Search results for - newest show first

Post title...

Posted | Views: 1,107

The geology behind this area is even more diverse, as the boundaries of the park envelop the Highland Boundary Fault – one of the four faults upon which Scotland was pieced together. This fault is significant as it geologically separates the Highlands from the Lowlands but distinct changes can also be seen in the weather, vegetation, wildlife and landuse. The boundary fault cuts rights through the centre of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, making them places of geological wonder and breathtaking views of landscapes so different from one another.

   The Highland Boundary Fault marks the major change from hard Dalradian metamorphic rock in the Highlands and softer Devonian sandstones in the Lowlands. These two disparate crustal blocks were brought together between 450 and 420 million years
ago. The area above the fault is known as the Moine and Dalradian terrane, and below the fault is the Midland Valley. The hard Dalradian rocks were originally marine sands, muds, lime-rich deposits and volcanic ash that were buried and altered by heat and pressure during the Caledonian orogeny to become metamorphosed. New minerals were formed: the sands and muds became slates, phyllites and schists. The softer Midland Valley rocks were deposited in layers in ancient freshwater lakes, which became compressed and hardened into red sandstones, pebbles and conglomerates. Situated between these two terranes is the Highland Border Complex, which contains rocks different than both the Highlands and Lowlands. The Complex contains a sequence of lavas, conglomerates, limestones black mudstones and sandstones that originated from the floor of an old ocean basin.
The actual Highland Boundary Fault line is marked by an intrusion of serpentine, a base-rich mineral derived from great depths in the Earths crust.
         Loch Lomond is the result of the erosive power of glaciers, which scoured the Loch into the face of the Earth. The current location of the Loch was the main corridor for ice movement originating from the north. Loch Lomond is tadpole shaped; the north is narrow and deep where the glacier eroded more and the south is wide and shallow where till and sediments were deposited (below).
The most interesting result that this geology has had on the landscape is the sharp change from Highlands to Lowlands, which can be seen from the summit of many hills in the national park and also in Loch Lomond. The stretch of islands from Conic Hill, Inchmurrin, Creinch and Inchcailloch are all part of the Highland Boundary Fault and make a distinct line through the Loch. The national park offers many hillwalks but the most popular is Conic Hill as it provides the best vantage point of this geological phenomena. A popular scenic tourist trail, the West

Post title...

Posted | Views: 1,237
formation. Finally, the Cuillin and Red Hills are adjacent, but very geologically contrasting mountain ranges on the Isle of Skye. The geology behind these four tourist destinations will be discussed below, but a brief geological history of Scotland is necessary for their understanding.
Brief Geological History
After the Big Bang, the primordial Earth resembled nothing as it does today. Continents were shifting, colliding and parting, moving from the Arctic to the equator and back again. Over 500 million years ago, Scotland existed as four disparate continental fragments and formed part of a large continent known as Laurentia, which included parts of North America and Greenland. England and Wales were part of a smaller continent known as Avalonia, separated from Laurentia by the large lapetus Ocean.
Eventually this ocean closed, colliding Laurentia and Avalonia, creating the mountains of the Highlands and uniting Scotland with England and Wales. At the same time, the separate land fragments essentially slid together along distinct geological fault lines, creating the current configuration of Scotland (below).

This mountain building event was known as the Caledonian orogeny. The newly united continent drifted across the planet, spending time in almost all Earth’s climatic zones including equatorial and desert, and eventually where it exists in present day. Beginning around 60 million years ago, the Atlantic Ocean formed from a thinning and diverging in the Earths crust, and Scotland drifted away from the rest of Laurentia. This stretching allowed molten rock to emerge at the surface that created a chain of volcanoes running along the west of Scotland. From this point until present day there were numerous periods of glaciation coupled with massive amounts of erosion to shape the landscape of Scotland we see today.

Loch Lomond and the TRossachs
     In 1810, the Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott wrote a poem set in the beautiful Trossachs area, bringing thousands of tourists to the area. Following this, Loch Lomond gained international attention because of the traditional Scottish song ‘The Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond.’ Together, these two locations form arguably the most beautiful scenery in Scotland, and was designated as a national park in 2002.
"By Yon bonnie banks an' by yon bonnie braes
Whaur the sun shines bright on loch lomond
whaur me an' my true love wiLL ne'er meet again
on the bonnie, bonnie banks o' loch lomond"

Post title...

Posted | Views: 371
Rhyme Your Way to Better Spelling

Flowers For Algernon Covers

Posted | Views: 1,143
Flowers for Algernon
Imagine By: Joseph A.
Image By: Stephanie F.
Image By: Iris P.
Image By: Francesca A.
Image By: Amina J.

Satire Comics about Fast food

Posted | Views: 1,249
Satire Comics
Image By: Iris P.
Image By: Denice G.
Image By: Nakayla S.
Image By: Cristal V.

Post title...

Posted | Views: 314
This is a First Post

DAVID LEE MYERS INTERVIEW

Posted | Views: 7,004

 Tell us about your music projects in the 60's prior to your electronic experimentation...

 Well, in the 1960's I was in middle and high school.  My main project was a band I was in which was fundamentally a cover band - we didn't know much else at the time.  I suppose we were the hottest thing in Alliance, Ohio, which isn’t saying a lot!  But I did get experience with the first Fuzztones, Echoplexes, and the like, which frankly interested me more than the music we were actually performing.  This was British invasion stuff like Beatles, Kinks, Yardbirds… when I graduated high school and left the band for college, Hendrix, Cream, and Pink Floyd were starting to happen, so in a sense I missed out on a fundamental thing that was getting going.  I didn't dip into music creation again for some years.

 When did you first become interested in electronic music? What was your inspiration to start creating within this realm of exploration?

 My last year of high school a couple of things happened.  Sgt. Pepper came out and I was mesmerized by the sounds and the obvious use of the recording studio.  But at the same time I was discovering real electronic music; unbelievably, the record bins at places like K Mart (my cultural backwater had no record stores) actually held the occasional disc of Stockhausen, Ligeti, Ussachevsky, Varese, etc., and this stuff really spoke to me.

 Where do you draw your inspiration from ?

 That’s easy.  That same year I took a trip to Cleveland and visited some actual record stores, where I always went for the “other” bin.  The album covers of Tod Dockstader’s Owl releases were very intriguing, and the clerk put a couple on for me.  I was hooked immediately.  To my mind, Tod blew away the academics and really gave me something to sink my teeth into.  His work of the 1960's inspires me to this day.  As you know, I was lucky enough to eventually track Tod down and begin a friendship which ultimately resulted in two collaborative albums, Pond and Bijou.

 You must understand that before Bob Moog came along, electronic music represented a truly mysterious world beyond ordinary reality.  That was what really resonated with me; it was one phenomenon which proved to me that there exists something which supersedes the mundane life we take for granted.  These sounds were not of this world, but there they were!  Magic!  Then of course MIDI came along, followed by sampling and legions of synthesizer platforms, and finally the computer, which has come to rule all.  Right now you will not hear any music untouched by electronics; call me a dinosaur, but the magic is gone, irretrievable….

 You moved to New York in 1977, was it the attraction of the New York music and art scene?   

 I moved here for different reasons, one of which was the publishing industry.  I studied illustration in California and realized that NYC was one of the only places I could make that happen; I still make my way in the material plane from graphics work.

About 1979 I became aware of Eno, Cluster, Fripp, Kraftwerk, etc., and simultaneously the home recording thing was becoming a reality.  The Tascam 3440 was crucial - suddenly the artist’s studio had an audio counterpart.  I had worked off and on as a visual artist, but now it seemed my real interest - electronic music - could be approached in the same way, on a very personal level.  Almost overnight I was staying up until 4 AM etching circuit boards and soldering wires.  I built a whole electronic music studio from kits, and later, working directly from schematics.  I love hardware.

 Pretty soon I started meeting people like Gen Ken Montgomery (creator of the Generator music gallery), his cohort David Prescott, Stefan Tischler and Keith Walsh (Port Said), and others working in the cassette scene.  It was pretty much all about recordings, and performances to a lesser degree.  At that time, I was not doing any performing since I didn’t see how - it was all to tape.

 From 1980 to 1986 I pursued music more along the lines of Tangerine Dream, Vangelis, and so on.  Perhaps I was enchanted by the idea of doing melodies, harmonies, song structures, etc.  Hey look, I'm a “musician”!  So for a good while there I wasn’t actually in an “experimental” vein, though why not is a mystery to me now.  Maybe I thought I might actually make some sort of career out of it.  We were all optimistic at the time.  Some of the people who were putting out electronic music cassettes then are now known names in the film score biz and elsewhere.

 During this time I took in a lot of interesting performances, a lot at CBGBs, Mudd Club, and so forth.  Glenn Branca premiered his “Symphony #1” at The Performing Garage and it blew my mind (and ears, let me tell you).  Glenn and Rhys Chatham, with I believe Arto Lindsay, shattered CBGBs with an unprecedented guitar barrage one eventful night.  Pure noise wonderfulness.  The one thing I’ll always remember about CBGBs: one night waiting for a set by Television or one of their ilk, a young fellow came out who appeared to be a roadie, setting up for a band.  A real nerd type, pocket protector with pens, flannel shirt, horn rimmed glasses….  Slowly he set out a batch of small pedals and gizmos on the floor, connecting them up one by one.  No one paid any attention, continuing to drink and chatter.  We assumed he was just a setup person.  But gradually this guy (whoever he was) set the devices in motion and they began to make sounds.  After a few minutes there was a real noise rhythm thing going on and we all sat up and looked.  So cool!  Then he quietly unplugged everything and walked off.  No announcement, no name, nothing.  I’d love to know who he was….

 The scene today… well, I’m a bit of a recluse (as my music acquaintances will attest to), but Manhattan has become a yuppie playground and only the rich can take part.  Places like Roulette and Generator have been pushed to the outer boroughs or extinguished altogether.  From what I can make out, even Brooklyn has trouble keeping these places alive.  Where’s the next Bohemian enclave?  I fear there is none.  Perhaps we’ll just have to make do with virtual experience via the internet….

 What was the first piece of music you recorded?

 Hah, a trick question!  Who knows?  That is lost to history.  The real “first” was when I stumbled upon Feedback Music and recorded day and night onto Beta HiFi tape, which wound up as “Engines of Myth”, the first Arcane Device release.

 Arcane Device has been your main vehicle and what people know you the most for, how did the concept for AD come about? What was the inspiration for the feedback machines?

 In 1986 I was very taken with the long digital delays that were being produced.  I’d always loved the tape delay work that Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Fripp/Eno had done, and ever since my first encounter with an Echoplex years before, delay technology had been a kind of holy grail for me.  Now the tech was catching up and I experimented with Electro-Harmonx, Art, and Digitech units.  Finally I settled on Digitech 7.6 second delays, bought four of them and set about to build them into a self contained console.  Really I was looking to create the ultimate guitar looping rig, but while designing the layout I figured that I should make it as flexible as humanly possible.  This resulted in, to my knowledge, the first “matrix mixer” ever created.  Nowadays this seems more commonplace, but at the time it was unique - a mixer which could feed multiple effects and return their outputs to all others, plus themselves - i.e., feedback loops.  As soon as I powered up the layout, I immediately discovered that I needed no input: the delays themselves created their own sounds.  Thus the Feedback Music was born, and others dubbed my creation the Feedback Machine.  Other such machines followed, flowered, and alas, died.  The cycle of life, eh?

 Your gravitation towards the feedback compositions, do you find this approach personally the ultimately pure medium of expression within electronic composition?  Do you think it imbues the recording with more life?

 Over the years I have made music with guitars, synthesizers, samplers, found objects, stolen sounds, and computers of course, but I always return to Feedback.  Perhaps it is just the source that I resonate with most perfectly.  But yes, somehow this source is much more alive than any other I have worked with.  I’ve tried the most elaborate synths and sampling controlled by very flexible computer programs, but it never gives the living quality of Feedback.  

 Whereabouts have you played live with AD , and where have you found your music most well received?

 I’ve not performed for several years, but in the past I’ve played from Pittsburgh and Cleveland, to Boston here on the East Coast.  New York obviously - The Knitting Factory, The Kitchen, CBGBs, Roulette, The Clocktower, Experimental Intermedia, Generator, Performing Garage, White Columns, etc.  My one foray into Europe was concerts in Copenhagen and Hamburg.  Only now considering maybe putting some gear together and tentatively stepping out again….

 To my surprise, the music has been appreciated pretty world-wide.  I’ve had releases from labels in England, Germany, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Russia.  Fans have written me and ordered recordings from Africa , Japan, Thailand, Eastern Europe, Australia, and I can’t remember how many other locales….

 How did you come to collaborate with Asmus Tietchens?

 I had been a fan of Asmus for a long time.  Quite frankly, I simply contacted him with a collaboration proposal and he found the Feedback source to be ideal for his approach.  It went so well that we went on to do four albums together.

 Nanotube on Pulsewidth , the label you run yourself, is your foray into beat driven electronica, somewhat prolonged as although AD LPs were released during the techno/electronica boom you never seemed to let it directly influence your sound….  

 Well, although Feedback has always been my home base as it were, I’ve not been able to keep my fingers out of various pies; there’s just too much to explore.  Actually, probably my first “beat driven” project was a Pulsewidth album called Cel.  I used Feedback sources and raw electronic pulses driven by sequencing software.  Regarding Asmus Tietchens again, I sent him a copy of this recording and he was very disapproving.  He’s a purist and this apparently was unacceptable; my feeling is that from this time forward he kind of wrote me off.  I haven’t heard from him in many years.

 Are there any artists you admire in the field of modern beat driven electronica?

 I will have to admit that for some time I’ve been unconnected from that scene and my favourites go back a ways… Stewart Walker’s album Stabiles has always had a place on my stereo.  Monolake, Pluramon, Autechre….  Squarepusher is just the best, Tom Jenkinson is a musical genius.  But admittedly I’m out of touch with a lot of current stuff.

Any artists out there you have become aware of over the years you feel deserve more recognition?

 First and foremost, Tod Dockstader deserves to be in some electronic music Hall of Fame for sure.  He didn’t have the academic cred, which quashed his efforts after about 1966.  Many of us feel he totally outshone the ivory tower guys, but there wan’t much of an electronic underground at that time, which might have supported him.

 “Experimental” electronic musicians who do not conform to beat, club, or pop music standards understand from the start that “recognition” is not really something to expect.  Aside from those who carve out a little niche in academia, most of us simply love what we do and probably can’t stop, although we know it is impractical and unrewarding in any external sense.

 Any other stories or anecdotes you would like to share from your time as a performer?

 I recall with regret a concert in Pittsburgh where my “shoebox” Feedback Machine burned, apparently due to the trashy venue’s power.  To add insult to injury, the promoter released a cassette tape of the performance, which was way below my standard since the machine wouldn’t do much from that point on.  In Copenhagen I gave one of my best performances for sure, with accompanying Feedback Video on a big screen and stage, and then the following night in a Hamburg basement bomb shelter space I hit a nadir with massively failing equipment and deplorable conditions.  The sound man said to me, “if you make that sound again, I’m packing up my equipment and leaving.”  Perhaps he wasn’t wrong, the night before in Denmark I had blown the speakers completely out….

 What are you currently working on and what are your plans for the future?

 Every few years I break everything down and sell it off, or throw it out.  Sometimes I’ve even been known to renounce music and art altogether.  Perhaps it’s a syndrome of some kind?  Maybe I simply set standards too high, I don’t know.  But the impulse never goes away.  In 2013 I was determined to produce a new Feedback setup, going through two separate failures.  At the end of the year I finally succeeded, devising a hardware layout that satisfied me completely.  At this time I’m working with it as much as I can, and also beginning to produce accompanying video work.  I’ve done computer graphics for print media for many years, and now I’m finally jumping into motion, so I hope you will be watching!
DAVID LEE MYERS
AKA ARCANE DEVICE
New York based artist/musician DAVID LEE MYERS is best known for the ethereal drones of his ARCANE DEVICE project, which infamously utilises feedback generating machines . ..Black Forest spoke to him about how he developed his sound, his inspirations, collaborations and current projects...Be sure to also check out the link below the interview to see David's New Video Graphic work!
© BLACK FOREST 2014
FOR MORE INFO:
Prints and paintings derived from electronic traces created by Feedback Music. You can obtain prints from this section of the Pulsewidth website...

 
CHECK OUT DAVID'S NEW GRAPHIC VIDEO WORK BY CLICKING ON THE LINK BELOW:

How To Sell Ebooks (3 Easy Tips)

Posted | Views: 1,877
How to Sell
Ebooks
(3 Easy Tips)
The freedom to sell ebooks as an independent author is easier than ever. Many people are now self-publishing their own ebooks for the first time.   Readers feel empowered to be able to download ebooks anytime they want at affordable prices. 

These are the two main reasons, Ease and Affordability, that ebooks outsell paper books worldwide today.  This low pricing, and easy way of buying and selling ebooks is what has turned this into the revolution that it is today!   If you want to make money selling ebooks, then you should start by using these 3 tips to market like a pro.



Sell Your Ebook Tip #1 – Make It A Freebie!

Every time you write an ebook, write a summarized Free Version to Give Away to make readers hunger and thirst for your paid product.  If you write a 20 page ebook, the freebie should be a 5 page teaser that leaves out the main point that the paid version explains so well!  In the teaser, make sure you just hint at the ultimate solution.  But let readers know if they want the full answer, they must Buy the full version.

If people like your free report they will tell usually share it!

This allows you to test your material with readers without losing any money. And gives you a quick and easy way to build a new reading audience.











Sell Your Ebook Tip #2 – Start With A Low Price.

Ebooks should not be the same price as paper books.  Avid ebook readers know this, and Amazon confirmed it with their low-ball pricing structure.  Whatever the paper book price is the ebook price should be no more than half that price!  This is not what the industry practice, but this should be what they practice.

Amazon Kindle's ebook market have proven repeatedly that readers are more willing to take a chance on a completely unknown author at the $0.99 price point, than at any other price point.  Its the new FREE!  It will help you get your work out there, and over time you will be able measure the response people have to your writing.  It is immediate feedback.  And it is what every author really need.

The low-price strategy above is a powerful way to get readers to take a chance on you, by buying and reading your ebook.  This can help you get reviews and develop a fan base that can lead to greater things.  It may even put you in a position to get a big advance from a major publisher, and even sell your future ebooks at a much higher prices.


Sell Your Ebook Tip #3 – Get On Ebook Blogs

E-readers are a tight-knit group who possess a powerful communication network. Most know where to go for information. And they do this regularly. There are many websites, newsletters, blogs, and social pages that only review and promote e-books. The influence of these reviewers make a difference to a lot of ebook buyers.

Check out the lists below of ebook blogs and websites with mega- traffic:

Ereader News Today: http://www.ereadernewstoday.com/
GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com
Kindle Nation: http://kindlenationdaily.com/
Pixel of Ink: http://www.pixelofink.com

Getting your e-book listed on these websites can help you get a lot of downloads. You can email the administrators of these e-book blogs and ask them how you can get your ebook featured on their blog.  Some sites give free listings while others will feature your book for a fee. 

There has never been a more interesting time to be an independent ebook author. The opportunities to self-publish and sell ebooks are unmatched. However, the basics remain the same. You must write a great ebook that solves a problem that your readers desperately want the answer too. Ebooks allow you to do this faster than ever before. Start small, use the low-cost pricing approach to gain new readers, and finally, connect with the ebook community to grow your readership.  And you will be amazed at how many people really want to read what you have written!

For even More Info On
Writing and Selling Ebooks
>>Click Here Now<<

Photo Essays from 7th graders

Posted | Views: 1,570
By Moises F.
By Natalie W.

Limmericks from 6th graders

Posted | Views: 1,586

There once was a man named Bob

who was a big slob

He went down town

To rent a huge clown

And that became his very first job

-Yazmin M.

There once was a girl named Sally

Who had a best friend named Ally

They sang all the time

They bet for a dime

Who could kiss Mr.McNally.

-Skye P.


There once was a girl named Jordan

She hated her basketball warden

She made a plan

Involving a clam

Then her disgust towards him shortened.

-Alanis A.


There once was a guy named Dan

Who jumped hard on a can

He then hit his head

And placed himself in a bed

Poor Dan had a short life span

-Stefania S.

There once was a girl named Mary

Who was always very scary

People ran away

She just wanted to play

Now she lives in a cemetery

-Angelica G.


There once was a boy named Joe

Who really liked to bite his toe

He went to the lagoon

With a walking balloon

And ended some kind of show.

-Aime H.



There once was a young fellow named Hall

Who often would fall

He hated to trip

But always would flip

Then hit himself on the brickwall.

-Emmanuel G.


There once was a guy named Chase

Who had a big blue case

He found it in March

On his way to the Arch

It was thrown from a bike race.

-Edwin H.


There once was a person named Mike

Who loved to ride his bike

One day he rode into a mat

with socks on his hat

and he now prefers to hike.

~Ernest R.


There once was a girl named Dora

Who loved her crazy friend Nora

They gossiped all day

Till the sky was gray

Racing home and rocking to Pandora.

~Dania C.


There once was a girl named Sandy

who ate some strange candy

some made out of toe nails

some made of lizard’s scales

when she was hungry they came in handy

-Magaly S.

There once was a girl named Jenny

Who was looking for a penny

She found a log

that contained a dog

So then she named her dog Lenny -Jenny F.

There once was a girl named May

Who had an exceptionally crappy day

She slugged to her house

Then wailed to her spouse

“Why does it have to be this way?”

-Sirine N.

Onomatopeia from 6th Graders

Posted | Views: 1,130
By Aime H.
By Alanis A.
By Alex M.
By Alyssa P.
By Ernest R.
By Skye P.
By Julian S.
By Sirine N.
By Magaly S.
By Yazmin M.

Found Poems from 6th Graders

Posted | Views: 999

Flowers for Algernon from the 8th graders

Posted | Views: 1,675
Flowers For Algernon

Wedge in My World

I want to be smart

I have nuthing more

Dumbness is my curse

Intelligence was my stregth

The operashun was a success

I became smart

But with a price

Genius put a wedge in my life

Inkblots change me

Every blot is a mark of

My ignorance

I don’t care if it hurts

But the pain is great

I am alone

Algernon and I are pressured

To be examples of innovation

We are detorating

I must go away

Life is amazed now

   I am now

     LOST

BY: IRIS


By Jocelyn M.
By: Daniela V.
By Idania  A.
By Nikolete M.

"SOME LIKE IT HOT" at HistoryMiami

Posted | Views: 5,143
SOME LIKE IT HOT

“We’re proud to be the first Miami museum to present the work of these incredible local artists and the street art movement, both pieces of South Florida’s history,” says Stuart Chase, Museum Director and Chief Operating Officer. “Aside from a few pieces sitting in private collections, art of this kind has been conspicuously absent from museums in Miami until now.”

Curated by Brandon Opalka, HistoryMiami presents “Some Like it Hot,” an exhibition highlighting Miami graffiti artists and muralists. Recently, street art has experienced a surge of popularity in Miami and has moved into the realm of fine art.

The work displays the vast variety and the scope of local street art, inspired by the city of Miami and its diverse, complex, and rich cultural landscape.

 

Artists like Abstrk, Astre 74, Atomik, Bhakti Baxter, Brandon Opalka, Erin Odea, George Sanchez-Calderon, Gustavo Oviedo, Hox, Jeffrey Noble, Luis Berros, Pucho, Tatiana Suarez, and Victor Muniz interpret their city and present who they are as artists within that context. 

For more information, opening hours and admission please visit www.historymiami.org

Post title...

Posted | Views: 488
undefined

SSC

Posted | Views: 1,809