How often do you ride on a car? Even if you don’t have your own car, you must have seen one. I want to start this piece with a small challenge for you. Using only your memory, recall it in your mind a car you often see.
Okay, I see the wheels, the window, and the overall car frame. Does it look anything like this?
Oh but wait, what about the headlights and tail lights? Where’s the handle for opening the doors? And where’re the mirrors?
Why would we miss so many of those things? Don’t we all have a clear idea what a car is like?
We believe that we know way more than we actually do.
Yes we do. In a study conducted at Yale, graduate students were asked about their understanding in everyday devices like toilets. Most thought that they were familiar with the device, only after they were asked to explain step-by-step how the device works did they find out how ignorant they were. Toilets are more complicated than they look.
We believe that we know way more than we do because most of the time, we only need to rely on others’ expertise to operate something. Take the bicycle and toilets as examples, we don’t really need to figure out how the whole thing works in order to operate them. As written by the authors of The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone,
“One implication of the naturalness with which we divide cognitive labor is that there’s “no sharp boundary between one person’s ideas and knowledge, and those of other members of the group”
Very often, our knowledge and beliefs are actually someone elses’ without us even realizing it. Maybe you’ve already started to be more aware of this fact especially when the social media has such a great impact on our daily lives these days.
When deep understanding is not always required, biases arise.
The tendency that people embrace only information that supports their own beliefs is commonly known as “confirmation bias”, and it is dangerous. When we believe what we think is always right, our faulty thinking will harm the truth and disrupt our growth.
Did everyone really understand the political situations in the US before they voiced out their opinions? And it’s pretty obvious that not everyone in the UK understood the whole Brexit thing before they voted for it, right? These are just some of the many examples of how others’ beliefs and knowledge got easily spread over the internet and people just picked up those thoughts without further understanding the truth.
Business journalists often suffer from the confirmation bias. In the books The Art of Thinking Clearly, there’s an example about a statement “Google is so successful because the company nurtures a culture of creativity”, and how once this idea goes on paper, journalists only need to support the statement by mentioning other same successful companies without seeking disconfirming evidence. No more different perspectives, people will always see just one tip of the iceberg.
When winning becomes more important than reasoning, chaos come.
On the other hand, when presented with someone else’s argument, we tend to be more skeptical; and there comes the term “myside bias”.
In an experiment performed by a cognitive scientist Hugo Mercier, participants had to answer some questions, and later they were presented their own answers but were made to believe those were others’ answers. They became a lot more critical about the answers than when they were simply asked to modify their answers to be better.
In some situations, when winning seems to be more beneficial, reasoning clearly becomes unimportant to most of us. And this makes us more blinded than ever to spot out our own weaknesses.
To think more clearly, “murder your darlings”.
“Murder your darlings” is the literary critic Arthur Quiller-Couch’s advice for writers who are reluctant to cut their cherished redundant sentences in their works. We can apply this concept to how we think too.
To fight against biases, let go of your “cherished thoughts” that you have to be right, and set out to find disconfirming evidence of all your beliefs — whether they be relationships, political views or career objectives. The stronger you believe in something, the more you should seek out alternative views of it.
The rule of three
An even more effective way to overcome bias is using the rule of three— identify three potential causes of an outcome. In fact, the more possibilities you can come up with, the less biased you’d be towards any single outcome.
Say next time, if you see an outcome that isn’t what you expect at work, instead of thinking it must be that irresponsible and careless guy who messed up the stuff, try to think of three potential causes: Maybe there’re instructions missing at the beginning? Maybe the guy already did his job but something went wrong afterwards? Maybe it’s something external that affected the outcome of this?
Thinking through alternative possibilities help unravel the unnecessary attachments we have to the “cherished” thoughts, so we can have a more complete picture of how things are. When you learn to “murder your darlings” and embrace different views, your horizon will be widened and you’ll see a limitless world.
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Viola Davis is an Oscar winner! On Sunday night, she took home the best supporting actress trophy for her brilliant work in Fences (which she also won a Tony for), and her passionate, tearful speech had everyone in the audience (and at home) getting emotional. After profusely thanking Fences playwright August Wilson and costar Denzel Washington, Davis gushed about her family. "To Dan and Mary Alice Davis, who were and are the center of my universe, the people who taught me good or bad how to fail, how to love, how to hold, how to lose," she said of her parents, before directing her gaze at husband Julius Tennon. "You teach me every day how to live and how to love. I'm so glad you are the foundation of my life."
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Looking just as sleek and well designed as some of the best smartwatches available on the market at the moment a new smartwatch from South Korean developer Dot is set to hit shelves soon that's chosen to take a different direction to the rest in its quest to allow the blind to also enjoy the use of assistive watches. Others already do this through audio assistance however The Dot is capable of displaying up to four braille characters on its face at any one time which makes it the first of its kind.
Using four active dynamic braille cells at a time however doesn't come without its challenges and although simple in appearance the Dot took nearly three years to develop, presenting challenges surrounding the watches durability and usability along the way. Aside from being able to read from the four cells made from six balls each, users will also be able to send simple responses to messages through the watches side buttons.
The CEO and founder of Dot, Eric Juyoon Kim, says that the project was inspired after noticing how a blind classmate was carrying around so many books whilst fellow classmates were mostly using tablets. After learning that the books were all braille he felt compelled to make newer technology more accessible to the blind, The Dot promising to be the first of many products.
Just like most smartwatches The Dot will connect to smartphones via Bluetooth and has an Open API which will allow anyone to develop new apps for it. Soon Dot will start delivering its watches to the some 140,000 people that backed it, including Stevie Wonder according to the company, whilst it was also be hitting stores in London in March, 2017 for $320 (price may very depending on country). You can find out more about the watch here.
Wheels feeling deflated? Here are 2 leg workouts for mass! These 2 leg workouts will help you build strength and mass to your legs today.
Today we are going to force your legs to grow. First we will smash them with some super heavy weight using a new training method called "Crash Contraction Cluster Sets". This will stimulate the muscle fibers in your legs that are most likely to grow.
Then we will use wingate sprints to pump so much blood into your legs they will literally feel like they are going to POP!
This will force your legs to adapt to the increased blood volume and make them grow and literally look bigger after just one workout.
Now I'm not going to lie... these two leg workouts are pretty brutal, but if you push through you will a set of wheels you can be proud of.
Make sure all the exercises are performed with proper form because bad form will not allow your leg muscles to contract fully and it will lead to stick legs... or worse, injury.
Watch the video to make sure you understand how to properly perform each leg exercise.
Here is today's leg workout:
A. Barbell Back Squat 6 sets 3+3+3+3* 3-4 min rest
B. Barbell Front Squat 6 sets 8-10 reps 2-3 min rest
C. Any Calf Machine 6 sets 20 reps 30 sec rest
@4:34 - Wingate Leg Workout
If your gym doesn't have a wingate sprint bike you can also use a spin bike to get a very similar effect. Instead of using weighted resistance, you will need to manually adjust the brakes on the spin bike to get the appropriate amount of resistance.
If you have further questions on this technique or any part of this leg workout just let me know below.
My team and I do our best to respond to every question and we trust you'll love this advanced leg workout for mass.
About Vince Del Monte:
Vince Del Monte is on a mission to transform the mind, body and lives of at least 1,000, 000 skinny guys & gals by the year 2020. Through our "Live Large" and "Man Up" attitude, science-based programming, social and private member communities we are here to empower, educate, guide and inspire you to become the best version of yourself possible. Thank you for allowing us to help you build a world-class body and life!
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2 pounds grass fed stew meat 2 tbsp grass fed or organic butter 2 cups hot water 1 tsp worcestershire sauce 1 clove garlic 1 medium onion, chopped 2 bay leaves 1 tbsp salt 1 tsp organic cane sugar 1 tsp paprika 1/4 tsp pepper dash of cloves 6 medium carrots sliced 4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed (medium to large in size) peas (optional) 1-3 tsp arrowroot powder and 1-3 tsp cold water Directions
Brown meat in butter on medium high heat. Add 2 cups water and all spices: Worcestershire sauce, garlic, onion, bay leaves, salt, sugar, paprika, pepper, and cloves. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours, stirring often. Remove bay leaves and garlic. Add vegetables. Cover and cook for 25-30 minutes, or until vegetables are done. If adding peas, add in the last 5 minutes of cooking the vegetables. Slowly blend 1 tsp of arrowroot powder with 1 tsp of water. Pour into stew to thicken. If you would like it thicker, add another tsp of arrowroot powder/water mixture. If it still isn't thick enough, repeat. Once the stew starts to thicken, turn the burner off immediately. Keep in mind, the stew will thicken as it cools.
Here’s a nifty meal helper for when you have a busy week coming up: make-ahead alfredo sauce!
The sauce can be made in about 10 minutes and then stashed in the fridge until you need it. Reheat and toss with pasta, veggies, or anything that could use a little saucy, cheesy assistance to make it delicious.
Fellow Paleo Friends, You're here because you already know that the Paleo Diet is a great thing.That there’s no other diet on earth that delivers so many across the board health benefits WITHOUT calorie counting, hype or gimmicks.As I'm sure you've heard, countless individuals around the world have turned to the Paleo Diet and way of living in order to regain their health, energy, vitality and power. Just a few of the benefits user report are: Increased Energy Clearer, Smoother Skin Healthy Weight Loss Greater Mental Clarity Enhanced Libido Leaner, Stronger muscles Stronger Immune System The Paleo Diet and similarly, the Paleo Recipes you're about to discover work by two fundamental principles: 1. Put maximum nutrition INTO your body... and... 2. Reduce or eliminate toxins and "interference". Firstly, natural foods from plants and animals especially when organic and untouched by the horrors of modern food manufacturing, are loaded with essential nutrition.
The second principle is just as fundamental, but less apparent. It means that when we avoid toxins hidden in packaged/processed food... and the many hidden toxins in commercial meat, fruits and vegetables...
Our bodies begin to clean out and detoxify. This allows our cells to expend less energy in actually fighting off foreign substances and more on rebuilding, growth and rejuvenation. The result? We look better, feel better, and perform better. Come discover the new you at PaleoKitchen.org!
FX just announced that Ryan Murphy’s newest anthology series, Feud, has not only been renewed for a second season, but that Season 2 will focus on Prince Charles and Princess Diana!
Murphy will write the 10-episode Feud: Charles and Diana with Jon Robin Baitz (The Slap, Brothers & Sisters).
At this time, no additional details are known about Feud Season 2, other than that it will premiere in 2018.
That said, Murphy has a penchant for luring A-list talent to television for his various FX anthologies: Annette Bening and Matthew Broderick will star in the Hurricane Katrina-centric second season of American Crime Story, while Susan Sarandon and Catherine Zeta-Jones join Murphy mainstay Jessica Lange in the first season of Feud, about Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, which premieres March 5. So, the iconic roles in Feud: Charles and Diana are sure to be highly coveted gigs.
Why: Improves capacity of stability and balance in the hip by training it in different directions, on varying planes. A progression from the Single Leg Deadlift.
How: 1. Standing with arms by your sides and a slight bend in the right knee, raise the left leg slightly off the ground. 2. Hinge forward at the waist and lift the left leg straight behind you until your chest is parallel to the floor. Engage your hamstring and glute of the right leg planted on the ground and come back to standing. 3. Turn 45 degrees towards the standing leg and repeat the same hinging action. This is working internal rotation at the hips. 4. Turn 45 degrees the other way and hinge. This is working external rotation. 5. Repeat each reach 5 times per leg.
Instructions on how to complete Cable Squats, as part of Wellki's comprehensive exercise video library.
For a detailed look at this exercise, check out our EXERCISES page: http://www.wellki.com/fitness/library/exercises/item/112-exercise-legs-cable-squats
Steps:
1. Using a straight-bar attachment, attach it to the lowest rung on a cable pulley machine
2. Bring your shoulders back, and step back a few feet.
3. Holding on to the bar with an overhand grips, drop down into a low squat, by bending your knees.
4. Coming down to a 90 degree bend or lower, hold for a count at the bottom of the movement.
5. Press back up by engaging the leg and glute muscles of the lower body.
6. Repeat the exercise as many times as necessary
For all other exercises in our video library, click on the Exercises Home Page: http://www.wellki.com/fitness/library/exercises/
Is Wolverine getting old? Think of this renegade, genre-defying chapter in the film franchise as X-Men: The AARP Years. Don't panic: Logan is a hard-ass, R-rated rager that explodes with action. But what makes it indelibly raw and touching is the sight of mutant heroes raging against the dying of the light. The year is 2029, and the X-Men have gone the way of the T-Rex. No mutant births have been recorded for 25 years. The artist formerly known as Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is now a boozer who limps, wears glasses and scrapes out a living by chauffeuring bachelorette parties.
It's ironic that Jackman, having a 10th and final go at the career-defining role that made him a star, has never been better or more emotionally alive. Logan's claws are slow on the draw and his self-healing powers are on the fritz, but he's committed to caring for his mentor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart, so good you want to applaud). It's not easy watching Professor X suffer seizures that rattle his telepathic brain and shake up anyone in the vicinity. Helping Logan keep Charles on his meds and the world from imploding is Caliban (Stephen Merchant), a light-sensitive, albino mutant with the power to track approaching enemies. All three live in seclusion in a vacant smelting plant in El Paso, Texas, that looks like the land time forgot. Pretty bleak. Then they get discovered. And director James Mangold (Walk the Line, 3:10 to Yuma, The Wolverine), in peak form and working deep and true, unleashes the dogs of war.
Logan has the shape of a classic western. Shane is directly referenced in one scene and the elegiac tone of the film recalls Clint Eastwood's Oscar-winning Unforgiven. And like those old horse operas, Mangold is investigates the nature of heroism by giving the grizzled Wolverine someone new to protect. She's a mute, 11-year-old girl named Laura and, as played by smashing newcomer Dafne Keen, she's close enough to Wolverine in powers to be a chip off the old block of adamantium. It's Laura who convinces Logan and Charles to hit the road to North Dakota, the location of what she believes is an Eden for young mutants. (The kid read about it in an X-Men comic book, which Logan hilariously treats as fake news.) In hot pursuit are Dr. Zander Rice (Richard E. Grant), a bioengineer whose dirty work is done by the cybernetic Reavers, led by Donald Pierce (Narcos' Boyd Holbrook). This henchman is one twisted terror, hiding his malice behind a Texas twang and a serious fanboy crush on Wolverine. He also may be the first movie villain of the new millennium named Donald. We're sensing a trend.
As to what happens next ... let's just say that you should expect the most violent showdowns yet in the series, as well as scenes of wrenching emotion. Loosely based on Mark Millar and Steve McNiven's comic-book Old Man Logan, the script that Mangold wrote with Scott Frank and Michael Green tempers its brutality with a testament to family and a need to belong that crosses borders and bloodlines. Make no mistake, Logan earns its tears. If Jackman and Stewart are serious about this being their mutual X-Men swan song, they could not have crafted a more heartfelt valedictory.
This is such an easy and delicious dish to prepare. All you need are three ingredients. Even vegetable skeptics love this recipe because roasting brings out the sweetness of the vegetable, which makes it really delicious.
Trim and wash cauliflower. Cut cauliflower head into quarters. Then cut across head into ¼-inch-thick slices. Toss cauliflower slices, olive oil, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Spread out cauliflower in a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast until tender and golden brown about 20 minutes.
In order to avoid several health problems, it is crucial to consume organic food products which are made with good quality ingredients. Healthy food products supply nutrition, energy and efficiency in your body. Get more information on:- http://www.Stockmansdaughter.com.au/ingredients/
Train like an athlete and improve your fighting skills with this Muay Thai leg workout from trainer Tyler Peterson. Using a series of push kicks and knee strikes, Tyler shows you moves that will target your leg muscles to improve strength, balance, and reaction time
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MUAY THAI: At-Home Leg Workout – GQ's Fighting Weight Series
DONALD Trump has been compared with many past politicians—Richard Nixon for his suspicion of the press and Warren Harding for his isolationism are two obvious examples. Steve Bannon, Mr Trump’s alt-right hand man, has just compared him with William Jennings Bryan, who ran unsuccessfully for President in 1896, 1904 and 1908 on the Democratic ticket.
Mr Bannon said that Mr Trump is an orator in the class of Bryan, although that seems pretty hard to credit. The current President has displayed nothing like the eloquence used by Bryan in his most famous speech, to the 1896 Democratic convention.
You come to us and tell us that the great cities are in favour of the gold standard. I tell you that the great cities rest upon these broad and fertile prairies. Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic. But destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country.
Having behind us the commercial interests and the labouring interests and all the toiling masses, we shall answer their demands for a...Continue reading
Soccer Workouts ► How To Get Stronger Legs For Soccer at home with football workouts and soccer exercises. This soccer workout will teach you how to get strong legs for soccer in the comfort of your own home. These football exercises and soccer leg workout is also great for soccer conditioning and football conditioning.Thanks for watching this soccer fitness video from Progressive Soccer Training.
Want to learn how to get stronger legs for soccer? The truth is you need to do soccer exercises in the gym, like squats. You can only get so strong with football exercises and soccer exercises like this at home because your body becomes comfortable lifting the same weight.
These soccer workouts are great BUT you need to start to squat to increase your soccer fitness and power.
Want more soccer exercises and soccer workouts for strength and speed to try at home? I made this soccer workout a while ago:
Soccer Workouts For Strength And Speed ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-FfASMN-Ng
Here are some football exercises that are great for football conditioning and improving football fitness in players of all ages and abilities:
Football Conditioning and Football Exercises for fitness: ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1BkgSaQdeQ
Here is another video I made on soccer fitness that is also a great motivator for players. Use these soccer conditioning exercises if you serious about getting in great shape for the season:
Soccer Fitness Drills / No Excuses! ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qRFkFRA1G4
Stay connected on social media! I release tons of content that you won’t find on YouTube.
First and most importantly... SUBSCRIBE to Progressive Soccer on YouTube: ► http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=ProgressiveSoccer
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These at home soccer workouts will teach you how to get stronger legs and take your soccer conditioning to the next level but only if you actually put in the work.
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Thanks for watching this video: Soccer Workouts ► How To Get Stronger Legs For Soccer at home
Want to start a raw food diet? Now is the time! Here are 10 easy ways that you can start succeeding in living a FullyRaw lifestyle! http://youtu.be/gLHUF8Tw_Dc
Living raw is not about eating a "diet," it's about living a healthy LIFESTYLE. It's about thriving, allowing your foods to nourish your body and send your soul soaring! There are many ways to eat a raw foods diet. Ironically, some of these ways are not healthy at all. Eating FullyRaw focuses on thriving via a low fat raw vegan lifestyle (80/10/10), which emphasizes consuming more fruits and greens than gourmet prepared dishes with nuts or seeds. My diet consists primarily of fruits and greens, which are the most nutrient dense foods. These foods have brought me absolute health, and I want to share my healthy lifestyle with you!
10 Easy Steps to Start Eating a Raw Food Diet:
1. Stock up on Fruits! (Throw out ALL junk and make SURE that you have enough in your house to last you at least a week!) 2. Make your first meal of the day a juice or smoothie. (32-64 oz) Try my Holy Grale, V8 Juice, or Orange Spinach Basil Smoothie! YUM! 3. Make your second meal a huge platter of fruit! Eat all the fruit that you care for and preferably mono-meal. This is the easiest on digestion. Examples of a fruit meal are bananas (7-15), oranges (10-15), pears (8-10), grapes (whole 2 lb bag), apples (7-10), persimmons (10), etc. Gravitate towards sweeter fruits because these have a higher calorie ratio per unit of volume. If you are worried about not being able to eat as much as you need, remember that your stomach is a muscle and that it can expand AND contract when "exercised" properly. Yes, you can eat more expensive fruits (berries, cherries, etc)-- it's personal and monetary preference! 4. For your dinner, eat a small plate of fruit and a large salad! Start with juicy fruits like citrus (5-6 pieces) and end with a GIANT Rainbow Salad. Consume about 1-2 heads of leafy greens if you can. Try my Epic Raw Marinara as a dressing and add whatever veggie toppings you want! Make it colorful and filled with life! 5. Educate yourself! Check out the FAQ page at http://www.fullyraw.com 6. Exercise! Get at least 20 minutes to an hour a day at least! 7. Find a community with whom you can share this blessing! Join a co-op like http://www.rawfullyorganic.com or find a potluck near your via meetup sites like www.meetup.com. You can also post to find others on my facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/fullyrawkristina. You're not in this alone, and when you have community, you will feel like you have a support team around you all the time! It's much more fun to have friends with common interests! :) 8. Get rest! Sleep! you need recovery time! 9. Eat enough... cronometer until you get used to how much your body needs 10. Be gentle with yourself! Love yourself!
Want to be inspired daily to be FullyRaw? Keep up with Kristina here:
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From left: Rachel Griffiths, Mary-Louise Parker, Guy Pearce, Michael Kenneth Williams. Phil Bray / ABC
ID: 10595303
Four years ago, Dustin Lance Black heard that ABC — as in the American Broadcasting Company — was looking for LGBT-themed properties. The filmmaker and producer, who had won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for 2008’s radical biopic Milk, found it to be “unbelievable” that a traditional broadcast network would embark on such a project, especially after having endured the risks and frustrations of trying to secure funding for Milk. “I had Gus Van Sant, I had Sean Penn, I had James Franco,” Black told BuzzFeed News, “and I couldn’t get anybody interested.” (That is, until Focus Features, which had found success in Brokeback Mountain, came along.)
The fact that that ABC — “the network I was allowed to watch when I was, like, 8 years old and in a Texas, military, Mormon home” — was soliciting LGBT pitches was “mind-blowing,” Black said over coffee and a scone recently in West Hollywood.
Black moved quickly on the opportunity: His agent set up a meeting with the network, and the result is When We Rise, a four-part, eight-hour scripted miniseries that begins airing Monday, Feb. 27 at 9 p.m. and concludes Friday (it will skip a night for ABC to air Donald Trump’s address to Congress on Tuesday). A dramatic retelling of the story of the LGBT civil rights movement in the United States, it’s massive in scope, but focuses on a few key players who walk viewers through history. It stars Guy Pearce, Mary-Louise Parker, Rachel Griffiths, Michael Kenneth Williams, T.R. Knight, Phylicia Rashad, and Whoopi Goldberg, among others (including blink-and-you’ll-miss-them cameos, like Debra Winger as Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan).
It was Black who originally pitched the project as a miniseries. “I never thought it was a series. And it was not a movie,” he said. “Movies are, like, a poem. Movies — you can express a feeling or an idea. If you want to tell a story that feels more like a novel or a book, I think miniseries are the home for that.”
And he wanted ABC to fund an “extensive research period” during which he could find his own source material (rather than adapt other people’s work). They agreed; he took a full year to do it.
Black called these years in his professional life “not fruitful, financially.” He could have gone to a premium cable channel such as HBO or Showtime, and he probably would have earned “more time, and more money.” But, he said: “I would have had this nagging feeling the entire time that I was wasting all our energy because it would be preaching to the choir in the end. I guess I exchanged my financial well-being for ABC’s audience. Because their audience is my family, their audience is who I grew up with.”
Why When We Rise’s story doesn’t begin with Stonewall
Cleve (Austin P. McKenzie), left, and others run from tear gas at a San Francisco protest. ABC
ID: 10606789
Though the Stonewall Riots of 1969 are generally understood to be the start of the LGBT civil rights movement, Black intentionally didn’t kick off When We Rise there.
There was a time when he considered trying to depict what happened during those rebellious nights and days of demonstrations, but the recollections from protesters were so hazy and implausible that “none of the stories matched up.”
Black asked one source about his experiences at the Stonewall Inn. He said the source responded, “Lance, you are completely missing the point. … These are all fabulous stories, aren’t they?”; yes, they were, he agreed. “He’s like, ‘The day before Stonewall, we didn’t think we deserved a fabulous story. The day after Stonewall, we knew we did. Everyone kind of made up their own version of it because we fuckin’ thought we deserved a story for the first time in our lives. That’s Stonewall.’”
“It gave me the chills,” he said.
And so Black decided that Stonewall should be the inspiration but not the root of When We Rise.
Instead, the series opens in the year 2006, with activist Cleve Jones (Guy Pearce) speaking to an unnamed young man (Douglas Smith) who’s recording the interview. “When did you know you had to rise up and fight back?” the kid asks Jones. “Oh, pay attention,” Jones snaps. “It wasn’t just me who heard the call. It was all of us.”
Then it flashes back to 1972, and a high-school-aged Cleve (played by Austin P. McKenzie) is handing out anti-war leaflets at a peace rally in Phoenix. Later, he spies — and surreptitiously takes — a copy of Life magazine’s “Year in Pictures” issue for 1971 that says “Gay Liberation” in block letters on its cover, counting the nascent movement among the big stories of the year. The magazine itself becomes the device that connects the series’ main characters. Ken Jones (Jonathan Majors) sees it on the battleship he’s on in the South China Sea during the Vietnam War; Roma Guy (Emily Skeggs) reads it on a plane as she leaves her Peace Corps stint in Africa.
“The first thing I found that seemed universal in the interviews I did is that almost every single person of a certain age could point to the moment they saw Life magazine’s year in review hit their coffee table or their mailbox, no matter where they lived, because everybody got that,” Black said. “You flipped it open, and for the first time, it wasn’t just filled with horrible things about monstrous gay people. It actually talked about gay and God, it talked about rising up in New York, and they showed these pictures of San Francisco that made it look gay mecca.
“I thought, That’s the beginning for this.“
How Black discovered the sources who then became the central characters in When We Rise
Emily Skeggs as Roma Guy, with McKenzie as Cleve Jones. ABC
ID: 10606878
Black already knew Cleve Jones: In 2006, he went to Palm Springs to interview Jones about Harvey Milk, for whom he had worked, for Milk research. “He not only told me the stories of how he did what he did, and who Harvey Milk was,” Black said of Jones, “but he also then looked at me and said, ‘What is it like to be a part of the first generation in this country with no purpose? And what are you going to do about it?’”
That call to action is in When We Rise, and the unnamed character played by Douglas Smith is a stand-in for Black. (Black knows Smith from HBO’s Big Love; Black was a writer for the show, and Smith played the character Ben Henrickson, a rebellious son of polygamous Mormons. “Doug Smith has been playing versions of me for a generation now,” Black said.)
Black had a list of criteria for the characters in When We Rise. He wanted them to be people who had worked across social justice coalitions — particularly the anti-war movement, women’s equality, and the black civil rights movement — and hadn’t focused solely on LGBT issues. He also wanted them to be “lifetime activists,” which cut the list of possibilities way down, “because it’s such a difficult job,” Black said.
And he wanted his main characters to be still be alive — survivors — in real life, defying the usual fates of LGBT characters in film and television history. “You can graduate to a serious dramatic role as long as you die in the end,” Black scoffed. Citing Milk, he continued: “I made that movie. I didn’t want to make that again.”
Roma Guy’s and Ken Jones’ names kept coming up in his research, and then he discovered their connections to Cleve Jones: He and Roma were friends from San Francisco politics, and he and Ken had worked together many times. “And it became apparent how unique Cleve’s story was,” Black said. Regarding Jones’ ubiquitous presence at key moments in LGBT history, Black said with a laugh that his mom calls Jones “Forrest Gump,” whereas Black calls him “Zelig,” after the 1983 Woody Allen movie. When We Rise is based in part on Jones’ memoir of the same name.
Black wanted to tell a local political story in the series through Roma, a member of the then-homophobic National Organization of Women, who went from being closeted and afraid to an out lesbian raising a child with her partner (and later wife) Diane. She was one of the founders of the San Francisco Women’s Building, a locus for feminist programs, and a member of the city’s health commission who helped get universal health care for San Francisco.
There was also Cecilia Chung — a Los Angeles–based HIV/AIDS and transgender activist — with whom Ken Jones was close. “I had known Cecilia Chung and her story forever,” Black said. “Some of the trans folks who I know really look up to her.”
He had to find Ken Jones, but no one had heard from him in a while. “I found him living across the Bay,” Black said. “He was very much still alive.” And to Black’s surprise, Jones also happened to work in a highly progressive, inclusive Christian church. That meant that Jones’ leg of the When We Rise story could include a variety of tensions: of being gay and black, and an activist in both communities; his military background; HIV/AIDS (Jones is HIV-positive); and religion.
“It was a lot of homework. It was a nationwide search that became San Francisco–centric. And it ended up on this core group,” Black said. “I think a movement is not fueled by and doesn’t survive on the personality of one — it’s about all the people doing this really hard, often unrewarding work in the middle of it all. And that’s what all these guys do.”
Mary-Louise Parker as Roma Guy, with Rachel Griffiths as Diane. ABC
ID: 10606911
When it came to casting, Black knew he wanted eventually to make a time jump from the early ’80s to 1992. Which meant, as he put it, “I’m going to take a cue and a little bravery from a little miniseries called Roots and I’m going to switch casts.”
For the younger versions of the characters, the casting directors focused on auditioning theater actors. McKenzie (young Cleve) came out of the Deaf West production of Spring Awakening (he played Melchior in Los Angeles and on Broadway); Skeggs was nominated for a Tony Award for her portrayal of Medium Alison in Fun Home. For young Ken, Black said, the casting directors discovered Majors at Yale’s School of Drama. “We watched the tape, and we were like, ‘Holy crap’ — he’s already shot two more feature films,” Black said. “He’s going to be a giant star.”
When it came to casting the older actors, Black wrote with specific people in mind, something he doesn’t normally do. Roma was always going to be Mary-Louise Parker. “There’s something about how frank she is, and still funny,” he said. “So when she said yes, I flipped.”
He thought of Guy Pearce for Cleve for his “brooding sensitivity.” They made him the offer, but didn’t immediately hear back. When Rachel Griffiths met with them for the role of Roma’s partner Diane, she said of her fellow Australian actor, “Have you thought about Guy to play Cleve?” Black recalled. “We were meeting to see whether she wanted the role or not, but we sort of forgot to have that conversation.” Griffiths called Pearce, and — though he doesn’t know whether the move directly influenced Pearce’s decision— the actor did agree to play Cleve.
Michael Kenneth Williams cold-called Black himself. “In very emotional, frank terms, he told me about the people — his friends — growing up in New York who were artists he had lost,” Black said. “Again, sort of like Rachel, I was not given a choice whether to cast him or not. He told me what I was going to do and how necessary it was. And I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s right.’”
For the four trans roles in When We Rise, Black told the casting directors that they needed to hire trans actors. They recommended Ivory Aquino for Cecilia Chung, a main character, and sent her tape along to Black. “I got a little angry with them,” Black said. “I said, ‘I want to cast trans — go work harder, go find a trans actress.’ They said, ‘Ivory’s going to be calling you.’ She came out to me on the phone as trans.” Casting trans performers in trans roles has been a seemingly impossible task for Hollywood, from The Danish Girl to Transparent to Dallas Buyers Club. But that was not the case for When We Rise, Black said. “The big surprise was: It’s easy.”
“They bring an authenticity to the performance and a lot of great information to the role that a cisgender actor or actress just wouldn’t,” Black said. “They’ve lived the experience. They still have to act; they’re not playing themselves.”
T.R. Knight as Chad Griffin; Guy Pearce as Cleve Jones. ABC
ID: 10606994
Black first wanted When We Rise to have a 10-hour runtime. “Eight is what I was given, and that’s generous, let’s be real,” he said. Through the characters — this “makeshift family,” Black called them — “we’ll learn about a movement.” So he had to whittle down to the essentials: “What were the critical, pivotal moments in the movement, and the critical, pivotal ideas?”
He settled on the early ’70s migration to San Francisco and the beginning of LGBT political power; the beginning of the AIDS epidemic; the eventual life-saving drugs that stopped HIV from being a death sentence; ’90s complacency; and the fight for marriage equality.
When We Rise unsparingly tackles AIDS, with all the terrifying uncertainties about who was getting it and how it was transmitted rendered in wrenching detail: Several characters become HIV-positive, and some die.
“Political power-building taught us that gays and lesbians could be powerful if we stopped fighting with each other and ignoring each other and started working together. HIV/AIDS made us a family,” Black said. “It really bonded us, in a way. Women stepped up. Didn’t have to.”
Rather than tell the story of HIV/AIDS activism via the lens of ACT UP’s radical approach to protest, it’s explored through the conception of the historic AIDS Memorial Quilt. Cleve Jones thought of the idea after a candlelight vigil in which he asked people to make signs for their loved ones who had died of AIDS, later realizing the placards together looked like a quilt pattern. ACT UP and Jones’ different paths eventually converged when it came to the fight for access to life-saving drugs.
That brings When We Rise to the early ’90s, an era when the gay rights movement “turned a government’s attention to start to care for us as human beings,” Black said. Bill Clinton was the first president to visit the quilt, but then When We Rise fast-forwards to 1997 and skewers Clinton for signing the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act into law and for the disappointing speech he made at a Human Rights Campaign dinner, during which he failed to apologize for the gays-in-the-military debacle and for DOMA. As Black put it: “This is what happens to movements when they succeed. They start to take on a corporate culture, and they slow down. They start accepting crumbs.”
After tackling the issue of complacency in the LGBT movement, Black said, he “wanted to leap to the marriage equality battle, and the obvious place to do that was starting with Prop 8 and moving into Edie Windsor’s story.” (Black and his fiancé, British Olympic diver Tom Daley, will soon marry, though he wouldn’t say when: “We’re not telling anybody,” he said, but “I’d better put a ring on it fast before he comes to and realizes what he’s done.”)
As Black sees it, AIDS compelled many LGBT people to reflect on the value of marriage equality. “These were all young people who were radicals, and they never dreamed they’d be fighting for marriage,” he said. “The characters along the way, as they grow up and as they mature and as they’re faced with a plague, as they’re faced with the death of their loved ones, start to find a lot of value in something they always thought was part of an outdated system, which was monogamy and marriage.”
Williams as Ken Jones being evicted from his house after his partner dies of AIDS. ABC
ID: 10607120
The same-sex marriage fight was sprawling, beginning with domestic partner legislation that later led to state-by-state battles. “There were a lot of people fighting for marriage equality well before Proposition 8,” Black said. “A lot of them are my friends and my heroes.” However, Black had been involved in bringing the fight against Prop 8 to the Supreme Court, and so he had firsthand knowledge of its inner workings and dramas. (Though Smith does appear in a few scenes as a stand-in for him, “I sort of wrote myself out of history.”)
The Supreme Court overturned Prop 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act in 2013, and in 2015 made same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states. But Part 4 of When We Rise isn’t solely about marriage. Ken becomes increasingly involved in his church, a story Black was passionate about telling. “For some people, faith is very, very important to them,” he said. “It is their family, it is their community. It can be life-saving for some people.”
Roma also fights for universal health care in San Francisco in the final episode of the miniseries, with the same tools she’d successfully used with LGBT activism. Black said, “I would hope that story resonates.”
Roma (Parker) and Diane (Griffiths) look at their grandchild. ABC
ID: 10607131
When We Rise was conceived during the Obama administration, and the production wrapped in 2016, at a time when it seemed that Hillary Clinton would be elected president. It’s being born into a very different reality, one in which protections for LGBT people are being rolled back; as such, its airing will not be a victory lap. Black himself has been subject to online threats from Twitter users who favor images of Pepe the frog and Nazi symbols. The trailer for the show was taken down and reposted to YouTube several times after vile comments erupted and the downvotes became overwhelming. While When We Rise would surely be a target no matter who took office, Black feels the attackers have been emboldened by Donald Trump’s presidential victory.
Trolls’ “truther” argument about the project has been an insidious one. “The narrative is: This is fiction. This never happened. People never would have said these things, they never did these things to gay people,” Black said. “And I think that’s incredibly brilliant and evil. Because it is our history that gives us power. It’s our history that teaches us how to move forward.” (When We Rise has plenty of archival news footage that proves its realism.)
Black said When We Rise was always meant to be instructive. “Even in the Obama time, I did think it was incredibly dangerous how all of these social justice movements seemed to be operating on their own,” he said. Cleve and Roma’s mantra throughout When We Rise is “one struggle, one fight,” and Black thinks activists need to remember — and live — that message now. “I called it When We Rise for a reason,” he said.
Black comes from a conservative family, and he said they are his personal measurement for When We Rise’s success. With tears in his eyes, he said: “If I get a phone call from one of my cousins, aunts, or uncles in Texarkana, Texas saying, ‘Hey, I watched your show — good on you,’ then all of the four years will have been worth it.” He said that if his own relatives are moved by When We Rise, then he thinks “that will have been replicated many times” among other conservative people.
Black calls the current spate of hateful political rhetoric “deadly.” He said: “I think it makes certain people who don’t live on the coasts feel so alone — especially young people — that they consider dire solutions.”
And there are miles to go in the fight. “It’s a torch to be passed from these folks and the generation that came before to a new generation, calling them to the fight. When you see the ending, I hope that’s clear,” he said. “It’s also a torch that’s bright enough that it can be seen by our forefathers and foremothers to say, Get back in the fight — we’re not done.“
CORRECTION
Phylicia Rashad co-stars in When We Rise, not her sister, Debbie Allen.
It's Aug. 22 and Middle-earth: Shadow of Warhas just launched. Joe Streamer on Twitch got the game a few days ago from Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, and he's finally able to start sharing it with his 10,000 followers.
Joe Streamer also sells Shadow of War through his Twitch page, compliments of a new feature the streaming service is set to offer. For every copy he sells via Twitch, he'll pocket 5 percent of that money himself.
How enthusiastic do you think Joe Streamer will be when he talks about Middle-earth: Shadow of War? Whether or not Joe Streamer is an honest dude, it's the potential for dishonesty that counts here.
This is just one of the sticky problems Twitch could soon find itself facing as it starts letting streamers sell the games they're playing.
How it will work
Twitch's partnered streamers — which is to say, streamers that have monetized their accounts — will have the ability to opt into selling whichever game they're streaming directly from their profile page. For any sales made there, 70 percent goes to the game's publisher and 5 percent goes to the streamer (the rest goes to Twitch).
The numbers themselves aren't problematic. It's common for platform holders like Apple (in the App Store) or Valve (in Steam) to take a 30 percent cut of each sale. Twitch appears to be carving out 5 percent of its own cut for streamers.
The problem — or, more precisely, the potential for problems — is how all of this looks from the outside.
Streamers benefit directly when someone buys whichever game they're streaming. This is a quantifiable benefit: based on the numbers and details Twitch has provided, every $60 game sold amounts to $3 in the streamer's pocket.
Whether or not there's disclosure near the purchasing link on the Twitch page — which is a whole other issue — the new system still creates financial incentive for streamers to be just a little bit kinder about the things they're playing. They become, for all intents and purposes, salespeople.
It's a move that stands in stark contrast to Twitch's stated mission of letting streamers share games "authentically with friends and fans."
The disclosure issue also raises questions.
In the documentation that Twitch has provided so far, there is no mention of disclosure requirements for streamers earning income from game sales. The closest we get is an explainer laying out how streamers can sign up.
The text of that agreement is not posted online for public consumption. And nowhere in the new documentation for Twitch-based game revenues is there any mention of how disclosure requirements will work with the new system in place.
Now, Twitch does have disclosure rules already ... sort of. A 2014 post on the site from SVP of Marketing Matthew DiPietro stresses the importance of "transparency in sponsored content and promotion."
The post addresses the specifics of how sponsored content on Twitch is marked, and advises all broadcasters to adhere to FTC guidelines when managing their sponsor relationships. You can (and should, if you like watching Twitch streams) give it a read right here.
The new service raises questions
There's just one problem: the rules laid out in that post apply specifically to Twitch-driven campaigns. Beyond recommending an adherence to FTC regulations, the site is largely hands off when it comes to telling streamers how they should or shouldn't disclose on their own streams.
That might have worked in the past, but once again: the new service raises questions. With Twitch and streamers both standing to earn revenue from game sales on the site, a blog post from 2014 explaining how sponsored content works — and merely recommending an adherence to existing rules — doesn't feel like it's enough anymore.
We've reached out to Twitch for clarification on a few points. A spokesperson already passed along the sponsored content blog post linked above.
We've also asked to see the newly amended portions of the partner agreement, as well as any projections Twitch might have regarding what the in-channel sales expectations are.
In other words: we're looking to glean a better understanding of what partners are agreeing to when they sign up to earn revenue from games sales on their channels. We're also trying to get a better sense of how Twitch views this new addition to its business as an income opportunity.
We're told that most of the commerce team at Twitch is in transit to San Francisco right now, to attend the annual Game Developer's Conference this week. Don't expect to see the projections we asked for, however; per a spokesperson, Twitch does not disclose internal financial projections.
We'll update with additional responses as we receive them.
You’ve probably used cornstarch when baking and cooking countless times, but how about arrowroot? Arrowroot works similarly to cornstarch. So which to use? We’re sharing the differences between the two thickeners and which is best.
Cornstarch
Cornstarch is a starch obtained from the endosperm of a corn kernel. The powdery substance forms a slurry when mixed with water. It’s commonly used as a thickener or anti-caking agent.
The number one concern with using cornstarch is its link to genetically modified corn. This is a major reason I choose arrowroot over cornstarch. Although organic and non-GMO cornstarch exists, it still runs a risk. According to the Non-GMO Report, 25 percent of organic corn has been contaminated with GMOs due to cross pollination.
Arrowroot
Arrowroot is a starch extracted from tubers within the Marantaceae family. Its use dates back more than 7,000 years. Like cornstarch, it can be used for thickening or to form a clear gel, which cornstarch can’t do. In addition to its thickening capabilities, it has also been widely used for its health benefits.
Arrowroot is extremely nutrient rich, boasting significant levels of copper, iron, calcium, and fiber.
Unlike cornstarch, arrowroot doesn’t carry the association with GMOs since it’s derived from a non-GMO plant. Most arrowroot starches on the market are certified non-GMO so look for the label if you’re still wary.
Given arrowroot can work just as well, if not better, than cornstarch, it’s a great choice for the organic and health-minded chef.
How To Use
Cornstarch and arrowroot can be substituted for one another at a 1:1 ratio. Simply swap with equal parts and the recipe will turn out as expected.
Arrowroot is particularly great in vegan recipes since it can help thicken up vegan gravy or dairy-free cheese. Try using it in this vegan mac and cheese recipe! Also, use it in sauces that need to be thickened or when making a baking recipe gluten-free.
Myra Goodman, founder of organic produce leader Earthbound Farm, dishes out tasty, healthy, and totally organic recipes with her new cookbook and eating guide, FOOD TO LIVE BY.
