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http://www.essence.com/news/hurricane-harvey-tropical-storm

This hurricane was one of the worst to hit the U.S. in more than a decade

http://nerdist.com/this-1949-chuck-jones-cartoon-makes-the-case-for-universal-healthcare/

The next time you find yourself in a conversation with someone who insists the idea of government-funded healthcare in the U.S. is somehow a new idea, just let this 1949 Warner Brothers cartoon do most of the talking for you. Brought to our attention via an article on BoingBoing, this short, titled “So Much for So Little,” was produced by the U.S. government in 1949 and directed by cartoon legend Chuck Jones, famous for many of the most popular Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck cartoons. It went on to win an Academy Award in 1950 for Documentary Short Subject.

Along with being beautifully animated, the short is helpful to refute those pesky claims that universal healthcare is some sort of radical hippie idea cooked up in the last few years. The details of the concept as presented in the cartoon have, as you can imagine, changed over the years, particularly when it comes to the country’s infant mortality rate, common diseases that infants face, and the how smoking as a health hazard isn’t even mentioned.

Additionally, the final figure of “three cents a week” that the cartoon states can fund public healthcare would barely be a drop in the bucket in modern costs. Yet, Boing Boing cites a piece that states a 2009 Kingsepp study showed it would cost taxpayers $3.61 a week to fund the Affordable Care Act (in its form at the time). If there’s validity to those figures, we’re still pretty much at the “for less than a cup of [Starbucks] coffee a week” levels of taking care of every American citizen.

What do you think of the short? Think something like what’s proposed in it is still possible? Let’s discuss in the comments below!

Image: Academy Film Archive

http://www.thenerdelement.com/2017/08/26/otakon-2017/

Hello again everyone! Kendra here, and I’m back to share a bit of my photo coverage of Otakon 2017. Otakon is one of the largest anime conventions held on the East coast, and this year was the move to Walter E. Washington convention center in downtown Washington, D.C. The con itself has primarily been held in Baltimore, Maryland (with its younger sister con, “Otakon Vegas” held in Las Vegas, Nevada). It was announced back in 2013 by Otakorp, Inc, (the non-profit organization that puts together the con) that the convention would be moving to a new home just down the highway in 2017.

The move was definite needed change of paste. The DC convention center, which is also home to AwesomeCon, had more than enough space to accommodate Otakon ever growing amount of attendees. Official numbers haven’t been released yet, but the con has averaged between 20,000-30,000 con goers each year since 2004.

But enough of that, let’s get to the photos!! Definitely a massive amount of amazing cosplays on display in DC. Check out the ones that caught my eye!! What are your favorite pictures? Let us know in the comments!

The post Otakon 2017 appeared first on The Nerd Element.

http://nerdist.com/chase-short-film-time-lapse-video/

Time is the one thing no one can change, and it only flows in one direction. From moment to moment, we can only perceive the passage of time with the evidence of our senses. But as a new short film demonstrates, people, places, and shapes can bleed into each other in mesmerizing ways simply by speeding up or slowing down our perception of time.

Via Laughing Squid, artist and photographer Páraic McGloughlin has released Chase, an animated short film compiled from his personal photographs while offering a hypnotic look at everyday life. There is no plot or narrative to speak of, it just focuses on the way that everything blends together. Strangers literally walk in each others footsteps, and the city seems to live and breath as if it had a life of its own.

Chase from Páraic Mc Gloughlin on Vimeo.

McGloughlin shot Chase in Ireland and Poland, and he described it as “a journey that explores ideas of decision, choice, consequence, circumstance and time among other things, a personal perception on how we try to find whatever it is we are searching for. The film looks at objects,people,and places which share common properties,our connection with one another and our environments in the very similar yet very different paths we share.”

You can follow McGloughlin’s work by checking out his Vimeo channel or visiting his personal portfolio at his official site.

What do you think about Chase? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!

Image: Páraic McGloughlin