Black Astronauts

An excerpt from BlackAmericaWeb -

Little Known Black History Fact: Black Astronauts
By D.L. Chandler

The late Ronald McNair, Col. Guion Bluford, & Maj. Frederick D. Gregory

On this day in 1978, NASA graduated its first group of Space Shuttle astronauts which signaled a new day for the space program. Among the group of 35, three Black men went on to leave their mark on history as explorers of space.

Maj. Frederick D. Gregory of Washington, Col. Guion Bluford of Pennsylvania, and the late Ronald McNair of South Carolina were the first Black astronauts to join NASA’s elite Space Shuttle program ranks. Col. Bluford became the first African-American in space after flying on a mission aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. Maj. Gregory is the first African-American to pilot an orbiter craft and also the first to command a space shuttle mission, doing so in 1985 and 1989, respectively.

https://blackamericaweb.com/2017/01/16/little-known-black-history-fact-black-astronauts/

A Black Lady Liberty

From CNN -

For the first time ever, there will be a black Lady Liberty on a coin
By AJ Willingham

A new commemorative coin from the U.S. Mint and Treasury features a fresh depiction of Lady Liberty. With a crown of stars in her hair and a toga-like dress, she's as patriotic as ever. She's also, for the first time on an officially minted coin, portrayed as a black woman.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/13/us/lady-liberty-coin-trnd/index.html

Idris Elba Wants You to Be His Valentine // Omaze

When Design Meets Math & Science

From Wired -

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ALGORITHMS DESIGN A CONCERT HALL? THE STUNNING ELBPHILHARMONIE  By LIZ STINSON

 Caption: Caption: Herzog and De Meuron designed the main concert hall of Hamburg's
recently opened Elbphilharmonie with the help of algorithms.IWAN BAAN

https://www.wired.com/2017/01/happens-algorithms-design-concert-hall-stunning-elbphilharmonie/?mbid=nl_11217_p1&CNDID=#slide-1

Anthony Anderson Monologue "Black Resilience in America" (Post Election)...

'Darkness Is My Canvas, Light Is My Brush'

How this guy found 83 messages in bottles

$39 Flights!

From the Huffington Post -

JetBlue Is Offering $39 Flights In A 2-Day Flash Sale

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jetblue-sale_us_58751772e4b099cdb0ffae37

Getting Her Due

An excerpt from Salon -

Remembering Octavia Butler: “This country views people like Butler and like Oscar as aliens and treats people like us like we’re from another planet”
Salon speaks to Junot Díaz about the late, great California sci-fi writer, whose work is resonating again  By SCOTT TIMBERG

Octavia Butler, who was born Pasadena, California, in 1947, practically created her own genre — a singular type of science fiction that used the form to explore racism, sexism and the earth’s degradation. Growing up, Butler often accompanied her mother on housecleaning expeditions; she was frequently told that black girls could not become writers. But thank to her perseverance and the assistance of the famously grouchy Los Angeles science-fiction writer Harlan Ellison, she became one of the field’s most important authors in the years before her death in 2006 near Seattle.

Best known for the novels “Kindred” and “Parable of the Sower,” Butler has recently garnered interest for her cultural and political prescience. Much of the energy behind the Butler revival has come from her native Southern California. The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens acquired her papers, where they sit alongside those of Jack London, Charles Bukowski and Christopher Isherwood. (A Butler exhibition is planned this spring.)

In a Kenya Slum, Changing Lives with Classical Music

The battle over for-profit colleges, explained

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

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 Beyoncé 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

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