It Takes a Toll

http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/08/20/432590298/how-black-reporters-report-on-black-death

Advances in Prosthetics

From Vox - 

How prosthetics went from peg legs to biolimbs

Last week, doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital announced something pretty amazing: they'd grown a rat leg in a petri dish.

Their "biolimb" was the result of a two-step process. First, they took a rat arm and used a detergent to remove the soft tissue, leaving a bone and collagen scaffold. Then they took cells from a different rat and used them to seed new tissue, which eventually proliferated and filled in the rest of the arm.

Eventually, if they can adopt this sort of technology for humans, it could allow for hand, arm, and perhaps someday leg transplants without risking the patient's body rejecting the new limb.

This is at least a decade away — but the new discovery is just the latest in a series of remarkable advances in prosthetics over the past few decades. Already, scientists and engineers have developed artificial limbs that allow people to perform fine motor movements, participate in extreme sports, and compete in the Olympics. Some of the latest technologies even let people control these limbs with their minds.

http://www.vox.com/videos/2015/6/12/8770499/biolimb-prosthetic-tech

Ummm, No Thanks

From Mashable - 

London's new 'sky pool' will let you live out your flying fish fantasies

LONDON – If you've got a fear of heights, a fear of water, or a fear of swimming while suspended in a tank above thousands of people - then you'll probably want to look away now.

A new London development on the south bank of the Thames is getting its very own "sky pool" – a 10 storey-high glass pool suspended between two apartment blocks.

The pool will be 25 metres by 5 metres (and 3 metres deep), and the glass protecting swimmers will be a gulp-inducing 20 cm (7.9 inches) thick (just a bit thicker than those tiny rulers everyone had in junior school, in other words).

http://mashable.com/2015/08/20/london-sky-pool/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=New%20Campaign&utm_term=Vox%20Newsletter%20All

Check My Pulse

Here's another BASEBALL article!

I know.

I know.

You asking yourself, "What has gotten in to Faye?"

Who knows?

I've turned over a new leaf in a lot of areas, maybe enjoying (OK, maybe just tolerating) baseball is the next big shift in my life.

This article combines baseball with my new love, Cuba.

Anyway.

Happy reading.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/23/magazine/baseballs-last-cuban-escapees.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=Moth-Visible&module=inside-nyt-region&region=inside-nyt-region&WT.nav=inside-nyt-region&_r=0

For Your Consideration

From USA Today -

Samsung to let iPhone users try their phones for $1
 Brett Molina, USA TODAY

Got an iPhone and $1? If so, you can see what life is like with a Samsung smartphone.

The electronics giant introduced an "Ultimate Test Drive" promotion that allows iPhone owners to try out a Galaxy smartphone for 30 days. Users who visit Samsung's promo site through an iPhone can sign up for the offer.

Users can choose between the Galaxy S6 edge, the S6 edge+ and the Galaxy Note5. The test drive period includes the device, an activated SIM card and guide on how to use the phone during the trial period.

Samsung's offer arrives as the company continues to lose share in global smartphone sales, between competition for high-end devices like Apple's iPhone and budget options from companies including Xiaomi.

Research firm Gartner revealed Apple gained ground on Samsung in global smartphone sales during the second quarter, boosting its share of the market to 14.6%. Meanwhile, Samsung's share dipped from 26% to 21.9%.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/personal/2015/08/21/samsung-test-drive/32105535/?csp=tech

Toilet Paper & Popsicles

One of the things that I've noticed in my travels, is the vast difference in attitudes in regard to toilet paper.

I've decided that most of the world (limited to the places I've seen of course), are indifferent to tissue paper.  As such, it's mostly . . .

One ply.

See-through thin.

Or . . .

Rough as sand paper.

Really, there is no in-between.

So, when I go home to America, I revel in the comfort of . . .

Quilted.

Soft as cotton.

Absorbent.

Two ply plus.

Fit for a king . . .

Toilet paper.

No doubt, this is one of the things I miss the most.

Another thing that I miss is popsicles.

Yes.

Popsicles.

It was 120 degrees yesterday, cooling off to 118 today.

Interestingly, there are no cold refreshment, like popsicles, push pops, or icees sold here.  We have ice cream, but it doesn't melt, so God only knows what's in the stuff.

This opposition to the cold refreshments probably stems from the fact that most people don't drink ice water.  There is the notion that its not good for you, so room temperature water it is.

Anyway, on hot days like we're having now, it's absolutely revitalizing to cool off with a cold . . . something.

While I was in Houston, we enjoyed some homemade popsicles, so I ordered some molds for myself, and I gotta tell you, I'm like a kid a Christmas licking on these.

What a treat!

So . . .

The next time you're enjoying the comfort of quilted toilet paper and/or a cool refreshing ice cream/yogurt/juice treat . . .

Think of me.

Revelations of Low Expectations in the Classroom

From Vox - For more info, go directly to the article to access hyperlinks that are not active here.  The link is below.

~~~~~~~~~~

Racism in the classroom: the "soft bigotry of low expectations" is just regular bigotry

Updated by Libby Nelson on August 19, 2015, 2:30 p.m. ET @libbyanelson libby@vox.com

Students in the US are getting more diverse — but teachers aren't.
Shutterstock

When black teachers and white teachers are asked to sum up black high school students' potential, white teachers are much less likely to see black students as college material. And that's true even when they're discussing the same students.

A new study exploring how race influences teachers' perception of their students' abilities found that those expectations are racially biased.

When teachers are asked about their expectations for black students, nonblack teachers were 30 percent less likely than black teachers to say they thought those students would earn a college degree.

The implications are troubling, in part because the majority of public school students in the US are nonwhite but the majority of teachers are not.

How racial bias influences teachers' expectations

On average, black students have lower test scores than white students, they attend schools with fewer resources, and they are less likely to graduate from high school and college. Assuming that will continue to be the case is what President George W. Bush called "the soft bigotry of low expectations."

But Bush was usually talking about collective expectations. The researchers in the new study, published as a working paper by the Upjohn Institute, which specializes in employment research, didn't compare teachers' broad expectations for their black students with their expectations of white students. It looked at how teachers of different races perceived the potential of the same student — where race, theoretically, shouldn't make as much of a difference.

In 2002, as part of a study that followed high school sophomores through the educational system, the Education Department asked those students' math and reading teachers if they expected them to eventually earn a high school or college degree.

The researchers, Seth Gershenson, Stephen B. Holt, and Nicholas Papageorge, looked at how those expectations differed based on whether the teachers were the same race or sex as their student, using a data set of about 16,000 students. They found that teachers' expectations for their white students didn't differ based on the teachers' race, but that black teachers' expectations were significantly higher for their black students than white teachers' expectations were.

The differences were even larger when the teachers were of both a different sex and race than their students — particularly for white female teachers evaluating black male students.

"We cannot determine whether the black teachers are too optimistic, the non-black teachers are too pessimistic, or some combination of the two," Gershenson wrote in a blog post at the Brookings Institution. "This is nonetheless concerning, as teachers’ expectations likely shape student outcomes."

The "Pygmalion effect": Teachers' expectations matter

Teachers' opinions can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. In a famous experiment, two researchers administered an intelligence test to students at the beginning of the 1968 school year. The researchers gave teachers a list of the students they said were most likely to make the most progress that year, based on their test results. At the end of the year, they tested the students again — and sure enough, at least in the first and second grades, the students on the researchers' list had in fact made the greatest intelligence gains.

But the students' names had been put on the list at random. They hadn't actually scored higher on the intelligence test than their classmates had. Their teachers just believed they were most likely to make progress, and possibly treated them differently as a result.

This might even be true for the students included in the new study. A different analysis of the same data from the Center for American Progress found that high school sophomores whose teachers expected them to graduate from college were more likely to eventually do so, even after controlling for other factors.

The results from the new study are particularly concerning because many students are taught by teachers of a different race. About 82 percent of teachers in the US are white, compared to about 49 percent of students; only 6 percent are black, although 15 percent of students are.

The researchers say their findings shouldn't be taken as a condemnation of white teachers. Instead, they say, they're a reminder of the power of implicit bias to shape our expectations and, eventually, reality.

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2015/8/19/9178573/teacher-students-race-study

Another Winner

From The Root - 

Simone Biles Wins 3rd Consecutive US Gymnastics Championship Title  

The 18-year-old definitely proved black girls rock, even in gymnastics. 

BY: YESHA CALLAHAN

Posted: Aug. 17 2015 6:13 AM

 

Simone Biles waves to the crowd after placing first in combined score in the women’s finals of the 2015 P&G Gymnastics Championships Aug. 15, 2015, in Indianapolis. JOE ROBBINS/GETTY IMAGES

Simone Biles may be only 4 feet 9 inches tall, but over the weekend she proved to be a force to be reckoned with at the 2015 P&G Gymnastics Championships at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Texas native pulled a three-peat as she won the U.S. women’s gymnastics championship.

Biles recorded her best-ever scores at a P&G Championships in three of four events to capture the all-around title.

“I just keep surprising myself, I guess,” Biles said after her win.

Currently, Biles, 18, is a favorite for all-around gold at the Rio Olympics, but she’s focusing on leading the women’s team at the World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, in October.

While it seems as though Biles is on a winning streak, her coach, Aimee Boorman, gave one answer when she was asked what Biles needed to work on to win big:

“I know it sounds like a baloney answer, but consistency,” said Boorman. “That’s what wins.”

http://www.theroot.com/blogs/the_grapevine/2015/08/simone_biles_wins_third_consecutive_us_gymnastics_championships_title.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content%26

Another Baseball Story

This article was referenced in the previous post.

It does a great job of shedding light on the challenges many Latin players face when they arrive in America.

An excerpt -

I’m trying to hand the phone to my teammates and they’re looking at it like it’s a bomb. I go to toss it to one of them and he puts his hands up.

“No, no.”

I go to hand it to another guy and he shakes his head. I look around the room and all five guys are looking at me like I’m crazy.

I’m finally like, “Will somebody just order this freaking pizza?”

Nobody wanted to take the phone. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. It was my first night at extended spring training in Bradenton, Florida, after getting drafted. I had spent all day signing paperwork, so it was about 7 p.m. and the cafeteria was closed. I started walking to my car to go grab some fast food when I heard a familiar sound coming from one of the dorm rooms: Spanish with the Dominican accent. I popped in to introduce myself and started talking with the guys. One of them mentioned he was starving. I’m like, “Didn’t they feed you guys?” They explained to me that the last meal is at 5 p.m. and they always got hungry again at night. These were young minor leaguers making next to nothing. They didn’t have a car, so they had gotten really good at hoarding extra stuff from the cafeteria at dinner and taking it back to the dorm room — bananas, PB&J sandwiches, Snickers bars, whatever.

Since I was the new guy and I had just signed my first deal, I thought it would be nice for me to order pizza for everybody. This was 2001, so no online ordering. I found a place in the phone book and I was like, “Alright, I don’t know what toppings you guys like on your pizza, so you call it in and order whatever you want.”

That’s when the guys started looking at me funny. I dial the number and I’m trying to hand the phone off. Blank stares.

Finally, one of the guys said, all embarrassed, “Man, we don’t speak English. You better call or it’s going to take all six of us passing the phone around to know enough English words to order.”

That was a reminder of just how tough it is for Latin American players to overcome the language barrier and make it in Major League Baseball. If you’re reading this as an American with a good job, imagine you’re 17 years old again, just starting to chase your dream. Only you’re in China. You’re away from everyone you know. You have three years to prove to people you can make it in your job. Oh, and all your managers speak Chinese. They give you a room with three other Americans and the only thing in it is toilet paper.

And you don’t even speak enough of the language to be able to order a pizza.

http://www.theplayerstribune.com/jose-bautista-dominican-baseball-prospects-mlb/

Watch the Toronto Blue Jays

I'm not a baseball fan.

Watching paint dry is infinitely more exciting that sitting through hours of watching butt scratching baseball players.

I speak from experience.

Ben and Frankie both played little league, with Ben playing through high school.  I couldn't wait until he got his drivers license so that I didn't have to go to the games anymore.

Bad mama.

I know.

Anyway, this headline below in The Huffington Post caught my attention.  It is referencing the article beneath it.  Check out the complete article that follows.  

 

Why Black Folks Should Watch The Toronto Blue Jays

~~~~~~~~~~

Charged up: Toronto Blue Jays are everything baseball ain't

• Ryan Cortes, The Undefeated staff writer

Baseball can be slow and safe and polite and, to many fans, just boring.

Not the Toronto Blue Jays. They have speed and swag. If you aim a pitch at a player's head, expect a lingering scowl. Then a home run. And definitely some fighting words. They are the most interesting, compelling and unique team in baseball. For Latino and African-American sports fans yearning for baseball players who look, talk, compete and celebrate more like us -- we found 'em.

With 13 players of color, among the most in the majors after the Dodgers, the Blue Jays are dripping with diversity and personality. Their roster includes Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Russell Martin, LaTroy Hawkins, gold-plated-Jordans-rocking David Price, Dalton Pompey, Roberto Osuna, Ben Revere, Dioner Navarro, Marco Estrada, plus low-key Twitter genius Marcus Stroman, with Devon Travis and Maicer Izturis stashed on the DL. And their big bats are a major exception to an MLB season with fewer big hits than the former rapper Meek Mill.

Toronto leads the majors in runs scored, doubles, slugging percentage, total bases and RBIs. Somehow, in an upset, the team is second in WAR, on-base percentage and home runs. While the rest of the league is hitting like it's 1965, the Jays are more like big-assed Barry Bonds, deliriously flipping bats and blasting bombs.

In 1999, when baseball was at its bestswimming in steroids, players hit .271, reached base at a .345 clip and slugged .434. This year, the league is hitting .254/.315/.400. The Blue Jays? .261/.329/.440.

Since trading for Troy Tulowitzki, the club has won 15 of its past 19, including a torrid 11-0 stretch. The Jays were down eight games to the Yankees on July 29, but that distance has been cut to a half game following the recent addition of ace pitcher Price, with Toronto controlling the wild-card race.

And it's not just about the new stars.

No one in baseball has clubbed more homers since 2010 than Bautista, who has hit 215 of them. He's one of the most outspoken voices on Latino baseball issues, chastising commentators, revealing when and why he has been steroid tested, and even writing about his uniquely Hispanic journey. None of which would matter much if the dude wasn't also ridiculously fun to watch.

With the Jays up 11-4 late in one April game, Orioles pitcher Jason Garcia tried breaking Bautista with a pitch behind his back. Bad move against Joey Bats. Bautista ice-grilled Garcia, flipped his bat as the ball exited the field, stage left, then strutted around the bases barking at any Oriole who dared look him in the eye.

"That's bush league," Bautista recalled Orioles outfielder Adam Jones saying to him. "And I said, 'What's bush league is you throwing behind my head.'"

All this happened a week after Bautista skipped into a home run trot like Rafer "Skip To My Lou" Alston.

The unapologetic, wrestling-character feel to this year's team has also affected ex-Blue Jays. After Kansas City pitcher Yordano Ventura tweeted in Spanish that Bautista was a "nobody" -- he'd later delete it -- former Jays catcher Gregg Zaunspit out a rant that advised Ventura to "show some respect," "be a man" and "stop writing checks with your mouth that your skinny ass can't cash."

Everything about this team -- from its fresh uniforms to its myriad associationswith hometown emcee Drake -- is unlike your average squad. Mike Trout grew up in New Jersey being told to behave like "he'd been there before" when he rounded the bases. His hero was the polite Derek Jeter. Jose Bautista grew up in the Dominican Republic bachata-stepping around the bases and punching people over ball and strike calls. He loved basketball and idolized the defiant Michael Jordan. As MLB seems to squeeze the celebrations and fun out of the game, Bautista and his Jays are the baseball equivalent of a snarling Russell Westbrook swinging from the rim or swivel-hipped Antonio Brown cavorting in the end zone.

Bautista says he doesn't miss the Dominican baseball culture, despite its energy and emotion, because he wants to play at the highest level. "We've gotta adjust to how the game is played here," Bautista explained. "That being said, I think emotion is not bad for the game. And I think understanding players -- their emotions, how they play, and the passion -- is something that continues to keep getting better at the major league level."

Egghead traditionalists still talk about "playing the game the white right way." Many players of color grow up dancing and laughing on the field, but when their talent and dedication propels them to the highest level, their flavor can be viewed as disrespectful or worthy of a fastball to the face.

The "right way" even extends to fashion.

"Make it cooler," pleads Price. "Give us more freedom with shoes. You know, stop fining people for not having whatever colors on their shoes. I think that would be a big deal, if they would let us express ourselves a little bit more and just make this game more appealing to all populations, not just African-American."

MLB boasts many talented black and brown players, from Prince Fielder to Manny Machado, but African-Americans represented just 7.8 percent of the sport on Opening Day, and Latinos were 29.3 percent. Despite their larger percentage, Latinos remain a marginalized group. Some have to dodge death just to get here, and there are few translators to help them navigate a confusing culture; Asian ballplayers face no such troubles.

Our Jays refuse to be boxed in. And as strong as they've been this season, after shifting baseball's power balance by trading for Tulo and Price, their numbers seem downright conservative.

Consider this: The last time Toronto looked this dangerous, this late in the season? 1993. So get with the program. If you're reading this, it's not too late.

GQ vs. Schlumpy

This article reminded me of the many years we were able to fly "Space A" on United Airlines, where Frank (ex-husband) was a pilot.

We were required to dress up to board because oftentimes first class was available, and it was expected that you would be dressed for that, should it become available.  The gate agents wielded a lot of power in that regard.  If you weren't appropriately dressed by their standards, you would be denied the seat.

This was years ago.  Not sure if this still applies.

~~~~~~~~~~

From Slate - 

Take a One-Way Trip From Tatty to Natty

In defense of looking nice for your flight or train ride.

By J. Bryan Lowder

On evenings before I travel, it is my custom to set out the following day’s clothes on my bedroom chair. I do this in tandem with packing my suitcase, attending as much to the details of my travel costume as to the items being curated for use later in the trip. This is a useful habit for more than one reason: When I wake and must dash to some inconveniently located transit hub, I won’t need to make any snap decisions. And I can also thoughtfully incorporate the various elements of my travel-day outfit into the larger set of options I’ve brought along for the ride—these chinos will pair nicely with a different shirt, and those dressier shoes will come in handy when that friend takes me out for dinner later in the week.

However, the primary reason I make the extra effort to plan my travel outfit is because, well, no one else does. Among the cavalcade of pajama pants, tracksuits, nightgowns, painting rags, and ill-fitting sweatshirts that one encounters in the world’s terminals and stations these days, the competently dressed individual stands apart as a beacon of civilized life, an island of class amid a swamp of schlumps. By dressing myself as a decent human being who is aware that he is in public, I like to think I am performing a small act of resistance against the increasingly slobbish status quo.

Having just faced this onslaught of sartorial neglect yet again on an overseas trip, I’m pleading with you: Join me. Dress decently when you travel. Seven hours to Madrid in la clase turista is trying enough without your mangy old T-shirt adding to the sensory assault.

Now, before I’m accused of elitism, understand that I am not calling for a three-piece suit on every JetBlue hop or Megabus jaunt (though that would not have been abnormal mere decades ago), nor do I mean to dictate what you should wear within the tinted confines of your own car. I am simply suggesting that, when traveling by public means, each of us dress “nicely” or “respectably” according to our means. I certainly don’t have the funds for a dedicated travel ensemble, but I can manage to pull together an attractive trouser, a pressed shirt, close-toed shoes, and perhaps even a light sport coat or cardigan—the kind of thing I generally wear to work—with little effort or expense.

The competently dressed individual stands apart as a beacon of civilized life, an island of class amid a swamp of schlumps.

Sure, you say, but why bother dressing up (I’d say not dressing down) for a trip? Allow me to begin with a few practical considerations. As I say, it is wise to wear some of the clothes you’d like to have access to again while in transit. It saves room in your luggage, and you don’t plan on wearing that jogging suit when you’re out in the “real world” of your destination anyway, right? Why drag it along in the first place? Plus, unless you are flying in an un-air-conditioned cabin nonstop from L.A. to Sydney, you can probably wear your clothes again (perhaps with a brief dewrinkling in the shower steam) before needing to wash them.

Also, a number of coworkers and friends have observed to me that dressing decently seems to garner superior treatment from transit staff. Combine that preferential treatment with any goodwill garnered via “The Kindly Brontosaurus” maneuver, and you are liable to end up sipping cocktails just behind the cockpit with a well-heeled new friend simply by taking basic care for your appearance. And guess what? When you and your new friend arrive at your destination, you needn’t extinguish the sparkle of the conversation in order to go change into something becoming at the hotel. Simply freshen up in the airport bathroom and head right out to take a coffee or a drink, as your arrival time dictates.

If those sorts of practical and social perks don’t appeal, consider the emotional benefits of dressing well while betwixt and between—and no, I’m not (just) talking about feeling superior to the hoi polloi. As everyone knows, travel these days can be practically barbaric: Space is cramped, in-flight meals are lackluster, and premiums are charged for everything from checking bags to watching TV to munching snacks. The weary traveler has little control over these things, but he can control his own outfit—and feeling handsome amid all the inhumanities can be powerfully heartening. What’s more, traveling, despite its continuing degradation, should be exciting—it’s a special occasion! Just as you might buy yourself an in-flight cocktail or a frivolous magazine at the concourse newsstand to brighten the experience, you should wear flattering clothes as a small way of marking travel as a singular experience.

Alas, the general lack of respect for travel, itself, as a worthwhile human experience, seems to be the root of this lazy dressing phenomenon. Many of us act as if we’re trying to create a private, instantaneous bridge through folded space-time between our bedrooms and our hotel rooms by flying in our pajamas or busing behind oversized sunglasses; the bad news is, barring a sudden forward leap in technology, wormhole creation is impossible.

What is possible, though, is embracing travel as a process, one that offers its own pleasures as well as trials. And foremost among the former is an opportunity to share public space. In fact, traveling—especially air travel—may be the occasion when many of us are most in public, most engaged in negotiating the commons. Americans are, of course, fond of their personal space, but public travel requires that we recognize that airplanes, trains, and buses are not extensions of our living rooms. Just because we may be anonymous does not mean we are invisible.

When we dress well for travel, we are not only making ourselves look good; we’re also signaling that we are invested in making this shared experience pleasant for everyone around us. Think of it as a kind of sartorial social contract: Honor it and your minor efforts make transit a more pleasing activity; break it, and reveal your misanthropic narcissism to, quite literally, the world. What else to call putting one’s own base comforts above the comfort of all?

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/a_fine_whine/2014/09/dressing_up_for_air_travel_in_defense_of_looking_nice_on_a_flight_or_train.html

The World Economy

From The Citizen -  

The World Economy

 Explained With 

Two Cows

NEW DELHI: The world’s economy is a difficult thing to understand. How does it work? Why are some countries richer than others? Why are some economies more stringent than others? What is the difference between capitalism, socialism, communism, and every other -ism? What differentiates the Indian economy from the French economy or the Chinese economy? Why are some countries, like Greece to take a newsworthy example, cash strapped? How is economics governing the world’s wars, including the war in West Asia?

The answer to these weighty questions has finally been revealed through a simple analogy: that of two cows. Here are two cows to explain socialism, communism, fascism, capitalism, the Indian, Chinese, Polish, American, Greek economies, and more!

http://www.thecitizen.in/NewsDetail.aspx?Id=4756&The/World/Economy/Explained/With/Two/Cows