Look at me . . . promoting something good for the environment.
And you guys thought I didn't care!
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
A Hard Lesson
From The Washington Post - An excerpt:
I taught my black kids that their elite upbringing would protect them from discrimination. I was wrong.
Lawrence Otis Graham is an attorney in New York and the author of 14 books, including “Our Kind of People” and “The Senator and The Socialite.”
~~~~~~~~~~
I knew the day would come, but I didn’t know how it would happen, where I would be, or how I would respond. It is the moment that every black parent fears: the day their child is called a nigger.
My wife and I, both African Americans, constitute one of those Type A couples with Ivy League undergraduate and graduate degrees who, for many years, believed that if we worked hard and maintained great jobs, we could insulate our children from the blatant manifestations of bigotry that we experienced as children in the 1960s and ’70s.
We divided our lives between a house in a liberal New York suburb and an apartment on Park Avenue, sent our three kids to a diverse New York City private school, and outfitted them with the accoutrements of success: preppy clothes, perfect diction and that air of quiet graciousness. We convinced ourselves that the economic privilege we bestowed on them could buffer these adolescents against what so many black and Latino children face while living in mostly white settings: being profiled by neighbors, followed in stores and stopped by police simply because their race makes them suspect.
But it happened nevertheless in July, when I was 100 miles away.
It was a Tuesday afternoon when my 15-year-old son called from his academic summer program at a leafy New England boarding school and told me that as he was walking across campus, a gray Acura with a broken rear taillight pulled up beside him. Two men leaned out of the car and glared at him.
“Are you the only nigger at Mellon Academy*?” one shouted.
Certain that he had not heard them correctly, my son moved closer to the curb, and asked politely, “I’m sorry; I didn’t hear you.”
But he had heard correctly. And this time the man spoke more clearly. “Only … nigger,” he said with added emphasis.
My son froze. He dropped his backpack in alarm and stepped back from the idling car. The men honked the horn loudly and drove off, their laughter echoing behind them.
By the time he recounted his experience a few minutes later, my son was back in his dorm room, ensconced on the third floor of a red-brick fortress. He tried to grasp the meaning of the story as he told it: why the men chose to stop him, why they did it in broad daylight, why they were so calm and deliberate. “Why would they do that — to me?” he whispered breathlessly into the phone. “Dad, they don’t know me. And they weren’t acting drunk. It’s just 3:30 in the afternoon. They could see me, and I could see them!”
My son rambled on, describing the car and the men, asking questions that I couldn’t completely answer. One very clear and cogent query was why, in Connecticut in 2014, grown men would target a student who wasn’t bothering them to harass in broad daylight. The men intended to be menacing. “They got so close — like they were trying to ask directions. … They were definitely trying to scare me,” he said.
“Are you okay?” I interrupted. “Are you —”
“Yeah,” he continued anxiously. “I’m okay. I guess. … Do you think they saw which dorm I went back to? Maybe I shouldn’t have told my roommate. Should I stay in my dorm and not go to the library tonight?”
Despite his reluctance, I insisted that he report the incident to the school. His chief concern was not wanting the white students and administrators to think of him as being special, different, or “racial.” That was his word. “If the other kids around here find out that I was called a nigger, and that I complained about it,” my son pleaded, “then they will call me ‘racial,’ and will be thinking about race every time they see me. I can’t have that.” For the next four weeks of the summer program, my son remained leery of cars that slowed in his proximity (he’s still leery today). He avoided sidewalks, choosing instead to walk on campus lawns. And he worried continually about being perceived as racially odd or different.
There's more -
https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/11/06/i-taught-my-black-kids-that-their-elite-upbringing-would-protect-them-from-discrimination-i-was-wrong/
H/T - Forrest
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Black Student Athletes = Slave Laborers
From The Washington Post - An excerpt (bold is mine):
College sports exploits unpaid black athletes. But they could force a change.
Disproportionately black football and basketball players are making disproportionately white administrators and coaches rich.
Donald H. Yee is a lawyer and partner with Yee & Dubin Sports, which represents professional athletes and coaches, including New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton.
~~~~~~~~~~
On Monday night, college football will crown a new champion. In the process, a lot of money will be made.
No matter who wins, the University of Alabama’s Southeastern Conference and Clemson University’s Atlantic Coast Conference will be paid $6 million each. So will the conferences of the schools those teams beat to make it to the final. The organization that runs the playoff, a Delaware-headquartered corporation that’s separate from the NCAA, takes in about $470 million each year from ESPN. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney made $3.3 million last year and, as The Washington Post recently reported, his chief of staff makes $252,000; Alabama’s Nick Saban, the highest-paid coach in college football, made slightly more than $7 million, and the team’s strength and conditioning coach makes $600,000.
Some of the players are future NFL stars who will probably be rich one day, too: Alabama is led by Heisman Trophy-winning running back Derrick Henry, who set a SEC record for rushing yards and rushing touchdowns in a season. Clemson features gifted quarterback Deshaun Watson, also a Heisman finalist, and running back sensation Wayne Gallman.
The NCAA, though, insists that all of its players are student-athletes motivated only by love of the game and of their alma maters. So on Monday, they’ll be working for free. Most fans of college football and basketball go along with the pretense, looking past the fact that the NCAA makes nearly $1 billion a year from unpaid labor.
But after a year when Black Lives Matter protests spread across the country, and at the end of a season when the football team at the University of Missouri helped force the resignation of the school’s top two administrators over how the campus handled race-related incidents, we need to stop ignoring the racial implications of the NCAA’s hypocrisy.
After all, who is actually earning the billions of dollars flooding universities, athletic conferences, TV networks and their sponsors? To a large extent, it’s young black men, who are heavily overrepresented in football and men’s basketball, the two sports that bring in virtually all the revenue in college athletics. A 2013 study by the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education found that 57 percent of the football players and 64 percent of the men’s basketball players in the six biggest conferences were black; at the same schools, black men made up less than 3 percent of the overall student population. (In recent NFL drafts, five times as many black players were taken in the first two rounds, where the perceived best players are picked, as white players.) Athletics administrators and coaches, meanwhile, are overwhelmingly white.
So by refusing to pay athletes, the NCAA isn’t just perpetuating a financial injustice. It’s also committing a racial one.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/01/08/college-sports-exploits-unpaid-black-athletes-but-they-could-force-a-change/?wpisrc=nl_rainbow
Friday, January 8, 2016
Blog Love
To the White Parents of my Black Son’s Friends
December 29, 2015 |
I’ve been wrestling with talking to you about some things I think you need to know. I’ve wrestled with it because I feel my own sense of shame– shame that I didn’t know or understand these issues before they touched my family. I’ve felt fear that you’ll respond in subtle ways that make it clear you aren’t safe for my child. I’ve been concerned that you won’t believe me and then I’ll feel more angry than if I hadn’t said anything. But my son is getting older and as he transitions from an adorable black boy to a strong black man, I know the assumptions about him will change. And I need your help in keeping him safe.
We talk to our son about safety issues. We talk to him about being respectful of police (and anyone in authority), about keeping his hands where they are visible, about not wearing his hood up over his face or sneaking through the neighbor’s backyard during hide-and-seek or when taking a shortcut home from school. We are doing what we can to find this bizarre balance of helping him be proud of who he is and helping him understand that not everybody is going to see him the way we see him. Some people are going to see him as a “thug” before they ever know his name, his story, his gifts and talents.
But here’s the thing– as much as we can try to protect him and teach him to protect himself, there may come a time when your child will be involved. As the parents of the white friend of my black son, I need you to be talking to your child about racism. I need you to be talking about the assumptions other people might make about my son. I need you to talk to your child about what they would do if they saw injustice happening.
I know that in a white family it is easy to use words like “colorblind” and feel like we’re enlightened and progressive. But if you teach your kids to be colorblind, they may not understand the uniquely dangerous situations my child can find himself in. If you tell your kids racism happened a long time ago and now it’s over and use my family as an example of how whites and blacks and browns can all get along together, you are not doing me any favors. Just because you haven’t seen obvious examples of racism in your own life doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
It is easy to think we live in a colorblind society when you don’t know that two weeks ago I was on the phone with the principal at my son’s school to discuss the racial insults he was regularly receiving from the student sitting next to him. I was thankful for how seriously the school handled that incident and we consider it a huge victory that my son felt safe telling his parents and teacher how he was being teased since many kids don’t. It is easy to think we live in a post racial society when you don’t know that a neighbor of mine called the Child Protective Services hotline to complain about my kids behaving in the exact same ways as the ten other white neighbor children they regularly play with behave (playing in the “street”– we live on a cul-de-sac–, playing in our front yard without shoes, asking for snacks from the neighbor parents- these are the actual complaints that were made). I don’t want to begin to tell you the trauma it is to former foster kids when a social worker shows up at your house to interview them and I’m afraid I haven’t yet forgiven our neighbor for bringing that on our family (although it was quickly determined to be a ridiculous complaint and there was no further action taken). The thing is, I doubt that neighbor even thinks of himself as racist, but the fact that when the white kids of the neighborhood do it it’s “kids being kids”, but when the kids of color are involved it’s got to be addressed by authorities shows the underlying bias of his assumptions. This isn’t “concern”, this is harassment.
So white parents, please talk to your kids about racism. If they see my son being bullied or called racist names, they need to stand with him. They need to understand how threatening that is and not just something to be laughed off. If your child is with my child playing soccer at the park and the police drive by, tell your child to stay. Just stay right there with my son. Be a witness. In that situation, be extra polite, extra respectful. Don’t run and don’t leave my son by himself. If you are with my son, this is not the time to try out any new risky behaviors. Whatever trouble you get into, he will likely not be judged by the same standard you are. Be understanding that he can’t make the same mistakes you can.
White parents, treat my son with respect. Don’t rub his head because you want to know what his hair feels like. Don’t speak black slang to him because you think it would be funny. If you’re thinking about making a joke that you feel might be slightly questionable, just don’t do it. Ever. Your kids are listening and learning from you even in the jokes you tell. Be conscious of what media messages your kids are getting about race. Engage in tough conversations about what you’re hearing in the news. Don’t shy away from this just because you can. He can’t. We can’t.
Be an advocate for this beautiful soul who has eaten at your kitchen table, sat next to your son at church, been at your child’s birthday party. He is not the exception to the rule. He is not protected by my white privilege for the rest of his life. He is not inherently different from any other little black boy and ALL their lives have value and worth and were created by God. I have hope that when white parents start talking about these issues with our white kids, maybe that’s where change starts.
Frozen Dead Guy | 100 Wonders | Atlas Obscura
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/100-wonders-a-visit-with-a-frozen-dead-guy?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura&utm_campaign=1f6745c60b-Newsletter_1_8_20161_7_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_62ba9246c0-1f6745c60b-59905913&ct=t(Newsletter_1_8_20161_7_2016)&mc_cid=1f6745c60b&mc_eid=866176a63f
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Wow!
I hope this video works. If not, check this young lady out at the link below. What she does is amazing!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BAEvFjqgUMR/
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
A Smart Lady
From The Root -
Tuskegee University Scientist Wins $1,100,000 Cancer Research Grant
Hadiyah-Nicole Green, an assistant professor at the university, won the grant to develop a cancer treatment.
Hadiyah-Nicole Green YOUTUBE SCREENSHOT
Hadiyah-Nicole Green is in a league of her own.
She was the second African-American woman to receive a doctorate in physics from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. And today she's an assistant professor at Tuskegee University and stands as one of fewer than 100 black female physicists in the U.S.—in a field that is still dominated by white men.
And now Green has added another notch to her belt: She is the winner of a $1.1 million grant to develop a cancer treatment involving lasers and nanoparticles, AL.com reports.
After losing her aunt and uncle—who raised Green after the passing of her parents—to cancer, she took a particular interest in research. And Green subsequently decided to use her background in lasers and optics to explore treatments for cancer.
In the interview with AL.com, Green described how she felt after learning that she'd won the prestigious award. "I was completely overwhelmed with joy, with thanksgiving, humbled at the opportunity that a group of my peers thought that my work was worthy for such a grant," she said. "This is a huge door opening. It outlines a path to take this treatment to clinical trial."
http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2016/01/tuskegee_university_scientist_wins_1_100_000_cancer_research_grant.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content%26
Brain Boosters or Brain Farts
From Vox -
Americans are hooked on brain-boosting apps. Your father or grandmother might buy programs like Lumosity in the hopes that its appealing marketing claims will be realized: Just a few minutes of puzzle solving each day will make you smarter, boost your memory, and stave off conditions like dementia and Alzheimer's. Altogether, consumers now spend $1 billion every year on brain games.
The problem with these programs: They're a load of hooey. For years, researchers have looked into brain games and found that they simply don't have the real-world benefits they purport to.
Now the federal government's starting to crack down. On Tuesday, the Federal Trade Commission announced that Lumos Labs, the developer of the "brain training" program Lumosity, will pay out $2 million to settle deceptive advertising charges. (Read the complaint here.)
http://www.vox.com/2016/1/6/10724096/science-brain-games-lumosity
About That Fire
From The National -
 |
| The Address Hotel in Dubai. The name is ironic because there are no street addresses in this country. |
The companies that made and installed the exterior panels on The Address Downtown Dubai hotel say that most of the towers built in the city prior to 2012 used non-fire-rated exterior cladding.
The disclosure comes as investigators probe the causes of the spectacular blaze which was beamed across millions of TV screens worldwide on New Year’s Eve.
An investigation by The National into the origins and specification of the exterior panels used on the building raises serious questions over the fire safety of hundreds of buildings.
The fire has again shone the spotlight on aluminium composite panels which have been used to cover high rise buildings countrywide and have been linked to several high-rise fires in the UAE and overseas.
Fire consultants interviewed by The National this week have also raised questions over the quality of some fire testing undertaken on buildings in the emirate prior to the introduction of new building codes in 2012.
Officials at the company that made the composite panels used on the tower as well as the company that installed them say that most of the buildings constructed during the city’s property boom years did not use fire-rated panels.
It has huge implications for insurers underwriting such buildings as well as owners associations, property developers and the people living in them.
It also poses a challenge for building owners seeking to mitigate fire risk while avoiding the massive costs associated with replacing often highly flammable exterior cladding.
For more go to:
http://www.thenational.ae/business/property/most-dubai-towers-built-before-2012-have-non-fire-rated-exterior-panels
Double Standard Hypocrisy
Eugene Robinson from the Washington Post writes:
What do you think the response would be if a bunch of black people, filled with rage and armed to the teeth, took over a federal government installation and defied officials to kick them out? I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be wait-and-see.
Probably more like point-and-shoot.
Or what if the occupiers were Mexican American? They wouldn’t be described with the semi-legitimizing term “militia,” harking to the days of the patriots. And if the gun-toting citizens happened to be Muslim, heaven forbid, there would be wall-to-wall cable news coverage of the “terrorist assault.” I can hear Donald Trump braying for blood.
Not to worry, however, because the extremists who seized the remote Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Oregon on Saturday are white. As such, they are permitted to engage in a “standoff” with authorities who keep their distance lest there be needless loss of life.
Such courtesy was not extended to Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old Cleveland boy who was playing with a toy gun in a park on Nov. 22, 2014. Within seconds of arriving on the scene, police officer Timothy Loehmann shot the boy, who died the next day. Prosecutors led a grand jury investigation and announced last month that Loehmann would face no charges. A “perfect storm of human error” was blamed, and apparently storms cannot be held accountable.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-oregon-standoff-and-the-dividing-lines-of-race-ethnicity-and-religion/2016/01/04/312364c8-b325-11e5-a76a-0b5145e8679a_story.html?wpisrc=nl_rainbow
Monday, January 4, 2016
How Close Do You Live to Your Mom?
From Stumbleupon -
How Close You Live To Your Mom Depends On Two Crucial Factors
When you were younger did you use to stare out your window thinking, "Ugh, I can't wait to grow up and get out the hell out of this town?" If you did, how far did your daydream take you? Did you imagine making a move across the country? To another state? Another country?
Turns outs, you might not have made it that far. According to a recent study, the typical American lives only 18 miles from their mom.
According to a recent article in The New York Times, depending how close (or far) you live from your parents depends on your income as well as where you grew up.
The data reveal a country of close-knit families, with members of multiple generations leaning on one another for financial and practical support. The trend will continue, social scientists say, as baby boomers need more care in old age, and the growing number of two-income families seek help with child care.The United States offers less government help for caregiving than many other rich countries. Instead, extended families are providing it, whether they never moved apart, or moved back closer when the need arose.
The biggest contributor to people's proximity to their parents is based on their education and income. Wealthier people can afford to pay for childcare services and therefore are more likely to move away. Most times, the move is based on a professional opportunity.
However, geography also plays an important factor.
Families live closest in the Northeast and the South, and farthest apart on the West Coast and in the Mountain States. Part of the reason is probably cultural — Western families have historically been the least rooted — but a large part is geographical: People live farther apart in rural areas.
So which are you?
Stereotypes
I hope that you're able to read this, but if not, please see link below.
Do you agree with this?
http://www.lifehack.org/353713/stereotypes-people-form-within-seconds-of-meeting-you?mid=20160104&ref=mail&uid=789627&feq=daily
Saturday, January 2, 2016
Friday, January 1, 2016
Kid Beats Orbitz & United
A 22 year old kid created an app (Skiplagged) that, according to CNN Money does the following:
Skiplagged helps travelers find cheap tickets through a strategy called "hidden city" ticketing.
The idea is that you buy an airline ticket that has a layover at your actual destination.
Say you want to fly from New York to San Francisco. You book a flight from New York to Portland with a layover in San Francisco and get off there, without bothering to take the last leg of the flight. Sometimes, that can save you money. Flying this way isn't always cheapest, but it often is.
The link to the article and the app are below.
http://money.cnn.com/2015/12/31/investing/aktarer-zaman-how-i-beat-united-airlines/index.html
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/skiplagged-actually-cheap/id823443083?mt=8
Skiplagged helps travelers find cheap tickets through a strategy called "hidden city" ticketing.
The idea is that you buy an airline ticket that has a layover at your actual destination.
Say you want to fly from New York to San Francisco. You book a flight from New York to Portland with a layover in San Francisco and get off there, without bothering to take the last leg of the flight. Sometimes, that can save you money. Flying this way isn't always cheapest, but it often is.
The link to the article and the app are below.
http://money.cnn.com/2015/12/31/investing/aktarer-zaman-how-i-beat-united-airlines/index.html
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/skiplagged-actually-cheap/id823443083?mt=8
A Genius in Our Midst
From Priceonomics -
The Inventor of Auto-Tune
An excerpt -
Auto-Tune — one of modern history’s most reviled inventions — was an act of mathematical genius.
The pitch correction software, which automatically calibrates out-of-tune singing to perfection, has been used on nearly every chart-topping album for the past 20 years. Along the way, it has been pilloried as the poster child of modern music’s mechanization. WhenTime Magazine declared it “one of the 50 worst inventions of the 20th century”, few came to its defense.
But often lost in this narrative is the story of the invention itself, and the soft-spoken savant who pioneered it. For inventor Andy Hildebrand, Auto-Tune was an incredibly complex product — the result of years of rigorous study, statistical computation, and the creation of algorithms previously deemed to be impossible.
Another -
Andy Hildebrand was, in his own words, “not a normal kid.”
A self-proclaimed bookworm, he was constantly derailed by life’s grand mysteries, and had trouble sitting still for prolonged periods of time. School was never an interest: when teachers grew weary of slapping him on the wrist with a ruler, they’d stick him in the back of the class, where he wouldn’t bother anybody. “That way,” he says, “I could just stare out of the window.”
After failing the first grade, Hilbrebrand’s academic performance slowly began to improve. Toward the end of grade school, the young delinquent started pulling C’s; in junior high, he made his first B; as a high school senior, he was scraping together occasional A’s. Driven by a newfound passion for science, Hildebrand “decided to start working [his] ass off” -- an endeavor that culminated with an electrical engineering PhD from the University of Illinois in 1976.
http://priceonomics.com/the-inventor-of-auto-tune/
Quote
An excerpt from The Huffington Post -
Seahawks' Richard Sherman: 'I See A Concussion Movie Every Sunday'
Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman has never been scared to call out the National Football League.
He's been outspoken about his teammates' wages (or lack thereof), he's mocked the NFL's media policies and he blogged about his own concussion, blasting the league for its response to injuries in football.
So perhaps it's no surprise that he gave the NFL a little elbow jab with his quote during a press conference on Wednesday, when he told a reporter (near the 7:15 mark of this video) that he wouldn't be seeing the controversial film "Concussion," which scratches the surface of the NFL's head-injury problem.
"I have not -- I see a concussion movie every Sunday for free," Sherman said with a grin. "Don’t need to go to the theater."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/seahawks-richard-sherman-i-see-a-concussion-movie-every-sunday_56858561e4b014efe0da6f4f
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Happy New Year!
Well almost.
It's just shy of 9:00 pm, three hours away from the dawn of 2016.
Side note - We're twelve hours ahead of the folks in Sacramento.
I very rarely stay up to greet the new year. Sleep is a commodity that I greatly value, so missing it to watch others get wild and crazy seems a little silly.
Anyway, that's just me.
Here're my biggest hopes for 2016. Resolutions seem to fall by the wayside, so I'm calling these hopes instead.
I hope to . . .
Remember to be thankful for something/someone every single day.
Remember to be grateful for big things, but also be quick to appreciate the little things.
Remember to find the good in every situation.
Remember that no one, absolutely no one, wants to be around a sour puss.
Remember to find the joy that is all around us.
Remember to bloom where I'm planted.
Remember to thank God, even when things don't turn out the way I expected, knowing that all things work together for my good.
Remember to be grateful for my family and friends, not taking anyone for granted, but appreciating all the goodness they bring to my life.
Remember to send good things out into the world - thoughts, kindness, generosity - knowing that you reap what you sow.
And my hope for you . . .
Is that 2016 will be the beginning of the best years of your life.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
It's just shy of 9:00 pm, three hours away from the dawn of 2016.
Side note - We're twelve hours ahead of the folks in Sacramento.
I very rarely stay up to greet the new year. Sleep is a commodity that I greatly value, so missing it to watch others get wild and crazy seems a little silly.
Anyway, that's just me.
Here're my biggest hopes for 2016. Resolutions seem to fall by the wayside, so I'm calling these hopes instead.
I hope to . . .
Remember to be thankful for something/someone every single day.
Remember to be grateful for big things, but also be quick to appreciate the little things.
Remember to find the good in every situation.
Remember that no one, absolutely no one, wants to be around a sour puss.
Remember to find the joy that is all around us.
Remember to bloom where I'm planted.
Remember to thank God, even when things don't turn out the way I expected, knowing that all things work together for my good.
Remember to be grateful for my family and friends, not taking anyone for granted, but appreciating all the goodness they bring to my life.
Remember to send good things out into the world - thoughts, kindness, generosity - knowing that you reap what you sow.
And my hope for you . . .
Is that 2016 will be the beginning of the best years of your life.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Badass Sistas
I hope this video works, but if it doesn't, you can find it at the link below -
http://media.salon.com/2015/12/2015Women.Asha_.12_29_2015.mp4
Aretha Franklin (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman
Side note - This song, along with many other R&B hits, was playing in the hotel restaurant the day I arrived in Amsterdam. With rare exception, I've heard soul music all over the world. It's reach is amazing.
I'm a Proud Lefty
From The Left Handers Club -
1. The advantages of being left-handed
We often end up complaining about the frustrations of being left-handed, but there are plenty of advantages as well. Here is a list that has been reported in various places recently – we have done features on most of these items before but it is nice to put them all in one place. It would be great to make this list longer as well! If you can think of any other advantages of being left-handed and, ideally, can provide some sort of research results or reporting to back it up, please add a comment below and we will expand the list.Use this link to see the full list with explanations and links
|
 About 10% of the world’s population are left-handed and it seems that left-handedness runs in families, with the handedness of the mother being an important factor. So what are the chances of having a left-handed child? We have reviewed all the research and statistics on this and done some calculations of our own and this is how it looks (the chance of a left handed child for each birth):
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Being left handed is an advantage in many sportsTuesday, December 29, 2015
Saturday, December 26, 2015
A Really Good Gumshoe
An excerpt from The New York Times -
Gary L. Alford was running on adrenaline when he arrived for work on a Monday in June 2013, at the Drug Enforcement Administration office in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. A tax investigator, he had spent much of the weekend in the living room of his New Jersey townhouse, scrolling through arcane chat rooms and old blog posts, reading on well after his fiancée had gone to sleep.
The work had given Mr. Alford what he believed was the answer to a mystery that had confounded investigators for nearly two years: the identity of the mastermind behind the online drug bazaar known as Silk Road — a criminal known only by his screen name, Dread Pirate Roberts.
When Mr. Alford showed up for work that Monday, he had a real name and a location. He assumed the news would be greeted with excitement. Instead, he says, he got the brushoff.
He recalls asking the prosecutor on the case, out of frustration, “What about what I said is not compelling?”
Mr. Alford, a young special agent with the Internal Revenue Serviceassigned to work with the D.E.A., isn’t the first person to feel unappreciated at the office. In his case, though, the information he had was the crucial to solving one of the most vexing criminal cases of the last few years. While Silk Road by mid-2013 had grown into a juggernaut, selling $300,000 in heroin and other illegal goods each day, federal agents hadn’t been able to figure out the most basic detail: the identity of the person running the site.
Continue at the link below.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/27/business/dealbook/the-unsung-tax-agent-who-put-a-face-on-the-silk-road.html?ribbon-ad-idx=8&rref=homepage&module=Ribbon&version=origin®ion=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Home%20Page&pgtype=article
The Tax Sleuth Who Took Down a Drug Lord
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| Gary Alford, a special agent with the I.R.S., pored over old blog posts and chat room logs that led, eventually, to Dread Pirate Roberts. Cole Wilson for The New York Times |
Gary L. Alford was running on adrenaline when he arrived for work on a Monday in June 2013, at the Drug Enforcement Administration office in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. A tax investigator, he had spent much of the weekend in the living room of his New Jersey townhouse, scrolling through arcane chat rooms and old blog posts, reading on well after his fiancée had gone to sleep.
The work had given Mr. Alford what he believed was the answer to a mystery that had confounded investigators for nearly two years: the identity of the mastermind behind the online drug bazaar known as Silk Road — a criminal known only by his screen name, Dread Pirate Roberts.
When Mr. Alford showed up for work that Monday, he had a real name and a location. He assumed the news would be greeted with excitement. Instead, he says, he got the brushoff.
He recalls asking the prosecutor on the case, out of frustration, “What about what I said is not compelling?”
Mr. Alford, a young special agent with the Internal Revenue Serviceassigned to work with the D.E.A., isn’t the first person to feel unappreciated at the office. In his case, though, the information he had was the crucial to solving one of the most vexing criminal cases of the last few years. While Silk Road by mid-2013 had grown into a juggernaut, selling $300,000 in heroin and other illegal goods each day, federal agents hadn’t been able to figure out the most basic detail: the identity of the person running the site.
Continue at the link below.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/27/business/dealbook/the-unsung-tax-agent-who-put-a-face-on-the-silk-road.html?ribbon-ad-idx=8&rref=homepage&module=Ribbon&version=origin®ion=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Home%20Page&pgtype=article
Meet the 26-Year-Old Hacker Who Built a Self-Driving Car... in His Garage
From Bloomberg Business -
http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-george-hotz-self-driving-car/
http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-george-hotz-self-driving-car/
Final Thoughts on Amsterdam
Amsterdam is what every city should strive to be - new and inviting, with old world charm.
It's a city designed to walk and stroll and bike, to really enjoy.
There are all kinds of folks here - ethnicities galore. It truly is one of the most diverse cities I've visited. There are plenty of people who looked like me.
The natives are friendly, in a hands-off kind of way.
Marijuana is legal and freely smoked on the streets in the sidewalk cafes. The gift shops offer paraphernalia of every imaginable kind. There is a wide assortment of edibles, too. Cookies. Brownies. Fudge. Lollipops. Yum yum.
Of course, I was curious and asked about it. I was told by a merchant that marijuana is legal for personal use, but illegal to sell or to transport out of the country.
So, two big no no's in the US - prostitution and marijuana - are par for the course here. No big deal, at all.
That tidbit might be all the nudge some of you need to book your next vacation.
Whether that is your cup of tea or not, Amsterdam offer this and so much more.
If you're looking for fun, clean or otherwise, this is the place to be.
It's a city designed to walk and stroll and bike, to really enjoy.
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| Dam Square - Many of the European cities have these wide open spaces surrounded by great buildings and monuments. My hotel was across the street from this area. |
There are all kinds of folks here - ethnicities galore. It truly is one of the most diverse cities I've visited. There are plenty of people who looked like me.
The natives are friendly, in a hands-off kind of way.
 |
| This is the Royal Palace, a truly magnificent structure. It is located in Dam Square. |
Marijuana is legal and freely smoked on the streets in the sidewalk cafes. The gift shops offer paraphernalia of every imaginable kind. There is a wide assortment of edibles, too. Cookies. Brownies. Fudge. Lollipops. Yum yum.
Of course, I was curious and asked about it. I was told by a merchant that marijuana is legal for personal use, but illegal to sell or to transport out of the country.
So, two big no no's in the US - prostitution and marijuana - are par for the course here. No big deal, at all.
That tidbit might be all the nudge some of you need to book your next vacation.
 |
| This is the National Monument and the wax museum below are also in Dam Square. |
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| Madame Tussaud |
Whether that is your cup of tea or not, Amsterdam offer this and so much more.
If you're looking for fun, clean or otherwise, this is the place to be.
The House of One in Berlin
http://magazine.good.is/articles/church-synagogue-mosque-house-of-one-berlin
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