If the Walls Could Speak
By Flickr Member Kevin LabiancoTuesday, March 24, 2009
Good News Stories From Mary March 24, 2009
In race against river, communities pull together
As the swelling Red River lapped within 30 feet of his back door, Carlis Kramer's property resembled nothing so much as a bustling construction site.
As the swelling Red River lapped within 30 feet of his back door, Carlis Kramer's property resembled nothing so much as a bustling construction site.
In a well-ordered ballet, four people loaded sandbags, four others hauled them to the house and another person stacked them into a dike.
Click here to read the rest of this story.
Obama: Long recovery effort will succeed
Recovery from the economic recession, now in its 16th month, will take a long time, President Barack Obama cautioned Tuesday evening, but he reassured Americans that he was making progress “on all fronts.”
“This crisis didn’t happen overnight,” Obama said in his second prime-time news conference. And the recovery will take “many months,” he said, because “we’ve accumulated structural deficits that are going to take a long time” to rectify.
Click here to read the rest of this story.
The hunt for the last Nazis
This avuncular 73-year-old is the epitome of politeness in his large office, with a photocopier whirring in the corner, brightly coloured document folders stuffed in many shelves, and cats tiptoeing over papers and desks.
But once, in 1973, Mr Klarsfeld, brandished a pistol in the street at a former World War II Nazi - Kurt Lischka, wartime Gestapo chief for Jewish affairs in France who was living comfortably in Cologne.
Click here to read the rest of this story.
The Guilted Age: Spending to Keep Others Afloat
Melanie Ulle and her husband are scrimping these days, and she feels guilty about the exotic foods -- the hummus, the naan, the chai -- that she stocks in her already-full kitchen each week.
Truth is, though, she'd feel worse if she stopped buying them.
Ms. Ulle likes the couple who runs the small ethnic market by her Denver home; she likes their kids, who play by the register after school. She sees how empty their shop is now. She's heard they've both taken second jobs. So, despite her own pinched budget, Ms. Ulle feels compelled to help them out. Each week, she faithfully runs up a bill close to $50.
Click here to read the rest of this story.
Good News for March 24 (posted by Mary Beth)
Selling The Silver Lining
"When it comes to the news of the day, there are two kinds of people: the Wallowers and the Deniers. Wallowers are the ones who soak up the latest unemployment statistics the day they come out. They actually open up their 401(k) statements rather than just shoving them to the bottom of a drawer and draw pleasure from rants about bloated execs who used federal bailout money to give themselves fat bonuses. The Deniers are the ones who turn their heads, choosing to immerse themselves in the "Back to the Future" trilogy or scrapbooking , turning off the news altogether. As a journalist, I've long been in Camp A."
Another new source discovers what we already knew! Read more about the subject by clicking here.
Mindful Eating, Mindless Sex: Our Inner Sense of Right & Wrong
"Imagine inviting some new neighbors to a dinner party. The first couple tells you they’d love to come. But, they warn, they think it’s immoral to eat animals, so please—vegetarian options only.
The second couple also wants to come, but—they’re almost embarrassed to mention it—they only eat locally grown food. No strawberries from Chili, or shrimp from Asia. Importing food from faraway countries damages the environment, they explain."
Click here for the rest of Chuck Colson's commentary.
Town salutes Illinois guardsman hurt in Afghan blast
"The long trip home from a devastating suicide blast in Afghanistan has felt like a dream for Spec. Daniel Acosta Jr., but none of it so much as his arrival Monday in Chicago.
He met his extended family at a yellow-ribboned gate in O'Hare International Airport. Firefighters and police officers were there to shake his hand. Former Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft happened by and did as well. Someone started singing 'God Bless America,' and everyone within earshot of Gate H6 joined in. A police escort—growing with each state-line town it passed—took him to Whiting, Ind., in a stretch Hummer."
For more on Spec. Acosta's homecoming, click here.
That's Funny? Jews in New Yorker Cartoons
"New Yorker cartoon editor Robert Mankoff tonight (3/24) is kicking off a New Center For Arts and Culture series with a talk on cartoons about Judaism. He was featured in Saturday's Globe talking generally about cartooning, but for the religion blog, I wanted to hear more about his thoughts about making fun of Jews, so I gave him a call."
Click here to read the interview.
Parrot honored for warning that girl was choking
"A parrot whose cries of alarm alerted his owner when a little girl choked on her breakfast has been honored as a hero.
Willie, a Quaker parrot, has been given the local Red Cross chapter's Animal Lifesaver Award."
Read the storyhere.
Spacewalking Teachers Display 'Right Stuff'
"Not everything went their way Monday, but two math and science teachers turned NASA astronauts demonstrated the right stuff as they joined forces for a stroll outside the international space station.
The 6½-hour spacewalk was the second outing each for Ricky Arnold and Joe Acaba, two of the shuttle Discovery's seven astronauts.
But it was their first without a veteran spacewalker alongside."
Read more about the mission by clicking here.
"When it comes to the news of the day, there are two kinds of people: the Wallowers and the Deniers. Wallowers are the ones who soak up the latest unemployment statistics the day they come out. They actually open up their 401(k) statements rather than just shoving them to the bottom of a drawer and draw pleasure from rants about bloated execs who used federal bailout money to give themselves fat bonuses. The Deniers are the ones who turn their heads, choosing to immerse themselves in the "Back to the Future" trilogy or scrapbooking , turning off the news altogether. As a journalist, I've long been in Camp A."
Another new source discovers what we already knew! Read more about the subject by clicking here.
Mindful Eating, Mindless Sex: Our Inner Sense of Right & Wrong
"Imagine inviting some new neighbors to a dinner party. The first couple tells you they’d love to come. But, they warn, they think it’s immoral to eat animals, so please—vegetarian options only.
The second couple also wants to come, but—they’re almost embarrassed to mention it—they only eat locally grown food. No strawberries from Chili, or shrimp from Asia. Importing food from faraway countries damages the environment, they explain."
Click here for the rest of Chuck Colson's commentary.
Town salutes Illinois guardsman hurt in Afghan blast
"The long trip home from a devastating suicide blast in Afghanistan has felt like a dream for Spec. Daniel Acosta Jr., but none of it so much as his arrival Monday in Chicago.
He met his extended family at a yellow-ribboned gate in O'Hare International Airport. Firefighters and police officers were there to shake his hand. Former Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft happened by and did as well. Someone started singing 'God Bless America,' and everyone within earshot of Gate H6 joined in. A police escort—growing with each state-line town it passed—took him to Whiting, Ind., in a stretch Hummer."
For more on Spec. Acosta's homecoming, click here.
That's Funny? Jews in New Yorker Cartoons
"New Yorker cartoon editor Robert Mankoff tonight (3/24) is kicking off a New Center For Arts and Culture series with a talk on cartoons about Judaism. He was featured in Saturday's Globe talking generally about cartooning, but for the religion blog, I wanted to hear more about his thoughts about making fun of Jews, so I gave him a call."
Click here to read the interview.
Parrot honored for warning that girl was choking
"A parrot whose cries of alarm alerted his owner when a little girl choked on her breakfast has been honored as a hero.
Willie, a Quaker parrot, has been given the local Red Cross chapter's Animal Lifesaver Award."
Read the storyhere.
Spacewalking Teachers Display 'Right Stuff'
"Not everything went their way Monday, but two math and science teachers turned NASA astronauts demonstrated the right stuff as they joined forces for a stroll outside the international space station.
The 6½-hour spacewalk was the second outing each for Ricky Arnold and Joe Acaba, two of the shuttle Discovery's seven astronauts.
But it was their first without a veteran spacewalker alongside."
Read more about the mission by clicking here.
Tuesday, March 24,2009 Good News Stories
Botox Frees Muscles for Stroke Patients in the Know
After her stroke, Francine V. Corso, a software engineer who worked on NASA’s lunar lander, was housebound from 1992 to 2001.
Her left arm was twisted up near her neck, making it difficult to pull on a blouse, and her fingers curled so rigidly that her nails buried themselves in her palm. When she finally learned to rise from her wheelchair, her contorted left leg had the so-called horse gait of many brain-injury victims — she stepped toe-downward, and then fought to keep her foot from rolling over.
Now, with injections of botulinum toxin every three months, she says, 'I’m completely transformed — I drive, I volunteer, I take art classes.' Her fingers are so relaxed that a manicurist can lacquer her nails red."
Click here to read more.
7 Rules for Eating
"We Americans suffer a national eating disorder: our unhealthy obsession with healthy eating.
That's the diagnosis delivered by food author Michael Pollan in a lecture given last week to an overflow crowd of CDC scientists.
As part of an effort to bring new ideas to the national debate on food issues, the CDC invited Pollan -- a harsh critic of U.S. food policies -- to address CDC researchers and to meet with leaders of the federal agency."
Click here to read more.
Scripture project makes best use of falling newspaper circulation numbers
"Falling newspaper subscriptions are helping International Bible Society-Send The Light.
CityReachers is a project that creates regionally-customized New Testaments and distributes them through the newspaper.
However, CityReachers Director Paul Tolleson says that with circulations down, they've begun their own distribution of the Scriptures door-to-door. "
Click here to read more about this ministry.
After her stroke, Francine V. Corso, a software engineer who worked on NASA’s lunar lander, was housebound from 1992 to 2001.
Her left arm was twisted up near her neck, making it difficult to pull on a blouse, and her fingers curled so rigidly that her nails buried themselves in her palm. When she finally learned to rise from her wheelchair, her contorted left leg had the so-called horse gait of many brain-injury victims — she stepped toe-downward, and then fought to keep her foot from rolling over.
Now, with injections of botulinum toxin every three months, she says, 'I’m completely transformed — I drive, I volunteer, I take art classes.' Her fingers are so relaxed that a manicurist can lacquer her nails red."
Click here to read more.
7 Rules for Eating
"We Americans suffer a national eating disorder: our unhealthy obsession with healthy eating.
That's the diagnosis delivered by food author Michael Pollan in a lecture given last week to an overflow crowd of CDC scientists.
As part of an effort to bring new ideas to the national debate on food issues, the CDC invited Pollan -- a harsh critic of U.S. food policies -- to address CDC researchers and to meet with leaders of the federal agency."
Click here to read more.
Scripture project makes best use of falling newspaper circulation numbers
"Falling newspaper subscriptions are helping International Bible Society-Send The Light.
CityReachers is a project that creates regionally-customized New Testaments and distributes them through the newspaper.
However, CityReachers Director Paul Tolleson says that with circulations down, they've begun their own distribution of the Scriptures door-to-door. "
Click here to read more about this ministry.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Monday March 23 News From Mary
How You Can Face Crisis Without Panic
Click here to read the rest of this story.
A number of years ago a pastor friend of mine from another state was visiting my home when he received a late night phone call. It was bad news.
His wife, who was three months pregnant, had been taken to the hospital. She was paralyzed from the waist down and had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. In addition, she had lost her sight, which they discovered was caused by a tumor behind her eyes.
Click here to read the rest of this story.
Mind your pees and queues
A world record in the length of a queue to a toilet was set on Sunday when 756 people lined up to a latrine in central Brussels to raise awareness for the need for clean water on World Water Day.
Click here to read the rest of this story.
Oops: Colbert wins space station name contest
NASA's online contest to name a new room at the international space station went awry. Comedian Stephen Colbert won.
Click here to read the rest of this story.
Warner Bros launches "made-to-order" DVD service
Warner Bros on Monday became the first studio to open its film vault to "made-to-order" DVDs, as it sought new revenues in a slumping DVD market by making it possible for fans to buy decades-old films.
Click here to read the rest of this story.
Two astronauts who were teaching math and science to middle school students just five years ago went on a spacewalk together Monday, but could not free a jammed equipment shelf no matter how hard they tried.Click here to read the rest of this story.
Monday, March 23, 2009 Good News Stories
'Miracle Dog' Beats Aggressive Cancer
"Researchers with the Cleveland Clinic have successfully treated cancer in dogs without toxic side effects or discomfort. The feat could soon lead to a powerful new strategy for treating the disease in people."
Click here to read more about this research.
New Pro-Life Fiction Novel Opens Doors for Discussion
"A seventeen year old girl researches the Catholic orphanage she's from while writing a newspaper article, when she stumbles upon a remarkable discovery between the orphanage and the women's clinic that performs abortions next door in Kenny Blair's "The River Nile." As the young woman digs for information, she realizes that the women's clinic is just a front for what really happens when mothers come to abort their third trimester babies. Mothers checking in are unaware that the clinic refuses to kill their babies, but instead removes their children alive and then transfers them to the Catholic orphanage that cares for and raises them."
Click here to read about this new novel.
5 Ways to Cut Household Costs
"Each month, you can count on two things arriving in your mailbox: the latest round of promotional offers -- and bills.
Paying all of those monthly obligations and balancing the household budget can seem like a full-time job, especially when times are tough. But there are some simple ways to cut back on expenses without making too much of a sacrifice.
Here are simple ways to save hundreds of dollars each year on five major household bills:"
Click here to read more.
"Researchers with the Cleveland Clinic have successfully treated cancer in dogs without toxic side effects or discomfort. The feat could soon lead to a powerful new strategy for treating the disease in people."
Click here to read more about this research.
New Pro-Life Fiction Novel Opens Doors for Discussion
"A seventeen year old girl researches the Catholic orphanage she's from while writing a newspaper article, when she stumbles upon a remarkable discovery between the orphanage and the women's clinic that performs abortions next door in Kenny Blair's "The River Nile." As the young woman digs for information, she realizes that the women's clinic is just a front for what really happens when mothers come to abort their third trimester babies. Mothers checking in are unaware that the clinic refuses to kill their babies, but instead removes their children alive and then transfers them to the Catholic orphanage that cares for and raises them."
Click here to read about this new novel.
5 Ways to Cut Household Costs
"Each month, you can count on two things arriving in your mailbox: the latest round of promotional offers -- and bills.
Paying all of those monthly obligations and balancing the household budget can seem like a full-time job, especially when times are tough. But there are some simple ways to cut back on expenses without making too much of a sacrifice.
Here are simple ways to save hundreds of dollars each year on five major household bills:"
Click here to read more.
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