Latest Posts by er-zico - Page 5

Last Week Tonight s02e24

John Oliver discusses sex education

Source: The National Network to End Domestic Violence  

What If We Treated All Consent Like Society Treats Sexual Consent? (via Everyday Feminism)

This Incredible New Project Is Explaining LGBT Themes To Preschool Kids

While the episodes may focus on explaining a central concept — like what does “gay” mean — “Queer Kids Stuff” also answers questions for children that some adults may not have the ability or language to talk about.

Sexist ✓ Racist ✓

This meme is perpetuating one of the worst stereotypes black women face.

why is this so hard to understand 

Watch: President Obama delivers pointedly feminist speech at United State of Women summit

Earlier this year, these two soulmates from opposite sides of the world got a chance to celebrate their remarkable love story in a deeply meaningful way — with big, beautiful Hindu engagement ceremony.

Life mission :)

This Is What It’s Like To Dive Between Two Continents

Inside the new MTA K-9 training center in Stormville, New York

At a sprawling campus north of New York City, a 3-year-old German Shepherd named Johnny frantically sniffed through seats and luggage bins on an out-of-service commuter rail train trying to catch a whiff of hidden explosive.

When Johnny found a black bag with the faint scent of C-4, commonly used to blow up buildings, he sat statue-still at attention, alerting handler Kevin Pimpinelli of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority police to his discovery. In return, Pimpinelli rewarded him with a prized chew toy.

“In the real world, he can find the explosive before it gets on the train,” Pimpinelli said. "Our job is to try to prevent that device getting in.”

Johnny is one of 50 of the transit authority’s police dogs being trained at its $13 million, 72-acre training center in Stormville, New York, about 70 miles (113 km) north of New York City.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority operates subways, buses, and railroads in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut and provides more than 2.7 billion trips each year to travelers, according to the agency’s website.

The canine training center, the biggest facility of its kind in the United States, begins full operations on June 8, 2016,  and will train dogs used by police across the nation.

Amid attacks including the March bombing of a Brussels train station and airport, which killed 32 people, U.S. police agencies see highly trained dogs as key to maintaining security in large public spaces.

Their sharp sense of smell exceeds the ability of humans and machines to detect explosives and track suspects.

“The importance of this facility is growing daily because we get more threats daily,” said MTA Police Lieutenant John Kerwick, who oversees the agency’s police-dog training operations.

The dogs are carefully selected. Only about one in 30 dogs assessed at breeders are chosen for the canine police force. The dogs are mainly German Shepherds like Johnny or Belgian Malinois, high-energy breeds known for a strong desire to work.

HIGHLY TRAINED SNIFFERS

Those handpicked few are trained to detect threats such as explosives or contraband including narcotics, said David Ferland, who heads the United States Police Canine Association (USPCA).

The MTA dog training facility includes rooms modeled after classrooms and bus stations, 26 kennels and a veterinary clinic. Outside, there are nine buses, ponds and train cars at the end of a retired Metro North railroad track. All are used to train the dogs.

While there is no central database tracking the number of police dogs in service in the United States, the USPCA estimates the figure at about 10,000.

Ferland said interest in training police dogs has risen dramatically since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, evidence of a sense of urgency in combating similar threats.

“Before 9/11, there were only a handful of these training sites,” Ferland said. “Now, there are training facilities an hour’s drive from every major city in the U.S.”

The Stormville facility will offer initial 12-week courses where dogs learn to detect explosives and the refresher courses that dogs are required to take each month.

The canines are exposed to heights, loud noises, fumes, moving vehicles and other distractions they would face on the job.

Typically they work until about the age of 10, after which they normally go on to live as pets in their primary handlers’ homes.

“They’re like family,” said Officer Keith Flood with his three-year-old black Shepherd-Malinois mix named Doc, after finishing a training exercise. (Reuters)

See more images of the K-9 training center on Yahoo News!

This is a ghostly web-footed gecko, they can be found and perfectly camouflage among the powdery reddish sands of the Namib Desert, their primary habitat.These geckos have adapted their webbed feet not only to help them stay atop, but to bury beneath the dunes of the Namib Desert. Strictly nocturnal lizards, they spend the day in self-dug burrows and emerge at night to feed.

Their bloodshot-looking eyes are massively oversized to help them detect prey, which includes crickets, grasshoppers, and small spiders. They move surprisingly quickly across the sand, and adhesive pads on their toes make them excellent climbers.

People sometimes hunt these tiny lizards for food, and human encroachment is destroying some of its habitat. Their estimated lifespan in the wild is about five years.

Neil deGrasse Tyson lays down some rainbow facts in honor of Pride and Pulse. If you couldn’t love him enough already.

Richard Feynman (above) included a poem in his address to the National Academy of Sciences:

I stand at the seashore, alone, and start to think. 

There are the rushing waves mountains of molecules each stupidly minding its own business trillions apart yet forming white surf in unison Ages on ages before any eyes could see year after year thunderously pounding the shore as now. For whom, for what? On a dead planet with no life to entertain. Never at rest tortured by energy wasted prodigiously by the Sun poured into space. A mite makes the sea roar. Deep in the sea all molecules repeat the patterns of one another till complex new ones are formed. They make others like themselves and a new dance starts. Growing in size and complexity living things masses of atoms DNA, protein dancing a pattern ever more intricate. Out of the cradle onto dry land here it is standing: atoms with consciousness; matter with curiosity. Stands at the sea, wonders at wondering: I a universe of atoms an atom in the Universe.

Image source

Check out this robotic hand which can touch and feel, improving perception and reflexes for its user. [ Δ ]

Stephen Hawking’s quote speaks to the heart of why basic income has become such a popular idea in one vital industry in recent years.

Follow @the-future-now​

(via Your Brain on Beer Vs Coffee)

As A Father, Jimmy Fallon Has Some Poignant Questions After Orlando Shooting

Chicago task force releases landmark report, calls on Police Chief to acknowledge racism in police force

Yesterday, Chicago’s Police Accountability Task Force released its final report. Historically, the report called on the newly appointed Chicago Police Superintendent to acknowledge the force’s “history of racial disparity and discrimination.” Many believe the report, which many believe forced Mayor Rahm Emanuel to publicly acknowledge the Chicago Police Department’s continued issues with racism and to consider dismantling the city’s widely criticized Internal Police Review Board.

The task force was established in response to the public outcry in the wake of the death of Laquan McDonald, who was shot 16 times while running away from a Chicago Police Officer. The task force “dug deeper into the complaints of so many about the callous and disrespectful way in which they had been treated by some officers” within the CPD, and recommended sweeping changes to what it described as “systemic problems in CPD.”

The source of the current state of mistrust and animosity between the public and the CPD, it found, was the result of 

racism

a mentality in CPD that the ends justify the means 

a failure to make accountability a core value and imperative within CPD

a significant underinvestment in human capital

Below are the recommendations of the task force:

How We Propose to Empower People.

Create a Community Safety Oversight Board, allowing the community to have a powerful platform and role in the police oversight system.

Implement a citywide Reconciliation Process beginning with the Superintendent publicly acknowledging CPD’s history of racial disparity and discrimination, and making a public commitment to cultural change.

Replace CAPS with localized Community Empowerment and Engagement Districts (CEED) for each of the city’s 22 police districts, and support them accordingly. Under CEED, district Commanders and other leadership would work with local stakeholders to develop tailored community policing strategies and partnerships.

Renew commitment to beat-based policing and expand community patrols so that officers learn about and get to know the communities they serve, and community members take an active role in partnering with the police.

Reinvigorate community policing as a core philosophy and approach that informs actions throughout the department.

Evaluate and improve the training officers receive with respect to youth so that they are prepared to engage in ways that are age-appropriate, trauma-informed and based in a restorative justice model.

Require CPD and the police oversight system to be more transparent and release to the public incident-level information on arrests, traffic and investigatory stops, officer weapon use and disciplinary cases.

Host citywide summits jointly sponsored by the Mayor and the President of the Cook County Board to develop and implement comprehensive criminal justice reform.

Encourage the Mayor and President of the Cook County Board to work together to develop and implement programs that address socioeconomic justice and equality, housing segregation, systemic racism, poverty, education, health and safety.

Adoption of a citywide protocol allowing arrestees to make phone calls to an attorney and/or family member(s) within one hour of arrest.

Implementation of citywide “Know Your Rights” training for youth.

How We Propose to Address the Inadequate Emphasis on Accountability

Create a dedicated Inspector General for Public Safety, which would independently audit and monitor CPD and the police oversight system, including for patterns of racial bias.

Replace the Independent Police Review Authority with a new and fully transparent and accountable Civilian Police Investigative Agency, which will enhance structural protections, powers and resources for investigating serious cases of police misconduct, even in the absence of sworn complaints. The new CPIA should ensure an accessible, professional and supportive complaint process.

Implement a data-driven, best-in-class Early Intervention System for CPD to identify officers with problems before they become problems for the community.

Fundamentally change provisions in the collective bargaining agreements that are impediments to accountability, such as allowing for anonymous complaints, eliminating the ability to change statements after reviewing video and removing the requirement to destroy complaint records.

Fully implement the first-in-the-nation written video release policy for officer-involved shootings.

Expand CPD’s body cam pilot program.

Require that all disciplinary information be provided online so that citizens can track complaints and discipline histories.

How We Propose to Address Other Systemic and Longstanding Problems

Establish for the first time in Chicago a Deputy Chief of Diversity and Inclusion in CPD.

Implement policies to dismantle the institutionalization of the police “code of silence,” including substantial changes to the collective bargaining agreements between the police and the City, ending command channel review, reforming the role of CPD supervisors and pattern and practice analysis.

Establish a smart 911 system for OEMC, allowing residents to pre-enter information on mental health or other issues that would be instantly available to OEMC operators.

Create a multi-layer co-responder system where mental health providers work with OEMC and CPD to link individuals to treatment.

Expand significantly the Crisis Intervention System for CPD and other first responders.

Create a “Mental Health Critical Response Unit” within CPD that is responsible for mental health crisis response functions, training, support, community outreach and engagement, cross-agency coordination and data collection.

Create a hotline for CPD members, whether civilian or sworn, to lodge complaints, and develop a third-party system for the processing and follow-up of all comments and complaints reported to the hotline.

Watch Powerful Music Video By Jamila Woods “Blk Girl Soldier”

Tuesday, June 7, artist from Chicago Jamila Woods released a music video for her new single “Blk Girl Soldier”, in which she highlights the pain and injustice that Black women everywhere have had to deal with for centuries. Woods’ debut album is due out at the end of this month.

Full video

#BlkGirlSoldier   #BlackLivesMatter

The One World Trade Center in New York lights up in rainbow colors in reaction to the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida that left 50 dead and 53 injured.

📷 Bryan Smith/Getty Images

Only the brave are free.

Seneca (via philosophybits)

Ask yourself: 1.Do I feel like I can say what I need to say in my relationship? 2. Do I listen to my partner about what’s bothering them? 3. Do I feel comfortable saying “no” and “stop” to my partner? Will they listen? 4. Can I talk with my partner about using condoms and birth control?

Click here for more great information about healthy relationships! 

Science is competitive, aggressive, demanding. It is also imaginative, inspiring, uplifting.

Vera Rubin (via fyp-science)

Stunning Jewellery Collection Pays Homage to the Solar System by Lauren Beacham

American artist Lauren Beacham left her job as a gallery director to dedicate her herself and artistry to her newfound passion as a jewelry designer. With a BFA in photography, Beacham transformed a creative outlet into a full-time job. As the studio continued to grow, her husband joined Yugen as a partner and business development director. A reflection of her otherworldly-inspired work, her independent boutique is named after the Japanese term, which is defined as an awareness of the universe that triggers emotional responses too deep and mysterious for words.

Impassioned by our galaxy, Beacham recreates our solar system in every piece of her jewelry. Composed or a variety of materials, including rhodium plated brass, glass, giclee, magnets and other tools, small images of the solar system are present in every charm. The inclusion of the phases of the moon, one of the biggest muse in art is carefully placed in charming bracelets. Its obscure and intriguing beauty is easily admired up close.

Overall Beacham caters to the nostalgic stargazer who is in love with mystery and beauty beyond grasp. She allows us to take fragments of stardust everywhere with us. The demand to be inspired and to dream is reflected in her work.  Romantic in nature, every detail causes a sense of lost nostalgia and chimera. You can find her entire collection in her Etsy shop.

View similar posts here!

Lingerie Has A Diversity Problem. Here’s What One Brand Is Doing About It.

“I’ve sat on panels with scholars, and I’m just a kid from the hood with a camera.”

Find out how Baltimore photographer Devin Allen went from aspiring photographer documenting his city’s protests on Instagram to landing the TIME Magazine cover and continuing to make a difference by Andres Tardio.