Sunday, February 20, 2011 Tiny Superheroes Don Capes and Do Good  "We saw someone next door and we said hi. And we gave him flowers. And we tell him he could come to our school." 3 year-old Cooper Spataro and his classmates are "superheroes of kindness," performing weekly acts of good will that include cleaning school windows and delivering paper flowers to residents of an assisted living community. Teacher Kristal Burns came up with the concept after discovering Laura Miller, aka Secret Agent L. "We were talking about how wonderful it would be to teach the kids to do that. At the same time, we love superheroes and we want to be superheroes, but superheroes often hit and punch. Why don't we be superheroes of kindness?" Since the kids became superheroes, Burns has noticed a change. "We're not telling them that they have to help someone, now they just see it." Read More >>
back to top  Saturday, February 19, 2011 Change Your Life with a Thank-You Note  It all started three years ago. John Kralik's life was really going down the tubes, personally and professionally, when one day, while walking, he heard an inner voice telling him to start writing thank you notes. So he sent a note of appreciation to his daughter's piano teacher. And then to the woman who cuts his hair. And the barista at the coffee shop, just for trying to remember his name. By the end of that year, John had written 365 thank-you notes. He's even written a book about how they have changed his fortune. Read More >>
back to top Friday, February 18, 2011 London's Cycle Superhighways Hailed as a Success  Transport for London say the two new Superhighways have been a big success, with an average usage increase of 70%. The traffic on these Superhighways, which connect parts of London to the financial City, is bicycles. Mayor of London's transport advisor, Kulveer Ranger, said: "This research shows that people do believe the routes are of value, make them feel safer, and are allowing them to take direct and continuous routes into central London." Two more cycling routes will open this summer. Read More >>
back to top Thursday, February 17, 2011 A Neighbor's Kind Act  They lived across the street from each other for years, but didn't know each other well. James Bronson was a fixture in Adams Morgan, a retired barber who'd been greeting passerby from his front stoop for more than 3 decades. John O'Leary was 25 years younger, a sound engineer who'd bought his six-bedroom townhouse just as the neighborhood was beginning to gentrify. Not the likeliest of roommates. But when Mr. Bronson lost his home and had nowhere to go, O'Leary took him in rent-free. It was a split-second decision that would profoundly change both their lives. Read More >>
back to top Wednesday, February 16, 2011 The 3 A's of Awesome  It's the little things in life. The waitress who notices your empty glass, and refills it without asking. Grabbing hold of a tissue, right before a sudden sneeze. The sound of snow falling. Freshly laundered clothes... An observer of life's smiling snapshots, Neil Pasricha reveals 3 secrets (all starting with A) to leading a life that's truly awesome. Read More >>
back to top Tuesday, February 15, 2011 Over Ten Thousand People Attend His Funeral  Government officials shut down the streets. As everyone silently stood in line to pay the final respects, the magic of Ishwar-kaka was evident -- the richest men in the country stood next to human-waste scavengers next to powerful politicians next to reknowned Gandhians next to vegetable sellers next to his next-door neighbors next to kids who had merely read about him. A humble man who built over 200,000 toilets and helped launched 118 organizations that would elevate the work of sanitation across India. Wise men say that you die the way you have lived. For a vast cross section of society, Ishwar Patel was a hero. Read More >>
back to top Monday, February 14, 2011 Mind vs. Machine  In the race to build computers that can think like humans, the proving ground is the Turing Test-an annual battle between the world's most advanced artificial-intelligence programs and ordinary people. The objective? To find out whether a computer can act "more human" than a person. In his own quest to beat the machines, the author discovers that the march of technology isn't just changing how we live, it's raising new questions about what it means to be human. Read More >>
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Camellias are flowers that often have showy blooms, some as big as plates. Their leaves can also make tea. But their standout trait is timing: they blossom in winter. [ 
Do you remember the name of your kindergarden teacher? I do, mine. Her name was Mrs White. I don't remember much about what we learned in her class, but my mother once told me that we used to write a lot. And I would bring back what I wrote and she would look at it and see there were so many mistakes. But no red corrections. And always a star. Sometimes even a Good! scrawled in that would make my heart soar with happiness. But it worried my mother, so one day when she went in to meet Mrs White for one of those Parent-Teacher meetings, she asked her why she never corrected my mistakes... [ 
A pat on the back, a caress of the arm--these are everyday, incidental gestures that we usually take for granted. But after years spent immersed in the science of touch, University of California, Berkeley, psychology professor Dacher Keltner has found that the power of touch is much more profound than we usually realize. In this Greater Good magazine essay, he argues that touch is our primary language of compassion, and a primary means for spreading compassion. He reports on a wave of studies that have documented incredible emotional and physical health benefits that come from touch, suggesting that touch is truly fundamental to human communication, bonding, and health. [ 
As he knelt on the bedroom floor, on the phone with 911, something had gone wrong. When your wife is pregnant, no one tells you, "By the way, she might skip labor, suddenly fall to the floor, and give birth. Oh, and the umbilical cord might be tangled around the baby's neck five times." But that's what happened to Josh Levs. In less than 15 minutes, with only instinct and the 911 operator to guide him, Levs delivers and brings his un-breathing baby to life. He reflects, "When it's up to you to help your kid take his first breaths, you appreciate not only his but your own life in a new way." [ 
"The notion that one can do anything is liberating. But life without constraints has also proved a recipe for endless searching, endless questioning of aspirations. It has made this generation obsessed with self-development and determined, for as long as possible, to minimise personal commitments in order to maximise the options open to them... At what point, though, does the experience-seeking end?" Reflecting on professional development in an age of possibility, Thomas Barlow proposes a counterintuitive solution: "Perhaps living life to the fullest is as much about closing possibilities than creating them." [ 
Philippe Croizon lived a rather normal life with his family until a severe electric shock accident led to the amputation of all four of his limbs. Undeterred by his handicap, Philippe decided to swim the English Channel and eventually went on to become the first quadruple amputee to achieve the feat. Watch how Philippe prepared himself for this remarkable challenge! [ 
