Music in the A.M.

Have You Heard of Kris Kross? These 90s Teen Hip-Hop Stars Endured Fame and Tragedy

The teen hip-hop duo known for wearing their clothing backwards had everyone jumping in the early 1990s.

By Angela Johnson

If you were around in the 1990s, you’ve probably heard of Kris Kross, the pint-sized rap group that had everyone wearing their clothes backwards and moving to their mega hit “Jump.”

With the help of producer Jermaine Dupri, friends Chris “Mac Daddy” Kelly and Chris “Daddy Mac” Smith started a cultural phenomenon. But it wasn’t long before issues with their image and battles with drug addiction brought their success to a screeching halt. We wanted to take a look back at the careers of these talented teens and the impact they made during their time in the spotlight.

This is the story of Kris Kross. (snip-click through; there’s a slide show with captions. Ah, youth! And we were all younger, too.)

Breakfast and supper on Wednesday. Started on Thursday and finished on Friday.

As some viewers know as my health has been failing over the last couple of years and Ron is starting to show his age also, so we have been spending a lot more time together doing things.  Also I have been not able to spend as much time on the blog as I used to and love doing.  So this morning as a treat to Ron I made a good sized breakfast for us.  Normally breakfast in our home is a catch as catch can.  I normally have leftovers from the supper meal as normally I am unable to eat at night, and Ron cooks grand supper.    Ron normally has a breakfast he cooks / makes for himself.  

I asked him if he would like an egg scramble with bacon and sausage, with a side of toast.  He said he would love it.  So I took a bunch of thick sliced bacon out of the meat drawer of the refrigerator and also some small link sausage from both that place and the freezer below.  Then I prepared two trays that have grill racks over them and on one I placed 8 or 9 long strips of bacon, and on the other I put 10 small sausage links.  I had preheated our very large Black and Decker counter oven.  It is similar to a toaster oven only much larger.  I put the bacon in first at 450.  

While the bacon cooked I got the eggs cracked and put into bowls.  3 eggs in each bowl.  I use a heavy knife on the sharp edge to crack the eggshell then they easily open the shell with no eggshells into the bowls.  I find it works best if the eggs and shells are very cold.  Into the bowls of eggs I add a heavy splash of water.  Enough to make the eggs cook up fluffy but not leave water in the cooked eggs.  Then I set them aside to put the sausage in the oven with the bacon.  The thing about cooking sausage in the oven instead of on the stove in a pan is the sausage come out fully cooked but still juicy and soft.  

Once the meat was cook Ron chopped what we both wanted in our scrambles, and I combined the meat and eggs in a small sauce pot.  Ron had me put chopped opinion and peppers in his.   I use a hard spatula like the kind you would frost a cake with not the kind that flip burgers, to stir the eggs and meats together and make scramble eggs.  I started the toast as the stuff on the stove cooked up.   Just before the eggs finished cooking the toast popped up so I buttered them and called Ron to come get his food.  Even though I was happy to make the food I again was unable to my egg scramble, I ate my one piece of toast with grape jam on it.  I put the scramble in the fridge for another time.  I ate it the next morning and it was great.  

During the afternoon I took another nap.  This is now being written on Friday.  So for supper that Wednesday I had the idea of taking the red sauce I had made the day before to make supper in a different way.  I told Ron my idea and he agreed it sounded great.  So we took an 8 X 11 baking pan and spread a layer of red sauce on the bottom of the pan.  The idea was to use the chicken patties we normally fry to make chicken Parmesan, just with a different cheese.  I took six patties and place them in the pan sort of pushing them a third of their height into the sauce.  Then set in the oven to bake.  When nearly done we took provolone and layered in on the chicken and put them back in the oven.  Serve with spaghetti and sauce.  Great.  

Thursday morning we got up to a rainy cold day … again.  But we needed groceries and I had decided it was better now to go with Ron to help him.  He is 70 and not walking well.  Plus while he is still smart, he does have periods of confusion and gets slow to think or respond.  He complains of becoming very forgetful.  To be honest I am the same way. I will 62 very soon.   But he likes me to drive when possible and he likes the comfort of me being there for him.  

So we went and spent all morning filling a grocery cart at Walmart.   Some people say that you don’t save any money there and some say you do.  Ron has the patience to stand there and compare price and size, unit price, and get the best deal.  I can not do this.  But I walk with him, talk to him, keep him company, watch our cart when he needs to go get something or his back is too it.  I have seen people take stuff from other peoples carts or drop stuff in them.  Ron had one of my dragon canes stolen when he had his back to the cart comparing prices.  Turned back and the cane was gone. We have a game to guess the cost after it is wrung up on the register.  I guessed 260 but he felt it would be well over 325.  It came to 257 and change.   

We were to go to another store but by the time we got everything put away both of use were tired so decided to go this morning.  Temps are better so far than yesterday which had feel like temps in the 30s.  This morning we have feel like temps of 41 degrees.   The high is to be in the 50s.  We plan to hit three small stores and then going to the big flooring store in Fort Myers to pick out the new flooring for the Florida room that I will soon be moving into to.  I am leaning toward a light floor.  The walls are a soft cream, the molding / trim a light tan / brown.  Just enough of a difference to show up but not startling.  The north long wall of almost 30 feet is entirely windows except for three feet at the bottom of the windows, even the turn to the east facing wall which has another large window and French doors made of mostly insulated glass panes in a wooden heavy frame.  The room is very bright and cheery.  Because the door going outside is to the carport and on the same level we were thinking a brown.  But once I saw the shocking difference between the light and dark … I think I want a light floor.  I am thinking a white marble with gray whirls.  Ron thinks it will always look dirty even when not.  So maybe we will go with a tan or light gray?  That is why I have not done much on the blog or computer since Tuesday.  Hugs.  

Bits of a Couple of Pieces I Found Late, Right Before Bedtime

Fast radio burst found in an old, dead galaxy for the first time

A new discovery adds to the mystery of the source of fast radio bursts.

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are extremely energetic pulses of radio-frequency light which travels across the universe that last just a few seconds or even milliseconds.

Radio telescope array under night sky
Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME). Credit: CHIME, Andre Renard, Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto.

More than 1,000 FRBs have been reported since the first was discovered in 2007. (snip-More; click the title see it all.)

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Godless Libs Of Tulsa, OK, City Council To No Longer Force Jesus On People Just Trying To Attend Their Meetings by Rebecca Schoenkopf

Good for you Tulsa, Oklahoma! Read on Substack

Tulsa City Council Facebook Page

The City Council of Tulsa, Oklahoma — faced with the choice of upsetting Christian Republican legislators or making non-Christian community members feel like they didn’t belong — voted 8-0 (with one abstaining) this week to eliminate the practice of starting each meeting with a prayer invocation.

Now, instead of invocations, there will be a moment of silence, so that everyone will have to sit there and feel uncomfortable instead of just those whose religion is not represented by the opening prayer.

As Hemant Mehta of Friendly Atheist reports, this all started last year after the invocation was delivered by Amy Hardy-McAdams, co-owner and creator of the Strawberry Moon Herbal Apothecary & Ritual Center in Broken Arrow. Hardy-McAdams, who described herself as “a Third-Degree High Priestess of the Artemisian Faerie Faith Tradition of Witchcraft” (which I’m sure is a real thing), was invited by retiring City Councilmember Crista Patrick, who also happened to be a Pagan and wished to see her faith represented at the meeting just as Christianity had been. (snip-More; the statements from the Gov and Schools Supt. are worth the click by themselves, but the entire thing is gold!)

Peace & Justice History for 1/23

The 1970 entry reminded me of how, during the W admin in 2001 before and after the plane crashes and USA PATRIOT, Bartcop used to mention and link Paul Krassner’s site (now gone, of course. A great deal about him is gone online, but I found a link to something still up. Anyway.) Anyway, he was hilarious for his time, and wrote a great resistance blog during a few years back then. It was cheering. So here’s the 23rd’s history:

January 23, 1890
The United Mine Workers of America was formed through the amalgamation of the National Progressive Union (organized 1888) and the mine locals under the Knights of Labor, including all workers in the coal industry. The workers faced unstable employment, the prevalence of company towns (where the mine owners controlled all housing and commerce), and extremely hazardous working conditions.
UMWA history 
January 23, 1962

Fifteen members of the Committee of 100, the non-violent direct action wing of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), sat in at the British House of Commons demanding a halt to nuclear weapons testing.

CND history 
January 23, 1970
Called as witnesses, folksingers Judy Collins, Arlo Guthrie, Country Joe McDonald, Phil Ochs, and Pete Seeger were denied permission to sing as part of their testimony for the defense at the trial of “The Chicago Seven.”
Seven leaders of demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago were being tried for conspiring to incite a riot as they protested the Vietnam war.


Judy Collins, Arlo Guthrie, Country Joe McDonald, Phil Ochs, and Pete Seeger
More on the Chicago 7 
Paul Krassner’s quite irreverent recollection of testifying at the trial 
January 23, 1973
President Richard Nixon announced a Vietnam peace deal. The president appeared on national television and said that National Security Adviser Henry A. Kissinger and North Vietnam’s chief negotiator, Le Duc Tho, had initialed an agreement in Paris “to end the war and bring peace with honor in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.”
The agreement had actually been initialed six days beforehand.

Henry A. Kissinger and Le Duc Tho initial the agreement.
Read more 
Listen to Nixon’s announcement 
January 23, 1976
The Continental Walk for Disarmament & Social Justice began in Ukiah, California, heading for Washington, D.C. Its purposes were “to raise the issue of disarmament through unilateral action . . . to educate about nonviolent resistance as a means superior to armament . . . and to demonstrate how global and domestic and economic problems are interconnected with militarism and the causes of war . . . .”

Initiated by the War Resisters League, and co-sponsored by the Fellowship of Reconciliation, American Friends Service Committee, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Catholic Peace Fellowship, Clergy and Laity Concerned, SANE, and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, the walk took 10 months and covered 8,000 miles through 34 states.
Comprehensive archive of the walk: 

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryjanuary.htm#january23

AM Nature Science

I saw this title in a couple of places first thing, and thought it’s a great way to get started! Enjoy. -A

Sunfish that got sick after aquarium closed has recovered — thanks to human cutouts

By  MARI YAMAGUCHI Updated 8:27 AM CST, January 22, 2025

TOKYO (AP) — A solitary sunfish at an aquarium in southwestern Japan lost its appetite, began banging into the side of the fishtank and appeared unwell days after the facility closed last month for renovations. As a last-ditch measure to save the popular fish, its keepers hung their uniforms and set up human cutouts outside the tank.

The next morning, the sunfish ate for the first time in about a week and has been steadily recovering, said Moe Miyazawa, an aquarist at the Kaikyokan aquarium in Shimonoseki.

The large sunfish arrived at the aquarium in February 2024 from the southern coast of Kochi in the Pacific Ocean. The sunfish, a member of the blowfish family known for its unique shape and big eyes, became one of the most popular attractions at the facility.

When the sunfish began looking unwell days after the aquarium closed on Dec. 1 for a six-month renovation, its keepers suspected digestive problems, gave it less food and visited the fish tank to comfort the sunfish when there was construction noise, but to no avail.

Then at a staff meeting, one person suggested that the sunfish might have been affected by the sudden absence of an audience.

“We were skeptical but decided to do anything we could,” Miyazawa said. They hung their uniforms and placed human-shaped cutouts with photos of smiling faces outside the tank to cheer on the fish, Miyazawa said.

“I knew (the sunfish) was looking at us when we were placing them, but I never thought it would start eating the next day,” Miyazawa said, beaming. The staff now visit more often and wave at the sunfish.

The aquarium keepers say they hope many fans will return to see the sunfish when the aquarium reopens in the summer.

This could be a resource, or you could be or know of a resource

Either way, I thought I’d paste it in here, and whoever needs it, wants it, or knows something about it can do their thing. The title leans in one particular direction, but there is more info within, and I pasted it all here.

Seeking trans-friendly employers who sponsor visas

Nobody should have to move to another country to be themselves.

However, I’ve spoken to multiple people who feel they need to move away from the US in order to avoid harms caused by the new administration’s executive orders that target trans people. Exactly how to do this is sometimes opaque and feels difficult.

If you are actively hiring for positions in a company that is friendly to transgender people, in a country that is safe for transgender people, and you are willing to sponsor visas for people seeking to emigrate for these positions, I would like to hear from you.

If this is you, please enter your details here, and I’ll make them available on a public, open source website soon.

If you’re unsure which countries are considered to be safe for transgender people, and if your country is one, Rainbow Relocation has a reasonable list, and others are available.

To be clear: I want trans people to feel safe here in the United States, and I want them to be here. But I also understand peoples’ need to feel safe in the current moment. I am not urging people to move, but I would like to make life easier for people who want to. I’m making this request in the spirit of assistance, because I’ve already been asked.

I am also probably not the right person to put this together! But I didn’t see anyone else doing it. If you are from a reputable organization that supports transgender safety in a professional way, and you would like to take ownership of this list or collaborate, or if you are already doing something like this and I missed it, please email me at ben@benwerd.com.

I’m writing about the intersection of the internet, media, and society. Sign up to my newsletter to receive every post and a weekly digest of the most important stories from around the web.

Good Advice From Jenny Lawson

Not giving up by Jenny Lawson (thebloggess)

Read on Substack

It’s a hard time to be an empath out here, y’all.

I suspect many of you are also feeling too much of the darkness of the world, which can be especially dangerous for those who already stand too close to the edge of the abyss. It can be easy to burn with anger at hypocrisy and hate and chaos, but here is what I have learned…and what I keep telling myself:

You can use that heat as fuel to create change, to promote kindness, to protect yourself and those who are most vulnerable…to keep you warm when the world seems too cold. But, that burning anger can also be dangerous. It can exhaust you. It can pull the oxygen from the room. It can cause you to lash out in fear at those who want to help. The smoke obscures how much good and joy is out there. And those who thrive on turmoil and hate are so happy to see you lost in it…to see your precious energy drained putting out the fires they scatter about just to keep you too busy to live.

Don’t let the world burn you to ashes.

Protecting your fragile heart can be an act of rebellion. Don’t be afraid to love and laugh and find joy and silliness even in the hard times.

Especially in the hard times.

Don’t underestimate the beautiful works of love and kindness and help that you put out into the world. You may do them loudly or you may do them quietly, but they are invaluable in ways you may never see.

Today’s doodle is inspired by one of my favorite Czech artists, Alphonse Mucha, who came from the same land that my father’s family immigrated from.

“NOT. GIVING. UP.”

Most people know Mucha from his flowy art-nouveau posters and cigarette ads but my favorites of his came at the end of his life, when he used his art to explore both the pain and the beauty of life. This one, Woman With a Burning Candle, stays with me:

It was painted during the rise of Nazism…a slavic woman tending to a candle…keeping the light in the dark going, but watching as it slowly burns down…unsure as to what would come next but still focused on the glowing illumination. He painted about enlightenment, love and knowledge in a time when all that seemed to be threatened and was an act of revolution. The day after Prague was stormed by Nazi’s, Mucha was arrested and while in custody he contracted the pneumonia that would kill him. He never lived to see the victory over the darkness, but even in that darkness and uncertainty he created light that we can still see today. He still found beauty and joy. He found a way to celebrate life and enlightenment and humanity in his own way.

He didn’t give up.

I’m not going to either.

I super-crazy love you.

~ Jenny

PS. If you ever want to feel bad about your doodles you should follow one up with a painting by an actual master because…wowLesson learned. (snip)

And Two More From Ten Bears’s Place

Some Useful Information For Los Angelenos

Biden commutes sentence of Native American activist Leonard Peltier

Friday Links

Last night, it got to be bedtime and I didn’t even realize I’d set nothing up for today, until I got up this morning. Scottie’s posted some important news here already, and I don’t want to knock it off the top, so instead of the posts I thought I’d make, I’m just gonna link ’em, and readers can just read whatever they like and still not miss those posts of Scottie’s.

Peace & Justice History for 1/17

The Way of Water: On the Quiet Power of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Activism

Explore the Newly-Launched Public Domain Image Archive with 10,000+ Free Historical Images

SCOTUS Takes Up Case Challenging the ACA’s No-Cost Coverage of PrEP

“A Well-Developed Character…”