I'm very excited to announce the release of the last known Dub Nine track, Re.entry. The Dub Nine was a musical group spawned in Edinboro, PA that worked the local circuit and left their mark on a town that never saw them coming or going. Members of the Dub Nine moved to Pittsburgh in 2003 the work and produce music. Through connections with AAM studios and other musicians both local and national, the Dub Nine produced thier 2nd release, D9.2. This album omitted one track from it's final state, Re.entry. Re.entry is a song that has been recorded and reworked over the last four years and is now available to the public. Please take a moment to listen to the track below and check out the link to the right for more about the band. 08 March 2007
Re.entry
I'm very excited to announce the release of the last known Dub Nine track, Re.entry. The Dub Nine was a musical group spawned in Edinboro, PA that worked the local circuit and left their mark on a town that never saw them coming or going. Members of the Dub Nine moved to Pittsburgh in 2003 the work and produce music. Through connections with AAM studios and other musicians both local and national, the Dub Nine produced thier 2nd release, D9.2. This album omitted one track from it's final state, Re.entry. Re.entry is a song that has been recorded and reworked over the last four years and is now available to the public. Please take a moment to listen to the track below and check out the link to the right for more about the band. 
06 March 2007
The Cadillac of AM Transmitters
For the past few days I've been working with a friend and colleague, Adam Jensen, on getting an operable AM signal out of a Hamilton RangeMaster 1000. This short range radio transmitter is a few days of troubleshooting away from broadcasting La Roche College's first ever "present" radio signal. I say "present" because that is the issue we are currently trying to figure out. If you want to be technical, it has already broadcast a "radio" signal, just not a good one. I came into this project late in it's chain of events but the experience has been interesting and I'm definitely intrigued to find the solution to it's final broadcasting state.
Adam Jensen, for those of you who don't know, has worked rather relentlessly for the past few months on establishing a solid foundation for the Electric Bean radio station, click here, at La Roche College. The RangeMaster 1000 project will hopefully be the icing on the cake for his run as General Manager at the station before he graduates in May.
Enough about that though. This transmitter is supposed to be the "Cadillac" of all AM transmitters. I have to admit, it looks pretty freaking sweet if you're into this kind of thing, but I believe that when they say "Cadillac" it's in reference to the quality of the device. Honestly, it's just a metal box with a 102" antennae sticking out of it, but in this case it's what's inside that counts.
Check out the Hamilton RangeMaster AM1000 here, and get your broadcast on.
Adam Jensen, for those of you who don't know, has worked rather relentlessly for the past few months on establishing a solid foundation for the Electric Bean radio station, click here, at La Roche College. The RangeMaster 1000 project will hopefully be the icing on the cake for his run as General Manager at the station before he graduates in May.
Enough about that though. This transmitter is supposed to be the "Cadillac" of all AM transmitters. I have to admit, it looks pretty freaking sweet if you're into this kind of thing, but I believe that when they say "Cadillac" it's in reference to the quality of the device. Honestly, it's just a metal box with a 102" antennae sticking out of it, but in this case it's what's inside that counts.
Check out the Hamilton RangeMaster AM1000 here, and get your broadcast on.
05 March 2007
From here on in I'll be posting music playlists on a weekly basis. I'm using the Rhapsody Music service to pull the tracks together. Let me know if it works out or if I should try other methods.
Enjoy the music if you do check it out. This week features a song from Charlie Hunter's recent release, 'Copperopolis'; and a selection from the 'Life Aquatic' soundtrack called 'Let Me Show You My Boat'. It's good for your mid-day.
04 March 2007
Heroes in a Half Shell
I saw an ad for the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie the other day. I was actually surprised that I hadn't heard about it sooner as it is coming to theaters this month. This could mean any number of things, the most likely of which being that it isn't going to be very good. The script is probably terrible, but the animation looks phenomenal.
The TMNT were always cheesy in the script department. I would anticipate the same level of dorky writing to occur in this movie. It really doesn't seem right though because the images look so bad ass. The TMNT are, in fact, a testament that the inner dork in all of us can fight evil and kick ass when duty calls.
I do believe that there have been some real advancements in the animation field and that this movie is proof. It looks like a cross between Japanese style motion and present day computer generation. If you think back to earlier computer generated animation, which I think was pioneered with Disney's Beauty and the Beast, the effect wasn't really all that stunning. To this day I still prefer the hand drawn animation of yesterday over the computer aided graphics that every one is using in modern times.
I don't anticipate ever seeing this film. The Simpson's movie has me more intrigued but I probably won't see that one either. I am a fan of the TMNT however, and have in turn compiled this list of links to check out.
Official Site
Comprehensive Wikipedia Article
Film Index
Video Game Index
The Angry Nintendo Nerd
01 March 2007
Everything is Abstraction
Abstraction is everywhere. It is a philosophy that helps us to understand that our regular experience of the operating world has many other minute processes occurring under the surface at all times. Abstraction is a building block, a process that occurs in and around us. Computers offer us a classic example to consider: It is not merely from pressing a keystroke that we are able to type words and see them on a screen. Rather, it is from a process of electrical charges that alter a sequence of 1’s and 0’s arranged in a particular format to be translated on a user interface. You cannot see this happen, and in this case the affect is instant. All that happens ‘under the hood’ is abstraction. This concept is so intriguing to me that I want to take this time out to ramble on about it.
I think that where abstraction gets to be the most exciting is in reference to our physical self. While the philosophy of abstraction is observable in automobiles, electronics, and other perfunctory forms, the human body is by nature, a sophisticated mechanical being. The body has a very high degree of abstraction. Every function you are capable of doing or performing is made up of a deeper, less understood series of processes that you are either born with, or have had to learn through personal development. Even still, all of the underlying processes that make up our exact being are often times diminished by our thought process and assumed to be a regular part of reality.
I believe that in truth these smaller, individual processes also make up the bigger picture. It has to start at the smallest part, the quark inside an atom, or the string whose theory is yet to be proven. Without spending too much time on these minute details we are able to progress through our blood pumping, our lungs breathing and our minds thinking and processing. Outside of our immediate self is the world and everyone in it, all with their own abstractions occuring 'under the hood'. We interact and communicate with these people, and that in itself is also abstraction. The concept grows to a point that we cannot even see or directly experience. If I am boring you now please read no further.
There are moments in life that define us. There are moments in life that define the environment that we inhabit, and they are both unique to every single individual being. They are as unique as you and I, but collectively they create the global perspective. It is the culmination of these unique defining moments that make up the world. It starts as you, and expands to your home, your street, your locality, your city, your region, your state, your time zone, your country, oversees and beyond. There is a theory of everyone being connected to every person on the planet through five or six individuals ( more info ) . This theory connects me to tribes in Africa, Terrorists in Baghdad, Eskimos in Alaska, and even the man across the street that I’ve never met. Not only am I connected to these people, but my life affects their being in some way. The actions I take every day, even those that I am not aware of, can affect every single person in this world, somehow. This is also working conversely as they are affecting me.
If you conceptualize this view you can see that an action taken by me has an affect on you that will cause you to then take another action at some point that in turn affects me. It is a constantly moving process and although not simultaneous or observable, is at the essence of abstraction.
This view can open oneself up to how the process of karma works. We are at times performing similar action so that in a theoretical circle a series of actions is taking place. Each action has a reaction that then sets off another series of cyclical and circular patterns that intertwine and spread throughout the world, multiplying and maneuvering overseas through cultures and eventually some day in the future returning to you. You are affected by an action, either positively or negatively in the future that is directly connected to an untraceable action that you have performed in the past. The only difference is that your action has multiplied and returned to you most likely 2- or 3-fold, and not always at one time.
If one person is removed, the entire world will be affected because that one person is part of a process. Conversely, if you do not remove individuals then the world is also being affected because that person will be able to alter the process. Therefore, the world is completely dynamic. It is always changing. We as humans try to identify with sameness so that we can construct a feasible reality to inhabit. This ‘clinging’ to sameness has implication. We initially may have been intended for static reality, but as nations expanded and the world became flatter and flatter in terms of how easily we can communicate with those in other cultures, the more dynamic life became.
The process from the most obtuse level of human communication down to the smallest partical of matter is full of abstraction. That’s really all I’m saying. Abstraction is everywhere, and it often gets taken for granted.
Alex Bard
I think that where abstraction gets to be the most exciting is in reference to our physical self. While the philosophy of abstraction is observable in automobiles, electronics, and other perfunctory forms, the human body is by nature, a sophisticated mechanical being. The body has a very high degree of abstraction. Every function you are capable of doing or performing is made up of a deeper, less understood series of processes that you are either born with, or have had to learn through personal development. Even still, all of the underlying processes that make up our exact being are often times diminished by our thought process and assumed to be a regular part of reality.
I believe that in truth these smaller, individual processes also make up the bigger picture. It has to start at the smallest part, the quark inside an atom, or the string whose theory is yet to be proven. Without spending too much time on these minute details we are able to progress through our blood pumping, our lungs breathing and our minds thinking and processing. Outside of our immediate self is the world and everyone in it, all with their own abstractions occuring 'under the hood'. We interact and communicate with these people, and that in itself is also abstraction. The concept grows to a point that we cannot even see or directly experience. If I am boring you now please read no further.
There are moments in life that define us. There are moments in life that define the environment that we inhabit, and they are both unique to every single individual being. They are as unique as you and I, but collectively they create the global perspective. It is the culmination of these unique defining moments that make up the world. It starts as you, and expands to your home, your street, your locality, your city, your region, your state, your time zone, your country, oversees and beyond. There is a theory of everyone being connected to every person on the planet through five or six individuals ( more info ) . This theory connects me to tribes in Africa, Terrorists in Baghdad, Eskimos in Alaska, and even the man across the street that I’ve never met. Not only am I connected to these people, but my life affects their being in some way. The actions I take every day, even those that I am not aware of, can affect every single person in this world, somehow. This is also working conversely as they are affecting me.
If you conceptualize this view you can see that an action taken by me has an affect on you that will cause you to then take another action at some point that in turn affects me. It is a constantly moving process and although not simultaneous or observable, is at the essence of abstraction.
This view can open oneself up to how the process of karma works. We are at times performing similar action so that in a theoretical circle a series of actions is taking place. Each action has a reaction that then sets off another series of cyclical and circular patterns that intertwine and spread throughout the world, multiplying and maneuvering overseas through cultures and eventually some day in the future returning to you. You are affected by an action, either positively or negatively in the future that is directly connected to an untraceable action that you have performed in the past. The only difference is that your action has multiplied and returned to you most likely 2- or 3-fold, and not always at one time.
If one person is removed, the entire world will be affected because that one person is part of a process. Conversely, if you do not remove individuals then the world is also being affected because that person will be able to alter the process. Therefore, the world is completely dynamic. It is always changing. We as humans try to identify with sameness so that we can construct a feasible reality to inhabit. This ‘clinging’ to sameness has implication. We initially may have been intended for static reality, but as nations expanded and the world became flatter and flatter in terms of how easily we can communicate with those in other cultures, the more dynamic life became.
The process from the most obtuse level of human communication down to the smallest partical of matter is full of abstraction. That’s really all I’m saying. Abstraction is everywhere, and it often gets taken for granted.
Alex Bard
27 February 2007
Google Earth
I was wasting some time on Google Earth today and thought I would take a look at Baghdad in Iraq. Why not, right? There was a brief stroke of fear about whether or not the secret service would be knocking on my door. Not that I care. It's a free country and the information isn't being withheld from the public.
To make a long story short, I was dragging the earth across my desktop and this monstrosity of a building that you're looking at came into view. I actually had to zoom out to see the whole image. I don't know if this is the capital, a mosque, or one of Saddam's palaces, but it's design is very interesting...from a birds eye perspective at least.
4/8/08- Update
A friend of mine from Iraq identified this structure as the "Nasb Al-Shaheed", a place where soldiers from the Iraq-Iran war were buried.
Secret Service Calls on La Roche Professor
Read The Article Here
Here's and interesting tidbit I stumbled across about Jeff Ritter, chair of the CMT program at La Roche college.
I think it is really interesting that this event occured in the way that it did. It makes it seem like the patriot act is completely on point with the wrong kind of information.
Here's and interesting tidbit I stumbled across about Jeff Ritter, chair of the CMT program at La Roche college.
I think it is really interesting that this event occured in the way that it did. It makes it seem like the patriot act is completely on point with the wrong kind of information.
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