95-Year-old Holocaust Survivor Has a Roommate: a 31-Year-old Granddaughter of Nazis

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Mar 4, 2017

These roommates may seem like an unlikely pair, but their friendship has provided valuable comfort and inspiration for both of them.

95-year-old Ben Stern is a Holocaust survivor residing in Berkeley, California. His housemate, 31-year-old Lea Heitfeld is a descendent of Nazis.

The young German student is currently getting her master’s degree in Jewish studies as part of the Graduate Theological Union. Her history, inspiring her to repent for her ancestor’s sins, has compelled her to help educate others on the importance of religious tolerance.

Their companionship is especially valuable for Ben, since his 70-year-old wife was recently checked into a nursing home for dementia. He and the student reportedly spend their time watching TV, eating dinner together, and chatting over crackers.

“This act of his opening his home, I don’t know how to describe it, how forgiving or how big your heart must be to do that, and what that teaches me to be in the presence of someone who has been through that and is able to have me there and to love me,” Lea told the Washington Post. “That he was able to open the door for someone who would remind him of all his pain.”

(WATCH the video below)

Click To Share The News With Your Friends – Photo by Lea Heitfeld

Woman Invites Lonely Widower to Dinner “Date”, He Arrives With Suit and Flowers

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McKinley Corbley

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Mar 4, 2017

Ellie Walker was heartbroken when she heard that Edwin Holmes would be spending Christmas Day alone – so she invited him to dinner over the holiday break.

When he showed up for the “date”, he arrived wearing his best suit with flowers in hand, reducing Ellie to tears.

86-year-old Edwin has lived alone since his wife passed away in 2006 and his children moved to Australia. Ellie, who works at a Sainesbury’s store in Leeds, England, had always considered Edwin her favorite customer. So when she heard about his loneliness, she didn’t hesitate to ask him out.

The two have enjoyed regular lunches and coffee meet-ups since their initial dinner

“He said it was his first ‘date’ in 55 years and he was as nervous as a schoolboy,” Ellie told the Sun. “It made me cry because I could see how much it meant to him.”

“For me it’s the most important part of my job to speak with customers and see how their day is going.”

Click To Share This Sweet Story With Your Friends (Photo by Sainesbury’s Press Office)

Suffering From Spring Allergies? Probiotics May Curb Your Symptoms

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Mar 4, 2017

As we head into allergy season, you may feel less likely to grab a tissue and sneeze if you are eating a probiotic combination that has been shown to reduce hay fever symptoms.

Probiotics, which are live bacteria and yeasts—in foods such as sauerkraut, pickles, live-cultured Greek yogurt, and miso soup—have already been proven in published studies to regulate the body’s immune response to allergies, but not all probiotics show a benefit.

University of Florida researchers have figured out which one did.

The probiotic combination of lactobacilli and bifidobacteria, sold as the Kyo-Dophilus supplement in stores, is known to aid in maintaining digestive health and parts of the immune system.

UF researchers wanted to know if the components in this combination probiotic would help alleviate allergy symptoms. They suspected that it might work by increasing the human body’s percentage of regulatory T-cells, which in turn might increase tolerance to hay fever symptoms.

To do that, they enrolled 173 healthy adults who said they suffered seasonal allergies and randomly split them into two groups: some took the combination probiotic; others took a placebo. Each week during the eight-week experiment in the height of spring allergy season, participants responded to an online survey to convey their discomfort level.

MORE: First Ever Study Shows Chair Yoga is Effective Arthritic Treatment

Scientists also analyzed DNA from participants’ stool samples to determine how their bacteria changed, because probiotics aim to deliver good bacteria to the human’s intestinal system. The DNA test also confirmed who was taking the probiotic.

Participants who took the probiotic reported improvements in quality of life, compared to those taking the placebo, the study showed. For example, participants suffered fewer allergy-related nose symptoms, which meant that they were less troubled during daily activities.

MORE: Go On… Let Dogs Lick You, It’s Good For Your Health

Researchers note that this study did not include severe allergy sufferers. But the combination of probiotics showed clinical benefit for those with more mild seasonal allergies, Langkamp-Henken said.

Allergy medications today have unwanted potential side effects, including dry mouth and drowsiness, so this holistic alternative might be just what the doctor ordered.

(Source: University of Florida)

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Elementary School Gives Honorable Viking Funerals For Class Goldfish

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Mar 3, 2017

These warrior goldfish were too good for the goldfish bowl – so their child guardians gave them a proper sendoff in style.

The kids of Papdale Primary School in Orkney, Scotland were learning about Vikings in school when their beloved class pets Bubbles and Freddy passed away.

WATCH: Girl Once Denied a Horse Trained Her Cow Instead

So in honor of their deaths, the grade 3 and 4 classes gave them Viking funerals with little cardboard boats. Apparently, the ship made out of an egg carton floated the best.

“We knew that the Vikings would only have sent the most beautiful ships to be burned for important people in their communities,” says the school. “While we will miss Freddy and Bubbles, we certainly enjoyed giving them a good send off to Valhalla.”

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Elon Musk Takes Surprisingly Good Ad Advice From 10-Year-old

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McKinley Corbley

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Mar 3, 2017

@elonmusk Elon, my daughter wrote you a letter for a school project. She mailed it to Tesla, but I figured I'd paste here. Thank you! pic.twitter.com/ntGEL9WCh3
— Steven (@Writer_StevenL) March 2, 2017

Elon Musk isn’t just a tech genius – the Tesla CEO has made headlines for taking the time to respond to a child’s letter.

This note in particular, however, had some extraordinarily good advice; advice which Musk was wise to take.

The father of a 5th grade student named Bria sent a scanned letter written by his adorable daughter to the tech genius on Twitter. In the letter, Bria made a suggestion for the notoriously ad-less company’s marketing department.

Instead of totally avoiding advertisements all together, Tesla could hold a competition for best fan-made commercial.

“I have noticed that you do not advertise, but many people make homemade commercials for Telsa and some of them are very good,” wrote the youth. “I think that you should run a competition on who can make a the best homemade Tesla commercial and the winners will get their commercial aired.”

“You could give the winners a year of free Supercharging [the process by which Tesla drivers charge their vehicles] or a Model 3 Easter egg or something,” added Bria.

CHECK OUT: 7-Year-old Applies For Job at Google, Gets Letter Back From CEO

The girl goes on to detail how much her and her father adore Tesla cars and how they are “very smart and friendly to the environment”.

To conclude the adorable – and surprisingly articulate – note, Bria expresses her plans to one day drive her own Tesla-made vehicle… after she gets her license, of course.

“I hope that when I’m older, I can drive a Tesla. It’s so sad that they cannot be sold in Michigan. It’s such a hassle to have to drive to a different state to get a car! I plan to be a politician when I grow up, and I will make sure that the government protects the environment, and Teslas can be bought anywhere.”

MORE: Girl Hailed for Using Google Translate to Befriend New Student

Musk eventually received the letter, and expressed his adoration for the idea: “Thank you for the lovely letter. That sounds like a great idea. We’ll do it!”

The exact start date of Bria’s suggested ad campaign is unclear, but we think it is fair to say that this 5th grader has a bright future – whether it be advertising or politics.

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9 Reasons You Should Plan a Trip to Mardi Gras Next Year, Like I Did (LOOK)

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McKinley Corbley

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Mar 3, 2017

Another Mardi Gras has come and gone in the great city of New Orleans, Louisiana. Its population of 400,000 bulges with the flood of visitors pouring in from around the world, expanding to a whopping 1.4 million people all sharing a common goal: to have fun.

Whether you’re joining the festivities with your family, or college mates, or just on your own like I did this week, there’s something for everyone, even the most conservative.

CHECK OUT: Van Gogh Themed Parade Dazzles With Amazing Dahlia-Covered Floats

If you’ve never visited and have the opportunity to go next year, save the date, Tuesday, February 13, knowing that celebrations abound throughout the previous week. Here are some of my favorite moments and local customs you may not know about.

1. Street Poets

We’ve all thrown a dollar to a particularly good street musician, but have you ever found a street poet?

These resident writers pop up around the city with typewriter at the ready in order to create any kind of requested prose that you could think of.

Though some the artists may work for a fee, many are donation based so you can contribute whatever you want. The writer pictured above, a New Orleans resident named Cameron Lovejoy, told me that a generous paying reveler once gave him $100. Another, he told me, gave him nothing in exchange for a poem about a slice of lime sitting on the sidewalk nearby.

Whatever the cost, a commissioned poem written especially for you on Mardi Gras is far more memorable to take home than the typical souvenir of disposable plastic beads.

2. Secret Ball Dances

Some Mardi Gras balls are more secret than others, but there are dances throughout the city that range from silly to scandalous. Some require a specially extended invitation – others can be attended just by showing up.

Balls include a host of different themes and music; circus themed, costume-required, balls playing only electronic dance music, or just speak-easy style swing and jazz events. One resident whom I was chatting with said that she once attended a ball where – if your costume wasn’t elaborate enough – you could only enter the ballroom in the nude.

LOOK: Hawaiian Volcano Erupts Into Smiley Face Just as its Flow Reaches the Sea

To find out what’s going on around town, simply befriend some locals and ask them if they can give you any intel. There is most likely some kind of event that aligns with your preference.

3. Crawfish Cookouts

If you’re a fan of crawfish, oysters, or homemade jambalaya, then there’s plenty of reason for you to make a pilgrimage to N“awlins.

Dotted across almost every neighborhood in the city are barbecues, cookouts, roasts, and boils – but most plentiful are the ginormous pots stewing with gallons of seafood. The largest pot of food we encountered was over four feet tall! Many of the chefs responsible for this uniquely local cuisine are usually happy to spare a few bowls.

4. The Costumes

Everyone knows about the tradition of dressing up in elaborate garb for Mardi Gras, but I can’t truly drive home how astounding it is.

There is basically no way you can overdress. Even in the days leading up to Fat Tuesday, everyone in the streets is dressed to the nines in boas, feathers, headdresses, masks, stockings, and wigs. Then, during the day of the actual festival, party-goers break out the heavy duty get-ups.

It is absolutely worth going to Mardi Gras specifically for the costumes.

5. The Musicians

Some of the most talented jazz and blues musicians in the country are hiding out in New Orleans and they definitely know how to have fun.

Almost every club in the French Quarter is complete with a live band playing for tips. Dancing is always welcome – and always encouraged.

6. The Scenery

Do you love to take travel photos? Or, do you just enjoy taking quality selfies? Either way, the colored landscape of Mardi Gras is a goldmine for any aspiring photographer.

Apart from the general architecture of New Orleans being gorgeously ornate and eye-catching, a lot of the houses and trees are positively drenched in beads.

It definitely creates a surreal – but extraordinarily beautiful – backdrop for the festivities.

7. Parade Floats

Who doesn’t enjoy a good parade?

There’s a dozen different parades happening around the city during Mardi Gras weekend and a lot of the locals will discuss for days which one is the best.

CHECK OUT: Photographer Captures Lava, Meteor, and Milky Way in One Shot

Each float is elaborately decorated and themed–and all the passengers riding aboard are more than happy to toss some beads your way.

Just be sure to watch the skies for anything heavier than the necklaces – you might get whacked in the head by a glow sword if you’re not paying attention.

8. The Arts Market

If you mosey up Frenchmen Street, be sure to stop by the arts market.

The artists are all locally based and their wares are truly otherworldly.

I repeat my earlier point; any of the paintings, sculptures, clothing, or designs that come from the arts market will make for way better souvenirs than some disposable plastic beads that you’re never going to wear again.

9. The Burlesque Shows

This one may be too saucy for the whole family, but if you’ve never been to a burlesque show, they’re absolutely something worth checking off the bucket list.

There are hundreds of burlesque shows throughout the city for any niche interest; the dancer pictured above did a dazzling Quentin Tarantino-themed dance before finishing the show with a Sarah Connor costume from Terminator.

If you’re made uncomfortable by such raciness, skip this one. If not, then take a peak. There’s just as much goofiness involved as there is hedonism.

Start Planning Your Own Trip To Mardi Gras: Click To Share (Photos by McKinley Corbley)

Zimbabwe Finally Bans the Beating of Children

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McKinley Corbley

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Mar 3, 2017

The East African country of Zimbabwe has just ruled that the beating of children is constitutional and will now be punishable by law.

Though corporal punishment at home and in school has been banned by the High Court, it still needs to be approved by the constitutional court as well.

The pivotal decision comes as a result of parental outrage over evidence that their children were being beaten in school for minor academic offenses.

After finding vicious bruises inflicted on her daughter’s body by a school teacher, Linah Pfungwa teamed up with a children’s rights organization in order to take the corporal punishment law to court.

Justice David Mangota eventually ruled that parents and teachers would have to find other means of disciplining children that didn’t involve physical violence, according to the BBC.

The ruling is an especially exciting follow-up to Zimbabwe outlawing child marriage over one year ago.

Click To Share The News With Your Friends (Photo by Rod Waddington, CC)

Watch a Refugee Father Finally Reunite With Family After 4 Years

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McKinley Corbley

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Mar 3, 2017

It had been almost half of a decade since Dyan had seen his wife and two sons. Then a few months ago, he was finally reunited with his family.

Dyan’s pregnant wife had stepped off of a plane in Fort Worth, Texas as a Sudanese refugee four years ago. While they were getting settled in America, her and her two sons were taken under the wing of a Christian ministry called The Village Church.

The organization took care of the family and helped Dyan maneuver the immigration system while he stayed in a Sudanese refugee camp – that is, until he was finally able to rejoin his wife.

As Dyan walks out of customs, it is not just the first time he is seeing his wife in several years; it’s the first time he gets to see his 3-year-old son whom she gave birth to while he was overseas.

At one point during the video, Dyan becomes so overwhelmed by the reunion, he falls to his knees in gratitude.

“Xenophobia is nowhere in the heart of God. He is all about the nations!” says the film’s creator Robert Fuqua. “For me, this video is a testament to what can happen when God’s people respond in simple, yet sacrificial obedience to God’s call on the Church … to engage and embrace people of all tongues and tribes.”

(WATCH the video below)

Dyan comes home from Robert Fuqua on Vimeo.

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NBA Player to Donate $1,000 For Every Point He Scores at Next Game

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Mar 2, 2017

The New Orleans Pelicans point-back Jrue Holiday has pledged to donate $1,000 to New Orleans tornado relief for every point and assist that he makes during his next game.

The Pelicans, who will be facing off against the San Antonio Spurs, are set to play at the Smoothie King Center on Friday. Holiday’s donations will be going towards The Greater New Orleans Foundation Tornado Relief Fund.

The money will benefit families and individuals affected by the tornadoes that rampaged through the city in early February.

“It’s a shame that in the matter of minutes these storms produced such violent tornadoes that literally upended the lives of so many residents of New Orleans,” Holiday told NBA. “This financial pledge is a unique way I thought of that can have a positive impact on some of the peoples’ lives and help them get back on their feet and assist them in getting their lives back in order.”

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New Study Finds Reading Can Help With Chronic Pain

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Mar 2, 2017

Hold onto your hats, book club fans: researchers have found that shared reading can be a useful therapy for chronic pain sufferers.

The study compared Shared Reading (SR) – a literature-based intervention developed by the national charity The Reader – to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) as an intervention for chronic pain sufferers.

Chronic pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage persisting for more than six months.

Usually pain is picked up by specialized cells in your body, and impulses are sent through the nervous system to the brain. What happens in people with chronic pain, however, is that other nerves are recruited into this ‘pain’ pathway which start to fire off messages to the brain when there is no physical stimulus or damage. But the body can ‘unjoin’ again. Drugs and CBT are both ways to convince the brain to send new messages back to the body.

CBT is a talking therapy that can help you manage your problems by changing the way you think and behave. It’s most commonly used to treat anxiety and depression, but can be useful for other mental and physical health problems. But CBT’s benefits, while useful are shown by recent research to be both limited and short-term.

Shared Reading is used in a range of environments that have similarities with chronic pain, in that the conditions involved can often be chronic and unsolvable, as in the case of dementia, prisons, and severe mental illness.

The model is based on small groups coming together weekly to read literature – short stories, novels, and poetry – together aloud. The reading material ranges across genres and period, and is chosen for its intrinsic interest, not pre-selected with a particular ‘condition’ in mind.

MORE: Simple Checklist Leads to 82% Drop in Mental Health Patient Suicides

Regular pauses are taken to encourage participants to reflect on what is being read, on the thoughts or memories the book or poem has stirred, or on how the reading matter relates to their own lives.

Group members participate voluntarily, usually in relation to what is happening in the text itself, and what may be happening within themselves as individuals (personal feelings and thoughts, memories and experiences), responding to the shared presence of the text within social group discussion.

CBT allowed participants to exchange personal histories of living with chronic pain in ways which validated their experience. However, in CBT, participants focused exclusively on their pain with ‘no thematic deviation’.

In SR, by contrast, the literature was a trigger to recall and expression of diverse life experiences – of work, childhood, family members, relationships — related to the entire life-span, not merely the time-period affected by pain, or the time-period pre-pain as contrasted with life in the present. This in itself has a potentially therapeutic effect in helping to recover a whole person, not just an ill one.

CHECK OUT: This Bar’s Simple But Clever Way of Combatting Sexual Assault

As part of the study participants with severe chronic pain symptoms were recruited by a pain clinic. A 5-week CBT group and a 22-week SR group for chronic pain patients ran in parallel, with CBT group-members joining the SR group after the completion of CBT.

The study found that CBT showed participants ‘managing’ emotions by means of systematic techniques, where SR turned the passive experience of suffering emotion into articulate contemplation of painful concerns. The combination of the two created a strategic therapy treatment for chronic pain.

“Our study indicated that shared reading could potentially be an alternative to CBT in bringing into conscious awareness areas of emotional pain otherwise passively suffered by chronic pain patients,” said Dr. Josie Billington of the Centre for Research into Reading.

“The encouragement of greater confrontation and tolerance of emotional difficulty that Sharing Reading provides makes it valuable as a longer-term follow-up or adjunct to CBT’s concentration on short-term management of emotion.”

(Source: University of Liverpool)

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Generous Chef Gets Paid Back For Kindness After His Restaurant Burns Down

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McKinley Corbley

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Mar 2, 2017

Bruno Serato has dedicated his career to serving gourmet Italian food to the rich so he could feed the poor: kids from the local Boys and Girls Club.

Bruno ran his restaurant, The White House of Anaheim, California, solely for the purpose of serving up Italian meals to the children every day. He was so devoted to the kids, he had to refinance his house so he could continue to afford feeding the youth.

This continued until his beloved restaurant burned down from an electrical fire earlier this month.

Heartbroken, Bruno had no idea how he was going to pick himself back up after the disaster. But then the community that he so tirelessly worked for answered his prayers.

Thousands of loving messages and well wishes flooded Bruno’s social media inboxes. Competing restaurants offered up their kitchens so he could continue feeding his favorite children. Fundraisers were set up to help rebuild the restaurant.

All as a thank you for Bruno’s generosity over the years.

(WATCH the video below)

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New York City to Build 90 New Homeless Shelters in Five Years

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Mar 2, 2017

There have been many success stories across the US when it comes to getting homeless veterans off the street in places like Houston, Boston, Philadelphia, Virginia and Connecticut, but homelessness in the general population is rising in America’s largest cities.

Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York, has just unveiled a five-year plan that realistically will reduce the number of people in shelters by 2,500 by the end of the 2021, but more importantly begin to turn the tide on rising homelessness.

The plan announced Tuesday will replace the use of hotels and “cluster” shelters scattered across the city with 20 new shelters this year and 20 more in 2018 that will house people in their own neighborhoods or boroughs, nearer to the support system available from churches and family members, and nearer to jobs and schools.

The initiative also calls for opening shelters in existing buildings over the next five years. In total, 90 new shelters will be established across the five boroughs. The city would also renovate and expand 30 existing shelters, according to a report released by the mayor’s office.

With more than 60,000 people in NYC shelters currently, progress will be “slow and incremental” says the Mayor.

“I hope and I believe it will be steady,” de Blasio told an audience of nonprofit service providers, and faith and community leaders. “If we sustain incremental progress, it will be the first time that’s happened in three-and-half decades, and that can open the door to something better up ahead.”

The City has achieved some success over the last year: the HOME-STAT initiative, which has attempted to do something that was not done previously – literally go out and meet each individual who is living permanently on the streets, get to know them deeply, understand everything that can be understood about them and their situation. The program has dispatched 387 outreach workers—mobilized citywide 24 hours per day, seven days a week—to bring homeless individuals into shelters, including 690 individuals last year.

“Every community in this city has homeless people. We need a shelter system that reflects where people come from and allows people to be sheltered in their own neighborhoods or borough,” said de Blasio.

WATCH: Man Builds Tiny House for Homeless Woman Sleeping in the Dirt

The city is also shifting more affordable housing units to folks at lower incomes – to seniors, to veterans, with a commitment to 15,000 new supportive apartments, of which 550 will be available this year.

Recent efforts to prevent homelessness has included rental assistance that has reached 161,000 households over three years.

“We provided rental assistance to help 51,000 New Yorkers avoid coming into shelters or move out of shelters,” said Department of Social Services Commissioner Steven Banks.

In a media release, The Mayor’s Office says the plan will:

Continue to implement an aggressive prevention-first strategy that keeps more people in their homes by making housing more affordable, stopping illegal evictions, and connecting New Yorkers who are struggling to resources that will help them stabilize their lives;
Continue to actualize the 46 reforms identified throughout the 90-day review of homeless services, making long-needed operational and other reforms to better serve New Yorkers on the verge of homelessness and homeless New Yorkers in shelter;
Completely eliminate the use of cluster apartment units by the end of 2021 and commercial hotel facilities by the end of 2023;
Reduce the overall current number of shelter sites (which include hotels and cluster sites) by 45 percent;
Keep homeless New Yorkers closer to their communities and supports that they need;
The City will eliminate the use of 360 cluster sites and commercial hotel facilities and replace them with approximately 90 new shelter facilities and 30 expanded existing sites;
The City estimates opening about 20 new shelters annually over the next five years, which will require a combination of building new locations and renovating existing buildings.

At the same time, prevention and rehousing initiatives will reduce the current number of homeless New Yorkers in shelters by 2,500 people over five years – the first projected systemic reduction of New York City’s homeless shelter population in a decade.

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“Saved by the snooze”: Man Turns Off Alarm Just Before Tree Spears His Roof

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McKinley Corbley

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Mar 2, 2017

Raymond was having trouble falling asleep on Tuesday night while thunderstorms were wracking the city. His lack of sleep may have ended up saving his life, however, when a tree speared through the roof of his bathroom.

The Austin, Indiana man’s alarm went off at 5:30AM, waking him up for work. But due to his restlessness during the night, he uncharacteristically decided to hit the snooze button. A few minutes later, he heard a crash coming from somewhere in his darkened house.

WATCH: Gymnast Falling on Her Head Saved By Coach With Ninja Moves

Raymond entered his bathroom to find that a limb from a 40-foot-tall pin oak tree had fallen through the roof of his ceiling in the exact spot where he typically brushes his teeth in the morning. He says that if he hadn’t stayed in bed, he would almost have definitely been struck by the bough.

“I actually stood up to start getting ready for work but decided to let the snooze go off one more time,” says Raymond. “Laid back down and this happened just minutes afterwards.”

“Good Lord was looking out for me for sure,” Raymond added.

Click To Share The Story With Your Friends (Photo by Raymond Bowling)

Cop Befriends Loner Veteran With Dementia, Raises Money, Applies as Guardian

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Mar 1, 2017

Sergeant Jon Sterling says he bonded with a Korean War veteran named Norm because they’re both a little “eccentric.”

The two became fast friends after Norm called the police station where Sterling worked to report suspicious activity.

LOOK: When a Preschool Opens Inside a Nursing Home All Heaven Breaks Loose

Now that Norm has been diagnosed with early on-set dementia, Sterling is doing what he can to help, like making sure he is getting veterans benefits. He’s applied for guardianship of his friend and has raised almost ten thousand dollars on a GoFundMe page to help care for his health and living needs.

(WATCH the video below)

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Mom Draws Birthmark On Doll’s Face To Match Her Daughter (LOOK)

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Mar 1, 2017

One girl’s mother had a great idea to encourage her daughter to feel like she is not alone.

Jessica Bird used lipstick to recreate a Port Wine Stain on the face of her daughter’s doll so the two would look alike.

Her little girl, Nevaeh, 5, was born with a birthmark on her face and when she received the doll as a gift, couldn’t help but notice its unmarked completion.

WATCH: Surgeon Lifts Young Patients by ‘Treating’ Their Toys Too

It took Jessica just twenty minutes to create a similar stain with the lipstick, and after removing the excess make-up, the two became inseparable.

(WATCH the video below)

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Abandoned Baby Otter Being Nursed Back To Health

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Mar 1, 2017

A baby otter found alone by the side of a river in the United Kingdom is being watched around the clock by rescuers.

The Stapeley Grange Wildlife Center thinks the six-week-old pup, named Daffi, was separated from her mother during a storm.

Daffi was taken to the vet where animal experts say she was lethargic and dragging her back legs.

They’ll work to rehabilitate the otter with the aim of reintroducing her back to the wild within twelve months.

(WATCH the video below)

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Grandmother’s Quilts Play Lovely Role in Funeral – Gracing the Pews (Photo)

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Mar 1, 2017

Our lives are woven with the thread of friends and family, forming a tapestry of life –especially if you’ve lived more than 89 years.

Margaret Hubl, who passed away in Nebraska last July quilted her way through life, and at her funeral friends and family could feel the creativity and care with which she lived that life.

Her purpose in quilting was to communicate love to her family. Her memorial service spoke loud and clear.

Draped over the back of the seats in the church, were more than 30 colorful quilts, each exuding the warmth and love of this seamstress, who hand crafted each one as a gift for someone special—often for special occasions, like a wedding day.

“Never did I imagine how many there were,” Hubl’s granddaughter, Christina Tollman, told TODAY. “We covered almost every single pew in that church. I never knew how many she actually made.”

WATCH: World’s Largest Crocheted Blanket to Warm Thousands of Sick and Poor

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New Video Game Walks in Footsteps of Thoreau at Walden Pond

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Feb 28, 2017

How about a video game in which the goal is stillness and the survival skills are based on growing your own beans?

That’s the essence of a new game launching later this year in celebration of Henry David Thoreau’s 200th birthday. Walden, A Game gives players the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of the world famous philosopher who lived a self-reliant life for one year at Walden Pond, then wrote a beloved 1854 memoir about the experience.

The American author began his adventure by building his own one-room cabin in the summer of 1845, and that’s just what gamers will do, by following along.

Game creators at the University of Southern California’s Game Innovation Lab consulted with Thoreau experts in Massachusetts every step of the way, placing plants and animals as Thoreau would have experienced them.

Players will survive in the woods by finding food and fuel, and making shelter and clothing. At the same time, they are surrounded by the beauty of the woods and the Pond, and can learn about the flora and fauna as Thoreau did. The game follows the loose narrative of Thoreau’s first year in the woods, with each season holding its own challenges for survival and possibilities for inspiration.

WATCH: Children’s Hospital Uses ‘Pokemon GO’ Game to Get Patients Excited and Out of Bed

As Thoreau set out to “live deliberately,” he found spiritual fulfillment within the harmony of nature’s four seasons.

The game has a subtle narrative arc, in homage to the original text, which is not a quest for the body pitted against the wilderness, but of the mind and soul living in nature over the course of a New England year. At game’s core is a stillness that will calm even the most active ’monkey mind.’

Thoreau’s work should be important to us today for many reasons —from his core environmentalism, to his fundamental questioning of the role of government in society.

“As the 200th anniversary of Thoreau’s birth approaches in July, the opportunity to relive his famous experiment in simple living in the form of an immersive game seems particularly relevant in a world dominated by concerns about our relationship to nature, technology and governments,” writes the game’s creators.

And, what a great way to introduce the book, Walden, to a whole new audience. After all, they may not be the same people who would sit down and read Thoreau’s book.

(WATCH an early release game preview below – and follow developments at waldengame.com)

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Global Plan Launched to Save Coral Reefs From Extinction

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Feb 28, 2017

coral reef released by The Ocean Agency- Richard Vevers — The Ocean Agency / Richard Vevers

A global plan to save coral reefs from possible eradication due to climate change, pollution and poor fishing practices, was launched in Bali at the February 2017 World Ocean Summit.

The initiative known as 50 Reefs is the first global plan to save the most biodiverse ecosystem on the planet. It brings together leading scientists and conservationists to develop a list of the 50 most critical coral reefs and target them for protection by catalyzing global action and investment required to prevent their extinction.

A unique philanthropic coalition of innovators in business, technology and government are supporting 50 Reefs, including Bloomberg Philanthropies with The Tiffany & Co. Foundation and The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation.

“When people think of climate change, they often think of extreme heat, severe storms, and raging wildfires. But some of the most disastrous effects of climate change are out of sight – on the ocean floor — and saving the remaining coral reefs is critical,” said Michael R. Bloomberg UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change. “Without coral reefs, we could lose up to a quarter of the world’s marine biodiversity and hundreds of millions of the world’s poorest people would lose their primary source of food and livelihoods.”

The 50 Reefs initiative builds on work already done by The Ocean Agency and the Global Change Institute at The University of Queensland, responding to what they call “this perilous moment for coral reefs.”

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Their work is the subject of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award-winning documentary, “Chasing Coral,” which will be released worldwide on Netflix. Watch the trailer below:

Coral reefs worldwide have been estimated to have a value of $1 trillion, which generates at least $300-400 billion each year in terms of food and livelihoods from tourism, fisheries and medicines, according to recent reports examined by the Smithsonian Institute. The worldwide coral conservation communications campaign aims to preserve the livelihoods and culture of reef-dependent communities all over the world.

“This is an all hands on deck moment,” said Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Director of the Global Change Institute at The University of Queensland.

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Yum! Brands Now Gives New Parents Generous Extended Family Leave

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Good News Network

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Feb 28, 2017

Yum! Brands yesterday announced a new expanded parental time-off policy as part of the company’s bid to stay competitive in the corporate market, and invest in its employees.

The expanded parental time-off policy offers birth mothers at its U.S. headquarters in Louisville, Plano, Texas, and Irvine, Calif., 18 weeks of fully paid time away from work. In addition, the policy offers six weeks of fully paid “baby bonding” time away from work to fathers and partners, as well as adoptive and foster parents.

Yum! Brands, which owns KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, says workers can take advantage of the policy effective immediately.

“Engaging and attracting talent is a top priority,” said Tracy Skeans, Chief Transformation and People Officer at Yum! Brands. “This expanded parental time off and baby bonding benefit builds on our strong legacy of investing in our people and culture to fuel great results and continuously providing meaningful ways to help our employees be and contribute their best at work and at home.”

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In addition to the expanded parental time-off policy, Yum! Brands recently started offering increased flexibility to corporate employees with half-day Fridays and a minimum of four weeks paid vacation plus two additional bonus weeks in an employee’s 10th, 20th or 30th year of service. The company says it also offers a range of other benefits to support working parents and families including 24/7, 365-day access to a doctor via telephone, financial support for adoption services and infertility treatments, autism support services, daycare facilities and a host of wellness programs.

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