Take a Breather: Jason Momoa Suprises His Wife And Other Good News
Good things still happen sometimes.
Jason Momoa
It can be exhausting just to wake up every day, and bad news has been impossible to avoid recently.
The news cycle for the last year has been an endless slog of anxiety-inducing headlines. From COVID-19 debilitating the country more and more each day to the collapse of capitalism to the rampant racism and misogyny continuing to pollute the very fabric of social order, it can all feel somewhat hopeless. But in the face of great tragedy, humanity continues to rise to the occasion behind the scenes; it just might not be headline-worthy.
From Jason Moma remaining an American Treasure and a chivalrous husband to the debut of the first-ever black-owned stock exchange, here are just a few optimistic headlines to keep you from doom-scrolling today.
Jason Momoa Restores Lisa Bonet's Old Mustang
In a video titled "MY WIFE'S FIRST MUSTANG," the Game Of Thrones hunk Jason Momoa took his wife's old 1965 Mustang and completely gutted it—revamping it with a new engine, a slick modern interior, and a jet black finish.
"This is a big dream come true because this was my wife's first car," said Momoa. "To be in this passenger seat with my wife here...and our baby's in the back, riding in her first car when she was 17," he nodded graciously, "I'm excited to see her face."
Needless to say, Bonet was floored by the finished product. The Aquaman star and his gorgeous family made additional headlines last week after Bonet's ex-husband, Lenny Kravitz, sent Momoa some warm birthday wishes, with fans praising the family's maturity. We are looking forward to seeing how this family continues to upstage all of ours in quarantine.
The First Black-Owned Stock Exchange Opens Soon
The Dream Exchange understands that one of the driving forces behind systemic racism is inherited wealth. Black wealth is regularly hampered by a largely biased system that disproportionately benefits white people, but now one former lawyer is finally taking concrete steps to correct this. The Dream Exchange will be the first Black-owned stock exchange in U.S. history and is set to finally open in 2021.
The mastermind behind the venture, Joe Cecala, founded the exchange with the help of Cadiz Capital Holding L.L.C., a "minority-owned private equity firm." "After years of research, I discovered that the structure of the U.S. capital markets and the current stock exchanges favor only the largest transactions with celebrity companies," Cecala said in an interview. "After years of working with minority businesses, I realized as well that minority businesses were nearly absent from all I.P.O. and public company listings."
The goal of The Dream Exchange is to make investment possible for people of color and will aim to promote investments in Black and minority-owned businesses.
Jay-Z Creates the "Roc Nation School of Music, Sports and Entertainment"
The Carters are once again empowering communities of color on all ends. A few days after Beyonce dropped her iconic "Black Is King" visual album on Disney+, Jay-Z took it upon himself to further his family's commitment to people of color by creating the "Roc Nation School of Music, Sports, and Entertainment."
Created in partnership with the esteemed Long Island University, the school will begin enrolling students at L.I.U. Brooklyn in the fall of 2021. The school's programs will seek to prepare students for a wide range of careers in performance, music business, and sports management.
The students will, in turn, graduate debt-free and receive individual mentorship. The school will focus on enrolling students based on the highest need.
The Homeless In Oxford Won't Need To Return To The Streets
The Oxford City Council has solidified 124 rooms of interim housing for 2021. After reaching an agreement with A2Dominion, a student housing company, the City Council will lease the company's Canterbury House until July 2021. It will extend the current lease on a separate youth hostel run by the nonprofit YHA until March 2021.
Back in March, the Oxford government issued an "everyone inside" order. The order meant that emergency housing was to be provided for the vulnerable homeless population to prevent the spread of COVID-19. As a result of this initiative, there have been 0 cases of the disease reported among the homeless population in Oxford.
"The lockdown period gave us a unique opportunity to engage with people in emergency accommodation," said Councillor Mike Rowley in a statement. "For many of them, the certainty of a safe bed gave the bit of stability they needed to start having conversations about leaving the streets behind for good."
Rowley went on to say that they had already helped 76 people transition into more sustainable housing. The initiative also provided interim housing for 203 additional homeless people.
A New Smart Mask Will Help People Communicate Better During The Pandemic
A Japanese robotics company has created a fantastic mask that amplifies voices, transcribes dictation, and translates speech into eight different languages. The C-Mask, which will be available in September, was created by Donut Robotics to help improve communication between employees and customers during the pandemic.
The mask offers Bluetooth capabilities and can translate your voice into Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Indonesian, English, Spanish, and French.
Also, to help fund the project, the robotics company launched a crowdsourcing campaign that raised over 28 million yen ($26,000) in just half an hour. Between 5,000 to 10,000 masks are set to be distributed across Japan by December. The starting cost will be between $40 and $50, which is a bargain considering how advanced the technology is.
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