Archive for July, 2015


This story is somewhat inspired by documentaries such as Cut Poison Burn and Food Matters and somewhat inspired by the mere idea of looking for alternate solutions to complex problems.  As a technician I once stayed up for days trying to fix a complex Radar system while at sea.  In the end the problem was solved when I talked through the fault with a steward on board, someone with no formal electronics training.  Sometimes problems just need that outside eye to come up with a solutions that would never have arisen on its own.  I hope you enjoy reading it, if you do please share it with someone and leave a comment.  Thank you for your time.

Leave it to the Professionals

“Vitamin C.  Do you know what it does?” Posed the somewhat unkempt man at the Feed your Soul nutrition store.  To say the store wasn’t corporate would be a massive understatement.

“Well, it prevents Scurvy, so that’s good.” Replied Laura Shandler, a 45 year old confirmed bachelorette with no children who had been called kooky so often, she had begun to intentionally embody the term.

“We only know that because Vitamin C deficiencies lead to Scurvy.  Fact is, that is how we know what all vitamins do.  Deprive the body of any nutritional metric and you will start to see it break down.  In the case of Vitamin C you lose enzyme reactions, one such reaction leads to an inability to make new collagen or heal wounds, that’s what leads to the symptoms of what we call Scurvy.”

“Okay…”

“But that doesn’t really answer our question does it?  The AMA would have you believe that process elimination is enough to understand the true nature of something.  Without nutrients we die, without certain specific nutrients, specific bodily functions start to breakdown.  Therefore, we assume the positive benefits of a substance to be the inverse of the negative side-effects produced by its deficiency.  It’s all a bit of a loop really, the piece that we are still missing is what these vitamins do for us, their real purpose.  We can only discover that by taking huge doses of one specific vitamin at a time, scientific method.” (more…)


Constrained Creativity

This will be the first in a series or perhaps a continuum of posts that are less like a short story and more like observations about the world around me and the strange little creatures that inhabit it called humans.  Most writers are people watchers, and people watchers see things from a different perspective.  That outside eye allows the beholder to evaluate aspects that the individual may never see about themselves.  I want to share some of the things I have learned by observing the world, some of the gems that help me write and some of the techniques that I use to be more productive and live a less stressed out life, no matter what comes my way.

The first concept I want to talk about is something I call Constrained Creativity.  Conventional wisdom suggests that the goal is to remove distractions and free your mind so that you can “let the creative juices flow”.  To some, if even the tiniest snag stands between them and a perfect creative moment (if such a thing exists) then the whole process shuts down.  I am here to tell you that this is all in your head.  That doesn’t mean it isn’t a problem or that you can easily get past it.    (more…)