This project is now complete! All audio files can be found on our catalog page: http://librivox.org/sunbeams-by-george-wilbur-peck/
George W. Peck was at times a writer, newspaper publisher and politician. Many of the Sunbeam essays had been published in Peck's paper, "The Sun", as amusing and often critical comments on social and political subjects, typically current in the beginning of the 1900's. Topics are often 'small town' United States, and Peck's gentle sarcasm or portrayals much resembles that of Twain.
Listeners must be aware that the Spanish American War was a recent event, leading to the "Yankee" involvement in the Philippines. Admiral Dewey, who figures in several of the writings, had the Olympia as his flagship. The Dwight, mentioned in 'A Bear with a Jag', may have been Charles Dwight Sigsbee, Captain of the Maine in 1898. At this time the British Empire was in conflict with the Boers under Kruger, all topics of or mentioned in the early essays.
In the slang of that time a "drummer" was a traveling salesman, while a trust was a financial combine with monopolistic powers. The essay title term "bimeatallic" likely is a take-off on the "bimetallic question", which referred to arguments over having gold and silver both as legal tender. Peck suggested, tongue in cheek, that there could be a 'standard' under which horsemeat should be disclosed as an ingredient of sausage. Indeed, many of the essays deal with questionable ingredients for foods, and were probably of high relevance to consumers who were without the regulatory protections and labelling requirements of today. In the same vein, the 'embalmed beef' served as rations to U.S. soldiers became notorious. (Summary by Arnold Banner)
- Target completion date: December, 2013
- Text source (only read from this text!): http://archive.org/details/pecksuncleikered00peckiala
- Type of proof-listening required (Note: please read the PL FAQ): Standard
IMPORTANT - soloist, please note: in order to limit the number of languishing projects (and hence the number of files on our hard-pressed server), we ask that you post an update at least once a month in your project thread, even if you haven't managed to record anything. If we don't hear from you for three months, your project may be opened up to a group project if a Book Coordinator is found. Files you have completed will be used in this project. If you haven't recorded anything yet, your project will be removed from the forum (contact any admin to see if it can be re-instated).
Please don't download or listen to files belonging to projects in process (unless you are the BC or PL). Our servers are not set up to handle the greater volume of traffic. Please wait until the project has been completed. Thanks!
Magic Window:
BC Admin
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This paragraph is temporary and will be replaced by the MC with the list of sections and reader (Magic Window) once this project is in the admin system.
Soloist - please provide *all of* the following:- Link to author on Wikipedia (if available): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Wilbur_Peck
- Link to title on Wikipedia (if available): n/a
- Number of sections (files) this project will have: 57 essays, each about 700 words, split into about 20 sections
- Does the project have an introduction or preface [y/n]: n
- Original publication date (if known): 1900
- Year of author's death (note: in some countries copyright is author's death + 50 or 70 years): 1916
- If you are a new volunteer, how would you like your name (or pseudonym) credited in the catalog? Arnold Banner (co-reader is Melora Campbell). Do you have a URL you would like associated with your name?:
============================================ - Each reader will record the following at the beginning and end of his or her first file:
No more than 0.5 to 1 second of silence at the beginning of the recording!
Start of recording (Intro)- "Section [number] of Sunbeams. - This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit: librivox DOT org"
- If you wish, say:
"Recording by [your name]" - Say:
"Sunbeams by George W. Peck. [Story title]"
For the second and all subsequent sections by each reader, you may optionally use the shortened form of this intro disclaimer:- "Section [number] of Sunbeams by George W. Peck. This LibriVox recording is in the Public Domain.
- If you wish, say:
"Recording by [your name]" - Only if applicable, say:
"[Story title]"
End of recording- At the end of the section, say:
“End of Section [##]" - If you wish, say:
"Recording by [your name], [city, your blog, podcast, web address]" - At the end of the book, say (in addition):
"End of Sunbeams by George W. Peck."
There should be 5 seconds silence at the end of the recording, or 10 seconds for files longer than 30 minutes. - Example filename
sunbeams_##_peck.mp3 - Example ID3 V2 tags
Title: ## - [Section title]
Artist: Author name
Album: Book title
Transfer of files (completed recordings)
Please always post in this forum thread when you've sent a file.
Also, post the length of the recording (file duration: mm:ss) together with the link.- Upload your file with the LibriVox Uploader:
http://upload.librivox.org
(If you have trouble reading the image above, please message an admin) - You'll need to select the MC, which for this project is: mas - MaryAnnSpiegel (provisionally)
- When your upload is complete, you will receive a link - please post it in this thread
- If this doesn't work, or you have questions, please check our How To Send Your Recording wiki page.
- Upload your file with the LibriVox Uploader:
Wow! Those Are short! I can see how they might better have been combined. From a sample of the word counts on those chapters, it seems that the very longest are mostly under 500 words, and most are probably between 250 and 300 words (at most). In the one piece I listened to there, the reader read quite fast. 
)
Or, we can just waddle over at a more leisurely pace.