MetaFilter posts tagged with amateurs

"The future, for which I have really worked, is mine."

unknowncommand — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 19:43:50 -0800

How did we miss the 150th anni versary of Nikola Tesla's birth?

The Portsmouth Sinfonia to return?

scaryduck — Tue, 11 Jan 2005 04:50:48 -0800

The Portsmouth Sinfonia to return? In 1974, Gavin Bryars rounded up a group of novices and enthusiastic amateurs, called them the Portsmouth Sinfonia and let them loose in a recording studio. The result: some of the most disturbing classical music ever committed to tape. Intrigued by the concept, the legendary Brian Eno signed up and played clarinet for the orchestra, adding a certain star cachet to the cacophony. On the back of sympathetic TV coverage, there followed a now-legendary concert at London's Royal Albert Hall. Thirty years later, there are plans to release Portsmouth Sinfonia's output on compact disc by way of celebration. A brazen attempt for quck laughs and publicity, a serious exploration of entropy in the musical medium, or simply an early entry in the torture tape experiment?

Oiled, but not nude

PinkStainlessTail — Sat, 07 Aug 2004 08:41:26 -0800

If you don't expect the Olympics to keep it real, you may appreciate the Nemean Games.

Amateur Scientists

MiguelCardoso — Fri, 15 Nov 2002 02:57:44 -0800

Amateurs, Mere Amateurs still make significant contributions to astronomy [The Canadian Laval group's website is typically enthusiastic] and may yet make a difference in other sciences, according to Freeman J. Dyson in this review of Steve Guttenberg lookalike Timothy Ferris's latest book [Here's an enticing glimpse of his home-made Rocky Hill Observatory.]. I wonder just how much easier it's becoming for amateurs to contribute to specific areas of scientific knowledge? Or is it, in fact, increasingly more difficult? And would it still be strictly limited to the observational sciences?