There's a lot I've just found out about Albert Einstein. For example, who knew old Al was quite the ladies' man, a master at science and charm?

But another fact that I somehow missed about Einstein was his stance on civil rights. He so abhorred racism, he publicly spoke out against it. From Snopes:

In May 1946, Einstein made a rare public appearance outside of Princeton, New Jersey (where he lived and worked in the latter part of his life), when he traveled to the campus of Pennsylvania’s Lincoln University, the United States’ first degree-granting black university, to take part in a ceremony conferring upon him the honorary degree of doctor of laws. Prior to accepting that degree, he delivered a ten-minute speech to the assembled...

Note: This post first appeared on my old blog, Far Above Rubies, on March 9, 2012. ~Alisha

Billie Holiday the d’Orly airport, Paris, photographed by Jean-Pierre Leloir, 1958. (Photo Image and Caption via Abongond)

I was listening to "On The Media" a couple of weeks ago and the episode was on the topic of America's long and costly War on Drugs. One of the segments focused on Harry J. Anslinger, the first commisioner of the US Federal Bureau of Narcotics. One of the hosts, Brooke Gladstone, interviewed Alexandra Chasin, author of Assassin of Youth: A Kaleidoscopic History of Harry J. Anslinger’s War on Drugs. Here's part of the interview transcript:

BROOKE GLADSTONE:  From the late 19th century into the 20^th, most opiate addicts were middle-aged middle and upper class women but, as would happen...

Note: This post first appeared on my old blog, "Because Thou Mayest", on April 27, 2016. ~Alisha

I just wrapped "Kick Kennedy: The Charmed Life and Tragic Death of the Favorite Kennedy Daughter" by Barbara Leming and narrated by Eliza Foss via Audible. I totally love this company, by the way. It's been great being able to listen to books while still doing other things (Look Ma, no hands!).

Never hearing much about this particular Kennedy kid outside of her early death at age 28 being part of the supposed "Kennedy Curse", I found Kick's story to be particularly interesting.

In January, the Smithsonian Channel included her as part of their series "Million Dollar American Princesses"

(Image Source: Inverse)

It's mind boggling to me, but back in the 1930s, during the height of the Great Depression, the federal government paid a then-unknown, and very young Orson Welles to put on a play... featuring an all Black cast. But this did indeed happen, although it's not well-remembered (and when it is, it's more in the context of what made Welles a wunderkind on his way to "War of the Worlds" and "Citizen Kane" greatness).

From Kashann Kilson, writing at Inverse Entertainment:

Founded in 1935 as a part of the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935, the Works Projects Administration was an arm of the New Deal with one task: put millions of unemployed Americans back to work. While the WPA was more expensive than...