Posted on November 30, 2017
CREDO and the National LGBTQ Task Force are resisting Trump
When Donald Trump campaigned, he promised to be a different kind of Republican with regards to the LGBTQ community. He awkwardly held an upside down pride flag on stage, went to Twitter to thank the LGBTQ community and even promised to “protect LGBTQ citizens” at his party’s national convention.
Yet like most acts Trump puts on, it was nothing more than obvious pandering and dangerous lies. In the last 10 months, Trump and his bigoted administration have waged a full-scale war on LGBTQ people with orders banning transgender people from serving in the military, appointing a Supreme Court justice openly hostile to LGBTQ people, rescinding protections for transgender students and signing orders to expand discrimination against LGBTQ people.
But the resistance to Trump’s attacks is strong, in part because of the strength of CREDO members and our progressive allies like the National LGBTQ Task Force, including its executive director Rea Carey, who we were honored to welcome recently at our headquarters.
Since 1986, CREDO members have voted to donate more than $461,000 to the LGBTQ Task Force, and CREDO has been a long-time ally of the Task Force’s critical work standing up for the LGBTQ community.
Posted on November 29, 2017
CREDO members help take down racist climate denier Sam Clovis
Once again, relentless activism by CREDO members and our progressive allies sunk another deeply unqualified nominee from serving in the Trump regime.
This month, anti-science radio talk show host Sam Clovis, Donald Trump’s pick to serve as chief scientist at the Department of Agriculture, withdrew his name from consideration following reports that he played a key role in the Trump campaign’s communications with Russia.
Clovis’ withdrawal comes after months of sustained activism from our members, including a petition signed by more than 170,000 people and a grassroots call campaign that generated more than 4,700 phone calls to the offices of key members of the Senate Agriculture Committee.
Clovis is a birther conspiracy theorist who has called President Obama and his Black and Latino cabinet members “racists.” He has no policy expertise in food and agriculture or experience in hard sciences, and he believes climate science is “junk.”
While the Trump campaign’s shady connections to Russia just sank another monster in Trump’s swamp, the fact is, a racist climate change denier should never have been nominated to serve at the USDA in the first place.
And thanks to the tens of thousands of CREDO members who took action to keep Clovis out of the USDA, we proved once again that resistance to Trump’s dangerous agenda works.
Posted on November 27, 2017
Tuesday Tip: How much cell phone storage do you need?
With so many cloud storage options out there these days, do you still need storage inside your phone? Manufacturers think you do. They continue making phones with more storage. Flagship phones like the iPhone X and the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 come with a whopping 256 GB of cell phone storage. Less roomy phones come with 32 GB, 64 GB or 128 GB of storage However, keep in mind that a phone’s system files and pre-installed apps take up 5-10GB of phone storage themselves.
So then how much space do you need? The answer is: It depends. It partly depends on how much you want to spend. If you want more cell phone storage, you’ll have to pay for it. For example, the iPhone 8 64 GB costs around $700 retail, while the iPhone 8 256 GB comes in at around $850.
From there it depends entirely on what sort of user you are. If you’re someone who uses your phone primarily to talk, text, read email and browse online, 32 GB is likely enough storage, especially if your phone has a microSD card slot, which you can use to cheaply expand your storage.
For more active phone users, a 64 GB phone is a good option. This is plenty of space if you just take a few photos now and then, save your favorite songs on your phone for offline listening or download a few apps.
128 GB and 256 GB phones are aimed mainly at people who live on their phones, take hundreds (or thousands) of photos, download every new song and play a lot of different games.
Let’s take a look at some different usage scenarios.
Photos
The size of your phone images will vary depending on the quality of your camera and the resolution you use. Most flagship phones these days take photos around 5 MB.
For the occasional photographer, 1 GB will be enough cell phone storage for 200 photos. If you snap photos more often – most weekends, say – and you delete old photos now and then, 5 GB will give you space for up to 1,000 images. If you’re a selfie addict, you’ll need around 30 GB, which will hold around 5,000 photos.
Videos
Videos use a lot of phone storage, especially the 4K videos you can take nowadays. The following scenarios assume you’re using the ultra high definition (UHD) setting, which takes videos with lower resolution than 4K.
If you rarely record anything, 5GB of storage is enough for 10 minutes of UHD video. If you want to capture most special moments – birthdays, weddings, your dog snoring – 30 GB of storage is good for 60 minutes of UHD video. If you shoot a lot of video, 100 GB will hold around 4 hours of UHD video.
Music
Most people nowadays listen to a streaming music service like Pandora or Spotify. But when you do stream music on your phone, you need Wi-Fi or a data connection.
So let’s say you want to keep some music on your phone for those times when you’re not using a streaming app. If you listen only on the train to work, say, 1 GB is enough for about 200 songs. If you listen more often, 5 GB will hold 1,000 songs. If you’ve always got your headphones on, 30 GB of cell phone storage will be enough for over 5,000 songs.
Apps
Apps come in various sizes but most don’t take up a lot of phone storage space., although the more you use an app, the more data it will cache and the more storage it will use.
If you just want basic apps on your phone (Facebook, email, etc.) and you play Minecraft now and then when you’re bored, 5 GB will be enough for that. If you want dozens of apps and games, 10 GB is sufficient. Hundreds of apps and a 3D gamer? You’ll need at least 50 GB.
Movies and TV
Netflix and other streaming services are the user’s choice these days, but you might want to download movies and TV shows for watching offline.
If you just want two to three movies, 5 GB is enough. 30 GB will hold up to 20 movies and, for true film buffs, 100 GB will hold around 50 movies.
Follow the above parameters and you should be able to come up with a rough idea of how much internal cell phone storage you’ll need.
If you’re an average phone user and you fall in the middle of the above scenarios, 64 GB or 128 GB should be plenty of storage for you. If you don’t mind storing your photos and videos in the cloud, you can probably make do with 32 GB. Remember, though, that you can only access items in the cloud when you have a Wi-Fi or data connection.
Posted on November 21, 2017
Tuesday Tip: High Quality Video Calling Tips to Make Your Video Call Quality Better
You’re in Hawaii and your family are all in Fargo, North Dakota. What are they doing there? Never mind. You’re going to bring them a little sunshine in a video call. Mahalo.
You might use Facebook Messenger, Skype, or Google Duo. There are all sorts of high quality video calling apps out there. And the best ones work on both iPhones and Androids. So if you have, say, Messenger on your iPhone and your mom has it on her Samsung, you can chat seamlessly. (Apple’s FaceTime app only works on iPhones.)
The quality of your call is up to you—or much of it, anyway. Assuming that both ends of the call have a decent connection, follow these tips to make your video calling quality better and ensure that your video call is the best it can be.
Make sure your app is up to date
Companies improve their apps with each new update. So if you’re still running the same version you downloaded two years ago, you’re probably going to get the same video quality you had two years ago (i.e. not so good).
Use headphones
Or earphones or AirPods or whatever you have. The point is your calls will be more loud and clear if you’re using a headset of some kind. You’ll hear better and your mic will pick up less background noise. Also, you won’t accidentally end the call while you’re pressing your phone to your ear.
Light yourself well
Let there be light—but let it be in the right place. Overhead lighting is not good for a video call. It will cast shadows under your eyes. Also, obviously, no bright lights or sun-filled windows behind you or you’ll be a mere silhouette. Natural light is best. Sit by a window, facing the window, so that the light illuminates your face. Or use several soft-light sources at around eye level.
Use a stable background
If you’re in a crowded cafe or there’s a TV on behind you, move to a different place. The more motion you have in your frame, the more work your app will have to do and the choppier your video will be.
Keep your shot straight
The best angle for a call is eye level, so hold your device there—and keep it as steady as you can. Also, try to look at your screen and maintain eye contact with the person at the other end.
Close other apps
Video calls require your device to do a lot of work. Shut down other open apps to reduce the multitasking demands on your device and the video quality for your call should improve.
Some cell phones are better for high quality video calling than others
Check your device. Some cell phones and tablets are better for high quality video calling than others. Factors to consider:
Battery life: Video calls are battery-intensive. If your battery is low, keep a charger handy so your call won’t end suddenly.
Front-facing camera: On most phones and tablets, the front-facing camera is of lesser quality than the rear-facing one. If your front-facing camera is of particularly low resolution, your picture will be less clear at the other end of the call.
Screen size: Larger is better for video calls, for obvious reasons.
Keep these tips in mind to make video quality better for your next call.
Posted on November 14, 2017
Tuesday Tip: Best Mobile Phone Photography Tricks
People are taking more photos than ever—and they’re using their phones to take them. In fact, 85% of digital photos are the result of mobile phone photography (up from 50% in 2011). This is because, as professional photographer Chase Jarvis said, “the best camera is the one that’s with you.”
To take the best photos with your phone, try these mobile phone photography tips.
Posted on November 10, 2017
New video: Rea Carey of the National LGBTQ Task Force visits CREDO headquarters
Rea Carey, executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force, joined CREDO for a special conversation to discuss how the organization is fighting for LGBTQ rights in the Trump era. If you missed the live broadcast, you can view it on our Facebook page here.
Posted on November 8, 2017
CREDO members join more than 1 million activists for gun control
The recent horrific mass shootings in Las Vegas, Nevada and Sutherland Springs, Texas are two of the deadliest in modern U.S. history. Yet, in the wake of such violence and death, politicians – mostly Republicans beholden to the National Rifle Association (NRA) – answered the tragedies with the same hollow “thoughts and prayers” lip service typical of feeble and gutless lawmakers who refuse to take real action on gun control.
Time and again, after Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, San Bernardino, Aurora, Orlando, Charleston, Navy Yard and Fort Hood – not to mention the hundreds of mass shootings and tens of thousands of gun deaths just this year – the NRA’s stranglehold has prevented Congress from passing meaningful legislation to protect Americans from the gun violence epidemic.
CREDO will never back down from the fight to prevent gun violence. Immediately after the Las Vegas shooting, we launched an emergency petition calling on Republicans to reject the NRA’s attempts to gut gun regulations and to instead pass gun control legislation, urging Republicans to “put [their] constituents before the National Rifle Association.” And immediately following the massacre in Sutherland Springs, we organized around a campaign demanding Congress pass legislation to require background checks for all gun sales.
The week following the Vegas massacre, CREDO activists, along with our allies at Daily Kos, MoveOn, CT Against Gun Violence, Avaaz and MomsRising, delivered more than 1 million petition signatures to the Kentucky and Colorado offices of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Cory Gardner. At both petition delivery events, activists read the names of the 58 people killed in Las Vegas as a solemn reminder of the human cost of Republicans’ failure to take legislative action to reduce gun violence.
Posted on November 7, 2017
How to choose a cell phone plan
Shopping for a cell phone plan can be as difficult as choosing a new car. How fast do you want to go? Do you want to buy, lease or pay installments? There are a lot of options out in the market, and they change often.
Posted on November 6, 2017
More companies should take a stand in the age of Trump
The morning after the election one year ago, I shared the same sense of dread that parents, teachers and so many business leaders experienced: I feared for the future of our country. But more immediately, I worried about reassuring those who looked to me for leadership. As the CEO of a company with progressive advocacy and philanthropy at the core of its business, I knew my team would want to know how we would respond. How would we lift our team’s spirits, convince them that they could still make a difference and give them a reason to continue fighting for what they believe in when Donald Trump’s victory seemed to represent such a profound rejection of those values?
Posted on November 2, 2017
CREDO and Bold are fighting dirty oil pipelines hand in hand
What began with an activist taking on a dirty oil pipeline in deep-red Nebraska has grown into a multi-state coalition of unlikely allies successfully fighting Big Oil interests.
In 2010, Jane Kleeb founded Bold Nebraska in the hopes of transforming the political landscape of a fiercely independent and populist state, and through hyper-local organizing and bringing together diverse communities – including farmers and ranchers, landowners, Native people and tribal leaders, progressive activists, rural and urban voters, and local politicians – to fight for a common goal, she helped to lead a massive grassroots movement resulting in President Obama suspending construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. Now, as president of the Bold Alliance, she is helping organize resistance across multiple rural states to protect our air, water and land from destructive fossil fuel development.
This October, CREDO was honored to welcome Jane to our headquarters for a special conversation about her work with Bold.
Since 2013, CREDO members have voted to donate more than $72,000 to the Bold Alliance, and CREDO Action has been a proud ally in the fight to stop dirty oil pipelines like Keystone XL and Dakota Access. Earlier this year, CREDO joined our allies 350.org, Indigenous Environmental Network and Oil Change International to help Bold launch the the Solar XL campaign, a project to build solar arrays on the proposed route of the Keystone XL pipeline in Nebraska.
