The power of protest: Changes enacted since George Floyd’s death

Phil Roeder / Wikimedia Commons

By Nicole Caldwell for Stacker

George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, died on May 25 of asphyxiation when a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. The protests that erupted in the wake of Floyd's death serve to shine a light on centuries of police violence against Black Americans dating back to slave patrols in the 17th-century South.

The civil action that began in Minneapolis has not only grown to global proportions; it has also spurred significant, sweeping changes in police departments around the U.S., inspired new standards for NASCAR events, and even caused tech giant IBM to rethink some of its ongoing projects.

Stacker compiled a list of changes occurring around the country in the weeks since Floyd died, using local and national news sources. In addition to examples posted in the forthcoming gallery are other, perhaps smaller, instances occurring in American culture day by day. These include HBO Max pulling “Gone With the Wind” from its catalog of movies and the TV show “Cops” being yanked after 33 seasons.

It would have been unthinkable in 2019 for a pandemic to wash ashore on American soil and shut down the biggest world economy. So too would it have been seemingly impossible for 2020 protests to dismantle police departments around the U.S.—from reducing their funding and reinvesting in local communities to banning chokeholds. The George Floyd protests, which have breathed new, energetic life into the growing Black Lives Matter movement, serve as touchstones of the power of the American people to enact change from the voting booth to the streets. Keep reading to discover some of the many changes that have been put into place since Floyd’s death in May.

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Here's where testing shows the biggest COVID-19 outbreaks in US prisons

Bob Jagendorf / Flickr

By Nicole Caldwell for Stacker

Social distancing is the best way to avoid spreading COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

But in today’s prisons—designed in the late-18th century to mitigate the spread of disease and criminal behavior among prisoners—social distancing is virtually impossible except for those in solitary confinement. At any given time, nearly 2.3 million people are being held by the American criminal justice system. The facilities to house these individuals include 110 federal prisons and 1,833 state prisons. More than 55,000 people being held (often at local jails) have not been convicted or sentenced.

The U.S. has the highest prison rate in the world, with 698 people imprisoned for every 10,000 residents, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. The Department of Justice in a 2020 report stated federal prison inmate populations are, on average, 12% to 19% higher than the prisons’ rated capacity. Overcrowding like this breeds higher contagion rates, increases the likelihood of insufficient medical care, and can spell a lack of access to personal hygiene products. When combined, it’s a perfect storm for the spread of a virus such as COVID-19.

As of June 1, there were more than 10,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among staff at U.S. jails and prisons and over 43,000 confirmed cases among residents at those facilities, according to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) COVID-19 Behind Bars Data Project, spearheaded by Professor Sharon Dolovich. The project is monitoring cases and deaths of residents in prisons and jails, as well as local correctional departments’ responses to the pandemic, such as the release of prisoners. Stacker mined that data (updated as of June 1, 2020) to take a closer look at COVID-19 outbreaks in prisons and jails across the country. In basic terms, jail refers to a place that holds individuals who are being temporarily held for minor offenses or awaiting trial; prisons hold those who have been convicted of crimes and sentenced.

Because inmate access to COVID-19 testing and reporting of these results vary wildly from state to state, actual numbers of cases and deaths are likely higher. While such widespread testing remains out of reach for many prison population and staff, prison factories have remained open. In Ohio, mass testing was stopped despite outbreaks of the virus among inmates and staff. Elsewhere, as testing rates increase so too do COVID-19 cases. Complicating matters is the fact that prisoners statistically have higher instances of pre-existing health conditions that put them at more risk for serious symptoms from COVID-19. There are also many people going in and out of prisons all the time—from corrections officers and food service workers to visitors and inmates themselves, increasing the likelihood of spreading contagions. The CDC’s prison guidelines only recommend tests for current inmates exhibiting symptoms.

Keep reading to see where outbreaks of COVID-19 have occurred, and how various states are dealing with these surges, whether by increasing testing, halting visitation, or releasing nonviolent or elderly offenders—as was the case with Paul Manafort’s early release to home confinement.

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COVID-19 stimulus bill by the numbers

By Nicole Caldwell and Lauren Liebhaber for Stacker

As the Congress and Senate reach an agreement on a $2 trillion stimulus bill amidst the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, Stacker looked at news and government reports to provide a by-the-numbers breakdown of how those funds will be allocated. Click through for an explanation of notable inclusions in the historic relief package and updates as they come in.

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How Big Hair Defined the Decade You Went to High School

By Nicole Caldwell for Stacker

Adolescence represents one of the most significant periods of self-identity. Famed developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst Erik Erikson said the teenage years are specifically punctuated by that quest, which he described featuring “identity vs. role confusion.” No longer children but not quite adults, adolescents work through their personal goals, belief systems, and values while battling against their lack of autonomy. Without the ability to express themselves with careers, acquisitions, or other outlets, a vast majority of teenagers use exaggerated outward appearances that often subscribe to a particular stereotype to fit into a specific role.

High school students over the last century have divided themselves by visibly striking groups: the hippies, jocks, preppies, punks, emo kids, hipsters, and so forth. From fashion and musical tastes to hairstyles, teenagers wear their identities quite literally on their sleeves and heads. These trends reflect the cultural backdrops from which they grew: pixie cuts and fedoras during the Roaring Twenties; long hair and Afros during the ‘60s, and the big-hair trends of the ‘80s all typify the world in which these people lived; whether constrained and conservative (the ‘50s) or wild and subversive (the ‘70s).

In this way, it’s possible to chart American history by fashion trends and hairdos. Never ones to disappoint, the folks at The Pudding seized on this concept to use AI deep learning classification to analyze a dataset of more than 30,000 high school yearbook photos spanning 1930 to 2013 in a study called The Big Data of Big Hair, published in 2019. The study identified the median hair density for high school students in every year; median hair density is a measure of how far out a hairstyle extends from the bearer’s head. Here, Stacker has included the densities for the beginning, middle, and end of each decade in the study, separated into hairstyles associated with boys and those associated with girls.

The data is decidedly Anglocentric, which is representative of census data which shows the U.S. white population comprised more than 80% of the total population until 2000. As demographics in the U.S. have changed in the last few decades, we have seen more representative, mainstream hairstyles (and associated products) change, as well. It may take longer for schools to catch up to these changes: A New Jersey wrestler in 2019 was forced to cut his dreadlocks before a match; while hairstyles like braid extensions have been called out for violating dress codes.

Keep reading to see how big (and cropped) hairstyles accentuated the times from which they grew.

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Black Artists Music Wouldn't be the Same Without

By Nicole Caldwell for Stacker

There is no American music that doesn’t have Black roots. From country-western, which draws upon banjo music from Africa, to rock ‘n’ roll, begun by a Black woman playing electric guitar in 1938, American music can’t be separated out from its rich history of diversity and experimentation.

Every artist transforms his or her medium simply by working in it, and it so follows that every musician changes the art form slightly just by creating and performing songs. But throughout American history, there are examples of artists who have been so transformative as to change musical genres themselves. Other times, artists unwittingly create new genres—whether Fela Kuti with Afrobeat, Frankie Knuckles with house music, or Fats Domino with ska.

To take a closer look at how Black musicians shaped American music, Stacker pored through historical documents, recordings, Billboard charts, and studied similarities in various musical acts over time to determine 41 artists music wouldn’t be the same without. Paring the list down to just 41 was a challenge (the gallery could easily include hundreds)—so there are certainly icons missing, including powerhouses like Lightnin’ Hopkins, Wilson Pickett, Mary Wells, Roberta Flack, Tina Turner, and Gloria Gaynor—each of whom has made significant contributions to music in his or her own right. To help narrow the field, we focused on artists whom scholars can definitively conclude altered the musical landscape in some dramatic fashion. Artists highlighted in this gallery changed the course of music by doing something entirely new with it rather than simply building upon the legends who came before.

Beyond their musicianship, many of the Black artists throughout history also stand as shining examples of bravery and leadership in the face of adversity. From Marian Anderson, who inspired Eleanor Roosevelt to drop out of the Daughters of the American Revolution when the group wouldn’t allow Anderson to sing in front of an integrated audience (Anderson ended up singing in front of 75,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial and was the first Black person to perform with the Metropolitan Opera in New York), to Ray Charles, who refused to perform for an all-white audience in Georgia, there is example after example of musical icons who shone a light that encouraged others to forge ahead and make incremental changes that helped form a more perfect union.

Keep reading to learn about 41 Black artists music wouldn’t be the same without—and be sure to check out our curated Spotify playlist of essential listening from each.

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Luxurious Spas Just for Your Dog

By Nicole Caldwell for Stacker

Americans are obsessed with dogs. We are more likely than any other people on Earth to have dogs as pets and are lavish participants in a $70 billion pet products industry.

Of the estimated 63.4 million people with dogs in the U.S., the average owner spends a modest $73 a year on groomers and grooming supplies, according to the American Pet Products Association’s 2019–2020 National Pet Owners Survey. The same survey found that $6.31 billion was spent in 2019 alone on services such as grooming, boarding, training, pet sitting, pet exercise, and pet walking. Average spending on dogs is highest among millennials, who drop about $1,285 a year on their fur babies, according to a 2018 study by TD Ameritrade. And in fact, for people younger than 30, lower income levels don’t correlate with a decreased likelihood of purchasing premium dog food.

Of course, averages are just that. To find out what next-level pet care looks like, you have to take a look at the upper echelon. There, you’ll find spikes in high-end dog-care services, from holistic care and dog yoga to $1,800 pet cemetery plots. But excess is perhaps most obvious in how we pamper our pets with spas, toys, and specialty grooming services. While most of us think of groomers as providing basic shampoos, trims, brushing, and nail-clipping, dog spas today offer everything from massages and dye jobs to custom fur styles and blueberry facials.

Stacker checked out some of the most luxurious dog spas in the U.S., of which there are many more than we ever expected. The spas aren’t restricted to coastal city centers, either; they can be found in virtually every state and are as diverse as their clientele.

Read on to discover which spa will pick your dog up in a Bentley and where you can splurge on a “Don Draper” tie for your best friend.

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25 American Folk Heroes and the Stories Behind Them

By Nicole Caldwell for Stacker

Folk tales serve as a cultural binder of sorts, bringing people together with a fomented sense of shared identity. They’re also used as explainers, similarly to how mythology worked for ancient Greeks. American folk heroes are richly textured and many-layered: Contemporary characters like Paul Bunyan explained the creation of America’s rivers and lakes and served as inspiration for workers exposed to grueling conditions while carving a way West and extracting resources for trade or infrastructure. Other tales, like those of Sacagawea and Pocahontas, served as scapegoats for a version of American history that sidesteps the Native American genocide enacted by early colonists, Western explorers, and even the U.S. government.

For enslaved African Americans, folklore provided subjugated people with heroic tales of bravery, defiance, and escape from Br’er Rabbit to Stack-O-Lee. Native Americans had hundreds of stories rooted in folklore from the Sleeping Ute Mountain to Kokopelli. Many folk heroes such as Hugh Glass and Annie Oakley are based on actual people, while others are pure fiction such as the Maid of the Mist and Bud Billiken. These tall tales come in the form of nursery rhymes, children’s tales, mascots, and cautionary myths and speak to us of strength, perseverance, and the celebrated intrepidness of rugged American individualism.

As is the case with any hero, much of American folklore features flawed characters. Some would certainly be villains today, whether Billy the Kid for his unchecked aggression against officers of the law or Hannah Duston for her violent slaughter of Native Americans.

Stacker scoured American history and mythology from books, news accounts, history lessons, and journal articles to curate a diverse gallery of 25 American folk heroes and the stories behind them. Some are well-known characters like Johnny Appleseed and Molly Pitcher, and others are much more obscure.

See how many you already know, and read on to learn about all the rest.

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Which State is This Jeopardy! Clue About?

By Nicole Caldwell for Stacker

There are few game shows as revered as “Jeopardy!”—helmed by one of America's most-adored television personalities, Alex Trebek. Trebek took on hosting responsibilities forthe popular game show since 1984, two decades after the show's premiere. "Jeopardy!" is taped 46 days out of every year, with Trebek changing suits five times each of those days to account for each episode being filmed. To date, he has hosted more than 7,000 shows. His dedication to the game show (unless there's a Lakers game on TV, he says he dutifully watches the show every night) has paid off: “Jeopardy!” is the proud bearer of more Emmy Awards than any other game show and more than 9 million viewers who tune in each week to play along.

“Jeopardy!” withstood two cancellations before Trebek came on board, and the game show has become synonymous with his name—making his disclosure in 2019 of having stage 4 pancreatic cancer all the more difficult for his faithful fans. 

To celebrate all things “Jeopardy!” and Trebek, Stacker turned to the fan-created “Jeopardy!” Archive and found three clues for each of the 50 states from the questions curated there. The states are in no particular order, making readers' tasks a true challenge: to guess which state each set of three clues—covering geography, history, pop culture, and everything in between—corresponds with. Think you have what it takes? Click through to put your state knowledge to the test and see if you have the mettle to be a “Jeopardy!” champion—even if you can't beat Ken Jennings' 74-game winning streak.

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Quiz: Do You Know Your American History From the Year You Were Born?

By Nicole Caldwell for Stacker

U.S. history books are filled with tales of brave heroes who fought and died to stay true to the ideals of a wild, new world order focused on equality and freedom. Those iconic characters you read about—from Harriet Tubman and Crazy Horse to Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr.—represent revolutionaries with progressive ideals who fought relentlessly for what they hoped to make a more perfect union bolstered by a government that would support each of its people in their individual quests for happiness.

Some of our country’s greatest civil advancements have come at a terrible price; paid for with bloody battles, imperfect leadership, and the scars left behind from racism, sexism, and even genocide. Our history includes the mass killing of Native Americans and the scourge of American slavery as much as it includes the Declaration of Independence and the liberation of people from Nazi camps.

America’s greatness comes in even measure with her complex past, with countless demonstrations of unchecked power and the foolish notion of boundless growth; but it is also borne of great showings of empathy and what is possible when, as a nation, we defer to our “better angels.”

To take a look at the rich history of the United States—from battles won in favor of righteousness and equality to periods of extreme darkness—Stacker used a variety of historical sources and photographs to put together a quiz highlighting key events in American history in every year of the past century. On each slide, you’ll find part of a historic photo that matches a clue about American history from that year. On each subsequent slide will be the answer, along with some background on the significance of that event.

Keep reading to test your knowledge of American history, from the Roaring ‘20s and Mickey Mouse’s debut film to the civil rights movement and Watergate.

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25 Tips for Urban Gardening

By Nicole Caldwell for Stacker

Ancient civilizations thrived in relation to their proximity to food sources thousands of years before the global food trade our world relies on today. Eridu (present-day Tell Abu Shahrain in Iraq), founded in Mesopotamia along the Fertile Crescent’s Euphrates River around 5400 B.C., was believed by the Sumerians to be the first city in the world, and integrated urban farming into the city’s design itself. Examples throughout history show the rise of new civilizations in direct proportion to food and water sources.

As trade routes opened up around the world, farmers could specialize in raising specific foods to trade with other specialists in different regions. The Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries further bifurcated cities and food sources by automating farming processes, dramatically increasing production, and making the international transportation of fresh foods a reality.

Since then in American history, proximity to food sources has fluctuated. During World War II, private residents started Victory Gardens that by 1944 accounted for 40% of U.S. produce. The country’s community gardens—neighborhood plots where people work together to raise food—have spiked in the past decade, with a 44% jump in city garden plots between 2012 and 2018. Community gardens springing up in empty lots in cities across the country offer inspiration for fresh approaches to urban revitalization in places like Detroit, where 23,000 residents participate in urban gardens, 1,500 residents have private gardens, and 16.75% of the city’s land is considered vacant.

Urban gardens can provide nutritious resources for residents who otherwise live in food deserts (areas without convenient access to fresh, whole foods, usually because of a lack of grocery stores and farmers markets, often in impoverished parts of cities or remote locations), provide children and adults with an education in self-sufficiency, and reduce food costs for individuals and families.

For those interested in getting into urban gardening, Stacker used a variety of agriculture and gardening resources to compile a list of 25 tips to get you started—from plant selection and garden location to essential tools for the job.

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25 Terms You Should Know to Understand the Climate Change Conversation

By Nicole Caldwell for Stacker

For the third year in a row, global leaders surveyed for the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report cited the impact and likelihood of environmental threats as the greatest perils facing the globe in the next decade. But one doesn’t have to wait 10 years to see that prediction shake out: Almost daily there’s more news about climate change exacerbating natural disasters like storms, floods, and wildfires, impacting tourism, threatening many species with extinction, or creating cultural shifts like refugee crises because farms become deserts or inhabited islands are abandoned as sea levels rise.

Climate change was widely considered the most underrepresented issue of the 2016 presidential election. The topic has since become so huge it inspired a CNN Climate Crisis Town Hall in September 2019 during which 10 Democratic presidential candidates gave their views on some of the biggest arguments and solutions related to our planet today. As more of a spotlight is focused on these pressing issues, so, too, appear a myriad of associated buzzwords—from fossil fuels and carbon to biofuels and ozone. And as the climate change conversation becomes increasingly ubiquitous and complicated, it’s helpful to have a grasp on some of its most significant terms—starting with the definition of “climate change” itself.

At its most fundamental, climate change refers to new weather patterns sustained over time (decades to thousands or even millions of years) because of fluctuations in the Earth’s climate system (atmosphere, biosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere). The planet has gone through many significant (and natural) climate changes over the past 4.5 billion years, including ice ages and global melts. Then, about 12,000 years ago, the climate reached stable temperatures hospitable to humans. The resulting farming and settling that occurred led to a need for fuel to power newly invented machines; people found it in coal. But as the coal burned, it released the carbon it held. Then came the oil industry in 1859, when Edwin L. Drake drilled the first oil well. All that burning of fossil fuels for industry and transportation—and methane from livestock and the burning of natural gas—has sent much higher levels of emissions into the air than ever before, fueling a period of global warming that is happening faster than at any time in the past 2,000 years. After thousands of years with average temperatures barely fluctuating by more than a degree Celsius, many experts agree the world is likely to experience three degrees of warming by the end of this century. That’s because for the first time, we’re seeing what civilization’s effect on the Earth’s climate system is—and how it affects all of us.

Stacker has compiled 25 terms related to climate change, their meanings, and their significance in the context of today’s warming climate. This gallery is not inclusive (thousands of terms relate to the climate change discussion), but is meant as a starting point to better understand what is arguably shaping up to be the most pressing issue of the near—and distant—future.

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20 Environmental Crusaders You Should Know

By Nicole Caldwell for Stacker

In one of the biggest environmental protests in world history, more than 7.6 million people from 185 countries joined forces between Sept. 20 and 27, 2019, for the Global Climate Strike. That immense civic action is part of a swelling movement, sparked in August 2018 by then-15-year-old activist Greta Thunberg. The Swedish teenager began cutting school to stand outside the parliament building holding a sign that translates in English to "School strike for climate." Her civil disobedience touched off a worldwide effort demanding stronger, more comprehensive climate policies, an end to oil extraction, clean energy options, investments in green infrastructure, and more equitable futures for citizens around the globe.

The movement is coming at the same time politicians in the U.S. push for the banning of plastic bags, the eradication of single-use drinking straws, and the passage of the Green New Deal, a bold plan that envisions drastic measures to curb greenhouse gases. These green efforts come against a backdrop of numerous reports of natural disasters caused by climate change, how weather patterns are expected to shift in the next 50 years, and how climate change is adversely affecting the food systems people rely on.

Other environmental crusaders are pressuring governments and corporations to divest from fossil fuels—and mounting legislation against oil companies who, according to recently surfaced evidence, knowingly disrupted information linking oil drilling to global warming in a way that's reminiscent of how tobacco companies hid evidence linking smoking to cancer in the 20th century.

Stacker scoured data from Apolitical to take a closer look at 20 top environmental crusaders working in local and national governments, international organizations, and nongovernmental groups like the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Harvard, Oxford, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and The Climate Action Network.

To determine who was nominated to Apolitical's master list of 100 individuals influencing climate policy, the organization accepted nominations from experts as well as peers of the organization. Hundreds of nominations were counted, followed by research conducted into each nominee and the work he or she is doing on behalf of the climate. Factors considered included the number of nominations received, the potential for affecting change, past achievements affecting change, public perception of influence, seniority beyond expectations for someone of a similar age, significant speaking engagements, social media presence, and feedback from experts.

Finally, Apolitical's list of nominees was reviewed by experts for final decisions and updated in March 2019. This gallery lists the 20 most influential people in climate policy in alphabetical order according to their first names.

Read on to learn more about the world's top environmental crusaders, from long-established leaders like Bill McKibben to more recent crusaders like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

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10 Toxic Cleaning Products and Their Natural Alternatives

By Nicole Caldwell for Stacker

The smells of cleaning products, disinfectants, and laundry soaps for many people are hallmarks of a clean home. While the overpowering smell of furniture polish or laundry soap may evoke certain pleasant associations or childhood memories, those familiar scents are mostly toxic. They are comprised of everything from reproductive disruptors to phthalates and allergens. Air fresheners alone release more than 100 chemicals and create adverse health effects in an estimated one-fifth of the U.S. population. Lysol aerosol sprays send corrosives and respiratory irritants airborne that can cause developmental problems, harm vision, and pollute waterways.

The sodium hydroxide in most commercial drain cleaners eats through the very pipes it’s intended to clear while burning all organic matter along the way. And a 2018 study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found the toxins in household cleaners can lead to childhood obesity. Nevertheless, toxic cleaning chemicals are ubiquitous in supermarket aisles and big box stores—and people keep buying them. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards are known for being lax, and greenwashing or subpar “green” products has left consumers with limited options.

Using ratings from the Environmental Working Group (EWG), scientific studies, and other authoritative sources, Stacker compiled a gallery of 10 toxic cleaning products and their natural alternatives. All the natural items listed are highly accessible and utilize as little waste as possible, keeping in mind that many containers for cleaning products don’t get reused or recycled. Furthermore, plastic waste ending up in landfills does not biodegrade.

Keep reading to learn more about 10 toxic cleaning products, their natural alternatives, and how people can make their own cleaning products that are safe for their home, family, and backyard.

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25 Weird Competitions From Around the World

By Nicole Caldwell for Stacker

Humans’ primal desire to compete can be traced to basic principles of evolution: To survive, all organisms on the planet must constantly outdo each other for resources. But where fellow terrestrials use play to simulate competitive skills like hunting or fighting, human beings have taken their zest for competition many steps further. The world is riddled with odd competitions, from the Air Guitar World Championships held in Finland since 1996 and cow pie bingo to any number of eating competitions, polar dips, and, of course, the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest, held each year at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, Calif.

Events like lumberjack or woodsmen competitions have been mainstays in American culture, while other events come briefly into the public eye only to fade quickly (and, sometimes, thankfully) back into obscurity. Decades ago, women were subjected to

(in which contestants wore papier-mache masks to hide their faces), “perfect back” contests, cleaning championships, and other archaic competitions that trudged forward through humans’ primordial soup into splendid, utter irrelevancy.

Charlie Chaplin once entered a

(he came in 20th place), and we’ve since seen the same from Adele. Then there are the now-defunct ,

, and even the Extreme Ironing World Championships (which is just what it sounds like). Still (surprisingly) in operation, however, are contests for lawnmower racing, baby crying, rock-paper-scissors, black pudding throwing, Punkin Chunkin, tree climbing, shovel racing, and even the Cold Water Swimming Olympics.

Mining various news reports, organization and town websites, and championships data yielded 25 of the most unusual competitions from around the world. It seems there’s a contest for every imaginable skill, from belly-flopping to swimming in grits.

Keep reading to find out where you can compete to be the best Santa Claus or find your way to self-transcendence in a 3,100-mile race.

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