It’s common for people to search videos when they need to learn new skills. One entrepreneur wanted to learn how to be more helpful around the kitchen. Instead, he took things a step further and opened a restaurant.
Octavius “Tay” Nelson grew up in South Carolina where he watched his dad cook regularly but it wasn’t until his wife was pregnant with their first child that he decided to start teaching himself how to cook through tutorials on YouTube.
“My wife had gone to Atlanta for a baby shower, so I had the whole day to myself and I decided I wanted to surprise her with a great meal when she returned,” Nelson says in an email interview with BLACK ENTERPRISE.
“I dove into YouTube and started watching all kinds of BBQ videos online when I came across one by Aaron Franklin that really resonated with me….I made my very first ribs after watching a video on YouTube and then just started watching every video I could find about BBQ on YouTube! My wife would wake up at 3 o’clock in the morning and roll over and see me on my phone and tell me I HAD to stop watching/learning and to get to bed!”
He opened Bobby’s BBQ as a tribute to his love of the food. In a time of uncertainty with the COVID-19 pandemic, his establishment has become a blessing for both him and his community.
“I grew up working in the restaurant with my dad and really wanted no part of one myself after watching him work so hard six days a week. I fought it for a long time, but eventually, I kept getting that nudge from God to go forward with it and start the restaurant,” he explained.
“We now are open on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, so we can live out this passion for BBQ, but also have a solid family life and work-life balance for us and our employees.The restaurant has been a blessing for my family, but it’s also had a positive impact for our entire community. Because of this passion that started on YouTube, we’ve been able to build a restaurant that has brought more than 60 jobs to our community and we’re really proud of that.”
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With COVID-19, or the novel coronavirus, pandemic putting the world in quarantine to combat the spread of the virus, many have wondered what this means for the upcoming election in November. There has been growing concern about the United States Postal Service staying afloat as President Donald Trump refuses to sign off on providing more aid to the public service.
Now a group of more than 100 members of Congress, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, is calling for the Postmaster General to reverse new Trump policies causing issues within the postal service.
Since the appointment of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, the organization has undergone a series a changes—from having mail sorting machines removed at various locations to instituting a hiring freeze that has slowed down overall operations.
“We believe these changes, made during the middle of a once-in-a-century pandemic, now threaten the timely delivery of mail—including medicines for seniors, paychecks for workers, and absentee ballots for voters that is essential to millions of Americans,” wrote the members of Congress in a letter to DeJoy, calling the cost-cutting measures “counterproductive and unacceptable.”
“It is always essential that the Postal Service be able to deliver mail in a timely and effective manner,” the letter continued. “During the once-in-a-century health and economic crisis of COVID-19, the Postal Service’s smooth functioning is a matter of life-or-death, and is critical for protecting lives, livelihoods and the life of our American Democracy.”
DeJoy, who has been revealed to be a major Trump donor, has responded by stating the policies were put in place to make operations more effective.
“This organizational change will capture operating efficiencies by providing clarity and economies of scale that will allow us to reduce our cost base and capture new revenue,” said DeJoy in a statement.
“It is crucial that we do what is within our control to help us successfully complete our mission to serve the American people and, through the universal service obligation, bind our nation together by maintaining and operating our unique, vital, and resilient infrastructure.”
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This week, we look at the Microsoft Surface Duo and wonder if an expensive, dual-screen device like this one feels relevant, or just needlessly extravagant.
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Biohackers | First Original Series stored in DNA | Netflix Biohackers is a gripping science thriller about biotechnologies. We have turned the series itself into a biotechnological experiment: the first Netflix Original Series stored in DNA. This making-of explains how the first episode of Biohackers was embedded in synthetical DNA. Biohackers - Streaming on Netflix from August 20. See more on https://ift.tt/3iRTE2L Biohackers ist ein packender Wissenschafts-Thriller über Biotechnologie. Wir haben die Serie selbst zu einem biotechnologischen Experiment gemacht: die erste Netflix Original Serie gespeichert in DNA. In diesem Making-Of wird erklärt, wie die erste Folge von Biohackers in synthetische DNA gespeichert wurde. Biohackers – ab 20.August auf Netflix. Mehr auf https://ift.tt/3iRTE2L About Netflix: Netflix is the world's leading streaming entertainment service with 193 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, documentaries and feature films across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on any internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments.
NIC teaming is the aggregation or bonding of two or more network links into a single logical link to provide redundancy and high availability. The logical interface/link is known as a team interface. In
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PXE Server – Preboot eXecution Environment is a standardized client-server architecture that instructs a client system to boot, run, or install multiple Linux operating systems using a PXE-capable network interface on your network infrastructure.
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Natural hairstyles such as curly afros, twists and braids are seen as unprofessional.
Comedian Paul Mooney once joked that when Black hair is “nappy” then White folks are not happy, and a new study about natural hair seems to confirm this much is true.
According to researchers from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, Black women who rock natural hairstyles, such as curly afros, twists and braids, are less likely to land job interviews, compared to Black and White women than with straight hair.
Participants in the study view natural Black hair as less professional. The research, set to be published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science next week, highlights biases rooted in how Europeans define beauty, CNN reports, and recruiters, especially those in more conservative industries, are influenced by that standard.
“In the aftermath of the George Floyd murder and the corresponding protests, many organizations have rightly focused on tactics to help eradicate racism at systemic and structural levels,” researcher Ashleigh Shelby Rosette, a management professor and a senior associate dean, said in the press release.
“But our individually held biases often precede the type of racist practices that become embedded and normalized within organizations,” she added.
Researchers asked 480 participants of different races to play the role of recruiters screening potential job candidates. They were asked to rate images of both Black and White women (on mock Facebook and LinkedIn profiles) on their professionalism, competence and appearance. Participants gave Black women with natural hairstyles lower scores compared to Black and White women with straight hair.
Results also varied by industry. Black women with natural hair were rejected for positions in management consulting, but faced no discrimination for positions in advertising, the report states.
“This may be because advertising is viewed as a more creative industry than consulting with less rigid dress norms,” the press release said.
Rosette has called on business leaders to be aware of anti-Blackness in the form of natural-hair bias, and noted that Black woman with a natural hairstyles should not be viewed as making a militant statement.
“What we suggest is that hair and the hair choices of Black women can be very consequential,” she said. “Hair is not just hair.”
“In no way are we asking that the Black woman change who she is,” she said. “We’re asking that people understand that this difference exists.”
California, New York, New Jersey and Virginia have taking a stand in recent years against Black-hair bias by passing legislation banning discrimination against natural hairstyles.
These changes suggest “there is movement where there previously had not even been recognition,” Rosette said.
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The president gave $5,000 to the senator’s campaign during her bid for California’s attorney general in 2011.
Days after President Donald Trump criticized Kamala Harris as Joe Biden’s VP choice to join the Democratic presidential ticket, he’s now floating a new birther conspiracy about the California Senator.
During a news conference at the White House on Thursday, Trump noted that Harris might not meet the requirements to become the first Asian/Black American vice president, MSN reports. His comments come a day after it was revealed that before he entered the political arena, Trump contributed financially to Harris’ past campaigns, per PEOPLE.
According to the California Secretary of State website, Trump gave $5,000 to Harris during her bid for attorney general in 2011, prior to her becoming a senator. In 2013, he donated $1,000 during her reelection. His daughter Ivanka also contributed $2,000 for Harris’ reelection campaign in 2014.
The Fake News Media is giving @KamalaHarris a free pass despite her Radical Left failures and very poor run in the Democrat Primary. There was nobody meaner or more condescending to Slow Joe, not even me, and yet she quickly evaporated down to almost zero in the polls. Bad!
Harris served as California’s attorney general from 2011-2017, and was then elected to the Senate. During her Senate campaign, Trump’s Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin, reportedly donated $2,000.
Funny enough, a spokesperson for Harris told The Sacramento Bee last year that she donated Trump’s $6,000 to a nonprofit that helps Hispanics and immigrants.
“Harris campaign spokesman Ian Sams told McClatchy that Harris donated the $6,000 Trump had contributed to a nonprofit that advocates for civil and human rights for Central Americans,” wrote reporter Emily Cadei. “But that donation wasn’t made until 2015, a year after she won her reelection for attorney general and as she was launching her run for the Senate.”
In July, Trump called Harris “a fine choice” by Biden, when it was rumored that she was on his shortlist of VP picks. But immediately after Biden named her as his running mate on Tuesday, Trump slammed Harris for being “nasty” and a “radical.”
He also reminded reporters that during the Democratic primary campaign, Harris was “disrespectful” to Biden.
Trump questioned her eligibility to run on Thursday, after it was falsely claimed that Harris wasn’t born in this country.
The president, who led the “birther” movement against former President Barack Obama, referred to “highly qualified, very talented lawyer” John Eastman, a Chapman University professor, who raised the issue about Harris’ eligibility in a Newsweek article.
“I heard it today that she doesn’t meet the requirements,” Trump said told reporters. “I have no idea if that’s right. I would have assumed that the Democrats would have checked that out before she gets chosen to run for vice president.”
Officials from Joe Biden’s campaign fired back at the president’s remarks. Andrew Bates, a spokesperson for Biden, called Trump “the national leader of the grotesque, racist birther movement with respect to President Obama and has sought to fuel racism and tear our nation apart on every single day of his presidency.”
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A lawmaker has been asked to step down after comments about vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris
A Virginia mayor is under fire and being asked to resign after a controversial Facebook post in which he opined that Joe Biden “just announced Aunt Jemima” as his running mate.
According to NBC News, over the weekend Mayor Barry Presgraves of Luray, Virginia raised brows after he posted the racially charged comparison to his Facebook page.
It’s been reported that members of the Luray Town Council and other residents were swift with their condemnation forcing him to take down the post that very same weekend.
The latest Census data shows that the small town – located about 90 miles west of Washington, D.C. – has less than 5,000 residents and only 4% of that population is Black.
Following the backlash, Presgraves apologized at a town council meeting, and the following day Biden did, in fact, formally announce California Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate.
“I want to make this very clear to everyone with absolutely no qualifications,” Presgraves said. “I understand what I posted on social media was wrong, offensive and unbecoming.”
“I also want to make a direct apology to all people of color and women. Passing off demeaning and worn-out racial stereotypes as humor isn’t funny,” the 77-year-old lawmaker continued, reading from a prepared statement. “I now fully understand how hurtful it is and I can and will do better and we can all do better. We must.”
He then concluded him mea culpa by saying, “From the bottom of my heart, I am sorry and humbly ask for your forgiveness and your grace.”
But 69-year-old Luray resident Barbara Veney, was at the meeting and addressed the mayor directly, explaining, “I’ve been here all my life. Almost 70 years. And today, I’m hurt.”
“We need somebody with positive thinking that will shape this community. No more dividing,” she said. “In order for us to move on … I’m asking you today, Mr. Mayor that you step down in love — because I love you — and do the right thing.”
It’s been reported that Councilmember Leah Pence also sent an email to Presgraves urging him to resign.
“While a resignation alone will not resolve the systemic subliminal racism that plagues our community, your resignation is imperative as we work towards ending racism in our community,” Pence wrote.
Presgraves, who only has a few more months in office and is not seeking reelection, said that he would not willingly step down.
Due to COVID-19 concerns, NFL players have been urged to avoid contact with non family members during training camp.
Rookie cornerback Kemah Siverand has been cut from the Seattle Seahawks roster after trying to sneak a female visitor into the team hotel.
According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, Siverand was quite clever with the woman’s incognito attempt, by having her wear Seahawks gear to disguise herself as a player. The hotel’s security caught the incident on camera and the league took swift action — kicking the athlete to the curb to send a message to other players, NBC.com reports.
Days prior to this incident, Siverand made a YouTube channel to vlog about his rookie experience in training camp during the coronavirus pandemic. Those videos are reportedly now gone.
The woman attempting to visit CB Kemah Siverand at Seattle's team hotel was wearing a Seahawks hoodie pulled up over her head, I'm told. So … not the most elaborate plan. Or disguise.
Somehow, security personnel was able to flag the hijinks on camera.
Siverand’s attempt to sneak in a visitor was against team rules, as NFL players have been urged to avoid contact with non family members and other outsiders during training camp.
Siverand’s defiance comes a day after the NBA also informed players that only family members and close contacts will be allowed into the season-restart bubble at Disney World later this month, preventing entry to guests “known by the player only through social media or an intermediary.”
Players are required to provide proof of “long-standing relationships” with non-family members on the entrance list, per Yahoo. Casual acquaintances and groupies will not be allowed, such as those “known by the player only through social media or an intermediary,” per the memo acquired by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Players are allowed up to four guests who must be family members, “longtime close personal friends with whom a player has an established, pre-existing, and known personal relationship,” per the Associated Press. Additional exceptions are made for children, the report states.
Those not allowed into the bubble: “trainers, physical or massage therapists, personal chefs, hair/apparel stylists, tattoo artists, and current/prospective business partners, and certified agents (other than family members), among others,” the memo said.
Siverand last played in 13 games this past season for Oklahoma State.
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The eponymous talk-show features host Carlos Watson in incisive conversations with.a wide variety of guests
Emmy-award winning journalist and host Carlos Watson is bringing his talents to a new self-titled YouTube talk show where a variety of conversations with colorful guests will be the highlight.
“If ever there was a time to hear from more than the usual suspects, it’s now,” Watson proclaims during the show’s introduction.
By providing viewpoints and facts representative of all sides, Watson brings a new voice to the talk show arena. He doesn’t shy away from asking probing questions that might not always be met with a welcoming response.
For example, in an episode with over 1M views, Watson asks host and actor Terry Crews about his Black Lives Matter stance and other questionable tweets.
Currently, the broadcast is filmed with both host and guest in remote settings as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to force creative shifts. The show is produced by OZY, the media company Watson co-founded with Samir Rao.
theGrio caught up with Watson to discuss the show, OZY media, and more.
theGrio:The Carlos Watson Show has been out for about a week now. What has been the feedback from your observation and that of your viewers?
Carlos Watson: It looks really positive. We had our first million viewers right out of the gate, the very first day. We’ve had terrific guests from [author] Malcolm Gladwell to Rep. Karen Bass to Terry Crews to Bethenny Frankel. I hope it’s doing what we wanted it to do – provide a fresher, longer format, a set of interviews where people can get more real than maybe they do in 4 or 5-minute sound bites.
TG: Can you expand on some of your goals?
CW: I feel that this year, 2020, is as important a year that the US or the world has seen, maybe, since 1968. There’s so much at stake between the pandemic, elections, Black Lives Matter, and even the economy, that I think we need space for a more important and substantive conversation. A lot of times all that’s left is comedy. I think that’s good… but we also need a place to have real conversations and I’m hoping that’s part of what we can do.
TG: What criteria do you use to select guests?
CW: A little bit of art and a little bit of science. We tried hard to think about the trendsetters and tastemakers who are shaping this new world. We wanted to speak to them, whether that was an author, whether that was an NFL quarterback, whether that was an artist, or whether it was an entrepreneur. We want this to be the kind of place [that’s] fit for [anyone from] Stacey Abrams to Mark Cuban.
TG: What are some of your favorite moments or conversations so far?
CW: So many of them. I love Karen Bass, [and] I loved her talking about the possibility of her becoming VP and her road into politics and becoming a serious martial artist as well. Terry Crews talked about the controversy around Black Lives Matter and some of his comments. It’s fascinating to hear from Bethenny Frankel about how she went from being Paris Hilton‘s babysitter to a really cool mogul. It’s been a good and rich set of conversations.
TG: Beyond the guests that you’ve already booked, is there anyone that you hope to have on in the future?
CW: There are a number of good people who I would be excited about. I obviously would be excited about someone like BarackObama or Vladimir Putin. I’d be excited about Serena Williams, so there are lots of good folks who I’d love to see as part of this.
TG: Outside of your own media, what are you reading or listening to or watching, whether it’s for entertainment or to stay informed?
CW: A number of good things. I was watching The Godfather of Harlem which is really good. I love documentaries and there are a couple of good ones like Ken Burns‘ Vietnam War documentary which is really strong.
TG: What is something you want audiences to know?
CW: Six years ago, I helped start OZY media. OZY started as kind of an online magazine with great newsletters and a great website and social feeds that would bring people the new and the next. Over the last couple of years, we’ve evolved from just being a digital magazine to a broader media company. We produce a variety of TV shows for Hulu, for Amazon, for OWN, and for others. We produce award-winning podcasts. We produce really great summer festivals.
This is a really diverse and exciting media play and I’m just very proud of that. We just got nominated for an Emmy for one of our TV shows, Black Women OWN The Conversation. It’s a really, really terrific thing so I’m excited.
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The country music admitted to ‘innocent ignorance’ when it came to her previous use of the word ‘Dixie’
Dolly Parton is an undisputed country queen but has always enjoyed widespread appeal. It is support she is now returning with her embrace of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Parton is featured on the latest Billboard cover and didn’t mince words about the global uprising that happened after George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis police custody on May 25.
“I understand people having to make themselves known and felt and seen,” said Parton. “And of course, Black lives matter. Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter? No!”
Dolly Parton attends MusiCares Person of the Year honoring Dolly Parton at Los Angeles Convention Center on February 08, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
Fellow country superstars Lady Antebellum, now Lady A, and the Dixie Chicks, now The Chicks, changed their names from Confederate-themed monikers in response to Black Lives Matter’s cultural rejuvenation. Parton heeded the need to become more culturally aware a few years ago.
In 2017, she was criticized for romanticizing the War Between the States through her Dixie Stampede. The Civil War-themed dinner never once mentioned slavery and instead left it to audiences to choose whether the North or South was in the right.
Parton made amends the following year when she rebranded her dinner attraction as Dolly Parton’s Stampede after acknowledging how loaded the term ‘Dixie’ was.
“There’s such a thing as innocent ignorance, and so many of us are guilty of that,” she told the outlet.
“When they said ‘Dixie’ was an offensive word, I thought, ‘Well, I don’t want to offend anybody. This is a business. We’ll just call it ‘The Stampede.’ As soon as you realize that [something] is a problem, you should fix it. Don’t be a dumbass. That’s where my heart is. I would never dream of hurting anybody on purpose.”
Dolly Parton Answers Questions During SiriusXM’s Town Hall Series Hosted By Andy Cohen At Dollywood in the Dollywood Dreamsong Theatre on May 6, 2016 in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. (Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images for SiriusXM)
The singer/songwriter behind the hits “Jolene,” “9 to 5,” and “I Will Always Love You” which Whitney Houston memorably turned into one of the best-selling classics of all time, says it’s not her place to look down on anyone. She wants to just do her part.
“First of all, I’m not a judgmental person. I do believe we all have a right to be exactly who we are, and it is not my place to judge,” she said.
“All these good Christian people that are supposed to be such good Christian people, the last thing we’re supposed to do is to judge one another. God is the judge, not us. I just try to be myself. I try to let everybody else be themselves.”
The 74-year-old icon is in awe that so many are still invested in her after all these years.
“I’m touched and honored that I’m still around and that I’m able to still be important in the business,” she says. “I honestly feel like I’m just getting started. I know that sounds crazy but I really feel like I might have a big music career, record career. Who knows?”
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Rather than tracking individual exposures, we should be using them for real-time info on what activities and locations may be responsible for the spread.
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The importance of education is at the forefront of conversations these days with schools preparing to reopen this fall amid the COVID-19 pandemic. To help HBCU campuses to ensure that students feel safe, The Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) and the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) have announced partnerships with Testing for America to support historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in their COVID-19 testing plans for students, faculty, and staff.
Since March, UNCF and TMCF have been working with their member schools on crisis management, stabilization, and now reopening campuses.
“All institutions must be able to test when they reopen for in-person instruction — whether this fall or 2021,” said UNCF President and CEO Dr. Michael L. Lomax. “TFA’s ability to link us to high-quality providers, coupled with other safety guidance and financial support, will help bring necessary, continuous and reliable testing to entire campus communities. We are happy to partner with TFA on this critical work to help our campuses and students successfully navigate this pandemic.”
“The Thurgood Marshall College Fund is confident our new partnership with Testing for America will bring abundant and accurate COVID-19 testing to our member-schools, helping them to safely reopen and protect our communities,” said TMCF President and CEO Harry Williams.
The program has been initiated at Delaware State University, and several more have become partners, with others waiting to join.
“The HBCU brand of excellence, education and care is specifically targeted to talented students who simply need an open door and a welcoming environment. We are home. And safety must be our priority,” said Delaware State University President Tony Allen. “Our relationship with Testing for America is the No. 1 driver of our ability to reopen our campus safely.”
Currently, TFA is having discussions with K-12 schools, other higher education institutions, and businesses that have plans on reopening. They are also seeking additional philanthropic supporters and major donors to sponsor testing initiatives.
“We don’t need to wait for new innovations. We have the technology now to dramatically increase access to meaningful, affordable, repeat testing to help us safely and permanently reopen schools, businesses and ultimately the US economy,” said TFA Founder Jason Yeung.
Current TFA partners include Cerner, a global healthcare technology company, and Illumina, the world leader in genomic sequencing, as well as other philanthropic donors.
“This is solvable, and this is scalable,” said Francis deSouza, chief executive officer of Illumina. “What Testing for America has launched is demonstrating this can be done successfully, and we are proud to be part of the solution that can enable testing at scale. We encourage others to reach out and join in.”
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