The only constant is light. Lots of Christmas lights. White, golden-glow, colored. They light the long hours of darkness in the northern hemisphere. They remind us of the Light of the World. They make electric
During this last trip, we lost two more family members back in Germany. My cousin Traudi’s husband Roland, who I could not have loved more, had he been my own brother. Over the years those two and their daughters Stefanie and Michaela have been the closest family we had and the loss...
Ampeater Music is a website devoted to bridging the gap between unsigned (or just plain underexposed) artists and music lovers everywhere. Every day we feature a different artist on what we call The Ampeater Review. Each fea
What remains is mostly open space, save the few items that have earned a perennial place on my altar–the pillow I made at an art therapy session at work with a whole heart on one side and a broken heart on the other (you’ll be happy to note it is currently set in the “whole”...
These are the questions that will determine the fate of the accused. That is the meaning and essence of the Red Terror.” The protagonist of We the Living is a young woman named Kira Argounova whose experience clearly mirrors that of Rand herself. The Russian Revolution casts the formerly ...
But dig a little beneath the surface, and Singapore will reveal its charm, diversity, and ethnic roots. Even though the island city-state of Singapore is quite small, it has many unique neighborhoods and a well of accommodations. Therefore, deciding where to stay in Singapore can feel a bit...
And while I was far from my family and friends during my world adventures, it’s different when you settle into your day-to-day routine and live on the opposite coast from the people closest to you. But thankfully, new and old friends welcomed me into their homes and their lives and ...
That Hackers game I was working on is the closest personal example I have. –Random: There are random elements in the game. Normally categorized as “input randomness” (drawing from a deck of cards, having a generated terrain setup, etc.) that players see, accept, and have to deal with...
And the question is: How do you get your brain into environments where these new networks are going to be more likely to form? And it turns out that, in fact, the network patterns of the outside world mimic a lot of the network patterns of the internal world of a human brain. ...
“I can’t think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are five years old again. You can’t read anything, you have only the most rudimentary sense o