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I began the day trying to join the Great Mousehunt, but when I got to the coordinates for the mouse, there was nobody there so I decided to hit a few caches that were close to the game zone. (Turns out I was in the wrong zone anyway!)
I booted up the laptop to see what was nearby only to find that there werent any listings nearby. At first I thought I was out of range (I only keep the 500 listings that are closest to home on the computer) but then I finally found some 30 miles to the north near Wayne. Granted I can see why the area I was in would be fairly sparse, it has hardly any population density, its flat, and without much to attract anyone. Still Id thought with a ranger station in the area Id have though thered be at least one nearby.
In any case I made the trip north to catch the caches that were nearest so that my trip wouldnt be totally wasted. On my way through Forrest City I discovered that Krystals had closed at some point since I was last there. Now the one in West Memphis is the only one left in Arkansas.
I decided on Waynes Bravest first because it was in the middle of town and looked to be the most accessible. It was a nice easy find to start the day, but the logbook was a little damp so it might need attention.
Next I headed to the Harris Chapel Cemetery east of town planning to end up back in Wayne for lunch before tackling the other five on the west side. It is located in a cemetery right on the north edge of Village Creek State Park. There are a few cool old tombstones but it looks like most of the graves are from the last few decades. BTW the log only had one empty space left on it, it needs a new one.
Except for the fact that I had other plans for the day I would have liked to have spent some time in the park. I didnt even realize there was a state park out there. I may just have to come back out this way to visit it soon.
After lunch at McDs I headed West on 284 to make a sweep of the others in the area. Down on the Farm was the northernmost of the lot. I like the way it was hidden, definitely different from the others Ive found to date.
While I was filling out the logbook a pickup truck pulled off the road near my car and I figured I was going to have to answer a hundred and one questions about what geo-caching was. It turned out to be the father of the owner who knew all about it and asked if Id gone to any of the others his son had hidden nearby. I told him that they were next on my list. We talked for a minute or two about all the people hed seen going in and out of the woods and he was surprised by the number of people who had signed the logbook. I swapped one of my personal travel bugs for one that was in the cache.
Down by the chapel was my forth hit on my grand tour of Waynes caches. I read and re-read the listing trying to figure out the puzzle mentioned in the text and comparing it with what was at the location and couldnt even come up with the question, much less the answer.
Finally I gave up and checked the hint. It turns out that you HAVE to use the hint, thats where the question is located.
Heart of the farm was my only disappointment for the day and it was mostly because I never got near the cache. All the roads accessing the area had some sort of giant rake parked across them so there was no way to get closer than a mile to the cache and no place to park except the side of the road. Since I didnt want to leave my car on the side of the road for the hour itd take to walk a mile and back, plus time to find the cache I just passed it up.
Leap of faith is really off the beaten path but an easy find. It seems like every little cluster of houses out here has a church of its own. Im surprised that none of the residents took note of the odd car in this out of the way spot.
Ole times on the farm was my grand adventure of the day, the last of Waynes seven caches. I found the container easily enough only to find it wasnt the container. It redirected me to another spot instead. Thats when I remembered that one of the caches had been converted to a multi-cache with three stages even though it still lists as a traditional. Obviously this was the one. I entered the new coordinates and headed off in search of the second stage but couldnt seem to find it.
After about thirty minutes I went back to the car to check the reference to see if there was any help. All I found out was that the second stage was a film canister which I already suspected.
I went back around the search area using different methods to plot the CEP, even tried some tricks to try and de-select satellites (do any of the GPSrs have a function for that?) to see if I got a different solution. I still came up empty so I decided to check the hint.
There was only one problem, when I got back to the car I found out that Id locked the keys inside the last time Id been back and to make matters worse it was starting to rain. This was not looking good.
My cell-phone was in the car, I hadnt seen a single car drive by the whole time Id been there and I didnt even have a coat hanger. Fortunately the window was down ¼ and I was able to use some of the swag in my backpack to nudge the window crank and open it further. (Thank goodness for manual windows.)
By the time I got back in the car it had finished raining (it never got real heavy) so I checked the hint. It really wasnt any help; Id already looked the place it indicated. In fact I am pretty sure the second stage is missing. The good news was that the hint for the third stage, with a small logical leap, gave away the final stage. (Dont read it unless you want this cache to be too easy.)
After swinging back to the interstate after finishing off the caches in Wayne to head home I still had some time and the rain had stopped again so I pulled off to catch CWL008 Cache river on the way by.
When I arrived there were some teens fishing nearby so I took the distance and angle to the cache from inside the car and used the cell-phone ruse to walk around and look for it, with a real cell-phone no-less.
I found it without too much trouble but the teens were were actually watching me (I think they were worried I was going to bust them for the beer and cigarettes they had.) so I couldnt retrieve it. I knew it was going to rain again soon so I went back to the car and made a coupe of real phone calls.
Sure enough the rain came along, but the teens just got in their car and sat there smoking. They finally gave up when the rain got worse and I was able to retrieve the cache. Took a stick of soggy gum to throw away and left a toy figure.
Finally I stopped at the I-40 East/West TB hotel on the way home to round out the day. I needed to make a bio-stop there anyway. The cache wasnt hard to find even in the rain. The owner mentioned it was okay to take the TBs because traveling is what TBs are for, but Im sure he didnt mean for folks to just empty the cache! The only thing left was the logbook and a Star Wars watch. (not a TB) so I added a few chunks of crystal quartz so that there would be some trading items. Id have added a TB but I didnt have any with me except the one Id picked up down on the farm and I hadnt even logged it in yet.
So goes a rainy Saturday.


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The Hasso Plattner Institute offers a practically-oriented computer science study program at an internationally recognized institute. This study includes the Germany-wide unique "IT-Systems Engineering" program and the new master programs: "Digital Health", "Data Engineering", and "Cybersecurity."
Research at the Hasso Plattner Institute is characterized by standards of scientific excellence, practical relevance and close cooperation with industry and society. Outstanding research results are achieved in the fields of specialization, in excellent research programs and at the international Research School.
The Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam is unique on the German academic landscape. The institute's program continues to grow with the support of its founder Hasso Plattner and through international cooperation. Find out more about the founder, events and studies at HPI.
The Hasso Plattner Institute has educational programs for both high school students and working professionals. It operates its own IT learning platform - openHPI - which provides free online courses. The Youth Academy organizes computer science camps and events for high school students. Professionals can take advantage of educational opportunities in the field of Design Thinking at the HPI Academy.
The press area of the Hasso Plattner Institute provides you with the latest press material, news, information on our social media channels and contact details.
Virtual 3D city and landscape models are the main subject investigated in this thesis. They digitally represent urban space and have many applications in different domains, e.g., simulation, cadastral management, and city planning. Visualization is an elementary component of these applications. Photo-realistic visualization with an increasingly high degree of detail leads to fundamental problems for comprehensible visualization. A large number of highly detailed and textured objects within a virtual 3D city model may create visual noise and overload the users with information. Objects are subject to perspective foreshortening and may be occluded or not displayed in a meaningful way, as they are too small.
In this thesis we present abstraction techniques that automatically process virtual 3D city and landscape models to derive abstracted representations. These have a reduced degree of detail, while essential characteristics are preserved. After introducing definitions for model, scale, and multiscale representations, we discuss the fundamentals of map generalization as well as techniques for 3D generalization.
The first presented technique is a cell-based generalization of virtual 3D city models. It creates abstract representations that have a highly reduced level of detail while maintaining essential structures, e.g., the infrastructure network, landmark buildings, and free spaces. The technique automatically partitions the input virtual 3D city model into cells based on the infrastructure network. The single building models contained in each cell are aggregated to abstracted cell blocks. Using weighted infrastructure elements, cell blocks can be computed on different hierarchical levels, storing the hierarchy relation between the cell blocks. Furthermore, we identify initial landmark buildings within a cell by comparing the properties of individual buildings with the aggregated properties of the cell. The initial landmark building objects are then used to compute a landmark hierarchy, which is aligned with the cell block hierarchy. For each block, the identified landmark building models are subtracted using Boolean operations and integrated in a photo-realistic way. Finally, for the interactive 3D visualization we discuss the creation of the virtual 3D geometry and their appearance styling through colors, labeling, and transparency. We demonstrate the technique with example data sets. Additionally, we discuss applications of generalization lenses and transitions between abstract representations.
The second technique is a real-time-rendering technique for geometric enhancement of landmark objects within a virtual 3D city model. Depending on the virtual camera distance, landmark objects are scaled to ensure their visibility within a specific distance interval while deforming their environment. First, in a preprocessing step a landmark hierarchy is computed, this is then used to derive distance intervals for the interactive rendering. At runtime, using the virtual camera distance, a scaling factor is computed and applied to each landmark. The scaling factor is interpolated smoothly at the interval boundaries using cubic Bézier splines. Non-landmark geometry that is near landmark objects is deformed with respect to a limited number of landmarks. We demonstrate the technique by applying it to a highly detailed virtual 3D city model and a generalized 3D city model. In addition we discuss an adaptation of the technique for non-linear projections and mobile devices.
The third technique is a real-time rendering technique to create abstract 3D isocontour visualization of virtual 3D terrain models. The virtual 3D terrain model is visualized as a layered or stepped relief. The technique works without preprocessing and, as it is implemented using Abstract 3 programmable graphics hardware, can be integrated with minimal changes into common terrain rendering techniques. Consequently, the computation is done in the rendering pipeline for each vertex, primitive, i.e., triangle, and fragment. For each vertex, the height is quantized to the nearest isovalue. For each triangle, the vertex configuration with respect to their isovalues is determined first. Using the configuration, the triangle is then subdivided. The subdivision forms a partial step geometry aligned with the triangle. For each fragment, the surface appearance is determined, e.g., depending on the surface texture, shading, and height-color-mapping. Flexible usage of the technique is demonstrated with applications from focus+context visualization, out-of-core terrain rendering, and information visualization.
This thesis presents components for the creation of abstract representations of virtual 3D city and landscape models. Re-using visual language from cartography, the techniques enable users to build on their experience with maps when interpreting these representations. Simultaneously, characteristics of 3D geovirtual environments are taken into account by addressing and discussing, e.g., continuous scale, interaction, and perspective.
Ombudspersonen beraten als neutrale und qualifizierte Ansprechpersonen in Fragen guter wissenschaftlicher Praxis und in Verdachtsfällen wissenschaftlichen Fehlverhaltens.
Sie tragen, soweit möglich, zur lösungsorientierten Konfliktvermittlung bei.
Bei Fragen wenden Sie sich bitte an:
Prof. Dr. Tilmann Rabl
Tel.: +49 (0)331 5509-280 E-Mail: tilmann.rabl(at)hpi.de
Das Future SOC Lab des Hasso-Plattner-Instituts bietet externen Wissenschaftlern neueste Hard- und Software-Infrastrukturen kostenfrei zu Forschungszwecken.
Die HPI Research School für "Service-Oriented Systems Engineering" ist die Graduiertenschule des Hasso-Plattner-Instituts. Sie unterhält Außenstellen in Südafrika, Israel und China.
Das Digital Health Center (DHC) ist ein offenes Netzwerk für Wissenschaftler und Forschungseinrichtungen, die gemeinsam das Gesundheitssystem mit neuen Digital-Health-Anwendungen voranbringen und den Patienten stärken möchten.
Das HPI-Stanford Design Thinking Research Program möchte wissenschaftlich ergründen wie und warum Design-Thinking-Innovationen funktionieren oder scheitern.

subset: commoncrawl


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Simon Cowell and Donald Trump share a lot more these days than just reputations as blunt, often-caustic TV competition show judges.
Both are heading into the May ratings sweeps practicing the art of the steal – at least when it comes to grabbing publicity. And while the goals and the stakes of their quests may differ, Cowell and Trump seem to have at least one common target in their far-ranging, thunder-swiping efforts: "American Idol."
The two moguls/showmen are the stars of what are shaping up as parallel TV sideshows worth watching over the next month – and perhaps far beyond.
It's no coincidence Cowell's declaration that he wants Paula Abdul to join him on "The X Factor" comes as the "Idol" talent contest enters the homestretch of its best season in years. Cowell's recent comments to Deadline about his former "Idol" sparring partner also come amid the huge promotion campaign for NBC's new singing competition show, "The Voice."
The star-maker who helped build "Idol" knows all publicity is good publicity when it comes to creating buzz. Every nugget of information Cowell drops about his new show seems carefully choreographed to capitalize on his old show's surprising success without him. Both programs are on Fox, and will air during different times of the year, so the network presumably wins in this faux battle of "Idol" and "The X Factor" as Cowell's need for exposure is fed.
Trump, not exactly a limelight avoider himself, is playing a similar, if more bizarre – and higher-stakes – game with potential implications that go well beyond mere TV success or failure.
We don't pretend to know exactly what's transpiring in the brain under the developer's swept-over mane. But his flirtation with the presidency, his so-far evidence-free claims about President Obama's birthplace and education – and his igniting of a slew of new feuds – aren't exactly hurting "Celebrity Apprentice," which reportedly saw a 12 percent bump in the most recent ratings.
Whether Trump most wants to win the top spot in the White House or in the Nielsens is unknown to anyone but him. But it's worth noting that the May 22 season finale of "Celebrity Apprentice," in which he's expected to make an announcement about a possible presidential announcement, comes just days before the heavily promoted season finale of the peculiar pop-culture form of American democracy that is "American Idol."
Meanwhile, "Idol," remains TV's top show, and is slightly up in the ratings this season, gaining viewers for the first time since 2007 – defying, as The New York Times recently put it, "television gravity."
Cowell and Trump are attempting to defy gravity themselves by launching trial balloons that may or may not be filled with hot air. The coming weeks will tell whether these Reality TV running mates come crashing down to earth or rise to new levels of hype. We'll be looking them up – and down.
Hester is founding director of the award-winning, multi-media NYCity News Service at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He is the former City Editor of the New York Daily News, where he started as a reporter in 1992. Follow him on Twitter.


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From the opening narration to the repeated discussion of Will vs. Fear, to the constant recounting of action that happens off-screen to the skipping over of other important moments to the awkward editing, "Green Lantern" has to stand as one the worst pieces of storytelling this year.
Worse yet, it's boring.
"Green Lantern" stars Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan, a skirt-chasing test pilot for Ferris Aircraft, the company owned by the father of his lifelong friend and occasional bedmate Carol, played by Blake Lively. One day Hal finds himself scooped up by a mysterious green light and whisked through the sky to the site of a crashed spaceship, where an alien tells him that "the ring" has chosen him to be the next member of the Green Lantern Corps, a collection of 3,600 warriors powered by the force of Will to protect the people of the universe from Fear - and, more specifically, a giant lava-like blob called Parallax.
It's your classic "Chosen One" story, with the attendant "You've got the wrong guy" reservations on the part of the reluctant hero. Yet for reasons beyond human comprehension, this takes director Martin Campbell almost 40 minutes to explain it all. It's funny, too, because Campbell's "Casino Royale" took off like a shot, but here he takes an eternity to get the ball rolling. Yes, Bond has the advantage of having a well-established backstory, and, yes, "Green Lantern" is a second-tier hero whose story isn't as well known. But Campbell could've easily made that work to his advantage, allowing him to take more shortcuts without having to withstand the howling of a billion fanboys.
One of the film's few bright spots is Peter Sarsgaard's performance as Dr. Hector Hammond, who starts out as a balding, sweaty lab rat and morphs into a fleshy-headed mutant with telepathic powers after coming into contact with some yellow Fear. Sarsgaard's Hammond is all twitchy and moist and hunched and brimming with rage—rage that would resonate more if we'd been told at some point earlier in the film that he has a relationship with Hal and Carol that goes back to when their kids. Alas, Campbell couldn't find time to wedge that piece of info into the film's first half, so he just drops it into a line of dialogue, much to late for it to matter. Of course, it's unfair to lay all the blame for the story, such as it is, at Campbell's feet, as the film did have four guys who got writing credits—never a good sign.
And not only is the story itself a mess, the tone is all over the place. Reynolds' Green Lantern hearkens back to the pre-"X-Men" era of superhero movies, when the prevailing attitude was dopey humor and a knowing wink that said, "Let's not take this seriously." But in the past decade-plus it's been proven time and again that a successful superhero movie has to take itself at least a little seriously for it to resonate. Reynolds proved himself capable of playing heavy in last year's "Buried," but it's the glib, too-cool Reynolds that prevails here—pity.
On a purely visual level, "Green Lantern" is just OK. The 3D is barely noticeable (not a compliment), you'd do well to see it in 2D and save a little more money if you just have to see it. The planet Oa is a little silly, the Guardians look awfully familiar and Geoffrey Rush's fish-headed Green Lantern is just inane, regardless of how true to the comic it is. But Parallax, the giant yellow-and-black lava-like squid monster looks pretty awesome twisting its way across the city.
As is the custom of the day, halfway through the closing credits of "Green Lantern," there's a teaser that sets up the second chapter in the "green space cop's" saga, and maybe it will be better now that they've gotten past the insanely tedious origin story. But if you somehow survive "Green Lantern," you'll be hard pressed to go back for more.


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On 10 February 2014, the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, Utah had a feature article entitled "Effectively blogging about your family history" by Katelyn Guderian. The article featured my presentation at RootsTech 2014. It actually gave a really good summary of the presentation. I was surprised to learn about the article as I was driving back to Mesa, Arizona from Salt Lake and recieved a phone call from one of my daughters who had just read an email about the article from one of my sons. Nice how electronic communications work. Thanks to Deseret News for the article and thanks to all who came to RootsTech 2014.
Here is the article;
SALT LAKE CITY — In his class "Using Tools and Organization for Creating a Valuable Family History Blog," RootsTech conference presenter James Tanner, creator of Genealogy's Star, began by asking his audience, "Why do you want to blog?"
As blogs become an increasingly popular way to document thoughts and ideas, more and more family historians embrace the potential blogs have to help gather data and link families together.
For genealogy enthusiasts hoping to share their stories through blogs, Tanner cautioned against doing so half-heartedly.
"Here's the important thing about blogging — you need to have something to say," Tanner said. "You need to be very passionate about what you're blogging about. If you're fixated on the fact that you've only got 20 people reading the blog, you've missed the point of blogging."
Tanner stressed that blogging is not about the numbers, but also explained the possibility of many others viewing your content if you choose to keep your blog public.
"You might think, as you begin to do genealogy, you are working on (only) your family," Tanner said. "You are really talking to all of the people to whom you could potentially be related."
With many family history participants turning to blogs in hopes of finding more information on their ancestors or extend family, it is important for genealogy bloggers to narrow their focus and understand their purpose for writing.
Tanner broke the art of blogging down into six steps for his class:
1. Be passionate: Focus on the thing or things you really want to write about, and stick with them. Make sure you have a lot to say about your blog topic
2. Decide on an audience: Are you writing this blog just for you and your personal records? Is it meant to link all members of your extended family? Is it a how-to blog for other members of the genealogy community? Choose beforehand whom you are intending to address.
3. Decide on a title: Tanner suggests being extra careful with this step. If you haphazardly choose a title — or if you choose an extremely long or specific title — your readers may get confused. Also keep in mind that people identify you based on your title and it becomes a sort of "brand." Changing your title midway through a blog's lifetime could result in loss of readership.
4. Decide how often you want to post: Committing to blog every day or even every week can be a big undertaking. Pick a frequency that's realistic for you and your schedule.
5. Decide if the blog will be public or private: There are pros and cons to each, but if your purpose of blogging is to spread your family history and connect with others, make sure you keep your content accessible to the public.
6. Decide if the blog will be free or commercial: Are you open to the idea of having paid advertisements to help fund your efforts? Or will the blog have strictly family history content?


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It's time to relinquish antiquated simple manicures and one-color nails. The world has already welcomed Minx styles, Calgel nails, and as soon as we spotted Lady Gaga's intricate nail design in her "Bad Romance" video, we knew that plain manicures were over forever.
With the lace trend cavorting down the runways, a transition from clothes to nail design was a necessity. Celebrity manicurist Elle for Barielle recognized the need to share her nail wealth with lace fans all over, and provided The Frisky with a quick DIY so you too can have your very own lace nails.
Start with a clean nail Brush on Gel Resin Pick a thin Parisian piece of lace and attach Spray with Glue Dry Cut and shape using an embroidery scissor Re-Resin. To remove, soak in acetone.
U.S. & World
Stories that affect your life across the U.S. and around the world.
"The Hills" Finale Party Had Some Fashion Hits & Misses
"Avatar"-Inspired 3D Makeup Coming Soon
"Avatar" Makeup Tutorial Will Make You Blue In The Face


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For seniors, a walking program is sometimes a great way to get started walking and to keep consciously motivated. If you've been sedentary for some time you may notice the body has a type of inertia that needs to be overcome. Don't worry because you'll get those bones moving well again. Many seniors are at that point where they want to go walking to get more active. If you find you're having trouble sticking to a daily routine of walking get a friend out or use a pedometer to give you some goals to shoot for.
There are ways to keep it in the forefront of your mind and that's to use a program that utilizes pedometers and walk every day at the same time. A walking program like the Bodytronics QuickSteps Walking Program will help you set some goals and give you a sense of accomplishment. Even Olympic athletes need a program to help them with their rigorous training needs so never feel that you are alone in this. Everyone needs a little push once in a while to get going!
The Bodytronics Quicksteps Walking Program helps you set a realistic baseline with the help of your pedometer, and then helps you choose an attainable progressive goal each week. Before you know it you'll have more energy and be in overall better health! All you have to do it take the first "step" and make the decision to go forward with your program!


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The Pirate Bay just announced a new file type available on the site: "physibles," digital files for 3D printing. It expects in 20 years you'll be downloading sneakers. In the meantime there are lawn darts and plastic toys:
We're always trying to foresee the future a bit here at TPB. One of the things that we really know is that we as a society will always share. Digital communication has made that a lot easier and will continue to do so. And after the internets evolutionized data to go from analog to digital, it's time for the next step.
Today most data is born digitally. It's not about the transition from analog to digital anymore. We don't talk about how to rip anything without losing quality since we make perfect 1 to 1 digital copies of things. Music, movies, books, all come from the digital sphere. But we're physical people and we need objects to touch sometimes as well!
We believe that the next step in copying will be made from digital form into physical form. It will be physical objects. Or as we decided to call them: Physibles. Data objects that are able (and feasible) to become physical. We believe that things like three dimensional printers, scanners and such are just the first step. We believe that in the nearby future you will print your spare sparts for your vehicles. You will download your sneakers within 20 years.
The benefit to society is huge. No more shipping huge amount of products around the world. No more shipping the broken products back. No more child labour. We'll be able to print food for hungry people. We'll be able to share not only a recipe, but the full meal. We'll be able to actually copy that floppy, if we needed one.
We believe that the future of sharing is about physible data. We're thinking of temporarily renaming ourselves to The Product Bay - but we had no graphical artist around to make a logo. In the future, we'll download one.


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First-year racquetball team to host Mid-Atlantic tournament
October 18, 2011 | Lynchburg, VA
Liberty University's men's racquetball team will host the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Racquetball Tournament Oct. 21-23 at The Sports Racket in Lynchburg.
Liberty will compete against eight other college teams: Duke University, University of Virginia, University of North Carolina, Appalachian State University, NC State University, Virginia Tech, University of Maryland and The College of William & Mary.
Liberty formed a racquetball team earlier this year as part of its club sports program, and the Mid-Atlantic tournament will be the team's second tournament. The team played at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill last month, with three players placing in their brackets.
"I'm going to go out there (in the tournament) and give everything that I have to represent the team and Liberty," said senior Shawn Furman.
There are currently five men on Liberty's racquetball team, led by head coach Danny Rodriguez, a certified AmPRO racquetball instructor and a TeamHead USA sponsored player. The team is actively recruiting new members.
"It's a lot of fun. … Once you pick it up, it's definitely one of those things where you'll be playing for the rest of your life," said senior Jared Abramowicz.
The Sports Racket, a 35-year-old indoor tennis and racquetball facility, was purchased by Sherwin Cook, a member of Liberty's Board of Trustees, who donated it to the University in February. Liberty has made extensive improvements to the facility, which includes five tennis courts, five racquetball courts, a locker room, a gym with treadmills and weight equipment and a tanning bed. The facility remains open to the Lynchburg community and continues to service nearly 300 members.
The tournament begins at 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 21. The event is free and open to the public.


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PICTURES: Rainy day in Wilson on Thursday
Featured Photos
On Tuesday, August 11, people gathered outside City Hall in Bethlehem to protest decreasing the City of Bethlehem's police budget and show support for police. The Back the Blue rally was organized by Tom Carroll and the Lehigh Valley Tea Party.
- Virtual Muskifest's 'Fest to Go is a wrap | PHOTOSVirtual Muskifest's 'Fest to Go is a wrap
- "Pray on MLK" event in Allentown | PHOTOSOn Saturday, August 8, Allentown participated in the nationwide "Pray on MLK" event, where churches organized prayer along streets named after Martin Luther King Jr. August 8 in the anniversary of the first street being named for King. Pastor Ian Martin of New Covenant Christian Community Church, or NC4, organized Allentown's event, calling it an act of "holy activism."
- Stony Run Winery farmer's market | PHOTOSOn Saturday, August 8, dozens of vendors gathered for Stony Run Winery's monthly farmers market in Breinigsville. Vendors sold food, produce, flowers, and handmade wares as live music from Joann and Ernie Morrell played. Families set up chairs in the shade to enjoy the weather.
- PICTURES: La Kang Thai French Cuisine opens in PalmerLa Kang, serving a fusion of Thai and French cuisines, opened April 10 at 190 S. Greenwood Ave. in Palmer Township.
- Coronavirus in Pa. and the Lehigh Valley: The Week in PhotosPHOTO GALLERY: A look at the week in the Lehigh Valley and Pennsylvania.
- NIGHTCRAWLER: Musikfest on FridayOn Friday, August 7, Musikfest continued at Garageplatz despite the rain.
- Wearing masks in the Lehigh Valley | PHOTOSPHOTO GALLERY: More people are wearing masks around the Lehigh Valley to help prevent the spread of coronavirus.


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Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
There has been some interest in the 4Jetpacks4 immersive performance here with Hamlet Au and NWN and here with Alpha Auer and NPIRL. I figured I should talk about it too. So here is what I was thinking when I made it.
Georg Jannick who has set up an impressive artist colony in second life called Caerleon asked me to do a chapter in an upcoming book on Immersion. My focus in second life is on immersion and I like to think of the movement towards this as Immersiva or as Alpha calls it Presence. The idea being to use the medium of second life to drag ones awareness away from real life for a period of time. To push second life into first life so to say. Much of what I try and do with Immersiva is centered around engaging the viewer. Using different techniques to draw ones attention into the things i make. With 4jetpacks4 I wanted to create a performance piece which would capture the viewer for at least a portion of the show.
I think full immersion is still off in the future with helmets and do dads to make it easier, but right now i can try and use other techniques to do this. Unfortunately, much of it involves trust on the opposite side of the computer. I ask people to minimize distractions for the show. If you look right now around your computer screen there are a multitude of things that can ruin immersion. For me there is a calculator beside my mouse which reminds me I have to do my taxes. Stress. I have a cat that likes to scratch the couch which is very distracting. However, I feel it is my duty to stop Loki from scratching it even though the couch is already fucked and I have given up on it. If in 4Jetpacks you are fleeing the tornado only to answer the phone then Immersion is broken. Any of these things can suck our attention away from an event in SL. Its our peripheral damn it. We need cones around our heads attached to the computer screen. Anyway, so this was the thought process behind the build.
A group of 10 avatars are brought to a science station for a tour. They were met by myself glyph Graves and Nonnatus Korhonnen (also played by Gattina Dumpling and Blued Food). We welcome them and explain that we are going to show them a revolutionary new breakthrough called reverse teleportation or "summoning". We can summon organisms from other places and have been able to study them. First of all though they had to put on a visitor pass. The visitor pass had a script inside it which allowed the tornado to pick them up. The next thing we did was to leave the group at the waiting area for 5 min as we prepared our stations for the tour. While we are gone they tend to look around and click on things. The main thing to find was a box on a shelf by a gramophone. When clicked the box fell and broke open revealing a message by Glyph Graves which pretty much said he felt it was unsafe and didn't think we had studied it all enough yet and that Bryn Oh was merely doing the tour to gain funding.
The idea was to get the group into thinking there was a back story but before they can dwell on it too much we come back. This leaves a residue of WTF. We come back and bring the group to the first area which is a wonderful build done by Glyph Graves. Glyph begins to talk about the organism shown in my machinima that takes me for a short ride. The idea of the talks by both Glyph and Nonn are to lull the participants. Relax them and give them time to cam around and see everything while also determining that the show is going to be more of a "hey look what we built" kind of show. Make them comfortable and expect a certain outcome. We move on to Nonn and he talks about his build. At the end of Nonn's talk I inform everyone that I will do a brief summoning to demonstrate how it works. And after the summoning of a cute little rain pixie we will see the grand finale which is a 10 story creature that can read our minds etc etc etc. The idea being to make the summoning of the pixie less of an event and the grand finale the real point of interest. There is no grand finale as the summoning of the rain pixie goes horribly wrong and I instead bring in a tornado. This is where the build gets a bit crazy. Each piece of the build has a number of scripts in it which are affected by the tornado. Some will be pulled off immediately, some are random, some will shake. The group of 10 visitors are then told to flee back to the waiting area and grab a jetpack to escape. Sadly there are 10 avs and only 4 jetpacks. Each group acted different, where some stood gawking at the tornado until i sucked them up while others fled or fell of railings. It was generally mayhem. On the way we teleported from stage to stage. Upon the arrival of the tornado the teleports ceased to function and everyone would have to run back to the visitor area. Fly was disabled. Each door on the way back would rise by typing "open" in chat. They would stay open for less and less time as you got closer to the waiting area creating more anxiety. Each door didn't open particularly fast so in many cases people would be plucked up by the tornado as they waited and looked back. All along the way i would slowly come behind them with the tornado tearing up the build. When they arrived back four people would get backpacks and fly off while the remaining survivors would have to watch the tornado slowly come and get them. I particularly liked this point as we would activate the gramophone to play an old surreal scratchy tune (from the beginning of Evo's machinima) while the tornado approached. I loved the atmosphere this created during the ensuing chaos.
This was my first collaborative project and while I was a bit nervous, as I am a bit of a control freak, it actually worked quite well. Nonnatus and Glyph were easy choices to create organisms as that is a focus for both of them in sl and they did fantastic jobs. Tryptofaa Sands as you know from my top 10 made the tornado. It was not made specifically for this build but he did make some nice adjustments for me which I greatly appreciated.
Now this machinima is ok.. was done before I got my spacenavigator. But the good news is that Evo Szuyuan made a better one. And here it is.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Angler Girl
This is a character from Immersiva. Angler girl was a benign robot at the theme park but when it became abandoned she was forced to find ways to replenish her battery. She did this by attaching a lightbulb on the end of a cable. The light would attract little robots to her and she would catch them, then take their battery. She gets no pleasure from this, but has develloped a will to survive despite being a robot. The characters on Immersiva all slowly evolve and add to their programming. They try to find a purpose and all in thier own way dream of love and search for a place to belong.
Angler girl
Lights the dark
In the abandoned
Mismatched robots
In salvaged parts
Come to her
Past shopping carts
In tears she catches
Those she sees
To live she needs
Their batteries
Lights the dark
In the abandoned
Mismatched robots
In salvaged parts
Come to her
Past shopping carts
In tears she catches
Those she sees
To live she needs
Their batteries
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Friday, May 8, 2009
Ars Simulacra
Ars Simulacra is a gallery run by Tayzia Abbatoir on the NMC sims. It has a nice range of works from a variety of Second Life artists and last night they had an opening. I have a thing where I like to pick a favorite when there are multiple artists. Just what I like to do, and I often ask people what their favorite one is too. A surprising amount of people don't like to say specifically which is their favorite in a group show. Picking a favorite for me forces me to look closer at each piece. Anyway, I was wandering around looking at the Madcows and a nice one by Sunn Thunders when I came across Elizabeth Tinsley. I don't think I have ever seen a piece by Elizabeth before but this one really grew on me. As you can see in the video when you walk through
the flowers it triggers laughing. There are a variety of laughs ranging from a cute little boy to someone who sounds remarkably like Homer Simpson. As I moved through the flowers I found myself smiling slightly then grinning then giggling along with the rest. Laughing is infectious and this one got me laughing with it. In many ways its the combination of elements which made this work for me.
Soror Nishi or Vroom Short make nicer flowers while Dizzy Banjo makes great sound compositions. This one is well made but its not the build which made it my favorite but the overall experience. Its just nice and fun. And nice and fun wins sometimes. If I were to make one suggestion it would be to remove the signs which tell you to walk inside it. You would lose a few people who might just walk on by without going inside, but to not know it was going to have the laughing and wandering into it would be a really fun unexpected element. Thats just me though, I like hidden surprises.
the flowers it triggers laughing. There are a variety of laughs ranging from a cute little boy to someone who sounds remarkably like Homer Simpson. As I moved through the flowers I found myself smiling slightly then grinning then giggling along with the rest. Laughing is infectious and this one got me laughing with it. In many ways its the combination of elements which made this work for me.
Soror Nishi or Vroom Short make nicer flowers while Dizzy Banjo makes great sound compositions. This one is well made but its not the build which made it my favorite but the overall experience. Its just nice and fun. And nice and fun wins sometimes. If I were to make one suggestion it would be to remove the signs which tell you to walk inside it. You would lose a few people who might just walk on by without going inside, but to not know it was going to have the laughing and wandering into it would be a really fun unexpected element. Thats just me though, I like hidden surprises.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Masterclass talk on May 11th 7pm sl time
White Lebed has taken it upon herself to revive Angelgate Gallery. Recently she created a show called Primavera which has some of the best creators in second life showing there. Here is the show... and here are some of the artists there...
and this is the website for Angelgate
which will have more info than what I give here.
Selavy Oh
Kolor Fall
Blued Food
Soror Nishi
Eddiesan Bailey
Oberon Onmura
Filthy Fluno
Strawberry Holiday
Spiral Walcher
Alzarin Goldflake
Glyph Graves
Bryn Oh
Ub Yifu
AuraKyo Insoo
Dr Debruyere
Elros Tuominen
Garnet Trilling
Solkide Auer
Suzanne Graves
Wizard Gynoid
Pixels Sideways
shellina Winkler
Yarosh Nohkan
Scarp Godenot
Xenophile Neurocam
Lippy Korobase
Talia Tokugawa
Poid Mahovlich
Madcow Cosmos
Another thing which White has done is to have people come in and talk about their work. The first talk was by the great Madcow Cosmos. And for the second talk she has asked me. So should you be interested in hearing a talk on line composition then a further talk at Immersiva sim about the design of Immersiva then come! Its quite possible my talk will be boring but that's the chance you are taking. Fortunately sl has teleport so you can bugger off if its killing you. But if i see you teleport away then i am going to write your name down on a post it note by the computer. I will then tent my fingertips and stare at your name.. planning ... planning...... Its monday the 11th at 7pm sl time.
this is the slurl to Angelgate talk
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Handsome boy models
I am so sorry. I feel partly responsible. You did do what I asked though. The moral of this machinima is don't let anyone film you unless you know what they are going to use the film for. Ok fine there is no moral to this machinima. More of a hindsight moral for Tez and the other handsome boy models.
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This pioneering site is where new journalism meets oral history. It contains fresh and archive long-form audio interviews with interesting people, largely uncut and free to the user for non-commercial use. Please also visit our extensive archive of print and photo posts at the main Generalist site here.
John "Hoppy" Hopkins – 18th June 2008
Monday, July 21. 2008
Hoppy, one of the legendary figures of the British underground of the 1960s, is someone I've wanted to interview for years. The publication of his brilliant book of black and white photos 'From The Hip' provided the hook and the occasion to do so.
(A detailed review of this book of 'lost' photos, shot from 1961 to 1966, can be found here on The Generalist main site. Worth perhaps reading this first before settling down with the interview].
Information on Hoppy in print is relatively scarce. As he puts it: 'I have walk-on parts in other people's movies, which suits me fine.' I gleaned what I could from Jonathan Green's two seminal works 'All Dressed Up: The Sixties and the Counterculture' and 'Days In The Life: Voices from the English Underground 1961-1971', Barry Miles excellent memoir 'In The Sixties' and various other memorabilia from the HQINFO archive.
This interview adds to the record a lot of new background material about Hoppy's early years and the path that led him to develop an interest in jazz and a period working for the Atomic Energy Authority, before getting involved in bohemian and underground scenes whilst becoming a successful photographer.
It concentrates on the period from his birth in 1937 to approx 1961. I think it really gives an impressionistic flavour of the mix of elements that made up the culture of the time, most of which Hoppy was involved in at one time or other.
The interview tries to hold onto a chronological sequence but there were many entertaining digressions en route and many possible story pathways. In addition, there were numerous topics to discuss about the photobook itself and the many interesting photos and characters within it. In the end, I just ran out of time.
So this is very much an hors d'œuvre, as the main course – Hoppy's seminal activities in the 1960s underground – the UFO Club, the Roundhouse, International Times, the Notting Hill Free School etc. So watch out for Part Two.
Interview, MP3 Size: 40.56MB, Length: 59:10 - CDN Link - Direct Link
Posted by John May at 11:41 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)
David Anderson – 20 May 2008
Wednesday, June 4. 2008
David was fresh back from a retrospective of his animations in Lisbon, just the latest of a string of similar events that have been staged around the world for audiences interested in his exceptional work. He won a BAFTA with his student film and has since created a perfectly-formed body of films that reflect not only his imagination and skills but also his deeply held spiritually.
I saw David's films on Channel 4 many years before meeting him. As a lover of animation I was both captivated and intrigued. These were images that stayed in my head. Rewatching them now, they have a beauty and a resonance that keeps on giving. Each are perfectly formed and realised streams of great beauty. One is constantly surprised by the visual tricks and turns, whilst being emotionally disturbed or moved or entranced by the content.
I am not sure how available these powerful animations are but if you can get hold of them, treasure them and share them with your friends.
The works we are talking about in this interview were made in the following sequence: the BAFTA-winning Dreamland Express, the nuclear-tinged Dreamless Sleep, the two collaborations with writer Russell Hoban – Deadsy and Door, available to view on YouTube - the animation-with- live-action Beauty and the Beast fable In the Time of Angels and his latest work, the exquisite Tongue of The Hidden, inspired by one of the greatest of the Sufi poets.
Hear one of Britain's best animators talking in great detail about the making of these remarkable films.
Interview, MP3 Size: 40.05MB, Length: 48:28 - CDN Link - Direct Link
Posted by John May at 10:17 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)
Grant Gee – 5 February 2008
Saturday, April 19. 2008
Grant and I first met back in the 1980s at a tv production company in London, in whose offices one afternoon, I interviewed the cyberpunk writer William Gibson while Grant filmed it. The resultant footage was never broadcast.
Since those early days, Grant has built up a sizeable reputation in the pop video world and, more recently, has made some standout full-length music documentaries which form the main subject of this interview: 'Meeting People Is Easy,' his agonising portrait of a reluctant Radiohead's world tour; 'Scott Walker: 30 Century Man', a fascinating portrait of this legendary recluse in which he appears on camera for the first time; and the shortly to be launched 'Joy Division: The Documentary' – a standout piece of work that provides the definitive portrait of this seminal band.
His work throughout is characterised by a unique flair and style, an intensely layered form of collage filmmaking that works perfectly for the subject matter. He remains incredibly modest about his achievements, happy to give the impression that he is making it up as he goes along, and media students will learn a great deal from his account of how, with no formal training, he managed to forge a career that has led him to work with Oasis, Nick Cave, Blur, Tom Waits and many other top bands and musicians around the world.
My article about the Joy Division film, based on this interview, appears in the just-published May 2008 issue of Dazed and Confused
A full account of Grant Gee's work can be found on Wikipedia.
My enthusiastic review of JOY DIVISION: THE DOCUMENTARY can be read on The Generalist. I saw one of the screenings in Britain in early December and was knocked for six.
Interview - Size: 51.76MB Length: 1:15:29 CND Link - Direct Link
Posted by John May at 20:15 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)
Nick Davies – 12 February 2008
Tuesday, February 19. 2008
Its 8pm in the evening and Nick Davies has had a long day, lecturing to journalism
students and dealing with various aspects of the firestorm which has broken out as a result of the publication of his new book 'Flat Earth News' [Chatto & Windus], a landmark investigation into the state of journalism, centred on the British 'broadsheet' papers.
Davies has an impressive journalistic cv and a unique position at The Guardian – Special Correspondent - which allows him to conduct lengthy and detailed investigations into such matters as the criminal justice system. In other words, the kind of 'old school' journalism that is going out of style.
Nick's thesis is that, due to cuts in staffing levels and the advent of 24/7 rolling news websites, journalists are now having to produce many more stories in less time – what he calls 'churnalism' – meaning there is less checking of facts and more reliance on wire stories and pr releases. As a result, untruths blossom, as in the Millennium bug
and weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
This is a passionate and deeply felt book which has raised many hackles. You can find out more about Nick Davies and the ongoing controversy on the main Generalist site.
Interview, MP3 Size: 33.5MB, Length: 48:28 - CDN Link - Direct Link
Posted by John May at 09:28 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)
ARCHIVE: JEFF NUTTALL - 4th November 1985
Sunday, December 23. 2007
Photo Credit: Jeff Nuttall in the Hancock Room at the Chelsea Arts Club, 4th November 1985. Photo by Ed Barber. Copyright reserved.
Back in August 2005 I wrote up for The Generalist my memories of my two encounters with Jeff Nuttall – the poet/playwright/artist/ musician who, as time has gone on, can now be seen as a key figure of the British counter-culture of the 1960s.
In a sense the Audio Generalist began with Jeff Nuttall. When he died in January 2004, at the age of 70, his friend and comrade Mike Horowitz [see previous interview] – with his usual commitment, energy and passion – put together 'Jeff Nuttall's Wake on Paper: a keepsake anthology of the life, work and play of a Polymath Extraordinaire' and 'Jeff Nuttall's Wake on CD', which includes a wide range of Jeff's jazz cornet-playing, singing and spoken word communication.
Both are still available here [http://www.poetryolympics.com/jeffnuttall.html]
Part of the spoken word content was an extract from this interview,
which is now made available here - in full - for the very first time.
Jeff was the first 'real artist' I ever met, when I was about 19 in Worthing. We met again in 1985, when I was 35 and he was 52, in the (Tony) Hancock Room (of all places) in the Chelsea Arts Club – and had a conversation (centred round his best-known work - the seminal 'Bomb Culture') which has a strength and vision about it
that deserves a wider audience.
A full account of the above can be found on The Generalist's main site at Jeff Nuttall: Bomb Culture and Beyond
Interview #1 - Size: 13.03MB Length: 49:00 CND Link - Direct Link
Posted by John May at 21:03 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)
Michael Horovitz – 25th October 2007
Wednesday, November 21. 2007
It was a rather overcast, oppressive and edgy autumn afternoon in Ladbroke Grove, My ring on the bell of the flat where Mike has lived for many years, woke him from a nap. He let me in and led me on a short pathway past cascading oceanic waves of archive material heaped willy-nilly, down some short steps into a tiny kitchen where we sat and had tea and talked round the formica table, crammed up together for more than one intensive hour.
The interview is in two parts; the first is a wonderful recounting of Mike's wartime childhood experiences where he first read and wrote poems, sang and learnt to perform. He tells of his Blakean scholarship years in Oxford, the early years of hitchhiking round Britain performing jazz and poetry events, the nascent 'beat movement' in Britain. He recalls the seminal poetry event at the Albert Hall he helped organise ( the grandly titled 'The First International Poetry Incarnation', held on 11th June 1965, indelibly recorded in the film 'Wholly Communion') and the long and continuing history of his journal New Departures, the formation of the Poetry Olympics and his involvement and encouragement of poets from many cultures.
Samuel Beckett, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Bruce, Dudley Moore, Stan Tracey, Spike Hawkins, Adrian Mitchell, Christopher Logue, Kathleen Raine and Linton Kwesi Johnson are just some of the people fondly recalled for their roles in shaping the post-war poetic history of Britain and beyond.
The second part is dedicated to Michael's major work 'A New Waste Land' – the product of ten years effort, described in more detail on our main site here
This long-form illustrated poem – which combines many moods, styles and influences – rants about the Labour Party's betrayal of its roots and beliefs and the catastrophic effects of the Blair/Bush and Clinton foreign policies, and rails against the New Philistinism and extremist fundamentalism. This is backed up by a giant addendum to the main work, which provides an extensive collection of his research relating to the subjects and themes in the poem.
The work's positive and visionary aspect comes from the repeated discursions throughout the poem into the thoughts, lives, ideas, images and actions of a kind of personal 'heavenly host' of artistic spirits, who continue to offer us succour, support and inspiration in these benighted times.
Horovitz explains the strength and inspiration he draws from T.S. Eliot's original 'The Waste Land', explains its prescience and deplores the fact that, since the poem's first publication in 1922, the barbarism in the world seems to have got worse. He hopes his book will find its place in the global movement searching for the authentic New Jerusalems.
For more information, read previous postings on the main Generalist site:
The Poetry Olympics Twenty05 - Wholly Communion Renewed
For more on T.S.Eliot and 'The Waste Land' see:
William Burroughs & T.S. Eliot Fighting in the Captain's Tower
A Meeting with Burroughs At The Chelsea
Interview #1 - Size: 37.42MB Length: 54:34 CND Link - Direct Link
Interview #2 - Size: 22.20MB Length: 23:58 CND Link - Direct Link
Posted by John May at 12:52 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)
ARCHIVE: AL GORE, NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER - 17th May 1992
Monday, October 22. 2007
This a highly relevant two-part interview, recorded more than 15 years ago, on the eve of the Rio Earth Summit. It has an interesting resonance given what has happened since.
Gore was in London on the occasion of the publication of his book 'Earth in the Balance' in which many of the issues that feed into 'An Inconvenient Truth' were first outlined. It confirms Gore's long-term and deeply-held views on the environment.
The first tape was recorded during a meal at a restaurant in Covent Garden; the second tape, in the back of a limo speeding towards Gatwick Airport.
To read an article that I made from this interview and which explains more of the background to the interview: see the following entries on The Generalist's main site.
'I Bought Al Gore Lunch: Real As Rain' (Posted 26th Feb 2006)
+ 'Gore Nobel News' (Posted 18th October 2007)
See also the subsequent post 'Al Gore 2: An Inconvenient Truth' (Same date).
Interview #1 - Size: 22.56MB Length: 40:32 CND Link - Direct Link
Interview #2 - Size: 23.57MB Length: 40:44 CND Link - Direct Link
Posted by John May at 10:30 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)
ARCHIVE: Ryszard Kapuscinski - 9th August 1984/3rd April 1986
Monday, October 22. 2007
Ryszard Kapuscinski, who died in January in Warsaw at the age of 74, is now widely recognised as one of the greatest foreign correspondents of our time.
Some measure of his importance can be gained from the fact that, in April this year, a special tribute was held in his memory by the international writer's group PEN in New York, featuring Salman Rushdie amongst many other distinguished authors.
The literature for the occasion described him as follows: 'a visionary journalist and world-besotted fabulist, and one of the great travellers of the 20th century (true heir to his hero and subject of his last book, Travels with Herodotus). Kapuscinski was a living link between Bruno Schulz and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, with whom he was still team-teaching classes to young Latin American journalists only a few years back. Above all, he was a dear, sweet man – brave, kind, and fiercely clear-seeing.'
The Generalist is proud to present the two interviews I conducted with him the 1984 one being, to my knowledge, the first interview he ever gave in Britain on the publication of 'The Emperor.' Both can now form part of the historical record and are available to biographers, scholars, readers and listeners for free.
There are marked contrasts between the two: the first was conducted when he was virtually unknown to English readers. His voice is quiet and intense and it is clear that he is concentrating hard on his English to try and clearly explain himself. By the second, he has become famous and celebrated and is confident and much more outgoing.
I was fortunate to develop a close friendship with Ryszard which is documented alongside a through review of his life and work on The Generalist's main site here. I hope the two sites together form a suitable tribute to this remarkable man.
Interview #1 - 9th August 1984, MP3 Size: 32.4MB, Length: 01:01:09 - CDN Link - Direct Link
Interview #2 - 3rd April 1986, MP3 Size: 34.9MB, Length: 01:05:59 - CDN Link - Direct Link
Posted by John May at 00:19
Defined tags for this entry: 1984, 1986, ryszard kapuscinski
Michael Gray - 25th July 2007
Friday, August 10. 2007
Michael Gray is best known as the author of 'Song and Dance Man' the first ever book-length critical study of Bob Dylan's work, published originally in 1972. Over the years it has grown and developed to the point where 'Song and Dance Man III', published in 2000 and reprinted five times in the years since, is now 918pp long including the index.
Not content with this mountainous achievement, Gray has also authored the equally monumental 'The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia', a treasure trove of facts, opinions and insights, and has now turned his considerable talents to a fascinating and detailed biography of the blues singer Blind Willie McTell, best known most as the composer of 'Statesboro Blues', a song that afforded The Allman Brothers Band a million-selling record.
Combining extensive and unparalleled genealogical research into McTell's origins (much of it conducted by his wife food writer Sarah Beattie) with a number of long trips to the Southern states, Gray has revolutionised our understanding of Blind Willie about whom precious little was previously known. In addition, he sets McTell in his historical and social context and brings to life the prejudice and barbarity that still existed in the Southern states during his lifetime.
Michael Gray, in person and in print, has a unique style very much his own, as you will hear on this hour-long interview, recorded at the office of his publishers in Soho Square.
'Hand Me My Travellin' Shoes: In Search of Blind Willie McTell' is published by Bloomsbury (£25.00)
More details and links to be found on The Generalist's main site.
Interview, MP3 Size: 33.5MB, Length: 01:03:16 - CDN Link - Direct Link
Posted by John May at 10:57
Defined tags for this entry: 2007, Blind Willie McTell, Bob Dylan, Michael Gray
Marybeth Hamilton - 18th July 2007
Monday, July 30. 2007
Californian-born Marybeth Hamilton teaches American History at Birkbeck College, University of London and we're in her office there one recent Wednesday afternoon talking about her fascinating new book 'In Search of the Blues: Black Voices, White Visions.'
What began as a project about Little Richard turned into an examination of the myth of the Delta Blues - that blues originated in the Delta and that the sound typified by Robert Johnson, Skip James et al is the real 'uncorrupted' primary blues music. Such assertions have found their way into most of the major blues histories and are by and large accepted as gospel truth.
Marybeth Hamilton's book makes these comfortable certainties hard to sustain. In clear and measured tones, with a clarity of thought and a depth of research, she takes us in the footsteps of the white song hunters and record collectors who went in search of uncorrupted Afro-American voices, carrying their prejudices with them.
The myth of the Delta Blues, she argues, arose in the early 1960s in the mind of a virtually destitute occult eccentric outsider James McKune whose legendary record collection of just 300 carefully selected '78s that he kept under his bed inspired a group of aficionados and fellow collectors called the Blues Mafia.
This is a real gem of an interview with great sound quality (but with strange noises off from time to time which add to the atmosphere somehow). For deep bluesologists and blues newbies alike.
In Search of the Blues is published by Jonathan Cape [£12.99]
Interview, MP3 Size: 49.1MB, Length: 01:32:42 - CDN Link - Direct Link
Jonathon Green - 5th July 2007
Thursday, July 19. 2007
Expect the unexpected. When I arrive at Jonathon Green's London flat for our 2pm interview appointment it is to find that taping is virtually impossible due to the fact that two men with angle grinders are cutting up a set of large metal water tanks on the roof of the apartment block opposite – and making a searing din in the process. We were both flummoxed as to what to do but decided to sit it out. Three hours later, after several coffees and much catching up with each other, the grinders clocked off at 5pm. We had outlasted them and were then able to capture the following bravura interview.
Jonathon is one of the world's leading lexicographers of slang – a subject which is of endless fascination. Over the last 25 years, he has published numerous dictionaries and other related books on the subject but his meisterwork is the yet-to-be published, as-yet-untitled, 3-volume slang dictionary which will be the most detailed book of its kind ever published.
What makes it so special is not only it's huge extent - it will contain some 100,000 headwords, accompanied and underpinned by more than half a million citations.
He and his partner Susie Ford have tried to supply for each word or phrase, and for each alternative meaning of that word or phrase, a citation in every decade from the word's first use to the present day.
To see an example of their work - that Jonathon has given exclusively to The Generalist - go to our main site here:
Jonathon is hopeful that his dictionary will be published in 2009. It will also be available on-line and he and Susie will continue to update it ad infinitum. Dictionaries in the digital age are never completed but always evolving.
Mention is made throughout the interview of Jonathon's book 'Chasing the Sun: Dictionary Makers and the Dictionaries They Made.' [Jonathon Cape 1996/Pimlico 1997]. The full history of all the main characters mentioned in the interview can be found there.
Interview, MP3 Size: 30.0MB, Length: 56:37 - CDN Link - Direct Link
Posted by John May at 13:43
Defined tags for this entry: 2007, jonathon green
Dazed Digital 50
Tuesday, June 19. 2007
Dazed & Confused magazine has selected this site as one of the Dazed Digital 50 - their pick of the best of the web.
Readers are invited to rate the sites and the winners will be announced in a future issue.
You can vote for us here.
Posted by John May at 15:43 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)
Ramblin' Jack Elliott - 12th February 2005
Tuesday, June 19. 2007
Upstairs at the Lansdown Arms, Lewes 22 February 2005
Photo: Mick Hawksworth
Recorded at the Thistle Hotel, Barbican, London. It was a bitterly cold day and Jack had just flown into town with his daughter for a short but intense British tour and to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Radio 2 Folk Awards. I was interviewing him for a piece in The Telegraph. We sat at a small table in the hotel restaurant and Jack regaled me with stories and songs. About Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. About sailing ships, cowboy poets and rodeo clowns. About Jack Kerouac and adventures in Ireland. Settle back and enjoy.
Interview, MP3 Size: 37.0MB, Length: 01:09:59 - CDN Link - Direct Link
Full text of Telegraph article here
The full story behind this interview and my encounter with Jack can be found here:
Read about Aiyana Elliott's documentary 'The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack' in 'Legend of Folk: Jack and Aiyana Elliott Ramble On' by Pam Grady.
Posted by John May at 15:42 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)
Defined tags for this entry: 2007, bob dylan, jack elliott
Allen Toussaint - 15th June 2007
Tuesday, June 19. 2007
Photo: Alan Toussaint by Grant Scott. An award-winning portrait photographer, Grant Scott is creating a photographic archive of performers appearing at the Brighton Dome over the course of one year. 'The Dome Sessions' project will culminate with a major exhibition held at Brighton Dome at the end of 2007. To see more of Grant Scott's work visit grantscott.com
It was a rare privilege and opportunity to meet one of New Orleans most important musicians when Allen Toussaint came to play a concert at the Brighton Dome, on a double-header with the New Orleans Preservation Band.
Throughout a long and sustained creative career as a writer, arranger, producer and pianist, he has known and worked with remarkable figures in many areas of New Orleans music including Fats Domino, Dr John, Professor Longhair, Lee Dorsey and The Meters, who were the house band at his studio for many years. His contribution to the city's music was recognised in 1998 when he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame.
His life and work are deeply grounded in the Crescent City and it has taken Hurricane Katrina to dislodge him to New York City for a period, while he waits for his house to be rebuilt.
At the age of 69, his energy and enthusiasms of music remains undimmed. Next month he will return to Britain as part of a European tour with Elvis Costello, playing material from their excellent 2006 collaboration 'The River in Reverse'.
He is looking immaculate with an extremely stylish suit and some fine and very natty black sandals with white socks. His manner is extremely polite and reserved.
This recording illustrates the difficulty of this on-the-run audio journalism – and its unexpected rewards. We began our conversation in the back stalls of the virtually empty Dome and had just got settled and working our way into a conversation when there was a most unexpected interruption of a celestial kind (I won't spoil the surprise).
There is an abrupt transition and the conversation picks up. In between we had walked down into the backstage labyrinth of the Dome and found his dressing room. The air conditioning is so loud that we decamp across the hall into a large cupboard of a room with big mirrors with bulbs round it – a makeup room of sorts. We sit there in front of the mirror and that is where we get in deep to some serious musical conversation. You can hear his fingers constantly moving on the table as he demonstrates the shapes and styles of certain musical chords. There is magic in the air – and maybe the ghost of Professor Longhair.
Interview, MP3 Size: 18.0MB, Length: 34:08 - CDN Link - Direct Link
A great conversation with Harry Shearer, best known as Derek Smalls of Spinal Tap, on Le Show, Shearer's weekly syndicated public radio programme In Sept 2004
New York Public Radio WNYC's Soundcheck. (September 2005)
Costello, Toussaint Team for New Orleans CD
See THE GENERALIST for more information
Posted by John May at 15:41 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)
Defined tags for this entry: 2007, allen toussaint, new orleans
Jon Savage - 1st June 2007
Saturday, June 2. 2007
We're in a small conference room with smoked glass walls in the office of the publishers Chatto & Windus, on the second floor of Random House publishers on Horseferry Road, London. Jon comes in looking smart as button and right from the off the conversation flows.
Jon is one our best music and culture writers, who cut his teeth on Sounds and Melody Maker in the 1970s and The Face in the 1980s and penned the single best account of the punk period in his wonderful book 'England's Dreaming', for which he is perhaps best known.
Since then he has continued to write prolifically for the mainstream papers and music magazines, to compile some excellent cd collections and produce documentaries, while writing another major work – 'Teenage: The Creation of Youth 1875-1945' – that has just been published and is the major focus of our interview.
We begin with Jon's own teenage years and trace the whole genesis of the project, reflecting on the punk years in the process. We examine the book in detail, which runs from the invention of the concept of adolescence by one of America's first famous psychiatrists to the invention of the teenager as the ultimate consumer in the late 1940s – a fascinating journey.
In addition, Jon has much to say about Nick Hornby and Tony Blair, the digital revolution, why music shouldn't be free, and the death of Nirvana. Never less than fascinating, hear one of the sharpest minds around in full flow.
See The Generalist's main site for more information and links on Jon Savage.
Posted by John May at 18:30 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)
Defined tags for this entry: 2007, jon savage, melody maker, nirvana, punk, sounds, teenage, the face
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BENEFITING: National Christian Charitable Foundation, Wheeler Mission and Outreach Inc.
ORGANIZER: Jim
EVENT: Strength in Our Streets
Jim Beebe wrote -
CrossFit boxes from all over Indiana and surrounding states are invited to compete in this Central Indiana Affiliate Challenge.
Watch the video (to the left) to find out about the first competition and for registration instructions.
NOTE: Each individual on your team will need to register seperately. Once you create your team, you can "invite team members" or they can simply choose to join your official team.
Questions? @StrengthNRSts or email us at email@example.com or call 317-536-4855
The Cause:
There are more than 1,600 homeless men, women, and children on any given night right here in central Indiana. These are our neighbors. They are classmates of our kids. They are people who need our help. Together, we can help change lives. On June 28, join us at CrossFit IndyShield--where the community will come together to take a stand for our homeless neighbors. Will you help us to "Strength in Our Streets?"
The Competition:
CrossFit IndyShield and the Indianapolis Department of Public Safety (Fire and Police) will be hosting a one day CrossFit challenge called "Strength In Our Streets", an open event to all affiliates. ALL proceeds earned will benefit Outreach, Inc. and Wheeler Mission Ministries, two local Indianapolis charities for the homeless. (Funds managed by National Christian Foundation)
IndyShield is located at the IMPD Training Center - 901 N. Post Rd. Indianapolis, IN 46219
This event is on Saturday, June 28, 2014, and will include 10 member co-ed teams (5 men, 5 women) (Max = 24 teams), each competing in various workouts to be judged and scored based on the standards set by local CrossFit gym owners. Each team is guaranteed a significant amount of workout time. A component of the competition will be fundraising to help the homeless. This will be unlike any CrossFit competition you have ever seen!
The Indianapolis Department of Public Safety is standing behind this event, and will show their support of our community's homeless by incorporating movements during select workouts that will honor current and fallen fire fighters and police officers.
Team Stipulations:
• 10 people per team (5 men, 5 women)
• Must be able to lift 50 pounds to the shoulder
The Fundraising:
There is no registration fee for this event. Instead, there is a minimum fundraising amount of $75/person. All fundraising is done through this fun and easy-to use website before the event, so there's also no collecting money for you! But don't stop there, because the first round of competition is, indeed the fundraising, so the more you raise, the more points you'll get before you even do the first workout!
All donations are tax-deductable. A receipt will be emailed to you from CrowdRise. All funds will be held and distributed by National Christian Foundation, and donations will be equally split between Wheeler Mission and Outreach Inc. to be directly used to help our community's homeless.
- Checks can be made out to National Christian Foundation. Include a note, "Strength in Our Streets".
- If you receive offline donations (checks or cash), please adjust your online page appropriately in the "manage my team" tab. -> "toolkit" -> "manage offline donations".
Start your team today!
Questions? @StrengthNRSts or email us at email@example.com or call 317-536-4855


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Kurt Nimmo
October 23, 2009
Chris Matthews, Democrat operative and former Carter speechwriter, and Mark Potok, director of the fear-mongering Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project, ganged up on Stewart Rhodes of the Oath Keepers the other day on MSNBC.
Out of the gate, Matthews tried to portray Rhodes as a gun nut and a rightwing extremist. He characterized Oath Keepers as a "vigilante group" and attempted to connect the organization to the "birthers" and the shooting at the Holocaust museum in Washington by a deranged white supremacist.
Matthews standard tactic is to put words in the mouths of the guests he is assigned to malign and discredit and then allow them a few seconds to respond and defend themselves before interrupting and moving on to the next accusation disguised as a question.
Matthews, a former police officer with the United States Capitol Police, has the interview finesse of a bullying cop interrogator. He accused Rhodes and the Oath Keepers of stockpiling weapons to be used in a plot to attack the federal government.
Rhodes emphatically stated that the Oath Keepers are not organizing people to engage in armed rebellion against the government. Oath Keepers are asking police officers and military personnel to disobey orders that violate the Constitution.
Matthews accused Rhodes and the Oath Keepers of harboring paranoid fantasies about foreign troops on U.S. soil.
In fact, foreign troops have conducted training exercises and other functions with the U.S. government within the United States.
In July, the FEMA website admitted the presence of foreign troops inside the country when it posted a factsheet about National Level Exercise 2009 (NLE 09). The NLE 09 exercise focused "on terrorism prevention and protection, as opposed to incident response and recovery" and included the participation of troops from Australia, Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom. The NLE 09 "scenario enables participating senior officials to focus on issues related to preventing terrorist events domestically and protecting U.S. critical infrastructure," according to the factsheet.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, armed Mexican troops were brought into the United States under cover of providing aid to the victims.
In November, 2005, Congressman Ron Paul appeared on the Alex Jones Show and expressed concern that foreign troops are mobilizing outside and inside America to be used as assets in a martial law takeover. "It's a horrible precedent and it's all part of the NAFTA scheme and globalization and world government," Paul told Jones.
Matthews also dismissed the fact there are concentration camps in the United States. He shares this task with Glenn Beck and Popular Mechanics.
In January, HR 645 was introduced in the House. The bill would authorize the Department of Homeland Security to set up a network camp facilities located on military bases to be used to intern U.S. citizens in the event of a national emergency.
"Beginning in 1999, the government has entered into a series of single-bid contracts with Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) to build detention camps at undisclosed locations within the United States. The government has also contracted with several companies to build thousands of railcars, some reportedly equipped with shackles, ostensibly to transport detainees," write Dan Hamburg, a former former Democratic Party Congressman and Green Party Gubernatorial candidate from California, and Lewis Seiler for The San Francisco Chronicle.
The KBR camps are part of a Homeland Security plan called Endgame, which sets as its goal the removal of "all removable aliens" and "potential terrorists."
The government has planned to intern American citizens for some time. Readiness Exercise 1984 (REX-84) is an emergency response program involving the implementation of martial law, the movement of civilian populations and the arrest and detainment of segments of the population. A rehearsal of the program was carried out April 5-13, 1984. It was led by FEMA and the Department of Defense and involved the coordination of 34 other federal departments and agencies.
More recently, the Military Commissions Act was passed by Congress. It permits the government to imprison indefinitely individuals the president deems "enemy combatants." It also denies non-military tribunal judicial review of detainment.
It's too bad Matthews did not give Stewart Rhodes a chance to mention any of this.
Mark Potok of the SPLC said the Oath Keepers is a group "driven by conspiracy theories… very much like the militia conspiracy theories."
For Potok and the fear-mongering cottage industry known as the SPLC, "militia" is a codeword for white supremacist racism. It also raises the specter of the government operative and patsy Timothy McVeigh and the OK City bombing. It relives the government and corporate media myth of a terrorist militia movement, a myth rekindled recently by the MIAC and DHS reports on "rightwing" terrorism.
As to be expected, Matthews provided scant time for Stewart Rhodes to make his case. But then MSNBC, owned by one of the largest terrorist organizations on the planet — the death merchant General Electric — is not interested in providing a forum for Rhodes and the Oath Keepers. It is about propaganda and fear. It is about portraying constitutionalists as dangerous domestic terrorists.
MSNBC is the "liberal" side of the New World Order's propaganda machine. Chris Matthews is a prized and handsomely paid operative tasked with slandering and mischaracterizing patriotic Americans opposed to a renegade and unconstitutional federal government.
This article was posted: Friday, October 23, 2009 at 3:25 am


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Everything you need to know about ATM Online
A live casino online is a portal that allows players to participate in a game that is being run by a live dealer. This first became available in 2006. But, with the modern technology used today, this type of live dealer casino play is far more enjoyable. It is done through streaming technology.
The live dealer is the only person that the player will see when participating in a live casino online game. The live dealer has been trained to run the particular game that they are looking after. Although the player can see the dealer, the dealer cannot look at the players.
A trustworthy live dealer online is found at casinos that offer this type of gameplay. Players should only choose to participate in live casino play at casinos that have the proper licensing. These licensed casinos are mandated by the providers of the license and have to follow the rules applicable to live casino play.
Anyone that is going to play casino games online for money, including live casino play, should have a budget for this. If they donít, it is easy to spend too much money on this form of entertainment. By setting a specific amount to play with, it helps the casino player to stay within their financial means.


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Report No AR-15 involved; shotgun, 2 handguns
Ben Brumfield
September 16, 2013
It has been called the most popular rifle in America, and it briefly returned to the spotlight after Monday's shooting at the Navy Yard: the AR-15.
A U.S. law enforcement official said Monday that gunman Aaron Alexis unleashed a barrage of bullets using an AR-15, a rifle and a semi-automatic handgun. Authorities believed the AR-15 was used for most of the shooting, the official said. The news prompted Sen. Dianne Feinstein, one of the strongest proponents of a ban on assault weapons like the AR-15, to issue a statement the same day asking, "When will enough be enough?"
However, federal law enforcement sources told CNN Tuesday that authorities have recovered three weapons from the scene of the mass shooting, including one — a shotgun — that investigators believe Alexis brought in to the compound. The other two weapons, which sources say were handguns, may have been taken from guards at the Navy complex.
The sources, who have detailed knowledge of the investigation, cautioned that initial information that an AR-15 was used in the shootings may have been incorrect. It is believed that Alexis had rented an AR-15, but returned it before Monday morning's shootings. Authorities are still investigating precisely how many weapons Alexis had access to and when.
The Rest…HERE


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MSNBC's Thomas Roberts reports on a train derailment in Baltimore County, MD., that sparked a huge fire.
A huge fire outside Baltimore, triggered by the collision of a freight train carrying chemicals and a trash truck, raged for 10 hours before being brought under control, officials said early Wednesday.
A dark, thick plume of smoke could be seen for miles after two of 15 derailed cars from a CSX-owned train caught fire.
The blazing cars were carrying terephthalic acid and fluoroacetic acid, which Baltimore County Fire Chief John Hohman said are not toxic inhalants. However, residents were encouraged to avoid excessive exposure to the smoke.
Patrick Semansky / AP
A fire burns at the site of a CSX freight train derailment Tuesday in White Marsh, Md.
The only person injured in the accident was the driver of the truck, John J. Alban, Jr., 50, who is in serious but stable condition, Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz told NBC affiliate WBAL.
Two CSX employees on the train were not injured, according to authorities.
Related: Photos from the crash site
The fire, which began at about 2 p.m. Tuesday, was finally declared to be under control at 11:41 p.m. according to Capt. Bruce Schultz of the Baltimore County Office of the Fire Marshal. He said officers were maintaining a fire watch to monitor any flare-ups or hot spots.
The blast could be felt for miles, and many area residents said they initially thought they were experiencing an earthquake. Witnesses told WBAL that windows were blown out from nearby homes and businesses.
Rosedale resident Elaine Smith told WBAL she felt an explosion. "I really was scared," she said. "I've never seen a cloud like that in my life."
The crash occurred in a mostly industrial section of Rosedale along U.S. 40, in the 7500 block of Lake Drive.
The train was moving southbound when it collided with a waste-hauling truck. The train continued moving for several hundred feet before 15 cars derailed. An explosion quickly followed, sending a huge cloud of black smoke into the air.
Alban is a retired firefighter with the Baltimore County Fire Department, as well as a volunteer at the Hyde Park Volunteer Fire Co, fire officials told reporters.
A National Transportation Safety Board team, led by Robert Sumwalt, will investigate the derailment.
NBC News' Jay Blackman contributed to this report.
This story was originally published on Wed May 29, 2013 6:30 AM EDT