M Is FOR MASHUP - April 5th, 2017
Moderated Mashups
From DJ Useo
When I started getting into mashups, I would leave comments on every new mashup I saw. So, if you went to a mashup forum, there'd be like 20 Useo comments in a row. This led to complaints as many felt my behavior was excessive. Eventually, I was pressured into a policy of mainly three comments during each "session". Actually, there's naught wrong with employing restraint, I just like to leave feedback. I also like to get feedback. Perhaps the annoyed few were worried I would use up the "limited" number of comments the web could generate. If you notice the major lack of comments at any mashup location, perhaps they had a point. Lol.
I've been running my own mashup forum for years now. My most recent forum is
Audioboots The Friendly Mashup Forum
( audioboots.com ) which is just now celebrating three years of net presence. Before that I was at GET YOUR BOOTLEG ON, Laptop Punk, Beatles Remixers Group, SoundUnsound, Global DJ Network, Mashstix, & too many more to mention. As "Super-Moderator" at Audioboots I attempt to see to day to day matters, while Chocomang does all the technical stuff. I was pressed for time today, but I did manage to moderate some posts, which means editing, & answering, & for me, sharing on social sites.
Here's the posts I attended before offline matters took me away. I know you'll enjoy them a lot., because I already heard them. A few of mine in there, too, as it happens.
01 - DJ Useo - Nuclear Shape ( Ed Sheeran vs Init vs LUMBERJVCK )
( audioboots.com/forum/index.php?p=/discussion/1480/nuclear-shape-ed-sheeran-vs-init-vs-lumberjvck )
02 - DJ Memphis - Modo vs. AronChupa - I am an Albatraoz Polizei
( audioboots.com/forum/index.php?p=/discussion/1479/modo-vs-aronchupa-i-am-an-albatraoz-polizei )
03 - DJ Useo - Birthday Mix For Maz ( 1:19: 48 )
( audioboots.com/forum/index.php?p=/discussion/1481/birthday-mix-for-maz-1-19-48 )
04 - ETK - All-Star Relaxation (Smash Mouth vs Frankie Goes To Hollywood)
( audioboots.com/forum/index.php?p=/discussion/1478/etk-all-star-relaxation-smash-mouth-vs-frankie-goes-to-hollywood )
05 - DJ Useo - Bruno Mars vs Gary Numan
( audioboots.com/forum/index.php?p=/discussion/1483/bruno-mars-vs-gary-numan )
06 - Grim Reap - Forever Trippin' (Forever vs Trippin')
( audioboots.com/forum/index.php?p=/discussion/1477/grim-reap-forever-trippin-forever-vs-trippin )
07 - DJ Useo - Jesus And Mary Chain vs twoloud, Konih
( audioboots.com/forum/index.php?p=/discussion/1484/jesus-and-mary-chain-vs-twoloud-konih )
08 - SMASH - Can't Fade The Feeling (Visage vs. Justin Timberlake vs. Dr. Alban)
( audioboots.com/forum/index.php?p=/discussion/1476/smash-cant-fade-the-feeling-visage-vs-justin-timberlake-vs-dr-alban )
In hindsight, I think this is one dynamite batch of bootlegs. You'll love them, & your friends will be impressed when they hear you jamming them out. I'll be back next Wednesday with more home prouced music.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Greg Sargent: Why is Trump flailing? Because Americans hate his agenda, and it's based on lies. (Washington Post)
Why is Trump tanking? The bottom line is that the ongoing translation of Trump's agenda into policy specifics is showing that major elements of it are unpopular, or unworkable because they are premised on lies, or both.
Andrew Tobias: Mayer, Mercer, Merrick, McConnell
Republicans effectively "filibustered" Merrick Garland for 10 months - they wouldn't even let his nomination get that far (the ultimate filibuster) - arguing that we would have to see what the people wanted in the next election. By a margin of millions, the people wanted Merrick Garland.
Suzanne Moore: A tampon tax is bad enough. Using it to fund anti-abortionists is a disgrace (The Guardian)
Women have no choice about having periods. To give tax raised on sanitary products to a group that seeks to limit their choice further is unconscionable.
Hadley Freeman: Mistreatment of models is fashion's Groundhog Day (The Guardian)
Rather than thinking of models as skinny mean girls, we should recognise how badly they are treated within their own industry.
"Amidst polarising opinion, we are still united": Lucy Mangan on how a tragic event can actually unite us (Stylist)
We can choose, in other words, to concentrate on the best of ourselves and use a tragic event to remind ourselves, amidst polarising political debate and opinions, that we always - save the extremists every generation who use various ideologies to justify their violence - have the basic human decencies that unite us all.
Jonathan Jones: Feminism doesn't need more female statues - it needs political action (The Guardian)
Bulgarian artist Erka has rightly protested against Sofia's total lack of statues of women by erecting her own pop-up versions. But permanent statues don't advance feminism - they trap people in the past.
Why ladylike language can sod off: Lucy Mangan is pleased that we have reached gender parity on swearing (Stylist)
Hoo-f***ing-ray to that, I say. Let's keep making our f***ing feelings vulgarly known. Life is too short for this sh*t.
Mark Harris: "Being There: American Cipher" (Criterion)
Of all the directors whose careers are considered in some way emblematic of 1970s Hollywood, Hal Ashby is the only one whose résumé conforms perfectly to the contours of the decade.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog
David Bruce's Lulu Storefront
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has over 80 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
took the day off.
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
David E Suggests
Dog Breeds
David
Thanks, Dave!
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
FRACK YOU!
THE DICTATOR.
"WHY TRUMP LIES."
RENEWABLES KEEP ROLLING ALONG.
"ILLIBERAL STAGNATION"
STONE COLD KILLER.
"THE TEFLON WARS"
CHILL OUT.
THE PREVARICATION OF THE "BUNNY MAN".
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Overcast morning, sunny afternoon.
Controversial Sale Lures Few Bidders
Tribal Artifacts
An auction of precious tribal Kanak artifacts got a tepid response from bidders in Paris Tuesday, with buyers apparently scared off by lingering questions about whether the items were acquired legally.
Nine sculpted-wood objects, including large decorative arrows dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, bought by a private collector from the indigenous Melanesian inhabitants of New Caledonia, went under the hammer.
Parisian auction house Aguttes estimated the items would sell for up to 775,000 euros ($825,000), but only two of the least valuable lots sold for 10,455 euros ($11,134).
Organizers said buyers apparently were scared off by a protest in 2015, in which a group linked to the Kanaks alleged the objects had been stolen.
Tribal Artifacts
Employees Getting Implanted
Microchips
The syringe slides in between the thumb and index finger. Then, with a click, a microchip is injected in the employee's hand. Another "cyborg" is created.
What could pass for a dystopian vision of the workplace is almost routine at the Swedish startup hub Epicenter. The company offers to implant its workers and startup members with microchips the size of grains of rice that function as swipe cards: to open doors, operate printers, or buy smoothies with a wave of the hand.
The injections have become so popular that workers at Epicenter hold parties for those willing to get implanted.
"The biggest benefit I think is convenience," said Patrick Mesterton, co-founder and CEO of Epicenter. As a demonstration, he unlocks a door by merely waving near it. "It basically replaces a lot of things you have, other communication devices, whether it be credit cards or keys."
And as with most new technologies, it raises security and privacy issues. While biologically safe, the data generated by the chips can show how often an employee comes to work or what they buy. Unlike company swipe cards or smartphones, which can generate the same data, a person cannot easily separate themselves from the chip.
Microchips
1,000-Year-Old Toy Viking Boat Unearthed
Norway
A wooden toy discovered during an excavation of an Iron Age site in central Norway hints that 1,000 years ago, a child may have imagined ferocious Viking battles by playing with a carved replica of a ship.
Found buried in a dry well at a small farm in the town of Řrland on the coastal tundra, the boat is whittled in a style resembling Viking vessels, with an uplifted prow and a hole in the center that likely held a mast for a sail.
The Viking Age, dating from around A.D. 800 to 1066, marked a time when Scandinavian sailors and explorers voyaged to Europe's coastal regions and as far as Bahdad, and their distinctive sailing vessels were well-known - apparently, even by inland farmers, who carved replicas of their boats for children.
"This toy boat says something about the people who lived here," Ulf Fransson, a field leader for the dig and an archaeologist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) University Museum, said in a statement.
Also found in the well - and in another well nearby - were leather pieces from shoes, dating to approximately A.D. 1015 to 1028. Seven farms and farmyards at least 1,500 years old have been uncovered at the site, and archaeologists are piecing together what these clustered homesteads might reveal about community life during the Middle Ages, according to Ingrid Ystgaard, an archaeologist at the NTNU University Museum and project manager of the dig.
Norway
Graphene Oxide Sieve Can Make It Drinkable
Seawater
It is estimated that over 660 million people in the world still do not have access to clean and safe drinking water - a number that is only expected to rise in the coming decades as water supplies begin to run dry. According to the United Nations, by 2025, 14 percent of the world's population will face water scarcity.
This is despite Earth being a "pale blue dot," 70 percent of whose surface is covered in water.
The problem is that the water held in our planet's oceans, which accounts for over 96 percent of all water on Earth, is not potable. So far, efforts to make it drinkable have been either inefficient, dauntingly expensive, or both.
Now, in a study published Monday in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, a team of researchers from the University of Manchester has described a breakthrough that could open the door to the synthesis of an inexpensive desalination method - creation of a graphene oxide membrane that can be used as a sieve to remove salt from seawater.
Seawater
Families, Frackers Ordered To Settle Dispute
Pennsylvania
Two Pennsylvania families who claimed their drinking water had been tainted by fracking and the energy company they blamed for it said on Monday they would try to seek a settlement after a judge threw out a $4.2 million jury verdict against the company.
The case in Dimock, Pennsylvania is one of the highest-profile incidents in the United States of residents contending that fracking polluted their well water, an allegation the company Cabot Oil & Gas Co has denied.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Martin Carlson late Friday ordered the Dimock families and Cabot to try to reach a settlement.
The Ely and Hubert families were the last of more than 40 families living in the northeastern Pennsylvania town to continue their legal battle. They charged that their water was contaminated with methane gas after Cabot began fracking in 2008. The other families settled in 2012.
Carlson's opinion said that jurors had allowed sympathy for the families to outweigh hard evidence presented during the trial. Cabot had hoped the judge would throw out the case altogether.
Pennsylvania
Makes Donation
T-rump
The White House announced Monday that President Trump (R-Grifter) would be donating his first-quarter salary to the Department of the Interior, which stands to lose $1.6 billion under his budget proposal.
Press secretary Sean Spicer (R-Sock Puppet) said that Trump would be donating $78,333 to the National Park Service, an agency of the Department of the Interior. Trump had said during his campaign that he would donate his presidential salary to charity, saying "That's no big deal for me" on the trail in 2015.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke was on hand to accept a check, stating that the money would go to "infrastructure on our nation's battlefields," which he said were $229 million behind in deferred maintenance.
However, under the White House budget proposal - a wish list from the executive branch to Congress for 2018 government spending - Zinke's department would receive a 12 percent cut, or about $1.6 billion. It would take 20,426 donations of $78,333 to cover that funding reduction.
T-rump
Endangered Because People Can't Stop Eating Them
Macaques
Apparently, everyone's favorite adorable "selfie monkey" is cute enough to eat-literally, in Indonesia.
The crested black macaque became legendary after one of them, Naruto, took a selfie of himself in 2011 and catapulted into internet stardom. Though approximately 2,000 of the macaques remain protected in one of the country's reserves, the primate is now critically endangered due to over-hunting, according to a new report from Seeker.
Activists on Sulawesi island have been trying to convince locals to stop consuming the crested black macaque. The population has dropped approximately 80 percent in the past four decades alone. Macaques play a key role in Indonesian ecosystems by helping to spread seeds.
"I like the taste, hot and spicy, it is similar to wild boar or dog," Nita, a local from the area, told AFP.
Macaques
Overtakes Ford
Tesla
Tesla on Monday became the second-largest US car maker in terms of market capitalization, displacing Ford, whose sales lagged amid concerns about the ability of the US market to keep growing.
Many major auto makers reported US sales declines in March compared to a year ago, but Tesla over the weekend said it saw a huge jump in vehicles delivered to consumers in the first three months of the year.
That was enough to send the electric car maker's stock soaring Monday, even as investors punished major car brands for reporting lower-than-expected March sales.
Tesla said it delivered 25,000 of its high-tech vehicles in the January-March period -- a 69 percent surge compared to the first three months of 2016 -- indicating it was on its way to meeting its goal of 50,000 vehicle deliveries by mid-2017.
Tesla
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for March 27-April 2. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership.
1. NCAA Men's Basketball: Oregon vs. North Carolina, CBS, 18.83 million.
2. ''NCAA Studio Show,'' CBS, 16.03 million.
3. ''NCIS,'' CBS, 14.35 million.
4. ''The Big Bang Theory,'' CBS, 12.78 million.
5. ''The Walking Dead,'' AMC, 11.31 million.
6. ''Dancing With the Stars,'' ABC, 11.12 million.
7. ''ACM Awards,'' CBS, 10.91 million.
8. ''Bull,'' CBS, 10.9 million.
9. ''The Voice'' (Monday), NBC, 10.56 million.
10. ''The Voice'' (Tuesday), NBC, 10.22 million.
11. ''Blue Bloods,'' CBS, 9.62 million.
12. ''60 Minutes,'' CBS, 9.5 million.
13. ''NCIS: New Orleans,'' CBS, 9.17 million.
14. ''Hawaii Five-0,'' CBS, 8.74 million.
15. ''Little Big Shots,'' NBC, 8.65 million.
16. ''Survivor,'' CBS, 8.26 million.
17. ''Grey's Anatomy,'' ABC, 7.62 million.
18. ''Mom,'' CBS, 7.03 million.
19. ''Empire,'' Fox, 6.91 million.
20. ''Criminal Minds,'' CBS, 6.9 million.
Ratings
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