Germans are sending their aging parents abroad, said Anette Dowideit. With pensions flat and nursing costs rising, families often can’t afford to put Grandma in an elder-care program close to home. So over the past decade, they have turned to countries where such services are much cheaper— mostly in former Eastern bloc states like the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and […]
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Anatoli Brouchkov, a scientist whose curiosity and thirst for knowledge drove him to go beyond the standard protocol of his experimentation by injecting himself with an ancient “Eternal Life” bacteria. In 2009, a 3.5-million-year-old bacteria strain called Bacillus F was discovered deep in the permafrost of Siberia’s Sakha Republic. Scientists later found that mice and fruit flies exposed to the bacteria seemed to […]
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Being rich makes you more likely to lie, cheat, and steal. A series of experiments conducted on volunteers with annual incomes ranging between $16,000 and $150,000 found that the wealthiest were most likely to cheat to win a $50 prize, take candy from children, and pocket extra change given to them by mistake. Drivers of pricier cars were also four […]
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The Oakland Zoo RAISED money for conservation by auctioning artwork created by giraffes, bats, elephants and other resident animals. Thirty-two works of art by more than 20 species are on auction on eBay. Click here to view the current auctions if any are presently listed. The Oakland Zoo brings the world of wildlife to children and families, featuring 400 exotic […]
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As a way to help the street children of India Rita Panicker founded Butterflies, a non-governmental organization back in 2001. She believes that if children who can help themselves become more independent and self-supporting have a better sense of pride in themselves. Some of the children had jobs from rag picking to sweeping floors, but they didn’t have the help […]
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Residents of shorelines previously damaged by Hurricane Sandy turned to a cheap and plentiful resource to help them rebuild: discarded Christmas trees. The storm washed away miles of sand dunes, which protected the coast from flooding by serving as a buffer against wind and waves. Volunteers in New York and New Jersey piled thousands of the trees on top of […]
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Rome Penitent Pope Francis with centuries of precedent, publicly went to confession in St. Peter’s Basilica. It was believed to be the first time confessing his own sins. The priest hearing his confession appeared to laugh at one point. Just weeks earlier, the pope also met President Obama privately for nearly an hour, twice longer than expected, an encounter that […]
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“Everything comes to those who wait… except a cat.” Racing driver Mario Andretti, quoted in RoadandTrack.com “I have found that all ugly things are made by those who strive to make something beautiful, and that all beautiful things are made by those who strive to make something useful” Oscar Wilder quoted in Real Simple “Travel offers the opportunity to find […]
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The Ministry of Education announced that due to high levels of air pollution that they are closing schools in Bangkok and surrounding provinces. Private schools are not required to close but are recommended to do so for the health of their students. According to the Department of Pollution Control the air quality numbers have fallen to harmful levels exceeding safe […]
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Changchun, China The senseless killing of an infant has plunged China’s social media sites into another round of soul-searching. The baby was in a car stolen outside a grocery in northeastern China, and the carjacker admitted to strangling and burying the child. Chinese Internet users contrasted the story with a similar incident in New York City last month, in which […]
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