FM Boston Radio

Prolog

So my friends, as we march fourth in our never ending world of technical wonder and prowess.

Let us remember there are still mysteries out there and yes, even in our old age we learn there are things that do go bump in the night.

If you’re ever in Southampton MA, along the Old College Highway keep your eyes wide open and keep close watch on your soul.  

The Village

In the small sleepy village of Southampton, Massachusetts stirs a hollow along the Manhan River. This is a small river no more than 10.9 miles long in Western Massachusetts, but a river no less.

The village of Southampton like all New England villages is dotted with white houses, quaint historical areas, some old saw mills and yes, the hollow.   This is where my story begins.

Each night for many months during the summer, I would bike along the Route 10 stretch, better known as College Highway to the locals.  I have always found it very ironic that there is not one college located upon this path.  

As the summer wore on, it began to cool and dutifully after my family was in bed I started to ride.  The sky was a speckled with brilliant stars and never ending clarity that only a New England night can give you.   The air was brisk, with the crisp air sending shards of coolness to my lungs. The night was perfect.

My typical path was about a 5-7 mile loop and this night was no different.  My speed was excellent and my heart raced as my legs pumped strong and true.  About 3 miles into my trip my heart and stomach sank and repulsed with fear.  I had the uneasy feeling I was being watched or followed in some manner.   My mind I thought must be playing tricks on me, maybe it was one to many Steven King books, maybe it was just a stressful day of working on some never ending software project, maybe is was just foolishness.   

But like a child caught in the dark, the fear grew with every rotation of my pedals.  What was happening to me, I thought out loud.   Now at 4 miles, the road became much darker than I recall, and not one car drove by. Normally I dread the teenagers racing by, but not tonight, there was just silence.   Mile 5 and still no cars and my feet become sluggish, almost like lead weight had some how attached to the lower portions of my feet. Every effort a struggle to go on, every breath a burning fire within, for God sake what is wrong with me?

As my bike accelerated past the old farms houses I entered the hollow, just where the Manhan river crosses route 10.  Two eyes about 4 feet off the ground shined back with the light of a 1000 moons. In a flash, I was struck with an overwhelming sense of relief that I was not crazy and fear upon what I was seeing.   

The creature looked like a tiger you see on the discovery channel, but with a scrappier, rough cut cat like face.   It’s blood lust shown through its whiskers like protrusions, only to be superseded by its ravenous set of teeth.   

As it stared blankly at me, it green eyes blazing, I could feel my soul being drawn from my body, but it was not my soul it wanted. No, it was not that, it wanted me for a late night feeding.  My legs pumped with the might of good old Hercules, my heart raced and my blood pumped relentlessly to every muscle.   I tuned once to see the green eyes following me on the edge of the woods and panic set in. Just then a tractor trailer, with the words Harley Davidson of Southampton rushed by with a mighty roar.

The creature vanished, not word, no sound, no grand exit, it just vanished.  I did not let up until I made it back to my house a few miles away.

That night, my dreams were haunted and engulfed by the beasts’ eyes.   The restless abandon of the beast was evident even in my sleep.  I awoke in a cold sweet, shivering, shaking like a newborn coming from the darkness only to find I was still sleeping. I could tell this by the fact I was starting to fly, and down below I could see my body, my helpless body, sprawled out like I had cut a forest of lumber.  

What happened next was beyond reality, I was being flown, no carried back to Old College Highway. The street lights went by like shooting star’s the road looks like solid lines on a maze.   

I was being flown back to the God dammed hollow. Instead of fear, my eyes filled with rage, rage for my family, rage for my freedom.  And there I stood, I was back in the hollow. Suddenly the eyes appeared from the wood line, they looked like green lightening gazing deep within my eyes. Then I was awake.   

The next day passed with me feeling rather silly of my dreams and thinking how much I felt like a young child afraid of the boogie man.  

Once again when night came and my family was asleep I started out on my bike. This time I was feeling rather at peace and going along at a rather fast clip down the Old College Highway.  Soon I was upon the hollow and I felt nothing out of sorts.  “All is well”, I thought to myself.  Then as I was cresting up the hill I heard a deep barking growl and a sudden bang against the guard rail.  My heart raced as I pumped with all my might and did not look back till I was home.

Later that night my friend was flying in from the West Coast and we gathered as we do every year by a midnight fire.  I told him of my tale and they only laughed, I guess I did to. That night we had some beers and told stories of the old days on the Cape where we would walk 12 miles a day to get to work only to bus tables for 12 more hours.   It felt good.  At some point I can’t recall exactly when, my friend lit a cigarette and we stepped out of the light of the fire to talk. At that moment through the wood line we heard what could only be described as a daemon scream. It continued on and loud for what seem like a life time, and my heart sank. I asked him, “Did you hear that?” And he concurred.

For a moment I was thinking it was a practical joke played by his brothers but he insisted it was not. Then we heard the crunching of sticks, the movement of legs, the sounds of the beast.   Both of us moved slowly, watching like soldiers in a war, then It was gone.  

That night we talked and talked about what had occurred but to this day I have no explanation.    I have never again seen or heard the beast that lives along the Manhan River from Southampton to Westhampton Ma, but I assure you my friends there a beast lies.

Take this tale as you will , perhaps the babbling of an old man but no matter how much we think we understand the world some things are still a mystery .

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? Limit Advertisements.

Nothing is a bigger turn off for consumers than excessive advertisements, whether it’s commercials on TV or ads on the sides of your site.  If you are looking to make money off advertisements, designers typically recommend that you make this no more than 25% of your site.  The other 75% should be relevant, editorial content.

? Don’t Distract Your Audience.

Boston web design firms attest that users find blinking and scrolling text, animated GIFs, and auto-loading sound obnoxious and distracting.  More often than not, these tacky elements divert visitors’ attention from site content, which should be the intended focus of any quality web design plan.  Research shows that these sorts of flashy animations are a turn off for site visitors, many of who will immediately click out of your site when blinking ads appear.  Visitors with slower computers don’t appreciate being forced to endure automatically loading animations or sound files either.

? Nix Pop Up Windows.

Another practice that Boston web designers recommend avoiding is the use of pop up windows; these are pesky to site visitors, and again cause them to become distracted from site content.  Furthermore, most all browsers allow users to disable pop up windows for just this reason; so if you use pop up windows as part of your site structure, this element might be completely overlooked by visitors.

? Clicking: Less is More.

Keep in mind that professionals always aim to minimize the number of clicks that site visitors have to make to reach the material they are looking for. If your web design requires visitors to click a chain of links to get around your site to locate sought after content, they are likely to become impatient and leave.  Along this same thread, don’t use a splash page for your homepage as it only adds unnecessary clicks, requiring more navigation for users.

? Make Pages Count.

To cut down on the time it takes for users to navigate your site, many firms suggest that you have a couple of primary pages that hold quality content for your audience.  Web design structures that have a lot of pages with sparse content lack cohesion and become sprawling and inefficient.

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Looking for help with your children? When searching for a nanny service in Boston with the help of a computer, parents rarely understand a foolproof approach for getting a good match for their child. What to do – scour their facebook friends, online job boards, or use an online referral agency? Is anyone really certain of an unknown nanny’s abilities and know that a certain candidate is the right person for the job? Among the most popular (and the simplest) routes for making both you and your child happy is to go with the services of a professional nanny finding firm that can fit the needs of families and nannies.

Find a Nanny Service in Boston Now – Click Here!

Before starting the search for a nanny service in Boston, is to sit down and think about exactly what tasks you have in mind and what you expect from your nanny. You should include questions such as, how much previous nanny experience does this person have? Are there any unusual duties the nanny would be expected to handle? Do you need any specialized care? What type of person are you willing to accept into your home? Create a sample contract for your childcare provider to sign which lists the important qualities that will be required of your care-giver.

After you have decided what is most important to you, now you should choose an easy, and most importantly, reliable way to find the perfect candidate for you and your child. Of the various ways you can go about this, the best is to enroll with a computer-based “match-making” service for customers and providers. Nanny coordinators have the means of supplying state-of-the-art utilities to look at a large database of great caregivers who can be hired to care for your children.

Locating a nanny service in Boston that meets your needs is not an impossible task – open up Google (or whatever search engine you choose) and enter the necessary criteria to search for: your locale (city, state and zip code), and the exact type of nanny you want to find. Out of the results which have shown up for your consideration, you decide upon the ones that might turn out to most completely satisfy your requirements. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of each person and make a choice among the options as to who will always keep your child safe and comfortable.

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I would probably say that I was not the only one, who got bored looking at musical notes during a Music class years ago. Perhaps, it is because children just do not get fascinated with pages of lines and notes, colored black and white. Now, that I am no more a kid, I admit that it’s still dull to look at those stuffs and I still feel the same way.

I have nothing against reading musical notes but I would just rather sing than struggle dealing with such complicated matters. Music teaching tips might help me learn music easier, but I would also need of a very patient teacher to assist me so.

When I was in grade school, I used to be a member of a drum and lyre band. I experienced playing both the lyre and the drums and found the latter easier. However, I ended up playing the lyre. It was fun especially when we won awards in exhibition competitions. We also did caroling during Christmas holidays and played in different events and occasions.

I enjoyed playing those instruments although there were times I got embarrassed when I made mistakes. There came some instances when I escaped attending band practices because I knew I would be called by our bandmaster. I did not like the feeling of receiving special attention. Worst, I got such because I messed up.

We had our band practices a group at a time. Usually, the lyrists practiced first then the drummers, or otherwise. Then, we played in a classroom as a whole – all together. Our bandmaster used different music teaching tips and strategies to help us learn music pieces easily. What was remarkable to me was that of Psychology’s Operant Conditioning.

Does it ring a bell? Or does it sound unique? I somehow have a clue how Music is related to Psychology but the other way around, I am not really sure. But I can say it was effective in my case.

Our bandmaster gave us two options: (1) we had to perform in our exhibition drills as if we were in the actual competition-meaning having minimal mistakes as possible- so we could get home early. We used to have practices a couple of whole consecutive days and those were really exhausting; or (2) he would pull our sideburns for every mistake we would commit. The former condition is a ‘reward’ while the ‘latter’ is a punishment. Of course, we would go for the reward. After all, who would want to be punished?

There are lots of accessible music teaching tips and strategies anywhere. You can look for books at the nearest bookshop from your home or visit a fellow music enthusiast and ask for useful tips. Also, you can surf the Internet for easier access of general or specific information.

(This article was written by a friend named Morgan Hall)

Know more applicable music teaching tips, log on to Music Teachers website.

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