An excerpt from The New York Times "What We're Reading Now" -
The idea took hold a few months ago. It’s hard to say exactly what sparked it other than … well, have you ever been the parent of a 14-year-old girl? It is a daunting experience. Elizabeth is a good person. She’s a good student. She has a huge heart. She’s a loyal friend. She’s funny too. She likes Death Cab and Spinal Tap and comic books and reading. The other day, she told me that her favorite movie of all time is “The Godfather.” I mean, she is more me than I am.
But she is 14, and in some ways that explains everything. In some ways it doesn’t. There are times I feel closer to her than ever … and times I feel so much further away. Farther away? Further away? One gorgeous day in autumn, I was sitting on the porch, working, and she came outside and sat next to me, and it became clear after a few choice words about tattoos and nose rings and such that she had come out for the sole purpose of starting a fight. There was no specific reason for it other than she’s 14, and I’m her father, and this is the timeless story.
http://joeposnanski.com/hamilton/
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Quote
From Vox -
"The millions of admirers of the TV presentation of ‘Roots’ didn’t include Ronald Reagan, who said, ‘Very frankly, I thought the bias of all the good people being one color and all the bad people being another was rather destructive.’" [Washington Post in 1977, via Post / Bethonie Butler]
"The millions of admirers of the TV presentation of ‘Roots’ didn’t include Ronald Reagan, who said, ‘Very frankly, I thought the bias of all the good people being one color and all the bad people being another was rather destructive.’" [Washington Post in 1977, via Post / Bethonie Butler]
Monday, May 30, 2016
Rot at the Top 2
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/seducing-the-seventh-fleet/?hpid=hp_no-name_graphic-story-b%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
Quote
Leonard Matlovich's tombstone at the Congressional Cemetery, which reads:
"A Gay Vietnam Veteran
When I was in the military, they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Matlovich
I've Learned . . .
There are wonderful people all over the world.
I've learned . . .
You don't have to speak the same language to communicate with someone.
I've learned . . .
We have so much more in common with people than we realize at first blush.
I've learned . . .
The US doesn't have a monopoly on red tape.
I've learned . . .
That religion can be scary, but relationships break the barriers.
I've learned . . .
That a smile is universal.
I've learned . . .
That connections matter. Not for what someone can do for you, but connecting because they matter.
I've learned . . .
That solitude doesn't equal loneliness.
I've learned . . .
To let go of the hurt, and move on.
I've learned . . .
How little I know.
I've learned . . .
You don't have to speak the same language to communicate with someone.
I've learned . . .
We have so much more in common with people than we realize at first blush.
I've learned . . .
The US doesn't have a monopoly on red tape.
I've learned . . .
That religion can be scary, but relationships break the barriers.
I've learned . . .
That a smile is universal.
I've learned . . .
That connections matter. Not for what someone can do for you, but connecting because they matter.
I've learned . . .
That solitude doesn't equal loneliness.
I've learned . . .
To let go of the hurt, and move on.
I've learned . . .
How little I know.
He Did It!
An excerpt from BlackAmericaWeb -
Harlem Drug Dealer Turned His Life Around In The Most Amazing Way
David Norman proves it's never too late to follow your dreams.
A former Harlem drug dealer just received his bachelor’s degree from New York City’s Columbia University. David Norman now holds a degree in philosophy and cried tears of joy as he reflected on the hardships he endured to get there.
Harlem Drug Dealer Turned His Life Around In The Most Amazing Way
David Norman proves it's never too late to follow your dreams.
A former Harlem drug dealer just received his bachelor’s degree from New York City’s Columbia University. David Norman now holds a degree in philosophy and cried tears of joy as he reflected on the hardships he endured to get there.
http://blackamericaweb.com/2016/05/29/harlem-drug-dealer-turned-his-life-around-in-the-most-amazing-way/?omcamp=es-baw-nl&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=New%20Campaign&utm_term=BAW%20Subscribers%20%28Daily%29
Sunday, May 29, 2016
Check This Out
An excerpt from StumbleUpon -
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/AGFkFR/:w02!$tLM:l6oW5fBF/mentalfloss.com/article/79130/14-totally-free-things-internet-everyone-should-take-advantage
2. SELF-DESTRUCTING EMAIL ADDRESSES
With 10 Minute Mail, you can create an extremely temporary email address that will automatically self-destruct in 10 minutes, allowing you to sign up for sites, lists, and deals without the unbearable spam cannon that normally accompanies your quiet compliance. Also good for anonymous threats and insults to friends/family members. Not that I'd do that, of course.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/AGFkFR/:w02!$tLM:l6oW5fBF/mentalfloss.com/article/79130/14-totally-free-things-internet-everyone-should-take-advantage
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Friday, May 27, 2016
Rot at the Top
An excerpt from the Washington Post -
The Man Who Seduced the 7th Fleet
In perhaps the worst national-security breach of its kind to hit the Navy since the end of the Cold War, Francis doled out sex and money to a shocking number of people in uniform who fed him classified material about U.S. warship and submarine movements. Some also leaked him confidential contracting information and even files about active law enforcement investigations into his company.
He exploited the intelligence for illicit profit, brazenly ordering his moles to redirect aircraft carriers to ports he controlled in Southeast Asia so he could more easily bilk the Navy for fuel, tugboats, barges, food, water and sewage removal.
Over at least a decade, according to documents filed by prosecutors, Glenn Defense ripped off the Navy with little fear of getting caught because Francis had so thoroughly infiltrated the ranks.
The company forged invoices, falsified quotes and ran kickback schemes. It created ghost subcontractors and fake port authorities to fool the Navy into paying for services it never received.
Francis and his firm have admitted to defrauding the Navy of $35 million, though investigators believe the real amount could be much greater.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/wp/2016/05/27/fat-leonard/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_fatleonard-930a%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
The Man Who Seduced the 7th Fleet
In perhaps the worst national-security breach of its kind to hit the Navy since the end of the Cold War, Francis doled out sex and money to a shocking number of people in uniform who fed him classified material about U.S. warship and submarine movements. Some also leaked him confidential contracting information and even files about active law enforcement investigations into his company.
He exploited the intelligence for illicit profit, brazenly ordering his moles to redirect aircraft carriers to ports he controlled in Southeast Asia so he could more easily bilk the Navy for fuel, tugboats, barges, food, water and sewage removal.
Over at least a decade, according to documents filed by prosecutors, Glenn Defense ripped off the Navy with little fear of getting caught because Francis had so thoroughly infiltrated the ranks.
The company forged invoices, falsified quotes and ran kickback schemes. It created ghost subcontractors and fake port authorities to fool the Navy into paying for services it never received.
Francis and his firm have admitted to defrauding the Navy of $35 million, though investigators believe the real amount could be much greater.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/wp/2016/05/27/fat-leonard/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_fatleonard-930a%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
Lukas Graham - 7 Years [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO]
Not my usual fare, but . . .
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/lukas-grahams-singer-on-growing-up-in-denmarks-anarchist-utopia-20160527
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/lukas-grahams-singer-on-growing-up-in-denmarks-anarchist-utopia-20160527
Hand Job
From Wired -
HANDS APPEAR EVERYWHERE IN advertising. Flip through any magazine and you’ll see them flaunting watches, washing dishes, stroking faces. Hand modeling is a real job done by professional models, which makes you wonder who they are and what they look like. Oli Kellett and Alex Holder introduce you to some of them in their wonderful book Hand Jobs.
The idea came to them while shooting a commercial in 2012. They spotted a petite woman wearing enormous gloves while reading a paperback. It turns out she was a hand model, protecting her hands. “The image just stuck with us,” Kellett says.
With that, the duo went to Hired Hands, an agency in London. They convinced 24 models to pose for portraits and hold a banana in a suggestive manner, an idea that lends the series a certain cheekiness (and required buying dozens of bananas, raising eyebrows at the supermarket). Each model offers an insight into their unusual profession. One man, for example, followed his father and uncle into the business. Others went into modeling after repeatedly hearing they have lovely hands.
http://www.wired.com/2016/05/oli-kellett-alex-holder-hand-jobs/?mbid=nl_52716#slide-9
 |
| "As a child I was routinely teased by my siblings about my hands being so soft. Now I'm a hand model and they're a carpenter, an electrician and a mechanic." — Cliff |
HANDS APPEAR EVERYWHERE IN advertising. Flip through any magazine and you’ll see them flaunting watches, washing dishes, stroking faces. Hand modeling is a real job done by professional models, which makes you wonder who they are and what they look like. Oli Kellett and Alex Holder introduce you to some of them in their wonderful book Hand Jobs.
The idea came to them while shooting a commercial in 2012. They spotted a petite woman wearing enormous gloves while reading a paperback. It turns out she was a hand model, protecting her hands. “The image just stuck with us,” Kellett says.
With that, the duo went to Hired Hands, an agency in London. They convinced 24 models to pose for portraits and hold a banana in a suggestive manner, an idea that lends the series a certain cheekiness (and required buying dozens of bananas, raising eyebrows at the supermarket). Each model offers an insight into their unusual profession. One man, for example, followed his father and uncle into the business. Others went into modeling after repeatedly hearing they have lovely hands.
http://www.wired.com/2016/05/oli-kellett-alex-holder-hand-jobs/?mbid=nl_52716#slide-9
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Oreos, Bananas & Coconuts
An excerpt from Vulture -
Why The Mindy Project’s ‘Coconut’ Episode Was a Smart Response to Criticism of the Show
More frequently, this critique has been aimed at the fact that Mindy Lahiri only dates white men. My own line on the show’s racial politics has been that the problem isn’t that Mindy exclusively dates white men, but rather that the show didn’t engage with the contours of those interracial relationships. There are plenty of Asian-Americans who only date white people, but to suggest that race isn’t a factor is willfully naïve: You encounter people who won’t date you because of your race, people who want to date you only because of your race, and the ones who claim not to see race at all. The Mindy Project brushed over Mindy's dating choices when there was plenty of comedy to be mined there. And so it was a both surprise and a delight when The Mindy Project dropped the “C” word during the recent episode “Bernardo & Anita”: coconut.
Coconut, of course, is one of those lightly pejorative, food-based words to describe people of color who are “white on the inside.” (Other gastronomic equivalents include Oreos and bananas.) It’s a label that’s usually leveled by a member of the same race, a way to tut-tut the other person's failure to properly rep for the tribe. Having Indian-American suitor Neel (Kristian Kordula) call Mindy Lahiri a coconut was a smart and playful way to address a longstanding criticism of the show itself, while remaining true to the show’s protagonist.
http://www.vulture.com/2016/05/mindy-project-criticism-response-bernardo-anita.html#
Why The Mindy Project’s ‘Coconut’ Episode Was a Smart Response to Criticism of the Show
More frequently, this critique has been aimed at the fact that Mindy Lahiri only dates white men. My own line on the show’s racial politics has been that the problem isn’t that Mindy exclusively dates white men, but rather that the show didn’t engage with the contours of those interracial relationships. There are plenty of Asian-Americans who only date white people, but to suggest that race isn’t a factor is willfully naïve: You encounter people who won’t date you because of your race, people who want to date you only because of your race, and the ones who claim not to see race at all. The Mindy Project brushed over Mindy's dating choices when there was plenty of comedy to be mined there. And so it was a both surprise and a delight when The Mindy Project dropped the “C” word during the recent episode “Bernardo & Anita”: coconut.
Coconut, of course, is one of those lightly pejorative, food-based words to describe people of color who are “white on the inside.” (Other gastronomic equivalents include Oreos and bananas.) It’s a label that’s usually leveled by a member of the same race, a way to tut-tut the other person's failure to properly rep for the tribe. Having Indian-American suitor Neel (Kristian Kordula) call Mindy Lahiri a coconut was a smart and playful way to address a longstanding criticism of the show itself, while remaining true to the show’s protagonist.
http://www.vulture.com/2016/05/mindy-project-criticism-response-bernardo-anita.html#
Not Like Clarence
An excerpt from VerySmartBrothas -
DEAR BLACK PARENTS: PLEASE LOVE YOUR CHILDREN SO THEY WON’T GROW UP TO BE CLARENCE THOMAS
DEAR BLACK PARENTS: PLEASE LOVE YOUR CHILDREN SO THEY WON’T GROW UP TO BE CLARENCE THOMAS
But mostly I want her to be in love with who she is. Not a suffocating, consuming, constricting, and narcissistic love where she’s the only meaningful entity in her universe. But a love where she’s able to acknowledge, accept, embrace, and find the beauty and the value in all the things that make her her. A love of herself and her skin and her nose and her lips and her hair and her people and her parents and her Blackness that exists without reservation or shame and permeates and inspires others around her to strive for their best selves.
Basically, I do not want her to be Clarence Thomas.
Because if she were to become Clarence Thomas — a person whose shame of and disgust with himself and his Blackness is so pervasive and palpable and, unfortunately, powerful that it can literally alter history — it would mean that I failed. That I was an abject and thorough disaster of a parent. That something I did or didn’t do turned this smiling, rolling, bouncing, and burping six-month old bundle of Blackness into a joyless and self-loathing schlemiel who grew to rue the day she was born Black.
http://verysmartbrothas.com/dear-black-parents-please-love-your-children-so-they-wont-grow-up-to-be-clarence-thomas/
New Nudes
From The Huffington Post -
The concept of “nude” has long referred only to pale tones when it comes to cosmetics and clothing. Thanks to efforts by both small and large brands, the term has started to become more inclusive of what’s nude for everyone.
But the desire for diverse options when it comes to skin tones is not limited to shoes, outwear and makeup: There’s a need for nude underneath, too.
Enter Naja, a lingerie brand from creative director Catalina Girald and actress Gina Rodriguez. Thanks to a new range of nude underwear modeled by 10 diverse women, the company has turned the “typical nude” on its head.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nude-lingerie-skin-tones-diverse_us_5745bf1ce4b0dacf7ad38833
The concept of “nude” has long referred only to pale tones when it comes to cosmetics and clothing. Thanks to efforts by both small and large brands, the term has started to become more inclusive of what’s nude for everyone.
But the desire for diverse options when it comes to skin tones is not limited to shoes, outwear and makeup: There’s a need for nude underneath, too.
Enter Naja, a lingerie brand from creative director Catalina Girald and actress Gina Rodriguez. Thanks to a new range of nude underwear modeled by 10 diverse women, the company has turned the “typical nude” on its head.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nude-lingerie-skin-tones-diverse_us_5745bf1ce4b0dacf7ad38833
You Can Help With Cancer Research
From Upworthy -
I spent a few minutes digging in my yard all in the name of cancer research.
By Erin Canty
There is rainwater seeping into my jeans, and my instructions are about to blow away. But my front yard could hold the cure to cancer, so I keep digging.
I am outside my home in Portland, Oregon, digging in the soil with a small plastic scoop I requested from the Natural Products Discovery Group at the University of Oklahoma. An interdisciplinary team of researchers are hard at work there, looking for fungi and natural products found in soil that may be used for a host of drugs and cures for cancer, infectious diseases, and even heart disease.
So the least I can do is get my knees wet.
http://www.upworthy.com/i-spent-a-few-minutes-digging-in-my-yard-all-in-the-name-of-cancer-research?c=upw1
http://npdg.ou.edu/citizenscience
I spent a few minutes digging in my yard all in the name of cancer research.
By Erin Canty
There is rainwater seeping into my jeans, and my instructions are about to blow away. But my front yard could hold the cure to cancer, so I keep digging.
I am outside my home in Portland, Oregon, digging in the soil with a small plastic scoop I requested from the Natural Products Discovery Group at the University of Oklahoma. An interdisciplinary team of researchers are hard at work there, looking for fungi and natural products found in soil that may be used for a host of drugs and cures for cancer, infectious diseases, and even heart disease.
So the least I can do is get my knees wet.
http://www.upworthy.com/i-spent-a-few-minutes-digging-in-my-yard-all-in-the-name-of-cancer-research?c=upw1
http://npdg.ou.edu/citizenscience
History Lesson
From BlackAmericaWeb.com
Little Known Black History Fact: Tallahassee Bus Boycott
On this day in 1956, FAMU students Wilhelmina Jakes and Carrie Patterson sat on a city bus in Tallahassee, Florida. and began what would become a seven-month boycott of the transit system. Through the efforts of a local church leader and civic groups, protesters were able to get Black drivers hired and integrate the bus lines.
http://blackamericaweb.com/2016/05/26/little-known-black-history-fact-tallahassee-bus-boycott/?omcamp=es-baw-nl&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=New%20Campaign&utm_term=BAW%20Subscribers%20%28Weekly%29
Little Known Black History Fact: Tallahassee Bus Boycott
On this day in 1956, FAMU students Wilhelmina Jakes and Carrie Patterson sat on a city bus in Tallahassee, Florida. and began what would become a seven-month boycott of the transit system. Through the efforts of a local church leader and civic groups, protesters were able to get Black drivers hired and integrate the bus lines.
http://blackamericaweb.com/2016/05/26/little-known-black-history-fact-tallahassee-bus-boycott/?omcamp=es-baw-nl&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=New%20Campaign&utm_term=BAW%20Subscribers%20%28Weekly%29
Fruity Bus Stops
From Atlas Obsura -
 |
| Strawberry Bus Stop |
http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/konagai-japan-fruit-shaped-bus-stops?utm_source=Boomtrain&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20160526&bt_email=fayesharpe@gmail.com&bt_ts=1464275422442
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Authors Say NO!
From Rolling Stone -
Stephen King, Cheryl Strayed Sign Open Letter Condemning Donald Trump
"The rise of a political candidate who deliberately appeals to the basest and most violent elements in society ... demands ... an immediate and forceful response," over 400 authors write in letter
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/stephen-king-cheryl-strayed-sign-open-letter-condemning-donald-trump-20160525#ixzz49jJFlAeY
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook
Stephen King, Cheryl Strayed Sign Open Letter Condemning Donald Trump
"The rise of a political candidate who deliberately appeals to the basest and most violent elements in society ... demands ... an immediate and forceful response," over 400 authors write in letter
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/stephen-king-cheryl-strayed-sign-open-letter-condemning-donald-trump-20160525#ixzz49jJFlAeY
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook
The Best
From The New Yorker -
A FULL REVOLUTION
In the run-up to the Olympics, Simone Biles is transforming gymnastics.
By Reeves Wiedeman
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/05/30/simone-biles-is-the-best-gymnast-in-the-world?mbid=nl_160525_Daily&CNDID=27124505&spMailingID=8970946&spUserID=MTE0MzE0NDEyNDUyS0&spJobID=922460323&spReportId=OTIyNDYwMzIzS0
A FULL REVOLUTION
In the run-up to the Olympics, Simone Biles is transforming gymnastics.
By Reeves Wiedeman
 | ||
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Monday, May 23, 2016
What a Sad Man
Excerpts from 2 Paragraphs -
The Supreme Court of the United States found in favor of Timothy Tyrone Foster, a black man on death row in Georgia. Convicted of killing a white woman in 1987, Foster's case before the nation's highest court claimed that he was a victim of racial discrimination at his original trial. SCOTUS agreed in a rare 7-1 decision, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing: "The focus on race in the prosecution's file plainly demonstrates a concerted effort to keep black prospective jurors off the jury."
~~~~~~~~~~
Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Court's only African American Justice, was the lone dissenting vote.
~~~~~~~~~~
Of course he was (my comment).
The Supreme Court of the United States found in favor of Timothy Tyrone Foster, a black man on death row in Georgia. Convicted of killing a white woman in 1987, Foster's case before the nation's highest court claimed that he was a victim of racial discrimination at his original trial. SCOTUS agreed in a rare 7-1 decision, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing: "The focus on race in the prosecution's file plainly demonstrates a concerted effort to keep black prospective jurors off the jury."
~~~~~~~~~~
Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Court's only African American Justice, was the lone dissenting vote.
~~~~~~~~~~
Of course he was (my comment).
A Deep Dive
This is long, but worth the read.
From The New Yorker -
THE BANK ROBBER
The computer technician who exposed a Swiss bank’s darkest secrets.
By Patrick Radden Keefe
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/05/30/herve-falcianis-great-swiss-bank-heist?mbid=nl_TNY%20Template%20-%20With%20Photo%20(41)&CNDID=27124505&spMailingID=8959693&spUserID=MTE0MzE0NDEyNDUyS0&spJobID=922244030&spReportId=OTIyMjQ0MDMwS0
From The New Yorker -
THE BANK ROBBER
The computer technician who exposed a Swiss bank’s darkest secrets.
By Patrick Radden Keefe
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/05/30/herve-falcianis-great-swiss-bank-heist?mbid=nl_TNY%20Template%20-%20With%20Photo%20(41)&CNDID=27124505&spMailingID=8959693&spUserID=MTE0MzE0NDEyNDUyS0&spJobID=922244030&spReportId=OTIyMjQ0MDMwS0
Just Let Him RIP
From Consequence of Sound -
BET Awards mock Madonna and Stevie Wonder’s Prince tribute at the Billboard Music Awards
"Yeah, we saw that. Don't Worry. We Got You."
http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/05/bet-awards-mocks-madonna-and-stevie-wonders-prince-tribute-at-the-billboard-music-awards/
BET Awards mock Madonna and Stevie Wonder’s Prince tribute at the Billboard Music Awards
"Yeah, we saw that. Don't Worry. We Got You."
http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/05/bet-awards-mocks-madonna-and-stevie-wonders-prince-tribute-at-the-billboard-music-awards/
Wealth Distribution
From Vox -
Something massive and important has happened in the United States over the past 50 years: Economic wealth has become increasingly concentrated among a small group of ultra-wealthy Americans.
http://www.vox.com/2016/5/23/11704246/wealth-inequality-cartoon
Something massive and important has happened in the United States over the past 50 years: Economic wealth has become increasingly concentrated among a small group of ultra-wealthy Americans.
http://www.vox.com/2016/5/23/11704246/wealth-inequality-cartoon
Sunday, May 22, 2016
Laughing til it Hurt!
Every Mom can relate to this scenario. Read the entire message. I dare you not to laugh out loud.
From StumbleUpon -
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1JhMev/:1GHP2NVT2:h154ZrzH/hellogiggles.com/guy-panic-texts-wife-son-pukes
From StumbleUpon -
Guy panic-texts his wife after their son pukes everywhere, internet cannot get enough
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1JhMev/:1GHP2NVT2:h154ZrzH/hellogiggles.com/guy-panic-texts-wife-son-pukes
Saturday, May 21, 2016
Redemption
Excerpts from The Huffington Post Highline -
Meet the Ungers
Merle Unger escaped from jail for the first time in 1967, when he was an 18-year-old dropout with an interest in petty crime. People in his native Greencastle, Pennsylvania, saw him as a harmless character—a scrawny kid who figured out how to tie his bedsheets together and climb out of the nearby jail at night so he could see his girlfriend and play bingo at the Catholic church before climbing back into his cell in time for roll call. He did this until a sheriff’s deputy went to play bingo, saw Unger sitting there and was like, wait a minute.
Whenever jail officials increased security, Unger found another route out. A local radio station started a Merle Unger Fan Club. His public defender made T-shirts that said, “Merle, baby, where are you?”
In 1975, after more escapes and arrests, he found himself locked up in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, fixating on a skylight in the lunchroom, 45 feet up. Early one morning he tied a piece of rope to a 5- or 10-pound dumbbell and wrapped the other end of the rope around his neck. He piled up some tables, put a small step ladder on top of the pile, climbed atop a beam, pulled up the ladder, set it up again, reached higher, hurled the dumbbell through the skylight’s glass, and climbed through the broken window into the December cold, wearing a short-sleeved shirt. “I mean, I’m not proud of that,” Unger told me last month. “I just wanted my freedom.”
~~~~~~~~~~
In the middle of all this, in the ’80s, Unger happened to meet a woman. A fellow inmate in Florida had put a personal ad in Mother Earth magazine, and he got so many responses that he sold the extras to other prisoners for a dollar apiece. Unger bought a few, sent letters and a woman from Illinois came to visit. They ended up getting married in 1988 and had two children, both conceived in prison. He says his life changed when he held his infant son for the first time: “I didn’t want to commit no crimes anymore.”
In Unger’s telling, this is the moment he developed an obsessive interest in the American legal system. Another friend worked in the prison’s law library and told him about a case in which a federal inmate earned his freedom by challenging the constitutionality of the jury instructions in his trial. Unger spent hours studying the case. It was all he could talk about. And the more he read, the more he thought he might have a shot at winning a new trial on the murder charge if he came back to Maryland to fight it.
~~~~~~~~~~
Unger v. State doesn’t say that these prisoners should be freed, only that they can ask to be retried. In practice, though, there’s a strong incentive to settle cases where the defendant has a clean prison record. Re-trying a case that’s 30 or 40 years old can be tricky: the witnesses have moved away, the detectives are dead and the case file is skeletal, or missing, or destroyed. Since the decision came down, 142 of 231 prisoners have negotiated their freedom, almost all of them getting probation. One was acquitted at a new trial. Another eight have died behind bars before they could get a hearing. There are still about 70 prisoners with open cases, which means that even more may yet go free.
http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/meet-the-ungers/
Meet the Ungers
Merle Unger escaped from jail for the first time in 1967, when he was an 18-year-old dropout with an interest in petty crime. People in his native Greencastle, Pennsylvania, saw him as a harmless character—a scrawny kid who figured out how to tie his bedsheets together and climb out of the nearby jail at night so he could see his girlfriend and play bingo at the Catholic church before climbing back into his cell in time for roll call. He did this until a sheriff’s deputy went to play bingo, saw Unger sitting there and was like, wait a minute.
Whenever jail officials increased security, Unger found another route out. A local radio station started a Merle Unger Fan Club. His public defender made T-shirts that said, “Merle, baby, where are you?”
In 1975, after more escapes and arrests, he found himself locked up in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, fixating on a skylight in the lunchroom, 45 feet up. Early one morning he tied a piece of rope to a 5- or 10-pound dumbbell and wrapped the other end of the rope around his neck. He piled up some tables, put a small step ladder on top of the pile, climbed atop a beam, pulled up the ladder, set it up again, reached higher, hurled the dumbbell through the skylight’s glass, and climbed through the broken window into the December cold, wearing a short-sleeved shirt. “I mean, I’m not proud of that,” Unger told me last month. “I just wanted my freedom.”
~~~~~~~~~~
In the middle of all this, in the ’80s, Unger happened to meet a woman. A fellow inmate in Florida had put a personal ad in Mother Earth magazine, and he got so many responses that he sold the extras to other prisoners for a dollar apiece. Unger bought a few, sent letters and a woman from Illinois came to visit. They ended up getting married in 1988 and had two children, both conceived in prison. He says his life changed when he held his infant son for the first time: “I didn’t want to commit no crimes anymore.”
In Unger’s telling, this is the moment he developed an obsessive interest in the American legal system. Another friend worked in the prison’s law library and told him about a case in which a federal inmate earned his freedom by challenging the constitutionality of the jury instructions in his trial. Unger spent hours studying the case. It was all he could talk about. And the more he read, the more he thought he might have a shot at winning a new trial on the murder charge if he came back to Maryland to fight it.
~~~~~~~~~~
Unger v. State doesn’t say that these prisoners should be freed, only that they can ask to be retried. In practice, though, there’s a strong incentive to settle cases where the defendant has a clean prison record. Re-trying a case that’s 30 or 40 years old can be tricky: the witnesses have moved away, the detectives are dead and the case file is skeletal, or missing, or destroyed. Since the decision came down, 142 of 231 prisoners have negotiated their freedom, almost all of them getting probation. One was acquitted at a new trial. Another eight have died behind bars before they could get a hearing. There are still about 70 prisoners with open cases, which means that even more may yet go free.
http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/meet-the-ungers/
Friday, May 20, 2016
Otto – Self-Driving Trucks
Now the downside -
http://2paragraphs.com/2016/05/self-driving-trucks-threaten-3-5-million-american-jobs/
Quiet Discontent
An excerpt from the New York Times -
No Sound, No Fury, No Marriage
My marriage had long ago turned into the cliché of roommate-ness, and that it could suffer such a change without any emotional upheaval was revealing. In fact, the silence said it all.
The words I don’t say to my neighbors, the words that get held on my tongue, are: I wish you had heard a fight. I wish our voices had been loud enough to carry across the valley. He and I may have free speech, but we’re not so good at frank speech.
Shakespeare had it right: “My tongue will tell the anger of my heart, or else my heart, concealing it, will break.” I never spoke of the anger in my heart, the mounting resentments and hurts, and neither did he. I never demanded attention or care, and neither did he. And that’s why we broke.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/22/fashion/marriage-breakups-separation.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share&_r=0
No Sound, No Fury, No Marriage
My marriage had long ago turned into the cliché of roommate-ness, and that it could suffer such a change without any emotional upheaval was revealing. In fact, the silence said it all.
The words I don’t say to my neighbors, the words that get held on my tongue, are: I wish you had heard a fight. I wish our voices had been loud enough to carry across the valley. He and I may have free speech, but we’re not so good at frank speech.
Shakespeare had it right: “My tongue will tell the anger of my heart, or else my heart, concealing it, will break.” I never spoke of the anger in my heart, the mounting resentments and hurts, and neither did he. I never demanded attention or care, and neither did he. And that’s why we broke.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/22/fashion/marriage-breakups-separation.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share&_r=0
Deja Vu
Valedictorian barred from high school graduation because he has a beard
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/valedictorian-barred-high-school-graduation-article-1.2643541
H/T Tiff
 |
| Amite High School Class of 2016 valedictorian Andrew Jones was not allowed to participate in his own graduation because of his beard. (WLTX 19 NEWS) |
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/valedictorian-barred-high-school-graduation-article-1.2643541
H/T Tiff
Thursday, May 19, 2016
Wood Hotline
There’s a Hotline for People With Knotty Wood Questions
Inside Wisconsin's Forest Products Laboratory, where experiments are conducted on all things wood.
By David Jester
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/theres-a-hotline-for-people-with-knotty-wood-questions?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura&utm_campaign=f2e9493ee3-Newsletter_5_19_20165_17_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_62ba9246c0-f2e9493ee3-59905913&ct=t(Newsletter_5_19_20165_17_2016)&mc_cid=f2e9493ee3&mc_eid=866176a63f
Inside Wisconsin's Forest Products Laboratory, where experiments are conducted on all things wood.
By David Jester
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/theres-a-hotline-for-people-with-knotty-wood-questions?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura&utm_campaign=f2e9493ee3-Newsletter_5_19_20165_17_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_62ba9246c0-f2e9493ee3-59905913&ct=t(Newsletter_5_19_20165_17_2016)&mc_cid=f2e9493ee3&mc_eid=866176a63f
Fake Trees
An excerpt from Atlas Obscura -
All over the world, there are trees that quietly carry our phone messages. They come in variety of species: palm, cypress, fir, elm, pine, cacti. Perhaps you have passed by one of these alien trees before, or spotted them sticking high above the natural treeline. From top to bottom, nothing about these trees is natural.
Despite telecommunications and utility companies' best efforts, cell phone tower trees are notoriously unattractive. The architecture of these fake trees is also not the least bit convincing. For example, the pine cell towers have metal “trunks” that lack the pliability of natural trees, and support a small tuft of branches and fake foliage that attempts to cover up the hardware underneath.
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/take-a-look-at-americas-least-convincing-cell-phone-tower-trees?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura&utm_campaign=f2e9493ee3-Newsletter_5_19_20165_17_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_62ba9246c0-f2e9493ee3-59905913&ct=t(Newsletter_5_19_20165_17_2016)&mc_cid=f2e9493ee3&mc_eid=866176a63f
 | ||
A pine cell tower tree built by one of the leading companies
in the cell tower concealment business in Tuscon, Arizona.
(Photo: Bill Morrow/CC BY 2.0)
|
All over the world, there are trees that quietly carry our phone messages. They come in variety of species: palm, cypress, fir, elm, pine, cacti. Perhaps you have passed by one of these alien trees before, or spotted them sticking high above the natural treeline. From top to bottom, nothing about these trees is natural.
Despite telecommunications and utility companies' best efforts, cell phone tower trees are notoriously unattractive. The architecture of these fake trees is also not the least bit convincing. For example, the pine cell towers have metal “trunks” that lack the pliability of natural trees, and support a small tuft of branches and fake foliage that attempts to cover up the hardware underneath.
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/take-a-look-at-americas-least-convincing-cell-phone-tower-trees?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura&utm_campaign=f2e9493ee3-Newsletter_5_19_20165_17_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_62ba9246c0-f2e9493ee3-59905913&ct=t(Newsletter_5_19_20165_17_2016)&mc_cid=f2e9493ee3&mc_eid=866176a63f
Combat Juggling?
From Now I Know -
Combat juggling was created by a well-known juggler (to the extent that there is such a thing) named Jason Garfield. Garfield, per Wikipedia, "is regarded as one of the most controversial members of the juggling community" (yes, really) because he "despises the concept of 'artistic juggling,' promoting the idea that juggling should also be regarded as a form of sport." Combat juggling, which adds competition and athleticism to something typically reserved for clowns and magicians, probably fits that bill. And while it still seems like a joke, it's become increasingly popular since. As VICE reported, the sport matured enough that, in 2011, ESPN3 ended up airing a combat juggling competition, and YouTube is littered with videos of people dueling while juggling with sometimes hilarious results. (Yes, sometimes, someone gets hit in the head and no, the rules don't allow you to bludgeon your opponent.)
http://nowiknow.com/combat-juggling/
Combat juggling was created by a well-known juggler (to the extent that there is such a thing) named Jason Garfield. Garfield, per Wikipedia, "is regarded as one of the most controversial members of the juggling community" (yes, really) because he "despises the concept of 'artistic juggling,' promoting the idea that juggling should also be regarded as a form of sport." Combat juggling, which adds competition and athleticism to something typically reserved for clowns and magicians, probably fits that bill. And while it still seems like a joke, it's become increasingly popular since. As VICE reported, the sport matured enough that, in 2011, ESPN3 ended up airing a combat juggling competition, and YouTube is littered with videos of people dueling while juggling with sometimes hilarious results. (Yes, sometimes, someone gets hit in the head and no, the rules don't allow you to bludgeon your opponent.)
http://nowiknow.com/combat-juggling/
Epic Rant
No, not Kanye.
http://www.christies.com/features/Neal-Cassady-long-lost-letter-to-Jack-Kerouac-comes-to-auction-7393-1.aspx?sid=554654ea10defb39638b510d&wpsrc=newsletter_tis
http://www.christies.com/features/Neal-Cassady-long-lost-letter-to-Jack-Kerouac-comes-to-auction-7393-1.aspx?sid=554654ea10defb39638b510d&wpsrc=newsletter_tis
Mom's Voice is Magical
From CNN -
Study: Mom's voice works like a charm on your brain
Less than one second. That's how long it takes children to recognize their mother's voice. And that voice lights a child's brain up like a Christmas tree.
A new study from Stanford University School of Medicine studied how children reacted to mom's voice compared to a woman they didn't know. Kids were not only more engaged by mom's voice than a stranger's, scientists found, but this response was noted beyond just auditory areas of the brain.
Parts of the brain related to emotion, reward processing, facial recognition and social functioning are also amped by hearing from mom. In short, a child's ability to communicate socially is in a large way affected by how he or she reacts to mom's voice.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/18/health/mom-voice-study-trnd/index.html
Study: Mom's voice works like a charm on your brain
Less than one second. That's how long it takes children to recognize their mother's voice. And that voice lights a child's brain up like a Christmas tree.
A new study from Stanford University School of Medicine studied how children reacted to mom's voice compared to a woman they didn't know. Kids were not only more engaged by mom's voice than a stranger's, scientists found, but this response was noted beyond just auditory areas of the brain.
Parts of the brain related to emotion, reward processing, facial recognition and social functioning are also amped by hearing from mom. In short, a child's ability to communicate socially is in a large way affected by how he or she reacts to mom's voice.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/18/health/mom-voice-study-trnd/index.html
Sticky Glue for Cars
From Mashable -
Google's self-driving cars haven't hit many things since they first took to the roads in 2015, but its collision avoidance technology isn't perfect. Now, it appears Google is working on some safety provisions in case one of their vehicles hits a pedestrian.
Google's self-driving cars haven't hit many things since they first took to the roads in 2015, but its collision avoidance technology isn't perfect. Now, it appears Google is working on some safety provisions in case one of their vehicles hits a pedestrian.
Google has patented a unique solution that puts a glue-like adhesive on the front end of the self-driving car. The patent, first seen by The Mercury News, describes the sticky covering as a way to catch pedestrians in case of a collision in order to minimize harm.
http://mashable.com/2016/05/19/google-car-stick-glue-adhesive/#rudNsLH.Agq5
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Geez Louise!
An excerpt from the Vox -
The TSA is hard to evaluate largely because it's attempting to solve a non-problem. Despite some very notable cases, airplane hijackings and bombings are quite rare. There aren't that many attempts, and there are even fewer successes. That makes it hard to judge if the TSA is working properly — if no one tries to do a liquid-based attack, then we don't know if the 3-ounce liquid rule prevents such attacks.
So Homeland Security officials looking to evaluate the agency had a clever idea: They pretended to be terrorists, and tried to smuggle guns and bombs onto planes 70 different times. And 67 of those times, the Red Team succeeded. Their weapons and bombs were not confiscated, despite the TSA's lengthy screening process. That's a success rate of more than 95 percent.
http://www.vox.com/2016/5/17/11687014/tsa-against-airport-security
Quote
"Faced with the prospect of voting for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, Mary Anne Noland of Richmond chose, instead, to pass into the eternal love of God on Sunday, May 15, 2016, at the age of 68." [Richmond Times-Dispatch]
Relationships in the Digital Age
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/are-you-sure-you-want-to-unsubscribe-from-this-relationship?mbid=nl_160517_Daily&CNDID=27124505&spMailingID=8934576&spUserID=MTE0MzE0NDEyNDUyS0&spJobID=921695380&spReportId=OTIxNjk1MzgwS0
Rugby Recruiting
From Upworthy -
http://www.upworthy.com/these-gay-rugby-players-are-dismantling-stereotypes-one-photo-at-a-time?c=upw1
Monday, May 16, 2016
No Cheating!
From The Atlantic -
Iraq’s Anti-Cheating Campaign: For the second year in a row, Iraq has ordered telecom companies to shut down the Internet in an attempt to prevent cheating among thousands of sixth-graders taking national exams this month. Human-rights activists say Iraq’s test-related blackouts violate citizens’ free-speech rights and can help governments escape scrutiny in cases of abuse. Elsewhere, blackouts or censorship are usually connected to political or military events.
Iraq’s Anti-Cheating Campaign: For the second year in a row, Iraq has ordered telecom companies to shut down the Internet in an attempt to prevent cheating among thousands of sixth-graders taking national exams this month. Human-rights activists say Iraq’s test-related blackouts violate citizens’ free-speech rights and can help governments escape scrutiny in cases of abuse. Elsewhere, blackouts or censorship are usually connected to political or military events.
Print Your Own T-Shirts
For the adventurous do-it-yourselfer.
http://www.wired.com/2016/05/burn-silkscreen-print-shirts-home/?mbid=nl_51616
http://www.wired.com/2016/05/burn-silkscreen-print-shirts-home/?mbid=nl_51616
Janitor Gets Degree
An excerpt from CNN -
Custodian picks up degree from college he cleaned for almost a decade
Michael Vaudreuil is used to picking things up at school. He's a custodian at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts.
But over the weekend, he picked up something he'll definitely want to keep: a college degree.
Vaudreuill, 54, graduated with a mechanical engineering degree from the same place where he's cleaned and emptied the trash for the past eight years.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/16/us/custodian-graduates-from-college-he-cleaned-trnd/index.html
Custodian picks up degree from college he cleaned for almost a decade
Michael Vaudreuil is used to picking things up at school. He's a custodian at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts.
But over the weekend, he picked up something he'll definitely want to keep: a college degree.
Vaudreuill, 54, graduated with a mechanical engineering degree from the same place where he's cleaned and emptied the trash for the past eight years.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/16/us/custodian-graduates-from-college-he-cleaned-trnd/index.html
Tea Remedies
An excerpt from Little Things -
Eight Cozy Cups Of Tea To Soothe Your Every Affliction
By Rebecca Endicott
By Rebecca Endicott
Headache And Poor Circulation: Cinnamon Tea
Heeral Chhibber for LittleThings
Cinnamon is another cozy, warming spice that might conjure up images of Christmas cookies or your morning oatmeal.
This flavorful and familiar bark isn’t just good in mulled cider, though; soaking cinnamon sticks in hot water yields a rich, strong tea that can help cure a stubborn headache.
Because of its strong anti-inflammatory properties, cinnamon improves circulation and helps to reduce head pain, which is most often caused by minor swelling of the sinuses and of the facial muscles.
http://www.littlethings.com/tea-home-remedies/?utm_source=huffingtonpost.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pubexchange
Sunday, May 15, 2016
99 Cent Rentals
iTunes is offering 99 cent rentals of hit movies, including Chi-Raq and The Butler.
You're welcome.
You're welcome.
A Heavy Burden Multiplied
An excerpt from The Washington Post -
The invisible tax on black teachers
By John King May
John King is U.S. education secretary.
Research conducted recently by the American Federation of Teachers found that, while more teachers of color are being hired than in the past, they also are leaving the profession more quickly than white teachers.
Improved compensation and working conditions can help address this, of course. But one factor in teachers’ decisions to leave deserves special attention: the “invisible tax.”
According to some African American male teachers, the “invisible tax” is imposed on them when they are the only or one of only a few nonwhite male educators in the building. It is paid, for example, when these teachers, who make up only 2 percent of the teaching force nationally, are expected to serve as school disciplinarians based on an assumption that they will be better able to communicate with African American boys with behavior issues.
It is also paid when they have to be on high alert to prepare their students for racism outside of school. “Every time I take my students to an engineering competition, or to speak with industry partners, or to tour colleges, I have to have the code-switching talk,” explained Harry Preston, an African American physics teacher in Baltimore. “That is a mental tax I personally pay as an educator.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Sharif El-Mekki, principal of the Mastery Charter School’s Shoemaker campus in Philadelphia, has noted that the African American teachers he speaks with are of two minds about these extra duties. “They feel honored and appreciated that they are asked,” he said, “but when so many different people are asking them for help, it becomes a burden.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-invisible-tax-on-black-teachers/2016/05/15/6b7bea06-16f7-11e6-aa55-670cabef46e0_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-b%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
The invisible tax on black teachers
By John King May
John King is U.S. education secretary.
Research conducted recently by the American Federation of Teachers found that, while more teachers of color are being hired than in the past, they also are leaving the profession more quickly than white teachers.
Improved compensation and working conditions can help address this, of course. But one factor in teachers’ decisions to leave deserves special attention: the “invisible tax.”
According to some African American male teachers, the “invisible tax” is imposed on them when they are the only or one of only a few nonwhite male educators in the building. It is paid, for example, when these teachers, who make up only 2 percent of the teaching force nationally, are expected to serve as school disciplinarians based on an assumption that they will be better able to communicate with African American boys with behavior issues.
It is also paid when they have to be on high alert to prepare their students for racism outside of school. “Every time I take my students to an engineering competition, or to speak with industry partners, or to tour colleges, I have to have the code-switching talk,” explained Harry Preston, an African American physics teacher in Baltimore. “That is a mental tax I personally pay as an educator.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Sharif El-Mekki, principal of the Mastery Charter School’s Shoemaker campus in Philadelphia, has noted that the African American teachers he speaks with are of two minds about these extra duties. “They feel honored and appreciated that they are asked,” he said, “but when so many different people are asking them for help, it becomes a burden.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-invisible-tax-on-black-teachers/2016/05/15/6b7bea06-16f7-11e6-aa55-670cabef46e0_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-b%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
Too Cute!
 |
| A photo of Lincoln Ball trying to train his new puppy by showing him a YouTube video has gone viral on Facebook. |
http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/boy-makes-puppy-watch-youtube-tutorials-training-adorable/story?id=39126358
A Roaming Mindset
An excerpt from StumpleUpon -
Instead Of Renting An Apartment, Sign A Lease That Lets You Live Around The World
Roam provides short-term apartments with a communal feel, for today's digital work-from-anywhere nomad.
If you can afford the airfare, it's getting easier to be a digital nomad. Roam, a new network of co-living spaces, offers a lease that lets you continually move: After a couple of weeks or months in Madrid, you can head to Miami, or Ubud, Bali. By 2017, the startup plans to have 8-10 locations around the world.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/3cg0MT/:wk0ttLt2:jlSqRSM./www.fastcoexist.com/3059469/instead-of-renting-an-apartment-sign-a-lease-that-lets-you-live-around-the-world
Instead Of Renting An Apartment, Sign A Lease That Lets You Live Around The World
Roam provides short-term apartments with a communal feel, for today's digital work-from-anywhere nomad.
If you can afford the airfare, it's getting easier to be a digital nomad. Roam, a new network of co-living spaces, offers a lease that lets you continually move: After a couple of weeks or months in Madrid, you can head to Miami, or Ubud, Bali. By 2017, the startup plans to have 8-10 locations around the world.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/3cg0MT/:wk0ttLt2:jlSqRSM./www.fastcoexist.com/3059469/instead-of-renting-an-apartment-sign-a-lease-that-lets-you-live-around-the-world
Saturday, May 14, 2016
Greatest Innovation Era?
An excerpt from The New York Times -
What Was the Greatest Era for Innovation? A Brief Guided Tour
Which was a more important innovation: indoor
plumbing, jet air travel or mobile phones?
By NEIL IRWIN MAY 13, 2016
We’re in the golden age of innovation, an era in which digital technology is transforming the underpinnings of human existence. Or so a techno-optimist might argue.
We’re in a depressing era in which innovation has slowed and living standards are barely rising. That’s what some skeptical economists believe.
The truth is, this isn’t a debate that can be settled objectively. Which was a more important innovation: indoor plumbing, jet air travel or mobile phones? You could argue for any of them, and data can tell plenty of different stories depending on how you look at it. Productivity statistics or information on inflation-adjusted incomes is helpful, but can’t really tell you whether the advent of air-conditioning or the Internet did more to improve humanity’s quality of life.
We thought a better way to understand the significance of technological change would be to walk through how Americans lived, ate, traveled, and clothed and entertained themselves in 1870, 1920, 1970 and the present. This tour is both inspired by and reliant on Robert J. Gordon’s authoritative examination of innovation through the ages, “The Rise and Fall of American Growth,” published this year. These are portraits of each point in time, culled from Mr. Gordon’s research; you can decide for yourself which era is truly most transformative.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/15/upshot/what-was-the-greatest-era-for-american-innovation-a-brief-guided-tour.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage®ion=CColumn&module=MostEmailed&version=Full&src=me&WT.nav=MostEmailed&_r=0
What Was the Greatest Era for Innovation? A Brief Guided Tour
Which was a more important innovation: indoor
plumbing, jet air travel or mobile phones?
By NEIL IRWIN MAY 13, 2016
We’re in the golden age of innovation, an era in which digital technology is transforming the underpinnings of human existence. Or so a techno-optimist might argue.
We’re in a depressing era in which innovation has slowed and living standards are barely rising. That’s what some skeptical economists believe.
The truth is, this isn’t a debate that can be settled objectively. Which was a more important innovation: indoor plumbing, jet air travel or mobile phones? You could argue for any of them, and data can tell plenty of different stories depending on how you look at it. Productivity statistics or information on inflation-adjusted incomes is helpful, but can’t really tell you whether the advent of air-conditioning or the Internet did more to improve humanity’s quality of life.
We thought a better way to understand the significance of technological change would be to walk through how Americans lived, ate, traveled, and clothed and entertained themselves in 1870, 1920, 1970 and the present. This tour is both inspired by and reliant on Robert J. Gordon’s authoritative examination of innovation through the ages, “The Rise and Fall of American Growth,” published this year. These are portraits of each point in time, culled from Mr. Gordon’s research; you can decide for yourself which era is truly most transformative.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/15/upshot/what-was-the-greatest-era-for-american-innovation-a-brief-guided-tour.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage®ion=CColumn&module=MostEmailed&version=Full&src=me&WT.nav=MostEmailed&_r=0
When Schools Allow Creativity & Innovation
From Stanford Magazine -
IMAGINE WALKING INTO A HIGH SCHOOL classroom and, instead of rows of desks and chairs facing a whiteboard, you see workbenches. Stationed around the room is an array of machines: a 3-D printer, a laser cutter, a vinyl cutter and a milling machine. Metal drawers and storage shelves are stocked with wood, resins, burlap, glue, machinable wax, acrylic and dozens of other supplies.
You have entered a fab lab.
What’s that? Short for “fabrication laboratory,” the concept—born at MIT in 2001—was to create an environment full of multipurpose tools where one could build nearly anything. The idea caught on, and now there are close to 600 fab labs worldwide, according to fablabs.io, a website that supports and organizes the fab lab movement. The underlying goal is to provide broad access to modern means of invention.
http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=86044&utm_medium=Email&GenwiShareGUID=E6F0A8E4-4D3E-4D11-AE82-657C0E75D103
 |
| FAB FEATS: Juliana Cook, ’15 (above), works in Blikstein's lab, where creations range from sculptures to 3-D printing projects. Photo: Tamer Shabani, '14 |
IMAGINE WALKING INTO A HIGH SCHOOL classroom and, instead of rows of desks and chairs facing a whiteboard, you see workbenches. Stationed around the room is an array of machines: a 3-D printer, a laser cutter, a vinyl cutter and a milling machine. Metal drawers and storage shelves are stocked with wood, resins, burlap, glue, machinable wax, acrylic and dozens of other supplies.
You have entered a fab lab.
What’s that? Short for “fabrication laboratory,” the concept—born at MIT in 2001—was to create an environment full of multipurpose tools where one could build nearly anything. The idea caught on, and now there are close to 600 fab labs worldwide, according to fablabs.io, a website that supports and organizes the fab lab movement. The underlying goal is to provide broad access to modern means of invention.
http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=86044&utm_medium=Email&GenwiShareGUID=E6F0A8E4-4D3E-4D11-AE82-657C0E75D103
A Black Golfer We Can Be Proud Of
Excerpts from Stanford Magazine -
MARIAH STACKHOUSE has never been known to shrink from the spotlight. Not when students and faculty flocked to her gallery to watch her complete the best round in the history of women’s collegiate golf—a 10-under-par 61 in her first tournament at the Stanford Golf Course as a freshman. Not when she was asked to give a speech introducing former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to a packed banquet hall in 2014. And not when the Cardinal’s season depended on her overcoming a two-stroke deficit with two holes to play against Baylor at the NCAA championships last May.
~~~~~~~~~~
The young fans who flock to her tournaments find a similarly magnetic role model in Stackhouse, who is personable, quick to laugh and, at 5-foot-2, close to their size. (Among the things her young fans don’t know about her but would no doubt admire: She has a nearly encyclopedic memory for song lyrics.) Says Stackhouse of her pint-size acolytes, “I love it when little black girls tweet me or come up to me at tournaments to say, ‘I want to go to Stanford!’”
http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=86084&utm_medium=Email&GenwiShareGUID=ABDBABB2-E56D-4C81-A749-A69CD9EC0FEC
 |
| PRECOCIOUS: Stackhouse has been winning tournaments since she was 6. Photo: Casey Valentine/Isiphotos.com |
MARIAH STACKHOUSE has never been known to shrink from the spotlight. Not when students and faculty flocked to her gallery to watch her complete the best round in the history of women’s collegiate golf—a 10-under-par 61 in her first tournament at the Stanford Golf Course as a freshman. Not when she was asked to give a speech introducing former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to a packed banquet hall in 2014. And not when the Cardinal’s season depended on her overcoming a two-stroke deficit with two holes to play against Baylor at the NCAA championships last May.
~~~~~~~~~~
The young fans who flock to her tournaments find a similarly magnetic role model in Stackhouse, who is personable, quick to laugh and, at 5-foot-2, close to their size. (Among the things her young fans don’t know about her but would no doubt admire: She has a nearly encyclopedic memory for song lyrics.) Says Stackhouse of her pint-size acolytes, “I love it when little black girls tweet me or come up to me at tournaments to say, ‘I want to go to Stanford!’”
http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=86084&utm_medium=Email&GenwiShareGUID=ABDBABB2-E56D-4C81-A749-A69CD9EC0FEC
Patterns in Our World
From The Smithsonian -
The Science Behind Nature's Patterns
A new book explores the physical and chemical reasons behind incredible visual structures in the living and non-living world
 |
| A furled chameleon tail obviously takes its shape from the rolling of a tube, but its pattern is distinct from that created by rolling an even tube, such as that of a garden hose. The gentle taper of the tail produces a logarithmic spiral—one that gets smaller, yet the small parts look like the large parts. (Michal Filip Gmerek/Shutterstock.com) |
 |
| The undulations of a sand dune reveal a pattern in time as well as space. Sinuous waves arise from a pulse, an ebb and flow, as grains of sand are blown in the wind. (Denis Burdin/Shutterstock.com) |
Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/science-behind-natures-patterns-180959033/#HmG7CfIdXah4fwCG.99
Friday, May 13, 2016
Google Needs You
An excerpt from PC Magazine -
Google Will Pay You to Drive Around in Its Self-Driving Cars
BY ANGELA MOSCARITOLO
The Web giant is looking to hire "vehicle safety specialists" in Arizona to be part of its self-driving car project.
Calling all college graduates in Arizona with a clean driving record and no criminal history: Google wants your help.
The Web giant is looking to hire "vehicle safety specialists" in the state to be part of its self-driving car project. As per the job description, those selected will be tasked with driving an autonomous vehicle around the state for six to eight hours per day, five days per week, collecting data for Google's engineering team. Drivers will earn $20 per hour, according to The Arizona Republic.
"Test drivers play an important role in developing our self-driving technology," Brian Torcellini, head of operations for Google's Self-Driving Car testing program, told the paper. "They give our engineers feedback about how our cars are driving and interacting with others on the road, and can take control of the vehicle if needed."
http://www.pcmag.com/news/344438/google-will-pay-you-to-drive-around-in-its-self-driving-cars
Google Will Pay You to Drive Around in Its Self-Driving Cars
BY ANGELA MOSCARITOLO
The Web giant is looking to hire "vehicle safety specialists" in Arizona to be part of its self-driving car project.
Calling all college graduates in Arizona with a clean driving record and no criminal history: Google wants your help.
The Web giant is looking to hire "vehicle safety specialists" in the state to be part of its self-driving car project. As per the job description, those selected will be tasked with driving an autonomous vehicle around the state for six to eight hours per day, five days per week, collecting data for Google's engineering team. Drivers will earn $20 per hour, according to The Arizona Republic.
"Test drivers play an important role in developing our self-driving technology," Brian Torcellini, head of operations for Google's Self-Driving Car testing program, told the paper. "They give our engineers feedback about how our cars are driving and interacting with others on the road, and can take control of the vehicle if needed."
http://www.pcmag.com/news/344438/google-will-pay-you-to-drive-around-in-its-self-driving-cars
Trump and the Holy Ones
An excerpt from The New Republic -
Why Evangelicals Like Trump
Fundamentalist approaches to evangelicalism have long fostered anti-intellectual and authoritarian mindsets.
BY MUGAMBI JOUET
The support that Donald Trump has received from legions of evangelicals has puzzled and “surprised” many people. After all, the presumptive Republican nominee is exceptionally vulgar and, despite claiming to be a devout Christian whose favorite book is the Bible, knows little about scripture and has emphasized, “I don’t like to have to ask for forgiveness” from God. One common explanation for this apparent contradiction is that numerous evangelicals embrace Trump’s agenda, from eviscerating Obamacare to cracking down on undocumented immigrants and barring Muslims from entering America. But Trump and his evangelical supporters think alike in more ways than people realize. Fundamentalist approaches to evangelicalism have long fostered anti-intellectual, anti-rational, black-and-white, and authoritarian mindsets—the very traits that define Trump.
The historian Richard Hofstadter explored the roots of the issue in his 1966 book Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, which described how the spread of evangelicalism since the eighteenth century fostered the notion that education is an obstacle to faith. Not all evangelicals thought alike, although many were convinced that people need not read any book except the Bible. As the influential preacher Dwight L. Moody (1837-99) proclaimed, “I do not read any book, unless it will help me to understand the book.” Hofstadter concluded that this anti-intellectual conception of religion extended to life outside the church. Hardline evangelicals became particularly disdainful of reflection and refined ideas, leading some to be drawn to “men of emotional power or manipulative skill.”
https://newrepublic.com/article/133488/evangelicals-like-trump?utm_source=New+Republic&utm_campaign=7710bae9ba-Daily_Newsletter_5_13_20165_13_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c4ad0aba7e-7710bae9ba-59581889
Why Evangelicals Like Trump
Fundamentalist approaches to evangelicalism have long fostered anti-intellectual and authoritarian mindsets.
BY MUGAMBI JOUET
The support that Donald Trump has received from legions of evangelicals has puzzled and “surprised” many people. After all, the presumptive Republican nominee is exceptionally vulgar and, despite claiming to be a devout Christian whose favorite book is the Bible, knows little about scripture and has emphasized, “I don’t like to have to ask for forgiveness” from God. One common explanation for this apparent contradiction is that numerous evangelicals embrace Trump’s agenda, from eviscerating Obamacare to cracking down on undocumented immigrants and barring Muslims from entering America. But Trump and his evangelical supporters think alike in more ways than people realize. Fundamentalist approaches to evangelicalism have long fostered anti-intellectual, anti-rational, black-and-white, and authoritarian mindsets—the very traits that define Trump.
The historian Richard Hofstadter explored the roots of the issue in his 1966 book Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, which described how the spread of evangelicalism since the eighteenth century fostered the notion that education is an obstacle to faith. Not all evangelicals thought alike, although many were convinced that people need not read any book except the Bible. As the influential preacher Dwight L. Moody (1837-99) proclaimed, “I do not read any book, unless it will help me to understand the book.” Hofstadter concluded that this anti-intellectual conception of religion extended to life outside the church. Hardline evangelicals became particularly disdainful of reflection and refined ideas, leading some to be drawn to “men of emotional power or manipulative skill.”
https://newrepublic.com/article/133488/evangelicals-like-trump?utm_source=New+Republic&utm_campaign=7710bae9ba-Daily_Newsletter_5_13_20165_13_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c4ad0aba7e-7710bae9ba-59581889
Can We Pay Some More Folks?
A tweet from Patrick Stewart as seen on The Huffington Post -
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-patrick-stewart-tweet_us_5735799ce4b077d4d6f2b8d3
Made me forget the humidity for a moment.
Worth 5 bucks.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-patrick-stewart-tweet_us_5735799ce4b077d4d6f2b8d3
Thursday, May 12, 2016
Meet Gboard
Once you add the keyboard, you'll need to hold down the GLOBE on the left of the space bar and select Gboard to activate it.
Being able to search within apps is a super cool feature.
Enjoy!
He's a Nasty, Slimy, Sleaze-bag
An excerpt from Salon -
Hollywood’s unforgivable Woody Allen cowardice: What the controversy at Cannes really proves
The latest Allen imbroglio is a powerful reminder of the entertainment press's deference to powerful men
JACK MIRKINSON
~~~~~~~~~~
Over the past two days, Woody Allen has found his attempts to publicize his new movie somewhat hampered. Instead of his latest directorial effort, everyone is talking about the decades-old allegations that he sexually molested his daughter, Dylan Farrow, when she was a little girl.
The timeline goes something like this: The Hollywood Reporter recently ran a cover story about Allen in which it not only avoided asking him directly about his daughter’s allegations against him, but also allowed him to portray his marriage to Soon-Yi Previn—who, lest we forget, was his stepdaughter before becoming his wife—in what can only be described as extremely questionable terms.
~~~~~~~~~~
I am sympathetic to the pressures that journalists face when dealing with aggressive publicists who threaten to torpedo a story if certain questions are raised. These are not easy things to contend with. It’s also no simple task to ask a legendary figure about highly sensitive portions of his personal life. But sometimes you just have to suck it up and do your job. What good is it to be allowed in a room with Woody Allen if you can only do it in a compromised, grossly tainted way?
The question of whether people should continue watching Woody Allen’s movies is something that everyone has to answer for themselves. The question of how major stars and production companies can still work with him is another, separate minefield. The question of whether or not the allegations that his own children have leveled against him should occupy a central part of how we think about him—and, crucially, how journalists approach him—is something that requires no such introspection. The charges against Allen should never be allowed to stray from our collective consciousness again. Hopefully The Hollywood Reporter and the rest of the entertainment press will remember that in the future.
http://www.salon.com/2016/05/12/hollywoods_unforgivable_woody_allen_cowardice_what_the_controversy_at_cannes_really_proves/?source=newsletter
A Grocery Store With No Staff
An excerpt from Good -
The Future Of Shopping Just Opened In This Tiny Midwestern Town
by Jesse Hirsch & Alicia Kennedy
When Sweden’s first unstaffed grocery store opened earlier this year, it received a flood of breathless global coverage—it’s a concept both novel and posh, a natural advancement of our quest for eternal convenience. The store was the brain-child of tech guy Robert Ilijason, whose origin myth centers on dropping his last jar of baby food in the wee hours and not knowing where to go. Customers in Viken can now register with an app on their phone that will allow them to swipe into the store and pay for purchases without speaking to another human being—peak modern luxury.
The concept of the unstaffed store has broader implications than 3 a.m. munchies for the tech-bro set, though. For real disruption, look no farther than Farmhouse Market, posted up in humble New Prague, Minnesota (population 7,800.) Farmhouse, the first American iteration of the 24/7 supermarket, was opened by the husband and wife team of Paul and Kendra Rasmusson. The goal is simple: provide healthful, local food at affordable rates. By cutting the cost of staffing—an issue that might not immediately come to mind when considering how to fix food deserts—they’re able to offer better prices to rural, non-affluent customers.
https://www.good.is/articles/farmhouse-market?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailygood
The Future Of Shopping Just Opened In This Tiny Midwestern Town
by Jesse Hirsch & Alicia Kennedy
When Sweden’s first unstaffed grocery store opened earlier this year, it received a flood of breathless global coverage—it’s a concept both novel and posh, a natural advancement of our quest for eternal convenience. The store was the brain-child of tech guy Robert Ilijason, whose origin myth centers on dropping his last jar of baby food in the wee hours and not knowing where to go. Customers in Viken can now register with an app on their phone that will allow them to swipe into the store and pay for purchases without speaking to another human being—peak modern luxury.
The concept of the unstaffed store has broader implications than 3 a.m. munchies for the tech-bro set, though. For real disruption, look no farther than Farmhouse Market, posted up in humble New Prague, Minnesota (population 7,800.) Farmhouse, the first American iteration of the 24/7 supermarket, was opened by the husband and wife team of Paul and Kendra Rasmusson. The goal is simple: provide healthful, local food at affordable rates. By cutting the cost of staffing—an issue that might not immediately come to mind when considering how to fix food deserts—they’re able to offer better prices to rural, non-affluent customers.
https://www.good.is/articles/farmhouse-market?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailygood
Black Baseball
An excerpt from The New Yorker -
The Mission of a Black Baseball Team
BY JOHN FLORIO AND OUISIE SHAPIRO
Sports fans know that black participation in Major League Baseball has dropped precipitously in the past few decades. According to a report published last year by USA Today, less than eight per cent of major-league players in 2015 were African-American; that figure was nineteen per cent in 1986. And the decline can be seen at every level of the game: Little League, the minors, high school, college—even H.B.C.U.s. Thirty years ago, it was virtually impossible to find a white player on an H.B.C.U. team. Today, Winston-Salem State, Florida A&M, Prairie View A&M, and North Carolina Central all field teams in which the majority of players are not black. Only a few schools—Clark Atlanta, Morehouse College, and Lane College—regularly fill their rosters entirely with black players.
http://www.newyorker.com/news/sporting-scene/the-mission-of-a-black-baseball-team?mbid=nl_160512_Daily&CNDID=27124505&spMailingID=8914754&spUserID=MTE0MzE0NDEyNDUyS0&spJobID=921243805&spReportId=OTIxMjQzODA1S0
The Mission of a Black Baseball Team
BY JOHN FLORIO AND OUISIE SHAPIRO
Sports fans know that black participation in Major League Baseball has dropped precipitously in the past few decades. According to a report published last year by USA Today, less than eight per cent of major-league players in 2015 were African-American; that figure was nineteen per cent in 1986. And the decline can be seen at every level of the game: Little League, the minors, high school, college—even H.B.C.U.s. Thirty years ago, it was virtually impossible to find a white player on an H.B.C.U. team. Today, Winston-Salem State, Florida A&M, Prairie View A&M, and North Carolina Central all field teams in which the majority of players are not black. Only a few schools—Clark Atlanta, Morehouse College, and Lane College—regularly fill their rosters entirely with black players.
http://www.newyorker.com/news/sporting-scene/the-mission-of-a-black-baseball-team?mbid=nl_160512_Daily&CNDID=27124505&spMailingID=8914754&spUserID=MTE0MzE0NDEyNDUyS0&spJobID=921243805&spReportId=OTIxMjQzODA1S0
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Wanting to Go Home Again
It's easy to understand why Ta-Nehisi Coates is the celebrated author that he is.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/05/on-homecomings/481818/?utm_source=nl-atlantic-daily-051016
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/05/on-homecomings/481818/?utm_source=nl-atlantic-daily-051016
New Titles
An excerpt from The Atlantic -
U.S. Laws Will No Longer Sound Like a Vaguely Racist Uncle
Congress removed the last uses of “Oriental” and “Negro” from federal statutes on Monday.
Congress unanimously passed a bill Monday to remove the last pockets of archaic racial terminology such as “Oriental” or “Negro” from federal law, replacing them instead with more modern terms.
The law targeted two anti-discrimination subsections of the U.S. Code that used outdated language to describe racial groups. In one section of the Department of Energy Organization Act, “a Negro, Puerto Rican, American Indian, Eskimo, Oriental, or Aleut or is a Spanish speaking individual of Spanish descent” will be replaced with “Asian American, Native Hawaiian, a Pacific Islander, African American, Hispanic, Puerto Rican, Native American, or an Alaska Native.”
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/05/congress-race-oriental-negro/482238/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Vox%20Sentences%205/11/16&utm_term=Vox%20Newsletter%20All
U.S. Laws Will No Longer Sound Like a Vaguely Racist Uncle
Congress removed the last uses of “Oriental” and “Negro” from federal statutes on Monday.
Congress unanimously passed a bill Monday to remove the last pockets of archaic racial terminology such as “Oriental” or “Negro” from federal law, replacing them instead with more modern terms.
The law targeted two anti-discrimination subsections of the U.S. Code that used outdated language to describe racial groups. In one section of the Department of Energy Organization Act, “a Negro, Puerto Rican, American Indian, Eskimo, Oriental, or Aleut or is a Spanish speaking individual of Spanish descent” will be replaced with “Asian American, Native Hawaiian, a Pacific Islander, African American, Hispanic, Puerto Rican, Native American, or an Alaska Native.”
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/05/congress-race-oriental-negro/482238/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Vox%20Sentences%205/11/16&utm_term=Vox%20Newsletter%20All
Check Out the New Smithsonian Museum
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/a-first-look-inside-the-smithsonians-african-american-museum-stunning-views-grand-scale/2016/05/10/80ac784e-160e-11e6-9e16-2e5a123aac62_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_aahmc-7pm_1%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Stranger Than Fiction
From The Guardian -
The day we discovered our parents were Russian spies
For years Donald Heathfield, Tracey Foley and their two children lived the American dream. Then an FBI raid revealed the truth: they were agents of Putin’s Russia. Their sons tell their story
by Shaun Walker
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/07/discovered-our-parents-were-russian-spies-tim-alex-foley
The day we discovered our parents were Russian spies
For years Donald Heathfield, Tracey Foley and their two children lived the American dream. Then an FBI raid revealed the truth: they were agents of Putin’s Russia. Their sons tell their story
by Shaun Walker
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/07/discovered-our-parents-were-russian-spies-tim-alex-foley
Not Sure Why We Care
From Wired -
No, Jose Ramirez’s Helmet Doesn’t Defy the Laws of Physics
http://www.wired.com/2016/05/no-jose-ramirezs-helmet-doesnt-defy-laws-physics/?mbid=nl_51016
No, Jose Ramirez’s Helmet Doesn’t Defy the Laws of Physics
http://www.wired.com/2016/05/no-jose-ramirezs-helmet-doesnt-defy-laws-physics/?mbid=nl_51016
A Toy That Teaches Coding
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/05/16/sphero-teaches-kids-to-code?mbid=nl_160510_Daily&CNDID=27124505&spMailingID=8902853&spUserID=MTE0MzE0NDEyNDUyS0&spJobID=921027606&spReportId=OTIxMDI3NjA2S0
Hmmmm
An excerpt from The New Yorker -
There is no more room on the subway, yet at every stop additional passengers keep boarding the train.
If you don’t tell your mother about your new tattoo, does it exist for her?
How many people need to show up to your party before it can actually be considered a party? How many people need to leave before the party is over? Why is Mark still here?
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/modern-philosophical-paradoxes-and-conundrums?mbid=nl_160510_Daily&CNDID=27124505&spMailingID=8902853&spUserID=MTE0MzE0NDEyNDUyS0&spJobID=921027606&spReportId=OTIxMDI3NjA2S0
Modern Philosophical Paradoxes and Conundrums
BY JASON ADAM KATZENSTEIN
There is no more room on the subway, yet at every stop additional passengers keep boarding the train.
If you don’t tell your mother about your new tattoo, does it exist for her?
How many people need to show up to your party before it can actually be considered a party? How many people need to leave before the party is over? Why is Mark still here?
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/modern-philosophical-paradoxes-and-conundrums?mbid=nl_160510_Daily&CNDID=27124505&spMailingID=8902853&spUserID=MTE0MzE0NDEyNDUyS0&spJobID=921027606&spReportId=OTIxMDI3NjA2S0
What is a Superdelegate?
An excerpt from The Wrap -
But what in the world is a superdelegate anyway? It’s a fancy term for major elected officials, notable party members (including former presidents) and some members of the Democratic National Committee who can support any candidate they choose and can switch their support at any time, right up to the actual nomination.
These elite party members represent 712 of the 4,763 delegates who will attend July’s Democratic convention in Philadelphia — and therefore hold serious sway in determining the party’s presidential nominee.
http://www.thewrap.com/what-is-superdelegate-short-explainer-democrat-hillary-clinton/
But what in the world is a superdelegate anyway? It’s a fancy term for major elected officials, notable party members (including former presidents) and some members of the Democratic National Committee who can support any candidate they choose and can switch their support at any time, right up to the actual nomination.
These elite party members represent 712 of the 4,763 delegates who will attend July’s Democratic convention in Philadelphia — and therefore hold serious sway in determining the party’s presidential nominee.
http://www.thewrap.com/what-is-superdelegate-short-explainer-democrat-hillary-clinton/
YES to Early Bedtimes
I have always been a proponent of early bedtimes for kids.
When Ben and Frankie complained about going to bed at 8:00 (in California), I reminded them that on the East Coast, it was 11:00, so they should be grateful for the chance to stay up so late.
They didn't fall for this rationale long, but it worked great for a while.
~~~~~~~~~~
An excerpt from Slate -
In Defense of Absurdly Early Bedtimes
I make my kids go to sleep by 7:30 p.m., without exception. They’re happier and might even be smarter and healthier because of it.
By Melinda Wenner Moyer
Summer is right around the corner, which means I’ll soon undergo my annual metamorphosis into the monster of a parent who drags her kids away from barbecues and outdoor concerts an hour before other parents do. Yup, I make my almost 2-year-old and 5-year-old go to bed at 7 and 7:30 p.m., respectively. I know—you think I’m rigid, no fun, that I’m denying my kids a joyful childhood because they rarely get to frolic outside at dusk. I get a lot of crap for it. “Can’t you just … ?” My friends ask. No. I’m sorry, no, I can’t.
That’s because my kids are happier and more fun to be around when I stick with a consistent and early bedtime. And ever since I’ve started looking at the science, I’ve become only more convinced that the earlier you say night-night, the better. Research consistently shows that putting kids to bed early is beneficial for their physical, emotional, and cognitive development. Not only do kids tend to sleep more when the lights go out sooner, but they also may get a greater proportion of restorative sleep, too. Early kid bedtimes are also great for parental sanity. Sipping a glass of wine in silence? Snuggling up with your spouse to watch a grown-up movie for once? It’s really quite lovely.
http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/the_kids/2016/05/put_your_kids_to_bed_early_to_make_them_smarter_happier_and_fitter.html
When Ben and Frankie complained about going to bed at 8:00 (in California), I reminded them that on the East Coast, it was 11:00, so they should be grateful for the chance to stay up so late.
They didn't fall for this rationale long, but it worked great for a while.
~~~~~~~~~~
An excerpt from Slate -
In Defense of Absurdly Early Bedtimes
I make my kids go to sleep by 7:30 p.m., without exception. They’re happier and might even be smarter and healthier because of it.
By Melinda Wenner Moyer
Summer is right around the corner, which means I’ll soon undergo my annual metamorphosis into the monster of a parent who drags her kids away from barbecues and outdoor concerts an hour before other parents do. Yup, I make my almost 2-year-old and 5-year-old go to bed at 7 and 7:30 p.m., respectively. I know—you think I’m rigid, no fun, that I’m denying my kids a joyful childhood because they rarely get to frolic outside at dusk. I get a lot of crap for it. “Can’t you just … ?” My friends ask. No. I’m sorry, no, I can’t.
That’s because my kids are happier and more fun to be around when I stick with a consistent and early bedtime. And ever since I’ve started looking at the science, I’ve become only more convinced that the earlier you say night-night, the better. Research consistently shows that putting kids to bed early is beneficial for their physical, emotional, and cognitive development. Not only do kids tend to sleep more when the lights go out sooner, but they also may get a greater proportion of restorative sleep, too. Early kid bedtimes are also great for parental sanity. Sipping a glass of wine in silence? Snuggling up with your spouse to watch a grown-up movie for once? It’s really quite lovely.
http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/the_kids/2016/05/put_your_kids_to_bed_early_to_make_them_smarter_happier_and_fitter.html
Preparing to Give a Speech?
This app can help.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ummo/id1102924965?mt=8
From the iTunes Description:
Ummo is your personal speech coach. Whether you are practicing for a presentation or looking to improve your day-to-day communication, use Ummo to track your filler words ("Umms" and "Uhhs", "like", "You know"), pace, word power, clarity, and more.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ummo/id1102924965?mt=8
From the iTunes Description:
Ummo is your personal speech coach. Whether you are practicing for a presentation or looking to improve your day-to-day communication, use Ummo to track your filler words ("Umms" and "Uhhs", "like", "You know"), pace, word power, clarity, and more.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)