Device

The device can also accommodate different therapeutics, without any changes to the actual device. For instance, high-pressure injections for some drugs could breach the skin, while lower-pressure injections for other drugs could deliver slower streams to be absorbed by surrounding tissue.

To further promote adherence, Portal has developed a connected app that automatically tracks each dose taken. Patients can also input how they’re feeling after using the device. If taking a therapeutic for arthritis, for instance, a patient can plot any joints that still hurt on a digital image of a body. This information gets synced with a web dashboard used by doctors to check adherence and patient satisfaction and to adjust treatments.

“Our main driver is to think of patient comfort at the system-level … and fundamentally change how physicians and patients interact,” Anquetil says. “That’s comes from our MIT training.”

Anquetil joined Hunter’s lab in 1999 and graduated with a PhD from MIT in 2004. For years, he kept in close contact with Hunter, occasionally joining his former professor for lunch. It was during one of these meetings that Hunter brought up a recent, potentially commercial invention from his lab: a needle-free injection platform. Pharmaceutical giant Sanofi had been funding some of the development of the technology.

LOOK: Doctor Builds Makeshift Device To Save Baby’s Life on Airline Flight

“Ian told me this technology is ready for prime time,” Anquetil says. “It was great technology that had interest on the industrial side. We knew we could spin a company off around that.”
To help launch Portal, the co-founders met with mentors through some of MIT’s entrepreneurial services, including the Venture Mentoring Service. “That was tremendously helpful” in navigating early-days startup issues, Anquetil says.

At the time, the technology was a broad platform. Studies had shown the platform to be useful for vaccines, diabetes treatments, and delivering therapeutics to bones, eyes, and ears. Seeing a promising beachhead market in biologics for chronic diseases, the researchers built a prototype “that was about the size of a refrigerator,” Anquetil says, laughing.

A host of large instruments controlled the speed and pressure of the injection, which came from a long arm sticking out from the front of the machine. A technician, sitting at a computer behind the massive device, triggered and monitored the injections. It wasn’t exactly consumer friendly, Anquetil says, “but it worked and was developed under design control, so we did our first clinical tests with that machine.”

Over the years, the startup shrunk the device, filed more than 20 patents, and published more results about the device’s efficacy and patient comfort. An article published in AAPS PharmSciTech in May, for instance, showed about 60 percent of 40 subjects in a clinical trial preferred a Portal benchtop prototype to a traditional needle and experienced significantly less pain at injection sites.

With its technology now on track to commercialization for Takeda’s drugs, Anquetil says the startup hopes to partner with more pharmaceutical companies, with aims of replacing traditional auto-injectors, which are EpiPen-like devices used to inject biologics. The idea is to co-package PRIME with the company’s drugs.

“All along we’ve envisioned a device that was a universal injection machine,” Anquetil says. “Now that we’ve shown a viable business model — to partner with pharmaceutical companies to enhance their therapies — we can expect a few more partnerships next year and in the years to come.”

Reprinted with permission from MIT News

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Single Mom Works Overtime Just So She Can Restore $500 to Homeless Man Who Was Robbed

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Dec 11, 2017

Sometimes, we see something that makes us want to change the world.

That’s exactly what happened to Kari Diaz when she saw a viral video of 60-year-old Charles Reynolds chasing a man out of a local Walmart.

The man had stolen $500 from Charles, who had just cashed his paycheck.

Charles wasn’t able to catch the thief in the Walmart parking lot, but the money that had been stolen from him was crucial – the Largo, Florida resident says he is “pretty much homeless, and I’m doing the best I can to get up and get out of there. And, yeah, that money meant a lot.”

When Kari saw the video, she knew just how Charles felt. Just a few years previously, she had been living in low-income housing and raising her kids as a single mom. She says she knows “what it is to be poor.”

Kari wanted to help Charles out, but she didn’t just have $500 to give away to him. So, she spent her weekend clocking in 10-hour work days and setting aside the money for Charles.

Kari and Charles met up at the Largo Police Department so she could give him the money. Even though Walmart had already replaced the stolen money, Kari still wanted to pay it forward. She says someone had once helped her out when she was struggling, and she wanted to keep the chain going.

Hopefully with Kari’s help, Charles will be soon be “up and out of there” so he can continue to pay it forward as well.

CLICK the link below to watch the heartwarming video of Kari and Charles – and be sure to SHARE the story with your friends…

The Trick to Ending Overthinking and Build the Business of Your Dreams

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Good News Network

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Dec 11, 2017

Title: The Trick to End Overthinking and Build the Business of Your Dreams

The Lesson: There is a very simple way to stop overthinking all of your actions, and it’s actually easier than you would guess – all it takes is counting down from 5. While it may seem simplistic, there is actually some science as to how this simple habit can stimulate your behavior for the better.

The Speaker: Mel Robbins is an American author, life coach, inspirational speaker, and CNN commentator who has specialized in motivating the masses with her 5-second rule. In addition to making appearances on Good Morning America, Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, Oprah, The Today Show and Fox News, she has also delivered the wildly popular TEDX Talk “How to Stop Screwing Yourself Over”.

Books: Robbins is the author of “The 5-Second Rule”, a book on how to take control of your life, business, and career by simply counting to 5, and “Stop Saying You’re Fine”, a no-BS guide to overcoming your personal challenges and getting what you want.

(LISTEN to the inspiring talk below)

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New Drug Could Offer First Treatment For Irreversible Huntington’s Disease

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McKinley Corbley

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Dec 11, 2017

A groundbreaking new drug is offering hope for Huntington’s disease: an inherited neurodegenerative disease that currently has no cure.

While the average person’s DNA produces healthy huntingtin proteins that nourish brain development, Huntington’s disease is caused by a faulty gene that makes toxic proteins instead. These deadly proteins then poison the nervous system and cause loss of motor control, memory, and speech.

While there are therapies that exist to help Huntington’s patient cope with the degenerative symptoms, patients typically die about 10 years after diagnosis.

In a new study released by the University College London, however, 46 patients with Huntington’s Disease were enrolled in the first human trial for an experimental drug called IONIS-HTTRx.

The drug, which was administered through the patients’ spinal fluid, was not only shown to be safe and well-tolerated, but it also successfully lowered the level of harmful huntingtin protein in the brain’s nervous system.

Professor Tabrizi, Director of the UCL Huntington’s Disease Centre said: “The results of this trial are of ground-breaking importance for Huntington’s disease patients and families. For the first time, a drug has lowered the level of the toxic disease-causing protein in the nervous system, and the drug was safe and well-tolerated.

MORE: Two Breakthrough Drugs to Treat Migraines May Soon Hit the Market

“The key now is to move quickly to a larger trial to test whether the drug slows disease progression,” she added.

Moving forward, the research team will conduct further testing on how drastically the drug can alter the progression of the disease. While they are not yet calling this drug a cure, they say that it is the most groundbreaking development in the disease’s treatment in over 50 years.

Patients who have already received the drug will be able to continue taking it as a treatment for their disease in the coming years.

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Crossing Guard Sets Up Free Coat Rack For Her Middle School Students

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McKinley Corbley

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Dec 11, 2017

Minnie Galloway has been a fixture at Trask Middle School for the last 19 years. Over the course of her career as a crossing guard, she has waved at passing cars, handed out free pencils and school supplies, and made sure that “her kids” were safe and happy.

Now, as the temperature drops in Wilmington, North Carolina, she has set up a free coat rack for any students who might need some warmth during the winter months.

“Some of them come with no (jacket) and just a T-shirt or something, and you know, I’m fussing at them,” Galloway told WECT.

The crossing guard picked up 30 different jackets from the local Salvation Army store in hopes that at least one of the students would benefit from the free clothing.

Galloway says that any coats she is unable to give away will be donated to a local church organization that gives clothing to foster kids preparing for new homes.

Galloway first started receiving praise on social media for her kindness when Kayla Thomas, a teacher at Laney High School, posted a photo of the crossing guard and her coat rack last week.

WATCH: Terminal Cancer Survivor Spends Days Smiling and Waving at Drivers

“It took every ounce of restraint in my body not to put the car in park and get out and hug this woman, to thank her for using her free time to keep our students safe and for giving coats to people who may not have them,” wrote Thomas.

“There is still good in this world, despite what we see and hear everyday,” she added. “People like her give the rest of us hope that we can all live in peace and focus on the things that really matter.”

(WATCH the video below)

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How Boredom Leads to Brilliance: Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self

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Good News Network

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Dec 11, 2017

Title: How Boredom Leads to Brilliance

The Lesson: If it’s one thing that everyone has in common, it is that people hate boredom – but that tedious feeling might actually be the key to your next big idea.

Many of us are pressured to work harder, and use all of our time productively, instead of taking time off to disconnect, decompress, and digest everything that is going on in our lives. Whether this is because we automatically check our smart phones whenever we have a spare moment in the day, or that we’re just too busy with our career and relationships; our lack of time spent daydreaming can keep us from unlocking our best self.

Notable Excerpt: “Our gadgets can’t give us more minutes in the day. We still have to have the patience to get to the great ideas, because otherwise we’re just having a lot of mediocre ones that we like posting, and Tweeting, and Instagramming about.” (From the full video below)

The Guest: Manoush Zomorodi, an expert on how to encourage our creativity and preserve our humanity in a digital age, is the author of “Bored and Brilliant” and the host of the critically-acclaimed Note to Self podcast, which is available for free on iTunes and Spotify.

The Host: After spending years of his young life and athletic career struggling with his own emotional wellbeing, a crippling injury left Lewis Howes without an identity and without any work. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, however, Howes recreated himself as a multi-million dollar media producer, motivational speaker, bestselling author, and podcast host. The ex-football player now spends his days chatting with the most inspirational icons of this generation on his School of Greatness podcast.

Podcast: The School of Greatness podcast is available for download on Soundcloud and iTunes. You can also watch footage of the interviews on Howes’s YouTube channel.

Books: Howes is the author of the New York Times bestselling book “The School of Greatness”: an in-depth collection of lessons and wisdom that he has gathered from interviewing hundreds of the world’s greatest role models and thinkers. Howes’s latest book, “The Mask of Masculinity”, is based on his experience with the dangerous stereotypes and expectations that are placed on men in modern society.

(LISTEN to the inspiring talk below)

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Turn All Your Skills Into Superpowers and Discard ‘Impossibility’ From Your Vocabulary

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Dec 10, 2017

Title: Super Learning and Pushing the Limits

The Lesson: This guy knows a thing or two about achieving the impossible – and he wants you to be able to do the same thing. In this fascinating interview, Tim Ferriss asks several questions that he believes will give you the tools to overcome anything; such as “what if you did the opposite for 48 hours?” and “if you could only work for 2 hours per week, what would you work on?”

Notable Excerpt: “Ask yourself: ‘What can I learn from the people I hate the most?’ Now, this does two things – it forces you to separate your morality from your search for effectiveness; and it also helps you to develop some degree of empathy – and those two things are very powerful.”

The Guest: Over the course of his career, Ferriss has become a one-time national Chinese kickboxing champion, a lecturer at Princeton University, a professional breakdancer on MTV, a horseback archer, and a multimillionaire author, motivational speaker, and investor. If that isn’t impressive enough, his critically-acclaimed podcast, the Tim Ferris Show, was also voted #1 in its category on iTunes.

The Host: Tom Bilyeu is the American entrepreneur responsible for co-founding Quest Nutrition: a health food brand that has been called the second fastest growing company in North America. Additionally, he is the co-founder and host of Impact Theory: a podcast dedicated towards educating the masses about business and success.

Pocast: Impact Theory is available for free listening and download on iTunes and YouTube.

(LISTEN to Ferriss’s inspiring talk below) – Editor’s note: podcast contains mild cursing

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For More Motivation to Pursue Your Dreams: The Woman Who Went From Homelessness to Graduating Harvard

The ‘Airbnb of Parking Spots’ Wants to Pay Your Parking Tickets This Month

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McKinley Corbley

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Dec 10, 2017

Are you annoyed by recent parking tickets or facing fines because you forgot to move your car until it was too late? Well, if you live in Los Angeles, this company wants to pay your parking tickets for you.

Pavemint is a California-based app that lets users reserve and sell their own parking spots. Described as the “Airbnb of parking”, the innovative business doesn’t just allow city residents to make money off of their unused parking spots – it also saves drivers the stress of having to search for a free spot on confusing city streets.

Pavemint also proves to be an environmentally-friendly alternative to drivers having to search block after block for open parking.

MORE: 12-Year-old Creates First App to Help Alzheimer’s Patients Keep Track of Things

After spending years of dealing with annoying parking trouble within the city, Randall Jamail first got the idea for the organization back in 2015 while he was attending a college football game.

Jamail told Good News Network: “I noticed a number of residents standing outside their homes, selling off their spare parking spaces for cash. As I drove by them, suddenly the gears clicked fully into place; what if these residents didn’t have to stand outside their homes selling parking on gameday? What if they could simply download an app and list their private spaces on a peer-to-peer marketplace, connecting them with drivers searching for parking, either in advance or on demand?”

“As I did more research, I realized that not only would an app like the one I envisioned help residents make extra income without extra work, and help people get wherever they needed to go more quickly, it would also reduce CO2 and traffic, thus improving the environment,” he added.

Though the app has over 4,000 parking spots listed within Los Angeles, the service currently only operates within the city – but Jamail says that they plan on expanding to more cities in the future.

In the meantime, however, Pavemint is celebrating the holidays by kicking off their Month of Giving initiative.

From now until December 29th, Pavemint will be paying the LA parking tickets of five followers every week for up to $250 in value. All you have to do is post your story on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook and tag the company for a chance to be nominated.

To kick off the initiative, two of the company’s workers took to the streets in search of unfortunate drivers who had received parking violations so they could surprise them with a “golden ticket”.

(WATCH the sweet video below)

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Watch People’s Reactions Suddenly Seeing Their Messages of Love Broadcast on Huge Screen

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Good News Network

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Dec 10, 2017

These New Yorkers thought they were just writing letters of affection to their companion – until their love notes were turned into something much grander.

In this video created by the comedy collective Improv Everywhere in partnership with Hallmark, a team of camera crews set up a stage in Manhattan’s Big Screen Plaza with a desk that read “Light Up Someone’s Holiday”.

WATCH: When Teacher Can’t Afford Holiday Gifts for Sick Son, Students Leave Surprise on His Desk

On the desk was a series of cards and pens that passersby would use to write a heartfelt message to their companion.

After one in the group wrote down their adoring sentiments, however, their companions were shocked to see them recreated on a massive screen above their heads.

The troupe planned ahead by finding locals who wanted to surprise a loved one.

“Since the plaza doesn’t get a ton of foot traffic at night and we were shooting on a cold evening, we did a little bit of advance casting,” says the organization’s website. “We put out a notice looking for people who wanted to surprise someone. The people we cast were just told they’d be writing a card that would eventually be seen publicly. This prevented people from writing anything they wanted kept private.”

“Other than that, the people we cast didn’t know anything else about what was going to happen. The people they were surprising were completely in the dark.”

Several couples throughout the night just stumbled upon the table and were also blown away by the sentimental ‘sky’ writing stunt.

(WATCH the heartwarming video below)

Click To Share The Sweet Story With Your Friends – Photo by Improv Everywhere

Janitor Works At Bank For 30 Years So Coworkers Surprise Him With Puppy After His Dog Dies

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Good News Network

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Dec 10, 2017

For over three decades now, Floyd Green has been a custodial worker for a bank in Howard County, Texas – and he has become a staple of the workplace and a friend to his coworkers.

Because Floyd’s Yorkshire terrier had recently died of old age, the staff decided to pitch in and get him a new Yorky puppy for the janitor’s birthday.

As he inspects the box, the birthday man clearly has no idea what’s in store for him. He opens the gift and quickly closes it again in complete and utter shock.

Confused, Floyd asks who the puppy is for. The group of staff workers can be heard assuring Floyd the new dog is for him.

“It’s a she,” his colleague says. “She is yours.”

Floyd’s excitement is visible as he takes his new puppy – complete with a gift – out of the box and gently holds her in his hands.

“Really? Thank you!” he exclaims.

“Mr. Floyd Green has been working with our bank for over three decades,” said the employee who filmed the surprise. “Our prosperity crew found out that his Yorkie died of old age, so our staff decided to all pitch in and get him a new one for his birthday. He is a sweet man and is the reason we look forward to Tuesdays and Fridays (the days he works with us).”

CLICK to Watch the sweet surprise as it happens – and don’t forget to SHARE with your friends…

Here is a Piece of Sleep Advice That Every New Parent Needs to Hear

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Good News Network

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Dec 10, 2017

Coming Soon to GNN – GOOD TALKS: A daily selection of inspiring podcasts and videos to motivate you in your life, health, and business. Look for its premiere in December. (Meanwhile, here is one of our debut Good Talks…)

Title: Sleep Advice Every New Parent Needs to Hear

The Lesson: Sleep is incredibly important for everyday health, and missing out on a good night’s rest can be detrimental to your wellbeing. If your baby or toddler is preventing you from sleeping, then you need to teach them how to let you rest. While it may be difficult at first, you can train your kids to learn their limitations by setting up a simple structure.

Notable Excerpt: “You got two choices: you can either accept that this is what you want, this is how you want to parent, and you love it too, even though you’re exhausted all day long … or, you gotta get serious about teaching your son or daughter how to sleep through the night.”

The Speaker: Mel Robbins is an American author, life coach, inspirational speaker, and CNN commentator who has specialized in motivating the masses with her 5-second rule. In addition to making appearances on Good Morning America, Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, Oprah, The Today Show and Fox News, she has also delivered the wildly popular TEDX Talk “How to Stop Screwing Yourself Over”.

Books: Robbins is the author of “The 5-Second Rule”, a book on how to take control of your life, business, and career by simply counting to 5, and “Stop Saying You’re Fine”, a no-BS guide to overcoming your personal challenges and getting what you want.

(LISTEN to Mel’s advice in the video below)

Don’t Let Your Friends Sleep On This Story: Click To Share – Photo by Winnie T, CC

Still Having Trouble Falling Asleep? The ‘Dullest Movie Ever Made’ was Filmed to be a Perfect Cure For Insomnia

Overlooked and Undervalued? How Brokenness is the Prerequisite to Greatness

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Good News Network

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Dec 10, 2017

Title: Overlooked and Undervalued, But Not Forgotten

The Lesson: Everyone has their own specific pain that they have to deal with in their lives – and while we may feel like it’s our job to get over that pain and be more perfect, that may not be the case. In this episode of the School of Greatness podcast, Pastor John Gray talks about what loving yourself has to do with loving others, living with yourself and your flaws, and reconciling with your pain.

Notable Excerpt: “Even though he’s not here, and he hasn’t been here for 17 years, I still yearn for the approval of a father – and so, it drives me. I want to do well. I want to do right … and now this is the big challenge of my life: living a life feeling like an orphan, and now, the very thing that I need is the thing I am.”

The Guest: Gray, who is the author of “I Am Number 8”, had to spend years coming to terms with the pain he felt over his father leaving his family. As he got older, however, he finally understood how his pain led him down his own path of greatness, humility, compassion, and empathy. Now, he is a pastor, a record producer, musician, and inspirational speaker.

The Host: After spending years of his young life and athletic career struggling with his own emotional wellbeing, a crippling injury left Lewis Howes without an identity and without any work. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, however, Howes recreated himself as a multi-million dollar media producer, motivational speaker, bestselling author, and podcast host. The ex-football player now spends his days chatting with the most inspirational icons of this generation on his School of Greatness podcast.

Podcast: The School of Greatness podcast is available for download on Soundcloud and iTunes. You can also watch footage of the interviews on Howes’s YouTube channel.

Books: Howes is the author of the New York Times bestselling book “The School of Greatness”: an in-depth collection of lessons and wisdom that he has gathered from interviewing hundreds of the world’s greatest role models and thinkers. Howes’s latest book, “The Mask of Masculinity”, is based on his experience with the dangerous stereotypes and expectations that are placed on men in modern society.

(LISTEN to the inspiring talk below) – Photo by MiiiSH, CC

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