FollowingFaye

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Pot Docs Making a Positive Impact

An excerpt from the Washington Post -

A family of doctors helps reinvent medical marijuana
By Justin Wm. Moyer

From left, physicians David Knox, Rachel Knox, Janice Knox and Jessica Knox are the founders of the American Cannabinoid Clinics. (Amanda Lucier/for The Washington Post)

The Knoxes are a clan of four doctors living in Oregon and California who specialize in medical marijuana. They seem to be doing quite well selling something that is illegal in many states, working with those they know best.

“We’re all fighting the same fight,” said Janice Knox, the founding doctor behind American Cannabinoid Clinics in Portland, Ore. — and the mother of two fellow physicians and the wife of the other. “I think when they do see us they’re surprised at who we are,” she said of her patients. The family aims for something not always associated with medical marijuana: professionalism.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/a-family-of-doctors-helps-reinvent-medical-marijuana/2018/01/14/f4ea320e-eb24-11e7-b698-91d4e35920a3_story.html?utm_term=.8046c338e4f7

Monday, January 15, 2018

A mother and son united by love and art | Deborah Willis and Hank Willis...

Miniature scenes of murder

A second honeymoon

Declared Dead

An excerpt from LiveScience -

Man Declared Dead Snores to Life Right Before His Autopsy
By Rachael Rettner

A man in Spain who was declared dead by three doctors was actually still alive, which doctors discovered only when he began snoring on the autopsy table, according to news reports.

The man, 29-year-old Gonzalo Montoya Jiménez, was a prisoner at a jail in northern Spain. He was found unconscious in his cell on Sunday (Jan. 7), and was believed to be dead, according to the Spanish news outlet La Voz de Asturias. Three forensic doctors allegedly examined Jiménez and certified his death.

But 4 hours later, right before Jiménez's autopsy, he was heard making noises on the autopsy table, and was found to still be alive. This discovery was not a moment too soon — Jiménez's body even had the marks painted on it to guide the autopsy, a family member told La Voz de Asturias.

https://www.livescience.com/61385-man-declared-dead-really-alive.html?ftag=CNM-00-10aac3a

Spectacular Bridges

From USA Today -

https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/travel/destinations/10greatplaces/2018/01/11/the-worlds-most-spectacular-new-bridges/109361156/

How the Animal Kingdom Sleeps

Most Innovative Companies

From USA Today -

The world’s 50 most innovative companies
Samuel Stebbins

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2018/01/12/worlds-50-most-innovative-companies/1023095001/

Honored for His Bravery

An excerpt from Slate -

ACLU Honors Colin Kaepernick For Bravery in “Risking and Losing His Job” for the Cause of Social Justice
By Jeremy Stahl

BEVERLY HILLS, California—Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick was a surprise honoree at the ACLU of Southern California’s annual "Bill of Rights Dinner" on Sunday, receiving the Eason Monroe Courageous Advocate Award.

Kaepernick, whose public speaking appearances have been rare in recent months, remained unsigned this year after he spent last season protesting racial inequities in the criminal justice system by taking a knee during the national anthem.

“Our next honoree took a stand. He took a stand knowing he would risk his job. And he has lost his job, one that he loved and was supremely talented and skilled at,” executive director of the ACLU of Southern California, Hector Villagra, told a packed ballroom at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. “He took a stand knowing that some would criticize him and he has been viciously and unfairly criticized.”

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/12/03/aclu_honors_colin_kaepernick_for_bravery_in_risking_and_losing_his_job_for.html

Making a Difference

An excerpt from OZY -

MINORITY ENTREPRENEURS STRUGGLE TO GET BUSINESS LOANS. THIS FUND AIMS TO FIX THAT
By Laura Elizabeth

Bennett says she’s proof the EOCF works. A quick cash injection helped her say yes to the arena project, bring on workers and deliver the job. “Being able to do that one project teleported us to a whole different level,” she says now. “We are getting looked at by contractors that wouldn’t have known who we were two years ago. And we are looking at bigger and better opportunities that we would never have been able to consider before.”

The EOCF has been deemed such a success — with $4.5 million loaned to more than 40 minority entrepreneurs since it launched in 2015 — that the fund has lately attracted new investors and tripled from $6.5 million to $18 million. Based on the Detroit model, similar funds will be introduced to San Francisco and New York this year.

But the problem the fund wants to solve goes far beyond a handful of cities. A 2016 report from the Hamilton Project, which studies fiscal policy, called for better federal funding to help minority and women entrepreneurs nationwide, arguing this could help resolve major social injustices.

http://www.ozy.com/acumen/minority-entrepreneurs-struggle-to-get-business-loans-this-fund-aims-to-fix-that/83095?utm_source=dd&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=01152018&variable=e3bf1057d4e3c0988a79ae4bce515610

What if sticky notes never ran out?

Yes. Of Course He Is.

Excerpts from the NY Times -

Trump Is a Racist. Period.
By Charles M. Blow

Racism is simply the belief that race is an inherent and determining factor in a person’s or a people’s character and capabilities, rendering some inferior and others superior. These beliefs are racial prejudices.

The history of America is one in which white people used racism and white supremacy to develop a racial caste system that advantaged them and disadvantaged others.

Understanding this, it is not a stretch to understand that Donald Trump’s words and deeds over the course of his life have demonstrated a pattern of expressing racial prejudices that demean people who are black and brown and that play to the racial hostilities of other white people.

~~~~~~~~~~

As the brilliant James Baldwin once put it: “I can’t believe what you say, because I see what you do.” When I see that in poll after poll a portion of Trump’s base continues to support his behavior, including on race, I can only conclude that there is no real daylight between Trump and his base. They are part of his racism.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/14/opinion/trump-racist-shithole.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share

Martin & Malcolm

An excerpt from the Washington Post -

Martin Luther King Jr. met Malcolm X just once. The photo still haunts us with what was lost.
By DeNeen L. Brown

Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X met only once. On March 26, 1964, the two black leaders were on Capitol Hill, attending Senate debate on the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

King was stepping out of a news conference, when Malcolm X, dressed in an elegant black overcoat and wearing his signature horn-rimmed glasses, greeted him.

“Well, Malcolm, good to see you,” King said.

“Good to see you,” Malcolm X replied.

Cameras clicked as the two men walked down the Senate hall together.

“I’m throwing myself into the heart of the civil rights struggle,” Malcolm X told King.

King would say later: “He is very articulate, but I totally disagree with many of his political and philosophical views — at least insofar as I understand where he now stands.”

The exchange would last only a minute, but the photo remains a haunting reminder of what was lost. They would never meet again before each was assassinated, first Malcolm X and then King.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/01/14/martin-luther-king-jr-met-malcolm-x-just-once-the-photo-still-haunts-us-with-what-was-lost/?utm_term=.cf7036b7132f&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1

Franklin's Debut

An excerpt from the NY Times -

Guess Who’s Coming to ‘Peanuts’
By DAVID KAMP

“Is this your beach ball?” These were the first words spoken by Franklin, addressing Charlie Brown as the latter stared glumly out to sea. And this is how Charles M. Schulz integrated his comic strip, “Peanuts,” on July 31, 1968. Franklin’s initial three-strip arc unfolded quietly and gently, with the boys building a sand castle together while chatting.

Franklin stayed quiet and gentle, taking his place in the “Peanuts” gang as a steady but low-key presence over the next three decades — sometimes to the chagrin of African-Americans who found him to be anodyne at best and a token at worst. In a 1992 “Saturday Night Live” routine, Chris Rock complained, comically but pointedly, that Mr. Schulz had deprived Franklin of the kind of signature traits he had assigned the other “Peanuts” kids.

“Linus got the blanket, Lucy’s a bitch, Schroeder plays the piano, Peppermint Patty’s a lesbian,” Mr. Rock said. “Everybody got their thing except Franklin! Give him something! Damn, give him a Jamaican accent!”

Yet Franklin’s careful rollout and nice-guy equanimity were very much by design, as “50 Years of Franklin,” a new exhibition at the Charles M. Schulz Museum, in Santa Rosa, Calif., reveals. The exhibition opens this weekend in conjunction with the observance of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday on Monday.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/13/opinion/sunday/peanuts-franklin-charlie-brown.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share&_r=0

Promoting Civil Rights Tourism

An excerpt from AP News -

Southern states join to promote civil rights tourism
By Jay Reeves

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Southern states that once fought to maintain racial segregation are now banding together to promote civil rights tourism at sites including the building where the Confederacy was born and the motel where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. died.

Fourteen states stretching from Kansas to Delaware, including all of the Deep South, are joining to promote the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, which will highlight about 130 sites linked to the modern civil rights movement. The joint effort is being unveiled as part of the MLK holiday weekend.

Individual Southern states have used such promotions for years, beginning with a black history trail launched by Alabama in the 1980s, but never before have they joined together in a single push to bolster civil rights tourism, said Lee Sentell, a leader of the effort.

“Everyone wants to showcase their landmarks. For the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, we’re saying ’What happened here changed the world,’” said Sentell, Alabama’s tourism director.

Most states participating in the promotion are part of the Atlanta-based Travel South USA, which is funded by state tourism agencies to lure visitors to the region. The organization has launched civilrightstrail.com and is placing advertisements in national magazines to promote the trail.

https://apnews.com/65c188db42cb4c0d98c0fd65a6fe332c/Southern-states-join-to-promote-civil-rights-tourism?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=&stream=top-stories

The chocolate science hype machine

Saturday, January 13, 2018

Medical Treatment of Black Women

An excerpt from Vox -

What Serena Williams’s scary childbirth story says about medical treatment of black women
Black women are often dismissed or ignored by medical care providers. Williams wasn’t an exception.
By P.R. Lockhart

A new Vogue profile of Serena Williams sheds light not only on the health risks that can come with childbirth, but also how those factors — coupled with racial bias in the medical field — can have dangerous, even life-threatening results for black women.

In Vogue’s February cover story, Williams recalls dealing with serious complications shortly after the recent birth of her daughter, Alexis Olympia. Williams explains that the problems started the day after her daughter’s birth by Cesarean section, when Williams felt short of breath. Due to her history of pulmonary embolisms (Williams underwent emergency treatment for a life-threatening embolism in 2011), the tennis star quickly alerted a nurse about her symptoms.

But the response wasn’t what she expected. Vogue writer Rob Haskell explains:

She walked out of the hospital room so her mother wouldn’t worry and told the nearest nurse, between gasps, that she needed a CT scan with contrast and IV heparin (a blood thinner) right away. The nurse thought her pain medicine might be making her confused. But Serena insisted, and soon enough a doctor was performing an ultrasound of her legs. “I was like, a Doppler? I told you, I need a CT scan and a heparin drip,” she remembers telling the team. The ultrasound revealed nothing, so they sent her for the CT, and sure enough, several small blood clots had settled in her lungs. Minutes later she was on the drip. “I was like, listen to Dr. Williams!”

Williams adds that she continued to have problems after this scare. Williams coughed frequently due to the embolisms, and the coughs were forceful enough to cause her C-section wound to rupture. When she went in for surgery, doctors found that a hematoma had filled her abdomen, a result of the blood thinners. A filter was placed into one her major veins to keep more blood clots from traveling to her lungs. When she finally returned home, Williams needed six weeks of bed rest.

https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/1/11/16879984/serena-williams-childbirth-scare-black-women

Friday, January 12, 2018

The new US tax law, explained with cereal

Yes Indeed!

From Very Smart Brothas -

10 Reasons I’m Glad I Was Raised in a Black Household
By Panama Jackson

https://verysmartbrothas.theroot.com/10-reasons-i-m-glad-i-was-raised-in-a-black-household-1821891589

Bless Your Heart

A New Low

An excerpt from the New York Times -

‘The Lowest White Man’
By Charles M. Blow

Trumpism is a religion founded on patriarchy and white supremacy.

It is the belief that even the least qualified man is a better choice than the most qualified woman and a belief that the most vile, anti-intellectual, scandal-plagued simpleton of a white man is sufficient to follow in the presidential footsteps of the best educated, most eloquent, most affable black man.

As President Lyndon B. Johnson said in the 1960s to a young Bill Moyers: “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”

Trump’s supporters are saying to us, screaming to us, that although he may be the “lowest white man,” he is still better than Barack Obama, the “best colored man.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/11/opinion/trump-immigration-white-supremacy.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&region=CColumn&module=MostEmailed&version=Full&src=me&WT.nav=MostEmailed

Trump Calls Non-White Countries "S**tholes": The Daily Show

Thursday, January 11, 2018

The Rugged Training Methods of Fiji’s Best Rugby Players

The Cast of Sesame Street Reads Famous Movie Quotes | Vanity Fair

Soar Alongside Migrating Birds—and the Man Who Flies With Them | Nationa...

Again?

From USA Today Network -

School's homework asked for 3 'good,' 3 bad reasons for slavery
By Darryl Enriquez, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

WAUWATOSA, Wis. — Administrators at a Lutheran school here apologized Wednesday for a fourth-grade homework assignment that asked pupils to write "3 'good' reasons for slavery and 3 bad reasons."

Trameka Brown-Berry shared the assignment Tuesday on Facebook asking if others found it offensive. Her son, Jerome Berry, is a fourth-grader at Our Redeemer Lutheran School.

The post set off a cry from Facebook respondents and a community leader that the assignment was insensitive and offensive.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/01/10/slavery-homework-assignment/1022098001/

1968

From The Atlantic -

https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2018/01/50-years-ago-in-photos-a-look-back-at-1968/550208/?utm_source=&silverid=MzEwMTkwMTQ4ODk4S0

Clip: Why President Obama "stays in the pocket" with his dad moves [HD] ...

The Reason Britain Loves Tea

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Battle of the Boxes

Gadgets

The real reason Amelia Earhart is so famous

Making Moves With a One-Legged Tap Dancer

Trump Is Becoming More Erratic and Working Less: A Closer Look

She's On Fire!

An excerpt from the Huffington Post -

First Black Woman On U.S. Olympic Long-Track Skating Team Started Sport Only 4 Months Ago
Erin Jackson is black girl magic! ✨
By Taryn Finley

A 25-year-old long-track speed skater is gearing up for the 2018 Winter Olympics just four months after she first took to the ice.

Erin Jackson qualified for the U.S. team last Friday when she came in third place in trials for the 500-meter race behind two former Olympians, Brittany Bowe and Heather Bergsma.

The Florida resident finished her first run 39.22 seconds and clocked in at 39.04 in her second run. Jackson told NBC Sports that she was surprised she had made the squad.

“I really wasn’t expecting any of this, just coming in as a newbie, just trying to do the best I can,” Jackson said. “I still don’t even know.”

Jackson became the third black athlete to make a U.S. Olympic speedskating team, and the first black woman to qualify for the long-track competition.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/first-black-woman-to-compete-on-olympic-speed-ice-skating-team-picked-up-sport-4-months-ago_us_5a54ed65e4b0efe47ebd4ef7

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Perfect - Ed Sheeran & Beyoncé (Boyce Avenue acoustic cover) on Spotify ...

Here's how Trump's nuclear "button" actually works...

Trump Confidently Declares Himself a "Stable Genius": The Daily Show

At This Harlem Apartment, Live Jazz Every Sunday

The Incredible Woman That Oprah Referenced

From Essence -

Recy Taylor: 12 Facts About The Brave Woman Whose Painful Story Inspired Everyone From Rosa Parks To Oprah
By RACHAELL DAVIS

https://www.essence.com/awards-events/red-carpet/golden-globes/recy-taylor-facts-oprah-winfrey

Monday, January 8, 2018

What Made It So Powerful

An excerpt from the New York Times -

What Politicians Could Learn from Oprah Winfrey
By JAMES PONIEWOZIK

But to argue that Ms. Winfrey should run for president — or shouldn’t — simply because she’s a celebrity oversimplifies the issue. Most celebrities would make terrible candidates. (No offense, Kid Rock.) The real consideration here is why Ms. Winfrey is a celebrity, and all those qualifications were on display in that speech.

It’s a master’s stage performance. It builds from kitchen confession to mountaintop thunder. It shifts perspective cinematically — close in on young Ms. Winfrey sitting on the linoleum floor, pull back to a panorama of America. It uses preacherly rhythms and even cliffhangers (“a young worker by the name of … Rosa Parks”).

But above all, it’s a story. And it’s a story about stories. It moves from the personal (young Ms. Winfrey watching Sidney Poitier win an Oscar) to the communal (women in Hollywood, and women working on farms and even “some pretty phenomenal men”). It links “your truth” and “absolute truth.” It tells the audience: I have my struggle, and I know you have yours, and that connects us all in the sweep of a global struggle.

Conventional politicians can do that too, though it’s not easy or common. Barack Obama was no one’s idea of a shoo-in when he announced his campaign. But he synthesized his biography (as the “kid with a funny name”), his country’s current struggles and an idea of generational social progress into one evocative narrative — change.

People are drawn to stories for a reason: In politics as in art, they say more than a list of bullet points.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/08/arts/television/oprah-winfrey-president-television.html?hpw&rref=television&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well

Quote

Even Bill Kristol, newly woke, couldn’t resist joining in: “Oprah: Sounder on economics than Bernie Sanders, understands Middle America better than Elizabeth Warren, less touchy-feely than Joe Biden, more pleasant than Andrew Cuomo, more charismatic than John Hickenlooper. #ImWithHer.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/08/opinion/oprah-2020-president-globes.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region

How Many People Approved This Ad & Thought It Was OK?

What Real Smart People Say About Themselves

From the Atlantic -

How Actual Smart People Talk About Themselves
Hint: not by discussing IQ
By JAMES FALLOWS

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/01/how-actual-smart-people-talk-about-themselves/549878/?utm_source=&silverid=MzEwMTkwMTQ4ODk4S0

~~~~~~~~~~

This article is too good to cheery pick.

Enjoy!

The Ultimate Paper Airplane

The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake read by Wanda Sykes

What Would He Do?

From the New Yorker -

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cover-story/cover-story-2018-01-15?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=&stream=top-stories

FoldiMate hands-on at CES 2018

Sunday, January 7, 2018

Oprah Winfrey Golden Globes Cecil B. DeMille Award Acceptance Speech

Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga - It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Sw...

Calum Scott - You Are The Reason (Official)

Ellen Meets Viral College Acceptance Brothers

Seth Meyers' Monologue at the 2018 Golden Globes

What's the Longest Drivable Distance on Earth?

Harsh Treatment in the Middle East

An excerpt from the OZY -

RISING IN THE MIDDLE EAST: FORCED LABOR FROM AFRICA
By Laura Secorun Palet

It was a Wednesday afternoon in August 2017 and dozens of people were lining up on the platform of Noor Bank metro station, in Dubai. As the train approached, a man jumped in front of it.

The police report revealed he was a 36-year-old migrant worker from Uganda. His embassy said he was likely “frustrated” by poor working conditions, a local daily wrote a few paragraphs on the case, then the news moved on.

But the suicide only punctuated a widespread new pattern of labor exploitation of thousands of African migrant workers in the Persian Gulf States. A recent report by a Ugandan parliamentary committee revealed that, in 2017, at least 35 Ugandans killed themselves in the United Arab Emirates — mostly as a result of unpaid wages and abuse.

While continued international pressure on the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar has managed to improve the working conditions of many South Asian and Southeast Asian migrants, recruitment agencies are now moving on to Africa.

http://www.ozy.com/fast-forward/rising-in-the-middle-east-forced-labor-from-africa/82554?utm_source=dd&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=01072018&variable=e3bf1057d4e3c0988a79ae4bce515610

Getting Schooled on Prison Life

An excerpt from the OZY -

THE BEST BOOKS ON PRISON GANGS I READ WHILE SERVING TIME
By Seth Ferranti

When I first got locked up, in 1993, I didn’t know a thing about prison, so I had to learn fast. It was either that or end up on the wrong end of a shank. I had a release date, and I was intent on making it. Prison has its own parlance, unofficial rules and customs. As a guy from the suburbs, I needed to immerse myself in prison gang culture real quick. So I read a lot. By reading I gained insight into where the gangs were coming from, which I hoped would alleviate any potential problems. (By reading I also satisfied my insatiable appetite, which began in my youth, for the unknown and potentially dangerous.) Here are best of those books.

http://www.ozy.com/good-sht/the-best-books-on-prison-gangs-i-read-while-serving-time/82163?utm_source=dd&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=01072018&variable=e3bf1057d4e3c0988a79ae4bce515610

Ingenious!

https://uw-media.ydr.com/video/embed/109179352?sitelabel=reimagine&platform=desktop&continuousplay=true&placement=uw-videoassetplayerhtml5&broadcastonly=true&pagetype=video-asset

Stepping Up

An excerpt from the Washington Post -

A school sought 50 men to stand in for absent fathers at ‘Breakfast with Dads’ — nearly 600 showed up
By Valerie Strauss

Something somewhat extraordinary happened last month at Billy Earl Dade Middle School in Dallas.

The school — with a student population of nearly 900, about 90 percent from low-income families — planned to host its first “Breakfast with Dads,” according to the Dallas Morning News. About 150 male students, ages 11 to 13, signed up. But event organizers were concerned that some would attend without a male figure at their side, so they put out a call for volunteers who could serve as mentors.

“When a young person sees someone other than their teacher take interest in them, it inspires them. That’s what we want to see happen,” the Rev. Donald Parish Jr., pastor of True Lee Missionary Baptist Church and the event organizer, told the Morning News.

A call for volunteers by children’s advocate Kristina Chäadé Dove‏ — who has served on what is called a site-based decision-making team for the middle school — was published on social media in early December.

When the day came for the event, nearly 600 men showed up to help and mentor the boys, some of them volunteering for the first time.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2018/01/06/a-school-sought-50-men-to-stand-in-for-absent-fathers-at-breakfast-with-dads-nearly-600-showed-up/?utm_term=.11c622323ae2

Saturday, January 6, 2018

Donald Trump Lashes Out at Michael Wolff & Sloppy Steve Bannon

DSharp - "Finesse" (VIOLIN VERSION) | Bruno Mars ft. Cardi B

Yara Shahidi Speaks Out On Protests In Iran | The View

Shoveling While Black

An excerpt from The Atlantic -

I Was Racially Profiled in My Own Driveway
A retired Major League Baseball player explains how he's trying to turn an upsetting encounter with the police into an opportunity for dialogue.
By DOUG GLANVILLE

A police officer from West Hartford had pulled up across the street, exited his vehicle, and begun walking in my direction. I noted the strangeness of his being in Hartford—an entirely separate town with its own police force—so I thought he needed help. He approached me with purpose, and then, without any introduction or explanation he asked, “So, you trying to make a few extra bucks, shoveling people’s driveways around here?”

All of my homeowner confidence suddenly seemed like an illusion.

It would have been all too easy to play the “Do you know who I am?” game. My late father was an immigrant from Trinidad who enrolled at Howard University at age 31 and went on to become a psychiatrist. My mother was an important education reformer from the South. I graduated from an Ivy League school with an engineering degree, only to get selected in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft. I went on to play professionally for nearly 15 years, retiring into business then going on to write a book and a column for The New York Times. Today, I work at ESPN in another American dream job that lets me file my taxes under the description “baseball analyst.”

But I didn't mention any of this to the officer. I tried to take his question at face value, explaining that the Old Tudor house behind me was my own. The more I talked, the more senseless it seemed that I was even answering the question. But I knew I wouldn’t be smiling anymore that day.

After a few minutes, he headed back to his vehicle. He offered no apology, just an empty encouragement to enjoy my shoveling. And then he was gone.

https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/04/i-was-racially-profiled-in-my-own-driveway/360615/?utm_source=&silverid=MzEwMTkwMTQ4ODk4S0

Shipping Container Homes

From the Travel Channel -

http://www.travelchannel.com/interests/travels-best/photos/11-creative-shipping-container-homes-around-the-u-s

Carpet Stain Remover Art

.@NathanWyburnArt created a celebrity artwork of Harry & Meghan, using @DrBeckmannUK Carpet Stain Remover! He used our award-winning product to clean a stained carpet to reveal a portrait of the glamorous royal couple 😍

RT+F to #win this amazing product and try it yourself! pic.twitter.com/aiM6GrJm2a
— Dr Beckmann (@DrBeckmannUK) January 5, 2018

Friday, January 5, 2018

A Portrait of the Puppet Master as a Young Man

Experiencing Prejudice

An excerpt from E! News -

Jennifer Hudson Reveals How She Experiences Prejudice on a Regular Basis
by MIKE VULPO

Just because she's a celebrity doesn't mean Jennifer Hudson is exempt from experiencing prejudice.

While the Oscar-winning actress and powerful singer has found huge success in such a competitive industry, The Voice coach can't forget some occasions where she felt less than.

"There have been several situations where I get on a plane and [the air steward] assumes that I'm [meant to be] in the back of the plane," Jennifer recalled in the February issue of Cosmopolitan UK. "That happens a lot. I'm like ‘No, my seat is up there [in first class], thank you.'"

In fact, some of the prejudice Jennifer experiences happens at her house.

"People also assume that my home belongs to my white driver, Charles. One time, I was having something moved into my house and they wanted to know where to put it. I said, ‘There.' [The removal man] just stood there," she recalled. "When Charles came in, he asked him, ‘So where would you like these things?' Charles said, ‘She said she wanted it right there. You're talking to the wrong person.'"

http://www.eonline.com/news/903851/jennifer-hudson-reveals-how-she-experiences-prejudice-on-a-regular-basis

How The Toilet Changed History

Kobe Bryant Slept with His Basketball

The Other Versailles: France’s Château de Groussay

Bizarre, Unverified and Fraudulent: Michael Wolff Steps Inside the Trump...

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Day in the Life of Dubai's Poor - BBC News

Natural Glory

From Creative Soul Photography, Atlanta - Afro Art

http://creativesoulphoto.com/afroart-series/

Top 10 Things You Do Wrong Every Day!

Stranded in Japan, An Unforgettable Act of Kindness

Why I'm done trying to be "man enough" | Justin Baldoni

9-1-1 (FOX) Trailer HD - Ryan Murphy drama series

Poor Oregonians

From the Huffington Post -

Internet Trolls Oregonians After Self-Serve Gas Law Takes Effect
“Apparently there’s an entire state of people in America who are incapable of filling their own car with petrol.”
By David Lohr

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/oregon-self-serve-gas-law-comments_us_5a4bafdde4b0b0e5a7a8dab5?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

Fixing "Oh Sh*t"

An excerpt from OZY -

HIT 'SEND' TOO FAST? THIS ENTREPRENEUR HAS A FIX FOR THAT
By Lisa Rabasca Roepe

Maci Peterson

Maci Peterson knows too well the potentially disastrous consequences of sending a text to the wrong person or firing off an email whose meaning gets lost in transit. When autocorrect altered a text she sent to her then boyfriend — and she couldn’t figure out how to retrieve it — she set her sights on solving a universal problem.

Her solution was the basis for On Second Thought, a Silicon Valley company Peterson founded in 2014, after winning the #StartupOasis pitch competition at South by Southwest. Initially, it was the only company offering a texting app that allows users to recall messages before they get delivered. Since then, a number of competitors have cropped up, including RakEM and unSend.it.

http://www.ozy.com/rising-stars/hit-send-too-fast-this-entrepreneur-has-a-fix-for-that/81126?utm_source=dd&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=01032018&variable=e3bf1057d4e3c0988a79ae4bce515610

Sunday Best: The Tradition of the Church Hat

How Hoda Kotb Got Her First Job in TV// SiriusXM // TODAY Show Radio

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Sam Cooke -Tennessee Waltz

Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge over Troubled Water (from The Concert in Cent...

Killing Me Softly (Roberta Flack)

The Secret Chinese Restaurant in Madrid

An excerpt from OZY -

THE SECRET CHINESE RESTAURANT IN AN UNDERGROUND CAR PARK IN MADRID
By Melissa Kitson

Good Chinese can be hard to find in any city. In Madrid, it’s extra difficult. You don’t just need to know the place; you need to know how to find it. For example, Zhou Yulong — widely considered to be Madrid’s best Chinese restaurant — is hidden in an underground car park in the city’s center.

But don’t think about asking for directions. No one calls the restaurant by its name. Instead it’s known as el chino secreto, el chino subterráneo or even the Blade Runner restaurant. It’s best to go with a regular; otherwise the instructions are a little confusing, like: Follow the dingy staircase to a dingy corridor. Walk past the entrance to the car park. There, opposite the industrial lift, you’ll see Zhou Yulong.

http://www.ozy.com/good-sht/the-secret-chinese-restaurant-in-an-underground-car-park-in-madrid/82383?utm_source=dd&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=01022018&variable=e3bf1057d4e3c0988a79ae4bce515610

Cutting Edge Biochemist

An excerpt from OZY -

CAN THIS BIOCHEMIST BYPASS ORGAN DONORS?
By Tafline Laylin

I follow Kevin Dzobo to the cafeteria at the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine at the University of Cape Town, where his young son, Kevin Jr., sits absorbed in his tablet. They both seem eager to get on with their Saturday, yet the stem cell researcher patiently indulges my questions about his work in regenerative medicine. Dzobo, one of 16 emergent African scientists to be awarded the prestigious Next Einstein Forum fellowship for 2017–19, is chipping away at potentially groundbreaking medical research that could one day give humans what the humble salamander already has: the ability to regenerate their own tissue and organs.

Dzobo, 42, detours from discussing the details of his work to mention the nearby Groote Schuur Hospital — the site, in 1967, of a stunning advancement in human medicine when Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the world’s first human-to-human heart transplant. Yet barriers to organ transplantation remain, says Dzobo, like locating a donor or a match. “What we’re trying to do is come up with ways to find this endless supply of organs and tissue,” explains the senior research scientist with the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology and lecturer at UCT’s Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences.

http://www.ozy.com/rising-stars/can-this-biochemist-bypass-organ-donors/81979?utm_source=dd&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=01022018&variable=e3bf1057d4e3c0988a79ae4bce515610