Patterns in music

Submitted by naught101 on Thu, 08/09/2018 - 11:02

[Work in progress]

I'm really interested in what makes good music good. Some of that is described in Western Music Theory, but a lot is not - particularly broad scale patterns more focussed on rhythm than on the interactions between harmony and melody. I plan to try and document some of that here - patterns I come across, that are useful in guiding music production.

Comics worth reading

This list is dedicated to great comics, comic series, and graphic novels that I have enjoyed and been influenced by. Most of these have some social or political commentary, and all of them are highly intelligent. In no particular order, and probably to be updated:

Transmetropolitan

Warren Ellis, Darick Robertson
Approximately 60 issues, ~24 pages each

This is what you get when you mix futuristic cyber-punk with gonzo journalism, in a world of greed and corruption.  It tells the story of Spider Jerusalem - one of the most interesting and lovable social misfits ever created - and his battle to take down the president. This is by far my favourite comic epic.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Hayao Miyazaki
7 issues, ~240 pages each (originally in japanese, there is an english translation - "the Perfect Collection" that reads left-to-right)

Welcome Home!

Submitted by naught101 on Thu, 08/26/2010 - 00:30

Schweet. I've moved off wordpress.com. Finally.

I've been meaning to do this for years. You may notice that this site is based on drupal. I use drupal for most website designs, and it's far more expandable than wordpress. Which is what I plan to do. I've been meaning to put up a bunch of random things that wouldn't be suited to a blog. Now I can.

Dealing with [Climate] Denial

Submitted by naught101 on Thu, 05/20/2010 - 21:10

Here's a straightforward approach to dealing with denial. Most of these points make sense to me:

Tips for dealing with denial

  • Communicate a consistent message. Do not attempt to “soften the blow” too much, by making the issue seem less than it is.
  • Try not to provide too much information at one time. This sometimes can overwhelm [deniers]. Keep the first meeting as brief and succinct as possible, and end with the scheduling of a follow-up meeting.
  • Ask open-ended questions, and allow [deniers] plenty of time to talk.

IPCC review under way

Submitted by naught101 on Mon, 05/17/2010 - 13:17

The IPCC is being reviewed by the Interacademy Council (which represents dozens of national science academies). And they're taking public comment. This might be a good chance to get some improvements. The comments form is at:
http://reviewipcc.interacademycouncil.net/comments.html

If you can't think of anything, here's what I wrote:

  • The IPCC needs to report more frequently. Interim reports, or even annual updates would be very useful.
  • More focus on possible tipping points.

Sounds good: Worse targets than Kyoto

Submitted by naught101 on Wed, 12/09/2009 - 15:31

Of the three announced national carbon targets I've heard of lately, two are arithmetically worse than Kyoto targets, and one is technically worse. The latter is Australia's target, already discussed here.

The others are the recent US announcement, and the recent China announcement.

The US announcement was for a 17% cut, which sounds a bit better than the Kyoto US commitment (or non-commitment, as it turned out) of 7%. But it's not really better, because it's on 2005 levels, where as Kyoto was based on 1990.

Some mothers do have 'em!

Submitted by naught101 on Tue, 07/07/2009 - 16:24

There's a pigeon nesting in the apple tree in my yard. The pigeon has already laid its eggs - two creamy pink ones. The apple tree hasn't dropped it's leaves yet - some are yellow, some are still green. It's the 7th of July - the middle of winter.

Granted, both species are introduced, and the apple is some bastardised cross-breed grafted Frankenstein, each graft of which seems to bud, fruit and drop leaves at different times (which makes it very difficult to know when to prune it). But the image is pretty bizarre.