Unlikely hero of the Super Bowl: Linebacker Chase Blackburn

Giants linebacker Chase Blackburn, who intercepted the ball in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, was had quite a journey of late. From The Dish:

After spending six seasons with the Giants, most in a reserve role, Blackburn and his wife sold their house after he was released before the 2011 season. They moved to Ohio, where he's from, to raise their two young kids. Blackburn was working out whenever he could, sometimes after dark ... [and] he was about to become a substitute math teacher. Why? Because his family needed the money. And because his NFL career was over. And then, it wasn't. Two linebackers for the Giants, Michael Boley and Mark Herzlich, were injured Nov. 28 against New Orleans. The next day the Giants called Chase Blackburn in Ohio and asked, "Are you in shape?"

Read more about it here.

"...at least he fails while daring greatly..."

49er Kyle Williams after fumbling in overtime on Sunday.

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

--Teddy Roosevelt, "Citizenship in a Republic,
"Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

Via SFGate.com

Some Americans of the Year: Gabby & Mark

From Esquire:

In space, Kelly had received further instruction in catastrophe. On his third trip into orbit, he had delivered a part to the International Space Station, where the residents needed badly to fix their broken toilet. His previous flight had been only the second after the Columbia disaster. Astronauts understand: Something always goes wrong. On the day his wife was shot, during the torturous flight that Kelly, his mother, and his daughters from a previous marriage made from Houston to Tucson, there were twenty minutes when he thought he had lost his wife for good. He was flying on a friend's private plane, and he had turned on the TV to watch reports of the shooting. "It was a terrible mistake," he said later. In the chaos, someone said that his wife was dead. His mother practically screamed, he remembered after; his daughters cried. Kelly retreated to the bathroom. "I just, you know, walked into the bathroom and, you know, broke down," he said. Eventually, he managed to get through to someone at the hospital, and he found out then that Giffords was, in fact, alive. "As bad as it was that she had died," Kelly said, "it's equally exciting that she hadn't."

Of course, Gabby inspires me!

Amazing: Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee talks about leading war protests that resulted in the end of the Second Liberian Civil War

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

This second part is a lesson in forgiveness.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

I am reading this inspiring story about the Kosciuszko Squadron, a group of Polish pilots who were critical to the British's success during the Battle of Britain

My friend Phil shared with me this uplifting book with me about this obscure group of fighter aces from WW II. The Poles did much to save the British Isles from the Nazis, but were betrayed by Churchill and FDR in the end, when they let Stalin impose a Communist regime in Poland after the war. Tragic.

The love of these Poles for their country and people makes for good reading. I want to go to Poland!

Axel Axgil, a courageous Danish pioneer for gay rights dies

The "Frank Kamney of Denmark" dies. Read about it. With a deep bow for all of Axel's advocacy and work.

A man of character & courage: Zimbabwean PM Morgan Tsvangirai refuses to throw LGBT people under the bus due to homophobia in Africa

(Mr. Romney, this is what character looks like. You take an unpopular position on an important human rights issue and you stick with it because it is the right thing to do.)

Zimbabwean PM Morgan Tsvangirai has caused an uproar from conservatives in his country over his support of LGBT citizens.

“I want to put finality and closure to an issue that has been misinterpreted, the issue of the so-called gay rights. My beliefs on this issue are a matter of public record. My beliefs manifest themselves in my practice. I am a Christian associated with the Methodist church. I am a father. I am a grandfather. I am a family man. I am a Zimbabwean and I know the strong feelings of Zimbabweans about this issue. I have those strong feelings too but in the end, Zimbabweans are making their own Constitution and it is that Constitution which will bind every Zimbabwean. What I refuse to do as a loyal son of God and as a social democrat is to persecute, to judge, to condemn and to vilify people for their own opinions because judgment is a preserve of God the Almighty. The Book of Luke Chapter 6 verse 37: “Do not judge and you will not be judged, do not condemn and you will not be condemned. The Book of John Chapter 8 verse 7: “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone… So while I may differ with them, as a Christian and as a social democrat, I refuse to throw a stone at them."

Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/2011/11/zimbabwean-pm-morgan-tsvangirai-refuses-to-throw-a-stone-at-gays-in-response-to-outrage.html#ixzz1chw2yoFZ

Choi Sung-Bong finishes second in Korea's Got Talent

Read how this young man defied all the odds to finish second in this talent show.

I love this guy: Michigan rowing coach Charley Sullivan: 'I’m here, I’m queer and I’m a hell of a good coach'

Talk about an inspiring and proud man. Read about him here.

David Boies & Ted Olson win the ABA's highest honor

Lesbian couple helped save Norwegian campers in massacre on island

Read about it at Towleroad

Hope rising: Gabby Giffords' first public photo

The irrepressible human spirit of this young Korean man

Read this viral email going around Japan about the brave workers that are sacrificing their health so others may live. With a deep bow to them

Please send these people your prayers.

Right now there are people working diligently at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant risking their lives to save the this country, this Japan, the citizens, you and your families.

Please Pray! So the work is successful! Please!

The members of the Japanese Specialized Scientific Defense Team are all volunteers. They are all 55 years and older, They all stated that they are done raising their children and have no regrets and thus have volunteered to the group. There are 50 volunteers like this.

There's an article from an information announcement company,

Eastern Electric corporation put out a call for help to all of the electric companies and related companies in Japan. They were looking for veterans in the Nuclear plant related field for volunteers to be a part of a "Decided to die" group (there is no direct translation for this term in English) to work on the internal structures of the nuclear plant.

A man from China Electric, who has been in working on Nuclear power plants for the past 40 years quoted " This work should be done by veterans like me. I am only a year away from retirement, my children are all grown up." And thus he volunteered.

The family shared their feelings with calm, and say that they could not say anything to their father and their husband's firm determination and decision.

This man's daughter says she saw a peaceful face on her father that day that she had never seen prior.

20 volunteers the next day as if going to go to work as usual said "I'm leaving!" and walked out of their front door.

While working at the nuclear power plant there is radiation exposure. The country has a standard rule for allowing no more than 100 millisieverts to their workers. (The International standard is 20 and in Japan it's traditionally 50. The Fukushima plants have been recorded to be radiating about 300 to 400 millisieverts in the past several weeks.) Recently the limit went up to 250mSv. That's because the workers requested that.

If the limit was 100mSv the time allowed to do the procedures would be over in a few minutes and no work can be completed. That's why they turned in a formal request to raise the acceptable radiation exposure level on the books to 250mSv. They made a resolve to face and accept the radiation exposure received in the process.

Because of this, yesterday the reactors were entering their critical temperature for a potential disaster and at the nick of time the critical point was averted.

If critical temperature was reached, we wouldn't be here spending this time, we wouldn't have had this time to spend.

We wouldn't have had this time with our family, our loved ones and our friends. The survival rate for all life within the 300km (186mile) radius of the Nuclear Plant was close to zero. This time we have now, alive, is because of these people's efforts.

The business management executives because of the worry for their own well being, have been limiting and slowly doling out information and have not come out from far away Tokyo.

Please, Everyone pray for them!

LGBT ally Hudson Taylor on MSNBC: what a mensch!

A reminder on MLK day...

Christian medical volunteers murdered by the Taliban

Yesterday, I heard the story of these 10 Christian medical volunteers who were lined up and murdered by the Taliban. No, they weren't out in the field trying to convert Muslims into Christians. No, they were giving of themselves and their lives, to do something for the poor and needy in Afghanistan, and their charity had been doing so since 1966. Read their story. They were real Christians.

This is my president, my country and my health care reform plan

Kudos to forward-looking Americans who did so much to help President Obama and Nancy Pelosi to pass landmark health care legislation last night. It took political courage and tenacity to do this, overcoming the hundreds of millions of lobby dollars showered on the Republicans by their insurance and pharmaceutical company overlords.

Read this article on how Nancy Pelosi got Obama and Reid on track after the Scott Brown victory.

The dignity of work: 98-year-old barber

Doing one of the most valuable things on the planet, Anthony Mancinelli listens to his customers...as he has been doing so for many decades. He is the wise man, sage, and Buddha of his village. There is no better example of right livelihood. Read about this man on NYTimes.com