Google Doodle Winner

Excerpts from The Washington Post -

Today’s winning Google Doodle invoking Black Lives Matter was designed by a high school sophomore

Akilah, a sophomore at Eastern Senior High School in Northeast Washington, has just been named Google’s big winner in the national contest, topping the 53 state and territory champions, whose work had been culled from about 100,000 student entries.

~~~~~~~~~~

This year’s contest theme was: “What makes me…me.” Akilah drew a box-braided Doodle, titled “My Afrocentric Life,” using color pencils, black crayons and Sharpie markers. The Doodle includes symbols of black heritage and signs representing the Black Lives Matter movement.

“Although it felt like forever making this picture, it only took me about two weeks,” Akilah told Comic Riffs last month.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2016/03/21/d-c-student-wins-national-google-doodle-contest-with-art-that-invokes-black-lives-matter/

Linguistic Lesson

An excerpt from The Atlantic -

America Needs ‘Y’all’

English has no standard second-person plural word, and it’s time for that to change.

How y’all doing?

A greeting as Southern as a bowl of grits, it rolls off the tongue in a single open-mouth utterance. Sweeter than honey and often saturated with hidden meaning, it can open up a dialogue with a roomful of strangers with ease.

Part of that ease hinges on the incredible versatility of the phrase’s most important word. “Y’all,” that strange regional and ethnic conjunction, offers a simplicity to speech that can’t be found elsewhere. It is a magnificently elegant linguistic creation.

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/03/the-case-for-yall/473277/

Ben's Interview

http://www.kcra.com/news/sacramento-man-recounts-blown-out-brussels-airport/38644856

H/T Mark Ambrose

Ben Was at the Airport in Brussels Today

Thank God, he's OK.

Ben and four colleagues had just landed in Brussels and entered the airport terminal when they heard an announcement to turn around and head in the opposite direction.  Not sure what was happening, they complied.  Moments later another announcement sent them in yet another direction.  The next announcement had them exiting the building where they stood on the tarmac wondering what in the world was happening.

The evacuation was calm, but the look on the airport employees faces let them know something serious had gone down.

Thousands of people attempting to call or get online clogged the cell service, so they continued to be in the dark.  He and his friends decided to move away from the crowd as much as possible and assess the situation.

They still didn't know the extent of the damage but knew they needed to get away from the airport.

It was at about this time cell service came back online, and then they could see they were in the middle of chaos caused by a bomb.  Two bombs in fact.

One of his colleagues thought to contact their Berlin office and the folks there were able to secure them hotel rooms about five minutes away.  A cab miraculously appeared, taking them there.  That's where he was when he contacted me.

I knew he was traveling, but I didn't realize he was going to Brussels, so when I got his email, I was in shock.

Truth be told, so was he.

Ben is my living, breathing miracle.

This is the third time his life has been spared.

He was living in Indonesia in 2004 when the tsunami hit but had gone to Europe for training.  On his way back to Indonesia, he stopped by Sacramento, to spend Christmas with me.  Also, there was a last minute problem with his visa; that would have delayed him returning to Indonesia anyway.

So when the tsunami struck, he was home.

There was massive destruction in the country, so Ben never did return to Indonesia but was transferred to Texas instead.

Seven months later, in July 2005, while living outside of Fort Worth, Ben was struck by an 18-wheeler as a pedestrian while on the job.  He was put in a medically induced coma, and for the first two weeks, we weren't sure he was going to make it.   Thank God, twenty-three surgeries later, he's perfectly fine.

And now this tragedy today.

There was no doubt before, but today's incident seals it.  Ben is my miracle.

God is watching over my child.

May He continue to watch over us all.

Somebody Screwed Up

The wrong lady was cremated.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/22/nyregion/wrong-woman-cremated-bronx.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share&_r=0

A Film School at Wiley College

From The Root -

Most film and history buffs know Wiley College as the setting for the film The Great Debaters. But now the HBCU in East Texas will be known for having The Birth of a Nation’s Nate Parker as the creator of the college’s film and drama school.

Parker announced the launch of the new school Sunday and is paving the way for students attending the college who are interested in film and drama careers.

“The hope is that we cover all aspects of filmmaking, from sound, lighting and cinematography 

to just studying film specifically with the cultural component and the history of film,” Parker said.

“You control the moving picture, you control the masses. So really getting them rallied around the idea of reclaiming the narrative of America, specifically through the eyes of people of color,” Parker continued.

The first classes will be offered in the fall, but 30 lucky high school and college seniors get to test out the program during a nine-day summer institute.

This is a huge step and should be applauded. How many other Hollywood people can say they started their own school at a college?

By the way, you’ll be able to hear Wiley College’s choir perform in the upcoming release of Parker’s The Birth of a Nation.

http://www.theroot.com/blogs/the_grapevine/2016/03/filmmaker_nate_parker_launches_school_dedicated_to_film_and_drama_at_texas.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiley_College

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Border Wall (HBO)

A Classic Retold

From Slate - 

If You Give a Judge a Meeting

A children’s tale by Sen. Chuck Grassley.

If you give a judge a meeting,
he’s going to ask for a glass of milk,
because he is probably very thirsty from that one time you compared him to Idi Amin.

When you give him the meeting,
he’ll probably ask you for a confirmation hearing.
He may also ask for a bendy straw,
because it’s entirely possible that having attempted to take guns away from the American electorate,
he now feels the need to defend himself and his family with blunt plastic.

When he’s finished, he’ll ask for a napkin,
to clean up the “toxic environment” that your colleagues say is keeping you from considering his nomination.  

After all that toxicity gets cleaned up,
he’ll ask you for a vote in the Judiciary Committee, and you will have no principled reason to say no.

When he’s done with his Judiciary Committee vote,
he will probably ask you for an up-or-down vote in the full Senate.

Natalie Matthews-Ramo

He may also remember the time your friend Orrin Hatch called him “a fine nominee,”
and said, “I know him personally, I know of his integrity, I know of his legal ability, I know of his honesty, I know of his acumen, and he belongs on the court.”
And he’ll wonder, “What changed?”

So then he’ll ask you for a mirror,
because he may want to look in a mirror,
to make sure that he’s still himself,
and not that vicious Ugandan dictator you mentioned.

Once he sees that he’s not a dictator,
he will probably ask to be confirmed.
Then he’ll be pretty tired,
and ask to take a nap.
You’ll have to fix up a little napping spot for him with a blanket and a pillow.
He’ll crawl in, make himself comfortable, and fluff the pillow a few times.
He’ll probably ask you to read him an amicus brief.

And, instead, you can read to him from one of those confusing interviews,
where you said it wouldn’t be intellectually honest to confirm him before November,
and that it will be intellectually honest to confirm him after November.

If you do hold that vote and he is confirmed,
he might notice his hair needs a trim.
So he’ll probably ask for a pair of nail scissors. Because it will turn out that this former prosecutor and centrist jurist
is in fact a wild-eyed, long-haired hippie Che Guevara character,
just as you suspected all along.

And once he’s on the court,
he will be on there for 12 million years.
And he will likely ask for a broom
to sweep up liberty and life and happiness as we know it.
He’ll also want to ensure that liberty is imperiled long into the future,
probably even after Obama is no longer president.
And the prospect of sweeping long into the future will lead him to ask for a glass of milk.
Because.
Well, you know.
Milk.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/low_concept/2016/03/_if_you_give_a_judge_a_meeting_by_chuck_grassley.html?sid=554654ea10defb39638b510d&wpsrc=newsletter_tis

That's Not Good

From Wired - 


Radio Attack Lets Hackers Steal 24 Different Car Models

FOR YEARS, CAR owners with keyless entry systems have reported thieves approaching their vehicles with mysterious devices and effortlessly opening them in seconds. After having his Prius burgled repeatedly outside his Los Angeles home, the New York Times‘ former tech columnist Nick Bilton came to the conclusion that the thieves must be amplifying the signal from the key fob in the house to trick his car’s keyless entry system into thinking the key was in the thieves’ hand. He eventually resorted to keeping his keys in the freezer.

http://www.wired.com/2016/03/study-finds-24-car-models-open-unlocking-ignition-hack/?mbid=nl_32116

Carnival is Sailing to Cuba!

From USA Today -

It's official: Cruise giant Carnival Corp. (CCL) will launch its first voyages from the USA to Cuba in May.

The parent company of Carnival, Princess and eight other cruise brands on Monday said the Cuban government had approved its previously announced plans to begin sailings to the island nation out of Miami.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2016/03/21/cuba-cruise-carnival-fathom/82087618/?csp=breakingnews

Castro in Harlem

Excerpts from The New Republic -

When Castro Came to Harlem

The Cuban leader’s last visit to the U.S. before the 1961 diplomatic fallout can tell us a lot about our present historic moment.

On September 18, 1960, four months before the U.S. severed diplomatic relations with Cuba and 56 years before Barack Obama would become the first sitting American president in almost a century to step foot on Cuban soil, Fidel Castro arrived in New York City for the 15th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

~~~~~~~~~~

The reception that awaited him the following fall wasn’t nearly so warm. Castro and his bohemian entourage got off to a bad start with management at the elite Shelbourne Hotel, which allegedly demanded an exorbitant advance ahead of the Cuban delegation’s stay. Soon, New York tabloids were circulating reports that these “uncouth primitives” had “killed, plucked, and cooked chickens in their rooms at the Shelbourne and extinguished cigars on expensive carpets.” One subsequent Cuban defector later claimed that Castro had staged the drama. In any case, the Cubans left the Shelbourne, checking in instead at the Hotel Theresa, up past 124th Street in Harlem.

Castro’s decision to relocate his contingent to the heart of black New York quickened the falling out to come and presaged key pillars of Cuban foreign policy over the course of the next half-century: the explicit conflation of Cuban sovereignty with worldwide liberation struggles, particularly in Africa, and the strategic leveraging of U.S. moral hypocrisy in service of revolutionary ideology. Ploy or not, writes historian Brenda Gayle Plummer, the move “constituted a watershed” in U.S.-Cuban diplomacy, “not only because it coincided with a critical juncture in the history of U.S. race relations, but also because it marked a departure in conventional ways of perceiving, and prosecuting, the Cold War.”


~~~~~~~~~~

Harlem was a more gracious host to Castro than high-society Midtown had been. Crowds gathered outside the Hotel Theresa, as the honored guest held court in his room. He received official visits from foreign leaders—like Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, and Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru—as well as American civil rights figures, such as Malcolm X, New York NAACP President Joseph Overton, and, according to some reports, Jackie Robinson. Juan Almeida Bosque, the Afro-Cuban army commandante, became an instant icon, with throngs of people trailing behind him on the street.

~~~~~~~~~~

But to the extent Castro’s visit was a calculated, self-serving production, that didn’t negate its deeper political significance. As Plummer, the historian, explains, “Attentions from foreign dignitaries affirmed Harlem’s positive identity at a time when only a few scholars and black nationalists appreciated its history.” Writing for the local Amsterdam News at the time, James L. Hicks commented that, “Though many Harlemites are far too smart to admit it publicly, Castro’s move to the Theresa and Khrushchev’s decision to visit him gave the Negroes of Harlem one of the biggest ‘lifts’ they have had in the cold racial war with the white man.”

https://newrepublic.com/article/131793/castro-came-harlem?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=New%20Campaign&utm_term=TNR%20Daily%20Newsletter

One Man's Trash

From Atlas Obscura -

Fascinating Photos from the Secret Trash Collection in a New York Sanitation Garage

Garbage can be beautiful, if sorted correctly.

By Dylan Thuras

 

On the second floor of a nondescript warehouse owned by New York City's Sanitation Department in East Harlem is a treasure trove—filled with other people's trash.

Most of the building is used as a depot for garbage trucks, but there's a secret collection that takes over an entire floor. The space is populated by a mind-bogglingly wide array of items: a bestiary of Tamagotchis, Furbies; dozens of Pez dispensers; female weight lifting trophies; 8-track tapes; plates, paintings, sporting equipment and much more.

This is the Treasures in the Trash collection, created entirely out of objects found by Nelson Molina, a now-retired sanitation worker, who began by decorating his locker. Collected over 30 years, it is a visual explosion, organized by type, color, and size. Recently, Atlas Obscura had the chance to visit the collection with the New York Adventure Club, take some photos, and revel in the vast creative possibilities of trash.

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/fascinating-photos-from-the-secret-trash-collection-in-a-new-york-sanitation-garage?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura&utm_campaign=71529a08ea-Newsletter_3_21_20163_18_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_62ba9246c0-71529a08ea-59905913&ct=t(Newsletter_3_21_20163_18_2016)&mc_cid=71529a08ea&mc_eid=866176a63f

She Believed in Him

From Upworthy - 

Matthew Tejeda has big plans for how he'll help others who started off like he did — with the odds stacked against them. 

Having bounced around from home to home as a kid, relying on the help of friends and without the guidance of parents, Matthew had a rough transition into adulthood.

When school ended and he had no place to call home and no schoolmates' couches to crash on, Matthew was finally homeless.

According to Forbes magazine, a friend of Matthew's arranged an interview for him with a Starbucks manager, Debbie Dooknah. Debbie knew about Matthew's situation when she met him, and decided he was qualified and could do well if given a chance.

She trained him and kept his personal life between the two of them — she was the only one he worked with who knew he was sleeping in a shelter when he'd leave his work shift.

He had his work uniform stolen out of the laundry at the shelter, and he was unable to sleep at the shelter on the nights when it was loud.

He says a tenacious mindset is what helped him hang on.

"I just kept reminding myself that if I put one step after the other I could make it happen. My good friend Liz is an author of the NYTimes Best Seller 'Homeless to Harvard' and in one of her speeches she said 'What transforms a life? One empowered choice after the next over time.' I think that accurately described my thought process at the time. I knew what failure felt like and that absolutely wasn't an option."

Matthew also carried a key in his pocket every day. It was a talisman to remind him what he was striving toward — a home to call his own.

He eventually got his own apartment by saving his paychecks, along with a little help from a brilliant Starbucks program. 

Starbucks partners (employees) who want to chip in to help other partners in need are able to do so through their "CUP Fund" (Caring Unites Partners). With that and his savings, Matthew was able to cover the deposit and first month's rent to move into his first home of his own. 

The manager, Debbie, who took a chance on him, is now his best friend.

http://www.upworthy.com/a-homeless-kids-path-crossed-with-a-kind-starbucks-manager-the-rest-is-history?c=upw1

The Future of Medicine

From BioStamp - 

BioStampRC™ is the first research system designed for the human body. The BioStampRC system features the groundbreaking technology of the BioStamp® Sensor, a body-worn sensor so flexible and soft that it naturally conforms to the contours of the human body. BioStampRC Sensors are discreet, allowing study subjects to move from lab to home, through exercise and sleep, remaining unaffected by the tightly-coupled Sensors capturing a wealth of data.

BioStampRC™ Sensors: state of the art wearable sensors that can be placed on numerous body locations for targeted data collection

The BioStampRC system is seamlessly integrated into the researcher workflow through easily accessible tablet and web applications. Simple online study setup and on-demand pricing save valuable time and resources, enabling researchers to spend more time on finding insights.

Sensor Placement

http://www.mc10inc.com/our-products/biostamprc

A Solo Trip With a Toddler

From Upworthy -

A dad took his daughter on a trip, just the two of them, and wrote down what he learned.

http://www.upworthy.com/a-dad-took-his-daughter-on-a-trip-just-the-2-of-them-and-wrote-down-what-he-learned?c=upw1

Lessons Learned

An excerpt from The New York Times -

Learning Lessons From Outrage

There is so much we have learned from this painful election season and the rise of a demagogic real estate developer.

We have learned that a human branding machine who grew up in the shadows and spotlight of New York City’s cutthroat media knows intuitively how to exploit that media.

We have learned that too many in the media are ever so willing to be exploited if the exploitation is mutual and money is to be made.

We have learned what conditions make the prime environment for the rise of a demagogue: disaffection, demographic change, the demise of hope and opportunity and the dislocation of traditional power and privilege from automatic inheritance of prosperity.

We have seen that divisive, dangerous leaders don’t necessarily rise because of stirring oration or a clear and compelling vision. They can be quirky, disarming and idiosyncratic, with a vague, hollow message that says little even as it promises much.

We have learned the dangers of doubting the depravity and desperation of some who would follow such a man despite, or possibly even because of, his offensive rhetoric and outrageous policies.

We have learned just how much ugliness exists in this country, and what it looks like when it finds a voice, a leader and a reason to gather and unite.

We have learned that the Republican establishment has no clue who the Republican base is anymore, or if they do, they thought wrongly that they could control them by feeding them crumbs of obstruction and vague aspirationalism from their table of excess. In fact, that base has been gorging itself on fear and anger, vileness and the possibility of violence.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/21/opinion/learning-lessons-from-outrage.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&_r=0

That's a Lot of Mac N Cheese!

From Now I Know -

Thankfully, They Left the Expensive Ketchups at Home

The Barenaked Ladies are eclectic, all-male singing group from Canada. Their most well-known song, "One Week," topped the Billboard Hot 100 list in the fall of 1998. But you may be familiar with another of their songs, titled "If I Had One Million Dollars." The song, which was an early staple of the band's live shows, is a somewhat-silly discussion of the types of things bandmates would buy for their would-be loves if they were only rich enough to do so. You can read all the lyrics here and you'll see what I mean -- the group imagines purchasing a tree fort outfitted with a tiny fridge; a Picasso; a chesterfield (that's a couch, for non-Canadians); a monkey; and, relevant to our purposes, Kraft Dinner, pictured above. You can listen to that section of the lyrics here, and to get a real feel for that part of the song, you really should. But here's the relevant text, just in case.

If I had a million dollars
We wouldn't have to eat Kraft dinner

But we would eat Kraft dinner.
Of course we would, we'd just eat more. And buy really expensive ketchups with it.
That's right, all the fanciest ket--Dijon ketchup.
Mmmm!
Mmmm!

Kind of silly, yes, but it's not as crazy as you'd think, especially if you're a non-Canadian. Kraft Dinner -- which is what Americans call Kraft Macaroni and Cheese -- is a big, big deal in Canada. Wikipedia explains:

Kraft Dinner has been called the de facto national dish of Canada. Packaged in Quebec with Canadian wheat and milk, and other ingredients from Canada and the US, Canadians purchase 1.7 million of the 7 million boxes sold globally each week and eat an average of 3.2 boxes of Kraft Dinner each year, 55% more than Americans. The meal is the most popular grocery item in the country,  where "Kraft Dinner" has iconic status and has become a generic trademark of sorts for macaroni and cheese. It is often simply referred to by the initials K.D. 

So yeah, if the Barenaked Ladies had a million dollars, they'd still eat KD. They'd just eat more of it, as the lyrics state. (Let's ignore the adding ketchup up stuff -- that's just gross.) After all, one can never have enough Kraft Dinner. 

http://nowiknow.com/thankfully-they-left-the-expensive-ketchups-at-home/

Cat Burglar

From The Huffington Post -

Brigit has a big problem. When it comes to her male neighbors’ underwear, the adorable kitty just can’t help herself.

Every night the 6-year-old Tonkinese prowls around the city of Hamilton on New Zealand’s North Island.

And every morning, her owner Sarah Nathan wakes up to find stolen men’s briefs and socks dumped inside her house.

Sarah Nathan - Now it's getting silly. This is Brigit's haul from the last two months.
Every morning we wake up to more. I've put notes in every letterbox in the street.
Someone must be missing this stuff.
Please share if you know someone who lives in the George St area.

“It’s an absolute obsession,” Nathan told the New Zealand Herald on Sunday. “A night does not go by without her bringing things home. I got up this morning and there were another four socks in the house.” 

Since January, Brigit’s stolen 11 pairs of underpants and more than 50 socks. At a previous home, Nathan said her thieving feline would return with “a bit of everything.” 

“She was much less discerning, now she’s decided menswear is the thing, and it’s a very specific kind of underpants that she likes,” Nathan said. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/cat-underwear-new-zealand-thief_us_56ee53dce4b03a640a6aaecb

What a Job Interview!

From The Huffington Post -

A New Orleans teen landed a new job after he helped stop a robbery during his interview.

Last Saturday afternoon, Devin Washington was interviewing for a new job when a thief tried to steal cash from the register at Popeyes Famous Fried Chicken restaurant on Chef Menteur Highway, The Times-Picayune reported. 

The 18-year-old job hunter made the perfect first impression when he leapt from his seat and placed the suspected robber in a reverse bear hug. Popeyes assistant manager Dominique Griffin grabbed the suspect’s arm and manager Danyanna Metoyer — who’d been conducting the interview — blocked the door to prevent escape.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/teen-catches-robber-interview-job_us_56efac8de4b09bf44a9dbb51

Another Idiot

From USA Today -

Indian Wells CEO Raymond Moore made reprehensible, sexist comments about women’s tennis before Sunday’s final at the BNP Paribas Open.

He later apologized in a statement.

Well, Serena Williams wasn’t going to look past Moore’s remarks.

She fired back at Moore following her 6-4, 6-4 defeat in the final to Victoria Azarenka.

Williams said via ESPN:

“Obviously, I don’t think any woman should be down on their knees thanking anybody like that. I think Venus [Williams], myself, a number of players have been — if I could tell you every day how many people say they don’t watch tennis unless they’re watching myself or my sister, I couldn’t even bring up that number. So I don’t think that is a very accurate statement. I think there is a lot of women out there who are more … are very exciting to watch. I think there are a lot of men out there who are exciting to watch. I think it definitely goes both ways. I think those remarks are very much mistaken and very, very, very inaccurate.”

Williams also didn’t buy that Moore’s statements could have been taken out of context.

“Well, if you read the transcript, you can only interpret it one way. I speak very good English. I’m sure he does too. You know, there’s only one way to interpret that. Get on your knees, which is offensive enough, and thank a man, which is not — we, as women, have come a long way. We shouldn’t have to drop to our knees at any point.”

Spot on, Serena. Spot on.

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/03/serena-williams-responds-indian-wells-ceo-raymond-moore