This Judge Lays Down the Law

It's a Small World

From Atlas Obscura - 

Look at the Tiny Tourists and Bite Size Burglars of Japan's Mini World

Tobu World Square has 102 little landmarks and 140,000 mini people.

By Thomas Beecher 

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/look-at-the-tiny-tourists-and-bite-size-burglars-of-japans-mini-world?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura&utm_campaign=35e309cbdc-Newsletter_4_5_20164_4_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_62ba9246c0-35e309cbdc-59905913&ct=t(Newsletter_4_5_20164_4_2016)&mc_cid=35e309cbdc&mc_eid=866176a63f

Puppy Love

She Speaks

From Vulture -

If You Think Beyoncé’s ‘Formation’ Is Anti-Police, She Has a Few Truth Bombs for You

By Dee Lockett

In the wake of Beyoncé's conversation-causing "Formation" drop and Black Panther–evoking Super Bowl halftime performance, many a misguided police union threatened to boycott her upcoming Formation World Tour, calling the song, video, and her entire being anti-police. Some even attempted to stage an anti-Beyoncé protest, but we all know how that went. In Beyoncé's new interview with Elle — her first time speaking actual words to the media in years — she's sounding off on the message behind the video that some so clearly seemed to have missed. In an excerpt from the digital issue, she clarifies that she's not anti-police and anyone who thought otherwise after watching the overwhelmingly pro-black "Formation" is letting their racism show:

"I mean, I'm an artist and I think the most powerful art is usually misunderstood. But anyone who perceives my message as anti-police is completely mistaken. I have so much admiration and respect for officers and the families of the officers who sacrifice themselves to keeps us safe. But let's be clear: I am against police brutality and injustice. Those are two separate things. If celebrating my roots and culture during Black History Month made anyone uncomfortable, those feelings were there long before a video and long before me. I'm proud of what we created and I'm proud to be part of a conversation that is pushing things forward in a positive way."

Carry on.

http://www.vulture.com/2016/04/beyonce-formation-isnt-anti-police-duh.html

One of My Favorites

Without a doubt, one of my favorite books is Bridges Are to Cross by Philemon Sturges, Illustrated by Giles Laroche.

It features bridges all over the world.

I used to read to my students during their lunch break, and this is one of the books that was in heavy rotation.

Each time I read it, I challenged them to explore the world and cross each bridge.

Whatcha Reading?

An excerpt from The New York Times Book Review - 

Lin-Manuel Miranda: By the Book

The star and creator of the musical “Hamilton” says “Things Fall Apart” was his favorite book to teach at Hunter College High School: “The kids walk out of the classroom as different people.”

What books are currently on your nightstand?

“The Wayfinders,” by Wade Davis; “Between Riverside and Crazy,” by Stephen Adly Guirgis; and “Unabrow,” by Una LaMarche.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/10/books/review/lin-manuel-miranda-by-the-book.html?hpw&rref=books&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well

7 Egg Life Hacks

Shopping for a Mattress?

Check out these sites.

https://casper.com/mattresses

https://lull.com/#slide-5

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To make sure it fits, check out this floor plan app, that creates a floor plan of your home.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/magicplan/id427424432?mt=8

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As seen in USA Today

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2016/04/03/these-apps-can-help-you-survive-moving-mayhem/82222352/

An Epic Mural

LOOKING OUT FROM Mokattam Mountain towards the Cairo, Egypt neighborhood of Manshiyat Naser, you’ll notice something beautiful. There, in the center of the neighborhood often referred to as Garbage City (named so for its trash-lined streets) is a painted mural that spans more than 50 buildings. From any other perspective, the swirl of orange, blue and white is beautiful but illegible. But from this mountainside, a quote from a 3rd century Coptic Bishop clearly reads in arabic calligraphy: “Anyone who wants to see the sunlight clearly needs to wipe his eye first.”

~~~~~~~~~~

To see how this mural came to be, check out the other photos in the slideshow at the link below.


http://www.wired.com/2016/04/epic-mural-spanning-50-buildings-fully-visible-one-spot/?mbid=nl_4416#slide-1

Ta-Nehisi Coates on Writing Marvel's Black Panther

Heartbreaking Sacrifices

An excerpt from The New Yorker -

The Cost of Caring

The lives of the immigrant women who tend to the needs of others.

BY RACHEL AVIV

Emma moved from the Philippines to new york to make a living as a nanny for other people's children - and hasn't seen her own in sixteen years.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/04/11/the-sacrifices-of-an-immigrant-caregiver?mbid=nl_160404_Daily&CNDID=27124505&spMailingID=8745510&spUserID=MTE0MzE0NDEyNDUyS0&spJobID=900396394&spReportId=OTAwMzk2Mzk0S0

Cloud Seeding

Rain in the UAE takes on an almost mystical status.  It is seen as a gift from God.

As I've mentioned before, the typical annual rainfall is four days.  To combat this lack of rain, cloud seeding has become popular and is used often to generate rain systems.

This video is long at 30 minutes, but it reveals some interesting information about the landscape and the cloud seeding phenomenon.

The UAE is one of the first countries of the Arabian Gulf region that have use the cloud seeding technology, which adopted the latest technologies available on a global level, using sophisticated weather radar, to monitor the atmosphere of the country around the clock, In addition to the use of a private airplane supplied by special salt flares, has been manufactured to fit with the nature of the physical and chemical properties of the  clouds that form in the UAE, these clouds have been studied previously in the past years before starting to carry out cloud seeding in the country and have classified these clouds and identify the appropriate, this study found that the best seeding for clouds form in the summer over the eastern and southwestern regions.

Cloud Seeding Applications section is specialized in the following: 

• Planning cloud seeding operations and set its time schedule in accordance to weather and climate studies of different regions in the country in different seasons.
• Take the necessary measures to carry out cloud seeding operations such as the preparation of airplanes with its necessary flares in addition to obtaining clearance for airplanes operations mission.
• Study the outputs of cloud seeding operations and in view of that prepare the necessary reports.
• Follow-up results of cloud seeding projects in other countries through climate change to benefit in enhancing the efficiency of cloud seeding operations in the country.
• Offer meteorological services.
• Secure aeronautical and maritime navigation.
• Study environmental pollution.
• Participate in the field of agriculture.
• Projects planning for urban and city.
• Play a major role in warning of anticipated natural disasters.

http://www.ncms.ae/en/details.html?id=825&lid=1500

Mom Helping Out

I'll bet Ben & Frankie never consider this.

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From GQ - 

This Is What Happened When My Mom Ran My Tinder for a Month  

BY CLAY SKIPPER

I’m 26, single, and four years removed from anything resembling a serious relationship. So I did what any solo twenty-something guy would do: I installed Tinder on my mom’s phone and asked her to find me a date. As me.

https://www.gq.com/story/my-mom-ran-my-tinder?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Vox%20Sentences%204/1/16&utm_term=Vox%20Newsletter%20All

The Concrete Cowboys of Philadelphia

The Truth About Your Chinese Takeout Box

A Lesson Worth Learning

From The New Yorker -

The History of Aretha, in Ten Videos

BY DAVID REMNICK

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-history-of-aretha-in-ten-videos?mbid=nl_160331_Daily&CNDID=27124505&spMailingID=8733455&spUserID=MTE0MzE0NDEyNDUyS0&spJobID=883536733&spReportId=ODgzNTM2NzMzS0

JACKIE ROBINSON | An Inside Look | PBS

Let's Agree to Disagree

An excerpt from The Atlantic - 

No Spanking, No Time-Out, No Problems

A child psychologist argues punishment is a waste of time when trying to eliminate problem behavior. Try this instead.

Say you have a problem child. If it’s a toddler, maybe he smacks his siblings. Or she refuses to put on her shoes as the clock ticks down to your morning meeting at work. If it’s a teenager, maybe he peppers you with obscenities during your all-too-frequent arguments. The answer is to punish them, right?

Not so, says Alan Kazdin, director of the Yale Parenting Center. Punishment might make you feel better, but it won’t change the kid’s behavior. Instead, he advocates for a radical technique in which parents positively reinforce the behavior they do want to see until the negative behavior eventually goes away.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/03/no-spanking-no-time-out-no-problems/475440/?utm_source=atl-daily-newsletter

An Embarrassment

From The Huffington Post - 

John Kerry: Republican Primary Race Is ‘An Embarrassment’

“They don’t know where it’s taking the United States of America.”

Secretary of State John Kerry said the Republican presidential primary is “an embarrassment.”

During an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Kerry said foreign leaders are “shocked” by the rhetoric used in the race, particularly anti-Muslim statements.

“They don’t know where it’s taking the United States of America,” Kerry said. “It upsets people’s sense of equilibrium about our steadiness, about our reliability, and to some degree I must say to you, some of the questions, the way they’re posed to me, it’s clear to me that what’s happening is an embarrassment to our country.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/john-kerry-republican-primary-embarrassment_us_56f926c0e4b0143a9b489425

This Must be a Joke . . . Right?

From The New Yorker - 

Sample Questions from the Trump University Final Exam

BY JOHN FLOWERS

Below you will find three examples of questions from previous final exams at Trump University. Use these sample questions and the answer key provided to prepare for next week’s big test.

1. Two plus two equals what?

(a) Maybe four.

(b) Could be four. Could be. Lotta people saying it’s five.

(c) I’m not saying it’s five; I’m saying it could be—could be five. You see these establishment hacks, losers, like Mitt Romney? Real crank. They hate me. They take answers like “could be” and say, “Oh, he says two plus two equals five.” I never said that. I never—I said “could be.” Could be six. We don’t know.

(d) All of the above.

(e) None of the above.

(f) D and E.

2. Describe a major theme of “The Old Man and the Sea.”

(a) Well, the theme is big. That I can assure you. Definitely no problem in the theme department. Quite big. Quite.

(b) I know what you want me to say here. You want me to say “yuge.” Well, I’m not. I’m not gonna say that.

(c) Should I say it? . . . No. I’m not gonna say it. But it is.

(d) Now—and I don’t even wanna bring it up—but you got a lot of people. I’m not going to mention names. O.K., Marco. You got Little Marco, who has a tiny theme. No, it’s true. Very small. Probably why he’s outta the race. Seriously, find me one person who says there was a big theme behind that campaign. But anyway, here’s Little Marco, saying I’m the one with the small theme. Can you believe that? Says I’m like Santiago in “The Old Man and the Sea.” Says I sometimes lose my harpoon—you know, prematurely—when I try to reel in the big fish. Totally not true.

(e) In fact, reminds me of the time I tried to get a date with Brooke Shields. Remember Brooke Shields? Gorgeous. Not like my wife. Gorgeous, though. I asked her out. She said no. Career went downhill after that. Left me like Santiago at the end of the book, hauling this gigantic mast home with nothing to show for my troubles.

(f) Seriously, “The Old Man and the Sea”? Please. Santiago’s not a winner. Here’s what you need to read: “The Art of the Deal.” Best book since the Bible. Probably better. People say that. I don’t. People do. Bible was, like, God with sixty ghostwriters. “The Art of the Deal” was just me, dictating to Tony Schwartz. Great guy. Takes dictation better than Moses.

3. H2O is the chemical symbol for what compound?

(a) What the hell’s “huh-twenty”?

(b) No, that’s what it says, “huh-twenty.” Or maybe the “H” is silent. I dunno.

(c) I didn’t say “huh-twenty.” You said “huh-twenty.” You asked me what “huh-twenty” was. You see, this is what the media does. They claim, “You said ‘huh-twenty!’ ” And I’m like, “I said? No you said ‘huh-twenty.’ I just repeated what you said.”

(d) That’s all they do, ask these totally bogus questions, when what they should be asking about is Hillary’s e-mails. That’s what this question should be about. Because what she did—wow. I mean, that’s why she’s hugging Obama every chance she gets.

(e) You know who else hugs Obama? Chris Christie.

(f) But we love Chris, don’t we? We love Chris.

Answer key:

1. I like A. I like B, too. D doesn’t do much for me, but E and F are real winners.

2. I’m gonna have to look into A and B. C is very compelling. Very. I hear good things about D through F. But I don’t wanna say anything yet.

3. I don’t know why people are saying there were three questions. There weren’t. I mean, do you have video? Show me the video where there were three questions. You can’t, because there is no video. People come here. They try to make trouble, saying we started a question three. We did not. And lemme tell ya, we’re gonna fight back. I’m not saying we’ll sue, but we could. Throw a few punches, ya know. Because this test prep is a great test prep. You thought so, too: you signed the agreement saying that you thought this was the greatest test prep of all time and that you wanted to be sued if video surfaced of you saying otherwise.

Congratulations, this was actually the final. You’ve passed. Now give me $35,000.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/sample-questions-from-the-trump-university-final-exam?intcid=mod-most-popular