<$BlogRSDUrl$>

Thursday, October 25, 2007

New Pics: Owen Putnam Under The Crisp October Sky 

Owen & Putnam & Orionids Meteors


R and T invited us and a bunch of friends and family out to their woods to watch the Orionid Meteor Showers. We got a demonstration by a Connor Prairie volunteer on stripping sassafras bark with a draw knife. Luckily we had good rain before this weekend, so R and T could light up one massive bonfire. Some students were shooting a video so everybody got into the act of firehandling. Many meteors were viewed by the hearty folk who stayed up until 4am.

Included in these photos is a long in the tooth privy, in which reflects in no way the quality of R and T's Crapperbarrel outhouse.

A Riverboat Could Be Cruising to the End of the Line - New York Times 

A Riverboat Could Be Cruising to the End of the Line - New York Times

What a bummer. Living in Cincinnati and then Aurora, Indiana the Ohio River which drifted by, always gained some mystique when the Delta Queen pass by on occasion. Now it looks like the riverboats days are numbered.

"The Delta Queen was built in 1926 to transport passengers and cargo on California rivers. During World War II, the boat was called into military duty to transport troops on the West Coast.

After the boat was decommissioned in 1947, Greene Line Steamers of Cincinnati bought it for $46,000, and shipped it on a barge through the Panama Canal for use on the Mississippi River system."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/25/us/25delta.html

www.save-the-delta-queen.org

Friday, October 19, 2007

Robot Cannon Kills 9, Wounds 14 on Danger Room 

Robot Cannon Kills 9, Wounds 14 on Danger Room

Folks, haven't you seen Robocop or Terminator?

Thursday, October 18, 2007

spine chill 

Like many children of the seventies I grew up hearing all about the wolf in the context of it being a man-fearing lovely noble creature who only hunts the sick and the weak- an animal to which many cultures revered as a spirit guide or brother. I was excited when the wolf was reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park and its numbers grew in the lower 48 states throughout the 1990's. I even heard them briefly howling across a lake in northern Wisconsin. Indeed I have held this animal in awe and respect.
Well, this week Jeep sent me a link to the Macaulay Library, http://www.birds.cornell.edu/macaulaylibrary/ which is the world's largest archive of animal sounds. I was enchanted and spent a good hour listening to birds of the world...then thought to type in "wolf". It was almost an afterthought, as I have shied away from New Agey recordings of howling, lumping it in my mind with whale song as far as its usefulness or spiritual significance goes. I keyed up the first recording from Sachsen, Germany- ten minutes from 1972. ( At this point I might mention that currently there are around 20 wolves in Germany.) The effect of this recording on me was phenomenal. My heart started to race, hairs stood on end, my face twisted into a mask of fear and repulsion and curiosity all at once. All three cat in the room with me RAN out. Our youngest cat Zoya would not relax for the rest of the evening. Since this recording, and after listening to many others on this site, I have been imbued with a Halloween spirit like never before. It was genuinely frightening.
I know what I am going to play when the kids come for candy now!

Friday, October 12, 2007

The Baby Name Wizard: NameVoyager 

The Baby Name Wizard: NameVoyager

Kind of fun to use. This applet lets you view the popularity of names over the years. All major names and also single names.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

A Heartbreaking Moment of Staggering Beauty 

My apologies to Mr Eggers. Anyway, this evening after some pizza I decided I needed some things from the store. I walked out of the house and my jaw dropped. The sky was wheeling and pink and huge roiling clouds plodded like elephants in the air. With every turn of my car the view became even more spectacular... and finally when I reached my destination I stood in awe looking up at a Turner painted vista...in the Walmart parking lot. Ducks and geese flew over me, gold light glinted, and I noticed other shoppers craning their necks as well. The light this time of year is just exquisite.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

fourteen places to eat: Landscape archives 

fourteen places to eat: Landscape archives

I will get back with my station guide shortly.

For this incredibly perfect seasonal day here are some great photos of Indiana by Kay Westhues. We finally have autumn. It took so long with record temps last weekends (90s). This morning the air was cool. The sky mixed clouds and clear.

I like my (our) change of seasons.

Jeep

Friday, October 05, 2007

Radio for you 


A friend asked me today about internet stations I listen to regularly. I thought I would post over the next couple weeks about some of these stations.

WXYC

For a long time off and on I have been surprised by the musical selections played on WXYC. WXYC 89.3 FM is the non-commercial student-run radio station of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. WXYC has a vaild claim to be the first radio station to simulcast on the Internet. WXYC is free-form. As they say and as you can plainly hear by listening "each set is put together by a DJ". Consider this playlist from the last week in September.

My favorite show they have is Inside Track which airs Mondays and Fridays 9 to 10. Inside Track plays recent releases in their entirety. The Thursday Night Feature from 9 to midnight is a three hour musical exploration of a particular theme.

Sunday mornings to mid afternoon have three interesting shows back to back. I have somewhat of an interest in traditional music. Years ago I started listening to Bluegrass which led to Old Time. From there I have gone pretty much all over the map regarding traditional music. Orange County Special takes that to heart.

Following up OCS, is Hell or Highwater which consists entirely of music from UNC's renowned Southern Folklife Collection (http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/sfc1/). Each week a different theme takes shape. A recent broadcast presented chaingang songs recorded on location in the south.

Finally Broken Music comes on. And broken it can be. A place for "Longer and/or more difficult pieces of music that may not otherwise fit into WXYC's programming have a home here." Broken Music can cause guests to leave your home. Sometimes it sounds like my pc is on the fritz and sometimes when listening it sounds like my home is being invaded by crickets.

http://www.wxyc.org/


-jeep

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?