LL :: Volume 48 :: LR

Treelights trace tree branches to their endpoints, using simulated mutual repulsion along the surfaces of plant material. In winter, every twig is tipped with a spark -- or every needle, for evergreens. In summer, oaks, maples, and other trees with splay-outline leaves provide an even more impressive display.

Grasslights are just what you'd guess. But they have a bit of directionality, too, so that waves in the grass are emphasized.

Put it on top of something. Put holes in it. Look through the holes and then climb outside. Take the long view and put it away for a rainy day.

Everything goes with everything else. Fix it, filter it, mold it like clay. Disasters are worthwhile and yesterday's failures are still worth a look. Nothing you know will be next.

Black is the new rainbow.

For those unfamiliar with the Ghost Choir: If you are walking out of a Midwinter night, and you hear an odd and semirhythmic intermittent chiming, you are probably within earshot of one of the Ghost's members. They stand on rooftops around the city. Each wears an invisible semiparabolic reflector, so that while his bell may be heard for hundreds of yards around, it is particularly audible in the approximate direction of the listening spot. Along that axis, and several degrees to either side, the bell can be heard for miles.

The sound-cones converge, of course. In a central area of about a square mile, most of the bell sounds are clearly audible. Passersby often post Net comments if they stumble into the region; so the neighborhood -- wherever it is -- quickly fills up with Ghost fans, circling and listening.

But discovering the actual focus is much more difficult. If you are standing as little as 200 feet from the listening spot, you will hear some notes a full beat early, others a full beat late. (They come, after all, from all directions.) The Choir invariably chooses harmonic works of rapid tempo and complex rhythm, so that such distortion reduces the music to a clangorous hum. The focus may be on a bridge, in a park, or -- taking advantage of secondary reflections -- hidden among tall buildings. Good luck to all.

As you move from one room to another, a loose wall will fade to the more common neutral color of your home, and another wall -- just within sight -- will become the loose wall. Not necessarily the same color, either. Although you can set it up that way if you want.