Monthly Archives: May 2012

Club Watch: Clone Records Night @ Hidden

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An electronic insitution Rotterdams Clone Records have been releasing, selling and distributing great electronic music for the last 20 years.

Many were aghast when the label announced its closure in 2009 so central was their position in dance music circles. But they shouldnt have worried. Just a few months later,Army of Darknessstyle the label was resurrectedand remade (nay,Cloned)in a number of sub labels eight and counting, each focusing on a different area of dancefloor futurism. Two of its finest imprints will showcase the hottest names on their books tonight youd be best to take notes.

Room One tonight is host to Royal Oak if anything Clones most straightforward House wing offering some of the finest sounds from the labels Dutch base and beyond. Swedish duo Genius of Time made waves in 2011 with their ace Houston we have a problem, a Whitney-referencing earworm of a track. The sampling of the late diva was a move as prescient as their music an astral-gazing, laid-back take on classic house. Dutch resident Gerd looks to bring things up even higher with his breezy takes on the timeless sounds of Chicago.Finally, the King of the Clones label boss Serge himself will see things out with the latest tracks to catch his ear.

If that all sounds a bit easygoing, things are racheted up a notch in Room Two with the sounds from Clones Basement. The label has taken the role of an audio sandbox, a place for forward thinking producers to share their visions of underground techno.UK Bass artist and Hemlock-label boss Untolds release last year streamlined his usually frantic percussion for a sound designed for main-room destruction, see him in full effect tonight. A stalwart of the Dutch scene,Conforcessound isunmistakablytechno-centered, but expect plenty of left-of centre detours to keep things fresh.Things are rounded off by Dexter, on inspired form recently, guesting on Rush Hours Amsterdam All Stars compilation and restlessly experimenting with his sound. Afterworking in a number of styles over the years electro, house, techno no doubt hell work some of these in tonight.

Clone Records: Basement Series vs Royal Oak at Hidden, Vauxhall SE11 5EQ, Friday 11th May. Tickets are available here.

Image used with permission from Clone Records.

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Club Watch: Clone Records Night @ Hidden

Get retro with ÆtherFest

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You don't have to wear brass goggles or leather corsets to fit in with the dapper anachronistic crowds at therFest. But why cheat yourself of such fashionable fun at the steampunk convention? Especially when you can strut your stuff with some serious A&A.

And A&A would be ...

Aesthetics and attitude, says Pablo Mr. Saturday Vazquez III of the San Antonio Neo-Victorian Association, which hosts the event Friday through Sunday at the St. Anthony Hotel.

Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that marries modern gadgetry and general futurism with the steam-powered past of the Victorian era. It's as much a fashion statement as a literary one, with fans who craft giant ray guns, mechanical arms and other bizarre brass and clockwork accessories to wear with old-timey petticoats, top hats and coattails.

In its second year, therFest showcases live music and fan clubs with groups such as Marquis de Vaudeville and Airship Isabella, plus steampunk authors O.M. Grey and Lia Habel, panels for steampunk novices and experts and tabletop gaming in the Cracked Monocle gaming room. There are also dances, dinners and tea times that keep with the con's historic hotel setting.

And while therFest isn't all about playing dress-up, rest assured on-hand vendors will gladly outfit you with the latest retro-futuristic outfits and accessories.

Vazquez stresses you don't need such gear to get in the door. But once inside, such paraphernalia can only enhance what's meant to be an immersive experience: And hopefully (you) come out with a top hat, too, afterward.

rguzman@express-news.net. Twitter: @reneguz

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Get retro with ÆtherFest

Amazing Airport Restaurants

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We've all been there. Tired. Hungry. Staring into the cold, dark eyes of a Panda Express.

The dearth of decent airport dining can make even the savviest world traveler feel stranded in a culinary heart of darkness. With nothing but a mediocre Hudson News paperback to pass the interminable hours before boarding, what is the hungry traveler to do but submit to Sbarro?

Before you dive headlong into the abyss, consider your coordinates. The world's leading international airports are seriously upping their gourmet game, offering everything from menus by Michelin-starred chefs to food stalls stocked with local delicacies. At these six spots, you'll eat surprisingly well before boarding.

1. Hong Kong International (HKG)

Tian Xia Dumplings will not win you over with its looks. Located within the elevated Dave & Busters that is HKG's dining and entertainment concourse Terminal 2, this unassuming kiosk sells an array of hearty Hong Kong street-food classics, like big bowls of fish noodles as well as the namesake dumplings, which are made to order and served alongside a fiery red chili oil sauce.

2. Los Angeles International (LAX)

Built in 1961, the modernist Theme Building at LAX looks a bit more Star Trek than Saarinen. But channel your inner Shatner at the spider-legged Encounter restaurant, an emblem of mid-century futurism that serves a surprisingly tasty menu of local California produce, fresh seafood and steamed edamame topped with fleur de sel, sesame pepper and zesty ponzu sauce.

John Bartelstone Photography for OTG Management

3. London Heathrow (LHR)

The first airport restaurant from celebrity chef and Zen master Gordon Ramsay is in Terminal 5, Heathrow's sweeping metropolis of luxury shopping and poorly placed escalators. The varied Plane Food menu includes crispy duck salad, risotto with English peas and seared cuts of dry-aged British beef. If your time in T5 is limited, order from the two-course Plane Fast list, where a mere ?16.95 gets you pumpkin soup and Suffolk pork belly in under 25 minutes.

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Amazing Airport Restaurants

Et cetera: non-fiction roundup – reviews

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The Great Accelerator by Paul Virilio, Sparrow by Kim Todd and The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg The Great Accelerator by Paul Virilio, translated by Julie Rose (Polity, £9.99) Virilio, the French philosopher, has long cultivated a kind of Delphic compression, addictive once you tune in to its cadences. And what could be a better hook for a slim new volume by a "dromologist" (philosopher of ...

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Et cetera: non-fiction roundup – reviews

Freedom Force: Superhero role-playing done right

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This is a weekly column from freelancer Rowan Kaiser, which focuses on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity. The Avengers' huge success in its first week of release may represent the pinnacle of the superhero takeover of mainstream culture. Superhero comics have long been comparable to video games' bigger brother, with many of the same criticisms and stereotypes and similar slow paths to respectability. There's always been a great deal of crossover between the two, especially in terms of games based on comics. Most of these were platformers or brawlers, and most, like licensed games generally, were mediocre at best with a few exceptions.

Roleplaying games especially seemed to be a natural fit for superhero games. Both usually have origin stories, over-the-top villainy, straightforward morality and, most importantly, characters overcoming adversity by gaining more strength and greater power, with single characters or small party dynamics. There were a few attempts of varying success, like the simple RPG/adventure hybrid Superhero League Of Hoboken, but it still took until 2002 for a great superhero RPG to be released: Freedom Force.

Each hero is introduced through comic-style cutscenes, done in the style of 1960s-era "Silver Age" comics. An over-the-top voice delivers campy, Stan Lee-esque narration, and the hero's voices are all entertainingly overdone. Freedom Force feels silly, but in a way that's respectful of the playfulness of the source material.

Freedom Force is a top-down, party-based action/RPG, much like the later X-Men Legends and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance titles, but it plays quite differently. Freedom Force is slower-paced, less action-oriented, and built more for the indirect control of the mouse than the later Marvel games. Ultimate Alliance feels like Diablo mixed with Gauntlet, but Freedom Force is its own thing. In pace, it's closer to Baldur's Gate, but it's both less chaotic than the Infinity Engine games and more character skill-based.

This isn't an accident: the manner of skill-based fighting both games use is well-served by this setup. With small parties, you can use a variety of different characters and skill-sets, but there aren't so many that it becomes difficult to control. The skills themselves are spaced out by time more than anything, which fits perfectly with the superhero theme and the logical consistencies between superhero and traditional roleplaying narratives. It just feels right to play a real-time RPG with this kind of engine.

That's not the only thing that Freedom Force gets right, though. One of its most impressive feats is its use of three dimensional, polygonal technology to create a superhero playground. Most every object within the game world can be interacted with: you can pick up rocks, trees, and cars. You can demolish every building in your way though sometimes you have to protect buildings from attack as well. Putting a ranged character on a rooftop for a fight may be wise, but if one of your super-strong characters throws a car into the building, there may be trouble.

Freedom Force was well-received upon its release, but it has lost its place in the discussion of great roleplaying games. A sequel, Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich, was released a few years later, but by then Marvel's licensed games were proving to be crossover hits and may have overwhelmed Freedom Force. But it's a great and important game that deserves to be remembered and still played. Happily, it's fairly easy to acquire: GamersGate and Steam have both games, while GOG.com has the sequel. If The Avengers gave you an itch for some classic roleplaying superhero fun, this is a good way to scratch it.

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Freedom Force: Superhero role-playing done right

South Carolina marks ex-slave's daring sail to freedom

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CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - Descendants of Civil War hero Robert Smalls are celebrating the ex-slave who 150 years ago this weekend commandeered a Confederate steamship and evaded batteries overlooking Charleston harbor to reach a Union blockade and freedom. Calling themselves the "family of cousins" and ranging in age from 3 months to 94 years old, Smalls' descendants came to the ...

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South Carolina marks ex-slave's daring sail to freedom

Freedom powers back to overcome Hibriten, 8-4

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Credit: James Lynch Jr. | The News Herald

Lauren Hasson slips a glance towards the Freedom dugout as she rounds second base to see her teammates celebrating her two-run home run Friday versus Hibriten.

By: KEVIN CARVER | Morganton News Herald Published: May 12, 2012 Updated: May 12, 2012 - 3:53 PM

Lauren Hasson made the Freedom softball teams first-round playoff vision a reality, and Lindsey Auton completed the job as the Lady Patriots erased an early deficit to beat Hibriten at home, 8-4, on Friday.

Both Hasson and Auton posted key home runs in a victory that was Freedoms first in postseason play since the 2008 group did so in the 4A playoffs.

Freedom (13-9), who spotted Hibriten (9-16) two runs each in the top of the first and third innings, turned things around in the bottom of the third.

Kayla Poteat earned a one-out walk before Hasson took a turn at bat. On a 1-1 count, Hasson (2 for 3, three RBIs) torched a two-run homer that tailed just inside the left-field foul pole. After a walk to Paula Davis, Auton punished a shot into the centerfield gap for a double to cross Davis, cutting the deficit to 4-3.

Filling in for Cassie Saunders (illness) at second base was Poteat, who in turn became the silent hero. She lined a single to center in the fourth and Hasson followed by turning on the first pitch she saw for a double to left. The hit tied the game 4-4, and all the momentum appeared to go to Freedom.

In the next frame, Auton made sure it stayed that way. Megan Kirksey and Cassidy Smith connected on back-to-back base hits to lead off the bottom of the fifth, forcing Hibriten starting pitcher Bailey Land out of the circle.

The Panther pitching change backfired, as Auton (3 for 4, four RBIs) clobbered a 1-1 offering for a massive three-run home run to dead centerfield, giving Freedom the lead for good. Auton finished up just a triple shy of hitting for the cycle.

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Freedom powers back to overcome Hibriten, 8-4

One World Trade Center, the ‘Freedom Tower,’ becomes New York’s tallest building

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One World Trade Center, the so-called Freedom Tower currently under construction in Lower Manhattan, technically became New York City's tallest building on Monday, as workers erected steel columns on the 100th floor, 1,271 feet above the street, to make it stand 21 feet higher than the Empire State Building's observation deck. The Freedom Tower, which [...]

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Freedom to Marry President Evan Wolfson to Receive Award with President Obama Following Historic Week

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NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

On Monday, Evan Wolfson, Founder and President of Freedom to Marry, will share the stage with President Barack Obama at the graduation ceremony for Barnard College, a women's college in New York City. Following his historic comments supporting same-sex couples freedom to marry, President Obama will deliver a commencement address to the Class of 2012, and then receive the college's highest honor, the Barnard Medal of Distinction, alongside Wolfson who has been credited with helping President Obama through his widely publicized evolution, ultimately resulting in his full support of same-sex couples freedom to marry.

Wolfson has been leading the charge on efforts to win the freedom to marry since writing his law school dissertation, which laid out a clear path to victory, nearly thirty years ago. He is available to discuss his personal experience of standing with the President after this historic week as well as the next steps in the fight to win the freedom to marry nationwide.

About Evan Wolfson

Wolfson, dubbed the Godfather of Gay Marriage by Newsweek, is the Founder and President of Freedom to Marry, the campaign to win marriage nationwide, and author of Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality, and Gay Peoples Right to Marry. After getting a BA in History from Yale, Wolfson served in the Peace Corps in West Africa and then earned his JD from Harvard Law School. In 2004, TIME magazine named Wolfson one of the "100 most influential people in the world."

Prior to founding Freedom to Marry in 2003, Wolfson launched the ongoing global marriage movement as co-counsel in the landmark Hawaii marriage case, Baehr v. Miike. He also contributed to the legal teams in the Vermont case that led to the creation of "civil unions" and Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, which led to marriage in Massachusetts. In 1976, he was a Senate intern for Vice President Joe Biden, who this past Sunday came out in support of the freedom to marry. Wolfson argued before the Supreme Court in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale and has taught as an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School. Wolfson married his longtime partner, Dr. Cheng He, this past October after winning the freedom to marry in New York.

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Freedom to Marry President Evan Wolfson to Receive Award with President Obama Following Historic Week

Fees raised at two Wellfleet beaches

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It will cost $20 this season to park at Cahoon Hollow and White Crest beaches, the selectmen agreed Tuesday, after hearing Suzanne Grout Thomas, beach administrator, explain that the rates at these two beaches have not changed in 19 years.

In 1993 the board of selectmen raised the fee from $10 to $15 a day. The parking fees at the other beaches already have been raised. Nauset and Barnstable for two years have charged $20 per weekend without any griping.

The proposed fee increase would help her staff, she said, because we wont have to have $500 in fives every weekend to make change.

The town took in $153,825 in revenue between the two beaches from 10,255 vehicle passes. If they have the same number of vehicles this year, it will mean $51,275 in anticipated new revenue, she said. Since the town needs revenue, she recommended the increase, and the board readily agreed.

The board took no action on beach fire regulations Tuesday, agreeing to wait until it gets a report back from Thomas and the ad-hoc committee created to come up with new rules and regulations for beach fires.

That means beach fires will be allowed, as they traditionally have been on four ocean beaches, with four permits issued daily for each beach.

I recommend we leave things as they are for the summer, Thomas said.

The committee came up with 20 recommendations, only one of which Thomas said she did not agree with. That was a regulation that those receiving a fire permit be given flags and a bucket when they pick up their permit.

I dont have funding for that, Thomas said. I cant imagine how many buckets and flags will walk out of here as souvenirs. Im not sure that part will not work.

But most of the committee recommendations could be put in place, she said, and she will report back to them, as the summer progresses, on the beach fire situation. One of the committee recommendations was that 10 fire permits be issued, but she was not sure if that meant 10 permits for each of the four beaches, or 10 permits to be divided between the four beaches.

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Fees raised at two Wellfleet beaches

Beaches open for summer season

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JEFFERSON CITY Several Missouri State Park beaches, including two in St. Francois County, opened Friday for the 2012 recreational season.

Monsanto and Pim beaches at St. Joe Park opened along with Cuivre River State Park in Lincoln County, Lake Wappapello State Park in Wayne County, Long Branch State Park in Macon County, Pomme de Terre State Parks Hermitage and Pittsburg beaches in Hickory County and Stockton State Park in Dade County.

Additional state park designated swimming beaches are scheduled to open for the recreational season later this month.

Visitors to Missouri State Parks are able to sign up to receive electronic notices about the status of state park beaches. For the past two years, visitors have been able to check the status of beaches at a glance on the Missouri Department of Natural Resources website at http://bit.ly/MoStateParksBeachStatus as well as http://mostateparks.com.

In addition to checking the website, visitors can sign up to receive free alerts and advisories through e-mail or text messages at http://bit.ly/HlSnaG. The department will notify subscribers when the beach status website is updated with the latest postings and will provide a link to view an interactive map of all state park beaches.

The departments map will display flags at each beachs location, with a green flag denoting an open beach and a red flag denoting a beach that has been closed. If a beach is closed, the flags will denote the reason, which could include high bacteria, flooding or high water levels, or storm debris.

When a beach is closed, signs will be posted at the beach and on bulletin boards at the park office to notify the public. Beaches will be closed for high bacteria when a single E. coli sample exceeds 235 cfu/100ml or when the geometric mean a 30-day rolling average exceeds 126 cfu/100 ml.

The department samples the water at all designated beaches in the state park system weekly during the recreational season to determine suitability for swimming. The department will post the information about the beach status on the website at http://bit.ly/MoStateParksBeachStatus as well as http://mostateparks.com. The sample test results indicate a snap shot of the water quality taken at the beaches at a specific time; however, a single sample does not provide an overall sense of the water quality in the lake where the beach is located.

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Chilean Earthquake Restores Beaches

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BEACH LEVEL RISE: A recent powerful earthquake reversed years worth of coastal erosion at beaches in Chile. Image: Wikimedia Commons/Maximiliano Reichenbauer

In 2010, a massive, magnitude-8.8 earthquake struck the south central coast of Chile, rupturing beaches and launching a tsunami that rode inland with devastating effect. In an instant, whole sections of the coastline were transformed, with large swaths of sand and rock lifted from beneath the waves.

For Chile, it was a disaster of sobering proportions. But for Eduardo Jaramillo and Jenifer Dugan -- researchers who have spent years studying the effects of coastal erosion on beach ecology -- it was also a rare opportunity to see one of climate change's more immediate effects put in reverse.

"It was like setting the clock backward," said Dugan, a researcher at the Marine Science Institute of the University of California, Santa Barbara. "The whole coast went up in places. Beaches that had been much lower elevation relative to sea level came up a couple of meters. They regained a lot of lost ground."

Before the quake, that "lost ground" had been steadily eaten away by a combination of natural and human influences.

As thermal expansion and glacial melt -- both products of global climate change -- push sea levels steadily higher, coastlines are shifting inland. Yet in many places, that shift has been arrested by man-made sea walls, vast projects meant to protect the trillions of dollars of infrastructure that perch on the edge of the world's oceans.

Sea walls are often constructed at high-tide lines, and although they may protect the infrastructure behind them, they actually exacerbate the erosion of the beach in front of them, said Jaramillo, of Universidad Austral de Chile.

How sea walls accelerate erosion "When you build a sea wall close to high tide, the water actually hits it and bounces off with more force" than if the tide had been allowed to go out naturally, he said. Beaches lose more sand to erosion when they have sea walls than when they're allowed to move naturally, he added.

For the plants and animals that inhabit beaches, that means a precipitous loss of habitat. Along much of the Chilean coast, species have abandoned beaches hemmed in by closing walls of water and concrete. But in those places where the quake lifted new ground, life quickly returned.

"Dune plants are coming back in places there haven't been plants, as far as we know, for a very long time," Dugan said. "The earthquake created sandy beach habitat where it had been lost." Invertebrate and avian life were coming back quickly, as well, she said.

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Chilean Earthquake Restores Beaches

NASA Captures the Sun's Most Striking Photo Yet [Astronomy]

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You are looking at the Sun's Evil Eye. Or the Death Star ready to shoot its planet-destructing laser. Or Jean Grey turning into the Phoenix. Actually, I really don't care about what the hell is going on hereit just looks amazing.

And the fact is that, even while this M4.7-class solar flare ended before any coronal mass ejection happened, it doesn't make it look less scary. According to NASA, "this image is shown in the 131 Angstrom wavelength, a wavelength that is typically colorized in teal and that provided the most detailed picture of this particular flare."

So. Pretty. [NASA Goddard Flickr]

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NASA Captures the Sun's Most Striking Photo Yet [Astronomy]

The start of a long, long dance | Bad Astronomy

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A hundred million light years away, two gorgeous spiral galaxies are locked in an embrace that may end with them merging, a dance spread across a hundred thousand light years in space and a hundred million years of time.

[Click to galactinate, and yeah, just do it. The hi-res version is big and lush and lovely indeed.]

This image, taken by frequent BABlog contributor Adam Block, shows this cosmic waltz in lovely detail (another wonderful image is available via the ESO as well [UPDATE: ... and from Gemini, with a diagram of the two and a nice explanation]). The two galaxies (NGC 5426 on the left, and NGC 5427 on the right) are just starting this eons-long encounter, but affects are already visible. You can see tendrils of material stretching from NGC 5426 to its companion, drawn out by the force of NGC 5427s gravitational attraction.

Inside the galaxies, you can easily see the pink glow of gas clouds, disturbed by the interaction, starting to furiously churn out hot young stars. Actually, stars of all masses are born in these clouds, but its the rare massive stars that have the most impact. They blast out ultraviolet light which makes the gas glow, and will explode as supernovae, lighting things up even more.

In galactic collisions like this the outcome can be difficult to ascertain. Perhaps theyll pass this one time and do so with sufficient velocity to make this a one-eon stand, continuing on into the night. Or, if their relative speeds arent enough, theyll pull apart, only to be drawn inexorably together once again. Even then they may pass, but this time in an ever-decreasing arc, until finally they merge into one bigger galaxy. Although this plays out over far too long a timespan to watch in real time, we see so many colliding galaxies that its like having snapshots at all different stages of evolution (see Related Posts below for lots of collidey goodness).

The general steps here are known, but the specific outcome of this particular encounter is still to be seen.

And well see something like it up close, if not for quite some time: the Andromeda Galaxy will one day collide with our Milky Way, and when that happens well be able to see what a galactic collision looks like from the inside. Buy your tickets now. The show begins in just a billion years or two.

Image credit: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona

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The start of a long, long dance | Bad Astronomy

Three-day course on Astronomy

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The Tamil Nadu Science and Technology Centre will be organising a three-day Summer School on Astronomy and Astrophysics for students studying in classes VII to IX.

The programme will be held during May 17 to 19, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the B. M. Birla Planetarium, Periyar Science and Technology Centre, Gandhimandapam Road, Guindy.

Topics such as fundamentals of celestial coordinate systems, solar system, studies on the Moon, birth and evolution of stars, galaxies, cosmology, telescopes in astronomy, etc., will be taught. The course also has practical sessions for observing stars, planets, deep sky objects and the Sun, using modern telescopes. Only 50 students will be admitted on first-come-first served basis.

For registration and further details, contact 2441 0025.

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Three-day course on Astronomy