The Saqqara Bird may have navigated the skies over ancient Egypt.
Source: Sparkleystitch
This Video Raises a Fascinating Question — Were the Ancient Egyptians the First to Develop the Technology for Flight?
How Power Girl Character Transformed From Blond Girl to a Natural-Haired Black Teen
Something’s happening in comics. Change.
Publishers have been answering the dreams, prayers, wishes and/or longings of fans seeking better representation.
Captain America is Black. Thor is a woman. And Ms. Marvel is a Pakistani-American teenager.
Now, Power Girl has gone from being a blond Kryptonian who constantly deals with getting noticed for her completely unnecessary cleavage, instead of her super-strength, to a natural-haired, Black teenager.
Tanya Spears, a 16-year-old genius with access to wealth from an inherited income, interned at Starr Industries under the former Power Girl, Karen Starr, and helped send her back home to Earth-2. After being knocked unconscious, Spears woke up to realize that she could lift up to three tons at a time and is conceivably invincible.
Come next month, we’ll get to see her make a hard decision about which side she falls on within the infighting of the Teen Titans.
It’s about gahdamn damn time!
For all of the arguments about the overly sexualized portrayal of female characters in comic books, I always thought about Power Girl as a prime example. Now, I would never hold anything against the character. She’s a woman who’s proud of her body and I absolutely love that. I blame whoever it was that thought it was a good idea to put a window to her cleavage on her costume, then have everyone point it out like she didn’t know it was there. Just in my reading of the Harley Quinn series, Power Girl can’t go five pages without someone saying “…. you know you have those, right?” The writers of the series do all they can to be tasteful about it, but they can only do so much.
Tanya Spears costume is actually respectable. (If it weren’t I’d be disappointed. She’s 16, bruh.) I’m super geeked to see her throw people through buildings and show people how smart she is.
If she can fly?!?! Do you know how aerodynamic Afro puffs are?
Let’s all take a moment and commend DC for making the right decision and righting a wrong.
Source: Keith Reid-Cleveland at Black Nerd Problems
5 Black Artists Using Music To Inspire And Tackle Important Social Issues That You Should Know
I’ll have to admit, as great 2014 was on a personal level, it was a really hard year for me witnessing the violence against our women and men of color. The needless deaths at the hands of law enforcement broke my heart and I couldn’t figure out a way to properly express myself — being the only girl I have a tendency to go right for the jugular during a debate, it’s how I survived having two older brothers. Also, how can one really talk about a subject that is so insane you can’t wrap your head around it? So, I looked towards music to help quiet my always busy brain.
This list is presented by Kristin from Black Girl Nerds
Leyla McCalla
I’m a fan of the Carolina Chocolate Drops. I love how this group of young people have embraced the history of American music and made it accessible to all audiences. When I saw them live a couple of years ago I learned about Leyla McCalla — her personal story is phenomenal — and fell in love with her style. The night they announced the grand jury wasn’t going to indict the officers for the death of Eric Garner I was at The Hamilton Live in DC to see her. Last year, Leyla released “Vari-colored Songs: A Tribute to Langston Hughes,” a solo album which put some of Hughes’ poetry to music. I needed this — her beautiful voice and Hughes’ beautiful prose shut out all the anger and horrific comments I had been reading via social media. At one point during her performance, Leyla explained that she wasn’t planning on performing “Song for a Dark Girl,” but felt the need to in the memory of Michael Brown. After scattered applause, the venue fell silent, which is kinda hard considering there are two bars in it. Such a quiet, yet powerful song. By the time she finished I was hiding my face from a coworker and his wife who were sitting next to me as tears were falling.
This Black Scientist Has Developed an Amazing Process That Has Bill Gates Drinking Sewer Sludge
Bill Gates recently got to check out the Omniprocessor, an ingenious machine designed and built by Janicki Bioenergy, which turns human waste into water and electricity. In places without good waste treatment plants, it could be a real game-changer.
Source: TheGatesNotes
Rapper Gizmo Discusses His Album “The Rise of Negatron” and Other Blerd Issues
Gizmo is a 31-year-old nerdcore hip-hop rapper from the Caribbean who migrated to the United States before moving to Japan. His most recent album, The Rise of Negatron, tells the story of the rise of the supervillian Negatron and the perks of being a supervillian. BGN recently spoke to Gizmo about the project and his music career so far.
BGN: How long have you been rapping and how did you get into nerdcore hip-hop?
Gizmo: Well, I’ve never been a stranger to rhyming. As far as seriously rapping and making music, I’ve been doing that for about 4 years now. Nerdcore came about naturally.. You know.. Being a nerd and all (lol). A lot of my concepts, similes and analogies are based on video games, comics, anime and Sci-fi in general. All of which I was crazy about growing up and all of which I still love to this day!
BGN: What are the major influences for your most recent album, The Rise of Negatron?
Gizmo: There’s a lot of influences to the project as a whole so I’ll just name the main ones. Star Wars, Thanos, Darkseid and Star Fox. I can see you all being like “wth?! How does that even mesh?!” Lol.
BGN: The Rise of Negatron is unique because it is told from the point of view of supervillians. Why did you decide to tell a story from a supervillain’s point of view rather than a superhero?
Gizmo: I may catch some flack for this butttttt superheroes bore me. There.. I said it. Not all of them though, but most of them do. It’s pretty straight forward with most heroes. “I’m the good guy, I stand up for those weaker, yadda yadda yadda justice.” The villains however, always have some outlandish creative way to attain power, financial gain or whatever they desire. “I’ll use a antigravity device to pull a meteor into a populated city!” That’s a bit old school, but it still seems more interesting to me. Villains can be complex psychologically and completely delusional in believing what they are doing is the “right thing.” They can become good guys for personal interest and revert back to their agenda later. They just seem more dynamic and diverse to me. That’s why I chose to write from that perspective.
Read More from Latonya Pennington from Black Girl Nerds
Sean Mack: Creating Art All Black People Can Relate To
This year has been very heartbreaking for the Black community, and it’s imperative that we not only support the Black artists who continue to use their work to make their and our lives better, but who also want to contribute to the resurgence of our community. Those who want to share light. Those who want to tell stories with their talent, to open the eyes of the masses.
So support we shall!
Name, Age, Hometown:
Sean Mack, 27, Saginaw, Michigan
When did you start drawing (or when did you begin to take drawing more seriously)? What made you start drawing, and why do you continue?
I’ve been drawing since I could pick up crayons, really. I’m not sure what started it really. I just loved to draw things as a kid. Ghostbusters. Ninja Turtles. I drew in notebooks, walls, all that. My folks told me they think I got the creative side from my grandmother because she was into arts and crafts so that may be where it stemmed from. I continued because it was something I loved to do. I wasn’t really into much of anything else like sports and all that jazz. I just loved to draw.
How would you describe your main (if you have many) drawing style?
I’d say it’s a melting pot of a lot of things that influenced me as I was growing up. Comics, animation – both American and Japanese — and life mostly. It’s not based on realism, but I try to keep a feel of it at least in my art somewhere.
Do you practice discipline, where you draw even when you don’t feel like it, versus drawing when you want?
Yeah definitely. There’s plenty of times I’ve basically forced myself to draw when I didn’t have the energy to. I may not draw every day but it’ll be enough time for me to not get rusty and lazy with things.
What are some of your favorite pieces you’ve created? Your least favorite?
My favorite so has to be the work I did with C.J. Johnson on his graphic novel KOBK (Killed Or Be Killed). I think I love it because it was basically challenged me to get out of my comfort zone and because I never really did a full graphic novel before. My least favorite? I’d had to say one of the first freelance jobs I had. It was for the producer duo from England and it just didn’t go down great at all, haha.
Read more from Cynthia Franciillon at Black Girl Nerds
You Have to See What Predictions ‘Back to the Future II’ Actually Gets Right About 2015
From the iPad to Google Glass, the 1989 film accurately predicted many technological advances.
Source: ABC News
Is ‘Arrow’ Making John Diggle’s Character Stagnant?
Three seasons into Arrow, we’ve seen Felicity Smoak turn MVP, Roy Harper’s evolution into Arsenal, and Sarah Lance die, become a hero and die again. We even saw the rebirth of Thea Queen when her hair went Legend of Korra, Book 4 and she morphed into fierce-Thea over a summer abroad. In the time it took you to learn the three-man weave at basketball camp, Thea learned to turn off physical pain and sword fight trained assassins. How unaccomplished does that make you feel? Now take all those feelings of ineptitude and multiply them by 55 episodes, and you might have an idea how John Diggle feels.
Diggle began as a promising character of color in the series, asserting himself as someone uninterested in “being anyone’s sidekick.” A 40-something ex-Special Forces with hero-diesel build? And he says he’s no one’s sidekick? Arrow had me going on that one. They had me going, that is, until it took under half a season for him to become just that. Not even a particularly useful one either – whenever Ollie excludes him on missions he sits back at headquarters and dreams of being appreciated. “Maybe I’ll get a code name soon,” he thinks to himself, looking up at the salmon ladder. “Or a mask. A mask would do.” It’s embarrassing. On the list of respectable sidekicks, John Diggle’s name falls somewhere under Kimmy Gibbler, Memphis Bleek, and Tails.
He’s strictly there for diversity purposes at this point – they couldn’t get rid of him so they turned him into Cole from Martin, where every time he talks about his job for a mission, everyone yells, “You ain’t got no job!” His presence onscreen solely to say things like “You’re not seeing straight on this one, Ollie” every 18 minutes. The frustrating part is his character had such promise at the start of the show, although let’s be clear – he was never written as Ollie’s equal even in season 1, and the way he was the punch line of Ollie’s daily shenanigans sneaking away in season 1 while Diggle facepalms and says “aw, shucks” was borderline offensive. Heaven forbid we break with the norm and have an interesting Black character that helps Ollie out as an equal. He was always the goofy and hapless counterpart opposite Ollie’s hero-ness, but essential enough to each mission to keep us believing in his utility on the team.
Read more from Jordan Calhoun at Black Nerd Problems
Will This New Technological Device Help Athletes Have Fewer Concussions?
Detours travels to Rochester, New York, to meet BlackBox Biometrics Inc., a company that’s developed a head-mounted sensor to detect and measure sports-related concussions.
Source: The Verge
5 Interesting Things Black Nerds Want to See and Not See In 2015 (And You May Even Agree)
It’s a new year, and we are all excited for what a brand new calendar may bring. As the new year carries a blank slate in a sense, a wonderment for what comes next, there are some resolutions we wish people would make. Some resolutions include giving the people what they deserve in the year that Back to the Future II promised us many things, and some items that need to get the Stark Family treatment this year.
This list is provided by William Evans of Black Nerd Problems (@blknrdproblems):
A Period Drama with Mostly People of Color
As cynical as I am, I’m a bit surprised we don’t have something like this yet. You can’t swing a bored TV executive by the tail without hitting a new TV drama that takes place at least 20 years ago. And, Hollywood loves to show us racism as long as it isn’t present racism so we can act like we are 1000 years removed from it. So why can’t we get that as an ongoing series? I’ve alluded to this idea before, but we really are ready to see a multi-season drama dedicated to the Harlem Renaissance. Or the life of Roberto Clemente. Or Chinese migrant workers. I find it funny how I have to hear how we are in a post-racial society, but simultaneously hear Ridley Scott and Aaron Sorkin say they can’t sell minorities in prominent roles to the American public or get those projects funded. If the recent Wire marathon taught us anything, it’s that if the quality and support is there, you can make a great show (the greatest show) no matter what your characters look like.