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Jon Bon Jovi Opens “Pay-What-You-Can” Restaurants For People In Need

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Musician Jon Bon Jovi owns a restaurant where you only pay what you can afford.

Named the JBJ Soul Kitchen, the nonprofit community restaurant is run by the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation as part of its mission to address hunger and homelessness.

 

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How Does Soul Kitchen Work?

The Soul Kitchen is open to everyone on a first-come, first-serve basis. Guests enjoy a three-piece meal that includes a soup or salad, an entrée and a dessert.

At the end of the meal, you pay what you can. The suggested donation is $20, but you can pay all or none of that.

Another option is to pay for your meal by volunteering at the restaurant.

 

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Helping the Hungry

“Pay What You Can” restaurants have been opening all over the country.

The concept behind these restaurants is to give poor or homeless people a good meal without making them go to a homeless shelter or soup kitchen.

The organization One World Everybody Eats helps communities open and manage these restaurants.

 

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Feeling Good by Doing Good

Jon Bon Jovi and his wife Dorothea opened the first Soul Kitchen in 2011. They have plans to open a third on the campus of Rutgers University.

As the rocker told CBS news, “The way to feel good is to do good.”

 

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Alex Trebek Shares The Warning Signs Of Pancreatic Cancer In New PSA

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Alex Trebek, the much-loved host of the TV game show Jeopardy!, is using his fame to get the word out about pancreatic cancer. In a new public service announcement, he urges viewers not to ignore unusual medical symptoms.

Alex Trebek

Jeopardy! television host Alex Trebek supports the World Pancreatic Cancer Coalition (WPCC) and their global awareness initiative in a new public service announcement (PSA) about risk factors and symptoms of pancreatic cancer. World Pancreatic Cancer Day is Nov. 21, 2019.

A Deeply Personal Diagnosis

The issue is deeply personal for Trebek.

In early 2019, Trebek announced that he had been diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer. Although Trebek said he intended to fight the illness, he acknowledged that pancreatic cancer has a low survival rate.

Upbeat and Optimistic

Trebek has remained upbeat and optimistic throughout his diagnosis and treatment. He also refused to take time off from the show.

Trebek, who is 79, has hosted the popular game show for 35 years. He has won six daytime Emmy Awards.

A Good Life

In September 2019, Trebek revealed that his health was deteriorating.

Trebek has remained resolute and cheerful, telling Good Morning America, “I’ve had one hell of a good life, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.”

 

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WATCH: School Kids Surprise Crossing Guard With World Series Tickets

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A group of students and their parents helped their school crossing guard cross one item off his bucket list by surprising him with World Series tickets.

School Kids Surprise Crossing Guard

Keeping Kids Safe

Jeff Covel has been a school crossing guard at Nottingham Elementary in Arlington, Virginia, for five years. In that time, he has become a favorite among the students he guides safely into school every day.

Covel is a big fan of the Washington Nationals. Many days, he sports a stuffed replica of the Nationals mascot Screech inside his safety vest.

A High-Priced Ticket

When the Nationals made it to the World Series for the first time in their history, Covel desperately wanted to go to a game but knew he could never afford the $1500 tickets.

Until last week, when Covel received the surprise of a lifetime. As cameras rolled, the students surprised him with the tickets at his crossing station.

A Special Day

Covel described the day to WTOP News, saying, “I started to tear up a little bit.”

 

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Teens Are Gluing Their Lips To Make Them Look Fuller

Marine Who Covered Grenade To Save Friend Receives Medal Of Honor

Man Mysteriously Drowns After Proposing To His Girlfriend Underwater

NASA Captures Black Hole Swallowing A Star The Size Of The Sun

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A planetary telescope named TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) has produced images of a black hole in space tearing apart a star.

An attack by a black hole is a major astronomical event that only occurs once every 10,000 to 100,000 years.

Black Hole

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

What Is a Black Hole?

A black hole is a region of space made up of powerful gravitational forces. The forces are so strong that nothing can escape from the hole.

According to the website Space, they “are some of the strangest and most fascinating objects in outer space.”

What’s Special About This Sighting?

Astronomers have known about black holes for centuries, but they did not actually see one until 1971.

A stellar event this huge is known as a tidal disruption event because it causes a total reconfiguration of the stars surrounding it.

Is There Life Out There?

Science fiction writers have long toyed with the idea of life existing in a black hole, most recently in the 2014 movie Interstellar.

NASA scientists, however, say that a black hole would not support human life.

Man Mysteriously Drowns After Proposing To His Girlfriend Underwater

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Like many would-be grooms, Steven Weber wanted his proposal to be unique. His unconventional approach turned horrifying, however, when his daring underwater proposal resulted in his death.

An Unforgettable Underwater Proposal

Steven Weber and his girlfriend Kanesha Antoine were vacationing at the Manta hotel in Tanzania. The hotel has a room with an underwater bedroom.

Weber decided that this would be the perfect setting for an offbeat, unforgettable proposal.

Weber Filmed His Own Death

In a video that has since gone viral, you can see Weber swimming to an underwater window, waving and holding up a handwritten proposal.

When he failed to appear above the surface, Antoine knew he was in trouble. She contacted first responders and rescue crews, but it was too late.

Details of the Drowning Are Unclear

Weber’s sister Mandy Hoffman told CNN, “We know he drowned, but we don’t know the circumstances surrounding that.”

In a poignant Facebook post, Antoine wrote, “You never got to hear my answer, which would have been, ‘Yes! Yes! A million times, yes, I will marry you!'”

Teens Are Gluing Their Lips To Make Them Look Fuller

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You can find YouTube videos showing all kinds of beauty tips. You can learn hacks for putting highlights in your hair, contouring your makeup, styling a wig and gluing your lips to make them look full.

Hold up. Did we say “gluing your lips to make them look full?” Yes, you read that correctly. Using glue as a beauty tool is the latest craze among girls who want their puckers to look pouty.

The Beauty Tip That Went Viral

A challenge to try this trick went viral. It reached over 4.5 million views on TikTok.

TikTok is a short-form, video-sharing app like YouTube. It has become hugely popular among teens, who use it to share beauty tips.

How Did It Start?

It’s not clear how the trend started, but “faking fillers” is a popular beauty hack. Makeup artists and other experts offer tips on using liners, gloss and other tricks to achieve the look of full lips.

On TikTok, the girls decided to skip using makeup and went right to the glue.

How Crazy Is It?

The idea of using Crazy Glue or nail glue sounds, well, crazy, but some observers note that the TikTok girls are using eyelash glue, which is safe to use on human skin.

Others note that this particular lip-filling hack is a lot safer than the previous craze, which involved sucking the air from a shot glass to achieve a puckered effect.

 

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Does Gluing Your Lips Work?

The real question is, does the trick work? Those who tried it reported that it does, but it’s only temporary. You might achieve the effect long enough to take a selfie.

If you want longer-lasting results that don’t require glue, check out one of the many YouTube videos offering tips on achieving fuller lips with makeup.

 

Sandy Hook Promise Releases Chilling Back-To-School PSA Video

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Sandy Hook Promise Releases Chilling Back-To-School PSA Video

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In a chilling reminder of the reality schoolchildren face every day, Sandy Hook Promise released a disturbing public service announcement (PSA). The PSA’s release coincides with the start of a new school year.

Sandy Hook Promise

Get Ready for School and School Shooters

Titled Back-to-School Essentials, the video depicts children showing off their new jackets, binders and skateboards as they head to school. Later, they are forced to use those items to escape from an armed killer. In the video’s most harrowing scene, a girl is seen using her new phone to text a goodbye message to her mother.

The video is part of a series of PSAs that Sandy Hook Promise has produced. They are all pretty grim, but most observers agree that this new one is the most emotionally shocking one yet.

Shocking and Disturbing

Nicole Hockley, the managing director of Sandy Hook Promise, told CNN that the PSAs are meant to be disturbing.

“We wanted to focus on this back-to-school time because parents still think of it as this rosy time where you’re getting your staplers, shoes, folders and binders,” she said. “Whereas, it’s back to a time of violence for a lot of kids.”

What Is Sandy Hook Promise?

Sandy Hook Promise is a nonprofit organization that focuses on school violence. It is named for the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Hockley’s son Dylan was among the 20 killed in that tragic shooting.

 

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Teen Hospitalized With Vaping Illness Has Warning For Users

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Adam Hergenreder of Gurnee, Illinois, has a message for his fellow teens who enjoy vaping. “It’s going to attack your lungs,” he warns.

Vaping Illness

Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune

Poisoned Lungs

The 18-year-old was hospitalized with an advanced pulmonary disease that nearly stopped his breathing. Experts suspect that a vaping device filled with cannabis oil might be to blame.

Concerns About Cannabis

Across the country, health authorities have reported dozens of vaping-related illnesses and deaths. It’s happened in Illinois, Minnesota and Oregon.

In most cases, the people getting sick were using cannabis oil in their vaping devices.

Cannabis Vaping

Street Vapes Might Be the Problem

Experts theorize that oil base could be causing lung inflammation. This is especially true if the base contains vitamin E.

Authorities also point out that many users are buying cannabis vapes from street dealers. These black market vapes are often tainted with dangerous ingredients.

Hergenreder admitted that he was buying street vapes when he got sick.

Marine Who Covered Grenade To Save Friend Receives Medal Of Honor

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In 2010, Kyle Carpenter jumped into the line of fire to save the life of a fellow Marine. In 2014, Carpenter was honored with the U.S. military’s highest award, the Medal of Honor.

 

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Bravery Under Fire

In 2010, Carpenter deployed to Afghanistan. During a routine patrol, his battalion came under fire from a grenade attack. A military investigation later concluded that Carpenter was injured while protecting his friend Nick Eufrazio from the grenade.

Carpenter’s arms and jaw were broken, and he lost an eye. Eufrazio had extensive shrapnel damage to his face and body. Both of the soldiers survived.

 

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Recovery and Recognition

Carpenter retired from the military in 2013. In 2014, President Barack Obama awarded him the Medal of Honor in a White House ceremony.

In its citation, the military commended Carpenter for his incredible bravery and his willingness to put his life on the line for another.

 

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Get Inspired by His Story

Carpenter has written a book that will inspire you to create a great life in spite of all the odds.

The name of the book is You Are Worth It: Building a Life Worth Fighting For and it will be available from booksellers in October 2019.

 

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Man Who Recorded Pig’s Treatment Banned From Iowa State Fair

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Wheaten Mather was enjoying a day at the Iowa State Fair when he saw something that horrified him. A young boy was beating his pig in the face with a show stick. A show stick is a small, lightweight whip used to guide pigs and livestock in show rings.

Was the Fair Unfair?

Mather filmed the incident and contacted authorities at the fair. What happened next isn’t clear. Mather admits that he became agitated.

The fair’s director accused Mather of being “threatening” and banned him from the fair for life.

Difficult to Watch

Mather posted the footage on his Facebook page with warning that, “This is a difficult video to watch and a difficult video for me to post.”


Although Mather received a lot of support from fellow animal lovers, he also faced criticism from a few people.

What Is Painful to a Pig?

These people pointed out that pigs are very thick-skinned and that using a show stick is an acceptable way to get a stubborn pig to move.

Guides from the 4H, however, recommend using a light touch with a show stick and never hitting pigs on the face.

The animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) also intervened.

“It is shameful that the Iowa State Fair sanctioned the good Samaritan who spoke out against whipping a crying pig and didn’t take allegations of animal abuse seriously,” the organization said in a statement.

PETA has offered a $5000 reward for information about the pig or his owner.