DNA evidence releases man from life in prison after almost 30 years

It makes me feel thankful for everything. for the little things especially. even for having a job to go to.

And it reinforces my stance on the death penalty. This exact same scenario has happened to people who were sentenced to death! I am wholeheartedly against the death penalty.

Lastly, I wonder how the four people felt when they realized their mistaken testimonies wasted an innocent man’s life in prison. It’s sad that things like this happen and even sadder it took him so long to get out despite having the proof years before he was actually released.

the healthiest diet in the world

The first story I read about was actually a blogger that I regularly read. She was forced to move because her daughter was getting bullied at school. I’m so happy to read that she will be moving to Oklahoma…from what I remember of growing up there….it is full of very friendly people! I was very much a minority there being an Asian but I don’t remember experiencing discrimination even once. Maybe I was just lucky but since moving out to LA, I witness discrimination much more out here.

Then I read the story of Phoebe Prince who committed suicide because she was bullied at school. She was only 15 years old. And to make matters worse, read what a mother of one of the bullies has to say. With parents like these of course there are bullies! They are telling their kids it’s ok to exchange mean words because that’s what kids do. At least she didn’t outright tell her to “harm herself”, right?

And lastly, this story has been gaining a lot of attention simply because of the absurdity of it all. First it came out that a high school actually canceled their prom because one of their students was a lesbian and wanted to bring her gf and wear a tuxedo (which was forbidden!). Then it turns out the parents of the students made their own prom and set up a “fake prom” for the lesbian student to attend with 5 other students (2 which had learning disabilities). The REST of the school went to the other prom set up by the parents. I. CAN. NOT. BELIEVE. THIS.

Not one single student told her the truth. Thank god she is graduating and can leave that horrible, backasswards town. I know that not everyone agrees with homosexuality but there is a level of decency that we should all have for each other as human beings.

All of these stories made me so sad…and the worst part is it seems like these bullies don’t even care what they did. For example, after Phoebe (2nd story) committed suicide, the bullies set up a facebook page called “we murdered phoebe prince” and how proud they were. uh??????? Are these kids even human???

An op-ed piece written by some doctors working with Doctors Without Borders in Haiti

Even though it seems like everyone has lost someone, their home, their way of life, it is amazing how people are helping each other. A lot of children have been orphaned. There is one beautiful little boy, who is about four years old. I don’t know where he came from or how he got into our makeshift hospital compound, because he doesn’t really have any injuries. I asked him if he was alone, and he told me, “Yes, I am alone, but I’m here with my friends.” I look around and all of his friends are people he doesn’t know, all waiting for surgery.

7 yr old Haitian boy gets rescued with a smile on his face – click to see photo!

The little Haitian boy who greeted rescuers with a beaming grin as they freed him from a huge pile of rubble said yesterday, “I smiled because I was free — I smiled because I was alive.”

7 yr old raises $240K for Haiti – it’s amazing no matter how old you are you CAN make a difference!

The faces of haiti by the big picture – best photo news blog covers Haiti

Haiti’s children on their own on shattered streets – it’s the hardest imagining these children who have lost their parents!

Google’s Haiti Earthquake page – great roundup of donation links and news

At the very least, text HAITI to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief efforts. This is SO easy to do and $10 is nothing to us but can mean SO much to them. It just takes 1 minute to do!!!

Check out the rest here at Learn Something Every Day.

You can view a bigger version here.

And if you’re looking to buy some plug adapters….here is a hot deal for a 3 piece set for 15.99!

1. On a freeway/highwway, the left most lane is known as the fast lane, the right most lane is the slow lane. That means if you are slow, move right! If you are in the left lane and the cars to your right are passing by you…that means you are driving too slow! I thought this is common knowlege, but at least a few days a week I see someone making this mistake.
2. If you are going to talk on the phone (illegally in LA at least) while driving, at least PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR DRIVING! I noticed people who talk on the phone while driving, will drive extremely slow. This also goes for people in conversations with the passengers in their car.
3. You can make a left turn on green lights (also known as unprotected left turns). If the light is green and you are turning left, you are allowed to pull out into the intersection and turn when traffic is free. At the very least, you will be able to turn left when the light changes to yellow/red. I’ve actually seen people wait at the light until they get a green arrow!
4. I also hate when people honk when they don’t really know what’s going on. For example, sometimes I am waiting for pedestrians to cross a crosswalk but the car behind me thinks I’m just sitting there twiddling my thumbs or something. No, I’m not going because I don’t want to hit someone! So before you honk, make sure you actually know the situation.

Carpool specific etiquette (I drive in the carpool lane everyday so I notice these things more than anything):
1. If the non-carpool traffic is driving faster, you are driving too slow. This also defeats the purpose of the carpool lane. Please exit.
2. If there is a long line of cars behind you and nobody in front of you, this is also a signal that you are driving too slow. Please speed up or exit as soon as possible!
3. This is a very odd thing I’ve started to notice, especially on the 405. Many times, the carpool lane has no traffic but the outside lanes do. Whenever the outside lanes start slowing down, I notice the carpool lane will also slow down. FOR NO REASON! I am talking about the first car that has nobody in front of them. If you are in a carpool lane, cars do not go in or out except for specified sections. I have actually seen cars in front of me slow down to match the traffic of the non-carpool lanes. It’s soooo annoying!!

These are just the ones that came to me off the top of my head, feel free to add!