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Why Tell Stories Today? ![](images/quickread.gif) "Meaningful stories are one of the essential ingredients of any culture. Our minds hunger for a good story from the time we are young. It is as if they hold a wisdom in them that our unconscious needs; tales contain certain nutrients that nurture the depths or the soul of a human being. There are parts of us that cannot mature without stories: in this way, they are food. And there a times when a s... posted on Sep 04 2007, 2,102 reads
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Eighty Year Study On Happiness & Giving ![](images/quickread.gif) One of the longest-running social-science studies on happiness began in Oakland, California, in the 1920s with 200 people. It combined semi-annual interviews until participants graduated from high school, and has since followed them at intervals of 10 years. An astounding 90 percent of people have stayed in the study, giving it coherence and offering insights into what constitutes a happy life. On... posted on Sep 02 2007, 5,955 reads
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A Clinic for the Little Things that Matter Most ![](images/quickread.gif) To talk. To be listened to. To unwind. When you are a low-income woman with cancer, it is often the little things -- a caring touch, a steaming cup of herbal tea -- that can make a difference. The Charlotte Maxwell Clinic addresses an invisible problem -- the economic and emotional fallout that cancer can have on low-income women already underserved by the health care system. The clinic -- a volun... posted on Aug 31 2007, 2,009 reads
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China's Umbrella Samaritans ![](images/quickread.gif) Thanks to a rainy day and an inspiring series of photos that captured a random act of kindness, residents in Qingdao, China don't need to worry about being caught in the rain without an umbrella. The "Love and Care Umbrella" campaign provides free umbrellas in places like banks, shopping malls, and even buses and taxis. It was started after a series of pictures were posted online, accompanied by a... posted on Aug 29 2007, 2,613 reads
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Education By Design ![](images/quickread.gif) Ten years ago, if an architect said he was designing a green school, most people would have assumed he had decided to paint the facade a pleasant shade of sage. But now it’s 2007, and "green schools" are part of a growing movement that is changing the environments in which students learn -- and has parents clamoring to get their children on waiting lists. This is the business of sustainable scho... posted on Aug 27 2007, 1,594 reads
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Designing A Better World ![](images/quickread.gif) You probably haven't heard of CEO Tim Brown or his 500-member team at IDEO. But if you've swept your floor with a Swiffer, clicked on your PC's mouse or even banked recently at Bank of America, then you're familiar with their work. In the 15 years since the company was founded, it has been churning out disruptive product designs for everyone from Apple to AT&T. Now the company is also working on ... posted on Aug 26 2007, 675 reads
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Message in a Wallet ![](images/quickread.gif) "Many years ago, when I was in high school and working weekends to pay for the extras that my folks couldn't really afford (like a school ring, class trip, etc.), I lost my wallet.' So begins this real-life short story about a long-ago episode that held a lifelong lesson in its hands.... posted on Aug 25 2007, 3,848 reads
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The Man Who Dares End Slavery ![](images/quickread.gif) Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Kailash Satyarthi has saved tens of thousands of lives. At the age of 26, he gave up a promising career as an electrical engineer and dedicated his life to helping the millions of children in India who are forced into slavery by powerful and corrupt business and land-owners. His original idea was daring and dangerous. He decided to mount raids on factories -- factories fr... posted on Aug 14 2007, 1,444 reads
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Random Kid: The Power of Anyone ![](images/quickread.gif) It all started with a feisty ten-year-old named Talia Leman, who watched the Katrina devastation on TV and decided to do something about it. She launched an online campaign to convince kids just like her to give up candy for Halloween and instead, collect money door-to-door.The idea took. Plastic pumpkins overflowed with small change. Dollar bills filled former candy sacks. In three months, random... posted on Aug 09 2007, 2,663 reads
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Neurosurgeon Gives $20 Million for Village ![](images/quickread.gif) He was born into the "untouchable" caste in India, so poor that he didn't wear his first pair of shoes until he went to medical school. Then he came to America, where he made millions as a New York neurosurgeon, once owning a Rolls-Royce, five Mercedes-Benzes and an airplane. But Kumar Bahuleyan felt empty. He reflected on his poverty-stricken background, seeing three siblings all die from drinkin... posted on Aug 03 2007, 2,887 reads
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