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Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Lego Honoring NASA Women

From the Huffington Post -

We Have Liftoff: Lego Set Honoring Women Of NASA Will Land On A Shelf Near You
From "Hidden Figures" to shiny plastic figurines!
By Rebecca Shapiro

The toy company announced the winner of its semiannual Lego Ideas competition this week: a set honoring five women of NASA. The women are computer scientist Margaret Hamilton, mathematician Katherine Johnson, astronaut Sally Ride, astronomer and executive Nancy Grace Roman and astronaut Mae Jemison.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lego-women-nasa_us_58b64f58e4b0780bac2e581a?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Jon Stewart To The Media: It's Time To Get Your Groove Back

Clever Ideas

From Buzzfeed -

19 Completely Random Ideas That Will Make You Say, “Clever!”
Why didn’t I think of that?
By Mike Spohr

I love #2, #4 and #5.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/mikespohr/xx-random-ideas-that-are-lifechangingly-brilliant?utm_term=.vwQllONPb#.ekbAAmN7M

4 Black Women Who Broke Barriers

Monday, February 27, 2017

Can you really tell if a kid is lying? | Kang Lee

A Running Record of Calamity

From the Huffington Post -

I Gave Donald Trump A Chance, And Then He...
By Jesse Mechanic, Contributor

1. Restarted the Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines.

2. Instituted a federal hiring freeze that blocked 2,000 vital, new positions at the VA, and indefinitely suspended Army childcare programs for vets.

3. Approved a raid in Yemen that killed 30 people including at least 10 civilians, many of whom were women and children, as well as U.S. Navy Seal Ryan Owens.

4. Reinstated and strengthened the global gag rule thereby pulling all world-wide federal funding from any institutions that even attempt to educate patients about abortion.

5. Rescinded federal bathroom protections for trans students.

(From me - Click the link below to see the rest.  There are 57 and counting).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/i-gave-donald-trump-a-chance-and-then-he_us_58b41f40e4b0e5fdf61974a9?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

Pot Calling the Kettle Black

From USA Today -

My Hispanic son: Why is Apple so white at the top?
By Tony Maldonado

When Apple and over 90 tech companies filed an amicus brief in opposition to President Donald Trump’s immigration moratorium, I was dumbfounded to see an industry wade into a political debate in the name of protecting diversity in our country, when that same industry has done so little to foster diversity and inclusion in its own ranks among senior management and boards.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/2017/02/27/shareholder-calls-on-apple-to-fix-diversity-senior-management-board-tony-maldonado/98196276/

Would you sacrifice one person to save five? - Eleanor Nelsen

It's Frankie & Zadie!

From Grist -

Why the People’s Climate March matters to people of color like me
By Aura Vasquez

a katz / Shutterstock, Inc.

http://buff.ly/2lDRFnA

Pow Wow in the Club: A New Spin on First Nations Music

Obamacare: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Click For Your Choice of President

From Salon -

POLL: Which fictional president would you rather have in the White House?
Tell us which big-screen president you'd prefer to have as commander-in-chief

http://www.salon.com/2017/02/27/poll-which-fictional-president-would-you-rather-have-in-the-white-house/?source=newsletter

Mama Has Spoken

From Rolling Stone -

How to Stop Shaquille O'Neal: His Mother
Hall of Famer's feud with Golden State Warrirors center JaVale McGee comes to an end
By Scott Rafferty

Golden State Warriors center JaVale McGee and hall of famer Shaquille O'Neal have never been on the friendliest of terms. After becoming the poster child for O'Neal's "Shaqtin' a Fool" – a segment in which he mocks NBA players for their mistakes made on the court – McGee criticized the former Lakers and Heat star in 2016 for making basketball fans think he's a "dumb person." McGee then took it a step further by comparing O'Neal to Bert Williams, a comedian who performed in blackface in the early 1900s, after O'Neal made fun of his hair earlier this season.

~~~~~~~~~~

"I have orders from the top to leave it alone," O'Neal told The Undefeated. "No, [not NBA commissioner Adam Silver]. My mama. Just say Shaq's mom, called him, told him, 'Stop this silliness. Leave him alone.' So that's the end of the beef. You won't be hearing about it from my side anymore. Mama has spoken."

http://www.rollingstone.com/sports/shaqs-mom-tells-him-to-leave-javale-mcgee-alone-w469422

Swearing Explained

From the BBC -

Why do people swear?
By David Edmonds

But back to the conundrum. If writing F with asterisks alleviates the offence of the full word why should this be? Roache says swearing is best viewed as a breach of etiquette. It is a little like putting your shoes on a table when you are the guest in someone's house. If you know it would offend, and do it anyway, you are guilty of showing insufficient respect.

"It doesn't matter that it's a swear word. Imagine meeting someone who has a fear of crisps, and who finds references to crisps traumatic. If you carry on talking about crisps in their presence, even after discovering about their phobia, you are sending a signal that you don't respect them, you don't have any concern for their feelings."

Using the F-with-asterisks version acknowledges that we are taking the feelings of others into account. By censoring the word we show respect. It's a view shared by Oliver Kamm, who endorses his newspaper's policy on asterisking swear words. Readers cannot help, he says, finding the full word "involuntarily off-putting".

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-39082467



Denzel Washington's audience get involved - The Graham Norton Show: 2017...

Sunday, February 26, 2017

Following Harriet

From the New York Times -

Harriet Tubman’s Path to Freedom
By RON STODGHILL

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/02/24/travel/underground-railroad-slavery-harriet-tubman-byway-maryland.html


Mary's Room: A philosophical thought experiment - Eleanor Nelsen

They Want Him Too

From the Daily Mail -

Obama for French president? Petition calls for former U.S. commander in chief to run for office in France

The French are set to elect a new president in April.

But those who are unhappy with the current candidates are making a last ditch attempt to recruit another contender - Barack Obama.

The Obama17 petition is currently circulating with the aim of gathering 1 million signatures to convince the former U.S. president to run for office in France.

About 500 posters of Obama's face have been plastered across Paris in recent days, urging people to visit the petition website.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4260676/Petition-calls-Barack-Obama-president-France.html#ixzz4ZpoaxGiT

My Curiosity Won

I went to see the horror movie, "Get Out."

I loved it!

As I've mentioned before, horror is not my genre.  It's the one I'm sure to decline.

But . . .

The guy who wrote and directed this is smart, the reviews were great, and I wanted to see for myself what all the fuss was about.

It did not disappoint.

Highly recommended.









Not a Gamer, But . . .

If you are, you might check out this article form the New York Times -

A Fresh Narrative in Gaming
By JUSTIN PORTER

The game pulls no punches in depicting Lincoln’s violent nature, and it does the same in showing players what it meant to be a black man in the Jim-Crow-era South. Some shopkeepers refuse you service and call you names. Several police cars hunt you down if you commit a crime in a white, middle-class neighborhood. Do the same in a predominantly black neighborhood and one car will show up, if that. No matter where Lincoln is, the police are watching. He fights racist organizations, casual bias and the prejudice of friends.

As the game was developed, police shootings of black men rose, the Black Lives Matter movement was born, and the development team realized they’d created a game that talked about race in ways that sometimes bridged the gap of history.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/25/us/a-fresh-narrative-in-gaming.html?emc=edit_rr_20170225&nl=race-related&nlid=38867499&te=1