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Showing posts from November, 2022

Diving In Without Hesitance

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A normal traffic accident is scary enough. But add high speeds, a bridge over water, and an ejected baby into the mix and you have a scene straight out of a horror movie. A multi-car collision occurred on the Ocean City, Maryland bridge leaving a pickup truck (pictured below) turned on its side hanging over the edge. The velocity of the impact caused an 18 month old little girl to eject from the vehicle and into the water. Jonathan Bowers, a fellow motorist on the bridge, witnessed the jaw dropping event and quickly went to the railing to look into the bay below. Upon doing so he recalled, "when I looked over, I saw the car seat, some other items, and about six feet away was a little girl. She was on her back, completely floating, head above water, arms moving and legs kicking."  Realizing her ability to stay afloat would not last long Jonathan jumped over the railing plunging two stories down into the bay waters, swimming after the child. Upon retrieving the young one, Mr. B

Will You Cut My Food

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It was in the middle of a shift and during the busiest time at the Waffle House when the request was made. "Can you help me cut my meat?" asked 78 year old patron Adrian Charpentier. He went on to explain to Ebony Williams, the 18 year-old waitress, that his hands did not function very well and she took immediate action. Despite the chaos around her, and many other customers waiting for assistance she stopped everything and took the time to meticulously cut bite-sized pieces for him, no questions asked. Though she thought nothing of it, others took notice in amazement at the over and above service this young lady was willing to offer. One specific onlooker, Laura Wolf, who took the picture you see in this article then posted it to social media shortly thereafter and watched it go viral. As often happens when a viral story graces the social media pages, many readers were moved to ensure this act of kindness was put on display and in some regards, rewarded. The City of Le Marq

Brave Rescue on NYC Subway

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Twenty three year old, Cornell student Bryce Demopoulos was recently caught on MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) camera helping a man in need. As the student entered the subway platform awaiting his connection that would usher him to his summer job at Weill Cornell Medicine, he observed a man stumble off the platform and onto the tracks. Initially Bryce assumed the man would just hop right back out but it became clear as the man shouted that he was not capable of doing so without help.  So without thinking, Demopoulos jumped into the subway rail line with an oncoming train headed for the pair in effort to assist the fallen man back onto the platform. "I didn't really think about it too much. I saw somebody who was obviously in trouble and I was in a position to help him. It didn't really occur to me that it was dangerous in the moment - I just feel like I had the responsibility to just hop in and help him when he needed it." It was not until footage of his h

Waiting in Brandon's Line

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Customer service skills seem to be difficult to find in today's retail marketplace, especially the kind your might classify as "exceptional" or "above and beyond." But the art of satisfying customers is not completely lost especially if you are the patron of Harmons in Salt Lake City Utah, where you might find Brandon Wojciechowski running a register. In his 19 year career with the grocery chain, he has developed quite a reputation with the shoppers who speak highly of him anytime they get the chance.  Store Director Ryan Morris observed in one particular instance lines starting to back up beyond a reasonable measure, so he opened a new lane and invited those in the back of the line to move over. Much to his surprise, customers told him "No, we want to wait. We want to go through Brandon's line." Other customers who were interviewed about his service raved about his demeanor with kids, his kind smile, and his affinity for telling jokes. But the

My Uncle Is Superman

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"My dad can beat up your dad!" is a common brag around the elementary school yard. And so are a whole host of other claims that typically never get vetted in a manner as to provide proof. You just either have to believe your dad can beat up Billy's dad or vice versa because the odds of getting a boxing match between the two are pretty low. And that's beside the point anyway. Kids hero worship of their parents and various other adults in their life is normal and part of what makes them feel significant to their peers. But imagine actually having a superhero, like Superman, be related to you and getting in trouble with your teacher for "lying about it" despite the truth of the claim. Enter actor Henry Cavill's nephew Thomas who was proudly proclaiming that his uncle was indeed Superman to all who would listen. Cavill, who recounted the hilarious tale on various TV programs, including the Tonight Show said to Leno, "Keep in mind Thomas has got a grea

Inmates Save Officer

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If we asked, who you would want by your side during an emergency, what would your answer be? Your spouse, your children, a medical professional? All of those answers would be understandable but in the case of Deputy Warren Hobbs, a Georgia prison guard for Gwinnett County Jail, those were not his options. While on duty Mr. Hobbs starting feeling strange and the inmates, who were locked in their cells at the time began to notice. He was breathing heavily, he was moving strangely, and he was sweating. What really tipped the prisoner's off though was when Hobbs removed his hat and hung his head. This is something the Deputy never did and soon one inmate called Mitchell "Smalls" started banging on his door yelling for the guard as he watched him lose consciousness.  Unthwarted the yelling soon got louder as other cells joined in with the banging and the shouting of "Hobbs" name and his title "Deputy". This worked as it briefly caused the Warren to gain con

Soapy Success

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After years of traveling the country working a corporate tech job, Shawn Seipler decided to quit his job and do something rather unconventional. Founder and CEO of a new company called Clean the World the aspiring entrepreneur had an idea based on all his previous hotel stays and observation that soap seemed to have a one time, very wasteful use. He wasn't wrong. For hygienic purposes all soaps must be thrown out after a guest leaves. That makes sense for the used bars but in order for hotel owners to get the highest inspection ratings possible, they must also dispose of unused soap left in the wrapper. This means 1 million bars of soap per day in the US plus another 4 million worldwide are discarded in the trash and headed for your local landfills.  Shawn came up with a method to not only gather this soap with the partnership of many hotel chains but a process (re-batching) to melt it back down and repurpose it for distribution to third world countries where access to hygiene reso

Real Pixar's UP House

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Ever see the Pixar movie UP? Whodathunk there was some truth mixed into the plot as a persistent old man who refuses to sell his home is quickly surrounded by the momentum of "progress" sandwiching him home amongst skyscrapers? The real life home (pictured here) and small property the movie was based on belonged to a widow of 86 years of age named Edith Macefield. Originally taking ownership of the home in 1952 when the neighborhood look much different Edith and her late husband raised a family. In 2006 developers wanted to make this part of a newly constructed mall and she flatly refused despite offers of over $1 million. Her persistence paid off and won her a local community reputation of a hero status for "standing up against the system." Like her movie counterpart Carl Fredricksen she did not want to trade years and years of good memories for a pay out. It was the only home she ever knew and she did not want to be forced out. As you can tell by the photo, constr