After its fearless second season, which tackled everything from racial slurs to police brutality, black-ish isn’t just a critically-adored comedy. It’s now been branded a socially important sitcom, echoing the work of Good Times, A Different World, and other groundbreaking series before it. So how did black-ish land in this spot after just two years on the air? It’s all thanks to one highly personal showrunner, Larry Wilmore, and cast members who are and are not related to the former lead singer of The Supremes. Find out more about the show—which will debut its third season on September 21, just a few days after making a run at three Emmy Awards—below.

1. THE TITLE REFERS TO RACIAL IDENTITIES … AND JUSTIN BIEBER.

When black-ish debuted in 2014, there was a big discussion about its title and what it meant. Show creator Kenya Barris told NPR that it’s a reflection of his anxieties about raising his children in a more privileged world than he knew as a kid. “I wanted to be honest with what it’s like sort of raising your kids in a different environment than you were accustomed to being raised in,” he explained. “My kids are nothing like I remember black kids being when I was a kid.”

When Laurence Fishburne was asked about the show’s title on The View, his explanation was more blunt: “For some people, it means when black folks kind of act white. For some people, it means when white folks kind of act black. I think of it this way. Two words: Justin Bieber. Justin Bieber acts blackish but he doesn’t get shot by the police; he gets a police escort home.”

2. NORMAN LEAR IS A MAJOR INFLUENCE.

Barris has repeatedly cited Norman Lear as a primary influence on the show. Lear developed and created groundbreaking sitcoms like All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Maude, and Good Times. Barris is such a fan of Good Times in particular that he turned the black-ish season two finale into a homage. “He’s beyond an influence for me,” Barris told Variety. “I feel like I am so derivative of Norman Lear and what he was doing and what he was about. It’s hard to even think about being a writer without him having been there.”

Lear clearly admires Barris’s work, too. He stopped by the black-ish writers room earlier this year to pitch a few ideas, one of which ended up in the season two episode “The Johnson Show.”

3. MUCH OF THE SERIES IS SEMI-AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL.

Barris has always described the show as semi-autobiographical, but some of the parallels between the Johnsons and Barris’s own family are much more direct. For instance, the black-ish matriarch Rainbow Johnson is an anesthesiologist with a black mother and a white father. Barris’s real-life wife is also a biracial anesthesiologist named Rainbow.

Many episodes are based on real conversations with Barris’s kids, too. The series received wide critical praise for the season two episode “Hope,” which discussed police brutality. It opens with one of the youngest Johnsons, Jack, staring at news footage and asking his parents, “Why are all these people so mad?” Barris’s then seven-year-old son asked him the exact same question when his family watched the Ferguson grand jury decline to indict a police officer for shooting a black teenager in 2014. Barris got the idea for the black-ish season two premiere after seeing some of his daughter’s texts.

4. BARRIS GOT HIS BREAK ON AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL.

After graduating from Clark Atlanta University with a film degree, Barris picked up a few writing credits on the Showtime series Soul Food and WB sitcom Like Family. But he was hungry to develop his own show, so he worked with his childhood friend Tyra Banks on a reality competition pitch. That series was America’s Next Top Model, and Barris got a handsome cut of the profits as a co-creator of the series.

5. LARRY WILMORE WAS A CO-SHOWRUNNER.

The star of the recently-departed Nightly Show was originally set to run black-ish with Barris. ABC had proposed Larry Wilmore as a co-showrunner in 2014 and, given Wilmore’s work on In Living Color and The Bernie Mac Show, Barris was eager to partner with him. But then Comedy Central offered Wilmore his own talk show, and he had to exit. He still stayed on for the first 12 episodes of black-ish, but Barris called in TV veteran Jonathan Groff (the producer, not the Glee and Hamilton actor) as back-up. Groff has been an executive producer ever since.

6. YES, JACK AND DIANE ARE NAMED FOR THE JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP SONG.

Yes, the Johnson twins—Jack and Diane—are actually named for John Cougar Mellencamp’s 1982 ditty about “two American kids doing the best they can.” The song is apparently one of Barris’s favorites.

7. ANTHONY ANDERSON REALLY THREW HIS SON A BRO MITZVAH.

As a star and executive producer on black-ish, Anthony Anderson has contributed some of his own real-life experiences to the show. One of them? The “bro mitzvah” that Dre throws for his eldest son in the pilot. Anderson hosted a similar bash for his own son.

8. DRE’S DISASTROUS BACKFLIP IN THE PILOT WAS NOT SCRIPTED.

You might’ve noticed a moment in the middle of all that bro mitzvah revelry when Dre goes for a backflip on the dance floor … and lands flat on his back. According to Marcus Scribner, who plays Andre Jr., that move was not scripted—Anderson actually wiped out. “I think that everybody in the entire room thought Anthony died,” Scribner said in an interview with J-14. “We all rushed over to Anthony like, ‘Are you okay? Are you okay?’ He just kept it moving and it made it … into the show.”

9. TRACEE ELLIS ROSS HAS A MEGA-FAMOUS (AND MEGA-SUPPORTIVE) MOM.

Tracee Ellis Ross is the second oldest child of Diana Ross, which means she grew up in a household where Michael Jackson called frequently and Andy Warhol painted her portrait. (She recaps both of those stories in the clip above.) Diana is also incredibly proud of her comedienne daughter. When Tracee was nominated for an Emmy this year, Diana took out a full-page ad in The Hollywood Reporter congratulating her daughter on the success.

But Ross isn’t the only black-ish cast member with celebrity kin. Yara Shahidi, who plays Zoey, boasts Nas as a second cousin. She was even the flower girl at his wedding.

10. THE CAST HAS SOME SERIOUSLY TALENTED DANCERS.

When pressed for some behind-the-scenes stories, Shahidi told Essence that the black-ish actors frequently challenge each other to dance-offs. “Anthony can break it down,” she said. “He can do salsa, he can do the worm, he knows ballet. It’s pretty trippy.” But he presumably has some stiff competition from his youngest onscreen son. Miles Brown, who plays Jack, made a name for himself when he was just four years old as the dance sensation Baby Boogaloo. Here he is on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

In 1975, Nevada made a strange addition to its voting ballots: Underneath the names of all the politicians running for office, voters were given the opportunity to officially cast a vote for no one. 

Atlas Obscura reports that the “none of these candidates” option, which still appears on ballots to this day, was created in an attempt to encourage people to vote. Officials believed that by giving voters a way to voice their dissent on the ballot itself, they could inspire more people to show up at their polling station. Unfortunately, the initiative didn’t work as planned: Despite the opportunity to officially stick it to unlikable candidates, voter turnout has continued to decline.

The “none of these candidates” option, however, has been a consistently popular candidate. Not only does it appear on every ballot, but it has even “won” a few elections. In 2014, for instance, “none of these candidates” beat out all eight of the Democratic governor candidates in Nevada, winning a full 30 percent of the vote. Not bad for a candidate who doesn’t exist.

[h/t Atlas Obscura]

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Lombard Street in San Francisco is laid out like a driver’s worst nightmare, but that hasn’t stopped fleets of tourists from lining up to conquer it. Each year, about 2 million visitors head to the sloped road to experience its zig-zagging trajectory, annoying local residents in the process. The traffic has gotten so out of hand that San Francisco is considering imposing a toll and a reservation policy on the famed roadway, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Those are two potential solutions to Lombard’s congestion problem currently on the radar of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority. The department has launched a study looking into ways to reduce disruptive visits to the attraction. Other strategies include offering discounted cable car fares to the site to discourage driving and closing the block to nonresident pedestrians and vehicles.

The commotion on Lombard Street isn’t a new issue for the Russian Hill neighborhood. Locals are used to dealing with litter, vandalism, and car break-ins on a regular basis. In one recent case, a resident had to use a golf club to chase two men off his roof.

The city has experimented with solutions before, like employing traffic ambassadors and briefly banning cars from the area in 2014. So far, nothing seems to have changed the situation for the better, but an admission fee may provide the neighborhood some relief.

[h/t San Francisco Chronicle]

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For most of us in the United States, showers are such a common luxury, we hardly ever think about them. Elsewhere around the world, things are a little different.

In the infographic below, from High Tide Technologies, you can see how much a shower costs residents in countries around the world—from China and Argentina where it’s only three cents, to Papua New Guinea where it’s $3.38 (calculating for a 17-gallon, 8.3-minute rinse). Those prices are based on a 2012 report from the International Water Association, and for residents in Papua New Guinea, that number means a shower costs about 70 percent of an average person’s daily income. In the United States, a shower costs around 16 cents.

In places like Ethiopia, the price of a shower is also paid in time: some residents—usually women—spend hours of their day traveling to get clean water to bring back home. Around the world, about 780 million people don’t have access to clean water at all.

To learn more, check out the infographic below. It’s a good reminder of the extravagance that is sanitary H2O, and might make you think twice about how you use this precious resource.

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If you’re looking for a tasty way to help the environment, consider swapping your lawn for a vegetable garden. According to a recent study in the journal Landscape and Urban Planning, each kilo of vegetables you grow can cut greenhouse gases by two kilograms. Over time that can add up: Researchers found that vegetable gardens, if properly managed, could substantially help states reach their greenhouse gas reduction goals.

Researcher David Cleveland of UC Santa Barbara calculated the environmental impact of home vegetable gardens in California by looking at a range of factors: He considered how much energy would be saved by replacing supermarket produce with homegrown veggies, as well as the impact of composting organic waste and using gray water for garden irrigation.

His findings were encouraging, with a few caveats: According to Cleveland, vegetable gardens can help lower greenhouse gas emissions, but only if they’re properly managed. Home farmers need to make sure they’re composting properly or else their organic waste could actually end up emitting, rather than reducing, greenhouse gases like nitrous oxide and methane. However, with care, Cleveland estimates that vegetable gardens could help the state of California meet its 2020 greenhouse gas reduction goals, contributing up to 7.8 percent of its target.

While vegetable gardens aren’t for everyone, Cleveland claims they can have plenty of benefits for people willing to put in the effort. “In addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, there are other potential environmental, social, psychological, and nutritional advantages to growing food yourself, whether in a household, community or school garden,” Cleveland explains. “However, the degree to which those benefits are realized can depend on small things. Our hope is that this research helps motivate households, communities and policymakers to support vegetable gardens that can contribute to mitigating climate change.”

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YouTube channel How Ridiculous is making the most of a 150-foot tower by dropping all sorts of things over the side.

Recently they’ve discovered Line-X—a fancy protective spray commonly used on trucks and other utility vehicles. The YouTube team sprayed various products with the thick black spray, giving the items a hard armor. Once the spray dried, they launched the products off the side of their tower and onto the pavement to see what would happen. Amazingly, the hard shells didn’t even dent. 

The first item thrown from the tower was a watermelon; the rind survived the fall but the pink insides were pretty squished. The next was an egg that seemed to survive the landing, followed by a light bulb that completely shattered within its pristine shell. 

After the few successful runs, the team decided to really put the spray to the test: They dropped a bowling bowl coated in Line-X onto an axe wedged in the ground. Finally, the seemingly indestructible spray met its match, as the bowling ball broke in two.

[h/t SPLOID]

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Two Major Bridget Jones Fans Attempt to Be Objective About Bridget Jones’s Baby. They fail, but have a great time dishing about the new movie.
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Even When Recycled, Old Computer Parts End Up Where They Shouldn’t. We ship them off to developing countries, where standards are lax.
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How the crack epidemic crippled three generations of a family. Sheldon Johnson Sr, Sheldon Johnson Jr., and Sheldon Johnson III kept the cycle of broken families going.
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Why I still smile at street harassers. The desire for safety and respect shouldn’t have to blunt a woman’s desire to interact with the world around her.
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10 Internet Lies That Won’t Die. The stories are too good to stop passing around.  

Born in New Jersey in 1956, David Copperfield has been surprising and entertaining audiences with his illusions for decades. To celebrate his 60th birthday, we’re taking a look at his best stunts, from making the Statue of Liberty disappear to walking through the Great Wall of China. Without further ado, prepare to be amazed by nine of Copperfield’s most memorable illusions.

1. SURVIVING NIAGARA FALLS

In a 1990 TV special, Copperfield has his arms and legs chained and his body restrained in a yellow raft. After being locked in, a fire blazes underneath him, and he’s dropped into the water above Niagara Falls. In this nail-biting stunt, Copperfield has less than 60 seconds to escape (via a Jet Ski attached to the raft contraption) before falling over the edge of the rapids. His raft does fall over, but a minute later, we see him alive and well, dangling from a helicopter’s rope. Reflecting on the stunt, Copperfield told the Las Vegas Sun that he feared for his life while preparing. “I remember going to my hotel room every night and dreaming about how I was going to die. It was really, really horrible,” he said.

2. WALKING THROUGH THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA

In a 1986 TV special, Copperfield appears to travel through the Great Wall of China, walking into one wall and out the other side a few minutes later. As crowds on each side of (and above) the wall watch the illusionist’s silhouette inside a lighted box, he appears to enter the wall, in a Harry Potter platform nine and three-quarters style. He then exits on the other side of the wall. And to add a healthy dose of drama, the audience can hear Copperfield’s heartbeat via a heart monitor, which flatlines moments before he comes out of the wall.

3. ESCAPING FROM ALCATRAZ

In 1987, Copperfield traveled to San Francisco to escape from Alcatraz prison, the former maximum-security federal penitentiary once considered to be one of the most secure prisons in the world. With dramatic music playing, he stands behind bars (wearing a straitjacket, naturally) with two minutes and 30 seconds until the first planned detonation. After getting out of the straitjacket, he turns three coins into a tool to pick the lock of a cell door, conjures a cat out of a box to distract guard dogs, and escapes via helicopter, wearing a police uniform, and cradling his feline accomplice.

4. MAKING THE STATUE OF LIBERTY DISAPPEAR

Arguably Copperfield’s best-known illusion was making the Statue of Liberty disappear (and then reappear). During a live TV event in April 1983, the illusion features an audience sitting on Liberty Island, facing the Statue of Liberty. After Copperfield raises a sheet to obscure the statue, the statue appears to be gone. To prove to the audience that the statue isn’t there, a helicopter flies above and searchlights move through the space. Copperfield remarked that the point of the illusion was to emphasize the importance of freedom and “how precious liberty is and how easily it can be lost. I can show with magic how we take our freedom for granted.”

5. FLYING

Copperfield shared that as a child, he was lonely and often dreamed of flying. Although he has “flown” above a stage in many live shows, he first “flew” in his 1992 TV special. He begins the stunt by holding a bird in his hand and marveling at its ability to fly. He then takes flight, moving gracefully through the air, and assistants spin big hoops around him. He also floats in a glass box and flies while holding a woman from the audience. Want to spoil the illusion? Copperfield “flies” by wearing super strong wires that are controlled by a computer and too thin to be visible.

6. TELEPORTING

Called “Portal,” this illusion has a bit of everything—random audience participation, Polaroid photos, an emotional father and son reunion, a beach in Hawaii, and teleportation. With an audience member, Copperfield vanishes from a suspended platform and soon appears on a beach in Hawaii.

7. CUTTING HIMSELF IN HALF WITH A LASER

In this illusion, green lasers appear to cut Copperfield in half, across his waist. He then separates the lower half of his body from the upper half and moves around the stage in two pieces before coming back together.

8. MAKING AN AIRPLANE DISAPPEAR

Two years before making the Statue of Liberty vanish, Copperfield was already making massive objects—such as a seven-ton jet aircraft—disappear. Fifty blindfolded spectators stand around the plane, forming a human chain. After screens block the plane from view and lighting reveals the plane’s silhouette, the plane vanishes.

9. FLOATING OVER THE GRAND CANYON

Copperfield enlisted singer Bonnie Tyler to provide the live soundtrack to his 1984 stunt when he floated over the Grand Canyon. Part ’80s music video and part illusion, the stunt features Copperfield in a seated position levitating through oval sculptures before floating across the Grand Canyon. The stunt ends with Copperfield back on land, embracing Tyler. What a rock star.