Newspaper comic strips have always operated in a parallel universe, seldom reflecting the problems of the real world.No matter what the reader is going through, Dagwood has never had to apply for unemployment benefits; there’s no global warming in Mark Trail’s forest; and people get old but don’t die in Gasoline Alley.But this Sunday, sharp-eyed readers will find tributes and thank-you’s to front-line workers who have spent the last five months fighting the coronavirus and making sure vital services don’t stop.The artists of more than 70 strips will hide six items associated with the COVID-19 battle lines within the pictures – a medical mask, a steering wheel for those who drive delivery trucks, a supermarket shopping cart, apples for teachers, a fork to thank food service workers and a microscope to salute medical researchers.The idea was the brainchild of Rick Kirkman, who is one of the creators of the comic strip “Baby Blues.”“Every time somebody finds or discovers one of those little symbols in the artwork, to me, I hope that evokes a little bit of gratitude that goes out into the universe,” he said.Kirkman threw out the idea to other cartoonists, and the results can be seen Sunday.“You can …

The day that George Floyd died in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a white woman called the police on an African American man birdwatching in New York’s Central Park.”I’m going to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life,” the woman is heard in a video of the incident posted on Twitter that went viral.Oh, when Karens take a walk with their dogs off leash in the famous Bramble in NY’s Central Park, where it is clearly posted on signs that dogs MUST be leashed at all times, and someone like my brother (an avid birder) politely asks her to put her dog on the leash. pic.twitter.com/3YnzuATsDm — Melody Cooper (@melodyMcooper) May 25, 2020In the outrage that followed, the woman was fired from her job.But the incident could have gone another way, said Tykee James.”As a black man in America, I know that that kind of discrimination is an easy route to police interaction that could end fatally,” he said.James is a birder himself, and a government affairs coordinator at the National Audubon Society, the nation’s leading bird conservation and advocacy group.As demonstrations against police violence draw thousands to the streets of cities across the United States, James …

Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, has shared her sadness about racial divisions in the United States, telling students at her former high school that she felt moved to speak out because the life of George Floyd mattered. Meghan told graduates at Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles that she wrestled with the question of what to tell them given the days of protests after the May 25 death of Floyd, a handcuffed black man who pleaded for air as a white police officer pressed a knee on his neck in Minneapolis. She said her nervousness arose because her words would be “picked apart,” but she decided to speak anyway. “I realized the only wrong thing to say is to say nothing, because George Floyd’s life mattered,” she said in the virtual address Wednesday. Floyd’s deaths sparked days of protests and riots in the United States. The former Meghan Markle, who is biracial, said the unrest reminded her of the riots that took place in her hometown of Los Angeles after police officers were acquitted in the video-taped beating of Rodney King in 1992.   “I remember the curfew, and I remember rushing back home and on that drive home, …

Several prominent media and entertainment organizations, including Apple and ViacomCBS, paid tribute to the call for racial equality and justice in the United States amid the recent protests, some violent, by pausing regular services and company events on what they are calling “Black Out Tuesday.”    According to Reuters, CBS said it would spend the day reflecting on “building community,” putting business ventures temporarily “on pause.”     The company also said it would broadcast 8 minutes and 46 seconds of breathing sounds with the words “I can’t breathe,” echoing the last words of George Floyd, a man killed last week in Minneapolis.     Floyd’s death has caused international outrage and days of protests across the nation, many turning violent. The officer present at the time of Floyd’s death, Derek Chauvin, has been arrested and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.     Black Out Tuesday was initially organized by the music community, the AP reports, although the movement quickly spread across social media to include sports stars, such as Lebron James, and other prominent cultural icons like Kylie Jenner.     There has been some criticism on social media, however, that people tagging #black lives matter on the post has pushed the protest content and resources out of sight and actually has obscured it, …

Though Black Out Tuesday was originally organized by the music community, the social media world also went dark in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, joining voices around the world outraged by the killings of black people in the U.S. Instagram and Twitter accounts, from top record label to everyday people, were full of black squares posted in response to the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor. Most of the captions were blank, though some posted #TheShowMustBePaused, black heart emojis or encouraged people to vote Tuesday since seven states and the District of Columbia are hosting the largest slate of primary elections in almost three months. Rihanna, Alicia Keys, Radiohead, Coldplay, Kelly Rowland, Beastie Boys and were among the celebrities to join Black Out Tuesday on social media. “I won’t be posting on social media and I ask you all to do the same,” Britney Spears tweeted. “We should use the time away from our devices to focus on what we can do to make the world a better place …. for ALL of us !!!!!” Spotify blacked out the artwork for several of its popular playlists, including RapCaviar and Today’s Top Hits, simply writing “Black …

Leaders of the music industry have pledged to “disconnect” from business to support communities fighting against racial inequality as part of “Black Out Tuesday.” In response to a massive wave of outrage following the death last week in Minneapolis, Minnesota, of George Floyd in police custody, major record labels denounced racial injustice on social media. They are calling for a “day of action” on June 2 to reflect and promote accountability, contemplation and change.  “We stand together with the black community against all forms of racism, bigotry, and violence. Now, more than ever, we must use our voices to speak up and challenge the injustices all around us,” Ron Perry, chairman of Columbia Records, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation America, said Thursday night. Warner Records made a similar announcement, pledging that activity at their labels will not continue to operate as usual, and committing to help Black Lives Matter and other organizations battling injustice.Universal Music, part of Vivendi, said on its Twitter account that they “stand with the black community,” under the hashtag #TheShowMustBePaused. Interscope Geffen A&M, part of the Universal group, said it would release no new music this week. Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grainge issued a memo to staff over the weekend outlining plans for a task force to “accelerate our efforts in areas such as inclusion and social justice.” “This week, …

The jersey-wearing camaraderie. The scent of sizzling sausages. The buzz before a big game.   The distinctive atmosphere of live sports, that feeling in the air, will return in time as pandemic restrictions are eased. But will that very air be safe in a closed arena with other fans in attendance? The billions of dollars spent on state-of-the-art sports facilities over the last quarter-century have made high-efficiency air filtration systems more common, thanks in part to the pursuit of green and healthy building certifications. Upgrades will likely increase in the post-coronavirus era, too. The problem is that even the cleanest of air can’t keep this particular virus from spreading; if someone coughs or sneezes, those droplets are in the air. That means outdoor ballparks have high contaminant potential, too.   “Most of the real risk is going to be short-distance transmission, people sitting within two, three or four seats of each other,” said Ryan Demmer, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health. “It’s not really about the virus spreading up, getting into the ventilation system and then getting blown out to the entire stadium because this virus doesn’t seem to transmit that way. It doesn’t aerosolize …

Christo, known for massive, ephemeral public arts projects died Sunday at his home in New York. He was 84.His death was announced on Twitter and the artist’s web page. No cause of death was given.Along with late wife Jeanne-Claude, the artists’ careers were defined by their ambitious art projects that quickly disappeared soon after they were erected. In 2005, he installed more than 7,500 vinyl gates in New York’s Central Park and wrapped the Reichstag in Berlin in fabric with an aluminum sheen in 1995. Their $26 million Umbrellas project erected 1,340 blue umbrellas installed in Japan and 1,760 blue umbrellas in Southern California in 1991.The statement said the artist’s next project, L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped, is slated to appear in September in Paris as planned. An exhibition about Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s work is also scheduled to run from July through October at the Centre Georges Pompidou.FILE – In this June 16, 2016, photo, artist Christo Vladimirov Javacheff walks on his monumental installation ‘The Floating Piers’ he created with late Jeanne-Claude during a press preview at the lake Iseo, northern Italy.”Christo lived his life to the fullest, not only dreaming up what seemed impossible but realizing it,” his office said …