mcall.com: Easton Farmers' Market draws a fresh crop of farmers

The Morning Call has a nice article about the Easton Farmers' Market attracting a bunch of new farmers this year, due in part to young, second-career farmers joining the industry. Just as importantly, they're going to be running trolley service from downtown to College Hill, which means if it gets really hot this summer, we can still walk down with the kids and then ride back on the roll.

Hat tip to my wife for finding the story.

Easton Farmers Market Returns!

Winter is over, spring is in the air and the Easton Farmers Market returns this weekend! Our family makes regular pilgrimages down from College Hill to the Easton Centre Square because of the Farmers Market throughout the late spring, summer and fall, and I'm looking forward to getting back into the habit.

An added bonus is that May 2 is Free Comic Book Day; you can pick up your comics at Slacker Comics, which is also located on the Easton Centre Square. It's a win-win for geeks and their significant others!

IronPigs in Facebook

The IronPigs have a page in Facebook. There's not a lot there; a handful of pages for players, a bunch of photos from games, and a few of their "As the Bacon Turns" promotional videos, but it is good to see them using social media. Here's to hoping they keep using it, as I'd much rather hear about the 'Pigs then get 30 more invites to "vampires vs. werewolves".

Local contributors increasing presence of Lehigh Valley on Wikipedia

The Express-Times has an article up about local folks contributing Lehigh Valley articles to Wikipedia. There are a bunch of articles about Easton, Bethlehem and Allentown, as well as the region's history; you can learn more about what LV content is available on Wikipedia through the Lehigh Valley Wikiproject.

IronPigs, Twitter and Baseball

Baseball returned to the Lehigh Valley last week as the IronPigs had their opening game at Coca-Cola Park against the Scranton Yankees (and, ahem, proceeded to get swept by said Yankees). On a geeky note, the IronPigs are on Twitter now.  They've been tweeting their games, which is very cool, and it's a great way to keep up with how the team's doing.

Haunted Walking Tour of Easton

There's going to be a "Haunted Walking Tour of Easton" on October 24 and 25, 2008 from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tours leave from Centre Square, Easton, Pa. The cost is $7 in advance, $10 on the tour date. Tickets are available at Pearly Baker's Ale House, Porter's Pub, the Csmic Cup, Partyology, Connexions Art Gallery, Easton Yoga and the Easton Farmer's Market.

Learn more by visiting the Scarecrow Festival page on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/eastonscarecrowfestival

In Your Schools for 9/26

The Morning Call has posted their "In Your Schools" column for 9/26. Nothing earth shattering there, but useful all the same.

A Lehigh Valley Gaming Club?

In my latest blog post, I speculate about the possibility of a gaming club in the Lehigh Valley, Pa. Check it out and if you're interested, post a comment or email me at nuketown@gmail.com

Radio Active #65: Escaping to the Ballpark

On this episode of Radio Active, Jordan loses her first tooth, but finds Narnia with the Magician's Nephew, baseball season gets underway as I discover the wonders of DVRing games and having a new AAA baseball team in the Lehigh Valley, Nuketown's comment section explodes with conversation, gaming advocacy gets a new voice with the EscapistCast, I check out a new podcast dedicated to the Mets and find a blog for the Lehigh Valley's new AAA baseball team, the IronPigs.

Get the podcast.

Primary Day

It's Primary Day in Pennsylvania, that long anticipated Democratic political apocalypse. Obama's got chalk signs on campus, while Ron Paul activists have papered College Hill with signs. We got three phone calls from the Democrats yesterday reminding us to vote, and our house has been hit by both Obama and Clinton volunteers, neither of whom stayed to talk, instead choosing to slip fliers into our door. I blame the dogs, though they never scared off the Mormon missionaries...

As for me ... being the independent minded guy I am (and registered Libertarian to boot) I don't get to vote in either primary, so I'll just sit back and watch the spectacle.

The Original Iron Pigs Blog

I haven't been to an Iron Pigs game yet, but I have been trying to keep up with the team. The Original IronPigs Blog helps with that, providing summaries of the team's home and away games, player profiles, news off call-ups to the Phillies and notes about other team happenings.

Elucidating Synthetic Culture

I've already posted about this on Nuketown, but since The Atomic Age is nominally my blog about life in Easton, I figured I'd post it here as well: The publisher of the The Elucidator, a print magazine in Easton, Pa., now has a blog called Synthetic Culture.

Phantom of the Attic Moves to Downtown Easton

Phantom of the Attic, my friendly neighborhood gaming/comic book store moved to downtown Easton, Pa. this week. The store's located at 125-129 Third Street, one block east from the Route 22 4th Street exit. The new location is great -- it's got beautiful hard wood floors, expansive amounts of space, and the Silver Surfer flying in one of the two display windows.

The shop moved from the 25th Street Shopping Plaza location, which wasn't nearly as nice as this one. A couple of my friends have remarked that parking might be an issue downtown, but in my experience it's a heck of a lot easier to navigate and find a spot in downtown Easton then it is having to run the automobile gauntlet that is 25th Street during rush hour (or any hour for that matter).

The store's still in flux, but the comics are racked and things appear to be coming together nicely. There's a prime gaming space in the back. so prime that I'd even consider having my group meet down there once in a while.

It's that nice. Or has the potential to be. I'm also thinking of volunteering to run a Savage Worlds one shot at the store in December, once NaNoWriMo is behind me and normality returns to the Newquist household. I've been itching to get in a game of SW; this would be a good way to do it.

Anyway, if you're in the Lehgih Valley (and I know a number of you are) stop by, check out the store, and buy something. This is the only truly geeky shop we have in Easton; we should make an extra effort to support it.

Lehigh Valley Crafters Guild: Blog & Podcast Links

My wife Sue and I gave a presentation on "Blogs, Podcasts and Other Modern Marvels" last night at the Lehigh Valley Crafters Guild. Sue's a member of the guild -- she designs horsehair and porcupine quill jewelry -- and has her own business, Red-Tail Designs. She spoke about how blogs and podcasts can help artists, from finding inspiration to promoting their work, while I talked about the technology behind them.

Here are some quick notes from the presentation, including links to the blogs and podcasts we talked about.

Blogs
A successful blog has:
• Lots of pictures and some text
• Lots of close up pictures
• A good balance between personal and professional information

Example Blogs
• Art Biz Blog, http://www.artbizblog.com
• Craft Magazine Blog, http://craftzine.com/blog
• Paul Grecian Photography, http://photonz.wordpress.com
• Monkeyfoot Designs, http://monkeyfootdesigns.blogspot.com
• Soule Mama, http://soulemama.typepad.com
• Out West Carving, http://outwestwoodcarving.blogspot.com
• Pottery Blog, http://potteryblog.com
• Quilling, Art and Expression, http://quilling.blogspot.com
• Wee Wonderfuls, http://weewonderfuls.typepad.com
• Wicker Woman, http://wickerwoman.blogspot.com

Blog Hosting Services
• Blogger (free), http://www.blogger.com
• Typepad (fee-based), http://www.typepad.com

Podcasts

What are podcasts?
• Free internet radio that you can listen to whenever you want.
• You can listen to it on your computer or portable music player.
• Doesn't require an iPod.

Example Podcasts
• Art Biz Blog, http://www.artbizblog.com
• Craft Sanity, http://www.craftsanity.com
• Craft Cast, http://www.craftcast.com
• Wood Talk Online, http://www.woodtalkonline.com

Podcast Directories
• iTunes, http://www.apple.com/itunes
• Podcast Alley, http://www.podcastalley.com
• PodcastPickle.com, http://www.podcastpickle.com

Podcast Hosting
• Libsyn, http://www.libsyn.com
• PodBean, http://www.podbean.com
• PodShow, http://www.podshow.com

Easton UnDressed

I first learned of Easton UnDressed at the Cosmic Cup, where I saw a postcard for the blog.

Checking it out revealed a hodgepodge site that that incorporates blog posts, a mishmash of weather and media links, and an online chat/forum. It can be a bit difficult to follow, as it assumes a more comprehensive understanding of what's going on in Easton and the surrounding area then most people have (or at least, more than I have).

Visitors can find notes (and audio) about City Council meetings, editorials on Easton politics, interviews with political candidates and much more.

Lehigh Valley Ramblings

Blogging has been catching on in the Lehigh Valley, so much so that newspapers like the Morning Call and the Express Times have started paying attention to them (which in turn is what got me looking for new LV blogs.

Lehigh Valley Ramblings is a blog featuring a hodgepodge of political news and scuttlebut from around the Valley, including geographically-clueless mayoral candidates in Easton, proposals for free box seats at IronPig games in Allentown, challenges for minority-owned businesses (also in Allentown) and the race for state attorney general.

Apple Geeks Rejoice!

Apple's new store at the Lehigh Valley Mall opens this weekend; specifically 10 a.m. this Saturday. I think a weekend expedition with the kids is in order.