Janos reaches Mars

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Janos Marton

The internet was all abuzz this morning when the rover, Curiosity, touched down on Mars.  Curiosity carries a microchip holding the names of many humans hoping to be the first to reach the red planet, including yours truly!  Check out our post from September, 2010, and our podcasts with NASA expert Carrie Chess and alien theorist Crispus Knight.

 

Janos Marton

You are part of history!
Your name will be carried to Mars on a microchip
carried by NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory rover.
Certificate number: N2M400847289
Date: September 24, 2010

 

 

 

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One century ago today, former President Teddy Roosevelt accepted the presidential nomination of the Progressive Party, popularly known as the “Bull Moose Party.”  His electrifying acceptance speech defined the great moral issues of his time, some of which would be tackled within a few years, others which remain with us today.   You can read the full text of the hour-long barn-burner here.

Choosing not to run for re-election in 1908, Roosevelt had endorsed the successful candidacy of William Howard Taft, and spent much of the next two years on exotic hunting trips and basking in his enormous popularity in Europe.  But his dissatisfaction with his successor begun early and grew steadily.  By 1910 he was back in the political arena.

The presidential primary system as we know it today barely existed in 1912, and Roosevelt’s string of victories in the Republican primaries did little to stop the party bosses from renominating Taft.    With the Democrats nominating New Jersey governor Woodrow Wilson and the Socialist Party, at the peak of its strength, nominating Eugene Debs, Roosevelt formed a party of his own to make the 1912 election a battle for the ages.

At the Progressive Party in Chicago on August 6, 1912, Roosevelt came out firing: The old parties are husks, with no real soul within either, divided on artificial lines, boss-ridden and privilege-controlled, each a jumble of incongruous elements, and neither daring to speak out wisely and fearlessly what should be said on the vital issues of the day…We propose boldly to face the real and great questions of the day, and not skillfully to evade them as do the old parties. 

… Continue reading →

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Janos Marton | Leave a comment

HCS (III, 6): How To Chain Yourself To A Door, How To Wear Tyvek, and Other July Tutorials

Posted on July 21, 2012 by g-mo

“Until you say you don’t know, you won’t know until you begin.”
-Van Halen

The conference wasn’t a conference per se. When you think of a conference, what do you think? You probably think of some convention center next to a harbor or adjacent to the intersection of two interstates in some mid-sized city. You think of vendors and tri-fold boards, salesmen with oversized belt buckles grinning at mild-seeming farm borne customers. This was not a normal conference, as this was a conference in Paoli, Indiana, a town about 80 minutes northwest of Louisville. And a little further, because the conference wasn’t in Paoli proper (if you could call the handful of stoplights around the ovular town green in the center a “proper”) but rather in the woods outside of town.

According to their website, “the Ruckus Society provides environmental, human rights, and social justice organizers with the tools, training, and support needed to achieve their goals.” This description is obviously open to many interpretations to the unwise web browser. Janos explained as we drove that it was a pretty far left organization hosting a “Freedom From Oil” gathering at which he hoped to make some contacts in his always expanding political career. They could have been protesting the illegitimacy of clown colleges for all I cared; I just liked the idea of young fun people camping out in the woods and learning about oil. It sounded like summer camp, and since summer camp was not too far of a stone’s throw away from what the Beauvoir field felt like at times, I was in. Plus it was vacation. Continue reading →

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HCS (III, 5): Welcome To Atlanta

Posted on July 14, 2012 by g-mo

“I pull up in the black Lotus, your plaques are bogus, so I stripped them off the wall waiting for my cue to corner pocket eight balls.”
-Ludacris 

Kicking It With Usher (right.)

My life was already defined by Hope VI in mid-June, but once Evelyn left it was a reason for living. Every single day I marched out into the neighborhood, taking mold sample with these microscope slides and also by swabbing areas and dropping q-tips into thick plastic bags, taking air traps, and making sure I got to the post office before 5 pm to mail FedEx packages to our microbiological laboratory in Ocala, FL. I monitored John Henry Beck as well, and made sure Niko and John were doing alright in their work at the park. But inevitably every single day I was catching a ride out to the fence of that housing project, walking around to check on the weather readings and to see if a house was ready for post-inspection. Every day.

In this way, I made myself a little bit of an independent. Of course I still caught up with Harlow, Bicycle Ben, and other new implants. There were two girls that worked with Animal Rescue Ben, Kristen and Marj, and every now and then I’d sneak away from the building to smoke a joint with them. By and large though, mold was who I was and mold was my life. I was obsessed with Hope VI. I knew that what I was painstakingly doing would not only help us, but help everybody in the long term. It would help everyone trying to rebuild after the next Katrina. That was the most important part, I mused to myself in silent moments setting up air traps in homes, marking the studs I took mold samples from with permanent marker so I knew where to take the post-treatment sample, charging across an empty housing complex with big jeans held together by a rope in a knot and a clipboard. This would change everything, and no one would ever have to through what we went through in December ever, ever again.

At this point, Erin had extended contracts to super long-termers. This was separate from the contracts that Cora and Caleb got as co-directors. I was a Grants Manager, and had a quarter million dollar budget under my eyes— it basically consisted of Hope VI, John Henry Beck park, and a few home rebuilds to fill up the rest. Continue reading →

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Marathon Day 5 Photos

Posted on July 8, 2012 by Janos Marton

Marathon Day 5 went down about a month ago, and it was a wild success.  We had a record number of participants and a record number of finishers (17!).  We were joined for most of the day by a couple from New Zealand who found out about Marathon Day while waiting for the Staten Island Ferry.   One first-time participant was photographer Emma Levy.   She took some truly stellar photos, a few of which I’ve attached below.  Enjoy!

Marathon Day MVP Katie Baron

Hanging out at the New Bay in Staten Island

Cristina Castro with her potent bubble gun.
Power walkin' in Lower Manhattan

Relaxing on a subway pillar. Subways are solace.

Gmo finding time for some Buckhunter between drinks.

Ralph enjoys a cool one in Staten Island
Buy the ticket, take the ride

The troops march down Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.

Brian Orce looking suave

Guillermo celebrates the essence of MD5

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HCS (III, 4): Maybirds

Posted on July 5, 2012 by g-mo

“Don’t think twice. It’s alright.”
-Bob Dylan

In the midst of everything happening that I’ve described, Janos started making out with a girl on the Sacramento AmeriCorps team. Her name was Evelyn and I still remember his excitement at presenting the progress to me over dinner.

“Dude, do you know AmeriCorps Evelyn?”

I was still caught up in the trauma of Ryan, Mark, and Rohde— none of whom Janos had been very close to. I had admittedly made out with girls since then, a couple on Andrew’s AmeriCorps team, but nothing that seemed as though it would lead anywhere. Suzanne and I had fizzled a bit. She was ten times more mature and together than I was (I mean, I was 22 and she was 24. This seemed like a world of difference to me at the time.) So it ended. I randomly made out with people, and she maintained a strong hold on her heart and her life. It was fine.

“No, I don’t know AmeriCorps Evelyn.”

“How could you not? She’s 100% the hottest AmeriCorps girl here. We’ve been making out a bit. You know, the girl from the Sacramento team?”

Continue reading →

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HCS (III, 3): Presidents, Governors, and Golf Course Burials

Posted on June 17, 2012 by g-mo

If you can identify 10 instances of hilarity in this picture, LTD will give you a prize

It honestly seemed like a joke the first time I heard it. Hope VI was going, Ryan had just left, I was charging forward with setting up my mold experiment, working with Rohde and Mark on prepping the houses, getting to know the AmeriCorps kids (one at a time, they all seemed to rotate who drove me around on a given day.) Most consistently, I was still trying to forget the painful wound of seeing Ryan off. And then Hands On Network struck again— along with the MTV kids, the sudden thousands of dollars available for ideas that kids under the age of 26 came up with brainstorming, there was the definitive political connections held by the organization. The CEO, Michelle Nunn, was the daughter of Sam Nunn. Sam Nunn was the U.S. Senator from Georgia and was apparently on the George W. Bush golf circuit and also had close relations with a number of prominent businessmen (including Bob Nardelli, who in his pre-Chrysler days was still CEO of Home Depot. That was helpful for funding Home Depot runs.) At any rate, all of the sudden HOGC was near the top of the list for a volunteer camp that W would potentially visit in an upcoming trip to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. And then soon after, it was set.

Erin called a meeting of a few long-termers— a select meeting. I think Animal Rescue Ben had been invited, but he had already proclaimed immediate disinterest in anything having to do with President Bush. N8 was too caught up in his Moss Point clinic project to be bothered with media events. So the group was Erin, Janos, Cora, Caleb, Veenita, Harlow, Amy, Deke (an older medium-termer), Nick, Alan Petz, and myself. We sat and got the debrief on what would happen when Bush arrived: he was coming with Governor Barbour and his wife, and then a crapload of Secret Service agents. Base would be secure. “Secure” means that SS would move everyone out of the top floor area where everyone would sleep, and there would be snipers on the roof as well as in the golf course. We all took off work that day, and the way things would go down was scripted strongly. Continue reading →

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Led Zeppelin- The Last Band Standing

Posted on June 11, 2012 by g-mo

Ladies and gentlemen, we began the Last Band Standing tournament on February 20th, 2012. It was a time where I was still 28 and there had still only been four Marathon Days. Today, nearly four months later, we are ready to retire the tournament and declare our champion- in the end there could only be one.

Much congratulations to Led Zeppelin whose “Sick Again” and “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” double wins put the nail in the coffin for the Beach Boys (“Sick Again” over “Do You Wanna Dance” 84.5-74.5 and “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” over “Heroes and Villains” 102.9-70.) Final full count of all THIRTY-SIX songs and wins for the Zepp:

Round 1: Versus Blondie
Heartbreaker v. Rip Her to Shreds W  105.45 – 83.15 (1-0)
The Song Remains the Same v. Fade Away and Radiate  W 90-81.5 (2-0)
Living Loving Maid v. Sunday Girl W 117-98 (3-0)
The Crunge v. Call Me L 119-83 (3-1)
Misty Mountain Hop v. One Way or Another W  158.4-157.2 (4-1)

Round 2: vs. David Bowie
Communication Breakdown v. Oh! You Pretty Things  L 74.1-64.4 (0-1)
Whole Lotta Love v. Dance Magic Dance  W 99-80 (1-1)
The Ocean v. Hang on to Yourself  W 71-61 (2-1)
Houses of the Holy v. Move On W 109-98 (3-1)
Stairway to Heaven v. Starman  W 121-96 (4-1)

Round 3: vs. Bruce Springsteen
Rock and Roll v. Jungleland  W 99-90 (1-0)
Dazed and Confused v. Born to Run  L 130-117 (1-1)
When the Levee Breaks v. Born in the USA  W 122.9 – 122.7 (2-1)
Black Dog v. Badlands (live)  W 169.2 – 166.2 (3-1)
Fool in the Rain v. Promised Land W 146.5 – 119 (4-1)

Round 4: vs. Stevie Wonder

The Rover v. Living in the City L 109.9-97.6 (0-1)
Ramble On v. Boogie On Reggae Woman W 76.3-69.3 (1-1)
D’yer Maker v. Uptight (Everything’s Alright) L 106.75-104 (1-2)
Wanton Song v. I Was Made To Love Her L 98.2-94.7 (1-3)
Immigrant Song v. As W 98.2-85.4 (2-3)
Kashmir v. Superstition W 119.5-107.6 (3-3)
Tramped Under Foot v. Tuesday Afternoon W 114.05-94.65 (4-3)

Round 5: vs. AC/DC
Bring It On Home v. The Jack W 58.5-52.5 (1-0)
Dancing Days v. Girl’s Got Rhythm W 83.2-81.6 (2-0)
Battle of Evermore v. Sin City W 70.5-63.8 (3-0)
I Can’t Quit You Babe v. Highway To Hell L 60-48 (3-1)
For Your Life v. Have A Drink On Me L 68.8-60.5 (3-2)
Over The Hills And Far Away v. Touch Too Much W 74.65-52 (4-2)

Round 6: v. The Beach Boys v. U2
Going To California v. Waiting For The Day v. Mysterious Ways 1st (138, 104.8, 102.4)
Custard Pie v. I Get Around v. Sunday Bloody Sunday 3rd, Strike One (62.1, 89.4, 89.5)
Hey Hey What Can I Do v. Help Me Rhonda v. New Year’s Day 1st (136.65, 125.35, 119.4)
Good Times Bad Times v. Pride (In The Name of Love) v. Let Him Run Wild 1st (99.8, 87.4, 57.5)
Tangerine v. Don’t Worry Baby v. Desire 2nd (64, 70.55, 58)
In My Time of Dying v. Do It Again 1st (58.7-53.6)
Sick Again v. Do You Wanna Dance 1st (84.5-74.5)
Babe I’m Gonna Leave You v. Heroes and Villains1st (102.9-80)

Thank you so much to everyone for voting and participating, this has been a fun time. Get your summer off to a good start and we’ll see you around the site soon.

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Royal Rumble, Game 7/8: Double Header

Posted on June 6, 2012 by g-mo

The scores are in, and Led Zeppelin now finds itself one game away from victory! “In My Time of Dying” defeats “Do It Again,” 58.7-53.6. We now stand at the cusp of the end of this tournament and our coaches have offered up a double header to finish things off. The Beach Boys will need two wins to grab the crown- otherwise, it’ll be hats off to Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham for an incredible run for the crown and the undisputed title of Last Band Standing. Don’t count those Wilson brothers out, however- anything can happen, as we all know.

Match-ups are below, vote with your hearts, listen to songs here, and best of luck to all. Votes are due Friday, June 8th at Midnight. VOTE.

(Oh, I put the new Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes video up there for no reason besides a firm belief that you all should also watch that when you get a chance because it is awesome.)

Game 7
Sick Again- Led Zeppelin
Do You Wanna Dance?- Beach Boys

Game 8
Heroes and Villains- Beach Boys
Babe I’m Gonna Leave You- Led Zeppelin

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Royal Rumble, Game 6: And Then There Were Two

Posted on June 5, 2012 by g-mo

The above video, first of all, has nothing to do with the tournament, but I appreciated it. Moving on- low turnouts mean easy swings…and sometimes tough times for people on the wrong side of the scoreboard. After keeping this last match alive for three days, we unfortunately only had nine votes we were able to count toward the final (since Dan did not vote, we couldn’t count Janos or Adrock’s scores.) The final scores were as follows:

Tangerine- 64
Desire- 58
Don’t Worry Baby- 70.55 

Much thank you to Coach Dan for a tournament well coached, but the show must go on. U2 receives its third strike and is eliminated with a bronze medal to take home.

At this point, both Led Zeppelin and The Beach Boys have a strike a piece…which leaves the title of Last Band Standing in the hands of whomever wins the three game series they have left. Good luck to both bands. Playlist is here, and votes are due by Wednesday, June 6th at 5:00 PM.

Royal Rumble: Game Six
Do It Again- The Beach Boys
In My Time Of Dying- Led Zeppelin

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