Flicker Illness

A couple of days ago, I read about this weird thing in New Scientist : flicker illness. Apparently, if you flash a bright light at a person with a frequency between [sic] 2 and 60 Hz, said person may suffer from anything ranging from headaches and muscle spasms to violent epileptic seizures. Apparently, this was also the cause for people in Japan getting violent seizures from watching a Pokemon cartoon (not because the damn' thing was so awful, as was initially thought.)

Far-fetched as it might seem, I can't wait to head back to the elec lab, rig up an astable at around 30 Hz to a few ultra-white LEDs, and start flashing the damn' thing at anyone who stands in my way.

The Road

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

- Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings


Some paths are weary indeed.

And though they're pretty bad, a couple of photographs from last year.

Sendoff. Fifty years hence?

Library in the setting sun after the rains