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“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a...

2012-01-16T17:02:00Z

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Photo: Marion S. Trikosko, 1964.

LADY GAGA sends anti-bullying message to Toronto school [video]

2012-01-05T14:59:00Z

Lady Gaga responds to a Toronto fan’s letter with a video message that he could use in his role as student council president at the Etobicoke School of the Arts (a suburb of Toronto, Canada). She is a strong advocate against intolerance and her goal is to get bullying legally recognized as a hate-crime. Kudos to you Lady Gaga. Good on you!

Read the full article and watch video now

SEE ALL POSTS for Lady Gaga

Give unwanted fish to the poor, says EU fisheries chief - The Guardian

2011-10-27T15:47:01Z

The Guardian

Give unwanted fish to the poor, says EU fisheries chief
The Guardian
Fish from European waters will be distributed to the poor as an alternative to throwing them away at sea, the EU fisheries chief told MPs on Thursday, as part of a sweeping reform of marine policy. Maria Damanaki, the European commissioner for ...
Plan to end fish discards revealedThe Press Association
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee hears from European Commission ...DeHavilland (press release) (subscription)

all 4 news articles »

Best Friends (4 Photos)

2011-10-24T14:09:11Z

Lily was puppy when she was struck down by a condition that caused her eyelashes to grow into her eyeballs, damaging them beyond repair. At the time, she was living with seven-year-old Great Dane, Maddison. Maddison knew instantly that Lily was blind and took her under her wing. Since then, the two have been inseparable:

‘Maddison is Lily’s guide dog. If they are out and about, for the majority of the time Maddison will lead and Lily will walk nearly touching her so she knows where to go. It’s lovely to watch. Maddison is always looking out for her. They curl up together to go to sleep as well.'

Sadly Lily and Maddison's owners were unable to look after the dogs and gave them to the Dogs Trust Re-Homing center in Shrewsbury, UK. The owner of the center wouldn't dare separate the best friends.

'The two Great Danes come as a package. There's no way they should ever be separated. I'm sure they will find a loving home soon.'

"Child sacrifice" in modern-day Africa

2011-10-14T17:37:00Z

Excerpts from a report at the BBC:

The villages and farming communities that surround Uganda's capital, Kampala, are gripped by fear.Schoolchildren are closely watched by teachers and parents as they make their way home from school... The mutilated bodies of children have been discovered at roadsides, the victims of an apparently growing belief in the power of human sacrifice...

Many believe that members of the country's new elite are paying witch doctors vast sums of money for the sacrifices in a bid to increase their wealth.

"Child sacrifice has risen because people have become lovers of money. They want to get richer," the pastor says. "They have a belief that when you sacrifice a child you get wealth, and there are people who are willing to buy these children for a price. So they have become a commodity of exchange, child sacrifice has become a commercial business."..

[UK-based charity, Jubilee Campaign] says in a report that the true number of cases is in the hundreds, and claims more than 900 cases have yet to be investigated by the police because of corruption and a lack of resources...

(I'll put the rest of the post below the fold for the benefit of the squeamish)

For our own inquiries, we posed as local businessmen and asked around for a witch doctor that could bring prosperity to our local construction company...

The witch doctor explained that this meeting was to discuss the most powerful spell - the sacrifice of a child. "There are two ways of doing this," he said. "We can bury the child alive on your construction site, or we cut them in different places and put their blood in a bottle of spiritual medicine."

Awali grabbed his throat. "If it's a male, the whole head is cut off and his genitals. We will dig a hole at your construction site, and also bury the feet and the hands and put them all together in the hole."

Awali boasted he had sacrificed children many times before and knew what he was doing. After this meeting, we withdrew from the negotiations.

We handed our notes to the police. Awali is still a free man...

Further details and some graphic images at the BBC.

Homeless mom prepares her daughter for school

2011-10-25T18:24:00Z

This photo by Gautam Basu is an entrant for the CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year award. Several dozen additional entrants are posted in a gallery at the Telegraph.

Via the Daily Mail.

TheSpec - Sally Ann needs school supplies

2011-08-12T22:02:54Z

School supply donations are being sought by the Salvation Army to help needy students when they go back to school next month. continue reading

Canadian Gov't proves to be hypocritical and perverse when it comes to asbestos

2011-07-01T03:02:39Z

For the sake of hundreds of jobs, $90 million a year in sales and our prime minister’s refusal to be wrong about anything, Canada is now the world’s only developed nation to not formally acknowledge chrysotile asbestos as a carcinogen. Canada itself bans the use of asbestos in construction. So serious is it about this ban that when it drew up plans to repair parliamentary buildings in Ottawa, it budgeted millions of dollars to rid them of asbestos. So when Canada’s representatives last week rejected medically accepted fact – exposure to asbestos can cause cancer – it took a stance that was beyond hypocritical. It was perverse. ... continue reading at montrealgazette.com

Food Bank Shortages Lead To Innovation : NPR

2011-06-25T16:55:37Z

Food banks around the country are trying to keep their shelves stocked as more people in the U.S. struggle to get enough to eat. Increasingly, that means finding new ways to salvage food that would otherwise go to waste.

One innovation is being tested at the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northeast Tennessee. In a back room at the food bank's warehouse in Gray, Tenn., dented and crushed cans containing everything from green beans to beets are piled high on a counter.

In the past, these cans all would have been thrown out, because no one knew whether bacteria had slipped through a crack, spoiling the contents.

But Scott Kinney, who's in charge of finding food supplies for the food bank, says that might be about to change.

... < ahref="http://www.npr.org/2011/06/25/137375088/food-bank-shortages-lead-to-innovation?ft=1&f=">continue reading

Community project gets dozens of Hollywood's homeless off the streets

2011-05-22T07:00:00Z

A pilot program started by local volunteers, businesses and aid workers has provided housing and social services for 37 of the area's most vulnerable homeless, and 34 more will get housing soon.

They call him the "Godfather."

Richmond Hill student, 16, discovers new hope for cystic fibrosis treatment

2011-05-16T10:33:00Z

A 16-year-old student wins a science competition for his discovery of a new drug combination that could potentially be used to treat cystic fibrosis.

Honest Teen Gets the $2K She Found in Parking Lot

2011-05-12T21:45:33Z

A teenage girl who found $2,000 in a parking lot and turned it over to a nearby bank will be in the money after all following a hasty about-face from the Dallas Police Department.

Quake worst to hit Spain in decades

2011-05-12T17:40:20Z

Residents on Thursday surveyed damage and tried to take in what is being called the worst earthquake to hit Spain in 30 years.

India Neglecting Young Girls Despite Booming Economy

2011-05-04T16:02:11Z

MORENA, India -- The room is large and airy, the stone floors clean and cool – a welcome respite from the afternoon sun. Until your eyes take in the horror that it holds. Ten severely malnourished children – nine of them girls.

The starving girls in this hospital ward include a 21-month-old with arms and legs the size of twigs and an emaciated 1-year-old with huge, vacant eyes. Without urgent medical care, most will not live to see their next birthday.

Paralyzed kangaroo helped by anonymous donor

2011-04-22T07:33:01Z

Donor buys $50K insurance policy to help Okla. woman keep her partially paralyzed red kangaroo named Irwin as therapy pet

3,200 Gulf oil wells abandoned and unprotected

2011-04-20T11:46:34Z

Unplugged wells could easily repressurize and leak; 60 percent of 50,000 wells ever built in Gulf unmonitored

Japan tsunami washes away entire town [video]

2011-04-17T21:36:00Z

This is disturbing! Especially to hear the people standing up on a ridge who are watching their town
– and their homes – being washed away by the tsunami.

via newser.com

› posted by 411ViP.com ‹‹‹ web | blog ››› For the ViP in you!

Free $25 gift card to DonorsChoose (ended)

2011-03-30T01:51:17Z

If you have never been to DonorsChoose – go there right now – then come back here and read this post.

DonorsChoose allows people to pick from a wide selection of education related projects available for funding. You pick where the donation goes and whom gets impacted. Teachers and educators around the country can post up projects.

Projects tend to range from smaller things like a few books, to very large projects involving some pretty high-tech stuff. Take a look around, see what is available for funding in your area, or in your home town. We found this site about a year ago after hearing about it from Tim Ferriss (author of 4 hour work week) – which is a great book if you haven’t read it.

DonorsChoose also allows you to create giving pages, so you can compete with your friends in a friendly competition or just select projects that you feel strongly about – and let your friends/readers/customers etc know about it. While not every project is perfect there are a lot of great requests on the site and best of all you can actually see what effect your donation is having.

An automatic donation to DonorsChoose is included with every gift, in the checkout area, you can select what percentage (or none) you wish to donate directly to DonorsChoose to fund their operational expenses. If you are the donor that funds the final portion of the project they will send you thank you notes if you request. For those who are looking to donate in memory or honor of someone that’s an option as well.

So now onto the $25 gift cards – we have a limited number of these available – I spent sometime thinking up ways to give these out – but the important thing is that you get one and use it. So the big criteria is that it gets used. So here’s how this will work. The first five people who post a comment below and link to a project on donors choose that you support – will get a gift card.

If there is already five comments here – with “winners” – then post a comment as well and then we will draw the commentator to give away the others. The drawing will take place on April 7, 2011.

We considered turning this into a writing contest with one entry going for every article about the charity of your choice you submitted – if you like that format of a contest – please post a reply or send us an email.

Remember it’s always good to give back.

Curious how DonorsChoose ranks on CharityNavigator — 4 stars (top rating)?

UPDATE 4/8/11:
The contest is now over, thank you to everyone who participated. We have given away the gift cards that were donated as well as the ones that we funded.

Hackett London launches “Hope” polo shirt to support the victims of the Japanese Earthquake

2011-03-30T01:00:36Z

British Gentlemen's clothing company Hackett London is launching a limited edition polo shirt to help the victims of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami with all profits being donated to the Japan Society "Tohoku Earthquake Relief Fund". The polo shirt has been designed with traditional Japanese embroidery of the cherry blossom ...

Fashion Designers Offer Japan Relief Items

2011-03-24T20:39:36Z

As we’ve all seen, the devastation in Japan is unbelievable. Aside from the lives lost, the World Bank is estimating the damages could cost $235 billion and take five years to rebuild.

Designers across the US are offering their support with some chic fashion, with proceeds benefiting the victims of the tragedy. See below, click and buy for all your friends!

Tory B loves Japan.

Tory Burch is donating 100% of proceeds from their Japan Relief T-Shirt to the American Red Cross, through September 15, 2011. Aside from the fact that the $29 tee helps an important cause, we have to say: really really cute. Tory will also throw in free standard shipping.

In case you didn’t know, the spade is Kate’s new lil logo!

Kate Spade has made this Support Japan Tote and is selling them for only $18. All 100% of proceeds will benefit the Japanese Red Cross Society. That should equate to a lot of cashola because the last time I checked tote bags cost only about .50.

I’d wear this when I work out, if I ever worked out.

Opening Ceremony has a cool, Red Cross Japan Tee for sale, with 100% of proceeds benefiting the American Red Cross. The $30 tee can be worn as an oversize tee (as shown) or with the sleeves cut off, if you’re a guy.

I seriously have been meaning to buy a red handbag to go with all my black.

If you’re in the market for a new handbag, spend your bones on one that helps Nihon. Rebecca Minkoff has three red Japan Relief handbags available for your perusal, and she’ll donate $100 from each sold to the American Red Cross. Prices range from $295 to $495.

If you’re not into these items, you can always donate to the Red Cross by texting REDCROSS to 90999 (they simply add $10 to your phone bill for the American Red Cross in support of Japan). Have more you’re willing to share? Good for you! You can always donate any amount straight through their Web site here. Skip your Friday night out and do it.