PUMP UP THE VOLUME

photo by Victor Estevéz

I'm back!  Generally the day after vacation consists of a massive amount of laundry, and a desire to lose five (gloriously earned) pounds.  And this Day-After-Vacation was no different.   Luckily Nike's new ad campaign got me headed right to Zumba class.  Does it inspire you too? 


  

                        

Principle in the type:  "It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves."    Edmund Hillary

DREAM ENERGY

photo by David Abercrombie

So, that solar plane is cool.   In the ninth leg of a round-the-world trip started in March, pilot Bertrand Piccard landed the Solar Impulse 2 near San Francisco, Saturday afternoon.   The airplane has the ability to fly both day and night, with its only 'fuel' being energy from the sun.   " 'It's an adventure we want to share with the public,' Piccard said."   This is indeed the stuff dreams are made of.   Piccard remembered being inspired by astronauts as a boy.  "He said if he and his team could do the same for others, 'that would be fantastic,' "     news            

Principle in the type:  "No other generation has been the beneficiary of so much knowledge, of so much experience, of so much affluence and opportunity."      Gordon B. Hinckley  

PLANETARY INSIGHTS

photo by David Lofink

Finding a new "Earth-size planet on our galactic block," is exciting stuff (in case you didn't know).  Astrophysicists revealed "the newfound world" recently.  "Planet GJ1132b is just 39 light-years away, within the atmospheric study range of the Hubble Space Telescope."  Says University of Maryland's Drake Deming, it is " 'arguably the most important planet ever found outside the solar system.'  "        news 

Principle in the type:  "Scientists were struggling to understand the breadth of the universe until instruments became sophisticated enough to gather in greater light so they could understand a more complete truth. [Scriptures teach] a parallel principle regarding spiritual knowledge. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,” [in Corinthians] “for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.". . .  In other words, if you want to recognize spiritual truth, you have to use the right instruments. You can’t come to an understanding of spiritual truth with instruments that are unable to detect it."               Dieter F. Uchtdorf

GAME CHANGER

photo by Stuart Seeger

Lauren Hill, the 19 year-old well-loved basketball player at Mount St. Joseph College, in Cincinnati, died of a brain tumor last Friday, April 10th.  Her cancer was discovered while a senior in high school, but it did not slow her down.  She fought it at the same time she went on to college and her beloved basketball, competing in her first NCAA college basketball game last November.  Friends and students gathered by the hundreds in memorial for her life, as she had that kind of impact on others.  Hill was one of those people that led by example, helping to raise well over a million dollars to go towards pediatric cancer research.  "An assistant coach read one of her essays that ended with:  'Never give up on your dream.  Find something to fight for.  I fight for others.' "   news story

Principle in the type:  "One night a young idealist had a dream. He dreamed there was a new store in a nearby shopping mall.  He went in and saw an angel behind a counter. Nervously, he asked what the shop sold.  "Everything your heart desires,” replied the angel.  "Then I want peace on earth,” exclaimed the idealist. “I want an end to famine, sorrow, and disease.”      ---"Just a minute," replied the angel.  "You haven't understood.  We don't sell fruit here---only seeds."  Marvin J. Ashton