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A few back-to-back, information-packed days discussing Agentic AI and tech strategy in Las Vegas with Info-Tech Research Group wrapped up with a Wednesday night party at Blake Shelton’s iconic Ole Red on the Strip. Walking into the second floor and grabbing some liquid refreshment, we looked over the edge to take in the music. Desert Heat was banging out popular tunes for three floors of the four-story setup, while the catering crew was already in motion setting up a delicious Honky Tonk buffet. The fourth-floor rooftop presented a slight shift in tone. Country duo Nathan Dean and his wife Mandy Jean brought a similar musical style to an electronic-enhanced acoustic stage. Their performance, under the warm desert evening sky, alongside the Las Vegas Strip backdrop, with an array of misters keeping things cool, proved the most satisfying to me. The music wasn't the only draw, though. Huge screens throughout the space had the game on, keeping most folks distracted. That al...

Random cancelled plans let to other cancelled plans, leading us to improvise, ultimately ending up in Lawrence for a completely chance sighting of an invasion of buskers. We did not even know it existed before that morning and it appeared reasonably safe, in spite of weather that seemed to be leaning in an unforgiving direction. While cloud cover edged towards an all encompassing stance, the sun shined down on the early part of the afternoon. A quick lunch at Free State Brewery, home of the event sponsor, set the tone for us to take to the streets between Vermont and New Hampshire on 8th and enjoy amusements available.  The entire situation really did not feel too far out of line with the normal for Lawrence, even though the event has been described by some as a "once-a-year-get-weird" for the town.  It is usually a weird town all on its own, without any supporting cast.  This just centralized the weirdness, if it can be characterized as much....

  A cool evening for drag-racing kicked things off with the Horsepower Festival at US-36 Raceway.  This year proved a little less populated than last year.  The threat of rain hanging in the air scared most of the car and truck entries away before the sunset.  The concern became a light reality early on, but only deterred things for 30 minutes.  Keeping a sharp eye on track conditions, the pits slung car after car down the track at a record pace. Starting an hour later than usual and then delayed, thing finished up earlier than expected all around.   The overall winner this year was not the shiniest or the most beautiful.  A well worn Chevrolet Apache  32 took that prize.  How could anyone not love such a beast decked out in its finest patina of rust. 

A sharp, late-spring chill hung over Batesville Motor Speedway tonight. It wasn’t a brutal winter freeze, but it was certainly chilly enough to have fans in the grandstands buying sweatshirts and keeping the concession stand busy pouring hot chocolate. Out on the dirt track, though, nobody was thinking about the temperature. The Wimp Reed Memorial Arkansas Spring Nationals warmed this cool little night as horsepower rumbled by, with drivers deftly sliding around each curve. The trance inducing hum drew everyone around the track with them.

For more than a century, the "Valley of the Vapors" traded on a single commodity: its water. A visual revolution is simmering beneath the surface these days. Walking through downtown Hot Springs is to witness a silent, high-contrast dialogue between the preserved and the provocative. As steam rises from historic bathhouses, a new wave of contemporary murals answers back—loud, proud, and scaled with a metropolitan ambition that defies the city's small-town zip code. Nothing captures this transition quite like the "Uneeda Biscuit" ghost sign. A fading relic of 20th-century commerce, its peeling paint serves as the city’s aesthetic bedrock. It is a reminder of what this place once was, a bustling hub of early-century trade. The story no longer ends with the past though; new chapters are currently spray-painted in neon hues just a few blocks away. The local art scene refuses to stick to a single script, revealing a community comfortable with its own contradictions. ...