The fab dinosaur pivots, sachés and prances its way through the opening number of the beloved Dave Attenborough musical with only one regret– his wee little arms aren’t long enough.
One crisp morning on Vancouver Island, Karen Parsons went on her regular nature walk with her two Pomeranian pooches.
Suddenly she heard the screams of an animal being attacked by two ravens. She immediately went into rescue mode and discovered it was a young abandoned fawn.
For two weeks Karen fed the baby by hand.
During that time, the fawn formed an amazing bond with Lincoln, her Pomeranian. Acting like a protective mom, Lincoln slept by the fawn’s side every night and cuddled.
Everyone in the family fell in love with the little fawn including Karen’s daughter.
The fawn got stronger and more adventurous every day.
Finally well enough, the baby fawn was taken to an animal sanctuary and was released into the wild.
Click To Share – See art and photography from Karen Parsons
A teen-aged girl who saved the lives of fellow refugees may soon represent them at the 2016 Olympics.
Fleeing Syria last August, Yusra Mardini and her sister, Sarah, boarded a seven-person boat overflowing with 20 refugees. None of the others knew that a world-class swimmer, who’d trained for a decade to compete in the Olympics, was sitting with them.
They’d owe their lives to her — and that training — over the next few hours.
Just 30 minutes into their perilous crossing of the Aegean Sea, the tiny boat’s motor died, and it began taking on water.
Yusra and her sister, the only two people on board who knew how to swim, leaped into the water. The sisters swam for three-and-a-half hours, pushing the boat to shore in Greece and saving everyone aboard.
She still leaps into the water every day for her fellow refugees, but now, it’s into Olympic-sized pools – completing her training to represent them at this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has created a special team for the 2016 Games. Instead of representing an individual country, it will be made up of refugee athletes from around the world who will compete under the IOC flag.
IOC President Thomas Bach says “Team Refugee Olympic Athletes” will deliver a “message of hope to all refugees of the world.”
Yusra is one of 43 refugees competing for just five to ten spots on the team. The 18-year-old says if she doesn’t make the cut, she’ll keep training for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
If she does earn a chance to compete this year, Yusra will march into the Rio Games exactly one year after the near disaster on the Aegean Sea that already proved she has the heart of a champion.
(WATCH the video from CCTV News below and READ more at The Guardian) – Photo: CCTV video
Nigerian troops have freed more than 800 people held by Boko Haram militants in the country’s northeast, the army said Thursday.
520 hostages were recovered in Kusumma village on Tuesday from the Islamist group, and an additional 309 from 11 other villages under the militants’ control.
“The gallant troops cleared the remnants of the Boko Haram terrorists hibernating in Kala Balge general area,” army spokesman Sani Usman said in a statement, adding that 22 “terrorists” were killed.
According to news reports, regional force involving troops from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin is to deploy to fight the Islamists.
The clip uploaded to Facebook by Parker Lim depicts one luxurious feline taking a snooze while its baby bird buddy snuggles into the fur.
The second scene in the video shows what can happen during a chicken’s pubescent phase– a laugh-out-loud moment when, if you look deep into this cat’s eyes, you can see the most annoyed soul of any animal on the planet. (Be sure to watch to the end.)
It Would Be Cat-astrophic If Your Friends Didn’t Get This Laugh Today…
Following several South American tour dates, the iconic British rock band landed in Havana Thursday with a free show for the Cuban people scheduled for today.
The Stones are the most famous band to play in the country since its 1959 revolution. Rebellious rock music was considered anti-patriotic, so fans had to listen to their favorite jams in private.
Ronnie Woods, Charlie Watts, Mick Jagger, and Keith Richards flew to the country’s capital with an entourage of roughly sixty friends, family, and crew members ready for the show which takes place only a days after President Obama’s historic diplomatic visit.
“We have performed in many special places during our long career, but this show in Havana will be a milestone for us, and, we hope, for all our friends in Cuba, too,” the band said in a statement released before the arrival.
Some Girls Might Share This With Their Friends… –Photo by Dave Hogan via FB
A commuter train came alive with “The Sound of Music” as cast members of the show pulled off a flash-mob performance.
The cast caught a train in Brisbane where the show was being staged during its Australian tour.
Once they were underway, Amy Lehpamer who plays Maria, launched into “Do-Ri-Me,” which passengers assumed was a solo performance. Little did they suspect the entire clan of von Trapp children were hiding among the rows.
The surprised and amused passengers broke out in applause before the cast could even return to their seats.
(WATCH the video below) — Photo: Allport Millernery, Facebook video
First trip ever on the Brisbane trains and this happens! .... Just your average Thursday afternoon... A flashmob singing on the train. #thesoundofmusic #childhoodflashback #averagethursday Queensland Rail
My name is Philippe, and I’m from France. I am a mechanical engineer by background and worked in the car industry for 12 years. I had a nice career, but somehow felt out of place there.
I moved to San Francisco with my American wife, and I found the inspiration to quit my job and start a positive blog project called Dreemit.
I interview people on the streets of San Francisco and Europe and ask them about their dreams in life. It has been an amazing experience as I get to connect with strangers who open their hearts and share their biggest dreams to a stranger, me. Of course we have differences, but I’ve learnt that we each have so much in common – we are all looking for health, fulfillment, connection, and happiness in many ways.
On the streets of Barcelona, for example, I met Svetlana, who is from Siberia in Russia. I saw this shining young woman in her wheelchair. She told me:
“My dream is to get the gold medal in the Paralympics game in Rio this year. I had a car accident 11 years ago that put me in a wheelchair. At some point I found a sport that was crazy fun and gave me back my mobility: hand-cycling. I got better and better, now I am representing Russia.”
“My first crazy dream was to go to the London 2012 games, and I made it, and I won my bronze medal over there. I then decided that in 4 years, in the next games, I will go for more and for gold! It is a lot of dedication for me, and going to the games, it means to experience the crazy spirit of people united from all over the world, it is always a giant story behind every paralympic athlete.”
Svetlana Moshkovich is a big wake-up call to life; such a kind, humble, person radiating energy and full of hope. She inspired me – hopefully she can inspire you too.
Follow the Dreemit Facebook for more inspirational interviews with strangers.
Share This Post With Friends So They Can Follow Svetlana’s Performance in Rio
Imagine a couple meeting for the very first time, yet their daughter was already a year old.
The happy duo was conceived despite odds as unlikely as a sperm cell reaching an egg.
Londoner Aminah Hart was single at age 42 but wanted a child. She turned to a sperm bank to help with In Vitro Fertilization and selected the donor from three anonymous candidates.
After baby Leila was born, Aminah became increasingly curious about the father and tried to contact him anonymously through the IVF register.
10,000 miles away, Australian cattle farmer Scott Andersen was under no obligation to be in touch with the baby and her mother, especially since the girl was a minor, but she looked so much like his four other children from two previous marriages, he wanted to meet her right away.
Aminah and Scott met for the first time in Melbourne, Australia just days after Leila’s first birthday. The first meeting went so well, they started getting together every few weeks until they fell in love.
One night Scott left to pick up some milk at the store, but came back with an engagement ring instead.
Aminah has recounted the ‘back to front’ love story in a new book, “How I Met Your Father,” which is already set to become a movie — with the most unusual “meet-cute” ever seen on the screen.
(WATCH the video below from ABC News) — Photo: Aminah Hart, Facebook
There are many different shapes and sizes of rebellion; whether they be emotional, physical, mental, or political.
But it takes an artist to rebel against ISIS and its careless destruction using the exact shape or size required for resurrection.
In a Toronto art exhibit titled “Material Speculation: ISIS”, Morehshin Allahyari has given new life to historical Assyrian artifacts and sculptures destroyed by the terrorist organization in 2015 by recreating the pieces using 3D-printing technology.
By collaborating with archaeologists and painstakingly pouring over files, analysis, and data, the Iranian artist collected photos and information on her native country’s treasures until she was able to recreate them exactly–beautiful works like the King Uthal piece (above) and Lamassu (below).
At the center of each piece is a USB drive filled with all of the information on the artifact.
“Like time capsules, each object is sealed and kept for future civilizations,” Morehshin explains on her website. ”The information in these flash drives includes images, maps, PDF files, and videos gathered in the last months on the artifacts and sites that were destroyed.”
The artist believes that by refusing to forget her culture’s masterpieces, people can partake in a form of activism that will restore a nation’s history through memory, care, and appreciation for the past.
Share Her Rebellion With Your Friends… Morehshin Allahyari Photos by Morehshin Allahyari
Costco is joining the ranks of retail giants recognizing the need for a higher minimum wage.
For the first time in nine years, Costco announced that they are raising the hourly pay of its lowest paid workers from $11.50 and $12, to $13 and $13.50.
“This is a physically challenging job, on your feet, pushing cases, lifting carts so we thought it was time to do it,” the company’s chief financial officer, Richard Galanti, said on a conference call last week.
Meet Smokey the horse, the gentle giant that thinks he’s a human.
Smokey starts mornings off by knocking on the door, opening it with his mouth, and coming into the kitchen for a piece of toast. Similarly, the equine would throw a fit when everyone else was wearing sunglasses but him, so they bought him some as well.
As it turns out, this strange little act became inspiration for an actual human boy.
While Smokey’s owner, Anna Louise Tayler, was going through school in London, there was a classmate who loathed wearing his spectacles. Anna showed him pictures and clips of the horse and said “If Smokey likes wearing glasses, why don’t you give it a try?”
Pope Francis visiting England - credit, Catholic Church of England and Wales CC 2.0.
Pope Francis changed decades of Catholic tradition today, declaring women can now be included in an annual Easter week ritual which formerly included only men.
The pope’s foot-washing ritual this year also included Hindu and Muslim refugees – a first for any pontiff.
The foot-washing ceremony, added to Catholic liturgy in the 1950s, commemorates Jesus washing the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper. Each year since, the pope and Catholic priests around the world have repeated the ceremony with their congregations, but included only men.
This year, the Pope Francis has made the inclusion of women in the ceremony part of the “Roman Missal,” the book that guides worldwide Catholic practices.
“After careful consideration”, Francis said, “I have decided…that from now on, the pastors of the Church may choose the participants in the rite from among all the members of the People of God.”
Francis may be suggesting that those “People of God” might even include non-Catholics in the future. He’s chosen to include Orthodox, Muslim, and Hindu refugees in the foot-washing ritual today.
He traveled to a center outside Rome that supports asylum seekers and refugees to perform the Holy Thursday ceremony.
Eleven of the 12 people chosen for this year’s ceremony are migrants or refugees. They included three women — all Coptic Christians — along with three Muslim men and one Hindu man.
President Obama scored a home run with the Cuban people by bringing along “baseball diplomacy” on his historic trip to the island nation this week.
For the first time in 17 years, a Major League Baseball team played an exhibition game there, as the Tampa Bay Rays took on the Cuban national team playing to a packed stadium Tuesday, while Obama and his family cheered from the stands alongside Cuban President Raul Castro.
The two leaders even joined the crowd in doing “the wave,” as it swept around around the arena (see video above).
President Obama called baseball one of the things that “bind these two countries together,” and said they are the only country that might have more passion for the sport than the U.S.
The love of the game — and desire to play it on American diamonds — had always come at a steep price for Cuban players. More than 100 of the nation’s athletes have taken the field for big league teams since the countries broke ties in the late 1950s, despite the requirement that they renounce their citizenship to do so.
President Obama singled out Chicago White Sox First Baseman Jose Abreu, a Cuban national who has not seen his infant son in years. The president said playing in “the big leagues” means Abreu can support his family, still in Cuba, but he couldn’t return to see them.
“That can’t be the kind of policies we want to promote,” President Obama told ABC News. “My hope is this becomes just one more part of this stitching back together of the United States and Cuba.”
Obama this week became the first U.S. President to visit Cuba since 1928. In the past 15 months, he’s pushed steadily to renew ties with the communist neighbor 90 miles from the coast of Florida despite more than a half-century of Cold War tension.
His speech, televised nationally there, pressed for Cuba to improve its human rights record and take advantage of new trade opportunities with American businesses, even while his administration pushes Congress to lift the trade embargo levied on the island in 1960.
Three dozen Congress members and a large delegation of business leaders accompanied the president on his trip to emphasize that point.
But the athletic line drives and base hits may have accomplished more than diplomats and executives could ever do to get his message across to the Cuban people.
Tuesday’s game was the first between teams from Cuba and MLB since 1999 when the Baltimore Orioles played an exhibition game in Havana.
The Rays came out on top, 4-1 in Tuesday’s game, but the Cuban fans didn’t seem to mind. In diplomacy, like baseball, it isn’t always about winning or losing — but how you play the game.
(WATCH the White House video above, and WATCH the short baseball interview with Obama below)
Starbucks is crediting the employees in their local stores for brewing up a plan to donate 100% of the company’s leftover food to charities that feed the hungry.
The ready-to-eat offerings from all 7,600 U.S. stores are expected to add up to 50 million meals over the next five years.
Starbucks has been donating leftover pastries to food charities since 2010, but the company’s food safety policies required workers to throw out salads and other pre-packaged meals. Store employees, seeing how much food was being thrown away each day, wanted the company to do more.
American businesses often worry about legal liabilities they’d face if someone gets sick because of food they donated. But, contrary to those beliefs, a 20 year-old law has offered wide ranging protections since 1996 to companies that have donated food to charity.
Restaurant chains Chipotle, Olive Garden, KFC and Taco Bell, and are among the companies that have started donating leftover food. Many local restaurants and smaller chains also donate food with less attention.
The coffee mega-chain is working with two charities, Food Donation Connection and Feeding America, to get the meals to distribution centers and pantries that already feed the hungry.
“This food is going to make a difference,” Kienan McFadden, a Starbucks store manager said. “Rescuing food in this way from being thrown away will change lives. It makes me proud to know our partners are the heroes in this.”
The 7th busiest airport in India is breaking world records by soaking up the sun.
Kerala’s Cochin International Airport has become the first in the world to run entirely on solar power. With a 45-acre field of solar panels, the setup has a 12-megawatt peak capacity which means the airport will not have to spend a dime on electricity.
The airport plans on doubling the capacity to 26.5 megawatts after the initial six years needed to recoup the $9.3 million investment cost.
“We consume around 48,000 unit (KWh) a day. So if we can produce the same by strictly adhering to the green and sustainable development model of infrastructure development that we always follow, that would send a message to the world,” said managing director of the airport, Mr. V.J. Kurian IAS.
According to the company, over the next 25 years the solar power generated will have eliminated 300,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions from a coal fired power plant, equal to planting 3 million trees.
Fly This Story To Your Friends… Click To Share (Photo by Intel Free Press, CC)
Coincidentally, two nursing felines didn’t mind taking in another mouth to feed – and the difference in species didn’t seem to get in the way of their motherly instincts.
The pups will be nursed to full health and independence before being shipped up to Minnesota for adoption.
Feed Your Friends a Purrfect Story… Click To Share
On February 26th, eleven teachers at Southern Lehigh High School in Pennsylvania agreed to go Bald for Bucks in support of their annual Pennies for Patients fundraiser.
The only female participating teacher, Spanish teacher Mrs. Joan Imms-Geiser, shaved her head for $4,000. After the haircut she was greeted by her husband, who presented her with flowers and took a seat in barber’s chair himself, saying, “I’m not letting you do this alone.”
“At this moment, the entire school came together in unity, there was not a dry eye in the crowd. It was this moment, everyone realized why they did what they did,” campaign manager of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Eastern PA Chapter said.
The fundraiser was spearheaded by the juniors of the Pennsylvania high school’s National Honors Society. The group set out to raise a total of $4,000, shattering the previous all-time record and tripling the previous year’s total. As a means to encourage the staff and students to donate, eleven teachers pledged to shave their heads for reaching fundraising milestones. In the end, the students raised $4,450.
This girl’s got game and plays basketball like a pro, even though she’s barely tall enough to dribble.
Jaliya Manuel’s parents discovered her love of the game when she was a year old and could barely walk. Five years later, she’s running circles around adults on the court with her superior ball handling skills.
When a doctor switched on Andrea Diaz’s cochlear implant for the first time, she experienced just one of two life-changing events that would happen in a matter of minutes.
Her boyfriend had been waiting for that moment so she could hear him propose to her.
Andrea burst into tears of joy once she was able to hear, thanks to the implant. But boyfriend Kevin Peakman waited until the doctor adjusted the levels so everything would be perfect, before getting down on one knee and opening a ring box.
