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Saturday, August 4, 2018

Why Bathroom Sensors Suck

Happy Birthday Mr. President!

Happy

Discovering de Kooning: A WFAA documentary

Standing Up to Injustices

An excerpt from the New York Times OPINION -

N.F.L. Players to Trump: Here’s Whom You Should Pardon
By Doug Baldwin, Anquan Boldin, Malcolm Jenkins and Benjamin Watson
The writers are former and current professional football players.

As Americans, it is our constitutional right to question injustices when they occur, and we see them daily: police brutality, unnecessary incarceration, excessive criminal sentencing, residential segregation and educational inequality. The United States effectively uses prison to treat addiction, and you could argue it is also our largest mental-health provider. Law enforcement has a responsibility to serve its communities, yet this responsibility has too often not met basic standards of accountability.

These injustices are so widespread as to seem practically written into our nation’s DNA. We must challenge these norms, investigate the reasons for their pervasiveness and fight with all we have to change them. That is what we, as football players, are trying to do with our activism.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/opinion/trump-pardon-nfl-players.html

A McScam

An excerpt from the Daily Beast -

How an Ex-Cop Rigged McDonald’s Monopoly Game and Stole Millions
Jerome Jacobson and his network of mobsters, psychics, strip-club owners, and drug traffickers won almost every prize for 12 years, until the FBI launched Operation ‘Final Answer.’
By JEFF MAYSH

Like winning the Powerball, the odds of Hoover’s win were 1 in 250 million. There were two ways to win the Monopoly grand prize: Find the “Instant Win” game piece like Hoover, or match Park Place with the elusive Boardwalk to choose between a heavily taxed lump sum or a $50,000 check every year for 20 years. Just like the Monopoly board game, which was invented as a warning about the destructive nature of greed, players traded game pieces to win, or outbid each other on eBay. Armed robbers even held up restaurants demanding Monopoly tickets. “Don’t go to jail! Go to McDonald’s and play Monopoly for real!” cried Rich Uncle Pennybags, the game’s mustachioed mascot, on TV commercials that sent customers flocking to buy more food. Monopoly quickly became the company’s most lucrative marketing device since the Happy Meal.

Inside Hoover’s home, Amy Murray, a loyal McDonald’s spokesperson, encouraged him to tell the camera about the luckiest moment of his life. Nervously clutching his massive check, Hoover said he’d fallen asleep on the beach. When he bent over to wash off the sand, his People magazine fell into the sea. He bought another copy from a grocery store, he said, and inside was an advertising insert with the “Instant Win” game piece. The camera crew listened patiently to his rambling story, silently recognizing the inconsequential details found in stories told by liars. They suspected that Hoover was not a lucky winner, but part of a major criminal conspiracy to defraud the fast-food chain of millions of dollars. The two men behind the camera were not from McDonald’s. They were undercover agents from the FBI.

This was a McSting.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-an-ex-cop-rigged-mcdonalds-monopoly-game-and-stole-millions

Tips For Saving on Travel

From the New York Times -

Paris, Chicago and Beyond: How to Have a Luxury Trip for Much Less Than You Think
A high-end vacation doesn’t have to mean spending big dollars. Here are 10 cities where you can have upscale experiences without paying premium prices.
By Shivani Vora

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/30/travel/luxury-trips-for-less.html

'Undefeated,' by Rayana Jay, is an anthem for black female athletes | Un...

Delete From Resume

An excerpt from the Huffington Post -

9 Seemingly Harmless Things You Should Never Have On Your Resume
We all know you have references available upon request.
By Casey Bond

When was the last time you reviewed your resume? According to a recent poll by career site Monster, 39 percent of respondents said they updated their resume the last time they applied for a job; 8 percent said they couldn’t even remember the last time they looked at it.

But according to Monster’s career expert Vicki Salemi, you should update your resume every six to 12 months. And you shouldn’t just add new positions and responsibilities. You should also get rid of anything that could cost you your next job.

So if you have any of these nine things on your resume, delete them right away.

1. Your photo

Unless you’re applying for an acting, modeling or other job that requires a headshot, your picture doesn’t belong on your resume.

“It makes some hiring managers uncomfortable, as it relates to the possibility of making biased decisions,” said Debra Boggs, a co-founder of D&S Professional Coaching.

Plus, if the photo doesn’t match a company’s culture, it could hurt you. Boggs gave an example from a friend who was hiring for an accounting role. “A qualified candidate sent a resume in with a candid shot of them in a flannel shirt,” she said. “They did not make the cut for an interview for this formal role.”

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/common-resume-mistakes_us_5b649fe2e4b0b15abaa2e83e

Registering Inmates to Vote

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/voting-behind-bars-inside-cook-county-jail-detainees-get-a-chance-to-cast-their-ballots_us_5b61ee50e4b01e373aac3b29