#definedby

[figleavesandrye]

sugar water

It's a Georgia summer. The air is thick and the plates are big. Gas is cheap.

It's my first time outside of California in a long time. 

i’m here to see a baby.firstborn to the firstborn of a firstborn. to me, this has to mean something. to meet at this juncture, our generational chance at reconcile. at undoing. forgiving. forgiven. forgave. circles full circling. fullstop. she doesn’t cry.she looks like a womanshe will only know by her likenessand carries like a symbolof turnover and seasonschanging the way most quiet babies do. we buy diapers and onesies from a store that also sells ammoand spend the next four daysin georgia. on the third day,i hold a gun for the first time. it’s heavier than i’d expectedand carries like a symboleven heavier still, somethinglike staring into the sun. my first shot fires like making eye contact with a god i don’t believein. eventually, i get over it and spray another ninety nine rounds through a paper manand then it’s just good old southern fun after that. adrenaline wells up in my core and feels both warm and sinful. the men working the gun range make simple funwhen they return my californiadriver’s license because they believe they possessa higher understanding of the essence of freedom. they believe it to be a deafening and sulfuricforce, proxyfor the violent. definedby state lines, having anything atall to do with guns. this is not that beacon i knowshines in my understanding the essence of my burden in guilt and shame andsin and grief. i know the way my fingertips stain with the funk of wet newspapermixed with garlic. howi’ll then forget andrub my eyes. how i’ll cry. how i’ll weep, actually. oh, the way i weep! how i keepcoming back to this. in my language,free is something of a silentexorcism. it’s howbabies keep being born. beingsorry and true. it’s tuckedsomewhere in betweenthe paper petals ofa lifetime of healing. it’s whyi’m here in georgia, workingat the arduous task ofseparating wheat and chaff and loving unconditionally.

right before the gift shop of the world of coca-cola, one of atlanta’s more popular tourist attractions, there is a room littered with clear plastic cups and fountains upon fountains of all of coca-cola’s international flavors for visitors to sample. the floor is coated with a tacky syrupy layer of soda and fills the place with the smacks and squeaks of the rush toward drink. this is where it happens. my mom calls me from los angeles to tell me grandma is not okay. she’s unconscious, on a ventilator, and apparently there’s a tooth in her lung. she had inhaled it in the thick of her artificial breathing. we���re pretty sure it’s for real this time. her voice is still and so is mine. we know. there have been false alarms before. once, my grandma had the whole family racing to her bedside. she even called her pastor. we all crowded around in her bedroom while my grandpa sat in his chair just outside. we sang hymns and people prayed and wept over her. it would have been a most gorgeous ritual of departure and the opportune moment to die. then she lived five more years or something like that and we laughed about it a couple times, too. i can’t really remember when she wasn’t so fragile. she had a heart surgery a long time ago and i think after that is when she became like a leaf. when i would visit, i would quickly bow to my grandpa and then head over to her room. most times, she would be sleeping or playing games on her phone and somehow she would summon the strength to swat at me for not hanging out with her more. i would crawl into her bed gingerly so as not to rattle her and then i would teach her how to text or listen to her complain about her husband sitting in the other room. 

after isaac died, my parents struggled to tell my grandparents the truth. i don’t blame them for that and never will. i don’t need to know their reasons. after that, i couldn’t bring myself to visit anymore and my parents didn’t blame me either. i couldn’t step into that stuffy one bedroom apartment in reseda where isaac was still here alive in this world with me, where he was just busy with school and being a teenage boy. i couldn’t do that kind of multidimensional time travel and manage to come out of its fictions unscathed.  so i’m flying back to la, these thoughts floating around me. the deathbed as a beacon. a homing signal. moths to a flame. the truth drawn out. the truth in showing up. we land and don’t rush to the hospital. it’s different from the gravitational force that flung me toward my brother on the night of his death. we get there when we there. the hospital’s policy is two family members at a time. we wait our turn. there’s a jesus statue in the waiting room, pointing up with a broken finger. it’s our turn now, we get into the elevator, go up to the second floor, get out the elevator, follow the nurse to the room, look at all the other people in the room, open the curtain, close the curtain, try to feel alone with her. i don't know what i’m supposed to say or if i even have to say it out loud. i don't know if i'm supposed to tell her about isaac. 

할머니 has been dead for three months. i go visit 할아버지. he's different now. the chair i sit in smells like cigarettes. her bedroom door is closed. the trash can is filled with empty yogurt cups and ash. there are fruit flies. he sprays raid bug spray and doesn't open the window.  someone tells me that restaurant orange slices are dunked in sugar water and ice and then served to guarantee sweetness. you can’t just pay someone to taste all the oranges. that wouldn’t be very efficient. they don’t understand how i would taste all the oranges for free.

[jamescallahansr]

Lost art…

Standing still is a lost artof which I am its Picassowith seemingly random startsand stops at every angle,eyes displaced hereand there, an extra breastor shoulder (can’t tell),testing what is real,the dimensions called life;I’m in the waybut easily ignored,looking lost yetthe only one calm, at ease,my motion definedby where I’ve stoppedin the art of standing still.

[monarchisms]

are you SERIOUS ky changed her mc skin????? akjsdhsajkdhsakjakajsdhk miss defined by,,, hoooooow dare you

yeah </3

so, spoiler warning for anyone who gives a shit:

in today's minecraft episode, the first five or so seconds show off ky's new skin:

i couldn't recognize who this was supposed to be on my own, but thankfully, later in the video, ky explained that her skin is neyla from sly 2: band of thieves. it's hard to get a gameplay screenshot, but this is what she looks like in official artwork:

i'm still reeling over it. i spent a few days saving references for her raven skin, and now, it was all for nothing :'^)

[esstrauss]

We react to the present with our past...⚡️ #remember #studyhistory #openyoureyes #present #definedby #past #memorialday

[eaglefacts]

Your attitude towards money is defined by your personality type.

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.To put things differently, British researchers from University of Stirling, University of Manchester and University of Nottingham conducted their own study where they explored the relationship between loss aversion and personality. According to them, income increase will not make you happier regardless your personality type, but income loss tends to affect people who are high on conscientiousness.

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#money #millionaire #moneymaker #rich #makemoney #cash #luxurylifestyle #fastcash #entrepreneur #billionaire #business #moneygram #moneyteam #moneyflip #wealth #luxury #moneytalks #dollar #entrepreneurship #bitcoin #luxurylife #workfromhome #income #stacks #richlife #millions #success #flipcash #makemoneyonline #investment

[mkaneshige]

Look For The Little Things

Look For The Little Things

Never be definedby your worst momentsAlways look for the little triumphsthat help boostyour esteem and self-worthto incredible heightsand relishin that endless wellof positivity

[babyawacs]

@california @wired @wireduk @ornl @atom @intel @apple @samsung @arm @nsagov @gchq @darpa @lockheedmartin @northropgrumman @boeingdefense #LNL6 #LNL7 makers lets do also modes where the sourcedrain devices emmitt fractal patterns of electrons paired electrons unstablequick paired electron static as de finedby asymmetric and use this to sort to data op erate to separate lets callthis tree function:  fract ree  uncreative fractaltree

@california @wired @wireduk @ornl @atom @intel @apple @samsung @arm @nsagov @gchq @darpa @lockheedmartin @northropgrumman @boeingdefense #LNL6 #LNL7 makers lets do also modes where the sourcedrain devices emmitt fractal patterns of electrons paired electrons unstablequick paired electron static as de finedby asymmetric and use this to sort to data op erate to separate lets callthis tree function:  fract ree uncreative fractaltree

@california @wired @wireduk @ornl @atom @intel @apple @samsung @arm @nsagov @gchq @darpa @lockheedmartin @northropgrumman @boeingdefense #LNL6 #LNL7 makers lets do also modes where the sourcedrain devices emmitt fractal patterns of electrons paired electrons unstablequick paired electron static as definedby asymmetric and use this to sort to data operate to separate lets callthis tree function:…

[halloweenfor]

TV / Movie Costumes - Blades of Glory Jimmy Wig

Theme Halloween Costumes

Blades of Glory Costumes

He is a child of privilege. A classic skater definedby elegance, precisionand an ability to endure great pain.Are you ready to take the pairs figure skating world by storm? You might have been permanently banned from singles competition, but there’s not a darn thing stopping you from teaming up with your one-time enemy to compete in the World Winter Sports Games. Well, unless you don’t have your signature Jimmy curl anymore…Any male figure skater worth his blade sharpener is sure to have long locks of hair, because when you’re wearing a spandex figure skating suit, it just wouldn’t look quite right without perfectly groomed man-locks. So, if your own hair isn’t quite long enough or the right color to get the Jimmy curl, don’t fret when you go as Jimmy MacElroy. Just add this Blades of Glory wig to your authentic costume! It’s officially licensed, and has the signature styling of the skating wunderkind. And you’re only going to find it right here at HalloweenCostumes.com!

See Details & Get More Deals at: Best Halloween Costumes 2019 :: Shop

[bloomsburgu]

Tech Pioneer

Barbara Romano has made of a career of computer networks. At BU, she helps build networks of people.

College was not in the plans for Barbara Bogart Romano as she wrapped up her senior year at Warrior Run High School in rural Pennsylvania.

“My parents were blue collar. I was a waitress andI was going to continue down that path,” says Romano ’83, who now serves as president of the Bloomsburg University Alumni Association. Her high school teacher, BU alumna Barbara Dodson ’72, asked what I was going to do after high school. When I told hershe said, ‘No, you’re going to Bloomsburg.’”

Dodson recalls the conversation. “I said ‘Barbara, you better rethink that.’ She was such a good student that as a teacher, you did the extra things to help.”

Like 35 percent of today’s BU students, Romano was the first in her family to attend college. But once she decided to go to college, there was no turning back. “When I decide I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it,” says Romano. “For me, it was never not going to work.”

Her transition to college was helped by having a mentor in her high school teacher’s husband, BU computer science professor Doyle Dodson ’57. Dodson hired Romano to work in the university’s computer lab and she soon became so entranced with programming that she switched majors from accounting to computer science.

The computers, installed in the basement of the Ben Franklin Building, were closet-size boxes connected to terminals. Punch cards were still used to load programs and data was stored on magnetic tape.

Romano loved the challenge. “The major was about solving problems. It was about how to instruct the machine to get something done.” And she discovered the satisfaction and value of helping others. “I was a tutor. That taught me a lot about how other people do things andit made me more adept at doing my ownwork.”

From Coder to Leader

Romano’s career, in many ways, maps the evolution of computers in our lives. When she graduated from BU in 1983 to begin her career working on government contracts in Maryland, a typical IBM PC had a processor approximately 500 times slower than today’s typicalcell phone and 1,000 times slower than an entry-level computer. Storage took the form of floppy discs 5.25 inches square, that held enough data for several seconds of an mp3 song today, though mp3s wouldn’tbe createdfor another six years. Apple would take a giant step of bringing computers to the public with the release of the iconic Macintosh in 1984.

Romano moved back to Pennsylvania in 1988 to work with farm equipment manufacturer Case New Holland where she managed systems that connected 10,000 clients. “It was a big enough company that I had a variety of experiences. I did database administration, moved into a manager position andwasa recruiter, coming back to campus to find interns and new employees.”

In 2001, she went to QVC as an application development manager. While New Holland computer technology was centeredon a mainframe computer, QVC’s technology was reliant on networked servers. “That was a move into the modern age from a technology perspective,” Romano recalls. At QVC, she led a  team that developed a custom workforce management self-service application for more than 4,000 call center employees. After seven years at QVC, Romano moved into consulting.

As she transitioned to management, Romano actively sought mentors. “You always need somebody to bounce an idea offof. Someonewith a different background, different life skills and a different perspective. It’s important to have someone you can trust and have confidence into ask the dumb questions.”

Today, Romano is a Director of Information Technology for South Jersey Industries (SJI), a $1.4B energy services holding company with more than 1,200 employees and 680,000 residential customers. Romano no longer writes code in COBOL and Fortran as she did at BU, but still draws upon her university experiences and her hands-on knowledge. While she no longer gets the evening calls to fix bugs, Romano jokes, “I still get calls at night when a VP needs help with an iPad.”

“As a leader, I’m never going to ask someone else to do what I’m not willing to do myself,” says Romano, who oversees a team of 15 project managers and more than 100 vendor consultants who build and integrate the computer applications of SJI’s various divisions.

“When you get into management, the problems change. The critical thinking and problem solving becomeeven more important. The things I do on a daily basis have to do with people and organizations rather than code.” At SJI, recent challenges include mapping data from 286,000 customer records of two new utilities to work within SJI’s integrated systems.

Building Personal Networks

Appropriately enough for a tech-savvy executive, Romano became involved in BU’s alumni association through email. “I kept getting emails from the alumni association to apply for the board of directors,” says Romano. “Those calls for volunteers came at the right time. I was looking for a volunteer opportunity. My children are in their mid-20s. I have time to give back.”

“She kept raising her hand. She was very good about giving time and talent,” says former alumni association board president Joe Hilgar ’75. “She was someone who had a passion for the university and remembered her roots. Whatever is askedof her, she’s glad to be involved.”

While her career involves electronic networks tying computers and programs together, on campus Romano is focusedon making connections among people and giving students a strong personal and professional network they can connectto. “I put myself out there. I encourage students to connect with me on LinkedIn.”

Romano visits campus more than a dozen times a year for meetings of the alumni association board, commencement ceremonies, homecoming and for events like the annual Zeigler College of Business Conference and College of Science and Technology Career Pathways events and the alumni association’s Day of Dialog with students from under-represented groups. She’s also working dwith university administrators to create an alumni mentoring program specifically for freshmento help them succeed in their first year.

Beyond offering her time and experience, Romano has established a virtual endowment scholarship to benefit women in STEM. “I feel I’m helping my younger self. Like Mrs. Dodson did for me. I feel like it’s my opportunity to give back and help someone see something in themselves that they don’t see in their mirror.”

A member of on BU’s advisory board for computer science, Romano encourages students to see their disciplines in a larger context sothey adapt to change. “We’re not coding on cards and in COBOL anymore, but the underlying fundamentals are the same. AsI moved into management, somebodysaid to me ‘you have to stay on top of technology, but you can’t be involved in all the nitty-grittydetails.’ It’s like a bridge. On one side it’s super technical. On the other, you see the technology from a perspective of the types of problems you can solve and how you can help drive businesses forward”

While the computer science field is definedby constant change, Romano has a knack for keeping connections, both old and new, strong. She stays in touch with Barbara and Doyle Dodson, who still live in Bloomsburg and she keeps in touch with students she’s mentoredover the years.

“As a student,I saw Barbara once or twice a month whenever she was on campus. We would meet for coffee or lunch. She was able to connect the dots for me in college, make my transition to a graduate a lot easier,” says a former Husky Ambassador Leigha Coates ’18. 

An assistant recreational leader for the City of Philadelphia, Coates took Romano’s guidance to heart to found a non-profit, Just Keep Swimming Philly, which teaches inner-city youth how to swim. 

“I still see Barbara after graduation. She taught me to accomplish my own goals and help others to accomplish their goals.”

[studyingbymylonesome]

substance use disorders—A term used to characterize illnesses associated with drug use. There are two broad catego- ries: substance abuse and substance dependence. Both are associated with a maladaptive pattern of substance

use that leads to clinically significantimpairment. Drug abuse includes suchsymptoms as: failure to fulfill major role obligations; legal problems; use in situations that are physically hazardous; and continued use despite persistent social or interpersonal problems. The term dependence includes such symp-toms as: drug taking in larger amountsthan intended; inability to cut down on drug use; a great deal of time spent in activities necessary to obtain the drug;and continued use despite knowledge of health or social problems caused by the drug. Dependence may or may notinclude “physical dependence,” definedby withdrawal symptoms when drug use is abruptly ceased, and “tolerance,” the need for more of a drug to achieve a desired effect. The term “dependence” can also refer to “addiction.” Addictionis defined as a chronic, relapsing braindisease that is characterized by com-pulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences. It is considered a brain disease because drugs change thebrain—its structure and how it works.Those brain changes can be long lasting and can lead to many harmful, often self-destructive, behaviors.

[jamescallahansr]

Art…

Standing still is a lost artof which I am its Picassowith seemingly random startsand stops at every angle,eyes displaced hereand there, an extra breastor shoulder (can’t tell),testing what is real,the dimensions called life;I’m in the waybut easily ignored,looking lost yetthe only one calm, at ease,my motion definedby where I’ve stoppedin the art of standing still.

[musicalng-blog]

Abolish Land Use Act, allow states to augment power generation

Abolish Land Use Act, allow states to augment power generation

BY Sen. Stella Unuezi Omu, OON mni

Nigeria is a beautiful Country, naturally endowed and blessed by God. It is definedby political borders and boundaries without collective purpose and vision, and national ideology. Today’s political actors are more concerned about what they can get from the Nation than what to offer to build it.

Furthermore, corruption has contributed tremendously to the…

[baykoms-blog]

Abolish Land Use Act, allow states to augment power generation

Abolish Land Use Act, allow states to augment power generation

Abolish Land Use Act, allow states to augment power generation BY Sen. Stella Unuezi Omu, OON mni Nigeria is a beautiful Country, naturally endowed and blessed by God. It is definedby political borders and boundaries without collective purpose and vision, and national ideology. Today’s political actors are more concerned about what they can get from the Nation than what to offer to build it. Furth…

[jimivaey]

Abolish Land Use Act, allow states to augment power generation

Abolish Land Use Act, allow states to augment power generation

BY Sen. Stella Unuezi Omu, OON mni

Nigeria is a beautiful Country, naturally endowed and blessed by God. It is definedby political borders and boundaries without collective purpose and vision, and national ideology. Today’s political actors are more concerned about what they can get from the Nation than what to offer to build it.

Furthermore, corruption has contributed tremendously to the…

[rbembry-blog]

Live a full life,Success is definedBy your ability to embrace it

[videobookinfo]

Tweeted

Definedby Design The Surprising Powerof Hidden Gender Ageand Body Biasin Everyday Productsand Places: https://t.co/IaKNSKEQzj via

— News Hub (@videobookinfo) August 30, 2017