This Study Proves What We Already Know

From The New York Times - 

Who Is Searched, and Who Has Contraband 

In four states that best track stops, blacks were more likely to be searched with their consent than whites, even though the police found contraband less often. 

The chance black drivers or their cars were searched, 

compared with white drivers. 

POLICE AGENCIES

5.0x

Torrington, Conn.

2.9

New Haven

2.6

Conn. State Police

5.2

Equally likely for blacks and whites

Chicago

2.7

Springfield, Ill.

2.4

Hoffman Estates, Ill.

2.1

Illinois State Police

2.0

Aurora, Ill.

2.8

Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C.

2.7

Raleigh, N.C.

2.2

Greensboro, N.C.

1.6

Fayetteville, N.C.

1.5

N.C. State Highway Patrol

2.5

Rhode Island State Police 

The chance black drivers who were searched had contraband,

compared with white drivers.

0.8x

Torrington, Conn.

0.6

New Haven

0.7

Conn. State Police

Equally likely

0.7

Chicago

0.7

Springfield, Ill.

0.9

Hoffman Estates, Ill.

1.0

Illinois State Police

0.8

Aurora, Ill.

0.7

Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C.

0.9

Raleigh, N.C.

0.8

Greensboro, N.C.

0.9

Fayetteville, N.C.

0.8

N.C. State Highway Patrol

1.7

Rhode Island State Police

Of these jurisdictions, only the Rhode Island State Police found

contraband more often among blacks. 

The largest police agencies in four states with measurable consent searches are shown. Connecticut data from Dec. 2013 to Aug. 2015; Illinois, 2009-13; North Carolina, 2010 to April 2015; Rhode Island, Jan. 2013 to May 2014. 

Sources: States’ databases, compiled from local police agency reports 

By The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/us/racial-disparity-traffic-stops-driving-black.html?_r=0

He Was So Much More . . .

Than Just a Doorman



http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/fashion/when-the-doorman-is-your-main-man.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=mini-moth&region=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below

Menu Sense

From The Huffington Post - 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/restaurant-menu-tricks-psychology_5627ff66e4b08589ef4aabd6

Recycled Poop

From The Huffington Post - 

2. A bus powered by human poop runs in the U.K.

[JEROAM]/FLICKR

Britain's first "poop bus," an effort towards sustainable transportation, went into regular service this past March. The 40-seat "Bio-Bus" runs solely on biomethane gas, which is generated through the treatment of sewage and food waste. The bus can travel up to 186 miles on one tank of gas, which is equivalent to the waste produced annually by five people, according to the BBC. 

If the bus turns out to be successful, First West of England, which operates the bus, said it will consider introducing a fleet of "poo buses."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/weird-facts-that-are-true-we-swear_561e7e33e4b0c5a1ce616342?ir=Daily%2BBrief%253Fncid%253Dnewsltushpmg00000003

My Favorites

 From The Huffington Post -

33 Dads Who Have This Whole Dad Thing Nailed Down

Follow the link below to see the other 31.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/these-dads-rock_56269651e4b08589ef494f45?ir=Daily%2BBrief&ncid=newsltushpmg00000003

TOWER Revival

Tower Theater is a fitting location for the premiere of "All Things Must Pass," the Colin Hanks' documentary of the rise and fall of Tower Records, which began it's worldwide domination from its humble beginnings in Sacramento.  It all happens tonight at 7:30.

Wish I was there to see this.

http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article41221047.html#emlnl=Morning_Newsletter

James Baldwin on the Dick Cavett Show - 1968

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/james-baldwin-breaks-down-our-present-day-race-problem-in-1968_56279f68e4b08589ef49e665?utm_hp_ref=black-voices

“It was a cold, dark night . . .” Not with this.

True confession -

I've been ridiculed by folks (who shall remain nameless, but their initials are B & F) for my love of all things lighted - eyeglasses, baseball caps, etc.  I find them very useful.  Thank you very much.  And when they get my age, I'm guessing they will too.

Anyway, here's another lit up gizzy.

From The Grommet -



https://www.thegrommet.com/x-cap?utm_campaign=20151023&utm_content=25264&utm_medium=email&utm_source=CC&trk_msg=TPS28DJ2V3T4N5AIMJVJ46H88S&trk_contact=6PJ17299EJ5SLGM27119G0AQ7K

Not Surprised

That Texas = Crazy

~~~~~~~~~~

From Texas Monthly -

If you’re Norwegian or happen to spend a lot of time around Norwegians, then this fact that absolutely blew our minds might not be news to you—but apparently the word “Texas” is slang for “crazy” or “wild,” as in, “the end of the [whatever sport they play in Norway] game was totally Texas!” 


See more at: http://www.texasmonthly.com/the-daily-post/yall-norwegians-use-the-word-texas-as-slang-to-mean-crazy/utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Vox%20Sentences%2010.22.15&utm_term=Vox%20Newsletter%20All#sthash.t2aDvu4q.dpuf

More Creed

Kind Cards

From Upworthy - 

Have you heard of Sneaky Cards? The game is turning everyday life into quite an adventure.

There are people out there putting money in vending machines and then quickly walking away. On purpose.

Others are asking strangers to cut in front of them in line.

It's all part of the game.

"Sneaky Cards: Play It Forward" is a new card game that's the ultimate reminder that random daily moments and interactions with strangers can be a lot of fun. 

Image via Sneaky Cards.

It's the ultimate way to mix up your day and challenge yourself.

Sometimes you interact with people, sometimes you do a nice thing, sometimes you make art. 

http://www.upworthy.com/have-you-heard-of-sneaky-cards-the-game-is-turning-everyday-life-into-quite-an-adventure?c=upw1&u=6861cbea6edfdfe5a709ee39ad3c14b64135e61f

Post Racial or Racist Posts?

From The Root - 

Black Students at DC’s American University Post Racist Social Media Messages on Campus to Draw Attention to Campus Race Issues

The students are tired of the racist posts on social media targeting black students.

BY: YESHA CALLAHAN

Posted: Oct. 21 2015 8:50 AM

 

Racist social media posts on Yik Yak THE DARKENING 

Editor’s note: This article contains social media posts that some may find offensive.

Being a black student on a predominantly white campus isn’t always easy. Especially when some of your white classmates repeatedly post racist comments on a popular social media app used by college students.

Such is the case at American University.

Members of a student-led, racial-justice community organization called the Darkening launched #TheRealAU campaign so that students could share their experience with racism on campus, something the organization says the university’s president, Neil Kerwin, has failed to address aside from a memorandum written in April.

Racism on display via American University’s Yik Yak users THE DARKENING

“Recently members of our campus community were subjected in social media to racist, offensive comments that were reprehensible,” Kerwin wrote. “Similar experiences are occurring with disturbing frequency nationwide at other colleges and universities, but they are especially unwelcome at our university, which so actively strives to be diverse and inclusive. ... Like all institutions devoted to learning, we face a great challenge in balancing conditions that make it possible for every member of the community to learn and work in a respectful environment that also supports free academic inquiry and unfettered speech.”

However, black students on campus say that racist messages are being 

left on the popular Yik Yak app and that although they’ve complained 

to the president about it, nothing has been done. As a result, the students 

decided to take action.

On Oct. 8 the students posted screenshots of the racist messages all 

around campus in hopes of drawing attention to the ongoing issue. 

But eventually the images were taken down by campus security.

Racism on display via American University’s Yik Yak users THE DARKENING

“The American University community has demonstrated that it does 

not care enough about the experience of black students here. I should 

not have to deal with micro-aggressive students, staff and professors 

every day,” said Tatiana Laing, co-founder of the Darkening. “Enough 

is enough. Free speech is not the same as hate speech. It shouldn’t be 

up to me to train people on structural racism because we lack mandatory 

racial education. I need American University to make concrete changes, 

and I needed it yesterday.”

The black students on campus want their voices heard. Some may 

suggest that they ignore the app because only cowards would use it 

to post anonymous messages. But black students on campus shouldn’t 

have to be on guard and subjected to cowardly acts of racism—

offline or on social media.

http://www.theroot.com/blogs/the_grapevine/2015/10/black_

students_at_d_c_s_american_university_post_racist_social_

media_messages.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content%26

Workers?

From The Atlantic - 

Earlier this month, McGraw Hill found itself at the center of some rather embarrassing press after a photo showing a page from one of its high-school world-geography textbooks was disseminated on social media. The page features a seemingly innocuous polychromatic map of the United States, broken up into thousands of counties, as part of a lesson on the country’s immigration patterns: Different colors correspond with various ancestral groups, and the color assigned to each county indicates its largest ethnic representation. The page is scarce on words aside from an introductory summary and three text bubbles explaining specific trends—for example, that Mexico accounts for the largest share of U.S. immigrants today.

The recent blunder has to do with one bubble in particular. Pointing to a patch of purple grids extending throughout the country’s Southeast corridor, the one-sentence caption reads:

The Atlantic Slave Trade between the 1500s and 1800s brought millions of workers from Africa to the southern United States to work on agricultural plantations.

The photo that spread through social media was taken by a black Texas student named Coby Burren, who subsequently texted it to his mom, Roni-Dean Burren. “Was real hard workers, wasn’t we,” he wrote. Roni-Dean quickly took to Facebook, lambasting the blunder: the reference to the Africans as workers rather than slaves. A video she later posted has been viewed nearly 2 million times, and her indignation has renewed conversations around the Black Lives Matter movement while attracting coverage by almost every major news outlet. “It talked about the U.S.A. being a country of immigration, but mentioning the slave trade in terms of immigration was just off,” she told The New York Times. “It’s that nuance of language. This is what erasure looks like.”

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/10/the-history-class-dilemma/411601/

This is What Happens When . . .

A Raincoat For Your Handbag

From The Grommet -



https://www.thegrommet.com/handbag-raincoat?utm_campaign=20151019&utm_content=26556&utm_medium=email&utm_source=CC&trk_msg=U3BKEFHVACL4D0PJCD54PFAF3C&trk_contact=6PJ17299EJ5SLGM27119G0AQ7K

Sign Me Up!

From News 360 - 

Scoot, the San Francisco-based electric scooter ride share network, has teamed up with Nissan to create a four-wheeled two-seater enclosed vehicle onto the streets of San Francisco. Starting today, Scoot members have the option to rent one of these adorable little cars to get them anywhere in the 7×7.

http://news360.com/article/317518952

Helping Kids Grow

From USA Today - 

"It's the three T's," she says: "Tune in, talk more and take turns."

That's the mantra of the Thirty Million Words initiative, an experimental effort to build young brains with words. The program gets its name from a study published in the 1990s that found children in low-income homes heard 30 million fewer words by age 3 than children in high income homes. They also heard a smaller variety of words and fewer words of encouragement. And those differences in language exposure had an apparent effect: Children from word-poor homes ended up with smaller vocabularies and worse school performance.

~~~~~

"Not having money in your pocket has never made a brain not grow," says Dana Suskind, a University of Chicago surgeon who founded the Thirty Million Words project. But little brains do need words to grow, she says: "In the beginning, the food for the developing brain is language and interaction."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2015/10/18/baby-talk-brain-programs/73808670/

Sisters Having Fun

Zadie at 4 yrs old, Theia at 4 mths old

Still Life Official Trailer 1 (2015) - Eddie Marsan Drama HD

There's an article in the New York Times today, that is about the life and death of a man who died alone.  It took months to positively identify him and even longer to find someone who knew him.

It is also speaks to the work of the people trying to piece together this man's life.

I found it intriguing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/18/nyregion/dying-alone-in-new-york-city.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=photo-spot-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

This movie is about a man whose job it is to find the next of kin of people who die alone.

It is thought-provoking, too, although Forrest might beg to differ.

A Warm Welcome

One of my first introductions to people from this part of the world happened at my first principalship. We had a Sikh student who wore the traditional turban, and he was being harassed on the playground.  This came to a head (no pun intended) when his turban was pulled off.  An absolute no no.

I called the Sikh student in, along with his parents, and dealt with the instigating student in no uncertain terms.

Later, I was invited to a Sikh church service.  At this time in my life I didn't want anything to do with anything or anyone related to organized religion.  I had been hurt deeply by Christian folks, so I done with them all.

However, the invitations continued, and I continued to put them off.  In passing, I mentioned this to Forrest, who in his infinite wisdom brought on in part by being ten years older than me, said I had to go.

And so I did.

First there was the church service, where the women sat on one side and the men the other.  This reminded me of the Catholic church I attended as a child, where typically the men and women sat on opposite sides of the church.  We took off our shoes at the door and sat with legs crossed on the floor. There was singing and worship in a language I didn't recognized.  I remember being taken aback by the joy and peacefulness that filled the place.

This was followed by a presentation in a meeting room, explaining who they are (Sikhs) and how they're different from Muslims, although they were/are being lumped together.  This was post-9/11.  The presenter was a prominent doctor from UC Davis, and a high ranking member of the church.  There were about a dozen visitors, including me.  It was totally enlightening and totally engrossing.

Then we were ushered into a hall where there were trays and trays of food on the floor.  Again we took off our shoes and made our way to a tray where we were directed to help ourselves from the huge assortment of food laid out before us.

This day, of learning and growing and experiencing new things, was wonderful.

I'm forever grateful that Forrest nudged me into accepting this invite.  It was an eye-opening experience, and although I had no idea at the time, but it would be a precursor of things to come, as I've learned to immerse myself in this Arab world I call home.

The article below reminded me of the incredible hospitality I experienced.  I thought it was a one-time thing helping to clarify their message of who they are after 9/11, but this hospitable spirit seems to be ingrained in who they are.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sikh-langar-parliament-of-world-religions_5622c61be4b02f6a900c9e68