Category Archives: Viva!

Resisting Nazis, He Saw Need for Israel. Now He Is Its Critic. – NYTimes.com

THE HAGUE — In 1943, Henk Zanoli took a dangerous train trip, slipping past Nazi guards and checkpoints to smuggle a Jewish boy from Amsterdam to the Dutch village of Eemnes. There, the Zanoli family, already under suspicion for resisting the Nazi occupation, hid the boy in their home for two years. The boy would be the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust.

Seventy-one years later, on July 20, an Israeli airstrike flattened a house in the Gaza Strip, killing six of Mr. Zanoli’s relatives by marriage. His grandniece, a Dutch diplomat, is married to a Palestinian economist, Ismail Ziadah, who lost three brothers, a sister-in-law, a nephew and his father’s first wife in the attack.

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In Fatal Flash, Gaza Psychologist Switches Roles, Turning Into a Trauma VictimAUG. 4, 2014

On Thursday, Mr. Zanoli, 91, whose father died in a Nazi camp, went to the Israeli Embassy in The Hague and returned a medal he received honoring him as one of the Righteous Among the Nations — non-Jews honored by Israel for saving Jews during the Holocaust. In an anguished letter to the Israeli ambassador to the Netherlands, he described the terrible price his family had paid for opposing Nazi tyranny.

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Hassan al-Zeyada, a Palestinian psychologist in Gaza, whose brother Ismail Ziadah is married to Mr. Zanoli’s grandniece. Credit Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times

“My sister lost her husband, who was executed in the dunes of The Hague for his involvement in the resistance,” he wrote. “My brother lost his Jewish fiancée who was deported, never to return.”

Mr. Zanoli continued, “Against this background, it is particularly shocking and tragic that today, four generations on, our family is faced with the murder of our kin in Gaza. Murder carried out by the State of Israel.”

via Resisting Nazis, He Saw Need for Israel. Now He Is Its Critic. – NYTimes.com.

Cat Survives 12-Story Fall From Midtown Building: Gothamist

Thank goodness this story has a purrfect ending: A Manhattan cat owner discovered his cat was missing from his 15th floor apartment—and then found him on the third floor overhang… alive!

CBS New York reports:

“I started freaking out,” [Samuel] Jacobs told 1010 WINS’ Glenn Schuck. “I literally saw him and I was like, ‘Oh no, no no. He’s dead.’”

With help from a building porter, Jacobs climbed out onto the overhang and was happily shocked to find Gizmo purring.

“He looked so relieved to see me,” Jacobs said. “He was scared and just crying and screaming.”

via Cat Survives 12-Story Fall From Midtown Building: Gothamist.

Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation Gala Raises Over $25 Million – Look to the Stars

The Gala – co-chaired by Philippe Cousteau and Jared Leto along with the presenting sponsor Julius Baer and co-sponsor Chopard – raised over $25 million for The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, dedicated to protecting Earth’s last wild places and implementing solutions to build a more harmonious relationship between humanity and the natural world.

Leonardo DiCaprio opened the evening with an impassioned speech about the Foundation’s work and stated, “Today we stand at the 11th Hour – facing a tipping point of environmental crises unprecedented in human history. Not since the age of the dinosaurs have so many species of plants and animals become extinct in such a short period of time. We must now make an effort to protect the rich biodiversity that could allow nature to eventually recover. The good news is there are solutions to these massive problems. Efforts like tonight will start addressing them.”

DiCaprio proceeded to open the live auction with his own Harley-Davidson Motorcycle signed by Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro and himself.

Bono took the stage with Julian Lennon, and took down the house with their own rendition of “Stand By Me.” Bono stayed on stage to auction off his personal guitar for $1 million.

via Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation Gala Raises Over $25 Million – Look to the Stars.

Eat Drink Better | Healthy recipes, good food: sustainable eats for a healthy lifestyle!

Here’s the number one problem with processed food: it’s so processed that we can’t really identify its origins. Especially when we’re talking about processed meat, which is pretty darn gnarly. Photographer Peter Augustus just changed all that.

Texas-born and now Hong Kong based, Augustus took photographs showing the unappetizing origins of processed meat including chicken nuggets, hot dogs and ham.

Only, in Augustus’ photos, he illuminates the unprocessed ingredients such as chicken feet, pig snouts and intestines that are commonly found in these items.

via Eat Drink Better | Healthy recipes, good food: sustainable eats for a healthy lifestyle!.

10 Reasons to Exercise & A 30-Day Challenge. | Rebelle Society

1. Keeps you youthful. Cardio exercise such as yoga, jogging, light aerobics, brisk walking or bicycling increase the amount of oxygen consumed during exercise. Studies now show that people who exercise regularly tend to stay healthier as they age — according to Web MD, researchers have found that people who exercise have cells that look much younger under a microscope than people who do not regularly exercise. And we all know, true beauty emanates from the inside out — what’s inside will eventually make its way through.

2. Increases immunity. Regular, mindful workouts (not over-doing it) rev-up the immune system. Research shares that the average adult has two to three upper respiratory infections each year. However, studies found that people with a regular exercise routine report fewer colds and infections. And a strong immunity keeps us saying yes to life and all its invitations.

3. Prevents heart disease. An inactive lifestyle is one of the top risk factors for heart disease. Physical activity helps to keep you at a healthy weight and can reduce your chances of developing  conditions that may put a strain on your heart, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. And a healthy heart could just translate into healthier relationships.

4. Eases-up asthma. According to a study in the UK, eight out of ten people with asthma aren’t doing enough exercise. Mindful and appropriate exercise for asthmatics can actually improve your lung capacity, which can help to manage asthma.

5. Controls blood sugar and lower diabetes. Moderate exercise makes your heart beat faster. When this happens, your muscles use more glucose, the sugar in your blood stream. Over time, this can lower blood sugar level and  help the insulin in your body work better.

6. Helps to prevent cancer. New studies show that there is strong evidence that exercise is associated with reduced risk of cancers of the colon and breast, and reduces the risk of endometrial/uterus, lung, and prostate cancers.

7. Alleviates stress. According to the Mayo Clinic, exercise in almost any form can act as a stress reliever and can boost your feel-good endorphins — and distract you from daily, arbitrary worries.

8. Relieves menopausal symptoms. Moderate and frequent exercise has proven to improve the quality of sleep and elevate mood. It may also relieve night sweats, by reducing stress and balancing out hormones.

9. Protects men’s health. According to a study shared on Web MD, men who found time for five or more hours of exercise a week (just under an hour a day), whether job-related or for fun, were 30% to 50% less likely to develop an enlarged prostrate than those who exercised fewer than two hours a week.

10. Prolongs life. Researchers have found that moderate exercise, such as walking or bicycling, can substantially reduce your risk of early death.

And, just think — these are only 10 of the benefits of moving your body! Find what works best for you and the best part? You don’t have to over do it. Thirty minutes of sincere, moderate exercise every day will offer you life-affirming benefits.

via 10 Reasons to Exercise & A 30-Day Challenge. | Rebelle Society.

National Service Official Blog

National Service Official Blog.

AmeriCorps members are finding careers, bringing new energy to disaster services

When looking at the emotional phases of a disaster there is an attempt to understand what individual survivors and communities are going through after an event. Time and again we see the greatness of humanity post impact with heroic moments both great and small.

During the heroic phase we see people opening their homes, helping out neighbors, and performing infinite small kindnesses.  It is during the heroic and honeymoon phases that survivors feel they are not alone, and they have hope for the future.  Unfortunately the realization of the long haul ahead along with the truth of the months or years it will take to recover often leads to disillusionment, and sometimes the loss of that very hope that was so strongly present just days or weeks before.

Spider photobombs BBC Scotland news | Media | The Guardian

A spider photobombed a live BBC news bulletin when it crawled across the screen to catch an insect.

The spider, which which looked giant on screen, invaded the early morning edition of Reporting Scotland when it crept across the lens of the roof camera.

Newsreader Graham Stewart looked unperturbed as the spider grabbed the insect before retreating.

He later tweeted: “Never mind the pandas: giant hungry spider invades Reporting Scotland at breakfast time!”

via Spider photobombs BBC Scotland news | Media | The Guardian.