No Strippers Please!

From Salon & The Wall Street Journal - 

China Says Please Stop Hiring Funeral Strippers 

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A screenshot of the saucy funeral in Hebei that attracted attention earlier this year.

 

Weibo

In China, friends and family of the deceased may have to do without a special form of funereal entertainment: strippers.

According to a statement from the Ministry of Culture on Thursday, the government plans to work closely with the police to eliminate such performances, which are held with the goal of drawing more mourners.

Pictures of a funeral in the city of Handan in northern Hebei province last month showed a dancer removing her bra as assembled parents and children watched. They were widely circulated online, prompting much opprobrium. In its Thursday statement, the Ministry of Culture cited “obscene” performances in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu, as well as in Handan, and pledged to crack down on such lascivious last rites.

In the Handan incident earlier this year, the ministry said, six performers had arrived to offer an erotic dance at the funeral of an elderly resident. Investigators were dispatched and the performance was found to have violated public security regulations, with the person responsible for the performing troupe in question detained administratively for 15 days and fined 70,000 yuan (about $11,300), the statement said. The government condemned such performances for corrupting the social atmosphere.

The government has been trying to fight the country’s funereal stripper scourge for some time now. In 2006, the state-run broadcaster China Central Television’s leading investigative news show Jiaodian Fangtan aired an exposé on the practice of scantily clad women making appearances at memorial services in Donghai in eastern China’s Jiangsu province.

The point of inviting strippers, some of whom performed with snakes, was to attract large crowds to the deceased’s funeral – seen as a harbinger of good fortune in the afterlife. “It’s to give them face,” one villager explained. “Otherwise no one would come.

CCTV found about a dozen funeral performance troupes offering such services in every village in the county, putting on as many as 20 shows a month at a rate of 2,000 yuan ($322) a pop.

“This has severely polluted the local cultural life,” CCTV intoned at the time, marveling at the sight of one women gyrating out of her clothes mere steps from a photo of the deceased. “These troupes only care about money. As for whether it’s legal, or proper, or what effect it has on local customs, they don’t think much about it.”

The mainland isn’t alone in its preference for the practice: similar ensemble performances are also popular in Taiwan – as National Geographic documented in 2012, with stilettoed, short-skirted women dancing graveside. The practice there dates back decades.

– Te-Ping Chen and Josh Chin

http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2015/04/23/chinese-government-says-please-stop-hiring-funeral-strippers/

A Shoe That Grows With the Child

From Upworthy - 

He met dozens of kids who didn't have shoes. So he invented 5 pairs in 1.

 Curator: Franchesca Ramsey

It's not every day that you run into an invention so genius it makes you say, "Why the heck didn't I think of that?" Well meet the shoe that's set to help millions of barefoot children worldwide by growing with them. 

Shoes are hard to come by for too many children living in developing countries.

When most people think of children in poverty, hunger is usually the first thing that comes to mind. But for many children in the developing world, even the most basic clothing items can be hard to come by. While working in Nairobi, Kenya, inventor Kenton Lee was struck by how many young children were barefoot, their feet covered in scrapes and sores. But sores aren't the only consequences of going barefoot. 

And while some kids go without shoes, others wear shoes that are too small.

Lee saw them wearing makeshift foot coverings from scraps of cardboard. But what struck him was how many kids had repurposed old shoes that were too small by cutting them open to fit as their feet grew. 

And while these repurposed shoes are no doubt creative, they're only marginally better than going barefoot. But seeing how these shoes had been transformed to fit growing feet highlighted yet another obvious but unavoidable problem. When kids grow out of their donated shoes, they're just going to need another pair. This is when the lightbulb went off for Lee. What if there was a shoe that could adjust and expand for growing feet? Enter "The Shoe That Grows."

Lee invented a shoe that can be adjusted up to five times and lasts for five years.

After a successful crowdfunding campaign in 2011, Lee and his team at Because International were able to produce 2,000 shoes and provide them free of cost to kids in need in Nairobi. In April 2015, Because International started another campaign to raise funds for the next round of production, in hopes of getting 5,000 more shoes out to kids around the world. Take a look at the video below to learn more about this amazing company's journey and how you can help. 

Because International is in the final stretch of their crowdfunding campaign to produce 5,000 of these incredible growing shoes for children in need. You can donate to their cause at www.crowdrise.com/TheShoe.

Magic Afro Puffs

From The Root - 

7-Year-Old Creates Afro-Puff Superhero Comic Book and Wins Big

Natalie McGriff took her creation, The Adventures of Moxie Girl, a comic book about a black girl whose curly hair has magical powers, to a crowdfunding festival and walked away with more than $16,000.

BY: STEPHEN A. CROCKETT JR.

Posted: April 22 2015 9:06 AM

 

Natalie McGriff, 7, stands next to an image of her comic book, The Adventures of Moxie Girl, which won over $16,000 at One Spark, a crowdfunding festival in Jacksonville, Fla.   WBLS SCREENSHOT

The odds were stacked against Moxie Girl, but she had already saved the Jacksonville Public Libraries from a wild group of hungry monsters, so beating out 530 entries to win more than $16,000 for her creator would be easy, right?

Well, that's what happened after 7-year-old Natalie McGriff took her creation, The Adventures of Moxie Girl—a comic book about a black girl who hates her hair until she uses a magical shampoo that turns her curls into superfighting Afro puffs—to One Spark, a huge crowdfunding festival in Jacksonville, Fla. One Spark attendees pay an entrance fee and then vote on how the money should be dispersed.

According to the New Pittsburgh Courier, Moxie Girl was created after Natalie's mother noticed her daughter having hair-esteem issues.  

"I decided to help Natalie write this book because she was having self-esteem issues regarding her hair and she hated to read," Angie Nixon said in a statement viewed by the Courier. "She now realizes how powerful and awesome her hair is and that in order for her to write a cool book, she needs to read more books and learn different words."

In the end, the hero prevailed and Moxie Girledged out the competition, beating the closest competitor by a mere three votes.

Good wins again.

Who Knew???

From The New York Times & photography

SONY GAVE AN OCTOPUS AT A NEW ZEALAND AQUARIUM A CAMERA; TRAINS IT TO PHOTOGRAPH TOURISTS

April 10, 2015 · Tiffany Mueller 42 Comments  

Rambo firing the red shutter release with a tentacle.

Octopuses are pretty wondrous animals with all those legs and insanely astute critical thinking skills. It’s actually not surprising at all an animal trainer working at Kelly Tarlton’s Sea Life Aquarium in New Zealand, was able to train an octopus to take photos. In fact, it only took “Rambo” the octopus three attempts to understand how the process works.

Now, Rambo charges a cool $2 for a visitor to her tank to sit for a portrait taken by the octographer. The small donation goes directly to the aquarium to help offset expenses. But, if you’re looking to have Rambo take your photo, be sure to check her hours first, as the aquarium says she’s on a light work schedule.

Take a look:

“When we first tried to get her to take a photo, it only took three attempts for her to understand the process. That’s faster than a dog. Actually it’s faster than a human in some instances.” Mark Vette, trainer

In front of her tank, there’s a backdrop where visitors can pose for their photos. It appears these children on a school trip to the aquarium thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

The camera, a Sony DSC-TX30, was secured into a custom made housing to mount onto Rambo’s tank. The campaign was sponsored by Sony to help show how durable their camera is and to raise awareness of octopuses high level of intelligence.

Really???

From Slate - 

Tampa Police Target Black Bicyclists

By Daniel Politi

These cyclists in Tampa are unlikely to be stopped.

Photo by Robyn Beck/AFP/GettyImages

Tampa police seem to have an obsession with cyclists, writing 2,504 bike tickets over the past three years. And looking at the data it would seem blacks are particularly bad bicyclists, receiving eight out of every 10 tickets, according to an investigation by the Tampa Bay Times, even though they make up about a quarter of the city’s population. Analyzing the tickets awarded to bicyclists, the newspaper concludes that “Tampa police are targeting poor, black neighborhoods with obscure subsections of a Florida statute that outlaws things most people have tried on a bike, like riding with no light or carrying a friend on the handlebars.”

These violations are used as an excuse to stop and question bicyclists, with a particular focus on high-crime neighborhoods. Although the police say bike stops are part of a crime prevention strategy, the vast majority of tickets did not include arrests. And when they did, it was usually for a small amount of drugs or a misdemeanor, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The paper notes the actions are hardly a coincidence:

Internal police department records show a sustained effort to encourage bike stops as a means to reduce more serious crimes.

Officers get yearly "productivity reports," calculating, in part, how many tickets they give. One personnel file detailed a "red grid patrol" in which officers are encouraged to "engage and identify offenders through street checks, bike stops and traffic stops."

In another file, a supervisor told a new officer he should learn rarely used traffic statutes. The fact that he wasn't familiar with them was noted as a "significant weakness" in his 2012 performance review. The next year, the new officer impressed his bosses with his "dramatic increase" in "self-initiated activity."

Even if the stop doesn’t lead to a ticket it is often still a humiliating experience.

"It's always the light, or to run your VIN number," 31-year-old Anthony Gilbert said. “ ‘Let's have your ID. Just stand in front of my cruiser.’ Now, you're being humiliated. Your friend’s riding by. Your reverend might be riding by. Now, you've got to go to church. The pastor's going to be like, ‘What happened, son?’ ”

Amazing Images!

Click on each photograph and drag your mouse slowly from left to right and you'll see the images change from what they were in 1914 to what they looked like in 2014.

Absolutely amazing!

http://interactive.guim.co.uk/embed/2014/apr/image-opacity-slider-master/index.html?ww2-dday

H/T Forrest

We Fly, Too

I stumbled on these travel websites created by folks of color.

They're worth checking out.

http://www.browngirlsfly.com

http://blackgirlstraveltoo.com

http://www.brooklyntraveladdict.com

http://travelnoire.com

Peace in the Middle East

Personal peace.

Not the longstanding battle for political peace.

It's a personal peace of mind that I've found here.

Its a kind of serenity that I've never known before.

It's a place of harmony and good will.

It's a place of contentment and appreciation.

The irony is not lost on me that this peace occurred in the area of the world that is known for war and conflict.

And yet . . .

In the midst of all that, there is this oasis of peace, in this country - the UAE, and in my state of mind.

Could I have reached this peace of mind anywhere else?

Probably . . .

But, the fact remains, it happened here.

Maybe it's because I'm isolated, providing more time for introspection.

Or . . .

Maybe it's because of the attitude of forgiveness that I choose to embrace, that would be present anywhere in the world I choose to be.

Or . . .

Maybe it's because of the overwhelming kindness of the people here.

Who knows?

What matters most is that it is present and alive in me.

Here's wishing you this kind of peace that surpassing all understanding, wherever you are.

To Be Young, Privileged & White

From Salon -

An excerpt - 

On USA Today, writer Chris Chase says that ESPN “got it wrong” in suspending McHenry for merely a week, saying, “Represent your company well and have the comportment, confidence and trust of someone we want to let into our homes every night. After that video and a mini seven-day vacation, how can ESPN expect anyone in America to want to do that for Britt McHenry?” It’s a valid question — and one that will likely continue to be asked about other temper-prone personalities. It’s foolish to assume there isn’t a security camera recording your prissy meltdown, or an interested bystander with a cellphone willing to step up. Note how, in the video, the insulted clerk fights back with the threat, “I’ll play your video, so careful.” McHenry, at that moment, sees herself as the person with the advantage, because as she itemizes, she’s on television, she went to a good college, she feels her weight and teeth are superior to that of the woman behind the desk. What that woman has, however, is the power of the image.

We are all too eager in our culture to pounce upon legitimate and honest mistakes and foibles and to shame people — women in particular — for being human. But there are also still moments when truly bad, selfish and mean behavior is justifiably exposed. Most of us don’t know McHenry or know what she’s like when she’s not browbeating towing company employees, but it’s a safe bet her tirade didn’t come out of nowhere. It came too quickly and easily to believe that. As if perhaps it wasn’t the first time she’d ever entertained thoughts like that. I believe that people can learn from their mistakes and grow. But I also believe that until McHenry figures out who she needs to tell she’s sorry, she’s not there yet.

Full story -

http://www.salon.com/2015/04/17/watch_out_tantrum_throwers_like_britt_mchenry_youre_being_recorded/?source=newsletter

This is Friday

For the uninitiated, Friday is a movie that came out 20 years ago (!!!), and introduced the world to Chris Tucker.

The language is foul and the subject is weedy, but the humor is usually spot on.

This clip shows the origin of the catchphrase, "Bye Felicia," which translates to, "Get outta of my face, whoever you are."

NSFW = not suitable for work.

I Wish . . .

My teacher knew . . .

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/16/denver-teachers-reality-check-heart-wrenching-moving/25915533/

A Damn Shame!

Here's the story of a flight attendant who stole a passenger's camera and attempted to sell it on eBay.

http://roadwarriorvoices.com/2015/04/16/heroic-passenger-catches-ryanair-flight-attendant-who-stole-his-camera-and-listed-it-on-ebay/

I Love Those Google Boys!

There's an easy way to find your lost phone if you use an Android.

Just do a Google search writing "find my phone" and the results will be where it's located.

It'll be super awesome when it's available for Apple.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/16/find-my-phone_n_7079160.html

Amandla Stenberg: Don't Cash Crop On My Cornrows

Wise beyond her years.

Another Favorite

This movie is intriguing.

The whole thing takes place in a car, where the main character is driving from point A to point B, and deals with his handling of extraordinary circumstances during a series of phone conversations.

I love the calmness he portrays in the midst of chaos.

The Station Agent Trailer HD - Original

This is one of my favorite movies.

The trailer doesn't do it justice.

It's quiet.  

There are no car chases, no extraordinary drama or sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat climax.

It's a simple story about unlikely people who become friends.

It stars Patricia Clarkson, who is featured in the trailer in the previous post.  She's one of my favorite, too.

Coming Soon

I Love This!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/15/your-divorce-care-package-_n_7066456.html

Shared History

New documentary eyes story of Latino extras in 1956 'Giant'

By RUSSELL CONTRERAS
Published: Yesterday

This undated photo provided by courtesy of the George Stevens Collection shows, Elsa Cardenas, right, as the Mexican American nursing student “Juana” who marries “Jordan Benedict,” played by Dennis Hopper, in “Giant.” A new documentary, "Children of Giant," examines the Mexican-American child actors who appeared in the 1956 blockbuster movie “Giant,” but later were forced to view the film in segregated theaters. (Courtesy George Stevens Collection via AP)

A young George Washington Valenzuela was walking to a barbershop in small, dusty Marfa, Texas, when a woman approached him and asked if he would like to be in a movie. He said yes.

Weeks later, Valenzuela found himself singing the national anthem in front of Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor in the 1956 blockbuster movie "Giant."

A new documentary seeks to tell Valenzuela's story and that of other Mexican-American child actors who appeared in the film but later could only view it in segregated theaters.

"Children of Giant" goes to the West Texas town where director George Stevens and his Hollywood crew set up shop to shoot one of the first, major films to openly tackle racism.

For the 60 years since the movie's release, most of the Mexican-American cast has been largely forgotten, though the movie introduced the nation to the discrimination Latinos faced, documentary director Hector Galan said.
"Many people don't realize how important the film 'Giant' was to Mexican-Americans at the time," Galan said. "For the first time on a national level the stories of Mexican-Americans were being told."

Based on the novel by Edna Ferber with the same name, "Giant" follows wealthy Texas cattle rancher Jordan Benedict, Jr., played by Hudson, who marries Maryland socialite Leslie Lynnton, portrayed by Taylor. Their sprawling ranch is located on land once owned by impoverished Mexican-Americans, who still work the land but are denied basic medical care and decent jobs.

Benedict's son, played by Dennis Hopper, marries a Mexican-American nurse, played by Mexican actress Elsa Cardenas, creating racial tension. James Dean also starred in the movie.

At the time of its release, the movie was popular among Mexican-Americans, especially since Ferber had interviewed civil rights leaders Hector P. Garcia and lawyer John J. Herrera for her novel and the movie adopted real-life episodes from the new civil rights movement in Texas.
Yet, many of the main actors were unaware of the discrimination the Mexican-American extras faced away from the movie set.

In the documentary, Galan interviews Cardenas who recalls how staff at a hotel looked at her suspiciously and how she didn't know the Mexican-Americans children on the set had to attend segregated schools. He also interviews child actor Tony Cano who remembers incidents of racism.

The documentary also covers Stevens' experience in World War II as part of the U.S. Army Signal Corps. Stevens would become one of the first directors to capture images of the Holocaust and his footage would be used in the Nuremberg Trials.

"That experience changed him forever," Galan said. "I don't think he would have made "Giant" had it not been for that experience."

In addition, the documentary shows how Dean playfully interacted with Mexican-American teens off screen and shocked the town when he was killed in a car wreck in California weeks later.

"Children of Giant" kicks off a new season of the PBS Voces series on April 17.
___
Follow Russell Contreras at http://twitter.com/russcontreras .

© 2015 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

Bird's Eye View

From The Huffington Post -

An aerial view of the Taj Mahal taken from a drone.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/14/drone-photos_n_7062184.html

Clever Idea

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/margret-aldrich/reasons-to-love-little-free-libraries_b_7066164.html

Trevor Noah: You Laugh But It's True - Four Presidents

She is Precious!

From The Root - 

A Little Girl Gets Emotional After Watching Mufasa’s Death in The Lion King for the 1st Time

She will never forget this moment, and thanks to Facebook, it’s gone viral.

BY: YESHA CALLAHAN

Posted: April 15 2015 8:09 AM

 

Viktoria, crying after watching Mufasa’s death in The Lion King YOUTUBE SCREENSHOT

Remember the first time you watched The Lion King and the tears that streamed down your face when Mufasa died? If you don’t, or if you’re just that coldhearted and were able to sit through the scene stonefaced, here’s some Wednesday-morning emotion for you.

A father filmed his young daughter watching the scene for the first time, and needless to say, she’ll probably remember it for the rest of her life. Little Viktoria’s tears were enough to bring others to tears, as evidenced by the comments posted on the father’s Facebook page. So far the video has racked up over 3 million views.

Just in case you’re one of the few people who haven’t seen the gripping and emotional scene from The Lion King, pull out your tissue and watch below.

If that’s not enough, when Simba finds his father’s body, I clearly remember sobbing as if someone I knew had really died. 

Viktoria, I understand. I definitely do.

Luxury City Bus in SF

New luxury bus service in San Francisco as seen on USA Today.

It's called Leap.

Worth it?

What do you think?

Here's the link to the app.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/leap-sf/id645201137?mt=8

Local News

From USA Today -

Chess champion busted for cheating in bathroom

Arden Dier, Newser staff 9:39 a.m. EDT April 15, 2015

(NEWSER) – Chess has a case of "high-tech doping," the BBC reports. Georgia's national chess champion, Gaioz Nigalidze, visited the same bathroom stall enough during the Dubai Open on Saturday that his opponent, Armenian Tigran Petrosian, became suspicious. "Nigalidze would promptly reply to my moves and then literally run to the toilet," he tells the Telegraph. Officials investigated and the BBC reports they found a phone covered in toilet paper in a trash bin. "He denied it was his, but it was logged into his Facebook page and there was a chess program running on it, showing his positions," the tournament director says. Nigalidze, ranked 400th in the world, was booted from the competition and is the first grandmaster to be referred to the World Chess Federation's (FIDE) Anti-Cheating Commission, set up last year.

At stake in the tournament is a $12,000 prize. The Georgian Chess Federation says the incident was "very bad," but it plans to hear from the 26-year-old before discussing retribution. Cheating with electronic devices "has increased in the past three or four years, so we've made special efforts to combat it," the secretary of the Anti-Cheating Commission says. FIDE officials are able to search tournament participants, while metal detectors and blocking devices are also used. After an investigation, the commission will pass the case to an ethics committee, which will decide Nigalidze's fate. The tournament's chief arbiter tells CNN that guilty parties are handed a three-year ban from sanctioned tournaments, while repeat offenders face a 15-year ban. On Twitter, former world title contender Nigel Short suggested Nigalidze should face criminal charges for fraud. (Meet the youngest U.S. grandmaster ever.)

This story originally appeared on Newser:

Hooked on Logic

I am absolutely hooked on logic grid puzzles.

I was introduced to these years ago when Ben & Frankie's had these assigned in elementary school.

The way they work is like this - you're given some information, and from that info, you have to draw some conclusions to solve the puzzle.

Someone mentioned them recently, and I searched and found some for my iPad.

What fun!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/logic-puzzles-classic-logic/id573935171?mt=8

Another brain teaser that kids young and old always enjoy are Plexers.

In this one you're given word or picture clues and you have to figure out the word.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/plexerplus/id500224037?mt=8

Happy Solving!

Jennifer Hudson Carpool Karaoke

This is fun.  Stick with it all the way for some great harmonizing.