January 01, 2010
Our Swedish hero
Make yourself
or someone you know into a hero
January 1, 2010 in Heroes | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
November 27, 2008
Thanksgiving Heros
This time last year, Monique White was living in a motel and looking for work, wishing for the bustling Thanksgivings of her childhood.
This year, White's holiday wish will be fulfilled -- thanks to an impromptu Craigslist posting.
The 36-year-old posted a two-sentence invite on the Internet classifieds site last week. The receptionist at a dentist's office was feeling a little lonely, her two sons spending the holiday with their dad, so she figured maybe four or five strangers would reply and join her and longtime partner Doug White for Thanksgiving dinner.
Instead, 32 people are headed to their Littleton townhouse. They're busy preparing nine turkeys, four hams, 16 boxes of stuffing and a dozen or so pies.
The Whites say they've been blessed.
They're both working and have bought a home. They say the dinner is their way of giving thanks for their changed lives.
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Also, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders in a press conference, September 19, 2007 (YT)
Many Other Stories of Heroes and Sheroes Here
November 27, 2008 in Heroes | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
October 29, 2008
Landslide
With Chris Matthews take
Many Other Stories of Heroes and Sheroes Here
October 29, 2008 in Americana - Barack Obama, Heroes | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack
May 08, 2008
Party with the homeless
For his 29th birthday, Taj Chahal decided to do something a bit different: He hosted a surprise party for 300 total strangers - complete with birthday cake and party favors for everyone - at Martha's Kitchen, a San Jose charity that serves meals to the homeless and working poor.
…So on Tuesday, when the regulars arrived, they found the dining room decorated with red tablecloths, balloons and festive place mats. Dinner included ravioli and meat balls, salad, garlic bread and, of course, birthday cake
…On the way out, everyone received a box lunch and a bright colored bag containing a towel, toothbrush and other useful things. The kids each got a toy and some treats…
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May 8, 2008 in Heroes | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
April 13, 2008
Naked Nomad leaves multi-million dollar estate
A man who rejected possessions and walked around Australia naked has been declared dead, leaving his sister to inherit an estate worth millions of dollars.
Victor Flanagan, also known as the “Naked Nomad”, was declared “presumed dead” in the Supreme Court in Perth last week – more than a decade after he last spoke to his sister.
The West Australian reported that a multi-million dollar beachfront property near Busselton would be left to his sister. Flanagan had inherited the property after their father’s death.
Mrs Jenkins told the court that she last spoke to Flanagan in 1996, while he was living in Papua New Guinea. He had relocated to PNG after years of wandering around outback Australia naked – except for a sarong he would wear when walking through towns and a pair of thongs for when there were too many prickles on the road.
Mrs Jenkins said loggers at a remote camp found a dying Caucasian man lying in a canoe – without any clothing – and that she believed it was her brother.
The man’s body had been buried in a mass grave in the PNG city of Lae, where other unidentified people were laid to rest, she said.
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Re-post: Plantage by Amanita Design
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April 13, 2008 in Heroes | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 08, 2008
Chasing the Flame
Sérgio Vieira de Mello was a Brazilian United Nations diplomat who worked for the UN for over 34 years, earning respect and praise around the world for his efforts in the humanitarian and political programs of the UN.
He was killed in the Canal Hotel Bombing in Iraq along with 21 other members of his staff on 19 August 2003 while working as the Secretary-General's Special Representative in Iraq.
In May 2003 Vieira de Mello was appointed as the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General to Iraq, an appointment initially intended to last for four months. According to New York Times Magazine journalist James Traub in his book The Best Intentions, Vieira de Mello had originally turned down the appointment before being persuaded by Condoleezza Rice and George W Bush. He had been working in this position when he was killed in the Canal Hotel bombing.
He was mentioned in some circles as a suitable candidate for UN Secretary General. His death was widely mourned, largely on account of his reputation for effective work to promote peace.
I never heard of “Sérgio”, until the other day when I read about Samantha Power’s recent book Chasing the Flame.
More from her conversations with Charlie Rose on YouTube. Fascinating stuff! This type of involvement completes an ideological circle
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March 8, 2008 in Heroes | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 08, 2008
Skullcaps N Switchblades
The Hebrew Hammer. What happens when a Hasidic Jew with military intelligence training becomes the maverick principal of a troubled South Bronx public school? An inspiring story about a teacher who cares
(From Reddit)
Previously: The story of teacher Lisa Suben
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February 8, 2008 in Heroes | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 05, 2007
Heros and killers
Heros and killers - short biographies and background notes on selected world heroes and killers of the 20th century
He wears a $15 watch, flies economy class and does not own a house or car. For years. few guessed that Chuck Feeney was one of the world's biggest philanthropists, secretly giving away his billionaire fortune. Founder of duty-free shopping chain has given away an estimated $4 billion
Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces as basis for Star Wars
Previous Stories of Heroes and Sheroes Here
December 5, 2007 in Heroes | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 16, 2007
Community Hero
Hope and forgiveness: Phan This Kim Phuc today
Ellery Schempp’s protest began a half-century ago, when he opened the Koran during his high school’s mandatory Bible reading time and silently scanned passages he was too nervous to actually read. That minor rebellion led to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that outlawed school-sponsored prayer
Robert Fisk is a journalist God
Imagine designing and building your own windmill. Now imagine you're 14 years old, you live in Malawi in South Eastern Africa and the village where you live has no electricity. The blog of William Kamkwamba, Windmill Bbuilder
Gary Histand, Associate Professor of Chemistry Bethel College, KS
Previous Stories of Heroes and Sheroes Here
September 16, 2007 in Heroes | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 14, 2007
We can't all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by
Remembering Stephen Edward Eastman, W.O.M.
Augustin Kambale, is a wildlife ranger caring for the last 100 mountain gorillas still alive in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Gorilla guardians
Rush Limbaugh For The Nobel Peace Prize
A short Jon Stewart interview with Ralph Nader
Listen to the wonderful, deep voice of James farmer, one of the leaders of the civil rights movement, and of the Freedom Rides
Heroes Wiki is a reference fansite for NBC's sci-fi drama Heroes
(Quote above by Will Rogers)
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June 14, 2007 in Heroes | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 10, 2007
Champion for Sudan’s dead
Eric Reeves has devoted the last 8 years of his life to calculating the rising death toll in Darfur.
Reeves is Professor of English Language and Literature at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Since 1998 he has been working full-time as a Sudan researcher and analyst, publishing extensively both in the US and internationally. He has testified several times before the Congress, has lectured widely in academic settings, and has served as a consultant to a number of human rights and humanitarian organizations operating in Sudan. Working independently, he has written on all aspects of Sudan's recent history.
Background story and NPR interview from this afternoon. (If you get the registration page, you can use bugmenot@bugmenot.com/bugmenot)
Also, the story of Wesley Autrey, January 3, 2007; A Man Down, and a Stranger Makes a Choice
(Photo above by Mia Farrow)
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January 10, 2007 in Heroes | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
December 26, 2006
Metric Olympics
When Lisa Suben took a job last year as the fifth-grade math teacher at the AIM Academy in Southeast D.C., she was told her lessons had already been prepared for her. AIM was the second charter school founded for low-income D.C. students by KIPP, the Knowledge Is Power Program. KIPP had gained a national reputation for math instruction. The KIPP leaders in D.C. had good reason to think, as they told Suben, that "we have math pretty much figured out."
Suben, 23 at the time, still thought she could do better. She told her supervisors she was going to produce her own fifth-grade math curriculum. A year later, her students achieved the largest one-year math score jump ever seen at a KIPP school from the 16th to the 77th percentile... (More inside)
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December 26, 2006 in Heroes | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 26, 2006
Secret Santas
For 26 years, a man known only as Secret Santa has roamed the streets every December quietly giving people money. He started with $5 and $10 bills. As his fortune grew, so did the gifts. In recent years, Secret Santa has been handing out $100 bills, sometimes two or three at a time, to people in thrift stores, diners and parking lots. So far, he's anonymously given out about $1.3 million. It's been a long-held holiday mystery: Who is Secret Santa?
This holiday giving started in December 1979 when Larry Stewart was nursing his wounds at a drive-in restaurant in Kansas City after getting fired. "It was cold and this car hop didn't have on a very big jacket, and I thought to myself, `I think I got it bad. She's out there in this cold making nickels and dimes,'" he said.
He gave her $20 and told her to keep the change.
"And suddenly I saw her lips begin to tremble and tears begin to flow down her cheeks. She said, `Sir, you have no idea what this means to me.'" (From Presurfer)
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Other heroes:
Dr. Ashis Brahma, a physician with the International Rescue Committee, about attacks on himself and those he works with in Chad, along the border with Sudan's Darfur region
January 13, 2007 update: Millionaire Secret Santa dies
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November 26, 2006 in Heroes | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack