Kindle Fire is on Sale!

Entry level one is $39!

Somebody Thought This Was Funny?

It's wrong on so many levels.

Let's start:  4 white guys rob a bank and are pursued by cops.

Let's change the passengers to black guys:  4 guys pursued by cops, headed to the morgue.

If I ever considered a Prius, it's off my list now.

Tasteless garbage.

Capital Hill Clocks

Here's a fascinating article from Atlas Obscura -

Library of Congress rotunda clock (Photo: Library of Congress)

In Washington, D.C., on Capitol Hill, there are clocks everywhere. Every Congressional office suite, according to the Architect of the Capitol, has at least three clocks in it. There are around 4,000 clocks on the House side of the Hill, and just slightly less on the Senate side. There are fancy, old clocks, that need to be regularly wound; there are newer, decorative clocks that adorn the mantlepieces of legislators’ personal offices; and there are practical wall clocks, with wide white faces, that look a lot likethe clocks in elementary school hallways and classrooms.

These thousands of clocks, though, don’t just tell the time. They’re part of system more than a century old that sends signals, in a code of sounds and lights, to members of the House and Senate.

Look along the top of a Congressional wall clock, and you’ll see seven small light bulbs. Even the fancier clocks in members’ offices have them. From time to time, these will light up in particular sequences, accompanied by loud, long buzzes or series of shorter buzzes. These patterns all have meanings: they’re meant to communicate to people working on the Hill when electronic votes are called, when one chamber or the other is adjourned or in recess, and when members need to think about actually being in the Senate or House chamber.

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/congressional-clocks-have-a-secret-code?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura&utm_campaign=9c0ea9d784-Newsletter_2_8_20162_5_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_62ba9246c0-9c0ea9d784-59905913&ct=t(Newsletter_2_8_20162_5_2016)&mc_cid=9c0ea9d784&mc_eid=866176a63f

My Hero!

Betty White, dabbing away at 94 years old!

10 Places You're Not Allowed to See on Google Maps

From Stumbleupon - 

The Royal Palace of Amsterdam in the Netherlands -- called Koninklijk Paleis Amsterdam -- joins a long list of places blurred on Google Maps related to the Dutch royal family, including the Royal Stables and another residence called Huis ten Bosch.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/22zsnx/:12lP!8-.B:pAfVjoy7/mashable.com/2012/03/20/google-maps-censored

Please note this link won't open using Safari.

The Story of the Little Tree Car Air Fresheners: So Fresh and So Clean

Great Concept!

I couldn't figure out how to embed this video, but click on the link below to see entrepreneurship at its finest.

Video length = less than 2 minutes

http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2015/06/23/upstart-30-makers-row-shirt-garment-factory.cnnmoney/index.html

If You're Interested

I've had several people ask how Forrest & I traveled to Cuba via Mexico.  

I expect travel to and fro Cuba to open up soon, but in the mean time, if you're interest, here's what we did below.

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Steps we took to get to Havana from Houston:

1) Booked flight from Houston to Cancun; (make sure to have US dollars; they are accepted in Mexico & Cuba; US credit cards are NOT accepted in Cuba)

2) Got Mexican Pesos from ATM & purchased tickets to Havana at the counter, along with a visa; I've attached the card of the guy who walked us thru the process

3) Two flights/day from Cancun to Havana - one in the morning & the other in the afternoon

4)  If you had to stay in Cancun, there is a hotel at the airport

5)  Flight from Cancun to Havana is about an hour

6)  Passport Control took a while when we landed

7)  We were told there were no hotel rooms available, but it was clear they were trying to get folks to rent rooms (Cuba's version of AirBnB)

8) First hotel we stayed in was a dump, but it was a block away from a great one, so we walked our bags over and checked in to that one the next day; The name of it is the HOTEL HABANA LIBRA. It's surprisingly not rated that high, but it was a really nice place.  Great location!  http://www.hotelhabanalibre.com/en/

9)  We hired a cab driver to give us a tour, but there were tour buses (Hop on Hop off available, too)

10)  Interestingly, there were no clocks around and we didn't realize Cuba is on East Coast time.  Thankfully, we were plenty early for our return flight or we would have been up a creek

Here's hoping you'll consider taking the plunge before Americans show up in droves and there's a Starbucks on every corner.  

Happy travels!

Not a Fan, But . . .

I appreciate the messages Beyonce is sending in song/video.



http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2016/02/beyonce_drops_formation_for_the_people_the_black_people.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content%26

Global Citizen

From The Huffington Post - 

I didn't growing up knowing I was Black or having to deal with the idea of Blackness because I was born and raised in Nigeria. In a country where "Black" is the default, it doesn't need to be defined or spoken about or made a topic of discussion. I knew I was Yoruba and Nigerian for the first 9 years of my life. I did not become conscious of my color and all that came with it until I moved to the United States with my family. 

It was my first time feeling that being born Black could be a liability. It was my awakening to doubt. It was my introduction to race as an influence. Through my school years, I learned more about slavery, anti-Black racism and oppression in the US, and my Blackness could no longer be an afterthought. I started wearing it proudly and as my consciousness deepened, so did my love for Black folks.

Through the struggles, I see so much beauty, and the grace of melanin cannot be overstated. Plus, the work it does to keep us from cracking deserves all the praise. We stay looking 25 at 50 years old, thanks to the gods of moisturizer, shea butter and noir blessings! But most importantly, I am heartened by the connection of Black people everywhere. 

Being a global citizen and lover of travel has recently taken me to over 20 countries so far, and one thing that always moves me is how I see home all around me. 

You can go to Brazil and find natives speaking a language close to Yoruba. You can be in Ghana and see someone who looks like someone you know in Chicago. My Trinidadian friends can suck their teeth in a way that makes me think of my Mom doing the same. Some of my Black American friends look like my cousins, betrayed by those high cheekbones that won't quit. I can go to a club in Nigeria and listen to Hip Hop and R&B. The way we move, the foods we eat, and our power connects us, and I carry that with me and it finds me wherever I go.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/luvvie-ajayi/global-blackness-and-diasporan-dopeness_b_9180678.html

Brr! It's Cold!

That's not something you hear often coming from these neck of the woods, but it's true.  The temperature had been hovering just above 40 for the past week.

I know.

I know.

That may seem mild to many of you, but it's down right frigid here.

This little town sits on the water, with very few structures to block the wind coming off the sea.  Add a strong gust on most days, and you have all for an excuse to bundle up.

I spent the day in a floor length sweater, covered with two quilts (thanks Deb!) and still I was cold.

Of course, there is no heat in the buildings.

I had a small space heater that was faulty, so I ditched it.  I started to buy another one, but really, you only it for a about a week, so I decided to tough it out.

Side note - This town, like most others, has several names, all official.  The sign on the main road that leads to the exit names it "Baya Sila."  I was told that "baya" refers to water, so folks passing buy will know that this town sits next to the water.  Good information for those traveling through the desert.

I'm a Monkey!

According to the Chinese Calendar, 2016 is the year of the monkey.

Click on the link to find your animal.

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/social_customs/zodiac/

Le Petit Chef

H/T Forrest

“Super Bowl Babies Choir” feat. Seal | Music Video

Living With AIDS

The Daily Show - The Big Game's Quarterback Matchup

Coming Soon

Lego will soon release a figure that uses a wheelchair.

http://www.upworthy.com/legos-new-minifigure-may-be-tiny-but-its-impact-will-be-huge?c=upw1

Kids Leading the Way

The Heavy Price of Success

Football’s Polynesian moment: Samoa’s athletic outliers are paying a steep price for their commitment to the game 

The things that make them so good at football also make them most vulnerable--as embodied by the great Junior Seau

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An Excerpt From Salon - 

Football has reached a crossroads, its future imperiled by the very physicality driving its popularity. The number of boys playing Pop Warner and high school ball plunged over the last decade as the neurological, physical and fiscal costs of the game became more troubling. That’s on top of the already severe decline in the game’s scholastic ranks in the Rust Belt—football’s original heartland—during the 1980s and ‘90s.

But one group has bucked that trend—Polynesians, especially Samoans in American Samoa, Hawaii, California and Utah, as well as in pockets of Texas and the Pacific Northwest. American Samoa is the only place outside the United States where football has taken hold at the grass roots, the only one that sends its native sons to the NFL. In just a few decades, the sons of Samoa and Tonga, mostly young men who came of age in the States, have quietly become the most disproportionately over-represented demographic in college and professional football.  

Football has become the story Samoans tell about themselves to the world. But the narrative has grown bittersweet. While creating a stunning micro-culture of sporting excellence, these athletic outliers are paying a steep price for their commitment to the game. Sadly, that which makes them so good at football—their extraordinary internalization of discipline and warrior self-image that drives them to play with no fefe (no fear)—also makes them especially vulnerable. Nobody lived and died that irony more than Junior Seau, who became the first Samoan in the Pro Football Hall of Fame after a 20-season NFL career in which, inexplicably, he was never diagnosed with a concussion. Not long after retiring, Seau shot himself in the chest, unable to live with the demons of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the tragic downside of playing with no fefe.

http://www.salon.com/2016/02/05/footballs_polynesian_moment_samoas_athletic_outliers_are_paying_a_steep_price_for_their_commitment_to_the_game/?source=newsletter

The President Remembers Maurice White

From Entertainment Weekly - 

President Barack Obama eulogized Maurice White on Friday, the day after news broke that the Earth, Wind & Fire founder had died at age 74.

“Michelle and I were saddened to hear of the passing of Maurice White,” Obama wrote of the seven-time Grammy winner in a message posted to social media. “With his brothers and bandmates of Earth, Wind and Fire, Maurice fused jazz, soul, funk and R&B into a quintessentially American sound that captured millions of fans around the world. Their playlist is timeless, the one that still brings us together at birthdays and barbecues, weddings and family reunions.”

The president continued, “Only Maurice could make such sophisticated songs so catchy. Only he could inspire generations of such diverse artists. And only he could get everyone — old and young, black and white — to let the groove move them on the dance floor. Our thoughts and prayers are with Maurice’s family, friends and bandmates. He is the shining star in heaven tonight.”


White died in his sleep Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Earth, Wind & Fire are set to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys later this month.

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Side note - As a young woman coming of age in the 70's, Earth, Wind & Fire's music served as the anthem for my life. As I enter my sixth decade, it continues to be. Their greatest hits album is my go-to playlist when I need to get something done.  RIP Maurice.