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I posted 3,122 times in 2022
422 posts created (14%)
2,700 posts reblogged (86%)
Blogs I reblogged the most:
@bunnyreads
@everythingfox
@godzilla-reads
@hammondpubliclibrary
@cheshirelibrary
I tagged 928 of my posts in 2022
#fuzzy friday - 523 posts
#awwwww - 520 posts
#nypl - 258 posts
#kingsbridge library - 212 posts
#teen programs - 60 posts
#kid lit - 53 posts
#graphic novels - 52 posts
#middle school monday - 45 posts
#reluctant reader wednesday - 42 posts
#nyc - 40 posts
Longest Tag: 58 characters
#tristan strong punches a hole in the sky the graphic novel
My Top Posts in 2022:
#5
As efforts to control books continue in Tennessee, a library in Nashville is pushing back with a bold new campaign: A card that says "I read banned books."
The Nashville Public Library is issuing 5,000 of the limited-edition cards — printed in bright yellow — to readers in Davidson County for close to a month.
19 notes - Posted May 14, 2022
#4
21 notes - Posted June 9, 2022
#3
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Reluctant Reader Wednesday: Loveless by Alice Oseman 
Georgia loves the idea of romance, and she wishes that she could make that special connection with someone. But after kissing her longtime crush turns into a disaster, she thinks that maybe she’s just not meant for love. It’s not until she gets to college that she learns more about all of the ways that LGBTQIA+ people can identify, and she discovers that she fits into a category that many people can’t understand. But just because her life is complicated doesn’t mean that love is impossible.
Give this book to teens and adults who are interested in learning more about asexual/aromantic people, and any readers who love stories about characters learning to discover the truth about themselves.
23 notes - Posted April 27, 2022
#2
When Nave heard books were being challenged in school libraries across the country—a movement that eventually hit his own district—he got angry and started talking to his friends. Nave is part of a growing trend of teens responding to book challenges by creating banned book clubs.
They read books that have been historically banned, as well as the ones currently being challenged, and talk about how social context influences censorship. The clubs have become a way for students to make their voices heard in a debate usually dominated by adults. They are run through schools, bookstores, and teen centers across the country, including in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
26 notes - Posted April 13, 2022
My #1 post of 2022
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Hey, Sandman fans! What’s old is new again!
“A book is a dream that you hold in your hands.”
Here's a bookmark featuring Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, part of the American Library Association’s @ your library® series! And yes, these bookmarks are still available at the ALA store :)
61 notes - Posted August 13, 2022
Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →
Well, I guess it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that my top posts were about banned books, free books, Loveless by Alice Oseman, and The Sandman!
Thanks to my followers, to all the blogs I follow, and for all the other fans of books, libraries, and posts that can make your day a little brighter!
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drjohngkuna · 2 years
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Bloomsburg Psychological Center Bloomsburg, Pa
Dr John G Kuna, a licensed professional counselor in the state of Pennsylvania with 15 years of experience working with adults and adolescents to help them resolve or mitigate their psychological well being challenges. I bring a broad background of experiences to the remedy session through work within the human providers area. Over the course of my expertise within the mental health field I have helped quite a few purchasers either abate or resolve their social and emotional points from the use of a number of theoretical approaches in counseling.
This includes all contact info similar to telephone numbers and links to web sites. Ashley A. Breece, graduated with a Doctorate of Physical Therapy diploma with honors from The Univers... Sandtray therapy allows individuals to work by way of issues therapist Bloomsburg pa held in the unconscious, or out of a person’s awareness, and from the part of memory which is held by body and out of a person’s capacity to specific through words. Facilities at a time to be proven in your examine view.
Alberta was born February 1, 1923, in Mount Carmel, a daughter of the late Stephen and Johnna Mihalik. On December 26, 1953, she married Carl B. Boyle, who preceded her in demise on December 12, 1983. Melissa A. Dziadzio, 31, of Mifflinburg, entered into relaxation Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022, as a outcome of injuries suffered in an automobile accident.
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lascluv · 2 years
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People coding on mac computers
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#People coding on mac computers full
#People coding on mac computers software
#People coding on mac computers code
#People coding on mac computers professional
#People coding on mac computers free
Durability: battery life is important to me as well as general longevity of the hardware i.e.
#People coding on mac computers software
I am looking to buy a laptop for software development in the 0 to $2000 (USD) range.ġ. and Wisconsin.Ask HN: What’s a good laptop for software development at around $2k?ģ48 points by kellogs_aran 4 days ago | hide | past | favorite | 783 comments Today’s announcement builds on a 2020 initiative through which Apple donated 2,500 devices to Boys & Girls Clubs of America locations in Alabama Arizona California Connecticut Georgia Idaho Illinois Louisiana Massachusetts, Michigan Minnesota New Jersey New York Ohio Oregon Pennsylvania Tennessee Texas Washington, D.C. The club is now expanding this work further, bringing new devices and coding programming to its 11 locations across Greater Detroit. Students worked in small groups to create app prototypes designed to solve a challenge within the community - including fashion sustainability, using hip-hop to build a sense of community, and improving city mobility.
#People coding on mac computers code
The program brought together young adults ages 18 to 24 to learn the foundations of human interface design and the Swift coding language, using Apple’s Everyone Can Code curriculum. In Detroit, Apple helped support Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan’s summer Code to Career coding course and app challenge. “The young people we work with are the future of Atlantic City, and we’re proud to partner with Apple to help them gain new skills to grow as learners and prepare for jobs in the 21st-century economy.” “Working with Apple this past year has been transformative for our students, who have had the opportunity to explore entirely new ways of thinking, creating, and pursuing their passions,” said Stephanie Koch, Boys & Girls Club of Atlantic City’s CEO.
#People coding on mac computers professional
To prepare its students for future academic and professional pursuits, the Club is also launching a new STEAM preapprenticeship program that will teach students the foundations of working on iPad and Mac, eventually giving them the tools to seek a formal App Development with Swift certification. The labs are equipped with iPad and Mac computers, and curricula incorporate Everyone Can Code, Everyone Can Create, and Develop in Swift. In New Jersey, Boys & Girls Club of Atlantic City opened a Design Lab and a STEAM Lab last year to support creativity, coding, and career development programming - and the Club is opening a second STEAM Lab in January to create additional opportunities for young learners. Programming has already launched in Atlantic City, New Jersey Chicago Detroit Nashville, Tennessee and Newark, New Jersey, where engagement will continue to expand. Miami-Dade County, Florida Wake County, North Carolina and Silicon Valley, with the goal of expanding coding opportunities to clubs nationwide. The program will initially launch in 10 new regions, including Atlanta Austin, Texas metro D.C. “We are thrilled to partner with Apple to enhance Club programming with innovative and educational coding activities that will build kids’ and teens’ engagement and opportunity in technology.”
#People coding on mac computers full
“Boys & Girls Clubs of America is committed to helping youth reach their full potential, which includes equipping young people with critical thinking and problem-solving skills that will serve them for years to come,” said Jim Clark, Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s president and CEO. “Together with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, we’ve already introduced thousands of students to innovative technology experiences, and we are thrilled to expand our partnership to bring coding with Swift to even more communities across the country.” “At Apple, we believe education is a force for equity, and that all learners should have the opportunity to explore and develop coding skills for their future,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives.
#People coding on mac computers free
Using iPad and Apple’s free Everyone Can Code curriculum - and with ongoing professional support from Apple educators - kids and teens at local Boys & Girls Clubs will integrate coding into their programming, giving students the opportunity to create and collaborate on the basics of app design and development, with an emphasis on critical thinking and creative problem-solving. This new collaboration will bring coding with Swift to tens of thousands of students across the country, building on Apple’s existing partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs of America through the company’s Community Education Initiative in support of its Racial Equity and Justice Initiative. In celebration of Computer Science Education Week, Apple and Boys & Girls Clubs of America today launched a new program that will bring coding to Boys & Girls Clubs in more than a dozen US cities. Apple teams up with Boys & Girls Clubs of America to bring new coding opportunities to young learners across the country
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alcohol rehab for women georgia: Get into the reformation process with rehab services
Addiction needs immediate attention:
 Being one of the biggest headaches of the society, addiction is on its very way to disturb a lot of families. When we know that addiction is tough to leave activity of one’s life, we cannot just stick on to the older campaigning, advertising processes explaining the awful repercussions of addiction, we need to take this to the next level by showing them the appropriate path of reformation, mentions drug rehab for women San Antonio. 
Encouraging people to opt for healthy habits and encouraging the addicts to take help of professional rehab experts instead of awful abusive substances, at the Best Christian Rehabs we help individuals to live a meaningful contented life. 
 A quick look on the history may help:
 Giving up on an addict and verbal abuse to the person indulged in addiction, won’t help anyone to get peace, rather we need to dig down and work on the reasons which promoted this addiction in the particular person. When digging down the past is not a good start of healing, drug rehab for teen Quarryville mentions that knowing the reasons behind the person’s addiction will help us plan personalized sessions during the rehab program. After a number of cases been solved, we came up with the following probable reasons lying behind addiction:
Stay aware of the behaviour of people you are     spending time with. Subconscious state of mind usually imitates behaviour     of those people with whom you spend most of your time. Your cool friend     gang, office colleagues, school circle, etc. are the groups you may have,     so try being cautious while joining someone’s company. See if the person     is having any awful addiction or not!
In some families, their dysfunctionality     reflects negativity to their upcoming generations, like if the parents or     elders enjoy addictions with no guilt, then the young one at the home     feels it is their legitimate right to enjoy the addiction, says addiction     rehab for women San Antonio. Learning starts from a healthy home atmosphere, so we inspire     parents to maintain a moral sanity at their home, which can be the best     way to keep their teens healthy and away from addiction.
Must have seen people saying that they are     drinking alcohol because they are stressed. Well, many feel that the only     medicine to all their mental loads is the alcohol or drug consumption,     which is completely myth. Alcohol rehab     for women San Antonio states that the dreadful abusive drive an     illusional happiness when consumed and people think they are therapeutic,     which is wrong.
 Thus, there are many such reasons that trigger addiction among teens, adults of our society and our sole responsibility becomes to assist them to find the right path of peace. With expert help and self-confidence, addicts will replace their awful habits with productive ones through our sessions. We want to hear more about your issues, and want you to listen more about our services. Do call us! For more details visit us @ https://bestchristianrehabs.org/
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beardedmrbean · 3 years
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While catching up with some classmates at school on Tuesday morning, North Carolina ninth-grader Andrea Alonso suddenly felt an intense pain in her eye.
“She was talking to her friends at the school door, and she felt that something hit her,” Andrea’s mother, Ana Rosa Alonso, told The Daily Beast.
After Andrea called her in a panic, Alonso rushed to Olympic High School in Charlotte and found the school nurse preparing her daughter to be taken to the hospital.
“It was very scary,” Alonso recalled. “I was shaking because I didn't know what the damage was. She told me it was in her eye, so I was thinking something really bad, like she could lose her eye.”
“It,” in this case, was an Orbeez pellet.
Minnesota Schools in Turmoil Over ‘Horrifying’ Snapchats Calling for Bombing of Native Students
“Squishy and smooth, kids and adults alike will love the soothing sensory experience of Orbeez!” Spin Master Ltd., the company behind Orbeez, explains on its website. “There’s no limit to the ways you can play. Explode them, squish them, squeeze them, bounce them, crush them or let them flow through your hands! Use your imagination and have endless amounts of fun with Orbeez!”
The official description sounds innocuous enough. But the polymer beads also play a central role in a viral social media trend popular among teens and have caused serious injuries across the country. The so-called Orbeez Challenge—which may or may not have emerged on TikTok—involves loading airguns with the gel-filled pellets and firing them at strangers. The resulting videos are subsequently posted on platforms like TikTok and YouTube, where they have racked up millions of views. In certain instances, cops say kids freeze the beads, which makes them harder and more damaging, potentially leading to severe eye injuries, puncture wounds, and costly property damage.
Even if the pellets do not cause serious damage, using an airgun—which are sometimes painted or modified to look like real guns, according to police—could easily get the user killed.
“Most definitely,” retired NYPD Det. Sgt. Joseph Giacalone, who now teaches at New York City’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told The Daily Beast. “People are carrying firearms all over nowadays.”
Orbeez shootings are occurring nationwide, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer Claudio Jimenez told local outlet WSOC, which first reported on the incident at Olympic High.
In Dearborn, Michigan, police on Monday arrested a teenager on assault charges after allegedly shooting Orbeez at a bystander. The target’s injuries are unknown, but cops warned the beads “can cause potentially severe injuries to sensitive areas of the body.”
In Salt Lake City, Utah, six teens were arrested after they walked into a restaurant wearing masks and started shooting. One woman, who was hit in the back of the head with a pellet while running away, said she didn’t realize the weapons were loaded with Orbeez and thought she was being shot at with real guns.
In Middletown, New York, cops arrested three teens after they allegedly pulled off a series of drive-by shootings using Orbeez pellets, firing from their car windows on groups of unwitting pedestrians.
Last week, four Pennsylvania teens were arrested for attacking students and faculty members outside a Radnor Township middle school. They are now facing charges of possessing instruments of a crime, disorderly conduct, harassment, and recklessly endangerment. In some states, things have reached the point where towns are banning all toy guns and water blasters from municipal parks. Earlier this month, a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old in Mason, Ohio were arrested and charged with inducing panic after firing Orbeez at a school bus.
In New Smyrna Beach, Florida, a 17-year-old high school student was charged with battery on a school employee, a felony, for allegedly shooting a campus adviser with Orbeez from his vehicle, striking the unnamed victim several times in the face.
The incident followed similar arrests in the area, one of which involved a 19-year-old accused of randomly shooting an Amazon driver in the glasses and neck as he steered his truck down a suburban street. Another adult and a child in a stroller were also shot at the same day. Another person in the area was shot in the back while doing yard work, the pellets breaking their skin and leaving painful red welts, according to police.
Dozens more Orbeez shootings have been reported in numerous U.S. states in recent weeks.
“Parents: This has gotten out of hand,” police in Peachtree City, Georgia said in a recent online posting. “We continue to see teenagers utilizing the cart path while discharging splat ball guns (Orbeez) at other people on the cart path, even at innocent bystanders. Now they are modifying the beads to be more painful.”
To drive the point home, Peachtree City cops shared a photo of a young boy who was shot and injured in an Orbeez attack while riding his bike.
“The police department will be pursuing criminal charges on all persons caught discharging these weapons at other persons on city property,” authorities announced. “In some cases, it could result in felony charges and parents could also be liable for the actions of their kids.”
This is something that Ana Rosa Alonso would like to see happen, she told The Daily Beast.
“The school knows who it was,” she said. “I think he’s facing charges from the school officer, but I don’t think it’ll be big charges—they told me something about a juvenile arrest to be released to his parents.”
Alonso said that she is considering looking into how to press more severe criminal charges against Andrea’s attacker.
“I don't know if the parents will be willing to pay the medical bills for my daughter,” she continued. “She doesn’t deserve to have an injury and this guy has to think about what he’s doing. And the parents have to be responsible for their kids’ actions, because this is not right.”
Thankfully, doctors were able to save Andrea’s eye, Alonso said.
“She doesn't need surgery,” she said. “She still has blurry vision, the light bothers her, but she’ll be OK, that’s what the doctor said.”
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obserfdom · 5 years
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Did Taylor Swift Secretly Marry?
What an hyperbolic title, don't you think? I did that in purpose, you got me, to catch attention. But that doesn't mean, I am mere click-baiting there, I really do curious after revisiting "It's Nice To Have A Friend" : "Gosh, does she really telling us that she is a married lady through INTHAF?"
First, I would like to shoutout to Gaylors out there that they maybe have a point when saying that Taylor PROBABLY (again, please, do not use any definitive tone, unless you are Taylor Swift in person) one of the biggest closeted lesbian celeb to date.
What are the hints? INTHAF, might be one of them.
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It started with 'look-like' a children folk-tale (Taylor seemingly applied this song as a story telling session of her memoar):
Younger version
School bell rings, walk me home
Sidewalk chalk covered in snow
Lost my gloves, you give me one
I guess she recalled the time when she was still living in this small suburb Wyomissing, Reading, Pennsylvania - and went to Wyomissing school there (and yeah, it was winter!)
Sidenote: I took a wild guess that it was about her childhood day in Wyomissing from how innocent she pictured herself here - I was thinking that when she moved to Nashville her life already focused on country music career - no time to just walked on the pathway with a friend, after school.
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"Wanna hang out?"
Yeah, sounds like fun
wonder now, what kind of hang out it would be...
Video games, you pass me a note
Argh ya, playing video games does sound like fun!
Sleeping in tents
Wait, what?! I get if her parents allowed her to hang out with boy in the living room playing games, but...sleeping in tents (note: multiple time) together?
It's nice to have a friend (Ooh)
Argh ya, a girl and girl, childhood friend - must be something that later on shaped her feminist view...
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A Bit Older, Teen Version
Light pink sky up on the roof
Pinky - surely it was a girly moment.
Sun sinks down, no curfew
Afternoon, no curfew, meaning they could continue playing barbie together.
Twenty questions, we tell the truth
You've been stressed out lately? Yeah, me too
Besties always have this heart to heart talk, right.
Something gave you the nerve
To touch my hand
Ouch! Why do I get nervous suddenly reading the above passage. You think what I think?
It's nice to have a friend. (Ooh)
Fiuh, argh ya, sure, Miss Taylor.
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Reach maturity, Adult Version
Church bells ring, carry me home
Ok, why do I imagine after wedding ceremonial here?
Rice on the ground looks like snow
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Call my bluff, call you "babe"
Someone looks like daring enough to take the challenge. Another wedding proposal's hint?
Have my back, yeah, everyday
Feels like home, stay in bed
The whole weekend
Hmmm, seems like a happy married couple by now.
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Sum up? Here we go:
If we take the whole song as plots in story - you either have to think that the main characters remained the same from the beginning to the end i.e. a childhood friend became a husband/wife - OR - the theme remained the same. And as we aware, the theme is nothing but LOVE here.
If she was talking about Joe Alwyn as the endgame, I could not understand why she had to talk about other boys she was dating when she was lil girl.
It is, to me, more make sense, if she was telling story about her secret love (preference) that she discovered since childhood - started as a friendly gesture (wanna hang out? It's fun!).
If the (secret) love theme stayed the same the entire song, is that mean she married her (secret) lover by now?
Hmmm, quite provocating theory, right?
***
Disagree? Welcome. Don't forget to leave your thought here.
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sciencespies · 5 years
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The True History Behind Martin Scorsese's 'The Irishman'
https://sciencespies.com/history/the-true-history-behind-martin-scorseses-the-irishman/
The True History Behind Martin Scorsese's 'The Irishman'
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Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman provides a decades-spanning look at one man’s relationship to organized crime, organized labor, and the truth—however slippery that concept may be. That man, Frank Sheeran, played by Robert De Niro, was a union official and mob associate whose story intersects with labor organizer Jimmy Hoffa, the Mafia, and the Kennedys. The film, Scorsese’s first to stream exclusively on Netflix, is adapted from the 2004 Sheeran biography I Heard You Paint Houses by writer Charles Brandt, in which Sheeran claims that he killed Hoffa, amongst other figures. Hoffa’s sudden disappearance in 1975 still looms large as one of America’s longest-standing unsolved mysteries.
Sheeran’s stories are seductive—he was friends with Hoffa (Al Pacino), and he was an associate of Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci), a mob figure who indeed had ties to both Hoffa and other high-level mafia families. And while many Hoffa scholars think Sheeran’s claims are bogus, and that Scorsese—and Robert De Niro, who has wanted to adapt the book for years—got the story wrong, the film’s portrait of how organized crime became interwoven with the labor movement and the highest levels of government in the 20th century carries many elements of truth.
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As a guide to that era, here’s a primer that can either provide you with some key background information before sitting down to watch The Irishman or to fill in the gaps after viewing. The movie, which leaves theaters next week and will be available on Netflix starting Wednesday, November 27, runs more than three hours, so you have a lot of historical ground to cover.
Who was Jimmy Hoffa and was he really the most famous man in America?
James Hoffa, mostly known by the media as Jimmy, was a labor organizer even in his early career—at 14, he dropped out of school to work full time, and as a teenager he organized fellow grocery store workers to challenge unfair treatment by managers and to advocate for higher wages. He joined the International Brotherhood of the Teamsters in 1932 when he was still a teen, and by 1957 was elected president of the union, which at that point represented nearly one million truck drivers and warehouse workers. At one point in The Irishman, a voiceover from De Niro’s Sheeran asserts that Hoffa, in the 1950s and ’60s, was more famous than Elvis or the Beatles. That’s not an exaggeration—in a time when nearly one-third of American workers belonged to a union, Hoffa was the movement’s most famous face and de facto voice. On July 30, 1975, Hoffa set out for a lunch meeting at a local restaurant, and when he hadn’t returned home by the next morning, his wife Josephine called police. No trace of Hoffa was seen after that day, and he was declared legally dead in 1982. While some thought he was murdered by mafia associates, others thought it might be rivals within the Teamsters, and another line of inquiry attempted to discover whether or not Hoffa, afraid for his life, vanished of his own accord.
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James R. Hoffa at the Teamster’s Union Convention
(Photo by Robert W. Kelley/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images)
What did the Teamsters have to do with the Mafia?
In the mid-20th century, the Teamsters’ pension fund grew in size as membershipswelled. Many mafia families used this fund as a piggy bank, taking out off-the-books loans they’d use to fund the construction of casinos in Las Vegas (the mechanics of this story are detailed in Casino, another Scorsese film). “The problem with the loans to the Mob-controlled projects”, explained the National Museum of Organized Crime & Law Enforcement in a 2015 blog post, “was that many of them were not repaid promptly (or at all), and the corrupting influence facilitated ‘the skim’—the tax-free diversion of casino cash, delivered in suitcases to Midwestern mobsters.” Some of this cash made its way back to Hoffa and other union officials. At lower levels, mob enforcers would ensure unions won prime building, trucking, and transport contracts, keeping the flow of money steady. They would also pitch-in to help fix elections, either within the union itself or in city governments, ensuring key positions were held by union-friendly (and mob-friendly) candidates.
Who, then, was Frank Sheeran?
Many historians of the FBI, labor unions, and organized crime cast aspersions on Frank Sheeran’s stories that he killed Hoffa, or that he killed infamous “Crazy Joe Gallo” in Manhattan’s Little Italy in 1972. Writer and mafia historian Bill Tonelli, writing in Slate, exhaustively argues that Sheeran’s claims are mere fantasy: “Not a single person I spoke with who knew Sheeran from Philly—and I interviewed cops and criminals and prosecutors and reporters—could remember even a suspicion that he had ever killed anyone.”
But some of what Frank Sheeran says to Brandt in I Heard You Paint Houses is true—he was a close associate of mafia boss Russell Bufalino, and through Bufalino he did come to be well-acquainted with Jimmy Hoffa.
An Irish-Catholic WWII veteran, Sheeran, a truck driver by trade, began doing small jobs for Bufalino and the even higher-up Angelo Bruno (Harvey Keitel). As a non-Italian, he wasn’t eligible for full-fledged membership in the Cosa Nostra, but he was considered a trusted associate and friend by Bufalino. In I Heard You Paint Houses, Sheeran, who died in 2003, alleges that through Bufalino he became Hoffa’s right-hand man, tasked with protecting him on trips and even performing assassinations as necessary.
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Russell Bufalino, of Kingston, Pennsylvania appears before the legislative watch dog committee during hearings in the Capitol on the Apalachin, New York, crime congress.
(Getty Images)
What role did Bufalino play in the Mafia hierarchy? Why was he important to the Hoffa story?
Born in Sicily in 1902, Russell Bufalino immigrated to the United States as a child. His family settled in Buffalo, New York, and after moving as a young adult to Northeastern Pennsylvania, Bufalino, by the mid-1960s, was the country’s most important mafia figure not based in a major city. His crew controlled Rust Belt communities like Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, Pennsylvania, and desolate stretches of highway that were useful to the mob because of both coal mining and long-haul trucking. Bufalino’s cousin, Bill (Ray Romano), meanwhile was Jimmy Hoffa’s personal attorney.
While never as notorious or prominent in the news as peers like Carlo Gambino or Joe Bonano, Bufalino was nonetheless a central figure in mid-century organized crime, and in the early 1970s was reportedly the interim head of the notorious Genovese family. As early as 1964, Bufalino was on law enforcement’s radar—a Senate subcommittee on organized crime called him “one of the most ruthless and powerful leaders of the Mafia in the United States.” In 1978 he was sentenced to four years in federal prison on an extortion charge, and was later sent back for an additional decade after a hitman he hired became a government informant. By all accounts, Bufalino and Sheeran remained close until the former’s release from prison in 1989, with Sheeran, convicted in the late 1970s of labor racketeering, continuing to act as Bufalino’s bodyguard and caretaker behind bars.
How did the Kennedys get involved in this story?
John F. Kennedy’s relationship with the mafia is probably second only to his relationship with Marilyn Monroe in terms of public fascination. While little direct evidence connects Kennedy patriarch Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. to the bootlegging industry of the Prohibition age, he was a shrewd Wall Street investor and, later, Hollywood power player—he made several films in the 1920s with star Gloria Swanson (who also happened to be his mistress). At various points Kennedy served as the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, and he used this political capital to help the careers of his sons. In The Dark Side of Camelot, journalist Seymour Hersh alleges that Kennedy also leveraged his influence with the Chicago mafia to secure JFK’s victory over Richard Nixon in the presidential election of 1960. Scorsese’s film presents these connections as fact, even bringing up the persistent—but still unsubstantiated—suggestion that JFK’s assassination was a mafia hit.
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Robert Kennedy speaks with labor leader Jimmy Hoffa. Kennedy was chief counsel for the Senate Rackets Committee and investigated Hoffa’s ties to organized crime.
(Getty Images)
Where did Hoffa come into conflict with the Kennedy administration?
As soon as JFK installed his brother Robert as attorney general in 1961, Jimmy Hoffa shot to the top of the younger Kennedy’s personal Most Wanted list. A one-man anti-mob crusader, Kennedy and his team, Ronald L. Goldfarb outlines in 2002’s Perfect Villains, Imperfect Heroes, accused Hoffa of being little better than a mafia boss himself. He was charged at various points with bribery, fraud, and, most crucially, misuse of the pension fund, all while he tried to expand the Teamsters by bringing airline workers into the union.
According to Kennedy, Hoffa used the fund to make loans to organized crime figures across the country. More than political adversaries, the two men seemed to genuinely dislike each other. After a dinner with Hoffa, Kennedy reflected on the other man’s character: “On my way home I thought of how often Hoffa had said he was tough; that he destroyed employers, hated policemen, and broke those who stood in his way…When a grown man sat for an evening and talked continuously about his toughness, I could only conclude that he was a bully hiding behind a facade.” Kennedy, in this instance, prevailed—Hoffa was finally convicted of both fraud and bribery in 1964, and sentenced to 13 years in federal prison, though he got out in five thanks to a commutation by President Richard Nixon.
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Facing the Senate Labor Rackets Committee for the fourth consecutive day, teamster boss James R. Hoffa testified today that he does not recall talking with racketeer Johnny Dio about the founding of seven phony teamster locals in New York. Council Robert Kennedy and Senator John F. Kennedy are seen in the background.
(Getty Images)
After his release from prison, Hoffa, still beloved by many in the Teamsters, attempted to take back his former position as head of the union. This is where most people believe he went wrong; many in the mafia believed Hoffa’s lust for power made him an unreliable associate. The initial investigations into his disappearance made it clear that Hoffa’s work was tied to the mystery: “Mr. Hoffa owes his fate, whatever it may be”, wrote the New York Times in 1975, “to his increasingly persistent efforts to restore his lapsed influence over the 2.2‐million member union that he built, almost single handedly, into one of the most potent economic and political forces in America.”
So if not Sheeran, who actually killed Jimmy Hoffa?
While not considered by contemporary law enforcement to be a primary suspect in Hoffa’s disappearance, Sheeran’s name did appear on the FBI’s initial list of suspects, but his relationship with Hoffa—and with Bufalino—means that he can’t be ruled out of having some connection to the crime, even if he didn’t pull the trigger himself.
In Hoffa lore, another name comes up regularly—Chuckie O’Brien, another of Hoffa’s longtime friends and aides. In 2004, the FBI matched Hoffa’s DNA to a hairbrush found in O’Brien’s car, though O’Brien’s stepson, lawyer Jack Goldsmith, vehemently denies O’Brien’s involvement. Most law enforcement sources agree that whoever actually killed Hoffa, the particulars Scorsese presents in The Irishman aren’t far off—Hoffa was killed after a meeting in a Detroit house, and his remains were either buried or cremated shortly thereafter.
More recently, in 2017, James Buccellato, a criminology professor at Northern Arizona University, reflected on some of the outlying ideas: “The craziest theory that I’ve ever heard was that he was actually, this was a while back, but that he was actually still alive and that he as being kept somewhere alive by the Mafia; sort of an ‘Elvis is still alive’ kind of theory.”
For his part, when pressed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Scorsese suggested that the truth of Hoffa’s disappearance is perhaps the least compelling part of the story: “What would happen if we knew exactly how the JFK assassination was worked out? What does it do? It gives us a couple of good articles, a couple of movies and people talking about [it] at dinner parties. The point is, it’s not about the facts. It’s the world [the characters are] in, the way they behave. It’s about [a character] stuck in a certain situation. You’re obligated to behave a certain way and you realize you may have made a mistake.”
#History
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Author Appearance Roster - Middle Grade Authors!
Welcome to our archive of authors who participate in school and library visits!
If you have any questions or are interested in having any of these authors make an in-person or virtual visit with your school or library, please email our Author Appearance Coordinator at [email protected].
If you are interested in an author that is not listed below, please email our Author Appearance Coordinator at [email protected] to inquire about their availability.
Pablo Cartaya
Pablo Cartaya is an award-winning author, speaker, actor, and educator. In 2018, he received a Pura Belpré Author Honor for his middle grade novel, The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora. His second novel, Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish, is available now. Pablo is available for in-person and virtual appearances.
Amy Ephron
Amy Ephron is the author of The Castle in the Mist, which was her first book for children and the follow-up, Carnival Magic. She is also an internationally bestselling adult author and her work has appeared in The New York Times, Vogue, and the LA Times, among other publications. Amy lives in Los Angeles with her husband; between them they have five children. 
Keir Graff
Keir Graff is the author of two middle grade novels, The Matchstick Castle and The Phantom Tower. He lives in Chicago with his wife, Marya, and his sons, Felix and Cosmo. By day, he is the executive editor of Booklist at the American Library Association. Keir is available for both in-person and virtual visits. If you are interested in bringing Keir to your school, please click here for more info. 
Andrew Maraniss
Andrew Maraniss began writing about sports, race and history when he was in middle school and now he’s the NYT bestselling author of Strong Inside, named one of the 'Top 10 Biographies for Youth' by Booklist. Andrew loves visiting schools and connecting with reluctant readers. He lives in Nashville with his wife and two young children. He is available for both in-person and virtual visits. Check out the Strong Inside discussion guide.
Victoria Jamieson
Victoria Jamieson is the author/illustrator of the Newbery Honor-winning graphic novel, Roller Girl as well as her latest title, All’s Faire in Middle School. She received her BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design and worked as a children’s book designer before becoming a full-time illustrator. She lives with her family in Pennsylvania and is available for in-person and virtual appearances.
Sheila Turnage
Sheila Turnage grew up on a farm in eastern North Carolina. A graduate of East Carolina University, she is the author of two nonfiction books and one picture book. She is the author of the Mo and Dale Mystery series including the Newbery Honor-winning title,  Three Times Lucky, along with The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing, The Odds of Getting Even, and The Law of Finders Keepers. She is available for both in-person and virtual appearances.
Rachel Vail 
Rachel Vail is the critically acclaimed author of a number of books for teens and middle readers, including Well, That Was Awkward, Unfriended, and The Friendship Ring series. Rachel also participates in virtual visits with classrooms and libraries through our free profile on Skype in the Classroom. She lives in New York and is available for in-person appearances.
Lauren Wolk
Lauren Wolk is an award­-winning poet, artist, and author of the Newbery Honor-winning, Wolf Hollow . Her latest title, Beyond the Bright Sea was the winner of the 2018 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction.  She lives on Cape Cod with her family and is available for in-person appearances. 
Gregory Zuckerman
Gregory Zuckerman is a Special Writer at The Wall Street Journal and the author of three books. Greg and his two sons wrote Rising Above: How 11 Athletes Overcame Challenges in their Youth to Become Stars , which was chosen by Scholastic Teacher magazine as a top recommendation for 2016, and Rising Above: Inspiring Women in Sports. Gregory lives in West Orange, NJ and is available for in-person and virtual appearances.
We also work with Skype in the Classroom to host a list of authors for free Skype visits to your classroom and library! Please check out our profile if you are interested in hosting one of our wonderful Penguin authors for a free virtual visit.
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When Nave heard books were being challenged in school libraries across the country—a movement that eventually hit his own district—he got angry and started talking to his friends. Nave is part of a growing trend of teens responding to book challenges by creating banned book clubs.
They read books that have been historically banned, as well as the ones currently being challenged, and talk about how social context influences censorship. The clubs have become a way for students to make their voices heard in a debate usually dominated by adults. They are run through schools, bookstores, and teen centers across the country, including in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
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Christian rehab for women davie: Say no to unhealthy coping mechanisms
What’s making the youth off-track?
Yes, living in a modernized century and being illiberal to the youths and their lifestyles, would be quite harsh. Isn’t it? Well, that is pretty much fine. But have we ever wondered, what is making the youth of our society off-track? Isn’t it an important topic to be discussed by the big-heads of society? We subconsciously transfer all our responsibility or knowledge to our next generation with a lot of hopes that they are going to manage with the utmost care, but sometimes they go off-track unexpectedly with the consumption of some harmful abusive substances. Yes, I am talking about drugs, alcohol, any other dreadful chemical substances that have gulped down youths of our society, making them the weaker link of the entire chain.
 So Best Christian rehabs are coming up with several constructive initiatives to guide those disoriented youths showing them the real essence of their lives, helping them to revive their distracted lives once again on to the track with new hopes and dreams.
 Addiction irrespective of social categories:
When we start categorizing people based on their level of consumption, generally we come up with two types like; Social-user and regular-user. Christian alcohol treatment centre is using social users here just to indicate those who are not regular at consuming the abusive substances but are occasionally going for it, whereas regular users denote those who make a regular practice of consuming such abusive substances and become hopheads. 
 Let’s elaborate about the state of addiction one by one about each category of the society:
·         Women: Christian rehab for women states that there is a huge number of women indulging themselves in the practice of consuming abusive substances and they have more tendency to get into a regular practice because of their body composition. Moreover, women get dreadful effects of alcohol with several chronic alcoholic diseases and drugs much faster than men. Also, women are the ones who realize when to seek treatment to cure that addiction.
 ·         Men: Christian rehab for men explains men are more active at practicing abusive substances than women, which is basically because of the difference between the release of a particular hormone between men and women.  
 ·         Teenagers: This is the most saddening fact that seeing teenager addicts these days in society is not a big matter. Christian teen rehab specifically works at making those diverted teens realize that their life has lots to do in the upcoming future and tries several methods to help them find their lost ways to real happiness.
  What does bring the overindulgence of addiction?
So, after a thorough investigation on the fact, that what generates this overindulgence of addiction among youth, our specialized team of healers at Christian alcohol rehab centre listed out these following points to justify an answer to the above:
Reasons:
·         Wrong companionship; Being with the wrong group of people who are verse at practicing those life-threatening habits.
·         Incapability at tackling stresses; Use drinking alcohols and consuming drugs as coping mechanisms to handle regular mental stresses, like relationship issues, exam fears, career tension, traumatic history, etc.
·         Fake audacity; Not to be a spoil-spot but to become a so-called-cool-guy people start this activity that sooner turns into an addiction.
·         Family culture; When people grow up seeing their family members being indulged in consuming alcohols, drugs, etc, they feel this as a normal activity. 
 Though these are the obvious reasons we all know, the list has several other reasons too.
 How does our rehab help you heal?
We are glad to express that our team at the Christian drug rehab is expert at rewiring lives of such addicts, showing them a shine of refreshed life, where we teach them how to get rid of those awful habits and inculcate healthier ones, which can manifest their life. We make sure, we do not impose any harsh rules to bring them back on track, but we channelize their life naturally and smoothly so that they can apprehend their process of revival.
 If you think this is the right time you must know the real purpose of your birth forgetting the sources of temporary happiness, then do not delay to contact the best and most affordable addiction recovery centers for men, women and teenagers at the Best Christian rehabs.
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masterofd1saster · 4 years
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CJ current events 28 oct
On Monday, two Philadelphia, Pennsylvania shot to death 27-year-old Walter Wallace after he approached them with a knife.  The shooting was videotaped.
There were protests and some rioting on Monday evening.  https://abcnews.go.com/US/shooting-knife-wielding-man-philadelphia-police-presents-difficult
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United States v. Brian Jeffrey Raymond, in the Southern District of California, charges a State Department employee with one of coercion.  20 mj 4452 is the temporary number until the case is assigned to District Judge.
Mr Raymond came to light 
On May 31, 2020, police in Mexico City, Mexico responded to the defendant’s apartment in response to reports of a naked, hysterical woman desperately screaming for help from the defendant’s balcony. At the time, the defendant was working for a U.S. Government agency at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico and had been living in his embassy-leased residence since August 2018.
The victim in that case is called Adult Victim 1.   Embassies, consulates, and diplomatic residences are within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, 18 U.S.C.  §7, so the alleged assault in Mexico could be brought in federal court.  
The current charge, 
The statute charged is  18 U.S.C. §2422. Coercion and enticement (a) Whoever knowingly persuades, induces, entices, or coerces any individual to travel in interstate or foreign commerce, or in any Territory or Possession of the United States, to engage in prostitution, or in any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.***
relates to Adult Victim 4.  She lived in Virginia, and they had a date in DC before he allegedly assaulted her.
There may be more than 20 victims.
The FBI affidavit/complaint is at https://www.scribd.com/document/481651966/USA-v-Raymond-pdf
The prosecutor’s motion to detain Mr Raymond is at https://www.scribd.com/document/481651942/USA-motion-to-detain-pdf
The Magistrate Judge’s order detaining Mr Raymond before trial is at https://www.scribd.com/document/481651941/Raymond-detention-order-pdf
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Keith Raniere, the pedophile leader of the creepy, woman-branding sex cult within his controversial self-help organization NXIVM, was sentenced to 120 years in prison Tuesday.***’
Raniere, 60, and his cabal of associates ran the Albany-based NXIVM that painted itself as a revolutionary self-improvement organization that could help its followers become their best selves.
But its feel-good façade hid a terrible secret. Raniere was in effect leading a sex trafficking enterprise, sleeping with at least one minor and coercing several women into being branded with his initials over their genitals — all in the name of personal growth.*** https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-keith-raniere-nxivm-cult-sentencing-20201027-j27bnn34tfdvvfw7g6d4hezlki-story.html 
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Catrell A. Walls, 18, of Cook County, Illinois was seen on a 7 year old girl’s first grade class causing her to perform fellatio on him.
The DA said: "The victim disclosed, ‘He made me put my lips on [him], and this has happened before, and I don’t want my daddy to know, it’s a secret,’ "
Some member of her class observed the act.  Mr Walls was out on bail on a firearms charge.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ny-online-class-teen-arrested-assault-girl-age-7-chicago-20201018-vf3arieyjzckzbe33wregpjytm-story.html 
***
***Goey “Joey” Charles, 29, of Uniondale, L.I., was arrested for strangling his girlfriend of a year and callously dumping her body on the sidewalk near a Queens expressway, police said Tuesday.
Vanessa Pierre, a Hempstead resident just three months away from delivering the couple’s child, was found facedown on the side of Horace Harding Expressway near Bell Blvd. in Bayside around 6 a.m. Friday.
Charles stopped his girlfriend’s white 2019 Dodge Challenger on the expressway about 2:50 a.m., climbed out from behind the wheel***  https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-boyfriend-arrested-murder-pregnant-nurse-practitioner-20201027-s4ss66gvebdllnftap3akpa4xm-story.html 
Video of Mr Charles removing a large bundle from the Challenger at the link.
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SEATTLE — The Seattle City Council is considering new legislation that would create a legal loophole that would make substance addiction, mental illness or poverty a valid legal defense for nearly all misdemeanor crimes committed in the city.
The council's consideration of the plan has occurred with virtually no public discussion about the proposal, which has been included in the municipal budgeting process. The council has not, so far, conducted a standalone meeting to discuss the idea.***
The legislation was proposed by Seattle City Councilwoman Lisa Herbold last Wednesday.***
If approved, the ordinance would excuse and dismiss -- essentially legalizing -- almost all misdemeanor crimes committed in Seattle by offenders who could show either:
Symptoms of addiction without being required to provide a medical diagnosis;
Symptoms of a mental disorder; or
Poverty and the crime was committed to meet an "immediate and basic need." For example, if a defendant argued they stole merchandise to sell for cash in order to purchase food, clothes or was trying to scrape together enough money for rent. The accused could not be convicted.***
https://komonews.com/news/local/seattle-city-council-mulls-plan-that-could-result-in-dismissal-of-many-misdemeanor-crimes
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A security guard had a "bad feeling" about suicide bomber Salman Abedi but did not approach him for fear of being branded a racist, an inquiry has heard. Kyle Lawler, who was 18 at the time of the Manchester Arena attack, was standing 10 or 15ft away from Abedi.*** About five minutes later, at 22:31 BST on 22 May 2017, Abedi detonated a bomb packed with 3,000 nuts and bolts. Abedi, 22, dressed all in black and carrying a large rucksack, had been reported to security by a member of the public at 22:15. In his statement prepared for the inquiry, Mr Lawler said: "I just had a bad feeling about him but did not have anything to justify that." The witness added that Abedi was "fidgety and sweating".*** "I did not want people to think I am stereotyping him because of his race. "I was scared of being wrong and being branded a racist if I got it wrong and would have got into trouble. It made me hesitant. "I wanted to get it right and not mess it up by over-reacting or judging someone by their race."***
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-54695580
I don't know about England, but a solo 22 y/o man at a concert for little girls, dressed all in black, carrying a ruck, fidgeting, and sweating - that's more than an articulable suspicion for a stop & frisk per Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968).
***
***Maurice Diggins, 36, of Biddeford, Maine, ***was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen to 10 years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release.***
on April 15, 2018, defendant Diggins and his nephew, Dusty Leo (who previously pled guilty in connection with this case), committed two separate racially motivated assaults, one in Portland and one in Biddeford. In the Portland assault, which occurred just before 1:00 a.m., Diggins attacked a black Sudanese male without provocation, breaking the victim’s jaw. During that same incident, Diggins and Leo assaulted another black man who was standing nearby. Witnesses heard Diggins and Leo using racial epithets during the incidents.
In the second incident, which occurred approximately an hour later and approximately 20 miles away in Biddeford, defendant Diggins and Leo drove in Leo’s truck into the parking lot of a convenience store, where Diggins got out of the truck and approached a black man who was walking toward the store’s entrance. Diggins directed a racial slur at the man and distracted him while Leo got out of the truck and sucker-punched him in the jaw, knocking him to the ground. The unprovoked attack broke the victim’s jaw in several places.*** https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/maine-man-sentenced-federal-hate-crime-convictions
***
Bloods Gang Members Sentenced to Life in Prison for Racketeering Conspiracy Involving Murder and Other Crimes***
U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney sentenced three defendants to terms of life imprisonment.  A jury previously convicted those defendants, Dricko Dashon Huskey, aka Drizzy, 28, of Shelby, North Carolina, Renaire Roshique Lewis Jr., aka Banz, 26, of Shelby, North Carolina, and Jonathan Wray, aka Jon Jon/Yungin, 29, of Lawndale, North Carolina, of racketeering conspiracy, finding that each defendant personally committed murder.  The jury also convicted Lewis of murder in aid of racketeering, attempted murder in aid of racketeering, attempted Hobbs Act robbery, and two counts of discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, one of which resulted in death.
Judge Whitney also sentenced Alandus Montrell Smith, aka Kadafia, 30, of Shelby, North Carolina, and Bradley Beauchamp, aka Bizzie, 32, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  Smith was sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release based on his jury convictions for RICO conspiracy, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and marijuana, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.  Beauchamp was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison followed by two years of supervised release based on his convictions during a bench trial for RICO conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy. ***   https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/bloods-gang-members-sentenced-life-prison-racketeering-conspiracy-involving-murder-and-other 
***
BJS released a new report, Violent Victimization by Race or Ethnicity, 2005-2019.  
From 2005 to 2019— *** „„The rate of violent victimization against black persons fell 43% (from 32.7 to 18.7 violent victimizations per 1,000 black persons age 12 or older). „„The rate of violent victimization against white persons fell 24% (from 27.7 to 21.0 victimizations per 1,000 white persons age 12 or older).***
***
A complaint and arrest warrants were unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging eight defendants with conspiring to act in the United States as illegal agents of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).  Six defendants also face related charges of conspiring to commit interstate and international stalking.  The defendants, allegedly acting at the direction and under the control of PRC government officials, conducted surveillance of and engaged in a campaign to harass, stalk, and coerce certain residents of the United States to return to the PRC as part of a global, concerted, and extralegal repatriation effort known as “Operation Fox Hunt.”
Zhu Yong, Hongru Jin, and Michael McMahon were arrested today and will be arraigned this afternoon via teleconference before U.S. Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo.  Rong Jing and Zheng Congying were arrested in the Central District of California, and their initial appearances will take place in that district later today.  Zhu Feng, Hu Ji, and Li Minjun remain at large.***
According to the complaint, the defendants participated in an international campaign to threaten, harass, surveil and intimidate John Doe-1, a resident of New Jersey, and his family in order to force them to return to the PRC as part of an international effort by the PRC government known within the PRC as “Operation Fox Hunt” and “Operation Skynet.”  In furtherance of the operation, the PRC government targets Chinese individuals living in foreign countries that the PRC government alleges have committed crimes under PRC law and seeks to repatriate them to the PRC to face charges.  Rather than rely upon proper forms of international law enforcement cooperation, such as Interpol “red notices” and requests for information through appropriate governmental channels, the defendants allegedly engaged in clandestine, unsanctioned, and illegal conduct within the United States and facilitated the travel of PRC government officials (PRC Officials) to U.S. soil in order to further carry out these illegal acts.  Between 2016 and 2019, multiple PRC Officials directed the defendants, and several others, to engage in efforts to coerce the victims to return to the PRC*** https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/eight-individuals-charged-conspiring-act-illegal-agents-people-s-republic-china
***
Attack of administrative law
According to www.wiley.law, ATF has been suggesting that it will revise the definition of certain small rifles/large pistols so that it will become illegal to import them.
Part of the problem is that the average congressperson knows diddly jack squat about firearms.  Accordingly, the basic statute, 18 U.S.C. § 922 (2020), says 
Except as provided in section 925(d) of this chapter, it shall be unlawful for any person knowingly to import or bring into the United States or any possession thereof any firearm***
If you look at  section 925(d), it says
(d) The Attorney General shall authorize a firearm or ammunition to be imported or brought into the United States or any possession thereof if the firearm or ammunition-- *** (3) is of a type that does not fall within the definition of a firearm as defined in section 5845(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and is generally recognized as particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes, excluding surplus military firearms, except in any case where the Attorney General has not authorized the importation of the firearm pursuant to this paragraph, it shall be unlawful to import any frame, receiver, or barrel of such firearm which would be prohibited if assembled;
In turn, 26 U.S.C. § 5845 (2020) says
(a) Firearm.--The term “firearm” means (1) a shotgun having a barrel or barrels of less than 18 inches in length; (2) a weapon made from a shotgun if such weapon as modified has an overall length of less than 26 inches or a barrel or barrels of less than 18 inches in length; (3) a rifle having a barrel or barrels of less than 16 inches in length; (4) a weapon made from a rifle if such weapon as modified has an overall length of less than 26 inches or a barrel or barrels of less than 16 inches in length; (5) any other weapon, as defined in subsection (e); *** The term “firearm” shall not include an antique firearm or any device (other than a machinegun or destructive device) which, although designed as a weapon, the Secretary finds by reason of the date of its manufacture, value, design, and other characteristics is primarily a collector's item and is not likely to be used as a weapon.***
(e) Any other weapon.--The term “any other weapon” means any weapon or device capable of being concealed on the person from which a shot can be discharged through the energy of an explosive, a pistol or revolver having a barrel with a smooth bore designed or redesigned to fire a fixed shotgun shell, weapons with combination shotgun and rifle barrels 12 inches or more, less than 18 inches in length, from which only a single discharge can be made from either barrel without manual reloading, and shall include any such weapon which may be readily restored to fire. Such term shall not include a pistol or a revolver having a rifled bore, or rifled bores, or weapons designed, made, or intended to be fired from the shoulder and not capable of firing fixed ammunition. ***
The cabinet secretaries have significant discretion in what is or is not a firearm.  The upshot is that it’s never really clear if you’re looking at jail time if you import a weapon.
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alcohol rehab for young men wy: Addictions is a realtime social disease
Addiction destroys an entire family:
Disturbing a lot of people and their homes, the epidemic-like addiction has become an unresolved issue in today’s age. When the pandemic hit us hardly, addiction has been another distraught social scar, which we all want to eradicate. Not only habits of abusive substances but also some repetitive actions turn into awful addictions disturbing a lot of innocent lives. Addiction Rehab for teen Elizabethville in the United States is helping individuals coming from different locations in transforming their lives. The team here is not only assisting in alcohol rehabilitation but also in drug addiction recovery. As we know, addiction is a serious trouble to society so our responsibility is to help the addicts find a way out of the trouble.
Promoting reasons behind addiction:
It is hard to ignore the reasons behind addiction, as those reasons will help us understand more about the addict, like where it started and how it became a habit for the person. And knowing the promoting reasons behind addiction of teens is extremely helpful when we wish to see our teens future completely sorted and secured. Hence, adult and teen challenge Pennsylvania came up with these following reasons:
Effect of friends you are hanging out with: This is undoubtedly the most popular reason for a person to opt for a new habit. In schools, colleges, teens start hanging out with new friends. So, we must watch our teens and their companies, like with whom they are passing most of their time. You like or not, they will start imitating each other and addiction can be one among those habits.
Dealing with mental sickness: When everyone around us is buzzing a lot about mental health and its priority, then we want to show another side of this mental illness. Exam tension, job stress, relationship instability, past life trauma, etc bring mental anxiety and long run depression, where people cannot handle a situation with sanity and addiction gives them ways to forget their tensions, which is not a right treatment. As per alcohol rehab for teen Elizabethtown, seeking a specialist in this case would be much appreciable.
Some learn addiction from family: As family is the first learning-place of a person, then it is deadly necessary that a family should maintain utmost sanity to be a moral to rest of the family. Many teens see their elders being involved in several addiction and they presume that their addiction is not a wrong practice. So, alcohol rehab for teen Elizabethville mentions that to guide your teen you need to focus on his or her surroundings and that you can start from your family.
Several such reasons are there to motivate a non-addict to become an addict and so we need to be aware of them so that we can extend help the needy ones whenever required. In such scenario, our rehab center suggest addicts to go for a core level treatment that is a proper rehabilitation program. Here at drug rehab for men Dublin, we encourage inhabitants to opt for productive and healthy habits leaving unhealthy ones. Besides we generate a home-like ambience to them so that they will feel the rehab like their home. And many more things to know about us, so make us a quick call! For more details visit us @ https://bestchristianrehabs.org/
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Cyberbullying During COVID-19 Increasing
By Carisa McKillop, Binghamton University Class of 2020
September 16, 2020
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With children being home and social distancing since March all over the United States, children are relying on social media applications such as TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat in order to communicate with those that they would usually see in school each day. In some sense, technology is great because you are still able to communicate with people you don’t live with without having to potentially be exposed to COVID-19. But, reliance on social media and technology makes kids more likely to be cyberbullied. In March, when students made the initial transition to remote learning, a potential increase in cyberbullying was anticipated. Kathryn Seigfried- Spellar, a professor at Purdue University as well as a fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and a member of the American Psychological Association, stated in March that “Increased internet and social media use as a result of COVID-19 will make youth a target for cybervictimization, including cyberbullying, sextortion and solicitation. Kids are usually not forthcoming with issues of cyberbullying because they’re afraid of losing their technology. Some teens would rather be cyberbullied than have their Facebook page or Instagram account shut down [6].” After six months of remote learning and a socially distanced Summer,a report published by L1ght, an AI-driven startup that helps detect and filter abusive and toxic content online, found hate speech between children and teens on social media and in chat forums increased 70% since students transitioned to distance learning[3]. With increased cyberbullying occurring, this can potentially increase the likelihood for rises in court cases and legal issues regarding cyberbullying.
New York State cyberbullying laws do cover situations that occur off-campus, which does include cyberbullying that happens online [2]. In certain instances, those being cyberbullied can file a civil lawsuit against the cyberbully/their parents through a number of methods. These include for hate crime laws, criminal laws, and a civil tort lawsuit[7]. A civil tort lawsuit can include for assault, battery, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy, and slander [7]. In certain circumstances, filing a lawsuit for cyberbullying can be warranted because according to Tatiana Falcone, M.D. “Cyberbullying actually has a long-term impact on mental health,”[1] and these impacts tend to be negative impacts instead of positive ones.
In addition to these certain circumstances, New York State overall has bullying policies and laws in place in order to try and protect students from cyberbullying. Some of these policies include procedures for teachers to report cases, requirements to tell law enforcement of any sort of cyberbullying that can potentially warrant criminal conduct, and mandated participation for students to take part in bullying prevention programs at school [2]. In addition, New York has a very unique cyberbullying law called the New York’s Dignity for All Students Act, also known as DASA. DASA mandates that all school districts in the State need to conduct employee training on cyberbullying and harassment, hire a DASA coordinator that directly works with their staff, students, and parents in order to address any bullying issues, and provide reporting procedures for all types of bullying [4]. These policies are great, but a lot of districts across the state have not publicly mentioned if and how they plan on implementing their policies differently during a period of increased use of technology from home.
But, not all states have as many cyberbullying laws and policies in place as New York does. For example, Montana is the only state in the United States that currently does not require their schools to have a formal policy on bullying[4].
The overall question in America right now, but may not seem as a direct one, is if on top of schools changing their curriculum and learning platforms, will they also be able to be cognizant of cyberbullying between their students and be able to handle it virtually? In addition, it may be a lot more difficult for teachers to report bullying because students may not feel as comfortable to tell a teacher about instances of cyberbully over video chat compared to in person. David Lillenstein, president of the Association of School Psychologists of Pennsylvania mentioned how Kids receive a lot of support from schools and from peers, and those support channels were cut off, they’re left feeling isolated and alone to confront their challenges, and that’s scary” [5]. This feeling of isolation can make these students feel that they don’t have a trusted adult to report cyberbullying to if and when it occurs to them.
With COVID-19 and staff of schools being focused on getting their classrooms in order for the year on a virtual platform and students potentially not feeling as readily as normal to report instances of cyberbullying against them to a trusted adult, some instances of cyberbullying may fall through the cracks and have some long-term consequences on students.
________________________________________________________________
[1] 13 ON YOUR SIDE Staff. “Does More Screen Time Mean More Cyberbullying?”WZZM13.Com, 15 July 2020, www.wzzm13.com/article/tech/screen-time-linked-to-cyberbulling/69-c1b7863e-a963-4487-b1fa-414e4a75e7cd.
[2] Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs (ASPA). “New York Anti-Bullying Laws & Policies.”StopBullying.gov, 4 Dec. 2019, www.stopbullying.gov/resources/laws/new-york.
[3]Barack, Lauren. “Navigating Cyberbullying More Difficult amid COVID-19, but There AreOptions.” Education Dive, 5 Aug. 2020, www.educationdive.com/news/navigating-cyberbullying-more-difficult-amid-covid-19-but-there-are-option/582771/.
[4] Gordon, Sherri. “Understanding the Legal Ramifications of Cyberbullying.” Verywell Family, 18 June 2020, www.verywellfamily.com/cyberbullying-laws-4588306.
[5]Hardison, Elizabeth. “Schools Stare down Teen Mental Health Crisis as They Prepare for Largely Virtual Year: Pennsylvania Capital.” Star, Pennsylvania Capital-Star, 23 Aug. 2020, www.penncapital-star.com/education/schools-stare-down-teen-mental-health-crisis-as-they-prepare-for-largely-virtual-year/.
[6] Service, Purdue News. “Empty Schools from COVID-19 Increase Potential for Cyberbullying,Sextortion.” Purdue University News, 23 Mar. 2020, www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2020/Q1/empty-schools-from-covid-19-increase-potential-for-cyberbullying,-sextortion.html.
[7]“Young Lawyers.” American Bar Association, 1 Sept. 2020,www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/projects/anti_bullying_initiative/young_lawyers/.
Photo Credit: Vivianlee2005
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janepwilliams87 · 4 years
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PA gov wants cannabis in state stores for COVID recovery (Newsletter: August 26, 2020)
CDC: Teen marijuana use stable in legalization era; Congressman helps raise funds for psilocybin measure; IL official: Cannabis is “recession-proof”
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By starting a $10 per month pledge on Patreon—or about 45 cents per issue of this newsletter—you can help us rely less on ads to cover our expenses, hire more journalists and bring you even more marijuana news. https://www.patreon.com/marijuanamoment / TOP THINGS TO KNOW Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) is calling on lawmakers to legalize marijuana to boost COVID-19 economic relief—and he’s floating state-run stores to sell cannabis. Some of the resulting revenue would be earmarked for historically disadvantaged businesses and restorative justice programs.
“I think there was some appetite for it before and my hope is that with the pandemic and the hit that we’ve taken to revenues that there might be a little more interest in it right now.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that lifetime teen marijuana use “decreased during 2013–2019” as states began legalizing cannabis and that there was “no change” in current use during the period. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) is helping to raise money for Oregon’s ballot measure to legalize psilocybin therapy.
“Measure 109 gives Oregonians who suffer from depression and anxiety the opportunity to overcome their mental health challenges through a program designed for safety and support.”
The top cannabis aide to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) says the state’s strong marijuana sales show that the industry is “pandemic-proof” and “recession-proof.” / FEDERAL Libertarian presidential candidate Jo Jorgensen tweeted, “.@JoeBiden won’t end #QualifiedImmunity, nor will he legalize marijuana. Why? Because both would jeopardize his and @KamalaHarris’ standing with police unions. I am the only POTUS candidate who is willing to do both and I’m not beholden to unions.” National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Deputy Administrator James Owens wrote that “marijuana, like many other drugs, can impair their ability to drive safely and can result in being charged with driving under the influence.” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) bashed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s role in enacting punitive crime legislation during a speech at the Republican National Convention. / STATES New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) tweeted, “I applaud @GovernorTomWolf’s call for the legalization of adult-use marijuana in Pennsylvania. This November, I hope the people of New Jersey will correct a historical wrong and vote to legalize adult-use marijuana – a long-overdue step to balance the scales of justice.” Rhode Island’s Senate president said he thinks the social costs of legalizing marijuana outweigh revenue that would be generated, but his Democratic primary opponent supports it. Maine regulators released guidance for marijuana businesses on issues such as advertising, marketing, labeling, scales, product disposal and more. Oklahoma regulators are investigating a medical cannabis testing lab over allegations it falsified results. Michigan regulators are hosting a marijuana licensing workgroup on September 21. — Marijuana Moment is already tracking more than 1,500 cannabis bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments. Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access. —
/ LOCAL Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s mayor said “there’s no reason marijuana should not be in the same category as gin and whiskey.” Chicago, Illinois’s mayor fired her top cannabis advisor. Denver, Colorado officials are holding a Marijuana Licensing Work Group meeting on September 29. / INTERNATIONAL Ecuador’s Assembly approved a bill establishing medical cannabis guidelines. / SCIENCE & HEALTH A study suggested “antimicrobial properties of the extract of cannabis sativa both in vitro and in minced meat.” A review concluded that evidence-based therapies “could be positively enhanced through incorporating certain non-pharmacological aspects of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy that may facilitate patient engagement and imply important therapeutic mechanisms of action.” / ADVOCACY, OPINION & ANALYSIS The Global Commission on Drug Policy condemned Singapore’s caning of a person for a drug offense. / BUSINESS The Securities and Exchange Commission approved a rule change allowing the AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF to trade on NYSE Arca. Clever Leaves got a license from the Portuguese government to grow, import and export medical cannabis. Truss Beverage Co., a joint venture between MolsonCoors Canada and HEXO Corp., released five new brands. TILT Holdings Inc. reported quarterly revenue of $38.6 million and a loss of $9 million. Quest Diagnostics Inc. said that the percentage of U.S. workers who tested positive for drugs last year is the highest in 15 years. / CULTURE Actor Saverio Guerra tweeted, “@NYGovCuomo now is the time to legalize recreational marijuana. The city needs the revenue and the jobs and commercial landlords need tenants. We have many examples to look to from other states on how it’s done effectively. Follow the data. Get it done.”
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grace2build · 4 years
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Brooklyn Adult and Teen Challenge in Pennsylvania circa 2018! ♥️🙏🏼🙌🏼
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warmdevs · 5 years
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New Post has been published on https://warmdevs.com/teenagers-ux-designing-for-teens.html
Teenager’s UX: Designing for Teens
Teens are wired. Technology is so integrated with teenagers’ lives that creating useful and usable websites and apps for them is more critical than ever. To succeed in a world where the next best thing is a click away and text message interruptions are the rule, not the exception, website and app creators must clearly understand what teens want and how to keep them on a site.
To understand the expectations of a generation that grew up with technology and the internet, we conducted qualitative usability studies with teenage participants to identify guidelines for how websites can be improved to match this age group’s’ abilities and preferences.
Our research refutes many stereotypes, including the following:
Mobile proficiency transfers across all devices
Teens just want to be entertained online with graphics and multimedia
Teens are tech-savvy
Teens want everything to be social
Teens are not technowizards who surf the web with abandon. And they don’t like sites laden with glitzy, blinking graphics. Letting stereotypes steer your design can lead to disastrous outcomes.
Teenagers use the internet on many devices in various environments. For our research, we focused on web and app usability for laptops, tablets, and mobile devices. Although teens spend endless time texting and on social media, we didn’t focus on these activities because our goal was to derive design guidelines for mainstream websites and apps, not to help build the next Snapchat.
The Research
We derived 130 usability guidelines for engaging teens and keeping them on your site. These recommendations are based on observational studies using multiple methodologies. A total of 100 users between the ages of 13 and 17 participated in three rounds of research: 38 teens in the original study for the first edition of this report, 46 teens in the second study, and 16 in the most recent study. We triangulated findings across three methods:
Usability testing. We met with test participants one at a time and gave them tasks to perform, asking them to vocalize their thoughts as they attempted tasks. To keep the scenarios as authentic as possible, we matched the tasks with each teen’s actual interests and simulated real-world situations.
Field studies. We observed teenagers in their homes and at school. During these site visits, we didn’t give users tasks to perform, but simply watched as they used the web the way they normally would in these settings.
Interviews and focus groups. To gain further insight into their experiences and attitudes, we asked participants to offer stories and examples detailing how and when they used the web, and which sites they considered interesting and useful. We also solicited advice from teens on how to make websites appealing. Interviews were held before and after usability sessions, as well as during a focus group.
We conducted studies in the U.S., United Kingdom, and Australia, in cities and towns ranging from affluent suburbs to disadvantaged urban areas. We tested a roughly equivalent number of boys and girls on a total of 210 websites and 30 apps that covered a broad range of genres, including:
School resources (University of Nottingham, Central Bucks High School West, BBC Bitesize, Quizlet)
Tourism/Arts & Entertainment (Visit London, TripAdvisor, ExploreChicago.com)
Health (Australian Drug Foundation, TeensHealth, National Institute on Drug Abuse)
Informational/Reference (Nature, Food Network, Scientific American)
News (Buzzfeed, CNN, Weather.com, Daily Mail, The New York Times)
Entertainment and Games (Stack AR, YouTube, Playlist.com, Geometry Wars)
Ecommerce (Adidas, H&M, ASOS, Jabra)
Corporate sites (McCormick, Unilever, Pepsi-Cola, Procter & Gamble, Samsung, Morton Salt)
Government (Gov.UK, Australian Government main portal, Pennsylvania’s Department of Motor Vehicles, the U.S. White House, NASA)
Nonprofits (Rotary International, Charity: Water, World Food Programme, National Wildlife Federation)
As these examples show, we tested both specialized sites that explicitly target teenagers and mainstream sites that include teens as part of a broad-target audience.
Teen Motivations for Using Websites
Teenagers access the web for myriad activities, including entertainment. Generally, they have a specific goal, even if that goal is just to keep themselves occupied for 10 minutes.
Although their specific tasks might differ from adults, teens are similar to adults in major ways: both groups expect websites to be easy to use and to let them accomplish their tasks. Like adults, teens are goal-oriented and don’t surf the web aimlessly; usability is thus as important for them as for any other user group.
Teens in our studies reported using the web or various apps for:
School assignments
Hobbies or other special interests (including learning new skills or finding fun activities)
Entertainment (including music, videos, and games)
News (including sports, current events, and entertainment)
Learning about new topics
Talking to friends
Shopping
Even when teens don’t make purchases on ecommerce websites, they do visit them to research products and build wish lists for the credit-card–carrying adults in their lives.
Changes Over Time: Good and Bad News
The good news: Teens are becoming more successful at navigating websites and finding what they need. At the time of the third study, the oldest participant was born in 2001 and the youngest was born in 2005; therefore, all participants in this study grew up with access to computers. Between all three studies conducted over the last 15 years for this report, the amount of time teenagers spend on computers and mobile devices has steadily increased. How effective teenagers are with technology is correlated with the amount of time using technology.
Are teens getting better or are websites getting better? Probably a bit of both. We observed many of the same bad user habits among teens in our last study as we saw in our first study, back in 2004. Thus, the improved performance obviously stems in part from improvements in website design. That said, even though teens in our original study were heavy web users, teenagers today have even greater access to the internet and spend more time using it. This generation grew up with technology and is much more effective at using it than the participants in our first study (in which the oldest participant was born in 1988 and the youngest in 1992).
The bad news: Teens are not as invincible as some people think. Although teens might feel confident online, they do make mistakes and often give up quickly. Fast-moving teens are also less cautious than adults and make snap judgments; these lead to fewer successfully completed tasks.
Teens perform worse than adults for three reasons:
Insufficient reading skills
Less sophisticated research strategies
Dramatically lower levels of patience
To improve your site’s usability among teens, you must consider all three factors. Also note that we have seen these factors in all our research with teenagers during a 15-year period, meaning that they are likely to continue to hold in the future, even if other teen habits may change as fads come and go.
Across different types of websites, teens had the most success on ecommerce websites, which often adhered to design standards and required little reading. Teens encountered the greatest challenges on large sites with dense content and poor navigation schemes. Government, nonprofit, and school sites were the biggest culprits of poor usability.
Despite usability improvements, we observed users struggling with the same issues as in previous years — as well as new issues created by emerging features and design approaches. Thus, both traditional and new guidelines must be considered as technology and people continually evolve; our new report contains 130 total guidelines, compared with 61 in the first edition and 111 in the second.
Many of the guidelines also apply to general audiences. For teens, however, these guidelines are even more important because the usability issues present bigger hurdles.
The Importance of Content and Layout
Write for impatient users. Nothing deters younger audiences more than a cluttered screen full of text. Teens can quickly become bored, distracted, and frustrated.
Teenagers don’t like to read a lot on the web. They get enough of that at school. Plus, their reading skills are not ideal — especially those of younger teens. Sites that were easy to scan or that illustrated concepts visually were strongly preferred to sites with dense text.
Applying proper web writing and formatting techniques is crucial in communicating with teens. Display content in small, meaningful chunks with plenty of white space. Small chunks help students retain information and pick up where they left off after the inevitable interruptions of text messages and phone calls.
Teenagers in our study were often overwhelmed with content on websites. To focus their attention on one area, we observed several teens highlighting text as they read down the page. These are some of their comments:
“Sometimes reading in black and white is hard. Highlight helps me read better.” – 16-year-old male
“I lost my train of thought, so I highlighted the text to focus more on it.” – 15-year-old female
Teens were overloaded with information on the screen. We observed multiple participants highlighting text on the page to help them focus — here, a teen highlighted the term bluegrass, as she wondered what type of music that was.
Help teens learn and stay focused by choosing your words wisely. Use words that teens understand. Write in short sentences and paragraphs. Format key points or steps of a process using bullet points. Teens generally have poorer reading and comprehension skills than adults. If your site targets a broad audience, aim to write at a 6th-grade reading level (or lower). Writing at this level will help audiences of all ages — young and old — quickly understand your content.
One surprising finding in this study: teenagers dislike tiny font sizes as much as adults do. We’ve often warned websites about using small text because of the negative implications for senior citizens (and even people in their late 40s, whose eyesight has begun to decline). We’ve always assumed that tiny text predominated because most web designers are young and still have perfect vision, so we were surprised that small type often caused problems or provoked negative comments from our study’s teen users. Even though this audience is sufficiently sharp-eyed, most teens move too quickly and are too easily distracted to attend to small text.
“You go to Music and it’s real tiny. … You look at this stuff and it’s hard to see. You have to squint. These are really small, and you can’t see. It needs to be a little bigger.” — 16-year-old female
Present Interesting Content Professionally and Clearly
Teens complained about sites they found boring. Dull content is the kiss of death if your goal is to keep teens on your site. However, not everything needs to be interactive and fancy. Although teens have a strong appreciation for aesthetics, they detest sites that appear cluttered and contain pointless multimedia.
Beware of overusing interactive features just because you design for younger audiences. Multimedia can engage or enrage teens, depending on its usefulness. The best online experiences for teens are those that teach them something new or keep them focused on a goal.
What’s good? The following interactive features all worked well because they let teens do things rather than simply sit and read:
Online quizzes
Forms for providing feedback or asking questions
Online voting
Games
Features for sharing pictures or stories
Features for creating and editing content
These interactive features let teenagers make their mark on the internet and express themselves in various ways — some small, some big.
The site type influences user expectations. For example, teens expect ecommerce and brand sites to look professional, and informational sites to look simple and polished. For the latter sites, presenting interesting content in a clear manner is much more attractive than experimenting with new sophisticated features. Teens can learn and feel engaged without the nonessential enhancements.
Speed Is Key
A slow-loading website is a deal-breaker. Whatever you do, make sure your site loads quickly. Slow, sluggish sites are frustrating to anybody, but they’re especially offensive to young audiences who expect instant gratification.
Think twice before you develop that super cool widget or include that 4K video. If it’s slow or buggy, forget it. Teens won’t have the patience for it. Because teens often work on older, second-hand devices — and sometimes have slow internet connections — fancy features and  high-resolution multimedia might not work well.
“I hate this waiting. It’s very annoying … I usually wouldn’t wait this long for a page to load. I would go to a different site, I would go to the next one.” — 17-year-old male
Don’t Talk Down to Teens
Avoid anything that sounds condescending or babyish. The proper tone can make or break your site. Teens relate to content created by peers, so supplement your content with real stories, images, and examples from other teens.
Some websites in our study tried to serve both children and teens in a single area, usually titled  Kids. A grave mistake: the word “kid” is a teen repellent. Teenagers are fiercely proud of their newly won status, and they don’t want overly childish content — one more reason to ease up on the heavy animations and garish color schemes that work for younger audiences. We recommend having separate sections for young children and teens, labeled Kids and Teens, respectively.
Let Teens Control the Social Aspects
Facilitate sharing but don’t force it. Teens rely on technology for social communication, but they don’t want to be social all the time. They want to control what they share and how they share it. Sites that force teens to register and then automatically make their profile public violate trust. Parents and teachers teach teens to protect their privacy at a young age, and one of the things teens learn early is to avoid nosey sites.
When offering sharing options, include a link to copy the web address, as teens are likely browsing on their phones and want to share it directly with a friend. Participants in our studies often preferred using social media apps, like Snapchat, to message friends, so providing a Copy Link option allows them to send a direct message to a friend on any platform. When this functionality isn’t available, they tended to take screenshots and share them with friends. Though this behavior reaches their goal, from a business perspective, it hinders other teens’ ability to easily visit the content.
Design for Mobile Viewing
All of the teenagers in our most recent study had mobile devices, but not all had laptops or computers. Therefore, teens are often viewing your content from the palm of their hand.
Complex mouse gestures often don’t translate well to mobile. The adoption of portable devices requires that you design a website so that it doesn’t compromise usability.
Teens often work on touch-enabled devices, making interactions that require precision — such as dropdown menus, drag-and-drop, and small buttons — difficult. Design elements such as rollover effects and small click zones are also problematic, if they’re usable at all. Small text sizes and dense text make reading difficult.
Media portrays teens as competent computer jockeys. In reality, teens’ overconfidence combined with their developing cognitive abilities means they often give up quickly and blame the website’s design. They don’t blame themselves, they blame you.
Age-Group Differences
The following table summarizes the main similarities and differences in web-design approaches for young children, teenagers, college students, and adults. (The findings about children are from our studies with 3–12-year-old users; the findings about college students are from our study with 18–25-year-old users.)
Children Teens College Students Adults Search Bigger reliance on bookmarks than search, but older kids do search Heavy reliance on search; some difficulty formulating search queries; click topmost results in SERP Heavy reliance on search; some difficulty formulating search queries; click topmost results in SERP Heavy reliance on search; some difficulty formulating search queries; click topmost results in SERP Scrolling Don’t scroll (younger); some scrolling (older) OK scrolling OK scrolling OK scrolling Animation and sound effects Attend to things that move and make sounds Might appreciate them to some extent, but overuse can be problematic. Dislike them; autoplay sound disruptive in dorms Dislike them; autoplay sound disruptive at work Patience Want instant gratification Hate waiting for things to load or having to close pop ups; easily distracted Want answers quickly; no patience for complicated interactions; easily distracted. Want answers quickly, but more likely to wait than college students Trust & credibility Want good initial reaction; Credibility less important because goal is mainly entertainment Difficulty judging credibility Very critical; quick to judge websites Less critical of websites than college students; still quick to judge Tabbed browsing Not used Used often; few tabs Used often; many tabs open at a time Commonly used; varies depending on technical comfort Disclosing private info Hesitant to enter information Hesitant to enter information Less ‘fear’ of technology and therefore (often recklessly) willing to give out personal info Often recklessly willing to give out personal info on sites they trust Advertising Difficulty distinguishing from real content Like discounts but hate popups Have a keen eye for ads and don’t like being tricked Mostly avoid ads but appreciate them when they are relevant and unobtrusive Age-targeted design & content Crucial, with very fine-grained distinctions between age groups Want age-appropriate content; prefer sites with neutral graphics rather than childish ones Want age-appropriate information, but don’t want everyone to sound ‘hip’ Less critical for most sites
Clearly, there are many differences between age groups. The highest usability level for teens comes from designs that are targeted specifically at their needs and behaviors, which differ from those of adults and young children. As the table shows, this is true both for interaction design and for more obvious factors, such as topics and content style.
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