I could keep tweaking this, but as with all art, it's never finished and I have to call it, despite the outstanding nitpicks I have with it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC2ZsOnfUaA
#instrumental #soundtrack #music #80s #MiamiVice #JanHammer #synth #cover #guitar #surgeXT #synthesizers
I refreshed my website to reflect my recent audio endeavours. This is just for fun, not for work.
This last week, I threw a couple of hours at sprucing up my recreation of the first part of the Meditation violin piece. I somehow managed to coax a violin performance out of a generic synth.
This is one of my happy places, where I can spend what little time I have, totally disappearing into that for a while, in between the many bits of life maintenance.
In a heatwave, there could be many factors contributing to this evening-and-beyond peak in dynamic energy pricing.
It could be demand-induced, or shenanigans in the energy markets (gas bidding).
Solar gains disappear, perhaps because panels become less efficient at high temperatures, and there's little wind.
Us Agile-Tarriff folk are good at adapting, but this the flipside of Agile: accepting volatility.
Pinged for geekery:
@christineburns
My take on the flag-w__kery in UK towns:
They should make the flags out of paper that wasps like to collect.
The wasps would then create a minor nuisance, and the flags wouldn't last long.
Added benefit: the wasps would then make pink nests.
Would I attempt to stop a mum stealing baby milk? No.
That's an example of desperation. Those carers don't want to steal. They've likely wrangled with their conscience and made a difficult decision.
The cause of shoplifting is corporate greed: lifting prices to maximize a goal-seek of [price x quantity] = revenue, which excludes those who cannot afford.
It's what happens when an organization stops providing a service, and pursues revenue. By extension, it's the problem with privatization.
I have a take on shoplifting, and how it's reported in the press: [1]
It's a sign of societal desperation, and we should be looking at that, not looking at arresting and fining folk who are depserate enough to steal.
Yes, I have sympathy for the victims, particularly sole traders and those who sell their own produce, but corporations can absorb it.
If it's organized crime, prosecute (but again desperate people are ringed into that, as victims).
1/...
A consideration:
If I stop now, then Book 1 is 'done'.
However, if I actually write out Book 2, beyond the outline I have (66% pantsing), without progressing Book 1 beyond draft, then I still have control of Book 1. I can go back and telegraph/foreshadow the stuff that matters, and develop the subthreads more.
I'm beginning to think that this might be the better option, as it leaves more options for the best final result. It doesn't back me into a corner with finalized content.
#amWriting Plot convergence, The Tourist
Q: Make Book 1 bigger, or catch loose ends in Book 2?
I've set up many worldbuilding threads of different perspectives on the Plot and environment, but as sub-plots, they dangle at the end of Book 1.
It breaks the whispered rule that subplots should converge by the end.
I have plans to catch them all in Book 2 (Book 1 is 70k words), and the story progress at the end of Book 1 is the strongest place to draw any kind of line.
...
#wordweavers 5 How would the character from Q4 react to being invited?
Unless it's a formal occasion, my Emperor would likely politely have one of his court decline the personal invitation. Then the Emperor would attend in disguise, if the intrigue and subterfuge had sufficient benefits.
The other 'good' aspect of a storm, is that my electrivity supplier is paying me £0.11-ish per kWh to USE electicity, so I'm on gratuitous electric heating for many hours, at 22 deg C. I'm usually at 18.
The reasons are complicated, and still linked to marginal pricing, and the ridiculous scenario where generators are paid to NOT generate electricity while unsustainable fossil operators have contracts to still provide base power, because it's expensive to switch them off and on again. Nonsense!
A storm on a long holiday weekend lets me do some investigative 'draught sniffing' so I can perhaps need less heating for the house.
Unfortunately, it looks like my sources of draught are:
- Behind secured bathroom or kitchen units, where the plumbing pokes through the wall.
- The chimney above the gas fire I'm not using.
- Windows where hinge mechanisms are broken and have gaps. I'm replacing these, for £££!, but in the meantime, I've inserted foam adjacent (but not between) parts.
#WordWeavers Day 4. Choose a character to invite to a party. What kind of party is it? Does it have special rules (dress code, bring alcohol, etc.)?
My emperor character would find a way to sneak in, disguised as an ordinary citizen.
He's done this in many different contexts (some are major plot points, so no spoilers!). He has people who can do this for him, but now he's made it to an over-ripe age, some folk regognize his limp and heavy disguise, and play along but with changed behaviour.
#ScribesAndMakers 4 Apr: 2/2
I usually find out what interests the person who asks me the question, and go with their vibes. I want to form intellectual connections with them, rather than riff about something they'll have no clue how to approach.
I think I know when to stop?
My problem with a spidery mind-map question like this is that when I'm speaking (or writing), the narrative is a single stream, not a connected graph. It means a side-quest of detail risks derailing the whole picture.
#ScribesAndMakers 4 Apr 'How do you answer if someone asks you what you do? Is your answer different in person than it is online?'
I adapt my answer. My day job is different from my interests.
This isn't because I have unfulfilled ambition. My interests/politics don't pay well, or are exploited in the markets they have value:
- Academia is exploited by private gatekeepers; underfunded.
- Media platforms devalue the artists.
- AI companies steal original work, and selectively apply copyright...
#ScribesAndMakers day 1: How many creative projects do you have going right now?
(laughs in AD(H)D)
I have many, in various stages of completion and will-to-complete.
On writing, I have one serious contender that I've had at beyond-first-draft stage, around 60K words that I'm looking for an outlet for.
I have a few coding projects I've not poked for a while. One is a game.
I have maths/physics research I poke from time to time, with one paper nearly done.
I also dabble in music.
I'm asking for advice about re-learning typing.
I never totally learned touch typing, and find myself tripping over myself with mistakes.
(this is gradually worsening over years, so I see it as losing technique rather than any other problem)
Any recommendations for cheapass but effective ways to re-learn?
Tonight I tried some art. Just value-blocking with some colour work.
It's lacking in detail, mainly becuase I'm not yet happy with any brushes I have in Krita.
About 40 mins, trying to achieve results quickly without focusing on detail.
Visually from a reference photo - image credit: 2025. (REUTERS/Manon Cruz)
I finished up the music:
Celeste Resurrection - Surge XT cover
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WLrZ9m2O9Q
#music #synth #surgeXT #SurgeSynth #vst #game #soundtrack #cover #celeste
extra/3
I'd be interested to see if, say, the EU has leverage, under an equivalent to the Computer Misuse Act (UK) or superceding law.
Will governments act in situations where they're faced with withheld updates, and Microsoft change their long-standing business terms to charge extra? Is it a deliberate act of making computers unusable? Is that technically 'sabotage'?
On the other hand, I expect these conditions to be written into old service agreements, and the charges are not contestable.
3/3 Yes, this is #enshittification. It's deliberate obsolescence.
The Microsoft business case is that users should buy their hardware (prominently advertised at their notice of support ending), and buy into W11/services.
The counterargument is that newer hardware is required to mitigate against some types of #malware attacks.
The background is that our computing environments are spoiled because some people are 'bad actors', which creates the need for ('cyber') #security