Happy Encounters: Believe in Good - The Unsung Hero in Thailand

You should definitely check this out.  One of the most touching ads I have ever seen that can bring a tear to your eye.

Happy Encounters: Yoga Time with Nic and Pancho (Amazing Dog)

Check out this video.  Pancho is so impressive!

Happy Encounters: Unbelievable Bus Shelter | Pepsi Max. Unbelievable #LiveForNow

Amazing Ad.. Real impressed!

Happy Encounters: Earth hour - Turn off to turn on

This is one of the best ads I have seen lately.  So true, so sweet and so subtle.  Love it :)

Happy Encounters: 8 humans with superhero powers

After watching all the super hero movies, have you ever wondered how cool it'd be if those powers actually exist in reality?  Well here are some amazing people who actually have powers that are pretty close to super hero powers in real life!  Check them out and you'll surely be impressed ;)  My favourite one would be the real human torch. 

1. Liam Hoekstra, the Incredible Hulk Toddler

2. The Samurai who can slow down time

3. The Real-life Namor

4. The Real Human Torch

5. The Iceman

6. The Human Anvil

7. The Real Iron Man Suit

8. Ben Underwood, The Real Daredevil

Click here for full story: http://www.bizarbin.com/real-superhero-powers/

Happy Encounters: Baby Arabel swimming at only 1 year and 9 months old

Came across this clip today and what an impressive baby!  This was shot 2 years back and wonder what a swimmer she would be like now!

Happy Encounters: Make Over Your Morning Mindset With These 6 Pieces Of Inspiration

Some great inspirations on how to get your morning started :)

Make Over Your Morning Mindset With These 6 Pieces Of Inspiration - Huffington Post

Our alarms are going off, we're grouchy about traffic, we spilled coffee on our work pants -- what's so great about mornings, anyway?

Turns out, our first waking moments can be the best part of the day if we approach them right. Try starting the day with a happy attitude and a cherished ritual. Need some inspiration? Here's how to get motivated to bring new meaning to the phrase "good morning"

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Happy Encounters: Tickling Kitty

This kitty is soooo cute!

http://youtu.be/0Bmhjf0rKe8

Happy Encounters: America's First Laughing Competition!

Believe it or not, but it's true!  Came across this article and didn't know such competition exists  Though it happened back in 2011 but still an interesting idea!  Definitely agree that lauhing can be contagious. 

The Laughman - The most contagious laugh in the world


It's no joke: The United States' first-ever laughing championship takes place Saturday in San Luis Obispo, Calif., and a few dozen gigglers, guffawers and chortlers will yuck it up in hopes of winning the coveted title of "California's Best Laugher."

We're serious: It's a laughing contest and the contestants will compete in events such as "Best Diabolical Laugh" and "Most Contagious Laugh" and face off in "Laughter Duels" to see who can make the other person crack up most.

For full article - http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/10/no-joke-americas-first-laughing-competition-guffaws-off-ground/

Happy Encounters: Artem Smao, 14, Donates His Own Money To Unemployed Stranger

Here's another act of pay it forward by various different people, reminding us that there are people out there who wants to make the world a better place :)

Lodi Woman Says Teen's Selfless Gesture Changed Her Life: A Lodi woman says a 14-year-old boy selling newspapers changed her life with a simple offering she will never forget.

Last month, 14-year-old Artem Smao was selling newspaper subscriptions to fundraise a trip to Tahoe, a popular West Coast ski destination. In a twist of events, the California teen ended up donating all of his money to a complete stranger when he knocked on Robynn Fried's front door.  Fried, a Lodi resident, told CBS News in Sacramento that she was unemployed at the time and two weeks away from being homeless when Smao approached her for a donation. When she explained that she could not afford to, the teen did not hesitate to hand over his envelope full of cash.  "That's just something you don't expect out of kids these days," Fried told the Lodi News-Sentinal. "He was trying to win a trip to Tahoe, so when you're trying to earn something, it's really unbelievable to have that person turn around and offer what they're trying to earn."  Less than a week after Smao's act of generosity, Fried was offered a job and said she wants to take the 14-year-old out to dinner to thank him.

Smao isn't the only teen who has gone out of his way to brighten someone else's day. Last July, four teens from Montana were on their way to a basketball game when they stumbled upon a wallet that was filled with $700. They returned the wallet completely intact before the owner even realized it was missing.  "We decided if we'd lost our wallet, we would want somebody to return it," Kaylee Olson, one of the 14-year-olds, told the Great Falls Tribune.  In March, another teen, 18-year-old Samantha Manns, set off to accomplish 89 random acts of kindness in honor of her 89-year-old grandmother who passed away.  "I want people to feel the happiness that comes with giving selflessly and with caring uncontrollably," Manns wrote on the "89 Acts of Kindness" Facebook page. "While it's a good feeling to be known, it's an even better and more rewarding feeling to know I'm inspiring people to commit their OWN acts of kindness!"

Happy Encounters: Toronto Becomes First City To Mandate Green Roofs

In this world of concrete, utilising the many available rooftops to build a green environment is just what we need.

Summer is just around the corner, and for those who live in big cities, that means spring warmth will soon give way to searing heat. Green roofs can help regulate city temperatures, giving people, and the electrical grid, a much needed break.

Toronto is the first city in North America with a bylaw that requires roofs to be green. And we're not talking about paint. A green roof, also known as a living roof, uses various hardy plants to create a barrier between the sun's rays and the tiles or shingles of the roof. The plants love the sun, and the building (and its inhabitants) enjoy more comfortable indoor temperatures as a result.

Toronto's new legislation will require all residential, commercial and institutional buildings over 2,000 square meters to have between 20 and 60 percent living roofs. Although it's been in place since early 2010, the bylaw will apply to new industrial development as of April 30, 2012. While this is the first city-wide mandate involving green roofs, Toronto's decision follow's in the footsteps of other cities, like Chicago and New York.

Under the direction of Mayor Richard Daley the city of Chicago put a 38,800 square foot green roof on a 12 story skyscraper in 2000. Twelve years later, that building now saves $5000 annually on utility bills, and Chicago boasts 7 million square feet of green roof space. New York has followed suit, and since planting a green roof on the Con Edison Learning Centre in Queens, the buildings managers have seen a 34 percent reduction of heat loss in winter, and reduced summer heat gain by 84 percent.

But lower utility bills aren't the only benefit of planting a living roof. In addition to cooling down the city, green roofs create cleaner air, cleaner water, and provide a peaceful oasis for people, birds and insects in an otherwise polluted, concrete and asphalt-covered environment.

Happy Encounters: Oil Pulling - Natural Remedy for Healthier Teeth and Detox Your Body

What is Oil Pulling?
Oil Pulling is a safe, simple, cheap and gentle ‘do it yourself home remedy’ that cures and prevents diseases and extends your healthy life.  It involves rinsing the mouth with 1 tablespoon (10ml) of oil for 15 to 20 minutes and spitting it out. You can use either sunflower oil or sesame oil, both of which are usually used for cooking and readily available in the home.

This simple therapy is completely harmless as you do not take any medicines - even the oil you use is spit out after OP. By helping the body get rid of toxins that have accumulated, Oil Pulling promotes self healing from within.

Oil Pulling has been mentioned in the ancient texts of Ayurveda. A similar process was also published at a conference of the “All Ukrainische Union, “of the oncologists (Specialists for tumor diseases) and bacteriologists,  by Dr.med. Karach. Over the years, this simple therapy helped cure diseases of thousands of people around the world.

Benefits of Oil Pulling

OP is a safe, simple, cheap and gentle ‘do it yourself home remedy’ a divine gift to suffering humanity for all diseases. It cures and prevents diseases and extends your healthy life and requires no specialized training. You can start practice immediately, in the comfort of home and continue practice through out life with benefit.

Benefits to family and society: OP cures and prevents diseases, keeps you and your family healthy, happy, more productive and saves time, unproductive effort, suffering/troubles and money. It minimizes your dependence on doctors, diagnostics, drugs etc and connected hassles. Prevention of sickness is good, not only for you personally but also for the family, society, your organization and the country.

Benefits to organization: OP reduces sickness, absenteeism, increases productivity,minimizes expenditure and directly contributes to profit in the balance sheet. This can be verified in any organization on those employees prone and of proven illness.

Benefits to society, state and country: OP improves overall health, reduces sickness and suffering, minimises the load on public and private health care systems and increases availability of medical facilities and drugs to deserving cases. A healthy nation is invariably a wealthy nation.

Click here to find out more on Oil Pulling.

Happy Encounters: Wallet with $10,000 Left on Laguna Beach Park Bench Returned to Owner

Would you do the same if you found $10,000 in a park?

Wallet with $10,000 Left on Laguna Beach Park Bench Returned to Owner

A restaurateur from south Florida who just moved to Orange County got a taste of Southern California kindness when someone returned his lost wallet and the $10,000 it contained.

The man mistakenly left the cash-stuffed wallet on a beach bench Saturday in Laguna Beach. He had withdrawn the hefty amount to pay a contractor for renovating a new restaurant that he plans to open on Pacific Coast Highway, according to police.

He went for a walk near Main Beach and sat down on the bench at about 1:15 p.m., but forgot to take his wallet when he left. A passer-by found the wallet and handed it to lifeguards, police said.

"When the lifeguards opened the wallet, they see all that cash in it and  call the police," Lt. Jason Kravetz said.

The wallet contained a Florida driver's license, so officers began searching online for a phone number. They found a cell phone number and called the owner.

The man was "shocked" when he found all the money was still in the wallet, Kravetz said. He told police he was simply distracted and forgot about the wallet when he left the park bench.

Happy Encounters: World Happiness Report indicated that Denmark is the world's happiest country

Want to know where is the happiest place to live in?  UN has recently issued the World Happiness Report, and Denmark tops it all.  Read on to find out more of which are the top 20 happiest countries in the world.

(From NY Daily News) If cheery locals are the thing that you look for on holiday, Scandinavia is the place to go to, a new report has suggested.

The World Happiness Report, released this week by the United Nations, took a look at the mood in countries around the world to determine which ones were the most content with their lot.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Nordic countries -- with a healthy work/life belance, top-notch healthcare and schools and high average incomes -- came at the top of the list, with Denmark reaching the coveted top place.

Finland came in second spot, Norway in third and the Netherlands -- the highest non-Nordic nation to make the list, was placed fourth, just above Canada in fifth place.

But does a happy country necessarily mean a warm welcome? Well, comparing the results of the UN survey to previous studies suggest that it might -- the Netherlands has previously been recognized as among the most friendly European nations to tourists, while Canada and Australia (both among the ten happiest countries) have also been lauded by HSBC for their friendliness to expats.

Unsurprisingly, there is also a correlation with wealth -- the ten happiest places are all developed nations -- although it was by no means universal.

Germany, the richest country in Europe, came a relatively low 30th place, while Japan ranked 44th and South Korea managed 56th.

At the bottom of the table came several African nations where life is undeniably hard, including Sierra Leone and Togo.

The world's happiest countries

1. Denmark

2. Finland

3. Norway

4. Netherlands

5. Canada

6. Switzerland

7. Sweden

8. New Zealand

9. Australia

10. Ireland

11. USA

12. Costa Rica

13. Austria

14. Israel

15. Belgium

16. Luxembourg

17. United Arab Emirates

18. United Kingdom

19. Venezuela

20. Iceland

Happy Encounters: Chocolate Helps Slimming

For those who loves chocolate and are worried of getting fat, here's some good news for you! Check out what this 'article' has to say on how chocolate may help keep people slim.

People who eat chocolate regularly tend to be thinner, new research suggests.

The findings come from a study of nearly 1,000 US people that looked at diet, calorie intake and body mass index (BMI) - a measure of obesity.

It found those who ate chocolate a few times a week were, on average, slimmer than those who ate it occasionally.

Even though chocolate is loaded with calories, it contains ingredients that may favour weight loss rather than fat synthesis, scientists believe.

Despite boosting calorie intake, regular chocolate consumption was related to lower BMI in the study, which is published in Archives of Internal Medicine.

The link remained even when other factors, like how much exercise individuals did, were taken into account.

And it appears it is how often you eat chocolate that is important, rather than how much of it you eat. The study found no link with quantity consumed.

According to the researchers, there is only one chance in a hundred that their findings could be explained by chance alone.

But the findings only suggest a link - not proof that one factor causes the other.

Lead author Dr Beatrice Golomb, from the University of California at San Diego, said: "Our findings appear to add to a body of information suggesting that the composition of calories, not just the number of them, matters for determining their ultimate impact on weight."

This is not the first time scientists have suggested that chocolate may be healthy for us.

Other studies have claimed chocolate may be good for the heart.

Consumption of certain types of chocolate has been linked to some favourable changes in blood pressure, insulin sensitivity and cholesterol level.

And chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, does contain antioxidants which can help to mop up harmful free radicals - unstable chemicals that can damage our cells.

Dr Golomb and her team believe that antioxidant compounds, called catechins, can improve lean muscle mass and reduce weight - at least studies in rodents would suggest this might be so.

Happy Encounters: Child Falls Asleep While Skiing

This is such a funny video of a child falling asleep while skiing!

(From The Telegraph) Despite the sunshine and fresh air, the tired little skier, named Cody, appears to nod off on the slopes still standing in his ski boots.

As he totters forwards and back, then side to side, the sleepy child is propped up by his rigid footwear.

Cody's snooze comes to an abrupt end when an inquisitive child upset the balance with a prod to the sleeper's skis.

Happy Encounters: Poo for Tea from China's National Treasure, the Giant Panda

Here is something new and interesting.. using Panda's as organic fertilizers for tea.  Would you want to have a sip of that?

YA'AN, China (Reuters) - China's national treasure, the giant panda, will become even more precious if one businessman succeeds in using their dung to grow organic green tea he intends to sell for over $200 a cup.

An Yanshi, an entrepreneur in southwest China, grows the tea in mountainous Ya'an in Sichuan province using tons of excrement from panda bears living at nearby breeding centers.


The first batch of panda dung tea will be sold in lots of 50 grams that will cost some 22,000 yuan ($3,500) each, a price An said makes it the world's most expensive tea. Most people use about 3 grams of tea per cup.


An defended the steep price, saying he would channel profits from the initial batches into an environmental fund. Future batches would be cheaper, he added.


"I thank heaven and earth for blessing us with this environmental panda tea," the 41-year-old former teacher and journalist said at a weekend event to promote the tea.


"I just want to convey to the people of the world the message of turning waste into something useful, and the culture of recycling and using organic fertilizers."


Dressed in a panda suit to promote his tea, An invited a dozen or so guests to help hand-pick the first batch of tea at his plantation at the weekend.


The fertilizer made the tea a health boon, An said, because pandas only eat wild bamboo and absorb only a fraction of the nutrients in their food. And pandas make plenty of fertilizer.


"They are like a machine that is churning out organic fertilizer." An said. "They keep eating and they keep producing feces.  Also, they absorb less than 30 percent of the nutrition from the food, and that means more than 70 percent of the nutrients are passed out in their feces."


After brewing the first pickings, An described the tea as fragrant and smooth. Some of his guests, however, were not impressed.


"It's sold at such a sky-high price, perhaps this is just hype," said 49-year-old Li Ximing. ($1 = 6.3227 Chinese yuan)

Happy Encounters: Great-great grandmother breaks the paragliding record on her 101st birthday

Can you imagine yourself still paragliding when you're 101 years old? Well Mary Allen Hardison did it on her 101st birthday, breaking the Guinness World's Record as the oldest woman to paraglide tandem. Well impressive!

(From Reuters) A great-great grandmother in America was declared the oldest woman to paraglide tandem on Tuesday after taking to the air to celebrate her 101st birthday.

In confirming the feat, Guinness World Records said Mary Allen Hardison's historic flight near Salt Lake City on September 1 last year was "pushing record breaking to new heights."

Hardison, of Ogden, Utah, said she decided to go paragliding after her 75-year-old son Allen took up the sport.

"Just because you are old doesn't mean you have to sit on your duff all day," Hardison told Reuters.

Hardison's flight was cheered on by her great-grandchildren, who have witnessed other such birthday adventures: On her 90th birthday, Hardison rode all the adult rides at Disneyland, and for her next she plans test out a mountain slide in Utah.

She invited other centenarians to break her new record.

"I heard of one fellow that hadn't walked for quite a while and he decided when he heard about me he would walk again. So he got up and started walking again," she said.

"He said if she can do that, I can do this. If I can inspire some of the older people to get up and do something it's well worth it."

Happy Encounters: Smile to Connect with People Around You

Came across this video from Random Acts of Kindness featuring Claire Lemmel on how important it is to SMILE ;) 

When Claire Lemmel saw that people in her San Francisco neighborhood weren't connecting as they walked by each other on the streets, she decided to put kindness in action ... and her smile on a giant poster! Her kindness and smile are now inspiring hundreds of people on her daily walks.  To find out more, check out the video on YouTube from here!  

Happy Encounters: Man Takes Flight with his Bird-like Wings

This looks well cool and impressive!

Man Flaps Android-Powered Bird Wings, Flies with Wii

Imagine strapping on a pair of giant multicolored wings, except they’re not actually attached to your arms — you control them without actually touching them, waving your hands up and down in the air, birdlike, causing the wings to move in tandem. Before you know it, you’re up, up and away, rising into the sky like the lovechild of a peacock and an albatross, soaring over the terrain without so much as a single jet turbine or propeller blade.

The guy in the video up top — a Dutchman named  Jarno Smeets with mad engineering skills — claims to have done exactly that at a park in south Holland this last weekend on March 18. And all he used to pull it off, in addition to a pair of giant, flexible wings built out of kites and fortified by carbon windsurf masts, was a Wii controller and an HTC smartphone.