"history nearly as old as that of America"

Dorchester, Massachusettes (Wikipedia)

History

"Settled one month before its neighbor, Boston, in May of 1630, Dorchester has a history nearly as old as that of America. For its first two hundred years, Dorchester remained apart from Boston, existing primarily as a farming community with small commercial and industrial outposts along the Neponset River at Lower Mills and Mattapan Square, and along Dorchester Bay at Commercial Point."

The Battle of Dorchester Heights
Dorchester Reporter
The Freedom Trail

"The battle of Dorchester Heights was on March 6, 1776. General George Washington positioned his troops atop Dorchester Heights, overlooking Boston. This gave the colonists the advantage of targeting the British, who were stationed in the city, below. Washington had hoped General Howe and his troops would either flee or take the hill. Howe chose to flee, and on March 26, the Redcoads evacuated Boston, and headed to Halifax, Nova Scotia."

Dorchester Atheneum - Lost and Endangered Dorchester

James Blake House - Boston's oldest house

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Recent Past



Death of an American Jewish Community
by Hillel Levine, Lawrence Harmon

"In a well-researched, instructive, controversial analysis, Levine, a rabbi and director of Judaic Studies at Boston University, and Harmon, former editor of Boston's Jewish Advocate , show how forces external to the black and Jewish communities of Boston undermined their relationship. At issue: blockbusting in the Roxbury-Dorchester-Mattapan sections of the city, where the mid-1960s population of 90,000 Jews has been reduced to 2500."

Streets of Hope : The Fall and Rise of an Urban Neighborhood
by Peter Medoff

"The distance between downtown Boston and downtrodden Dudley could not be measured by the less than two miles between them. One area reflected privaledge and reinvestment, the other prejudice and disinvestment. Beginning in the 1950's, disinvestment, abandonment and arson turned Dudley homes, yards and businesses into wasteland. By 1981, one-third of Dudley's land lay vacant."

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Notable



John F. Kennedy Library (above)

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The MBTA Redline - Subway line that spans Dorchester, Boston and Cambridge.

"the shot heard 'round the world"

Lexington, Mass is notable as the site of the opening shots ("the shot heard 'round the world") of the Battle of Lexington and Concord, the first engagement of the American Revolution.

Tour Lexington

Rosa Parks 1913-2005

TIME 100: Rosa Parks:

"Rosa Parks Her simple act of protest galvanized America's civil rights revolution"

The Sun Also Rises

The Sun Also Rises
Oct 6th 2005
From The Economist print edition

Japan's chances of prosperity and influence look surprisingly bright

"IT HAS taken an extraordinarily long time, but Japan really is now recovering from its debt- and deflation-ridden stagnation of the past 15 years. Proper jobs are being created, wages are rising and economists are raising their forecasts of economic growth—all despite worries about high oil prices and an American slowdown."

Tokyo Motor Show, October 22nd - November 6th

Tokyo Motor Show

General Public Days : Oct. 22 (Sat) - Nov. 6 (Sun)
Hours : Weekdays 10:00 - 18:00 / Saturdays and Holiday 9:30 - 19:00
Location : Makuhari Messe, Makuhari, Chiba Prefecture

God Bless the Child

Them that’s got shall get
Them that’s not shall lose
So the Bible said and it still is news
Mama may have, papa may have
But God bless the child that’s got his own
That’s got his own

Yes, the strong gets more
While the weak ones fade
Empty pockets don’t ever make the grade
Mama may have, papa may have
But God bless the child that’s got his own
That’s got his own

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Billie Holiday
God Bless the Child

nbsa +×÷ (10/9 Shibuya, Tokyo)

10/9 Shibuya Venue: O-East, NBSA (National Band School Associates)

Japan is often perceived as impossible to penetrate or assimilate within. That is true to a point. However, most just don't know how Japan's society has a facet of every part of the world, including black culture. In so many ways, once you get past the language barriers, Japan seems to have more freedom for Africans than not. There is a continual momentum of fundamental change taking place here that often only music can express.

The nbsa fest was unlike none other, and went on for hours. Triumphant, returning from their magnificant Fuji Rock Festival performances, Inushiki ended the 7 hour concert event with an incredible set that left all in awe, friends and fans alike. ("This night has opened my eyes, and I shall never sleep again...")

Inushiki - aka Dogggystyle - Life is Beautiful

Mirror Mask

Jim Henson Company - Sesame Street, Muppets, Fraggle Rock,...
Neil Gaiman Original Screenplay - Sandman, American Gods, Coraline
Dave McKean Director - Past illustrator for Sandman, Black Orchid, Hellblazer, Wolverine

A truly visionary film project, uniting the talents of Neil Gaiman, Dave McKean, and The Jim Henson Company is creating an awesome buzz this summer. Titled "Mirror Mask", it is a new kind of movie, wildly imaginative, utilizing state of the art computer graphics combined with a very human story dramatized by live actors. This new piece marks the first produced original Gaiman screenplay as well as McKean's debut as a feature director. Dark Horse.com

Trailer - Windows Media Player (high)
Interactive HomeMain (Internet Explorer)
Dreamline - an unoffical site for the works of Dave McKean

Legacy: The Origin of Civilization (1992)

Epic Documentary (6 hours)

An incomparable experience in time travel! Historian Michael Wood takes you on a tour of four continents in search of vanished, ancient cultures and societies. Tracing the civilizations of Mesopotamia, India, China, Egypt, Central America, Greece, and Rome, Wood spotlights the legacies of Asian and Western cultures, and teaches world history from a truly world perspective.

Iraq: The Cradle of Civilization
After thousands of years as a hunter/gatherer, man built the first cities 5,000 years ago on the banks of the Euphrates in Southern Iraq. Civilization began. City life transformed the human race with the glorious cultures of Mesopotamia such as Ur, and Babylon.

India: The Empire of the Spirit
Ancient India is with us today in the living tradition of the Hindu religion, the basis of Indian culture. The traditions that are honored by millions of Hindus in the present were born in the Indus valley 5,000 years ago.

China: The Mandate of Heaven
Many breakthroughs on which the modern world is based were discovered in China long ago...iron-casting, gunpowder, even printing. When introduced to Europe, these things changed Western civilization. This episode presents the synthesis of East and West.

Egypt: The Habit of Civilization
Ancient Egypt was the first great nation on earth and endured for thousands of years. The god-like Pharaoh was the rock on which this civilization was built. Ancient traditions come together in the Moslem culture that is the Middle East today.

Central America: The Burden of Time
Isolated from the rest of the world, the Mayans and Aztecs created sophisticated civilizations that in many ways paralleled ancient Mediterranean empires. God-like kings and a priestly ruling class dominated splendid cities of temples and pyramids.

The Barbarian West
Civilization arose in Asia, but it was the West which would create the first world culture. This final episode traces the origins of western culture through Greece and Rome prevailing by borrowing from the legacies of the original five old world civilizations.

Historical Atlas of World Mythology (1988 - rare, out of print)

Historical Atlas of World Mythology: 4 Volumes
Joseph Campbell

The Historical Atlas of World Mythology is a multi-volume series of books by Joseph Campbell that traces developments in humankind's mythological symbols and stories from pre-history forward.

FRONTLINE: The Storm (Hurricane Katrina)

What will it take America
DJ Paul Edge, September 4, 2005, 2:40 pm

Notes from inside New Orleans
Jordan Flaherty, September 02, 2005

Iraq in America, At the Front of Nowhere at All, The Perfect Storm and the Feral City
Tom Englehart, September 4, 2005 at 12:49 am

Katrina and the End of Illusions - The storm passes – or has it only just begun?
Justin Raimondo, September 7, 2005

When government fails - The pathetic official response to Katrina has shocked the world. How will it change America?
From The Economist print edition, Sep 9th 2005

Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.

The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman

The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman

Thomas Friedman and Energy Independence
National Public Radio, Science Friday, June 24, 2005
"According to writer Thomas Friedman, America needs a national science project. The goal? To make America energy independent in 10 years. Friedman talks about his new book The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century."

Live 8

"These concerts are the start point for The Long Walk To Justice, the one way we can all make our voices heard in unison.
This is without doubt a moment in history where ordinary people can grasp the chance to achieve something truly monumental and demand from the 8 world leaders at G8 an end to poverty.
The G8 leaders have it within their power to alter history. They will only have the will to do so if tens of thousands of people show them that enough is enough.
By doubling aid, fully cancelling debt, and delivering trade justice for Africa, the G8 could change the future for millions of men, women and children." Bob Geldolf

Time Magazine - Pooh-bah's of Poverty June 19, 2005

Crossroads

Some say the devil be a mystical thing
I say the devil he a walking man
He a fool he a liar conjurer and a thief
He try to tell you what you want
Try to tell you what you need

Standing at the point
The road it cross you down
What is at your back
Which way do you turn
Who will come to find you first
Your devils or your gods

Tracy Chapman
Crossroads

John Brown: Abolitionist

Biography Explores John Brown's Legacy
Weekend Edition - Saturday, May 7, 2005



NPR.org
John Brown's violent campaign against slavery -- punctuated by the dramatic 1859 raid at Harper's Ferry, Va. -- made him a divisive figure, then and now. He's been portrayed as an insane fanatic and as a noble martyr. His actions unquestionably helped set in motion events that led to the Civil War.
A new biography by David Reynolds examines the abolitionist's life and his far-reaching cultural impact. Linda Wertheimer talks with Reynolds.

Farwell My Concubine (1993)

Director Chen Kaige

Starring Leslie Cheung, Gong Li

Time All Time 100 Movies In 1977, two old veterans of the classic Beijing Opera are reunited after long inactivity and estrangement. The story ranges over their entire careers, going back to the 1924 warlord era when they were both child apprentices under a brutal, abusive teacher.... By 1937 when war with Japan is imminent, Douzi (now going by the professional name of Chieng Dieyi) has a wealthy patron, while Shitou (aka Xiaolou Duan) marries a beautiful and headstrong prostitute (Li). These outside relationships put a severe strain on their professional team, and further large developments -- the Japanese occupation, the Nationalist uprising in 1945, the Communist revolution in 1949, and the devastating Cultural Revolution of 1966-- lead the characters into lies, betrayals, trials, and deaths. This gorgeous, crushing, magnificently written (based on the novel by Lillian Lee) and acted epic was released in 157 minutes in the U.S. but its original Chinese print is 171 minutes long. For once the astonishing Gong Li is out-acted by a man: Leslie Cheung in the title role. David Loftus, Resident Farewell My Concubine Scholar www.allwatchers.com

Raise The Red Lantern (1991)

Director Zhang Yimou
Starring Gong Li

Raise the Red Lantern, a magnificent film that confirms Zhang as a world-class director, may cause him more grief. The setting is northern China in the Twenties. The teenage Songlian (Gong Li) marries the fiftyish Chen (Ma Jingwu), a rich and ruthless man who already has three wives. Each night, servants raise a red lantern in front of the door of the wife whom the master decides to reward with his sexual favors. The struggle among the wives for power, or at least the appearance of it, allows Zhang to suggest disturbing links between past and present. Gong Li delivers a performance of exquisite expressiveness that, like the film itself, is unnerving in its emotional nakedness.

Rolling Stone

Essay: Beyond Children of the Atom: Black Politics, White Minds and the X-men.

Not having much to do, I decided to say something about the X-men and the interpretation of it all. The franchise has done very well; the movies, comics, animation... but why? So, I decided to start by searching google for keywords 'xmen' and 'racism'. The top hit is the essay above.

Essay: Beyond Children of the Atom: Black Politics, White Minds and the X-men.
May 8, 2003

Enemy Territory Fortress

Enemy Territory Fortres has been released. It is a port of Q3F to Enemy Territory with a ton of bug fixes, changes, and tweaks and is completly FREE.

You do not need to buy anything to play ETF. The only thing you will need to do is download Enemy Territory which is FREE and you can find the download links here (you will also need the Enemy Territory 1.02 patch which is also in our files section), make sure you install 1.0 and patch 1.02.

www.etfgame.com
www.planetetf.com

Splash Damage

Splash Damage

Splash Damage is a London-based independent game studio dedicated to online gaming, and has rapidly established itself as one of the leading First Person Shooter developers in Europe.
Splash Damage was formed in June 2001 from key members of the non-commercial online mod-making community. Splash Damage built on the experience gained by its staff in projects such as Q3F to work in partnership with established developers and publishers, and ultimately create stand-alone original games titles.

Splash Damage built bespoke Counter-Strike and Quake III maps for Games Domain. Splash Damage then worked with Network Of the World and Gamer.TV, providing both custom maps and an in-game television production solution. Splash Damage staff worked to produce and present over 150 TV shows based on Quake III Arena.

In 2002, Splash Damage began a partnership with id Software and Activision to work on Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory (free game) which has won several Game of the Year and Editor’s Choice and remains one of the most popular online FPS titles.

Quake 3 Fortress

Quake 3 Fortress

Q3F 2.0 has been developed by the Q3F Development Team, and is a Total Conversion (TC) for the game Quake 3 Arena, deceloped by id Software and published by Activision. The goal with the ongoing development of Q3F has been to modify the multiplayer aspects of Quake 3 to create a much more in-depth and team oriented experience while playing on the Internet, on gaming networks or on a LAN.

The Classes
The Maps
The HUD

The Team

Asian Quake is Most Powerful in 40 Years (NPR audio)

Asian Quake is Most Powerful in 40 Years



Examining the International Effort to Aid Tsunami Victims

January 3, 2005
The world still is aghast after the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. We consider how the world is organizing to help, a week after the tragedy.

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence

Half Life 2

Half Life 2

Looking forward to Half Life 2, and the hardware fantasies that go with it. Every article includes mentions of Steam required to play. So I checked it out. Simply looks like a gamespy client for Valve Software games. The client updated game (Half Life Team Fortress Classic and Counter Strike) to the latest build. Several server connection time outs made it appear bit buggy and there was no feedback during progress. And Steam appeared when hitting escape for game options, but not providing any. I hope this is not required for multiplayer, too difficult to use that it discourages it, or a subscription cost behind it.

Half Life 2 Reviews: (a bit biased)

Funny: Half-Life 2 to be arcade release in Japan

True: "The Japanese gaming community doesn’t like first-person shooting games."

Steam

Steam - Counter Strike Source


Checked out Steam. Reminds me of Gamespy. 375 Counter Strike Source servers 

Plane Ticket $350...

Plane Ticket: $350.
Game Ticket: $750.
The Yankees Watching the Sox in the World Series: PRICELESS.

10 of Rods

Position: Challenges/ Opportunities
General Meaning:
This suit, most often called "Wands" and sometimes called "Rods" or "Staves," represents initiative, ambition, drive and desire. This is the suit of enterprise and risk-taking.

The Ten of this suit represents an all-out effort, an obsessive commitment to a task which demands everything you've got. The person shown in decks with pictures is in no position to rest until he makes it inside the stout walls of the well-defended castle in the distance. If he fails, he will become prey for the highway robbers after dark.

It doesn't matter that he's overloaded and underfed. With this card, you have to do whatever it takes to get to completion -- nothing can be allowed to interfere.

Railbait

www.railbait.com

Map rotation. That is what you expect at the end of a game. Often announcements for new maps, which means another 'download'. Not see a banner "In memory of... Zapped Again" and know the guy. Well, we've never actually really met. But I remember his stance, and the challenge. Amazing what an avatar can do, when bundled with real life. Two years later, not much is left of that bunch, but the portal has lived on. Non-other than Railbait is destined for the leading edge. Gamers are people too... so are their avatars.

These games are always different, but Zapped was very consistent... Always - fragged again, by zapped again.
09-14-2002
Jin
Railbait n00b
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Tokyo
Posts: 30

Another Jin

Worst ping. Best game.

Was going through my game directories and found an earlier version saved the final scores of my games. Well, there is one I found that I remember well. The only game I ever won. The first (and last) my team won and I had the highest frags. (my player name is Jin) The map was 2mach and I was an engineer. I made gun placement at the edge of the flag base, and just guarded the gun. Almost a shutout indeed. My team capped over and over again.



My first and last winning game.

Les Seules (The Outsiders)

The Outsiders

I saw a group of news articles last week about Les Seules (The Outsiders):

"In French, their name means The Outsiders. But in the world of competitive "Counterstrike," a first-person shooter PC game, Les Seules have moved to the forefront, thanks to their virtual machine gun and grenade wielding techniques and, well, their good looks."

ABC News


Les Seules

Relevant "Foreign Affairs"

A Global Power Shift in the Making

Global power shifts happen rarely and are even less often peaceful. Washington must take heed: Asia is rising fast, with its growing economic power translating into political and military strength. The West must adapt -- or be left behind.



Is America Losing its Edge?

For 50 years, the United States has maintained its economic edge by being better and faster than any other country at inventing and exploiting new technologies. Today, however, its dominance is starting to slip

The good life

The good life