An excerpt from the Sacramento Bee -
Get your resume: Caltrans has 1,100 job openings
BY ADAM ASHTON
Attention job seekers: It’s a good time to send a resume to California’s transportation department.
Caltrans has more than 1,100 job openings this summer in wide a range of white collar and blue collar careers. It’s making the rounds at dozens of career fairs at universities and military bases to spread the word.
“We’re constantly hiring,” said Michelle Tucker, the department’s chief of human resources.
Two trends are driving the department’s hiring spree.
First, Caltrans has a somewhat older workforce than most other state departments and it’s seeing a wave of baby boomers retire.
Second, it’s planning for a heftier workload while it prepares for a slate of projects that are to be funded through the state’s new transportation tax. The tax, a 12-cent increase to the state’s base gasoline tax, is expected to deliver an additional $52 billion in funding for transportation projects over the next 10 years.
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article165854712.html#storylink=cpy
Wednesday, August 9, 2017
Another FAMU Success Story
An excerpt from the LA times -
'Girls Trip' producer Will Packer finds success by targeting an underserved audience
By Ryan Faughnder
In the run-up to his latest movie “Girls Trip," producer Will Packer didn’t rely on massive billboard campaigns in Los Angeles and New York.
Instead, he brought the star-studded cast to Atlanta, Miami and New Orleans for advanced screenings with fans and online tastemakers, including black millennial website Hello Beautiful, to generate excitement among African American women. At an event at New Orleans’ luxurious Theatres at Canal Place, Packer told moviegoers of his wish to make a film that encapsulated the experiences of black women.
“It makes [moviegoers] feel like they're part of a movement,” Packer said in an interview.
The strategy of marketing movies directly to their target audiences has served Packer well. “Girls Trip,” a $19-million movie about four women who reconnect at the Essence Festival in New Orleans, has grossed $85 million so far domestically. The Universal Pictures-released film is the latest success for Packer, 43, a prolific producer whose 26 movies, which include “Think Like A Man” and “Ride Along,” have grossed more than $1 billion combined at the box office.
~~~~~~~~~~
It’s a startling rise to power for a filmmaker who got his start as a college sophomore in Tallahassee, Fla. by helping a fraternity brother make a $20,000 indie film.
At Florida A&M University, where he studied electrical engineering, he made a movie called “Chocolate City,” a coming-of-age tale set at a historically black college, with his friend Rob Hardy. They sent the movie to every studio and agency, with no luck. So they went local, premiering the film in the school’s main auditorium and booking it in a second-run theater. It got a huge response.
“Nobody cared in Hollywood, but you know where they did care? Tallahassee, Fla., and Florida AMU, and they cared a whole lot,” Packer said. “I realized that if you make something for an audience, and it's received well by that audience, it doesn't really matter what other people feel about it.… I certainly want to make content for a broader audience, but I never lost an eye for making sure I hit the bull’s-eye with a niche.”
http://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-will-packer-inc-20170808-story.html#nws=mcnewsletter
'Girls Trip' producer Will Packer finds success by targeting an underserved audience
By Ryan Faughnder
In the run-up to his latest movie “Girls Trip," producer Will Packer didn’t rely on massive billboard campaigns in Los Angeles and New York.
Instead, he brought the star-studded cast to Atlanta, Miami and New Orleans for advanced screenings with fans and online tastemakers, including black millennial website Hello Beautiful, to generate excitement among African American women. At an event at New Orleans’ luxurious Theatres at Canal Place, Packer told moviegoers of his wish to make a film that encapsulated the experiences of black women.
“It makes [moviegoers] feel like they're part of a movement,” Packer said in an interview.
The strategy of marketing movies directly to their target audiences has served Packer well. “Girls Trip,” a $19-million movie about four women who reconnect at the Essence Festival in New Orleans, has grossed $85 million so far domestically. The Universal Pictures-released film is the latest success for Packer, 43, a prolific producer whose 26 movies, which include “Think Like A Man” and “Ride Along,” have grossed more than $1 billion combined at the box office.
~~~~~~~~~~
It’s a startling rise to power for a filmmaker who got his start as a college sophomore in Tallahassee, Fla. by helping a fraternity brother make a $20,000 indie film.
At Florida A&M University, where he studied electrical engineering, he made a movie called “Chocolate City,” a coming-of-age tale set at a historically black college, with his friend Rob Hardy. They sent the movie to every studio and agency, with no luck. So they went local, premiering the film in the school’s main auditorium and booking it in a second-run theater. It got a huge response.
“Nobody cared in Hollywood, but you know where they did care? Tallahassee, Fla., and Florida AMU, and they cared a whole lot,” Packer said. “I realized that if you make something for an audience, and it's received well by that audience, it doesn't really matter what other people feel about it.… I certainly want to make content for a broader audience, but I never lost an eye for making sure I hit the bull’s-eye with a niche.”
http://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-will-packer-inc-20170808-story.html#nws=mcnewsletter
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
A Legal Document That's Fun to Read
From the NY Times -
The Spirit of the Law
By Sarah Lyall
Here is a truly delightful amicus brief filed by the A.C.L.U. in support of the talk show host John Oliver, who is being sued by the aggrieved coal-mining executive Bob Murray. Even the table of contents (sample heading: “You Can’t Sue People for Being Mean to You, Bob”) fills a First Amendment-loving reporter’s heart with joy. “The complaint also interestingly claims that “ ‘nothing has ever stressed [Bob Murray] more than [John Oliver’s] vicious and untruthful attack,’” the brief notes. “Is he really saying that a late-night British comedian on a premium channel has caused him more stress than the time that one of his mines collapsed and killed a group of his employees?” SCRIBD »
The Spirit of the Law
By Sarah Lyall
Here is a truly delightful amicus brief filed by the A.C.L.U. in support of the talk show host John Oliver, who is being sued by the aggrieved coal-mining executive Bob Murray. Even the table of contents (sample heading: “You Can’t Sue People for Being Mean to You, Bob”) fills a First Amendment-loving reporter’s heart with joy. “The complaint also interestingly claims that “ ‘nothing has ever stressed [Bob Murray] more than [John Oliver’s] vicious and untruthful attack,’” the brief notes. “Is he really saying that a late-night British comedian on a premium channel has caused him more stress than the time that one of his mines collapsed and killed a group of his employees?” SCRIBD »
ACLU Brief on Behalf of John Oliver by LawNewz on Scribd
Focusing on the Booze
An excerpt from the Washington Post -
Most drunken-driving programs focus on driving. This one worked because it focused on booze.
By Keith Humphreys
“24/7 Sobriety” was invented more than a decade ago in South Dakota by an innovative county prosecutor (and future state attorney general) named Larry Long. Long concluded that the best use of the power of the criminal justice system was to attack the role of alcohol in offenders’ lives directly by mandating them to abstain. Many judges across the country order abstinence as part of parole or probation, but Long decided to actually enforce it. Offenders’ drinking was monitored every single day, typically by in-person breath tests in the morning and evening. In contrast to the typically slow and unpredictable ways of the criminal justice system, anyone caught drinking faced a 100 percent chance of arrest and an immediate consequence — typically 12 to 36 hours in jail.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/08/07/most-drunk-driving-programs-focus-on-driving-this-one-worked-because-it-focused-on-booze/?utm_term=.aec716532e5b&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1
Most drunken-driving programs focus on driving. This one worked because it focused on booze.
By Keith Humphreys
“24/7 Sobriety” was invented more than a decade ago in South Dakota by an innovative county prosecutor (and future state attorney general) named Larry Long. Long concluded that the best use of the power of the criminal justice system was to attack the role of alcohol in offenders’ lives directly by mandating them to abstain. Many judges across the country order abstinence as part of parole or probation, but Long decided to actually enforce it. Offenders’ drinking was monitored every single day, typically by in-person breath tests in the morning and evening. In contrast to the typically slow and unpredictable ways of the criminal justice system, anyone caught drinking faced a 100 percent chance of arrest and an immediate consequence — typically 12 to 36 hours in jail.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/08/07/most-drunk-driving-programs-focus-on-driving-this-one-worked-because-it-focused-on-booze/?utm_term=.aec716532e5b&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1
Monday, August 7, 2017
Getting Their Due
An excerpt from the Washington Post -
At the heart of every restaurant
Our food critic works a shift to understand why top chefs are starting to give dishwashers their due.
Plenty of bandwidth has been lavished on the men and women who cook the food, pour the wine and otherwise pamper us in restaurants. Scant attention has been paid to some of the lowest-paid workers with the most responsibility, the ones chefs say are the linchpins of the restaurant kitchen. “You can’t have a successful service in a restaurant without a great dishwasher,” says Emeril Lagasse, the New Orleans-based chef and cookbook author with 14 restaurants across the country. “Bad ones will bring the ship down.”
After years of performing tasks no one else wants to do — cleaning nasty messes, taking out trash, polishing Japanese wine glasses priced at $66 a stem (at Quince in San Francisco) — the unsung heroes of the kitchen might be finally getting their due.
This spring, chef Rene Redzepi of the world-renowned Noma in Copenhagen made headlines when he made his dishwasher, Ali Sonko, a partner in his business. The Gambian native helped Redzepi open the landmark restaurant in 2003. And in July, workers at the esteemed French Laundry in Yountville, Calif., one of master chef Thomas Keller’s 12 U.S. restaurants and bakeries, voted to give their most prestigious company honor, the Core Award, to a dishwasher: Jaimie Portillo, who says he has never missed a day of work in seven years.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/style/2017/08/07/chefs-say-a-dishwasher-can-make-or-break-a-restaurant-so-i-signed-up-for-a-shift/?utm_term=.5e7b9ec2fed0&wpisrc=al_alert-national&wpmk=1
At the heart of every restaurant
Our food critic works a shift to understand why top chefs are starting to give dishwashers their due.
By Tom Sietsema
Plenty of bandwidth has been lavished on the men and women who cook the food, pour the wine and otherwise pamper us in restaurants. Scant attention has been paid to some of the lowest-paid workers with the most responsibility, the ones chefs say are the linchpins of the restaurant kitchen. “You can’t have a successful service in a restaurant without a great dishwasher,” says Emeril Lagasse, the New Orleans-based chef and cookbook author with 14 restaurants across the country. “Bad ones will bring the ship down.”
After years of performing tasks no one else wants to do — cleaning nasty messes, taking out trash, polishing Japanese wine glasses priced at $66 a stem (at Quince in San Francisco) — the unsung heroes of the kitchen might be finally getting their due.
This spring, chef Rene Redzepi of the world-renowned Noma in Copenhagen made headlines when he made his dishwasher, Ali Sonko, a partner in his business. The Gambian native helped Redzepi open the landmark restaurant in 2003. And in July, workers at the esteemed French Laundry in Yountville, Calif., one of master chef Thomas Keller’s 12 U.S. restaurants and bakeries, voted to give their most prestigious company honor, the Core Award, to a dishwasher: Jaimie Portillo, who says he has never missed a day of work in seven years.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/style/2017/08/07/chefs-say-a-dishwasher-can-make-or-break-a-restaurant-so-i-signed-up-for-a-shift/?utm_term=.5e7b9ec2fed0&wpisrc=al_alert-national&wpmk=1
Tackling Homelessness in the Bay Area
From Upworthy -
This mother-son duo is taking homelessness to task in an amazing way.
We’re talking the kind of close that only single moms and their children understand.
And for Chris and his mom, this bond has only been strengthened by a shared mission to end homelessness.
His mom was always very driven — she climbed the corporate ladder, becoming a successful Venture Capitalist, then CEO of Napster and another high-tech startup. But it was while Chris was away at college that she decided to tackle a social issue: homelessness.
So in 2004, Eileen popped her head into a food closet in Palo Alto, California, hoping to do just that. And it didn't take her long to decide to take giving back to the next level, leading her to launch the Downtown Streets Team.
The nonprofit isn't your average give-'em-food-and-a-place-to-stay-for-the-night-then-send-'em-on-their-way kind of initiative.
In exchange for community volunteer work, Downtown Streets Team offers homeless people food and housing as well as job skills training.
http://www.upworthy.com/p-this-mother-son-duo-is-taking-homelessness-to-task-in-an-amazing-way-p-cc3-3a?c=click
This mother-son duo is taking homelessness to task in an amazing way.
We’re talking the kind of close that only single moms and their children understand.
And for Chris and his mom, this bond has only been strengthened by a shared mission to end homelessness.
His mom was always very driven — she climbed the corporate ladder, becoming a successful Venture Capitalist, then CEO of Napster and another high-tech startup. But it was while Chris was away at college that she decided to tackle a social issue: homelessness.
So in 2004, Eileen popped her head into a food closet in Palo Alto, California, hoping to do just that. And it didn't take her long to decide to take giving back to the next level, leading her to launch the Downtown Streets Team.
The nonprofit isn't your average give-'em-food-and-a-place-to-stay-for-the-night-then-send-'em-on-their-way kind of initiative.
In exchange for community volunteer work, Downtown Streets Team offers homeless people food and housing as well as job skills training.
http://www.upworthy.com/p-this-mother-son-duo-is-taking-homelessness-to-task-in-an-amazing-way-p-cc3-3a?c=click
He Nails It
This dad perfectly nails fatherhood with his hilarious comics.
by Evan Porter
http://www.upworthy.com/this-dad-perfectly-nails-fatherhood-with-his-hilarious-comics?c=upw1
by Evan Porter
http://www.upworthy.com/this-dad-perfectly-nails-fatherhood-with-his-hilarious-comics?c=upw1
How to Answer Interview Questions
From Lifehack -
How to Answer Common Interview Questions in an Uncommon Way
By Brian Lee
No matter how much we may love our job, there are always aspects that we could do without. And among all of my duties as Chief of Product Management at Lifehack, interviewing is by far my least favorite. It’s an awkward, draining task that wears me down both mentally and physically. Most interviews take around an hour to get through, a grueling 60 minutes that neither I nor the interviewee enjoys. I hear the same answers to the same questions time and time again. Boring, basic answers that by no way separate the individual from their competition. But every once in a while I will hear an answer that catches me off guard, leaving me impressed and inspired.
To help you to knock out your next interview, I’ve compiled a list of the best possible answers to common interview questions, and what to avoid.
http://www.lifehack.org/620362/what-employers-are-really-looking-for-in-the-most-common-interview-questions?ref=mail&mtype=newsletter_tier_3&mid=20170807&uid=789627&hash=726d85717f746d7e7c714c73796d75783a6f7b79&utm_source=newsletter_tier_3&utm_medium=email&action=click
How to Answer Common Interview Questions in an Uncommon Way
By Brian Lee
No matter how much we may love our job, there are always aspects that we could do without. And among all of my duties as Chief of Product Management at Lifehack, interviewing is by far my least favorite. It’s an awkward, draining task that wears me down both mentally and physically. Most interviews take around an hour to get through, a grueling 60 minutes that neither I nor the interviewee enjoys. I hear the same answers to the same questions time and time again. Boring, basic answers that by no way separate the individual from their competition. But every once in a while I will hear an answer that catches me off guard, leaving me impressed and inspired.
To help you to knock out your next interview, I’ve compiled a list of the best possible answers to common interview questions, and what to avoid.
http://www.lifehack.org/620362/what-employers-are-really-looking-for-in-the-most-common-interview-questions?ref=mail&mtype=newsletter_tier_3&mid=20170807&uid=789627&hash=726d85717f746d7e7c714c73796d75783a6f7b79&utm_source=newsletter_tier_3&utm_medium=email&action=click
Canine Crime
From the Huffington Post - (Me: An excerpt doesn't do it justice.)
Shelter’s Posts About A Chewed-Up Dog Toy Read Like An Episode Of ‘CSI’
It is a VERY good crime story.
By Elyse Wanshel
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/animal-shelter-assault-mystery-dog-toy_us_5984b48be4b0cb15b1be437a
Shelter’s Posts About A Chewed-Up Dog Toy Read Like An Episode Of ‘CSI’
It is a VERY good crime story.
By Elyse Wanshel
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/animal-shelter-assault-mystery-dog-toy_us_5984b48be4b0cb15b1be437a
An Offbeat College Tour
From the Boston Globe -
You don’t have to be wicked smaht to take this Hahvahd tour
By Lauren Feiner
Fresh out of college and newly in the workforce, I recently found myself doing the last thing I expected to do in my young professional life: taking a college tour.
But this tour of Harvard University was distinctly different from those I’d taken as a nervous high school student. There were no jittery teenagers or overeager parents, no chatter about SAT scores. This was Harvard, — or Hahvahd in the local vernacular — not as dream college, but as tourist attraction.
~~~~~~~~~~
The Hahvahd Tour, first developed by Harvard student Daniel Andrew in 2006, calls itself an unofficial tour of the university. While the tour now has a friendly relationship with the university — it conveniently ends at university-sponsored gift shops — it once clashed with the school over its use of the Harvard brand. Harvard actually received a trademark for the word “Hahvahd,” which it now licenses to the tour group, Andrew told me.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/08/06/you-don-have-smaht-student-take-this-tour-hahvahd/eHKIkU6fruoNca7svj3xIK/story.html?et_rid=606374700&s_campaign=todaysheadlines:newsletter
You don’t have to be wicked smaht to take this Hahvahd tour
By Lauren Feiner
Fresh out of college and newly in the workforce, I recently found myself doing the last thing I expected to do in my young professional life: taking a college tour.
But this tour of Harvard University was distinctly different from those I’d taken as a nervous high school student. There were no jittery teenagers or overeager parents, no chatter about SAT scores. This was Harvard, — or Hahvahd in the local vernacular — not as dream college, but as tourist attraction.
~~~~~~~~~~
The Hahvahd Tour, first developed by Harvard student Daniel Andrew in 2006, calls itself an unofficial tour of the university. While the tour now has a friendly relationship with the university — it conveniently ends at university-sponsored gift shops — it once clashed with the school over its use of the Harvard brand. Harvard actually received a trademark for the word “Hahvahd,” which it now licenses to the tour group, Andrew told me.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/08/06/you-don-have-smaht-student-take-this-tour-hahvahd/eHKIkU6fruoNca7svj3xIK/story.html?et_rid=606374700&s_campaign=todaysheadlines:newsletter
Sunday, August 6, 2017
How to Respond to An Insult
From StumbleUpon -
20 Years Ago, Steve Jobs Demonstrated the Perfect Way to Respond to an Insult
In 1997, Steve Jobs was answering developers' questions when one audience member took a shot at him. What happens next is remarkable.
By Justin Bariso
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/9yq7Oa/:x4h5Nmbg:l2+Yy$+f/www.inc.com/justin-bariso/20-years-ago-steve-jobs-demonstrated-the-perfect-w.html
20 Years Ago, Steve Jobs Demonstrated the Perfect Way to Respond to an Insult
In 1997, Steve Jobs was answering developers' questions when one audience member took a shot at him. What happens next is remarkable.
By Justin Bariso
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/9yq7Oa/:x4h5Nmbg:l2+Yy$+f/www.inc.com/justin-bariso/20-years-ago-steve-jobs-demonstrated-the-perfect-w.html
Know Your Rights
From the Thrillist -
AIRLINE FINE PRINT THAT'LL SAVE YOU MONEY WHEN YOU FLY
By MATT MELTZER
Overbooking -- and forced bumping -- is totally legal. But you can get cash for it.
Airlines regularly overbook flights, and as we all learned from the unpleasantness back in April, even if you don’t want a free upgrade on a later flight, airlines have the right to deny you entry to your flight. (What they cannot legally do is take you off that flight once you’re seated, unless you act up. United Airlines erred so terribly in removing David Dao from his flight, it was clear the airline’s employees didn’t know their own fine print.)
The good news is the US Department of Transportation requires airlines to compensate you, based on how much later you get to your destination. If you’re placed on a flight that gets you to your destination within an hour of your original reservation, you don’t get squat. If the flight arrives between one and two hours of your original schedule, you’re entitled to 200% of your one-way fare, up to $675. For flights arriving more than two hours later, you are entitled to 400% of your one-way fare, up to $1,350.
https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/how-to-save-money-on-flights-fine-print
AIRLINE FINE PRINT THAT'LL SAVE YOU MONEY WHEN YOU FLY
By MATT MELTZER
Overbooking -- and forced bumping -- is totally legal. But you can get cash for it.
Airlines regularly overbook flights, and as we all learned from the unpleasantness back in April, even if you don’t want a free upgrade on a later flight, airlines have the right to deny you entry to your flight. (What they cannot legally do is take you off that flight once you’re seated, unless you act up. United Airlines erred so terribly in removing David Dao from his flight, it was clear the airline’s employees didn’t know their own fine print.)
The good news is the US Department of Transportation requires airlines to compensate you, based on how much later you get to your destination. If you’re placed on a flight that gets you to your destination within an hour of your original reservation, you don’t get squat. If the flight arrives between one and two hours of your original schedule, you’re entitled to 200% of your one-way fare, up to $675. For flights arriving more than two hours later, you are entitled to 400% of your one-way fare, up to $1,350.
https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/how-to-save-money-on-flights-fine-print
The Cycle of Lies
From the Boston Globe -
TRUMP’S CYCLE OF LIES
By the Editorial Board
http://apps.bostonglobe.com/opinion/graphics/2017/08/trump-lies/
TRUMP’S CYCLE OF LIES
By the Editorial Board
http://apps.bostonglobe.com/opinion/graphics/2017/08/trump-lies/
Saturday, August 5, 2017
A Fighter - First as a Woman, Then as a Man
An excerpt from the LA times -
The first U.S. boxer to fight as a woman, and then as a man
By KEVIN BAXTER
A five-time amateur boxing champion whose biggest tournament ended in surrender, Manuel is just months away from his pro debut.
He has cycled through a number of dead-end jobs and now owns a digital marketing company. It’s called Dark Horse, a name Manuel hopes is prophetic as well as prosaic.
Manuel says the biggest daily reminder that he has finally taken control of his life comes when he looks in the mirror each morning. For years he saw an uncertain woman looking back at him. Now the reflection is of a confident young man, the Adam’s apple and scruffy facial hair evidence that while Manuel’s journey is not complete, it’s now headed in the right direction.
“I still have split seconds of not recognizing myself. But for the most part, I feel more comfortable than I ever have in my body,” says Manuel, who underwent gender-reassignment surgery, becoming the first boxer in U.S. history to fight first as a woman and later as a man.
“It never crossed my mind to give up. It has absolutely been worth this journey to live publicly as my true self.”
http://www.latimes.com/sports/boxing/la-sp-pat-manuel-20170804-htmlstory.html#nws=mcnewsletter
The first U.S. boxer to fight as a woman, and then as a man
By KEVIN BAXTER
A five-time amateur boxing champion whose biggest tournament ended in surrender, Manuel is just months away from his pro debut.
He has cycled through a number of dead-end jobs and now owns a digital marketing company. It’s called Dark Horse, a name Manuel hopes is prophetic as well as prosaic.
Manuel says the biggest daily reminder that he has finally taken control of his life comes when he looks in the mirror each morning. For years he saw an uncertain woman looking back at him. Now the reflection is of a confident young man, the Adam’s apple and scruffy facial hair evidence that while Manuel’s journey is not complete, it’s now headed in the right direction.
“I still have split seconds of not recognizing myself. But for the most part, I feel more comfortable than I ever have in my body,” says Manuel, who underwent gender-reassignment surgery, becoming the first boxer in U.S. history to fight first as a woman and later as a man.
“It never crossed my mind to give up. It has absolutely been worth this journey to live publicly as my true self.”
http://www.latimes.com/sports/boxing/la-sp-pat-manuel-20170804-htmlstory.html#nws=mcnewsletter
This Legacy Lives On
An excerpt from the Atlantic -
The Lost Cause Rides Again
HBO’s Confederate takes as its premise an ugly truth that black Americans are forced to live every day: What if the Confederacy wasn’t wholly defeated?
By TA-NEHISI COATES
Having inaugurated a war which killed more Americans than all other American wars combined, the Confederacy’s leaders were back in the country’s political leadership within a decade. Within two, they had effectively retaken control of the South.
Knowing this, we do not have to wait to point out that comparisons between Confederate and The Man in the High Castle are fatuous. Nazi Germany was also defeated. But while its surviving leadership was put on trial before the world, not one author of the Confederacy was convicted of treason. Nazi Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop was hanged at Nuremberg. Confederate General John B. Gordon became a senator. Germany has spent the decades since World War II in national penance for Nazi crimes. America spent the decades after the Civil War transforming Confederate crimes into virtues. It is illegal to fly the Nazi flag in Germany. The Confederate flag is enmeshed in the state flag of Mississippi.
The symbols point to something Confederate’s creators don’t seem to understand—the war is over for them, not for us. At this very hour, black people all across the South are still fighting the battle which they joined during Reconstruction—securing equal access to the ballot—and resisting a president whose resemblance to Andrew Johnson is uncanny. Confederate is the kind of provocative thought experiment that can be engaged in when someone else’s lived reality really is fantasy to you, when your grandmother is not in danger of losing her vote, when the terrorist attack on Charleston evokes honest sympathy, but inspires no direct fear. And so we need not wait to note that Confederate’s interest in Civil War history is biased, that it is premised on a simplistic view of white Southern defeat, instead of the more complicated morass we have all around us.
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/08/no-confederate/535512/?utm_source=nl-atlantic-daily-080417
The Lost Cause Rides Again
HBO’s Confederate takes as its premise an ugly truth that black Americans are forced to live every day: What if the Confederacy wasn’t wholly defeated?
By TA-NEHISI COATES
Having inaugurated a war which killed more Americans than all other American wars combined, the Confederacy’s leaders were back in the country’s political leadership within a decade. Within two, they had effectively retaken control of the South.
Knowing this, we do not have to wait to point out that comparisons between Confederate and The Man in the High Castle are fatuous. Nazi Germany was also defeated. But while its surviving leadership was put on trial before the world, not one author of the Confederacy was convicted of treason. Nazi Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop was hanged at Nuremberg. Confederate General John B. Gordon became a senator. Germany has spent the decades since World War II in national penance for Nazi crimes. America spent the decades after the Civil War transforming Confederate crimes into virtues. It is illegal to fly the Nazi flag in Germany. The Confederate flag is enmeshed in the state flag of Mississippi.
The symbols point to something Confederate’s creators don’t seem to understand—the war is over for them, not for us. At this very hour, black people all across the South are still fighting the battle which they joined during Reconstruction—securing equal access to the ballot—and resisting a president whose resemblance to Andrew Johnson is uncanny. Confederate is the kind of provocative thought experiment that can be engaged in when someone else’s lived reality really is fantasy to you, when your grandmother is not in danger of losing her vote, when the terrorist attack on Charleston evokes honest sympathy, but inspires no direct fear. And so we need not wait to note that Confederate’s interest in Civil War history is biased, that it is premised on a simplistic view of white Southern defeat, instead of the more complicated morass we have all around us.
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/08/no-confederate/535512/?utm_source=nl-atlantic-daily-080417
PAINTBACK by Legacy BLN - Graffiti Culture & Art Tools
From the Good -
When Swastikas Started Popping Up In Their City, These Graffiti Artists Came Up With A Creative Solution
by Liz Dwyer
https://www.good.is/articles/artists-covering-swastikas-with-street-art?utm_source=thedailygood&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailygood
When Swastikas Started Popping Up In Their City, These Graffiti Artists Came Up With A Creative Solution
by Liz Dwyer
https://www.good.is/articles/artists-covering-swastikas-with-street-art?utm_source=thedailygood&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailygood
Friday, August 4, 2017
More Black Girl Magic
An excerpt from Black America Web -
Simone Askew Is The First African American To Lead West Point’s Corps Of Cadets
By Diannah Watson
A woman from Fairfax, Virginia has become the first African-American to lead West Point’s Corps of Cadets.
According to FOX 5, cadet Simone Askew has attained the highest position in the cadet commands. She will start her new position on Monday, August 14, 2017.
She is currently in charge of 1, 502 cadets as the Regimental Commander of Cadet Basic Training II. As the First Captain, she will be responsible for 4,400 member Corps of Cadets.
https://blackamericaweb.com/2017/08/04/simone-askew-is-the-first-african-american-to-lead-west-points-corps-of-cadets/?omcamp=es-baw-nl&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Campaign&utm_term=BAW%20Subscribers%20%28Daily%29
Simone Askew Is The First African American To Lead West Point’s Corps Of Cadets
By Diannah Watson
A woman from Fairfax, Virginia has become the first African-American to lead West Point’s Corps of Cadets.
According to FOX 5, cadet Simone Askew has attained the highest position in the cadet commands. She will start her new position on Monday, August 14, 2017.
She is currently in charge of 1, 502 cadets as the Regimental Commander of Cadet Basic Training II. As the First Captain, she will be responsible for 4,400 member Corps of Cadets.
https://blackamericaweb.com/2017/08/04/simone-askew-is-the-first-african-american-to-lead-west-points-corps-of-cadets/?omcamp=es-baw-nl&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Campaign&utm_term=BAW%20Subscribers%20%28Daily%29
Low-Down Nasty Priests
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/08/04/guam-priest-child-sex-abuse-scandal/503680001/?csp=dailybriefing
Hypocrisy in Action
An excerpt from Salon -
Donald Trump, a classic case of affirmative action for the wealthy, wants to take it away from the disadvantaged
President often claims he's "like, a smart person" — but he didn't get into Wharton on his academic merits
By PETER DREIER
Of all the issues facing higher education today — skyrocketing student debt, for-profit colleges ripping off its students and government subsidies, declining college enrollment – President Trump has chosen to make it harder for black and Latino students to get into college.
The Trump administration is preparing to sue universities over affirmative action admissions policies deemed to discriminate against white applicants, according to a document obtained by The New York Times.
Apparently Trump objects to affirmative action for African-Americans and Latinos, but not to affirmative action for the super-rich and the well-connected. That’s how Trump got into the University of Pennsylvania in 1966.
http://www.salon.com/2017/08/03/donald-trump-a-classic-case-of-affirmative-action-for-the-wealthy-wants-to-take-it-away-from-the-disadvantaged/
Donald Trump, a classic case of affirmative action for the wealthy, wants to take it away from the disadvantaged
President often claims he's "like, a smart person" — but he didn't get into Wharton on his academic merits
By PETER DREIER
Of all the issues facing higher education today — skyrocketing student debt, for-profit colleges ripping off its students and government subsidies, declining college enrollment – President Trump has chosen to make it harder for black and Latino students to get into college.
The Trump administration is preparing to sue universities over affirmative action admissions policies deemed to discriminate against white applicants, according to a document obtained by The New York Times.
Apparently Trump objects to affirmative action for African-Americans and Latinos, but not to affirmative action for the super-rich and the well-connected. That’s how Trump got into the University of Pennsylvania in 1966.
http://www.salon.com/2017/08/03/donald-trump-a-classic-case-of-affirmative-action-for-the-wealthy-wants-to-take-it-away-from-the-disadvantaged/
Thursday, August 3, 2017
A Travel Advisory for Black Folks
From the Good -
Racism Is So Bad In This State, The NAACP Is Telling Black People To Avoid It
by Liz Dwyer
Americans are regularly advised by the State Department to avoid going to countries — like Venezuela, Haiti, or the Philippines — that are considered too violent or politically unstable to visit. But according to the NAACP, people of color don’t need to cross an international border for their lives to be in danger. Racism is so bad in Missouri that the civil rights organization has issued a travel advisory warning people of color that they could be endangering their lives if they visit the state.
Travel with extreme caution.
The advisory is the first statewide warning to be issued by the national NAACP in its 108-year history, and it’s an adoption of a warning issued in June by the Missouri NAACP State Conference. “Individuals traveling in the state are advised to travel with extreme CAUTION. Race, gender and color based crimes have a long history in Missouri,” read the state chapter’s warning.
https://www.good.is/articles/naacp-travel-warning-racism?utm_source=thedailygood&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailygood
Racism Is So Bad In This State, The NAACP Is Telling Black People To Avoid It
by Liz Dwyer
Americans are regularly advised by the State Department to avoid going to countries — like Venezuela, Haiti, or the Philippines — that are considered too violent or politically unstable to visit. But according to the NAACP, people of color don’t need to cross an international border for their lives to be in danger. Racism is so bad in Missouri that the civil rights organization has issued a travel advisory warning people of color that they could be endangering their lives if they visit the state.
Travel with extreme caution.
The advisory is the first statewide warning to be issued by the national NAACP in its 108-year history, and it’s an adoption of a warning issued in June by the Missouri NAACP State Conference. “Individuals traveling in the state are advised to travel with extreme CAUTION. Race, gender and color based crimes have a long history in Missouri,” read the state chapter’s warning.
https://www.good.is/articles/naacp-travel-warning-racism?utm_source=thedailygood&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailygood
I Love Her!
Trump asked what Blacks had to lose. It was apparently healthcare, housing, college admission, & freedom after Sessions locks everyone up— Maxine Waters (@MaxineWaters) August 2, 2017
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
Joking? Really?
An excerpt from the New Yorker -
Donald Trump Is Serious When He “Jokes” About Police Brutality
By Jelani Cobb
In Trump’s world, toughness is not a means to an end—it is an end in itself. When Trump invokes Chicago as the exemplar of what is wrong with American law enforcement, the irony is that the city’s crime problem was made worse by its anything-goes ethic of policing. The city where police ran a black site for torturing suspects, attempted to cover up the circumstances in which the seventeen-year-old Laquan McDonald was killed, and regularly paid out millions in police-brutality settlements is the same city where seventy per cent of residents do not believe that police can be trusted to treat all residents fairly. The idea that community trust is more valuable to a police department than “toughness”—really a Trumpian euphemism for brutality—might seem quaint, but Chicago’s experience would point to the contrary. When Trump says police need not be concerned if suspects suffer head injuries in their custody, it’s not simply a wink and a nod at the old days of unrestrained policing. It’s a foreshadowing of a world he’s actively attempting to resurrect.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/donald-trump-is-serious-when-he-jokes-about-police-brutality?mbid=nl_TNY%20Template%20-%20With%20Photo%20(194)&CNDID=27124505&spMailingID=11612091&spUserID=MTMzMTgyODE2ODQxS0&spJobID=1220182297&spReportId=MTIyMDE4MjI5NwS2
Donald Trump Is Serious When He “Jokes” About Police Brutality
By Jelani Cobb
In Trump’s world, toughness is not a means to an end—it is an end in itself. When Trump invokes Chicago as the exemplar of what is wrong with American law enforcement, the irony is that the city’s crime problem was made worse by its anything-goes ethic of policing. The city where police ran a black site for torturing suspects, attempted to cover up the circumstances in which the seventeen-year-old Laquan McDonald was killed, and regularly paid out millions in police-brutality settlements is the same city where seventy per cent of residents do not believe that police can be trusted to treat all residents fairly. The idea that community trust is more valuable to a police department than “toughness”—really a Trumpian euphemism for brutality—might seem quaint, but Chicago’s experience would point to the contrary. When Trump says police need not be concerned if suspects suffer head injuries in their custody, it’s not simply a wink and a nod at the old days of unrestrained policing. It’s a foreshadowing of a world he’s actively attempting to resurrect.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/donald-trump-is-serious-when-he-jokes-about-police-brutality?mbid=nl_TNY%20Template%20-%20With%20Photo%20(194)&CNDID=27124505&spMailingID=11612091&spUserID=MTMzMTgyODE2ODQxS0&spJobID=1220182297&spReportId=MTIyMDE4MjI5NwS2
Supersized Inequality
An excerpt from the New Republic -
How Fast Food Chains Supersized Inequality
Fast food did not just find its way to low-income neighborhoods. It was brought there by the federal government.
BY MAX HOLLERAN
Supersizing Urban America, a new book by the historian of public health, Chin Jou, shows that fast food did not just find its way to low-income urban areas: It was brought there by the federal government. In the wake of the 1968 riots, Nixon’s law-and-order presidency began programs that doled out federal funds to fast food franchises. The administration asserted that black-owned businesses serving fast food would help to cure urban unrest by promoting an entrepreneurial spirit in poor communities. The federal subsidization of McDonald’s and other chains to enter urban markets previously considered too poor or dangerous was meant to promote “black capitalism.” It did make a select group of black entrepreneurs wealthy, but it was mostly a boon to fast food giants searching for new market demographics.
Like “ethnic” advertising in the alcohol and cigarette industries, fast food companies sold a dream of middle class affluence to communities of color that were nonetheless still excluded from the housing and education that would make those aspirations a reality. Jou’s book shows conclusively that obesity and diet in America have little to do with personal responsibility, and everything to do with public policy.
https://newrepublic.com/article/144168/fast-food-chains-supersized-inequality
How Fast Food Chains Supersized Inequality
Fast food did not just find its way to low-income neighborhoods. It was brought there by the federal government.
BY MAX HOLLERAN
Supersizing Urban America, a new book by the historian of public health, Chin Jou, shows that fast food did not just find its way to low-income urban areas: It was brought there by the federal government. In the wake of the 1968 riots, Nixon’s law-and-order presidency began programs that doled out federal funds to fast food franchises. The administration asserted that black-owned businesses serving fast food would help to cure urban unrest by promoting an entrepreneurial spirit in poor communities. The federal subsidization of McDonald’s and other chains to enter urban markets previously considered too poor or dangerous was meant to promote “black capitalism.” It did make a select group of black entrepreneurs wealthy, but it was mostly a boon to fast food giants searching for new market demographics.
Like “ethnic” advertising in the alcohol and cigarette industries, fast food companies sold a dream of middle class affluence to communities of color that were nonetheless still excluded from the housing and education that would make those aspirations a reality. Jou’s book shows conclusively that obesity and diet in America have little to do with personal responsibility, and everything to do with public policy.
https://newrepublic.com/article/144168/fast-food-chains-supersized-inequality
Dear GOP
An excerpt from the Boston Globe -
Dear Republicans: You know you can shut this mess down, right?
By Renée Graham
Hey GOP: Y’all know you can shut this mess down, right?
Instead you slump onto news talk shows lamenting the dismal state of affairs engulfing this bewildered nation. You’ve been there every step of the way since Jan. 20, as we’ve all been forced to understand such difficult things as collusion, emoluments, the 25th Amendment, and Jared Kushner’s voice.
Yet you behave like you’ve suddenly awakened to find President Trump looming over you, golf club in hand, ready to strike. You are even more responsible for this reign of incompetence and potential criminality masquerading as a presidency than those who voted for Trump. Still, you act as if you can simply tsk-tsk and finger-wag your way through every inflammatory tweet, statement, and action, as if the president is nothing more than a naughty puppy that has soiled the carpet.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2017/08/01/dear-gop-get-backbone/dibR5yES6PjxeUaXHYh6BJ/story.html
Dear Republicans: You know you can shut this mess down, right?
By Renée Graham
Hey GOP: Y’all know you can shut this mess down, right?
Instead you slump onto news talk shows lamenting the dismal state of affairs engulfing this bewildered nation. You’ve been there every step of the way since Jan. 20, as we’ve all been forced to understand such difficult things as collusion, emoluments, the 25th Amendment, and Jared Kushner’s voice.
Yet you behave like you’ve suddenly awakened to find President Trump looming over you, golf club in hand, ready to strike. You are even more responsible for this reign of incompetence and potential criminality masquerading as a presidency than those who voted for Trump. Still, you act as if you can simply tsk-tsk and finger-wag your way through every inflammatory tweet, statement, and action, as if the president is nothing more than a naughty puppy that has soiled the carpet.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2017/08/01/dear-gop-get-backbone/dibR5yES6PjxeUaXHYh6BJ/story.html
Tuesday, August 1, 2017
Reclaiming My Time -Gospel Mix
http://www.elle.com/culture/music/news/a47043/reclaiming-my-time-now-has-a-gospel-remix/
Another GOLD!
From the Huffington Post -
Simone Manuel Sets New Record And Takes Home The Gold AGAIN
Black girl magic FTW.
By Taryn Finley
Simone Manuel hasn’t slowed down since her history-making victory at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
On Friday, Manuel scored gold over world record holder Sarah Sjöström in the world 100m freestyle in Budapest for the 2017 World Aquatics Championships. Manuel beat out Sjöström by mere milliseconds ― 52.27 seconds to the Swedish’s 52.31 seconds ― setting a new American record.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/simone-manuel-sets-new-record-wins-gold-again_us_597f5a43e4b02a8434b8173e?section=us_black-voices
Simone Manuel Sets New Record And Takes Home The Gold AGAIN
Black girl magic FTW.
By Taryn Finley
 | ||
Simone Manuel hasn’t slowed down since her history-making victory at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
On Friday, Manuel scored gold over world record holder Sarah Sjöström in the world 100m freestyle in Budapest for the 2017 World Aquatics Championships. Manuel beat out Sjöström by mere milliseconds ― 52.27 seconds to the Swedish’s 52.31 seconds ― setting a new American record.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/simone-manuel-sets-new-record-wins-gold-again_us_597f5a43e4b02a8434b8173e?section=us_black-voices
A New Cosmetics Line
An excerpt from Essence -
Mented Cosmetics Is The Black-Owned Brand Making Nude Lipstick Anything But Basic
Two Harvard Business School graduates talk about the realities of starting a cosmetics business created for and by Black women.
By Deena Campbell
KJ Miller and Amanda Johnson knew they wanted to work together after graduating Harvard Business School, but they didn’t have any idea on the type of business to launch. Finally, after many months of meeting up to discuss life hacks, the duo realized the beauty industry needed cosmetics for women of color. They grabbed a few hot plates, a glass of pinot and began mixing shades in their kitchen. Six shades later, Mented Cosmetics was born.
http://www.essence.com/lifestyle/entrepreneurship/mented-cosmetics-interview?iid=sr-link2
http://www.essence.com/beauty/makeup/lips/black-owned-mented-cosmetics-nude-lipstick?iid=sr-link1
Hi there! I want you to try Mented Cosmetics, a new line of nude lipsticks for women of all hues. Use my link to get 15% off your first purchase! Check it out: http://mentedcosmetics.refr.cc/rhildaf
Mented Cosmetics Is The Black-Owned Brand Making Nude Lipstick Anything But Basic
Two Harvard Business School graduates talk about the realities of starting a cosmetics business created for and by Black women.
By Deena Campbell
KJ Miller and Amanda Johnson knew they wanted to work together after graduating Harvard Business School, but they didn’t have any idea on the type of business to launch. Finally, after many months of meeting up to discuss life hacks, the duo realized the beauty industry needed cosmetics for women of color. They grabbed a few hot plates, a glass of pinot and began mixing shades in their kitchen. Six shades later, Mented Cosmetics was born.
http://www.essence.com/lifestyle/entrepreneurship/mented-cosmetics-interview?iid=sr-link2
http://www.essence.com/beauty/makeup/lips/black-owned-mented-cosmetics-nude-lipstick?iid=sr-link1
Hi there! I want you to try Mented Cosmetics, a new line of nude lipsticks for women of all hues. Use my link to get 15% off your first purchase! Check it out: http://mentedcosmetics.refr.cc/rhildaf
That's a Lot of Poop
From Now I Know -
The Poop Collector
We all have different hobbies. Some of us like to play golf, others enjoy cooking, still others write trivia email newsletters. Some hobbies are mundane, but some are weird. Take, for example, a Florida man named George Frandsen. He collects something called coprolite — or, to use Merriam-Webster’s definition, “fossilized excrement.” Basically: Frandsen collects really old pieces of poop — poop specimens that have been preserved over millions of years and are now considered fossils.
http://nowiknow.com/the-poop-collector/
The Poop Collector
We all have different hobbies. Some of us like to play golf, others enjoy cooking, still others write trivia email newsletters. Some hobbies are mundane, but some are weird. Take, for example, a Florida man named George Frandsen. He collects something called coprolite — or, to use Merriam-Webster’s definition, “fossilized excrement.” Basically: Frandsen collects really old pieces of poop — poop specimens that have been preserved over millions of years and are now considered fossils.
http://nowiknow.com/the-poop-collector/
A Scary Thought
An excerpt from Slate -
A Stymied Trump Is a Dangerous Trump
Since he can’t score any wins at home, he just might look for glory overseas—and that means war.
By Joshua Keating
The collapse of efforts to repeal Obamacare last week leaves Donald Trump without a single legislative achievement more than half a year into his presidency. With relations souring between the president and his own party, with the West Wing thrown into chaos, and with the Russia investigation continuing to dog the administration, the president’s governing agenda has lost momentum. At first glance, this must be reassuring to Trump’s opponents, but it really shouldn’t be: The more he’s stymied at home, the more likely he is to look for victories abroad, a dynamic that significantly raises the risk of armed conflict.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/07/why_trump_might_be_itching_to_start_a_war_against_north_korea_or_iran.html
A Stymied Trump Is a Dangerous Trump
Since he can’t score any wins at home, he just might look for glory overseas—and that means war.
By Joshua Keating
The collapse of efforts to repeal Obamacare last week leaves Donald Trump without a single legislative achievement more than half a year into his presidency. With relations souring between the president and his own party, with the West Wing thrown into chaos, and with the Russia investigation continuing to dog the administration, the president’s governing agenda has lost momentum. At first glance, this must be reassuring to Trump’s opponents, but it really shouldn’t be: The more he’s stymied at home, the more likely he is to look for victories abroad, a dynamic that significantly raises the risk of armed conflict.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/07/why_trump_might_be_itching_to_start_a_war_against_north_korea_or_iran.html
What Are the Odds?
An excerpt from Vanity Fair -
Trump Has Fired Enough Staffers for an All-Trump Season of Dancing with the Stars
But which castoff would win the coveted Mirrorball Trophy?
by LAURA BRADLEY
In fact, now that we think of it, Dancing with the Stars could air an entire season populated solely with ex-Trump staffers looking for their second acts. Naturally, that raises one crucial question: who would win? Let’s consider the odds.
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/07/anthony-scaramucci-fired-trump-dancing-with-the-stars
Trump Has Fired Enough Staffers for an All-Trump Season of Dancing with the Stars
But which castoff would win the coveted Mirrorball Trophy?
by LAURA BRADLEY
In fact, now that we think of it, Dancing with the Stars could air an entire season populated solely with ex-Trump staffers looking for their second acts. Naturally, that raises one crucial question: who would win? Let’s consider the odds.
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/07/anthony-scaramucci-fired-trump-dancing-with-the-stars
Monday, July 31, 2017
Another Outster
TONIGHT: A dejected Stephen Colbert feels like he’s been front-stabbed in the heart after learning of The Mooch’s resignation. #LSSC pic.twitter.com/Ttmlk1ujJw— The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) August 1, 2017
Crusty Eyes
An excerpt from Now I Know -
Why We Wake Up With Crusty Eyes
They go by many names — crusties, eye boogers, sleep dust, goop, or sometimes simply “sleep.” But whatever you call it, you’ve experienced this: you wake up in the morning and, in the corner of your eyes, there are shards of a hard, yellowish-white crust hanging out. Why does this happen?
The short version: When we sleep, we don’t blink.
Eye crusties (or whatever you call this stuff) are made up of something called rheum, pronounced like the word “room,” which Wikipedia describes as a “thin mucus naturally discharged from the eyes.” Rheum protects our eyes from dust and whatever other bad stuff would otherwise irritate our eyes — it’s a barrier watch catches the bad stuff before it causes us any problems. Of course, we don’t want specks of dust or whatever floating around our eyes, so we have to get rid of the rheum pretty often. Blinking takes care of this. Blinking moves tears from the outside of the eyes inward, toward our tear ducts. And when that happens, the tears wash the rheum away ever so subtly; unless you’re thinking about it, you probably don’t even notice it happening.
http://nowiknow.com/why-we-wake-up-with-crusty-eyes/
Why We Wake Up With Crusty Eyes
They go by many names — crusties, eye boogers, sleep dust, goop, or sometimes simply “sleep.” But whatever you call it, you’ve experienced this: you wake up in the morning and, in the corner of your eyes, there are shards of a hard, yellowish-white crust hanging out. Why does this happen?
The short version: When we sleep, we don’t blink.
Eye crusties (or whatever you call this stuff) are made up of something called rheum, pronounced like the word “room,” which Wikipedia describes as a “thin mucus naturally discharged from the eyes.” Rheum protects our eyes from dust and whatever other bad stuff would otherwise irritate our eyes — it’s a barrier watch catches the bad stuff before it causes us any problems. Of course, we don’t want specks of dust or whatever floating around our eyes, so we have to get rid of the rheum pretty often. Blinking takes care of this. Blinking moves tears from the outside of the eyes inward, toward our tear ducts. And when that happens, the tears wash the rheum away ever so subtly; unless you’re thinking about it, you probably don’t even notice it happening.
http://nowiknow.com/why-we-wake-up-with-crusty-eyes/
Aggressive Incompetence
An excerpt from USA Today -
Anthony Scaramucci's aggressive incompetence
Tom Krattenmaker, Opinion columnist
Sure, take the flashy flatterer who has been singing the president’s praises on cable news and make him White House communications director, never mind the fact he has no communications experience. What could go wrong?
How quickly we learned.
The PR disaster during Anthony Scaramucci’s first week on the job — a profanity-laced diatribe to a national magazine in which the president’s new communications director blasted supposed colleagues and exposed the knife-fight chaos in the White House —tells us something worth remembering:
Communications is not for amateurs. Nor is governing.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/07/30/scaramucci-mess-demonstrates-communications-not-amateurs-tom-krattenmaker-column/521156001/
Anthony Scaramucci's aggressive incompetence
Tom Krattenmaker, Opinion columnist
Sure, take the flashy flatterer who has been singing the president’s praises on cable news and make him White House communications director, never mind the fact he has no communications experience. What could go wrong?
How quickly we learned.
The PR disaster during Anthony Scaramucci’s first week on the job — a profanity-laced diatribe to a national magazine in which the president’s new communications director blasted supposed colleagues and exposed the knife-fight chaos in the White House —tells us something worth remembering:
Communications is not for amateurs. Nor is governing.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/07/30/scaramucci-mess-demonstrates-communications-not-amateurs-tom-krattenmaker-column/521156001/
All Electric. All the Time.
An excerpt from the NY Times Editorial -
Britain Joins the Shift to Electric Cars
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
The drive to switch to electric cars went a mile further last Wednesday when Britain joined France in pledging to end the sale of new gas and diesel cars by 2040. Norway and India have also said they want to get rid of gas and diesel cars, and at least 10 other countries have set targets for electric cars. All that is good news for the planet and for human health, even if caveats and challenges abound.
Cars powered by gasoline or diesel are major polluters. The Volkswagen emissions scandal in the United States put to rest the longstanding European faith in diesel as a more environmentally friendly fuel, not least because it generates large quantities of health-threatening nitrogen oxides. VW’s extensive efforts to conceal the true extent of that pollution has now turned consumers against the fuel.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/31/opinion/britain-electric-cars.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region
Britain Joins the Shift to Electric Cars
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
The drive to switch to electric cars went a mile further last Wednesday when Britain joined France in pledging to end the sale of new gas and diesel cars by 2040. Norway and India have also said they want to get rid of gas and diesel cars, and at least 10 other countries have set targets for electric cars. All that is good news for the planet and for human health, even if caveats and challenges abound.
Cars powered by gasoline or diesel are major polluters. The Volkswagen emissions scandal in the United States put to rest the longstanding European faith in diesel as a more environmentally friendly fuel, not least because it generates large quantities of health-threatening nitrogen oxides. VW’s extensive efforts to conceal the true extent of that pollution has now turned consumers against the fuel.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/31/opinion/britain-electric-cars.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region
Will He Listen?
An excerpt from the NY Times -
Sage Advice From the ‘Gold Standard’ of White House Chiefs of Staff
By PETER BAKER
When a new White House chief of staff takes over, the smart ones check in with James A. Baker III, the only man to have occupied the office two different times for two different presidents and who is widely considered to be the gold standard.
Mr. Baker has plenty of advice from running the White House during Ronald Reagan’s first term and again at the end of George Bush’s presidency, but it usually boils down to this: “You can focus on the ‘chief,’ or you can focus on the ‘of staff.’ Those who have focused on the ‘of staff’ have done pretty well.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/30/us/politics/john-kelly-james-baker-white-house.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosam&stream=top-stories&_r=0
Sage Advice From the ‘Gold Standard’ of White House Chiefs of Staff
By PETER BAKER
When a new White House chief of staff takes over, the smart ones check in with James A. Baker III, the only man to have occupied the office two different times for two different presidents and who is widely considered to be the gold standard.
Mr. Baker has plenty of advice from running the White House during Ronald Reagan’s first term and again at the end of George Bush’s presidency, but it usually boils down to this: “You can focus on the ‘chief,’ or you can focus on the ‘of staff.’ Those who have focused on the ‘of staff’ have done pretty well.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/30/us/politics/john-kelly-james-baker-white-house.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosam&stream=top-stories&_r=0
Sunday, July 30, 2017
Let's Count the Ways
An excerpt from Business Insider -
Trump may have just had his 'worst week' yet
By Natasha Bertrand
The Boy Scouts were forced to apologize. the Pentagon was caught flat-footed. The GOP failed to pass a crucial healthcare vote.
The president openly undercut his attorney general. The White House communications director publicly attacked the White House chief of staff. The White House chief of staff was then ousted.
Congress backed the president into a corner on Russia, and the police department that hosted the president's speech on gang violence quickly denounced his remarks.
And that was just last week.
http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-scaramucci-reince-priebus-health-care-2017-7?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosam&stream=top-stories
Trump may have just had his 'worst week' yet
By Natasha Bertrand
The Boy Scouts were forced to apologize. the Pentagon was caught flat-footed. The GOP failed to pass a crucial healthcare vote.
The president openly undercut his attorney general. The White House communications director publicly attacked the White House chief of staff. The White House chief of staff was then ousted.
Congress backed the president into a corner on Russia, and the police department that hosted the president's speech on gang violence quickly denounced his remarks.
And that was just last week.
http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-scaramucci-reince-priebus-health-care-2017-7?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosam&stream=top-stories
An Idiot and a Fool
An excerpt from NY Magazine - (Italics is mine)
Reince Priebus: Requiem for a Minion
By Jonathan Chait
Priebus’s replacement, John Kelly, is more appealing to the president because he is a general and is untainted by having recorded any doubts about the viability of a candidate who grabs women by their genitals. Another article (link below) notes approvingly, “He won’t suffer idiots and fools,” which might be a problem, since the president is both.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/reince-priebus-requiem-for-a-minion.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2017/07/29/john-kelly-trumps-new-chief-of-staff-wont-suffer-idiots-and-fools/?utm_term=.d733ae1f3237
Reince Priebus: Requiem for a Minion
By Jonathan Chait
Priebus’s replacement, John Kelly, is more appealing to the president because he is a general and is untainted by having recorded any doubts about the viability of a candidate who grabs women by their genitals. Another article (link below) notes approvingly, “He won’t suffer idiots and fools,” which might be a problem, since the president is both.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/reince-priebus-requiem-for-a-minion.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2017/07/29/john-kelly-trumps-new-chief-of-staff-wont-suffer-idiots-and-fools/?utm_term=.d733ae1f3237
Saturday, July 29, 2017
Obamacare
An excerpt from the Huffington Post -
Obamacare Is Alive Because It Has Made Life Better For Millions
Republicans could never admit this — and it came back to haunt them.
By Jonathan Cohn
The Affordable Care Act has survived yet another effort to snuff it out. And one reason is a simple reality that Republicans have rarely been willing to admit ― to their supporters, to the general public, and perhaps even to themselves.
It turns out “Obamacare” has made life better for a great many people.
Millions of Americans now have health insurance because the law has put it within financial reach. They are enrolling in Medicaid, or buying private insurance with the help of tax credits ― and taking advantage of laws that prohibit insurers from denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions. Millions more have insurance that is cheaper, better, or more comprehensive than what they could get before. They are more financially secure, they have better access to care, and they are probably getting healthier, too.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/why-obamacare-survived_us_597ae374e4b02a8434b5774f?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
Obamacare Is Alive Because It Has Made Life Better For Millions
Republicans could never admit this — and it came back to haunt them.
By Jonathan Cohn
The Affordable Care Act has survived yet another effort to snuff it out. And one reason is a simple reality that Republicans have rarely been willing to admit ― to their supporters, to the general public, and perhaps even to themselves.
It turns out “Obamacare” has made life better for a great many people.
Millions of Americans now have health insurance because the law has put it within financial reach. They are enrolling in Medicaid, or buying private insurance with the help of tax credits ― and taking advantage of laws that prohibit insurers from denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions. Millions more have insurance that is cheaper, better, or more comprehensive than what they could get before. They are more financially secure, they have better access to care, and they are probably getting healthier, too.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/why-obamacare-survived_us_597ae374e4b02a8434b5774f?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
Irresponsible & Unprofessional
An excerpt from the Huffington Post -
NYPD Calls Unreasonable Use Of Force ‘Irresponsible’ After Trump’s Speech
The department said suggestions for using another standard for use of force “sends the wrong message.”
By Carla Herreria
The New York Police Department released a statement on Saturday reiterating their use of force policies after President Donald Trump suggested police officers be more rough with their suspects during a Friday speech to invited law enforcement officers.
In a statement emailed to HuffPost, the NYPD called suggestions for police officers to use alternative standards for use of force “irresponsible” and “unprofessional.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nypd-responds-to-trump-speech-use-of-force_us_597cf58be4b02a8434b6d20e?9oa&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
NYPD Calls Unreasonable Use Of Force ‘Irresponsible’ After Trump’s Speech
The department said suggestions for using another standard for use of force “sends the wrong message.”
By Carla Herreria
The New York Police Department released a statement on Saturday reiterating their use of force policies after President Donald Trump suggested police officers be more rough with their suspects during a Friday speech to invited law enforcement officers.
In a statement emailed to HuffPost, the NYPD called suggestions for police officers to use alternative standards for use of force “irresponsible” and “unprofessional.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nypd-responds-to-trump-speech-use-of-force_us_597cf58be4b02a8434b6d20e?9oa&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
Black Beauty
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| FAMU Delta Sigma Theta sorority sisters gathered in Costa Rica for an induction anniversary and did what they're calling a #MelaninIllustrated photo shoot. | (Photo: Courtesy of Amanda Byrd. Photo by Javier A. Mereb - Bidrop Images.) |
A Biodegradable Urn
From Wired -
TURN YOUR DEAD GRANDMA INTO A TREE WITH THIS SMART PLANTER
By Elizabeth Stinson
AFTER JAY JUNKER’S father passed away from cancer in 2014, the 33-year-old took his cremated remains and planted them in a field outside the family’s farm house in Vermont. His father, who Junker recalls as outgoing and nature loving, is now a white oak sapling that’s grown from 5 inches to just over 5 feet tall in the last two years. On nice days, Junker likes to take a stroll out to the meadow where his father is planted and spend some time reminiscing about how they used to ski and hike in the rolling green hills. “To me, this just seemed like the best way to keep in touch," Junker says. "The best way to keep someone in your life.”
Ashes by themselves don’t grow into trees, of course, but Junker had some help. He used a Bios Urn—a biodegradable urn that turns human ash remains into growth material for trees.
https://www.wired.com/story/turn-your-dead-grandma-into-a-tree-with-this-smart-planter/?mbid=nl_72917_p8&CNDID=
TURN YOUR DEAD GRANDMA INTO A TREE WITH THIS SMART PLANTER
By Elizabeth Stinson
AFTER JAY JUNKER’S father passed away from cancer in 2014, the 33-year-old took his cremated remains and planted them in a field outside the family’s farm house in Vermont. His father, who Junker recalls as outgoing and nature loving, is now a white oak sapling that’s grown from 5 inches to just over 5 feet tall in the last two years. On nice days, Junker likes to take a stroll out to the meadow where his father is planted and spend some time reminiscing about how they used to ski and hike in the rolling green hills. “To me, this just seemed like the best way to keep in touch," Junker says. "The best way to keep someone in your life.”
Ashes by themselves don’t grow into trees, of course, but Junker had some help. He used a Bios Urn—a biodegradable urn that turns human ash remains into growth material for trees.
https://www.wired.com/story/turn-your-dead-grandma-into-a-tree-with-this-smart-planter/?mbid=nl_72917_p8&CNDID=
Friday, July 28, 2017
This is it, right?
An excerpt from NY Magazine -
A Week of Reckoning
By Andrew Sullivan
We have become, at this point, inured to having an irrational president in an increasingly post-rational America. We’ve also come to tell ourselves that somehow (a) this isn’t really happening, (b) by some miracle, it will be over soon, or (c) at some point the Republican Party will have to acknowledge what they are abetting, and cut their losses. And yet with each particular breach of decency, stability, and constitutionality, no breaking point seems to have arrived, even as the tribalism has deepened, the president’s madness has metastasized, and the norms of liberal democracy are hanging on by a thread.
But surely this week must mark some kind of moment in this vertiginous descent, some point at which the manifest unfitness of this president to continue in office becomes impossible to deny.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/a-week-of-reckoning.html
A Week of Reckoning
By Andrew Sullivan
We have become, at this point, inured to having an irrational president in an increasingly post-rational America. We’ve also come to tell ourselves that somehow (a) this isn’t really happening, (b) by some miracle, it will be over soon, or (c) at some point the Republican Party will have to acknowledge what they are abetting, and cut their losses. And yet with each particular breach of decency, stability, and constitutionality, no breaking point seems to have arrived, even as the tribalism has deepened, the president’s madness has metastasized, and the norms of liberal democracy are hanging on by a thread.
But surely this week must mark some kind of moment in this vertiginous descent, some point at which the manifest unfitness of this president to continue in office becomes impossible to deny.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/a-week-of-reckoning.html
From His Mouth to God's Ears
An excerpt from Rolling Stone -
The Anthony Scaramucci Era Will Be Freakish, Embarrassing and All Too Short
Glad-handing hedge-funder turned White House press chief has reignited the comic potential of Trump presidency. It's too bad he won't last past the end of this sentence
By Matt Taibbi
It's hard to believe that it was barely a week ago, on July 21st, that Scaramucci was given Trump's top press job. It feels like it was millions of years in the past, back when Africa was still connected to Brazil, and Sean Spicer was still our idea of a national embarrassment. This is the way time works in the Trump era. Days seem like centuries, and weeks seem like millennia.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/taibbi-anthony-scaramucci-era-will-be-freakish-embarrassing-short-w494718?utm_source=rsnewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=daily&utm_campaign=072817_10
The Anthony Scaramucci Era Will Be Freakish, Embarrassing and All Too Short
Glad-handing hedge-funder turned White House press chief has reignited the comic potential of Trump presidency. It's too bad he won't last past the end of this sentence
By Matt Taibbi
It's hard to believe that it was barely a week ago, on July 21st, that Scaramucci was given Trump's top press job. It feels like it was millions of years in the past, back when Africa was still connected to Brazil, and Sean Spicer was still our idea of a national embarrassment. This is the way time works in the Trump era. Days seem like centuries, and weeks seem like millennia.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/taibbi-anthony-scaramucci-era-will-be-freakish-embarrassing-short-w494718?utm_source=rsnewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=daily&utm_campaign=072817_10
Retiring at 98
An excerpt from Poynter -
He’s spent nearly 7 decades at The San Francisco Chronicle. This year, at 98, he’s retiring.
By Daniel Funke
David Perlman was born in 1918 — a decade before the discovery of penicillin and the Big Bang Theory.
And, for the majority of his career, he covered scientific progress in the 20th century and beyond, writing thousands of articles about everything from the beginning of the space age to the computer age.
Until now.
The 98-year-old science editor is retiring from The San Francisco Chronicle after nearly seven decades at the newspaper, a decision he said had been coming for a while.
http://www.poynter.org/2017/hes-spent-nearly-seven-decades-at-the-san-francisco-chronicle-this-year-at-98-hes-retiring/468149/
He’s spent nearly 7 decades at The San Francisco Chronicle. This year, at 98, he’s retiring.
By Daniel Funke
David Perlman was born in 1918 — a decade before the discovery of penicillin and the Big Bang Theory.
And, for the majority of his career, he covered scientific progress in the 20th century and beyond, writing thousands of articles about everything from the beginning of the space age to the computer age.
Until now.
The 98-year-old science editor is retiring from The San Francisco Chronicle after nearly seven decades at the newspaper, a decision he said had been coming for a while.
http://www.poynter.org/2017/hes-spent-nearly-seven-decades-at-the-san-francisco-chronicle-this-year-at-98-hes-retiring/468149/
San Francisco Via Drone Part 1
Music is obnoxious. You might consider muting it. Otherwise great views.
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