Friday, July 26, 2024
CIA's First Black Spymaster
An excerpt from NBC News -
George Hocker broke through barriers as one of the CIA’s first Black spymasters
After witnessing Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, Hocker decided he wasn't "going to let discrimination define me, and I was going to be a Black spy for my country.”
By Dan De Luce
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| George Hocker, left, with Robert Gates, former director of the CIA and secretary of defense.CIA Archive |
When George Hocker underwent a grueling training course to become a CIA spy, much of America was still segregated. That meant Hocker, as a Black man, could not go to restaurants in Virginia to meet with agency instructors playing the part of foreign informants.
Different exercises had to be developed for Hocker. “I had to have car meetings, whereas my classmates could go and have a nice meal in a restaurant,” he said.
Out of a class of 75, Hocker was the only Black person. He passed the course and went on to blaze a trail as one of the Central Intelligence Agency’s first Black clandestine officers, the first to open a CIA station abroad and the first to lead a branch inside the Directorate of Operations.
Hocker’s pioneering experience at the spy agency — along with a small number of other African Americans who joined in the 1960s — has been largely overlooked until recently, partly due to the secrecy that requires most CIA officers to serve in anonymity.
But the agency recently installed an exhibit dedicated to Hocker at its museum at CIA headquarters, and interviewed him on its official podcast. And he is now writing a memoir, saying he wants to pass on the lessons he learned as a “Black spymaster” about resilience and determination.
n an interview with NBC News, Hocker, 84, described the discrimination he faced throughout his career and his sometimes harrowing missions overseas.
After starting out in the CIA’s records department in 1957 while a student at Howard University in Washington, D.C., Hocker was later promoted to be an analyst at the CIA. But he was apprehensive about signing up for the spy training course.
Seeing no African American role models at the agency, he planned to leave for the Labor Department to work as economist.
“I had pretty much decided that this was not a place where I wanted to try to make a career,” he said.
Then Hocker attended the historic 1963 March on Washington, where he stood only 100 yards away as Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. He was deeply affected by what he saw and heard that day, including seeing Black and white Americans walking together peacefully, in common cause.
Hocker said it was “a defining moment for me, and I decided that I wasn’t going to let bigotry and discrimination define me, and that I was going to be a Black spy for my country.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/investigations/george-hocker-cia-first-black-spy-spymasters-rcna160148
Military Trick to Cool Down in Minutes
An excerpt from Upworthy -
Here’s a military trick that can help you cool down in minutes, even in scorching heat
It's cheap, fast and effective.
Tod Perry
With temperatures rising worldwide, it's essential to know how to stay cool by reducing your body heat. It’s important to keep hydrated and wear breathable clothing, but if you want to cool off quickly, the military has a trick to reduce body temperature in minutes.
According to a CBS report, research shows that submerging your forearms and biceps in ice-cold water can help prevent overheating. That’s why the military uses arm immersion tables when training in hot weather or stationed in places where the heat is unbearable and it's impossible to get to an air-conditioned room.
"It's low-tech, it's inexpensive, it's easy to implement," Lt. Col. Dave DeGroot, who runs the Army Heat Center at Fort Moore, told CBS. "It's a bucket of water." Arm immersion tables are long, narrow troughs filled with ice-cold water that stand on four legs.
To cool down, soldiers place their hands, arms, and wrists in the cold water for 3 to 5 minutes. Then, they raise their arms above their heads. This allows cooled blood to circulate throughout the body, lowering its temperature. It also allows the water to drip down their arms, cooling their core from the outside.
Arm immersion! Participating and observing every POI helps effectively plan, resource and implement training. #RockSteady #Brave&Bold #ItWasCold!!!! #GAHeat pic.twitter.com/QrCyQ6i8PL
— Dysha Harrison (@BarcliffDysha) June 17, 2022
One Stop Shopping: Groceries & Ammunition in Vending Machines
An excerpt from Newsweek -
Ammunition Vending Machines Appear in Grocery Stores
By Alia Shoaib
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| A vending machine stocked with ammunition produced by company American Rounds. American Rounds |
Vending machines stocked with ammunition have been installed in several grocery stores across the United States.
The machines are made by American Rounds and allow customers over the age of 21 to buy ammunition with the same ease as using an ATM, the company says.
"Our automated ammo dispensers are accessible 24/7, ensuring that you can buy ammunition on your own schedule, free from the constraints of store hours and long lines," American Rounds says on its website.
The company says that their vending machines have "built-in AI technology, card scanning capability and facial recognition software."
The software can verify the buyer's identity and determine whether the machine matches the identification scanned, according to American Rounds.
The CEO of American Rounds, Grant Magers, told Newsweek that there are eight machines installed or in the process of being installed across four states.
https://www.newsweek.com/ammunition-vending-machines-grocery-stores-1921976
Southern Sandwiches
An excerpt from Southern Living -
11 “Weird” Southern Sandwiches We’ll Never Stop Making
We'll put almost anything between two pieces of soft bread and mayonnaise.
By Kaitlyn Yarborough
1. Southern Tomato Sandwich
Photo: Caitlin Bensel; Food Stylist: Torie Cox
There are those who get it, and the ones who are just too scared to try. The basic formula of a Southern tomato sandwich is soft white bread, mayonnaise, tomatoes, salt, and pepper sprinkled on generously. Typically, the juicy summer delicacy is eaten over the kitchen sink. Warning: You won't get the same sort of joyful flavor from a grocery store tomato, which typically lacks some of the juiciness and sweetness.
2. Pineapple Sandwich
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| Photo: Caitlin Bensel; Food Stylist: Torie Cox |
3. Funeral Sandwiches
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| Photo: Victor Protasio; Food Stylist: Jennifer Wendorf |
https://www.southernliving.com/weird-southern-sandwiches-7556056
The First African-American Woman Neurosurgeon Graduate at Johns Hopkins
An excerpt from Face2FaceAfrica -
Ghanaian becomes first African-American woman to graduate from Johns Hopkins neurosurgery program
BY Dollita Okine,
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| Dr. Nancy Abu-Bonsrah makes history. Photo Credit: X, Anna/Dr. Nancy Abu-Bonsrah |
Born in Ghana, Dr. Nancy Abu-Bonsrah is now the first African-American woman to graduate from the seven-year neurosurgery program at Johns Hopkins in the United States.
She made headlines in 2017 when she became the first African-American female resident in the program’s 30-year history. Only two to five residents are accepted into the esteemed program, which is ranked second in the nation. Neurosurgeon and author Dr. Ben Carson is one of its most renowned alumni.
Abu-Bonsrah commemorated her achievements on X on June 21, with the caption, “12 years @HopkinsMedicine came to an end last weekend, surrounded by family. Surreal that I’m done @HopkinsNsurg! #olderandwiser #latenightreflections.”
How "You're Right" Decreases Stress
An excerpt from INC. -
With 2 Words, Keanu Reeves Taught a Powerful Lesson on How to Decrease Stress. The answer is surprisingly simple.
Expert Opinion By Kelly Main, Writer and adviser @thekellymain
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| Keanu Reeves. Illustration: Inc; Photo: Getty Images |
Stress is all around us, and for many of us, it is all-consuming.
Slowly, it is sapping our energy, diminishing our productivity, and, of course, eating away not just at our happiness but our very ability to be happy. With 77 percent of people in the U.S. reportedly feeling burnt out, according to Deloitte, and anxiety becoming increasingly commonplace, stress is a devil most of us know.
It's certainly one that I know too well -- despite my best efforts to pretend I don't. Sick of being stressed out, I went to the other side of the world, where I found an unexpected cure to burnout. Yet putting what I learned into practice proved no easy feat. Every which way we look, there is something going on and something to be stressed about.
There are the wars plaguing the world, upcoming elections, mass layoffs, and fears of an impending economic collapse. If that weren't enough, there are crumbling relationships, deteriorating mental health, the bills that need to be paid, and the energy you don't have to deal with it all.
At one point or another, or in one way or another, we've all been there.
While we might be hard-pressed to get everyone to agree when families still can't get along, we can all agree we would benefit from less stress. With one short quote and two powerful key words Keanu Reeves taught a masterclass on how to decrease your stress levels, and with that, increase your happiness:
"I'm at a stage in my life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right -- have fun."
"You're right" is the key word -- even if the person is, in fact, incorrect. While it might be one of the hardest things for us to say -- especially when we know we are right -- it is one of the fastest ways to decrease stress and anxiety. And it's not simply a brush-off that can quickly decrease your own stress -- it could also reduce the stress of those around you.
Effectively using this simple, two-word anxiety reducer comes down to two things that help you uncover the cost-benefit of buying into the discussion.
Water the flowers, not the weeds
In other words, the things to which we give our energy grow. And so it's key to learn how to allocate your energy appropriately so that you focus on the things you want -- not the things you don't.
An Olympic Legend Masters Jazz
An excerpt from the Washington Post -
He’s 77, an Olympic legend and just made a hip-hop jazz album
In Mexico City in 1968, Bob Beamon soared to one of the Games’ most enduring records. Now he has started a new life as a percussionist.
By Les Carpenter
NEW YORK — The B.O.N.E. Squad is the kind of jazz band that makes your knees quiver and feet convulse. Hip-hop jazz they call it, filled with funk and groove and soul. To some in New York, the B.O.N.E. Squad is a local institution, with a standing gig as the opening act for a theater in the Bronx.
But on this January night, the B.O.N.E. Squad is in a packed Manhattan music hall called The Cutting Room to play songs from its latest album with its newest member: a tall, lean 77-year-old Olympic legend who is standing behind a set of bongo and conga drums. Stix Bones, the band’s leader and main drummer, introduces him
“The man himself,” he yells into a microphone. “Bob Beamon!”
And Beamon, who for nearly six decades has held the Olympic long jump record, starts slapping his palms across the congas. Bop-a-bop-a-bop. The beat builds fast, until it feels as though the whole room is filled with the sound of Bob Beamon playing congas. People in the crowd start to shout.
Beamon peers at them through round glasses that appear to change color in the light and look almost like a pair of Olympic rings. A small smile slides across his lips. Watching him, it would be impossible to imagine that less than a year earlier he could barely play, that he had never been trained and had to relearn many of the basics. Getting to this night, with this band, took months of agonizing work.
The B.O.N.E. Squad’s album cover is a black-and-white photograph of a brick apartment building that looks much like the 40 Projects in South Jamaica, Queens, where Beamon grew up. It bears two names: Stix Bones and Bob Beamon.
“I’m big time now,” Beamon said.
The album is called “Olimpik Soul.” The first song — an exaltation of saxophone, bass and drums — is called “Leap.”
Honest Movie Reviews
popcorn-dropping farter brought more of a unique and nuanced experience than this dreadful Costner film. stand strong, king.
— Carmela-by-the-Sea 🇵🇸 (@SocialistSubaru) July 7, 2024
Subtle Signs Folks Are Super Smart
An excerpt from Upworthy -
How do you know someone is very smart? Here are 15 'subtle signs' people notice.
"You can understand both sides of an issue and still think one is wrong."
Tod Perry
Here are 15 “subtle” signs that someone is highly intelligent.
1. They admit their mistakes
"When someone can admit a mistake and they know they don’t know everything."
2. Great problem-solvers
"They're very good at problem-solving. Even if it's something they have no experience with they always approach the problem from the right angle."
3. They appreciate nuance
"'I can hold two opposing ideas in my head at the same time.' Anyone who is willing to do that is intriguing to me. Especially with polarizing issues. They might actually be interesting to talk to."
4. They say 'I don't know'
"I like to call it being smart enough to know how stupid you are."
"100% this. I have a good friend who is a teaching professor at Cambridge. He is acutely aware of how ‘little’ he knows about areas outside his specialization."
5. They have self-doubt
"They struggle with imposter syndrome. Dumb people always think they’re [great]."
"It can happen but I’ve met plenty who don’t really doubt themselves. Instead, they take not knowing or not having any experience as an opportunity, just like people go down interesting internet rabbit holes. Really smart people can view mistakes as opportunities for growth and inexperience as an opportunity to gather new experiences."
The great American poet Charles Bukowski once wrote, “The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts and the stupid ones are full of confidence,” and according to science, he’s correct.
“Ignorance is associated with exaggerated confidence in one’s abilities, whereas experts are unduly tentative about their performance,” Stephan Lewandowsky Chair of Cognitive Psychology, University of Bristol, writes for the World Economic Forum. “This basic finding has been replicated numerous times in many different circumstances. There is very little doubt about its status as a fundamental aspect of human behavior.”
6. They ask questions
"They are ok with being perceived as 'stupid' by asking questions — if we hold back in fear, we'll never truly learn. Plus, it's a good way to show others it's ok to question things if you don't understand — better off if we're on the same page instead of hoping things work out without being informed."
A Former Slave's Response To His Master Wanting Him Back
From Upworthy -
Formerly enslaved man's response to his 'master' wanting him back is a literary masterpiece
"I would rather stay here and starve — and die, if it come to that — than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young masters."
By Tod Perry, Upworthy Staff
In 1825, at the approximate age of 8, Jordan Anderson (sometimes spelled "Jordon") was sold into slavery and would live as a servant of the Anderson family for 39 years. In 1864, the Union Army camped out on the Anderson plantation and he and his wife, Amanda, were liberated. The couple eventually made it safely to Dayton, Ohio, where, in July 1865, Jordan received a letter from his former owner, Colonel P.H. Anderson. The letter kindly asked Jordan to return to work on the plantation because it had fallen into disarray during the war.
On Aug. 7, 1865, Jordan dictated his response through his new boss, Valentine Winters, and it was published in the Cincinnati Commercial. The letter, entitled "Letter from a Freedman to His Old Master," was not only hilarious, but it showed compassion, defiance, and dignity. That year, the letter would be republished in theNew York Daily Tribune and Lydia Marie Child's "The Freedman's Book."
The letter mentions a "Miss Mary" (Col. Anderson's Wife), "Martha" (Col. Anderson's daughter), Henry (most likely Col. Anderson's son), and George Carter (a local carpenter).
Dayton, Ohio,
August 7, 1865
To My Old Master, Colonel P.H. Anderson, Big Spring, Tennessee
Sir: I got your letter, and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jordon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this, for harboring Rebs they found at your house. I suppose they never heard about your going to Colonel Martin's to kill the Union soldier that was left by his company in their stable. Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again, and see Miss Mary and Miss Martha and Allen, Esther, Green, and Lee. Give my love to them all, and tell them I hope we will meet in the better world, if not in this. I would have gone back to see you all when I was working in the Nashville Hospital, but one of the neighbors told me that Henry intended to shoot me if he ever got a chance.
I want to know particularly what the good chance is you propose to give me. I am doing tolerably well here. I get twenty-five dollars a month, with victuals and clothing; have a comfortable home for Mandy, — the folks call her Mrs. Anderson, — and the children — Milly, Jane, and Grundy — go to school and are learning well. The teacher says Grundy has a head for a preacher. They go to Sunday school, and Mandy and me attend church regularly. We are kindly treated. Sometimes we overhear others saying, "Them colored people were slaves" down in Tennessee. The children feel hurt when they hear such remarks; but I tell them it was no disgrace in Tennessee to belong to Colonel Anderson. Many darkeys would have been proud, as I used to be, to call you master. Now if you will write and say what wages you will give me, I will be better able to decide whether it would be to my advantage to move back again.
As to my freedom, which you say I can have, there is nothing to be gained on that score, as I got my free papers in 1864 from the Provost-Marshal-General of the Department of Nashville. Mandy says she would be afraid to go back without some proof that you were disposed to treat us justly and kindly; and we have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores, and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty-two years, and Mandy twenty years. At twenty-five dollars a month for me, and two dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to eleven thousand six hundred and eighty dollars. Add to this the interest for the time our wages have been kept back, and deduct what you paid for our clothing, and three doctor's visits to me, and pulling a tooth for Mandy, and the balance will show what we are in justice entitled to. Please send the money by Adams's Express, in care of V. Winters, Esq., Dayton, Ohio. If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past, we can have little faith in your promises in the future. We trust the good Maker has opened your eyes to the wrongs which you and your fathers have done to me and my fathers, in making us toil for you for generations without recompense. Here I draw my wages every Saturday night; but in Tennessee there was never any pay-day for the negroes any more than for the horses and cows. Surely there will be a day of reckoning for those who defraud the laborer of his hire.
In answering this letter, please state if there would be any safety for my Milly and Jane, who are now grown up, and both good-looking girls. You know how it was with poor Matilda and Catherine. I would rather stay here and starve — and die, if it come to that — than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young masters. You will also please state if there has been any schools opened for the colored children in your neighborhood. The great desire of my life now is to give my children an education, and have them form virtuous habits.
Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me.
From your old servant,
Jordon Anderson
Making Jeans Fit
@fabianacristinx Reply to @justmatou here’s how to make every pair of jeans fit like magic 🤍 #fashionhacks #fashiontrick #jeanshack #shoelacejeans #springoutfitideas #fashioneducation ♬ Intimidated (feat. H.E.R.) - KAYTRANADA
Great Advice From a Kid
@jeronimoooo0000 Homeboy better seize the day, his friends brain was on full at 8am
♬ original sound - Jeronimo
What's White Privilege Worth?
An excerpt from The Nation -
Can You Put a Dollar Amount on White Privilege?
Tracie McMillan’s The White Bonus attempts to quantify the literal cost of racism in America.
By KRISTEN MARTIN
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| (Photo by Edna Murray / Newsday RM via Getty Images) |
When Tracie McMillan was a student at New York University in the mid-1990s, she landed an internship at The Village Voice and worked under Wayne Barrett, an investigative journalist who considered himself a “detective for the people.” Barrett’s tutelage shaped McMillan’s mission: “To hold the powerful to account by reporting rigorously and telling full, honest stories about the poor.” McMillan came to focus her own journalism career on the travails of American workers—particularly those struggling to earn a living wage—primarily through the lens of food. In outlets like City Limits, McMillan explored New York City’s food deserts; later, her first book, The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee’s, Farm Fields and the Dinner Table, exposed the underpayment of undocumented farm laborers and the racial and gender inequities in restaurant kitchens. She would come to identify as working-class herself, in part because she barely earned more than her subjects.
McMillan had grown up white and middle-class in an exurb of Detroit. Her parents had jobs good enough to afford home ownership, albeit with help from their own parents. This domestic stability soon crumbled, however. On New Year’s Day 1982, when McMillan was 5, her mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and soon after suffered a debilitating, traumatic brain injury in a car accident. She lived the rest of her life in institutional care. When McMillan lost her mother—first to institutionalization, then to death at age 44 in 1993—her father, who had long struggled to control his temper, took out his rage on her. But even these adversities did not cause the family to lose their class position.
Nonetheless, McMillan saw herself as downwardly mobile because she refused to rely on her abusive father’s money. Unlike many of her NYU peers, she worked multiple jobs throughout college to pay for rent, living expenses, and a portion of tuition. Though McMillan’s upbringing was full of personal loss and maltreatment, her economic precarity in young adulthood was a choice—and, as she would come to realize, she was never truly without a safety net. Even when she went undercover as a grape-picker, Walmart shelf-stocker, and in the kitchen of an Applebee’s for The American Way of Eating and mostly lived off her wages from those jobs, McMillan’s connection to her coworkers was tenuous. They may have had similar paychecks, but her skin color ensured that she was treated differently. She was buoyed all along the way by her whiteness.
In The White Bonus: Five Families and the Cash Value of Racism in America, McMillan comes to terms with what her race has given her, turning her investigative eye toward telling a “full, honest” story about whiteness. She attempts to provide a literal accounting for the monetary difference in how white Americans like herself “directly benefit from racism,” tallying, in dollar amounts, the flip side of “‘the ‘Black tax’—the higher costs faced by Black Americans who have been denied so much of the aid extended freely to whites.” This “white bonus” has its roots in public policies for housing, employment, education, crime, and social welfare, as well as the accrual and distribution of familial wealth facilitated by generations of racist policies in both the public and private sectors. As the book unfolds, McMillan tracks how she and four other middle-class white families she profiles have profited from racism—and, ultimately, what racism has cost them.
But The White Bonus has an inherent flaw, one McMillan acknowledges in the introduction. “I cannot take a full measure of the material benefits of racism—and, as many economists have told me, it is likely that no one can,” she writes. “Racism is too complex, too slippery, too multifaceted to pin down its value in a definitive way…. any estimate I offer will be woefully, dramatically, impossibly insufficient.” Still, McMillan proceeds to offer estimates, down to the cent, in “The White Bonus Index” at the back of the book. Reading The White Bonus, it’s hard not to wonder why McMillan proceeded with this methodology. Her book attempts to answer whether the benefits of racism are worth their cost to white Americans, but in taking an individualist approach to a systemic problem, it poses another question: Whom is McMillan really trying to hold to account with this rough accounting?
McMillan begins her “story of white advantage in America” with her grandparents, focusing on how housing policies from the early 1900s through World War II allowed them to build wealth. She proceeds to take the reader through two more generations of her own family’s finances through an analysis of the federal, state, and local policies that have long subsidized life for white people at the expense of taxpayers of color.
https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/white-bonus-tracie-cotton-review/
Job Interview Red Flags
An excerpt from the Daily Mail -
Job recruiter reveals the biggest RED FLAGS that instantly turn employers off during an interview
Emily Levine, from LA, said there are a few simple mistakes that people make
She said sharing too much about what you expect can turn off employers
The expert also advised against seeming overeager to get promoted at first
By LILLIAN GISSEN FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
A recruiter with more than a decade of experience has shared the biggest 'red flags' that will instantly turn off employers during a job interview.
Emily Levine - executive vice president at Career Group Companies, from Los Angeles, California, who has worked in recruiting since 2010 - recently told Business Insider about the worst things that people can do while meeting with prospective new employers.
She explained that the way you handle yourself and the information you divulge during a job interview is vital.
And according to Emily, there are a few simple mistakes that people make that often cost them the position.
First, she warned against sharing too much about what you expect from the position at first.
She also said seeming 'overeager to get promoted instead of focusing on the job they applied for' could be a major red flag to employers.
'[Already thinking about your next steps] sounds the alarm in the interviewer's mind,' she dished.
In addition, Emily recommended that people do as much research about the company they re applying to before going in for an interview.
She said interviewers can always tell when someone is 'winging it,' and can be turned off by that.
'Even if they're provided with the link of who they're meeting with, [some people] show up completely blind, and they have no idea of anything about the company or the person that they're interviewing with,' she explained. 'Which is just so insulting.'
If you're scheduled to have a virtual interview rather than one in person, Emily added that where you decide to do it matters more than you might think.
She said that employers may be unhappy if you do the interview while you're in the midst of doing something else or if you seem 'too comfortable' during the chat.
Continue at https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-13659457/job-recruiter-red-flags-employer-interview.html
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