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Showing posts from March, 2008

Was Malthus right?

I have absolutely no idea. But, listening to this 30 minute discussion on the legacy of Malthus was pretty interesting . From the blurb on the BBC's website: "Matthew Sweet hosts a dicussion about the eighteenth-century English Economist -Robert Thomas Malthus which explores why his theories on population growth are currently the subject of renewed debates" Locally, we also see these arguments playing out, with Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population leading the charge. If you have any interest in this issue, on either side, listening to the BBC podcast will inform you on the global issues. I listened last night, otherwise I would have more details.

Thoughts on the radio stream

I'm enjoying programming my own "radio" stream. I've decided to put hours and hours and hours of archive material in there, as long as the odd song and raw audio. Right now I'm listening to a 2006 recording I did of the Free Speech monument opening up , and now it's playing a random mp3 I have of someone giving advice on how to survive a zombie attack. In all, it's a fun mix, and I'm enjoying programming. So far, I've had a maximum of 4 simultaneous listeners! What's the purpose of this? To explore the technology, and to see if it's something useful. For me so far, it's nice to have a bit of serendipity regarding my listening choices. And yes, it's a bit self-serving, as right now the playlist also includes random radio pieces I've done over the years, as well as some of my odd musical stylings. So, tune in and enjoy this random selection , and listen as it evolves into something akin to a real radio station. I like having somet

Psst: I'm working on an experiment!

Psst! I'm working on an experiment, and you might want to check it out! The Charlottesville Podcasting Network started out three years ago to serve as a source for on-demand audio from in and around town. Since April 2005, we've been recording lectures, producing original features and interviews, and serving as the audio archive for several radio shows in town including WNRN's Sunday Morning Wake-Up Call and WINA's Charlottesville--Right Now with Coy Barefoot . And, so far, we're off to our best year ever with contributions from folks like Elizabeth McCullough and Deepak Singh. We're recording more and more, and continuing our quest to become one of the area's best source for on-demand audio. So, I've decided to start experimenting with an online stream of all the content , and I'm opening it up to anyone who reads this blog. Right now, it's pretty no-frills affair, and there's no set schedule. In general, I'll run podcasts from the last

Charlottesville Podcasts this week

The Charlottesville Podcasting Network is soon to celebrate its third anniversary. Since April 2005 we've been posting audio from in around Charlottesville. 2008 is shaping up to be our best year yet, as the site is now powered by many more people than just me. That's the most exciting thing to me, as the goal has always been to develop a new kind of media outlet from the ground up. I am trying to work myself up to the point where I produce a weekly podcast that tells you what you missed. In my fantasy world, this podcast would also be aired on a local radio station and would stand-alone. However, I reckon to do it right would take about five hours or so, and I don't have that kind of time lying around. It's something I'm sure I could work with someone, though. But, to do it right, it would have to have a sponsor or underwriter, and I've got no time to make that end of the venture work out. So, what I think I'll do is use this here blog to begin developing

NASA's new website

Earlier this year I blogged about how irritated I was that NASA wouldn't grant permission for me to record an event. I still think that was wrong, but policy is policy. But I did want to point out NASA's new web redesign , which is very widgety and seems to contain a lot of information at first glance. It looks a wee-bit gadget heavy, but I was able to navigate quickly to a few things I wanted to look at. I'll give it a deeper spin soon. What do you all think?

On the passing of Gary Gygax

I'm inspired to write this by Larry Banner's post in which he admits to playing Dungeons and Dragons when he was a kid. In this day and age, it takes a bold person to admit to spending any part of their childhood playing with many different kinds of dice, pencils, hexagonal marking paper, and reference books with scantily clad valykrie. It takes someone with a courageous bent to admit to spending weekends in basements with a seemingly never-ending supply of noxious soft drinks, snacks and jokes in very poor taste. For a brief moment today, I wondered why it's not possible for us adults to do that same kind of goofy thing. Then I had to get back to work.