Knowledge Comes with a Price - Pay it Forward

Every single person is a goddamn survivor. We all have overcome something in our lives And our prize...

Thu, 23 May 2013 05:14:54 -0400

Every single person is a goddamn survivor.
We all have overcome something in our lives
And our prize is to maybe leave everything behind
Tomorrow instead.

Grandma's House, 36 Hours Later

Wed, 22 May 2013 20:04:26 -0400

I was greeted by a driveway
Shaded in a more haunted tone of black
Than I last saw it wearing two nights prior.
I progressed up the path
To the door of my grandmother’s house
(A name I still call this domicile despite the
House now belonging more to the ether
Or either fraction of the family
More willing to sacrifice others for land)
And tugged at the door.

When I arrived inside
Extra foot room was uncaringly
Splayed across the living room
As if mocking the knowledge
That fewer feet
Would pass through the doorway.
The carpet may have been freshly mapped
But there was no reason to explore
When a glimpse at the legend
Would already show missing
All three people I had known
To always call this house home.

I do not like the rush to clean up or out
Belongings of the deceased so quickly
After they have stopped holding life’s hand.
Don’t the rooms feel too empty already?
I knew before walking inside,
The whole house was too empty already.

Attempts at grieving lead to finding
A lot of things that need to be done. There is
A lot of night between sleepiness and exhaustion
And the clock hands cover your mouth whispering
About all of the people you can’t call,
All of the choices you can’t make
At the beginning of the morning,
At the beginning of the mourning,
At the begging for another morning.

Silence is so empty
When you’re in a place that has always had a voice.

I know that to alleviate too much quiet, some turn
To the throaty speech of the vacuum cleaner as
It can take the place of sympathetic companions.
Thankfully, the vacuum doesn’t talk back
Using false platitudes, just the steady hum
Of gnats swarming, buzzing just enough
To drown out a thought or two.

But I also know
It is okay to need to still feel
Someone in the room with you.
It’s not a flaw.
It’s not crazy.
It’s not hugging ghosts,
It’s embracing spirit.
It’s allowing the manifestation
Of a person who has passed
Because they are worth remembering.

Grandma, you are worth remembering
So I will till all of this new space at my feet;
Hope, not ghosts, will bloom
From the memories you have planted here.

kqedscience: Teen Develops Computer Algorithm to Diagnose...

Wed, 22 May 2013 18:24:46 -0400

kqedscience:

Teen Develops Computer Algorithm to Diagnose Leukemia

“Brittany Wenger isn’t your average high-school senior: She taught the computer how to diagnose leukemia.

The 18-year-old student from Sarasota, Fla. built a custom, cloud-based “artificial neural network” to find patterns in genetic expression profiles to diagnose patients with an aggressive form of cancer called mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL). Simply put, this means Wenger taught the computer how to diagnose leukemia by creating a diagnostic tool for doctors to use.”

Happy Reporting on Teenage Girls Getting it Done Day!

poemswap: “In Guns We Trust” by Houston Hughes 1I got my first...

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:21:15 -0400

poemswap:

“In Guns We Trust” by Houston Hughes

1
I got my first god from my father
Before I even understood what one was.
And even though it seemed centuries old
And was more than a bit worn,
I believed in that god, because I got it from him.
He taught me to respect it,
So I kept it locked up
In a rosewood case
Next to the kitchen table,
And that’s where it stayed until Sunday
When we’d all pile into the dilapidated old station wagon,
And go down to town for the God show.
It wasn’t till I got older that I realized
It wasn’t so much about the gods as it was the community,
A whole group of people gathered together to celebrat
The one thing that that keeps them feeling safe

2.
I keep my god in a steel box underneath my bed,
Between the photograph of my mother
And love letters from an ex girlfriend
Scribbled in eyebrow pen.
I don’t pull them out much anymore
Except when I’m alone
And the whole world seems to be slowly closing in,
I’ll squeeze it between my palms
Till my fingertips tremble,
Or push it against my temple
Whisper my fears to it
And listen to the cold silence
As it echoes in the shells

3.
There’s a man down on the street corner
With a sandwich board
Who’ll sell you the type of god that’s illegal now,
The kind that’s ready to kill a man at the drop of a hat,
The kind you pull out when your woman cheats on you
Or your sun turns out to be gay,
The kind with hammer-cock like held prayer breath,
With barrel like a pulpit,
The kind of semiautomatic brimstone spitter
They don’t allow in pleasant company anymore

4.
Of course the founding fathers intended for us all to have gods!
Look, if someone comes along with a god and threatens you,
You don’t want to be the only one without a god, do you?
And nobody wants us to be like England
Where not even the police carry one!
Really, what’s gonna keep people from raping and stealing
If they don’t think a god will?
That’d be like trying to take
“in guns we trust” off our money!
This country was given to us by our gun almighty
So that we could have the freedom to carry our gods
Where ever we gun-damn please.
And a good conservatives knows
that any form of god control
is un-American;

5.
You haven’t forgotten what happened,
Have you?
All it took was a few men with an unwavering faith in their guns
To take down those two towers.
And they didn’t even have gods.
If everyone on that plane’d had had a god
You know that never would have happened…
It almost makes you doubt the power of your own gun.

6.
The Safety Manual:
Kids,
Never point a god at someone, even to joke around.
If you see a god in the area, please leave immediately.
If your friend wants to show you a god, just say no!
By telling a parent, teacher, or guidance counselor when you see a god,
You could be a hero and save lives!

Parents, Keep your gods away from children!
Children don’t realize
That gods are tools,
And might instead treat them like toys,
To threaten people around them.

Remember:
Gods don’t kill people,
People with gods kill people.

Your friend and mine, Gary Johnson, was just talking about this poem the last time I saw him!

Trapped Inside Our Heads

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:36:00 -0400

We all need to be free.
Complacency could lead
To feeling free
When in fact
We are all imprisoned.

The most free you can be
Is when you can
Cast everything aside
And fly off into the sunset.

Any time could be your sunset.

Anytime could be your sunset
So take advantage of your time;
You breathe because your lungs
Call oxygen freedom.
You desire because your mind
Seeks tools to free itself.
We all are in motion
Because our souls know freedom
Is the ability to change your future.

Destiny is set in stone only when we give up.
Without paths we are but puppets of the cosmos.
I don’t know about you
But I’m allergic to string across my back.

Come stand with me
And we’ll spread wings.
Imagination
Is just the power
To visualize your future.

foxsoccer: After winning the Copa Del Rey in dramatic fashion...

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:15:48 -0400

foxsoccer:

After winning the Copa Del Rey in dramatic fashion against arch-rivals Real, Atletico Madrid are in Singapore ahead of a charity exhibition match in the country.

So, how would you expect them to train and warm-up for the event? Well, by facing 128 kids in a preparation match, of course!

In the hilarious video, you’ll see Atleti taken to task by over a hundred youngsters. The sight of one of the best strikers in the world, Radamel Falcao, blazing over the bar with a ton of kids surrounding him will certainly stay in the memory!

Image taken from our colleagues at 101 Great Goals

blu3rsx: 16-Year-Old Egyptian Scientist Finds Way to Turn...

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:04:33 -0400

blu3rsx:

16-Year-Old Egyptian Scientist Finds Way to Turn Plastic Waste Into $78 Million of Biofuel

What Azza proposes is to break down the plastic polymers found in drinks bottles and general waste and turn them into biofuel feedstock. (This is the bulk raw material that generally used for producing biofuel.) It should be noted that this is not a particularly new idea, but what makes Azza stand out from the crowd is the catalyst that she is proposing. She says that she has found a high-yield catalyst called aluminosilicate, that will break down plastic waste and also produce gaseous products like methane, propane and ethane, which can then be converted into ethanol.

Read more.

Bugs in My Home System

Wed, 22 May 2013 14:29:36 -0400

Does anyone else feel guilty
When stepping on a bug?
I know I do.
Somewhere between perception
And footfall
Is the embarrassment
Over thinking myself God enough
To choose death for something.
I don’t know why I,
A renter of earth,
Feel I am more entitled to this hut
Than a creature born to dirt.
I don’t know why I
Defend so strongly
Things I haven’t even built.

To try to alleviate my opportunities
To confirm my murderous ways,
I leave the corpses of the fallen
Creepy super crickets,
You know, the ones capable
Of bounding over skyscrapers,
In the same spot they fell
To my apology cloud of Raid.
I hope these bodies
Act as wards to other crawlers
In my attempt to come to a
Brute force agreement
Over property ownership.
Alas, these fuckers keep jumping into my bathroom.

Occasionally it is a spider spun into my path.
When they come to my attention
I treat them like military veterans.
I thank them for their service
In defending my skies
And fending off the annoyances
On the front lines
Of the theater I need protected;
And then I smash their benefits.
Luckily there’s no A.A.R.P. for arachnids
So to crush the eight legged
Requires not an act of Congress
But just one shoe.

If the sneaker ever comes to the other foot
And a stomp from flying saucer comes my way
Then I shall just determine galactic beings
As keepers of the peace in the karma games.
My only excuse to offer you or E.T.
Is that I don’t have the memory capacity
To recall which bugs are a threat
To my woodwork or would work
My immune system until it collapsed.
And I’ll be honest, I can’t really know,
With just a glance, which body markings
Denote toxic fangs or which creatures
Come only in swarms. I’m not familiar enough
With the millions of classifications or orders;
I don’t even know if it would matter if I were.
Hell, I can’t even tell who of my own species is poisonous.

mediamattersforamerica: The NRA lists the ‘coolest gun movies’: 1. Red Dawn2. The Terminator3. The...

Wed, 22 May 2013 14:26:41 -0400

mediamattersforamerica:

The NRA lists the ‘coolest gun movies’:

1. Red Dawn
2. The Terminator
3. The Alamo
4. Die Hard
5. The Godfather
6. Zombieland
7. The Matrix
8. The Delta Force
9. The Road Warrior
10. Tremors

Flashback: When the NRA blamed mass shootings on violent movies.

questionall: http://bit.ly/117vLUG

Wed, 22 May 2013 13:45:50 -0400

questionall:

http://bit.ly/117vLUG

Photo

Wed, 22 May 2013 13:36:45 -0400

good: Help Restore Photos Damaged in the Oklahoma...

Wed, 22 May 2013 13:32:37 -0400

good:

Help Restore Photos Damaged in the Oklahoma Tornado
- Adele Peters wrote in Design, Graphic Design and Photography

Whether you’re a professional graphic designer who edits photos of runway models, or just someone who happens to be obsessed with Photoshop, put your skills to use for the greater good: Volunteer to help restore family photos that were damaged in the devastating tornado in Moore, Oklahoma and other recent disasters. Add your name and contact information HERE. We’ll gather a list and connect you with an organization working directly with disaster victims.

Add your contact info on good.is

"…already Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., says he will insist that any federal disaster aid be paid for..."

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:53:47 -0400

“…already Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., says he will insist that any federal disaster aid be paid for with cuts elsewhere.”

- Roll Call (via brooklynmutt)

What an asshole.

(via truth-has-a-liberal-bias)

Photo

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:16:11 -0400

Made

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:28:38 -0400

I am made to live.

Grains of sand in an hourglass are too numerous to count.
Each tick on a clock, an anticipation of what happens in the next minute.
I have lived so many years in expectation of time passing
That I never listened to the concerto of each fraction of earth’s movement.

My body is a concert hall. My words are notes.
The way people interact with me is what allows me chords.
Memories are held dear because moments have the capability
Of playing out in harmony with your surroundings.

The most melodious of times are those in which friendship
Leans into your ear as a soft breeze; wind chimes record experiences
And nothing stills the chaos of life like distinct bells
Of which we can never lose focus.

I may not always remember speech or appointments
But I will recall how people made me feel
One thousand times out of every one thousand pondered.
I will remember who hugged me, who hurt me, who healed me.

I am made for tears.

When my cheeks dance in my own rain, I am blessed.
When I have joy my twitch is tango.
When I have sorrow my scrunch is salsa.
Every time I cry I at least know that I am alive, so let’s celebrate.

I’ve left so many people behind. No one lives forever
But until a person passes I can let them know they matter.
Every invitation is a thank you. Every phone call a proposal
To engage in a marriage of your voice and my ear.
Happiness is in the eye of those you behold and call friend.

Joy is a team exercise and mourning is definitely a group sport;
Let us play our hands face up and face up to our obligations.
I don’t want to lose people who matter.
I want everyone to feel they matter to me.
I want everyone to matter to the universe.
I want our matter to disperse into clouds of the infinite.
Our smiles will be constellations,
Our bonds will be solar systems.
We’ll sink all worries into black holes
And leave everything behind that brings pain.

Maybe God was born from a good idea
And the will and strength to treat others well.
My hope is borne from my realization
That my inclusion with people who listen
Means so much to my soul.

I can be a better listener. I can be a better communicator.
I can be to others what others have been to me;
The only thing left to do
Is to bring others to where I stand and see
How important each of us are.
How important you all are to me.

I am made to speak.

What are you made for?

That moment when you get it and there is no more awkward.

Sun, 19 May 2013 21:58:49 -0400

That moment when you get it and there is no more awkward.

thinksquad: More and more children being arrested for trivial...

Sun, 19 May 2013 13:27:37 -0400

thinksquad:

More and more children being arrested for trivial things…

#1 At one public school down in Texas, a 12-year-old girl named Sarah Bustamantes was recently arrested for spraying herself with perfume.

#2 A 13-year-old student at a school in Albuquerque, New Mexico was recently arrested by police for burping in class.

#3 Another student down in Albuquerque was forced to strip down to his underwear while five adults watched because he had $200 in his pocket. The student was never formally charged with doing anything wrong.

#4 A security guard at one school in California broke the arm of a 16-year-old girl because she left some crumbs on the floor after cleaning up some cake that she had spilled.

#5 One teenage couple down in Houston poured milk on each other during a squabble while they were breaking up. Instead of being sent to see the principal, they were arrested and sent to court.

#6 In early 2010, a 12-year-old girl at a school in Forest Hills, New York was arrested by police and marched out of her school in handcuffs just because she doodled on her desk. “I love my friends Abby and Faith” was what she reportedly scribbled on her desk.

#7 A 6-year-old girl down in Florida was handcuffed and sent to a mental facility after throwing temper tantrums at her elementary school.

#8 One student down in Texas was reportedly arrested by police for throwing paper airplanes in class.

#9 A 17-year-old honor student in North Carolina named Ashley Smithwick accidentally took her father’s lunch with her to school. It contained a small paring knife which he would use to slice up apples. So what happened to this standout student when the school discovered this? The school suspended her for the rest of the year and the police charged her with a misdemeanor.

#10 In Allentown, Pennsylvania a 14-year-old girl was tasered in the groin area by a school security officer even though she had put up her hands in the air to surrender.

#11 Down in Florida, an 11-year-old student was arrested, thrown in jail and charged with a third-degree felony for bringing a plastic butter knife to school.

#12 Back in 2009, an 8-year-old boy in Massachusetts was sent home from school and was forced to undergo a psychological evaluation because he drew a picture of Jesus on the cross.

#13 A police officer in San Mateo, California blasted a 7-year-old special education student in the face with pepper spray because he would not quit climbing on the furniture.

#14 In America today, even 5-year-old children are treated brutally by police. The following is from a recent article that described what happened to one very young student in Stockton, California a while back….

“Earlier this year, a Stockton student was handcuffed with zip ties on his hands and feet, forced to go to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation and was charged with battery on a police officer. That student was 5 years old”.

#15 At one school in Connecticut, a 17-year-old boy was thrown to the floor and tasered five times because he was yelling at a cafeteria worker.

#16 A teenager in suburban Dallas was forced to take on a part-time job after being ticketed for using foul language in one high school classroom. The original ticket was for $340, but additional fees have raised the total bill to $637.

#17 A few months ago, police were called out when a little girl kissed a little boy during a physical education class at an elementary school down in Florida.

#18 A 6-year-old boy was recently charged with sexual battery for some “inappropriate touching” during a game of tag at one elementary school in the San Francisco area.

#19 In Massachusetts, police were recently sent out to collect an overdue library book from a 5-year-old girl.

HERE ARE THE LINKS FOR THOSE WHO FEEL THIS PAGE MADE ALL THIS UP:

http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com/latino-daily-news/details/texas-student-sarah-bustamantes-12-arrested-for-spraying-perfume/13250/

http://abcnews.go.com/m/blogEntry?id=15077292

Check out this video on YouTube:http://youtu.be/wk2b_twCCdw

http://m.guardiannews.com/world/2012/jan/09/texas-police-schools?cat=world& type=article

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/18/new.york.doodle.arrest/index.html?hpt=C1

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2010/feb/11/port-st-lucie-schools-confines-6-year-old-with/

http://m.guardiannews.com/world/2012/jan/09/texas-police-schools?cat=world& type=article

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/12/29/nc-high-school-senior-suspended-charged-possesion-small-knife-lunchbox/#

http://www.eagleforum.org/educate/2009/june09/zero-tolerance-states.html

http://m.tauntongazette.com/wkdTGazette/pm_/contentdetail.htm?contentguid

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/San-Mateo-pays-family-of-boy-pepper-sprayed-by-cop-2384518.php

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/cops-called-for-school-kiss-657831

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/01/27/hercules-family-battles-playground-sex-assault-claim-against-6-year-old/

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/01/02/charlton-library-sends-police-to-collect-overdue-books-from-5-year-old/

"It is wrong to bear children out of need, wrong to use a child to alleviate loneliness, wrong to..."

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:39:41 -0400

“It is wrong to bear children out of need, wrong to use a child to alleviate loneliness, wrong to provide purpose in life by reproducing another copy of oneself. It is wrong also to seek immortality by spewing one’s germ into the future as though sperm contains your consciousness!”

- Can’t get enough of Yalom (via suchableedingheart)

kileyrae: “If the current laws that govern federal taxes and...

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:27:02 -0400

kileyrae:

“If the current laws that govern federal taxes and spending do not change, the budget deficit will shrink this year to $642 billion, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates, the smallest shortfall since 2008. Relative to the size of the economy, the deficit this year—at 4.0 percent of gross domestic product (GDP)—will be less than half as large as the shortfall in 2009, which was 10.1 percent of GDP. Because revenues, under current law, are projected to rise more rapidly than spending in the next two years, deficits in CBO’s baseline projections continue to shrink, falling to 2.1 percent of GDP by 2015.”

The Congressional Budget Office announces revised deficit productions, cutting 2013 deficit predictions by more than $200 billion and deficits over the next decade by more than $600 billion. The media hardly notices.

"Nearly all U.S. clothing chains, citing the fear of litigation, declined to sign an international..."

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:26:56 -0400

“Nearly all U.S. clothing chains, citing the fear of litigation, declined to sign an international pact ahead of a Wednesday deadline, potentially weakening what had been hailed as the best hope for bringing about major reforms in low-wage factories in Bangladesh. Companies including Wal-Mart, Gap, Target and J.C. Penney had been pressed by labor groups to sign the document in the wake of last month’s factory collapse in Bangladesh that killed at least 1,127 people. More than a dozen European retailers did so. But U.S. companies feared the agreement would give labor groups and others the basis to sue them in court.”

- The Washington Post (via azspot)