Creative Constraints

chieh - limitationOn the subject of paradoxes, here’s another: sometimes by limiting our options our creativity can be enhanced. As an example, I’ve been exploring how Irish tunes can be played on the Scottish Bagpipes, which have a smaller range than most Irish instruments. In order to make this work, some tweaking is needed, including tansposing octaves and uisng the pipes’ “flattened” leading note. This could be seen as a limitation, or as a creative challenge, since there is a difference between just applying an algorithm, and using sensitvity to maintain the flow and flavour of a tune. The idea of limiting …

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Paradox Ahead

This sentence is false

Oh dear. If you try to make sense of the above, you can’t help but eventually admit defeat. Either it’s true, in which case it’s false, or it’s false, in which case it’s true! This is an example of a self-referential paradox. Another example is my recent involvement with the Internet. I have been obsessive-compulsively  researching and learning how to do things on it, particularly in relation to publishing content. Unfortunately my brain is fried, and I have little mental energy left to write anything useful or interesting. See the paradox? Hopefully it’s just a passing …

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The Joys of WordPress

I’ve been faffing for HOURS, trying to get all 3 blogs on my Wordpress Multisite to display the image I want when I post to Facebook. Trouble is, I’m using a plugin that doesn’t seem set up for multisite, but does “pretend” to allow me to set a default image for posting. However, it appears to work differently on different sites. Maybe you understand what I’m on about, maybe not, I just needed to share what I’ve been going through…

Web Overdose

My eyes are fried, my mind is on overtime, and I really should get some exercise. Swimming straight after I’ve finished this post (or maybe just one more, and put them up on FB and Twitter…). Bring me coffee! Maybe I’m evolving from fledgling geek to full grown geek. OMG! What a learning curve! As well as working out how to do stuff, which can take hours for the simplest-seeming tasks (eg. get Wordpress multisite to communicate with Facebook via some convoluted process involving FB apps and access rights), there’s also working out what doesn’t need to be done (simply …

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The Slave Ethic

Maintaining control over many people requires a lot of energy. Wouldn’t it be easier if we could get them to police themselves, so we don’t have to stand over them with a whip? This needs to work both internally and between individuals. We live in world where technology has replaced the need for all but a nominal amount of “drudgery” to meet our sustenance needs. There is no reason why, except for a few hours here and there, we should not spend our time pursuing activities which make our souls sing, rather then selling our life energy in exchange for …

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Hello Facebook

I’ve been working on my new website, and I think I’ve managed to get it to communicate with Facebook. If this post shows on your FB homepage then it works! It’s been quite a journey getting to this stage. I want to use my site for several things: posting articles and encouraging discussion of various musical/philosophical/spiritual/political topics, info about my musical projects and info about my maths tuition work (on a separate “sub domain”). It’s very much a work in progress, but why not have a look around if you’re interested?