Post-Pride Month Reflections: ‘I Check All Boxes… Including the LGBTQ One’

I check all the boxes. I’m African American, I’m a woman, I’m left-handed, I’m divorced, and I’m bi-sexual. For many reasons, there has always been one area of my diverse self that I haven’t been comfortable discussing outside of close friends and family: My sexuality. I never felt it was anyone’s business. I worried about how I would be perceived. I wondered if it would affect my business. Now, as I’m traveling back from New Jersey after a speaking engagement where I spoke about unconscious bias in the LGBTQ community, it feels like it’s time.

I didn’t fit in with …

I have never felt as if I “belong” or “fit in” with the LGBTQ community. As an African American, with so many serious inequities and issues in my own community, LGBTQ issues have never felt like my fight.

Regarding transgender people, I was fascinated and perplexed with trying to understand what would drive someone to go through the psychological and mental challenges as well as the painful surgeries to be someone else. I also tried to avoid transgender people because I didn’t want to offend them as I tried to figure out the correct pronoun to use.

I have heard so many horror stories from friends who were kicked out of their homes, even as kids. When you take the time to research LGBTQ issues, you will learn of countless stories that will make you question humanity—a gay couple kicked out of an Uber car on a dangerous street in the early morning hours; a transgender woman who was not allowed access into 12 different hotels and had to sleep under a lifeguard station—people assaulted, followed, constantly harassed; and even killed simply for living their lives.

Stop hating, show love

I have worked in diversity and inclusion for over 20 years. It doesn’t matter what field you work in, we are all guilty of bias, but we can all fix it “if” we want to.

I confronted my bias and uneasiness around the transgender community by inviting a trans woman to lunch. We had some of the same concerns and thoughts. We laughed together. Most importantly, she became a person to me and no longer a label. I learned that the challenges and surgeries endured were so they could be themselves instead of someone else. I no longer avoid people in the transgender community. If I don’t know which pronoun to use, I simply ask, “how would you like to be addressed?”

June marked Pride Month for the LGBTQ community and Juneteenth for the African American community. As a 44-year-old African American black woman who is divorced, left-handed, and in a relationship with a woman for the past 11 years—I no longer care. I am living my authentic life on my terms. I have pride in myself, in my life, and in all groups that I represent. There are still things I don’t understand about people but that’s OK. I now recognize that my fight is anywhere people are treated inhumanely.

Stop hating on people because you don’t understand them. Stop making quick judgments based on what you don’t know. Be intentional about confronting the biases you have. Show unconditional love—I mean the total acceptance of humanity kind of love. You never know when you will need it in return.

---

The ideas and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author’s and not necessarily the opinion of Black Enterprise.

 

 

---

Black Enterprise Contributors Network 

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Morocco v Benin

Live coverage as Morocco face Benin in Cairo for a place in the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations

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Sudanese people celebrate agreement reached to end deadly military standoff

Sudanese citizens took to the streets on Friday to celebrate the end to a deadly standoff between the ruling Transitional Military Council and the opposition alliance.

After several weeks of unrest and fighting, Sudan’s military leadership and the country’s pro-democracy movement have struck an agreement to create a joint sovereign council that will be made up of five military members and five civilians and an additional civilian agreed upon by both sides. The council will govern “for the next three years or a little longer,” Mohamed el-Hassan Labat, the African Union’s envoy to Sudan, said on Friday, according to CNN.

READ MORE: After coup, Sudan protest leaders wish to dismantle the ‘deep state’

Happy citizens spilled out on the streets of Khartoum to celebrate.

“Today our revolution has won and it waves the flags of victory,” the opposition Declaration of Freedom and Change Forces (DFCF) said, according to CNN.

The two sides will also jointly launch an investigation into the deadly street violence that has occurred since President Omar al-Bashir was ousted in April. More than 100 protesters were fatally gunned down — including 19 children — after security forces shut down a protest camp outside of Khartoum’s military headquarters early last month, causing talks to officially shut down. In addition to the killings, more than 70 women and men were raped and more than 700 people were injured in the attack.

Bashir was indicted in Darfur by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and committing crimes against humanity.

The government of Ethiopia and the African Union serve as mediators and helped to broker the joint sovereign council, Labat told media outlets.

Under the newly formed deal, the Sudan military council will be in charge of the country’s leadership for the first 21 months. And a civilian administration will rule the council during the following 18 months, CNN reported.

READ MORE: Sudan: Rapes took place amid the deadly attacks in Khartoum, doctors say

The United Nations’ Human Rights Council is also launching an independent investigation into the brutal June attacks.

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Idris Elba calls claims that two women were pushed from his play “frustrating”

Idris Elba responded to the claims of two female writers that they were not acknowledged for their contributions to his play Tree, calling the accusations “frustrating.”

“We wanted to offer an opportunity to support these new writers while creating a piece of work and scale and to a director’s vision,” Elba posted on Twitter. “The outcome is an accusation of plagiarism and discrimination. However frustrating this has been for all, we will continue to offer opportunities and to support the next generation of writers and talent.”

READ MORE: Idris Elba doesn’t want the the burden of a failed Bond movie on his shoulders

Tori Allen-Martin and Sarah Henley published a statement on Medium outlining their gripes about what they say is their removal from Tree, and for not being credited for their initial work since producers reworked their ideas.

“In this post, we’re going to explain what happened so that we can stand-up to those responsible — the same people who we initially trusted, who then threatened us with legal action if we spoke up,” the statement reads in part. “It’s worth mentioning that this whole process has been terribly upsetting and we’ve felt terrified about speaking out, but we want to be the change we want to see, and ultimately have been left with no choice because those involved fail to accept that we have a claim.”

The musical premiered on Thursday at the Manchester International Festival. Elba and director Kwame Kwei-Armah are listed as creators. Incorporating music and dance, Tree follows a man as he journeys into South Africa, according to Variety.

Both sides say Elba’s “mi Mandela” album was the impetus for the stage play, but that’s where the agreement stops. Allen-Martin and Henley say their work is still heavily influenced in the play while Elba and his producers said they went in a different direction after Allen-Martin and Henley’s left the play.

READ MORE: Idris Elba opens up about about fatherhood ‘I’m super doting as a dad’ 

“As new ambitions started to be proposed as the jumping off point for development, Tori & Sarah decided they didn’t want to pursue the early thoughts and declined to work any further on the project,” Elba said in his statement. “We were left without any writers and had to start work very quickly, which is our contractual right as beholder of the original idea, the album.”

The actor said Allen-Martin and Henley are still included in the play’s acknowledgements.

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'Cuphead' Update Is Being Delayed for a Very Good Reason

The team behind the game is trying to make sure it's being made in a manner that's healthy for its developers.

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Viral video ice cream licker could face 20 years behind bars, police say as they close in

Police say they know the identity of the woman in a viral video who opened a half-gallon tub of Blue Bell ice cream viral video, licked it and placed it back inside the store freezer case at a Walmart in Lufkin, Tex., according to USA Today. As authorities close in, she could be facing a stiff penalty for the act.

Blue Bell Creameries, intent on locating the suspect, contacted Lufkin police after learning the store’s location. The company determined this by asking each of its division managers to review their ice cream displays to see if they resemble the setup of the one on the video.

A Lufkin division manager pinpointed that the video was taken at a Walmart in Lufkin due to “the store’s unique merchandising, which matched the video,” police said in a Facebook post.

Police say the prison term the woman could face is significant.

Lufkin police emailed a statement to USA Today, in which police wrote, “Tampering with a consumer product is a second-degree felony and carries a punishment range of 2-20 years. The department is consulting with the FDA and federal charges may also be pending.”

Police added that they are “appalled” and taking the crime “incredibly seriously.”

Blue Bell also took extra precautionary measures in removing the tub of ice cream licked by the woman, as well as all half-gallon containers of “Tin Roof” ice cream from Walmart, police said.

“The safety of our ice cream is our highest priority, and we work hard to maintain the highest level of confidence of our customers,” Blue Bell said in a statement to USA TODAY. “Food tampering is not a joke, and we will not tolerate tampering with our products. We are grateful to the customers who alerted us and provided us with information.”

The viral video, posted to Twitter on June 29, has been viewed more than 11 million times.

What kinda psychopathic behavior is this?! pic.twitter.com/T8AIdGpmuS

— Optimus Primal (@BlindDensetsu) June 29, 2019

Lufkin police honed in on surveillance video and has found a woman matching the description of the woman in the video. Police have so far not released her name, pending the investigation.

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‘The longest earthquake I’ve ever experienced’: Ava DuVernay, other celebs tweet about 6.4 Calfornia temblor

The July 4th 6.4 magnitude earthquake that struck Southern California had the entire region rocked with people as far as Las Vegas feeling the temblor. With the quake, several celebs took to social media to talk about what they felt.

Ava DuVernay, Gabrielle Union, Mariah Carey, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson were all rattled by the seismic event that struck near the Mojave Desert, just a short distance from Los Angeles. The U.S. Geological Survey initially reported it as being a 6.6 magnitude quake.

READ MORE: Ava DuVernay gets a new anthology series, ‘Cherish The Day’ on OWN

DuVernay, a native Angeleno, said although she’s experienced earthquakes before, this one literally broke new ground.

Been living in Los Angeles all my life. That was the longest earthquake I’ve ever experienced. Not jerky. Smooth and rolling. But it was loooong. It was so long I thought for the first time ever “Is this the big one?” Damn. Respect Mother Nature. She’s the boss.

— Ava DuVernay (@ava) July 4, 2019

But Carey, coming from New York, Carey said she is not use to earthquakes and wondered what to do.

I was like… Do I roll out of bed and get to the doorway? I'm from New York, I can't handle this! https://t.co/6eNWOFfubu

— Mariah Carey (@MariahCarey) July 4, 2019

Union added a bit of levity to the scary moment.

The fact that I experienced that longass earthquake while on the toilet at the gym…and immediately blamed the celery juice, is about right. Lordt.

— Gabrielle Union (@itsgabrielleu) July 4, 2019

Meanwhile Johnson was thinking of others and praying that everyone was ok.

6.6 is strong. We felt a lil’ movement here in the valley, but all good. Prayers to those in D valley, Bakersfield, S Valley, Kern etc. Be safe, stay prepared. #mothernature

— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) July 4, 2019

READ MORE: Gabrielle Union and LaLa Anthony regret judging basketball wives but want some respect on their names

The quake touched down about 150 miles from LA near the town of Ridgecrest, California, which is also close to the Mojave Desert. Some 15 million people reportedly felt it. The town of Ridgecrest declared a state of Emergency on Thursday, according to The Hollywood Reporter. More quakes could be in store in the coming days, seismologists say.

“We should be expecting lots of aftershocks and some of them will be bigger than the 3s we’ve been having so far,” U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones told a news conference. “I think the chance of having a magnitude 5…is probably greater than 50-50,” she said.

The quake could be felt across Nevada and up the Pacific Coast in California. Only few injuries and minimal damage was reported. But Patients at Ridgecrest Regional Hospital were evacuated “out of an abundance of caution,” hospital Chief Executive James Suver told the Lost Angeles Times. 

Lester Holt of NBC News has seen his fair share of weather disasters just by being a news anchor. On Thursday, Holt reported from Santa Monica, and described what the earthquake felt like.

"The strange thing about this one is it kept rolling and rolling and rolling."

.@LesterHoltNBC describes what he felt during the #earthquake that just happened in Southern California.

MORE: https://t.co/OYn2ojfGt5 pic.twitter.com/QRqDHamiut

— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) July 4, 2019

 

The post ‘The longest earthquake I’ve ever experienced’: Ava DuVernay, other celebs tweet about 6.4 Calfornia temblor appeared first on theGrio.

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Sikorsky's S-97 Raider Helicopter Is a Pirouetting Speedster

The funky, speedy whirly bird is Sikorksy's bid to win a major new contract from the Army.

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'Spider-Man: Far From Home': 5 Comics That Help Explain the Ending

Still pondering that post-credits scene? Start here.

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Magnetic Materials Help Explain How Arctic Ice Melts

The discovery of an unlikely relationship between melting sea ice and magnets could help scientists produce better models of the global climate.

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Sudan pyramids: Archaeologists explore the waters below

Pearce Paul Creasman, an underwater archaeologist, explored the murky depths of Sudan's pyramids.

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Afcon 2019: Why the heat is a hot topic

High temperatures have been a big talking point at the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt - but will the knock-out stages feature more goals now that the afternoon kicks-offs have gone?

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Forget the Moon—We Should Go to Jupiter’s Idyllic Europa

NASA's Europa mission is struggling, but scientists are keeping the dream alive with exotic approaches to sampling that moon and its mysterious ocean.

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7 Best Sunglasses for Every Adventure and Budget (2019)

We've tested and picked the best sunglasses to protect your eyes from the burning sun while you run, paddle, or work on your computer outside.

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How to Save Money and Skip Lines at the Airport

Going overseas? Here's what you need to know about Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, and other ways to have a less stressful flight.

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Tim Wu Explains Why He Thinks Facebook Should Be Broken Up

Tim Wu, who coined the phrase "net neutrality," spoke with WIRED Editor-in-Chief Nicholas Thompson at the Aspen Ideas Festival.

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The Biggest Cybersecurity Crises of 2019 So Far

Ransomware attacks, supply chain hacks, escalating tensions with Iran—the first six months of 2019 have been anything but boring.

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A new way of making complex structures in thin films

Self-assembling materials called block copolymers, which are known to form a variety of predictable, regular patterns, can now be made into much more complex patterns that may open up new areas of materials design, a team of MIT researchers say.

The new findings appear in the journal Nature Communications, in a paper by postdoc Yi Ding, professors of materials science and engineering Alfredo Alexander-Katz and Caroline Ross, and three others.

“This is a discovery that was in some sense fortuitous,” says Alexander-Katz. “Everyone thought this was not possible,” he says, describing the team’s discovery of a phenomenon that allows the polymers to self-assemble in patterns that deviate from regular symmetrical arrays.

Self-assembling block copolymers are materials whose chain-like molecules, which are initially disordered, will spontaneously arrange themselves into periodic structures. Researchers had found that if there was a repeating pattern of lines or pillars created on a substrate, and then a thin film of the block copolymer was formed on that surface, the patterns from the substrate would be duplicated in the self-assembled material. But this method could only produce simple patterns such as grids of dots or lines.

In the new method, there are two different, mismatched patterns. One is from a set of posts or lines etched on a substrate material, and the other is an inherent pattern that is created by the self-assembling copolymer. For example, there may be a rectangular pattern on the substrate and a hexagonal grid that the copolymer forms by itself. One would expect the resulting block copolymer arrangement to be poorly ordered, but that’s not what the team found. Instead, “it was forming something much more unexpected and complicated,” Ross says.

There turned out to be a subtle but complex kind of order — interlocking areas that formed slightly different but regular patterns, of a type similar to quasicrystals, which don’t quite repeat the way normal crystals do. In this case, the patterns do repeat, but over longer distances than in ordinary crystals. “We’re taking advantage of molecular processes to create these patterns on the surface” with the block copolymer material, Ross says.

This potentially opens the door to new ways of making devices with tailored characteristics for optical systems or for “plasmonic devices” in which electromagnetic radiation resonates with electrons in precisely tuned ways, the researchers say. Such devices require very exact positioning and symmetry of patterns with nanoscale dimensions, something this new method can achieve.

Katherine Mizrahi Rodriguez, who worked on the project as an undergraduate, explains that the team prepared many of these block copolymer samples and studied them under a scanning electron microscope. Yi Ding, who worked on this for his doctoral thesis, “started looking over and over to see if any interesting patterns came up,” she says. “That’s when all of these new findings sort of evolved.”

The resulting odd patterns are “a result of the frustration between the pattern the polymer would like to form, and the template,” explains Alexander-Katz. That frustration leads to a breaking of the original symmetries and the creation of new subregions with different kinds of symmetries within them, he says. “That’s the solution nature comes up with. Trying to fit in the relationship between these two patterns, it comes up with a third thing that breaks the patterns of both of them.” They describe the new patterns as a “superlattice.”

Having created these novel structures, the team went on to develop models to explain the process. Co-author Karim Gadelrab PhD ’19, says, “The modeling work showed that the emergent patterns are in fact thermodynamically stable, and revealed the conditions under which the new patterns would form.”

Ding says “We understand the system fully in terms of the thermodynamics,” and the self-assembling process “allows us to create fine patterns and to access some new symmetries that are otherwise hard to fabricate.”

He says this removes some existing limitations in the design of optical and plasmonic materials, and thus “creates a new path” for materials design.

So far, the work the team has done has been confined to two-dimensional surfaces, but in ongoing work they are hoping to extend the process into the third dimension, says Ross. “Three dimensional fabrication would be a game changer,” she says. Current fabrication techniques for microdevices build them up one layer at a time, she says, but “if you can build up entire objects in 3-D in one go,” that would potentially make the process much more efficient.

These findings “open new pathways to generate templates for nanofabrication with symmetries not achievable from the copolymer alone,” says Thomas P. Russell, the Silvio O. Conte Distinguished Professor of Polymer Science and Engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, who was not involved in this work. He adds that it “opens the possibility of exploring a large parameter space for uncovering other symmetries than those discussed in the manuscript.”

Russel says “The work is of the highest quality,” and adds “The pairing of theory and experiment is quite powerful and, as can be seen in the text, the agreement between the two is remarkably good.”

The research was funded by the Office of General Sciences of the U.S. Department of Energy. The team also included graduate student Hejin Huang.

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Sudan crisis: Military and opposition agree transition deal

The ruling military council and an opposition alliance agree to a three-year transition to civilian rule.

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Eto'o calls for restructuring of women's football in Cameroon

Cameroon legend Samuel Eto'o says a competitive domestic league must be established in his country for the national women's team to progress at major events.

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Louisiana experiences major drop in new HIV cases, its lowest in a decade

Louisiana diagnosed 989 people with HIV last year, its lowest number of new HIV cases in at least a decade in a state with a heavy number of infections within the African American community.

Although Louisiana ranked in the top 10 states to register the highest number of new HIV cases in 2017, the latest numbers from 2018 are a welcome decline that state officials hope reflect a new trend, according to NOLA.com.

READ MORE: Ex-Florida cop gets eight-year sentence for knowingly exposing woman to HIV

Overall, new HIV transmissions have declined by 12 percent over the past three years, according to the Louisiana Department of Health. State officials attribute the decrease to the state’s Medicaid expansion, which provided greater access to medication like PrEP, a daily pill that prevents HIV and increased screenings.

“This provides even more support for the importance of knowing your status and taking control of your infection to suppress the virus in the body,” Dr. Alexander Billioux, assistant secretary for the state’s Office of Public Health, told NOLA.com. “As we have said before, undetectable equals untransmittable.”

Out of the state’s 989 new transmissions, roughly three-quarters of these cases were male and African-American. Blacks accounted for 70% of the new diagnoses, while whites made up 23%, Hispanics 6%, and Asians 1%.

READ MORE: The importance of World AIDS Day as a person living with HIV

Health professionals found Louisiana’s news hopeful and possibly indicative of what’s to come.

“I feel as though we will actually see the end of HIV in our lifetime,” Fran Lawless, director of the Office of Health Policy & AIDS Funding, within the New Orleans Health Department, told Nola.com. “I think that’s just on the horizon. This year is the first that I felt that might actually come to fruition. Things were pretty bleak when I first entered this area.”

Billioux agreed that Louisiana has battled HIV and other health challenges that have at times felt “insurmountable.” But she pointed to the Medicaid expansion as proof that it works in bringing access to treatment to vulnerable populations. Billioux also compared other southern states, like Georgia, which did not expand Medicaid, and how its numbers continue to rank among the highest in the nation. According to Nola.com, Georgia saw 2,698 new HIV diagnoses in 2017, the most recent year data was available, which translates to a rate of 30 people per 100,000. By comparison, Louisiana’s rate dropped from 28.9 in 2016 to 26.6 in 2017.

The post Louisiana experiences major drop in new HIV cases, its lowest in a decade appeared first on theGrio.

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The Colorful Science of Why Fireworks Look Bad on TV

Even the best TVs fall short of capturing all the colors in fireworks that humans can perceive.

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Many missing as migrant boat sinks off Tunisia

Three people are said to have survived after the vessel sank off the town of Zarzis.

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Bail denied for Mississippi man charged with murdering 21-year-old pregnant woman

A Mississippi man, who is the son of a judge, was denied bail on charges that he murdered a young woman and her unborn child.

The Holmes County district attorney said a special appointed judge had to be called in because two justice court judges in the county know the suspect, Terrence K. Sample’s mother, who works as a judge in neighboring Attala County, reported the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. The two judges recused themselves.

Sample, 33, is charged with two counts of murder and one count of kidnapping in the killing of 21-year-old Makayla Winston, whose body was found Monday on a deserted road in the county a few days after her family first reported her missing. She was nine months pregnant, and Mississippi is one of 38 states with a fetal homicide law in place that allows murder charges to be levied against suspects for the death of an unborn child.

READ MORE: D.A. makes decision on Alabama woman charged with manslaughter when she lost baby after being shot

Police believe Winston was Sample’s girlfriend, but he reportedly denies this, and also denies having any connection with Winston. Holmes County Sheriff Willie March said police are questioning another woman, from Attala County, who is also believed to have been in a romantic relationship with Sample. This second woman has not been identified.

According to Holmes County District Attorney Akille Malone-Oliver, one of Sample’s relatives found Winston’s body near his property. Her body was found on State Park Road. Winston’s family told police that she was last seen Thursday night. She told family members that she was going to show the baby’s sonogram to the father but that she never returned. Her due date was Thursday.

In a bail hearing this week, Yazoo County Justice Court Judge Bennie Warrington denied bond for Sample. The next court appearance will likely be for a preliminary hearing, something Sample’s attorney, Richard Carter would have to request, Oliver said.

Sample is being held at the Holmes-Humphreys County Regional Correctional Facility.

March told reporters on Tuesday that he expects that a charge of capital murder will be added against Sample.

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Did Kamala Harris backpedal a bit on the issue of school busing?

Sen. Kamala Harris appears to have slightly dialed back a comment made at the Democratic presidential debate regarding school busing.

On Wednesday, Harris said she thinks busing should be a decision made by local school districts attempting to desegregate their locations. At the debate, she seemed to support federal intervention to force districts to utilize busing, and sharply criticized former Vice President Joe Biden for his record on the issue.

READ MORE: New 2020 Democratic poll reveals Harris and Warren tied for third place

When reporters asked Harris point blank whether she favors federally mandated busing, after a Democratic Party picnic Wednesday in West Des Moines, Iowa, she responded: “I think of busing as being in the toolbox of what is available and what can be used for the goal of desegregating America’s schools,” according to the Associated Press.

During the debate last week, Harris zinged Biden for opposing federally mandated school busing when he was a senator in the 1970s. Harris told the audience that she was bused in the 1970s as an elementary school student growing up in Berkeley, California, and that busing provided her a great education.

“That’s where the federal government must step in,” Harris said passionately, while eyeing a surprised Biden. The crowd burst in applause.

But on Wednesday, she stated that busing should be an option for local school districts to make.

READ MORE: Kamala Harris scores endorsement from freshman Congresswoman Jahana Hayes

When reporters asked her whether she agrees with federally mandated busing, Harris replied, “I believe that any tool that is in the toolbox should be considered by a school district.”

Biden’s campaign took no time bashing Harris’ comment.

Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager, tweeted that Harris isn’t being consistent.

“It’s disappointing that Senator Harris chose to distort Vice President Biden’s position on busing — particularly now that she is tying herself in knots trying not to answer the very question she posed to him!” Bedingfield said.

READ MORE: Biden lands 2020 endorsement from Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms

For his part, Biden insists that he is not against busing, but thinks it should be a decision made by the districts and not forced on them.

During an appearance at a conference last week in Chicago, Biden told the audience he “never, never, never, ever opposed voluntary busing.”

In the 1970s and 80s, Biden was an outspoken critic of federally mandated busing. Back then, he even sponsored a congressional measure that would have imposed funding limits for federal busing.

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Libyan migrants 'fired upon after fleeing air strikes'

The UN says 500 people still at a detention centre hit by air strikes are vulnerable to new raids.

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Sudan tomb diver reveals pharaoh's secrets

Archaeologists dive down to underwater tombs to access them for the first time in 100 years.

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Best Podcasts for Kids: Stories, Circle Round, Rebel Girls, Brains On

Keep your children entertained and ease the stress of getting there with these podcasts for kids.

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In Defense of Mayonnaise

The internet's most hated condiment is entirely misunderstood—and you should enjoy some this Fourth of July.

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Why Bigger Roads Make Traffic Worse, and Other Summer Travel News

Your airline stranded you. What do you now? And what does July 4 shopping have to do with traffic congestion?

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'The Walking Dead' (Comic) Is Over

The final issue of Robert Kirkman's zombie series, on which the AMC show is based, went out this week.

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An Itty-Bitty Robot That Lifts Off Like a Sci-Fi Spaceship

Ion propulsion is a fantastical new way to power robots by accelerating ions instead of burning fuel or spinning rotors.

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Depth of Field: Alex Morgan and the Politics of Women in Celebration

The US women’s soccer team forward scored in the team’s semifinal win over England. It is her moment alone. She’s earned it. We would do well to remember it.

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In Season 3, 'Stranger Things' Rediscovers Its Groove

The Netflix show roars back by sticking to one core rule: Keep the dark stuff dark and the light stuff light.

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4th of July Sales (2019): 25 Best Tech Deals This Weekend

If you're looking for outdoor and indoor essentials, you can save a lot of cash this Independence Day weekend.

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Can't Set Off Fireworks? Try These Science-Backed Alternatives

Blowing things up is a basic part of the Fourth of July. Here's what to try when fireworks aren't an option.

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Africa Cup of Nations 2019: Why do African teams continue to threaten strike action?

As Uganda become the latest team to become embroiled in a dispute over pay, we explain why this type of row happens so often with African teams.

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Tutankhamun: Egypt demands auction of bust be cancelled

The foreign ministry says the relic, expected to fetch $5m (4m), was stolen during the 1970s.

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'My parents told everyone I was dead'

Sara-Jayne King struggled to find her place in the world after being taken abroad and given up for adoption.

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Uganda train after securing "extra incentive" at Nations Cup

Uganda FA says it promised an extra $6000 per player, "over and above the agreed terms".

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Boeing gives $100m to help 737 Max crash families

The aircraft maker says the money is for the education and welfare of communities hit by the disasters.

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Irv Gotti on debuting Kanye West song “Brothers” on ‘TALES’ and Ye’s support for Trump: ‘He knows what he’s doing’

TALES is back on BET for its second season and the show created by Irv Gotti will debut a new song from Kanye West on Tuesday night. In “Brothers” Yeezy seems to address the ongoing tension between him and Jay-Z, and TheGrio sat down with the Murder Inc. founder to find out his thoughts on Mr. West.

“I got Kanye to agree to make a new song. It’s a brand new song on season premiere of TALES. You’ll see a two-hour movie that is associated with the song about the trials and tribulations of two brothers,” he says. 

“I can get new songs from artists and turn them into two hour movies…I think about what I want and what I think the hip-hop culture wants.”

“Brothers” features Charlie Wilson and the TALES episode stars Elijah Kelley, Isaiah Washington, Draya Michele, and more.

“It’s a brand new record that I produced. I also directed the episode,” he says.

THROWBACK THURSDAY: Irv Gotti announces Murder Inc. tour

“Working with Kanye is fascinating because you never know you got him until you got him. Working with him, he dances to the beat of his own drum. If you want to talk Kanye and Donald Trump— and he gets so much flack for that, it’s not that he really f***s with Donald Trump…” 

According to Gotti, West’s support for Trump,p has more to do with his desire to go against the grain than it does about his actual politics.

“He doesn’t like people telling him what he can and cannot do. He doesn’t care. You’re not going to tell him how to think or how to feel,” he says. 

“He’s not a bad person. I love Kanye. Kanye is actually a super family man. He and Kim’s relationship is real. There’s real love there and they’re raising a family.”

Gotti also admitted he has a hard time buying the notion that West’s questionable behavior has to do with his mental illness.  

“He wants to be crazy because he wants people to think and feel that he’s a genius. I’ve been around him, I’m not giving him that out. You’re my man, you ain’t crazy. Shut up. You know what you doing. That’s not to belittle mental health, but I just feel and think Kanye is smart and he knows what he’s doing,” he says. 

“If you want to stop wearing the hat you can stop wearing the hat. If you want to wear the hat to announce your rebelliousness to the way things are then cool. Take the backlash that’s gonna come with it.”

Charlamagne Tha God to host BET’s music competition series ‘The Next Big Thing’

Each week, TALES transforms the lyrics of hip hop’s greatest hits into captivating visual narratives through the eyes of Irv Gotti. The scripted anthology series will feature timeless hits including Lauryn Hill’s “Ex-Factor,” Nas’ “I Gave You Power,” Mary J. Blige’s “My Life,”Migos’ “Slippery,” Cardi B’s “Bodak Yellow”, and  XXXtenacion’s “Moonlight.” 

Check out the full interview above.

TALES airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on BET.  

The post Irv Gotti on debuting Kanye West song “Brothers” on ‘TALES’ and Ye’s support for Trump: ‘He knows what he’s doing’ appeared first on theGrio.

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NASA Needs to Out-Crazy Elon Musk

Opinion: The once-revolutionary space agency is being upstaged by unapologetic capitalists. Here's how it can reclaim its relevance.

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What Makes a Good Cooler (According to Physics)?

You're not so much keeping the "coldness" in, but keeping the heat out. How well a cooler can do this will depend on three key factors: insulation, air, and ice.

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Mapping Apps for Camping and Hiking: AllTrails, Gaia, Topo Maps+

Don't lose yourself out there. Download one of these trail mapping apps to make sure you can always find your way, whether you have cell service or not.

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Lil Nas X has something for his haters: Smooches

Clashes as Ethiopian Israelis protest over police shooting

Thousands took to the streets of several cities, blocking roads with sit-ins and burning tyres.

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Spider-Man Is Back ... But Why All Dressed in Black?

The new cinematic Spider-Man follows the comic-book tradition of putting characters in new clothes to illustrate character development.

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Facebook’s New Content Moderation Tools Put Posts in Context

The audit noted that asking reviewers "to consider whether the user was condemning or discussing hate speech, rather than espousing it, may reduce errors.”

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Georgia family fires contractor after seeing a Confederate flag on his truck

A Black woman in Georgia canceled a job before it even began after a white, independent contractor showed up to her house with a Confederate flag attached to his truck.

Allison and Zeke Brown of Atlanta hired the contractor, named Michael, to fix their golf cart brakes but when he got to their home on Saturday, they couldn’t help but notice the gigantic rebel flag hanging from the back, according to Yahoo.

READ MORE: Texas school district bristling after student wears Confederate battle flag to classes

Allison knew her family wouldn’t be doing business with Michael, and she told him as much. She later posted the encounter on Ring.

“Hi, you know what, I do apologize, I know you’ve come from a very long way, but we’re going to use someone else,” Allison, 40, told Michael, according to Yahoo.

“She’s upset with the flag,” explained her husband, Zeke, 48.

“No, I’m beyond upset with the flag,” the 40-year-old radiation therapist responds.

READ MORE: Georgia woman who faced backlash after taking photo of a homeless dad issues apology

Michael said he would remove the flag, but the damage was already done.

“No, you don’t need to take it down. You can continue to believe what you need to believe, sir. But no, I cannot pay you for your services. Thank you, have a good day,” Allison said, reported Yahoo.

After the video footage was posted on Ring, thousands viewed it and commented on how well she kept it together.

Allison explained how it all went down. She said when Michael first arrived, she didn’t initially see him because she was cleaning out her closet.

It was when her husband, Zeke, came into their bedroom and uttered: “God is testing me,” that she knew there was a problem.

“When my husband told me about the flag, I said, ‘Let me handle this,’” Allison said to Yahoo Lifestyle. She said the couple’s son left the house, sure of how his mom would respond.

“I didn’t want to be the ‘angry black woman’ but I wanted him to learn and feel that bottom-line loss,” Allison explains. “You don’t go to Germany and wave the Nazi flag. It’s the same thing.”

Zeke was left surprised. For three days, he had gone back and forth with the contractor over the logistics of the job. “He hadn’t been disrespectful prior, so seeing the flag did not fit my preconceptions,” Zeke told Yahoo. “The flag was absurd — I had to walk back into the house to calm myself down.”

The Browns said that they received another message from Michael after he left, which said: “I didn’t know the flag offended y’all.”

Chile.

The post Georgia family fires contractor after seeing a Confederate flag on his truck appeared first on theGrio.

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Yaya Toure: Former Manchester City midfielder signs for Qingdao Huanghai

Former Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has signed for Chinese League One side Qingdao Huanghai at the age of 36.

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Everything You Should Read, Watch, and Listen To Over the July 4th Weekend

You have a long holiday weekend ahead. Here are some quality ways to spend it.

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REI 4th of July Sale: 13 Summer Outdoors Deals for 2019

If you need a water bottle, tent, or a really cool hoodie, it's all on sale at REI's 4th of July Sale on outdoor apparel, accessories, and gear.

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How Extreme Heat Overwhelms Your Body and Becomes Deadly

Europe's record-breaking heat wave serves as a warning of just how dangerous high temperatures can be.

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Intel's New Chip Wizard Has a Plan to Bring Back the Magic

Jim Keller, who joined Intel last year after stints at AMD, Apple, and Tesla, says Moore's law isn't dead, but needs a new, broader interpretation.

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Kenya stowaway 'may have been airport worker'

A body from a Kenya Airways flight fell into a garden in south London on Sunday.

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Libya migrants: Attack on camp 'amounts to war crime'

Troops loyal to a warlord who is attempting to overthrow the Libyan government are being accused.

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Kenya flight death stowaway 'could be Nairobi airport employee' say authorities

Kenya's aviation authority says the man who fell from a plane over London "probably" had access to the airport's secure area.

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Tesla Model 3 Can Survive a Crash—and Avoid One, Too

The Model 3 scores well in European crash testing, a day after Tesla reported a quarterly record for deliveries.

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Uganda hit by Africa Cup of Nations cash dispute

The Cranes players refused to train on Tuesday in a row over payments at the tournament in Egypt.

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British woman dies on damaged yacht off South African coast

Rescuers were called to reports of a boat taking on water 242 nautical miles off the east coast.

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'My mother died without telling me I had HIV'

Some parents in Kenya take their secrets to the grave, leaving their children ignorant and unwell.

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Ankita Reddy ’19 blends anthropology and biology to improve public health

Before she even set foot on the MIT campus, Ankita Reddy ’19 was exploring questions of medicine, public health, and social inequities. During high school, she produced a documentary about Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman whose cell line has proved invaluable to medical research — but who never gave consent for its use in this way. And while interning in a lab at the National Institutes of Health, Reddy found her focus shifting to a societal picture, as federal budget reductions squeezed scientists:

"I was curious about the impacts of cuts on physicians and researchers who were struggling to sustain work on human diseases," she recalls. "I realized I was increasingly interested in finding meaningful intersections of science and the humanities."

Intersections of science and the humanities

At MIT, Reddy swiftly identified a path for pursing discipline-spanning studies. As a double major in anthropology and biology, she put her full range of interests to work. Her senior thesis involved hybrid research in these two areas: Reddy helped develop a rapid, inexpensive diagnostic for mosquito-borne disease, and she also performed field research and analysis looking at the potential deployment of this and other diagnostic devices in developing countries.

The efficacy and success of medical advances must always be evaluated within a larger social context, Reddy says. "Infectious diseases impact communities unequally — often hitting hardest those without resources," she notes. "In order to do the most good for individual patients and to slow the spread of disease, our interventions need to take into consideration the public health capacity of communities, as well as local ideas of health and sickness."

A foundation in anthropology

Reddy credits foundational anthropology coursework for her commitment to this kind of public health approach. As a first-year student, she took 21A.331[J] (Infections and Inequalities: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Global Health), which was taught by three professors: chemical engineer Arup Chakraborty; biologist and physician Dennis Kim; and medical anthropologist Erica Caple James, who became Reddy's advisor.

"It is fascinating to view infectious diseases through multiple lenses," says Reddy. "The goal is finding the synergy of anthropological and medical thinking to make interventions more tailored and culturally sensitive, so they can be deployed to effect widespread change," she says.

Combining anthropology with biology for a public health mission

As she honed her skills in Boston-area wet labs and pursued a developmental health clinical internship at a Johannesburg, South Africa, hospital, Reddy sought opportunities to realize her interdisciplinary ambitions. James sent Reddy to the lab of Lee Gehrke, the Hermann L.F. von Helmholtz Professor in the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science at MIT. There, she was recruited by senior researcher Irene Bosch to help design an inexpensive paper-based diagnostic for such diseases as Zika, dengue, and Chikungunya. This proved the ideal venue for Reddy to play out her fusion of anthropology and scientific interests within a public health mission.

Starting in 2017, Reddy helped tweak the diagnostics in the lab, and spent some frenzied months field-testing the devices internationally — all while carrying a full course load.

"In junior year, I took the devices to Brazil for a long weekend, and it was really challenging," she recounts. "I had to take 10 flights round-trip, which really tested my motivation and resilience."

These trips helped spark the idea behind her senior thesis in anthropology. While evaluating the efficacy of the diagnostic in the field, Reddy was also wondering how such tests "could be be meaningfully deployed in resource-poor areas."

Experience and intuition

So in 2018, with the help of an Eloranta Summer Research Fellowship, Reddy spent several months in Hyderabad and Bangalore, India, interviewing and observing physicians and medical students during rounds at infectious disease hospitals catering largely to poor populations. She hoped to learn whether mosquito-borne diseases posed a major issue for these hospitals; what kind of improvements in treatment, public health infrastructure, or diagnosis physicians might seek; and how they used technology or other methods to relieve the suffering of patients in their daily practice.

Drawing on ethnographic expertise garnered from such classes as 21A.802 (Seminar in Ethnography and Fieldwork), Reddy was able to tease out some central themes from interview transcripts and field notes.

"Experience and intuition play a huge role in medical expertise in these hospitals," says Reddy. "Everyone had a story about a physician who had a sixth sense, who knew from a glance — without using any technology — what disease a patient suffered from." Any attempt to bring new technologies into these hospital environments, she says, "must acknowledge the existing structures that are based on medical improvisation and intuition."

From diagnostics to doctor

These insights will prove useful as Reddy launches her post-graduation life as a researcher at E25Bio, a startup spun out of the Gehrke Lab. With her grasp of cultural context, Reddy hopes to help craft a realistic business model to attract funding and speed the dissemination of her team's diagnostic technology. She particularly looks forward to the project's next phase, where uploaded data from globally deployed diagnostic devices could provide a detailed picture of the spread or containment of mosquito-borne illnesses around the world.

But even as she helps advance this pathbreaking biotechnology, Reddy is intent on pursuing a more direct way of contributing to public health: She is applying to medical schools.

"I aspire to be a physician-anthropologist, because I don't think I can choose one or the other," she says. "I'd like to use the power of the white coat to listen to what people have to say, take care of them in a collaborative way, and maybe, while doing this, contribute a new perspective to both the medical and anthropology fields."

Story prepared by MIT Anthropology and MIT SHASS Communications
Communications Director: Emily Hiestand
Liaison: Irene Hartford
Writer: Leda Zimmerman

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Libya attack: 'Dozens killed in air strike' on migrant centre

The country is a key springboard for migrants seeking to travel to Europe.

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Top Strategies to Have in Place Before You Start an Online Business

You can start an online business if you are willing to be strategic in your approach. Smart brand builders understand the need to develop strategies for continued growth. If you’re an online business owner who wants to do everything in your power to succeed, the following are the top strategies you need to have in place when building your company.

4 Strategies to Have in Place Before You Start an Online Business

Lead Generation

Without a sound lead generation strategy, your online business is likely doomed for failure. Customers aren’t going to discover your company magically. It would be best if you had a plan in place to acquire new customers. Even after you acquire customers, some of them will never return to your business. You can’t depend on existing customers to keep purchasing from your business. Lead generation is an ongoing component of building a successful company and is critical to long-term viability.

Content Marketing

Choosing to use content marketing to grow your business is only the first step. There is a massive amount of content already online. You need to develop a plan for your content marketing outreach. A ‘create it, and they will come’ strategy won’t work when today’s consumer has a sea of quality blog posts at their disposal. It would help if you determined in advance who will be responsible for content creation, how topics will be decided, and who will be responsible for monitoring the performance and ROI of your content.

Social Media Marketing

If you are building an online business, social media outreach needs to be part of your marketing plans. Even if you’re only on Facebook, your business needs a sound social media marketing strategy to ensure your posts reach your target customers. Consider everything from which social platforms you’ll use to the types of posts you’ll share. If your company isn’t active on social media, your competitors will beat you to prospective customers.

Search Engine Optimization

SEO is another essential component of building a profitable online business. It’s not enough to use content marketing and social media marketing to attract consumers; you need to integrate SEO into both of those outreach efforts. Ensure that your social media posts are optimized for keywords your customers will use, and your blog posts contain long-tail keywords search engine users will hunt for. Today’s consumers are using platforms like Twitter and Facebook as search engines; your social media posts need to be optimized for discovery just like your blog posts.

Building a successful online business requires that you have several marketing strategies in place. In an increasingly contentious business environment, it is the savviest brand builder who will succeed.

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Africa Cup of Nations: Ghana's Atsu to miss rest of tournament through injury

Ghana and Newcastle United winger Christian Atsu will miss the rest of the Africa Cup of Nations with a hamstring injury.

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Tiny motor can “walk” to carry out tasks

Years ago, MIT Professor Neil Gershenfeld had an audacious thought. Struck by the fact that all the world’s living things are built out of combinations of just 20 amino acids, he wondered: Might it be possible to create a kit of just 20 fundamental parts that could be used to assemble all of the different technological products in the world?

Gershenfeld and his students have been making steady progress in that direction ever since. Their latest achievement, presented this week at an international robotics conference, consists of a set of five tiny fundamental parts that can be assembled into a wide variety of functional devices, including a tiny “walking” motor that can move back and forth across a surface or turn the gears of a machine.

Previously, Gershenfeld and his students showed that structures assembled from many small, identical subunits can have numerous mechanical properties. Next, they demonstrated that a combination of rigid and flexible part types can be used to create morphing airplane wings, a longstanding goal in aerospace engineering. Their latest work adds components for movement and logic, and will be presented at the International Conference on Manipulation, Automation and Robotics at Small Scales (MARSS) in Helsinki, Finland, in a paper by Gershenfeld and MIT graduate student Will Langford.

Their work offers an alternative to today’s approaches to contructing robots, which largely fall into one of two types: custom machines that work well but are relatively expensive and inflexible, and reconfigurable ones that sacrifice performance for versatility. In the new approach, Langford came up with a set of five millimeter-scale components, all of which can be attached to each other by a standard connector. These parts include the previous rigid and flexible types, along with electromagnetic parts, a coil, and a magnet. In the future, the team plans to make these out of still smaller basic part types.

Using this simple kit of tiny parts, Langford assembled them into a novel kind of motor that moves an appendage in discrete mechanical steps, which can be used to turn a gear wheel, and a mobile form of the motor that turns those steps into locomotion, allowing it to “walk” across a surface in a way that is reminiscent of the molecular motors that move muscles. These parts could also be assembled into hands for gripping, or legs for walking, as needed for a particular task, and then later reassembled as those needs change. Gershenfeld refers to them as “digital materials,” discrete parts that can be reversibly joined, forming a kind of functional micro-LEGO.

The new system is a significant step toward creating a standardized kit of parts that could be used to assemble robots with specific capabilities adapted to a particular task or set of tasks. Such purpose-built robots could then be disassembled and reassembled as needed in a variety of forms, without the need to design and manufacture new robots from scratch for each application.

Langford's initial motor has an ant-like ability to lift seven times its own weight. But if greater forces are required, many of these parts can be added to provide more oomph. Or if the robot needs to move in more complex ways, these parts could be distributed throughout the structure. The size of the building blocks can be chosen to match their application; the team has made nanometer-sized parts to make nanorobots, and meter-sized parts to make megarobots. Previously, specialized techniques were needed at each of these length scale extremes.

“One emerging application is to make tiny robots that can work in confined spaces,” Gershenfeld says. Some of the devices assembled in this project, for example, are smaller than a penny yet can carry out useful tasks.

To build in the “brains,” Langford has added part types that contain millimeter-sized integrated circuits, along with a few other part types to take care of connecting electrical signals in three dimensions.

The simplicity and regularity of these structures makes it relatively easy for their assembly to be automated. To do that, Langford has developed a novel machine that's like a cross between a 3-D printer and the pick-and-place machines that manufacture electronic circuits, but unlike either of those, this one can produce complete robotic systems directly from digital designs. Gershenfeld says this machine is a first step toward to the project's ultimate goal of “making an assembler that can assemble itself out of the parts that it's assembling.”

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Lil Nas X’s announcement sends strong message to LGBT teenagers to be themselves, says Milan Christopher

Lil Nas X’s announcement that he is gay could potentially save LGBT teen lives, according to Milan Christopher.

TMZ asked the former “Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood” star to weigh in on the rapper-country artist’s revelation that he’s gay, and Milan said the announcement would give children hope that they too can live their truths and be successful.

—Did Lil Nas X just come out of the closet?-—

“I think it’s dope. I think we really needed that,” said Christopher. “He’s at the height of his career and he did it. I totally support it. I’m here for it.”

“I think it’s the perfect time to do it. He didn’t wait until his career was like super huge, he just released that song and came right out with it before Pride Month ended,” Milan added. “I think he’s going to inspire a lot of young kids.”

Lil Nas X, the 20-year-old who wrote the blockbuster hit, “Old Town Road,” came out as gay on Sunday after he performed in front of 180,000 people in Glastonbury, England with Billy Ray Cyrus and Miley Cyrus. It was the last day of Pride Month.

“Some of y’all already know, some of y’all don’t care, some of y’all not gone fwm no more. but before this month ends i want y’all to listen closely to c7osure,” Lil Nas tweeted.

Milan, who is also gay, said Nas’ bravery will help isolated gay teenagers from feeling so alone in the world.

—LAPD’s internal affairs will investigate police handling of getaway driver in Nipsey Hussle case—

“LGBT youth, especially African-American LGBT youth, (have) the highest rate of suicide in our country,” Milan said. “That was one of the hardest times of my life when I was a youth growing up in the hood,” as a gay man. “So I think by him doing that, it sends a strong message to kids to be themselves, they can be successful. His song is #1 on iTunes. He’s killing it.”

Milan added, with a chuckle, that Nas’ revelation also is “an aha moment to all the bigots who don’t like gay people whatever and the whole time they been dancing to his song. It was genius.”

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This Jellyfish Robot Is Much More Than Just a Good Swimmer

At less than a quarter inch across, the magnetically activated robot manipulates water flow to in turn manipulate objects.

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The Simple Way Apple and Google Let Domestic Abusers Stalk Victims

To prove a point about common location-sharing apps, I asked my wife to use them to spy on me.

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LAPD’s internal affairs will investigate police handling of getaway driver in Nipsey Hussle case

The Los Angeles Police Department’s Office of the Inspector General is now investigating why the woman who fled the scene of Nipsey Hussle’s murder, driving the suspect in a getaway car was sent home by police after she attempted to turn herself in.

The Internal Affairs Group is evaluating a desk officer’s response in the incident, according to CBS News.

The woman, whose name is being withheld by police, reportedly helped the suspect, Eric R. Holder, flee from the March 31 killing but later went to the police station after her car and license plate were widely featured on the news.

“Oh my God,” the woman told her mother, according to Grand Jury testimony. “My car is on here and everything, and I didn’t do anything. I didn’t know this boy was gonna do this.”

—Nipsey Hussle reportedly called his killer a ‘snitch’ before he was shot dead—

CBS News reported that when her mother tried to notify police, she was allegedly told that detectives wouldn’t be available until 6 a.m. the next day.

The next morning, when they showed up at the police station, a front desk officer said “don’t worry about it” and “don’t listen to the news,” according to Grand Jury transcripts. The woman left but attempted to reach detectives again later, but was turned away, according to LAPD Detective Cedric Washington’s testimony.

Now an internal investigation will examine what went wrong.

—Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist was victim of hoax 911 police call—

“While the initial indications pointed to a miscommunication, we have initiated an administrative investigation to ensure all policies and procedures were followed,” Josh Rubenstein, an LAPD spokesman, told CBS News in an email. “We will review all statements that have already been given, interview all of the individuals involved, and look for any potential body cam video that may have captured the interchange.”

But so far, Rubenstein told the Los Angeles Times that police appeared to have acted properly.

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SpaceX Recovered Its First Rocket Fairing. Let’s Crunch the Numbers!

SpaceX recovered its first fairing last week after a Falcon Heavy launch. Here's how to estimate the challenge faced by Ms. Tree, the retrieval boat.

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Nike pulls Betsy Ross-era flag sneaker after Colin Kaepernick reached out to the company

This is why representation matters.

Nike has made the decision not to release a sneaker that features an old 18th-century replica of the American flag. Nike had created the sneaker to commemorate the July 4th holiday.

In a statement released to CNN Business, the athletic-wear giant wrote: “Nike has chosen not to release the Air Max 1 Quick Strike Fourth of July as it featured an old version of the American flag.”

—Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist was victim of hoax 911 police call—

This comes after Nike had already delivered some of the sneakers to retail stores. But after Nike received a complaint from former NFLer, Colin Kaepernick, that he and others found the sneakers to be offensive, Nike is asking stores to return them, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The sneaker was priced at $140 and set to release on Monday, according to Sneakernews.com. Released photos of the shoe show a version of the American flag with 13 stripes and 13 stars arranged in a circle – the Betsy Ross version of the American flag used in the United States from 1777 to 1795. It was used during the era of slavery.

It is not known whether any of the sneakers were sold before Nike pulled them and asked stores to return already distributed shoes.

—“Old Town Road” #1 on Billboard for 13th week setting hip-hop record—

CNN was unsuccessful in reaching Kaepernick for comment on Monday. Last year, Kaepernick became the face of a groundbreaking Nike advertising campaign.

Nike has had its share of pulled products in recent months.

The company recently halted selling some of its products in China following a fashion designer’s support for protests in Hong Kong, which sparked backlash across social media.

In a statement, Nike said it made a decision to remove some products “based on feedback from Chinese consumers.”

And in May, Nike stopped an Air Force 1 sneaker from being released after an indigenous group in Panama took issue with its design.

 

The post Nike pulls Betsy Ross-era flag sneaker after Colin Kaepernick reached out to the company appeared first on theGrio.

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Niger attack: Raid on army base kills 18 soldiers

US and French air strikes helped to repel the suspected Islamist militants, the government says.

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How to Take Photos of Fireworks With Your Phone

Use these battle-tested tips and camera settings to capture dramatic photos of those explosions in the sky.

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I Opted Out of Facial Recognition at the Airport—It Wasn't Easy

Opinion: We've been assured that facial recognition technology is secure, reliable, and accurate. That's far from certain.

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'Neon Genesis Evangelion' Is Remarkably Relevant in 2019

Two decades after its debut, a Netflix re-release of the show is proving how prescient it is.

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Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist was victim of hoax 911 police call

A prank phone call led police to the Bowie, Md. home of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Leonard G. Pitts Jr., where they handcuffed him while investigating a report of a crime.

Pitts, a columnist for The Miami Herald, said police woke him up early Sunday morning at 4:48 a.m. to investigate a reported crime taking place inside Pitts’ home. The phone tip, which called into the Bowie police and referenced that a serious crime was taking place, was found to be false, according to The Washington Post.

—“Old Town Road” #1 on Billboard for 13th week setting hip-hop record—

Pitts told reporters that he didn’t have a clue who would make such a call, but that someone called 911 to report to police that his wife or another person was “being murdered” inside his house. Pitts said police ordered him out of the house and told him to get on his knees. It was then that they handcuffed a surprised Pitts.

Pitts’ wife and other family members soon exited the house, and after police checked the house to determine there “were no corpses,” Pitts was released with a police apology, he said.

The column that Pitts, 61, writes covers national issues and runs in roughly 250 papers. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his commentary in 2004.

Bowie Police Chief John Nesky, who also arrived at the scene early Sunday morning, told the Miami Herald that his department would investigate the matter, according to The Washington Post.

—Mississippi man who spent 12 years in jail for crimes he didn’t commit was fatally shot last week two blocks from his home—

Nesky also told the Miami Herald that his officers have to “assume the information is valid until we prove otherwise.”

Swatting is a common type of fraudulent call where callers send police to random people’s homes on the report of a crime. However, Nesky told the paper he isn’t sure if this incident can be classified as swatting or something that was more targeted.

Pitts said he is clueless as to who could have done this, and said police informed him that the caller’s telephone number was blocked.

When a reporter asked him whether he had recently written on a topic that may have been controversial, Pitts laughed and responded that much of his work could be deemed that way. But say most recently he was on vacation so couldn’t have ruffled any feathers.

And he said he holds no grudges against the police, who were just doing their jobs.

The police “were pretty cool,” he said. “I can find no fault with them.”

Hoax call about a murder sends cops to @MiamiHerald columnist and Pulitzer-winning writer Leonard Pitts Jr.’s door. Cops apologize https://t.co/UZcaI5uyLs pic.twitter.com/IU80S7MT40

— Miami Herald (@MiamiHerald) July 1, 2019

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Secrets from a Recovering Multitasker

Be honest: None of us are as good as multitasking as we think we are. Research shows that it takes the brain of a multitasker 15 minutes to refocus on the task they were originally committed to completing.

Natalia Peart, is a clinical psychologist, business consultant, and author of the book FutureProofed: How to Navigate Disruptive Change, Find Calm in Chaos, and Succeed in Work & Life. She says that it is time to dispel the myth that being a “good multitasker” makes for more productivity in the workplace and for individuals personally when it’s actually the cause of burnout.

With over 25 years of experience problem solving for Fortune 1000 companies, nonprofits, and corporate America, Peart says that with the pace of people’s lives being quicker than ever, and the digital age, it is time stop championing the unproductive behavior of multitasking.

Natalia Peart

“We try to multitask; we realize it’s not working; we assume that we’re not doing it well enough—and so you know, what we do? We look for the next productivity tip, we look for the next hack,” says Peart.

And it simply does not work. “We exhaust ourselves some more until we’re completely burned out.”

Dr. Peart offers these tips to become a recovering multitasker to prevent burnout and prioritize yourself and your health:

• See it [life and assignments] as a series of sprints and not a marathon. — Our bodies and our brains can only absorb about 90 to 120 minutes until we’re going to need a break.
• Pay attention to your body. – If you need rest, rest. Do not caffeinate in efforts to get more done.
• Give yourself a quick break.– Get up, walk, clear your brain a little bit, let it rest, especially you know, those days where you have a lot happening and you’re just mentally fatigued.
• Don’t work against yourself, work with yourself.
• Take regular stretch breaks. – Take yourself away from your work, come back, you’ll be able to get more done.

“We always have a to-do list and we feel really good about checking stuff off but then we put off happiness because we’re always trying to figure out what’s that next thing to check off,” says Peart. To that point, she says that you should find time to restore yourself.

 

 

 

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“Old Town Road” #1 on Billboard for 13th week setting hip-hop record

For the 13^th straight week, Lil Nas X ‘s “Old Town Road,” which features country crooner Billy Ray Cyrus tops the Billboard Hot 100 – setting a record for the longest reign of a hip hop song.

“Old Town Road” (on Columbia Records) leads the Streaming Songs chart for a 13th week, with 88.7 million U.S. streams, which was down slightly at 3%, for the week ending June 27, according to Nielsen Music.

The track supersedes previous records set by Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again,” in 2015, The Black Eyed Peas’ “Boom Boom Pow” in 2009 and Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” in 2002-2003, according to Billboard. Each of these songs topped the chart in the rap category for 12 weeks.

Lil Nas X is in rarefied company. “Old Town Road” is only the 12th single in the Hot 100’s 60-year history to dominate the charts for as long as it has. In fact, it’s the first hit since “Despacito,” Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’shit maker featuring Justin Bieber, which spent 16 weeks at No. 1 back in 2017 and ties the record for that length of time with Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men’s “One Sweet Day” in 1995-96.

Coming in at No. 2 this week is Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello’s “Señorita.”

“Road” is the little song that could. Despite some controversy earlier in the year, when Billboard, recategorized it from its Hot Country Songs chart to hip hop, it has continued to gain traction and rule the charts. Billboard removed “Old Town Road” from the Hot 100 chart, the Hot Country Songs chart, and the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, saying it doesn’t reflect a traditional country music song. The organization notified Lil Nas X’s label, Columbia Records, that the song was ranked by mistake, according to Rolling Stone.

In a statement released in late March, Billboard said: “It does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music to chart in its current version,” according to a statement Billboard released in late March, sparking backlash and allegations of racism.

Fast-forward to the week of July 6^th. “Old Town Road” is at the top spot on the hip hop charts.

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The Meaning Behind the #UnwantedIvanka Meme

Bizarre Photoshops of the first family are typically more internet game than political commentary. This one's different.

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Nigeria fuel tanker explosion kills dozens

A tanker loaded with petrol skids off the road and explodes in Nigeria.

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US jails Rwandan for hiding genocide involvement from immigration

Jean Leonard Teganya is to serve eight years for immigration fraud, but not alleged rape or murder.

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*Spider-Man: Far From Home* Hints at the Future of the MCU

It's in good, web-slinging hands.

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WATCH: Here’s why Lizzo should play Ursula in ‘The Little Mermaid’ over Melissa McCarthy

Disney has had tons of success remaking their iconic animated features into live-action versions and The Little Mermaid is reportedly next on their list. Although the studio is reportedly in talks with Melissa McCarthy to play Ursula, Lizzo has her eyes on the role and we agree she would make the perfect choice.

When news broke that Melissa McCarthy was being considered for the role, the body-positive beauty reacted with a sad face emoji on social media.

Lizzo calls out “racist” security guard at Summerfest, says she will file complaint

🥺 https://t.co/lLPwqMxW4O

— |L I Z Z O| (@lizzo) June 28, 2019

It wasn’t long before she took matters into her own hands and released an audition tape that proves she has what it takes to bring the vivacious villain to life. “I’M URSULA. PERIOD @Disney,” she posted along with a video of herself dressed as the sea witch.

Check it out:

I’M URSULA. PERIOD. @Disney pic.twitter.com/9YPVPPvVpz

— |L I Z Z O| (@lizzo) November 1, 2018

While Melissa McCarthy is a great comedian and has proven she can dive into drama as well, Ursula isn’t exactly a humorous character. Lizzo has the voice to pull off Ursula’s biggest moments, including “Poor Unfortunate Souls” the song she nailed in her impromptu audition.

Our new fave: 5 powerful life lessons we could all learn from Lizzo

The role would certainly take Lizzo’s career to the next level, and who could deny that this would be a perfect opportunity for Disney to take their diversity initiatives to new heights? Huge stars like Will Smith and Beyonce are featured in Aladdin and The Lion King, but what about getting a rising star in a big role?

We can’t help but be proud of Lizzo for going after what she wants, especially when an award-winning actress is already being considered. Let’s hope she gets the shot she deserves.

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