All posts filed under: Stories

Cup of Good - Richie Parker, Armless Engineer

Richie Parker, extraordinary engineer

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  Let me be the first to say that I am not immune to complaining. While I try to remember all the good things in this world and everything that I should be grateful for on a daily basis, I still have days where I am just a brat. I am not alone on that one, I think. Waking up in the morning to exercise is “hard,” commuting to a work place where there is a ton of traffic can get “hard,” washing a car is “hard.” As Richie Parker demonstrates, however — it’s all relative. Richie Parker was born without arms. Yet he did not let this stop him from doing what he wanted to do — from riding bikes, driving cars, to becoming a respected NASCAR engineer in Hendrick Motor Sports. He uses the computer on a daily basis by placing the keyboard and mouse on the floor for his foot to operate. He uses his chin and his shoulder to wash his car, and he uses his toes to weld — among other things! …

Smiling kids in Cape Town

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This video is bursting with excitement and smiles, you’d think the kids won a trip to Disneyland…  but the children are orphans from Cape Town, South Africa and they are simply excited. To say that they do not have much is an understatement, yet they really are just THAT happy  to see a friend/volunteer whom they’ve missed in the past six months. Captured from a first person’s point of view via GoPro, it is hard not to smile back at the lovely faces.   Read about Intsikelelo’s story. Really impressive, you guys. I am so inspired by your kindness, motivation, optimism, and heart.

Arthur’s transformation

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Although this video mentions a fitness program, Arthur’s story is true and utterly inspiring nonetheless. His journey is not just about weight loss — it shows a person’s inner strength, earnest perseverance, and having faith in one’s self against all odds. He demonstrated that the human spirit knows no bounds, and it motivates me in a way that only inspiration could. The clip is less than five minutes but if you’re anything like me, you’re in for an emotional ride. Don’t worry, it has a happy ending. Yay Arthur!!

Caffe Sospeso: The best cup of coffee

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  Caffe Sospeso (“Suspended Coffee”) is a tradition in Italy that involves a customer buying a cup of coffee for someone who cannot afford it, as an anonymous act of charity. This started when cafe patrons in the working-class parts of Naples who experienced good luck would buy two cups of coffee and consume only one. The cafe would then reserve the other cup for a less fortunate person, and serve it to him/her for free. I thought that this story is an internet hoax because it just sounded too nice to be true. As it turns out, snopes (urban legend debunker site) confirmed it based on several personal accounts, and I’d like to believe it is. This is one way to spread good karma around — although simple, it shows people sharing their joy and caring for their fellowmen, strangers included. Thank you for the idea, Naples!

Homeless coder launches ridesharing app

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I caught this story late last year and I’ve forgotten about it until recently, since I’ve been thinking about building another mobile app with friends. Although we launched our app a couple of years ago, I still remember the commitment that our tiny team had to make and the challenges we had to overcome since it’s the first time. All that pales in comparison however, next to Leo Grand’s achievement. You see, Leo Grand is homeless. Yet when Patrick McConlogue gave him the choice between $100 and coding lessons, Leo chose to learn.  In less than 4 months, Leo learned how to code and successfully launched his ride-sharing app, Trees for Cars, in December. Impressive, inspiring, and all around awesome. Congrats, Leo! Read the full story on Mashable.com

Art amid war

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  Check out this beautiful 720-sq metre mural that Syrian artists built recently in Damascus. Using recycled materials, a team of six artists labored for six months to create this Guinness World Record-setting masterpiece in spite of all the strife that their country is experiencing. Wow. “In the difficult conditions that the country is going through, we wanted to give a smile to the people, joy to the children, and show people that the Syrian people love life, love beauty, love creativity.”  —  Moaffak Makhoul               Source: Reuters Photo Credit: Getty Images

Grandpa Dobri

Grandpa Dobri from Bulgaria

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Grandpa Dobri from Bulgaria is not a typical 99-year old man. In the past couple of decades, he has been walking 15 miles from his home to the city of Sofia daily, so that he can beg for money. He doesn’t keep the money however; he donates every single penny  to the city’s churches and orphanages. In this video clip, the church officials noted that Grandpa Dobri has given an equivalent to $52,000! I’m not saying that we should give away all of our income to causes we are passionate about, but I am sharing this story because I’m very inspired and humbled by this man’s perseverance, kindness, generosity, and greatness of heart. May love and light be showered upon you every day, Grandpa Dobri! Source: Humans are Free

CupOfGood - Disarm

Disarming

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  Pedro Reyes is darn cool. An artist from Mexico, he transforms weapons into musical instruments. Need I say more? As thisiscolossal.com reported last week: “The team acquired a variety of rifles, pistols, and shotguns seized from drug cartels by the Mexican army and used them to build the musical devices that are controlled by computers and can be pre-programmed to play music…” Read the rest of the story here. Photo Credit: thisiscolossal.com

A 97-Year Old Microsoft Paint Artist

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These are samples of Mr. Hal Lasko’s art pieces made pixel by pixel via Microsoft Paint. This story blows my mind in more ways than one: 1. Mr. Lasko is 97 years old. Almost 100! 2. At his age,  he is using a computer to draw. That’s pretty neat. 3. Microsoft Paint. 4. Ridiculously cool drawings. 5. He served in WWII. 6. He was a typographer in a past life. 7. He is legally blind. 8. It’s Microsoft Paint. For the full story, check out thisiscolossal.com.

CupOfGood - Horiuchi Tatsuo

Spreadsheet Art

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  The artwork above were made via Excel spreadsheets. Who would’ve thought this was even possible? Maybe it’s just my corporate-life-trained head, but  spreadsheet art did not even cross my mind until I read about 73-year old Tatsuo Horiuchi recently. He saw other people build pretty graphs thirteen years ago, realized he can use it as a medium (since a standard graphics software was expensive) … and he turned it into these unbelievable masterpieces. What a beautiful thing. Photo Credit: Spoon & Tamago