As part of Dove’s ongoing “Campaign for Real Beauty”, they conducted a social experiment by having an FBI trained forensic sketch artist draw women as described by themselves, and then as described by a stranger they had just met.

Only 4% of women around the world consider themselves beautiful. At Dove, we are committed to creating a world where beauty is a source of confidence, not anxiety. So, we decided to conduct a compelling social experiment that explores how women view their own beauty in contrast to what others see.

Update: Here is some additional information about the data and statistics behind Dove’s “Real Truth About Beauty” survey research report.

via Bloomberg Businessweek
images via Dove Real Beauty Sketches

How’s your new year going so far? Need a little boost of encouragement? Maybe you need a pep talk from Kid President!

What will you create that will make the world awesome? Nothing if you keep sitting there. That’s why I’m talking to you today. This is your time. This is my time. It’s our time.

 

You can make everyday better for each other. If we are all on the same team let’s start acting like it. We got work to do. We can cry about it or we can dance about it. We were made to be awesome.

This video was created by SoulPancake. Founded in 2008 by actor Rainn Wilson, SoulPancake “develops thought-provoking content and creative engagement opportunities that encourage people to explore what it means to be human.”

So, are you encouraged now? Did that pep talk get your thoughts provoked? Then don’t just sit there… get dancing!

The world needs you, stop being boring. … Create something that will make the world awesome.

via Devour

Cayden Long, age 7, suffers from cerebral palsy, but his older brother Conner, age 9, doesn’t let that stop them from playing sports together.

They participated in their first triathlon as “Team Long Brothers” on June 5th, 2011 and over the last 18 months have competed in 14 races. Conner tows Cayden in a raft while swimming, pulls him in a trailer for cycling and pushes the trailer during the run.

Ten years from now the perfect place for me and Cayden would be… [to] have the Team Long Brothers flag on the moon.

– Conner Long

The brothers were honored as 2012 SportsKids of the Year at a star-studded event in New York as part of the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year ceremony.

Parents Jenny and Jeff Long are working on starting the Team Long Brothers Foundation:

“Our ultimate goal of Team Long Brothers is to form a non-profit organization which will provide advice, emotional, spiritual and financial support to groups and families of disabled children. We hope you will consider helping us get the Team Long Brothers Foundation off the ground by considering a donation. Our goal is to apply for official non-profit status by the first quarter of 2013.”

via Devour
photo source: SI Kids

Afraid of getting coal in your stocking this year? Turn your bad deed into a win for the environment at Offset Your Naughty. Creative agency Carmichael Lynch is purchasing a carbon offset (equivalent to one metric ton of carbon dioxide emissions) for every confession, up to 400 entries.

Carmichael Lynch’s purchase of 400 metric tons is equivalent to planting 10,256 tree seedlings and growing them for 10 years, or preserving 4 acres from being deforested for a year.

So go ahead, get off that naughty list!

British philosopher Alan Watts asks the question “What would you do with your life if money was no object?”

So I always ask the question, what would you like to do if money were no object? How would you really enjoy spending your life?

 

… do that and forget the money, because, if you say that getting the money is the most important thing, you will spend your life completely wasting your time. You’ll be doing things you don’t like doing in order to go on living, that is to go on doing things you don’t like doing, which is stupid. Better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing than a long life spent in a miserable way.

So, how would you really enjoy spending your life?

In this followup film to Caine’s Arcade, the Imagination Foundation is announcing the launch of the first ever Global Cardboard Challenge, inviting the world to play while raising funds to foster creativity and entrepreneurship in kids.

The Global Cardboard Challenge is the next chapter of a global movement growing out of the short film “Caine’s Arcade,” which shared the inspiring story of 9-year-old Caine Monroy’s cardboard arcade with the world.

 

On October 6th, the one year anniversary of the flashmob of surprise customers in “Caine’s Arcade”, hundreds of Cardboard Challenge events around the world will celebrate creativity, imagination, and community.

There are over 150 event organizers in 25 countries who have already signed up. You can get involved by hosting your own event or attending one near you.

Have fun on October 6th!

This Mother’s Day, the World of Children Award reminds us of the original meaning and message of this special day.

For nearly a century, we have recognized Mother’s Day as a national holiday that celebrates the special bond between mother and child. It began in 1870 as the Mother’s Day Proclamation, an attempt to call women together in support of disarmament. Later on, a woman named Anna Jarvis took up the cause to fulfill her mother’s dream of creating a celebration of mothers. President Woodrow Wilson finally declared it an official holiday in 1914.

– from Taking the “Hallmark” Out of Mother’s Day

Read their full story and if you are still looking for something for mom consider giving her a gift that supports children in need via their special “Thank You” e-card program or supporting their partnership with Giftback.

via Alison from World of Children Award

A group of Orange County college students who are huge Pixar fans created a working replica of the Pizza Planet truck that has appeared in every Pixar feature film except for The Incredibles. Pixar found out about their project and invited them, and the truck, to visit Pixar’s Emeryville, CA studio.

We are a rag-tag team of artist, film students and movie buffs determined to complete our dream; visit Pixar.

 

After countless hours of research and labor, we have built a real-life working replica of Pixar’s iconic Pizza Planet truck. Armed with a few cameras, some maps and fair amount of gas money, we hope to make new friends and have some fun adventures as we embark on a road trip up the coast.

They were even able to grab the “RES1536″ license plate that the car has in the films from the California DMV. You can learn more about their awesome project and recent studio visit on their website: The Road To Pixar.

via a The Positive Day reader tip. Thanks!

Inspired by the enthusiasm of the kids that participated in The Great Paper Airplane Fly-Off, the PIMA Air & Space Museum in Tucson, AZ constructed and launched a 45-foot long paper airplane.

After it was lifted off the ground by its nose, our giant paper airplane rose and rose until it began swaying pretty heavily in the wind (a product of our having to delay the launch until the evening instead the calmer morning). Aaron, our helicopter pilot then gave the order to cut the plane loose from the cable when it began to pull the chopper itself in a strong gust. But after it was released, for several shining moments, our huge, beautiful, silly, hubristic 45-foot paper airplane soared.

via Laughing Squid

Max Schlickenmeyer has put together a beautiful and inspiring video mashup that reminds us that we are all interconnected.

In 2008 Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked by TIME magazine a series of ten reader-submitted questions. One of the questions was “What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?”

So that when I look up at the night sky and I know that yes we are part of this universe, we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the Universe is in us.

– Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson

As Carl Sagan said, “We’re made of star stuff“.

Need a hug? Well The Nicest Place on the Internet has you covered. Creators Lauren Perlow and Jeff Lam came up with the idea after having “one of those days” at work. They took to the streets of San Francisco one weekend with a camera and a tripod and filmed the first batch of videos.

What we craved was something honest and good, unhappiness-offsetting, fail-proof and grin-inducing.

– Lauren Perlow & Jeff Lam, co-creators

Since launching last November they’ve received hug video submissions from around the world from places like Argentina, the Baltic Sea, Moscow, Brazil and Jakarta. And their videos have now received over 5 million views.

The site even has a feature that lets you create your own personalized “love mixtape” to send to loved ones by simply entering a list of YouTube video IDs you want to include.

Magical, simply magical.

via Grace Kim (@grace_k)

Andy Smallman inspires his students to practice kindness.

The latest story from the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation’s “Everyday People, Everyday Kindness” Campaign is about the Puget Sound Community School where the focus is not only on academics but on the “full range of human development”, with integrity, character and kindness at its foundation.

Students are here because they want to be here. They’re doing what they want to do because we let them do what they want to do. And interestingly enough when you put kids in that environment what they want to do is develop themselves and grow.

– Andy Smallman, PSCS Founder & School Director

With such a positive, nurturing and loving educational environment no wonder the students say they “enjoy waking up and going to school”!

This video was produced by San Francisco based Storytellers for Good, “a team of passionate journalists and photographers who seek to use their skills to inspire optimism and change.”

Matt Morris Films brings us this wonderful short documentary about 88-year-old Bermudian Johnny Barnes who gets up at 2am each weekday so he can spend 6 hours each morning waving and spreading joy to motorists from a traffic circle. Johnny has gotten the nicknames “Mr. Happy Man” and “Mr. Good Morning” from those in the community where he’s obviously had a great and positive impact.

There was a morning when I was traveling into the city. It was not a happy morning and I could see in the distance Johnny Barnes and I had made up my mind I was not going to look because I wanted to hold on to my unhappy moment. But I ended up looking at him and sure enough he forced me to smile and remember that I had a choice for my day: to smile and be happy or carry this heavy weight of anger with me. That’s what he reminds me of everyday; that there’s a choice in how we start our day.

Thanks to Matt Morris and everyone involved in this project for sharing Johnny with the world. And thanks to Johnny for reminding us all that we too have a choice in how we want to face our day, each and every day.

via Laughing Squid

As the title suggests, this really is one happy dog! This video was originally uploaded to Dogwork.com, a site dedicated to “enjoying life with our pets” and to “promote animal adoptions and animal welfare.”

They suggest living your life with the philosophy of a dog will lead to a better and happier life. After watching that video, we’d have to agree. Here’s some “dog philosophy” they share that we fully agree with:

• Open your heart to the ones you love.
• Be loyal, you will keep friends for life.
• Be yourself and you will always have true friends.
• Allow people to love you.
• Celebrate if you feel like it.

What dog-like philosophy do you live by?

Go ahead, laugh, it's good for you!

If laughter is the best medicine, then here’s a double dose!

“Laughs” is created completely out of clips found on YouTube by Everynone, a filmmaking team located in New York. This infectious footage takes us through a lifetime of laughter.

Discovery News takes a look at the science behind laughter’s effects in their Why? Tell Me Why! series.

We know that laughter releases endorphins… by releasing these powerful pain killing chemicals … it also helps the heart.

So, go ahead and have a good laugh!

Forward, Marc de Hond

In the short documentary “Doorgaan” (keep on going) filmmaker Tom Poederbach and reporter Thomas Rijsman follow the Dutch National Wheelchair Basketball Team as they prepare and train to reach their goal of competing at the 2012 Paralympic games in London and going for gold.

It took me about 5 years to realize that I could still play sports… even though I can’t walk any more. I joined a wheelchair basketball training once and I’ve been hooked ever since. — Marc de Hond, Forward

Coach van der Linden calling the shots.

Their coach, Gertjan van der Linden, spent 24 years playing on the Dutch National team and joined in 5 Paralympics wining both gold and silver.

He was the best player in the world. I think he’s a great coach. I think he’s very capable of taking our team to great heights.

The next stop in their journey is qualifying at the European Championship taking place this month, Sept. 8th – 17th in Nazareth, Israel.

via Socially Minded Documentaries on Vimeo

Fukuda still teaches judo three times a week at her SF dojo.

Last month, 98 year old Keiko Fukuda was awarded judo’s highest honor: the 10th degree black belt. She is only the 4th person in history, and the first woman, to reach this level.

She is the last surviving student of Dr. Kano, the founder of Judo, and still teaches three times a week at her Noe Valley studio, Soko Joshi Judo Club, in San Francisco. Her motto is “Be gentle, kind, and beautiful, yet firm and strong, both mentally and physically.”

In 1934 Keiko Fukuda was preparing for marriage, like most young women in Japan. Then she met Jigoro Kano (founder of judo) and radically altered her life path. She gave up marriage, family, and her home-land to pursue her life destiny.

A documentary film titled Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful, by director Yuriko Gamo Romer, about Fukuda’s inspirational life is currently in post production and scheduled for release in early 2012.

Update: There is now a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the finishing of the movie!

via the San Francisco Chronicle

On October 10th, 2010, thousands of people from every country in the world (190 of them) documented their day and “contributed their voice to the largest participatory media event in history.”

The ambitious One Day on Earth project was started in Sept 2008 by Kyle Ruddick with the goal of creating a global media event capturing the diversity of the human experience in a single 24 hour period. After two years of grassroots efforts a date was finally set and on 10/10/10 over 3,000 hours of footage was captured from every corner on the planet.

We follow characters and events that evolve throughout the day, interspersed with expansive global montages that explore the progression of life from birth, to death, to birth again. In the end, despite unprecedented challenges and tragedies throughout the world, we are reminded that every day we are alive there is hope and a choice to see a better future together.

One Day on Earth is funded by donations and volunteers and they are currently raising funds via a Kickstarter campaign help get through editing (a herculean effort to be sure!) and securing distribution.

You can also explore an amazing interactive map of all the raw videos shot (over 4,000!) for the project.

Explore all the videos taken from around the globe.

Plans are already underway for the next filming project day scheduled for November 11th, 2011 (11/11/11).

via Vimeo and Kickstarter

On Valentine’s Day 2011 Michael Fishbach, co-founder of the The Great Whale Conservancy, and his family and a few friends came across a young humpback whale entangled in a type of gillnet that is used by local fishermen.

Michael Fishbach spends two months in the Sea of Cortez every winter photographing blue, finback and humpback whales to help track of these magnificent animals across our oceans while observing their complex behaviors in the wild.

Valentina gives an amazing show to her rescuers

After a heroic and exhausting effort they were finally able to successfully free her. As a show of shear joy, and possibly a display of gratitude to her rescuers, the young Valentina danced along side their boat for the next hour.

You can donate to the The Great Whale Conservancy to support their amazing work.

Academy Award^® nominated director Roko Belic has spent the last 5 years filming and working on a new feature-length documentary called Happy that takes us on a trip around the globe — visiting 5 continents and 14 countries — exploring the power and mystery of happiness and searching for “a deeper understanding of why and how we can pursue more fulfilling, healthier and happier lives.”

HAPPY takes us on a journey from the swamps of Louisiana to the slums of Kolkata in search of what really makes people happy. Combining real life stories of people from around the world and powerful interviews with the leading scientists in happiness research, HAPPY explores the secrets behind our most valued emotion.

Happy is screening with showings last month in Spokane, WA, and is now playing this month in San Francisco, CA. Keep an eye out for it playing in a theater near you. You can also host your own screening or request that a specific theater schedule some dates.

We hope that the lessons learned through the film can not only help individuals find more peace and contentment in their own lives, but that the shift toward happiness will lead us to be more compassionate, less destructive and better citizens of the world.

via Roxie Theater & The Wall Street Journal