Around the World
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I do not use “microaggression” anymore
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1 min read
I do not use “microaggression” anymore. I detest the post-racial platform that supported its sudden popularity. I detest its component parts – “micro” and “aggression.” A persistent daily low hum of racist abuse is not minor. I use the term “abuse” because aggression is not as exacting a term. Abuse accurately describes the action and…
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Give Me Liberty, Or Give Me Death
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1 min read
When the Israelis pick up guns, or the Poles, or the Irish, or any white man in the world says “give me liberty, or give me death,†the entire white world applauds. When a black man says exactly the same thing, word for word, he is judged a criminal and treated like one and everything…
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So You Want to Talk About Race
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3 min read
Some good things to remember if looking to have healthy and productive conversations about race and racism in America. State your intentions. Is there something in particular you are trying to communicate or understand? State what your intentions are, so that the people you are talking with can determine whether this is a conversation they…
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James H. Cone’s The Cross and the Lynching Tree is next on my to-read list.
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China v. United States v. Coronavirus
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1 min read
This video was posted by Xinhua, China’s news agency. Sadly, it’s pretty much on point.
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The City That Has Flattened the Coronavirus Curve
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1 min read
I’m proud of how our Mayor London Breed has handled this crisis so far. Breed ordered businesses closed and issued a citywide shelter-in-place policy effective on March 17, at a point when San Francisco had fewer than 50 confirmed coronavirus cases. Breed’s aggressiveness was not initially popular. It’s that difference in decision making – proactive…
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A good read about how we ended up with empty shelves at our stores. We have been trained to see efficiency as a desirable goal. We often don’t see, or don’t acknowledge, the risk of catastrophic meltdown. Think of efficiency as a high-performance engine. Under perfect conditions, it delivers maximum power and minimum waste. However,…
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The Lasting Impact of Foot-Binding
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1 min read
An interesting article about the social impact of foot-binding. From The Atlantic: Foot-binding, as a practice, is extinct, but […] what it says about how we are willing to treat women, and the damage we will inflict and accept to maintain control over their movement and their freedom, is anything but settled. See also: The…
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How Fast is a 2-hour Marathon Pace?
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1 min read
Since Eliud Kipchoge broke the 2 hour marathon mark, this popped up in my YouTube feed. It’s kinda crazy to see it in action.
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Super Bowl = Super Bill
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0 min read
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San Francisco’s POPOS
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1 min read
Secrets of San Francisco is a guide to the city’s POPOS (privately owned public open spaces). I really need to get around to checking these out.
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President Obama and his Anger Translator
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0 min read
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Mellow
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1 min read
A very mellow video to match my very mellow mood.
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The Stealthy Starbucks
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2 min read
One of busiest Starbucks in the U.S. is located at the CIA headquarters. Baristas go through rigorous interviews and background checks and need to be escorted in order to leave their work area. There’s no customer loyalty card, and baristas don’t write the customer’s name on the cups. A barista said she initially applied to…
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Aurora Substorm
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1 min read
An Aurora Substorm in real time, NOT time-lapse. CRAZY! I wouldn’t mind seeing this for myself one day. Looks like the guy used both Canon and Nikon DSLR’s for recording.
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Restorative Justice
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1 min read
Our current criminal justice system has no provision for restorative justice, in which an offender confronts the damage they have done and tries to make it right to the people they have harmed. -Piper Kerman, Orange Is the New Black
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Why Housing is so Expensive in SF
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1 min read
Want to see why SF housing is so expensive? This is a map of allowed building height. Yellow = 4 stories max.
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The Ground Zero Cross
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1 min read
A worker at the ground zero discovered a 20-foot cross of two steel beams among the debris. The beams were dubbed the “Ground Zero Cross” and became a symbol of faith for families of the victims and workers who cleaned up the debris. I didn’t know the story behind it when I took this picture.
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When part of the Bay Bridge collapsed in 1989 earthquake, I thought my parents had gone down with it because they crossed the bridge for their commute every day. There were no cell phones back then and all the land lines were jammed up following the earthquake, so it took us a few hours to…
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San Francisco Fog
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1 min read
High five to cousin Steph for this.