What's all this about edible electronics?

Raquel Welch, cutting edge medical treatment and Carnegie Mellon scientists:  it's all here

Edible electronic devices – the words conjure thought-provoking images: licorice IPods perhaps or maybe Blackberries tasting of…well…blackberries.  How about chicken flavored DVD players or cheddar cheese GPS devices?

Well, forget it. You should be thinking more along the lines of that old 1960s Raquel Welch movie “Fantastic Voyage” if you want a more accurate bead on what the folks at Carnegie Mellon University are cooking up.

In “Fantastic Voyage” scientists miniaturized a specially designed submarine down to one micrometer in size with a crew of folks inside. The sub was then injected in some poor man’s blood stream. Raquel and a crew of other folks are supposed to drive the sub through the man’s various organs to zap a blood clot with a fancy laser device thus saving his life.

Raquel and company have a rough time of it. An arteriovenous fistula forces the sub to take a detour through the heart, where, in order to avoid turbulence which would destroy the craft, a cardiac arrest has to be induced. 

Then, when they go though the inner ear everybody outside the guy’s body must remain perfectly silent to prevent another turbulence threat to the sub. Then, it’s off to the poor guy’s lungs to replenish the sub’s oxygen supply.

Well, they eventually accomplish their mission and zap the clot after enduring a saboteur’s hijinx and some cold war plot devices. The big problem with the “Fantastic Voyage” scenario was that people are involved.  What if you didn’t need to miniaturize a full-scale submarine to carry pesky smelly people into a body to practice medicine from the inside out? 

Scientists argued long before men climbed into those tiny space capsules in the 1960s that people really weren’t necessary to explore space. It could all be done with machines.  It appears like the same can be said of efforts to practice medicine on people from the inside out. Why figure out how to miniaturize a vessel to carry people inside a body when you can just build little devices to go where you want to perform various assignments? That’s where the Carnegie Mellon folks enter the picture.

 “We are creating electronically-active medical devices that can be implanted in the body,’’ said Christopher Bettinger, an assistant professor in the Departments of Materials Science and Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at CMU in a University press release. “The idea is for a patient to consume a pill that encapsulates the device.’’

Now that’s an edible electronic device.

Jay Whitacre, a professor in Materials Science and Engineering, is working with Bettinger. The CMU brainiac’s are not only developing medical devices that fit inside a pill that can be swallowed by patients and whisked to specific sites to tackle specific problems, they are also cooking up edible power sources that can keep those medical devices inside the body humming along and doing their jobs.

“Our design involves flexible polymer electrodes and a sodium ion electrochemical cell which allows us to fold the mechanism into an edible pill that encapsulates the device,’’ said Bettinger.

Once the battery packaging is in place, Bettinger’s team would activate the battery. The CMU folks say the edible batteries could power biosensors to measure biomarkers or monitor gastric problems. The battery also could be used to stimulate damaged tissue or help in targeted drug delivery for certain types of cancer.

“There’s so much out there we can do with this novel approach to medical devices,’’ said Bettinger, who recently received a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Award for his work on advanced materials for next generation implanted medical devices.  

It has taken more than a decade to whip up the edible electronics approach and Bettinger indicated some of the innovations in the hopper could use newer synthetic materials that mimic the natural properties of soft tissue and biodegradable electronics that could usher in a new era of electronically active implants. 

So if someone asks you to invest in a new technology to miniaturize submarines for injection into human bodies for the purpose of treating medical conditions, better hold off. The CMU guys are way ahead of that idea.

New Japanese fad not exactly eye-licking good

No licking zone -- please

Charlotte Bronte once said, “The soul, fortunately, has an interpreter – often an unconscious but still a faithful interpreter – in the eye.”




If the sober author of Jane Eyre is right, that faithful interpreter unconscious in the eyes of Japanese school children must be snapping awake in alarming numbers to say – “what the hell was that?”

It seems the young people of Japan are the undisputed international champion practitioners of an ugly activity that has health officials cringing at every corner of the globe.  It is called "worming."  It is when one person expresses his or her affection for another person with a warm, passionate lick of the eyeball! 




That’s right, somebody started the fad of laying a big wet slurp across the cornea belonging the object of his or her affection.

It is an exploding trend on the schoolyards, under the bleachers and in other discrete and not-so-discrete locations through Japan.

Americans who suffer auditory attacks from another fad imported from Japan – Karaoke – are now terrified that the trend will find its way onto US soil and threaten one more of the human body’s senses. Here is a particularly hideous example of Karaoke's reach.

The possibility of an inebriated Karaoke singer being congratulated for slurring through a rendition of “Me and Bobby McGee” with a heart-felt lick of the eyeball from his or her equally tipsy date is almost more than civilization should be expected to endure.

Health officials are trying to stamp out the eye-licking phenomenon by noting an alarming increase in cases of pink eye among Japanese young people.  They are also frantically predicting that the practice can introduce sexually transmitted diseases where they haven’t traditionally been a problem – in the eyeballs of worming practitioners. Of course, there is also the possibility of blindness.

If we absolutely must import another fad from our friends from Japan, I nominate two other options instead of the dreaded worming trend.

Japanese innovators have come up with LED Teeth – LED inserts that can be placed over teeth like a mouth guard.  These bolts of light then light up whenever the wearer smiles. They can even blink or change color from blue to red. On a dark street, a parade of LED teeth wearers can inspire fear and panic like nobody’s business.


Then there is "Dekotora" - an abbreviation for "docoration truck." Take one tractor trailer vehicle, festoon it with a rainbow of color flashing lights and you have what looks like an evil carnival on wheels rolling down the highway. Imagine the potential for startling left lane huggers on the Interstate into submission when you pull up on their bumper late at night with a Dekorora in full glory.

Let’s just hope discriminating tastes will make the right decision on which Japanese fad is destined to invade.

Hubcaps, Psychology, and Basketball - the Odd World of Bob McCoid

Ex-psych prof, hubcap master and basketball shot genius
 Bob McCoid from the Wetzel, (WV) Chronicle

Don't let the Yankee Rub it In

The small white structure at the end of a scruffy I-70 exit ramp in Western Pennsylvania was obviously an old service station: its pumps long ago removed and all oil company signage unceremoniously ripped down when the site was abandoned as unlucrative for the selling of gasoline.

A one-word sign in red lettering is the only indicator of what now occupies the interior of the property where grass is slowly overtaking the once busy asphalt parking lot – “HUBCAPS.”

Oh there are hubcaps inside all right. At one time there were more than 200,000 of them. They are piled high on shelves in an order that only the master of the premises can navigate. 

The humble little hubcap shop has stood for decades alongside I-70, first at one abandoned gas station at another exit and now at its present location. It has offered motorists an affordable alternative to costly visits to their car dealer when forced to seek replacements for wheel covers lost along the highways and byways of the West Virginia/Pennsylvania region. 

Need something snazzy to jazz up that 1984 Dodge?  It’s likely in the back next to those fancy 1968 Cadillac hubcaps or under those wheel covers for a 1988 Nisson.

But it isn’t the vast array of hubcaps that wows the visitor to the little shop. 

It isn’t the magnificent disarray of the tiny office where the most modern piece of office equipment you are likely to find amidst the rubble of paper is probably a 1970s era electronic calculator.

The main attraction is the 76-year-old proprietor – Bob McCoid, what he has done with his remarkable life, and what he can do with a basketball.  A quick visit with McCoid is likely to knock your socks off just like a sharp curve on the highway will pop off a right front hubcap.

McCoid is a retired college psychology professor and researcher who molded young minds at the University of Kentucky and at his alma mater, Marshall University. He has been operating the hubcap shop since retiring from the Community College of Allegheny County and lives on a rural Pennsylvania farm.

The first time I stopped in to the shop in search of a hubcap for a 1991 Plymouth Reliant, McCoid was all business and came up with just what I needed. He didn’t mention his odd hobby and particularly incredible skill until I noticed an array of press clippings that festooned his office wall that said something about basketball shooting.

“What’s all this then?” I asked, sounding like John Cleese in a Python sketch while gesturing to the articles.

Turns out, McCoid is a multiple world champion basketball shooter from the free-throw line and the three-point arc.  That sentence is heavy on current tense because McCoid is a dead eye that still travels America to compete against rivals who are often his junior by decades.

McCoid lights up when offered the chance to talk about his skill and he picked up a basketball from his hubcap-selling counter when he began to answer my questions.

“I’m headed to the World Senior Games in Utah and the Senior Olympics in Los Vegas in October,” he explained, spinning the ball in the upturned palm of his hand. “I just got back from South Dakota.  I did a competition in Tennessee not long ago. They stopped me after I put 20 out of 20 in and won the competition.  They said, “hey, don’t let the Yankee rub it in.’”

The question of how he got involved in such an exacting activity sparked a surprising answer.

“I was on the (1955) Wheeling (WV) High Basketball team and I was always a pretty good shot,” he said. “We once scored 140 points against Weir High. Of course, they scored 110 points. It was a record that stood for years.”

McCoid practices at Wheeling WV's Howard Long
Wellness Center

McCoid said he put down the basketball when he left high school to go to college and never picked up another one until he was 60 years old and he found that his knack for knocking them in with a swish had not diminished even after a 37-year hiatus.

He believes in frequent and long practice sessions. On my first visit, McCoid pulled out a well-worn small notebook in which he keeps meticulous records of his practices and its results.  Page after page of dates and numbers indicating shots taken and shots made appear in his careful unique handwriting.

Over a ten-year period, his record shows that he averages about 14,000 three-point shots per year and 20,000 free throws per year.

One day, not long ago, he shot for 3.5 hours and was successful on 985 free throws out of 1,000. His personal record is 990 out of 1,000.  His record in 2012 for consecutive free throws was 304.  He has an all time best of 354. Since 1998, he has hit on 100 or more consecutive free throws more than 700 times.

He is just as prolific from the three-point arc. 

He has been written about by local sports writers from Pittsburgh to Martins Ferry, OH and appeared on television shows when they “miked-me-up” so the unique sound of the ball leaving his fingers can be clearly heard. He has given demonstrations all over the nation and is quick to criticize the way young people have been taught to shoot the basketball at the free throw line. You can get a quick lesson from him on free throws on YouTube. 

 “They teach kids to stand with their weight balanced with one foot ahead of the other,” he said. “That’s wrong.  That makes their orientation to the left or right. You need to stand with both toes on the foul line.”

He also believes in shooting the ball with the center finger of the shooting hand centered firmly over the little air hole in the ball to ensure proper balance. He said the ball should rest on the fingertips with a clear pocket of air between the ball and the shooting hand palm.

He has a wall full of trophies and medals from his many competitions and he has no intention of slowing down, just like the double knee replacements he had a few years ago did little to dent his skill or enthusiasm.

McCoid has another skill that today’s ball players would do well to emulate: he is confident without being an egomaniac.  If not specifically asked about his success, he would never have mentioned it to me. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a firm belief in himself.

“I expect to make them all,” he told John Howell of the Martins Ferry Times Leader last January.

Howell wrote that during one competition recently his closest competitor missed a free throw and Bob told the person next to him “he just lost” and then stepped in and made all of his shots to win.

As impressed as I was with McCoid’s obvious skill and competitive spirit; the uniqueness of his little hubcap shop; and his respected career in higher education, I walked away from my conversations with a keen appreciation for the temperament of the man and his willingness to share his experience and skill in a genuine fashion that doesn’t say “look at me and how great I am” but rather “look at what I’ve done and think about what you can do.”

That’s what knocked the caps right off my hubs and made me appreciate the uniqueness of Bob McCoid.  Long may he shoot and swish.

Solo Drive to the Great Smokey Mountains

After being foiled by an unpleasant encounter with the commercialism of Pigeon Forge, TN last month, I took a long drive down US Route 321 this week in a second attempt to penetrate the Smokey Mountains – the second most visited National Park in the US – to see just what all the fuss was about.

Nearing the foothills of the famed mountains, I encountered Maryville, TN. In Maryville, Sam Houston of Texas fame once built a schoolhouse and taught children before fleeing the experience to live among the Cherokees instead. More than 150 years later, Shaquille O’Neil grew up learning how to miss foul shots but otherwise dominate opponents on Maryville’s basketball courts.  With a tip o my hat to the unlikely pair of Houston and O’Neil, I drove through the picturesque town on my way to a pleasant encounter with the history and nature of the Smokey Mountains.

In June, I blogged about passing through another gateway to the Smokies called Pigeon Forge that was so loud, tacky and off-putting that I turned around and never entered the National Park that was just down the road.  This time, I found a more peaceful pathway through a little town called Townsend, TN.

Townsend calls itself the peaceful side of the Smokies and earns up to the nickname when compared to the bustle of its Pigeon Forge neighbor to the north.  The town has a number of low profile 1960s-era motels here and there, a few modern chain establishments and a healthy peppering of unique non-franchise barbeque, country cooking and trout-serving restaurants as well as interesting antique shops.  It also has a colorful collection of campgrounds and businesses enticing tourists to rent bright yellow inner tubes for a leisurely float down the nearby scenic Little River or bicycles to explore the pathways paralleling Rt. 321.

Townsend, founded in the early 20^th Century as a hub for the logging industry that almost destroyed the Smokey Mountain region, has transformed itself in the 79 years since the National Park was established into a friendly welcome mat for the millions of visitors that journey through each year.

A particularly bright Townsend spot is the Great Smokey Mountain Heritage Center – a rustic appearing yet modern facility dedicated to explaining to its visitors the history and culture of the region. A quick movie in a comfortable auditorium explains the origin of the mountains, the culture of the original Native Americans, the way early settlers carved out a living in coves high in the mountains, the conflicts that persisted during the turbulence of the Civil War, and the temporary prosperity and nearly permanent damage wrought by the logging industry.

A separate museum gallery houses Native American artifacts and displays showing how the early settlers lived in the mountains.  Outside, great care has been taken to preserve and restore cabins, blacksmith and wheelwright’s shops, a church, barns and other architectural artifacts from the early days of Smokey Mountain settlements.  

A restored logging saw mill at the Heritage Center

And, of course, there’s a gift shop featuring crafts, books and other souvenirs.  There’s also a bright new outdoor theater in the back that hosts summer concerts.

Armed with my new Smokey Mountain background information, I ventured into the National Park via a shaded windy road and quickly witnessed the origins of the name “Smokey Mountains.” The high green mountains are topped with a natural fog that hangs over the range and looks much like smoke.  The fog is the result of all the vegetation exhaling organic compounds that form vapors at normal temperature and pressure – thus Smokey Mountains.

I headed for something called Cade’s Cove where, at one time, sturdy and spirited people scratched out happily productive lives growing corn; raising, slaughtering and eating pork; and sometimes making “liquid corn” for special consumption.

In the central and southern Appalachian Mountains, a cove is a small valley between two ridgelines that is closed at one or both ends. Cades Cove is not only the most frequently visited part of the National Park, it was also where generations of Cherokees hunted and small populations of settlers made homes. After the park was established, the people moved out but several of their rustic homesteads scattered throughout the cove as well as a few old frame church buildings, were preserved for visitors to stop and visit. Well, of course, some of them are said to be haunted.

I didn't see a bear like this in Cade's Cove but you might.

The homesteads and buildings can be visited on an 11-mile loop drive that is famous for spectacular views and a chance to glimpse wildlife including the Black Bear.  Unfortunately, all I got to see was a lone wild turkey and a couple of deer like I see in my backyard all the time. While there were plenty of spectacular views and the mountain air was truly impressive to breathe, the pace of the drive can tax patience. Caravans of vehicles motor through at a snail’s pace.  There are plenty of pull-offs for folks to use if they see something they wish to photograph.  It took well over a 90 minutes to finish the 11-mile drive.

On the outskirts of the Cades Cove loop are campgrounds and picnic sites.  It is a trip for nature lovers with plenty of time.  Spotting a bear would probably thrill the kids but otherwise, it probably isn’t a trip today’s kids would appreciate unless they have their IPods or tablets for alternative entertainment. 

Lincoln's Cottage Offers Rare Glimpse Into President's Life

President Lincoln in 1862 - one of Washington's first commuters

There’s a house on a hill only three miles from the White House that can bring people closer to feeling what it must have been like to be the 16^th President of the United States as he struggled with decisions to preserve the Union, mourned the death of a son and attempted to escape the heat and pressure of war time Washington.

There are places to visit where important things happened; where actions of great men and women changed the world; and where what people of destiny felt, saw and endured at pivotal moments in history can be mentally conjured merely my occupying the same space that they once did.  President Lincoln’s Cottage is one of those special places.

I have been a frequent visitor to our Nation’s Capital for more than 30 years and I once lived there for the biggest part of a decade where I played softball in the shadow of the Washington Monument, walked the Halls of the US Capitol and explored the obvious sites throughout the historic city. In all that time and wandering, I was never aware that a green tranquil place known as President Lincoln’s Cottage existed on the grounds of a beautiful enclave that, since the early 18^th Century, served as a home for America’s retired soldiers.

I became aware of the site when I read a wonderful book by David Von Drehle  called Rise to Greatness, Abraham Lincoln and America’s Most Perilous Year. The author focused on the year 1862 and the truly nightmarish events that befell both Lincoln and the country in the darkest hours of the Civil War. Key battlefield losses, the threat of foreign intervention, a Native American uprising in the West, the loss of his son Willie to typhoid fever, skittish military leaders who lacked the aggressiveness to win, strained politics with traditional opponents and abolitionists alike, and the borderline nefarious spending and flaky behavior of the First Lady were just a few of the issues that worked on Lincoln in that difficult year. 

As Drehle explained, Lincoln found relief from the stifling heat of Washington and the constant stream of visitors seeking his help in a Gothic Revival house built in 1851 on the grounds of a facility established by the government to house retired and disabled veterans.  In that house, Lincoln, his wife Nancy Todd Lincoln and young son Tad lived for about one third of his presidency. 

At the cottage, he read the Bible and Shakespeare, played checkers with soldiers on cottage’s front porch, enjoyed the cool breezes that the site provided and devoted time giving thought to the problems of preserving the Union.  It was at the cottage that he did the lion’s share of work on the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln still worked at the White House. Every morning he would mount his horse and make the three-mile journey to the seat of power, often alone. The ride provided him with first-hand observations of the war’s impact on the multitudes that crammed into Washington City during the conflict.

                  The Cottage

He last visited the cottage the day before he was assassinated. After that, the cottage was used for a variety of purposes like offices and even a tavern at one point.  In 2000 the National Trust for Historic Places and the Armed Services Retirement Home joined to reopen the house and stripped away years of abuse and neglect to bring it back to the way it was in Lincoln’s day.

Except for a reproduction of a desk, a few period chairs scattered about the rooms and a dark wood paneled meeting room with a massive dark conference table and chairs, there is little in the cottage today. But, that’s okay.  The sparse furnishings give you an enhanced feeling for the house and its occupants of 150 years ago. You ascend to the second floor using the same handrail that Lincoln used and stand in his massive bedroom where he is said to have worked on the Emancipation Proclamation.

The tour guide was smooth and personable and used a remote controlled audio program to play talks by a Lincoln by an impersonator who sounded just as described in Von Drehle’s book.  In a separate building, there is a gift shop, a display room with more details about Lincoln and his time at the cottage and a room with computers where visitors can access touch screen presentations about the President, his “team of rivals” and his tumultuous times.

              The Grounds

A huge marble-like structure that has a castle-like quality stands next to the cottage and was there in Lincoln’s time. It housed retired soldiers, many of whom were invited to share evening chats with the President on the cottage’s front porch.  There is a veterans cemetery in the foreground of the view of Washington from the cottage grounds. It was there 150 years ago and its rapid expansion was a frequent reminder to Lincoln of the cost of the war.

Outside, at a location where, no doubt, Lincoln mounted his horse for his daily commute is a bronze statue of the President and his horse.  The guides explain that it is an accurate portrayal because Lincoln’s own clothing was measured and used by the sculptor to create the image.

The admission fee is nominal, the grounds are beautiful and the history lessons are invaluable. You will need help from Siri, Google Maps or some other source to help you find the cottage but it is worth the trip for folks looking for something a little different from the standard memorials, museums and sites that Washington has to offer.

If you are lucky and have an appreciation for history and a vivid imagination you may feel the burdens Lincoln felt as the guide talks you through this obscure but striking site.  And, don’t forget to check out Von Drehl’s book.

Knoxville - UT, Women's BBall Hall of Fame and an old World's Fair site

I spent a rainy afternoon in an empty Knoxville movie theater watching “Man of Steel.”  It seemed prudent since I had no rain gear and there were very few people out and about on the slick narrow downtown streets that are lined with coffee shops, restaurants, throwback general stores and an occasional professional office.

Fortunately, by the time Superman prevailed the weather cleared enough for me to resume a driving tour of the interesting city that hosted a World’s Fair, Peyton Manning’s upward football trajectory and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.

For the most part, Knoxville has a low profile skyline with a great many Victorian era buildings, old warehouses and a vibrant downtown pedestrian only market square.  It was refreshing to be in a franchise-free zone.  I didn’t see a McDonalds, TGI Fridays or other generic brand establishment during my entire visit downtown.

Knoxville is, of course, a college town.  The University of Tennessee covered about half of the territory I covered during my drive-through.  The campus is perched on a range of hillsides with narrow road accesses to its buildings that curved and weaved through massive groves of tall old shady trees.  A four-lane congestion-free highway, Neyland Drive, boarders the University along the Tennessee River side and provided a formal brick main entrance to the campus.

Like other campuses I visited this summer – Ohio State and Virginia Tech – the University of Tennessee is under constant construction with closed access roads, heavy equipment and scaffolding in ample evidence. Unlike Ohio State, the campus is architecturally consistent featuring matching red brick exteriors at home with the Victorian nature of the rest of the city I saw.

I hoped to get a good look at the 102,000 seat Tennessee Volunteers’ NeylandStadium where Peyton Manning worked his collegiate magic, but my limited knowledge of the terrain, the construction, narrow roads and geography conspired to offer only a view of the beige colored lower rear exterior. The stadium site reminded me of old Mountaineer Field at West Virginia University – wedged between hills and not many parking options. Perhaps I missed the parking lots with my haphazard self-guided exploration. Pictures of the main exterior and interior make the facility look spectacular.

Heading north of the campus, I stumbled upon the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in an empty appearing segment of the downtown.  I didn’t investigate but I did see the world’s largest basketball lodged in what must logically be the world’s largest basketball rim and net outside the building.

I backed into a very interesting site known as the Worlds’ Fair Park – site of the 1982 World’s Fair that drew 11 million visitors in its day for an exposition officially known as Knoxville International Energy Exposition featuring the theme, “Energy Turns the World.”  The park is located in a kind of valley between downtown Knoxville and the hillsides occupied by the University of Tennessee.

The most obvious remaining facility from the event is Sunsphere that once featured a full service restaurant and an observation deck.  After the fair, the Sunsphere fell into disrepair but has been brought back to its former glory. After being opened and closed numerous times over the past 30 years, the observation deck is now reopened and offices now occupy some of the other levels. One level again houses a restaurant and a bar called the Icon Ultra Lounge. Another level is available to rent for special events.

The Sunsphere has become an iconic symbol of Knoxville and it appears as the background photo for local television newscasts and other venues.

The rest of the remaining World Fair Park is in kind of a state of flux.  All the other original buildings are gone. Some green space remains along with some fountains. A convention center that appeared empty sits on one side of the green space. City planners are embarking on plans for redevelopment of the park as outlined in this newspaper article that appeared the day I visited in the Knoxville News.

There are classy museums around Knoxville like the American Museum of Science and Energy, the Mabry-Hazen House, the Museum of Appalachia and others.

And, let’s not forget the famous folks Knoxville gave us like: Alex Haley,

James Agee, Chet Atkins, Polly Bergen, Kid Curry (of Butch Cassidy Wild Bunch fame), the Everly Brothers, Patricia Neal and a host of NFL/UT football players.

Knoxville doesn’t have a lot of stuff to keep kids engaged but it is worth a stop for adults.

An enlightening visit to Chattanooga 

      

Before I visited there this week, all I really knew about Chattanooga, TN was that Glen Miller did a song about its Choo Choo in the 1940s and Union and Confederate forces had a few intense dust-ups over its control in the 1860s.

My Chattanooga ignorance was wide ranging:

•  I didn’t know that one of its nicknames is Gig City because it has the fastest Internet connection in the Western Hemisphere.

•  I didn’t know it had a significant and beautiful monument to a Native American abuse called the Trail of Tears Water Steps

•  I didn’t know that it converted its massive and beautiful 1908 train station into a hotel/resort where visitors can stay in authentic restored Victorian era train cars and take a free electric shuttle ride downtown, and

•  I didn’t know that the grand old city gave us Samuel L. Jackson, Bessie Smith, Jim Nabors and Hugh Beaumont (the guy who played Beaver Cleaver’s even keeled dad on Leave it to Beaver) along with a host of athletes, country singers and politicians like former Senator/former White House Chief of Staff/Watergate investigator Howard Baker.

I learned all these things and more when I set out to merely visit the Civil War battlefield I had always heard about called “Lookout Mountain.” I followed Siri’s instructions and began an ascent up a winding two-lane road to the top of Lookout Mountain passing a tourist stop called Ruby Falls.  I didn’t visit although I since learned that it is a truly beautiful subterranean spot on the mountainside.

Passing through what appears as a typical residential neighborhood on the mountaintop, I ended up at the tip of the mountain where the US Army corps of Engineers had erected a castle-like stonewall around the grounds of the major battle site.  A National Park Service Ranger gave a rousing talk explaining the significance of the city in the Union’s drive to quash the Confederates on their home ground and how the cannon atop Lookout Mountain helped enforce a confederate siege of the city after it became occupied by the Union. He explained a series of Chattanooga battles.

Then he explained how wacky personality conflicts on both sides influenced the eventual outcome of the follow up battle on Missionary Ridge.  The Union won both encounters and effectively opened the door for Sherman’s March to the Sea that broke the back of the Confederacy.  So, the battles around Chattanooga spelled the real beginning of the end of the war.

After the descent from Lookout Mountain, I did a quick drive around downtown Chattanooga.  It’s a very modern city with newer buildings dominating the skyline.  There were a few older buildings and converted warehouses preserving the look of the past along with the earlier mentioned train station.  I also found an unusual building that now houses a funky brew pub.

The city also features the huge Tennessee Aquarium, a collection of art and history museums and some institutions of higher education. It was a quick but enlightening visit to the city.  I’m glad I did it and I would recommend a visit for anyone interested in history, oceanography, natural beauty and trains.