The Hawai’i State Commission on the Status of Women introduced a ‘feminist economic recovery plan’ that is designed to help women recover from the economic hardships created by the coronavirus pandemic. The plan is the first of its’ kind in the nation. The plan, called “Building Bridges, Not Walking on Backs: A Feminist Economic Recovery Plan for COVID-19,” centers women from the most marginalized groups that have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. The plan not only proposes measures that will help aid in recovery from the economic fallout of the virus, but also introduces fundamental changes to the way women’s work is valued and compensated. “I have not seen any state or nation propose a feminist economic recovery, a recovery that explicitly centers women or attempts to counteract patriarchy,” said Khara Jabola-Carolus, executive director of the commission. “Even proposals from left movements in the U.S. are missing this. They are bold on race and class, but gender is taken for granted. People don’t seem to understand the fundamental role of patriarchy, and how to tie gender in with race and class. So, I turned to the people with real power — women organizing in our communities who are active inside […]

As with most issues in the United States, Black Americans and female Americans are the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic. On April 6, Louisiana was the first state to release data on Covid-19 broken down by race. Its report showed that while African American’s make up 33% of the state’s population, they accounted for 70% of those dead from the virus at the time. Other cities and states soon followed suit with their own reports as the federal government remained silent on the issue. These reports showed, one after another, that areas with large populations of Black people have been ravaged with disproportionately high numbers of Covid-19 cases and deaths. Wisconsin reported that while Black people make up 7% of the state’s population, they made up 33% of the state’s deaths. In Michigan, the numbers are 14% of the population versus 40% of the deaths. In New York, Black people are twice as likely to die from the virus as white people. The pandemic has further exposed the stark racial divide in health in our nation. Black American communities face extreme situations of environmental racism which leads to underlying health issues like which make these communities more vulnerable to […]

Covid-19 is shining yet another spotlight on American systemic racism as African Americans face higher rates of death from coronavirus, as well as policing in the form of social distancing patrols, which are often racially disparate, inequitable, and aggressive. A majority of businesses have reduced operations or closed, but the NYPD has not slowed operations at all during the pandemic. Even in the midst of a historic crisis, the police oppression of Black and Brown communities perseveres. Earlier this week in New York City’s East Village, the violent arrest of a Black man allegedly defying social distancing orders was captured on camera by a witness. This was one of three arrests in the area that day by unmasked officers breaking the very social distancing rules they were ostensibly enforcing. All of these arrests have been condemned by the Legal Aid Society which is asking the NYPD to reconsider their selective social distancing enforcement. The NYPD is currently investigating the incident. In Philadelphia last month, mask requirements on public transportation led to the accosting of a Black bus rider by eight or nine police officers who then forced him off the bus instead of handing him a mask as they have […]

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will consider yet another case regarding whether employers can decline to cover contraceptives in their health care plans. Reproductive rights groups warn that depending on the outcome of the case, tens of thousands of American women could lose vital contraceptive coverage. The case, Little Sisters of the Poor and Paul Home v. Pennsylvania, involves a 2017 Trump administration rule change that significantly broadened who can claim an exemption to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) contraceptive coverage mandate. The 2017 rule change, issued without a notice of proposed rulemaking or public comment opportunity, expanded the scope of religious exemptions and added an additional moral exemption claim. States had successfully challenged the rule, calling it a violation of the constitution, federal anti-discrimination law, and the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). A federal appeals court issued an injunction, preventing the Trump administration from enforcing the rule until the case was decided. Both the district court and the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed that states were likely to succeed on their APA claim. The court will now consider whether the Little Sisters of the Poor have standing and whether the Trump administration lawfully exempted religious objectors from the […]

 A 57-year-old man from El Salvador who was being held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in California died from Covid-19 on Wednesday. This is the first confirmed death from the coronavirus at an ICE detention center. Carlos Escobar-Mejia has been detained at the center since Jan. 10 after having lived in the U.S. for 40 years. While at the detention center, he was on a list of people who are medically vulnerable to the virus and are therefore eligible for immediate release but was hospitalized before the list was fully put together. According to ICE, 705 out of 1,460 detainees tested positive for Covid-19. At the Otay Mesa center alone, there are 140 cases of Covid-19 out of the 649 detainees there, making it the facility with the largest number of positive tests among detainees. The Otay Mesa center is owned by the private prison company CoreCivic, which has not commented on the situation there. ICE maintains that it is caring for its detainees in light of the pandemic, but detainees have said that they do not have enough space to socially distance, that they do not have enough clean masks, and that guards are not adhering to CDC […]

We made it a lot further into the yard in our second try. https://ift.tt/2GldjH7

Happy launch day to DIANA: PRINCESS OF THE AMAZONS, the newest in the DC Zoom line of graphic novels for middle graders. Written by Shannon & Dean Hale and illustrated by Victoria Ying. Thanks to Michele Wells at DC Kids for sending me a copy!

For more of my book collages, feel free to browse my BookADay Padlet as well as my BookADay and Book Recommendation archives. I read a lot more books than I have time to post, especially now that I've joined the Goodreads 2020 Reading Challenge!

Writers & illustrators: It's tough sometimes (especially on social media re: publication news, book lists, awards etc), but try very hard to RESIST COMPARING YOURSELF TO OTHERS. Focus on enjoying your own journey. You may be luckier than you think.

Happy launch day to Marcie Colleen, whose THE BEAR'S GARDEN with Alison Oliver launches from Imprint/Macmillan today!

Marcie Colleen is the award-winning picture book author of Penguinaut! (illustrated by Emma Yarlett) and Love, Triangle (illustrated by Bob Shea), as well as the Super Happy Party Bears chapter book series. She teaches Writing Children’s Picture Books for the University of California at San Diego both online and on campus, and runs her own Study Hall conducting a month-long online critique group dedicated to the crafting picture books. Find out more about how you can study with Marcie at thisismarciecolleen.com and on Twitter at @MarcieColleen1.

*UPDATE: Marcie has also launched her SUPER HAPPY Book Club on her YouTube channel, especially for families at home during school closures!

Launching March 24, 2020, THE BEAR'S GARDEN is written by Marcie Colleen and illustrated by Alison Oliver. You can read reviews of the book on Kirkus (starred review!) and Bookroo.

Author: Marcie Colleen
Illustrator: Alison Oliver
Publisher: Imprint/Macmillan Children’s

SYNOPSIS: Inspired by the true story of a community garden in Brooklyn, New York, picture book The Bear’s Garden is a testament to how imagination and dedication can transform communities and create beauty for everyone in unexpected places.

A little girl sees an empty lot in a city and imagines what it can be:

a place to grow,
a place to play,
and a place to love.

With the help of her stuffed bear, the girl brings her community together to create a beautiful garden.

Q. What inspired you to write this book?

The Bear’s Garden was inspired by the real-life Pacific Street Brooklyn Bear’s Community Garden in my former neighborhood in New York City. The name always puzzled me—I mean, we didn’t have bears wandering around Brooklyn last I checked!

Come to find out, the garden was named for a teddy bear that was found in the weeds when the workers began to create a garden in the abandoned lot. Of course, immediately I started thinking of that little bear. How did he get there? Did he belong to anyone? Was he placed there on purpose?

The Bear’s Garden is my imaginative story about how the teddy bear came to be in those weeds. It’s also a love letter to my former neighborhood and the power of community that I felt while living there. I am the girl who finds love and beauty in every inch of that urban paradise

Q. As an experienced author, how do you manage your time in terms of balancing your creative work time with the business side (promotion, admin, school visits etc), yet still have a life outside work?

While everything I do, such as teaching and creating Teacher’s Guides, falls under the umbrella of being a full-time children’s author, I have struggled in the past to find time for my own creative writing. It seems my days get quickly overrun.

However, about a year ago I paired up with a fellow author friend, Kirsten Larson, to prioritize our writing projects. We get up at 5:20 every morning to write for an hour. The alarm goes off, we text each other a quick “Good Morning” and share our project goals for that session, grab our coffee, and set to write until 6:30 without distraction. At 6:30 we check in again with our progress. It’s been a game-changer. I think I have written more in the last year because of it. And it’s a fantastic way to feel accomplished no matter what the rest of the day brings.

Q. What advice do you have for young writers?

I have always loved reading and writing stories.

A few years back I found a book I had written in elementary school. It’s called Rainbow Hunt. And in the back of the book I found an Author’s Note I had written. It said,

“Marcie Goldstein lives in Liverpool, NY and loves to write books. Someday she hopes to be a successful author.”

So, my advice to young writers everywhere would be, know that your dreams can come true. Even if people say it’s a long-shot. I’m living proof. So keep reading, keep writing, and never stop dreaming.

Q. Anything else you'd like to mention? What are you excited about these days?

Despite the recent global health crisis that has left us all indoors, I am excited to see how we will learn to build more community within our lives—even virtually. The creativity and innovation that has developed in the last few weeks has been extraordinarily inspiring. Like flowers between the pavement cracks, we will find ways. And a lot of beauty is going to grow from this.

 --

For more interviews, see my Inkygirl Interview Archive. Also see Advice For Young Writers and Illustrators, a compilation of tips generously offered by children's book creators I've interviewed over the years.

Here's where we're playing....
Aug. 19 Pittsburgh with Surrender. at Zach's house. I'm not sure of the address
Aug 20 (maybe)Athens OH 35 Brown St
Sept 16 Baria KY, maybe
Sept 19 Ida work party, Tennesse (they need more people to come to this work party. check it out at www.workhardstayhard.com
Sept 21 Chatanooga - probably at Sluggos
Sept 23 Asheville NC, Buccannen St house (I don't know how to spell it)

I am so glad someone is doing this zine! I have been trying to find time to try and put together this exact thing!
Please submit!!!
It's Down to This

For info and submissions contact: responsezine@gmail.com

“It’s Down to This” is a new zine compilation that aims to give space to step back, take a deep breath and reflect on where we’re at.

Reflecting on our experiences with community accountability processes, survivor support, or general efforts to cultivate community response to sexual violence- this is a space to talk about our experiences with this work, what we have learned, where we want to go from here, what we feel, what we want others to be able to hear, see, think about, engage with.

It is an attempt to further give voice to our efforts and experiences in doing this work, to give space and voice to silence. To know and hear how we have survived in this work, how we have sustained this work, or why we burned out. To further document our attempts at figuring out what community accountability looks like, or what it even is. To be able to reflect and grow from our mistakes and epiphanies.

SEEKING: stories, essays, interviews, comics, artwork and thoughts reflecting on working around accountability and community response to sexual violence:

What has it looked like? What has it entailed? What could it look like? Who does it involve? In what ways? How is a community responsible? How is a community involved? What can an accountability process look like? What has it looked like? What works? What doesn’t? What were the fuck-ups, the successes?

*These questions are asked with the assumption that confidentiality will be respected and that stories will not be shared if they are not yours to share.

*The word ‘community’ is used with the awareness that it is often used problematically.

Looking for submissions that:

- explore the importance of accountability and support work as an act of community building and collective liberation, that express the importance of this work within social justice movements.

-reflect on the support, empowerment, recovery and growth that have come out of this work

-reflect on the pain, trauma and frustration of this work or which is inherent in this work.

-develop ideas and methods of sustainability around this work

-look at the social and political contexts in which community accountability and response to sexual violence and partner abuse grows and exists.

-share our stories

Anonymity and confidentiality will be respected.

DEADLINE: October 22nd, 2010

For info and submissions contact: responsezine@gmail.com

Feel free to send in ideas/proposals and ask for feedback!

I'll be teaching a workshop Nov. 13 at the Queer Influx conference in Columbus!
Check it out at http://queerinflux.wordpress.com/convergence-schedule/

Here is Microcosm's statement and my response.

Microcosm's Statement:
It has been way too long since Cindy Crabb asked us to write a public statement regarding allegations of Joe Biel’s history of emotional abuse and manipulation. It is not because we have chosen to ignore this issue. On the contrary, we have spent many hours discussing this topic. But we are not writing today to provide excuses. We hope to provide some answers and to encourage more questions.

Cindy is right that collectives need to confront abuse in all its forms by members within their collectives, even if it is just a collectively-ran business, but especially when that business lays claim to radical politics. It is for this reason that we want to say that we do recognize Joe’s history of emotional abuse and manipulation. Not just with Alex, but within other relationships as well. We know that Joe has been involved in one failed mediation attempt with Alex. We also know that he was involved in a more recent process that fell apart (this was outlined in posts by Cindy and Alex). Unfortunately, the collective was made aware of this latter accountability process only shortly before it fell apart. We, the collective and Joe, have recently started working with a counselor who is helping us to reconcile many issues within the collective. We do not believe this is a replacement for a larger accountability process, but we do see it as an important first step for our involvement and for the betterment of Microcosm as a collectively-ran company.

We recognize and agree with the statement put out by the Athens Support Network, who mediated the last accountability process.

“Joe is in therapy, and we feel that he is making progress through therapy. He has identified a large number of behavior issues and has done work and continues to do work to change them. He believes that he honors Alex’s experience. We, however, feel that he still has extreme problems with control, manipulation, defensiveness, and portraying himself as the victim.”
We have noticed some positive improvements in Joe’s behavior, but he does have a long way to go. We do believe that he can work through this and therefore choose, at this time, to continue working with him. We welcome suggestions on how we, the collective, can better facilitate this process. In the meantime, we will continue to work through this and figure things out as we go.

Cindy also pointed out that she would like more transparency about how things are run at microcosm. For that reason, we will soon be releasing some information on our website about how we run things. We honestly want to be a more transparent organization (which is why we’ve started posting annual financial statements). Over the past year, we have begun to change and implement a lot of new policies to help spread power among all of the collective members. We are excited about these changes and equally excited to share them with you.

Alex was right in that we need to hear from you. We know that Microcosm could be better and we want it to be so. For that reason, we need to know what it is that you think we need to fix. We’ve already heard some great things and we’ve worked to improve those. We’ll share more about that later, though. We want the focus to stay where Cindy and others have asked us to focus it for now - on Joe’s accountability.

Thank you Cindy, Alex, Ciara, and everyone who has put pressure on us to make change. It is a wonderful example of collective action. And we hope it proves that while we may be relatively large in the zine world, we are still just a small group of people who still love the community we are a part of and hope to make it a better place.

With sincerity and humility,
The Microcosm Collective


In response to Microcosms statement about Joes manipulative and abusive behavior.

This statement is to let it be known that despite Microcosms recent public statement finally acknowledging Joe Biel’s abusive and manipulative behavior, I will not be distributing Doris though Microcosm any longer. They published Doris 23, the Doris Anthology, the Support zine and Learning Good Consent, so I don’t have control of those publications.

In July, 2010, I asked Microcosm to write a statement, or have each collective member contact me with a personal statement, as a precondition to my continuing to work with them. I was following my sincere belief that organizations should have a chance to admit to the abusive behaviors of members, and that as long as they show a commitment to change, they should not necessarily be shunned. Below is part of the statement I made.

I believe that collectives, even when they are just collective businesses, are responsible for confronting issues of patriarchy (and other forms of domination) within their collectives, and working on change and transparency. I believe that Joe's behavior stems from patriarchy … the communication/manipulation models he uses are … patriarchtical.
In order to feel comfortable continuing to be published by Microcosm, I would need to know either from each collective member or from the collective as a whole (with a minority dissenting opinion) that they don't think Alex was crazy or that the attempts to deal with the situation are a witch-hunt. I would need to know from each member, or the collective as a whole (with a minority dissenting opinion,) that the collective recognizes that Joe still has issues with control and manipulation… I need to feel like the collective takes this seriously and does not put the burden of instigating change on the survivor/s, or on people negatively affected by Joe's behavior.

I do believe there are good people who work at Microcosm. I don’t want those people to suffer because of Joe’s behavior. I wanted to give the workers at Microcosm a chance to show their commitment to confronting Joe’s manipulative behavior, and a chance to make a strong stance against abuse. The statement that was recently released by Microcosm is too little, too late. I can’t believe it took 6 months to write a statement that could easily be summed up as “we agree with the statement made by the Athens Support Network.” Microcosm’s statement gives the impression that Joe has made more changes than he has.

I was hopeful that Microcosm might be able to take a strong stand against abuse. I feel like they failed. If this statement had come out immediately, and they had followed up with concrete examples of change months later, that would have been great. If they had waited six months and come up with a statement that firmly placed the responsibility of change on Joe’s feet, discussed concrete changes the collective was making to deal with his abusive behavior, and took a strong stand against abuse, that would have been great. This statement is very weak, particularly considering that Joe’s abuse has been known for years.

There have also been a number of incidents and issues that have come up since I made my request for a public statement that have contributed to my decision to not work with Microcosm anymore:

- I had asked that a public statement be made or that each collective member contact me with a statement about their beliefs. I received two statements, both of which referred to problems between Joe and Alex; neither called it abuse.

- Joe wrote a statement about his behavior, which I found extremely disturbing. Among other problems, it was very minimizing of Alex’s experiences of abuse, and minimizing of the extent of his current manipulative behavioral problems.

- I had a number of business discussions with people at Microcosm, where the communication was unclear and I felt like I was being manipulated.

- I was told by someone at Microcosm that they were unclear what exactly Microcosm would need to do for me to continue working with them. This was months after I had made these conditions known. Often, in accountability situations, the perpetrator and the people who benefit from continued friendship/relationship with the perpetrator want to know exactly what needs to be done to fix it. This need for an exact recipe puts the burden back on the survivor/people who support the survivor.

All of these things have added to my feeling that the collective is not taking Joe’s abusive patterns seriously.

I would like to take this chance to clear up some misconceptions about the accountability process I was involved in with Joe:

In late 2009, Joe told me that he had been in intensive therapy, had changed, and had no way of clearing his name. I helped set up an accountability team that was designed to confirm that Joe had recognized and changed his behavior; to help him deal with rumors, and to help him make amends. It was not designed to be a full accountability process.

Early on, it became clear that Joe still had very abusive/manipulative behaviors and that he was unwilling to own up to most of it. Joe had lied about the level of changes he had made. Because of this, the accountability process was disbanded.

I am disgusted by Joe’s abuse of his former partner, disgusted by his continuing manipulative behavior. I do not think he has even begun to make the kinds of fundamental changes necessary. I take abuse very seriously and while I think there are some people in Microcosm who are committed to working for a world without abuse, I also think there is complicity within the organization. I have been disturbed by my recent interactions with people working at Microcosm. I am glad they made a public statement, and that they have a counselor helping them deal with internal issues but am skeptical about their priorities, since they have not posted their public statement on their website. I feel mistrustful of the organization. I have a hard time not thinking that most people just signed on to the statement, hoping to save their pants. I understand that they have been working to be more transparent. I hope that they are able to change. I, however, will not be working with Microcosm any longer.

We'll be playing in Columbus May 24, with Pink Houses and Lose the Tude, at the Villa Villa Kula house.
then on may 30 in Athens OH with Street Legal at Smiling Skull
June 4, Chattanooga TN at the Do You Hear We fest!

My book is coming out next week!
Upcoming Reading Tours:
August 11: Asheville NC, Malaprops Bookstore 7:00
September 23: Baltimore MD, Anarchist book fair; 6:00
September 24: Philadelpia PA, Wooden Shoe Bookstore; 7:00
September 25: NYC, Bluestockings Bookstore
September 26: Brooklyn, Bookthug Nation
September 27: North Hampton, MA, Food For Thought
September 28: may be somewhere in Vermont
September 29-30: Montreal
October 1-2:
October 3: Toronto
October 4: Pittsburgh

I switched my theme to fix Google Search Console errors. It complained that I had pages and posts with breadcrumb issues, and switching the theme was the easiest way to fix it. You can understand the importance of Breadcrumbs in this article.  If you don’t fix these errors, then your site is less likely to […]

Millions of small business owners dream of incorporating. They’ve heard or read that incorporation is the “holy grail” of the world of commerce and has the power to bestow wealth the likes of Steph Curry’s net worth, happiness, and sound sleep. For decades, there has been a ton of misinformation floating around about what it...

Keep Reading

No one is a stranger to financial challenges and problems. They tend to happen with people in different degrees and at separate points in time for that matter. We can unanimously agree that we need money to achieve many of our goals but also for financial independence at the same time.  When we refer to...

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I found a fun game to play. It’s a pale substitute for actually being at conventions and hanging out with my friends, but it’s something. Question: What new character can I pull together to cosplay with stuff I already have at home? Answer:

July 13th, 2019
Mad Cool Festival in Spain
Scheduled to play from 11:10 pm (delayed until 11:25) - 1:25 am.
In the US that's a start time of 5:10 pm eastern, 4:10 central, 3:10 mountain, 2:10 pacific.
Livestream here (need a VPN if watching outside of Spain).

Setlist: Plainsong, Pictures of You, High, Just One Kiss, Lovesong, Last Dance, Burn, Fascination Street, Never Enough, Push, In Between Days, Just Like Heaven, From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea, A Night Like This, Play For Today, A Forest, Primary, Shake Dog Shake, 39, Disintegration

Encore: Lullaby, The Caterpillar, The Walk, Friday I'm in Love, Close to Me, Why Can't I Be You?, Boys Don't Cry.

Video: Full show from the livestream

July 20th, 2019
Colours of Ostrava in the Czech Republic
Scheduled to play from 9:15 - 11:30 pm.
In the US that's a start time of 3:15 pm eastern, 2:15 central, 1:15 mountain, 12:15 pacific.

Setlist: Shake Dog Shake, Burn, Fascination Street, Never Enough, Push, In Between Days, Just Like Heaven, Last Dance, From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea, A Strange Day, Just One Kiss, Lovesong, Pictures of You, High, A Night Like This, Play For Today, A Forest, Primary, 39, One Hundred Years

Encore: Lullaby, The Caterpillar, The Walk, Friday I'm in Love, Close to Me, Why Can't I Be You?, Boys Don't Cry.

#ShowOCESA

¡La espera terminó! Después de seis años de ausencia en nuestro país, @thecure regresa este 8 de octubre al Foro Sol en su única presentación????#TheCureMX

Preventa @Citibanamex 28 y 29 de agosto

Términos y condiciones para los 3MSI en https://t.co/97AaWmb53r pic.twitter.com/hBN2dcKrEg

— Ocesa Rock (@ocesa_rock) August 22, 2019

CONFIRMADO: @thecure vuelve a México y sí. En @RedCapital_ lo dijimos primero. Hace un mes.#FelizJueves https://t.co/GDnwui2fNd pic.twitter.com/m1k3n7XVJA

— Red Capital (@RedCapital_) August 22, 2019

¡CONFIRMADO! ¡The Cure anuncia concierto en México! https://t.co/rhoD01bNP8

— Chain of Flowers (@CraigatCoF) August 22, 2019

October 8th, 2019
The Foro Sol in Mexico City, Mexico
Cure are scheduled to play from 9:10 - 11:55 pm central time.

Setlist: Plainsong, Pictures of You, A Night Like This, Just One Kiss, Lovesong, Last Dance, 39, Burn, Fascination Street, Never Enough, Push, In Between Days, Just Like Heaven, From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea, Want, Play For Today, A Forest, Primary, Shake Dog Shake, Prayers for Rain, Disintegration

1st encore: Lullaby, The Caterpillar, The Lovecats, Hot Hot Hot, The Walk, Let's Go to Bed, Friday I'm in Love, Close to Me, Why Can't I Be You?

2nd encore: Three Imaginary Boys, Boys Don't Cry, Jumping Someone Else's Train, Grinding Halt, 10:15 Saturday Night, Killing An Arab.


Full schedule:

5 pm Doors open
5:40 - 6:05 Violet Vendetta
6:35 - 7:10 Rey Pila
7:40 - 8:25 The Twilight Sad
9:10 - 11:55 The Cure
Midnight Curfew

Tweets by CraigatCoF 

$100 Carraway sounded too good to be true… Photo courtesy of Courtney S. Bootleg golf bag likely from China. 

Please obey your watch… Photo courtesy of Joe Pace.

The post Adobe Announces $1M Community Fund to Aid Artists During Pandemic appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Adobe has launched a community fund to help creatives get through the coronavirus pandemic. Discover everything you need to know (and learn how to apply!).

The post Adobe Announces $1M Community Fund to Aid Artists During Pandemic appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

The post Color Photography Exercises to Help You Improve Your Skills appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

Use these fun color photography exercises to not only expand your knowledge of color but so you can use color more effectively in your photos.

The post Color Photography Exercises to Help You Improve Your Skills appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

Plato, through the character of Socrates, advances a now classic argument against democracy. When it comes to a matter that requires knowledge and skill, such as a medical issue, it would be foolish to decide by having the ignorant vote …

The best way I know to cook beans, and the one I always return to. A version of the much-loved Tuscan bean recipe - fagioli al fiasco. Traditionally, beans were baked overnight in a Chianti bottle placed near the embers of that night's fire. While not exactly authentic (no fire here), I do a riff on the general idea, using a low-temperature oven and enamel-lined pot.

Continue reading How to Cook Beans that are Tender, Creamy, and Nearly Perfect on 101 Cookbooks

A fun swirl cake made with a beautiful yellow olive oil cake paired with classic chocolate buttercream frosting that has been bolstered with an entire tablespoon of almond extract.

Continue reading Chocolate Almond Swirl Cake on 101 Cookbooks

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: It’s Complicated (2009) Claire: 4.2/5 stars, 8.2/10. Carolyn: 4/5 stars, 7.6/10. Native ratings: 3.7/5 stars Netflix, 6.5/10 IMDB. A romantic comedy, but in this case the emphasis is on the romance: It’s a Romance-Comedy not a Comedy-Romance. And yet, for some reason I could stand it. It was done very well. Streep […]

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: The Colony (2013) Claire: 3/5 stars, 7/10. Carolyn: 3/5 stars, 7/10. Evan: 3/5 stars, 6.5/10. Native ratings: 5.2/10 IMDB. Not available on Netflix. This was OK, but it could have been better. It started off really strong, and then had a tipping point where you realized it was Just Another Movie(tm). The […]

My face masks never quite worked with my ears. Prior attempts were not snug or comfortable on my face. And I had limited elastic narrow enough. So the clips came in handy for a fitting face mask. The elastic and face mask clips can be removed when washing the mask. CDC recommendations on cloth face […]

The post Clips to secure face mask comfortably and quickly appeared first on IKEA Hackers.

We had space in our kitchen for more counters, but to get the real thing easily cost double or triple this PLATSA hack!  This was incredibly easy to assemble, and bonus we can move it around if we wish for a kitchen trolley (which is also double the cost of this hack). I do wonder […]

The post Easy kitchen countertop from an unexpected storage unit appeared first on IKEA Hackers.