lofi relyricization of harnick/bock song from fiddler on the roof for the sars-cov-2 era. another quarantune! hmm. apparently this idea has also been done, a few days ago, quite well and somewhat more thoroughly. guess i should review the literature for the state of the art before undertaking such things. but i didn't, and this one is mine. lyrics: maskmaker maskmaker make me a mask two plys of cotton that's all i ask maskmaker maskmaker sit at your singer and make me a perfect mask maskmaker maskmaker i'll bring my bandanas if you've nothing to do if you're going bananas cover my face up so i can buy food and a break from this solitude for earloops you can use hairbands to hold it as i sniffle and cough a noseclip might keep it from snagging my stubble and sliding right off maskmaker maskmaker executive orders have kept me all cooped up alone in my quarters the pantry is empty the larders are bare so please make a mask i can wear for papa the family tartan for mama something flowery and bright for me well i'd just be heartened if i could buy groceries tonight maskmaker maskmaker make me a mask stitch me a stitch of cotton not bask maskmaker maskmaker if you're up to the task oh make me a perfect mask

Special "came to pass in real life" edition!

Fiddle debut! Sorry for the cat scratches A couple of tunes - "Elkins" by Jerry Holland, followed by "Dorrigo" by George Jackson

Upbeat and jangly with an orchestral edge. Trying to keep up with posting a song every month or so, this was recorded at the tail end of last summer.

A standard fiddle tune on mandolin with backing guitar.

This is an West African kora tune recorded by Toumani Diabate, but this arrangement for guitar by Derek Gripper makes it feel like a tango. I recorded it on my porch in New Orleans. I didn't mean to record the covid ambulance sirens in the background, but I imagine that I'll listen to this later and remember what now was like.

I've been working on a musical collaboration with a fellow musician friend of mine during these crazy coronavirus times, in hopes of generating something fun and creative while we have all this spare time not working or gigging. Here's the second song from that collaboration.

I never finished my entry for the Kate Bush music challenge a while back, but I liked the bit I did get done.

A psychedelic synthpop meditation on dreams, the romance of travel, the uncanny desert night, and technology approaching obsolescence. If Tears For Fears collaborated with 1970-era Steve Reich, you might get something like this. Based on a painting by Georgy Nissky and a time-lapse video of two vintage railroad semaphores in the New Mexico desert. LYRICS Somewhere over Santa Fe Atmospheric ocean Wheeled above our dreaming heads Hypnotized in motion Signals in your lover's eye Sleeping at the junction Silhouetted in the sky Solemn semaphores sit Winking out their last goodbye Frozen into caution Dreamt I was a satellite Falling out of orbit Rolling in the silver light Like a lonely gauntlet Winking over Wagon Mound And the pines of Carson No more lunar lullaby Did I see their arms lift As I broke up on the tracks? P.S.: I've started releasing free albums of new material every month, and this is on the newest one. Grab and enjoy.

Foot race? Bikes? Horses? It don't matter none, 'cuz it's on! The covid-19 isolation recommendations combined with the thin walls of this apartment makes singing and playing live instruments inappropriate. But fake instrument instrumentals are fun too!

Recorded with a Roland Jupiter X as a live take

Die Haare im Wind, salzige Luft in der Nase, immer nah am Wasser: Eine Segelkreuzfahrt durch die Inselwelt der Kykladen ist ein Erlebnis. Zur echten Herausforderung wird sie, wenn der Meltemi in Sturmstärke bläst.

This iOS Music Apps Roundup features five innovative iPad apps from Air Craft, KORG, Reactable Systems, ClubROOM, and Klevgrand.

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The post iOS Music Apps Roundup: January 2017 appeared first on Dubspot Blog.

Dubspot Radio Podcast revisits an exclusive interview and chill mix selection recorded live by a Dubspot student known as J.Pennyworth.

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The post Dubspot Radio Rewind: J.Pennyworth + Exclusive Interview appeared first on Dubspot Blog.

Five great websites that offer a variety of professional quality sample libraries and audio tools suited for any type of project or genre.

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The post 5 Websites That Offer Professional Quality Sample Libraries appeared first on Dubspot Blog.

Multitalented musician Michael Emenau examines some of the benefits and pitfalls of using musical scales and offers some creative practices for using them.

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The post Music Theory Tutorial: Working with Scales appeared first on Dubspot Blog.

MIDI Lifestyle's Scott Shpak offers ten workflow tips to increase your productivity as a music producer.

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The post 10 Tips to Increase Your Productivity as a Producer appeared first on Dubspot Blog.

Loop Academy and Dubspot are visiting South-East Asia throughout March to host a series of extensive music production and DJing workshops.

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The post Loop Academy and Dubspot Asia Tour 2017 appeared first on Dubspot Blog.

This plugin spotlight features the Cooper Time Cube MkII by Universal Audio, a unique emulation of the original garden hose-based mechanical delay device.

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The post Plugin Spotlight: Cooper Time Cube MkII by Universal Audio appeared first on Dubspot Blog.

San Francisco producer Scott Whitehead introduces us to Modstep, a modulation and MIDI sequencer for the iPad.

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The post iOS Music App Spotlight: Modstep by AppBC appeared first on Dubspot Blog.

Dubspot's Winter Sale offers new students 15% off all courses and returning students 25% off until March 13th at midnight EST. Enroll Today!

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The post Dubspot Winter Sale Extended: Enroll Today! appeared first on Dubspot Blog.

Dubspot's Rory PQ explains how to route audio and sidechain with third-party plugins in Ableton Live.

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The post How to Sidechain Third-Party Plugins in Ableton Live appeared first on Dubspot Blog.

Make your music sound load and polished with Sample Magic's new mix processing plugin called Boost.

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The post Plugin Spotlight: Boost by Sample Magic appeared first on Dubspot Blog.

Get an in-depth look at Analog Strings by Output, an innovative virtual instrument designed for creating and manipulating string sounds.

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The post Plugin Spotlight: Analog Strings by Output appeared first on Dubspot Blog.

This plugin spotlight features the Moog Multimode Filter Collection by Universal Audio, a set of truly authentic, analog-sounding Moog filter emulations.

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The post Plugin Spotlight: Moog Multimode Filter Collection by Universal Audio appeared first on Dubspot Blog.

'As we face the challenges of the twenty-first century, we need to recapture the perception of God that is so vividly reflected in the book of Daniel.'

'Whenever we face a big problem, we also should recognize that our God is great enough to resolve even the most unsolvable challenges.'

'God continues to change lives today. No matter how proud or sinful people may be, in God there is mercy and power to turn rebellious sinners into children of the God of Heaven.'

'With the coming of the Son of Man, God’s dominion is restored to those to whom it properly belongs. What Adam lost in the garden, the Son of Man recovers in the heavenly judgment.'

'How often do you think about just how closely tied heaven and earth are? How might you live differently if you always kept this truth alive in your heart and mind?'

'How do we distinguish between the Word of God and human tradition? Why is it so important that we make this distinction?'

'This week we will look at sola Scriptura in greater detail. We will learn that sola Scriptura implies some fundamental principles of biblical interpretation that are indispensable for a proper understanding of God’s Word.'

'If we approach and interpret the Bible wrongly, we will likely come to false conclusions, not just in the understanding of salvation but in everything else that the Bible teaches.'

You know what's weird right now? Besides, like, everything? Food. Lots of routines are disrupted, lots of supply lines and food-sourcing habits have gotten all sideways. So: what's going on with your fooding? How's the whole eating thing? Any happy discoveries or rediscoveries? Any weird surprises? Any big shortage headaches? Any horrible cooking failures? Snacking surprises? Foodly frustrations? Can you buy literally any yeast? Get it out, let's talk all kinds of food stuff, let's do a whole roundup of where everybody's at.

If you feel up to it, please take a photo of something nice (anything that makes you feel good) and share it with all of us. It can be something on your desk. Something pretty you have hanging on the wall. Or maybe something interesting in your backyard, porch, stoop or balcony. Cute dog & cat photos are encouraged. I just want to look at something pleasant and nice. Stay safe and remember to be kind to yourself and to others.

I was thinking about making an fpp about how Whole Foods is using a "heat map" of factors to try and prevent unionization. The article is behind a paywall at Business Insider I read it on an archive site. Is there a way to make post that people can read ethically?

Happy birthday to the guy who probably worries more than most about keeping the lights on in this sometimes only bright corner of the internets!

It was a time known as The Great Resetting, when, after a months of wandering in a week late or so with episodes, jessamyn and I finally managed to release a new episode smack dab on the 1st. It was spoken of in legend as...episode 163 of the MetaFilter podcast.

Helpful Links

Podcast Feed
Subscribe with iTunes
Direct mp3 download

Misc
- jessamyn has been placing jokes in the local paper
- revisit the old Is MetaFilter Back Yet?" video Jess and I made, good god, NINE years ago
- Sufjan Stevens: teach the controversy
- Bruce fucken Campbell

Jobs
- Designer for print + web publication by Rich Text

Projects
- TV Opening Sequences Quiz by AndrewStephens (MeFi Post)
- I have eaten the plums by Lazlo Hollyfeld
- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Deanna (TNG edition) by avocet
- Ultimate Quarantine House Selection! by Iridic (MeFi Post)
- Basho poems by vacapinta
- StockOrrery by lucidium
- Restoring 100- to 200-year-old woodworking planes by not_the_water

MetaFilter
- Twitch.tv is more than just video-games: by Fizz
- Rage Within the Machine by theodolite
- Aprs Sufjan, le dluge by Etrigan
- Evil Elvis sings Original Elvis by filthy light thief
- One Gruff Harding, Two Gruff Harding by i_am_joe's_spleen
- it's gotta be big and it's got to be dumb by Fizz
- Hello, Gordon! Hello, Gordon! Hello, Gor-- by cortex
- early "Stay Away" by jessamyn
- Gorgeous Libraries by Iris Gambol
- Mathematician John Horton Conway died yesterday of COVID-19. by Obscure Reference
- Bird's Eye View of What We Call the Brand Zoom Funk by WCityMike

Ask MetaFilter
- A dog unfriendly TV? by mmmmmmm
- Do banks really monitor ATMs for left cash? by geoff.
- What happens during breakdown on bridge or in tunnel? by toastchee
- What stops someone from clearing out the Treasury via check? by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug
- Identify/translate Arabic cassette tape by gryphonlover
- Gifts ideas for an octogenarian, Italian-American barber. by eotvos
- How did they accomplish this multi-person musician jam by katecholamine
- What technobabble should I google? by aubilenon
- Word game involving linking similar-sounding words by definitions? by The otter lady
- Help Me Paint a Mural (Please God help Me!) by WalkerWestridge
- How do I help my spouse keep up our home internet setup after I die? by sciatica

Music
Tracks featured this month:
- My Way (Roboticized) by q*ben
- Bach Prelude in C, but shifted by a sixteenth-note by mpark
- Salaman by umbú

I remember reading a post on either Metafilter/Ask Metafilter in which the comment section got onto the topic of white interior house paint. One person commented that "Such-and-such white paint is the best" with a link. Many people favorited it and I think several agreed with the declaration in subsequent comments. I thought, "What is this great paint that people seem to love?" I clicked through to the paint color and thought, "oh yes, that really is a VERY good white interior paint color." Now I am in need of white interior paint, looking for that comment/link, and I can't find it.

I have successfully eliminated feeding time drama. I will tell you how.

But first - if you're willing to make a small screw hole in the pantry door, you can get an inexpensive metal latch hook that will improve that part of your system. If that won't work, you can find another way to keep that door securely closed. If you get stuck, just use your second AskMe question. You should be able to solve this problem :)

If you can't, well, it doesn't sound like you're getting a ton of help from the robot. Would it be just as easy to store the food in an air-tight container and serve whenever you feel like it?

Now - here's how I got my round little foster cat to stop harassing us for food:

I convinced her that I was not responsible for deciding when to feed her. I had an old phone with a distinctive, not-unpleasant alarm sound (harp glissando), set the alarm for her feeding times, and made a huge show about hearing the alarm sound, running over to it (to shut it off), and feeding her exactly then. It was clear that I was controlled by the harp sound. She made the connection very quickly, and would go sit and watch the sound/alarm system when it was close to meal times. My life improved. Safety improved (no cat weaving around my ankles). My estimation of my own cleverness improved also :)

People tend to overthink this, and I am speaking from real experience. Just keep the requisite number of gallons of water you'd use in the timespan for which you're planning and change them every couple of years, just for the sake of doing it. They'll last for eons in reality.

In an emergency, water's great, but in a longer-term bad situation, it falls pretty far down the list. Unless you're in an unusually arid place, a means to obtain the water necessary to live (maybe not to shower, run the dishwasher or laundry though) will make itself known. And you'd never store enough to matter for *that* long, while a few gallons of cooking oil or a bag of salt would make you a local hero for a long, long time.

What people tend to really wish they'd planned for, but don't:

1) cooking oil
2) toilet paper, paper towels
3) spices, herbs, pepper and salt
4) sugar, chocolate (especially for its fat), candy, honey
5) soap, shampoo, cleaning products
6) seeds for easy-to-grow stuff
7) vitamins
8) if you can keep a couple of hens, you won't regret it.

Nothing's as tradeable (relative to effort) as eggs!

Aside from the last three, these things can be stored for a long, long time. And in reality, #6 and #7 would be good for a few years.

I am a Sarajevan who lived during the siege with no heat, electricity, water, phone (etc) for the most of a three-year period. What's on the list above is what I was almost always missing. We got "dry" food packages from various sources. These tended to be Truman eggs (good for a little protein, but thats about it), macaroni, rice, powder potatoes, Vietnam-era "biscuits" - supposedly with vitamins, but these were from the late 1960s and of dubious nutritional value.

What was missing was: fat, protein, flavor and variety. Boiling was the only way to cook things, due to lack of any cooking oils. To fry something was a rare miracle - even if you were frying reconstituted potatoes from powder. And to have a little pepper or salt was nirvana.

My work has been doing mandatory, camera-on videoconference "socials" every Friday -- scheduled at 4pm just to twist the knife. I hate them so much and finally told my manager I'm not going to attend anymore. People seem to think that because we're working from home, they're free to push on the boundaries between work life and private life in a way that is super uncomfortable for me and it has definitely been adding to my COVID stress in isolation.

If you're so ignorant that you think any promotion involving a gun on the streets in this day and age is appropriate you are a fucking idiot and detainment is the least of your worries.

This is the sort of mentality that leads to minority kids getting killed for having the temerity to play with toy guns.

If your location is correct, the Humane Society will do the communual cremation for $35 and there's a campus in your city. If that's too much but you can get her there, I'll cover it. If group cremation isn't the correct choice for you for this pet, however, no pressure.

I've found that about two-thirds of the way through any large knitting or crochet project, most stitchers get bored and antsy and often start a new project instead of finishing, so I'm familiar with this type of thing in another context. But I think anyone who thinks we're in the third quarter of this situation now has another think coming.

Many trans people have never been able to trust or access public toilets, even if they are present and unoccupied, and excluding trans people from bathroom use is currently a mainstream political stance. I was disappointed to see this not addressed in the article. I'll continue to hope (while also cynically doubting, I contain multitudes) that we will use the societal changes required by the pandemic to benefit everyone, rather than re-creating the previous dysfunction.

Do you actually like this guy? You've written an essay here and the only positives you list about this person are qualities you assumed about him during the period you had no personal contact. Of course he makes himself look interesting in his own blog.

Stop worrying if he likes you or not, or likes you enough or more than your friend maybe. For the next few weeks, your sole focus should be "do I actually like this guy, really?"

If it's your anxiety telling you you're not good enough that's one thing, but I don't get the impression from what you've written that you've spent a lot of time looking at this dude with a critical eye. HE needs to be right for YOU before you start concerning yourself with whether you're good enough for him.

Well, somebody didn't click through before commenting... Great job, 100%

I have a health condition with a high mortality rate, where about one quarter of us die within the first year, and two-thirds of us don't last five years. I'm on Year 4 now and I'm doing okay, and I'm thankful to be receiving excellent care, and I'm generally optimistic that I'll get to stick around for a while.

Ramping up to my diagnosis, I thought my life was over. And that was both utterly untrue and completely true at the same time. You can't really know what it's like until you have the actual diagnosis, and even then it's been a world of surprises. You may or may not be able to do some of the things you would like to do.

For me to deal with it in a healthy way, I kind of had to create a hard line in the sand. I had to take time to grieve the person I'd been before falling ill, take stock of my accomplishments, and most importantly, I had to REALIZE MY ACCOMPLISHMENTS WERE ENOUGH for my lifetime. If I'd been hit by a bus, my life would have been over in a snap, and whatever I'd accomplished by that point would have had to be enough. Taking that pressure off myself was the kindest thing I could do for myself.

I found I had to let a lot of things go and not compare Previous Me to Sick Me. Previous Me was active, enjoyed travel, able to hold down complex and interesting work. Sick Me can't do much of that, but Sick Me does pretty okay for a sick person, and Sick Me does so much more than Dead Me could possibly do! Seriously, compared to Dead Me, Sick Me is a total winner. Sick Me can do a little modest gardening, enough to keep the weeds away. Sick Me can care for my dog and handle the occasional load of laundry. Sick Me finds a lot of joy in my friends and family and internet communities, and has transferred my social life to text, email, and the occasional dining out when the stars align and energy allows. (Metafilter is a lifesaver because I can pick it up whenever my energy level allows and people are so welcoming and understanding.)

As you're waiting for news, it's easy to fall to worry. Please be kind to yourself and don't suffer those fears and losses before you need to. Right now, you are there for your children. Don't put yourself through the punishment of losing them multiple times unnecessarily. And don't say you won't ever get to do a painting class -- I took my first painting class last fall and it was a boon to my soul and it renewed my capacity for beauty.

In the meantime, take as much control of the situation as you need to. Write down a list of questions to review with your doctors. (I've actually typed them out and distributed copies for them to follow along.) You can google, and it's hard not to, but please never tell a doctor that your questions or concerns are coming from google. Also, do not call yourself a hypochondriac -- what you are feeling is what you are feeling, and your concerns are valid and deserving of respect.

Waiting is hard. Please be extra kind to yourself.

Everyone Expects The Spanish Influenza: There is one solution and one solution only: Stop using Amazon. Period. Nothing else will work. Nothing.

The other solution is to get laws passed which don't allow them to engage in these practises. Laws like that have been passed before; they can be passed again.