My Favorite Bit this week was about self-improvement through proactive education on the part of Garry Civitello who took it upon himself to acknowledge his perception of black people was misinformed and update his worldview. He was graciously helped in this journey by Heather McGhee, “the president of Demos, a progressive public policy organization that advocates for equality” who responded to Civitello’s appeal for education by befriending him and providing an African-American perspective that had been missing from his life.
To try to understand the enemies of social justice Theo Wilson, a black man, went undercover online as a white supremacist to interact with people who would hate him without cause should they ever meet in person. A recent linguistic data analysis of “alt-right” comments on Reddit shows how toxic online communities are converging around The_Donald subreddit which has become the gathering place for members of hate groups.
Kudos to an up-and-coming political reporter; Gabe Fleisher is just starting his sophomore year of high school and already has a daily email newsletter followed by correspondents and anchors from national news organizations. One story he is likely reporting on involves pro-Russian Twitter bots who are intermixing support for right-wing causes with Kremlin talking points.
The hipster and gentrifying neighborhood of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg has tried to preserve affordable rent for its residents by employing the innovative strategy of pre-empting real estate purchases in the neighborhood.
Lots of scientific research to learn about this week with some scientists working to catalog all 37 trillion human cells while others turn to plastic-eating caterpillars to see what secrets these animals might hold in helping to solve humanity’s waste problem.
There have also been balls of fire ants floating through floodwaters (and the specter of health consequences from mold that develops when the waters recede).
Major food conglomerates are joining together to use technology to improve public safety (and their bottom lines) by using IBM’s blockchain software to keep track of contamination in the global food supply.
Some social science articles take a look include at the history of marriage between close relatives and where these relationships are still common in the world today as well as one the greatest tricks humans perform in seamlessly taking turns while talking to each other.
When Melissa Byrne took the understandable step of protesting President Trump the Secret Service had a number of questions when investigating her motives and intentions. Former President Obama also lodged his own protest of President Trump this week by criticizing his decision to rescind DACA and leave Dreamers vulnerable to deportation to countries they left as children.
That’s all for your week in review. If you found one of these BogelBits cool why don’t you share it with a friend? We appreciate your support and as always, Contact Us online or send us an email at [email protected].
Have a great rest of your week!