Prince William and Kate stopped in Slave Lake, an Alberta town ravaged by forest fires. They toured the town and attended a gathering of residents at a nearby school, to listen to many of their stories — a bright spot for the Canadian town which had been reduced to rubble.
Royal Couple Visits Fire Ravaged Town (Video)
Remarkable Beauty in Grains of Sand Seen in Photographs
Viewed at a magnification of over 250 times real life, tiny grains of sand are shown to be delicate, colorful structures as unique as snowflakes.
When seen well beyond the limits of human eyesight, the miniature particles are exposed as fragments of crystals, spiral fragments of shells and crumbs of volcanic rock, thanks to Professor Gary Greenberg from University College London.
Fewer Americans Developing and Dying From Colon Cancer
Screening for colon cancer has increased in 49 of the 50 United States and, as a result, deaths are down, with 32,000 fewer people dying from the disease in one year.
A federal report released on Tuesday insisted that with expanded testing even more lives could be saved. Colon cancer remains the nation’s second most deadly cancer
Warren Buffett Gives $1.5 Billion in Stock to Gates Foundation
Investor Warren Buffett gave a gift of Berkshire Hathaway stock to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation worth about $1.5 billion (19.34 million shares), boosting their efforts around the world to fight disease.
Buffett plans to transfer the majority of his wealth to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and this gift represents the fifth installment.
(READ the AP article on CS Monitor)
He Won $3.4 Million — Then Went Back to Work as Janitor
Five years ago, an Evergreen High School custodian was in the middle of bankruptcy when he won the Washington State Lottery’s Quinto game — 3.4 million dollars.
But he still lives in a tiny house in Seattle with his wife and in-laws, and drives to work in the same car.
The high school track team is where Tyrone Curry splurged, buying them a new state-of-the-art track.
WATCH the video below, from TODAY, or READ the story at NBC…
Thanks to Steve Veres, an editor at Today, for sending the link!
He Won $3.4 Million — Then Went Back to Work as Janitor
Five years ago, an Evergreen High School custodian was in the middle of bankruptcy when he won the Washington State Lottery’s Quinto game — 3.4 million dollars.
But he still lives in a tiny house in Seattle with his wife and in-laws, and drives to work in the same car.
The high school track team is where Tyrone Curry splurged, buying them a new state-of-the-art track.
Exploring Happiness and Its Causes at World’s Largest Happiness Conference
The sixth annual Happiness and Its Causes conference in Brisbane, Australia featured four days of lectures and workshops featuring some of the world’s best known happiness gurus, including the Dalai Lama.
More than 2000 people paid up to $1800 to attend the two-day main event in mid-June, organized by the Tibetan Buddhist Vajrayana Institute in Sydney.
The successful conference is just the latest evidence of the recent boom in all things happiness.
(READ the story in Stuff.co.nz)
California to Paparazzi: Lay Off William and Kate
Prince William and bride Kate will arrive Friday in a Southern California where, in the years since Diana’s death, the state has passed three laws intended to curb paparazzi abuses.
Beginning Friday morning, police plan to close the street of the British consul-general’s home in Hancock Park, where the couple will stay on their weekend visit. Officers have already obtained “No Trespass” letters from neighbors, which will be used to arrest anyone who enters the adjoining properties to try to get pictures of the couple.
Tabloids have offered compensation to Hancock Park neighbors, but no residents accepted any offers.
First Study of Its Kind Shows Many Benefits of Providing Medical Insurance to Poor
When poor people are given medical insurance, they not only find regular doctors and see doctors more often but they also feel better, are less depressed and are better able to maintain financial stability, according to a new, large-scale study that provides the first rigorously controlled assessment of the impact of Medicaid.
Until now, Medicaid arguments were pretty much irresolvable.
Health economists and other researchers said the study was historic and would be cited for years to come, shaping health care debates.
(READ the story in NY Times)
Thanks to Joel Arellano for submitting the story to our Facebook page!
Boaters Detangle Humpback Whale Saving its Life (Video)
Michael Fishbach and his colleagues were recently on a small boat when they encountered a humpback whale entangled in a fishing net and on the verge of death.
Fishbach and Gershon Cohen founded The Great Whale Conservancy to help and protect whales, but never before had they been able to directly save one themselves.
With just a small knife and little time, the three men took over an hour to untangle the complex web of nylon netting. When finally the whale was freed, its display of joy is obvious, captured on video taken by another passenger.
Boaters Detangle Humpback Whale Saving its Life (Video)
Michael Fishbach and his colleagues were recently on a small boat when they encountered a humpback whale entangled in a fishing net and on the verge of death.
Fishbach and Gershon Cohen founded The Great Whale Conservancy to help and protect whales, but never before had they been able to directly save one themselves.
With just a small knife and little time, the three men took over an hour to untangle the complex web of nylon netting. When finally the whale was freed, its display of joy is obvious, captured on video taken by another passenger.
Young Americans Celebrate 4th of July With Tsunami Cleanup
Young American volunteers marked Independence Day by continuing their remarkable clean up on behalf of Japan’s tsunami survivors. And, their American-style celebration helped to lift the spirits of the struggling community there.
The youth are teachers of English in Northern Japan who spend their weekends shoveling debris and bringing crates of vegetables and fruit to the villagers who rarely see fresh produce.
WATCH the video below, from NBC Nightly News…
Camera-Stealing Monkey Makes Beautiful Self-Portraits
Even a monkey can take a prize-winning photo to rival that of the professional.
British photographer David Slater had been living among a group of endangered Crested Black Macaques in Indonesia, when one of them grabbed a camera and started snapping away.
The macaque took hundreds of photos as he made off with the award-winning photographer’s camera, but became fascinated with his own reflection in the lens.
The resulting self-portraits have made news around the world.
Camera-Stealing Monkey Makes Beautiful Self-Portraits
Even a monkey can take a prize-winning photo to rival that of the professional.
British photographer David Slater had been living among a group of endangered Crested Black Macaques in Indonesia, when one of them grabbed a camera and started snapping away.
The macaque took hundreds of photos as he made off with the award-winning photographer’s camera, but became fascinated with his own reflection in the lens.
The resulting self-portraits have made news around the world.
Obama Changes Policy to Honor Service Members Who Kill Themselves in War
President Obama this week decided to change the longstanding policy that until now excluded families of U.S. service members who killed themselves in war zones from receiving presidential condolence letters.
The president decided to make the change, prompted by “the conversations we had with experts about de-stigmatizing suicide, (and) the conversations we had with military families.”
In.gredients Wants To Be The First Packaging And Waste-Free Grocery Store
In an industry littered with excess packaging, it sounds like an impossible goal: in.gredients, a startup out of Austin, Texas, wants to create the first zero-waste, packaging-free grocery store in the U.S..
When it launches later this year, the company will offer compostable packaging and bulk foods — “all the basic ingredients you need for life (and most recipes) — but not Twinkies, Doritos, and unhealthy snack foods.
Solar Sister Lights up Rural Africa With Avon-like Business for Women
One-year-old start up Solar Sister is using cosmetics company AVON’s model to distribute solar energy in Uganda, Sudan, and Rwanda. The “business in a bag” model is giving rural African women an income and a renewable light source.
The solar gadgets are rugged, very intuitive to use, affordable, and readily available.
Biofuel Powers Two European Airlines
Biodiesel has been around since the early 1900′s when pioneers tinkered with a variety of biofuels to power vehicles.
The preferred source of biofuel for home users has been spent cooking oil, which is also the same for most commercial operations looking to power anything from ships to airplanes.
In two recent feasibility experiments, European airlines KLM and Thompson Airlines have integrated cooking oil-based biofuels into their passenger routes, in a 50-50 mixture with jet fuel.
Therapist Uses Music to Heal Disabled Iranians Despite Ire of Islamic Clerics
Music therapy, a common practice in large parts of the world, is extremely rare in Iran, where conservative clerics outlawed pop music after the country’s 1979 Islamic revolution.
Sadeq Jafari, 33, is one of a handful of therapists in the Islamic state who use music to help severely disabled people find their voices, risking the ire of his conservative family and censure from religious authorities.
“Music shortens the recovery period since it has a calming effect … It gives them energy and even alleviates the physical pain.”
12 of The Greatest Things to Love About America
What makes America great? On this, the 235th birthday of the nation’s founding Declaration of Independence, it seems like a question we need to answer. At the heart of it, the United States was founded on a unique set of ideals and principles, which may not always be evident in current government policy but have always inspired its supporters and nurtured progress.
America is a great country for many reasons, big and small. I asked our Facebook fans to list the things they love about the USA and received some heartfelt responses, some of which are included below in my list of Top 12 things to love about America.
