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sometimes those bodies are forced |
to stay alive and watch the thieves of |
their livelihood do things like |
score touchdowns |
or preach sermons |
or sing songs |
or make movies |
or live in the room across the hall |
I will not check a gender box |
to determine the value of the stolen pulse |
I will not deal in equality |
solely when the deck is stacked |
in my favor. |
It was one of those nights when mom |
decided to blow caution to the wind |
Kool cigarette curled inside her arthritic finger |
sitting outside the house |
on the hand-made bench dad built |
a glorious spring night serving as the backdrop |
for what had to be the millionth time |
we cyphered |
I don’t remember the subject of our conversation |
I only remember her asking me |
if I had one of them Black ‘N’ Milds |
she learned of my smoking habit by happenstance |
in the same conversation she learned of |
the occasional illegal drink I would down |
at the Reggae club |
on those nights when I was exchanging |
the gospel of the pulpit |
for the gospel of the open mic |
I handed her a Black |
pulled one out for myself |
she took a slow drag |
complimented its flavor |
I lit the slender body of my cigar |
drew the nicotine through the plastic tip |
and between exhales |
we silently accepted a new truth |
Her little boy was becoming a man |
a survivor of a life that began hazy at best |
we were just beginning to make ashes |
of her overprotective nature |
just starting to spark a new relationship |
and with the flick of a lighter |
the light of my life |
flamed out. |
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Life Of Percentages |
We, as a society, try to use words like “beliefs” and “positivity” as explanations of how we overcome certain things. I realized recently that it doesn’t matter how positive or how much you believe in something, things can always take a negative turn. |
There are thousands of Self Help Books designed to make us better people. Authors like Tony Robbins talk about how positivity can solve your problems. People use literature and research as methods for constructing positivity. |
Let’s use the scenario that I have a life threatening illness and there is a chance I may die. On one hand I am the roaring Ra-Ra confidence of the American spirit. Where I believe I can overcome ANYTHING! Let’s say I live…is it because of my positivity or because I took the right things? People will talk about how con... |
On the other hand I am negative and depressed constantly. I feel like I have no value in this world and will die alone. But let’s say I take the medicine still (which I will go into later on) and I live. Do you think it was my negative attitude that rewarded me with life? Again, maybe me taking the right things cured m... |
I had 2 life threatening concussions. I had bleeding in the brain and doctors were shocked that I had no symptoms at all and didn’t miss a step. At the same time of my first concussion, actor Liam Neeson’s wife (Natasha Richardson) hit her head on soft snow and died of a head injury. I hit my head on ice so hard that m... |
Jim Valvano gave one of the greatest speeches in history. He was diagnosed with cancer and gave an emotionally roaring speech at the ESPN awards ceremony about how anyone can overcome anything. A few months after his speech he died…..of the same cancer that he made us all believe that he can overcome. Meanwhile people ... |
The reason I put in parenthesis the part about the medicine was because (even though I am mostly bashing the notion of positive attitudes as methods for success) you still have to have a small notion of positivity to want to take something in the first place. If there is a 1% chance that you may live after hearing that... |
Mercer College beat Duke in the NCAA tournament last season. Are you going to make the argument that Mercer College was more positive and wanted to win more than Duke? Or can you make the argument that Duke’s shots weren’t going in and Mercer had a better game plan? There are 68 teams in the tournament so therefore you... |
We love the David vs Goliath type of stories. Movies like Rudy and Miracle show us how people overcome impossible odds and come out on top. What a better story? How LeBron James has overcome adversity and has finally achieved all he was predicted to or how Bill Russell has won 11 titles in a row because he played on th... |
I don’t mean to shit on people’s beliefs or positive energy. I trying to be a best-selling author and overcome disappointment constantly. I get rejection letters from publishers and still I send more out. Why? Because it’s something I want to do for a living. There is a big chance that I may never achieve my dream and ... |
So I believe in being positive because without taking that first step you might not get what you want or take what you need to survive, BUT I don’t believe that thinking positive or reading the right material will automatically solve your problems. |
Like I said about sports and certainties, there are also no certainties in life. If you have a 1% chance of living, then you have a chance of living. If you have a 99% chance of living then you still have a 1% chance of dying. |
We love to hope that there is some otherworldly force that can help us in times of peril. That our positive energy can therefore challenge the laws of the universe so we may come out on top, but sadly that is hysterically untrue. Sometimes, to be blunt, shit happens. And there are no guarantees with medicine, self-help... |
Joe Reyes |
Friday, August 14, 2015 |
To my readers- many people do not know what causes straight line wind damage. Other than an acutual squall line, a microburst causes wind damage and heavy flash flooding rain. Today I have provided probably the best example of a microburst in a video that I have ever seen that happened in Tuscon AZ. |
Some interesting things about microbursts are that they are very localized as seen in the video, produce heavy rain and blackout conditions, wind damage and bring a plane down quicker than anything else. Just imagine a plane trying to fly through this. In Dallas in 1991, a Delta airline flight tried to fly in a microbu... |
The next 90 degree heat wave starts on Saturday. Stay cool. Maybe a thunderstorm on Saturday with the warm front. WE need the rain. |
They Say, We Say: Those calling for the removal of settlers are arguing for an openly anti-Semitic policy of ethnic cleansing |
Are settlements really a problem? |
They Say: |
Those calling for the removal of settlers are arguing for an openly anti-Semitic policy of ethnic cleansing. It is a policy that is not unlike Hitler's call for German territory to be "Judenrein" (empty of Jews). |
We Say: |
The idea that Jews, because they are Jews, may not live in a given place is abhorrent. |
Appealing to the trauma that Jews experienced at the hands of the Nazis when discussing the issue of settlements is inflammatory and misleading. Calling for Israeli settlers to leave or be removed from the West Bank has nothing in common with the genocidal policies of the Nazis. It also has nothing to do with the quest... |
It should be recalled that there were no Israelis living in the West Bank in June 1967. The Israelis who have since settled there have done so either out of ideology - an ideology that includes a desire to remove Palestinians from the land - or because they have walked into a political trap, with the active encourageme... |
Certainly, there was a small Jewish presence in the West Bank prior to 1948, but demanding a "right of return" to Jewish property in the West Bank opens a very dangerous question about the legitimacy of Palestinian claims to a "right of return" to property they owned in Israel before 1948. Following this argument to it... |
We hope that once peace is secured, people of all faiths will be welcome to live in Palestine. However, one of the key aspects of sovereignty is the authority to determine who lives within a state's borders and under what conditions. Israel insists on this authority, rightly; so, too, will any future Palestinian state. |
Silicon Quantum Computation |
Precision Qubit Program |
The Precision Qubit Program led by Professor Simmons leads the field in making precision single dopant devices in silicon for both conventional and quantum computing. Using a combination of scanning tunneling microscopy and molecular beam epitaxy P dopant atoms are controllably placed in Si devices with atomic precisio... |
The goal of this program is to understand the physics of the qubit coupling with the environment to understand decoherence pathways and to control. The control over the electron wavefunction requires interfaces which lead to the loss of bulk properties of the qubit due to physical processes like the valley-orbit coupli... |
Integrated Silicon Nanospintronics |
The Integrated Silicon Nano-Spintronics program, led by Professor Andrew Dzurak, focuses on engineering design, modeling, nanofabrication and measurement of fully-configured Si:P spin qubits and associated pathway devices. The team makes extensive use of the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF) at UNSW for d... |
Quantum Spin Control |
An electronic or nuclear spin represents the quintessential quantum-mechanical two-level system. The Quantum Spin Control Program develops the methods to gain full quantum control of single spins in solid state. These include single-shot spin readout, coherent Rabi rotations, controlled exchange interactions, spin tran... |
Deterministic Atom Implant |
Electron spins bound to phosphorus donors in silicon (Si:P qubits) are extremely attractive for large-scale quantum computing due to their extremely long coherence times (~1s) and the potential of scaling using industrial silicon manufacturing. Fabrication of devices that use single atoms as their functional elements p... |
7 Sticky Resume Situations -- and How to Overcome Them |
Robert Half International |
Searching for a job? If so, you have something in common with nearly every other professional in the job market: You've had to put together a résumé. But despite the fact that everyone writes one, preparing this document can be tricky. What's the best way to address an employment gap? If you've held temporary positions... |
Following are some tips for addressing these and othersticky résumé situations: |
1. You have a gap in your work history. |
If you have a few employment gaps, consider using a résumé format that focuses on your functional skills. Begin with a short summary of your experience at the top of your document. If you're an accountant seeking a management position in the food services industry, your summary might read: "CPA with nine years of finan... |
2. You've held a lot of jobs in a short amount of time. |
Very short, frequent job stints can raise eyebrows. While it may be tempting to omit a few positions, it's better to go with full disclosure. If you have a "legitimate" reason for job hopping -- you've worked for several startups and all have gone bust or are taking temporary work during a shaky economy -- explain it i... |
3. You've only worked for one firm. |
While your long tenure at a company demonstrates loyalty, you also want to make sure you emphasize career growth. List each position you've held at the firm to show forward momentum. You also might have a section highlighting ongoing education and professional development activities. |
4. You've held several temporary positions but few full-time roles. |
Fifty-six percent of executives polled by Robert Half said they view a long period of consistent temporary work as comparable to full-time work. You can list temporary positions in reverse chronological order, just as you would full-time ones. If you worked with a staffing service, use the name of the company you worke... |
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