Saturday, October 16, 2021

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

FlashFlood: 'Final Performance' by Lisa Vooght

FlashFlood: 'Final Performance' by Lisa Vooght: She was ready for her closeup, groomed to perfection, encased in velvet, highlights picked out in precious gold. Although her glory days we...

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

C Is For Continental Army - the Unknown Soldiers (Nonfiction)

Historical marker code HM2YS located in Lititz, Lancaster County PA
  N 40° 9.289', W 76° 17.68   

The navy and gold plaque pictured at the top reads:

On this site are interred the remains of 110 soldiers from General Washington's Continental Army. Wounded at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, these soldiers were transported to Lititz between December 1777 and August 1778. Hospitalized in the Moravian Brethren's House, they succumbed to their wounds or illnesses and were buried in unmarked graves due to the religious beliefs of the community. To honor their ultimate sacrifices this memorial was dedicated in 1930. Their remains were discovered in 1932, and re-interred here. They were buried without written record of their identities making them some of America's first unknown soldiers.

Lititz was founded by members of the Moravian church in 1756 and was named after the castle Litice in what was then Bohemia. In 1777 during the American Revolution, General Washington ordered that wounded and sick soldiers be transported from Brandywine and Germantown and quartered in the Moravian Brethren (Brothers') House, built in 1759, which served as a hospital. (There was also a Sisters' House, BTW. The Sisters' House is now the Linden Hall Junior College building. These buildings originally housed the unmarried of each gender, where they could have direct religious instruction/supervision and be taught a skill or trade.)

Approximately 450 - 1000 soldiers of the Continental Army as well as some Hessian prisoners of war spent time in the hospital between Christmas 1777 and late summer 1778. (I found conflicting numbers on the actual number of soldiers.)

The distance from Brandywine battlefield to Lititz is approximately 60 miles. I cannot imagine the suffering of these soldiers while being transported by horse and wagon over the kinds of roads and trails that existed back then, in the brutal cold of the winter thru the humid heat of August.

I've also found a few conflicts in details about the soldiers and whether they died of a combination of wounds and illness, or whether they were all victims of "camp fever" (probably epidemic typhus). At any rate, the soldiers were buried together, probably without any sort of marker (Moravians aren't big on fancy memorials and headstones for anyone) and pretty much forgotten over the years.

The remains of the soldiers were discovered in 1932 when Morris Frederick was digging a cellar on a property at Locust Street. The remains were removed and re-interred on land which was donated for a Revolutionary War Memorial area (currently along E Main Street).

(Reprint) Thursday Morning's Litiz Record Express
March 8, 1928
• Legion to Purchase Unmarked Graves - Under the supervision and direction of Garden Spot Post 56, American Legion, there is being formed a project which when completed will be of far-reaching value to the historical and patriotic interests of Lititz.
The movement, which the Legion will start immediately, is to purchase the lot of ground on which are buried in unmarked graves the 110 soldiers of the Revolutionary War, who died in Lititz over 150 years ago.
The plot is on East Main Street, immediately opposite the residence of Dr. Harry Bender. The plan of the Legion is to acquire this burial site and donate it to the community.
A monument will be erected by the Federal Government, by the Pennsylvania Historical Commission or by the Lancaster County Historical Association.
Everyone is privileged to contribute to this very worthy cause. Alfred Douple, the Post treasurer, will welcome such contributions at his office in the Farmers bank.

I'm glad that these soldiers were discovered and honored with their own memorial instead of being forgotten. But I have to admit, it makes me terribly sad when I think of them dying away from home - and the fact that their families may never have known what happened to their sons. In my mind's eye, I picture a mother, old and gray, who after many years still sees a faraway figure coming up the lane...and just for a moment, hopes that it's Johnny, finally come home.

Sunday, May 1, 2016

Reflections #AtoZChallenge

My schedule is chock full the rest of May so...here goes.

Twitter was my number one tool this year. Because of the time zone difference (I'm East Coast USA), I could read posts going live from Austalia, India, etc. the evening before which allowed me to get the jump on reading/commenting. I also gained around 400 followers and met a lot of people.

Views: I averaged anywhere from 200-400 views per day.

Visiting/Commenting: I kept up until the last 10 days or so. Then I fell waaaay behind. But I'll be using the Linky to continue visiting blogs over the summer.

I learned about: new recipes, vacation spots, endangered animals, scifi terms, dream interpretation, DIY tips...and read some great fiction and poetry. Too much good stuff to mention. So many talented people out there!

I found out that: the post I thought was wretchedly boring generated the most comments and interest, while the post I loved writing the most (letter V) was all tumbleweed and crickets. Too long? Too boring? Bloggers worn out by the end of the alphabet? It's always fascinating to find out how readers respond to different posts.

What I will do differently next year: I always say that I'll be more organized. But I won't be. Writing is like that sometimes: you're on fire one day, and the next you're sitting in your pyjamas, pulling at your hair and staring at a blank page/laptop.

The take away: it was challenging. It was fun. It was hard work. And it was fun. Thank you to all of the organizers, hosts, co-hosts, minions and participants. What a fantastic blogging adventure!

Peace out, and thanks for reading. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Saturday, April 30, 2016

Z Is For Zagreb: The Ex Axe and Other Mementos At the Museum Of Broken Relationships #AtoZChallenge

   
File:Museum of Broken Relationships - Ex-axe.jpg
"An ex-axe", exhibit in the Museum of Broken Relationships, Zagreb, Croatia. Photo by Robert Nyman

   

      I wish that the title of my final #AtoZChallenge post was the title of a fiction piece. It's perfect. But the Museum Of Broken Relationships (which grew out of a traveling exhibit) exists, and is housed in a very real place - Kulmer Palace, in the Upper Town area of Zagreb, Croatia.
     Items in the display include an axe used to chop up a girlfriend's furniture after she fell in love with someone else, jewelry, underwear, and assorted broken things associated with broken hearts.
     You can donate your own heartbreak collection, if you wish. There are links at the museum's Home Page.
     If you live in the USA, you might consider donating your mementos - and the stories behind them - to Los Angeles’s new Museum of Broken Relationships.
     I wonder if it will have a celebrity or reality TV wing?

    

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Y Is For Yu Yi and Yarling Over That Yobbery #AtoZChallenge

     Yarling - howling or wailing
     Yerk - to bind
     Yestereen - yesterday evening
     Yobbery - hooliganism

     Y is also for Yu Yi, part of my favorite YouTube find this month: The Dictionary Of Obscure Sorrows.  There should be a word for that feeling a writer gets when they see a title or a phrase for which they would eagerly sell their soul or firstborn child to claim as their own. That's what I felt when I saw the title of this series. If anyone could create such a word, it would be John Koenig. After all, he created these:  

Yu Yi: The Desire to Feel Intensely Again



 

Kenopsia: The Eeriness of Places Left Behind


Dès Vu: The Awareness That This Will Become A Memory

 

I love this channel: the words, the images, the narration - everything about it. It actually helped to pinpoint many emotions that I've felt, but couldn't really identify and certainly didn't think that anyone else shared. I hope that you enjoy these clips as much as I do.
 

X Is for Xtoloc Cenote #storysettings #AtoZChallenge

     Cenotes, or sacred wells, are found on the Yucatan peninsula and were central to Mayan worship. The Yucatán peninsula is primarily limestone and has few above ground streams, so cenotes provide access to underground river systems and aquifers.  Ancient Maya sacrificed objects (and possibly human beings) into the cenote as offerings to the Maya rain god Chaac, as well as using the water for purification rites. There are many cenotes scattered across the peninsula; one of the most important, Xtoloc, is at Chichén Itzá.
     Modern day excavation and exploration began in 1904. Items which would normally deteriorate (like wood and textiles) had been well preserved in the cold, dark water. Also found were weapons, statuettes, pottery, tools, jewelry as well as animal and human remains. Certain stones, shells and items not indigenous to the area were also found in quantity, indicating that people had probably traveled from distant areas to worship at the cenote.
     I'm sharing a clip from a National Geographic show on Chichén Itzá which shows underwater archaeologist Guillermo de Anda descending into the depths via a rope and pulley system to explore the cenote. I couldn't help thinking what a great setting this would be for a novel or movie!


Wednesday, April 27, 2016

W Is For "Water In the Sky" #FlashFiction #AtoZChallenge

Photo by Ahmedherz via Wikimedia Commons

   
"Water does not stay in the sky forever" - Kalenjin (Kenyan) proverb about despair

     Word that the fighters were coming wormed its way through the village, by whispers and undulating hands, in hurried trips to the well to fill jerrycans and the braying of donkeys jerked from their sunlit dozing.  Amanisa, heavily pregnant and already the mother of two, made her preparations: one cup, one plate, a rolled up palm sleeping mat. One small pouch of dried meat and another of fruit. Two jerrycans, filled to the brim. One old, matted and slightly lame donkey who swiveled his ears continually as though searching for a signal from a distant rescue station.
     Go to the camp over the border her husband had written. One day I will be able to find you there. They must trust me before I will be allowed out of their sight and I can flee. Be strong.
     It was good to have word, but it would have been better to have money as well. Amanisa had questioned the messenger, a sulky teenager whose bare feet were cracked and split and whose eyes swept the horizon.
     "No money? None? It could be forgiven if you were tempted to spend a little. Perhaps you were hungry?" She gave him the option to save face, jiggling her tiny daughter on her hip in an attempt to remind him of her own need. Perhaps he would hand over some of what she knew her husband must have sent.
     The boy spat into the dust. "No Mam. No. There was nothing, only the writing. I came a long way to give it to you. I was hoping that maybe... he trailed off and then boldly met her eyes. "I should have something for my troubles."
     Amanisa laughed, a harsh barking noise that might have been mistaken for a jackal in the night. She motioned toward the meagre contents of their hut. "You may carry off whatever treasure you find after we leave tonight. But make sure that I am gone before you enter. Mukulaal mininkeeda joogta miciyo libaax bay leedahay...a cat in her house has the teeth of a lion."

     They traveled under the gelid moon and tried to sleep during the broiling desert afternoons. Her guide set out for water on the third day, and never returned. The donkey died on the fifth day. Had there been another man with them, he might have butchered  the animal, but Amanisa had neither the knowledge nor the inclination. The children, who had driven her nearly mad with sobbing and complaining the first few days, had lapsed into a stunned and starving silence. God will provide she told herself  even if it is death. 
     On the seventh evening she sighted a bundle along the path. Hoping that it was a load abandoned by some overburdened family, she hurried toward it on bleeding feet, the children strapped to her back and side already shivering enough to make their mother's body tremble as well. The heap was a blanket, and peeling back a corner revealed a woman's contorted face with blotched skin and fissured lips. A puff of warm fetid air escaped and then vanished into the chilled desert.
     Amanisa sat down and considered carefully. A glowing smudge in the distance signaled a possible end - the UN camp. One days walk? Two? There was a weak groan from the ground and answering mewls from the burden on her shoulders. She allowed herself one sob.
     Once she had placed the children under the blanket - the body's febrile heat quieted them almost instantly - she poured a little water into the old woman's mouth and tucked the goatskin with the remainder into a gnarled hand. Perhaps a supply truck would find them on its way to deliver goods. If not, then she would send help once she got to her destination. Surely the NGO people would go to find them. With any luck they would all be taken to a clinic or hospital. White sheets. Cool, clean water. Food. A bed free of sand.
     These are the things that she dreamed of, setting off again into the desert, lighter and heavier, toward the darkness, toward the light.




 
     
     

    







    
   

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

V Is For Vacation: A Slightly Fictionalized Memoir #AtoZChallenge





     Last week I watched the neighbors pack for vacation. It was done neatly and quickly; luggage stowed, bicycles secured on a trailer, two smiling children buckled in and handed the electronics which will keep them quietly occupied in their air-conditioned SUV for days, if necessary. They will have myriad choices for lunch. No one will have to hunker down along the side of the road for an embarrassing and highly illegal pee. They will arrive refreshed and and check into a suite with appliances, WiFi, a Playstation and free HBO. Their dog will enjoy extra time at home with the nanny, who comes three times a day to measure out his custom-blended dog food and follow him around his yard as he delicately chooses a place to do his doggy business.

     Our family took a vacation every year. And every year, at the end of that vacation, my parents swore that this would be the last time we went ANYWHERE. Ever. Time heals all wounds, or maybe it was just that my parents' brains would blot out the trauma because July would roll around, reservations were made, the battered suitcases were dragged from the basement furnace room, gallons of suntan lotion were lined up in the bathroom, Dad tinkered with the car for weeks, and the dog eyed everyone suspiciously and occasionally refused to eat. Going to the beach! We're going to the beach!

     Kurt (he was a German Shepherd - of course he had to have a German name) was taken to the kennel the night before. Mom never would say kennel - it was 'camp'. I've never been sure but I believe that the euphemism was for her benefit, not Kurt's, although he did have an extensive knowledge of English.
     "Time to go to camp," she would say, and offer him a dog cookie. Ecstatic at the jingle of car keys, he would hop up and down until we opened the car door, when he would leap into the back seat and immediately snot all over the car windows that had just been cleaned.
     Dad and I got the job of dropping him off, Dad because Mom couldn't stand to be the one who sent him to his fate, me because like the dog I was just happy to be going somewhere in the car without Mom. She was not a fan of loud music while driving (It's distracting! You might not hear a police siren! You'll go deaf!) while Dad enjoyed everything from Your Cheating Heart to Light My Fire at top volume.
     Everyone was happy until we arrived at Waggin Tails. Kurt enjoyed exiting the car and smelling all of those delightful doggy postcards left in the lot, until we got inside the door. A cacophony of barking began, a river of canine distress assaulted our ears and Kurt immediately realized the depth of our betrayal. He yelped, he struggled, his claws scrabbled for a purchase on the concrete as he was half-led, half-dragged away by our neighbor who worked there. He knows her, he'll be fine, she'll take good care of him. One day I would know exactly how he felt as I was led off to sleepaway church camp.

     I always threw up the day we left for vacation. It was a given; the only variable was when and how much.  One time I had a bowl of strawberry Frankenberry cereal and left a pink trail of vomit down the front sidewalk.
     "You're disgusting. I hate you. You ruin everything." This from my sister Lynn, who was three years older and vastly superior to me in every way. She'd already mastered the art of making it to the bathroom.  In fact, she'd get there ahead of time and line up the necessary items for her comfort - washcloth, toothbrush, chewing gum - while I was still in the primitive stage of wishing the nausea would go away, praying for it to go away (please God, I'll never eat again I swear) and then chucking wherever I happened to be. I was, indeed, disgusting. And I hated her equally.

     The first trips were made in a 60s Pontiac Fairlane. Two doors, no air conditioning, and a "hump" on the backseat floor which provided an armistice line. We had assigned seats - mine was on the left, behind the driver's seat, because Dad needed more leg room and I was the smallest. The runt of the litter always suffers. If I attempted to stretch my legs over the hump, I was beaten back - or kicked, or pinched - by my sibling, who jealously guarded every square inch of her side. We bickered and sniped until the warning "If we have to stop this car...", at which point we continued silently with scribbled notes, ugly faces, and hand signals. One year Mom discovered Dramamine, which was ostensibly to avert car sickness but was more probably to dope us into lethargically staring out the window.

    Lunch was sandwiches and tepid tea from a Thermos.  Back then the single "fast food" option was McDonalds; they only had burgers, didn't do "special orders", and I refused to eat anything that had vegetables or condiments on it.
    "Oh for God's sake, look, I took everything off. Just eat it." But the bun was infiltrated with ketchup and pickle juice, she's missed some onion bits, and if I looked closely I could discern a fragment of something green pressed into the meat. I took a tentative nibble and gagged.
    "You ruin everything," Lynn hissed.
    But I was learning the art of deflection.
    "She didn't share her candy."
    Parental alert.
    "Candy? What candy? Where did you get it? Did you buy it? How did you buy it?" Our diets, and cash flow, were strictly controlled. No one was to have unauthorized goodies.
    Like a good girl, Lynn had polished off her lunch while mine still sat oozily in its wrapper, mocking me and my finicky ways.
    "Sunday school money!" I announced, sanctimonious snitch that I was.
    Ha. Now she was going to catch it. With the added bonus of burning in Hell.
    And that's why, on future trips, we ended up eating sandwiches along the highway and having to tiptoe into the litter-filled scrub to pee.

    Historic Zaberers! Home of the Zaberized Cocktail!  I didn't know what the place was exactly, but I wanted to go there. Welcome To Zaberville! The explanation "not a place for children" took it from appealing to desperately desirable. I imagined that it was an exotic destination, with rides and wild animals as well as whatever a cocktail might be. (The late Ed Zaberer operated the giant fine-dining establishment in Wildwood for 35 years. It's gone now, along with a host of places that I planned on visiting as an adult but never quite managed.)
  The sign also meant that we were close to the motels. Streets were soon lined with low-slung concrete buildings, painted cotton candy colors and with names that evoked far away locales, pirates, and glorious ocean motifs. We greeted the familiar neon names and read them off - the Gaslight! the Buccaneer! the Thunderbird Inn! I took note of which ones had the biggest pools, sliding boards, and plastic palm trees. (Palm trees mattered very much to me.) Later I would pester my parents to stay at one or the other. But our family was predictable, if nothing else. We stayed at the Friendship 7 year after year (a name which disappointed me at the time) because it was clean and, above all else, familiar.

     We unpacked the car and toted a month's worth of supplies to our room of one week. I invariably fell and bled at least once, because I insisted on wearing flipflops but never could walk in them properly. Many parents would have let their kids go barefoot, but we were not bare feet people. One might step on glass, walk where someone had spit, stub a toe and rip a nail off. We weren't even allowed to walk on the motel floors in bare feet - you could get warts, athlete's foot, or ringworm. This meant certain acrobatics if you had to get from your bed to the bathroom and someone had (accidentally or intentionally) moved or kicked your footwear out of reach.


     Dad took us to the pool while Mom set up shop and had a lie down. When we were young, it was fun; we all played together. Then Lynn got older and was supposed to "watch" me but all she wanted to do was lie on a chaise and get a tan.
     "I'll be a dolphin!" I would squeak. I always wanted to be an animal, as being a human often seemed boring and pointless. Sometimes she would humor me (usually when there were no other kids), other times she would ignore me. Then I'd be forced to throw water on her or snap her bathing suit top, she'd hold me under water, I'd fight and then cry, and we'd go back to our corners and sulk until dinner.

     Lynn had bad eyesight, and was forbidden to take her glasses on the beach lest they get lost, broken, or scratched by the sand. This meant that I had the upper hand for once. "That cute lifeguard is staring at you!" I would say. She'd squint desperately in the general direction I was pointing. I got some satisfaction from the idea that she thought she was missing a really "gorgeous guy" admiring her. Even better was silently slipping away and leaving her frantically trying to figure out her way back to the family beach towels.

     Every year I got a little better at surviving the ocean. I learned to dive under waves, bodysurf, and swim out of rip currents. How to curl into a ball and safely roll up the beach when my feet got knocked out from under me. When and where to collect the best shells. One summer I spent most of my time walking hunched over along the shoreline, collecting shark's teeth.
    "You look like an orangutan," Mom observed.

     Once I found a five dollar bill floating in the surf. I spent an hour on the boardwalk that evening, deciding how to spend it. Lynn suggested a necklace, fudge, a snowglobe with palm trees. I chose a coconut carved to look like a shrunken head.
     "You put that thing somewhere in your room where I don't have to look at it," was the only comment.
     It sat on my dresser until I went to college, at which point it disappeared.

     So Zaberers is gone, the Pontiac is gone, the Friendship 7 is now condos. Wildwood has changed, but many of the old motels are still there. The boardwalk still has its amusement piers, Douglass fudge, and tram cars (Watch the tram cars, please. Watch..www...watch the tram cars, please.)  My sister and I are both mothers - and best friends. And we took our kids to the beach.

     My son cut his foot on a shell and had to be carried, crying, over the hot sand to wash his foot at the street shower, then carried back to the beach towels. It's a long walk. My niece and nephew fought viciously over who would ride in the stroller and who would push it. We loaded ourselves like pack mules with chairs, coolers, rafts, sand toys, diaper bags, blankets and towels, walked to the beach, and then listened to them all fight over toys, kick sand on everything and complain of boredom after 15 minutes. One would stand at the water's edge and cry from fear. The other would plunge in and happily try and drown herself.  They didn't like sand, struggled like greased pigs while we tried to daub every spot of flesh with suntan lotion, and left stinking piles of shells in drawers and suitcases. They ordered food and then threw away at least half. They had to pee but didn't want to use public restrooms. My son would go to the arcade, ostensibly to play video games, and end up gambling with a bunch of old ladies. And winning. We are never going anywhere again. Ever.

     When they got older, two of them sneaked out of the room in the middle of the night; seeing a police car they ran. One tried to climb over a fence and gashed his leg badly enough that an ambulance had to be called. (The middle-of-the-night knock on the door that every parent dreads.) OK. This is it. We are NEVER going anywhere again. Ever. I'm serious.

     Looking at my toddler granddaughter, I realize that soon I will be doing it all over again. Because 
"We are NEVER going anywhere again. Ever." is family code for "We'll be doing it again next year. Same time, same place. And we will have a good time, or die trying."
 
     Oh... what about my neighbors, you ask?
     Hell, they've never even been to the beach.
     I pity them.
   

     

   

Monday, April 25, 2016

U Is For Unfinished #AtoZChallenge

    Previously written for a prompt (revise a boring opening).

      Sara limped down the steps of the brownstone, holding the rail with one hand while wrestling a bulging tote into submission with the other.  Cars honked and slalomed along the flooded street, coating sidewalks and passersby with an unspeakable icing.  She wished, not for the first time, for an additional set of hands to cover her ears.
     Four hands. My client list would double. Sara grinned and briefly entertained the idea of returning to his apartment and waiting out the weather.  But she had to get home.
     Rabe waved from the attendant's booth as she headed for her car.  A loud screech announced the opening of the fly specked service window.
     "Hey babe, if you're sellin' I'm buyin'!"
     Sara flipped him off with practiced ease and swung her bag forward to search for her keys.  Half of a scarlet bra was dangling cheerfully from the hastily zippered front compartment. There was a time when she would have felt humiliated, but that was $100,000 ago. The Push Up Killer Extreme Size 36D sailed in an impeccable arc through the window and into Rabe's ample lap.  He solemnly placed it on his head.
     "Thanks honey. You be safe tonite. Hear me?"
     A random note of kindness in the cacophony of life.
     She gave him a thumbs up as she slung her bag in the back dented Buick, made sure that her left buttock was situated over the partially exposed spring (otherwise, she'd be a fascinating story at some gynecologist's cocktail party) and fastened her seatbelt.  One deep breath stifled her sudden urge to cry. Another deep breath cleansed some of the anxiety from her mind. No time to indulge in histrionics, as her husband dearly loved to point out.
     Time. She had to be home in time.

     Snaking through the clogged expressway (a misnomer if there ever was one) gave her time to think. It wasn't humanly possible to cram everything that had to be done into the time allotted. She could round up a few people to help, the few who still owed her favors, but that would create an additional set of problems. A defeated sigh morphed into a tremendous belch, promptly steaming up the windshield.
     Jessie would die laughing.  There was a thought.

     She hit the call button on her steering wheel, the one high-end option that still worked. “Call…” She faltered. Did she really want to do this?
     The last call to Jessie had ended in a vicious quarrel over something that had happened years ago.  That seemed to be a hallmark of all close relationships;  you nitpicked over some imagined slight, then proceeded to drag up and rehash every single thing that each of you had done to one other over a lifetime.  Even if you apologized, it still came back to haunt you. The trash might be gone, but the smell seemed to linger forever.
     Still, Jessie was the one person who might be equipped to deal with this particular clean-up job.

     

      Her finger hovered over the button.

Your turn! Did she call Jessie? What was the "clean-up" job? Leave your thoughts in the comments!
  
    
    
    
     

Saturday, April 23, 2016

T Is For Teixobactin: The Dirt On Dirt's New Gift To Man #AtoZChallenge

Methicillin- resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
Dirt is a battlefield. It contains a wealth of life, much of it engaged in a constant battle to exist. Microorganisms which dwell in the soil around us often secrete antimicrobial compounds; one of these has finally provided us with hope in the fight against current drug-resistant bacteria such as MRSA.

The first classes of antibiotics were the sulfonamides (1935) and the penicillins (1941). The last class introduced were the lipopeptides (2003). As you no doubt already know, efficacy of many antibiotics has been compromised by over-prescribing, the unrestricted sale over-the-counter in many countries, and their prolific use in the agricultural community. Drug-resistant infections are on the rise, as are the number of deaths from agents such as MRSA and MDR-TB (multi-drug resistant tuberculosis).

Enter Kim Lewis and her team at Northeastern University in Boston. Because 99% of  microbes are impossible to culture in labs, they had to find a way to isolate microbes on the bugs' home turf in order to test their potential for life-saving compounds that we might add to our drug arsenal.

Lewis' team created and patented something called the iChip (now licensed to NovoBiotic Pharmaceuticals) which allows testing of organisms in the soil. After screening some 10,000 bacteria samples, they discovered a new bacteria, Eleftheria terrae, which secretes a compound called Teixobactin . Teixobactin is exciting because in mammal cell and mouse tests, Teixobactin managed to kill many of the "superbugs" which have bedeviled medicine of late including MRSA, C. Difficile and drug resistant strains of TB.

The bad news is that it may take anywhere from 5-10 years for human trials to be fully completed and Teixobactin to hit the market. And while Teixobactin is also being cautiously touted as "resistant to resistance", history has unfortunately proven that bacteria are fiendishly clever when it comes to surviving. Therefore we will need to continue digging in the dirt for new classes of antibiotics - and thanks to the iChip, we now have a better way to do so.


Lewis K, et. al. Nature (January 22, 2015) "A New Antibiotic Kills Pathogens Without Detectable Resistance "

Mohan G, LA Times (January 7, 2015) "New Antibiotic Teixobactin Kills Drug-Resistant Superbugs, Study Says  Retrieved February 13, 2016

Friday, April 22, 2016

S Is For Slang - #AtoZChallenge

Photo (via Wikimedia Commons) by Ed Yourdon from New York City, USA
Keeping up with slang is a never-ending struggle for parents, teachers, and writers. Young people (teenagers in particular) have always been adept at coming up with new words and catchphrases to communicate (and often to circumvent authority). Social media allows slang to develop and spread faster than it ever has before. Many of the words and acronyms below have been in use for quite some time, while a few arrived in 2015 and are already "lame" - so don't "hate on me" when you see/hear "fleek" which is sooooo last year. Unless you live in a rural community like mine, in which case these are all still "da bomb". Yasssss.

BTW, "cool" will always be cool.
 
How many of these do you know? Are there any that you would like to add?

143
420
ASL (and I don't mean the acronym for American sign language)
Bae (also the Danish word for poo. SMH) 
Banking
Bye Felicia
Clutch
Creeper
Dab
Dank
Dox
Extra
Finna
Fleek
FOMO
Fraped
Groutfit
Grunk
Hangry
Hunty
IG
IHML
Jawn
Kik me
Lit 
LML
Mad
Netflix & Chill 

Ratchet

Ship (Authors, you should know this one. It started as a writing term, especially among the                   fanfiction crowd) 
Sket
Snatched
Sparked


Thirsty
Thot
Throw shade
Tina
Tope 
Wanksta
Woe
Zip ghost 

My related post: The Most Dangerous Apps That Your Teen Might Be Using - What They Are and How They Work

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Q Is For Questions You Should Ask - and Answer - Yourself #AtoZChallenge

What would I do if I knew I couldn't possibly fail?
Fear of failure holds us all back. Make your list, and then choose something within the realm of the possible. Maybe you can't be President, but you can run for a spot on the school board. Too old to be an astronaut? Check into a skydiving experience. Want to change careers? Maybe there's a volunteer or intern position open in a new field so that you can get your feet wet, get a feel for whether or not it's what you want to do.

What is my single greatest fear today? What actions can I take to mitigate that fear?
Have a plan. And a back-up plan for that. Afraid of losing your job? Start networking, pulling together references, scoping out new opportunities. Afraid your manuscript will be rejected? It happens. Have a list of other places to submit. Jump on social media and commiserate with other writers. Be mentally prepared to edit or re-write entire sections of your work if you feel that it needs it. Cuddle with your dog. Just do something other than sitting around wringing your hands and dwelling on it.  Ask yourself - what's the absolute worst that could happen - and then figure out ahead of time what you will do about it.

What is one thing that I can change about myself in the next week that will bring me closer to my goals?
Bite-size is the right size. It's great to set a lofty goal - be a millionaire in ten years, lose 50 pounds, de-clutter and organize the entire house, write a novel, open a shop. But if you constantly stare at the big goal, day after day, it may begin to look too farfetched, costly, unattainable. Paralysis sets in, and that's fatal. If you don't have one major life goal, choose something each week to work on anyway.  Even if it's just eat more veggies, pack lunch everyday to save some cash, or smile at the cashier who seems harried and exhausted.

Do I like me? If not, why not?
We all have internal conversations. We all carry an image of ourselves inside of us, and often times they don't match the outside. And if you don't like you, then you may be overly reliant on other people liking you. That's not a good thing, as you probably know. Entire books have been written about it, so I'll leave you with just this one thought.

You wouldn't treat your best friends like crap. You wouldn't call them stupid, or fat, or lazy, or ugly. You wouldn't beat them up physically or mentally.  You might give them a good honest talking-to once in a while. You might even suggest ways in which they solve a problem.  YOU are your closest friend. Strive to like yourself. And if there are things that you don't like about yourself, start changing them. Your character is not set in stone. Your thought patterns are far more malleable than you know. Do your best, even though your best will change from day to day and week to week.

Is this worth reading?
Life is too short to waste time trying to finish a bad book - or blog!

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

P Is For Postmortem Photography #AtoZChallenge



 


     I was at a family member's viewing when a man approached me, camera at the ready, and asked if he could take a picture of the deceased, who had been a friend of his when they were teenagers. Horrified, I stammered "no thank you, please don't" and excused myself to speak with someone else. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the aforementioned photographer sneaking toward the coffin. I went over and tapped the funeral director on the arm. "Sir, could you please stop that guy from taking pictures of the body?" My voice was shaking. The director immediately hustled over to the would-be photographer and whispered in his ear. The man nodded, wandered over to an upholstered bench, sat down and began to clean his glasses. Somehow, I knew that he was going to try it again, and sure enough, a few minutes later he was creeping toward the byre with his camera curled in his fist. At this point I was prepared to just run up and punch him in the face, decorum be damned. But the funeral director was on the ball and was already ushering the man out the front door, one hand firmly clamped on the offender's elbow.
     This was my first encounter with "postmortem photography".
     The invention of the dagguereotype in 1839 allowed those who couldn't afford a painted portrait to have a lasting image of family and loved ones. Death in Victorian times was an ever-present reality, especially since infant and child mortality was incredibly high. A photograph of the deceased might be the single lasting visual memento; the body, posed with living members, the only "family group" photo that would ever exist. It wasn't considered macabre, or even unusual. Prints might be sent out to family and friends unable to attend the funeral rites.
     Dr. Stanley B. Burns, a New York City opthamologist, established something called The Burns Archive in 1977. The archive is a trove of photos and information on the darker side of medicine including anatomical and medical oddities, post-mortem photography, and photographs of death, disease, disaster, and war. Dr. Burns authored Sleeping Beauty: Memorial Photography In America , a comprehensive and exhaustively researched collection of post-mortem photography.
     Post-mortem photography served a purpose at one time. In today's era of digital cameras, cellphones with photographic ability - heck, even my toddler granddaughter's LeapPad toy can take pictures - I didn't think that anyone would ever dream of taking pictures of dead people.
     I am always willing to keep an open mind, approach any topic, and change my opinion. During a discussion with friends, someone brought up situations that I hadn't considered. What about the parents of a child who was stillborn? They would have no other option if they wanted an image of their beloved child. Is it really so awful to take a photograph at life's end, to complete the circle? Should we take our cue from earlier generations and move back toward making death an accepted and natural part of life? Is postmortem photography creepy, sad, or another way to hold on to departed loved ones for just a little while longer?
    

Monday, April 18, 2016

O Is For OpenBCI: An Open Source Brain-Computer Interface Platform For the Masses #AtoZChallenge

Ultracortex (Mark IV) EEG Headset Kit

Available for pre-order (expected ship date: A


     It's here: an open-source brain-computer interface, along with at least two products (the Ultracortex, a 3-D printed electroencephalogram EEG headset and the Ganglion, a circuit board) which will allow you to control mechanical devices or computers with brainwaves.
     The prototype for the Open BCI concept was funded by DARPA and conceived and built by Joel Murphy and Conor Russomanno. In 2014 they launched a successful crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter and developed the Ultracortex (which has electrodes that record your body's electrical signals) and the Ganglion (which tramsmits those signals to your computer).
     Both products are reasonably priced (the Ultracortex between $300-$400, the Ganglion board kit for $100) The hardware and software are open-source, so that you can 3D print your own headset as well as tweak, modify and hack to your heart's content.

     Combining OpenBCI with something called the Human-Human Interface allowed hackers to control the arm muscles of others - even thousands of miles away. (I immediately thought of that old bullying game why are you hitting yourself?)
 
     A street artist called TemptOne was diagnosed with ALS in 2003. ALS is an incurable, progressively paralyzing disease; the artist had given up hope that he would be able to continue his art. Enter the modern-day superheroes: a collective of hacktivists at the Not Impossible Labs who created Eyewriter, an open source wearable eye tracker which "traced TemptOne's eye movements and projected them onto the side of a building. The Eyewriter couldn’t have been more effective, but Tempt would eventually lose all motor control of even his eyes, so the team at Not Impossible accepted it as a challenge and developed a next generation device using a BCI called the BrainWriter.
It uses OpenBCI’s Arduino platform and the open source 3D printed “spider claw” headset." *

     It's pretty easy to see both the "good" and "bad" potential uses of this new technology. The future is here, and it's both exciting and scary.

     But ain't it cool?


*Pate, Josh (2014-09-16). "Brainwriter Helps Graffiti Artist Suffering from ALS to Draw Using Openbci"
. Neurogadget. Retrieved 2016-03-28.