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Every year the US provides a short 28-day window in which to celebrate the blackness. It’s nice to work out a time when the whole country pauses to honor blacks’ accomplishments (though the fact that it happens in the shortest month of the year gives me a break), but blackness doesn’t just exist in February. Even if you’ve had the black fist as your profile picture all of last month, black people’s appreciation must last a whole year.

While blacks are responsible for it make the United States a truly democratic nationAppreciation for black life and the advancement of black people still has a long way to go. We’re still partying many premieresIf we continue to support and celebrate black excellence throughout the year, we will take bigger steps towards creating an anti-racist society.

Lifehacker has provided a number of ways to recognize the blackness in our daily lives by publishing articles filled with Toolkits, book and Movie Recommendations and tips on how to have these crucial conversations. Here is a collection of additional opportunities that you can devote each day to the continuous advancement of black life.

Expand activities over 365 days

Instead of narrowing all of your black history lessons into the shortest month of the year, schedule regular activities to improve your knowledge. The freedom papers lists books, playlists, documentation, and guidelines to help allies create a comprehensive and active plan that will benefit their own growth and knowledge.

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Include current events in your regular learning practice. Often times, Black History Month activities focus on past achievements by blacks who have contributed to society. That’s good, but not only can you give yourself a strong foundation in the history of black accomplishments, but you can also incorporate current milestones. For example: Lt. jg Madeline Swegle recently became the US Navy’s first black tactical jet pilot. Milestones like that of Lt. Swegle take place every day and can be recognized and celebrated all year round.

Make it a regular practice to speak to your family about race and racism. The effects of slavery and systemic racism affect everyone in this country, and action must be taken every day to bring anti-racist practices to mind to all Americans. The greater good The University of California Science Center at Berkeley has published 10 keys to everyday anti-racism, Provides introductory steps to redefine your mind and get you to think more deeply about anti-racist measures. The most important among them are education and intention, key factors in the habitual exercise of anti-racism. While blacks have to think about race every day of their lives, so should everyone else.

There is racism in the housing industry, in the prison industrial complex, in the war on drugs and in trade. Include weekly or daily lessons that show the links between historical racism and today. For example, prison labor is legal because of it 13. Amendmentwhich states that slavery is illegal unless the individual is punished for a crime. As a result, black men and women (who are imprisoned at much higher rates) work with little or no wages to make products that we use every day. These exercises will help you understand how black history and systemic racism are intertwined in modern society. From there, you can take action: be a more informed voter, avoid shopping in places where prison work is done, or otherwise act as a lawyer.

Shop at Black Business all year round

If you get the chance, buy something from a black-owned company. Check out places like We buy blackHere you can get the same products you might find on Target but sold by black-owned companies. When you change your regular buying habits, you are celebrating black entrepreneurship.

Make monthly donations Black causes and projects. One of the biggest problems with systematic racism is the lack of support for black professionals in various industries. Make a point to donate to black creators, black initiatives, and others Black lives count.

Have black movie nights on a regular basis

In the same way that you subscribe to YouTubers you like or streaming services you love to make them more successful, you can support entertainment created by Black. Find movies and TV shows with strong black leads. Streaming services have struggled to devote entire sections to influential Black programming. Hulu’s Black Stories tab features award-winning programs such as Atlanta, This Is Us, and The United States vs. Billie Holiday. HBO Max, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video all offer a variety of black media to educate, entertain, and stimulate critical thinking.

Photo: Joshua Resnick (Shutterstock)

Corn dogs are a breakfast food (sausage, fried batter – it’s all there!), And the best breakfast foods are ones that are quick and easy to prepare, even in a non-caffeinated state. Frozen corn dogs are almost that. They heat up quickly in the microwave and delicious in the oven, but the former makes the batter all rubbery and the latter takes too long to be quick and easy. I thought my little air fryer was the perfect, elegant solution to my puzzle, but I was wrong – once in my life.

That’s true. After many months, I finally found a frozen food – and a dog– it doesn’t work very well in the air fryer. Frozen corn dogs dipped straight into the tiny hot air oven are just too frozen, at least in the middle, and the batter is too greasy. When the dough is faced with the hot, peppy winds of an air fryer, it fries too quickly in its own fat, and the canine portion never gets a chance to warm up properly.

Have you ever bitten into something that looks hot and tasty only to be betrayed from the inside? If you’re a member of the Hot Pocket generation, I know you have it, and you know it sucks. You may also know that a two-appliance approach is the answer.

In the past, I’ve used both the microwave and the oven to keep frozen food consistently hot throughout the interior and crispy outside. I also used a vacuum circulator cook a pesky hot pocket. Both methods worked wonderfully, but they also added a lot of time. I think you see where I’m going with it

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Frozen corn dogs just don’t work in the air fryer. (If my ego account isn’t enough to convince you, read the comments too this blog.) The device is a great tool, however, to finish them off after a quick blast in the microwave. Like the French bread pizzas of my youth, the corn dogs cooked using this multi-method approach come out heated throughout, but with a lot of texture.

It’s also a much faster cooking method than any of the air fryer-only recipes. All you have to do is take a frozen corn dog, loosely wrap it in a paper towel, and place it in the microwave on full power for a minute. Preheat your air fryer to 400 ° C while using the microwave. Then, when you hear the microwave sing its sweet song of success, place the corn dog in the air fryer basket and cook for 2-3 minutes, depending on how dark you like your batter. Eat the corn dog (hopefully for breakfast) then go about your day.

Photo: Robert Kneschke (Shutterstock)

It’s one of those grocery formalities that many shoppers ignore: when you check out, you are sometimes asked if you would like to donate to a charity before swiping your card.

It’s not a mysterious issue at all, but it seems that a lot of people don’t understand how the donation system works at the grocery checkout counter. Case in point: a tweet with inaccurate information went viral last week claiming that participating grocery stores have already made donations to nonprofits for a tax write-off and are only collecting customer money as a refund. The donation, according to the tweet, is just a ploy to make profit under the guise of charity.

While allegations of corporate misconduct and general greed will always spark outrage, this tweet shot through the social media stratosphere despite a lack of context or evidence. It’s just totally wrong, too. Let’s demystify how these donations really work from a tax standpoint.

No, the grocery store will not refund your money

There are two types of grocery checkout donations that involve point-of-sale transactions. The first, which requires a co-venture between a grocery store and a nonprofit or nonprofit, occurs when the market donates a percentage of its sales. C0 ventures in general, are regulated by the state governments. As the Council of Nonprofits notes, failure to comply with government regulations on collaborations “can result in fines and, in some states, even criminal penalties.”

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These collaborations make up a percentage of a customer’s sales and can be arranged in a number of ways. Renu Zaretsky declared for the Tax Policy Center last year how her particular grocery store deals with it:

For example, my local grocery chain offers “community rewards” when I scan my buyer’s card at the checkout. A small part of the proceeds from my purchases go to a community organization of my choosing (that of my son) Middle school).

Traditionally, like any business in America, grocery stores have been able to deduct up to 10 percent of their taxable income annually for charity, and that number was increased when last year Congress passed the CARES law. The way it works in reality, grocery stores use a small portion of their own sales as a charitable donation. In contrast to last week’s viral tweet, the donation is made at the point of sale – you don’t use the system to reimburse yourself for a previous donation.

What happens when you donate?

Then there’s another type of supermarket donation where the customer rounds up their purchase by a few dollars (or more if they want) and donates the extra money to a charity chosen by the store. But here, too, there is no sneaky, unspoken trick.

The Tax Policy Center explains how this works:

The shop serves only as a collection point for your gift. Assuming the company complies with legal requirements, your donation will not be considered as part of its business receipts or earnings, nor will the donation gift be claimed as an expense.

In other words, your gift will not affect the business’s income taxes. Remember, the business will select the receiving charity. So make sure it does one that you can support. As a customer, the donation will appear on your receipt and you can claim it as a charitable deduction when you file your income tax return. But you probably won’t.

When you receive the receipt for the donation (and if the donation goes to a 501 (c) (3) registered nonprofit) you can deduct it from your personal income on your taxes. For the 2020 tax year, you can deduct up to $ 300 in charitable donations without listing.

Needless to say, there is a specific public relations tactic that markets use to encourage customers to donate to charity. But the grocery stores don’t use manipulative tactics – and you can benefit from them if you have a shrewd mind with your taxes. And as always, your personal finance advice will not be available on social media.