a small tid-bit from my ex-father-in-law Jón, who passed away a short time ago. going through his log book, which he kept at both his summer houses -- I guess a hold-over from his days as ship's captain -- this bit of Icelandic poetry along with a translation by Magga and Jay:

02 December 1918 - 10 April 2006

Lillian Christine Hopkins, beloved mother, friend and teacher, age 87, died at home on Monday, April 11, 2006, following a three year battle with leukemia.

She was born December 2, 1918, in the town of Melville, Prince Edward Island, Canada, to the late John Malcolm and Lillian Kedy MacKenzie. Her early schooling was in Boston. She graduated from Gordon College, Boston, Massachusetts in 1945, and completed her master?s degree at Western Maryland University. On August 11, 1944, she was united in marriage to Cleveland Hopkins at Park Street Church in Boston, Massachusetts.

Lillian was a devoted sixth grade teacher for thirteen years with the Montgomery County Public School District, Montgomery County, Maryland. Some of those years she spent teaching class in a restored one-room schoolhouse in Clarksburg, Maryland. She retired from teaching in 1983.

Shortly after retirement, Cleveland and Lillian moved to Prescott, Arizona where Lillian enjoyed working as both a teacher and Board President of the Prescott Christian Academy. She also served as a Core Leader for Community Bible Study for many years, and attended the bible study faithfully until shortly before her death. In 1997, she joined a Campus Crusade as teacher of teachers, and traveled to Minsk and Kiev, Russia, to observe and interact with Russian teachers.

During her sojourn in Prescott, Lillian was a member of Prescott First Baptist Church and Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church. She had a strong, lifetime commitment to missions and supported numerous missionary families around the world.

Lillian is survived by her children, Douglas (Oksana) Hopkins, Kingston, NJ, Janet Hopkins, Chino Valley, AZ, Nancy (Steve) Haan, Livermore, CA and John Hopkins, nomadic; five grandchildren, Lawren Richards, Eagle Bay, BC, Jason Babcock, Phoenix, AZ, Loki Hopkins, Reykjavik, Iceland, Casey and Dana Johnson, Livermore, CA, Liliana Hopkins, Kingston, NJ; five great-grandchildren, Lexie, Trey and Annabelle Babcock, Phoenix, AZ and Mackenzie and Cooper Richards, Eagle Bay, BC; one sister, Mary C. MacKenzie of Ft. Myers, FL and one brother, Alfred K. MacKenzie of Prescott, AZ. She is further survived by many cherished friends, too numerous to mention, but held dearly in her heart. She was preceded in death by her husband, Cleveland Hopkins.

Memorial services for Lillian C. Hopkins will be held at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, April 29th, at Prescott First Baptist Church, corner of Goodwin and Marina. Interment will be at the Russian River Cemetery, Ukiah, CA. Relatives and friends are welcome to attend a reception at the church immediately following the memorial service.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be directed to New Guinea missionaries, Jonathan and Susan Kopf, c/o New Tribes Mission,1000 E. First Street, Sanford FL 32771-1487. Note on the check that this is a memorial gift in Lillian?s name to the Kopf?s furlough fund. Memorial gifts may also be directed to YRMC Hospice, 3262 N. Wingsong Drive, Prescott Valley, AZ, 86314.

The family extends their thanks to all of the staff of the YRMC Hospice for their friendship, help and support.

Furtherfield subset Furthernoise VisitorsStudio is the place. a Flash-based live-online visual-sonic collaborative platform developed at furtherstudio by Neil Jenkins. Roger Mills organized a test run with 9 artists from Europe and US to come together today for a sequence of individual and collab performances in preparation for events later in June. somehow, in the juggling of files in preparation, there are grim traces of current states of mind. in extremis.

Furthernoise is an online platform for the creation, promotion, criticism and archiving of innovative cross genre music and sound art for the information & interaction of the public and artists alike.

Furthernoise encourages new methodologies and practices in creating adventurous music and sound that is not bound by the constraints of historically experimental genres. We showcase artists work through critical reviews & features as well organising performances and events on the internet as well as public venues and galleries.

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Furtherfield creates imaginative strategies that actively communicate ideas and issues in a range of digital & terrestrial media contexts; featuring works online and organising global, contributory projects, simultaneously on the Internet, the streets and public venues. Furtherfield focuses on network related projects that explore new social contexts that transcend the digital, or offer a subjective voice that communicates beyond the medium. Furtherfield is the collaborative work of artists, programmers, writers, activists, musicians and thinkers who explore beyond traditional remits.

long-time digital artist and writer Joseph Nechvatal updates me about his exhibition Contaminations in the Beecher Center of the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio. By programming randomized computer viruses which interact with the structure of a digital image, Nechvatal explores the dynamic and metaphoric interrelation between healthy host and the contaminations and mutations of viral attack. given the current excited state of global epidemic both virtual and carnal, these re-presentations exploring that intersection are especially relevant.

full days and nights. at the airport, feeling quite good, back not a problem. with a week off exercise. when the architecture of social relations break down. flight 473 waits for a part coming from Washington. some passengers become irate even though the flight isn't technically late yet. one shouts really loud when the gate attendant is making a public announcement describing the situation. he does it again during the next announcement, with a stentorian voice that drowns out the announcement, so she storms over to him and they exchange words, he demanding to see a supervisor. she goes back ot her desk and calls security. making connections. I should be in line to change my Denver - Phoenix flight, but what's the point? the line is at least 30 minutes long at this point. later, security finally comes. they take him away. he broke the accepted relational barriers that exist in a public place -- or the accepted protocols of relation, projecting his stored (pent-up) bio-energy into the space and at the agent. she, a spokes-person for the social institution of the airlines. an individual speaking for a mass.