Katrina vanden Heuvel writes in The Washington Post:

Warren’s proposal should spark an overdue and necessary conversation about a problem that leaders in both parties have long neglected. More than half of Americans now live in child care “deserts,” according to the Center for American Progress, including significant majorities of rural and Latino families. Compared with the rest of the world, the United States spends pathetically little on family benefits, ranking second-to-last among developed nations. “This dearth of family benefits leads to two cruel outcomes,” writes Matt Bruenig, whose People’s Policy Project recently published its own set of ideas for addressing the child-care crisis. “It denies many people the ability to have the families that they want and inflicts financial ruin on many of those who go through with parenthood despite the lack of social support.”

Women especially suffer the consequences of this neglect, often sacrificing their careers and other opportunities to pick up the slack. Yet while it is fitting that universal child care would gain traction at a time when women are playing an increasingly vital role in the national debate, Warren’s proposal would not only improve the lives of women or even parents. Its impact would also ripple outward, benefiting all Americans. In fact, Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi estimates that Warren’s plan would generate twice as much growth per year over a decade as Trump’s corporate tax cut at less than half the cost — and that’s if the $1.5 trillion in tax cuts were paid for, which of course they were not. So, in addition to proposing good family policy, Warren is offering a boost to the economy that deserves to be covered and debated accordingly.

If this proposal were to become policy in the future, I won’t be benefiting from it, but I am still supporting it for the good of middle America family.

Mehdi Hasan writes in The Inception:

The inconvenient truth that our lazy media elites do so much to ignore is that Ocasio-Cortez, Sanders, and Warren are much closer in their views to the vast majority of ordinary Americans than the Bloombergs or the Bidens. They are the true centrists, the real moderates; they represent the actual political middle.

Anahad O’Connor has an insightful guide on sleep apnea. Here are a few signs if you might suffer from sleep apnea:

• Are you a loud or regular snorer?
• Have you ever been observed to gasp or stop breathing during sleep?
• Do you feel tired or groggy when you wake up? Do you wake up with a headache?
• Are you often tired or fatigued during the day?
• Do you fall asleep while sitting, reading, watching television or driving?
• Do you often have problems concentrating or remembering things?

Oh shit, I think I have all of them.

Beth Mole writes Ars Technica:

Four minutes and forty-five seconds into a video, the cartoon cut away to a clip of a man, who many readers have pointed out resembles Internet personality Joji (formerly Filthy Frank). He walks onto the screen and simulates cutting his wrist. “Remember, kids, sideways for attention, longways for results,” he says and then walks off screen. The video then quickly flips back to the cartoon.

We must keep our eyes on what our kids watch or simply take the iPad away and play outside.

I have not kept up with the modern jazz scene in the past several years; therefore, Chinen’s book is good for catching up. As a jazz critic for The New York Times, Chinen is an engaging writer and most of the musicians he covered are familiar to me. His goal for this book is not to demonstrate where jazz is going, but where it is happening. It’s a pleasant read for jazz lovers and appreciators.

Matt Blitz writes in the DCist:

Spend any time at Eden Center and it’s clear that the language, the food, and culture are ties that continue to bind this community. But there’s something else. It’s the harrowing stories of escape, the long journeys taken to get here, the courage to seek a better life for themselves and future generations. There’s also an immense of love for not only what Little Saigon and Eden Center has given them, but for what this country has provided.

My workplace is about ten-minute drive from Eden Center; therefore, I feel like I can go “home” for lunch any day I want to. I love home-cooking places like Saigon restaurant where I can get canh khổ qua nhồi thịt (stuffed bitter gourd soup) and tép mũi rang (tiny shrimp simmered in fish sauce). Although I go to Eden Center for the food, I simply love the language. As soon as I pull into the parking lot, I get to live in a world that is close to “home.” It instantly feels like I belong to this place. The people look like me and they talk like me. Even their swearing in Vietnamese puts a smile on my face. I am glad to have this community in the area.

Jonathan Alter explains in The Daily Beast:

Under Warren’s plan, inspired by Thomas Piketty’s influential 2014 book, Capital in the 21st Century, and drafted by Emmanuel Sanz and Gabriel Zucman of Berkeley, Americans with a net worth of more than $50 million would pay two percent a year on their wealth over that $50 million. American billionaires (who number around 680 right now) would pay three percent on their wealth over that $1 billion. In most years, two or three percent is far less than the appreciation of their assets. The vast majority of people paying the tax would still be getting richer every year.

Thời tiết thay đổi thất thường và ngủ không đủ giấc nên cuối tuần vừa rồi lại bị cảm. Bị bệnh nên chỉ quanh quẩn trong nhà. Dạo này tinh thần không được tập trung. Nhiều chuyện lo ngại tuy ngoài ý muốn. Biết rằng không thể làm được gì nhưng lại vẫn bâng khuâng để tự trút phiền muộn vào thân.

Chắc là cái bệnh của những kẻ chưa nếm mùi đau khổ. Có mái ấm gia đình. Có công ăn việc làm. Có cuộc sống đều đặn. Vậy thì chuyện gì mà phân vân? Chẳng lẻ sướng quá đâm ra bị trầm cảm? Tôi không hiểu chứng bệnh trầm cảm nhưng tôi biết mình chưa đến đoạn đường đó.

Tôi chỉ bất mãn với chính mình cho dù tôi tự biết những suy nghĩ như thế chỉ tự hại bản thân. Nhưng nếu tôi thoả mãn với chính mình thì cuộc đời này đâu còn gì thú vị nữa. Tôi chỉ không thể giữ thăng bằng giữa thoả mãn và bất mãn. Nên tôi vẫn tìm cho chính mình một vị trí không dậm chân tại chổ mà cũng không hy vọng quá xa xôi. Cái gì cũng có cái giá của nó.

Elizabeth Warren has announced that she be taking money from big donors. This is a move to differentiate herself from other Democratic candidates. She is not letting big money in politics influencing her campaign and policy. If you would like to help her campaign, don’t wait to donate.

In the past, I worked directly with the client. For any design project, I would come up with the best solution to present to the client. I would make the change if the client’s feedback is valid or I would explain to the client the reason behind my decision. The approach was effective and time-saving.

Recently I was asked by a freelancer to update a header. It was supposed to be a quick job since I just needed to update the photo. It turned out that the freelancer sent it to the director. The director emailed back to the freelancer asking me to come up with several more designs to give the client a few choices to pick from. I understand that the director is new and desperate to please the client. I was not going to provide any additional versions, but it was a quick job and didn’t want to be seemed as difficult to work with. As a result, I did another version.

The freelancer came back to me and told me that the director wanted a few more variations of the second version in Arial and in different fonts. At this point, I had no choice, but to straighten them out. My job as a designer is to provide my client the best choice possible and then go from there. Asking me to substitute Arial for a branded typeface, which is Myriad Pro, is not helping. If my client has to choose between Arial and Myriad Pro, what is my role for? That is the type of decision I should be making instead of my client. If the client can choose between one over the other than the client doesn’t need my design expertise.

It doesn’t make any sense to go through people who do not make the decision before getting the feedback from the decision maker. It is such a waste of time and resource to go through the middle people. They are not designer and their mission to to please the client instead of helping the client to make the best decision. I can’t deal with the design blockers.