Tag Archives: Inspirational

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090705/od_afp/britainoffbeat

“Mathemagician” excited by odd date
Sun Jul 5, 4:54 am ET

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LONDON (AFP) – Notice anything exceptional about today’s date? It’s July 5, 2009 (05/07/09) — and three consecutive odd numbers make up the date only five times in a century.

This nugget is pointed out by Californian high school maths teacher Ron Gordon, a self-confessed “mathemagician”.

“That’s what my kids call me, because I make something out of nothing from maths,” the 64-year-old told AFP in a phone interview from his home in Redwood City.

“This really is a day to celebrate. OK, it’s true there will be another one in two years’ time on September 7, 2011 (07/09/11), and one on November 9, 2013 (09/11/13) but then it won’t happen again for 92 years. And I sure won’t be around to see it.”

So what does Gordon suggest you do on “Odd Day”? It’s a great day to do your odds ‘n ends, give a friend a high-five or root for the odds-on-favourite, he says.

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I think it’s a positive when anyone uses whatever facts available to make math “interesting”.

Now, I’m not a numerologist. But us injineers have a fondness for numbers.

And, I hope we’re all around in 92 years. Who’ll be doing Jottings then? Volunteers.

Make the most of your “odd day”. Make the most of every day!

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,525876,00.html

Georgia Contractor Using GPS Coordinates, Not Street Address, Demolishes Wrong House
Thursday, June 11, 2009

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CARROLLTON, Ga. — Turns out GPS isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

A crew using coordinates from a global positioning system demolished a 60-year-old home in Carrollton earlier this week, but it was the wrong house. The home’s owner, Al Byrd of Atlanta, said he heard about the mistake when a neighbor called him to tell him the house he grew up in — along with his family heirlooms — had been destroyed and thrown into Dumpsters. No one was living in the house at the time. Byrd said his father built the house by hand in 1950.

Byrd said he is talking with an attorney but hasn’t made any decisions on what to do. He said he’s gotten an apology from the companies who made the mistake.

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[JR: Much calmer than I would be. I guess the Universe is teaching us not to get too attached to "stuff". And, like the old George Carlin routine, it's all "stuff". Hopefully, I could learn that. I'm a pack rat at heart.]
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6386101.ece

From Times Online
May 29, 2009
Facebook reunites mother with long-lost son

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A mother was reunited with her son 27 years after the boy’s father whisked him away to live in Hungary when her sister tracked him down on the social networking website Facebook.

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What are the odds?

Very good it seems as people use various sites to put up signs: “I’m here!”. Certainy easier and more elegant than the cartoon guy stranded on an island scraping out an SOS on the beach.

Like the old joke “buy a ticket”, He certainly moves in mysterious ways.

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p.s., Why are the “good” stories coming from the English press?

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http://www.impactlab.com/2009/04/26/university-student-buys-dilapidated-african-orphanage/

April 26th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
University Student Buys Dilapidated African Orphanage

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A new vision for an orphanage in Tanzania

A student who visited a run-down African orphanage was so moved by the children’s plight that she raised £30,000 to buy it. Amy Lambert, 24, set about gathering funds after witnessing the horrors at the decrepit Kichijo Orphanage in Tanzania.

She spent eight weeks volunteering there last summer, when she cared for 150 boys and girls – many of whom had lost one or both parents to AIDS and HIV. Miss Lambert found children who were starving, dangerously dehydrated and sleeping in dirty beds.

The undergraduate at Bath Spa university raised more than £30,000 in just seven months. But rather than passing the cash to authorities, she asked them if she could buy the orphanage instead.

Now she plans to complete her degree in Psychology and Health Studies this July before moving out to run the orphanage full time. Miss Lambert of Pewsham, Wiltshire said: “These children are the most beautiful, selfless people I have ever met. I have never felt so helpless.”

Her offer to buy the orphanage was accepted earlier this year and now plans to tear down the crumbling building and replace it with a modern one. She also hopes to add a school room to educate the children and sew crops to teach them about self-sufficiency.

Anyone who would like to donate money towards Amy Lambert’s orphanage should visit http://www.wearecollecting.co.uk/

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WOW!
Students can make a huge difference.
If this doesn’t open our eye, nothing will.
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http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D97D0MJG2&show_article=1&catnum=0

Australian library finds copy of Schindler’s list
Apr 6 09:01 AM US/Eastern
By TANALEE SMITH
Associated Press Writer

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SYDNEY (AP) – Australian researchers sifting papers belonging to the author of “Schindler’s List” discovered a yellowing roll of 801 men saved from the Holocaust by the German industrialist—the very copy the writer used to bring the story to the world’s attention, a curator said Monday.

The 13-page document is a copy of one of Oskar Schindler’s famed compilations of names that eventually included 1,100 men and women he saved by employing them in his factories in World War II Germany.

“It’s the list Tom used when writing `Schindler’s Ark’ and that really brought Schindler’s actions to the attention of the world,” said State Library of New South Wales co-curator Olwen Pryke, referring to the book’s author, Thomas Keneally.

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It includes the names, nationalities and skills of 801 men employed at Schindler’s factory.

Pryke said several copies of the list were typed between 1944 and 1945 and carbon copies were made, as the originals would go to the German bureaucracy.

The list will be on display at the library and on its Web site beginning Tuesday.

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[JR: It's hard to imagine the risks that one man took to save the pariahs of his society. Hard to imagine man's inhumanity to man. And, as I always pray, may all our challenges be little ones. Mine better be; yours may be. His was heroic.]

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http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1499227,jersey-boys-visit-sick-woman-sherry-032709.article

‘Jersey Boys’ stars serenade ill woman

March 27, 2009

BY STEFANO ESPOSITO Staff Reporter

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It had the makings of another really tough day for Sherry Tomasello.

{Extraneous Deleted}

Tomasello — who is very, very ill — sat in her wheelchair and appeared stunned that the four stars of Jersey Boys, the Broadway musical playing in the Loop, were standing there in her front room.

It wasn’t until Bryan McElroy begun to strum his guitar, that she realized they were there to sing for her. A huge smile lit up her face and she began tapping her white-socked feet to the sounds of “Because” by The Dave Clark Five.

Judy Charnota, one of Tomasello’s closest friends, knew she loved the songs from the musical, but she also knew her friend was too sick to see them on stage. So Charnota reached out to local media to see if they could help bring the Jersey Boys to the Northwest Side. On Monday, Charnota got word that they were coming.

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“I think it’s good — wonderful,” Tomasello said, still beaming.

“We’re happy to make house calls,” said Cory Grant, who plays Frankie Valli in the musical.

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[JR: Unfortunately when people do good works, they get little press. Why not?]

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http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-plaschke22-2009feb22,0,907227,full.column

From the Los Angeles Times
Blind high school runner, and her team, are a sight to behold
Simi Valley Royal High senior Alyssa Rossi, blind since birth, is able to compete thanks to the help and sacrifices of teammates.
Bill Plaschke

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In Simi Valley, across a grassy field in the lengthening shadow of nearby hills, they ran together.

Two girls, side by side, stride for stride, connected by the stretched cotton of a gray belt and the giant arms of innocence.

One girl is blind.

The other girl is teaching the rest of us to see.

One girl, Alyssa Rossi, born without vision, is the newest senior runner on the Royal High track team.

The other girl, Nicole Todd, is the sophomore teammate making this possible.

Rossi runs a mile, Todd runs with her, gently guiding her with the gray belt that is connected to a thicker black belt around Rossi’s waist.

When Rossi slows, Todd forsakes her own training schedule and slows.

When Rossi speeds up, Todd runs even faster to watch for bumps and curves.

When Rossi grows breathless and has to stop, Todd stops too, even if the sophomore could use more work.

“At first I wondered if this was the best thing for me,” Todd said. “Then I realized, this is not about me.”

She smiled, and you want to wrap the sports world in this smile, one born of the basic instincts of teamwork, one that glitters with the very best of sport.

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[JR: It’s a great gift. Who gave and who received?]

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