This Makes Me Smile.

Amanda Nguyen Is Ready To Take Flight

Karina Hoshikawa Last Updated January 30, 2025, 10:14 AM

Amanda Nguyen is an activist. And a bestselling author. She’s also a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, founder of a nonprofit, and she happens to love makeup. (Oh, and one more thing: She is the first Vietnamese woman to go to space.) A quick scroll on her Instagram feed reveals snippets of her incredible career, which has spanned her groundbreaking aerospace achievements, critically-acclaimed memoir Saving Five, appearances as TIME’s Woman of the Year, and her work with Rise, a non-governmental organization she created to protect sexual assault survivors. (In 2016, the United States Congress passed the Sexual Assault Survivor Bill of Rights after she publicly testified, which guaranteed, for the first time, statutory rights in federal code for survivors of sexual assault and rape.) Point is, she’s already a veritable force for change — but wasn’t too busy to add one more line to her already-impressive CV: Star of e.l.f. Cosmetics’ Show Your(s)e.l.f. campaign.

The editor-beloved makeup brand is known for its accessible, high-quality products, but it is a shared mission of inclusivity and joy of beauty that made this partnership a natural fit for Nguyen. “e.l.f. is all about democratizing beauty,” she tells Refinery29. “And for me what that means is seeing myself reflected in the ways people consume beauty, either through content, film, or advertisements — and I actually do use e.l.f. every day.”

In addition to the campaign film, Nguyen is preparing to literally take flight as she embarks on an upcoming space expedition with Blue Origin, making her the first Vietnamese woman to go to space.

In our latest Power Diaries, the trailblazer candidly speaks about how she stays inspired and empowered, and shares more about her new role as an e.l.f. ambassador.

I feel most powerful when…

I show up as my authentic self.

Power to me means…

The freedom to make my own choices.

What do you do when you feel powerless?

I remember that no one is powerless when we come together and no one is invisible when we demand to be seen.

What’s your power anthem?

Our voice. It’s the most powerful tool we have, so use it.

Who is your power icon?

My power icon is Sally Ride. She trailblazed so that I could fly.

What do you wear when you want to feel powerful?

I wear red lipstick.

Keep reading for the rest of our Q&A with Nguyen.

(snip-More on the page; not all about makeup. Click the article title above)

An Informational Resource

I receive Economic Policy Institute’s newsletter for general info about which I contact my congresscritters. EPI have opened a page dedicated to what the White House, the Legislature, and the courts are doing that affect working people. I figure, first of all, forewarned is forearmed, as to little things that may not be loudly reported but which affect us regular people just out here trying to live our lives. So, here’s a link and a snippet. When a person goes on the page, you can get your choice of newsletters in your email box, if you care to; or you can just look around. Thanks for checking it out-I think it will help people.

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Snippet: (and page link)

Featured

This week in Federal Policy Watch

Trump administration undermines federal workers, immigrants, and DEI programs. Read more

The origin of Federal Policy Watch

EPI’s 2017 Perkins Project on Worker Rights and Wages tracked the first year of the first Trump administration.
Learn more

(Lots more on the page. It offers a filter, so you can be sure to see that which affects you and those for whom you care.)

Debunked: 61-98% of Trans Youth Desist During Puberty

As I have written and posted I love Ethel’s videos. She presents the facts with an easy to listen to rhythm and tone. She uses facts to present the medical studies and medical science for trans people not emotion, feelings, or guess work. She presents the sources she uses and gives the details of how the conclusions were reached and the validity of the studies. Such as to if it is peer reviewed, how large the sample size, and the conclusions of the data match what the person pushing the information is claiming it does. Often Ethel catches bigots simply lying by claiming a study shows negative results when in fact the studies and data present a positive or are completely opposite from what the haters claim.

Plus for those who would rather read than listen she provides a transcript of the videos she does and again as I mentioned she supplies her sources so others can look up the studies / data themselves to show she is telling the truth. That is why you never see videos by trans haters such as the TERFs trying to claim she lied. If you care about the facts and wish to have the information to combat the lies of bigots please check out her other videos supporting trans people and debunking anti-trans lies. Hugs

Watch all our videos debunking gender ‘critical’ fascism here! – • Debunking Gender ‘Critical’ Fascism

Today’s video debunks the myth that between 61-98% of all trans youth desist if we take a ‘wait and see’ approach, exposing the linguistic sleight of hand used by those set on undermining gender affirming care as the only ethical approach. #ProtectTransKids

Hi, welcome to Essence of Thought with me, Ethel Thurston, as your host.

Some things I found a need to know

CA Citrus Harvest Halted As Workers Don’t Show Up

A lawyer who represents Federal Employees.. the last bit is chilling.

Fox Suddenly Decides Bird Flu To Blame For Egg Prices

Target Caves And Ends Diversity And LGBTQ Programs

DOJ: No More Arrests For Blockading Abortion Clinics

DeSantis Lies About Abortion Record At March For Life

Today’s speeches were delivered from behind bulletproof glass. Meanwhile, Trump just gave violent anti-abortion zealots free rein to blockade clinics and probably much worse.

DeSantis: Framers Of The 14th Amendment Didn’t Intend To Grant Citizenship To Children Of “Illegals”

DeSantis Seeks To Effectively Ban Ballot Initiatives

Mexico Refuses To Allow Deportation Flight To Land

DOJ Drops Case Against Texas Doctor Accused Of Illegally Accessing Medical Records Of Trans Children

Idaho Advances Resolution On Overturning Obergefell

Trump Illegally Fires Overseers Of 12 Major Agencies

Trump: No Disaster Aid To California Without Voter ID

Trump: Rachel Maddow Is “The Enemy Of The People”

Musk Addresses AfD Rally: “Multiculturalism Dilutes Everything, Move Beyond Past Guilt” About The Nazis

WHO To Slash Health Programs Due To US Withdrawal

SCOTUS To Hear Suit On OK Funding Religious School

The proposed school is being defended by the governor and state attorney general.

In 2022, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt declared, “Father, we just claim Oklahoma for you. Every square inch, we claim it for you in the name of Jesus. Father, we can do nothing apart from you. We don’t battle against flesh and blood but against principalities and darkness.”

During his 2018 inauguration, Stitt pledged that his primary mission would be to “bring people to Jesus.”

Stitt last appeared here in November 2024 when he warned that “Satan is trying to take over my state” because a pagan woman gave the invocation at Tulsa’s city council meeting.

In June 2024, Still signed a bill allowing public school students to leave campus three times a week for “religious instruction.”

Everyone! So, there.

We Get Another Hummingbird This Week: “Border Beauty”

https://abcbirds.org/bird/buff-bellied-hummingbird/

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

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!)

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.

The Crucible and more in Peace and Justice History for 1/22

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryjanuary.htm#january22

#actuallyautistic voices

Autistic Pride Is NOT Just about the Good Parts of Being NeuroDivergent

I am not autistic. But many of us here read Barry’s blog to learn, and to be more effective allies. The next 2 entries on his blog are informative, as well.