Split (1)

train · 2.6M rows

text stringlengths 13 81.7k
Start by listening to this old episode of OnBeing, Listening to the World, a conversation with Mary herself, and one of the best episodes ever. Even if you don’t consider yourself a writer, it might just bring out the poet in you.
I’ll not re-share a whole piece of her work on here, because it is out there in the world, in the forms in which she meant it to be shared (read, purchased or checked out of the library; or occasionally shared in a publication or interview of her choosing). But I’m reading her stuff today and resolving to write more of...
Maybe you don’t fancy yourself a poet. But remember–it need not be fancy. It doesn’t have to rhyme. It doesn’t have to “make sense,” as such. The words can be simple. But if they are yours–if they are real, and true, and arranged just-so–they will take on a life of their own. They will do more than you meant them to do...
Right about now, we need more poetry. In fact, it might be the only thing to save us from ourselves.
Go in peace, Mary. Or rather–in your own good words–rave on. May we all.
And I say to my heart: rave on.
Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher was legally drunk when he killed Kasandra Perkins, his girlfriend, and committed suicide on the morning of Dec. 1, according to autopsy results released by the Jackson County medical examiner on Monday.
The autopsy report listed an ethanol reading of 170 mg/dL in Belcher's blood. A reading of 80 mg/dL would indicate a blood alcohol content of .08, the legal limit for driving in Missouri, meaning Belcher's reading was .17.
DISTURBING TREND: Does NFL have drinking problem?
"Just taking it at face value, it's .17 and .17 is twice as much and therefore he was drunk and probably drunk at the time of his death," said Dr. Harry Milman, a consulting toxicologist in Maryland. "If he died, there's no metabolism of the alcohol. Whatever was in his blood, we have to assume it stayed in his blood."
Perkins, 22, had almost no alcohol in her system, according to the report, and neither tested positive for illegal drugs.
Perkins was shot nine times in the neck, chest, abdomen, hip, back, leg and hand, according to the report. Only one gunshot wound to her hand showed "evidence of close range fire." The gunshot wounds punctured Perkins' lung, liver, spleen and kidney.
The medical examiner ruled Belcher's death a suicide and Perkins' death a homicide as Kansas City police and the Jackson County prosecutor's office had done previously.
Belcher, 25, fatally shot Perkins with a .40-caliber handgun at the couple's Crysler Avenue home in Kansas City on Dec. 1 before traveling to the Chiefs' practice facility and committing suicide in front of general manager Scott Pioli and head coach Romeo Crennel.
Pioli and Crennel were fired after the Chiefs finished 2-14 this season.
The results of the police investigation, which were made public on Dec. 18, revealed trouble in Belcher and Perkins' relationship. Belcher had been in a relationship with another woman, Britney Glass, since March.
He spent the last night of his life partying with Glass in the Power and Light District in downtown Kansas City, according to the previously released police report.
KCPD responded to a 911 call around 3 a.m. CT of a suspicious person sitting in a vehicle outside of Glass' apartment building. They found Belcher asleep inside his Bentley with the engine running.
Belcher told officers he was waiting for his girlfriend, and they told him to call his girlfriend and go inside rather than drive home and risk being arrested for drunken driving.
On dashboard video released last month, officers are heard confirming with Belcher that he would not be driving.
"You just need to go upstairs, dude," one officer said. "We're trying to cut you a break here."
When news of the first 911 call was reported by USA TODAY Sports last month, Kansas City police spokesman Darin Snapp said, "The officers said he may have been drinking early in the evening, but he did not appear to be intoxicated."
According to the police report released following his death, Belcher entered the building and knocked on the door of Brittni Dunivan and Shelby Zoellers. The two women came forward after hearing of Belcher's death.
He explained that he was waiting for a friend who wasn't answering her phone, and they offered to let him wait for her in their apartment.
The women told police that Belcher "appeared to be intoxicated." They said he was "laughing, joking and thanking" them for letting him wait there.
After the women took him to a gas station to get Gatorade, he went to sleep in their apartment around 4:30 a.m. and was there until around 6:45 a.m.
Belcher returned home and fought with Perkins. Cheryl Shepherd, Belcher's mother, called 911 around 7:50 a.m. to report that her son had shot Perkins.
Belcher and Perkins' parents have both filed legal action to get custody of the couple's now 4-month-old daughter, Zoey. A Missouri court will appoint a lawyer to protect the infant's interests.
IDEAL FIRST TIME BUY. MAISONETTE ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF BURTON WITH COURTYARD GARDEN.
Comprising sitting room/kitchen, two bedrooms and shower room. There is a courtyard garden which is partially enclosed.
Two bedroom maisonette which has been the subject of modernisation and improvement and is situated overlooking the communal green. The property briefly comprises sitting room/kitchen, two bedrooms, shower room and outside there is a courtyard garden with brick built storage shed.
From the front door, stairs lead up to the first floor. Before arriving at the Living room entrance, there is a large, full height cupboard housing the recently installed gas boiler that provides hot water and central heating (via radiators). this cupboard further offers additional storage space and plumbing and power ...
Double glazed window to front elevation overlooking communal green. Open plan living area with access into the kitchen which consists of complementary wall and base units, stainless steel sink and drainer, peninsular unit/breakfast bar, double electric oven with gas hob. There is space for a standard sized fridge/freez...
Double Glazed window to rear elevation. open arched alcove offering space for hanging rail or storage.
Double Glazed window to rear elevation. Ideal for a single bed/cot, study/office. or Dressing room.
Obscured glazed window to front elevation. Finished to a high standard, it incorporates a full sized cubicle with wall mounted shower. The walls are fully tiled. there is a close coupled WC and pedestal wash hand basin. Chrome towel radiator.
The property is approached via the communal green with a concrete path leading down one side of the building to the front door. To the rear there is a courtyard garden area partially enclosed belonging to the maisonette along with a large storage shed.
SAN NARCISO, Calif. (Bennington Vale Evening Transcript) -- In learning of Mike Wallace’s amazing catch during Sunday’s game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals, which wowed fans across the country, our reporters could describe the spectacle only as a show stopping display of athleticism and surrealis...
Note: While Tomlin made a valid point that illustrates an admitted flaw in our reporting, it is also important to emphasize that Sunday football games conflict with the Bennington Vale “Real American” community schedule -- church services followed by a prayer brunch at Piers Addleson’s Pea House, then late afternoon gu...
Edmunds Inside Line is reporting a new GTO could be ready by mid-2008, possibly as a (wait for it) four-door coupe. Pontiac has yet to decide on where the new model would be assembled — and what role GM's Holden division will play. What seems to be sure, however is that GM is finally settling on putting its Zeta rear-d...
Forget the rarified image of NASA projects. Before it even reaches Mars, the Mars rover Curiosity–slated to land Monday morning–has already influenced and borrowed from an eclectic range of industries back on Earth.
As the most advanced Mars rover, Curiosity, prepares to touch down on the red planet at 1:31 a.m. EDT Aug. 6 after an eight-month journey, its impact has already been felt on Earth.
During the nine-year, $2.5 billion development of the Mars Science Laboratory–a roughly 2000-lb., 10-feet long x 9-feet wide x 7-feet tall mobile science lab that will search for remnants of life over the next two years–NASA engineers and scientists have engaged a dance of ideas with earthly industry.
Engineers at the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in Pasadena, CA tapped business sectors as disparate as film, motion-capture animation, road cycling, sky crane helicopters, automated paper bag stacking, and art for inspiration in the and efficiency of the vehicle’s unique landing, traveling, and science lab capabilities. The...
How JPL engineers approached their engineering, process and design challenges also offers lessons for traditional business in cultivating creative ideas. At last week’s Media Day, held at JPL’s Mars Yard–a 1500-square-foot rover test bed approximating the sandy, rocky Martian landscape–several Curiosity engineers weigh...
A typical rover idea might start out as simply as a drawing on a napkin, before migrating to 3D computer-aided design or simulation, plastic model, engineering prototype or proof-of-concept model, and finally a production model.
“That process is very much like industrial R&D”’ says Robinson. “But business has a lot of potential to work out kinks with tens of thousands of units. Ours is a production of one.” So the methods to convey those ideas can get fairly whimsical–one supervisor used a coffee can and string, while another drew upon his art...
JPL engineer Matthew Robinson and the Curiosity replica test vehicle.
No idea is too crazy. Really.
JPL brainstorming sessions are a creative, noisy burst of uncensored, unedited ideas that ultimately survive on the basis of scientific analysis.
Just because ideas may came from mistakes and past experiences, the JPL team doesn’t get complacent about finding a brand new solution.
Because there are so many different, complex systems operating in tandem on the rover, engineering teams take on compartmentalized tasks within those systems. In the case of mobility, the Curiosity test replica, which contains cameras and software, is used for more “intelligent” tasks, such as obstacle avoidance, by au...
Lead rover driver Matt Heverly commands Scarecrow from his iPhone. He’ll guide Curiosity on Mars once it lands. The silver spheres atop the vehicle are motion capture sensors adapted from the film industry.
The mission’s unique constraints–payload vs. mass and timing–required an open door policy among all management levels. There was constant give and take between the number of scientific instruments they could cram on board before the rover weight tipped beyond what would make a statistically-acceptable safe landing. The...
“From management to worker bee, everyone has to be able to communicate and take each other seriously about the problems that come up, candidly discuss what works and what doesn’t, and allow unfiltered opinions,” says Eric Aguilar, systems integration and test manager.
Jordan Evans (left) and Eric Aguilar in front of Scarecrow.
Meanwhile, the Mars mission drew plenty of inspiration from existing businesses. Robinson adapted some the knowledge he gleaned from a previous job working on robotic paper bag stacking. The mechanism had to adjust to changes in stack dimensions, a technology he could leverage in Curiosity’s robotic arm adjusting to di...
Litespeed Bicycles in Chattanooga, TN designed the titanium tubing for Curiosity’s chassis, modeled here by Scarecrow.
JPL engineers had tackled the six-wheeled, Rocker-Bogie suspension in the mobility systems of previous rovers. But this time, it was going to double as the landing gear for a much heavier vehicle, requiring more agile and stronger tubing. The mobility engineer, Jaime Waydo, happened to be an avid road cyclist, so she a...
The sky crane aspect of the landing mission–lowering Curiosity by tether from a hovering craft–came from sky crane helicopter technology. “We even brought in a sky crane helicopter pilot to talk to us about what the challenges were with landing big loads–things that were heavier than the helicopter,” says Chen.
The rover’s spherical motion trackers came from the film and motion-capture animation industry. The technology–sensors feeding back to computers to track body movements–is now used to measure how far the rover moves. “It’s more cost-effective to creatively leverage solutions that other people have found to similar prob...
One of the young engineers who designed Curiosity’s sample delivery section, had metal cleaning posts spell the Morse code initials of his father, a JPL manager who had passed away, as a memorial.
In a more lighthearted move, engineers made sure that they found a way to put the JPL stamp on Mars–literally. Each wheel contains three rows of marks to be used for visual odometry–where an on-board computer analyzes camera angles of the marks on the ground to determine Curiosity’s position. The original marks were th...
Check out the slideshow for more Curiosity and JPL Media Day images, and the video below to understand what will have JPL engineers biting their nails till roughly 1:45 am EDT Aug. 6, when the first images flow in. You can also follow Curiosity’s progress on Twitter.
Pharmalot.. Pharmalittle.. We’re Reading About Shire, Ranbaxy and..
Upset over their portrayal, Indian drug makers have created a lobbying effort in the U.S. called the Coalition for Affordable Care to upgrade their image. Meanwhile, AbbVie chief executive Richard Gonzalez will fly to London this week to meet Shire’s biggest investors to determine what it will take to land a successful...
Cinemax teases Warrior, a new Bruce Lee-inspired martial arts drama from director Justin Lin and Banshee co-creator Jonathan Tropper.
The director of The Accountant says a sequel to his mixed martial-arts drama Warrior, which starred Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton, has been discussed.
Is 'Warrior' a heavy-hitting character drama or just another fighting film looking to capitalize on a familiar 'rise to glory' story? Read our review.
'Warrior' actress Jennifer Morrison talks about working with Joel Edgerton, MMA fighting, and the strength of the bond between brothers.
In our video interview, we chat with 'Warrior' director Gavin O'Connor about crafting this emotionally rich film set against the violent world of MMA cage fighting.
We sit down with 'Warrior' stars Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton to talk about intimidation, emotionally complex characters, and villains like Bane and Hannibal Lecter.
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump, the Republicans' presumptive presidential nominee, says he's narrowed his list of potential running mates to "five or six people," all with deep political resumes.
He says he has not ruled out New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a former rival who has embraced the billionaire's campaign with gusto.
"I have a list of people that I would like," Trump said Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press.
The real estate mogul and former reality television star said he's giving special weight to political experience because he wants a vice president who can help him "with legislation, getting things through" Washington if he wins the White House.
"We don't need another business person," said Trump, who touts himself as one of the best in that category.
He also said choosing a person who's previously held elected office would help with the process of looking into the person's background, in part because that person already would have been checked out by voters, the news media and to some extent the government.
"For the most part, they've been vetted over the last 20 years," he said.
If he selects a military or business person, he said, "the vetting is a whole different story. Whereas the politicians are, generally speaking, pretty well vetted."
Trump would not reveal the full list of possible running mates, but said his decision this week to appoint Christie to head his White House transition team did not mean the New Jersey governor was out of consideration.
Trump's vice presidential pick could be crucial to easing the concerns of Republicans who worry about their presumptive nominee's lack of political experience, as well as his temperament to serve as commander in chief. Tapping a political insider would also be a way for Trump to signal a willingness to work with the pa...
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer are among the Republicans who have suggested they would be open to joining Trump on the GOP ticket. Others, including Trump's former primary rival Marco Rubio, have ruled out being considered.
"I have never sought, will not seek and do not want to be considered for vice president," the Florida senator wrote in a Facebook post Monday.
Trump's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, has been chosen to run the vetting effort "with a group" that includes former rival Ben Carson and Trump himself, he said.
"Honestly, we're all running it. It's very much a group effort," said Trump, adding that he's in no rush to announce his pick.
"I do think I don't want to make a decision until the actual convention. Not even before it. I mean until it," he said.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. intelligence community has pledged to disclose more data about government surveillance programs by reporting annually how many secret court orders are issued to telecommunications companies under certain legal rules.
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on Thursday announced a plan to release the total number of legal orders issued every 12 months to telecom companies by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, and the number of targets affected by those orders.
The court orders, under authority granted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and National Security letters, allow collection of information about subscribers and call records, both for past communications and ongoing wiretaps. But only the aggregate annual numbers of these court orders will be made public.
The move is part of President Barack Obama's response to criticism about a lack of transparency in government surveillance programs following leaks by former spy agency contractor Edward Snowden.
Earlier this month, the government for the first time released opinions, previously labeled Top Secret, from the FISA Court. In the past its decisions involving electronic surveillance and communications collection by the National Security Agency had not been made public.
Privacy advocates have been urging the government to start shedding light on the FISA court and its surveillance operations and offered a tempered welcome to Thursday's news.
"This is a good start as it pulls back the covers a bit on the government authorities, but we still need more information," said Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center advocacy group. It urged further disclosures about the cost and effectiveness of the surveillance.
Kurt Opsahl, senior staff attorney at the data privacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation, expressed concerns that the pledge to release the number of affected investigation targets could severely limit the amount of data to be actually released.
"The number of targets affected isn't as much the issue on the public's mind as the number of innocent people affected," he said, pointing to the leaked secret FISC order to Verizon Communications Inc that did not address any targets.
Obama and other U.S. officials have said the NSA surveillance programs are lawful, have been approved by Congress and the FISA Court, and are aimed at detecting and disrupting terrorist plots.
"FISA and national security letters are an important part of our effort to keep the nation and its citizens safe, and disclosing more detailed information about how they are used and to whom they are directed can obviously help our enemies avoid detection," Clapper said in a statement announcing the new plan on Thursda...
The FISA court has said the NSA may unintentionally have collected as many as 56,000 emails of Americans a year from 2008 to 2011 and may have violated the Constitution before adjustments were made.
Dr Kiran Lohia Sethi feels that the way you sleep can affect your skin and lead to asymmetrical patterns on the skin and even cause acne.

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.