SUPnStuff

INSOMNIA

All over the world people can’t sleep. In different times zones they’re lying awake Bodies still, minds trudging along like child laborers. They worry about bills, they worry whether the shoes they just bought are really too small. One’s husband’s died, her son left for college and she doesn’t know how to program the VCR. Another was beaten by her husband One is planning a getaway One holding stolen goods. One’s on the plaid couch in ICU. His daughter, it turned out Actually goes have a tumour Even though the doctor said they’d do the MRI just to rule it out. The woman on the other couch is snoring which is strangely soothing Evidence that people do sleep. Some are lying on Charisma sheets Some in hammocks Some in jail Some under bridges One is at the north pole studying the impact of pollution A man in Massachusetts thinks about a lover he once had in Dar es Salaam and the jasmine blossoms she strung along the shaft of a silver pin fastened in her hair at night. Coincidentally, the lover, now in Rome, remembers looking out the window over the sink where she was washing dishes And seeing him reading in the lawn chair and she thought how perhaps for the first time she wasn’t lonely. They’re all up. some are too cold, some too hot. some hungry, some in pain Some are in hotels listening to people having sex in the next room Some are crying One the cat woke up and now she’s worried about the rash she noticed in the evening and wonders if her daughter who’s afraid to swim should be pushed Some get up Others stay in bed They eat oreos, or drink wine Or both Many read A few make Hallowe'en costumes Some check their email They try sleep tapes, hypnosis, drugs They listen to their clocks tick Smartly, as a woman in high heels Those who can, cling to their mates An ear pressed to those neighboring lungs Like a stethoscope hoping to catch a ride on the steady sleep breath of the other to be carried like a seed on the body of one who is able. Right now in Japan dawn is coming, and everyone who’s been up all night is relieved; they can stop trying In Guatemala though the insomniacs are just getting started and have the whole night ahead of them. It’s like a wave at the baseball stadium, hands around the world. So here’s a prayer for the wakeful The souls who can’t rest as you lie with your eyes open or closed May something comfort you—a mockingbird, a breeze, the smell of crushed mint rain on the roof, Chopin’s Nocturnes your child’s birth a kiss, or even me—in my chilly kitchen with my coat on—thinking of you

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's rhetorical rebuke of Justice Clarence Thomas's dissent in the Trump vs Barbara Birthright Citizenship case is an instant classic:

"Despite his longstanding endorsement of a 'colorblind' Constitution, Justice Thomas now surprisingly suggests that the Citizenship Clause was a race-conscious remedial measure, relating only to 'freed slaves such as Dred Scott,' and those who shared with them certain characteristics," wrote Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court...It is for this reason, he says, that 'children who were born in the United States but [to parents] not domiciled here' are not entitled to claim birthright citizenship. But that narrow vision of the Fourteenth Amendment bears little relationship to the history of its ratification. Even worse, Justice Thomas's telling elides the entire point of the Second Founding: The Reconstruction Amendments were an anticaste, antisubordination reset for the Nation, not a mere spot treatment for the dark stain of slavery."

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The dream of my life Is to lie down by a slow river And stare at the light in the trees To learn something by being nothing A little while but the rich Lens of attention.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rudhacharya/

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“Shakespeare said that art is a mirror held up to nature. And that’s what it is. The nature is your nature, and all of these wonderful poetic images of mythology are referring to something in you. When your mind is trapped by the image out there so that you never make the reference to yourself, you have misread the image.

Trump is accusing vandals of causing the Reflecting Pool coating to peel, but that’s not what appears to be happening here. The real issue is the administration’s reliance on no-bid contracts and what appears to be a rushed project with inadequate quality control.

Based on the photos and videos that have emerged, this looks far more like a classic coating failure than vandalism. Large sheets of material are separating from the concrete and floating to the surface, which is typically associated with poor adhesion rather than outside damage.

Potential causes include:

- Poor adhesion between the coating and the concrete substrate.

- Inadequate surface preparation before application.

- Moisture or water pressure beneath the coating.

- Insufficient curing time before the pool was refilled and placed back into service.

These are exactly the kinds of problems qualified contractors are hired to prevent.

The administration awarded the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovation through a no-bid contract and promoted it as a major improvement. Within days of reopening, the pool developed a significant algae problem. Crews responded with hydrogen peroxide treatments, and shortly thereafter the coating began peeling.

While some have suggested the peroxide is to blame, the visible failure pattern points more toward an installation or adhesion issue than chemical damage. When coatings fail because of chemical attack, they often soften, blister, discolor, or degrade. What we’re seeing appears to be large sections of coating losing their bond with the concrete beneath them.

This is why contractor qualifications, oversight, testing, and quality assurance matter. Surface preparation, moisture testing, curing schedules, and coating selection aren’t the flashy parts of a project, but they’re often the difference between infrastructure that lasts decades and infrastructure that starts falling apart in a matter of days.