Pete Peterson had been doing some serious soul searching. A billionairre with a zest for life and a desire to make a difference. In his own words:

“In 2007 the company I cofounded, the Blackstone Group, held a most successful public offering. I found myself, at 81, an instant billionaire. I wish I could’ve called my father, a Greek immigrant who had spent most of his life running a 24-hour diner in Kearney, Neb. The news might have pleased him as much as my being the first Greek cabinet officer, which he never hesitated to tell perfect strangers. In the 1930s, when I was growing up, there was all this talk about millionaires like John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie. Now I was a millionaire 1,000 times over.

But immediately I began wondering: what do I do with $1 billion? The idea of trying to make the money grow felt empty to me. For my father, who saved or gave away so much of his modest income, the ultimate pejorative was “big spender.” So buying a yacht was out of the question. I was also struggling over what to do with myself. I would be retiring from Blackstone, but my mind was still sharp and my energy was good. As my work commitments diminished, the phones gradually stopped ringing. The e-mails slowed. My schedule had too many blank spots. I was liberated. I was free. But I was joyless. I found my new life to be a kind of metaphor for my declining years—one might say a slow dying. I missed the frequent interactions with people I respected and enjoyed. I missed being needed. So I started looking at the lives of other billionaires. Almost all the ones I most admired were major philanthropists: Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Mike Bloomberg, George Soros, Eli Broad—each with a passion to do good, each getting so much pleasure from giving their money away. I decided that’s what I wanted to do. But to which worthy cause would I direct my money?

….Ultimately, I decided to commit $1 billion to the Peter G. Peterson foundation—the vast majority of my net proceeds from Blackstone. Why so much?

Kurt Vonnegut once told a story about seeing Joseph Heller at a wealthy hedge-fund manager’s party at a beach house in the Hamptons. Casting his eye around the luxurious setting, Vonnegut said, “Joe, doesn’t it bother you that this guy makes more in a day than you ever made from Catch-22?” “No, not really,” Heller said. “I have something that he doesn’t have: I know the meaning of enough.” I have far more than enough.”

Peterson’s memoir, The Education Of An American Dreamer, will be published by Twelve this month.

Source: Newsweek

One man’s trash in another man’s inspiration. 24-year-old biochemistry graduate Kenneth Cheung had a vision: to make composting more accessible in the average home.

According to Positive Youth News:

Inspired by the government’s attempts to divert food waste from landfill sites, Kenneth was keen to set up a company that could help. “Originally my plan was to use worms and micro-organisms for food waste processing,” he explains, “but a composting firm would require a huge amount of initial investment. I needed a stepping stone.” With incubation support and vital funding from the Environment Centre at Lancaster University, he was able to set up the company BEEcycle.

Kenneth’s attention was soon caught by a self-watering plant pot his friend had designed. “I saw a lot of potential in the product. I realised that there wasn’t an educational tool to teach kids about recycling, so knowing that worms and microbes can speed up composting, we combined the two to create The OvO.”

After initial success, the product was taken into a number of UK schools. A miniature ecosystem, it allowed pupils to observe composting in action, from the breakdown of food into the soil and from the soil back to the plant again.  BEEcycle also provides a service that assists schools in finding the necessary funding to buy the relevant materials.

“After The OvO was up and running, I knew their was still potential in a food waste collection service and processing business,” Kenneth says. “We consulted with the University catering department and then built two medium-size wormery machines to help them recycle their food waste on site.”

Kenneth’s website also features The Bokashi, a fantastic solution that uses microbial technology to ferment waste in just two weeks – even leftover meat and cooked food. Once fermentation is completed, the ‘bokashied waste’ can be dug into the soil to break down naturally in 30-45 days, which is 12 times the speed of traditional composting. To top this, the process produces a sweet smelling liquid that can be diluted down to make plant fertilizer or even drain cleaner, making full use of all the waste. The Ovetto, another eco-design, not only banishes the unsightly presence of separate recycling bins but also saves space by containing the items in a single unit. The bin rotates to where you want to insert your rubbish and crushes bottles and cartons to a smaller size.

Kenneth recently won the Lancaster Environment Centre ‘Business Creation Competition’ and was nominated for this year’s ‘Make your Mark – Enterprising Young Brit’ award.

To find out more about this amazing young man, check out his lively and very active blog or Positive News, another great positive news website!

I almost hesitated writing about Michael Jackson. There is so much out there on the man: the good, the bad and the ugly. But Michael Jackson was an artist, first and foremost. He was more than an artist; he was one of the most influential pop icons in musical history.

How does Michael Jackson fit into a site called Only Positive News? Because his contributions were enormous. Not only was his singing and dancing groundbreaking and truly exemplerary, but he continued to pave the way for African Americans in the performing arts.

Let’s take a second to look past the media mindlessness and Jacko stigma and simply be thankful that we had the chance to watch one of the most truly amazing performers of this time.

Here’s a video clip of Michael Jackson that reminds you that he’s an artist, an extremely talented artist who made a mark on this world that will never go away.

There is a saying that marriage makes strange bedfellows. Well, hip hop star Snoop Dog and legendary astronaut Buzz Aldrin certainly fit the bill.

Watch these men hash it out in the sound studio together.

Believe it or not, it will may bring tears to your eyes. There’s something amazing about people from two totally different worlds coming together to find a common ground.

Buzz Aldrin and Snoop, making Beautiful Music Together

Buzz Aldrin’s first footprint on the moon

Many of us “fear fear itself.” So when we’re having a bad day, we seem to perpetuate it by resisting it or worrying that we won’t be able to change it. We all like control; its important for us to know that if something is going wrong, we can fix it. But some days, unfortunately, bad can’t be fixed.

Or is it unfortunate? Are bad days really that bad?

The way you handle a trying time is a spiritual calibrator, monitoring your inner mettle. If you melt down because your car breaks down or a cashier treats you rudely, than chances are, you have some work to do.

So the next time you wake up and the day ahead of you seems dark and your mood seems darker, take a deep breath and treat yourself kindly. Watch yourself from a distance when a trigger comes your way. Don’t try to force a good mood. That will only frustrate. Allow your bad mood and your bad day to go its own unmerry way.

Often, when we allow a bad state of mind to just be, we realize that we’re in pain and need to face up to that, whether that means a good cry or a scream or writing in your journal or talking to a friend.

Resistance can actually exacerbate a bad mood and a bad day. Life is often beyond our control. And certainly a bad day can bring up our constant need to “fix it.” But what if its just not fixable? Can you live with that? Better yet, can you embrace what is uncontrollable in your life?

Can you let go and let a bad day lead the way?

The Appalachian Trail isn’t an easy expedition, even for serious hikers and climbers. But Trevor Thomas truly defied the odds:

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Cracked ribs made it hard to breathe. A chipped bone in his hip ached as he walked. And 60-mph winds stabbed at him like icy needles.

He was a third-of-a-mile from the rocky summit of Mount Katahdin, a granite giant that climbs skyward out of Maine’s 100 miles of wilderness.

The peak marked the end of a 2,175-mile journey, the completion of a through-hike on the Appalachian Trail. And for the first time in six months, Thomas knew for sure he was going to make it.

“Just keep moving,” he said to himself. “Whatever you do, don’t stop.”

Hiking the entire Appalachian Trail is an accomplishment few people can claim. This year about 1,600 have tried and about 460 have finished.

Only one of them — Thomas — was blind.

Those who attempt such a feat face months of aches and pains, extremes in weather, intense physical challenges and long periods of loneliness.

For Thomas, stricken by a rare eye disease in 2004, the challenge offered something valuable — a chance to restore faith in himself.

But along the way it did more than that. It restored his faith in others. Many hikers lead the way and then “switched off” in the lead. It was the help of many and the dogged perseverance of Thomas that made him the first blind man to have completed this intense journey. Read more about the details here.

Source: Timesleader.com

We live in an increasingly complicated world, where even a day trip means packing an oversized vehicle to the gills. The people at Zen Habits (great site) postulated an idea: What if you had to fit everything you need in the trunk of your car and go on some magical trip? What would you absolutely have to take? What could you easily leave behind?

Here are a few answers to get you thinking:

* I own lots of books. I own a mattress, blanket, pillows as well. I own a desk too. Not to mention, my computer.

As much as I would love to be able to simply put all my belongings in a trunk, I don’t see it happening any time soon.

This is a good exercise to reflect on what we own and what we can really do without.

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* All you need is a towel…and maybe a credit card !!!

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* My books, passport, laptop, camera and clothes. It reminds me of days when I was a student I used to move accommodation in shopping trolleys, all i needed was 1 trip. That’s the reason maybe the bigger the house the smaller our hearts get, as we accumulate every thing resisting to give others what we don’t use

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* My granny always said you can’t take it with you.

Let’s assume that my hubby and three kids can go in the car seats. We’re lucky now that a lot of our most precious possessions like photos, my manuscript, even diaries if I digitized them, can fit on a tiny computer disc or memory stick. I didn’t realise how important that stuff is until recently when I nearly lost it all when my computer died as if can represent years of memories or work so that’s definitely essential.

I’m lucky as we just went traveling for 18 months and we were forced to live with just the bags we could carry. This is a brilliant exercise for ridding yourself of a reliance on material possessions. But I’d take some family treasures, my kids baby books and memory books and some of the small souvenirs that hold precious memories of our travels plus my wedding dress. That should do it and there might even be a bit of room to spare for some snacks for the road.

Yep, I like this idea! Buckle up kids, get the map out Rich, where are we going?

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* Just my dogs. The rest is junk.

*

If I was really travelling, I’d try to limit all I need to one big backpack. When I went across India for 6 months, that was what I lived out of.

The basic test is: is it necessary and do I love it? Picking up something, holding it, and letting my heart speak is the best test to see if you love something.

Australian cattle dogs are highly intelligent and resourceful dogs…but this story surpasses resourcefulness and goes right to amazing!

A pet dog which was washed overboard and believed drowned has been found four months later - as a castaway on a remote Australian island.

Sophie Tucker - named after the famous US entertainer - vanished as Jan and Dave Griffith sailed through stormy waters off Queensland last November.

But unknown to her grieving owners, the plucky dog survived a long swim across shark-infested waters to an island.

There she lived on a diet of baby goats until being found by visiting rangers.

The Griffiths were amazed to hear of the discovery and have now been reunited with their pet.

“She surprised us all,” said Jan Griffith.

“She was a house dog and look what she’s done, she has swum over five nautical miles, she has managed to live off the land all on her own. We wish she could talk, we truly do.”

by Beth Mann
Source: DailyMailOnline

Sometimes - maybe most times - people, when left to their own devices, will do the right thing. Sometimes too many rules and regulations can be harmful. Sometimes less is best.

Take this small town in Germany:

Bohmte, Germany implemented a radical new anti-traffic control procedure a month ago, there hasn’t been a single accident on the busy roads.

Sound like a recipe for bumper-to-bumper traffic and constant fender-benders? Think again: Since the town of Bohmte, Germany implemented this radical new anti-traffic control procedure a month ago, there hasn’t been a single accident on the busy roads.

Before the new road rules came into action, the town’s busy streets were home to at least one serious collision every week, and countless minor traffic infractions. The new policy, funded by a £1.8 million grant from the European Union, was an experiment to see if drivers and pedestrians might be better behaved if the government wasn’t telling them what to do on the road. Now, there are only two steady rules in place: The maximum speed limit throughout the town is 30 miles an hour, and everyone must yield to the right.

By all accounts, the new program has been a raving success. Rather than paying attention to road signs and signals, drivers and walkers can simply pay attention to what their fellow road-sharers are doing, making things run more smoothly for everyone involved.

“Politeness pays,” the town mayor, Klaus Goedejohann, told the Daily Mail. “We have proved that.’”

Source: Gimundo

Think of the many ways people naturally “yield” to one another the next time you are cut off by someone in car or a person jumps in front of you in a line. While those nuisances still occur, most people happily play nicely.

“I can’t sing.”

It’s a common refrain, sung over and over again. Many people were told early on that they couldn’t sing. Singing is a very delicate process; it doesn’t take much to scare someone into permanent submission. One naysayer who cupped their ears in front of you and suddenly you “can’t sing” for life.

But singing is highly expressive and therapeutic. And believe it or not, most people can sing! It’s a shame most of us convince ourselves otherwise. And so what if you can’t sing? Should that stop you from singing? Heck, no.

Singing reduces stress and increases healthy breathing and emotional expression. Singing taps into a deep, age-old power available to all of us. When we find our voice, we find ourselves. Don’t fear your singing, embrace it. It only improves with practice, so trying singing a bit everyday. If you sing in the morning, you’ll notice it naturally wakes you up. Plus your speaking voice will sound cleaner and more grounded.

Today, sing like you mean it. Sing in front of others and throw caution to the wind! Or, if you’re too shy, sing in your car or shower. Sing loudly, passionately. Sing from your heart. You’ll feel more “in tune” afterward.

by Beth Mann