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Introduction to the XTZ Room Analyzer II Pro
We've all heard the adage a dozen times: your room is far more important to the sound that you get out of your system than the system itself. While this statement may very well be true, the process of tackling "your room" is far more difficult than deciding what type of receiver or speaker wire you should buy. Welcome to the world of acoustics: incredibly complicated and undoubtedly intimidating. The XTZ Room Analyzer may just be the thing to help get you into this world a little easier.
XTZ might not be a familiar name in the US. The company is based in Sweden and makes a full complement of audio equipment, from amplifiers to speakers and subwoofers. Though they have a limited presence in the United States, the Room Analyzer has quite a few fans, so we were interested in taking a look.
Anyone who has set up a receiver in the last several years has addressed room acoustics, whether they knew it or not. Those little pyramid things you plug into your receiver, that cause weird sounds chirping sounds that may concern your partner or friends that your listening tastes have gone severely off the rails? Those are test tones…and that pyramid thing is a microphone. The brains of your receiver is playing sounds, interpreting how your room is affecting those sounds, and implementing changes to the signals its playing to try and correct for what your room is doing. That's room acoustics!
For those interested in taking the next step, the XTZ Room Analyzer may be your gateway drug. The RA is an all in one kit that contains everything you need to begin gathering your own acoustical data – the very same data that Audyssey is collecting – and use it to truly analyze the acoustics in your room. With very powerful software, and almost limitless possibilities, the XTZ RA can help you move beyond auto-calibration, and help you not only understand what systems like Audyssey are doing, but also help you make changes to your room that will improve your sound far beyond what room correction software is capable of providing.
- Design: Room Analyzer, Real Time Analyzer, Frequency response measurement, Reverberation time/Spectrogram, SPL – Full frequency measurement, Advanced SPL Peak and average meter, Tone generator Included components
- Microphone Tolerance: ± 1 dB
- USB Microphone Preamplifier Included
- XLR and RCA Connectors
- Aluminum Carry Case
- SECRETS Tags: XTZ, Analyzer, Audio
Design of the XTZ Room Analyzer II Pro
XTZ was kind enough to send both Tyler and I XTZ Room Analyzer II Pro kits. What's inside the box is actually nothing ground breaking: DIY folks out there with an interest in room acoustics have been cobbling together set-ups similar to this for some time making use of free software like Room EQ Wizard (http://www.hometheatershack.com/roomeq/). In the Room Analyzer Kit, XTZ has simply done the work for you, providing all of the hardware you need to get started, paired with a slick and highly capable software package.
The XTZ Room Analyzer comes in two flavors: a basic and a pro kit. Tyler and I were sent the Pro kit, which has a higher quality pre-amp and microphone, as well as a somewhat more extensive software package. More details on differences between the two can be found on the XTZ website.
Upon unpacking the box I was greeted with a sleek silver carrying embossed with a small XTZ logo that houses all of the components.
Inside this case you'll find a microphone, a USB pre-amp, a small microphone stand and all of the required cabling including several balanced audio cables and a Y-splitter allowing you to input a stereo signal into your system. The microphone that is included is not calibrated. XTZ informs us that the included microphone is accurate to +/1 1dB across the entire frequency band with a generic calibration file. While this is fairly accurate, we both feel that for the price, XTZ should include a calibrated mic.
There is no software included, only a manual on a USB thumb drive; the most recent version of the software is downloadable at the XTZ website. Unfortunately a serial number is required for download. This means that you can't experiment with the software unless you actually buy the kit. Other home theater calibration software, such as CalMan from Spectracal for video calibrations, allows users to download their software to play with, instead requiring a license activation to allow the software to interact with equipment; this would be a nice feature for XTZ to consider in the future.
Getting up and running with the RA is fairly straight forward. Everything is labeled and the nature of balanced audio cables means you can't really plug something in where it doesn't belong. Still I found it helpful to load up the PDF of the manual to make sure everything was in the right place.
I attached the RCA splitter to the input on the front of my Integra 80.2 Processor, attached everything to the pre-amp, then connected the pre-amp to the USB input of my computer.
While the connection is made to your stereo input, the test tones played for the L/R channels are identical. Tyler's setup was nearly identical to mine, connecting the RCA splitter to either the front panel stereo input of his Integra DHC-9.9 Processor or to the multi-channel analog input on the back panel to gather measurements for his surround channels.
From there it was time to fire up the software and roll up the sleeves.
XTZ Room Analyzer II Pro In Use
If you are a new to acoustics and acoustical data, the first time you sit in front of the RA software it can be a bit daunting. There are no "wizards" or guided means through which one can work through the various data collection screens. Unfortunately the manual is little help here. We both found the included documentation ambiguous at best, and at its worst downright confusing. Creating separate manuals for the Basic and Pro versions of the kit would be an easy first step to alleviating this problem. While there are plenty of resources around the web to get you started, a more competent manual, or some sort of assisted data collection wizard, would be a welcome addition to the package.
Fortunately, the software has a fairly simple user interface, which mitigates somewhat the poor instructions. The software GUI has been well organized and does not resort to burying features/functions within sub-menus. Everything is easy to find with just a few short clicks. To keep things simple, we'll work through the software functions in the order they appear in the software tabs as well as the order that XTZ recommends for workflow.
XTZ Room Analyzer Pro II On the Bench
The "Room Analyzer" is the first tab in the software and the recommended starting point for your initial analysis. Basically what the XTZ will do here is to gather the frequency response of your room from 16Hz-250Hz, allowing you to see how your room is affecting individual frequencies across a set volume level: the acoustical properties of a room (dimensions, furniture, materials, etc) are capable of amplifying some frequencies while lessening others. In a perfect scenario, we would want flat room response so we are hearing material as it was recorded.
The frequency response data can be collected at either at a single microphone position or averaged over three distinct positions: your primary seating/listening position and two positions to the side. Following the manuals instructions (with a great amount of difficulty) we attempted to place the microphone at ear level. Unfortunately the included microphone stand isn't really all that useful for this task – it's a small tripod that only is capable of elevating the microphone a few inches off of where you place it. If you have access to a basic microphone stand, it will make the task of placing the microphone much easier. If not – basic stands are available on Amazon at very reasonable prices and would be a nice addition to the kit.
While we were able to tease out from the manual the correct height the microphone should be at, the manual makes no recommendations for orientation. According to our conversations with XTZ, the included microphone is directional above 5kHz, so for this measurement pointing the microphone towards the ceiling would be the preferred option. There are various selectable options for data collection, which effect things like how the microphone samples the sound, and how it is smoothed. A glossary is provided in the manual that explains most of these options.
The first thing we did was set the volume level on our receiver. This is done using a level meter seen on the upper right portion of the XTZ software. Pressing the test button results in white noise through the speakers and the volume level can then be adjusted until the sound level indicates sufficient volume (and conveniently turns green). From there we were ready to measure the room.
Clicking the measure button results in a sweeping tones being played, from low to high, out of your main L/R speakers (the test tones are identical, but the connection we made was via the stereo input). The software walks you through this data collection: if you've opted to collect data at more than one location, it'll tell you when it is done and to move the microphone to a different position. Once the measurements are complete, the software presents you with the calculated response of your room plus the main modes (frequencies where there is significant amplification or attenuation). The data can be viewed graphically in various ways, though the software does indicate in text form a summary of the key data. The modes can be used to program a stand-alone parametric equalizer or into a receiver/processor with parametric EQ, such as the one found in the recently reviewed Classe SSP-800.
You can see from the above response curve for Tyler's room that there is a pretty severe roll off below 30Hz for his measured positions. Part of this could be to blame on the positions of his speakers/subwoofer but it could also just be due to the location of his seating position. Take a look at the below measurement taken after Tyler moved his seating position about 18 inches further back:
That's a pretty significant overall improvement in bass response, and the only thing that changed was the seating position. You can easily find the best location for your seating by simply re-running the room analysis from multiple different positions until you find the best overall frequency response.
RTA: Real time analysis-
The Real Time Analysis feature does pretty much what it says it'll do: allow you to view data collection in a real time fashion so you can monitor the effect changes you are making have on the room response. This feature is excellent in assisting you in choosing the best location for your speakers.
Collecting data with the RTA function is fairly similar to collecting data using the Room Analyzer. The only difference here is that test tones will continue to play.
We again set-up the microphone, as recommended by the instructions, at ear height in the primary listening position. This time, however, the instructions tell us to point the microphone at the speaker and set the microphone response to "fast". The software allows you to set the scale of the real-time graph. We opted for an 80dB scale top with a 50dB scale range, which allowed for easier reading of the bars. Turning the laptop screen so that we could see it from the equipment rack, we could them move the speaker and observe the position that gave the best overall room response.
Tyler used the multi-channel analog inputs on his Integra pre-pro, which allowed him to optimize a single speaker at a time (and also bypassed all EQ/Audyssey settings). If your receiver/pre-pro lacks a dedicated multi-channel input, you are limited to individually adjusting just the front-left or front right speakers. As a work-around, you could try using the "all channel stereo" mode and disconnecting the amplifier channels you don't want to measure but most of these multi-channel emulation modes include some sort of signal altering EQ that could skew your results. Given how prevalent HDMI ports are becoming on computers, having the software support HDMI audio for test tones would make working in multi-channel systems far easier. We would love to see XTZ support an HDMI audio signal, or at least a digital optical/digital coaxial output option that could output a truly discrete multi-channel signal to the speaker of your choice for true surround system optimization. We'd also like to see a bit more resolution in the RTA module. Currently the software uses 1/3 octave response. 1/6 of an octave would show a bit more information that could prove useful to the more advanced user.
Below is a screenshot showing the before (aqua bars) and after (green bars) RTA of a single Polk LSiM 707 tower from Tyler's room.
Notice that he was able to get rid of about 8dB of excess energy from 50Hz to 63Hz just by moving the speakers a bit further from the rear walls. While this did increase output around 100Hz by almost 8dB, the optimized position still offered a much more linear overall frequency response. The best part is that you can optimize a speaker's position in less than 15 minutes once you get comfortable with the software. However, once you've found the ideal location use your ears to adjust speaker rake and toe-in to optimize imaging and sound stage depth. While you may think that the most even on-axis response would be best, that is not typically the case.
Full Range-
The third tool in the XTZ Room Analyzer software is the "Full Range" feature. Once you've got your seating position, speaker positions, and any acoustic treatments installed, the Full Range module can be used for a higher resolution analysis of the full-range response of your mains (or mains+subwoofer if you'd prefer). The Full Range mode is actually quite similar to the Room Analyzer, but has higher resolution and far more options and data variables to play with.
Below is a screen shot of the full range analysis of Tyler's left front Polk LSiM 707 tower in its original position (blue trace) compared to its optimized position (green trace). While there are still significant peaks from 25-60Hz and 100Hz, the new position eliminated a large suck-out around 200Hz. Peaks can be easily addressed by room EQ systems (like Audyssey) while nodes/suck outs of this magnitude cannot usually be corrected due to the excessive amount of amplifier power needed to overcome the "null" in the room. As such, the "after" position here is far easier to live with and has the added benefit of a slightly smoother mid-range as well.
One technology we've referred to several times in this article is Audyssey. As Tyler pointed out above, EQ systems are capable of addressing some of the problems that our rooms create. Audyssey is just one of several EQ systems that are almost ubiquitous today, even low priced A/V receivers (others include Yamaha's YPAO, Pioneer's MCACC and Anthem's ARC). All of these systems strive to do basically the same thing, though the algorithms, approaches and flexibility are slightly different. While these systems do have their critics, the benefit of something like the XTZ Room Analyzer is that it'll allow a user to gain some insights into exactly what the systems are doing to your signal.
The Integra 80.2 I use in my system makes use of Audyssey's most advanced room EQ system: Audyssey MultiEQ XT32. Audyssey MultiEQ XT32 builds off of the popular Audyssey MultiEQ XT system by adding additional correction points allowing for higher resolution room correction, especially in lower frequencies. In addition, Audyssey MultiEQ XT32 facilitates easier integration of dual-subwoofers. I've written in the past about the advantages two subwoofers can have for the bass response in your system (https://hometheaterhifi.com/features/custom-home-theaters/home-theater-build-chapter-4-whats-next-and-where-are-we-going/page-3-multiple-subwoofers.html). Audyssey MultiEQXT32 not only adds increased EQ resolution for the subwoofer channel (the two subs are EQ'd together), but also allows levels and delays to be set for two subs individually, further enhancing the ability to make bass sound its best in your room. (Note: the SVS AS-EQ1 and Audyssey SubEQ pieces that I refer to in the above link are no longer sold: all of the features found in those units, like independent levels for two subs and increased sub filter resolution, are fully integrated into Audyssey MultiEQ XT32.)
As I said above, the XTZ Room Analyzer can give you some insights into how RoomEQ is affecting your acoustics. The bass response in my room is natively pretty good given my dual JL Audio F113's. Here is a look at the response in my room without any room correction (for simplicity purposes, we'll show these data using the Room Analyzer feature).
With Audyssey engaged, you can see how much flatter the bass response gets, alleviating the large peak clearly visible without Audyssey in use.
As a side note, I also use Audyssey's Professional Kit to set up the Audyssey in my system. I've talked about the advantages of this kit previously (https://hometheaterhifi.com/features/custom-home-theaters/home-theater-build-project-part-3-2011/page-6-acoustics.html). The Audyssey Pro Kit, along with the XTZ Room Analyzer, will give a home user a full complement of tools for you to give your best shot at improving the sound in your room.
Other Features-
The Room Analyzer has several additional features that can allow you to conduct various tasks. As mentioned above, the software does contain an SPL meter function that can be used for setting speaker levels. There is also a function generator that can produce various test sounds (pink/white noise) that can be helpful for multiple purposes (like finding room vibrations). In addition, data is easily obtainable for doing things like setting speaker distances and speaker cross-overs.
Conclusions about the XTZ Room Analyzer II Pro
If you have more than a passing interest into acoustics, the XTZ Room Analyzer is a terrific gateway drug to get started learning: it including everything you need to get underway easily and is powerful enough to keep you busy for hours exploring the effect acoustics and proper set-up can have in achieving the most out of your equipment and your room. While one could put together all of these components individually, and use free software such as RoomEQ Wizard, having a complete, ready to go package represents an easy and cost effective way to get up and running quickly. Both Tyler and I have concerns about the documentation, which is sparse at best, and confusing at worst (creating a separate manual for the basic and pro versions would be a terrific first step in making things easier to understand). While the process of working your way through the software is one way to learn, a less frustrating one may come from a better manual, or the implementation of wizards to effectively guide you through the process. We'd also love to see some sort of digital audio option that would ease use in multi-channel systems significantly. Finally, while we were told that the included microphone is accurate to within +/-1 dB across the entire frequency band with a generic calibration file, we would like a see a fully calibrated microphone included for this price. These, however, are minor quibbles – for those interested in moving beyond auto-calibration and learning about acoustics, the XTZ Room Analyzer is a great way to start!


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Fleetwood Mac singer Steve Nicks has revealed Prince was interested in turning their relationship romantic while she helped him record his legendary song, "Purple Rain."
The soul superstar recruited Nicks to give expert advice on his now-iconic song, but Nicks insists that Prince was eager on taking their friendship to the next level.
In an interview with Mojo magazine, Nicks admits, "I've still got it (the demo cassette) – with the whole instrumental track and a little bit of Prince singing, 'Can't get over that feeling,' or something. I told him, 'Prince, I've listened to this a hundred times but I wouldn't know where to start. It's a movie, it's epic.
"The olive branch of him giving me that cassette was huge, but I think he would have liked a romance with me, too."
While Nicks, who previously admitted that she turned down the singer's request to pen the lyrics for the 10-minute track, graciously declined his advances, they continued to spend time together, including a night when Prince offered to pick her up after a Fleetwood Mac concert to drive her back to his home.
She reveals, "We get into his purple Camaro and bomb out onto the freeway at 100mph (miles per hour). I'm terrified, but kind of excited, too… (Later) I get on the plane and the rest of the band are like (drum fingers, rolls eyes). I'm like, "What? Nothing happened.'"

subset: commoncrawl


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Immerse yourself in a luxury lifestyle and reside in one our amazing apartments at Strand Plaza. Pack your bags and move straight in to a fully furnished apartment with 12 hour concierge from 8am-8pm and 12 hour security from 8pm until 8am. Certa Lettings are delighted to bring you this luxury, high-demand residential development in one of the best locations Liverpool City Centre has to offer. Apartments benefit from Strand Plaza's un-rivalled views of the Albert Dock, Goree Piazza, the iconic "Three Graces" and waterfront.. These apartments enjoy stunning views from all aspects, the best of which is a full view of both the River Mersey and the city's finest historic architecture.
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Like human embryonic stem cell research and the right to die, abortion is an anathema to bioconservatives. From the 1950s until the 1990s, there were occasional reports in epidemiological studies that there was an increased risk of breast cancer following induced abortions, and this was seized upon by anti-abortion campaigners in their battle to outlaw such procedures in the US.
A few years ago, the National Cancer Institute, the branch of the NIH that deals with cancer, held a workshop of cancer experts who came to the conclusion that such a link did not exist, but that never really satisfied opponents of abortion. Now a new study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine* has used data from the Nurses' Health Study II (NHSII), a large scale study of 105,716 subjects, to examine whether abortion or miscarriage are indeed risk factors for breast cancer.
21 percent of the respondents had a history of miscarriage, and 15 percent a history of induced abortion, yet there was no association between these groups and the prevalence of breast cancer. There was an association between induced abortion and a specific type of breast cancer (progesterone receptor-negative breast cancer), and an inverse link between miscarriage before the age of 20 and breast cancer, although the authors caution that in both cases the number of women in each subgroup is much smaller than the main population.
Although this research neither makes a case for or against elective abortions, it does add further weight to the NCI's claim that there is no link between abortion and breast cancer.
* Arch Intern Med. 2007;167:814-820.


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Hollywood veteran Samuel L. Jackson hates stripping off with a leading lady onscreen as he fears she will feel insulted if she fails to arouse him.
The "Pulp Fiction" star has confessed he is always uncertain how to react when he has to get naked for sex scenes and bombards his co-star with a checklist of body parts he should avoid touching.
However, his biggest fear is getting too "excited" during the shoot – even though he feels he is insulting the actress by failing to respond to her passionate embrace.
Jackson tells talk show host Graham Norton, "I hate nude scenes, you have to ask where it's okay to touch and where it's not okay to touch and then you have to apologize for getting excited or for not getting excited. I'm sorry if I do and I'm sorry if I don't. It's a weird conversation to have."


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BIDDEFORD, Maine — Two more men charged in connection with the Kennebunk prostitution investigation have pleaded guilty to engaging a prostitute.
Matthew Scott, 49, of 121 North Wayne Road, Wayne, and Michael Wears, 52, of 27 Abenaki Lane, Sanford, both pleaded guilty in Biddeford District Court and were fined $500 and $600 respectively.
A third man, Derek Chapman, 32, of 461 Cumberland Ave., Portland, who was summoned to appear in court on a count of engaging a prostitute, did not appear. A judge now will set cash bail and a warrant will be issued for his arrest, a court clerk said.
The three men are among the more than 60 who have been charged with paying for the services of Alexis Wright, 29, of Wells, who police allege ran a prostitution operation out of her Kennebunk Zumba studio and nearby office space for more than a year and a half. Ten men have pleaded guilty in connection with the case and were fined between $400 and $1,000.
Police have been releasing the names of those charged in batches within their biweekly police blotter, which is scheduled to be released again Friday, Dec. 21. A total of 16 men originally were summoned to appear in court Wednesday, but attorneys for the other 13 men have either filed not guilty pleas on their clients' behalf, with bench trials set for Jan. 22, or have requested a jury trial in York County Superior Court in Alfred.
Wright has pleaded not guilty to the 106 counts against her, including promotion of prostitution, invasion of privacy and tax offenses. She is scheduled for trial in May.


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Official Website of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation
Photo Gallery > Construction in the Park
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Description:March 1, 1937
Location: Marcus Garvey Park, ManhattanDate: January 22, 2008
Marcus Garvey Park Marcusgarvey
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Poetry and the Creative Mind: An All-Star Event
Photos by G.
To celebrate National Poetry Month, The Academy of American Poets presented the 8th Annual program Poetry and the Creative Mind at Alice Tulley Hall in New York on April 20, 2010. The all-star event was mind-blowing, to say the least.
More pix and the "set list" after the jump. Read more of this article »


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Design and Architecture Jobs in Australia with 457 Sponsorship.
Below you will find our current list of Design and Architecture roles where the employer are offering 457 sponsorship to fill the role. We update our job listings several times a day so if there aren't currently any 457 Design and Architecture jobs listed, please check back later.
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Expecting healthy and fluffy chicks is always exciting and the best way to get started is to prepare a brooder box right away. This brooder box will be essential in making sure all of your chicks stay dry and keep warm. A typical brooder box has walls so your chicks are safely contained along with a brooder lamp and a bottom surface with optional shavings. Don't forget that these chicks need to eat food to survive and drink water so be sure that your brooder has the necessary space.
Starting with the brooder's body is recommended because you can use any material for it. It can be a fish tank, storage tub, kiddie pool, or even a cardboard box. Any of these things can pass as a brooder box as long as the chick is in an area of at least two square feet.
Cover is also a vital component of the brooder box if the depth of your chosen container measures over a less than a foot deep. This becomes optional if the box is much deeper. A cover also keeps your chicks safe from harm which may be necessary if you have pets around the house. Any full cover will do as long as your chicks have breathing room. Keep your chicks well ventilated by ensuring that the cover is made of breathable materials.
The purpose of the brooder lamp is to keep your chicks in optimal temperatures. You can achieve appropriate temperature by simply installing a single infrared lamp with a 200-watt bulb. To prevent the dangerous possibilities of starting fires, add a wire guard running underneath the lamp. Make sure that your purchase includes a clamp and reflector as well.
It is up to you on how you want to place your brooder box lamp. Just keep it at a level that looks right for chicks. It also helps to make the lamp accessible to just in case you need to fine-tune the temperature by adding or subtracting five-degree intervals.
You won't be able to figure out the exact temperature unless you have a thermometer. A wire makes things easier in putting the thermometer in place while making it readable too. Another trick is to put a sensor just beneath the lamp.
Next you can move on to the bedding where pine shavings are a smart choice. Place these pine shavings on the bottom portion of your box. Don't worry if you notice your chicks eating them because pine shavings are safe. Just make sure that the shavings are pine and not cedar because cedar shavings are toxic to chicks. Avoid using newspapers as well because their slippery surfaces may cause your chicks to have spraddle legs. If newspapers are your only possible option, the least you can do is to shred them to tiny bits and pieces. Otherwise, consider some alternatives like rice hulls or clean sand.
You can create your own feeder with ease too if you have egg cartons lying around. Just use the egg part and you are all set. If you want to add some style to your brooder box, you are free to pick from various styles and designs that are available in different markets and feed stores. Online sources have even broader selections.
Your chicks will need some encouragement to drink and that is the purpose of the waterers. Rather than getting soaked, the chicks will drink the water instead. The chances are greater if the waterer is in a red hue as it is a lot more visible to the chicks.
These steps are very simple to perform and after a few minutes, your brooder box is all set providing that you start with a complete set of materials.
Suzie O'Conner owns and manages the website ChickenHousePlus.com. Based in sunny Florida, the site offers a variety of quail eggs and fertile chicken eggs. Other fertilized eggs including egg incubators can be found on the site too. It completes the essentials by offering some organic chicken feed, chicken houses, and brooder boxes. You can contact customer service by dial 888-595-5306 or by checking out the live chat located at ChickenHousePlus.com.
A Diy Brooder Box Guide For Yo
By chickenhousesplus · Jan 11, 2012 ·
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Last week we were happy to attend San Francisco's first annual Green Film Festival! About a month ago the festival organizers gave us a ring and ordered custom fair trade tees from our wholesale department. We were honored and pretty excited they would choose us to make their festival tees. But we were also excited to attend the festival. Due to us always working hard at Autonomie and with so many new products coming in for Spring, we could only make it to one film!
This was a difficult choice as the festival was stocked with tons of great environmental documentaries from all over the world. Almost every film on the list was followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers. Many films were making their US or West Coast premiere, so we had a tough time choosing which film to attend. Titles included "They Came for the Gold, They Came for it All," "In the Wake of the Flood," and "Plato's Cave," just to name a few.
After some pondering, we finally decided on the film "Heavy Metal," a submission from China which explored the issues of e-waste and documented people in China who have created their own "e-waste dismantling army." It was going to be paired with the short "The Story of Electronics," by the people who brought you the "The Story of Stuff." Immediately following the film was the panel: E-Waste and Green Design. We were really looking forward to this panel, as it was going to be a discussion about the destruction caused by electronics and an exploration on ways to make the industry more sustainable.
So we hopped on the train and headed to the Embarcadero, but to our dismay, the film and panel had been cancelled. Apparently, the filmmakers were unable to make the trip from China. Luckily, one of our second choices was starting in only 15 minutes time. We decided to go see the movie "Soundtracker" with the short "The Coral Gardener." Although initially disappointed about the cancellation of "Heavy Metal," we were pleasantly surprised with our choice.
Before the film started, we made a pit stop to the cinema cafe, where we were delighted to find fair trade organic coffee as well as vegan cookies and vegan "sausages." Well stocked on snacks and already in a good mood, we headed for our seats. The first film, "The Coral Gardener" was a quick eight minute short from the BBC about a passionate man working to replenish coral on the coast of Fiji. Corals are beginning to disappear from our seas due to coral bleaching caused by environmental stressors. There is a movement to grow healthy coral and re-plant them in hard hit areas.
The short was informative, inspiring, and made us want to get involved in the movement. In fact, during the Q&A, we found out there is a whole organization: Corals For Conservation dedicated to this cause and they are always looking for volunteers. Snorkeling in tropical waters to help the Earth? We are there! We also learned this short was made as a part of a BBC series on passionate people and may be turned into a full feature at some point. We will keep our eyes out for that!
The second, longer film: "Soundtracker" was actually a beautiful piece of filmmaking. Not only was it an interesting and largely ignored topic, but the cinematography and insight were truly a treat! The film follows Gordon Hempton, an Emmy award-winning sound recordist, as he travels through the Northwest on his search for the sounds of nature. Throughout the film you see Hempton attempt to record beautiful natural sounds, only to be interrupted by constant "noise pollution," such as airplanes, helicopters, and cars. He points out that nature's noise is disappearing at an alarming rate and man-made sounds are becoming the norm.
Hempton is an eccentric man, who has an obsession, much like a visual artist, to prefect sound. He seems to have made personal sacrifices and lives a fairly solitary life on his pursuit of the sound of nature. It may seem like an abstract concept and in reality it is, but Hempton has a point. He is a very gripping person who almost turns his quest spiritual. The film really drives home the lack of connection between humanity and the Earth. At one point in the film, he visits a large cedar tree that has been turned into a monument with the trunks of cut cedars all around it. He begins to get emotional and see it as almost a battle memorial to the fallen forest that once stood here. To him, it is clear we have lost much of our connection as no one is "listening" and he even references the hum of electricity as "America's mantra."
By the end of the film, we felt connected to Hempton and realized what a beautiful artist he really is. It also made you really, really think how little we get to hear complete natural sounds. We started to think of all the times we have had moments camping or out in the wilderness and how often we hear human noise pollution. It was definitely a different take on what is happening to our planet than other green films we have seen.
We also noticed that after the movie was complete, our ears were far more sensitive. We could hear our hands brush our hair, the sound of someone tapping their feet, and even people breathing. As we left the theater and walked through the rainy streets of San Francisco, we noticed we could hear the sounds of birds thundering over the horns, trains, and human voices. This deep film really is an abstract look on the destruction of our planet and will leave you seeing, or rather hearing nature in a different way.
We enjoyed both films immensely and certainly hope the Green Film Festival becomes an annual event in San Francisco! If you missed the festival, be sure to check out some of the films discussed above!


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University Archives
Main Content
University Archives preserve the academic, athletic and administrative legacy of the university from 1874 to the present. The Archives collect administrative files, reports from the academic colleges and administrative units, announcements, correspondence, flyers, event programs, brochures, broadcast media, photographic negatives and newsclippings. The Archives also retain preservation copies of course offerings, historical campus directories, yearbooks such as the Obelisk, student dissertations and theses, and publications of the Southern Illinois University Carbondale University Press.
Noted faculty collections [1] include:
- The papers and selected anthropological field-recordings of African American choreographer, anthropologist, and performer, Katherine Dunham
- Artifacts and publications documenting geodesic dome-designer R. Buckminster (Bucky) Fuller's legacy as a professor at SIU and "resident genius" of the Carbondale community
- The private collections of historian John Willis Allen, documenting Illinois' vanished towns, regional activity in the civil war, pioneers, slavery, along with artifacts from the rich historical legacy of the region
- The sacred music collection of University organist and world-renowned performer Marianne Webb
- Regional photograph collections of photographer C. William Horrell and several of his students
- The Elena M. Sliepcevich Centre for Health Education Studies, including the collections of Elena M. Sliepcevich, Judy Catherine Drolet, Paul D. Sarvela, and the American School Health Association Collection of Key Leaders
If you would like to make a gift or schedule a transfer of university records to the archives unit of the Special Collections Research Center, please visit the Donating and Giving page.
[1] Some papers of noted faculty, such as those of operatic soprano Marjorie Lawrence, are housed in our manuscripts unit.


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Emily M. Hunter, Ph.D.Dr. Emily M. Hunter, assistant professor of management and entrepreneurship at Baylor's Hankamer School of Business, teaches negotiation and conflict management. Her research on employee work-family issues, stress, and deviant behavior has appeared in academic journals such as Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management and Journal of Organizational Behavior. She is also the co-author of "Organized Innovation: A Blueprint for Renewing America's Prosperity."
She also has received awards for her papers and presentations including "Most Innovative Session Award" from the Southern Management Association in 2010, and is a member of the Academy of Management, Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology and Southern Management Association.
Hunter received her bachelor's degree in psychology from Loyola University New Orleans in 2003, and her master's degree in 2006 and doctoral degree in 2009 in industrial/organizational psychology from the University of Houston. Before joining the Baylor faculty, she worked as a senior consultant at Assessment and Development, Inc.
Hunter's research interests include negotiation, conflict management, work-family conflict and balance, workplace deviance and servant leadership.
To interview Dr. Hunter, contact Eric Eckert, 254-710-1964, or the Office of Media Communications at (254) 710-1961.


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January 8, 1792, Medfield, Massachusetts.
August 11, 1872, Orange, New Jersey.
Rosedale Cemetery, Orange, New Jersey.
Lowell was the son of Johnson Mason and Caty Hartshorn, and husband of Abigail Gregory.
He showed an intense interest in music from childhood. He lived in Savannah, Georgia, for 15 years, working as a bank clerk, but pursuing his true love—music—on the side. He studied with Friedrich Leopold Abel, improving his skills to the point where he began composing his own music. Numerous publishers in Philadelphia and Boston rejected his early work, until it was finally accepted in 1822 by the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston, Massachusetts, his native state. However, the collection did not even carry Mason's name:
I was then a bank officer in Savannah, and did not wish to be known as a musical man, as I had not the least thought of ever making music a profession.
Little did he know that
rejected collection would eventually go through 17 editions (some sources say 21) and sell 50,000 copies. It was adopted by singing schools in New England, and eventually church choirs.
After seeing the success of his work, Mason returned to Boston in 1826. He also became the director of music at the Hanover, Green, and Park Street churches, alternating six months with each congregation. Finally, he made a permanent arrangement with the Bowdoin Street Church, though he still held his job as teller at the American Bank. Music continued to pull on him, though; he became president of the Handel and Haydn Society in 1827.
It was in Boston that Mason became the first music teacher in an American public school. In 1833, he co-founded the Boston Academy of Music; in 1838, he became music superintendent for the Boston school system. Mason wrote over 1,600 religious works, and is often called the
father of American church music. His works include:


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Penn State York and WellSpan have teamed up to offer a unique program, a master of education in teaching and curriculum with a specialization in medical simulations. The new program will help better prepare medical, nursing and allied health professionals to direct medical simulation centers. WellSpan health is an integrated health system serving south central Pennsylvania and northern Maryland. The new program begins in spring 2012.
"We have not seen a program like this anywhere else," said Dennis Baughman, coordinator of the master of education in teaching and curriculum at Penn State York. "We are excited to be able to offer this multidisciplinary program."
WellSpan contacted Baughman a year ago about developing a teaching and curriculum program for their employees, especially those who will participate in the simulation center at York Hospital. The number of medical simulation centers is expected to increase in the near future and with that will come an increased demand for directors for those centers. This new program will help train individuals to fill those jobs.
In addition to WellSpan, the Lancaster General College of Nursing and Health Services also is participating in the program.
The program consists of 10 three-credit courses, which focus on the latest educational research and development of teaching skills. Topics include data analysis, standards-based instruction, curriculum development, educational assessment, the learning-engaged community, and the use of high, intermediate, and low fidelity medical simulation technology and devices.
All students will complete a clinical simulation project which involves creating simulation curriculums and experiences. Faculty members will include practitioners with medical simulation experience and researchers.
For more information about the program, contact Baughman at 717-771-8413 or at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Penn State York has been offering a master of education in teaching and curriculum for educators since 1994. The program at York is offered in partnership with Penn State Harrisburg.


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majkinetor wrote:OK, I organised this info you posted a bit and added some additional info so its more clear. I don't know how drug information is accurate. ...
Prolonged use of 20+ grams of Vitamin C may induce slight Magnesium deficiency. Muscle cramps are an obvious sign of magnesium deficiency.
Majkinetor, is this your experience? - Or you gathered it from other sources?
Because since 1 year I actually experience regularly short but strong pain from cramps on stretching or unusual movements in all parts of my body - while taking that much vit C since 2 years.
It's often in my throat (and very, very rare in my legs), so I suspected my bad thyroid values - or, due to fluctuating serum potassium and rather low sodium and calcium, some electrolyte imbalance from adrenal problems.
I didn't really considered low magnesium the culprit, because during the same time I took about 700mg/day of elemental magnesium in bio-available forms, beside as much from my diet. Too bad, none of my docs asked agreed to make a RBC-magnesium test yet.
Probably will have to experiment with higher doses of magnesium, if this could be the case with me..


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As gas prices rise and people buy less of it, local governments are finding the gas taxes collected aren't keeping up with the rising cost of building and maintaining their roadways.
For each gallon of gas bought in McHenry County, 41.4 cents is paid in motor-fuel taxes, with 18.4 cents going to the federal government, 19 cents to the state and 4 cents to the county.
After the state takes its cut, it distributes the remainder to local governments including counties, townships and municipalities, so they can maintain their roads.
But that pool of money is shrinking: Miles driven by motorists in the United States is down about 2.35 percent since 2005, according Federal Highway Administration data. More than 106 billion miles were driven in Illinois in 2012, down from a high of 108.6 billion miles in 2005.
At the same time, gas prices remain high. On Wednesday, the national average price of gas was $3.627, according to AAA. A year ago, it was $3.500. In Illinois, Wednesday's average price was $3.835, compared to $3.718 a year ago.
And since the state formula used to distribute the gas tax funds to municipalities is tied to population, it's resulted in some communities seeing increases in the amount they receive while others have seen drops.
The city of Woodstock, for example, saw the amount of motor-fuel tax dollars received stay about level, increasing by about $10,000 from 2008 to 2012. The city of McHenry, on the other hand, saw a slight decline.
The motor-fuel tax collected by McHenry County – the 4 cents for each gallon – dropped 10.2 percent from $4.7 million in 2007 to $4.2 million in 2012, according to the McHenry County Division of Transportation.
When the rate of inflation is factored in, the drop is even more significant at 18.9 percent, according to county documents.
At the same time, overall construction costs have risen more than 40 percent over the past decade, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. The main driver in the increasing costs of projects is asphalt, which jumped 11.2 percent from 2011 to 2012.
With the same amount of dollars coming in, but costs continuing to rise, the city repaves fewer blocks, Woodstock City Engineer Al Wilson said.
To make up the shortfall, the county and municipalities are finding other revenue streams to supplement their projects.
The city of Woodstock uses money from its capital improvement fund, which gets its revenue from the city's telecommunications tax, City Manager Roscoe Stelford said.
The fund is earmarked for purchases of at least $10,000, big-ticket items such as police cars, dump trucks, park facilities and stormwater improvements, he said.
"It's sustainable, but it does limit the other types of infrastructure improvements the city can do," Stelford said. "If you spend money on [roadways], you can't spend it on something else."
The big street improvement projects being done in the city of McHenry are being funded in large part through state and federal grants, Finance Director Carolyn Lynch said. Those grants are limited, though, and require the project to involve state or federal roads.
"It's great; it's just finding it," Lynch said. "The federal government, for a couple of years, was putting money into the economy, but I don't know if that's going to continue. They're also for state routes. You're not going to get that kind of funding for neighborhood roads. Those are going to be our responsibility."
The year before, the city decided to take out a loan so it could resurface a large number of city roads at once, which means that while the city has to pay financing on the project, it got a better price on the project itself, she said.
Woodstock decided to go with smaller projects, doing a few miles of roadway each year, Wilson said.
This year, the city is resurfacing 2.95 miles of roadway. Last year, it got to 4.4 miles, Wilson said. At this rate, the city can't get to each of the 125 miles of roadway in the city every eight to 10 years as the Public Works Department would prefer.
"I think we have to find other sources of funding," Wilson said. "There's only so many [motor-fuel tax] dollars, and as more roads get built and the roads get older, the costs of maintaining them continually go up."
The state transportation department offered 12 ideas to buttress transportation funding in a 2012 report, including raising the motor-fuel tax, charging drivers based off miles traveled rather than gasoline consumed, creating special pay-to-use lanes and changing the way tolls are charged, perhaps charging more during peak hours.
Some have advocated overhauling the way transportation projects are funded.
A coalition of business and labor groups called the Transportation for Illinois Coalition has offered a proposal that would raise an additional $800 million annually. Bills including the ideas have been filed in the Illinois House and Senate.
The plan calls for doing away with the state motor-fuel tax and replacing it with a 9.5 percent tax on the wholesale price of fuel, increasing vehicle registration and title fees and eliminating the ethanol tax credit.
Pointing to the fact that the state gas tax hasn't been raised since 1991, the proposed changes would include tying revenue streams to inflation.
"The proposal consciously recognizes that local roads deserve a dedicated revenue stream from the state to be used for the ongoing maintenance of the existing system," said Doug Whitley, president and CEO of Illinois Chamber of Commerce.
The added revenue would still only be a "drop in the bucket," he said, referencing a coalition report that puts the price tag on all the needed projects in the state at $75 billion.
Gas price breakdown
For each gallon of gasoline sold, 18.4 cents goes to the federal government, 19 cents to the state and 4 cents to McHenry County.
Where governments are turning
Local governments are using public-private partnerships, alternate revenue bonds, special assessment districts, tax increment finance districts and property taxes funneled into the general fund to make up the shortfall, according to the McHenry County Division of Transportation.
Funding for highways alone would need to increase about 50 percent to make up the difference, according to the Illinois Association of County Engineers.
Where state motor fuel tax dollars go
The 19 cents collected on each gallon of gasoline goes through a three-step formula process.
1. Each month, set amounts are transferred to different state funds, including $420,000 to the State Boating Act Fund, $3.5 million to improve railway and highway crossing safety and administer the state's railroad safety program, and enough to cover other expenses of managing the fund.
2. The remainder is then split between the state and local governments, 45.6 percent to 54.4 percent.
3. Of the portion that goes to local governments, 49.1 percent goes to municipalities based on their population, 16.74 percent goes to Cook County, 18.27 percent is split among the counties based on the license fees collected, and 15.89 percent to township road districts based on the total miles of roads in the district.


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By Donald M. Berwick, M.D., Administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Cross posted from Healthcare.gov
Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, almost half a million individuals enrolled in Medicare's prescription drug benefit have received a 50 percent discount on their out-of-pocket costs in the first five months of 2011.
Because of Medicare improvements in the Affordable Care Act, beneficiaries now automatically receive a 50 percent discount on covered brand-name drugs in the Part D coverage gap, or "donut hole," and have saved more than $260 million so far this year.
In May alone, we have seen a 76 percent increase in the number of beneficiaries receiving this discount (478,272 individuals through the end of May compared to 270,900 through the end of April). In addition, the total savings these beneficiaries received grew over 56 percent in one month, for a total average savings of $545 per beneficiary (for state-by-state figures, please click here).
Most of these discounts are helping Americans with serious medical conditions – nearly 14 percent of the benefits provided to date – more than $36 million – are for cancer drugs, more than 8 percent or $21 million for drugs to help control high blood pressure and cholesterol, and another more than 7 percent – about $20 million – are for drugs provides to diabetic patients.
As more and more beneficiaries hit the donut hole through the rest of this year, the numbers will continue to climb. All of these beneficiaries will see savings on their drug costs that were not available in previous years.
And cheaper prescriptions are just one of the many ways the Affordable Care Act is improving Medicare for seniors. Thanks to the new law, many preventive care screenings are available free of charge. As of June 10, we found that about 5.5 million people with Medicare have accessed one or more preventive measures and last week, we launched a new awareness effort– Share the News, Share the Health – to highlight Medicare's preventive benefits and encourage Medicare beneficiaries taking advantage of these potentially lifesaving services.
More information on the free preventive services that are available to people on Medicare can be found on the "Manage Your Health" tab at www.Medicare.gov.


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Central History
Central College is located in Pella, Iowa, a picturesque community of 10,000 set amid gently rolling hills 40 miles southeast of Des Moines. Pella was once described by a magazine writer as "European." Its flower-lined streets, distinctive Dutch architecture, charming retail shops, and famous bakeries attract tourists from around the world.
The annual Tulip Festival, celebrating the town's Dutch heritage, attracts over 150,000 visitors each year and over 350,000 to the community annually. Pella's unique blend of sophistication and small town intimacy have been noted in several national publications, including The New Yorker and Midwest Living magazines.
Brief history
Spawned by the wilderness of pre-Civil War Iowa, Central College has, since its inception, been committed to the ideals of liberal education. Originally a Baptist institution, Central was founded in 1853 by a determined group of pioneer settlers who emigrated to central Iowa to
escape religious tyranny in the Netherlands.
Central College officially opened on Oct. 8, 1854, with a class of 37. The "campus" consisted of one two-story building containing three rudimentary classrooms. This fledgling institution grew both in size and mission during its first 60 years, eventually moving to a parcel of land donated by Pella's founding father, Dominie Pieter Scholte. The College survived fires, three wars, and economic depression during a period of history that saw the United States double in size. It remained solvent because of the faith and dedication of its early faculty members, some of whom accepted produce from local farms as payment.
In 1916, Central was transferred from Baptist control to the Reformed Church in America. The relationship with the RCA strengthened the College as families within the denomination sent their sons and daughters to be educated for teaching and the ministry. As its academic reputation grew, Central attracted many more students from outside the denomination.
International study programs were introduced in 1965, spawning an institutional emphasis on cross-cultural study. The first overseas study center was established in Paris, France, and a second was added in Vienna, Austria. Later, programs were opened in Granada, Spain; Bangor, Wales; London, England; Merida, Yucatan; Hanhzhou, China; and Leiden, the Netherlands.


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Extra virgin olive oil soft serve ice cream, with black olive chocolate "flake", black hawaiian salt sprinkles, strawberry compot, in a cone dipped in chocolate and freeze dried strawberry. 3 years in a row we've won! "Ithankyou".
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Punter Andy Lee will be the latest former Panther to play in the Super Bowl when his San Francisco 49ers face the Baltimore Ravens this Sunday. E.J. Borghetti reflects on the impressive NFL career Lee has enjoyed since his Pitt days.
Discussions on Pitt's premier performers in the National Football League typically focus on receiver Larry Fitzgerald and cornerback Darrelle Revis.
That's understandable. Fitzgerald, who played in his seventh Pro Bowl this past weekend, is widely considered the game's elite pass catcher. (Please, Arizona, find No. 11 a quarterback this year!)
Revis, when healthy, can stake a claim to being the best defensive player in the NFL. He defines the term shutdown corner and will also smack you in the chops on run support.
In short, both men will add to Pitt's Hall-of-Famer wing in Canton someday.
But in the bright spotlight of Super Bowl week, another former Panther should get his due as one of the NFL's very best - San Francisco punter Andy Lee.


text: Hello - I am new to Linux Mint and have just installed the Mint (lisa) LXDE version to an older laptop. Everything went well during install and I updated / installed drivers for my PCMCIA wireless to function. I am following "The Perfect Desktop" tutorial. BUT looking at the photos displayed they ll show a panel at the top of the desktop screen. I have just a bottom panel (much like Windows) and nothing at the top like Ubuntu. Does this have to do with the LXDE version? or has my installation gone awry? Any assistance would be terrific! I looked through the forum but saw nothing similar related to my issue. Regards George


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Transportation Experts Serving Nova Scotia
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Experts in trucking, pipelines, highways, bridges, tunnels, barges, canals, ships, and cargo vehicles. Defect analysis, conformance to standards. Transportation experts serve as expert witnesses and forensic consultants in Nova Scotia legal matters, and provide expert reports and testimony for judges, attorneys, lawyers, law firms, insurance companies and government agencies in Federal and state court trials and arbitrations in Nova Scotia.
The listings below are of Transportation experts serving Nova Scotia.
Featured ListingsJames C. Jeffery III, PE
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Los Gatos, CA
Expert testimony, consultation and litigation support provided for 35 years in the areas of Roadway Design Defect and Design Immunity, Traffic Engineering and Transportation Planning. Largest settlement $5,000,000, affirmed on appeal. CA registered Traffic Engineer, Civil Engineer; Transportation Engineer; General Engineering Contractor.
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Carmel, IN
David has an unparalleled insight to his role as a consultant & expert witness for law firms. He is objectively qualified to provide technical and practical safety expertise for litigations involving injuries, large losses, and fatalities. David specializes with litigation in the waste industry with over 15 years of experience in the business.
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Over 20 years experience in the highly specialized field of commercial motor vehicle accidents and incidents with well in- excess of 1,000 CMV wrecks responded to and/or investigated.
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I have actual FedEx contracting experience in Home Delivery Ground and Linehaul. I have experience in various terminals across the United States. I have experience managing a fleet of over trucks and a staff of over drivers. I have successfully negotiated many lucrative contracts with FedEx Ground.
Terry Morgan Inc.
Terry Morgan, DLP, CTL, Surface Transp. Practitioner.
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Terry Morgan, Inc. has over 50 years of experience in the operations, management, economics and regulation of trucking and distribution services. Our clients include law firms, insurance companies, state and federal agencies, financial institutions, transportation businesses, warehousing, manufacturing firms, and freight brokers.
Mitchell S. Stoller
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA
Expert Witness to Admiralty/Maritime Industry. Experience: Federal/State Court, Judicial Arbitration, Mediation Services. Represent both Plaintiff and Defense. Over 2000 cases Blue/Brown water, Jet Skis/Super Tankers/Pleasure Crafts, Tugs & Barges.


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EP328: Surviving the eBookalypse
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EP328: Surviving the eBookalypse
January 20, 2012, 05:30:28 PM »
EP328: Surviving the eBookalypse
Randy Henderson
Read by Roberto Suarez
An Escape Pod Original!
I entered the City Public Library wearing my plastic replica chainmail and sword, and my suede "book jacket" with a laminated author's license clipped to the collar.
Before me stood a fully automated checkout kiosk for scheduling author recitals. The library floor beyond that was filled with neat rows of author cubicles, each with a desk and chair. Most were occupied. The air was filled with the soft tickity-ticking of keyboards, and the smells of coffee, "New Book" scented air fresheners, and Cup o' Soup. Heads popped up over cubicle walls in response to the clacking of the door, then disappeared again when they saw I was no customer or potential patron.
I understood their disappointed expressions too well. This was not at all where I thought I would be two years after publishing my first e-book.
A woman's smile caught my attention. It was like cherry-haloed sunshine, floating between her neon blue hair and her black lace dress. She emerged from a cube in the Romance section, walked up to me, leaned in close and sniffed at the air. Then she said with the hint of a Mexican accent, "I smell a transfer from Bainbridge library, no? An MFA boy, if I'm not mistaken?"
"That obvious?" I asked.
"Lucky guess." She laughed, and flicked my author's license. "Says so right here."
Listen to this week's Escape Pod!
Posts: 2
Writer, Relapsed Sarcasm Addict
Re: EP328: Surviving the eBookalypse
Reply #1 on:
January 21, 2012, 07:11:58 PM »
Thank you to Roberto Suarez for his podcast reading.
I wrote this story during Clarion West, partly as a response to a doom and gloom speech I heard on the future of the publishing industry. But folks like Mary Robinette Kowal and Cory Doctorow reaffirm my belief that we who create or consume the fiction, we have power to affect the course of things. eBooks are really not so different from paperbacks if we push for the right to truly own what we purchase. Books as objects can return to being lovingly crafted pieces of art, to be collected and displayed proudly in order to impress your date/guests. Er, I mean, to show your love of the written word. And in the end, all of us time-conscious readers will still want someone to filter out the good from the ocean of crap for us and will pay a little extra for that service. Sparkly vampires aside. So I believe the future of the written word remains bright. And if I'm wrong, I will happily accept patronage offers.
Interesting note: the recorded pod cast is actually from an earlier version of the story, and the online text is from the updated version, which I see as a happy accident because A) I went back and forth over the beginning, and B) it is a record I think of how my writing (or at least editing) improved over the time between versions. Although the very beginning of the story is the main difference, there are also a number of small examples of where I eliminated unneeded words and poor sentence structures, which if you happen to be a developing writer may be of some benefit to notice. Not to say my writing is perfection, far from it, but no reason not to learn from it anyway if you are so inclined. The story synchs up pretty quickly (once Andre enters the library) so if you listen and follow along with the text, you'll spot the differences.
Thanks to everyone who read or listened to it.
Randy Henderson
Last Edit: January 21, 2012, 09:55:55 PM by Randy-Henderson
Posts: 4
Re: EP328: Surviving the eBookalypse
Reply #2 on:
January 22, 2012, 05:31:39 PM »
All in all, I rather liked this story. While it wasn't exactly hard SF, setting out to teach us all a lesson about the deep, dark issues in society, it held my interest and told a fun story. All in all, quite enjoyable.
Excellently read, well-written, and well-produced.
Thanks, guys.
Max e^{i pi}
Posts: 1038
Have towel, will travel.
Re: EP328: Surviving the eBookalypse
Reply #3 on:
January 23, 2012, 08:52:18 AM »
I must admit that the title of this story intrigued me immensely. I figured it would be something along those lines. And in the end I wasn't disappointed and rather enjoyed the story, particularly the reading.
I also found it sadly realistic: eMafia, rampant online piracy, and the novelty of paper books. Imagine: a world where the only way to ensure that you get credit for your work is to physically read it aloud to people in the same room as you surrounded by high-tech gizmos that (should) prevent recordings. Sends chills down my spine. We might be heading that way...
Although, I do think that this story will not come to pass, mainly because of the Creative Commons. Over the weekend I had a little discussion with my librarian aunt about copyright issues, and she was quite glad to hear that I publish my own works under some variation of the CC license.
Also, the whole deal with SOPA and PIPA makes this story oddly relevant. I'm not for piracy, but I am for sharing knowledge. SOPA and PIPA will (probably) stop that, but CC aims to strengthen it.
So, who knows?
Cogito ergo surf - I think therefore I network
Registered Linux user #481826
Get Counted!
Posts: 25
Old geeza.
Re: EP328: Surviving the eBookalypse
Reply #4 on:
January 24, 2012, 04:40:15 AM »
I enjoyed this story, although it wasn't strong on the sci-fi.
I felt the beginning was too abrupt. I didn't get enough of a sense of the environment and circumstances in which the main character found himself. A little more introduction would have helped, for me at least. (perhaps if I read the updated text of the story I would not have had this comment)
The only downside was that this is
a story about authors
. I have the same qualms when I hear a radio play about writers of plays. As a consumer of books, I care about the themes in this story, but some of the details around the trials and tribulations of authors came across as self indulgent.
The reading by Roberto Suarez was excellent, with some nice characterisation, and I liked the up beat ending.
Last Edit: January 24, 2012, 04:41:47 AM by bluetube
Posts: 3187
I place things in locations which later elude me.
Re: EP328: Surviving the eBookalypse
Reply #5 on:
January 24, 2012, 08:44:54 AM »
I enjoyed listening to this story -- and it's especially topical, not only to us podcast listeners and authors (this forum is frequented by many writers who would be in the library, I think), but to the changing state of the publishing world at large.
I especially enjoyed the concept of the Book Jacket.
One wonders what people are actually READING in this future, if you can only get books via recital. Or are books only published after they are completely recited?
Quote from: bluetube on January 24, 2012, 04:40:15 AM
The only downside was that this is
a story about authors
. I have the same qualms when I hear a radio play about writers of plays. As a consumer of books, I care about the themes in this story, but some of the details around the trials and tribulations of authors came across as self indulgent.
Yeah, I often have this feeling, especially seeing TV shows or films about struggling writers or screenwriters. Really,
is the only one I like.
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Posts: 4
Re: EP328: Surviving the eBookalypse
Reply #6 on:
January 24, 2012, 11:35:05 AM »
This was by far the worst Escape Pod episode I've listened to, and it was a struggle to do that. The reading was absolutely painful, and while that may have colored my enjoyment of the episode, it was still a story about authors that barely qualified as sci-fi.
In this world, authors are so under-appreciated, and yet so vitally important that the mega-rich will regularly gather to watch unknowns read sections of their unedited first drafts. Not only that... but bootlegged, dubbed, recordings of those performances will go viral.
The authors in the story are so clever and perceptive they're even tasked with explicitly telling us why we should dislike the antagonists. We can't figure out the mobster is racist, we need to be told that he only acts that way with black authors. Instead of actually developing the character of the patron, the female author needs to immediately reel off five counters to his laughably uninformed, unshared arguments. The only thing more heavy handed was the treatment of the central theme.
With how knee-jerk and unthoughtful this reaction to digital publishing is, right as the public is in the process of learning the implications of SOPA/PIPA, it seems inappropriate to put out a story that's based on such an absurd straw man.
Friendly Neighborhood
Posts: 4980
PodCastle is my Co-Pilot
Re: EP328: Surviving the eBookalypse
Reply #7 on:
January 24, 2012, 12:31:07 PM »
Wow, I was Very Worried for a little while that the Amazonian Faye subgenre was getting stereotyped YET AGAIN. C'mon, people. There's some AMAZING work in Amazonian Faye!
(I'm also a bit concerned that some would-be authors will think that just because it worked out for Myra and Andre in this
fictional story
, signing e-mob is a viable option. But such are the days we live in.)
That is to say, I enjoyed this one!
Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Noir
Posts: 92
Re: EP328: Surviving the eBookalypse
Reply #8 on:
January 25, 2012, 03:45:51 AM »
Quote from: AmateurSimian on January 24, 2012, 11:35:05 AM
In this world, authors are so under-appreciated, and yet so vitally important that the mega-rich will regularly gather to watch unknowns read sections of their unedited first drafts. Not only that... but bootlegged, dubbed, recordings of those performances will go viral.
And not only that, there are NO commercial markets for them even when pirated versions are widely popular?
Purveyor of Unsolicited Opinions
Posts: 2225
Kibitzer: A meddler who offers unwanted advice
Re: EP328: Surviving the eBookalypse
Reply #9 on:
January 25, 2012, 04:48:33 AM »
I'd suggest that while authors love this story, regular folks might find it... indifferent.
Posts: 2681
Re: EP328: Surviving the eBookalypse
Reply #10 on:
January 25, 2012, 07:21:17 AM »
Quote from: kibitzer on January 25, 2012, 04:48:33 AM
I'd suggest that while authors love this story, regular folks might find it... indifferent.
Well of course they MIGHT. People might be indifferent to ANY story.
I disagree that this one is more likely to leave people indifferent, though. I'm no author and I loved it. The world building was fascinating, especially with the parallels to the way the current publishing world is already going (yes, machines exist where you can print books on demand...). A playfully imaginative exploration of a possible future for the publishing industry.
Great reading too.
Posts: 1252
Re: EP328: Surviving the eBookalypse
Reply #11 on:
January 25, 2012, 10:09:32 AM »
Talia, your aggressive optimism cracks me up
There were a couple of times when I started to groan and think "oh no, not another lecture disguised as a story!" Luckily, the story managed to veer away from that enough that I was able to mostly sit back and enjoy the ride. However, as a few others have pointed out, there are tons of economic reasons why the world posited would not likely exist as described so I don't think that I would be able to give it a re-listen. You could even call me... indifferent to it.
Posts: 2
Writer, Relapsed Sarcasm Addict
Re: EP328: Surviving the eBookalypse
Reply #12 on:
January 25, 2012, 05:16:03 PM »
Thank you all for your thoughts and feedback
I certainly groan whenever Stephen King or others create yet another protagonist who is a writer. And yeah, I agree this story is more likely to be appreciated by writers, or those who follow all the
debates about the future of books, or four out of five dentists who chew gum, than by readers who are/do none of the above. But in this case, it was kind of the whole point of the story that he was a writer -- I couldn't make him a detective, for example, and still tell the same story -- so I felt okay about that. And given that podcast consumers of scifi tend to be pretty hip to and caring about the topics covered in my story, I feel pretty darn good about the home my story found.
And the story itself was meant as a satire, of course, taking people's most doomalicious predictions of how ebooks are going to destroy fiction (or at least the incentive to create quality fiction), and pushing that to the extreme. It was certainly fun to write. I fully admit the whole economic model of it is a bit shaky (I mean, who really believes that public arts funding for writers would EVER get past the GOP?), heck, maybe even shakier than expecting to make real money selling your ebook on Amazon for .99 cents, but again, I'm not being a true hard scifi futurist predicting that the eMob may really take over publishing and the patronage system will actually return. Everyone knows that in the future we will be slaves to our alien overlords and have no time for creating or consuming fiction. So we might as well have fun while we can. And I can only hope in the future (before The Great Conquering) to improve as a writer and tell stories that appeal to everyone (like Stephenie Meyer does!), and don't leave so many unsatisfied readers. And, of course, that my eMob rep will promote it.
Thanks again to everyone for listening to it or reading it. It is quite an honor, truly.
Posts: 654
Re: EP328: Surviving the eBookalypse
Reply #13 on:
January 26, 2012, 10:09:07 AM »
I personally loved this one, definitely my favorite of 2012 so far! It was good to listen to a humorous, Douglas Adams-ian story, and I found the characters to be very real, with the exception of Joey, who seemed more like a caricature. I'm not sure how much of that falseness came from the reading or the text, but I found myself cringing with some of his dialog and actions. I know I was supposed to cringe, but he seemed a bit...cartoony, for lack of a better word.
I'm not sure why Myra decided to collaborate with Sir Sleazealot, but I guess desperate times call for desperate measures.
As for feasibility of the economic models in the story, I shrugged them off much like I shrug off similar "issues" in Douglas Adams books. They just don't matter to me.
The cow says "Mooooooooo"
Posts: 483
Clearly, I need more typewriters....
Re: EP328: Surviving the eBookalypse
Reply #14 on:
January 26, 2012, 11:17:28 PM »
I'm one of those who found the story a bit whiny and self-pitying, and that this would appeal more to other authors than most readers. I appreciate the author's feedback, but I think if he was aiming for satire on the point of economics, I don't quite think he quite hit it (I suspect those who are actually unemployed wouldn't think that authors have only prostitution and Mob-slavery as a choice).
Though I really did like Myra and Amazonian Faye.
Posts: 145
Re: EP328: Surviving the eBookalypse
Reply #15 on:
January 28, 2012, 07:56:50 PM »
I'm middle of the road on this one. I thought it author porn in the beginning and braced myself for a painful slog through the episode. I'm a reader and book lover so I am not indifferent to the future of books and their creators, but there was too much whining and self-pity. It got better. I'm not sure when exactly, but by the end I liked the story and was happy with the solution to their individual problems by drawing publicity. Doesn't at all solve the system, though.
And, hey, this was definitely a story a a completely developed and resolved plot! Props for that.
Posts: 13
Re: EP328: Surviving the eBookalypse
Reply #16 on:
January 29, 2012, 07:02:02 PM »
I liked the story, not my all time favorite, but I still enjoyed it. I do not agree with AmateurSimian that it is the worst podcast I have listened to. That "honor" belongs to another podcast that shall remain nameless.
The story was believable in the sense where piracy is prevalent, but books/stories/SF will never stop being recorded/read/listened to. Even if Steve said, and I quote "It doesn't matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don't read anymore. 40% percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don't read anymore." Read the article at NYT Bits,
The Passion of Steve Jobs
, January 15, 2008, 7:37 pm
I guess I am a simpleton when the goon gets his comeuppance, the hero gets the girl/guy, and all that sappy stuff.
Posts: 84
Re: EP328: Surviving the eBookalypse
Reply #17 on:
February 02, 2012, 02:02:37 PM »
What I had to say about this one was remarkably similar to what SF.Fangirl posted about it.
I disliked it, then somehow grew to like it by the end.
Aww. She said it a lot better. Go read her post again.
Posts: 1042
Re: EP328: Surviving the eBookalypse
Reply #18 on:
February 03, 2012, 10:22:01 PM »
I found this story very abrupt and rushed at the end. So much so that it felt kind of unresolved. Then I went back, re-listened to the ending and saw that it was resolved... the author effectively sold out, switching to writing stuff he felt was schlocky and overly commercialized, and being happy about it. I'm not sure I can like a story that ends this way...
Posts: 567
aka conboyhillfiction.wordpress.com
Re: EP328: Surviving the eBookalypse
Reply #19 on:
February 05, 2012, 01:19:01 PM »
I'm afraid I couldn't get involved enough in the story to have too much interest in what it was all about. I found the writing clunky, the characters rather stereotypical, and the story linear and thin. But I suspect I'm no judge of what engages people; this one clearly does and others that I have liked, have not. Looks like nothing of mine is going to be on a best sellers list any time soon!
Science is what you do when the funding panel thinks you know what you're doing. Fiction is the same only without the funding.
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Ghent and Bruges, March
Darshana and I took a weekend to visit the beautiful Ghent and Bruges in Belgium. Both cities are very nice, and each is worth at least a day of sightseeing. We took the train from Utrecht to Ghent on the morning of Saturday, 15 March. In the evening, we left Ghent and went to Bruges by train. We stayed overnight and left Bruges on Sunday afternoon. We both enjoyed ourselves immensely.Read More


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For breaking news on threats to birth control access and information visit birthcontrolwatch.org
In a stroke of media mastery, Bristol Palin harnessed the Palin-family-doting Fox News last night to announce a powerful (and decidedly non-Fox News) message for policy makers: abstinence only is "not realistic." The new teen mom also told Great Van Susteren that she would "love to be an advocate to prevent teen pregnancy." Making this announcement on one of the most watched, and most conservative, news stations in the nation is already a pretty good display of her ability to reach a large swath of Americans (particularly the most difficult to reach on this issue.)
As we all remember, Bristol and her unplanned pregnancy dominated the national news for a month during the Presidential campaign. Yet this is really the first time we've heard from Bristol herself. It appears she is striking out on her own. In fact, she told her mother about the interview, and her plans to discuss teen pregnancy prevention during it, just the day before. Some have spun this story as Bristol attacking her mother's abstinence-only policies. She clearly is not, but she is finding her own voice. (Anyway, it appears Governor Palin is reconsidering her position. She makes an appearance during the interview and admits that the abstinence-only approach is, as she puts it, "naive" which, in itself, is big news the main stream media has yet to pick up on.)
What the interview reveals is that Bristol is lovely, humble, honest, no doubt still a teenager and refreshingly free of any political agenda--except to use her experience to steer teens away from the same fate. In startling candidness, Bristol expresses the conflicting emotions that come packaged with teen parenthood; her love for her child and of motherhood and her belief that waiting ten years before becoming a parent would have been a better path.
She explained,
"I like being a mom, I love it. Just seeing him smile and stuff, it's awesome...It is very challenging but it's so rewarding...Of course, I wish it would happen in ten years so I could have a job and an education and be, like, prepared and have my own house and stuff... I just hope that people learn from my story and, I don't know, prevent teen pregnancy I guess... It's not just the baby part of it that's hard, it's that I'm not living for myself anymore I'm living for another human being...I'd like to be an advocate to prevent teen pregnancy because its not a situation you strive for I guess...Kids should just wait--it's not glamorous at all."
In many ways, Bristol appears on the national stage just in the nick of time. Teen birth rates are suddenly spiking nationally after fifteen years of steady decline and Congress is about to consider re-funding the failed abstinence-only policies that likely led to this trend. An organization like The National Campaign for the Prevention of Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy could use a spokesperson like Palin right about now. Together, armed with real data, they can educate teens about the real life consequences of sex and lobby for the policies that help delay teen sexual activity and prevent unintended pregnancy. Palin has already won fans in the organization. One is Bill Albert, Chief Program Officer. He described Palin as 'brave.'
"There has to be some real passion, great inner fortitude to come forward to talk about these issues," Albert explained, "she said something very powerful--'I wish I had waited, I wish this beautiful event could have happened in ten years.' She said it in her own words and it was not an anti-child message, not an anti-family message--it was about timing and what order you want to take life's most important events. If she could turn back the big hands on the clock of time she would have waited. That is a message on target with all the teen parents we talk to. Teen mothers and fathers are the most powerful messengers of all. She already is an advocate."
This post originally appeared on RH Reality Check--Information, commentary and community for Reproductive Health and Justice.


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tidy.tf necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 88 diseños de 48 diseñadores freelance.
Free Minded
We're a developing community focused on providing the best free stuff, free samples, and other great deals to our members. We need a logo that's conveys our core message, is fun and lively, and can act as the centerpiece to our brand.
Our target demographic is mostly female, aged 21-40. Our audience loves saving money, getting deals, and taking advantage of quality freebies.
Our logo should be fun and should tie in with our name. Our tentative tag-line is "It Pays to Be Free Minded". Good logo variations can play off of the "minded" part and also, obviously, the "free" part.
We're looking for a color scheme that's based on a red palette with some tan colors mixed in. We are open to other color schemes if you feel it would convey our message more effectively, but that's what we've settled on so far. Check out yelp.com for an example of a similar color scheme (although not necessarily logo or general design style).
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