The Truth Behind the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Inspired By His Paralyzed Wife, This Combat Vet Created A Line Of Badass Wheelchair Tanks

If life gives you lemons, Brad Soden will likely tell you to make lemonade. He's just a no-excuses type of guy.

"People in wheelchair's got a problem? We'll fix it," the combat veteran told Businessweek in a video. "We don't care what your injury is. You got the desire, we'll get you off the sidewalk."

Soden, owner of Phoenix-based Tankchair, has built what some engineers told him was impossible -- a wheelchair (although the term hardly applies) that can pummel through muddy football fields, speed through multiple feet of water, and float "right over snow."

The Tankchair, customized for any weather Mother Nature has in store, is built off of a steel or aluminum frame and provides users -- predominantly people with limited mobility due to physical disabilities -- with confidence when exploring uneven terrain, according to the product's website.

Soden, who has no engineering experience or college degree, was determined to create a device that would allow his wife to enjoy all the same outdoor activities she had before an automobile accident that left her paralyzed from the waist down in 1999.

"She was crying one day after her injury, and she couldn't go camping anymore," Soden said of his wife's experience in Arizona's Hualapai Mountain Park in 2001. "Her exact words were, 'Go on without me.' I find that unacceptable, so I told her I would build her something. It took me two years and a bunch of beer in my garage to figure out the first model, but since then -- with now my applied science -- we've been making leaps and bounds."

The battery-powered Tankchair, which starts at $19,500 and is built to last 15-20 years, has come a long way since Soden's earliest creations. To the combat veteran, it took a tiring cycle of trial and error to get Tankchairs to where the model is today.

"Everybody can whine and cry about stuff," he said in the video by Businessweek. "Critics are so easy to find -- you can't swing a dead cat without hitting one. However, finding someone who actually comes up with the solution is what we take pride in."

What's more, Soden's groundbreaking idea isn't expanding his own bank account -- "money doesn't drive" him, he says. All of the revenue raised through the sales of each Tankchair goes back into research and development for future endeavors helping clients reach their potential.

"I'm not a big rah-rah type of guy," he said in the video. "I get more pleasure watching other people have fun. You see a kid smile, or you see happiness, and the tears of it ... I can't really describe it. Man, I can't tell you. It's just really cool."

Live Free. Thanks for Sharing Earthships

Dr. Mercola Interviews Vani Hari, "The Food Babe"

Subway to remove 'dough conditioner' chemical from bread

Are You Eating This Ingredient Banned All Over the World?

Subway: Stop Using Dangerous Chemicals In Your Bread

Also on CNN:  http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/06/health/subway-bread-chemical/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

CNN Heroes Tribute Narayanan Krishnan

Warmhearted cop gives the shirt off his back to homeless man shivering in freezing New York City

Officer Carlos Ramos saw Robert William shivering in the freezing New York weather on Friday morning.  He had only a thermal undershirt on and was ripping up his other shirt to wrap around his feet as socks.  Ramos gave William the sweater he was wearing under his uniform

One New York City cop gave the sweater he was wearing to a homeless man who was dressed only in a thermal undershirt Friday when temperatures dropped to 23 degrees.

Officer Carlos Ramos, 29, was assigned to look for suspicious activity near the United Nations in midtown Manhattan when he spotted Robert William sitting on a sidewalk outside the Robert Moses Park dog run.

William was sitting barefoot because his shoes had gotten soaked, and had taken off his outer shirt to try and wrap it around his freezing cold feet.

Warm heart: NYPD Transit Bureau officer Carlos Ramos stopped and gave Robert William a sweater off his back in the frigid New York morning on Friday

Grateful: Robert Williams' shoes were wet and he had only a thermal undershirt on

'I saw he was in need and it was my job to help him,' Ramos told the New York Daily News.

'I saw he had no coat,' he said. 'It was a very cold day, because I was very cold even bundled up.'

He offered the thick, navy blue Champion sweatshirt he was wearing under his uniform and coat to William, who initially refused. 

'My concern was for him - his concern was for me staying warm,' Ramos told the Daily News.

Ramos finally convinced William to take the sweatshirt.

'He gave it to me. He said, "Don’t worry about it,"' William told the New York Post. 

'I felt good about having it.'

Makeshift: After Ramos left, William, wearing his new sweater, tore up his shirt to wear as socks.

The warmhearted officer told the Daily News that he regularly helps people out, especially when the weather is cold.

'A nice cup of coffee, a tea, whatever seems appropriate,' he said. 

Ramos has been a NYPD officer since 2007. He works in anti-crime and counterterrorism for the Transit Bureau.

William told the New York Post that he doesn't know how long he's been homeless for, but that he used to live uptown at West 163rd and St Nicholas Ave before an argument with a roommate saw him turfed out onto the streets.

Good Samaritan: Larry DePrimo won a host of fans last November when a photograph of him kneeling down to give a pair of boots to a homeless man in Times Square went viral

As winter sets in and temperatures drop below , the plight of homeless people who make their beds on the streets of New York City becomes critical.

Ramos' warm-hearted deed comes almost exactly a year after a New York police officer Larry DePrimo won fans after buying Jeffrey Hillman, 54, a homeless man, a pair of boots.

Hillman was sitting barefoot in Times Square with blisters on his feet from the cold.

DePrimo bought Hillman a $100 pair of Sketcher's boots from a nearby store after Hillman told him he was fine - and that he'd never had a pair of shoes.

DePrimo was recently promoted to detective.

                                                (http://www.njnewsday.com/national...)

Make The Homeless Smile

The Heroes of Hurricane Sandy

Inspiring Stories: The Heroes of Hurricane Sandy

When Sandy hit the East Coast, these American heroes sprang into action, proving that spirit can survive any storm.

By Alison Caporimo and Caitlin O'Connell from Reader's Digest Magazine

Read More Here:  http://www.rd.com/true-stories/inspiring/inspiring-stories-the-heroes-of-hurricane-sandy/

Our event for the End It movement is tonight. There are currently more slaves in the world than there have ever been throughout all of history, and that is not okay.

We've gathered bands from all over the state, and we're sticking out 27 hours of straight prayer and worship to represent the 27 million men women and children who are currently enslaved. People can come and go as they please.

The event starts tonight at 5:30 and ends at 9:30 on Friday (MDT time zone)

Since you can't make it in person the event will be broadcast all over the world, so please join us in lifting up this issue at http://endit.churchonline.org/ or www.enditmovementslc.com