SNL's Pete Davidson Apologies For Cruel, Awful Joke With Target's Cooperation

Congressman-elect Dan Crenshaw, left, accepts an apology from
Pete Davidson,  who made an inappropriate joke about Crenshaw's
war injury. The apology on SNL last Saturday is one road map
to counter President Trump's negativity and divisiveness. 

More than a week ago, comedian Pete Davidson on "Saturday Night Live" told a really stupid, bad cruel joke.

It was just before the midterm elections, and Davidson was riffing out jokes about several Republican political candidates when he got to Dan Crenshaw, who was running for Congress from a Texas district.

SNL showed a photo of Crenshaw, a former military guy who wears an eye patch because of a war injury and said. "You may be surprised to hear he's a congressional candidate for Texas and not a hit man in a porno movie."

I, along with many, many other people thought that went too far. Joking about Crenshaw's political positions is totally fair game. This was just cruel and unnecessary.

The bad joke caused a bit of a firestorm. On November 6, just three days after the SNL "joke" Crenshaw won the election and is now a Congressman-elect.

This whole incident could have been another salvo in the political hate wars that seem to be gripping all of us in the USA.

But then, as you might have seen or read on the news, SNL invited Crenshaw onto the show the following week - last Saturday. Yes, this was PR, to atone for such a bad, unfunny joke. But it was the best way possible to fix this mess. The video is at the bottom of this post.

Davidson, in his pink hoodie and bleached white hair, apologized in the "Weekend Update" segment.

He said: "In what must be a huge shock for people who know me, I made a poor choice last week. "I made a joke about Lt. Com. Dan Crenshaw on behalf of myself and the show. I apologize... I mean this from the bottom of my heart, it was a poor choice of words. The man is a war hero and he deserves all the respect in the world. 

"If any good came of this, maybe it was for one day, the left and the right finally came to agree on something: That I'm a dick."

With that, Crenshaw appeared on the set and said, "Ya think?" and then sat down next to Davidson.

Then there were some more jokes, including Crenshaw having his cell phone go off, with the ring tone being an Ariana Grande song. Grande and Davidson had been engaged, but the whole thing was called off.  "Do you know her?" Crenshaw asked "innocently."

Zing!

The nice thing about this is it turned into a good moment of unity in a time when we're tearing each other apart.

Crenshaw said: "I want us to get away from this culture where we demand an apology every time someone misspeaks."

Crenshaw went on: "There's a lot of lessons to learn here. Not just that the left and right can still are on some things. But also, this: Americans can forgive one another."

The congressman-elect then went on - this was Veteran's Day weekend - to remind people of the sacrifices of our veterans. He also went out of his way to honor the people "we lost on 9/11, heroes like Pete's father.

Davidson's dad was a firefighter who lost his life in the 9/11 terrorist attack.

This whole thing was great because, as an opinion piece on CNN noted, "rather than trying to one up each other or score political points with their respective audiences, they made a sincere attempt to connect in a respectful and playful manner."

I have to say, our divisiveness is to a great extent Donald Trump's fault. Whenever things go badly for him - and he's such a fuck up that that happens frequently - he starts blaming groups and people, designating enemies and making up conspiracy theories out of nothing, just to cause hate.

Who knows which side will win? Will it be the hate and blame and lies from Trump and his minions and his ardent supporters? Or will we once again learn to deal with our differences.

There are other glimmers of hope. There was an extremely close race for U.S. Senate in Arizona. Republican Martha McSally seemed to be ahead at first, but as ballots continued to be counted, Democrat Kyrsten Sinema got ahead as more votes were counted.

Trump and his GOP minions started claiming fraud and crime in the vote counting, just to undermine faith in the electoral process and try to advance the Republican, no matter what.

But when it became clear that Sinema squeaked out a victor, McSally gave an incredibly gracious concession message, with the help of her goofy dog.

Sure, McSally didn't want to look like a jerk, so that if she runs for office again, people won't bring that up. But the concession was sincere, and far different from Trump's continued attempts to yell about voter fraud against Republicans with absolutely no evidence to back him up.

Trump continues as of today to spout off about fictional voter fraud. Yes, all election officials need to be monitored so that there's no funny business. Yes, voter fraud, though very rare, needs to be squelched.

But more important is our faith in elections, our faith in each other. We're going to have to deal with Donald Trump for the forseeable future. But Davidson, Crenshaw and McSally do give us a model on how to deal with Trump's dark, anti-democratic, ignorant mentality.

Here's the Davidson/Crenshaw video. Between the jokes, it's actually a little inspiring:

You've Never Heard Of Eveyln Williams But You Will Adore Her

Evelyn Williams, 81, who sang an incredibly moving
version of "Send In The Clowns" got a Golden Buzzer
from her new buddy Michelle Visage. The Golden
Buzzer was very well deserved. 

As readers of this blog thingy know, I have a weird obsession with those talent "reality shows" like "The Voice" and "( Name That Country)'s got talent.

As such, I bring you some posts about some of the best talents from these shows.

Every place in the universe, including Pluto, has a "(Name That Country)'s Got Talent" and Ireland, of course does.

Recently, "Ireland's Got Talent" introduced us all to Evelyn Williams, an 81-year-old great grandmother.  The video of her incredible performance is at the bottom of this post.

The biography package they always do on these shows with some of the standout performers, like Williams, reflects a full life of love, joy and tragedy. And through it out, Williams comes through as a wonderful, glorious, giving survivor that can't help but love.

In her audition, she sang "Send In The Clowns" the Stephen Sondheim classic from "A Little Night Music," one of my favorite plays.

I'll be mean and confess that I don't think that Williams is the best singer in the world. But she sang that song with such heart, such honesty, such conviction and such life experience that only a souless idiot wouldn't melt.  Williams was absolutely brilliant.

Williams' performance was a master class in performing from the heart to incredible effect.

To pretty much nobody's surprise, Williams scored the coveted "Golden Buzzer," set off  by very impressed judge Michelle Visage, which means she skips over the rigamarole and goes to the semi-finals of the show.

Williams, apparently, does not understand what a powerhouse she is. "When I seen that buzzer thing, I thought someone was throwing a bomb in around the place to get me off the stage," she told the Irish Sun. 

Oh, no, no, no. We all want to see and hear much more from Evelyn Williams.

Explaining why she hit the Golden Buzzer, Visage explains it better than anybody else could: "This woman has so much life. She commaned the stage better than anybody we've seen yet on this show. She's a storyteller. I'm not lucky enough to have my mother here with me on this journey, and then she stood here and sang one of the most incredible Stephen Sondheim songs ever written, only meant to be sung by a woman this age, who sang it with love."

Here's the video, and warning: This is a Kleenex alert clip:

Gospel At Hurricane Shelter Is Just The Right Light In Moment Of Darkness

Victoria White (in the white dress) gave Hurricane Harvey
evacuees a needed and incredibly helpful dose of gospel
this week in Houston. 

Sorry I haven't been around much on this here blog thingy. I've been focusing on Hurricane Harvey on my sister blog, Matt's Weather Rapport.  

Today, I'm back with, well, a Harvey update.  

In a video that's gone totally viral, a group of gospel singers led by a woman named Victoria White lifted spirits in a Houston-area evacuation center. 

I'm definitely not a religious man, but you've got to find comfort where you can. Kudos to Victoria White for providing this totally needed dose of medicine to a roomful of people who had just reached the lowest point in their lives.

The video of what happened is below. (Kleenex alert with this one.)  Notice how the people in the shelter join in on the song. They all needed that.

After the video went viral, White had the following to say. Again, I'm not religious but this woman speaks the truth!

"I had no ide this was being recorded, but God had a plan!... Not only did He want to love on those gathered in Lone Star Expo Center who suffered loss at the hands of Hurricane Harvey, but He wanted to love on people across the world who were dealing with tbier own personal storms! That's the kind of loving God we serve - the kind who is equally concerned for the masses and the individual."

I'm not trying to get political here, but if I did believe in a God, White's version is the one that seems closest to reality. And not the God some so-called religious leaders espouse.

Thank you, Victoria White and the rest of these gospel singers. You brought a glimmer of joy to the people in Houston who needed it most. And we all need a glimmer of joy now and then even if our lives are going pretty well.

Well done,  Victoria!

Here's the video:

Pentatonix's Version Of "Imagine" Heals A News-Wounded Soul

Pentatonix performs a cover of John Lennon's "Imagine"
that soothes a soul made raw by watching too much news.

Cooped up by a large 30-inch deep snowstorm that buried my town here in Vermont, I've been watching even more news shows than I usually do - which is a lot to begin with.

The news these days can be soul-sucking: All the cruelty, scandals, nastiness, pettiness that seems to be a big growth industry can get to you.

Makes you want to dive into one of the giant snow banks outside and abandon this world.

So, I was pleased to find the new song and video by Pentatonix, the famed (mostly) a cappella group.

They do a cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" which feels totally needed right now.

I'm being all Kumbaya by liking this song, and Pentatnonix is probably being all Kumbaya by performing it, and exchanging warm "humanity" placards in their music video.

Still, I can't resist.

So here it is. Hope it helps:

The Late, Great Jeopardy! Champion Cindy Stowell Continues To Amaze And Give

Current "Jeopardy!" champion Cindy Stowell died
of cancer before her big winning streak on the game show
began airing. All of her winnings went to cancer research.  

My husband Jeff and I are huge fans of the game show "Jeopardy!"

At 6:59 p.m. each evening, Jeff bellows from the kitchen, "Time for Jeopardy!" and me and the dogs come running into the living room to  settle down on the couch to watch and play along.  

For more than a week now, we've been in awe of Cindy Stowell, who has won six straight shows so far.

For many reasons, she's just about my favorite contestant I've ever seen on "Jeopardy!"

Here's why:

Unfortunately, Stowell can't watch herself on the pre-taped episodes of "Jeopardy" As you might have heard from news reports, she died of cancer about a week before her appearances on the show began airing.

Early last year, Stowell passed an online test for prospective "Jeopardy!" contestants. She was invited to show up later for an in-person audition in Oklahoma City.

Stowell wrote back: 

"Do you have any idea how long it typically takes between an in-person interview, the taping date? I ask because I just found out that I don't have too much longer to live. The doctor's best guess is six months. 

If there is the chance that I'd be able to still tape episodes of "Jeopardy!" if I were selected, I'd like to do that and donate my winnings to....charities involved in cancer research. If it is unlikely that the turnaround time would be that quick, then I'd like to give up my try out spot to someone else."

"Jeopardy!" producers told her to show up in Oklahoma City and they'd do their best to expedite a slot for Stowell if she passed the in-person audition.

She did, and they squeezed her in early for a taping that started at the end of August. While she was on the show, only a very small group of "Jeopardy!" staffers and host Alex Trebek knew of her condition.

None of the people who competed against her were told Stowell was ill.

The fact that she did so well, winning episode after episode is made more incredible by the fact that during the taping, she had a blood infection and was on painkillers.

The results of "Jeopardy!" shows are a closely guarded secret and are not made public until after the show airs. I don't know how many more episodes Stowell will appear on, if any, after tonight's show.

But so far, her six-day winning streak has netted $103,803, which is all going to fund cancer research.

You can help, too. Take the "Cindy Stowell Challenge." Watch "Jeopardy!" and play along. Keep track of how many times you get answers you get right, and donate $1 for each correct answer to the Cancer Research Institute.

As you can imagine, I've become a big fan of Cindy Stowell. I admire anyone, who, in dire circumstances, just gives to other people like she has.

In an era with too many people who are too selfish and too mean and too angry, I wish there were more people like Stowell.

Her passing was a great loss for everyone.

Toronto Hospital For Sick Kids Has Ad That's Sick In A Great Way

A still from a great inspiration video from the Toronto
Hospital for Sick Chidren

The Toronto Hospital for Sick Children in Canada has struggled with its name.

Sounds depressing. A place where children go to suffer and be alone and have miserable lives.

Of course that's not the case. The hospital has put out a great new ad that turns the ill children at the hospital, and their parents, into superheroes.

That idea has been done before, but the way this ad works is incredible. Watch. It's awesome!

Best Dad Ever Makes Awesome DIY American Ninja Warrior Course For Daughter

Lylah, age 5, goes through an amazing American Ninjah
Warrier course built by her awesome father. 

Some fans of "American Ninja Warrior" are people are building backyard Ninja courses, but one man really outdid all the others.

A guy named Gavin MacCall built a particularly awesome Ninja Warrior course for his five year old daughter Lylah.

The course is a perfect mockup of the Ninja Warrior course we're familiar with on television. .MacCall is definitely in the running for father of the year.

The family made a wonderful video of Lylah going through the course, complete with the hyper-excited color commentary of her making it through, and an audience of stuffed animals cheering her on, too.

Here's the delightful video to brighten your day.

 

Bretagne, 9/11 Search And Rescue Dog, Given Well-Deserved Hero's Farewell

Firefighters salute Bretagne as she entered an
animal hospital recently, as failing health forced
her humans to give her a peaceful death.  

Recently Bretagne, a 16-year old Golden Retriever who was the last known surviving search and rescue dog from the 9/11 terrorist attack, died of kidney failure at the age of 16.

Truly a national hero, Bretagne, spent ten days following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack site in New York, searching for victims.

In 2005, she performed much of the same heroics searching for victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in Louisiana.

I love the way the New York Times handled a story on the passing of Bretagne. The newspaper treated the event the way the New York Times typically writes stories on the deaths of important and influential people.

After retiring from search and rescue, Bretagne joined Texas Task Force 1 and Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department, often demonstrating search techniques for people who wanted to learn.

She also frequently visited elementary schools to help first graders with practicing their reading skills, lending her ears to the childrens' stories.

Bretagene on the job in New York after the 9/11
terrorist attack, 2001.  

Bretagne became something of a celebrity, and last year returned to New York where she was given a well deserved stay in a posh hotel and given gifts, and donations to rescue organizations on her behalf.  

In the past couple weeks, Bretagne, now quite old, became ill and suffered from kidney failure.

She was taken to an animal hospital one last time, as it was time for the hero Bretagne to pass away. Firefighters formed an honor guard and saluted Bretagne as she went into the animal hospital.

The video of this moment is below.

The firefighters offered the same sad, grateful salute as Bretagne's flag-draped coffin was taken from the animal hospital.

Bretagne was a true American hero, and we have a lot to learn from her.  I wish more humans were like her.

RIP, Bretagne.

Gorgeous People Acting Gorgeously

Hottie Thomas Schwendeman deploys for
the Korean War in 1950 

The stereotype is that often, beautiful gorgeous people can be divas and self-centered.

But, not always as the two stories in this blog post thingy prove. I'm a sucker for nice people anyway, because it's a break from all the not-so-nice people in the news.

Recently, a guy named Derek Schwendeman posted a photo of his grandfather, Thomas, which was taken as grandpa deployed into the Korean War in 1950.

As you can see by the photo, republished in this post, Thomas Schwendeman was quite the hottie.  The photo went totally viral.

He probably dabbled in the war briefly, just to prove how manly he was, then became a male model, with a different lady every night, right.

Totally wrong, of course. The good news is a woman named Fleecie snagged him first and Thomas has been devoted to her ever since. Sorry ladies, Thomas is Fleecie's guy, ever since they married in 1951, according to People magazine.

They're still happily together, by the way,

Instead of living a life as a dashing international man of mystery, Thomas Schwendeman worked for Bell Telephone for decades, retired, worked as a school bus driver, and now, at age 86, dotes on his three children and six grandchildren. A great-grandchild is due any minute now.

Mikal Bartosic, a popular high school
cheerleader, with her soon-to-be prom
date Jonathan in Florida.  

Fleecie says she's gotten a kick out of the viral photo - what she calls the "funny notoriety - but Thomas told her that she was the one, and if he had to do it all over again, wouldn't marry another woman, People reports.

The couple are still active, and still often go out bowling. That's how the two met. In a bowling alley.

I wish them many more happy years together.

Our next gorgeous person is Mikal Bartosic, currently a popular pretty blonde cheerleader at Park Vista High School in Florida.

It's getting to be prom time, so as you can imagine, a lot of guys there would love to take her to the prom. You know the stereotype: She'd end up going with the football quarterback, or the school track star, or the resident stud muffin.

Nope, Mikal had other ideas and she figured she'd do the asking, reports the Palm Beach Post.

She has a classmate named Jonathan who is on the autism spectrum. He didn't think he was going to the prom, that's for sure. Until Mikal presented him with a cake that signaled that Mikal wanted to go to the prom with Jonathan.

He said yes, very enthusiastically, as you can see in the very sweet video below. I LOVE the joy in the room when she asks him out.

I hope the pair have a great time on the big night!

Win/Win: Kids Read To Shelter Dogs; And They Help Both Dogs and Themselves.

A kid reads a story to a dog in a Missouri shelter.
The dog becomes less anxious as a result.  

The Humane Society of Missouri has hit upon a great idea to make shelter dogs more adoptable, while at the same time helping kids:

They just sit children down in front of the shelter dogs and have the kids read books to the pups.

According to the animal advocacy site TheDodo, the Missouri idea is called the Shelter Buddies Reading Program. The kids' storytime readies the dogs for foreer homes, while the kids learn empathy for pets, and sharpen their reading skills.

The kids draw the interest of shy and nervous shelter dogs, helping them feel comfortable around people and make them more appealing for families who might want to adopt them.

Kids read to dogs in a Missouri animal shelter to help
calm them down and make them more adoptable.  

The storytimes also calm down hyper dogs as they settle down to listen to the kids stories.
The children are also trained to give the dogs treats when the pups calm down or show interest in the story times, as a way to reinforce the good behavior.

The kids, ages six to 15 are also trained to read a dog's body language to tell whether they are anxious  or stressed out. They can then calmly read to settle the dogs down.

As program director Jo Klepaki told TheDodo:

A kid and a shelter dog enjoy reading time together.  

"Its encouraging children to develop empathy with animals. It's a peaceful, quiet exercise. They're seeing fearfulness in these animals, and seeing the positive effect they an have....It encourages the to look at things from an animal's perspective. That helps them better connect with animals and people in their lives."

I have a feeling this idea will spread to a lot of Humane Societies and animal shelters across the nation.

And we will be a better place because of it.

Here's a video of kids reading to the dogs back around Christmastime. It's a very sweet video:

Watch:

Guy Turns His Wheelchair Into A Nifty Snow Plow

Tim Taylor operates his wheelchair snowplow
in snowy Pennsylvania. Add caption

I often feel bad for people with physical disabilities in the winter.

It's hard enough for them to get around any time of year, but when there's snow, it has to be especially challenging.

Tim Taylor, 30, of West Springfield, PA is making the best of it. He uses a wheelchair, and uses one as a snowplow, says the Huffington Post.

Taylor has limited use of his hands, so he can't construct things really well, but he can design and draw and do that sort of thing.

So he designed the snowplow wheelchair and had his father and brothers fabricate it under his direction.

 It's pretty cool!

"What I have right now is a prototype. It still has some issues that need to be worked out, but that's just prompting me to find a better way to design it," Taylor said, according to the Huffington Post.

There's a video of Taylor operating his snowplow at the bottom of this post.  I wonder how well he'd do in that huge blizzard bearing down on the East Coast this weekend.

He's also working on a wheelchair with a special mount that would allow him to go out on wildlife photography excursions, which is his favorite pastime. He's been paralyzed since a 2003 accident, and the wheelchair van he has is rusting out.

Taylor considered the tried and true method for these types of situations and was going to start a GoFundMe campaign for the money.

But he'd rather earn the money. So, he wants to work as a DJ and a snowplow operator with his wheelchair, which sounds like an awesome plan.

 I'd also suggest that he market his ideas for the wheelchair plow and the wildlife photography wheelchair. It probably wouldn't hurt if Taylor tried to sell his wildlife photography too, but I don't want to tell a guy what to do.

Seems like he can handle his own life all by himself, thank you very much.  .

Though I can't resist one more suggestion, based on this quote from Taylor: "Every day there can be a new achievement, whether you have a disability or not.....A new achievement in life helps keep you positive.

He's right, of course. But maybe he can make a lucrative living as an inspirational speaker.

Watch This Guy With One Arm, No Left Shoulder And A Bad Lung Shame You At The Gym

Luke Ericson is an amazing athlete, despite having been
born with no left arm or shoulder.  

You probably wouldn't expect much, physically, out of a guy missing his left arm and left shoulder, and who has an underdeveloped left lung, AND was diagnosed as a kid with type one diabetes.  And he's got scoliosis.

But your expectations would be totally wrong in the case of Luke Ericson, who is suddenly going viral on the Internet.

It helped that he put a video on YouTube this past Monday that explains everything. It's at the bottom of this post.

The guy is FIT, to put it mildly, and he can outdo just about anybody with a workout.  He's a wicked badass.

I just love noting these kinds of people, people like Ericson, if only to get me off my butt. Maybe other people, too.

Ericson's gotten the added notice lately, and has the new video online because he and his friend filmmaker Andrew Rizer, started a Kickstarter campaign so they can make a short film about Ericson's preparation for something called the Wodapalooza Fitness Festival in Miami.

The Kickstarter campaign reached its monetary goal, unsurprisingly.

Ericson is already a regular at Crossfit competitions, and also wiles away some of his days doing such "sedentary" things as rock climbing, surfing and swimming.  He was born with the condition that left him missing the left arm, shoulder and part of his lung.

Here's a choice quote from him from his Kickstarter page:

"As a child I had always insisted on doing everything myself and never taking the easy way out......If I want something bad enough, I'll find a way to make it happen."

I guess he pretty much has, huh?

Ericson's got a message for you. Yes, you. And me:

"There is lots of people, lots with different, whether it's physical disabilities or confidence issues and internal angst, that use it as an excuse for them not to do something, whether that be fitness or a job or a hobby they love, or a relationship they don't pursue.

They let all these different fears stop them from doing something. Just don't. Don't let anything or anyone stop you from being happy."

So there.

Now watch his video:

Ezra Frech, 9, Cool Kid Who's The BEST Antidote To Scumbags

Athlete and motivational speaker
Ezra Frech, age 9.  

People who watch Ellen, which of course is Ellen Degeneres' talk show, know she likes to interview cool kids.  

I stumbled upon one of those interviews today, and I think he's my favorite of all the Ellen kid interviews I've seen or heard about.

His name is Ezra Frech, and he's nine years old.

Initially, when you watch the interview, you think the incredibly remarkable thing about him is he's this really, REALLY good athlete, despite having had one leg amputated and two fingers on one of his hands.

(One of those fingers is a former toe, taken by doctors to help him out when they amputated his leg.)

Then you realize what a great interview he is. He's just so interesting and inspiration and smart.

Degeneres, during the interview, said Ezra should be a motivational speaker. Ezra said he already does that.  He's got a whole organization around that called Team Ezra. 

Can't say I'm surprised there.

The impressive thing about this kid is not what's going on physically with him. It's his brain. Poised, smart way, way beyond his years, wise, philosophical, polite, engaging - what's not to love?

I get so worn down by the scumbuckets I always read about in the news, and the ignorant scumbuckets I often feature in this blog.

So it's a HUGE breath of fresh air when I find out about some kid like Ezra Frech.

The kids are alright. Ezra demonstrates it. Want proof? Watch Ellen Degeneres interview Ezra Frech:

"Layaway Angels" One Of Few Nice Things About Christmas Shopping Season

Happily, "Layaway Angels" have been striking coast to
coast this holiday season.  

Today, as we scramble to get our last Christmas gifts purchased, I'm going to stand up and salute Layaway Angels.

Layaway Angels are people who have a pretty decent stash of money. They walk into places like Walmart or Kmart and hand over a check to the layaway department.

What they're doing is paying off everybody's layaway stash. Or, if they don't have that much money to donate, they just pay off the layaway of a few strangers they don't know.

Just because.

Layaways scare me.  For the uninitiated, if you don't have a lot of money but want to buy something as a Christmas gift, you select your merchandise, and bring it to the layaway department in your favorite department or discount store.

You put in a down payment, pay a layaway fee, then make weekly, biweekly or monthly payments until the balance is paid off. Once you've paid everything, you grab your merchandise and go.

Apparently layaways started in the 1930s, when everyone (well, almost everyone) was suffering from the effects of the Great Depression. People tried anything they could including the installment plans associated with layaways, to get their consumer goods.

Credit cards pretty much did away with layaways, since people could just charge their purchases. But the Great Recession, starting in 2008, brought back the layaway, just as the Great Depression gave birth to it.

People couldn't get credit cards, so they went the layaway route.

The problem with layaways is, if you can't pay off your purchase, you don't get the item. You do get refunded, but stores often keep a portion of the proceeds. Which means people who couldn't pay lose.

That's one of the beauties of layaway angels.  A certain percentage of people won't pay off their layaways. And pretty much everybody else who can is strapped for cash. So the layaway angels really put people's minds at ease for Christmas,

Which is precisely what you want during this stressful time of year.

So it's great that there's been a flurry of "Layaway Angels" this year. According PennLive.com somebody know only as "Santa B" plunked down $50,000 in a Pennsylvania Walmart to pay off a bunch of layaways.

Other layaway angels have struck in Tennessee, West Virginia, Boston and elsewhere, says Consumerist. 

Various media outlets have reported layaway angels in almost every state.

The layaway angel trend seems to have started in 2011 and had been building since. 

You can participate, too. People who don't have thousands of dollars running around can also anonymously go into a store and just pay off one stranger's layaway debt, maybe $100 or $200 and remain anonymous if they choose.

In nearly every case, the person acting as a layaway angel has refused to be publicly identified, which makes it even better.

I salute these layaway angels and wish them a totally happy holiday season. Because they deserve it.

"People Are Awesome" Video Of 2014 Incredible Things You Can't Do

A still from the 2014 "People Are Awesome video  

There's a series of videos on YouTube under the "People Are Awesome" banner which shows a variety of athletes doing incredible stuff that would kill most people.

Or at least deeply embarrass them if they made a mistake.

The "People Are Awesome" People have just released a year end video featuring what I guess are their favorite athletes and stunt people.

Feel inspired, or defeated because you can't do the stuff in the following video, but either way, it's a totally fun watch:

Sometimes There's Bad Cops, But Sometimes There's REALLY Good Ones.

Police Detective Jack Mook leaves with his sons
after the best court hearing he's ever had to attend.  

There's good cops, and there's bad cops.

Bad cops shoot unarmed teenagers, arrest people for breaking nonexistent laws and pilfer money from innocent people. 

Good cops play by the book. And they go above and beyond. They are heroic. And sometimes, like one Pittsburgh detective named Jack Mook, really take human decency to a new level.  

He'd been mentoring a couple kids, two brothers who were not having a good time.  They disappeared for awhile. He got worried, tracked the older one down and got to the bottom of the story.

The brothers' foster parents were abusing them.

Yeah, he could have opened an investigation into the foster parents (Actually, I do believe they're in trouble.) But he had to do something else for the kids.

Mook pulled some strings and got the brothers a new foster parent: Himself.

So now the unmarried Mook is basically a single father to the two kids. After he became a foster parent, he took things one more step further, as you will see in the video, below.

Hat tip to Laura Stark for alerting me to this one.

One Legged Dancer Does It MUCH Better Than You

Here's a random video, posted in August, of a breakdancer with one leg. Um, he's beyond pretty good.

I couldn't immediately find anything on line that identifies him or whether he does this for a living.

But he should.  Scroll down a bit to watch the vid:

Dog Launches Formerly Homeless Guy's Thriving Arts Career

John Dolan and his buddy and artistic muse George
Photo by David Levene for The Guardian  

John Dolan, in his early 40s, was a homeless heroin addict in Britain.

Somebody sold him a charming dog named George for the price of a can of beer.

Dolan and George quickly became close buddies, and Dolan realized unless he got his act straightened out, he'd go to prison, lose George and God know what would happen to George.

Dolan recognized having a dog companion is great, but also a responsibility, so he had to take responsibility.

So Dolan began drawing sketches of George, and his surroundings in London. The sketches really are quite good.

One of John Dolan's sketches of George.  

According to The Guardian newspaper, a guy named Richard Howard Griffin saw Dolan and his sketches. He thought they were quite good, too. Howard Griffin is into street art and is a gallery owner.

He put on an exhibition of Dolan's drawings last fall.

The exhibition turned out to be a sellout, a second one just opened. The sketches often sell for more than $5,000 apiece, according to the Huffington Post. 

Dolan is releasing a memoir, called "John and George: The Dog Who Changed My Life"

Dolan told the Guardian George was his lifesaver: "I feel like he's a guardian angel. If it hadn't been for him, I'd have never picked up my pen."

Dolan said he knows he has to be careful. Now that all this money is rolling in, he could slide back into heroin use. He can afford it.

Or, actually, Dolan says he can't. Yes, he's got the money for the drugs, but he's also got George. And he can't let him down. So he's staying clean.

ANOTHER "Got Talent" Winning Moment: British Boys Battle Bullies

In my never ending obsession with those TV talent shows, especially the "Got Talent" franchise that seems to be in every country, I bring you a new, new favorite of mine.

Bars and Melody on "Britain's Got Talent."  

                                       
The two teen boys, who call themselves Bars and Melody, changed the lyrics Faith Evans and Twista's "Hope" to make it a powerful anti-bullying statement on "Britain's Got Talent."

Their appearance on the show made for an awesome moment and even melted Simon Cowell's cold, cold heart.

Watch:

79-Year-Old Salsa Dance Now Wowing The World

One of the biggest viral videos this year is one that came out this month: It shows acrobatic salsa dancer Paddy Jones, and her partner Nico on the show "Britain's Got Talent."  

Paddy Jones and her dance partner Nico om
"Britain's Got Talent."  

Jones is 79 years old.

And amazing.

She already holds the Guinness World Record title as the oldest acrobatic salsa dancer and has already won a number of talent shows.

But her star turn on "Britain's Got Talent" and the rather moving give and take between the judges and Jones is taking the world by storm.

She's more proof that talent and fitness and poise is for people of any age.

This is especially true in the video after Simon Cowell prematurely pressed his "reject" button before the performance really got off the ground.

He regretted the reject and happily praised Jones' performance.

Watch and dance along with Paddy Jones: