British scientists make microscopic objects invisible

This may be a good time to go back and listen to David Hudson’s tapes. During some very high-tech soil analysis, this simple cotton farmer tells of bizarre experiences had by leading specialists including weight changes and invisibility. Now to our most recent invisibility story…

It sounds like magic: walls, curtains, even dresses could be rendered transparent by bathing them in a specially crafted beam of light. Rescuers could use the beam to peer through rubble after an earthquake, while doctors could gaze at a damaged lung after making a patient’s skin and ribs vanish.?… At the flick of a switch, he and his colleague Dr Mark Frogley can make something invisible, albeit just a fraction of a millimetre square of a special material and only for a one ten thousandth of a millionth of a second. …an electron can be prevented from absorbing a particle of laser light and jumping to a higher energy level if a second laser beam is used to link or “couple” the two energy levels to a third one. …

Using two powerful beams made this way, the team performed its vanishing trick: the artificial atoms became transparent to one beam when a second – coupling – laser illuminated them at the same time. “By shining an invisible powerful laser onto these ‘artificial atoms’, we have learnt how to control the motion of the electrons so they no longer absorb light – when the laser is switched on, the crystals instantly become invisible, only to return to their normal opaque state when the laser is switched off.”

As Prof Phillips says, “we have proved the physics”. Although this was achieved with an idealised material, it suggests that by carefully designing a wand of laser light it may be possible to make anything transparent. “The effect has the potential to lead to all sorts of new applications. You can imagine a laser that works at frequencies we can’t see and, when it shines on your hand, it would open up a transparent hole.” – telegraph

Fun crazy stuff in our future!

Xeno Foils 3 Plots by Evil Gnomes

News flash! Xeno, thanks to years of careful intelligence work, has prevented three horrid plots to terrorize Americans. High level sources, which could not be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, stated that three distinct terror plots by the cell known as the “Evil Gnomes” were foiled today. The undisclosed number of terrorists arrested, who are now being held in one or more undisclosed locations, had not yet progressed to the operational phase of their plots. No actual change in the planet Neptune’s orbit was detected, 250 million clown noses filled with itching powder had not yet been purchased and it was unclear how long the third plot, filling the Grand Canyon with Basmati Rice, would actually take. Mortimer Snerd, the confessed ringleader, admitted during interrogation that he was guilty of everything anyone wanted him to be guilty of in order to stop being interrogated… including being a communist, a terrorist and a witch. He also confessed to associating with zombie al Quaeda mermaids from Norway … and to being Hitler’s mother. [ See: Terror Plot Foiled ]

In other words, congratulations you gullible multitudes. You now live in a world where nearly any shmuck on the planet can be arrested and “disappeared” into a prison forever to be tortured to death and used as an experimental subject. All they have to do is say you were part of a “plot” or a group that was discussing a possible attack. That’s it. They don’t need to show that you had weapons, money, maps, nothing. You get to say nothing. They tell the press you confessed. It is just their word against your vanished carcass. Know too much about the Bush mob’s crimes? Say good bye. No checks and balances. Ultimate power under the cloak of national security. Inevitably ultimately corrupt.

Injured Man’s Brain Rewires, He Wakes After 19 Years

Amazing. This should inspire us. Given time our brains are capable of major re-wiring to heal physical trauma.? It is hard not to imagine that an endless source of hope and will was behind Wallis’ recovery.

In 1984, 19-year-old Terry Wallis was thrown from his pick-up truck during an accident near his home in Massachusetts, US. He was found 24 hours later in a coma with massive brain injuries. Within a few weeks he had stabilised in a minimally conscious state, which his doctors thought would last indefinitely. It did indeed persist for 19 years. Then, in 2003, he started to speak.

Over a three day period, Wallis regained the ability to move and communicate, and started getting to know his now 20 year old daughter ? a difficult process considering he believed himself to be 19, and that Ronald Reagan was still president.

… The team’s findings suggest that Wallis?s brain had, very gradually, developed new pathways and completely novel anatomical structures to re-establish functional connections, compensating for the brain pathways lost in the accident. They found that new axons ? the branches that connect neurons together ? seemed to have grown, establishing novel working brain circuits.

Surprisingly, the circuits look nothing like normal brain anatomy. A lot of the damage had been to axons that passed from one side of the brain to the other, torn by the force of the accident. But Schiff says that new connections seem to have grown across around the back of the brain, forming structures that do not exist in normal brains. … Krish Sathian, a neurologist and specialist in brain rehabilitation at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, US, describes it as an amazing finding. ?The bounds on the possible extent of neural plasticity just keep on shifting,? he says. ?Classical teaching would not have predicted any of these changes.? - newsci

Witch School Opens in Midwestern Town

In the “Harry Potter” series, the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry sits in a mystical Scotland location, shrouded by magic that hides it from unknowing humans. Starting next week, in the unlikeliest of places, a real witch school will open its doors to the public in a place known as the Sweet Corn Capital of the World. After almost five years of existence on the Internet, Witch School is expected to operate under normal business hours in the town of Hoopeston, Ill., about 100 miles south of Chicago. – rnb

The Witch School site says, “166238 people have registered as students of Witch School since September 4, 2001.”

Xeno finds LOVE in Las Vegas

I missed the entrance to the Mirage the first few times, but I found LOVE. That is, I saw LOVE, the Beatles show in Las Vegas this 4th of July weekend. More than some entertainment, this trip was, for me, a quest to find my life path again. As is often the case with life, I found what I was seeking, but in a most unexpected way.

So much happened this weekend: The 4th of July, the shuttle launched, N. Korea launched missiles, Ken Lay died, I saw LOVE and discovered a great secret about being happy. Oh, and a crazy guy ate 53 hotdogs.

Do these guys even know what is in a hotdog? Yetch.

Anyway, the secret to happiness I found is this: One’s life is greatly improved if one cultivates pronoia. Pronoia, the opposite of paranoia, is (for me) the belief that the little positive choices one makes, minute by minute are rewarded. My friend described it this way: A pronoid person thinks the universe is conspiring to give her/him positive things. This requires no religion. It just works. This is the hidden clockwork, the programming behind our reality. Sure, this may be a self-deception or a self fulfilling prophesy, but if it works, if it improves life, do it. Pronia can be a doorway to spirituality for those who reject organized religion. You don’t need to believe in Karma or God, just act with good will and stay alert to the rewards that result.
This weekend I choose to believe that as a result of some poor choices I: lost a lot of money, got very sick, was stranded alone 100s of miles from home due to an engine failure.
My pronoia then linked my good choices and deeds with the following good results. I: got some needed down time, formulated a life plan, saw some beautiful sights, got my car fixed for free, got the best advice of my life from a complete stranger, found a cheap beautiful comfortable non smoking room, saved $100 on my phone bill, saved $150 in home taxes, didn’t get fined for being late with a debt, found the cheapest gas in months, and so on.

The Cirque du Soleil LOVE show was fantastic, surreal, a circus for the senses. More than live music videos for the Beatles songs, LOVE told the story of the Beatles’ experiences with war, politics, relationships, drugs, fame and so on. Paul McCartney was at the premiere and was consulted on the creation of the show. The NY Times says,

“Since the two companies reached an agreement three years ago, the Beatles’ producer George Martin and his son Giles have been assembling a score that stitches together segments from more than 100 Beatles songs, taken from the original master tapes and remixed for souped-up surround sound.”

Hearing the original vocals from the song “Because” a capella, redone from the master tape in surround sound during the opening was, for me, worth the price of admission. There was a lot of work done on some of the medleys where the vocals from one song would appear over the instrumental tracks from another. Awesome.

During the day I snuck in to the Mirage pool area (reserved for hotel guests) and I hung out at the bar and under the waterfall, just taking it slow, waiting for the LOVE show that night.

Sure, I was sick and spent most of the time in Vegas in bed with a flu, but on the 4th I did buy my $10 ticket to stand in line and ride the elevator up to the Stratosphere. There saw one of the most beautiful sights of my life, the Vegas skyline with little fireworks going off here and there for hours.

That’s where I met the Bellabessa twins, Tina and Lorie, in polkadots. We had such a great time touring the city until 4 AM. Or did I dream that part?

Some tips: Signs that say $29/night in Vegas actually mean $90/night. A sign that says $7.99 buffet, means $16. ( You get the $7.99 deal only on Wednesdays, if you have a “Players Card” … and if you own an ostrich. ) Do this: dial 800 373-3411 for free 411 from your cell phone. Use that to call Hotels.com. They will likely find you a room in your price range. They did it for me on a busy holiday weekend in Vegas.

The first night I tried to find a place myself. I drove around for over an hour and found an expensive and seedy room where I had to call the police because a woman was lying on the pavement after a couple had a physical fight. ( She was doing most of the attacking from what I saw. She was okay, the cops got there in time. )
Using Hotels.com, however, I found a cheaper wonderful room (see photo above next to the cheap gas photo) and the sales lady even gave me directions over the phone while I was driving in Vegas to help me find the hotel after we booked it.

Here are some more random pics from my trip including a delicious sea bass at Sensi in Bellagio, and Zzyzx road which I spotted in CA on my drive home.