Attention, Architects: Here’s Your Chance to Add some Diversity to your Next Project

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I know squat about architecture, but apparently when it comes to architectural renderings, there is –surprise, surprise!– a serious lack of diversity, with most projects using white folks as renderings to represent people in, say, a Mexican supermarket or a Colombian coffee shop.

With that in mind, a group Latin Americans set out to create Escalalatina, an image bank, which aims to provide a way for Latin American architects to fill their renders with images of “real Latinos,” so that next time you see a model of, say, a shopping mall, instead of seeing a very white person, you could actually insert a masked wrestler, Emiliano Zapata or even Cuauhtémoc Blanco (notwithstanding the whiteness of his name) because you know you always bump into those people in the mall.

Heck, you can even go for this AWESOME ice-cream vendor:

heladosvia: Arch Daily

 

‘Emojis’ Will Soon be Browner, Blacker, Because Diversity

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BlackemojisTired of the lack of diversity in the media and pretty much elsewhere? Worry no more! Very soon, your cute yellow -and white-faced emojis will be able to adopt up to six different skin tones, from unreal, weirdly yellowish yellow to an almost-pitch black.

This added diversity comes courtesy of the Unicode Consortium, the group that governs the emoji standard, which today said it is working on an update that “addresses emoji diversity.” In a nutshell, this basically means we will soon be able to use some sort of tech tool to make our emojis more brown/black and hopefully less güeritos.

I applaud the Unicode Consortium for their diversity efforts, because even if Hispanics and/or African-Americans continue to be underrepresented in media, politics, entertainment and pretty much elsewhere, at least we’ll be more accurately represented in the very important world of chatting with our friends and family using emoticons.

I mean, embracing diversity has to start somewhere.

emoji-faceslau

Via: CNET en Español

 

Taylor Swift Wants you to Know Bodegas are Our Friends

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Taylor Swift, who recently bought a $20 million property in Manhattan, has tons of New York City vocabulary to teach you, including what a bodega is all about. (Hint: it’s a corner store, which is open pretty much all the time and -more importantly- is our friend.)

Click here or on the link below (if you dare) to learn a thing or two about this wonderful city in the words of our new “ambassador,” including how to pronounce Houston and why SoHo and NoHo are very different things.

Oh, and please don’t shoot the messenger (i.e. this blogger)

Americans Want to Trick you into Drinking ‘Nopal Water’

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What on Earth is 'True Nopal?'
What on Earth is ‘True Nopal?’

The US$5.99 ‘Cactus water’ promises to be 100 percent natural and gluten free. But let me clue you in on a little secret: We don’t really drink “Nopal water,” and even if we did, we wouldn’t pack it inside Tetra Pak and then claim it’s all natural.

Remember: Nothing lives in Tetra Pak without some delicious NaC₇H₅O₂ (aka sodium benzoate.)

Just sayin’

Photo: Laura Martínez

Google’s Latino-Specific Web Domain has Mexicans Talking

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Google this month launched a new Web domain – .soy – that is “intended to create a place online for the Hispanic community,” because apparently, we have nothing to do with the whole .com community (or, as I like to call it, the regular Internet.)

But while the new domain has had its detractors and its share of criticism, I can assure you at least my Mexican friends are taking the whole thing very seriously.

To wit.

soycomosoy

Gracias, @elementoL2

What Else Were you Going to call a Mexican Restaurant?

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Call me crazy, but I think calling your Mexican restaurant Illegal Pete’s might not be a super terrific idea. Still, founder Pete Turner seems unaffected by the “fury” of about 50 people demanding a name change.

I’m sure it must be difficult to embark on a name change, especially if your name is Pete and you already has several restaurants open and many more to come. But, how about Undocumented Pete’s?

Just an idea!

Via: CBS Denver

Some Dude Claims to be an Expert in ‘Double-Decker Tacos’

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Tyler Kord (right) is an expert double-decker-tacos (whatever those are)
Tyler Kord (right) is an expert double-decker-tacos (whatever those are)

You might not know who Tyler Kord is, but according to The Cooking Channel, Tyler Kord is the go-to dude for making double-decker-tacos, an abnormal concoction, which I’m sure is very popular in Tyler Kord’s kitchen and among Tyler Kord’s friends and readers of Tyler Kord’s cooking books.

¡Dios mío!
¡Dios mío!

But what on heavens is a double-decker-taco? … Well, I am glad you asked, because that is the very question being asked by the host of  The Cooking Channel: Basically, a double-decker taco is a tortilla wrapped in a hard-shell “taco” using black bean hummus as glue.

And why would anyone do that?

Because, as everybody knows, the world is coming to an end, we’re all close to extinction and nothing makes sense anymore.

Watch the following video below (WARNING: IT’S 5 MINUTES LONG) cringe, but –more importantly– do not try this at home.

Sombrero tip: @Bathtubmedia

Sir Richard Branson Will not be Making you Tacos [Thank God]

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No, Sir Richard Branson will not be making you tacos
No, Sir Richard Branson will not be making you tacos

So much for the VTG (Virgin Taco Gate).

Virgin, Virgin Mobile and Sir Richard Branson himself vehemently — and hilariously– have denied any involvement with the upcoming taco chain known as Virgin Tacos.

Virgin Mobile Mexico’s press release was actually funny and included some reference to the Virgin Taco Gate:

Unfortunately, we really suck at cooking Mexican food; however, we are very good at treating our customers as rockstars. […]

The “Taco confusion” has led to a series of hilarious tweets by both, Virgin Mobile Mexico and Sir Richard Branson himself, who incidentally was in Mexico this week.