Steve76

@clubavfc, School Counsellor, Co-Author of 'The Raft That Soared' Inspired by all who do good in our world. #Namaste 💜💙☮️

[Mr PitBull Stories @MrPitbull07]

He was walking down a busy street in Paris when he heard shouting. A crowd had gathered outside an apartment building, staring upward in sheer panic. People were screaming, and dozens of smartphones were raised to the sky.

Mamoudou Gassama looked up to see what everyone was looking at and saw a terrifying sight.

A four-year-old boy was hanging from the outside of a fourth-floor balcony. The child was dangling by one hand, his tiny fingers slipping by the second.

There was no safety net, no ladder, and the firefighters had not arrived yet. There was absolutely no time to wait.

Without a single thought for his own safety, the 22-year-old youth dropped his bag on the sidewalk and quickly kicked off his shoes. He looked up at the building just once, gripped the cold metal of the first-floor balcony, and began to climb.

He moved with incredible speed and agility, pulling himself up from one balcony to the next.

He had no ropes, no harness, and no safety gear. He just had raw determination. In less than 30 seconds, Mamoudou reached the fourth floor, stretched out his arm, gripped the child’s wrist, and pulled him over the railing to safety.

The crowd below erupted into cheers and tears of relief.

Someone in the crowd filmed the entire rescue on their phone. Within just a few hours, the video went viral on social media, racked up millions of views, and made headlines around the world.

But while the world cheered for the "Spider-Man of Paris," most viewers did not know the truth about Mamoudou’s life.

Mamoudou was an undocumented migrant from Mali. He had arrived in France after a long, dangerous journey across the Mediterranean Sea.

He was living quietly in a crowded room, working tough under-the-table construction jobs, and doing his best to avoid attention. Like many undocumented immigrants, his biggest fear was being noticed by the authorities.

But after that evening, he became impossible to ignore.

The media attention was overwhelming. Reporters surrounded his home, and officials began reviewing his legal status. For a tense moment, it was unclear if his brave act would lead to trouble or a reward.

Then, the President of France called. Mamoudou was invited to the Élysée Palace.

Right then and there, Mamoudou was granted official French citizenship and offered a prestigious job training with the Paris fire brigade.

A proud blue uniform replaced his daily uncertainty. Applause and respect replaced the silence of living in the shadows. He quickly enrolled in the academy, learning standard safety procedures, strict discipline, and how professional rescues are supposed to happen.

Yet, everyone knew the boy was only alive because Mamoudou had ignored every single safety procedure that day. He had risked everything on instinct alone.

Today, Mamoudou keeps a very low profile.

When asked about that unforgettable day, Mamoudou simply smiles with deep humility. "I did not think about the danger, and I did not think about my papers," he says softly. "I only saw a child who needed help, and my heart told me to climb. I am just grateful he is safe."

True heroes, sometimes, are just ordinary people who choose to do the extraordinary when love and humanity call.

Mamoudou’s journey shows us that kindness knows no borders, and a single brave act can completely rewrite a person's destiny, bringing a beautiful, well-deserved happy ending to a life once spent in the dark.

[TheHost @TheHost_]

I gave birth at 16. My father opened the front door, looked at me holding a newborn and said, “You dirty disgrace, get off my porch.” I stood there for an hour not knowing where to go.
His neighbor across the street, a man I had barely spoken to, watched from his window. He came outside, took the baby from my arms, and said, “Come inside. Both of you.” He was 58, a widower, lived alone.
That was 22 years ago. Last month he walked me down the aisle.

[Wolf of X @WolfofX]

In 1992, two friends made a promise that sounded almost impossible to keep.

Tom Cook and Joe Feeney shook hands and agreed that if either of them ever won the Powerball jackpot, they would split it. It didn't matter whose ticket it was. A handshake was enough.

Years passed.

Then decades.

They kept buying lottery tickets, week after week, while life moved on. Retirement got closer, but the promise stayed exactly where they had left it.

On June 10, 2020, Tom stopped at Synergy Coop Exit 45 in Menomonie, Wisconsin, and bought a Powerball ticket.

The next morning, while having breakfast with his wife, he checked the numbers.

Every number matched.

The ticket was worth a $22 million Powerball jackpot.

Tom's first call wasn't to a lawyer or a financial advisor.

It was to Joe.

When Tom told him they had won, Joe couldn't believe it.

His first words were,

"Are you jerking my bobber?"

Joe, an avid fisherman, thought his lifelong friend was pulling a prank.

He wasn't.

Tom had every legal right to keep the jackpot for himself. After all, it was his ticket.

Instead, he did exactly what he had promised 28 years earlier.

The two friends chose the lump sum of about $16.7 million before taxes, and after taxes, each walked away with roughly $5.7 million.

When reporters asked Tom why he shared the money without hesitation, his answer was as simple as the promise itself.

"A handshake's a handshake."

Tom retired after giving his two weeks' notice. Joe, already retired from the local fire department, looked forward to traveling with their wives. After years of taking road trips in a PT Cruiser convertible, they joked that they might finally upgrade.

Millions of dollars changed their lives.

But the most valuable thing in this story wasn't the jackpot.

It was a promise made between two friends in 1992 that was still worth keeping in 2020

[Joey Mannarino @JoeyMannarino]

If a dog is put to sleep when it bites a child, why is a pedophile not also put to sleep when it molests a child?

[Lou Diamond Phillips @LouDPhillips]

“When the last tree is cut, the last fish is caught, and the last river is polluted; when to breathe the air is sickening, you will realize, too late, that wealth is not in bank accounts and that you can’t eat money.”

[Amber Woods @AmberWoods100]

Hi. Me again.
Today is 201 days since the deadline to release the Epstein files.
Laws are supposed to mean something.

Why are survivors and the public still waiting on millions of files?

Transparency delayed is not accountability.

[Desiree @DesireeAmerica4]

Shaq caught wind of this 7-foot-3 kid in Kemah, Texas who powered through the police academy only to fall one point short on the state exam. His whole dream of becoming an officer looked like it was slipping away right there.

Then Shaq jumped in and covered the guy’s living expenses for the next five months so he wouldn’t have to juggle a second job and could zero in on passing that test. Because of that extra push, Jordan Wilmore got back in, nailed it, and just got sworn in as a Kemah police officer.

[Tim Ferriss @tferriss]

There is a process that I have used, and still use, to reignite life...

Create two timelines—6 months and 12 months—and list up to five things you dream of having (including, but not limited to, material wants: house, car, clothing, etc.), being (be a great cook, be fluent in Chinese, etc.), and doing (visiting Thailand, tracing your roots overseas, racing ostriches, etc.) in that order.

If you have difficulty identifying what you want in some categories, as most will, consider what you hate or fear in each and write down the opposite.

Do not limit yourself, and do not concern yourself with how these things will be accomplished. For now, it’s unimportant. This is an exercise in reversing repression.

Be sure not to judge or fool yourself. If you really want a Ferrari, don’t put down solving world hunger out of guilt. For some, the dream will be fame, for others fortune or prestige. All people have their vices and insecurities. If something will improve your feeling of self-worth, put it down.

Drawing a blank? In that case, consider these questions:

1) What would you do, day to day, if you had $100 million in the bank?
2) What would make you most excited to wake up in the morning to another day?

Don’t rush—think about it for a few minutes.

If still blocked, fill in the five “doing” spots with the following:

— one place to visit
— one thing to do before you die (a memory of a lifetime)
— one thing to do daily
— one thing to do weekly
— one thing you’ve always wanted to learn

What does “being” entail doing?

Convert each “being” into a “doing” to make it actionable. Identify an action that would characterize this state of being or a task that would mean you had achieved it. People find it easier to brainstorm “being” first, but this column is just a temporary holding spot for “doing” actions.

Here are a few examples:

1) Great cook —> make Christmas dinner without help

2) Fluent in Chinese —> have a five-minute conversation with a Chinese co-worker

Determine three steps for each of the dreams in just the 6-month timeline and take the first step now.

Define three steps for each dream that will get you closer to its actualization.

Set actions—simple, well-defined actions—for now, tomorrow (complete before 11 A.M.) and the day after (again completed before 11 A.M.). Once you have three steps for each of the four goals, complete the three actions in the “now” column.

Do it now. Each should be simple enough to do in five minutes or less. If not, rachet it down. If it’s the middle of the night and you can’t call someone, do something else now, such as send an e-mail, and set the call for first thing tomorrow.

If the next stage is some form of research, get in touch with someone who knows the answer instead of spending too much time in books or online, which can turn into paralysis by analysis.

The best first step, the one I recommend, is finding someone who’s done it and ask for advice on how to do the same.

[Henry Winter @henrywinter]

Talking Norway....the world of football would be a better place if Fifa was run by Lise Klaveness, Norway FA president, respected former international and an official with a strong moral compass. She regularly calls out Fifa for its excesses (peace prize, private jets etc).

[Stephen King @StephenKing]

RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES!
What exactly is the hold-up?
IT'S THE FUCKING LAW!

[BookofAEGIS @BookofAEGIS]

Imagine how competitive & entertaining the Premier League would be if Newcastle (#nufc) Villa (#avfc) Everton (#efc) Forest (#nffc) and a few other clubs could spend what they wanted?

You wouldn't need a dodgy 5 year plan for a new league winner, the league would be open to 10-12 teams capable of consistently challenging.

[Nuel @LfcNuel]

🚨🗣️ José Mourinho on the Repeated Argentina World Cup Controversies

"I look at what happened with the Folarin Balogun red card being magically suspended after politics got involved, and I look at how Egypt was completely robbed in the Round of 16 against them, and I just have to smile. All of this started in the very first week of the tournament when Lionel Messi was allowed to escape a clear red card against Algeria. When you set a precedent that the rules do not apply to certain teams, you lose all control. We are seeing it match after match. It is a recurring script."

"Some people are calling it a scandal, but a scandal is something unexpected. For me? This is just normal now. We witnessed the system protecting them throughout the group stages, we saw it against Cape Verde, and we saw it again when Mohamed Salah was denied a clear penalty while Cristian Romero stayed on the pitch after a horrific tackle. You can put the tournament in America, in Mexico, in Canada, it doesn't matter. The geographic location changes, but the hands pulling the strings stay exactly the same. It is a cinematic production."

"If you are a smaller nation playing in this World Cup, you have to accept that you start the match 1-0 down before a ball is even kicked. Egypt played beautiful football, they went 2-0 up, and they still couldn't win because you cannot defeat a referee who is determined to look the other way. When VAR can rewind the play from five minutes ago just to disallow an Egyptian goal, but refuses to check a blatant foul on Salah in the 93rd minute, the game is dead. The integrity is completely gone."

[The Villa Polls @TheVillaPolls]

Can you remember how far back VAR went to disallow that Villa goal last season, can’t recall the media outcry then #AVFC

[Give A Shit About Nature @giveashitnature]

When a Swiss startup announced it was installing solar panels between active train tracks and letting trains run over them all day, the critics said it wouldn't work. 14 months in and it's still working fine.

Sun-Ways installed 48 removable solar panels along a 100-meter stretch of working railway in Buttes, Switzerland in April 2025. More than 11,000 trains have rolled over them at speeds up to 55 mph. Zero incidents so far.

The panels haven't shifted or broken. They haven't gotten too dirty to work. The glare concern that critics raised, that reflected sunlight would blind train drivers, hasn't materialized.

The panels sit between the rails, low enough to clear the trains, and disconnect from both the track and the power grid in about ten minutes when maintenance crews need access.

The pilot has generated more than 16,000 kilowatt hours since May 2025, enough for three to four Swiss households. That's a small number, and it was always going to be. The pilot was never about the wattage. It was about proving the mounting hardware survives.

And it has. France's national rail operator SNCF has signed a cooperation agreement to study the data. South Korea has approved its own pilot. Italy is in discussions. Indonesia sent a delegation to see it in person.

Switzerland's full rail network, excluding tunnels and poorly lit stretches, could theoretically generate enough solar energy to power 300,000 households and create hundreds of jobs, all without taking up one more square foot of land.

[conduct|r @conductr_]

I am OBSESSED with this sentence:

“A head full of fears has no space for dreams.”

damn.

[No filter Skin @NoFilterSkin]

HABITS I STOLE FROM PARENTS WHOSE KIDS ACTUALLY WANT TO BE AROUND THEM.

1. Look up the second either of them walks in.

[PATRIOTS OF BRITAIN @POB4LIFE]

🚨 🚨 Let's make these guys famous!

This one is called Luke Lawrence, I need the names of the other ones.

There's a charity that helps disabled children called "Learning Through Motion" this charity does amazing work and they help as many kids as they can.
They recently got a new premises and obviously the budget is tight.

It all needed plastering so these 4 turned up and did the unthinkable!

They did all the plastering completely free!

Have they got Bills to pay? Yes
Have they got family's to feed? Yes
Is being self employed hard? Yes

But they still dropped everything and went and did it at their own expense!

Let's make sure these good men get the recognition they deserve!

I don't know these guys but it would be a pleasure to shake each of their hands.

If you know them tag them in!
If you appreciate them then share this post!

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we repaid their kindness with a few nice words and hopefully this post gets them enough work to see the year out on a high ❤️

Absolute legends

[Darren @MUFCDarren_]

🚨 José Mourinho on Argentina vs. Egypt:

“This is daylight robbery. It’s a shame what football is becoming. How do you let the play continue, allow the goal to be scored, and only then decide to go back and cancel it? If there was a foul, stop the game immediately. Don’t wait until after the goal.

Then I ask another question—why wasn’t Argentina’s first goal reviewed with the same attention when it looked very close to offside? Why was every incident involving Argentina checked, while Egypt didn’t seem to get the same treatment?

VAR is supposed to bring fairness, not confusion. Today, it looked like every important decision went in Argentina’s favour. Football deserves better.”

[Oliver Kahn @OliverKahn]

If we're rewriting football history now, I have a small suggestion:
I'd like FIFA to rescind the yellow card shown to Michael Ballack in the 2002 World Cup semifinal, the one that ruled him out of the final.
And while we're at it, we might as well replay the final against Brazil.

["El Jefe" Águila @ElJefeAguila]

Una linda imagen que nos dejó el partido México vs Inglaterra.

Mexicanos felicitando a los ingleses por el triunfo.

Saber ganar y saber perder, siempre.❤️