A stray dog who survived an attempt to put him to sleep at an Oklahoma animal shelter has become a canine celebrity, with thousands seeking to adopt him, an appearance on a national television show and growing concerns about his safety as his fan base increases.
(READ the story in KTVU)
Like white knights, dressed in their hazmat suits, a band of 180 men have volunteered to continue working in extreme conditions, to help keep strangers safe from nuclear radiation at the Fukushima plant.
In groups of 50, they rotate into the dark confines of the plant, technicians on a mission to keep feeding the cooling sea water into the chamber without the help of electricity.
An outpouring of prayers and gratitude expressed especially by family members fill the social media sphere.
A 27-year-old woman whose Twitter name is @NamicoAoto tweeted earlier this week that her father had volunteered for Fukushima duty.
“I heard that he volunteered even though he will be retiring in just half a year… At home, he doesn’t seem like someone who could handle big jobs…but today, I was really proud of him.”
An admirer of the Fukushima crew tweeted, “Whatever’s the closest int’l equivalent to the Medal of Honor – Nobel Peace Prize? — The Fukushima 50 deserve that, and more,” he wrote.
(WATCH the video below, or read the story at ABC News)
Like white knights, dressed in their hazmat suits, a band of 180 men have volunteered to continue working in extreme conditions, to help keep strangers safe from nuclear radiation at the Fukushima plant.
In groups of 50, they rotate into the dark confines of the plant, technicians on a mission to keep feeding the cooling sea water into the chamber without the help of electricity.
An outpouring of prayers and gratitude expressed especially by family members fill the social media sphere.
Future camouflage uniforms for soldiers will draw energy from the sun providing continuous power for a radio, GPS and weapons, but at half the weight of traditional battery packs.
The Engineering and Physical Research Sciences Center in the UK is working on a new type of fabric that uses solar photovoltaic cells, thermoelectric devices and advanced lightweight batteries. Because the system absorbs heat, it could even serve as a type of wearable stealth cloak, making a soldier less susceptible to detection with infrared cameras.
(READ the article in Pop Science)
A Louisiana charity for sick kids granted a dying wish for ten-year-old Brennan Daigle who always wanted to become a soldier in the US Army.
Brennan has been battling a deadly disease but recently received a birthday party that included a “reception from a formation of soldiers, a ride in a camouflaged National Guard Humvee–and induction as an honorary member of the Army”.
After his mother created a Facebook page, people from around the world, including soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, have left comments of encouragement and support. One group of soldiers in Afghanistan posted a picture of themselves holding an American flag, and told Brennan: “We’re flying this flag in honor of you; we’re here to back you. Stay Army strong.”
(READ the story in Yahoo News)
A Louisiana charity for sick kids granted a dying wish for ten-year-old Brennan Daigle who always wanted to become a soldier in the US Army.
Brennan has been battling a deadly disease but recently received a birthday party that included a “reception from a formation of soldiers, a ride in a camouflaged National Guard Humvee–and induction as an honorary member of the Army”.
As charities rush to help with humanitarian needs in earthquake-struck Japan, US telephone and cable carriers are offering free calls overseas for their customers. Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, and even Comcast announced they will automatically cover the cost of calls or text messages to Japan in response to the unfolding crisis.
(READ the story in NJ.com)
The secret to Michael White’s success is satisfaction — for his customers.
White, 29, was recently named the Customer Service Contact Professional of the Year at the 5th annual Stevie Awards honoring the accomplishments of customer service professionals worldwide. And White is definitely a man who turns frowns upside-down.
As the Service Desk Supervisor at Bethesda, MD-based Catapult Technology, White is instrumental in managing the help line for the General Services Administration’s 17,000 employees who ring whenever there is a hardware or software issue at their desk or in their division.
White and his team field a staggering 440,000-plus customer contacts a year – from phone calls and emails to automated requests.
That’s a lot of potentially unhappy customers with a range of issues. But White, who started as a service agent in 2007, came to a simple conclusion early on.
“We looked at the service desk knowing we cannot resolve every call,” he says. “But we can make every call a rewarding experience.”
His goal was to raise customer satisfaction levels from the current 76 percent. His strategy called for cranking up the “soft” skills: “The technical expertise was great, but we needed to train the agents to smile while on the phone, to be polite, not to use technical terms, and to treat every customer as if they were VIPS.”
A little bit of the human touch can go a long way – even when you’re dealing with technology.
Apparently the satisfaction came shining through: In 2008, customer reviews of their performance rose to 92 percent and then spiked again the following year to nearly 96 percent.
Part of White’s job is to personally step in when a problem or call escalates. He feels particularly satisfied whenever a customer begins a call “angry and swearing” and ends up thanking him by the time the call is through.
“It’s pretty much something I’ve always been able to do,” he says.
And where many others might feel the stress and strain of a job which, by its very nature, invites complaints, White says: “I have found a way to enjoy work no matter what the stress level. Most of us have to work for many years, so we might as well enjoy our jobs.”
The Fifth Annual Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service were presented February 21 at a ceremony in Miami Beach.
Winners of multiple Stevie Awards this year include Overstock.com, Rosetta Stone, Bulldog Solutions, CIGNA Government Services, Marsh U.S. Consumer, salesforce.com, Canada’s SMART Technologies, and SuiteAmerica Corporate Housing. Other notable Stevie winners include Apple, L.L. Bean, the United Kingdom’s T-Mobile, and Zappos.com. A complete list of all honorees by category is available at www.stevieawards.com.
Organizers of the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington D.C. are urging people to donate to the American Red Cross for earthquake relief efforts in Japan ahead of the festival that honors US-Japanese relations.
Plans are in the works to recognize the tragedy during the festival.
(READ the AP story at WUSA TV-9)
The Japanese people are demonstrating a true allegiance to social order and calm as they search for loved ones or wait in lines for basic necessities.
There is not a hint of looting or violence, even as residents must wait in line for 12 hours to buy food. Everyone remains calm and polite, earning the admiration of the world.
“Supermarkets are cutting prices and vending machine owners giving out free drinks as people work together to survive,” remarked a writer in the Telegraph, as he wondered why we saw looting in disasters past, but not in Japan.
There were also reports of citizens voluntarily turning their lights and appliances off, so as to save energy for the rest of the population.
(WATCH the video below, or read the report by ABC’s Diane Sawyer)
The Japanese people are demonstrating a true allegiance to social order and calm as they search for loved ones or wait in lines for basic necessities.
There is not a hint of looting or violence, even as residents must wait in line for 12 hours to buy food. Everyone remains calm and polite, earning the admiration of the world.
Soldiers from the Japanese Defense Force going door-to-door yesterday, pulling bodies from homes flattened by the earthquake and tsunami in a northeast coastal town, heard the cries of a baby girl from amid the rubble.
They carefully removed fragments of wood, shattered glass and rock. And then they saw her: a four-month old baby girl in a pink woolen bear suit, all alone.
The tidal wave literally swept the unnamed girl away from her parents’ arms when it hit their home… But soldiers managed to reunite the baby with her overjoyed father shortly after the rescue.
(READ the story in Time magazine)
“Egypt’s interior minister has dissolved the country’s state security agency, which is accused of torture and other human rights abuses during ousted President Hosni Mubarak’s nearly 30-year rule,” reported the Associated Press today.
Read the news update at NPR…
In just 48 hours, Lady Gaga’s 8.8 million fans have raised a quarter of a million dollars for the Japanese relief effort. But Gaga isn’t the only one urging fans to donate. Like her “Japan Prayer Bracelets” that galvanized the donations, artists are getting creative for a cause.
Yesterday, Simon Cowell announced via Twitter that Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, and Katy Perry would be among those set to record a new song to benefit the Japanese victims.
In just 48 hours, Lady Gaga’s 8.8 million fans have raised a quarter of a million dollars for the Japanese relief effort. But Gaga isn’t the only one urging fans to donate. Like her “Japan Prayer Bracelets” that galvanized the donations, artists are getting creative for a cause.
Yesterday, Simon Cowell announced via Twitter that Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, and Katy Perry would be among those set to record a new song to benefit the Japanese victims.
Swedish doctor Hans Rosling created a visual animated chart showing the amazing progress in health and income statistics for 200 countries since 1810.
Rooted in enthusiasm and also in fact, Rosling shows us how dramatically successful our progress has been — whether African, Asian or American — allowing us to re-imagine the future of humanity with greater optimism.
The audience assembled at an arts-centered middle school in Virginia cheered wildly today as President Obama called for a rewrite of the nation’s education policy known as No Child Left Behind.
He told the group at Kenmore Middle School in Arlington that he knew it wouldn’t be easy, but the task will be informed by nearly a decade of lessons from the policy’s successes and failures.
“It’s not enough to leave ‘No Child Behind’. We need to help every child get ahead.” (Photo: Art students present their work at Kenmore Middle school)
The audience assembled at an arts-centered middle school in Virginia cheered wildly today as President Obama called for a rewrite of the nation’s education policy known as No Child Left Behind.
He told the group at Kenmore Middle School in Arlington that he knew it wouldn’t be easy, but the task will be informed by nearly a decade of lessons from the policy’s successes and failures.
“It’s not enough to leave ‘No Child Behind’. We need to help every child get ahead.” (Photo: Art students present their work at Kenmore Middle school)
As of Sunday evening, 101,924 had clicked “Like” on the Dog Bless You Facebook fan page, meaning the Annenberg Foundation will donate $200,000 toward sending search and rescue dogs to help in Japan with earthquake and tsunami response.
Dog Bless You is a project of the Annenberg Foundation designed to highlight the selfless acts of dogs.
The recipient of the funds, the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, has already deployed twelve canines with handlers to Japan to begin search and rescue missions in the Ofunato City area on the North East coast where the skills of rescue dogs are critically needed to find people trapped in the rubble. They head out today with teams from Fairfax County, VA Urban Search and Rescue and Los Angeles Search and Rescue providing their “BARK” alerts whenever the dogs sense anyone alive in the rubble.
As of Sunday evening, 101,924 had clicked “Like” on the Dog Bless You Facebook fan page, meaning the Annenberg Foundation will donate $200,000 toward sending search and rescue dogs to help in Japan with earthquake and tsunami response.
Dog Bless You is a project of the Annenberg Foundation designed to highlight the selfless acts of dogs.
The recipient of the funds, the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, has already deployed twelve canines with handlers to Japan to begin search and rescue missions in the Ofunato City area on the North East coast where the skills of rescue dogs are critically needed to find people trapped in the rubble. They head out today with teams from Fairfax County, VA Urban Search and Rescue and Los Angeles Search and Rescue providing their “BARK” alerts whenever the dogs sense anyone alive in the rubble.
