Civilians in previously war-torn countries are still in danger from battles past because of undetonated land mines hiding underground.
Moving and defusing land mines has always been expensive and time-consuming – but not anymore thanks to a Kickstarter-backed drone.
Massoud Hassani started a crowdfunding campaign for the Mine Kafon Drone: an unmanned flying robot that uses GPS tracking and 3D-scanning to map, detect, and detonate land mines in the ground.
Though their goal was originally set for $77,000, the flood of donations pushed them up to $173,000. For every €17 donated, contributors can sponsor 7,500 meters of mine detection.
The drone has been hailed as a revolutionary piece of technology because of how it is 20 times faster and 200 times cheaper than current methods like animals and deminers.
There are still over 100 million land mines that injure at least 10 civilians a day in countries like Angola, Afghanistan, Cambodia, and Colombia. Using current technologies, clearing or even detecting all land mines across the entire world would take over 1,100 years.
With the Mine Kafon Drone, it could take less than 10 years.
Thanks to the crowdfunding campaign, the drone is entering into a new pilot study testing weather conditions and different environments. Once more data’s been gathered, the drone will be presented to the UN for validation and then go into mass production.
Tom Holland, the beloved English actor who rocked the role of Spider-Man in Marvel’s latest cinematic hit Captain America: Civil War just swung into a children’s hospital for a bit of fun.
In the midst of his busy filming schedule for Spider-Man: Homecoming in Atlanta, Georgia, the superhero donned his costume and visited the children at the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
Parents and kids alike were delighted by his charm and he quickly befriended many of the hospital’s tiny residents.
The celebrity posted photos of his visit on his Instagram with an endearing caption addressed to the patients reading “Meeting you all today was such a wonderful experience and you’re all such little inspirations. We’re proud of you and we love and we hope to be back soon and thank you for having us Egleston Children’s hospital.”
Spider-Man isn’t the only superhero bringing smiles to children’s hospitals either: John Boyega from Star Wars: The Force Awakens made a guest appearance in March, Chris Pratt gave “raptor-taming” lessons in 2015, and Chris Evans paid a visit to one of Captain America’s biggest fans with cancer.
Spider-Man: Homecoming isn’t due to release until July 2017, however you can check out Tom Holland’s phenomenal performance of Peter Parker in Captain America: Civil War.
Our Spidey-Senses Are Tingling – Your Friends Need You To Share This Story For Them
With the United States rebuilding relations with Cuba, the Caribbean country is getting ready to receive a record number of tourists for the second year in a row; the wave of visitors has pushed the infrastructure of the island to the limit, hotels are packed, and the long lines in Havana international airport are becoming an issue.
To diminish the problem, the Cuban government announced the sale of the international sector of the airport – where over 50% of the tourists arrive – to the French company Aéroports de Paris.
The announcement states that the “partnership” includes modernization, expansion, and improvement of services according to the estimated amount of passengers. European investments like tourism, transportation, energy, and agriculture were part of the package to renegotiate Cuban debt. However, it didn’t mention details alluding to what kind of partnership it is or how much will be invested.
With most of Cuban tourism coming from America, there has already been a flood of international visitors to the airport, and that figure has risen a staggering 80% since last year – during the first semester alone, there were 180,000 Americans, outnumbered only by Canadians.
Multiply The Good, Click To Share – Photo by Agrobusiness Blogspot
This baby is definitely going to go places in her life with unlimited miles under her belt – and it’s all because she couldn’t wait a few more hours to be born.
A woman started going into labor on a flight from Dubai to the Philippines. Two of the other passengers on the plane who happened to be nurses rushed to help as the plane made an emergency landing in India to make sure the mother would be okay.
Devoted seventh grade teacher Sabrina Drude was given a lesson in kindness from a total stranger.
While Lester Brown was standing in line behind Sabrina at the Walmart cash register, he remarked on the educator’s abundance of notebooks, markers, and pencils – why so many school supplies if she didn’t have any children with her?
Sabrina explained that she taught in a very low socioeconomic area of San Antonio, Texas where many of her students couldn’t afford the basics like their peers could.
That’s why, at the start of every school year, Drude would fill the need for her kids and buy extra classroom supplies.
Moved by Sabrina’s compassion, Lester offered to pick up her $100 tab.
Even though she refused, Lester stepped between her and the cashier, telling her to put her money away because “teachers don’t get the recognition that they deserve.”
With tears in her eyes, Sabrina thanked the stranger profusely before inviting him to her classroom’s pizza party at the Francis Scrobee Middle School so he could serve as an inspiration for her students, as he had for her.
Multiply The Good, Click To Share – Photo by Sabrina Drude
Dismayed by the constant barrage of negativity in world events, a Melbourne musician and mum brought together a group of 200 people from around the world, between the ages of eight and 65, in an ensemble celebrating global peace.
Producer and composer of the revamped Australian classic “Waltzing Matilda”, Dene Menzel said she embarked on the project to break down preconceived differences in race and religion and encourage respect and tolerance.
“There is too much emphasis on fear and barriers – this tears people apart,” said Menzel. “My five-year old daughter was the inspiration for this project as I really want her to be able to grow up in a better world.”
“Music is a great way to bring people together regardless of their background. I thought that if I could get strangers from all over the world to sing with each other, that would prove that we’re not so different after all, and we can create something beautiful together.”
Through a global casting call, she found multi-award winning singer and human rights advocate Kate Ceberano, along with people as far flung as Ukraine, Germany, Brazil, Portugal, Israel, South Africa and Uzbekistan who all wanted to get involved. With smart phone technology and the Internet they created a ‘virtual choir’.
“It was so amazing to bring together people that were continents apart into one united voice.”
Ms Menzel said that the song, although modernized to reflect a more current global message, is still easily recognizable as the beloved “Waltzing Matilda”.
Waltzing Matilda is available for download on iTunes and other popular digital platforms with proceeds going to human rights charity, UNICEF Australia.
For more details on this project and how to join Dene Menzel’s Virtual Choir, you can visit the Choir In The Clouds website.
Dene Menzel has a 20 year career in the music industry as a musician, vocal coach, choir director, and author of #1 Amazon Best Seller, “The Voice Factor”.
(WATCH the video below)
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The poor quality of Brazilian roads results in a lot of blown-out tires. Fortunately, one entrepreneurial tire-repairman took his profession to the next level — a win-win for the environment and housing market.
In the Brazilian state of Goias, Jose Neto Medeiros (known as “Ze neto”) noticed the demand among farmers for fixing flats of large tractors and combines in his small town called Goiatuba. There was no equipment locally to fix this kind of tire, so he built his own and became well-known in the area. As time passed, the amount of waste was piling up and starting to bother him, so the Brazilian inventor began testing unusual ideas for reusing the tires.
After producing a variety of useful objects with the worn tires, Ze Neto developed a construction brick made of rubber mixed with an ecological concrete. For the brick, Ze neto basically removed the metal components of the tire and cut the sides, what is left is essentially a rubber circle, that he cuts, flattens and rolls – like a roulade – fastening with staples. For the concrete, he mixed cement with rubber and other recyclables, like glass, plastic and non-toxic metal parts from appliances. To test his material, Ze Neto built a foundation and pillars on his property at Goiatuba and it worked very well.
The next natural step was to build walls. Brazilian engineers expressed skepticism that turned to mockery – Ze Neto barely finished primary school and was building with trash. Since the tests were so encouraging, and the country isn’t very diligent at enforcing construction laws, Ze Neto began building the walls.
During this process a local TV station broadcast a story of the rubber concrete and afterward a curious engineer from the capital city, Jose Dafico, got in touch with him. That engineer had access to the labs at the University of Goias and decided to study the material. Despite his lack of formal education, Ze Neto’s concrete passed all kinds of tests – thermal comfort, temperature, fire, impact, etc. The ecological concrete and bricks are just as good as commercial materials and are strong enough to erect three-story buildings.
“Actually I am pretty sure it’s possible to go higher, but I don’t have the resources to go on with tests,” Dafico told Good News Network.
Ze Neto’s pillars were built with a fifteen-room hotel in mind. And, when the walls were almost finished, the story was broadcast on the biggest TV station in Brazil, Globo. Today the hotel is finished and Ze Neto intends to rent it to a private company to run the business.
Holiday cheer was rampant in Chicago’s Union Station in 2013 when an intelligent grand piano teased nearby passengers with its tunes.
Amtrak and Rob Bliss Creative created a piano that responded to its environment in real-time – from playing rumbling bass notes while a businessman cursed on his phone, to accompanying a little girl rehearsing ‘Chopsticks’, the instrument was spookily smart.
Several pedestrians whipped out their own instruments and performed breathtaking renditions with the ivory genius. Another was happy just to dance to the jazzy melodies.
Christian Dornhorst became a Louisiana hero this week when – struck by divine inspiration – he used $1,840 of his own money to bake a hearty barbecue for Baton Rouge flood victims and rescue workers.
When he got the idea to feed the displaced families at 7AM Monday morning, the 35-year-old requested to take the day off of work and headed to Sam’s Club with his wife Amanda.
The couple bought all 108 pounds of the brisket in the store along with as much chicken, hot dogs, and sausage as they could carry.
With a smoker in tow, the Dornhorsts drove to the Celtic Media Center in Baton Rouge where over 2,000 evacuees had taken shelter since the flooding started a few days previously.
“The Lord blessed us with all of these things,” Christian told the Washington Post regarding his truck, his smoker, and cooking utensils. “There are enough people suffering here that I can do this to help.”
The Dornhorsts were serving up non-stop food up until the brisket was done at 7:00PM – which was gobbled up and finished only twenty minutes later.
In response to volunteers requesting Christian to cook for the Army, police, and Air Force personnel working disaster relief, the couple returned the next day with another $990 worth of food.
“When you hand someone a serving tray of food, it’s like handing them a hug, a smile and handshake all at once,” the chef told the Huffington Post. “It’s a way to say, ‘I’ve been there before,’ and ‘We’re gonna make it through this’ without saying a word.”
Christian – who is an army veteran himself – says that his employer Dow Chemicals has offered to reimburse him for the meat in exchange for his compassion.
The Red Cross has declared the Baton Rouge, Louisiana flooding as the worst natural disaster since Hurricane Sandy. With still more rain and thunderstorms to come, the city has been in a state of emergency with over 30,000 residents and 1,400 pets already rescued. Food, water, and clothes are currently being distributed by volunteers from the Louisiana State University, the Red Cross, and even the Church of Scientology to aid the displaced.
Cook Up Some Courage With Your Friends, Click To Share – Photo by Christian Dornhorst
The champion is back! Brazilian gymnast Diego Hypólito amazed the nation during the 2016 Rio Olympic games and finally beat his greatest enemy: depression.
The 30-year-old athlete cast away his ghosts from the past Olympic games – Beijing in 2008 and London 2012 when he fell in the finals of both games – and lost medals that were considered conquered.
After his fall in London, he fell into a deep depression, lost 22 pounds, accumulated a host of health issues, and in 2013, his team ended their gymnastics project due to lack of money.
Hypólito was officially unemployed and without a place to practice, leading the sports community to believe his chances of going to the Rio games had disappeared.
“I had to move from Rio to Sao Paulo to practice in a top notch club,” says Hypólito regarding his strict routine living at his new gym. “They had no obligations, so they actually did me a favor.”
During the competition, he admitted to being scared.
“Frankly, the scenes of Beijing came to my mind in the middle of my presentation. But I promised myself that this time, I had to get my medal and I managed to leave those scenes in the past.”
And it worked – the world ended up watching an incredible display of athletic and personal redemption as he overcame his fears and took home the silver for the floor final.
”Guys, I’m the living proof – if you believe in yourself, you’re getting what you really want This medal speaks louder than any words,” Hypolito says in a tearful televised address to the nation after winning his medal. “Believe it’s possible to leave the hole and work hard to leave it!”
According to the World Health Organization, 350 million people around the world from all age groups suffer some type of depression, and being alone is the second largest cause of death for people between 15 to 29 years old.
Unfortunately, GNN couldn’t find an American TV broadcast of his presentation, but you can enjoy his full presentation from a Brazilian broadcast by clicking here.
Share The Inspiration With Your Friends, Click To Share – Photo by the Olympic Committee
Two men in Florida have debuted a huge air-conditioned trailer outfitted with six shower stalls to help lift the self esteem and happiness of the homeless community in West Palm Beach.
Chris Bentley and Carlos Miller, African-Americans living in the city who have been friends since middle school, started the nonprofit called Live FRESH (Feeling Revitalized Encourages Sustainable Happiness) which now serves showers to hundreds of transients in the area.
Inside the tractor trailer on wheels are all the towels, toiletries, and supplies—including sanitary napkins—to maintain the hygiene of all who need help.
“To see a human being—living in the United States, of all countries—walk inside a store with apprehension over being shunned or offensive due to their odor or disheveled state grabbed at the core of my heart,” said Miller, the visionary leader of the project.
Launched in April in coordination with local homeless shelters, the services provided by this mobile facility have already restored dignity to people who were able to find a job and get back on their feet.
Jeanne L. says that because of Live FRESH she is a “productive member of society again.”
Other cities, like San Francisco with the Lava Mae project, are benefiting from nonprofits who have converted large vehicles in the same noble cause. And, a pair of friends in Australia created mobile laundry facilities to take the cause of cleanliness one step further.
(WATCH a video below from the Sun Sentinel) –Photo: Sun Sentinel news video
French comedian Jérôme Jarre and Mexican Juanpa Zurita gave 100 kids from the slums of Morro da Providencia the gift of a lifetime when they brought them to watch the Olympic games for free.
Jarre and Zurita are well-known on the internet for their pranks and social work around the world.
The comedians reached Casa Amarela, an institution that develops cultural and social work at the Morro da Providencia in Rio, and were responsible for choosing which lucky kids got to watch the games.
“I know this is very little when you compare it to their needs, but I believe the world changes every time someone does something small in benefit of others.” Jerome wrote on Instagram.
Juanpa posted a picture with a child in front of the Engenhao stadium saying “Taking this little one to the Olympics has amazing. This is my little brother for a night: his name is Carlos and this has been a great experience for both of us.”
The director of Casa Amarela, Juliana Luna, said that she was surprised when the comedians got in touch with her. “The kids attended many games, but we can’t afford to support that many kids on a regular basis so we asked for the help of another social program to bless these kids.”
Multiply The Good, Click To Share – Photo by Extra
The Enfield, Connecticut response team answers over 6,000 emergency calls a year, but rescuing a distraught squirrel with its head stuck in a yogurt cup was definitely a first.
Since the panicked critter wouldn’t stop hopping in circles around the officials, it took them a few tries to catch the poor thing.
Twelve patients who became paraplegics due to injuries have just been reclassified as only “partially paralyzed” thanks to a new kind of virtual reality therapy.
Twice a week for an hour a day, the patients were given a virtual reality headset in which they were able to move the legs of their avatar in the projection using only their brain waves.
Scientists then tracked down and connected to the parts of their brain sending those neurons and used them to create an exoskeleton that was controlled the same way.
However, after using the exoskeleton for a year, scientists were amazed to find that the patients were regaining muscle control over their bodies.
(WATCH the video below to find out more)
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They may not have won the gold, but these all-star athletes certainly won hearts during an incredible display of sportsmanship at the women’s 5,000 meter race semifinal.
3,000 meters into the dash, New Zealand‘s Nikki Hamblin took a nasty step and tumbled to the ground, bringing the United States’ Abbey D’Agostino down with her on accident.
D’Agostino didn’t waste a second jumping to her feet so she could help Hamblin up to finish the race side by side.
Just after the rescue, D’Agostino collapsed to the ground, unable to continue – but this time, it was Hamblin who stayed to help her.
D’Agostino eventually convinced Hamblin to continue without her and – once she had hobbled over the finish line with an injured ankle a full two minutes after the winner – they embraced each other with huge smiles of appreciation.
Here is what Nikki Hamblin had to say about Abbey D'Agostino after their collision in today's Olympic 5,000m heat. pic.twitter.com/HxTFsKkcZy
Baton Rouge, Louisiana has been in a state of emergency since fast-moving floods started claiming the streets – rescue workers have already saved more than 20,000 stranded residents and pets, but one particular gesture was caught on video for the internet to see.
When floodwaters were about to claim a woman and her dog trapped in a sinking red convertible, three patrolling rescue workers spotted them just in time.
This sea-dwelling cutie found 3,000 feet under the sea looks like he’s about to go skip school with Nemo.
The tiny purple fish, known as Rossia pacifica, had scientists on the Nautilus Live team in hysterics when they stumbled across his hiding place in Southern Californian waters last week.
“The stubby squid (Rossia pacifica) looks like a cross between an octopus and squid, but is more closely related to cuttlefish,” says the Nautilus team. “This species spends life on the seafloor, activating a sticky mucus jacket and burrowing into the sediment to camouflage, leaving their eyes poking out to spot prey like shrimp and small fish.”
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It’s mid-August and the stores are bustling with families scrambling to get their school supplies before the school year begins. Children are excitedly choosing new shoes and pants, branded lunch boxes and backpacks. The bill for these items can run families a few hundred dollars per child. Back-to-school sales can help, but think for a moment about the anxiety that homeless parents feel without the funds to buy the anything.
As Nick Lowinger grew older, he became aware of the exploding costs and felt fortunate that his family was able to afford not only what he needed for school, but also the popular brands he wanted.
“The sad truth is that there are almost 2.5 million homeless children in the US—one out of every three are youth under the age of 24,” he told Good News Network.
“I first became aware of the prevalence of homeless youth when I was five, and met children of every age at a local shelter where I went to volunteer with my mother. I was surprised to see that many of these children didn’t have shoes that fit them, if they had any at all. Children stayed behind at the shelter while a sibling wore the only pair of shoes they had to share between them, and they would switch places the next day. The first day of school would come and go for some of these children, all because they lacked their own properly fitting footwear. Some children expressed embarrassment over having to wear shoes that were so worn out.”
Since its founding in 2010, Nick’s group has donated new shoes to over 51,000 homeless children in all 50 states, allowing them to participate in sports and school activities alongside their peers—and succeed with them, as well.
If you want to help improve the dignity of homeless children in your own community, increase their self-confidence and pride so they can realize their hopes and dreams to succeed, here is a list of three of the best ways, according to one homeless shelter. The most pressing needs are:
1. Donate gift cards to homeless shelters so homeless families can purchase clothing and/or school supplies for their children.
Most schools send home a lengthy list of classroom supplies for parents to purchase for the first day of school. Long gone are the days when schools provided an abundant supply of markers, pencils, glue sticks, etc, for children to use in the classroom.
The shelter we spoke with said that one year they had a large number of high school students in the shelter who didn’t have calculators for math class. The shelter had to round up the money to purchase them, which put a strain on their budget. Donating gift cards for department stores or office supply stores that are near the shelter’, would be a huge help to homeless families, allowing them the ability to purchase what they need.
Transitioning to a new school can be very difficult for homeless children who have been uprooted from their old neighborhoods. Gotta Have Sole high school clubs are run by teen leaders who act as peer mentors and provide a constant support for youth at the shelters.
Near-peer mentors go to the shelter after school to give moral support to the children and to help them with homework challenges. They also provide new shoes for the children, and run after school activities with them which promotes a more inclusive and cohesive community. To start a club in your school or community, check out our website page.
3. Donate new footwear to Gotta Have Sole’s Step Up for Homeless Youth campaign and we will purchase the footwear children in shelters need
Footwear orders pour in at Gotta Have Sole every summer, so this year, they’ve set a goal to outfit 1,000 homeless children with the shoes they need for school. It costs an average of $15.00 to outfit a young child with a new pair of sneakers, and $25.00 for teens. 100% of donations support our footwear program.
“I don’t see sneakers as being cool or trendy. For many homeless children, shoes are a sign of hope, opportunity, and dreams fulfilled. Join with us, and improve the lives of homeless children, one “sole” at a time.”
(WATCH a past video of Nick Delivering Shoes below)
Get Your Friends Involved, Click To Share – Photo by Gotta Have Sole
After two years of their people being hunted and displaced by the black-clad soldiers of ISIS, these women will not tolerate it any long.
A team of over 100 escaped Yazidi female slaves – and 500 more in training – have created a military unit known as ‘The Force of the Sun Ladies’ to counterattack ISIS’s stronghold in Mosul.
Considered devil-worshippers by Islamic State militants, the Yazidi people’s faith combine Christian, Zoroastrian, and Islamic beliefs. In 2014, over 200,000 Yazidi people were attacked by the jihadi organization and fled to refugee camps in Kurdistan.
Over 5,000 of the women and children were enslaved – but not for long.
The 600 escaped Sun Ladies – plus another 1,400 Yazidi men – plan on using their knowledge of the terrorist base to team up with Kurdish Peshmerga forces and seek revenge, as well as protect the survival of their people and free the remaining enslaved women.
“Whenever a war wages, our women end up as the victims,” Captain Khatoon Khider, a member of the Sun Ladies told Fox News. “Now we are defending ourselves from the evil. We are defending all the minorities in the region. We will do whatever is asked of us.”
Show Support For The Sun Ladies, Click To Share – Photo by Owen Holdaway
Hoping to be part of the solution, while promoting a unified community, dozens of volunteers came out Sunday morning in Milwaukee to help clean up after Saturday’s riots left several businesses burned.
The Coalition for Justice led a prayer vigil in the Wisconsin Sherman Park neighborhood and, afterward, participants young and old picked up bags and gloves to clear the debris and ashes around a gas station, beauty store, bank and surrounding buildings.
“We need to continue to love and inspire people with an atmosphere that changes the way they look at things,” said Nate Hamilton, one of the volunteers.
The riot was sparked by the death of a youth who tried to shoot police officers with a stolen gun. The youth’s father later exonerated police for their actions and blamed himself for not being a proper role model for his son.
(WATCH the video below from WITI News) –Photo: WITI Video
