One of the worst chapters in President Donald Trump’s time in office so far was his display of willful neglect toward Puerto Rico in the run-up to and the period after Hurricane Maria in 2017. The storm devastated the island and left the millions of U.S. citizens struggling for the basics of survival — food, water, shelter, power and health care — for months. And according to the definitive study of the death toll, around 3,000 people are believed to have been killed in the storm and its aftermath.
As Politico persuasively argued, the Trump administration clearly provided significantly less support to Puerto Rico than it did to Texas hurricane victims a month earlier.
Workers from both the public and private sectors were joined by teachers and students from across the country, forming possibly largest strike in history.
Below are a selection of AP photographs from today’s general strike.
Mumbai: Trade union activists demonstrate, march and wave communist flags on the first day of a two-day general strike.
Bangalore: Another huge trade union demonstration. A large number of people carry the banner of the All India United Trade Union Centre (AIUTUC).
Lifetime recently premiered Surviving R.Kelly, the dream hampton-directed documentary series that sheds light on the multiple sexual, physical, and emotional assault allegations against the singer in six episodes. Compiling interviews with survivors, family members, collaborators, and psychologists, the film –– which chronicles Kelly’s deliberate and patterned behavior of abuse against Black girls and women –– has sparked outrage and calls to action for justice.
Alongside Jim DeRogatis’ extensive reporting on the accusations against Kelly dating back a decade, the recent exposure from Surviving has catalyzed the public’s fight to not only bring the singer to justice but to address sexual violence, particularly against Black women. Online, the #MuteRKelly movement and a demand that RCA Records immediately #DropRKelly aim to boycott Kelly, and in turn promote believing and protecting Black women and girls.
The effects of the conversation surrounding the case haven’t only been felt online; sex abuse hotlines have also seen a surge in calls since the series aired. When stories like these break out, it’s hard not to feel a little helpless. In light of the recent controversy, we’ve compiled a list of 5 organizations doing work to support sexual assault victims, many with a specific focus on advocating for women of color, that you can support.
Every year, little black-and-white birds called pied flycatchers make the lengthy trek from sub-saharan Africa to northern Europe to feast on caterpillars, claim a nest, and have babies. This typically goes off without a hitch, and the birds return to Africa a few months later, offspring in tow. But recently, some flycatchers have arrived to find their nesting sites occupied by haughty, territorial great tits. And those birds don’t just chase flycatchers away—they brutally attack them, kill them, and eat their brains.
As a black hole spins, it can produce a tightly-wound column of material, or jet, blasting away from it.
Cygnus A is a galaxy in the middle of a galaxy cluster that has such a jet shooting away from a supermassive black hole at its center.
Data from Chandra reveal this jet has bounced off a wall of hot gas, then punched a hole in a cloud of particles.
By studying jets like these, astronomers can learn more about how black holes influence their surroundings.
Schematic Views of Cygnus A
The hole is visible because the path of the rebounding jet between hotspots E and D is almost directly along the line of sight to Earth, as shown by the schematic figure depicting the view of Cygnus A from above. A similar rebounding of the jet likely occurred between hotspots A and B but the hole is not visible because the path is not along the Earth’s line of sight.
Cygnus A is a large galaxy that sits in the middle of a cluster of galaxies about 760 million light years from Earth. A supermassive black hole at the center of Cygnus A is rapidly growing as it pulls material swirling around it into its gravitational grasp. During this process, some of this material is redirected away from the black hole in the form of narrow beams, or jets. Such jets can significantly affect how the galaxy and its surroundings evolve.
In a deep observation that lasted 23 days, scientists used Chandra to create a highly detailed map of both the jets and the intergalactic gas, which they used to track the path of the jets from the black hole. The jet on the left expanded after ricocheting and created a hole in the surrounding cloud of particles that is between 50,000 and 100,000 light years deep and only 26,000 light years wide. For context, the Earth is located about 26,000 light years away from the center of the Milky Way galaxy. read more
The aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) is a lemur native to Madagascar. It is the largest nocturnal primate in the world. The aye-aye taps on trees and listens to find grubs to eat; it then uses its perpetually growing rodent-like teeth to chew a hole in the tree and a special thin middle finger to pull out the grubs.
Aye-ayes are endangered due to deforestation and local superstition. They are often viewed as a harbinger of evil and killed on sight. Others believe that if an aye-aye points its narrowest finger at someone, they are marked for death.
Some say the appearance of an aye-aye in a village predicts the death of a villager, and the only way to prevent this is to kill it. The Sakalava people go so far as to claim aye-ayes sneak into houses through the thatched roofs and murder the sleeping occupants by using their middle finger to puncture the victim’s aorta. However, conservation of the species has been aided greatly by captive breeding. (xx)
the dusky lory is a medium-sized parrot native to new guinea. this bird is black with two ‘phases’ - orange & red markings or yellow markings. like other members of the lory family, the dusky lory feeds on fruit and nectar, and typically lives in humid rainforests. the dusky lory is not endangered, but is rare in captivity.
Sea stars dance to their own rhythm: This one is called “The Ambulacral Groove.”
Sea stars amble about with hundreds of tiny tube feet—lovely hydraulically powered limbs unique to echinoderms, which include sea urchins and sea cucumbers. Often equipped with sticky mucus and small suction cups, tube feet make sea stars highly ambulatory.
Sea stars have five V-shaped channels for their tube feet to take a hike. These ambulacral grooves are named after the latin “ambulacrum”, meaning a walk planted with trees. The term has even deeper roots in the Indo-European “ambhi”, meaning “around.”
Of course, having your bare feet exposed to the seafloor can be a bit touchy—fortunately, the ambulacral grooves are protected by spines and ossicles that can close off the tube feet from the rest of the world if things get socked in.
Tube feet are groovy, to say the least. And if you thought a two-step was tough, try a hundred step!
Homework written by a school kid in ancient Egypt has been preserved since the second century A.D. And the words on the slab may sound familiar to any kid whose parents worry about them falling in with a bad crowd.
An ancient lesson preserved on a wood-mounted wax slab about the size of a Kindle reads: “You should accept advice from a wise man only” and “You cannot trust all your friends.”
Acquired by the British Library in 1892, the tablet hasn’t been publicly displayed since the 1970s. The homework slab will be featured in an upcoming British Library exhibit called “Writing: Making Your Mark,” which traces the evolution of writing over 5,000 years of human history, library representatives said in a statement. Read more.
![historyarchaeologyartefacts:
“Pendant. Eagle with lion’s head: gold/ lapis lazuli/ copper. The treasure of Ur. 2500 B.C. [960 x 860]
”](https://66.media.tumblr.com/265b53fee61d0e38db73fc9d804e6990/tumblr_pl3w9pT8ty1vx1np0o1_500.png)
