Sunday, February 5, 2017
Love, Peace, & Soul
From the Huffington Post -
A Look Back At 28 Memorable ‘Soul Train’ Performances
Celebrating “Love, Peace, Soul!”
By Brennan Williams
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/28-memorable-soul-train-performances_us_5890f1d3e4b02772c4e9d24f?section=us_black-voices
A Look Back At 28 Memorable ‘Soul Train’ Performances
Celebrating “Love, Peace, Soul!”
By Brennan Williams
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/28-memorable-soul-train-performances_us_5890f1d3e4b02772c4e9d24f?section=us_black-voices
Young, Gifted, & Black
From the Huffington Post -
This 22-Year-Old Is Already An Engineer At NASA
And she’s yet to graduate from MIT... with a 5.0. Yah.
By Zahara Hill
Tiera Guinn is just 22 years old and she’s already working for NASA.
As a Rocket Structural Design and Analysis Engineer for the Space Launch System that aerospace company Boeing is building for NASA, Guinn designs and analyzes parts of a rocket that she said will be one of the biggest and most powerful in history.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/this-22-year-old-is-already-an-engineer-at-nasa_us_5894c59be4b0c1284f25c913?section=us_black-voices
This 22-Year-Old Is Already An Engineer At NASA
And she’s yet to graduate from MIT... with a 5.0. Yah.
By Zahara Hill
Tiera Guinn is just 22 years old and she’s already working for NASA.
As a Rocket Structural Design and Analysis Engineer for the Space Launch System that aerospace company Boeing is building for NASA, Guinn designs and analyzes parts of a rocket that she said will be one of the biggest and most powerful in history.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/this-22-year-old-is-already-an-engineer-at-nasa_us_5894c59be4b0c1284f25c913?section=us_black-voices
Saturday, February 4, 2017
Visit the Tina Turner Museum
From Atlas Obscura -
Tina Turner Museum
A restored one-room African American schoolhouse in the diva's hometown now preserves the legacy of its most famous student.
While driving from Nashville to Memphis there is a bit of musical history that’s not to be missed. In Brownsville, Tennessee an old blacks-only schoolhouse has been restored and turned into a museum honoring the legacy of its student-turned-superstar, Anna Mae Bullock, better known as Tina Turner.
http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tina-turner-museum
Tina Turner Museum
A restored one-room African American schoolhouse in the diva's hometown now preserves the legacy of its most famous student.
While driving from Nashville to Memphis there is a bit of musical history that’s not to be missed. In Brownsville, Tennessee an old blacks-only schoolhouse has been restored and turned into a museum honoring the legacy of its student-turned-superstar, Anna Mae Bullock, better known as Tina Turner.
http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tina-turner-museum
How Not to Run a Complex Organization
An excerpt from the New York Times -
Case Study in Chaos: How Management Experts Grade a Trump White House
By JAMES B. STEWART
The unanimous verdict: Thus far, the Trump administration is a textbook case of how not to run a complex organization like the executive branch.
“This is so basic, it’s covered in the introduction to the M.B.A. program that all our students take,” said Lindred Greer, an assistant professor of organizational behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. By all outward indications, Mr. Trump “desperately needs to take the course,” she said.
Jeffrey Pfeffer, professor of organizational behavior at Stanford and the author of “Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don’t,” said Mr. Trump’s executive actions as president “are so far from any responsible management approach” that they all but defy analysis.
“Of course, this isn’t new,” he told me. “His campaign also violated every prudent management principle. Everyone including our friends on Wall Street somehow believed that once he was president he’d change. I don’t understand that logic.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/business/donald-trump-management-style.html
Case Study in Chaos: How Management Experts Grade a Trump White House
By JAMES B. STEWART
The unanimous verdict: Thus far, the Trump administration is a textbook case of how not to run a complex organization like the executive branch.
“This is so basic, it’s covered in the introduction to the M.B.A. program that all our students take,” said Lindred Greer, an assistant professor of organizational behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. By all outward indications, Mr. Trump “desperately needs to take the course,” she said.
Jeffrey Pfeffer, professor of organizational behavior at Stanford and the author of “Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don’t,” said Mr. Trump’s executive actions as president “are so far from any responsible management approach” that they all but defy analysis.
“Of course, this isn’t new,” he told me. “His campaign also violated every prudent management principle. Everyone including our friends on Wall Street somehow believed that once he was president he’d change. I don’t understand that logic.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/business/donald-trump-management-style.html
Friday, February 3, 2017
We've Been Here Before
From Salon -
“We’ve been here before”: Black Panther Jamal Joseph discusses present day political climate and offers words of wisdom
By D. WATKINS
http://www.salon.com/?post_type=post&p=14696142
“We’ve been here before”: Black Panther Jamal Joseph discusses present day political climate and offers words of wisdom
By D. WATKINS
http://www.salon.com/?post_type=post&p=14696142
Quote
From the LA Times -
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Thursday, February 2, 2017
A Powerful Message
From the Huffington Post -
The Moving Story Behind This Viral Photo Of A Doctor’s Powerful Sign
A union reacts after a doctor in Brooklyn is stranded in Sudan due to Trump’s travel ban.
By Elyse Wanshel
When a fellow doctor was detained in Sudan, his colleagues at a Brooklyn hospital got on it. Stat. Their outraged reaction became a viral photo.
On Jan. 31, a picture of a doctor holding a sign that reads, “I am taking care of your mom … but I can’t go see mine,” was posted to Twitter by Khaled Beydoun.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/doctor-holding-sign-mom-trump-muslim-travel-ban_us_58937a91e4b07595d05a4b3b?
The Moving Story Behind This Viral Photo Of A Doctor’s Powerful Sign
A union reacts after a doctor in Brooklyn is stranded in Sudan due to Trump’s travel ban.
By Elyse Wanshel
 |
| Dr. Mazin Khalid went to medical school with Dr. Kamal Fadlalla and is his friend. He’s holding a sign written by another doctor. |
When a fellow doctor was detained in Sudan, his colleagues at a Brooklyn hospital got on it. Stat. Their outraged reaction became a viral photo.
On Jan. 31, a picture of a doctor holding a sign that reads, “I am taking care of your mom … but I can’t go see mine,” was posted to Twitter by Khaled Beydoun.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/doctor-holding-sign-mom-trump-muslim-travel-ban_us_58937a91e4b07595d05a4b3b?
Celebrating Our Gifts
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-jaimie-milner-gifted-20160131-story.html
All Aboard
From Thrillist -
THE MOST STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL TRAIN RIDES IN AMERICA
By MATT MELTZER
https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/best-scenic-train-rides-us
THE MOST STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL TRAIN RIDES IN AMERICA
By MATT MELTZER
https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/best-scenic-train-rides-us
It's Personal
An excerpt from the NYTimes -
A Washington Correspondent’s Own Refugee Experience
By HELENE COOPER
WASHINGTON — When I was 13 years old, my family fled our home for the United States.
We were refugees, even though we came here on visitor visas that we simply outstayed. The country of my birth, Liberia, had just seen a military coup, where enlisted soldiers took over the government, disemboweled the president and launched an orgy of retribution against the old guard. My father was shot. My cousin was executed on the beach by firing squad. My mom was gang-raped by soldiers in the basement of our house after she volunteered to submit to them on the condition that they leave my sisters and me, ages 8 to 16, alone.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/31/insider/a-washington-correspondents-own-refugee-experience.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share&_r=0
A Washington Correspondent’s Own Refugee Experience
By HELENE COOPER
WASHINGTON — When I was 13 years old, my family fled our home for the United States.
We were refugees, even though we came here on visitor visas that we simply outstayed. The country of my birth, Liberia, had just seen a military coup, where enlisted soldiers took over the government, disemboweled the president and launched an orgy of retribution against the old guard. My father was shot. My cousin was executed on the beach by firing squad. My mom was gang-raped by soldiers in the basement of our house after she volunteered to submit to them on the condition that they leave my sisters and me, ages 8 to 16, alone.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/31/insider/a-washington-correspondents-own-refugee-experience.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share&_r=0
Playing Dress Up
From the Huffington Post -
 |
| Ambrielle-Baker Rogers, Morgan Coleman and Miah Bell-Olson dressed as Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Johnson and Mary Jackson, the trio of black women featured in the movie “Hidden Figures” who helped NASA send astronaut John Glenn into orbit. Courtesy of Amanda Evans
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/girls-dress-up-as-hidden-figures-characters-totally-nail-it_us_5892016ce4b02772c4ea6d7d?
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He Was the Man
From Vanity Fair -
Sidney Poitier, 1967, and One of the Most Remarkable Runs in Hollywood History
Five decades ago, at the height of the civil-rights movement, America’s most beloved movie actor was a black man whose three films that year—To Sir, with Love; In the Heat of the Night; and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner—made him king of the Hollywood box office. How the actor’s coolly uncompromising navigation of that status helped send a pointed message to white America.
by LAURA JACOBS
It was the “long hot summer of 1967,” so called because racial unrest had reached full boil. Riots—“the language of the unheard,” in the words of Martin Luther King Jr.—were exploding in city after city, from Atlanta to Boston, Birmingham to Milwaukee, roaring in Newark and Detroit. Malcolm X had been shot dead two years earlier, and Stokely Carmichael’s Black Power, in all its incendiary eloquence, was sweeping up the young, both black and white. It was slash-and-burn civil-rights activism, and it terrified parents, enraged racists, and unsettled the White House. America the melting pot was a crucible in crisis.
But at the movies, even in the South, the crucible was cool. In 1967 the country’s biggest film star, its most loved actor, was black. He had the self-containment of a cat, the swoop of a hawk, the calm of a saint. His poise was a form of precision, and his precision, intelligence that ran deep. He was Hollywood’s first African-American matinee idol (though technically Bahamian-American) and the last of an Old Hollywood breed—the gentleman hero in the bespoke suit. His name was Sidney Poitier.
http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/02/sidney-poitier-remarkable-run-in-hollywood-history
Sidney Poitier, 1967, and One of the Most Remarkable Runs in Hollywood History
Five decades ago, at the height of the civil-rights movement, America’s most beloved movie actor was a black man whose three films that year—To Sir, with Love; In the Heat of the Night; and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner—made him king of the Hollywood box office. How the actor’s coolly uncompromising navigation of that status helped send a pointed message to white America.
by LAURA JACOBS
It was the “long hot summer of 1967,” so called because racial unrest had reached full boil. Riots—“the language of the unheard,” in the words of Martin Luther King Jr.—were exploding in city after city, from Atlanta to Boston, Birmingham to Milwaukee, roaring in Newark and Detroit. Malcolm X had been shot dead two years earlier, and Stokely Carmichael’s Black Power, in all its incendiary eloquence, was sweeping up the young, both black and white. It was slash-and-burn civil-rights activism, and it terrified parents, enraged racists, and unsettled the White House. America the melting pot was a crucible in crisis.
But at the movies, even in the South, the crucible was cool. In 1967 the country’s biggest film star, its most loved actor, was black. He had the self-containment of a cat, the swoop of a hawk, the calm of a saint. His poise was a form of precision, and his precision, intelligence that ran deep. He was Hollywood’s first African-American matinee idol (though technically Bahamian-American) and the last of an Old Hollywood breed—the gentleman hero in the bespoke suit. His name was Sidney Poitier.
http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/02/sidney-poitier-remarkable-run-in-hollywood-history
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
This Dude is From Davis
An excerpt from Wired -
The Chemical Engineer Who’ll School You on Coffee
By CAIT OPPERMANN
AS A CHEMICAL engineer who studies the motion of fluids, Bill Ristenpart deals with a lot of spattered blood and aerosolized pathogenic mouse phlegm. But when it comes to teaching wary freshman the basics of mass transfer and thermodynamics, the UC Davis professor relies on a less messy (and more potable) liquid: coffee. Beans go through so many complex chemical changes that they can easily form the basis of a whole curriculum.
Ristenpart’s three year-old course, the Design of Coffee, has become the most popular chemical engineering class in the country, enrolling a quarter of Davis’ freshmen. After spending the semester deconstructing coffeemakers and determining pH levels by taste, the 500-odd students compete to engineer the tastiest brew using the least amount of energy. Which isn’t easy, Ristenpart says, because “we know very little about coffee.” Though Americans down some 400 million cups a day, US researchers don’t typically study it; there’s little incentive for agencies like the USDA to fund research on a crop grown thousands of miles away in the tropics. Nearly everything about java, from the microbial intricacies of fermentation to the molecular basis of flavor, remains a mystery.
https://www.wired.com/2017/02/study-coffee-at-uc-davis/?mbid=nl_2117_p2&CNDID=
The Chemical Engineer Who’ll School You on Coffee
By CAIT OPPERMANN
AS A CHEMICAL engineer who studies the motion of fluids, Bill Ristenpart deals with a lot of spattered blood and aerosolized pathogenic mouse phlegm. But when it comes to teaching wary freshman the basics of mass transfer and thermodynamics, the UC Davis professor relies on a less messy (and more potable) liquid: coffee. Beans go through so many complex chemical changes that they can easily form the basis of a whole curriculum.
Ristenpart’s three year-old course, the Design of Coffee, has become the most popular chemical engineering class in the country, enrolling a quarter of Davis’ freshmen. After spending the semester deconstructing coffeemakers and determining pH levels by taste, the 500-odd students compete to engineer the tastiest brew using the least amount of energy. Which isn’t easy, Ristenpart says, because “we know very little about coffee.” Though Americans down some 400 million cups a day, US researchers don’t typically study it; there’s little incentive for agencies like the USDA to fund research on a crop grown thousands of miles away in the tropics. Nearly everything about java, from the microbial intricacies of fermentation to the molecular basis of flavor, remains a mystery.
https://www.wired.com/2017/02/study-coffee-at-uc-davis/?mbid=nl_2117_p2&CNDID=
Gentrification Warning Signs
From Salon -
5 warning signs that your neighborhood is gentrifying
Know what to look for before your rent goes up
By D. WATKINS
http://www.salon.com/?post_type=post&p=14693925
5 warning signs that your neighborhood is gentrifying
Know what to look for before your rent goes up
By D. WATKINS
http://www.salon.com/?post_type=post&p=14693925
Good vs. Evil
From the Washington Post - (Bold is mine)
20 reasons why Patriots-Falcons Super Bowl is a classic Good vs. Evil matchup
By Bill Plaschke
It’s cheating Brady against wide-eyed Matty.
It’s an owner who stalks against one who dances.
It’s a coach wearing a hoodie against one who dresses in Navy SEAL mottos.
The Super Bowl pitting the New England Patriots against the Atlanta Falcons features competing auras as clear as the rumple in Bill Belichick’s sweatshirt or the curl of Tom Brady’s upper lip.
According to Public Policy Polling, the Patriots are the most disliked team in pro football for a second consecutive season. By comparison, the relatively blah Falcons are beloved.
Even with this week’s revelations about the Falcons’ past concerns over their players’ use of pain medication, this truly feels like a Super Bowl of not just David vs. Goliath, but that old favorite, Good vs. Evil, and here are 20 reasons why:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-patriots-falcons-plaschke-20170131-story.html?utm_source=Today%27s+Headlines&utm_campaign=f598d81244-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2016_12_12&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b04355194f-f598d81244-80034853
20 reasons why Patriots-Falcons Super Bowl is a classic Good vs. Evil matchup
By Bill Plaschke
It’s cheating Brady against wide-eyed Matty.
It’s an owner who stalks against one who dances.
It’s a coach wearing a hoodie against one who dresses in Navy SEAL mottos.
The Super Bowl pitting the New England Patriots against the Atlanta Falcons features competing auras as clear as the rumple in Bill Belichick’s sweatshirt or the curl of Tom Brady’s upper lip.
According to Public Policy Polling, the Patriots are the most disliked team in pro football for a second consecutive season. By comparison, the relatively blah Falcons are beloved.
Even with this week’s revelations about the Falcons’ past concerns over their players’ use of pain medication, this truly feels like a Super Bowl of not just David vs. Goliath, but that old favorite, Good vs. Evil, and here are 20 reasons why:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-patriots-falcons-plaschke-20170131-story.html?utm_source=Today%27s+Headlines&utm_campaign=f598d81244-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2016_12_12&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b04355194f-f598d81244-80034853
Orangutans Find Love on Tinder
From the Washington Post -
An orangutan will have a chance to find her mate — through Tinder
By Amy B Wang
The first indication Samboja was being nudged to find a partner came last year, when her home zoo — the Apenheul Primate Park in the Netherlands — took to Facebook to casually point out that the female orangutan was approaching the age where she could start having kids.
A year later, the Dutch zoo has announced how exactly they’re hoping the primate will meet someone: through “Tinder for orangutans.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2017/01/31/an-orangutan-will-have-a-chance-to-find-her-mate-through-tinder/?utm_term=.9b99b471da45
An orangutan will have a chance to find her mate — through Tinder
By Amy B Wang
 |
| Female orangutans Conny and Sinta watch videos of potential mates at the Wilhelma Zoo in Stuttgart, Germany, in 2016. (Courtesy Wilhelma Zoo) |
The first indication Samboja was being nudged to find a partner came last year, when her home zoo — the Apenheul Primate Park in the Netherlands — took to Facebook to casually point out that the female orangutan was approaching the age where she could start having kids.
A year later, the Dutch zoo has announced how exactly they’re hoping the primate will meet someone: through “Tinder for orangutans.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2017/01/31/an-orangutan-will-have-a-chance-to-find-her-mate-through-tinder/?utm_term=.9b99b471da45
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
A Place to Stay
From Atlas Obscura -
United Record Pressing
When Motown musicians came to Nashville in the 1960s they stayed at this historic record press, because hotels wouldn't host them.
In 1959, a 30-year-old songwriter from Detroit had a few hit tunes from recordings he had written with his sister, so with $800 borrowed from his parents, Berry Gordy began what was to become one of the most successful African-American owned businesses in history. But in the 1960s, even as Motown dominated the charts, in southern cities like Nashville, racial segregation kept Gordy and his artists out of most hotels.
Left with few options in one of the most important music towns in the country, the manufacturer of Motown’s records, United Record Pressing (which was known as Southern Plastics in the early years), built a suite of rooms for Gordy and his recording artists who needed a place to stay when they came through Nashville.
http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/united-record-pressing
United Record Pressing
When Motown musicians came to Nashville in the 1960s they stayed at this historic record press, because hotels wouldn't host them.
In 1959, a 30-year-old songwriter from Detroit had a few hit tunes from recordings he had written with his sister, so with $800 borrowed from his parents, Berry Gordy began what was to become one of the most successful African-American owned businesses in history. But in the 1960s, even as Motown dominated the charts, in southern cities like Nashville, racial segregation kept Gordy and his artists out of most hotels.
Left with few options in one of the most important music towns in the country, the manufacturer of Motown’s records, United Record Pressing (which was known as Southern Plastics in the early years), built a suite of rooms for Gordy and his recording artists who needed a place to stay when they came through Nashville.
http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/united-record-pressing
Forced Out
From Atlas Obscura -
District Six Museum
An excellent and sobering account of the vibrant multicultural neighborhood destroyed under apartheid.
District Six, or “Distrik Ses” in Afrikaans, was a bohemian, mixed neighborhood in every sense of the word. It was crowded with a multiracial blend of working class people, Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike, many of whom were descended from freed slaves and immigrants. In the mid–20th century, a population of roughly 60,000 lived there. Unfortunately, District Six was also at the epicenter of apartheid in Cape Town, and still bears its scars.
During the apartheid regime of the 1960s and ’70s, the segregating Group Areas Act saw all the non-white residents of District Six evicted and relocated further outside the city. It was called “slum clearing,” but the true intention was to fill the desirably located neighborhood with white residents and high rises.
Side note - I saw this are when I visited Cape Town five years ago. The history is a sad one.
http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/district-six-museum
District Six Museum
An excellent and sobering account of the vibrant multicultural neighborhood destroyed under apartheid.
District Six, or “Distrik Ses” in Afrikaans, was a bohemian, mixed neighborhood in every sense of the word. It was crowded with a multiracial blend of working class people, Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike, many of whom were descended from freed slaves and immigrants. In the mid–20th century, a population of roughly 60,000 lived there. Unfortunately, District Six was also at the epicenter of apartheid in Cape Town, and still bears its scars.
During the apartheid regime of the 1960s and ’70s, the segregating Group Areas Act saw all the non-white residents of District Six evicted and relocated further outside the city. It was called “slum clearing,” but the true intention was to fill the desirably located neighborhood with white residents and high rises.
Side note - I saw this are when I visited Cape Town five years ago. The history is a sad one.
http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/district-six-museum
Trevor's View
http://www.cc.com/video-clips/bxjc4n/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-president-trump-s-muslim-targeted-travel-ban
Lars and the Real Girl, For Real
From the Washington Post -
What life is like living with a ‘love doll’ in Japan
By Kenneth Dickerman
In 2007, Ryan Gosling played a character who has trouble making friends or even socializing with people in a movie called “Lars and the Real Girl.” In the movie, to salve his social anxieties, he turns to the company of a silicone doll he names Bianca. His friends, family and community decide to support him. Eventually, Lars learns to get past his insecurities and begins a relationship with a real woman. Although this was fiction, it is not as far-fetched as it might seem. In fact, at least one man in Japan is playing out a somewhat similar story.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-sight/wp/2017/01/30/what-life-is-like-living-with-a-love-doll-in-japan/?utm_term=.6131c7d563cd
What life is like living with a ‘love doll’ in Japan
By Kenneth Dickerman
In 2007, Ryan Gosling played a character who has trouble making friends or even socializing with people in a movie called “Lars and the Real Girl.” In the movie, to salve his social anxieties, he turns to the company of a silicone doll he names Bianca. His friends, family and community decide to support him. Eventually, Lars learns to get past his insecurities and begins a relationship with a real woman. Although this was fiction, it is not as far-fetched as it might seem. In fact, at least one man in Japan is playing out a somewhat similar story.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-sight/wp/2017/01/30/what-life-is-like-living-with-a-love-doll-in-japan/?utm_term=.6131c7d563cd
Hmmmmm
From the Washington Post -
A fascinating theory from the world of sports about Donald Trump’s first 7 days
By Chris Cillizza
An old sports strategy: foul so much in the 1st 5 min of the game that the refs can't call them all. From then on, a more physical game. - Sally Jenkins
A fascinating theory from the world of sports about Donald Trump’s first 7 days
By Chris Cillizza
An old sports strategy: foul so much in the 1st 5 min of the game that the refs can't call them all. From then on, a more physical game. - Sally Jenkins
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/01/30/a-fascinating-theory-from-the-world-of-sports-about-donald-trumps-governing-style/?utm_term=.554595250e46
Protecting His Interest
From Slate - (Bold is mine)
Trump’s Muslim Ban Is Harmful and Haphazard—but Is It Also Kleptocratic?
By Josh Voorhees
Donald Trump’s immigration ban targeting Muslims is many things: alarming, un-American, inhumane, counterproductive, and likely unconstitutional for starters. But a closer look at the specific countries Trump chose to target raises a secondary concern as well: Did the president intentionally tailor the order to protect his and his family’s financial interests abroad?
Trump’s Muslim Ban Is Harmful and Haphazard—but Is It Also Kleptocratic?
By Josh Voorhees
Donald Trump’s immigration ban targeting Muslims is many things: alarming, un-American, inhumane, counterproductive, and likely unconstitutional for starters. But a closer look at the specific countries Trump chose to target raises a secondary concern as well: Did the president intentionally tailor the order to protect his and his family’s financial interests abroad?
Act As If Your Life Depended On It
An excerpt from Deadspin -
Resist.
By Albert Burneko
Yes, wear a shirt with a slogan on it. Yes, put a bumper sticker on your car. Yes, flood your social media feed with your outrage. Fine. All of those are fine, and necessary, and good.
But also: Call your senator. Call your congressperson. Call your governor. Call your alderperson, your city councilperson; your mayor; your sheriff’s office. Really call them. On the phone. Do it right now. Whether they are Democrats or Republicans. Ask them, live or by voicemail, not only to speak out against the Trump administration’s savagery, but to oppose it, officially, to vote against it and act against it and refuse to participate in implementing it. Tell them, explicitly, that you and your friends and loved ones will vote for literally anyone who runs against them in their next campaign if they do anything less than oppose, in word and deed, every single part of the Trump administration’s agenda. All his appointments. All his executive orders. Everything.
http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/resist-1791774913
Resist.
By Albert Burneko
Yes, wear a shirt with a slogan on it. Yes, put a bumper sticker on your car. Yes, flood your social media feed with your outrage. Fine. All of those are fine, and necessary, and good.
But also: Call your senator. Call your congressperson. Call your governor. Call your alderperson, your city councilperson; your mayor; your sheriff’s office. Really call them. On the phone. Do it right now. Whether they are Democrats or Republicans. Ask them, live or by voicemail, not only to speak out against the Trump administration’s savagery, but to oppose it, officially, to vote against it and act against it and refuse to participate in implementing it. Tell them, explicitly, that you and your friends and loved ones will vote for literally anyone who runs against them in their next campaign if they do anything less than oppose, in word and deed, every single part of the Trump administration’s agenda. All his appointments. All his executive orders. Everything.
http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/resist-1791774913
Mr. Clean is Back and He's Black
From the Root -
The New Mr. Clean Is a Black Man
By Yesha Callahan
Bald head? Check. Single gold hoop? Check. A smile that would put the most expensive veneers to shame? Check. A white dude? No check. Proctor & Gamble decided to give Mr. Clean a makeover, and his name is Mike Jackson. Jackson beat out thousands of would-be hopefuls who were vying to be the new face of P&G’s cartoon character that debuted almost 60 years ago.
http://thegrapevine.theroot.com/the-new-mr-clean-is-a-black-man-1791816272
The New Mr. Clean Is a Black Man
By Yesha Callahan
Bald head? Check. Single gold hoop? Check. A smile that would put the most expensive veneers to shame? Check. A white dude? No check. Proctor & Gamble decided to give Mr. Clean a makeover, and his name is Mike Jackson. Jackson beat out thousands of would-be hopefuls who were vying to be the new face of P&G’s cartoon character that debuted almost 60 years ago.
http://thegrapevine.theroot.com/the-new-mr-clean-is-a-black-man-1791816272
Love His Response!
From the Root -
http://thegrapevine.theroot.com/kirk-franklin-has-jesus-and-his-heater-by-his-side-to-d-1791774826
http://thegrapevine.theroot.com/kirk-franklin-has-jesus-and-his-heater-by-his-side-to-d-1791774826
Black Power Statue
From Atlas Obscura -
Olympic Black Power Statue
A statue commemorating Tommie Smith and John Carlos' brave protest at the 1968 Olympics, a watershed moment for civil rights.
Perhaps no image from the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City is more recognizable than the silent protest of Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the Olympic medalist podium. During the award ceremony, Smith and Carlos, gold and bronze medalists in the 200-meter track event, raised their black-gloved fists in a black power salute, and removed their shoes to symbolize black poverty.
The statue is located on the San Jose State University campus, next to Clark Hall and Tower Hall in Washington Square, where South 6th Street and East San Antonio Street would intersect. The nearest parking is either the parking structure near the MLK Jr. Library, or in one of the parking garages at SJSU.
http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/olympic-black-power-statue
Olympic Black Power Statue
A statue commemorating Tommie Smith and John Carlos' brave protest at the 1968 Olympics, a watershed moment for civil rights.
Perhaps no image from the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City is more recognizable than the silent protest of Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the Olympic medalist podium. During the award ceremony, Smith and Carlos, gold and bronze medalists in the 200-meter track event, raised their black-gloved fists in a black power salute, and removed their shoes to symbolize black poverty.
The statue is located on the San Jose State University campus, next to Clark Hall and Tower Hall in Washington Square, where South 6th Street and East San Antonio Street would intersect. The nearest parking is either the parking structure near the MLK Jr. Library, or in one of the parking garages at SJSU.
http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/olympic-black-power-statue
Monday, January 30, 2017
College Head Start
An excerpt from OZY -
Kentucky Gives High Schoolers a College Head Start
Watch for bluegrass brainiacs. Kentucky’s becoming a leader in dual-enrollment — where high school students get credits for college classes — with more than 42,400 students taking advantage last fall. More and more states are following the “early college” trend as the federal government starts to tailor Pell Grants to younger teens, with low-income students seeing particular gains. While there are concerns about equal access to the program and overworking adolescents, employers and parents are still chasing the prospect of better-prepared youngsters and shrinking tuition bills.
http://www.ozy.com/politics-and-power/the-future-of-college-enrollment-runs-through-kentucky/74725
Kentucky Gives High Schoolers a College Head Start
Watch for bluegrass brainiacs. Kentucky’s becoming a leader in dual-enrollment — where high school students get credits for college classes — with more than 42,400 students taking advantage last fall. More and more states are following the “early college” trend as the federal government starts to tailor Pell Grants to younger teens, with low-income students seeing particular gains. While there are concerns about equal access to the program and overworking adolescents, employers and parents are still chasing the prospect of better-prepared youngsters and shrinking tuition bills.
http://www.ozy.com/politics-and-power/the-future-of-college-enrollment-runs-through-kentucky/74725
Fair Warning
An excerpt from the Atlantic -
Advice for Those Weighing Jobs in the Trump Administration
Assessing the risks of service
Br David Frum
Some 40 people were indicted as a result of the Watergate scandal. Among those sentenced to prison: the attorney general of the United States, the White House counsel, and President Nixon’s two most senior White House aides. A dozen men were convicted or pled guilty to a range of charges after the Iran-Contra affair.
White Houses can be dangerous places under leadership that does not respect the law. When friends ask me, “Should I accept a job under President Trump?” it’s not merely a philosophical question. Answer the question wrong, and they may find themselves two or three years later facing a congressional investigation or possibly even a grand jury. Even those who never face charges—let alone conviction—can see their lives up-ended: As the saying goes, in Washington, the process is the punishment.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/trump-administration-jobs/514805/
Advice for Those Weighing Jobs in the Trump Administration
Assessing the risks of service
Br David Frum
Some 40 people were indicted as a result of the Watergate scandal. Among those sentenced to prison: the attorney general of the United States, the White House counsel, and President Nixon’s two most senior White House aides. A dozen men were convicted or pled guilty to a range of charges after the Iran-Contra affair.
White Houses can be dangerous places under leadership that does not respect the law. When friends ask me, “Should I accept a job under President Trump?” it’s not merely a philosophical question. Answer the question wrong, and they may find themselves two or three years later facing a congressional investigation or possibly even a grand jury. Even those who never face charges—let alone conviction—can see their lives up-ended: As the saying goes, in Washington, the process is the punishment.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/trump-administration-jobs/514805/
Sunday, January 29, 2017
A Love Letter to America
I love this guy and miss his daily blog. This article is long, but so worth the read.
From NY Magazine -
America Is Still the Future
A love letter to my new country.
By Andrew Sullivan
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/01/andrew-sullivan-becoming-american-in-age-of-trump.html
From NY Magazine -
America Is Still the Future
A love letter to my new country.
By Andrew Sullivan
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/01/andrew-sullivan-becoming-american-in-age-of-trump.html
Discarded Treasures
From the New York Times -
Love and Black Lives, in Pictures Found on a Brooklyn Street
A discarded photo album reveals a rich history of black lives, from the
segregated South to Harlem dance halls to a pretty block in Crown Heights.
By ANNIE CORREAL
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/nyregion/love-and-black-lives-in-pictures-found-on-a-brooklyn-street.html
Love and Black Lives, in Pictures Found on a Brooklyn Street
A discarded photo album reveals a rich history of black lives, from the
segregated South to Harlem dance halls to a pretty block in Crown Heights.
By ANNIE CORREAL
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/nyregion/love-and-black-lives-in-pictures-found-on-a-brooklyn-street.html
50 Best Jobs in the US
From Thrillist -
HERE ARE THE 50 BEST JOBS IN AMERICA FOR 2017
By TONY MEREVICK
https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/the-50-best-jobs-in-america-for-2017-according-to-glassdoor
HERE ARE THE 50 BEST JOBS IN AMERICA FOR 2017
By TONY MEREVICK
https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/the-50-best-jobs-in-america-for-2017-according-to-glassdoor
Gross Food People Love
From Thrillist -
EVERY STATE'S GROSSEST FOOD (THAT PEOPLE ACTUALLY LOVE)
By WIL FULTON
https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/worst-foods-to-eat-states
EVERY STATE'S GROSSEST FOOD (THAT PEOPLE ACTUALLY LOVE)
By WIL FULTON
https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/worst-foods-to-eat-states
Bessie Coleman
From the Huffington Post -
Google Honors Bessie Coleman, America’s First Black Female Pilot
January 26th marked what would have been her 125th birthday.
Google Honors Bessie Coleman, America’s First Black Female Pilot
January 26th marked what would have been her 125th birthday.
Yes, Literally
An excerpt from Slate -
OK, Now Can We Start Taking Donald Trump Literally?
Trump’s campaign was not an act. He was making promises that he’s now planning to keep.
By Jamelle Bouie
“His supporters take him seriously,” the refrain went, “but not literally.” This was the savvy line on Trump from the election: that his rhetoric—his outlandish and conspiratorial claims, his breathless attacks on racial and religious minorities—was an act. Journalists might take him literally, but his supporters (and the people who understood them) knew better. Trump wouldn’t literally ban Muslims from entering the United States. He didn’t actually believe that unemployment was 40 percent or that America was rife with voter fraud. Those were symbolic beliefs. We should take them seriously as statements of concern but not literally as guides to action.
But this was nonsense, a cynical take based off of folk wisdom about politicians: They rarely tell the truth about their intentions. That folk wisdom is wrong. The fact is that politicians are often forthright about what they plan to do in office. And indeed, the best guide to a new president’s actions is simply his campaign. What did he promise; what did he say? Presidents, in other words, keep their promises.
Above everything else, Trump promised to bring the power of the federal state to bear against the domestic enemies of the people, defined in explicitly racial terms. From his perch in the Oval Office, Trump would “protect” the American people from Muslim refugees, “dangerous” Hispanic immigrants, and groups like Black Lives Matter. On this, Trump was consistent. This wasn’t mere rhetoric; this was a set of serious promises to deal with literal threats. And this week, the newly minted president has begun tackling them, one by one, in rapid succession.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/01/now_can_we_start_taking_donald_trump_literally.html
OK, Now Can We Start Taking Donald Trump Literally?
Trump’s campaign was not an act. He was making promises that he’s now planning to keep.
By Jamelle Bouie
“His supporters take him seriously,” the refrain went, “but not literally.” This was the savvy line on Trump from the election: that his rhetoric—his outlandish and conspiratorial claims, his breathless attacks on racial and religious minorities—was an act. Journalists might take him literally, but his supporters (and the people who understood them) knew better. Trump wouldn’t literally ban Muslims from entering the United States. He didn’t actually believe that unemployment was 40 percent or that America was rife with voter fraud. Those were symbolic beliefs. We should take them seriously as statements of concern but not literally as guides to action.
But this was nonsense, a cynical take based off of folk wisdom about politicians: They rarely tell the truth about their intentions. That folk wisdom is wrong. The fact is that politicians are often forthright about what they plan to do in office. And indeed, the best guide to a new president’s actions is simply his campaign. What did he promise; what did he say? Presidents, in other words, keep their promises.
Above everything else, Trump promised to bring the power of the federal state to bear against the domestic enemies of the people, defined in explicitly racial terms. From his perch in the Oval Office, Trump would “protect” the American people from Muslim refugees, “dangerous” Hispanic immigrants, and groups like Black Lives Matter. On this, Trump was consistent. This wasn’t mere rhetoric; this was a set of serious promises to deal with literal threats. And this week, the newly minted president has begun tackling them, one by one, in rapid succession.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/01/now_can_we_start_taking_donald_trump_literally.html
Prison Life
From the Marshall Project -
My Best Friends in Prison are Frogs, Turtles, and Raccoons
Sharing space with open-minded visitors from beyond the walls.
By JOSEPH DOLE
This article was published in collaboration with Vice.
I used to have a pet turtle in prison.
I began my bid at Menard Correctional Center in southern Illinois, where I lived from 2000 to 2002. The entire yard abuts a rocky bluff, and deer would occasionally emerge from the surrounding woods to peer down at us. In the summer, I could always find myself a pet; garter snakes, frogs, and turtles would often break onto the grounds. At night, I could look out my window and see more than a dozen raccoons hanging out on the roof of the storage building, planning their assault on the chow hall dumpsters.
Once, I smuggled a baby turtle the size of a quarter to my cell. Its shell was so dark, it was nearly black. I built a small aquarium out of Styrofoam trays and cellophane, and when guards would walk by, I would push the aquarium out of sight under the bunk. During shakedowns, I’d cuff my turtle in my hand. The confused guards would destroy the empty aquarium, and I’d have to build another.
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2017/01/12/my-best-friends-in-prison-are-frogs-turtles-and-raccoons#.kMc1Dxkhq
My Best Friends in Prison are Frogs, Turtles, and Raccoons
Sharing space with open-minded visitors from beyond the walls.
By JOSEPH DOLE
This article was published in collaboration with Vice.
I used to have a pet turtle in prison.
I began my bid at Menard Correctional Center in southern Illinois, where I lived from 2000 to 2002. The entire yard abuts a rocky bluff, and deer would occasionally emerge from the surrounding woods to peer down at us. In the summer, I could always find myself a pet; garter snakes, frogs, and turtles would often break onto the grounds. At night, I could look out my window and see more than a dozen raccoons hanging out on the roof of the storage building, planning their assault on the chow hall dumpsters.
Once, I smuggled a baby turtle the size of a quarter to my cell. Its shell was so dark, it was nearly black. I built a small aquarium out of Styrofoam trays and cellophane, and when guards would walk by, I would push the aquarium out of sight under the bunk. During shakedowns, I’d cuff my turtle in my hand. The confused guards would destroy the empty aquarium, and I’d have to build another.
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2017/01/12/my-best-friends-in-prison-are-frogs-turtles-and-raccoons#.kMc1Dxkhq
Facebook in Africa
An excerpt from OZY -
THE LAWYER BEHIND FACEBOOK'S TURN TO AFRICA
By Taylor Mayol
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE
Because Facebook is just starting to focus its energy across Africa — and she’s leading the charge.
When the Democratic Republic of Congo shut down the internet during political protests last year, Ebele Okobi flew to Kinshasa to persuade the authorities of the importance of internet access. Also, she showed them how to use Facebook.
Some describe Okobi, 42, as “the secretary of state of Facebook” for the African continent. (Her official title: public policy director for Africa.) Though based in London, Okobi spends most of her time on the road — meeting with the minister for information technology in Kigali, for instance, or showing Lesotho’s leader how to create a public Facebook page. Overall, the Nigerian-American is trying to advance her megalith company’s mission of connectedness while also, of course, gaining it more users and markets. She flies under the radar for the most part, but when Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg visited Africa for the first time last year, it was Okobi, dressed in Nigerian-made fashion, who stood next to him and Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari.
http://www.ozy.com/rising-stars/the-lawyer-behind-facebooks-turn-to-africa/74650
THE LAWYER BEHIND FACEBOOK'S TURN TO AFRICA
By Taylor Mayol
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE
Because Facebook is just starting to focus its energy across Africa — and she’s leading the charge.
When the Democratic Republic of Congo shut down the internet during political protests last year, Ebele Okobi flew to Kinshasa to persuade the authorities of the importance of internet access. Also, she showed them how to use Facebook.
Some describe Okobi, 42, as “the secretary of state of Facebook” for the African continent. (Her official title: public policy director for Africa.) Though based in London, Okobi spends most of her time on the road — meeting with the minister for information technology in Kigali, for instance, or showing Lesotho’s leader how to create a public Facebook page. Overall, the Nigerian-American is trying to advance her megalith company’s mission of connectedness while also, of course, gaining it more users and markets. She flies under the radar for the most part, but when Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg visited Africa for the first time last year, it was Okobi, dressed in Nigerian-made fashion, who stood next to him and Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari.
http://www.ozy.com/rising-stars/the-lawyer-behind-facebooks-turn-to-africa/74650
Pay For Play
From OZY -
THE DIRTIEST SECRET IN AMERICAN DIPLOMACY
By Taylor Mayol
Because what some call loyalty, others call “pay for play.”
For Donald Trump and his supporters, it’s payback time. The currency? Ambassadorships.
http://www.ozy.com/politics-and-power/the-dirtiest-secret-in-american-diplomacy/74193
THE DIRTIEST SECRET IN AMERICAN DIPLOMACY
By Taylor Mayol
Because what some call loyalty, others call “pay for play.”
For Donald Trump and his supporters, it’s payback time. The currency? Ambassadorships.
http://www.ozy.com/politics-and-power/the-dirtiest-secret-in-american-diplomacy/74193
Some Uber Driver Sacrifices
From Bloomberg -
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-23/when-their-shifts-end-uber-drivers-set-up-camp-in-parking-lots-across-the-u-s?bcomANews=true
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-23/when-their-shifts-end-uber-drivers-set-up-camp-in-parking-lots-across-the-u-s?bcomANews=true
Taking a Stand
From Fortune via OZY -
The Corporation That’s Reconciling Its Racial Ledger
The books need balancing. Accounting giant PwC has taken an unusually direct approach to race relations — and it’s sparked the potential for corporate powers to play meaningful roles in addressing racial trauma. Following this summer’s wave of police brutality against Black Americans, PwC’s U.S. chairman Tim Ryan started a company-wide conversation that’s translated into policy. His firm’s made anti-bias training mandatory, loudly advocated for a greater awareness of race on social media, and begun to market lessons about racial inequality to other businesses ready to hold themselves to account.
http://fortune.com/pwc-diversity-tim-ryan/
http://www.ozy.com/presidential-daily-brief/pdb-75383/equity-audit-75399
The Corporation That’s Reconciling Its Racial Ledger
The books need balancing. Accounting giant PwC has taken an unusually direct approach to race relations — and it’s sparked the potential for corporate powers to play meaningful roles in addressing racial trauma. Following this summer’s wave of police brutality against Black Americans, PwC’s U.S. chairman Tim Ryan started a company-wide conversation that’s translated into policy. His firm’s made anti-bias training mandatory, loudly advocated for a greater awareness of race on social media, and begun to market lessons about racial inequality to other businesses ready to hold themselves to account.
http://fortune.com/pwc-diversity-tim-ryan/
http://www.ozy.com/presidential-daily-brief/pdb-75383/equity-audit-75399
The President is a Liar
An excerpt from the New York Times -
A Lie by Any Other Name
By Charles M. Blow
Donald Trump is a proven liar. He lies often and effortlessly. He lies about the profound and the trivial. He lies to avoid guilt and invite glory. He lies when his pride is injured and when his pomposity is challenged.
Indeed, one of the greatest threats Trump poses is that he corrupts and corrodes the absoluteness of truth, facts and science.
It is no coincidence that the rise of Trump is concurrent with the rise of “fake news.” It is no coincidence that his rise comes during an age of severely damaged faith in institutions.
And now that he has been elected, Trump wants absolute control over the flow of information, to dictate his own version of facts rather than live with the reality of accepted facts. Trump is in a battle to bend the truth to his benefit.
He hates members of the press because, when properly performing, they are truth seekers rather than ego-strokers. The press may sometimes get things wrong, but it most often gets them right. A truly independent press is not stocked with political acolytes but political adversaries.
This doesn’t sit well with an administration that wants to be perpetually patted on the back and never rapped on the knuckles.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/26/opinion/a-lie-by-any-other-name.html
A Lie by Any Other Name
By Charles M. Blow
Donald Trump is a proven liar. He lies often and effortlessly. He lies about the profound and the trivial. He lies to avoid guilt and invite glory. He lies when his pride is injured and when his pomposity is challenged.
Indeed, one of the greatest threats Trump poses is that he corrupts and corrodes the absoluteness of truth, facts and science.
It is no coincidence that the rise of Trump is concurrent with the rise of “fake news.” It is no coincidence that his rise comes during an age of severely damaged faith in institutions.
And now that he has been elected, Trump wants absolute control over the flow of information, to dictate his own version of facts rather than live with the reality of accepted facts. Trump is in a battle to bend the truth to his benefit.
He hates members of the press because, when properly performing, they are truth seekers rather than ego-strokers. The press may sometimes get things wrong, but it most often gets them right. A truly independent press is not stocked with political acolytes but political adversaries.
This doesn’t sit well with an administration that wants to be perpetually patted on the back and never rapped on the knuckles.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/26/opinion/a-lie-by-any-other-name.html
Vintage Charm
Spend the night at one of these throwback hotels.
From Orbitz -
10 retro motels that ooze vintage charm
Jason Heidemann
https://www.orbitz.com/blog/2017/01/10-retro-motels-ooze-vintage-charm/?EMLCID=ORBITZ-US.MR.RES.EDT-EDT.GENERIC&rfrr=AB.5037.1
From Orbitz -
10 retro motels that ooze vintage charm
Jason Heidemann
https://www.orbitz.com/blog/2017/01/10-retro-motels-ooze-vintage-charm/?EMLCID=ORBITZ-US.MR.RES.EDT-EDT.GENERIC&rfrr=AB.5037.1
Sign Up Today & Pass the Word
SWING LEFT AND THE POST-ELECTION SURGE OF PROGRESSIVE ACTIVISM
By Jia Tolentino
On January 18th, the Twitter account for a new political organization posted its first tweet: a link to swingleft.org—a neatly designed Web site where you can plug in your Zip Code to find the nearest U.S. House district whose seat was, in the most recent election, decided by a small margin—along with the message “Let’s get to work.” The Swing Left campaign, which aims to win the House for Democrats in 2018, quickly went viral. The comedian Sarah Silverman tweeted “Start thinking mid term elections now – this makes it CRAZY easy,” with a link to the site. As the roughly three million people who came out for the Women’s March on Saturday made colorfully evident, an enormous, amorphous bundle of progressive energy in the country is searching for an outlet or three. By January 22nd, a hundred thousand people had signed up to receive Swing Left updates. That number has since more than doubled. In addition, ten thousand people have filled out a form on the site to offer their skills in a volunteer capacity. The Web site has been shared on Facebook nearly three hundred thousand times.
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/jia-tolentino/swing-left-and-the-post-election-surge-of-progressive-activism
By Jia Tolentino
 | ||
| The surge of sign-ups for Swing Left, a progressive organization aiming to identify competitive congressional districts, reflects an energy on the left in search of an outlet. | PHOTOGRAPH BY CHIP SOMODEVILLA / GETTY |
On January 18th, the Twitter account for a new political organization posted its first tweet: a link to swingleft.org—a neatly designed Web site where you can plug in your Zip Code to find the nearest U.S. House district whose seat was, in the most recent election, decided by a small margin—along with the message “Let’s get to work.” The Swing Left campaign, which aims to win the House for Democrats in 2018, quickly went viral. The comedian Sarah Silverman tweeted “Start thinking mid term elections now – this makes it CRAZY easy,” with a link to the site. As the roughly three million people who came out for the Women’s March on Saturday made colorfully evident, an enormous, amorphous bundle of progressive energy in the country is searching for an outlet or three. By January 22nd, a hundred thousand people had signed up to receive Swing Left updates. That number has since more than doubled. In addition, ten thousand people have filled out a form on the site to offer their skills in a volunteer capacity. The Web site has been shared on Facebook nearly three hundred thousand times.
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/jia-tolentino/swing-left-and-the-post-election-surge-of-progressive-activism
Buyers Remorse
From the Guardian -
'When we broke up, it was painful to look at': the rise of tattoo removal
As more people get tattooed, more are regretting them. But will erasing a teenage mistake or an ex’s name change your life?
By Candance Pires
Tattoo removal has never been so effective, or so popular. Improvements in technology are delivering better clearance faster, making it more attractive to people who regret their 90s tribal symbol, 00s sleeve or maybe the ultimate jinx, a lover’s name.
In the US, the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (Asaps) reported a 39% increase in laser tattoo treatments, from 2014 to 2015. Set this against a booming US tattoo industry, predicted to hit $1bn in the next five years, and it’s hard to see how removal won’t keep increasing in popularity.
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2017/jan/28/tattoo-removal-regret?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1
'When we broke up, it was painful to look at': the rise of tattoo removal
As more people get tattooed, more are regretting them. But will erasing a teenage mistake or an ex’s name change your life?
By Candance Pires
Tattoo removal has never been so effective, or so popular. Improvements in technology are delivering better clearance faster, making it more attractive to people who regret their 90s tribal symbol, 00s sleeve or maybe the ultimate jinx, a lover’s name.
In the US, the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (Asaps) reported a 39% increase in laser tattoo treatments, from 2014 to 2015. Set this against a booming US tattoo industry, predicted to hit $1bn in the next five years, and it’s hard to see how removal won’t keep increasing in popularity.
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2017/jan/28/tattoo-removal-regret?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1
Saturday, January 28, 2017
Thursday, January 26, 2017
Jet Lag
From Time -
Why Jet Lag Is Worse than You Think
By Amanda MacMillan
If you’re traveling cross-country to run a race or participate in a sporting event, you may want to prepare for the time change in advance. A new study of professional baseball players shows that jet lag doesn’t just affect mental performance—it can also affect physical performance, as well. The authors say their findings can have implications for all types of athletes, and they offer strategies for lessening the impact.
http://time.com/4648899/jet-lag-fitness-performance/
Why Jet Lag Is Worse than You Think
By Amanda MacMillan
If you’re traveling cross-country to run a race or participate in a sporting event, you may want to prepare for the time change in advance. A new study of professional baseball players shows that jet lag doesn’t just affect mental performance—it can also affect physical performance, as well. The authors say their findings can have implications for all types of athletes, and they offer strategies for lessening the impact.
http://time.com/4648899/jet-lag-fitness-performance/
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Stanford bioengineers develop a 20-cent, hand-powered centrifuge
https://www.thrillist.com/tech/nation/stanford-paperfuge-diagnoses-diseases-blood
Monday, January 23, 2017
When Dancing Comes Easy
From 2Paragraphs -
Who Is Dancer In AirPods Commercial For Apple?
http://2paragraphs.com/2017/01/who-is-dancer-in-airpods-commercial-for-apple/
Who Is Dancer In AirPods Commercial For Apple?
http://2paragraphs.com/2017/01/who-is-dancer-in-airpods-commercial-for-apple/
Stolen Fingerprints?
From Atlas Obscura -
One Danger of Flashing the Peace Sign Could Be Stolen Fingerprints
But we should still work for world peace.
By Erik Shilling
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/researcher-says-one-danger-of-peace-sign-photos-could-be-stolen-fingerprints
One Danger of Flashing the Peace Sign Could Be Stolen Fingerprints
But we should still work for world peace.
By Erik Shilling
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/researcher-says-one-danger-of-peace-sign-photos-could-be-stolen-fingerprints
A Tattoo Artist
From OZY -
DIRTY SOUTH: ATLANTA'S LEGENDARY TATTOO ARTIST
By Nat Roe
http://www.ozy.com/rising-stars/dirty-south-atlantas-legendary-tattoo-artist/74494
DIRTY SOUTH: ATLANTA'S LEGENDARY TATTOO ARTIST
By Nat Roe
http://www.ozy.com/rising-stars/dirty-south-atlantas-legendary-tattoo-artist/74494
Lies. Lies. Lies.
From Dan Rather via Facebook Post as seen on the Huffington Post -
These are not normal times. These are extraordinary times. And extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.
When you have a spokesperson for the president of the United States wrap up a lie in the Orwellian phrase "alternative facts”…
When you have a press secretary in his first appearance before the White House reporters threaten, bully, lie, and then walk out of the briefing room without the cajones to answer a single question…
When you have a President stand before the stars of the fallen CIA agents and boast about the size of his crowds (lies) and how great his authoritarian inaugural speech was….
These are not normal times.
The press has never seen anything like this before. The public has never seen anything like this before. And the political leaders of both parties have never seen anything like this before.
What can we do? We can all step up and say simply and without equivocation. "A lie, is a lie, is a lie!" And if someone won't say it, those of us who know that there is such a thing as the truth must do whatever is in our power to diminish the liar's malignant reach into our society.
There is one group of people who can do a lot - very quickly. And that is Republicans in Congress. Without their support, Donald Trump's presidency will falter. So here is what I think everyone in the press must do. If you are interviewing a Paul Ryan, a Mitch McConnell, or any other GOP elected official, the first question must be "what will you do to combat the lying from the White House?" If they dodge and weave, keep with the follow ups. And if they refuse to give a satisfactory answer, end the interview.
Facts and the truth are not partisan. They are the bedrock of our democracy. And you are either with them, with us, with our Constitution, our history, and the future of our nation, or you are against it. Everyone must answer that question.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dan-rather-alternative-facts_us_58859227e4b0e3a7356a0bc6
These are not normal times. These are extraordinary times. And extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.
When you have a spokesperson for the president of the United States wrap up a lie in the Orwellian phrase "alternative facts”…
When you have a press secretary in his first appearance before the White House reporters threaten, bully, lie, and then walk out of the briefing room without the cajones to answer a single question…
When you have a President stand before the stars of the fallen CIA agents and boast about the size of his crowds (lies) and how great his authoritarian inaugural speech was….
These are not normal times.
The press has never seen anything like this before. The public has never seen anything like this before. And the political leaders of both parties have never seen anything like this before.
What can we do? We can all step up and say simply and without equivocation. "A lie, is a lie, is a lie!" And if someone won't say it, those of us who know that there is such a thing as the truth must do whatever is in our power to diminish the liar's malignant reach into our society.
There is one group of people who can do a lot - very quickly. And that is Republicans in Congress. Without their support, Donald Trump's presidency will falter. So here is what I think everyone in the press must do. If you are interviewing a Paul Ryan, a Mitch McConnell, or any other GOP elected official, the first question must be "what will you do to combat the lying from the White House?" If they dodge and weave, keep with the follow ups. And if they refuse to give a satisfactory answer, end the interview.
Facts and the truth are not partisan. They are the bedrock of our democracy. And you are either with them, with us, with our Constitution, our history, and the future of our nation, or you are against it. Everyone must answer that question.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dan-rather-alternative-facts_us_58859227e4b0e3a7356a0bc6
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