June 30
Sun Ra's Full Lecture & Reading List From His 1971 UC Berkeley Course, "The Black Man in the Cosmos"
"A new strain of flu that has the potential to become a pandemic has been identified in China by scientists." (Note: This is not about Covid-19. It's a new thing, Huzzah!)
In order to curb its Muslim population, the Chinese government is forcing Uighur women to undergo pregnancy checks, IUD insertion, sterilization, and abortions. "They want to destroy us as a people."
June 29
Reddit is cracking down on harassment & hate speech. Way too little and way too late.
What Activities Are Safe As the Coronavirus Spreads? "It's going to be particularly challenging in a place like the US, which seems to have some of the least tolerance of any place in the world for the pain brought by the lockdowns."
Some advice from health experts on travel and vacations during the pandemic. "I'm following the public health guidance from [the CDC] to stay at home and limit non-essential travel in order to slow the spread of Covid-19."
June 28
June 26
Legendary designer Milton Glaser has died at the age of 91. He designed the "I ♥ NY" logo, among many other things.
As of August 1, it will be illegal for adults to wear a face mask in North Carolina. The state's anti-mask law, intended to target the Klan decades ago, has been temporarily suspended due to the pandemic.
What We Know About the Killing of Elijah McClain. "I was just going home. I'm an introvert. I'm just different. That's all. I'm so sorry. I have no gun. I don't do that stuff." This is straight-up murder of a black man by police.
June 25
Americans Are Actually Drinking Less During the Pandemic. Unfortunately, I have not personally found this to be the case.
It's time to change the way the media reports on protests. "We weren't looking at a stream of videos of violence erupting or clashes breaking out. We were looking at cops, attacking people."
Remember Brexit? Still a terrible idea. "Brexit is set to have cost the UK more than £200 billion in lost economic growth by the end of this year". The UK only paid £215 billion into the EU budget since 1973.
Explaining White Privilege To A Broke White Person. "It's not your fault that you were born with white skin and experience these privileges. But...you do benefit from it, and it is your fault if you don't maintain awareness of that fact."
An economist explains why we need to reopen the economy. "Think of our veterans. They went over to other side to fight for yummy yummy oil and you're not honoring them by staying away from Red Lobster."
Juan Villanueva resigned from the board of directors of the Type Directors Club and renounced his membership. "I'm stepping down because the TDC is a racist organization."
Rhode Island may change the state's name. "The official name of the smallest U.S. state is Rhode Island and Providence Plantations."
June 24
Why is East Africa experiencing the worst locust outbreak in decades? Climate change -> record-setting rainfall -> locust explosion.
Good (by which I mean maddening) thread on how the economic incentives for police officers (overtime, guaranteed pensions) result in dangerous and wasteful outcomes for our communities. "It's the money. Follow the money."
CERN has approved plans to build a 62-mile-long super-collider called the Future Circular Collider. Price tag is $23 billion, which sounds high but several individuals (Bezos, Gates) could easily afford this.
June 23
American travelers may be barred from visiting Europe when it reopens to visitors because of our clear failure to contain Covid-19 within our borders. Good job, everyone. So embarrassing.
Novak Djokovic, the world #1 men's tennis player, has tested positive for Covid-19. He "organised a tennis tournament where adherence to social distancing has been minimal" because "the players went out clubbing...after the tournament finished".
June 22
The Gaps Between White and Black America, in Charts. "In many parts of the country, black and white Americans continue to live in very different worlds. [This is] a result of policy choices."
COVID-19 is ravaging America's vulnerable Latino communities. "About 65% of positive tests in the county that is home to Chattanooga, Tennessee, are Latinos, even though they make up just 6% of the population."
June 19
Jelani Cobb reflects on the meaning of Juneteenth. "Emancipation is a marker of progress for white Americans, not black ones."
June 18
June 17
June 16
The Worm is a forthcoming book about NASA's iconic modernist logo. "The Worm showcases over 300 images from NASA's archives chosen with one simple criteria: each photograph must feature 'the worm'."
The military crackdown on protests in DC reminded Abdallah Fayyad of his experience as a Palestinian living in Jerusalem. "Being in the streets of Washington reminded me of the occupation I endured as a Palestinian."
During the most intense days of the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, nursing homes in some US states were forced to keep accepting residents w/o testing. In NY, 6% of their nursing home residents died of Covid-19. And New Jersey lost 12%. 12%!
June 15
"One of the biggest social changes that the Bubonic Plague did cause was a rise in racial violence."
City Enters Phase 4 Of Pretending Coronavirus Over. "I'm happy to say we've reached the final phases of completely deluding ourselves into thinking that this pandemic has somehow stopped spreading and that we're safe."
June 13
Mariame Kaba: Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police. "The surest way of reducing police violence is to reduce the power of the police, by cutting budgets and the number of officers."
A white woman starts getting pulled over by police with unholstered guns despite obeying all traffic laws. Then she realizes: the racially profiling cops are mistaking her large black poodle for a Black man.
June 12
A previously unpublished short story from Ernest Hemingway. "That year we had planned to fish for marlin off the Cuban coast for a month."
The role of superspreaders in transmitting SARS-CoV-2. "It's very difficult to identify an individual superspreader. It is not difficult to identify events that bring a very large number of people together in a small, enclosed space."
The Virus Will Win. "Americans are pretending that the pandemic is over. It certainly is not."
The Unmistakable Black Roots of Sesame Street. "Since its inception, 'Sesame Street' has been rooted in African-American culture, more specifically the historically black community of Harlem."
Spurred by climate change, a rare but deadly mosquito-borne illness is on the rise in the US Northeast. "The mosquito is still the deadliest creature on the planet for our species. In 2018, it killed approximately 830,000 people."
June 11
Tulsa Race Massacre. "White mobs invaded [the prosperous African American community of] Greenwood intent on burning, looting and killing. This is what happened in the 1921."
This is very good – lots of recommendations. "A critical review of films on the Civil Rights Movement and institutionalized racism, with dozens of recommendations of films to watch and those to avoid."
June 10
What happens to all the unhugged hugs? (I miss hugs.)
How the Coronavirus Compares With 100 Years of Deadly Events. The excess deaths caused by Covid-19 are higher than from hurricanes, 9/11, bad flu seasons, etc. Excess mortalities compared to normal: Stockholm 2.2x, London 3x, Madrid 4.6x, NYC 5.8x.
More on that study that indicates that Covid-19 emergency health measures prevented *half a billion infections* in just 6 countries in 3 months. "I don't think any human endeavor has ever saved so many lives in such a short period of time."
Advice on the preservation of racist bronze statuary from a museum curator: chlorides can cause irreversible bronze disease. So, definitely do not "throw a ton of tomatoes at a bust of a genocidal racist".
June 9
Regarding "a few bad apples": How Apples Go Bad. "The closer an apple is to rot, the more rot it spreads – one spoiling apple...speeds the rot of every apple it touches, and even of ones it doesn't touch."
Great thread on how to prepare to have the Why-You-Should-Care-About-Other-People talk w/ family. "The values that you raised me are inconsistent with the ones you're demonstrating, and that makes me respect you less, and causes me to pull away from you."
Some misconceptions about the civil rights movement & protests. "Sorry, guys. MLK wasn't about going to protest in a designated area and playing by the rules. His goal was to make people uncomfortable and cause chaos. He ADVOCATED breaking the law."
This is not the last pandemic. "We've created almost a perfect storm here for the emergence of pandemics."
June 8
A story about going on a ride-along with a police officer. "That was the night: a full shift devoted to manufacturing crime — desperately searching for reasons to pull people over and then harassing people until they snapped."
Physicists are organizing a Strike for Black Lives on Wednesday. "All ordinary meetings of classes, research groups, and seminars should be cancelled or replaced with discussions with colleagues about anti-black bias in the world and in academia."
Minneapolis City Council Members Announce Intent To Disband The Police Department, Invest In Proven Community-Led Public Safety. An absolutely incredible decision, unthinkable just two weeks ago.
June 6
Mamadou Tall: Is This the Last Straw? "Emmett Till should have been the last straw, Rodney King should have been the last straw, Amadou Diallo should have been the last straw..."
June 5
Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser commissioned a massive mural that spans two city blocks spelling out "BLACK LIVES MATTER". She also sent a letter to Trump requesting withdrawal of federal troops from the city.
Tiffani Ashley Bell: It's Time We Dealt With White Supremacy in Tech. "Why do so many VC firms behave as if investing in Black entrepreneurs is a risk they can neither manage nor take?"
Huge thread of over 300 instances of police violence against protestors caught on video over the past week. The police are rioting on America's streets – and getting paid for it! This is sickening, immoral stuff. (Content warning: police violence.)
The audiobook version of Ibram X. Kendi's Stamped from the Beginning is available for free on Spotify. It won the National Book Award in 2016.
June 4
The oldest "nearly complete" HIV genome was recently found in a tissue sample from 1966. "Based on genetic sequencing of samples of the virus, scientists think that HIV first found a foothold in humans in Central Africa sometime in the early 1900s."
The Black Plague. "Public officials lament the way that the coronavirus is engulfing black communities. The question is, what are they prepared to do about it?"
Some reading for the tech community: Charlton McIlwain's Black Software: The Internet & Racial Justice, from the Afronet to Black Lives Matter. "The story of racial justice movement organizing online is much longer and varied than most people know."
June 3
A guide to keeping yourself and others safe while photographing protests. "Some people are risking their jobs by showing up at protests. Even if they're wearing a mask, employers can still identify them."
A thread of stories about being stopped by police for driving and walking while black. "One time i got pulled over, the cop said i wasn't speeding but 'it looked like i was about to pick up speed.'"
Sweden's once-lauded "herd immunity" approach to tackling Covid-19 has badly backfired. "Too many old people have died here." <— That's exactly what most public health experts predicted.
During the pandemic, black men are being targeted for wearing masks and also for not wearing masks. "Which death do they choose? Covid-19 or police shooting?"
June 1
Letters for Black Lives is a collection of multilingual resources geared towards explaining the Black Lives Matter movement to members of immigrant communities. Basically: "Dear beloved elders, we want to explain BLM to you and why it's important..."