Double Standard Hypocrisy

Eugene Robinson from the Washington Post writes:

What do you think the response would be if a bunch of black people, filled with rage and armed to the teeth, took over a federal government installation and defied officials to kick them out? I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be wait-and-see.

Probably more like point-and-shoot.

Or what if the occupiers were Mexican American? They wouldn’t be described with the semi-legitimizing term “militia,” harking to the days of the patriots. And if the gun-toting citizens happened to be Muslim, heaven forbid, there would be wall-to-wall cable news coverage of the “terrorist assault.” I can hear Donald Trump braying for blood.

Not to worry, however, because the extremists who seized the remote Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Oregon on Saturday are white. As such, they are permitted to engage in a “standoff” with authorities who keep their distance lest there be needless loss of life.

Such courtesy was not extended to Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old Cleveland boy who was playing with a toy gun in a park on Nov. 22, 2014. Within seconds of arriving on the scene, police officer Timothy Loehmann shot the boy, who died the next day. Prosecutors led a grand jury investigation and announced last month that Loehmann would face no charges. A “perfect storm of human error” was blamed, and apparently storms cannot be held accountable.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-oregon-standoff-and-the-dividing-lines-of-race-ethnicity-and-religion/2016/01/04/312364c8-b325-11e5-a76a-0b5145e8679a_story.html?wpisrc=nl_rainbow

How Close Do You Live to Your Mom?

From Stumbleupon - 

How Close You Live To Your Mom Depends On Two Crucial Factors 

BY DEBORAH GROSS

DECEMBER 28, 2015 12:24:44 PM

When you were younger did you use to stare out your window thinking, "Ugh, I can't wait to grow up and get out the hell out of this town?" If you did, how far did your daydream take you? Did you imagine making a move across the country? To another state? Another country? 

Turns outs, you might not have made it that far. According to a recent study, the typical American lives only 18 miles from their mom.

The Health And Retirement Study, 2008

According to a recent article in The New York Times, depending how close (or far) you live from your parents depends on your income as well as where you grew up. 

The data reveal a country of close-knit families, with members of multiple generations leaning on one another for financial and practical support. The trend will continue, social scientists say, as baby boomers need more care in old age, and the growing number of two-income families seek help with child care.

The United States offers less government help for caregiving than many other rich countries. Instead, extended families are providing it, whether they never moved apart, or moved back closer when the need arose.

The biggest contributor to people's proximity to their parents is based on their education and income. Wealthier people can afford to pay for childcare services and therefore are more likely to move away. Most times, the move is based on a professional opportunity.

However, geography also plays an important factor. 

Families live closest in the Northeast and the South, and farthest apart on the West Coast and in the Mountain States. Part of the reason is probably cultural — Western families have historically been the least rooted — but a large part is geographical: People live farther apart in rural areas.

So which are you?

Prodigy Cellist Will Amaze You

Feel Good Stories

From Lifehack - 

Stereotypes

I hope that you're able to read this, but if not, please see link below.  

Do you agree with this?

http://www.lifehack.org/353713/stereotypes-people-form-within-seconds-of-meeting-you?mid=20160104&ref=mail&uid=789627&feq=daily

#dearstuartscott: A love letter from Stuart Scott’s daughters, one year ...

CeCe Winans and Terrence Blanchard – “Blessed Assurance” Cicely Tyson Ke...

Kid Beats Orbitz & United

A 22 year old kid created an app (Skiplagged) that, according to CNN Money does the following:

Skiplagged helps travelers find cheap tickets through a strategy called "hidden city" ticketing.

The idea is that you buy an airline ticket that has a layover at your actual destination.

Say you want to fly from New York to San Francisco. You book a flight from New York to Portland with a layover in San Francisco and get off there, without bothering to take the last leg of the flight. Sometimes, that can save you money. Flying this way isn't always cheapest, but it often is.

The link to the article and the app are below.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/12/31/investing/aktarer-zaman-how-i-beat-united-airlines/index.html

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/skiplagged-actually-cheap/id823443083?mt=8

A Genius in Our Midst

From Priceonomics - 

The Inventor of Auto-Tune

An excerpt - 

Auto-Tune — one of modern history’s most reviled inventions — was an act of mathematical genius.

The pitch correction software, which automatically calibrates out-of-tune singing to perfection, has been used on nearly every chart-topping album for the past 20 years. Along the way, it has been pilloried as the poster child of modern music’s mechanization. WhenTime Magazine declared it “one of the 50 worst inventions of the 20th century”, few came to its defense.

But often lost in this narrative is the story of the invention itself, and the soft-spoken savant who pioneered it. For inventor Andy Hildebrand, Auto-Tune was an incredibly complex product — the result of years of rigorous study, statistical computation, and the creation of algorithms previously deemed to be impossible.

Another - 

Andy Hildebrand was, in his own words, “not a normal kid.”

A self-proclaimed bookworm, he was constantly derailed by life’s grand mysteries, and had trouble sitting still for prolonged periods of time. School was never an interest: when teachers grew weary of slapping him on the wrist with a ruler, they’d stick him in the back of the class, where he wouldn’t bother anybody. “That way,” he says, “I could just stare out of the window.”

After failing the first grade, Hilbrebrand’s academic performance slowly began to improve. Toward the end of grade school, the young delinquent started pulling C’s; in junior high, he made his first B; as a high school senior, he was scraping together occasional A’s. Driven by a newfound passion for science, Hildebrand “decided to start working [his] ass off” -- an endeavor that culminated with an electrical engineering PhD from the University of Illinois in 1976.

http://priceonomics.com/the-inventor-of-auto-tune/

Quote

An excerpt from The Huffington Post - 

Seahawks' Richard Sherman: 'I See A Concussion Movie Every Sunday'

Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman has never been scared to call out the National Football League.

He's been outspoken about his teammates' wages (or lack thereof), he's mocked the NFL's media policies and he blogged about his own concussion, blasting the league for its response to injuries in football.

So perhaps it's no surprise that he gave the NFL a little elbow jab with his quote during a press conference on Wednesday, when he told a reporter (near the 7:15 mark of this video) that he wouldn't be seeing the controversial film "Concussion," which scratches the surface of the NFL's head-injury problem.

"I have not -- I see a concussion movie every Sunday for free," Sherman said with a grin. "Don’t need to go to the theater."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/seahawks-richard-sherman-i-see-a-concussion-movie-every-sunday_56858561e4b014efe0da6f4f

Sounds Deceptive To Me

Happy New Year!

Well almost.

It's just shy of 9:00 pm, three hours away from the dawn of 2016.

Side note - We're twelve hours ahead of the folks in Sacramento.

I very rarely stay up to greet the new year.  Sleep is a commodity that I greatly value, so missing it to watch others get wild and crazy seems a little silly.

Anyway, that's just me.

Here're my biggest hopes for 2016.  Resolutions seem to fall by the wayside, so I'm calling these hopes instead.

I hope to . . .

Remember to be thankful for something/someone every single day.

Remember to be grateful for big things, but also be quick to appreciate the little things.

Remember to find the good in every situation.

Remember that no one, absolutely no one, wants to be around a sour puss.

Remember to find the joy that is all around us.

Remember to bloom where I'm planted.

Remember to thank God, even when things don't turn out the way I expected, knowing that all things work together for my good.

Remember to be grateful for my family and friends, not taking anyone for granted, but appreciating all the goodness they bring to my life.

Remember to send good things out into the world - thoughts, kindness, generosity - knowing that you reap what you sow.

And my hope for you . . .

Is that 2016 will be the beginning of the best years of your life.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Dr. J at Harlem's Famed Rucker Park

Scathing!

Badass Sistas

I hope this video works, but if it doesn't, you can find it at the link below - 

http://media.salon.com/2015/12/2015Women.Asha_.12_29_2015.mp4

Aretha Franklin (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman

Side note - This song, along with many other R&B hits, was playing in the hotel restaurant the day I arrived in Amsterdam.  With rare exception, I've heard soul music all over the world.  It's reach is amazing.

I'm a Proud Lefty

From The Left Handers Club -  1. The advantages of being left-handed We often end up complaining about the frustrations of being left-handed, but there are plenty of advantages as well. Here is a list that has been reported in various places recently – we have done features on most of these items before but it is nice to put them all in one place.  It would be great to make this list longer as well!  If you can think of any other advantages of being left-handed and, ideally, can provide some sort of research results or reporting to back it up, please add a comment below and we will expand the list. Use this link to see the full list with explanations and links Being left handed is an advantage in many sports Lefties have a greater chance of being a genius or having a high IQ Left handed men may make more money Left handed people adjust more easily to seeing underwater Lefties are better able to multitask Some left-handed individuals have better memories Generally, lefties are better at playing video games Left handed stroke victims recover faster than right handers Left-handed people are likely to be more visual than language-based, making them ideal for artistic pursuits Southpaw drivers are more successful at learning to drive than right handed people

2. Chances of having a left-handed child About 10% of the world’s population are left-handed and it seems that left-handedness runs in families, with the handedness of the mother being an important factor. So what are the chances of having a left-handed child? We have reviewed all the research and statistics on this and done some calculations of our own and this is how it looks (the chance of a left handed child for each birth): Two right handed parents, 9% Left handed father, 12% Left handed mother, 16% Two left handed parents, 20% There are many variables that affect these figures and one study showed that left-handers have less children on average that right handers. This is meant to be a guide rather than a scientific conclusion. However, whichever set of assumptions you use, some interesting figures come out: More than 50% of left-handers do not know of any other left-hander anywhere in their living family. Around 75% of left-handers have two right-handed parents and only 2% have two left-handed parents. Between 7 and 8 out of 10 children born to two left handed parents will be right handed Use this link to see our full article on this with our calculation details

It's Almost Midnight - Netflix 2016 Kids NYE Countdown

What Makes a Truly Great Logo

Grow Up Boys