Sunday, May 23, 2010 Climbing Mount Everest  Standing at 26,028 feet (8,847 meters) above sea level, 13-year-old Jordan Romero became the youngest person to summit Mount Everest on Saturday. Before starting out, the determined young boy from Big Bear, California said he wanted to climb Everest to inspire more young people to get outdoors. "Obese children are the future of America, the way things are going," he said on April 9 in Kathmandu. "I am hoping to change that by doing what I do: climbing and motivational speaking." With this climb, Romera has now scaled six of the seven highest peaks on the seven continents. His next adventure? The Vinson Massif in Antarctica. Read More >>
back to top  Saturday, May 22, 2010 Solace through Hot Food  Last month, ash clouds spewed out of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano, causing air traffic in Europe to come to a sudden halt. With high hotel costs and expensive airport food, many stranded passengers found themselves tired, hungry, out of money, and making beds out of airport terminal chairs. In response, humanitarian relief organization United Sikhs arrived at London's Heathrow airport and began dolling out hot meals and drinks, free of charge. As part of an ongoing United Sikhs project called "Feed the Hungry," volunteers brought hot, homemade meals and drinks to the tired travelers. The kindness was contagious, as one grateful passenger jumped to help serve the food. "It mattered not that the stranded travelers...could have bought cold sandwiches available at high prices in an outlet. We needed to provide solace through hot food," said volunteer Jaswinder Kaur, who had been stranded at Frankfurt airport just two days earlier. Read More >>
back to top Friday, May 21, 2010 Pay What You Want  Dawn Frierdich stood at the counter. Surrounded by the rich aroma of freshly baked breads, pastries, and cookies, she finally settled on three loaves of bread and an iced tea. But when it came time to pay, her cashier, Mike Miller, redirected her to the donation jar on the counter. This week, Panera Bread Company, a national bakery and restaurant chain, launched its new nonprofit store in Clayton, Missouri with the same menu as its 1,400 other locations. But the prices are a little different- there aren't any. Customers are told to donate what they want for a meal, whether it's the suggested price, a penny, or $100. This new store is the first of what Panera hopes to be many around the nation. And based on the success of similar experiments, their prospects are high. Salt Lake City's One World Everybody Eats restaurant has been running on the honor system since 2003. "It somehow stays in balance," says One World restaurant founder Denise Cerreta, "I think people are ultimately good. They want to contribute." Read More >>
back to top Thursday, May 20, 2010 The World's Happiest People  "I'm always a happy person," says Nina Nielsen, 24, roaming a bustling street with her mother and friends in Denmark's capital of Copenhagen. In more than one study (including a 2009 report from Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development), residents of Denmark have been designated the happiest people in the world. What's their secret? A well-balanced lifestyle. A positive outlook, dedication to exercise (55% of Copenhagen residents ride bikes to work or school), government-funded health care and higher education, close family ties and a love of socializing. Though there is crime, and income tax can take away half of one's paycheck, the overall morale is high. "We are happy," says Jette, a mid-aged mother and energetic dental assistant who hosts tourists in her spare time. Her daughter Cecille chimes in, "We get money for going to school when we turn 18." Read More >>
back to top Wednesday, May 19, 2010 The I of Marriage  We all know there's no "I" in team. But a new study suggests that having too much "I" in marriage might be a problem as well. In a study that examined over 150 middle-aged and older married couples as they discussed a recent conflict, UC Berkeley researchers found that couples who used words like "we," "our," and "us" displayed high levels of positive emotional behavior and low levels of physiological stress. On the other hand, spouses who used "me/you" language experienced high levels of negative emotional behaviors and said they were more dissatisfied with their marriages. "It appears that pronouns," the authors conclude, "a seemingly innocuous part of everyday speech, provide an important window into the inner workings of intimate relationships." Read More >>
back to top Tuesday, May 18, 2010 Street-Corner Revolution...with Paint?  "That's public space. Nobody can us it." That was one Portland city official's response when Mark Lakeman and his neighbors first began building unauthorized gathering places in their neighborhood in 1996. To Lakeman, an urban designer, this seemed like a a fundamental misunderstanding of public space. Together with his neighbors, he formed the City Repair Project, a volunteer-run nonprofit that set out to change the way Portlanders think about the places where people come together. Starting by redesigning their own intersection, the group went on to organize neighbors, build benches, and paint streets throughout the city. Now, neighborhoods around the country are trying out City Repair's methods, and the city of Portland even passed an ordinance allowing neighborhoods to build gathering places in street intersections! Read More >>
back to top Monday, May 17, 2010 Dalai Lama on Buddhism in the West  When his brother died in Indiana in 2008, the Dalai Lama didn't make it to his funeral. When you believe in reincarnation, and that this life is just a doorway to the next, there's no great importance to funerals, his followers explained. Yet, two years later, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate finds himself standing at his brother's Indiana culture center, sharing insights on inner peace and happiness, the commonalities among world religions, and the importance of an unbiased press. One notable point rests in his view of Buddhism's role in the West: "Buddhist religion belongs to the East. The West, Judeo-Christian background you have your own rich tradition. There is no need for a new tradition. But Buddhist science, Buddhist philosophy is universal. So in the west...that is, I think, very useful to learn." Read More >>
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"I had come to Elko for their annual Cowboy Poetry Gathering. A first-timer, I was neither a cowboy nor a student of cowboy poetry, but I'd been enjoying the performances and the friendly atmosphere among the ranchers, cowboys and the friends of cowboy culture. It was the second day of the festival and I'd taken a break to visit Capriola's, a place famous for its western gear. Just outside the store I couldn't help but notice a striking figure, the first and only black cowboy I'd seen so far. I had no idea I was looking at Jim Brooks, a cowboy legend. It didn't take long to decide I had to make this stranger's acquaintance. I was in for some real surprises." And so begins Richard Whittaker's encounter with Jim Brooks, who explores the windy roads and lessons from his off-beaten path. [ 
From the age of 6, Susan Lieu was a powerhouse, answering the phone and removing customers' nail polish at her family's Bay Area nail salon. When she was 12, her world came crashing down when her mother, who had survived a harrowing escape from Vietnam years earlier, died unexpectedly of surgical complications. The experience took much from Lieu, but gave her something that sustains her to this day. After her mother's seemingly senseless death, Lieu said, "I was determined to have a purpose." Since then, the Oakland, CA resident has earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard, supported sustainable farming methods in Vietnam, worked with an AIDS project in an African refugee camp, and started a successful chocolate business. All in the span of a quarter-century! [ 
How many times have you heard the expression - maybe you've used it yourself: I'm going to wash my hands of something. Could there be more to the metaphor than meets the eye? Could washing your hands have some tangible effect on your thoughts? A study out recently in the journal Science suggests that the answer is yes, that hand washing can actually change your thinking. The author of the study, Mr. Lee, suggest that the concrete act of washing might provide a basis for the more complex, abstract concepts of morality and purity. [ 
"Any time I throw something away, I think of you." It sounds like an insult, but to Amy and Adam Korst, it's a typical compliment. Since July 2009, the young couple have been on a quest to answer the question: "Is it possible for a couple to live an entire year without placing trash in a landfill, in a country that produces more waste each year than any other country in the world?" According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average American produces 4.6 pounds of garbage every day. By this July, the Korsts will have kept one ton of garbage out of the landfill. And they still enjoy comfortable 21st century lifestyles: buying groceries, enjoying restaurants, and working as a teacher and photojournalist. "It's a typical misconception that in order to be an environmentalist, you have to give up everything you love," Amy explains. "I want people to feel like they can do something for the environment and not lose their creature comforts, and live a completely normal life." [ 
People don't just do things for money. At least that's what Daniel Pink says. "We do things because they're interesting, because they're engaging, because they're the right things to do, because they contribute to the world," Pink elaborates. In a world that operates on punishments and rewards, writers Clay Shirky and Daniel Pink are paving a new path. Both grew up in Midwest university towns in the 1970s, where they spent formative years watching television after school and at night. Both later went to Yale (a BA in painting for Shirky, a law degree for Pink). And both eventually abandoned their chosen fields, and are published authors and innovative thinkers on topics of technology, business, and society. Wired Magazine sat the two visionaries down for a conversation about motivation, television, and why people edit wiki articles in their free time. [ 
"I loved to write from the age of four, and when I was six my mom bought me my own laptop...I wrote over 300 short stories on that little laptop, and I wanted to get published. Instead of just scoffing at this heresy that a kid wanted to get published, or saying 'wait until you're older,' my parents were really supportive." Since publishing her first book at the age of 7, Adora Svitak, now 12, has spoken for hundreds of schools and educators. She calls for "childish" thinking to embrace bright and creative ideas that would otherwise be considered impractical by most adults. [ 
