To Rosetta

As I was walking through Washington Park in the Over-the-Rhine district of Cincinnati, I saw the following poem written on a sign and jotted it down. Poverty is beautiful.

To Rosetta

I'm not ignoring the bad times we
     spent together,
When I say I love you.
But, the bad times -- I understood them,
The good times -- I cherish them.

And here we are now
thinking what it all means.
Thinking over the years together, years
     of hard struggle.
And in some ways we reach this
     point, you and me,
in the same way we began a few
     years ago,
struggling to survive,
looking for a home,
learning together a vision of all
     people's struggle.

Your love shown strong, warm in
     a basic way.
Only two bites of food, you'd want
     me to have one.
Two blankets, one was offered me. And
     if only one, over half was mine.
An empty, unheated Vine Street flat,
We scavenged survival necessities
     together.
A roached up stove, an old refrigerator,
a rusty heater,
from missionary centers and abandoned
     buildings.

Lines of swallowed pride
and growing understanding.

Summers watching children growing
     up together
with mothers sitting on front stoops
     and fire escapes
to escape the apartment heat and
     closeness.
The sidewalks a playground until alleys
     and strangers
present a challenge.

Soaking in the deep, solid, pervading
spirit that rises from the street.

Memories of you coming around the
     corner,
or up the street,
or through the door, with love,
with spirit, with a heavy burden,
     with fight.
You put your arm around someone
or lift the group with a fighting song.
Determined not to let the system or
     anyone
Break the bond we have.

Thinking what it all means,
Thinking over the years together,
     determined to carry on.

- Unknown

Back in the lab

After about two weeks of working on my new "laboratory" (was only supposed to take a week), I'm ready to get back into my groove. Sorry if I missed any emails or failed to respond in the meantime.

Awesome news article in local paper!

Awesome cause my name's in it : )

I got interviewed for an article in the local paper. Last year a friend of mine shot some really spooky footage of a face in the window of an old abandoned hospital downtown, the Hayswood Hospital. I put the video up on YouTube and it's gotten some pretty cool attention, and racked up close to 70,000 views so far. That's not the cool part. The cool part is that The Maury Show contacted me earlier this month wanting to use it in a paranormal episode airing Friday. Set your DVRs.

The local paper wanted to do a story about the haunted Hayswood Hospital and the spooky video as well, so I got to add my two cents : ) You can read about it here. It was front page in the print version -- nice!

Last but not least, the infamous video featuring the ghost of the Hayswood Hospital.

S-p-o-o-k-y!



Just in time for Halloween!

Bits are better than bolts

Why do I build things on a computer? Because remodeling a bathroom is hard work! I recently leased the second floor of an old building and the renovations to the place are kicking my butt. I'll be back to the blog later in the week, if the walls don't collapse on me.

Batteries jump from 30 minutes to 30 years

Not technically Moore's Law, but along the same lines: In work contracted to the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, scientists recently invented a continuous power battery that lasts for 30 years without a single recharge. Woah! I'm happy when I get 30 minutes out of my current laptop battery, but never having to worry about charging it? That's the idea. They're called betavoltaic power cells and use radioisotopes as the energy source. Though it sounds nuclear, it's not hazardous and is environmentally and (more importantly) crotch friendly. They're small, thin and perfect for laptops, and should be hitting the market in 2 to 3 years. This is a huge deal. I read in Wired a year or two back about a company in California that makes electric sports cars powered completely by dozens of traditional lithium-ion power batteries rigged together -- and the car goes quite far before needing to be recharged. Imagine if they replace the lithium-ion rig with betavoltaic power cells. You'd get a car that wouldn't need refueling for 30 years!

From Maysville, Episode 11

'Nother episode of "From Maysville". In this episode the whole town becomes a stage for the Rosemary Clooney Music Festival, a yearly event celebrating the life of Rosemary Clooney. We're hangin' out with Nick Clooney (George's dad), talking with Phil Dirt and the Dozers, and listenin' to the Pointer Sisters. Awesome. Sometimes life in a small town is a little dull, but not this past weekend!