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Dear Mom...

Meadow likes having her toenails painted, and got it into her head today she wanted to paint her baby's toenails. She paid very precise attention to the painting of the toes, but then decided: "why stop there?"

Recently on Facebook I linked with some old friends. This got me digging up the photo album and scanning a few 10-year-old pictures. While I was at it I found a few more gems. Like this one. Lu, Myself and nephew Joe were at Thane beach during the summer: built a fire, roasting hot dogs, skipping stones. Joe was at that fantastic age where everything is a wonder and discovery. He couldn't stop asking questions, including "Why did God make guitars?", "Why are there flowers?" and my favorite: "Do rocks burn?". (Those who know me should be able to guess the answer I gave him. :))

Here's a handy timeline of the universe, counting in milliseconds what happened during the Big Bang. It still doesn't answer the question of how did all that matter get there in first place?

For my photographer friends, as well as those of you that simply appreciate "purdy" pictures, here's a collection posted this morning of "stunning photos". Enjoy! I think my favorite on that page is this one:

Yesterday the Department of Defense announced the creation of the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine. This means they have a department specifically devoted to growing new human tissue.

If you read Scientific American, or are tuned in to the wild world of modern science to any degree, you'll already know that thanks to the wonders of stem cell research and other techniques, scientists are able to grow living tissue. But not just tissue, actual organs: "...blood vessels, livers, bladders, breast implants... [and] beating, disembodied rat hearts" (source).

Here's a fairly comprehensive article on the whole thing: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=regrowing-human-limbs

I've got the refrain from this damn song stuck in my head so I thought I'd share it with y'all so you can have it stuck in your head too! :)

PS: you have to watch all the way to the end so you won't miss the great bubbly-jam!

Having recently returned from the Land of Good Wine (France) to the Land of Not Great Wine (Alaska), my tastebuds are tuned up. I'm often confused about buying wine in Juneau because it costs a bit more and you never know what you're going to get. I find myself spending more money under the presumption that the more it costs the better the wine. While this may be true in many cases, it isn't in all.

While reading the morning's "paper" I came across this list of the Top Ten Wines Under $10 and thought I'd share: http://www.mainstreet.com/top-ten-wines-under-10

As you can see, Meadow is very good at saying "cheese" for the camera (once she gets all ready and in position).