The times, they are a-mazin'

Summarized from Science Daily - New Technique Makes Tissues Transparent.

Light scatters as it moves through an object. Even objects like our bodies allow a certain amount of light to pass through. The light is scattered by bumping into things. We're not translucent like jellyfish. Scientists have discovered, however, that if the light that emerges is recorded as it scatters and then sent back through the same pathways in reverse, it bounces back along the same pathways and return to the original source. This is similar to the scattering of pool balls on a table. If you can precisely reverse the path and velocities of the pool balls, you can make them reassemble themselves into a rack.

Hmm, may have to try that at the next Friday night pool

What does this mean? Light activated cancer killing drugs could be injected into diseased tissue. Play back the light path with a strong light source and the drugs would be activated.

Another possible application is using photovoltaic receivers to power implants like pace-makers, shrinking their size significantly.

Early Spring in the Mountains

It’s not raining so much as weeping.

Mist pours itself from every surface and I am at peace.

There’s something I find heartwarming in the

drab dampness of the morning.

 

The knowledge that spring is throwing the

Full weight of inevitability against the iron will of winter.

 

The passing of the season of darkness is written in the heavens and

Even the illiterate are learning to read.

 

I am securely bundled in my sweater and scarf.

A shiver of contentment makes its way up my spine.

 

It’s for days like this that I live.

 

Days when the anticipation of joys to come

press so intensely upon me.

Press on me not from above, weighing me down,

but from below, Propelling me upward on a

foam of laughter and delight.

 

All is right with the world and I am at peace.

Brother Man

A flash fiction piece I submitted to the Literary Leo contest.

 

Brother Man

Desperation wraps her steel arms around me, squeezing just so I know I’m still loved. It’s so cold and my feet are numb. I can’t remember my last meal and I just want to be warm. Maybe that place over on Jefferson can put me up. Anything’s better than sleeping in the bushes behind Kremer’s on a night like this.

Another squeeze reminds me that my belly is empty. It feels like a bag of rocks grinding together down there. If I hurry, I can get a buck from somebody outside of PT’s to get a cheeseburger. Score two bucks and I can get the hot apple pie with that.

As I stumble around the corner, I trip and bounce my head off a light pole. The sharp taste of blood brings me back just in time to see your eyes slide over me like the muzzle of a gun. Not a glance or a stare, but raw hate cuts through the neon glow from overhead.

The bouncers glare at me, daring me to come closer. I stand there clutching the post. In the knot on my forehead, I feel my heartbeat start dancing the tarantella. All this, and I think I’ve busted another tooth. I got to get warm. “Hey mister”, and that’s all I get out. You spin, and throw your words at me like rocks. “Fuck off and get a job”. With that, you’re in the safety of your car.

I die a little more inside even though there’s not much left. My life has come to this and I don’t even care. I’m all cared out. I start off down the sidewalk. You’ve lost the capacity to see anything between the bouncer and the limo and I’m here in the cold… brother.

Sweet Potato Casserole Recipe

Taken from Famous Dave's BBQ
3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 tablespoons frozen tangerine juice concentrate
1 tablespoon Amaretto
1 tablespoon Kahlua
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup toasted pecans
Large marshmallows
Cube sweet potatoes and combine with enough cold water to cover in saucepan. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer for 30 minutes or until tender; drain. Mash with a potato masher. Spoon the mashed sweet potatoes into a mixing bowl. Beat until blended. Add brown sugar, butter, tangerine juice concentrate, Amaretto, Kahlua, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat until smooth.

Add the eggs, beating until blended. Stir in the pecans. Spoon the sweet potato mixture into a buttered 2-quart baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Top with marshmallows. Bake until marshmallows are golden brown and slightly melted.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

Fall Festival at Fosters Ridge Church

On the way back from French Lick, we stopped off at Foster's Ridge church near Uniontown, IN. Bryon and a few friends were playing for the Fall Festival.
Here's Bryon and friends playing a down home version of 'Tis So Sweet. Great job guys!

You can see the pictures here.

Happy Anniversary to us!

We're spending the weekend at French Lick Resort. Wow, what a great place!

Crosby and Nash - Still great after all these years...

Between Crosby's mischievous grin, the one that lets you know he's seen behind the curtain, and Nash's bare feet, telling the audience that this guy still loves to let his Freak Flag fly, lives a universe of history.
These two bards have lived the marrow of life and then figured out how to share it with the rest of us. To see the two on stage together, it's not so much a concert as a feeling that you're hanging out in their living room. Together we're celebrating the turbulent rabble-rousing generation that ushered in the cool winds of change and turned sweaty, claustrophobic traditionalism on its head.