Irena Sendler

Warsaw, Poland

During WWII, Irena Sendler, got permission to work in the Warsaw ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist.
She had an ulterior motive. Because she was German, she KNEW what the Nazis' plans were for the Jews.

Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and she carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack for larger
kids.

She also had a dog in the back which she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto.

The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids/infants noises.

During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants.

She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs, arms, and beat her severely. Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard. After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it and reunited the family. Most had been gassed.. Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted.

In 2007 Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize. She was not selected. Al Gore won --- for a slide show on Global Warming.


Irena died 12 May 2008 (aged 98).

Blessed is the person who sees the need, 
recognizes the responsibility,
and actively becomes the answer...

Indomitable Spirit

Look closely at the picture on the left. That’s Marine Gunnery Sgt. Brian Meyer.

A bomb in Afghanistan had just blown off his leg, his hand, and three fingers on his other hand.  And yet there he is smiling. And he was doing it on purpose.

GySgt. Meyer ordered another Marine to take this picture. He forced a smile despite the pain, because he was worried about the impact his injuries would have on his squad. He hoped the picture would make it easier for them to deal with what happened.

Can you imagine? He was just seriously injured and yet he was thinking about his fellow Marines and how THEY were feeling.

I find that kind of spirit beyond remarkable. And it’s that spirit that is helping GySgt. Meyer through his recovery process. And helping him become independent despite his injuries.

The picture on the right is him now. He says: "I focus on what I have left, not what I lost." What a great attitude.

GySgt. Meyer also works for the Injured Marines Semper Fi Fund, counseling fellow combat veterans. And he uses the picture of him injured to show them what’s possible.

He says: "It's the exact opposite of what somebody expects you to do. So when I show it to people and they are inspired by it, instead of being shocked, I know they get it."

I hate war. I hate seeing how many young men and woman have lost their lives. And I hate seeing how many young men and women have suffered life changing injuries.

But at the same time, I find stories about veterans like GySgt. Meyer incredibly powerful. They are a reminder that there is always hope, no matter how bad the situation is. They are a reminder that all of us are capable of so much more than we think we are. And they are a reminder to NEVER give up.

Thank you GySgt. Meyer. To you and all other veterans: Stay strong!

Riding the Booster Rocket

Absolutely mind-blowing video shot from the Space Shuttle during launch.

Drop whatever you're doing and watch this. NASA has released videos shot from on-board the Space Shuttle's Solid Rocket Boosters in the past, but you've never seen one prepared as masterfully as this.

For one thing, the footage was shot in high definition, so the image is exceptionally clear. But what puts this video head and shoulders above most other rocketcams is the sound. The audio has been remastered. and the final product is nothing short of incredible.

Try to let what you're witnessing sink in. See those numbers flying past in the upper right hand corner? That's the Shuttle's airspeed. See that gleam of light against the inky backdrop of space at 2:08 and 3:11? That's the Shuttle continuing on its flight path into low Earth orbit. Hear the eerie rattling, haunting moans, and weird dinosaur noises? That's what it sounds like to be a Solid Rocket Booster, falling to Earth from an altitude of 150,000 feet.

Music Monday

A Speech Every American Should Hear

Dr. Benjamin Carson
Johns Hopkins Hospital
Pediatric Neurosurgery Division Director
National Prayer Breakfast - February 7, 2013

Helping Hands

Click on the picture to view an amazing video...

Music Monday

I don't think I will ever get tired of watching and listening to this...  

Susan Boyle: I Dreamed a Dream

Utah Wildfires 2012

Happy Gentoo

A penguin is being pursued by several killer whales who are circling him for the kill. People on a small boat are filming this. Whatch what the penguin does!!

Reckless the Mare

This horse was a pack horse during the Korean war, and she carried recoilless rifles, ammunition, and supplies to Marines. Nothing too unusual about that, lots of animals got pressed into doing pack chores in many wars.

But this horse did something more. During the battle for a location called Outpost Vegas, this mare made 50 trips up and down the hill, on the way up she carried ammunition, and on the way down she carried wounded soldiers.

What was so amazing? Well she made every one of those trips without anyone leading her.

I can imagine a horse carrying a wounded soldier, being smacked on the rump at the top of the hill, and heading back to the “safety" of the rear. But to imagine the same horse, loaded with ammunition, and trudging back to the battle where artillery is going off, without anyone leading her is unbelievable. To know that she would make 50 of those trips is unheard of. Hell, how many horses would even make it back to the barn once, let alone return to you in the field one single time.

So here is a clip of her story and photos to prove where she was and what she did.



She was retired at the Marine Corps Base in Camp Pendleton where a General issued the following order: She was never to carry any more weight on her back except her own blankets. She died in 1968 at the age of 20.

How bad was the battle for Outpost Vegas? Artillery rounds fell at the rate of 500 per hour, and only two men made it out alive without wounds. Just two. And a horse, and she was wounded twice.

3.2 Million Dots = Hero

Hero from Miguel Endara on Vimeo.

Another Susan Boyle Story

Precision Landing

I wonder who made the calculations for this stunt,

and how many tries it took to get it right?

Hmmm... It might make an interesting math task!!

The Wise Man Built His House Upon a Rock

Clingstone, an unusual, 103 year-old mansion in Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay, survives through the love and hard work of family and friends.

Henry Wood, the owner, runs the house like a camp: all skilled workers welcome. The Jamestown Boatyard hauls the family's boats and floating dock and stores them each winter in return for a week's use of the house in the summer.

Mr. Wood, a 79 year-old Boston architect, bought the house, with his ex-wife, Joan, in 1961, for $3,600. It had been empty for two decades.

Clingstone had been built by a distant cousin, J. S. Lovering Wharton. Mr. Wharton worked with an artist, William Trost Richards, to create a house of picture windows with 23 rooms on three stories radiating off a vast central hall.

The total cost of the construction, which was completed in 1905, was $36.982.99.

An early sketch of the house.

Mr. Wood is as proud as a parent of his house, and keeps a fat scrapbook of photographs and newspaper clippings that document its best moments. Many of the historic photos he has were
provided by the company that insured the house for its original owners.

The Newport Bridge is visible from the windows of the ping-pong room, to the left of the fireplace.

The house is maintained by an ingenious method: the Clingstone "work weekend." Held every year around Memorial Day, it brings 70, or so, friends and Clingstone lovers together to tackle jobs like washing all 65 windows. Anne Tait, who is married to Mr. Wood's son Dan, refinished the kitchen floor on one of her first "work weekends."

There are ten bedrooms at Clingstone, all with indecently beautiful views.

The dining room table seats 14. Refinishing the chairs is a task for a future "work weekend."

Sign by the ladder that leads to the roof reads: No entry after three drinks or 86 years of age. "It used to say 80, but we had a guy on a 'work weekend' wo was 84, so I changed it," said Mrs. Wood, ever the realist. "it would have been a shame to curtail the activities of a willing volunteer!"

No lawn to mow, no neighbors, no solicitors, no traffic!
Now, that's my kind of get-away...

How Does YOUR Garden Grow?

This beautiful "carpet" is created every year in The Grand Place in Brussels. It is made completely of fresh flowers, especially begonias.

Obviously, it would be better to see it from the 4th for 5th floor than ground level...

Super Moon

Photo by Dennis Di Cicco

What's the longest you've ever owned a car?

I've had my current car almost 13 years - that's the longest for me!

Mr. Allen Swift of Springfield, Massachusetts, received this 1928 Rolls Royce Piccadilly P1 Roadster from his father, brand new, as a graduation gift in 1928. He drove it up until his death last year, at the age of 102!!

He was the oldest living owner of a car from new - 82 years. He donated it to a Springfield museum after his death. It has 170,000 miles on it, still runs like a Swiss watch, dead silent at any speed, and is in perfect cosmetic condition. He drove it approximately 2,000 miles per year...

Our Son's Christmas Lights

Aurora Over Norway

Photograph Credit and Copyright

Ole Christian Salomonsen

Auroras can make spectacular sights. Photographed last on September 20 2010, flowing multi-colored auroras helped illuminate a busy sky above Tromsø, Norway. Besides the spectacular aurora, the photographer caught three satellites streaks, one airplane streak, and a friend trying the capture the same sight. Although auroras might first appear to be moonlit clouds, they only add light to the sky and do not block background stars from view. Call northern lights in the northern hemisphere, auroras are caused by collisions between charged particles from the magnetosphere and air molecules high in the Earth's atomosphere. If viewed from space, auroras can be seen to glow in x-ray and ultraviolet light as well. Predictable auroras might occur a few days after a powerful magnetic even has been seen on the Sun.

AT&T: Hand Art and a Phone