Amanda Steckler, known professionally as Blonde Maze, is an electronic musician based in New York City.
A multi-instrumentalist, producer and vocalist, her music details themes of yearning emotion and passion for the bittersweet.
Since 2015, she has garnered support from the likes of DJMag and Pigeons & Planes in the process.
A vibrant live show has lead to performances at SXSW as well as support slots for Sultan + Shepard, Autograf, Elderbrook, Tritonal, and HALIENE.
After teaming up with labels Monstercat and Lowly, and with self-released single ‘Antarctica’ reaching Spotify’s U.S. Viral 50 and seeing spins on BBC Radio 1, she released her debut album on Enhanced Chill in 2021 that consisted of glistening tracks and dreamy soundscapes, which received strong support from Sirius XM Chill.
Her music generally falls into the genre of indie electronic, characterized by its atmospheric and introspective qualities.
Amanda Steckler’s work as Blonde Maze not only showcases her musical talent but also her ability to weave personal narratives into her compositions, making her music resonate with themes of nostalgia, change, and growth.
For live shows, Amanda prepares by programming sounds into mini-controllers, allowing for live improvisation and a dynamic performance experience.
The early 1860s witnessed a remarkable influx of migrants to the Idaho Territory.
The discovery of precious metal at Grasshopper Creek (Bannack) in 1862 and Alder Gulch (Virginia City) in 1863 ignited significant gold rushes, triggering a surge of settlers.
Bridge Street – Helena, Montana 1865 — Courtesy of the Helena/Lewis & Clark County Heritage Tourism Council (tap or click image to enlarge)
The sheer magnitude of this migration prompted the federal government to establish a new territory known as Montana in May 1864. Subsequently, on July 14, 1864, a group of prospectors known as the “Four Georgians” stumbled upon a gold deposit in a gulch off the Prickly Pear Creek. Their fortunate find led to the establishment a mining camp along a modest creek, which they christened “Last Chance Gulch.”
In 1876, an intrepid prospector with Irish heritage, Thomas Cruse, uncovered a colossal gold deposit in the mountains northwest of Helena. Swiftly securing a mining patent for 20.25 acres, he established the renowned Drumlummon Mine. This remarkable mine yielded a prodigious bounty of gold and silver valued in the millions of dollars.
As autumn descended upon 1864, the population had burgeoned to over 200 inhabitants, and the name “Last Chance” appeared crude to some. On October 30, 1864, at least seven self-appointed individuals convened to bestow a name upon the burgeoning town, establish street layouts, and elect commissioners.
The initial proposal was “Tomah,” a term the committee believed to have connections with the local Native American tribes. Other suggestions included Pumpkinville and Squashtown, given the meeting’s proximity to Halloween.
There were also propositions to name the settlement after various towns in Minnesota, such as Winona and Rochester, owing to the considerable number of settlers hailing from that region.
Eventually, a Scotsman named John Summerville recommended the name Helena, pronounced /həˈliːnə/ hə-LEE-nə, in tribute to Helena Township, Scott County, Minnesota. This suggestion immediately sparked a lively debate among former Confederates present, who insisted on the pronunciation /ˈhɛlɪnə/ HEL-i-nə, after Helena, Arkansas—a town situated on the banks of the Mississippi River.
Reeders Alley, Helena, Montana 2021 — Helena’s earliest Territorial-period neighborhood. (tap or click image to enlarge)
Despite the disagreement, the name “Helena” emerged victorious, though its pronunciation remained subject to variation until approximately 1882 when the /ˈhɛlɪnə/ HEL-i-nə pronunciation ultimately prevailed.
An interesting note here would be that though the Confederates won out on the name, Helena in the south even today is pronounced as hə-LEE-nə, lending to the once referenced Scott County, Minnesota pronunciation.
In 1865, Captain John Wood undertook the first survey of Helena, determining its layout. Reflecting the paths forged by the diligent miners, the original streets of Helena assumed diverse sizes and shapes, giving rise to a mosaic of city blocks in Early Helena.
By 1888, an impressive cohort of 50 millionaires had established their residence in Helena, surpassing the per capita millionaire count of any other city in the world. These individuals had amassed their fortunes from the abundant gold in the area.
Hikers atop Mount Helena, 1910 from the Charles J. Tipton Collection — Courtesy HelenaHistory.org (tap or click image to enlarge)
An astonishing $3.6 billion in today’s currency was estimated to be extracted from Helena during this prosperous era. The Last Chance Placer, one of the most renowned placer deposits in the western United States, witnessed its peak production before 1868. Much of this placer deposit now lies beneath the streets and structures of Helena.
This concentration of wealth catalyzed the development of exquisite residences and ambitious architecture, leaving an indelible mark on the city’s Victorian neighborhoods.
Helena has held the distinction of being the capital of Montana Territory since 1875 and became the seat of the state of Montana upon its establishment in 1889.
The Coffee Filter has joined the mighty ranks of Duct Tape and Baling Wire on account of it’s many useful applications.
Yes, you can grab a 1,000 pack of Coffee Filters from nearly any discount retailer for a buck in most cases, and listed below are the many things you can do with them.
1. Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave — Coffee Filters make excellent covers.
2. Clean windows, mirrors, and chrome — Coffee Filters are lint-free so they’ll leave windows sparkling.
3. Protect China by separating your good dishes with a Coffee Filter between each dish.
4. Filter broken cork from wine. If you break the cork when opening a wine bottle, filter the wine through a Coffee Filter.
5. Protect a cast-iron skillet. Place a Coffee Filter in the skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust.
6. Apply shoe polish. Ball up a lint-free Coffee Filter.
7. Recycle frying oil. After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined with a Coffee Filter.
8. Weigh chopped foods. Place chopped ingredients in a Coffee Filter on a kitchen scale.
9. Hold tacos. Coffee Filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods.
10. Stop the soil from leaking out of a plant pot. Line a plant pot with a Coffee Filter to prevent the soil from going through the drainage holes.
11. Prevent a Popsicle from dripping. Poke one or two holes as needed in a Coffee Filter.
12. Do you think we used expensive strips to wax eyebrows? Use strips of Coffee Filters.
13. Put a few in a plate and put your fried bacon, French fries, chicken fingers, etc on them. It soaks out all the grease.
14. Keep in the bathroom. They make great “razor nick fixers.”
15. As a sewing backing. Use a filter as an easy-to-tear backing for embroidering or appliqueing soft fabrics.
16. Put baking soda into a Coffee Filter and insert into shoes or a closet to absorb or prevent odors.
17. Use them to strain soup stock and to tie fresh herbs in to put in soups and stews.
18. Use a Coffee Filter to prevent spilling when you add fluids to your car.
19. Use them as a spoon rest while cooking and clean up small counter spills.
20. Can use to hold dry ingredients when baking or when cutting a piece of fruit or veggies — Saves on having extra bowls to wash.
21. Use them to wrap Christmas ornaments for storage.
22. Use them to remove fingernail polish when out of cotton balls
These are just a few of the things you can do with a Coffee Filter — I’m pretty sure that there are even more things you can do with Coffee Filters that aren’t listed here.
Have an idea for Coffee Filter use?
Sound off in the comment section below and tell us about it.
For a planet that we call home, Earth is only 82% habitable, according to the latest calculation that highlights exoplanet habitability.
Still, compared to the rest of the planets in our solar system, Earth is the best candidate to develop life and countless species of aquatic and terrestrial animals and vegetation.
Scorching summer, harsh winter, hasty spring and autumn, these features definitely sound related to a planet with a habitability index of 82%. If we take into account Australian wildlife, poor Earth’s score would drop like a sinking rock.
The actual factors that summed up Earth index rating were based on atmospheric pressure, geology, access to water and the potential absorbed energy from its nearest sun.
Although a habitability index of 82% would seem more than satisfactory, for anyone with no expertise in this field, considering our genesis took place on this planet, the estimated index should be around 100%, setting aside the damage we caused to our planet in the last century alone.
Astronomer Rory Barnes from the University of Washington explains Earth’s low score is due to the close range to the Sun.
Our planet is rather closer to the inner edge of the habitable zone of the solar system and yet, mankind has flourished along the millennia, until this day when we no longer consider our home fit for habitability, inexorably turning our eyes to other places that one day we may call home.
Some people may have a different opinion in reference to our planet being too hot to live on according to the rigorous living standards, raising the fact that a large part of the surface is constantly exposed to incredibly low temperatures like Siberia.
Hypothetically, if we were to spot Earth with our current technology, we would logically assume that the temperatures would be too hot for sustaining life.
In this scenario, for us to be able to adapt to Earths climatic conditions, it would require great efforts to support reasonable living settings. Or maybe humanity’s requirements are too idealistic and demanding for the endless planets that could host our utterly greedy character.
Starting from the same premise, an alien civilization would have come across Earth looking for possible life forms might presume it uninhabitable and focus their attention towards other planets with a higher habitability index.
However, Earth’s alleged low rating can also be an indicator of the human species’ endurance and adaptability to severe living conditions, which should make astronomers think twice before jumping to conclusions whether a foreign planet is inhabitable or not. If we made it so far here, we can thrive anywhere else, especially with the ever evolving technology.
In a grim distant future when we will have to abandon our dying planet, most likely we will not benefit from the perfect conditions the scientists deem we need. This mindset should be adopted when considering a new home for mankind, Earth being the greatest example of our ability to prosper and succeed, no matter how dire the circumstances appear to be.
Since we are not alone in the Universe, we must accept that surely other alien species too, did not evolve in the perfect conditions, for this is the key in evolution itself: a species must face improper conditions to continuously adapt and evolve, in order to achieve transcendence, or how else would one living entity gradually reprogram itself to excellence if not determined by precarious circumstances.
Nothing grows in the shadows, and this applies best to human the race. Our progress was achieved with each harrowing step leading out of the comfort zone to supersede our frailty.
Researchers have determined that our genome — of modern humans — is formed by fragments of at least four different species. Three of those species — Homo Sapiens, Neanderthals, and Denisovans are known to researchers. However, a new study has proven there is a mysterious fourth kind of species which we know nothing about.
A new study of the genomes of Australasia has revealed sections of DNA that do not match those of any known species of hominid on the planet. The finding shows that the family tree of humans is much more complex than previously thought.
A team of researchers at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE) have published in Nature Genetics the discovery of a new ancestor, hitherto unknown, of modern man.
This is a hominid who lived in Southeast Asia and, like Neanderthals and Denisovans, crossed with our direct ancestor’s tens of thousands of years ago.
Although they have not yet found fossils of the new species, the study authors, Mayukh Mondal and Ferran Casals, highlight the importance of genetic studies to reconstruct the origins of our species.
The discovery took place during genetic analysis of a group of individuals of the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean, an isolated population of pygmies that has for more than a century raised numerous paleoanthropological questions.
According to the report:
“We also show that populations from South and Southeast Asia harbor a small proportion of ancestry from an unknown extinct hominid, and this ancestry is absent from Europeans and East Asians”
Applying the most modern analytical techniques, the researchers ran into several fragments of DNA that do not have any correspondence in modern humans who left Africa about 80,000 years ago and ended up populating the rest of the world.
By comparing these foreign gene sequences with the DNA of Neanderthals and Denisovans, whose heritage we have in our genome, scientists could see that there was not a match with any of them.
Therefore, researchers at IBE concluded that the DNA must have belonged to an unknown hominid who shared a common ancestor with the other two species.
It’s the ultimate proof demonstrating that the actual DNA of humans still contains pieces that come from other different ancestors and that we have no clue about our true origins.
According to Jaume Bertranpetit, principal investigator of IBE, “we have found fragments of DNA from an extinct hominid that are part of the genome of modern humans. Shortly we hope to get the full genome from fossil remains.”
For a long time now, numerous investigations have determined that the genome — of modern humans — is formed by fragments of at least four different species. Three of those species – Homo Sapiens, Neanderthals, and Denisovans have been identified by researchers.
Now, researchers have found evidence of the existence of a mysterious fourth kind of species which we know nothing about since researchers have still not found any fossil remains of them.
Could this species be the missing link in the history of mankind?
What we know so far is that there is no doubt that the puzzle of our origins is increasingly complicated.
In order to solve one of the greatest enigmas about the human species, much research will still need to be done.
