M Is FOR MASHUP - August 27th, 2014
Best August Mashup Wins The Mystery Box
By DJ Useo
I'm co-moderator with French Bootlegger Chocomang at the new friendly mashup forum
( www.audioboots.com ). AudioBoots is a great replacement for me for the now closed forum SoundUnsound. I have lots of pals at AudioBoots, & in all honesty, the quality of the tracks posted is always high. Many of the SoundUnsound members came to the new forum, with many new mixers joining. To sample the AB Members skills, try the
AudioBoots 80s MASHED 3 compilation
( audioboots.com/forum/index.php?p=/discussion/245/80-s-mashed-vol-3-all-new )
( www.suprmchaos.com/bcEnt-Wed-070214.index.html ) .
Chocomang took off for parts unknown to celebrate all August as a vacation. This left me in charge solo at AudioBoots, so I decided to do a fun contest. The best mashup posted on AudioBoots during August will win a
MYSTERY BOX that will be full of multiple "goodies"
( audioboots.com/forum/index.php?p=/discussion/339/win-the-mystery-box-for-augusts-best-mashup#latest ) .
Yup, I'm awarding a prize for something they would have done anyway. You could dispute whether the contest motivated people to mix better, or not, but the tracks posted have been AWESOME! I rate them initially with my "mashup ratings system" which looks like this -
Mix -
Production Sound -
Musical Appeal -
Tweak Advice -
Final Score -
Comment -
I listen to the track, & then rate it in each category from 1 to 10. It works well in the initial sorting process. One thing happened immediately that I didn't expect. Almost all the tracks posted got a top rating of ten in each category !!! This meant that any track that didn't get tens all across was no longer eligible for the prize. Also, now, I have'ta go through all the many ten-rated tracks & pick the final winner. Not an easy task, I think. But…I have a plan! I'm going to expand from 1 to 10, and make it tougher by instituting a 1 - 100 rating system. Neat, eh?
Entries will not be accepted after August 31st. Then I'll rate for a few days, I reckon, & then I'll announce the winner. Once the winner receives their MYSTERY BOX package, we'll tell all what was in the durned box! Lol! All I'll say now is I would love to have the box myself, but I wasn't eligible. I'm planning to collect all the tracks into a zip file that made it into the second round, but you don't have to wait. Simply peruse the August post in this thread & you'll see ( hear ) all the tracks still in the contest, plus some still wonderful tracks that got slightly less than a ten score. Literally, a few got 9.5's. Still a great mix for listening.
Here's the mashup thread.
( audioboots.com/forum/index.php?p=/categories/bootlegs-%28mashup%29 )
I'll keep you informed as to the winner, the contents of the MYSTERY BOX, & when the collection posts.
Later, now.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Alison Flood: Laura Ingalls Wilder memoir reveals truth behind Little House on the Prairie (Guardian)
Rejected by publishers when it was written in the 30s, author's autobiography unveils experiences that informed her children's books.
Taylor Crane: 5 Things You Learn About Rich People Working at a Nice Hotel (Cracked)
The rich and the famous live lives of unthinkable luxury in their gated homes far away from us commoners. But if you want to peer into their bizarre lives without the help of a telephoto lens, all you need to do is get a job at a fancy hotel. Cracked sat down with Taylor Crane, a man who worked in one such hotel and saw the dirty, sometimes literally shitty exploits of the One Percent firsthand. Here's what we learned ...
Anonymous, J.F. Sargent, 5 Things I Learned as a Neo-Nazi (Cracked)
If you're like most people, your only exposure to modern neo-Nazis is the movie American History X, which means you probably think that white supremacy is all about working out a lot and getting Edward Furlong shot.
Interviews by Ryan Gilbey: How we made Back to the Futures (Guardian)
'Six weeks in, Michael J Fox replaced Eric Stoltz. The humour wasn't coming through.'
Peeing Statues in Prague (YouTube)
These statues were created by famous Czech artist and sculptor David Černý. Statues represent two bronze sculptures (clearly both male) peeing into their oddly-shaped enclosure. However they are not just peeing, with the stream of water they write quotes from famous Prague residents. These statues became so popular among visitors that now you can send SMS message from mobile phone to a number, displayed next to the sculptures and the living statue then 'writes' the text of the message, before carrying on as before.
The Incredible Hulk: SkyCam9 Covering Chicago Floods Thrown Off Topic Spotting Backyard Superhero!!! (YouTube)
News helicopter covering Chicago floods thrown off topic after spotting huge green superhero statue erected in a backyard.
Marta Barsells: "Haruki Murakami: 'My lifetime dream is to be sitting at the bottom of a well'" (Guardian)
The Japanese author talked writing, heroes, domestic life, dreams and how his life informs his novels at a Guardian book club at the Edinburgh international book festival - and he answered some of your questions.
Emily Lakdawalla: "Curiosity's Wheels Are Falling Apart (And How We Can Solve It)" (Gizmodo)
There are holes in Curiosity wheels. There have always been holes - the rover landed with twelve holes deliberately machined in each wheel to aid in rover navigation. But there are new holes now: punctures, fissures, and ghastly tears.
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 approximately 50 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
wrote:
took the day off.
has retired(?).
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
David E Suggests
David
Thanks, Dave!
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
from Marc Perkel
BartCop
Hello Bartcop fans,
As you all know the untimely passing of Terry was unexpected, even by
him. We all knew he had cancer but we all thought he had some years
left. So some of us who have worked closely with him over the years are
scrambling around trying to figure out what to do. My job, among other
things, is to establish communications with the Bartcop community and
provide email lists and groups for those who might put something
together. Those who want to play an active roll in something coming from
this, or if you are one of Bart's pillars, should send an email to
active@bartcop.com.
Bart's final wish was to pay off the house mortgage for Mrs. Bart who is
overwhelmed and so very grateful for the support she has received.
Anyone wanting to make a donation can click on this the yellow donate
button on bartcop.com
But - I need you all to help keep this going. This note
isn't going to directly reach all of Bart's fans. So if you can repost
it on blogs and discussion boards so people can sign up then when we
figure out what's next we can let more people know. This list is just
over 600 but like to get it up to at least 10,000 pretty quick. So
here's the signup link for this email list.
( mailman.bartcop.com/listinfo/bartnews )
Marc Perkel
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny with a nice breeze.
Rare Rain
Burning Man
Thousands of Burning Man enthusiasts were on the outside looking in Monday after a rare batch of heavy rain forced organizers to temporarily close entry to the counterculture event in the desert 90 miles north of Reno.
Standing water made a muddy mess Monday morning of the Black Rock Desert playa, where numerous vehicles were stuck and northbound traffic on State Highway 447 was being turned back toward Reno.
Organizers said the event would remain closed through Monday and possibly into Tuesday with a chance of isolated rain showers in the forecast overnight.
Several hundred people who entered the gates during Sunday's opening were being told to remain in place at their camps. Many who didn't make it to event before the gates closed were descending on Pyramid Lake to set up camp about 30 miles northwest of Reno.
Burning Man
Medal of Honor
Alonzo H. Cushing
A century and a half after his valiant death at the Battle of Gettysburg, a Union Army officer is being awarded the nation's highest military decoration, thanks to a decades-long campaign by his descendants and Civil War buffs.
The White House announced Tuesday that President Barack Obama approved the Medal of Honor for 1st Lt. Alonzo H. Cushing, who was killed standing his ground against Pickett's Charge during the pivotal, three-day Battle of Gettysburg.
Congress granted a special exemption last December for Cushing to receive the award posthumously since recommendations normally have to be made within two years of the act of heroism and the medal awarded within three years.
The White House also announced that Obama will award the medal in a ceremony on Sept. 15 to two Vietnam War soldiers who also received the congressional exemption - Army Command Sgt. Maj. Bennie G. Adkins and Army Spc. Donald P. Sloat. The medal is given to members of the Armed Forces who risk their own life in an act of great personal bravery.
Alonzo H. Cushing
New App
Tom Hanks
A new app for the iPad aims to recreate the nostalgic sense of typing on a manual typewriter, but ramped up to meet the demands of digital-age word processing.
The brainchild of Oscar-winning actor and collector of vintage typewriters Tom Hanks, the app, perhaps aptly called Hanx Writer, replicates the aural and visual sensations of old-fashioned typing.
The app allows users to type emails, letters and stories on a virtual typewriter, accompanied by the sound of clanking keys as each character appears on the page beneath the type hammer.
Users can also "insert" new pages or pull pages up or down to adjust where text appears - just as they would with an old-school manual. After text is written, it can be emailed, printed, and shared from the app.
The free app includes one style of typewriter with two more on offer featuring different sounds, visuals, ribbon colors and other features, at $2.99 each.
Tom Hanks
Prevents Food Allergies
Bacteria
Mice that were raised in a sterile environment or given antibiotics early in life lacked a common gut bacteria that appears to prevent food allergies, US researchers said Monday.
The bacterium, called Clostridia, appears to minimize the likelihood that rodents will become allergic to peanuts, and researchers would like to find out if it does the same in people.
In the meantime, they found that supplementing rodents with probiotics containing Clostridia later in life could reverse the allergy, according to the report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"Environmental stimuli such as antibiotic overuse, high-fat diets, caesarean birth, removal of common pathogens and even formula feeding have affected the microbiota with which we've co-evolved," said senior study author Cathryn Nagler, food allergy professor at the University of Chicago.
The precise cause of food allergies is unknown, but some studies suggest that changes in diet, hygiene and use of antimicrobial soap and disinfecting products may lead to changes in the bacteria of the gastrointestinal tract that leave people more susceptible.
Bacteria
Copyright Case
'Deep Throat'
The owners of the rights to the famed pornographic film "Deep Throat" have lost a lawsuit accusing the producers of the 2013 biopicture "Lovelace" of copyright infringement.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa in the federal court in Manhattan, in a ruling made public Tuesday, dismissed Arrow Productions Ltd's $10 million lawsuit against the producers of the film, starring Amanda Seyfried, and its distributor, The Weinstein Company.
The ruling came more than a year after the judge previously declined to block the release of "Lovelace," an R-rated biographical film detailing the life of "Deep Throat" star Linda Lovelace.
While Arrow Productions complained that "Lovelace" copied three key scenes from the 1972 film, Griesa concluded that the recreation constituted fair use under federal copyright law.
The judge also dismissed other claims by Arrow, including trademark infringement and trademark dilution. The company held trademarks for "Deep Throat" and "Linda Lovelace."
'Deep Throat'
Court Will Not Block Lawsuits
Connecticut SWAT Raid
A U.S. federal appeals court has ruled that Connecticut police cannot claim immunity to quash lawsuits seeking millions of dollars in damages from a botched 2008 raid by a SWAT team that severely injured a homeowner and killed his friend.
The decision by the U.S. 2nd Court of Appeals in New York clears the way for a judge to decide whether five suburban Connecticut police departments violated the constitutional rights of homeowner Ronald Terebesi by using excessive force.
On May 18, 2008, a heavily armed SWAT - or special weapons and tactics - team unit knocked down Terebesi's door, threw stun flash grenades into his Easton home and fatally shot 33-year-old Gonzalo Guizan of Norfolk as the two men watched television.
Guizan, who was visiting the home, died after being shot a half dozen times.
In a 51-page ruling that upholds a lower court decision, the appeals court said the police responded with unnecessary and inappropriate force and under the circumstances, are not protected by "qualified immunity" from the lawsuits.
Connecticut SWAT Raid
Family Donates Mammoth Skeleton
Texas
A North Texas family, who discovered the skeleton of a 20,000- to 40,000-year-old mammoth while mining through sediment on their farm, is preparing to turn over the remains to a local museum.
In May, Wayne McEwen and his family were gathering material from a gravel pit on their property, south of Dallas, when his son struck a 6-foot (1.8 meter) tusk while operating an excavator.
The rest of the near-complete skeleton was unearthed by a team from a nearby community college, who determined it was a Columbian mammoth - a slightly larger, less hairy version of the more famous woolly mammoth.
The family decided to donate the remains to the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas.
Texas
Khat (or Qat)
"Paradise Flower"
"The president has arrived, the president has arrived," chant youths in Mogadishu's Beerta Khaatka market, as armed men in trucks mounted with machine guns escort lorries with horns blaring through the throng.
The joking salutation is not for Somalia's president, but hails a national institution nonetheless: white sacks brimming with leafy sprouts of khat, the narcotic shrub chewed across the Horn of Africa and Yemen in a tradition dating back centuries.
The ubiquitous sight of young men with rifles slung over their shoulders and green stalks of khat dangling from their mouths is emblematic of the Somalia of recent decades, where marauding Islamist rebels and warlords bent on carving out personal fiefdoms have fomented a culture of guns and violence.
Grown on plantations in the highlands of Kenya and Ethiopia, tonnes of khat, or qat, dubbed "the flower of paradise" by its users, are flown daily into Mogadishu airport, to be distributed from there in convoys of lorries to markets across Somalia.
Britain, whose large ethnic Somali community sustained a lucrative demand for the leaves, banned khat from July as an illegal drug. This prohibition jolted the khat market, creating a supply glut in Somalia and pushing down prices, to the delight of the many connoisseurs of its amphetamine-like high.
"Paradise Flower"
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Aug. 18-24. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership.
1. "America's Got Talent" (Tuesday), NBC, 9.48 million.
2. "America's Got Talent" (Wednesday, 9 p.m.), NBC, 9.43 million.
3. "NCIS," CBS, 9.11 million.
4. "60 Minutes," CBS, 8.5 million.
5. "2014 MTV Video Music Awards," MTV, 8.26 million.
6. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 7.45 million.
7. "Under the Dome, CBS, 7.3 million.
8. "Big Brother" (Sunday), CBS, 7.24 million.
9. NFL Exhibition Football: Cincinnati vs. Arizona, NBC, 6.98 million.
10. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 6.97 million.
11. NFL Exhibition Football: Cleveland vs. Washington, ESPN, 6.9 million.
12. "Big Brother" (Wednesday), CBS, 6.64 million.
13. "Big Brother" (Thursday), CBS, 6.6 million.
14. "Unforgettable," CBS, 6.39 million.
15. "Master Chef," Fox, 5.83 million.
16. "Mom," CBS, 5.78 million.
17. "NFL Pregame Show," NBC, 5.77 million.
18. "American Ninja Warrior," NBC, 5.74 million.
19. "America's Got Talent" (Wednesday, 8 p.m.), NBC, 5.68 million.
20. "Extant," CBS, 5.57 million.
Ratings
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