i_hope_that
For many of us, the holidays can be kind of rough. If you're searching for a network of understanding friends, this ultra-nurturing community encourages you to express your heartfelt wishes and offer other members encouragement and acceptance. Not for the terminally snarky or emotionally-challenged, this is a good-spirited place to lend comfort and support.

diygifts
Feeling crafty? If you've got a few last folks on your holiday gift list, this is a great place to seed your creativity and generosity. You'll also discover wonderful DIY tips to decorate your home and entertain guests. Offering a no-frills-no-skills attitude that welcomes the cash-challenged and arts-phobic, you're sure to get ideas and make friends in the process.

cooking_club
A fun and friendly community dedicated to those who love to cook, whether you're a meat-and-potatoes type, an aspiring gourmand, and/or a vegan. In search of a brilliant dish to use up those weekly leftovers? Post your ingredients and you'll be whipping up a feast by dinner. You can also share favorite recipes. For Type A chefs, you can spice up your culinary repertoire with exciting cooking challenges.

Artist: The Psychedelic Ensemble
Title: The Art of Madness
Date:2009
Web: www.theartofmadness.com
Available: iTunes, Amazon, Napster, Rhapsody, et al

The Art of Madness is a 56-minute, continuous cycle of songs, each based on a different manifestation of madness. The work is a psychedelic, progressive rock, concept piece. The music tells the story of an ordinary man who, without warning, experiences a psychotic Ecstasy. The protagonist sees in the sky tears that turn to a light in which a vision of a new art and music appears to him. His psychotic episodes prompt a course of creative output in which the protagonist reproduces his flights of madness in the form of art and music. The artist endures several psychotic experiences that manifest as Panic, Fantasy, Dream, Delusion, Moon Mad, Despair, and Apparition. The artist then endures a Breakdown and Sedation. Finally, in a moment of Revelation, the artist apprehends that the burden of his madness is, in fact, a gift--the source of his exquisite creativity and artistic output. Rather than suffer his madness, the artist triumphantly embraces that which guides him through his extraordinary and distorted vision of the world.

stepstomarrow
When granddaughter, Jada, was born with leukemia, a donor-match was located and Jada made a miraculous recovery. In honor of her grandaughter's health, Jeanna has decided to walk across the country (in the dead of winter) to raise awareness and build support for the bone marrow registry (all that's required is a cheek swab). Follow Jeanna's remarkable journey as she travels the United States by foot.

Artist: Joxfield ProjeX
Title: Phantastique
#ca343
Date: 2009-12-17
Keywords: progressive; psychedelic; experimental; jam; space-rock; electronic; rock
(320 kbps)

"Phantastique" is a virtual LP. The intension was to make a straight, plain and simple jam record based on some repetitive patterns, at least in Joxfield ProjeX terms of what is straight, plain and simple. Not to get too much stuck into the spacey jams the tunes are separated by some short experimental pieces. Look at these moments as opportunities to get some good, fresh air.
Even though it’s maybe not heard in the music, the main inspirational sources for these recordings are some albums by Acid Mothers Temple, especially Kawabata Makoto’s mixing style, but also some funky grooves from Miles Davis ‘On The Corner’ period.

Yan: Keyboards, percussion programmer
Oax: Guitars, bass, voice- & percussion samples
Contact:
http://www.myspace.com/joxfieldprojex

DL:
http://www.archive.org/details/ca343_jp
http://www.clinicalarchives.spyw.com

taste_buds
Holidays provide a built-in excuse for indulgent entertaining. This all-purpose foodie community covers everything from homemade hangover cures to dinner party menus. Need quick advice? Get five-minute snack suggestions, low-fat ingredient substitutes, and even measurement conversions. Delicious recipes garnished with humorous advice. Yum.

naturesbeauty
Always on the lookout for compelling images, we were delighted to discover this flourishing community of artists who share a love of nature. Honoring the subject with photographs, paintings, sketches, prose, poetry, and other creative works, you'll be simultaneously riveted to your monitor and inspired to run helter skelter towards the nearest wooded dale.

Artist: The Winter War In Tibet
Title: Eurasia Deluxe
#ca341
Date: 2009-12-11
Keywords: improvisation; psychedelic rock; kraut rock; post rock; ambient; shoegazing; minimal; experimental; drone; avant-garde
(320 kbps)

"Magical music on "Eurasia" is full of apprentice's patience, unruffled cal and Buddhist leniency towards all living beings. We hear insisde ourselves what is there and take it as it is". Simply speaking, they are playing the air and aren't being in a stew. The most important discipline of The Winter War In Tibet is the lightness and naturalness - the lightness and naturalness of running water.

Band THE WINTER WAR IN TIBET was formed in 2008 in Minsk, Belarus. This is collaboration of musicians from Minsk groups BOGOMATER’ CVETOV (FLOWERMOTHER), URLA MAKABRA, INSUMTHINMAGMA, CHILDREN OF ISHIZUKE TREE, THE SHAPE, SANGIITA SHUNAKA and SNEZHINKI. A distinctive feature of the band’s music are the sound experimentation and improvisations at the junction of ethnic, rave and rock. Band’s name comes from the similar book written by Swiss writer Friedrich Durrenmatt. THE WINTER WAR IN TIBET has made its debut at the opening of the international festival “Kamen” («Камень») in Minsk in October 2008, accompanying Damo Suzuki, the world-known vocalist of cult German kraut-rock band CAN. In 2009 the band recorded about 20 improvisatory releases.
Contact:
http://www.lastfm.ru/music/The+Winter+War+in+Tibet

DL:
http://www.archive.org/details/ca341_twwt
http://www.clinicalarchives.spyw.com

backpacking
Want to embrace your wanderlust on the cheap? If you're tall on adventurous spirit, but short on funds, this community can help you plan a trip to anywhere. Offering plentiful tips on how to travel light, you can post about bargain hotels and hostels if you're into urban exploration or discuss camping gear and mosquito netting for the great outdoors. Hitch your backpack, pitch your tent, and carpe diem!

**FINAL EDIT Thu Dec 10 02:15:47 UTC 2009**

So there is the final update... Over the past day we have processed around 11 million jobs out of the 12 million that were in queue at that time. Please bear in mind that over this past day, more jobs for notifications are also created. So while the queue has been dropping, we are still not fully caught up at this point, due to backlog and new jobs. We have roughly 3 million jobs still pending that involve the notification system in some manner. We had hoped we could have fully cleared the queue in a day, but unfortunately we can't clear it too quickly, since we need the rest of the site to operate normally. From our current perspective on the amount of jobs that are left in queue, and how many it has processed thus far, we believe it will take around another 8 - 12 hours to process everything.

And finally some answers to some questions:

( Read More and Get Some Answers... )