Now European teenagers won’t just be looking forward to their 18th birthdays because of adulthood – they might also be receiving the adventure of a lifetime as well.
The European Parliament is looking into the prospect of giving away $450 value Interrail train passes to 18-year-olds for their birthdays.
The passes allow unlimited travel for one month through any countries in the European Union. Officials believe that allowing youth to explore the continent would lead to stronger cultural ties and international community.
Assuming the proposal goes through, British teens would be exempt from the gift due to England’s decision to leave the European Union.
Since the operation would cost millions, the fiscally conservative opposition is against the proposal. However, a blurb from the #FreeInterrail campaign provides a sweet argument: “Imagine it is your 18th birthday and you find a personalized letter from the European Commission in your postbox. In it: a voucher to travel Europe. Your life will change.”
The EU’s transport chief Violeta Bulc told the European Parliament on Tuesday: “We admire the boldness and the level of ambition — and we are ready to explore it further.”
Multiply The Good News: Click To Share – Photo by McKinley Corbley
Kim Lane the cashier was working behind the counter when a customer brought a lost doll up to the counter that had been left on the gas pumps.
Since Kim works at the Jack Flash truck stop in Farina, Illinois, she knew that the owners of the doll had probably already driven away – and left an important treasure behind.
The doll was a military plush toy that said “Hey buddy, it’s dada. I miss you and I love you,” when you squeezed its tummy.
This may not be such good news for Black Friday shopping fanatics, but for the 15,000 employees working in the biggest mall in the USA, it’s a much-appreciated gesture.
Mall of America officials announced on Wednesday that it was abandoning their previous policy of staying open from Thanksgiving morning into Black Friday. The super mall will stay closed on November 24th except for certain operations like the Walk to End Hunger fundraiser. Then on 5am the next day, the mall will reopen with a special ribbon cutting ceremony for the eager consumers.
Though shops will have the choice of staying open on the holiday, mall officials expect few will actually do so.
The 520-plus stores in the Bloomington, Minnesota mall have historically made themselves available to consumers for the Christmas shopping madness, but this year, workers are grateful for the chance to be with their family instead.
Let’s Be Thankful Together: Click To Share With Your Friends – Photo by Aine D, CC
But apart from those pesky details, Cuomo figures that cats and dogs are like family for some city residents, so who are we to deny them the luxury of arranging their own funeral?
Though the law still needs state approval, it is just one of many New York initiatives to ensure the humane treatment of animals. Dogs are now allowed to join their human owners at outdoor restaurant tables and there are also more severe state consequences for animal abusers.
Click To Share This Pawesome Story With Your Friends – Photo by Pupflix
This quiet English village is just like any other countryside community – except for its carbon footprint.
For the last ten years, the population of Ashton Hayes in Cheshire County has been reducing their carbon emissions to combat climate change
“We want to show our children, grandchildren and future generations that we have done our best to stop Ashton Hayes contributing to global warming,” says Parish Council leader Naomi Deynem.
The town of 1,000 people do everything from using clothes lines instead of dryers, installing solar panels, and even sharing an electric car.
Since their efforts started in 2006, Ashton Hayes has cut their carbon dioxide emissions by 40%.
However, the initiative did not come from government encouragement – when a member of parliament came to visit the village during a public meeting in 2006, he was told he was not allowed to speak. He was free to listen, but they said it was the people’s turn to speak – not his.
Ever since that discussion, no politicians have attempted to address the group. The project has been kept separate from party system debates because the resident in order to prevent political division.
Though it may be a small community, their influence is widely-spread: representatives from as far away as Norway and Taiwan have visited the community searching for guidance on similar efforts in their own villages.
(WATCH the video below)
Multiply The Good: Click To Share With Your Friends –Photo by Ashton Hayes
The final frontier is no cheap endeavor for countries lacking the funding.
But in 2021, those nations will finally be given the chance to conduct their own experiments in space with the Dream Chaser: a reusable aircraft that can take off and land at an ordinary airport.
The 14-day space mission will hang in low Earth orbit with up to 25 different laboratory stations for different countries to experiment in less gravity.
Nations will still have to pay a fee in order to get the project off the ground, however that payment should be manageable enough for participation.
The Sierra Nevada Corporation, creators of the Dream Chaser, announced their partnership with the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs during the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico last week.
“At SNC our goal is to pay it forward,” said SNC’s owner and President, Eren Ozmen. “That means leveraging the creation and success of our Dream Chaser spacecraft to benefit future generations of innovators like us all around the world.”
Even though UNOOSA started in 1958, this will be the organization’s first ever space mission.
This shelter doesn’t believe in euthanizing dogs just because they aren’t perfect – that’s why they not only take in abandoned pups, but they also give them a set of wheels as well.
Romanian dog shelter Adăpostul Speranța takes in injured and paralyzed hounds and gives them wheelchairs so they can play with their friends.
“At Speranța, we insist not to leave any dog behind,” says the organization’s Facebook. “Beside the worst of cases, when putting a dog to sleep can save him from a life of torment and pain, we absolutely refuse to end a life that, with proper care, can be a happy one. And we’re also the ones who provide that care, and the happiness of our paraplegic dogs is our reward.”
Since the shelter only runs on donations, however, the organization is quickly running out of funds to replace wheelchairs that have broken or grown too small for their owner.
“As winter is getting closer and our accounts are almost empty, you are our only hope. Any donation, no matter how small, is a real life jacket for our canine friends.”
You can find Adăpostul Speranța’s donation information by going to their website – otherwise you can follow their activity on Facebook.
Click To Share With These Pawesome Pooches With Your Friends– Photos by Adăpostul Speranța
25 years later and the iconic baby who blessed one of the most famed 90’s album covers of all time has skipped past his teen spirit phase and into young adulthood.
Grunge rock band Nirvana released Nevermind in 1991 containing such hits as “Come As You Are”, “In Bloom”, and “Smells Like Teen Spirit”.
The baby in the swimming pool named Spencer Elden, decided to honor his musical roots and recreate the historic photo a quarter of a century later.
After paying the photographer $200 – which happened to be the sum that his parents were paid for the use of his photogenic infant face 25 years ago – Spencer paid homage to the beloved band.
The photographer talked Spencer out of doing the shoot naked like the original, but even with the lights out, the resemblance is still entertaining.
You Don’t Have To Stay Away From Sharing This Story With Your Friends – Photo by Spencer Elden
If Willow wasn’t glamorous enough on her own, check out this footage of when she becomes friendly with an unlikely companion.
The Symbio Wildlife Park in New South Wales, Australia was attempting to shoot some footage of their resident koala joey Willow for a video documenting their sustainability initiatives when this monarch butterfly photobombed the clip.
Hold onto your hats and wands – because all eight Harry Potter films will be returning to IMAX theaters on October 13th.
In preparation for the release of Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them on November 18, Warner Bros. is creating a week-long movie fest for Potterheads everywhere.
Karam Chand and Katari had been married for 90 long, happy years before Karam passed away this week a month before his 111th birthday.
The couple who is believed to hold the world record for the longest marriage had eight children – four boys and four girls – who grew up to give them 27 grandchildren and 23 great grandchildren.
Once they were married in the December of 1925, they migrated from Jalandhar, India to the U.K.
Katari, who will be turning 104 on November 1st, told the Indian Express that “it was a blessing to have been married and lived for [so] long. She said now that he has gone, she will pray for his peaceful rest.”
According to their children, the two never argued and before Karam passed, they still had their good health even in old age.
If someone’s giving away a house on five acres of land for free, you know there must be a catch.
That catch is hundreds of healing animals in need of a caretaker.
Harry Kunz of the Eagle’s Nest Wildlife Hospital is giving away his property to a successor who will promise to care for all of his current animal patients.
The sanctuary takes in anywhere from 800 to 1,000 injured animals a year. If they’re able to properly heal, the creatures are released back into the wild – if not, then they’re free to always have a home with Harry.
Eagle’s Nest also provides the only rehabilitation services for rescued raptors and eagles in northern Queensland.
Situated in the beautiful Atherton tablelands, Harry has never discriminated against any wildlife species in need of care. For 30 years, he has welcomed emus, birds, kangaroos, wombats, crocodiles, and koalas.
They may be behind bars, but that doesn’t stop them from helping life thrive outside of them.
Convicts at the Relocation Center Prisons in Brazil are producing 100 pounds of vegetables a year in their facility yard. All the produce is donated to institutions that help vulnerable kids and poorer regions in the south west.
Ever since the program started roughly seven months ago, the surrounding prison yard has changed – a field of trash and bushes has transformed into a luscious garden of veggies. Onions, lettuce, tomatoes, cassava, cabbage, broccoli, and other organic food items are being nursed by the inmates.
Prisoners work from 8am to 5pm – every three days working in the yard is one less day of their sentence in prison. Each shift is made up of two agents and four low-risk prisoners tending to the gardens.
According to Tatiane Costa, the Director of the prison, the field represents a better future out of their cells. “Besides punishing, the goal of any prison is to widen the inmates perspectives of what the future holds for them. They have to see a perspective out of here to make sure they won’t come back”, Mrs. Costa explains to the O Tempo.
Jefferson Rodrigues de Faria, 27 years old, is one of the inmates approved to work in the yard. Many things changed in Mr. Faria’s life after he started producing food. “I’m much calmer, and I feel a greater sensation of freedom. The cell is depressing, but the field is therapy”, says the inmate.
The project has the support of many partners. The Mayor of Juatuba, a nearby town, lent a tractor for cleaning the field; the mayor of Betim allowed the town’s agronomist to check the health of the crops every month; and Baptist church Betel donated the seeds and necessary supplies while also distributing the harvest.
Grow Some Positivity: Click To Share – Photo by Omar Friere
At first, he doesn’t seem to understand what it is he’s looking at – but after a few moments, the joyous birthday boy jumps to his feet in excitement.
Evolved Footwear, the company responsible for the light-up shoes, shared the video with the caption “The highlight of our year… Nah, we mean existence!!!”
(WATCH the video below)
This Video Will Light Up Your Friend’s Day: Click To Share
Angel Cruz was in dire need of a fight so he could make some money for his family – but even though he lost, he still received the $2,000 bonus.
That’s because his opponent, John Castaneda, understood the financial struggles that come from working in mixed martial arts.
Castaneda delivered a punishing victory to Cruz in the second round of their Combate Americas bantamweight fight. However, his triumph didn’t taste as sweet as it should have knowing that Cruz was desperate for the money that came from winning the match.
Castaneda had met his opponent’s two daughters at their weigh-in several days earlier. Since he had taken the fight with only five days notice due to the previous competitor dropping out at the last minute, Cruz thanked him for rising to the occasion, saying he needed the finishing bonus to feed his family.
Unlike the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Combate Americas only awards money for winning, rather than for good performance or putting on the best fight.
Following his victory in the ring, Castaneda whispered in the ear of Campbell McLaren, the head of Combate Americas, to give his winning bonus to Cruz.
“It really choked me up,” McLaren told Yahoo News. “I’d never encountered anything like that. MMA is a very charitable sport and you see fighters starting GoFund Me pages to help each other a lot. But this was a little different situation and it was so impressive. This came in the heat of the battle after a very tough fight.”
Castaneda isn’t exactly rich either – the fighter works as a trainer at Lifetime Fitness in order to supplement his own income.
Though he’s been remarkably modest about his good deed, his kindness has become a clear indicator about his strength in spirit – as well as body.
Fight Negativity: Click To Share – Photo by Combate Americas
Every night for the last six years, the city of Providence has given a sparkling good night show of hope to the kids who might not have any.
At 8:30PM each evening, yacht clubs, hotels, restaurants, tugboats, and police cruisers participate in the Good Night Lights display by flickering their lights on and off for the Hasbro Children’s Hospital.
The sick kids and toddlers in hospice care say thank you by shining flashlights back out the window to the community below.
The shimmering effect of the nightly ritual has a two-pronged effect: not only does it give Rhode Island residents a chance to cheer up kids they’ll never meet, it also makes the patients feel hopeful knowing that their city cares.
Steve Brosnihan, the hospital’s cartoonist of 26 years, got the idea when he was biking home from the building and started flashing personalized messages with his lights to the children in the windows.
He then started recruiting businesses and volunteers to participate in the daily magic minute.
“The first time a kid sees this, when it happens, they’re like, ‘Are you kidding? That’s for me?’ There’s a joyful surprise in it,” Brosnihan told WBZ. “No one knows who’s on the other side of the gesture. “People often say, ‘I get goosebumps hearing about this.’”
People aren’t normally given the chance to save someone else’s life – Yukio Shige, however, has helped save more than 500.
After he retired from a 42-year career as a Fukui Prefectural Police detective, Yukio was stationed at the Tojinbo Cliffs in Japan. Though it’s a popular tourist destination, the towering cliffs also offer an ideal place for committing suicide.
Yukio’s first encounter with such a depressed soul was on September 3rd, 2003. A sad-looking couple was sitting by themselves at the top of the cliffs when he spotted them.
The couple was deep in debt from owning a restaurant, thus inclining them to contemplate the dark solution. Yukio comforted them and convinced the depressed duo to go to the police station for help.
A week later, Yukio received their suicide note in the mail explaining how the authorities had only given them enough money to get to the next town before sending them on their way.
Now known as the Gatekeeper – or “chotto matte”, translating to “wait a moment” man – Yukio has worked for over a decade guarding the cliffs from those wanting to jump.
Yukio has his work cut out for him too – Japan has one of the highest suicide rates of a developed country in the world.
So in 2004, he started the nonprofit Kokoro ni Hibiku Bunshu Henshukyoku – or the “Publishing bureau for collection of writings that reach the heart” – to console and encourage suicidal people after Yukio talks them down.
He was also the star in the documentary short The Gatekeeper, produced by Field of Visions and directed by Yung Chang.
(WATCH the video below)
Click To Share This Incredible Story With Your Friends
You have to reach rock bottom before you can begin building yourself back up again.
Todd Crandell spent 13 years of his life sinking into the depths of misery, pulled down by the weights of addiction and substance abuse.
Crandall says that it all started at a party in 8th grade. He had his first sip of beer and found himself enthralled – then following his mother’s suicide, it became a mere race from one drug to the next; alcohol to prescription pills, tranquilizers to cocaine – the race went on with no finish in sight.
He was arrested for the third time on April 14th of 1993 after he was pulled over for impaired driving, registering a 3.8 on the field-sobriety test; a person registering 0.2 more points is considered to be comatose.
Though Crandell was at his lowest, change could still be seen, and the tides began to turn.
“It literally was just like a switch went off in me, and a big weight was taken off my back, and it was like, `You don’t have to do this any more.’ And I knew it,” Crandall told The Blade.
Crandell began to fight his way to the surface, attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, graduating from college, and ironically even finding himself a job in pharmaceutical sales.
Still, this wasn’t enough – the same fixations that lead him into harder and harder drugs were now influencing him to harder and harder accomplishments
He set his sights on a new race: The Ironman Triathlon
Considered one of the hardest marathons in the world, the Ironman consists of 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of cycling, 26.2 miles of running – all in concession.
Crandell completed his first triathlon in Chicago in 1999. His past was written by the hands of addiction, but as for his future… Crandell had finally snatched the pen.
To this day, he has completed 16 full length triathlons, and was the only competitor able to cross the finish line at the 2008 invitation-only Hawaii ultraman: a race that takes place over the course of 3 days and spans a total of 6.2 miles swimming, 261 miles biking, and 52 miles of running.
In an effort to continue bettering himself, Crandell has now reached out to others.
He became licensed as a professional chemical dependency counselor, and created Running for Recovery; a nonprofit that seeks to introduce those struggling with substance addiction to the therapeutic potential of diet and exercise. He says, “There’s nothing better than sitting down with somebody who has a drug problem, and me being able to help them,”
The nonprofits catchphrase, “with sobriety, anything is possible.” is represented better by no one but the founder himself.
(WATCH the video below)
Stave Off Negativity: Click To Share With Your Friends
Thomas Edison was called too stupid to learn anything; Walt Disney was told he never had any original ideas; and Oprah Winfrey was fired from her first television job.
Sometimes we forget about how great icons had to fail in order to succeed, so here’s a video that will inspire you to never stop trying to do your best.
