New Trustees of Civic Life
More than 80% of Americans aged 45 and older are involved in helping others without pay, AARP research showed. In the past 100 years, life expectancy has doubled; a person aged 50 can now expect to live another 30 years. Because of advances in medical care, this "third age" of life is as productive as any other time and they are quickly becoming the trustees of civic life.... posted on Dec 18 2003, 952 reads

Drop in Hate Crimes
Hate crimes decreased sharply last year according to the FBI, representing an improvement of nearly 25 percent from the post-9/11 high in 2001. Total numbers of crimes against those in ethnic Middle Eastern groups plummeted 38 percent from 1,500 in 2001, to 931 in 2002. Additionally, there were 155 hate crimes categorized as anti-Islamic in 2002, which was a huge reduction from the 481 in the pri... posted on Dec 17 2003, 695 reads

Hundred Dollar Bills
Thirty $100 bills fell out her purse, during a routine shopping trip. Devastated by the big financial loss, Jennifer Walterscheit never expected to find any of it back. But when she got a call from the local police station about it, she was shocked to hear that all but one of them was returned!... posted on Dec 16 2003, 1,110 reads

Life With Purpose
... posted on Dec 15 2003, 1,256 reads

Love and Power
... posted on Dec 14 2003, 578 reads

Computers on Farms
A large number of farmers in rural India are breathing a little bit easier these days. For 3 or 4 decades, they have been locked into a government-organized trading scheme that nearly ensures they get fleeced by the middlemen when they sell their grains at auction. But in just a couple of years, with the help of a few thousand computers hooked up to the internet, more than a million farmers have... posted on Dec 13 2003, 832 reads

End of Polio
We're about the see the end of polio, only the second time an entire disease is eradicated from the planet! The crippling virus, at its peak, paralyzed or killed about half a million people every year before development of new vaccine in 1955. As a result of one of the largest health initiatives in the world, we are 99% polio-free and by 2005, it is estimated the disease will be fully eradicated.... posted on Dec 12 2003, 1,054 reads

Refusing an Award
Making an enemy of the Daily Mail is a little like putting your head in a lion's mouth. But Hari Kunzru, one of Britain's most promising young novelists, did just that when he refused an award because of the papers' consistent "hostility towards black and Asian British people."... posted on Dec 11 2003, 1,614 reads

Female Doctors
For the first time ever, women outnumbered men among people applying to U.S. medical schools for this fall — a milestone in the slow but steady increase in the number of aspiring female doctors. Of the 35,000 total applicants, 17,672 were female.... posted on Dec 10 2003, 2,362 reads

Thailand Monastary
When Luang Pi Daeng lost his mother and found himself alone in the world, he sought shelter at a local Buddhist temple, where the monks and nuns gave him food, shelter and education. Receiving such kindess, he himself became a monk and vowed to give back to the community. When AIDS began ravaging large swathes of Thailand, he led by example. Today, the abbott of Wat Hua Rin temple, Luang Pi Dae... posted on Dec 09 2003, 998 reads