Author Archives: skierpage

music: the best video about music

Posted on 2020-10-14 by skierpage

There are lots of music exploration and music theory videos on YouTube. “The 7 Levels of Jazz Harmony” by Adam Neely is pure joy. Even if you don’t know your E♭maj7 from a hole in the ground, even if you … Continue reading →

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skiing: rockers forever

Posted on 2020-09-03 by skierpage

I can tell I’m missing skiing in my bones when I start rolling my ankles on edge when standing still. By mid-summer I miss everything about it, even the frozen fingers, the end-of-day ache overcome for just one more run, … Continue reading →

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design: a Black Lives Matter poster

Posted on 2020-09-03 by skierpage

It is the least I could do; downloading this PDF and printing out the first three pages is the least you can do. I made it in the free and open source LibreOffice program, using the fonts Cantarell Extra Bold … Continue reading →

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Google Play Music: 18 million songs and no respect

Posted on 2020-08-23 by skierpage

I signed up for Google Play Music All Access (Google marketing managers are incompetent at naming) the week it was announced, back in the good old days when Google’s motto was “Do no evil” and every month they brought exciting … Continue reading →

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music: wondering at Stevie Wonder

Posted on 2020-08-04 by skierpage

Play Stevie Wonder’s immortal run of albums – Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness’ First Finale, Songs in the Key of Life – and you will be repeatedly floored by his artistry and talent. What brings tears of … Continue reading →

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music: Trevor Horn and the Buggles in 1979

Posted on 2020-06-29 by skierpage

I revere producers as much as musicians and songwriters. I was dimly aware of producers, starting with the mysterious “produced by Bones Howe” in big letters on the back of some record… I thought it was the Carpenters but now … Continue reading →

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computers generating art

Posted on 2020-06-19 by skierpage

First came text GPT-2 and other AI (Artificial Intelligence) Transformer models are impressive. After you hand the AI an enormous corpus of text, you give it some text and it continues, generating character after character that make up recognizable, even … Continue reading →

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house heating without natural gas

Posted on 2020-06-06 by skierpage

Some California cities are moving to ban natural gas connections in new construction! Burning gas creates CO2 that causes global warming, so just avoid burning fossil fuel by eliminating the gas connection. (Methane recovered from manure and garbage dumps could … Continue reading →

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social web: not so friendly

Posted on 2020-05-25 by skierpage

I’m incredulous that people have more than 100 “friends” on Facebook, let alone 1000+. I used to regularly unfriend people, prompted by Jimmy Kimmel Live’s “National Unfriend Day.” Simply people I didn’t know well, didn’t interact with any more, or … Continue reading →

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web: book reviews again

Posted on 2020-05-11 by skierpage

I have a substantial pile of books I’ve read that will injure me in an earthquake. I ought to write perspicacious pithy reviews of them. I could write them on Amazon, but why should Amazon own and profit from my … Continue reading →

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