RenoVous

  From the collection, A Warning to the Curious, I finished this story yesterday. And it actually spooked me. The ones before it were subtle hauntings, told as stories heard from someone else, of some perceived curse or disruption of a spirit. But this one contained a true horror trying to hide itself within a ghost story. I still shudder to think of it. So what have you been reading?

  Eyes on Asteroids This day marks the anniversary of the Tunguska event in Siberia, 1908. It was the largest impact in recorded history, but as we touched on before, it never actually hit the ground.  It exploded in the air, sending a shockwave that flattened millions of trees across 830 square miles. The largest confirmed impact crater is the Vredefort in South Africa, formed about 2 billion years ago. The Chicxulub crater is buried underneath the Yucatan Peninsula, from 66 million years ago.

 Lauryn Hill wins the Living Legend Icon Award at the BET Awards. Teyana Taylor Kelly Rowland Queen Latifah Millie Bobby Brown Zendaya Ali Larter Zoey Deutch Milly Alcock

  Often called the "rainforests of the sea," coral reefs are just as important, supporting over 25% of marine life.  If an area of the Amazon turned white, we would be concerned. But scientists have been fighting for years to make us understand the global red flag of dying reefs. When they collapse, it's not just a loss of biodiversity, it's a loss of human food security and coastal safety. The  Allen Coral Atlas  is powered by Arizona State University, originally conceived by Paul Allen. Teams have mapped reefs across the globe, and continue to monitor for bleaching events.  All it takes is a 2 degree rise in water temperature for the corals to stress react by purging the algae that lives within it. The algae is what produces 90% of the coral's energy through photosynthesis.  Without the algae, the polyps turn clear, so all we see is the skeletal structure.  Without enough energy to eat, the coral will eventually die. Okay, so not fun-filled informati...

  I've been following Winnie Harlow (Chantelle Brown-Young) since I first saw her on America's Next Top Model in 2014. She's had one of the more successful careers after the show. More importantly, she became a spokesperson and a positive figure for those with vitiligo. Vitiligo is a condition in which the immune system targets melanocytes, the cells that produce melanin, the pigment that contributes to skin, hair, and eye color. This is of course most noticeable on darker skin tones, but around 3 million people in the US are affected.

 10 years ago, the shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Florida became the deadliest attack on the gay community in this country.  Prior to that, it had been arson at the UpStairs Lounge in New Orleans in 1973. A fire was set in the stairway, which trapped and killed 32 people.  The cause was noted as "undetermined," however, so no one was ever arrested. Fifteen people who jumped from the second story reported smelling gasoline before the blaze. Churches in the area reportedly refused to host funerals, and a bishop even rebuked one reverend who held a prayer service for the victims. In 2013, the Catholic Archdiocese apologized.