“I entered the forest here and a hare appeared, then did many more everywhere in a prolific dance, prancing into a murky world of green and blue, a haze of dark colors ablaze dripping morning dew hidden beneath the roof of tree’s shelter as insects flew and fungus grew. I waited in the pond, ankle deep, address of blue silk pattern in hand to avoid getting it wet, an arrow on it pointing the way which kept changing as I moved. My thoughts were adrift absorbing the visual play seeing images all around me reflected off the pond’s surface. After a conversation with a flying squirrel who had spoken to me about the rocky, bumpy hole with the hare, I jumped into this whole, over there, traveling to an another place to attend a tea party with all sorts of strange talking creatures, going through keyholes and eating mushrooms along the way.”

This excerpt, hand-written in Yiddish, was found in the diaries of German Baroness Gertrude Von Ludwig Dodgson, reportedly the second cousin once removed of Charles Lutwig Dodgson, known by the pseudonym, Lewis Carroll, noted British author and master of Literary nonsense. His most popular works include “Jabberwocky”, “The Hunting Of The Snark” and the complete works of “Alice in Wonderland”.

Disney studios brought it to the screen as a beloved 1951 epic animated fantasy, an interpretive adaptation of colors and epic symbols about the girl with golden hair seeing a talking hare, holding watch, nervously observing the direction as thyme grew late for a clue that would help him find his lost hole, running, claiming to be late for a very important date, a gathering with some questionable characters hosted by a loonytoon with attitude and a hat. Now, Tim Burton has created a 3D version starring Johnny Depp.

Dodgson never met his cousin who had been committed to the Bavarian Sanitarium For Anthropomorphic Research when she was observed talking to birds, squirrels and vampire bats migrating from Romania. After her death caused by an attack from a hive of bumble bee’s and spawning salmon, her vast estate including a crypt of secret documents and diaries from some of the most illustrious royal families of Europe, were left to her closest living relative then known by the name Lewis Carroll.

These quotes are believed to be the basis of his most popular books, Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland and its sequel, Through The Looking Glass And What Alice Found There. Many parallels can be found between his novel nonsense and the stories in her most recent diaries.

Since imagination is a place where living or inanimate objects can have human qualities, it’s sensible to conclude that animals, imaginary people, and even cartoon characters we know can’t   exist, can also act with human traits in a place where everything makes scents despite having no logical sense.

Eel hunting is called eeling and is a popular sport practiced by eelers - people trained in catching eels and surviving the shock.

Although an electric eel can be mistaken for a snake, its more accurately classified as a fish, an aquatic vertebrate animal with scales that has a capacity to produce an electric field using specialized cells distributed throughout its body. The larger the eel, the greater the charge, serving as a major defense against predators and incapacitating prey up to 15 feet away.

Now, engineers from Yale University have designed a man made tool adapting the principles of the electric eel cell by not only replicating them but improving on their design. They claim that artificial versions of the eel’s electricity generating cells could be developed as a power source for medical implants and other tiny devices.

Other engineers of the new field of systems biology question if we really understand enough about how a cell produces electricity to do a better job of designing them than nature has.  In an experiment at the Kakamigahara institute, Japanese scientists wondered if it were possible to harness the eel’s power for economic use. They attached a conductive copper wire from a fish tank to a Christmas tree fully ornamented with lights. Every time the eel scraped against the wire, the tree lit up. Despite all this science, a more common place to find an eel is marinated and served on a sushi plate.

“Even a man who is pure in heart

And says his prayers by night

May become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms

And the autumn moon is bright”

Among Europe’s most popular legends are the Strigoi, known as the tortured souls that rise from the dead with the ability to transform themselves into animals, drain energy from their victims and make themselves invisible. Some scholars argue that they can be living beings with supernatural instincts instilled with the power to move objects, control the passage of time and possess special insight to foretell the future.

There are many stories about what lurks in the forests of Europe where the Strigoi dwell as human sized predatory creatures with unusual speed. A ripe subject for literature, cinema and television. They tell the common tale of chronic dissatisfaction with life, cursed while trapped within a fear of change. The only other way to attain immortality is by seeing though the illusion of life’s addiction and ascend, aware only of movement since direction is subjective. But even to do that, one still has to suffer as does the tortured souls most feared in myths in an ironic twist of fate.

Although he never refers to the undead, Woody Allen has included some witty dialogue about chronic dissatisfaction in his 2008 film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, “Life is short, life is dull and full of pain and this is a chance for something special.” Some of the directors words also seem to explain why love stories between humans and the Strigoi are so compelling, “Only unfulfilled love can be romantic,”  as images of Edward and Bella, Angel and Buffy are evoked.

Most of the claims about the Strigoi have been dismissed as hallucinations, fables usually attributed to a curse using breadcrumbs to lure an audience as a common ploy of witches who live in candy houses somewhere in the woods of the Carpathian mountains where beasts prey upon lost souls who only know what they don’t want, effectively becoming yet another victim of chronic dissatisfaction.

Sixty years earlier the film Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) took a comical look at the undead. A respected horror film that is considered by the American Film Institute (AFI) among the top 100 films of American cinema. The plot is set in Florida and surrounds four different kind of Strigoi as Dracula and Frankenstein’s monster are smuggled out of eastern Europe as wax dummies pursued by the man who turns into the werewolf while the invisible man makes a cameo appearance at the end of the film. Even though he cannot be seen a voice is heard, “allow me to introduce myself, I’m the invisible man.”

Although none of them appear in a Woody Allen film, all of them were effected by chronic dissatisfaction and madness.

Around the time of Socrates a lesser known philosopher wrote, “perspective is the ability to visualize two points on any horizontal line with a third point elevated in the distance allowing parallel lines to be drawn intersecting at the ‘vanishing point’ beyond which nothing is seen.”

An example of this occurs when vision is focused on a point along the horizon driving an automobile on a flat desert highway with cactus and sand on either side. Then, its noticed that the road in the distance disappears and becomes a dot. If the path has been traveled before, familiarity with what one expects to find is reinforced with confidence about what still lies hidden as memory saturates the event.

Artists of all sorts such as painters, sculpture’s and architects write using perspective in various ways to stimulate imagination  suggesting, “what lies beyond can be perceived with a little bit of flexibility surrounded by rational thought reflecting that which  is not visible,” recognizing it as a place where the hypothetical becomes tangible.

If the gaze is fixed and the horizon moves, a cause could be myodeopsia, a condition characterized by the appearance of spider’s web thread like spots moving as the field of vision shifts. Floaters as they are known in ophthalmology are small pieces of hardening vitreous structures that break off within the eye and move freely in the fluid causing shadows to be cast on the retina.

Even though they are common and considered more an  annoyance than anything seriously wrong with one’s visual capabilities, an exam by an ophthalmologist once a year is advisable.

Floaters are often a result of aging, a corneal abrasion or an infection. Some think they are  optical illusions  which are perceptual effects that arise from interpretations of an image by the brain rather then an entoptic phenomenon. Others may consider them a figment of science fiction but only those who have them know for sure.

Suppose it were possible to make scrambled eggs without beating them first - perhaps a trivial concern - but when was the last time you cracked an egg without paying attention to what you were doing? It doesn’t really matter where the egg is struck, as long as it contains no shell.

Every now and then a double yolk appears and those become unusual events, especially when children are looking on, eagerly absorbing everything with awe struck attentiveness. To them it’s a magical event and how they interpret what they see can shape their personality and define the approach they will take to life. This may sound like a hefty claim, but each time an egg is successfully transformed into an omelet, it builds confidence, a celebration when it enhances the ability to focus, especially for children and multi-taskers who revel in cracking two, in both hands at the same time.

Creating a batter in a bowl is a rote expenditure of energy. Another approach would be to open the eggs directly into the heated pan, then using a fork, mixing the yolks and the whites together when they are in the process of solidifying, creating a unique variation of color and texture, as a small amount of milk or cream for the aristocrats is added with salt and pepper. This encourages risk-taking, an absorbing adventure each and every time the task is undertaken. Most important is not having to scrape them from the pan. An assurance of an experienced knowing hand, especially when one of the kids asks: “Why are some eggs white, and some brown?” Then a learner-ed parent can respond with a smile, “They can also be green.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_shells

The notion that humans only use approximately 10% of their brain has been perpetuated without any evidence. No one really knows its origin, perhaps a misunderstanding of the words of William James (1842-1910), an American psychologist and philosopher who wrote in his 1908 essay, The Energies Of Men, “We are making use of only a small part of our potential mental and physical resources.” Among his other notable works is, The Subjective Effects Of Nitrous Oxide.

Myths are notoriously difficult to trace, partially because they have multiple sources and are often culturally defined, adding and synthesizing the moral implications at its core, but, assuming it was true, it would mean we could still function if 90% of the brain were removed. A difficult statement for any credible scientist to agree with, and yet so many people still believe we only use a fraction of our brain.

Ask any neurologist and they would probably say, “Neural pathways are difficult to map although removing part of the brain can have devastating effects on behavior,” a meaningless statement to co-notate that science still knows very little about the brain, suggesting we probably have not tapped its true capability assuming that it could be measured scientifically. When was the last time you heard anyone say, “I’ve lived up to my full potential.”

On the other hand, it is difficult to disagree that education affords the opportunity to increase latent ability, it’s still unclear whether that means more brain utilization is involved. Perhaps motivation or some unknown force is at play, although intelligence is known to be more than what is measured by the IQ test. Parents however still proudly beam when their children achieve a high mark. Many still associate increased brain capacity with smartness and imagine super human abilities of memory, telepathy or telekinesis. Whether this is delusion, the work of science fiction or fact yet to be revealed, there is always hope that brain function can be enhanced as evolution proceeds.

One way to increase and train brain skills in the privacy of your own home, aside from reading, is known as The Brain Fitness Kit, a wonderful gift idea for Christmas found on latestbuy.com. “It contains 108 fully illustrated giant puzzle cards designed to test both logical and lateral thinking! Plus it comes complete with a set of instructions and a timer. Play it on your own and beat the clock or compete with a friend and beat them senseless by showing off your grey matter at an affordable $14.95.”

Read more about brain myths at neuroscience for kids (http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/tenper.html)

If it were possible to travel to another dimension from the one I am currently in, how similar would my “other” self be, assuming it’s even possible to encounter myself?

There is no guarantee that anyone would look the same wherever “there” is, since events possibly similar or not could happen in a different sequence producing alternate outcomes including changes in a person’s physical appearance. It is possible that any likeness would be so remote as to remove the chance that they would even be recognizable as oneself in an alternate reality. Blue eyes, female and a full head of hair here, brown eyes, male, and bald, over there. Even Enantiomers, known in science as mirror image compounds, have very different chemical properties although they contain the same elements in mirror image positions.

So why bother looking for one’s other self in an alternate reality even if a bridge leading to one were attainable? It is much easier to consider oneself unique, a product of a random genetic selection effected by the environment of the surroundings, generating more causes and effects, redefining self and becoming whatever the accumulation of experiences create.

Individual’s lives, if viewed as alternate realities of each other, are different roles on the stage of existence, varying depending on their random genetic confluence, surrounding environment and personal encounters. Putting oneself in someone else’s shoes and seeing what they see can unfold another reality without ever having to travel to an alternate dimension.

Depending on perspective, the Fringe is determined by where one is located when considering the line of vision, a constantly changing landmark effected by motion, sometimes described in language subjectively.

Defining the center, wherever one begins, marks the notation of an observable fringe, elements contained within the borders described by the circumference of a 360 degree rotation. Things not contained in this area might better be represented as ‘potential fringe,’ since it is beyond the scope of sight and veiled at any given moment as undifferentiated space unless movement is instigated.

The only way to know for sure if the location one occupies is at center or the outer edge depends on distance from the most number of consciousnesses, aware enough to contain similar thought potentials on the same plane, described by infinite motion in any physical direction. If not, then you know for sure that you are on the fringe.

Imagination as thought unleashed penetrates the void to reveal what is formally not perceived, unless blinded by distractions that divert attention from the mark allowing what is there to be invisible, always a danger perhaps revealing a weakness that could influence outlook and decision. A potential mistake or an opportunity to either finally resolve an issue or perpetuate the behavior that leads to the same mistake.

Referring to the fringe has been clouded by the assumption that it’s more associated with uncommon, hence the deviant, or abnormal. That would be correct from a statistical stand point if only life were as easy as simply describing the distance between the most frequently occurring number and self, rather than also connoting qualitative social value often influenced by cultural bias.

Philosophy on the fringe illuminates the observations of existent forms from the unique position one is placed amidst the vast scope of infinity, if objectivity can be maintained. A difficult thought to consider when the universe is viewed as a revolution around ones self.

Perhaps being on the fringe is just another way of going around in circles.

“Long before the stars glimmered in the celestial landscape, roamed the Malacostraca, a creature commonly found by the shore. It was quite a malcontent with an irritating nature and a heart of a true crustacean with five pairs of legs but no matching shews to argue, gazing still at the ocean surface, watching and waiting for anything that moved on the water with pointed claws and head that slightly shaked, eyes half open as if in a meditative state.”

The creature was often found laced in a landscape of vivid green against a backdrop of brown earth tones uncovered by the surf as it defended its turf from the monsters that lurked beneath the waves of bubbly foam as they spread across the sand along the endless stretch of beaches filled with an incalculable number of grains of sand dried by the beating sun. For the Malacostraca had a special way to mark its territory, with a sign and a gesture.

This was part of the fable passed down from one generation to the next, a fragment expressing an epic-law, its written form recently rediscovered and recounted by a sage of some mythic order in the land where Fakirs lie, on a bed of nails gazing at the stars asking: “So where’s the point?” while others walked over hot coals with bare feet, proving they could take the heat.

Such is what life had to offer idea-ted the ancient Seer, and Yet, as he lay, deep in thought, acknowledging others still sacrifice their youngest born to the god Malacostraca, “but to what end?” he pondered, inwardly confused that the last can also be the first. “Ah, he muttered, could this be a paradox?”

He would often tell the onlookers in his most sought after discourse, The Fundamentals of  Cosmology that “many of the ancients claimed they saw the Malacostraca descend from the constellation of Taurus and others thought that this was a bunch of bull, because they argued, it seemed more likely that the creature came from Cancer to match its cantankerous personality.”

One day, reported the philosopher, along came a squirrel who noticed the stationary Malacostraca, one eye going right and the other to the left. “Odd…” thought Rodent, squeezing his nuts tightly, forcing himself to articulate a dialogue, asking politely: “Pardon me, which way is the forest?”

“Can’t you see what’s in front of you?” pointed Malacostraca in a crabby disposition. “Over there,” he pointed with one of his five pairs of feet, “look, a tree.”

“Well, to be perfectly honest Mr. Crab, I can’t tell the forest from a tree since I don’t know how many of them constitute a forest, any more than I know how many grains of sand are needed to make a beach.”

“Are you trying to be cute or are you as dumb as those salmon swimming upstream?” eyed the grouchy crustacean.

“Well, at least I can see straight, instead of having eyes like yours that move separately, this way and that.” said the squirrel.

“Doesn’t that just drive you nuts?” responded the crab, with a hint of sarcasm in his gesture. “One eye sees you and the other see’s that hawk up in the sky diving for its next meal…”

Before the crab had a chance to finish its sentence, the squirrel was flying high above the turf, sand and tree, as the hawk held it in its beak gliding to its nest at mountains top as Malacostraca returned his sharp gaze to the water waiting for anything that moved. For he knew that the danger was from animals beneath the surface of the water that remain unseen.

So, turned the Fakir to the audience, what is the moral in this fable?

The Squirrel And The Rabbit

It was Friday afternoon, preparing for the big prom night dance, driven there by a black chauffeur, chilled orchard in hand for my honey. I was feeling pumped, looking sharp, grabbing my lucky shirt from the closet, the one with the scent of musk, only to discover it’s covered in enough dog hair and funky lint to make it look like another dog and perhaps attract the wrong bitch.

No time to clean the lucky shirt a ritualistic artifact of conquest, a blight for this night until, surfing the net, a page is encountered about “Le Glove.” Ah,  triumph invades my thought, for Le Glove is well known to pet owners and dandruff sufferers as “your very own lint removal system. An invention, created by some unnamed Australian company ‘is engineered from polypropylene effectively turning your grooming regime into a dream. Simply slip on Le Glove, peel off the paper surface, dab the offending foreign bodies and put it in the garbage,’” and the claim is also made that Le Glove is biodegradable!

The unnamed company adds, “Le Glove” is disposable, recyclable, affordable. It will remove lint, dandruff, dust, hair, fur and fibres from clothing, upholstery, carpets even bathroom floors. Every hotel worth its room rate should have them! Every exec worth their golden handshake should keep a pack in their briefcase. In fact, you should be able to open every handbag and see a pack of Le Glove ready to use.

Product Specifications clearly state, “Le Glove is made of polypropylene material featuring an adhesive (sticky) surface designed to easily remove lint, hair, dandruff and any other foreign particles from clothing, upholstery and carpets.”

When you purchase your pack of Le Gloves, also consider buying your very own For Real Spider Catcher. The price for each is cheap, so why worry about it?

This amazing product, “allows you to quickly and gently trap the spider from a safe distance (65 cm) - it also means you can reach under furniture and up to ceilings without balancing precariously. You simply press the trigger on the easy grip handle to spread the bristles, place it over the insect, release, and you’ve got him! Even if it’s making a break for it, you can still catch the little sucker and release him back into the wild where he should be.” Or you can regress to your early childhood and recite that old nursery rhyme,

The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout.
Down came the rain, and washed the spider out.
Out came the sun, and dried up all the rain
And the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again.