Photo Electric Effect

Texas Science: “Discovery of a ‘Dark State’ Could Mean a Brighter Future for Solar Energy“

Not sure if the movie clips are fair-use or not so I suppose it could get yanked at any time.

Go with WEBC, channel 56 — where you’re hearing things

Here’s an actual photo of a letter that someone I work with received this week. She was just driving through the drive thru minding her business when the car in front of her paid for her coffee and egg sandwich, anonymously. It definitely brought a smile which I guess is the whole idea. Reminds me of that saying that was popular in the 90s: “Practice random acts of kindness and senseless beauty.” But it’s not random, at all. It’s called the “Drive Thru Difference” and I had heard about it being done as a consciousness raising campaign of KTIS-FM in the Twin Cities, and even read a blog about it awhile back. But apparently it’s happening in the Twin Ports with KTIS sister station KDNI-FM leading the way.

If you’re wondering about the mechanics of it (which I was), here’s a YouTube video of singer-songwriter Brandon Heath (who I really like) actually doing it at a Dunn Bros in the Twin Cities:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucvWmMXNay4

“>Brandon Heath Demonstrates the Drive-Thru Difference

To me, it’s awesome. It’s very raw, and real. There are no commercial interruptions which is enough to recommend it right there (not that there is anything against commercial radio). The programming consists mainly of 70s and 80s rock, although when it signed on in September, it seemed to be dominated by deep Motown and soul cuts from the 60s. And just yesterday I was listening and there was some old time country. Really, it’s random. There are always some traditional Native American tracks sprinkled in and I expect more and more homegrown music and public affairs programming as they get their footing. From what I’ve personally observed, spoken word programming consists mainly of an introduction to Ojibwe language (priceless) and I did hear one interview about a community event that was upcoming. My recommendation is to set 89.1 FM on your car or home presets and give it some time.

The FDL Tribal Newspaper did a story about it in the October 2011 edition, you can click here for a PDF

Does anyone know if our Google overlords are trying to pull a fast one on us? Were area ISPs startled into actually building out their networks up here? Please tell me I’ll be browsing the Internet at satisfyingly fast speeds in the near future.

Lake Shore Driving:  Headless on the North Shore
by Frank Black

Jamie’s got his head in his hands, having just hacked it off with the cordless reciprocal saw Annie ordered for him off the internet the night she overdosed and stopped breathing—and blood came out her ears.  This made Jamie very sad, so he cut off his head—and now it’s in his hands—and he’s watching and pondering curiously at how his scabby, haggard heart continues to pump random arcing spurts of thick blood out the ragged, chunky stump of what’s left of his neck—and thinks he should’ve thought this through a bit more, which is an odd thought to think when your decapitated head is resting in your hands.

Jamie’s head is in his hands—severed from his torso—and he’s staring at the ceiling, wondering how to get blood out of stucco.  If Annie were here she’d know.  Annie knew all about things like that—domestic things—Martha Stuart things: tracking the perfect vein, turning water into wine—getting thick blood stains off a stucco ceiling.  Annie liked to play house and she was good at it—and Jamie misses her.  He misses everything about her—all the little things—the way she’d smile crookedly when he’d come to out of a seizure—the way she liked to cut herself in the bathtub.

Jamie’s jogging his sawed off head like a basketball and he’d really like to stop, but with the separation of mind and body making it impossible for any electrical impulse in the form of thought or want to travel any further than his hanging esophagus before falling flat on the floor—he just keeps tossing his head back and forth from right hand to left hand to right and back again.  He’s yelling at himself to stop—a futile exercise considering there’s no wind to vibrate his vocal folds, assuming he has any folds left after hacking at his throat with a hand-held circular saw—circular saw—more like a glorified pizza cutter with teeth—and even if he could generate any significant level of noise, it’s not like the headless other part of him would hear it…He really wishes he would stop throwing his head around.

If Annie were here she’d take care of it.  She’d know what to do.  She’d know how to fix this, how to fix him.  She was always fixing him.  She was good at fixing him—good at making things right—and he’d give anything—any-goddamn-thing to have her here right now to sew his dumbass back together—to pick him up and put him back together.

Jamie took to dying the morning he found Annie in the bathtub.  The water was black with blood from cuts on her legs, cuts on her arms, cuts on the bottoms of her feet and her pale blue skin almost reflecting the pool like bone china.  It was impossible to know how long she’d been in the water; Jamie had blacked out early the evening before, seven drinks deep into his third drunk that day, but when he grabbed her, when he picked her up and pulled her to him to hold her to him she was cold.  Jamie groaned.

Jamie’s head is on the front lawn having been tossed through the dining room bay window.

The rest of him—confused and headless, is feeling his way through the broken glass, climbing out, trying to escape—shredding and tearing the flesh of his arms on jagged shards of window protruding from the frame—leaving clumps and lumps of blood and meat behind as he falls to the ground.

Jamie helplessly watches his headless-self scramble to his feet, stumble in to the street, and get rundown by a school bus full of theology students and all he can do is think about Annie.

Jamie closes his eyes.

We will also be continuing our Week in Photos. Since fall colors are all around us, please send us your best fall pictures. Just send the pictures to lakevoicenews @ gmail.com along with a caption that includes where the picture was taken, when it was taken, who is in the picture and who took the picture. To get a better idea of what we are looking for, look at previous submissions here