All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

The Avengers star Patrick Macnee dies in California aged 93

Actor Patrick Macnee, best known as bowler-hatted secret agent John Steed in the 1960s TV series The Avengers, dies at the age of 93 at home in California. RIP – he was a goon one and good sense of humor.

via The Avengers star Patrick Macnee dies in California aged 93.

9 Iconic Photographs from African American History

These iconic photographs below were selected from the book Through the African American Lens by TIME magazine. Many of the images in the book are taken by famous photographers such as Spider Martin, Gordon Parks, Ernest C. Withers, Wayne F. Miller, and Henri Cartier-Bresson, serve as a view into the dynamic history of Americans of African descent.

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Photographer Zack Brown shooting dapper men in Harlem, ca. 1937. (Eliot Elisofon—Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, © Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin)

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Elks Parade, Harlem, 1938. (Jack Manning—Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, © Estate of Jack Manning)

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African American Jewish Congregation in Harlem, children studying, 1940. (Alexander Alland—Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, © Alexander Alland Jr.)

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An afternoon game at Table 2, from the series The Way of Life of the Northern Negro, 1946-1948. (Wayne F. Miller—Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, © Wayne F. Miller)

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Ernie Banks, Larry Doby, Matty Brescia, Jackie Robinson, Martin’s Stadium, Memphis, Tennessee, 1953. (Ernest C. Withers—Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, © Ernest C. Withers Trust)

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Maryn McKenna: What do we do when antibiotics don’t work any more? | TED Talk | TED.com

Penicillin changed everything. Infections that had previously killed were suddenly quickly curable. Yet as Maryn McKenna shares in this sobering talk, we’ve squandered the advantages afforded us by that and later antibiotics. Drug-resistant bacteria mean we’re entering a post-antibiotic world — and it won’t be pretty. There are, however, things we can do … if we start right now.

via Maryn McKenna: What do we do when antibiotics don’t work any more? | TED Talk | TED.com.

vintage everyday: 10 Incredible Essential Products Made by Women During the First World War

Women pit brow workers of the Wigan Coal and Iron Company, 1918. These women sorted coal and moved heavy tubs on the surface of a coal mine – work that was dirty and physically demanding. Jobs like these had been done by working class women before the war and continued to be important in wartime.

via vintage everyday: 10 Incredible Essential Products Made by Women During the First World War.

Why My Son Needs Feminism

Media Diversified

by Jendella Benson

Photographed by Jendella Photographed by Jendella

Once upon a time I seriously considered not having children. “Why bring an innocent life into this world of tragedy and pain?” I reasoned. Now, as a mother-to-be, the thought of what this world has to offer my child still scares me, and yet the thought of what my child has to offer this world fills me with hope. I also wonder what I have to offer and what the culmination of my life experiences so far – I’m only in my mid-twenties – can bring to bear on raising another human being.

As someone who identifies as a black feminist, I’ve always had no doubt in my mind how I’d raise my daughter, should I have her, and much of this is put into practice as I interact with my many younger female relatives. But what about my son? Now that I’m 99%…

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Dear MTV Lebanon, Lebanese ARE Racist | A Separate State of Mind | A Lebanese Blog

A few months ago, my hometown decided to enforce a curfew on Syrians. Because that wasn’t enough, some men decided they wanted to form night guard duties, weapons and all, against those Syrians. It wasn’t even a hidden thing. It was a Ebrine normality. In between their “guard” duties, some of those men physically assaulted many Syrians simply because they existed outside of their rooms beyond their forced curfew. A pregnant Syrian woman had to take permission to go out of her house to the hospital to give birth. And the examples are ever-flowing.

via Dear MTV Lebanon, Lebanese ARE Racist | A Separate State of Mind | A Lebanese Blog.

In Egypt, fearing the worst | World | DW.COM | 23.06.2015 Back to the Future of Dictatorship

When Esraa disappeared without a trace, Duaa Mahfouz El-Taweel said she immediately knew what to do: The next day, she ripped off all the photos decorating her elder sister’s bedroom walls. Three weeks later, Duaa, a softly-spoken 22 year-old student, reached for her mobile phone and scrolled through her pictures. She pointed to a grainy, slightly skewed shot showing several colorful collages of her sister smiling into the camera, laughing and hugging friends. Today, only a few shreds of blue-tack remain stuck to the walls.

Sitting on her sister’s bed in a small flat in a lower class neighborhood in Cairo, the many cuddly toys Esraa loved so much lined up neatly beside her, Duaa shrugged. “Everyone knows you have to do that.”

It was, she said, the normal thing to do once a relative or friend went missing: “We try to hide as much stuff as possible that tells you what kind of a person this really is.” Otherwise, she added matter-of-factly, the intelligence services might decide to abduct anyone else shown in the photos. Three of her close friends and about a dozen of her acquaintances had been detained in recent months and she was taking no risks.

via In Egypt, fearing the worst | World | DW.COM | 23.06.2015.