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Friday, July 13, 2018

Monday, July 9, 2018

Grandkids For Hire

An excerpt from the Washington Post -

These college students moonlight as ‘grandkids’ for hire. Seniors love it.
By Tara Bahrampour

When Andrew Parker’s grandfather began suffering from dementia three years ago, his grandmother had to start taking care of the house and caring for him. It was hard work, and one day, Parker got the idea to hire a college student to help out. “I said, ‘Hey, can you go hang out with my grandfather and make him a sandwich or something? I’ll pay you, lets see how it goes.”

His grandfather loved it. And more importantly, so did his grandmother. For a few hours, he said, “She got to go do her own thing.”

It got Parker thinking. “There’s so many seniors and so many college students out there.” So in January, the 30-year-old Miami, FL resident launched a business called Papa, after his name for his grandfather. It connects students with seniors for light housekeeping or driving chores, but the company’s real goal is in its slogan: “Grandkids on-Demand.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2018/06/20/these-college-students-moonlight-as-grandkids-for-hire-seniors-love-it/?utm_term=.f77df1f4d183&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1

A Warning

Anthony Bourdain - Telling Stories Through Food on “Parts Unknown” | The...

Teenage Boy Is A Colorful Cake Master

PETRA - A WORLD WONDER 4K!

This Woman Sails With a Global Crew

Creative 3-D Art

From Travel + Leisure -

This Artist Creates Remarkable 3-D Sketches of the World's Most Beautiful Landmarks
Even seasoned travelers haven’t seen famous landmarks like this before.
By ANDREA ROMANO

A post shared by CityLiveSketch (@citylivesketch) on

https://www.travelandleisure.com/culture-design/visual-arts/famous-landmark-sketches-citylivesketch

Sunday, July 8, 2018

History Lesson

An excerpt from the Undefeated -

The day Althea Gibson became the first black tennis player to win Wimbledon
Gibson took the women’s singles and doubles crowns in 1957
BY RHIANNON WALKER



Althea Gibson walks through a cheering crowd while
preparing to play in the 1957 Championships at Wimbledon.
AFP/AFP/Getty Images

One of 17,000 people in attendance was Queen Elizabeth II. Traditionally a fan of horse racing, Queen Elizabeth had graced Wimbledon for the first time. So of all the things Gibson had done on this day, playing in sweltering heat and shattering the 80-year color barrier at Wimbledon, remembering when she was supposed to curtsy for the queen was the most trying thing she had to do on July 6, 1957, she joked to reporters.

https://theundefeated.com/features/the-day-althea-gibson-became-the-first-black-tennis-player-to-win-wimbledon/

AirPods May Help With Hearing

An excerpt from Quartz -

AirPods could revolutionize what it means to be hard of hearing
BY Lauren Alix Brown

Last month, it was reported that Apple would add Live Listen, a feature that allows people to hear conversations in noisy settings, to AirPods later this year. The feature has been around since 2014. It uses the iPhone as a mic and connects to Apple-certified hearing aids to amplify hearing. When the next version of Apple’s key mobile software, iOS 12, is released, AirPod users will have access to the feature, though it’s recommended that those who require hearing aids still use them and not simply rely on AirPods for clarity and amplification.

Nick Dawson—the founder of the Sibley Innovation Hub at Johns Hopkins university, so no stranger to patient-driven care—is documenting experiments with his mother, who is using the beta version of LiveListen with her AirPods, on Twitter:



https://qz.com/1323215/apples-airpods-and-live-listen-are-a-revolution-for-the-hearing-impaired/?utm_source=


THE KING - Official Trailer HD - Oscilloscope Laboratories

What Would We Have Done?

An excerpt from the Sacramento Bee -

A Sacramento church asks: Would we have caged the migrant family of Jesus Christ?
BY GINGER RUTLAND


“Seeking Asylum in America Today,” a Nativity scene erected
by the Parkside Community Church in Sacramento,
invites comparisons between the Trump administration’s treatment
of migrant families and the treatment of Jesus Christ. - Ginger Rutland





When responding to those who criticized his actions during the civil rights struggle, the Rev. Martin Luther King said, “We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.”

We who call ourselves Christians must not remain silent in the face of the inhuman policies of a tyrannical president. We must oppose them in any non-violent way we can. Nowhere have I seen opposition to evil more powerfully, peacefully and eloquently demonstrated than by that nativity scene at Parkside Community Church.

Read more here: https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/california-forum/article214451779.html#storylink=cpy

Stand-up set by Trevor Noah

8 Products To Upgrade Your Backyard

How Bamboo Trees Will Bring Out Your Best Self | Les Brown | Goalcast

Random acts of kindness: Keeping airline seats in the upright position

Boyce Avenue - Ride The Wave (Original Music Video) on Spotify & Apple

Machine Cuts Amazing Patterns Into Rings

Saturday, July 7, 2018

Why France produces the most World Cup players

This Art Is a Big Deal

Inside The Ultimate Club For Car Enthusiasts

Drive Monster Machines At Construction Equipment Playground

Graham Norton Compares His Show With Stephen's

This is Not New

https://video.salon.com/m/zpqxCgfw/salon-5-on-detainment

Dele Alli's Rise From the Street to the World Cup

The Best Brownies You'll Ever Eat

Don't Worry Be Happy | Playing For Change | Song Around The World

Luther Vandross - Buy me a rose

Tie a yellow ribbon 'round the ole oak tree Lyrics Fixed

How Automated Parking Garages Work

Could You Survive the Stanford Prison Experiment

How This Artist Makes Miniature Designer Shoes

Tour the World - Official Music Video

Friday, July 6, 2018

Saving Us From Ourselves

An excerpt from the Washington Post -

Rebel developers are trying to cure our smartphone addiction — with an app
By William Wan

To understand why it’s so hard to pry yourself free from your phone, Facebook account and Twitter, you need to know about B.F. Skinner’s pigeons.

In the 1950s, Skinner began putting the birds in a box and training them to peck on a piece of plastic whenever they wanted food. Then the Harvard psychology researcher rigged the system so that not every peck would yield a tasty treat. It became random — a reward every three pecks, then five pecks, then two pecks.

The pigeons went crazy and began pecking compulsively for hours on end.

Fast forward six decades. We have become the pigeons pecking at our iPhones, scrolling through news feeds, swiping left/right on Tinder for hours, the uncertainty of what we might find keeping us obsessed by design.

In the modern economy of tablets and apps, our attention has become the most valuable commodity. Tech companies have armies of behavioral researchers whose sole job is to apply principles like Skinner’s variable rewards to grab and hold our focus as often and long as possible.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/rebel-developers-are-trying-to-cure-our-smartphone-addiction--with-an-app/2018/06/17/153e2282-6a81-11e8-bea7-c8eb28bc52b1_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.8fe002b2ec79

NY Post Cover


7 Real Places On Earth That Seem Scientifically Impossible

What Would Happen If You Could Skydive From The International Space Station

Father meets the son he never knew he had after Ancestry.com match

Wednesday, July 4, 2018

ED SHEERAN VS. MARVIN GAYE LAWSUIT: Let's Compare!

Bear Relaxes In A Jacuzzi With A Margarita (!)

Again and Again and Again

An excerpt from the Huffington Post -

Black State Rep. Says Someone Called Cops On Her While Canvassing
The constituent alerted police as Rep. Janelle Bynum was knocking on doors and spending lots of time on her phone.
By Willa Frej

An Oregon state representative called on her community to be better to one another after a constituent mistook her behavior as suspicious and called the police while she was canvassing.

“Big shout out to Officer Campbell who responded professionally to someone who said that I was going door to door and spending a lot of time typing on my cell phone after each house—- aka canvassing and keeping account of what my community cares about!” Rep. Janelle Bynum (D) wrote Tuesday on Facebook.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/black-state-rep-cops-canvassing_us_5b3cadb1e4b09e4a8b28faaf

2018 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest

History Repeating Itself

I was reminded of an incident involving my oldest son, that happened twenty-three years ago.

Sometimes progress is hard to measure.

~~~~~~~~~~

First the current article:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rochester-school-wont-allow-its-first-black-valedictorian-to-speak-so-mayor-does_us_5b3d2326e4b05127cceebf06

Now the article from 1995:

https://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/24/opinion/in-america-the-valedictorian-s-un-graduation.html

Jordan Mailata's Journey From Australian Rugby League to Eagles Draft Pi...

Robert Reich: The 5 Principles of True Patriots

The Best Marching Bands on the Planet: VICE World of Sports

That's Hot!

An excerpt from the Washington Post -

Red-hot planet: All-time heat records have been set all over the world during the past week
By Jason Samenow

From the normally mild summer climes of Ireland, Scotland and Canada to the scorching Middle East, numerous locations in the Northern Hemisphere have witnessed their hottest weather ever recorded over the past week.

Large areas of heat pressure or heat domes scattered around the hemisphere led to the sweltering temperatures.

No single record, in isolation, can be attributed to global warming. But collectively, these heat records are consistent with the kind of extremes we expect to see increase in a warming world.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/07/03/hot-planet-all-time-heat-records-have-been-set-all-over-the-world-in-last-week/?utm_term=.47a9e0763dde&wpisrc=nl_most&wpmm=1




Quote

An excerpt from Salon -

Frederick Douglass and Donald Trump: Faint hope endures this Fourth of July
The former slave imagined a better America than this. Too many white people want to go backward: But there’s hope
By CHAUNCEY DEVEGA

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour. - Frederick Douglass

https://www.salon.com/2018/07/04/frederick-douglass-and-donald-trump-faint-hope-endures-this-fourth-of-july/


Sound Advice

An excerpt from the Huffington Post -

Barack Obama Said This Is How You Know You’ve Found ‘The One’
He has some great experience from his relationship with Michelle Obama to pull from.
headshot
By Brittany Wong

“Is she someone you find interesting?” Obama said, according to Pfeiffer. “You will spend more time with this person than anyone else for the rest of your life, and there is nothing more important than always wanting to hear what she has to say about things.”

Questions one and two were just as weighty, though they required less explanation.

“Does she make you laugh?” Obama reportedly asked Pfeiffer.

Then, the conversation turned to kids.

“I don’t know if you want kids, but if you do, do you think she will be a good mom?” Pfeiffer recalled the president asking. “Life is long. These are the things that really matter over the long term.”

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/barack-obama-found-the-one_us_5b3bb3aae4b05127cced0eb0


World's Most Confusing Currency? (IRANIAN RIAL)

Meet the 11-year-old creating hyper-real art - BBC News

Woodworker Builds The Perfect Tiny House Boat for Life on the Water

A Diehard Mac User Switched To Windows — Here's What They Thought

Giant Pool Floats Fit 6 People

Big Goals. Big Beliefs.

It has been a while since I've posted something personal.  I spend most of my time here gathering and sharing things I think are interesting.

Today is different.

As principal of Martin Luther King K-8 School in Sacramento, California, I'm fortunate to be leading the charge in educating hundreds of students. I am proud to say that my kids are some of the brightest, talented, and most engaged students I've had the pleasure of knowing.

They bring an energy and excitement that is contagious.

Are the naughty?  Yes, sometimes.  Do they have to be redirected? Yes, often.  But I wouldn't change a single one as each one brings something special to the table.

I've been the principal since November 2017, so just over seven months, and in that time we've made great strides in being the best that we can be.

One of my jobs is managing our resources, human and otherwise.  To that end, we took a serious look at the tools at our disposal to prepare our students for the global challenges they will face when they leave us.

The area that we are most lacking is in our computer supply.  We currently have 120 for 450 students.  We are masters of scheduling the computer carts assignment so that each class has them for a limited time.

This works, but it is not the best.

Our goal is to have a dedicated computer for each student; a cart in each class with a set of computers that the class has access to every day, all day.

We can do this with your help.

Our goal is a big one, but our belief is even bigger that we can achieve this.

Please consider contributing to the success of our students, knowing that you are investing in our future.  You're a few clicks a way from making a positive impact.  Here's the link: https://www.gofundme.com/mlk-k8-pta-school-computer-drive.  It is also on the top right side of the blog.

We can't all do everything, but each of us can do something.

A million thanks!

Faye

How The U.S. Territory Of Guam Became An American Colony

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The Sopranos | Critics Rave Trailer | HBO

Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Black Violin - Stereotypes

Warriors Visit San Quentin State Prison

Turkish Airlines: Kobe vs Messi - Legends on Board

Quote

From Axios -

"People talk about 'these are such dark times', but what if we shift the paradigm? Because I see it differently,” she asserts. “I see, 'Isn't this remarkable that we're waking up?' For years, women have endured craziness. This is what's happening to people. They're allowing themselves to not just become corroded, but to become hysterical. You've got to lean to the happiness."

— Oprah on Vogue UK on #MeToo

https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-pm-3cb3ee4e-9374-47d0-bdad-f45789738a8b.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiospm&stream=top

Standing Her Ground

From the Huffington Post -

Ocasio-Cortez Blasts Conservative TV Host Who Questioned Her Bronx Upbringing

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/oscasio-cortez-owns-conservative-critics_us_5b3a5f05e4b0e0e7bc427392?8p

Rock N Roll N Racism

An excerpt from Vice -

The Grim Story of Hells Angels Killing a Black Teen at a Rolling Stones Concert
The unhinged free show put a lid on the freewheeling 60s, but the racial dimension to the bloodshed is inescapable.
By Seth Ferranti

On December 6, 1969, Meredith Hunter, an 18-year-old African American man, was stabbed to death at what was billed as "Woodstock West," a free Rolling Stones concert at the Altamont Speedway in Northern California. Ever since, Altamont has served as the symbolic end of the freewheeling 60s—a wake-up call that optimism and idealism weren't going to be enough. That being young, passionate, and idealistic could only take you so far. That young people ready to take over could not somehow wipe out the story of race in America.

For those who felt the counterculture was a revolution in the making, Altamont was a reminder of the racial injustice and turbulence that still plague our nation today.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/bj39dm/the-grim-story-of-hells-angels-killing-a-black-teen-at-a-rolling-stones-concert

15 Simple Tips That Will Save Your Life One Day

Fraternal twins named co-valedictorians, heading to MIT

The Inmate Teaching Finance Behind Bars

Monday, July 2, 2018

Mobile Home Unfolds Itself In 10 Minutes

Stapler Can Fasten Paper Without Any Staples

How Tabasco Sauce Is Made

Should You Buy a ROBOT Vacuum Cleaner? (Roomba 980 Review) | The Tech Chap

Studying the DNA of giants

This Time It Happened in Church

An excerpt from the Root -

#MourningWhileBlack: Priest Calls Cops on Black Funeral-Goers, Tells Them to 'Get the Hell Out' of Church 
By Michael Harriot

“There will be no funeral, no repast, everyone get the hell out of my church,” Briese reportedly told the family. According to Fox 5, Briese then kicked the family out of the place of worship, telling them to remove the body of the woman who wished to be laid to rest in the church where she was baptized.

https://www.theroot.com/mourningwhileblack-priest-calls-cops-on-black-funeral-1827284231?utm_source=theroot_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-07-02

Go Pam! Go FAMU!

From the Tallahassee Democrat -

FAMU's Pam Oliver wins Gracie Award for Best On-Air Talent
Rory Sharrock

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/sports/college/famu/2018/06/29/famus-pam-oliver-wins-gracie-award/726254002/

Why Lebron is the Best

https://video.salon.com/m/jZPixef3/lebron-basketballs-undeniable-best

We're Doing a Lot of That Lately

From the Huffington Post -

‘We’ll Fix This’: Some Americans Celebrated Canada Day By Apologizing For Trump
“If you build a polite privacy hedge along the border, we’ll totally understand.”
headshot
By Ed Mazza

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/canada-day-apology_us_5b39d603e4b0f3c221a23150

Parents Who Had Kids Over 35 Can Relate

From Buzzfeed -

27 Jokes That Are Too Real For Anyone Who Had Kids After 35
"My 9-year-old described Celine Dion as 'old pretty.' Celine is a year younger than me."
By Ali Velez

https://www.buzzfeed.com/alivelez/tweets-jokes-older-parents?utm_term=.xnMw8bEY9#.fv0AJYmRE

His Plan To Fix the Internet

An excerpt from Vanity Fair -

“I WAS DEVASTATED”: TIM BERNERS-LEE, THE MAN WHO CREATED THE WORLD WIDE WEB, HAS SOME REGRETS
Berners-Lee has seen his creation debased by everything from fake news to mass surveillance. But he’s got a plan to fix it.
BY KATRINA BROOKE

“For people who want to make sure the Web serves humanity, we have to concern ourselves with what people are building on top of it,” Tim Berners-Lee told me one morning in downtown Washington, D.C., about a half-mile from the White House. Berners-Lee was speaking about the future of the Internet, as he does often and fervently and with great animation at a remarkable cadence. With an Oxonian wisp of hair framing his chiseled face, Berners-Lee appears the consummate academic—communicating rapidly, in a clipped London accent, occasionally skipping over words and eliding sentences as he stammers to convey a thought. His soliloquy was a mixture of excitement with traces of melancholy. Nearly three decades earlier, Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web. On this morning, he had come to Washington as part of his mission to save it.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/07/the-man-who-created-the-world-wide-web-has-some-regrets

We Will Not Forget

An excerpt from the Capital Gazette Editorial -

Our Say: Thank you. We will not forget.

Thank you.

Thank you for the outpouring of sympathy for the terrible tragedy that took place Thursday in our Annapolis office.

We will never forget Rob Hiaasen, Gerald Fischman, Wendi Winters, John McNamara or Rebecca Smith, our five co-workers who were gunned down in a senseless attack.

~~~~~~~~~~

Here’s what else we won’t forget: Death threats and emails from people we don’t know celebrating our loss, or the people who called for one of our reporters to get fired because she got angry and cursed on national television after witnessing her friends getting shot.

Victims of Capital Gazette shooting in Annapolis
We won’t forget being called an enemy of the people.

No, we won’t forget that. Because exposing evil, shining light on wrongs and fighting injustice is what we do.

http://www.capitalgazette.com/opinion/our_say/ac-ce-our-say-20180630-story.html

West Philadelphia, Born and Raised

Tool Helps Toddlers Learn To Walk

Who Invented the Bicycle Kick?

Mutilated Money? This Place Will Give You a Fresh Stack

A Commentary on World Cup Commentary - Between the Scenes | The Daily Show

Robert Reich: Special Report: What Can We Do?