Phillip Winn @pwinn@qoto.org

If you have only a few minutes each day, read whatever @mekkaokereke has posted for the day. But if you have more time, much more time, perhaps you'll enjoy some:

Black History Audiobooks
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnkWWmhVvhc2lMwK45HZigQrS8ngxOI9L

The 21 videos in this playlist include some very short speeches by Lincoln and Wilberforce, but also some multi-hour audiobooks.

After reading Mekka all this month, I find myself wondering about the selection of authors and subjects. A "Black History Audiobooks" playlist that includes multiple speeches by Abraham Lincoln and one by William Wilberforce? Whether you accept the description of Lincoln as a white supremacist or not, it's a little weird to have three out of 21 videos be speeches by white people, right? And then the story of young (white) Abraham Lincoln? I could go on, but there are some good books on the list, so I'll stop. It's not my place.

Enjoy writings from Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglass, and books about the Underground Railroad, the American Revolution, and exploration of the North Pole.

#BlackHistoryMonth #blog

On this Tuesday in Black History Month, I present Black History for White People:

https://youtu.be/ljVZ4BAGFeU

There are 63 episodes, plus some additional related videos:

https://www.youtube.com/@blackhistoryforwhitepeople/videos

It is my general working theory that most of us wypipo are essentially ignorant about either huge categories of events and people in American history, or missing a huge amount of important details about events and people we think we know about from American history, or both. This series of videos aims to assume nothing, and fill in the gaps.

Honestly, it can be embarrassing sometimes to realize just how ignorant the listener stand-in character can be, but that's how we learn: put away the pride, listen by yourself if it helps, and take in the new information. And fellow wypipo, if you find that you know almost everything you hear in these videos, that's good, but it's not as if it's a huge measure of success to be proud of. It's more like you're no longer asleep (but "woke" has been turned into something like a slur), or you've opened your eyes. A good thing, but not something to brag about, in my opinion.

#BlackHistoryMonth #BlackLivesMatter #blog

This is a hard thread for me, and I suspect a hard one for most wypipo like me.

https://hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/109812905776999409

I have long considered myself someone who resists hero worship, but I also know I have a hard time letting go of positive images formed when I was young.

I don't want to let perfection stand in the way of progress, so I think it's worthwhile to celebrate the progress made by Lincoln while also being honest about his failures. Even in the whitewashed history I was taught, he bent over backwards to accommodate the enslaving southern states, and all for naught. It didn't help, and you'd think the suffering of so many people would have made it clear it never could.

But maybe that's still me, not wanting to go as far as I should in my criticism. I honestly don't know.

I appreciate the effort @mekkaokereke is going to attempting to educate people like me.

#BlackHistoryMonth #BlackLivesMatter #blog #history

Is it crazy how saying sentences backwards creates backwards sentences saying how crazy it is?

#blog

For this Monday during Black History Month, I'll provide more than one video link, but we'll start with:

Moments in Black History, from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD-Nec7Yi1GjS8TEM7kWOxEbk00Z1QYR7

These are 53 very short videos, or rather 52 very short videos with a single two-hour "A Day of Impact" presentation about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr which has more than a few moments of cringe for anybody not a an alumnus of that school.

The 52 short videos cover many common well-known events and people, as well as some I didn't know about, so my fellow wypipo might learn something new, like I have.

These aren't well-polished presentation. To be honest, most sound like school reports. But since most of us didn't learn most of this in school, that seems apt. It won't take long to catch up on a series of Black luminaries such as "Stagecoach Mary" and more recently, Smokie Norful.

For something Much More Modern, there's MKBHD, the YouTube channel of Marques Brownlee, who mostly reviews tech.

https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd

He has been my go-to guy for a couple of years now, and I bought a car less than two months ago based entirely on his video reviewing it. I mean, I also test drove it, but that's the level of trust I have in Mr. Brownlee.

#BlackHistoryMonth #BlackExcellence #blog

Apple Music persists in forcing songs I don't want onto my New Music Mix playlist every week. This week I have a block of four (4) country songs in a row, despite hitting the thumbs-down "Suggest less like this" button on all of those for several weeks in a row now.

If I can completely reset my recommendations, I'll give Apple another chance. Otherwise I'm going to cancel my family plan and switch to Spotify, a service I considered vastly inferior right up until Apple started trying to force-feed me music I hate.

It has been more than a month since I started complaining about this publicly.

https://qoto.org/@pwinn/109644280019435317

Instead of a source of joy, Apple Music has become a source of irritation. Celebrate your record Apple Services revenue all you want, Apple, you are about to lose my business completely.

#AppleMusic #apple #complaint #rant

Presenting without comment, AI model MidJourney v4's response for the prompt "Black history month."

#AIart #MidJourney #BlackHistoryMonth