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Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Kids' Allowances

An excerpt from Slate -

You’re Doing Allowance Wrong
Don’t start it too late, don’t link it to chores, and don’t skimp. Here’s how to do it right.
By Ron Lieber

When it comes to kids and money, there are few topics that cause more confusion for parents than allowances. When should you start? Should it depend on the completion of chores? If you give too little, are you a scrooge? If you give too much, will your kids become brats?

Alas, most parents, acting on their own or following the lead of others, get allowances wrong. They start too late, they hand over too little money and responsibility, and they tie the money to the completion of household tasks while asking nowhere near enough in the way of household cooperation. In short, they don’t focus enough on how their kids use money, nor do they push them hard enough around the house, rendering their adult-making efforts wholly half-assed.

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2015/02/kids_allowances_you_re_doing_it_completely_wrong.html

President Obama's Greatest Achievements

From the Good -

28 Of Barack Obama’s Greatest Achievements As President Of The United States
by Tod Perry

As the first African-American elected President of the United States, Barack Obama became a pivotal figure in American history even before his inauguration. But after winning a second term in 2012, his achievements in office have made him one of the most transformative presidents of the past hundred years. He took office with a country in peril and led it through the Great Recession, two wars, civil unrest, a rash of mass shootings, and changing cultural demographics. In the 2008 campaign he called for change and eight years later we are living in a more prosperous country because of it.

Here are 28 of President Obama’s biggest accomplishments as President of the United States.

https://www.good.is/articles/obamas-achievements-in-office

Problem? What Problem?

An excerpt from the Washington Post -

Survey reveals disconnect between police and public attitudes
By Scott Clement and Wesley Lowery

Two-thirds of the nation’s police officers say the deaths of black Americans during encounters with police are isolated incidents, not a sign of broader problems between law enforcement and black citizens, according to a Pew Research Center poll released Wednesday.

The findings underscore a stark disconnect between many rank-and-file officers and the public and reveal that scrutiny since the 2014 fatal police shooting of Michael Brown has prompted many officers to be less aggressive in day-to-day policing.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/survey-reveals-disconnect-between-police-and-public-attitudes/2017/01/10/65b24f3a-d550-11e6-a783-cd3fa950f2fd_story.html?utm_term=.fa3c20823041

$233,610

An excerpt from the Washington Post -

It’s more expensive than ever to raise a child in the U.S.
By Abha Bhattarai

It’s more expensive than ever to raise a child in the United States, where families will shell out an average of $233,610 from birth through age 17 — or about $13,000 a year — according to new figures from the government.

The ballooning price tag, a 3 percent increase from a year earlier, comes at a time when day-care costs can exceed university tuitions and homes prices have skyrocketed to record highs. Families in urban areas in the Northeast, such as New York and Boston, were likely to pay even more — an average of $253,770, or roughly $14,000 a year — because of higher housing and child-care costs, according to a report by the Department of Agriculture.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2017/01/10/its-more-expensive-than-ever-to-raise-a-child-in-the-u-s/?utm_term=.3d261c422eca&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

India.Arie "Breathe" Official Video



http://www.essence.com/festival/indiaarie-worthy-apparel-line

https://teespring.com/shop/India-Arie-WorthyB_copy_2#pid=287&cid=6097&sid=front

Talent on Display

An excerpt from the Undefeated - (YEAH Clemson!!!)

POTS & PANS: BLACK ATHLETES NOW DOMINATE WHERE THEY ONCE WERE BANNED
Alabama and Clemson teams are defined by power, speed and quickness
BY JEFF RIVERS

But no matter which team wins, Alabama of the SEC and Clemson from the ACC exemplify how big-time college football is played: The teams are defined by power, speed and quickness. And much of that power, speed and quickness – the vogue term is “athleticism” – comes from the teams’ black players.

Indeed, while I watch Monday night’s game, I’ll think of the heroic men and women who made the integration of big-time sports in the South possible. They filed the legal briefs. They marched. They prayed.

And years before black athletes integrated their fields of dreams, young black men and women faced the jeering mobs and the on-campus isolation and ostracism to integrate state colleges in Dixie.

https://theundefeated.com/features/pots-pans-alabama-clemson-college-football-playoff-black-athletes-now-dominate-where-they-once-were-banned/

For Hot Sauce Aficionados

An excerpt from Thrillist -

THE BEST HOT SAUCES, RANKED
By SARAH THEEBOOM

"Chili-heads might be disappointed 'cause it doesn't have the burn they're probably looking for,” said Evans. "But it's one of those mass appeal, buy-it-by-the-jug-at-Walmart hot sauces that can go on anything. When BeyoncĂ© talks about 'hot sauce in my bag,' I think this is the kind of all-purpose sauce she's talking about."

https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/best-hot-sauce-brands-ranked



Monday, January 9, 2017

Shop Cats

From Atlas Obscura -

Charming Portraits of Hong Kong’s Shop Cats
Meet the adorable cats watching over the city's stores.
By Anika Burgess

From Hong Kong Shop Cats.
ALL PHOTOS: © MARCEL HEIJNEN, HONG KONG SHOP CATS, HONG KONG 2016.


http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/charming-portraits-of-hong-kongs-shop-cats

Yarn Never Looked So Good

From Upworthy -

From shoes to tennis rackets, she transforms everyday objects with lifelike embroidery.
By Erin Canty

Clough's embroidered portrait of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Photo by Danielle Clough, used with permission.
http://www.upworthy.com/from-shoes-to-tennis-rackets-she-transforms-everyday-objects-with-lifelike-embroidery?c=upw1&u=6861cbea6edfdfe5a709ee39ad3c14b64135e61f

Meryl Streep Speech The Golden Globes 2017

Sunday, January 8, 2017

Couple thankful for repo man who took their car

Remembering "Bambi" artist Tyrus Wong

A Sensitive Car

An excerpt from theWashingtonn Post -

Your car wants to say hello. And that’s only the start.
By Steven Overly

Toyota’s empathetic car of the future is there for you. You’ve had a frustrating day at work; it plays soft music and lowers the temperature. You’re lost in an unfamiliar neighborhood; it offers to take over the driving. You start to nod off at the wheel; it taps you on the shoulder and starts up a conversation.

This unconventional interplay between the driver and automobile is central to concept cars that Honda and Toyota unveiled at the annual CES technology conference in Las Vegas this week. In the not-so-distant future, vehicles will not only be safer or more efficient. They will be our companion, watching our every move.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2017/01/06/ces-2017-your-car-wants-to-say-hello-and-thats-only-the-start/?utm_term=.e0b0b60b3745&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1

A Necessary Lesson

An excerpt from the Washington Post -

Black parents take their kids to school on how to deal with police
By Janell Ross

It is a Saturday afternoon in early December, and Room 104 at Anne Arundel Community College is packed, all 150 seats taken. There are moms with oversized Louis Vuitton bags from which they produce items such as granola bars and string cheese. But there are more fathers than mothers and a few elementary-school-aged kids. Most of all, there are teens with Beats headphones draped around their necks like electronic jewelry.

Organized by the Arundel Bay Area Chapter of Jack and Jill of America Inc., “Race & the Law” was one of more than 225 similar events held around the country last year and more than 50 such events scheduled across the nation in the first three months of 2017. They are places where anxious black parents bring their children in hopes of preparing them for potentially fateful encounters with the police. They are, in essence, mini boot camps for children about how to be black in 21st-century America.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/black-parents-take-their-kids-to-school-on-how-to-deal-with-police/2017/01/03/86129c1c-c6be-11e6-bf4b-2c064d32a4bf_story.html?utm_term=.edc2c4875961&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1

Fascinating Story

An excerpt from Thrillist -

HOW I HIJACKED A PLANE & SPENT THE NEXT 44 YEARS LIVING IN CUBA
By ALEXANDER ZAITCHIK

DURING THE 1960S AND EARLY ‘70S, dozens of American citizens hijacked commercial airliners and took them to Cuba. Most of them were young radicals of one stripe or another; many were black nationalists. Before Washington and Havana signed the Anti-Air Piracy Act of 1973 in a joint attempt to stop an almost comical flow of airplanes south, many of the "skyjackers," as they were called at the time, received asylum from Castro’s Cuba upon landing. One of these men was Charlie Hill, a 22-year-old revolutionary with a group called the Republic of New Afrika. Hill arrived in Havana by way of an unscheduled stop on a TWA plane in November 1971, punctuating an unlikely escape from a statewide manhunt in New Mexico. Then and still the subject of a warrant for the murder of a New Mexico police officer, Hill is among the last remaining refugees from last century’s high tide of skyjacking. He is now 67 years old and beginning to go frail. He receives a Cuban pension of 200 pesos ($10) a month, which isn’t enough to live on, and supplements it with occasional tour guide work.

https://www.thrillist.com/lifestyle/nation/how-i-hijacked-a-plane-and-spent-the-next-44-years-living-in-cuba?pinn_uid=28273781



Saturday, January 7, 2017

Our First Lady

A Smart Ass

Hope you can see this.  If not, click on the link.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/clever-donkey-crosses-fence-italy-video_us_5870a027e4b099cdb0fd6279?r922lj4jz2vwe9udi

Yes We Can: People Share Their Most Memorable Moments from the Obama Pre...

Should She Have Been Punished?

An excerpt from Narratively and Salon -

She killed her abuser before he could kill her: After 17 years locked up, she’s taking on justice system
After 17 years behind bars, one woman is lobbying for the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act
By NATALIE PATTILLO, NARRATIVELY

Dadou, now fifty, has been out of prison for seven years. She’s actively lobbying for a bill that could have potentially saved her from incarceration. The Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act (DJSJA) — sponsored by New York State Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson and Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry — has been inching its way into state law since 2011. “Sending survivors of domestic violence who act to protect themselves to prison for long sentences is incompatible with modern notions of fairness and humanity,” Hassell-Thompson wrote in a 2013 press release.

http://www.salon.com/2017/01/07/former-inmate-who-killed-her-abuser-takes-on-the-system_partner/




Starting Young

An excerpt from the LA Times -

To compete with Silicon Valley for engineers, aerospace firms start recruitment in pre-kindergarten
By Samantha Masunaga

They are starting to reach out earlier to potential employees — as early as elementary school or even pre-kindergarten — to get them interested in science and math. And they’re recognizing the challenge they have building awareness with a generation that never had a real space race, but grew up with Google, Snapchat and Apple as part of their daily lives.

“This is something that’s very critical to our member companies,” said Dan Stohr, spokesman for the Aerospace Industries Assn. trade group. “They’re putting serious money into this, to the tune of millions of dollars a year.”

Lockheed Martin Corp. has launched a program called Generation Beyond aimed at encouraging middle school students’ interest in deep space exploration. The initiative includes a class curriculum, a downloadable Mars weather app and a traveling school bus modified so that children riding it can see the Martian landscape through the windows.


“One of the things we’ve been seeing is that this generation of students doesn’t necessarily know or have grown up with Lockheed Martin, as their parents did,” said Steve Hatch, the company’s director for central talent acquisition, of current college students. “As we look at the competition, how do we go attract that talent sooner … but at the same time, get them interested in STEM.”

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-defense-recruiting-20161214-story.html