Lunch Break Papers

Imagine having written a piece of music that practically everyone knows, that is probably the world's most played tune, yet most people have never heard of you or know that said tune was composed by you - or even the tune's name.

The tune I am talking about is Francisco Tárrega's Gran Vals, specifically the first twelve notes; and you can hear it every time a Nokia phone rings.

I think that Tárrega rotating in his grave could be a major source of electrical power.

I've noticed this before, but since it's close to Christmas these tv ads are on more and more, and I just have to ask - what is it with men and their razors?
The ads for razors are more high-tech than the ads for cars. Sharper! More blades! Smoother! With vibration (not kidding)! All done in tasteful black and silver, giving the impression of precision and speed and care, and the newest technology available for the best shaving experience ever. There's even some sci fi imagery in some ads.
And I think to myself, this is a tool to remove unwanted facial hair. Why are they advertising it like that? Must be a male thing - so if the males on my reading list could elucidate me, I'd be very grateful. And if the females have theories, feel free to chip in. ;)

I hope I'm not jinxing this by telling you about it, but ever since I lost my watch, I keep finding things. A bronze brooch, a pendant (though I don't know if that counts since our singer N. lost that five minutes before I found it), a cloisonné bracelet, small amounts of money - coins, mostly, but once a five euro bill which was just lying there on the road. Poetic justice, or simply the universe trying to redistribute matter?

Medusa:
The problem which, when we turn our mind to it, paralyses us.

Scylla and Charybdis:
Having to navigate between two people / demands so that neither claims our whole attention or destroys us.

Siren:
Those things that lure us away from that which we should be doing. They come in all manners of guises - most often in the little voice that says, "Why not?"

Hydra:
Every question, once answered, begets two more questions.

"Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands?"
Ernest Gaines

We would like to know who really believes in gay rights on LiveJournal. There is no bribe or a miracle or anything like that. If you truly believe in gay rights, then repost this and title the post as "Gay Rights". If you don't believe in gay rights, then just ignore this. Thanks.


Thanks, dadi. I keep asking myself this, too.

edit: By the way, and it's not like you didn't know this, dear readership, I also support queer rights, male rights, female rights, child rights, the rights of indigenous peoples, flora rights, fauna rights, the right of free speech, the right to disagree intelligently, the right to be whoever and whatever you choose to be and to do if it harms none, and the right to post memes.

Just in case. ;)

Why do we put so little value in the acoustics of the things we create?
Yes, I know, humans are primarily visual creatures. Still, I wish we would not only put thought into how our machines look like, but also what they sound like. Or rather, that they make less, or less annoying, noise.
Cars, for example. We want our cars to look good, and emit little to no exhaust fumes. In fact, exhaust fumes have been for quite some time an environmental health issue.
One car company - I forget which one - actually advertises on TV with a car that is so silent inside that children fall asleep, and grandfather wonders if the car is actually on. The outside visuals of the car on the other hand include not only a speedy driving, but also a loud vrooming motor sound. So, the drivers themselves are saved from the noise their own car makes. But what about pedestrians, cyclists, other drivers, or people living in the houses the car passes?
There is a lot of noise pollution, not only from cars, but also from all kinds of machines and appliances. Lawn mowers, bread cutters, washing machines, and other such tools. Let alone the peacock feathers of loud car stereos which make the rear windows of the cars vibrate with the beat.

I don't think that the engineers and designers couldn't muffle the noise, say, a lawnmower makes, if they wanted to and if there were a demand for it.
Does the loudness of machinery really equal power in some part of our brain that has been educated during the industrial revolution? And wouldn't it be nice if we could learn otherwise?

Some people are saying that all I use this journal for is for fussing and moaning. Not so! It's only easier to fuss and moan and complain, people always like to do that, share the fuss, so to speak.
I could now fuss about young Paris Hilton clones on the bus home, who like to show off their appendix scars to the whole wide world - I do believe the term "chav" might be applicable here. I could fuss about the fact that a book I had intended to study is missing twelve pages; they were cut out of the book. How someone can mutilate a book such is beyond me; how someone can be spiteful enough to take a chapter away from the rest of the students dito.

However, I shall fuss about none of these things; rather, I will tell you that I did get to sleep last night after all, even if it took me some time; that I then had a very strange dream involving green goo taking over people and the crew of the Firefly (or is it Serenity?); that it is a wonderfully perfect weather outside, even though I just heard thunder and it's starting to rain; that I am getting things done again after a weekend's rest which did me a world of good; that I managed to return books without having to pay a fee; and that I met with my PhD Prof and talked to her for about an hour, with promises that will be kept in two weeks, fingers crossed.

If this day is an indication of the oncoming week, then bring it on!

I may not be a Polymath, but I certainly am polycurious. Of course, there are things that wouldn't interest me at first glance - chartered accountancy, for instance - but I am sure that there are things that would at some point of my life be interesting to me, and that I would want to learn about. I think my favourite question is still "why", closely followed by "how". The "random page" feature at Wikipedia is a source of endless fascination to me, even though it occasionally gives me a lot of towns in the US.
One of the problems arising out of being polycurious is that more often than not I lose sight of what I am supposed to be doing and grab something else instead: "Ooh, shiny!" I then have to force myself to stick to the job at hand and drop the "Become a Magician in six easy lessons"-handbook. I have the attention span of a cat - I can focus intently on a metaphorical mouse until the perfect time to pounce has come, but I can also be distracted by any pretty butterfly that flutters past. And like a cat, I have a long-term memory that leaves something to be desired. Perfect recall it isn't.

I've just been distracted by the first Harry Potter book which I am re-reading after a rather long time. It's interesting to see how much forshadowing there is in the first four chapters of the first book alone, and re-reading all the books will probably give me a lot of theories on what will happen next. Totally unneccessary, of course, but you never know when this might come in handy.
But I still prefer Diane Duane's "Young Wizard"-series to Harry Potter.

How strange is that... I'm at work again, that is, the work I had to do today is done and the tape is whirring away digitizing Coleridge, and I've used the net access not only to do some research, but also get a handful of free Tarot readings because it's spring and I felt like it.
And in three out of four readings, on different pages, the same card turns up in the "self"-position: the Nine of Swords. Coincidence?

It's brilliant sunshine out there today, and warm, and my brain feels like a dried-out sponge waiting for information it can soak up. The thought of books and libraries and my bookshelves at home makes me giddy. All that knowledge on the ledges! Read, read, read!

Oh, yeah, lest I forget: The gig on the 30th was very much OK. We played until we dropped, almost literally, because they didn't want to let us go - we started at nine, playing a set on the hour until two in the morning. Six sets. And we only have 25 songs, which means that the more party-oriented rocking ones were played three times at least. I agree with our bass player that it will be some time until I want to play those songs again, as much fun to play as they are.
I hope the recordings that were made last week on Thursday and Sunday are of good quality, because I promised a few people I'd send them copies. Fingers crossed!

Here's another coincidence for you: Today's featured article on Wikipedia is about the Albatross; the Coleridge playing at the moment is Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Ah, I love humans, always seeing patterns in things that aren't there.

PS: Would I be completely off my rocker to want to hear Coleridge read by Tom Baker or Brian Blessed?

This post was brought on by a friend being censored in an online place, and the resulting comments to his lj post, and was written while my body was spring cleaning the house.

Every once in a while, especially when I've been away and / or not updating regularly, I get to thinking about this blog (Journal? Whatever.) of mine, why I write in it, and what I write about.

( cut for Do ya really wanna read this? Do ya, punk? )