dazed and confused

¡Ayude!

2011-02-20T02:49:00.000-05:00

Empecé a reescribir 1001 noches [el versión de dominio público es 1885 ingleses y muy verboso] en inglés moderno y luego a español como part of mi español aprendizaje.

¡Y. No. Puedo. parar!

entropy

2010-11-20T22:55:00.004-05:00

the web is becoming so entangled that it's becoming more unusable every day

don't even think about copyright 'owning' everything or the spammers, or the spyware, or that netflix is consuming 999 percent of the internet bandwidth.

how about this...

this place reports the 'trustworthiness' of a website.

i investigated and found that one guy in england had generated millions of 'i do not trust this website'. i can be 'trusted' for $40-$400/year.

what set me off was this...

a brand new email address failed the 'i do not trust you' test due not being on a trusted whitelist. investigation showed that i could be trusted for $20 and a verification more intrusive than a TSA putdown.

they used to put people in jail for doing this.

i couldn't resist this

2010-09-21T00:00:00.001-04:00

Dr. Ann de Wees Allen's name is a Federally Registered Trademark. It is illegal to use the name (Dr. Ann de Wees Allen) on any website or document without prior written permission. a quick google shows her name is in 137,000 places :)

Lachrimae Antiquae

2010-06-11T10:54:00.001-04:00

John Dowland was court composer to Queen Elizabeth I @ AD 1600. This song is called, Lachrimae Antiquae. 5 parts satb recorders. I heart garageband!

internet marketing

2010-01-02T03:06:00.001-05:00

In June 2009, I set up a website for Little Academy Faye's School in Swaziland [South Africa]. The website has not been pulling in donations like the owners of the school expected, so one of the owners sent me an email and complained. read more....

public domain score & parts

2009-12-13T06:47:00.002-05:00

last week, a discussion came up in our early[renaissance] music group about public domain score & parts and where they were available on the internet.
here are 3 sites that offer free legal downloads for your personal library.
http://icking-music-archive.org/ByComposer.php
http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Composers
http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Category:Renaissance_composers

idiocracy

2009-10-22T14:47:00.001-04:00

"An assistant at a grocery store in Clackmannanshire, Scotland, was ordered by the Performing Right Society (PRS) to obtain a performer's license and to pay royalties because she was informally singing popular songs while stocking groceries"
read more....

this is stupid.

2009-05-09T21:29:00.000-04:00

i love it.

marguerite porette

2009-03-09T01:36:00.001-04:00

as counterpoint to the acim post a few days ago, i should probably tell you about marguerite porette.

marguerite wrote a book "the mirror of simple souls" and refused to back down from her beliefs. she was burned at the stake by the inquisition in 1310. here's a 15 second summary of the book. nobility, in marguerite's vocabulary has to do with a soul's ability to resonate to the lord's love. when a soul is first birthed from god, it is cast like a bell during it's outflowing. some souls resonate more easily to god's love than others. annihilation refers to the death of the soul's own-willing, own-having, and own-knowing; to be replaced by god's-willing, god's-having, and god's knowing. a noble soul sees this death and resurrection as her natural place in god.

A Course In Miracles

2009-02-28T11:46:00.002-05:00

I have been hearing about A Course In Miracles for a long time and was curious, but not curious enough to read the whole thing. Following is a summary of the public domain version. The original is @ 600 pages and 300,000 words This summary is about 3000 words generated by the apple text summary wizard.

christine and barack

2009-02-21T10:34:00.003-05:00

today [saturday feb 21] we are headed up to boscov fifth street highway to do an all day photo shoot. the acor gallery has an art exhibit there, and we are part of the show - taking portraits of people with barack obama; who we borrowed from the reading library for the occasion. btw, this picture was taken with my pocket camera.

where's christine?

2009-02-10T10:15:00.002-05:00

christine has become ubergeek. it's easy to see why she becomes the maven whereever she goes. she fixed my blackberry to track her whereabouts. this picture is her google maps location at the philadelphia airport waiting for a flight to arkansas. a half hour earlier when i looked, it showed her on the highway on her way to the airport.

Lord Forgive Me

2009-02-09T11:59:00.001-05:00

today i did the unthinkable. i threw out a half-pound of starbucks coffee.
i've been wondering lately why starbucks taste has gotten weak and bland. so finally i went berserk and trashed the starbucks.
then i went to the local microroaster max crema.
besides roasting every day, max creama's has heavy cream! mmmmmmm.
now i'm happy.

Melomanie

2009-02-01T13:16:00.002-05:00

2/1/2009 3:13:00 AM
CONCERT REVIEW: Ensemble musicians go for Baroque By Susan L. Peña Reading Eagle Correspondent
The ensemble Melomanie has carved out a unique niche for itself, which it demonstrated in a concert presented by the Albright College Friends of Music in the college’s Center for the Arts.
Tracy Richardson played the harpsichord; Kimberly Reighley played Baroque and modern flutes; Douglas McNames played a 1708 cello; Donna Fournier played the viola da gamba; and guest Rainer Beckmann played recorders.
In every case they played with sensitivity and attention to detail; their choice of material was interesting and highlighted their many gifts.
Beckmann had his turn with "Blue Mosque for Bass Recorder" by Dutch contemporary composer Jacques Bank. The exotic sounds, produced by various extended techniques, called forth the calls of the muezzins of Istanbul. It was a tour de force unlike anything I’ve heard on a recorder.
Contact correspondent Susan L. Peña at entertainment@readingeagle.com.

volunteer peten

2009-01-31T14:25:00.004-05:00

my friend matt peters has lived in guatamala for the last 10 years
a few months ago he was interviewed on bctv

in the last 10 years, he has built a school and a library, and created an ecological preserve. all with volunteer contributions and labor. go matt!
http://www.volunteerpeten.com/bctv/

john dowland

2009-01-28T21:00:00.003-05:00

a few years ago, when i recorded multi track music on a windows pc it was get the software, get an expensive firewire microphone interface and an expensive microphone, and a steep learning curve.
maybe i'm getting smarter, but on the mac and garage band, i had this song done in less than an hour. without ever having seen garage band before.
this is john dowland's "come again". it's written for 4 parts, but i doubled the top part. i should probably mention it is played with soprano alto and tenor recorders.

mlk remembrance

2009-01-21T16:34:00.000-05:00

i videoed the mlk remembrance monday night
here is michelle post singing "People Get Ready"

and here is Robert Jefferson, President of the Berks Chapter of the NAACP reading "I have a Dream"
btw, the artwork is by ed terrell

david dragonfly

2009-01-14T04:37:00.001-05:00

christine and i got matching tattoos at dragonfly studio in west reading.
we both got a freckle tattooed on our right hands.

2008-12-01T10:08:00.005-05:00

I reported this graffiti to the city graffiti removal hotline on December 1, 2008. Check back to see how long it takes the city graffiti removal team to respond

Six weeks later, January 14, nothing has happened yet.

angelica consort

2008-11-28T04:46:00.002-05:00

November 5, Angelica Consort played at Trinity Lutheran Church in Reading. It's in 3 pieces because youtube doesn't like big files.
I like part 3 the best.

and here are links to part 1 and part 2 on youtube

reading entrepreneur meetup group

2008-11-11T08:52:00.000-05:00

welcome the the new reading entrepreneur meetup group

Click here to check out
The Reading Entrepreneur Meetup Group!

meet karen lesniak

2008-11-04T08:27:00.000-05:00

i did a new website for karen lesniak, an artist at the goggleworks, and when we first sat down to talk about it, she handed me a powerpoint cd, and she said "it's all about preserving farmland in lancaster county" take a look and see what you think

if you like it, email her and tell her... and tell your friends!

2008-10-31T20:55:00.003-04:00

I had occasion to create a video tutorial and it took me 4 tries before i got it right.. The first 3 takes, i videoed the process and used final cut express to edit and add titles and stuff. but video recorders and computer screen do not get along well. Then i found snapz pro x that does screen capture with voiceover. what a difference! and easy to use!! I'm happy.

Anyway, here is a short tutorial "Peter creates a blog"

welcome to linux

2008-09-29T22:05:00.001-04:00

a few days ago, someone asked me about free open source video editor software.
a short look around revealed kdenlive, pitive, and cinelerra.
i haven'tbeen in linux for a few years, so i downloaded and installed the latest ubuntu.
i really like ubuntu... it just works. and it's very mac like.
so i installed kdenlive from the ubuntu software update application, and it immediately crashed with a cryptic error message. when i tracked the error down, someone said "if you are getting this error, you must be stupid".. further checking revealed that kdenlive "was stable until 6 months ago, and it hasn't worked since then".
well, i thought, onward and upward.
so i installed pitive from the ubuntu software update application, and it immediately crashed with a different cryptic error message. investigation revealed that maybe i would have better luck if i compiled it from source. forget that.... i'm just taking the tour.
cinelerra was not available from the ubuntu software update program... i would have to compile from source... :(
then i discovered that open source movie editor was blessed by ubuntu.
it worked, but it's pretty primitive. you can see the results above.
but i have to tell you, i've been spoiled by final cut express

not thinking anything

2008-08-10T06:07:00.002-04:00

some people don't believe me when i tell them i'm not thinking anything.
now i have proof!

finger puppets from outer space

2008-07-17T20:03:00.001-04:00

here's the youtube link

it's been a long time coming

2008-06-24T02:46:00.001-04:00

the former murals of reading site is four or five years old and seemed garish and dated, so here's the new site. i'm not entirely happy with it, and will probably keep tweaking it until i get it right.. sad to say, the mural at 555 north ninth street is no more.. someone, the new owner? has painted the building white :(

the artist behind the mural in the photo above is ed terrell. i love his stuff.

ed is responsible for several murals in reading, and is also the energy behind the acor art gallery in the goggleworks center for the arts in downtown reading.

Edy Sarnoff

2008-06-06T03:58:00.001-04:00

if you play early music, you gotta check this out. the pommerian early music guild is having their annual early music festival in new cumberland pa on june 14 2008. edy sarnoff is the impresario that makes it happen.

meet stephan

2008-05-31T04:38:00.004-04:00

i've seen stephan walking all over town carrying a loaf of bread and a bible.
today i saw him sitting on the steps of a church near my house.
i couldn't resist.
i walked up to him and said "hi... i'm peter. and you are?"
"i'm stephan" he said
i forget what i said next, but he responded "i can only talk about jesus".
"well, ok" i said, "i see you walking all over town. do you live near here"?
he said "yes.... i'm an evangelist. I tell people the gospel and i pray for everyone i see on the street".
we talked for a while. i got the sense that stephan is trying to follow every jot and tittle of the old testament law.
i told him i was under grace and not under the law and that i was forgiven for everything past present and future; that i could do anything i want.
he said "even murder"?!?!?
"yes" i said. "but if i'm following the lord, it's pretty unlikely that i would murder"...
i could see in his eyes that he thought i was a heretic.
i like stephan.
he's full of grace and peace.
"bless you" i said. "bye"

more sadness

2008-05-16T11:19:00.002-04:00

i bought a Systemax Intel® Dual Core bare bones system from tiger direct, and, sad to say the customer support at systemax http://www.supportforyourpc.com/ is terrible.. i opened the case and installed another hard drive and suddenly i became "pay per call" for support..
the problem was that the intel raid driver installation was broken. this is the second intel motherboard i've bought recently that has had broken driver problems.
so the bottom line is i am not a happy camper, and will no longer do business with either intel or systemax..

sadness

2008-04-12T15:18:00.004-04:00

i think nobody has noticed that the let's talk about jesus show has had problems.... most days, there are gaps - periods of silence - anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes during the show. last week, tuesday and saturday shows were ok, and the other 4 days had the gap problem. i have been able to edit the silence out, and you have to listen very closely to notice anything.
here's a webpage that explains the whole thing

update april 17... i have not heard anything from either wfil or from salem communications but by remarkable coincidence, in the two days since i told them about the problem, the wfil feed has been pristine - with no problems. thanks guys!!

emily and eckhart

2008-03-27T07:00:00.002-04:00

i'm listening to eckhart tolle 'a new earth', and eckhart starts out by using flowers as a talking point and an analogy for enlightment. but talking about it and being there are two entirely different things.
emily dickinson was all about being there.
i think if you understand this poem by emily you won't have to listen to eckhart tolle.

849
The good Will of a Flower
The Man who would possess
Must first present
Certificate
Of minted Holiness.

yet more emily

2007-12-08T12:35:00.000-05:00

254

"Hope" is the thing with feathers—
That perches in the soul—
And sings the tune without the words—
And never stops—at all—

And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard—
And sore must be the storm—
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm—

I've heard it in the chillest land—
And on the strangest Sea—
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb—of Me.

Emily Dickinson

you are blessed if this resonates with you.
you are twice blessed if you can hear the song in your soul.
thanks to gail for sending me this..

more emily dickinson

2007-11-28T23:57:00.000-05:00

emily dickinson is a saint on the order of meister eckhart or julian of norwich. emily's 315 relates her experience when she is visited by the emperor of men. the bible calls this state "be still and know that I am God". thanks to eric for pointing out this poem.

315
He fumbles at your Soul
As Players at the Keys
Before they drop full Music on --
He stuns you by degrees --
Prepares your brittle Nature
For the Ethereal Blow
By fainter Hammers -- further heard --
Then nearer -- Then so slow
Your Breath has time to straighten --
Your Brain -- to bubble Cool --
Deals -- One -- imperial -- Thunderbolt --
That scalps your naked Soul --

When Winds take Forests in the Paws --
The Universe -- is still --

LOS OJOS DE UN NIÑO

2007-11-25T07:44:00.000-05:00

LOS OJOS DE UN NIÑO

En la inocente mirada de un niño
se enciende el misterio de las estrellas.
El asombro de esa mirada
interroga por la supuesta
proclamación de amor y paz;
bellas palabras que se deslizan por la lengua
y se columpian en los labios. Urge
una respuesta
ante el horror que se expande
como bombas de napalm,
destruyendo a su paso
la frágil luz de la inocencia.
Crecen campos de amargos silencios.
Legiones de pies descalzos y voces
selladas, perturban las pulcras
composiciones
- manteles bordados en blanco -
donde se exhiben, a menudo,
las baratijas que conforman
un mundo indiferente.

THE EYES OF A CHILD

In the innocent look of a child
the mystery of the stars blazes.
The astonishment of that look
he interrogates the would-be
proclamation of love and peace;
beautiful words that slide off the tongue
balance on the lips. It is urgent
an answer
in the face of the horror that spreads
as napalm bombs,
destroying in their passage
the fragile light of innocence.
Fields of sad silences grow.
Legions of bare feet and voices
sealed, they perturb the neat
compositions
- shrouds embroidered in white -
where they exhibit
the trinkets that conform
an indifferent world.

blancaluz

centering prayer in reading pa

2007-10-25T01:00:00.000-04:00

centering prayer reading [ reading berks county pennsylvania ] is a new website that is a short introduction to centering prayer.

we have started a twice a week centering prayer group at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Berks County and the new website is designed as a handout for newcomers. our new group is about praying together celebrating resting in God's love - and not about endless discussions. so this handout is a good two minute introduction.

and i've learned in the process.

my friend h - who i can always rely on to keep me focused - noticed that the first iteration of this two minute introduction wandered off into all sorts of rabbit trails about psychological difficulties, dark night of the soul, and other stuff... and that i was violating the prime directive of centering prayer; which is "keep your focus on God's love... and if any thoughts get in the way, ignore them". so i stripped out all the rabbit trail stuff, and only left the essentials. it's a good thing i'm not vetted by the centering prayer people. they would probably defrock me.

mea culpa.. mea culpa...

2007-09-20T03:43:00.000-04:00

a friend read my summary of the cloud of unknowing, and gently let me know that it had way too many words, and that not everyone was as familar with king james english as i am... so i listened. and i rewrote a much reduced summary of the cloud of unknowing in modern english

more cloud of unknowing

2007-09-19T15:00:00.000-04:00

here's the full text of the cloud of unknowing in king james english, and here's the condensed version with a lot of the english modernized. i left the king james english when i thought it was poetic. but since my roots are in the king james bible, my idea of poetic might be different than yours.
enjoy :)

conventional wisdom of 1380

2007-09-17T17:26:00.000-04:00

the cloud of unknowing was written around 1380, and this piece of conventional wisdom found it's way into the book. at first i was surprised. but then it made me wonder about the things we take for granted today and repeat as if they were fact. <--- For as I have understood by some disciples of necromancy, the which profess the advocation of wicked spirits, and by some unto whom the fiend hath appeared in bodily likeness: in what bodily likeness the fiend appeareth, evermore he hath but one nostril, and that is great and wide, and he will gladly cast it up so that a man may see in thereat to his brain up in his head. The which brain is nought else but the fire of hell, for the fiend may have none other brain. And if he might make a man look in thereto, he wants no better. For at that looking he should lose his wits for ever. ---> i wonder if the author of the cloud really believed this.....

The Cloud of Unknowing

2007-09-13T05:36:00.000-04:00

I was surprised the other day to find that the Cloud of Unknowing was not available on the internet..
The Cloud of Unknowing is an anomymous work from the late 14th century that is sort of a handbook for a novice entering the contemplative life. The original work has about 40,000 words, but I can summerize it in two sentences.

Seek the face of the Lord.
If any thoughts enter your mind, ignore them.

This prayer probably predates christianity, and is found in every major religion. In the 1960's, the prayer was repackaged and made into a business by three catholic priests and renamed 'Centering Prayer', here's the original 14th century text.

enjoy :)

emily doesn't live here any more

2007-08-31T08:11:00.001-04:00

wednesday i spent most of the day and evening in emily dickinson's garden in amherst massachusetts. i wanted to see if i could catch the spirit of the place. i discovered not to my surprise that emily doesn't live there anymore.

her house is an historical preservation administered by amherst college and the caretakers are more interested in your not touching the precious objects than in emily or who she was. and please no pictures!

to misquote emily, her house|shrine is full of icons of an emily dimly remembered but carefully arranged and rearranged... just so.

emily was a mystery to her peers. and today, with dozens of academics offering their opinions about who she was and what she was about, she is an enigma wrapped in a mystery wrapped in a riddle.

and yes, i have yet another opinion.
emily was a saint of the highest order. up there with julian of norwich and marguerite porette.

matteo da perugia

2007-08-14T02:06:00.000-04:00

every monday evening, this group plays rennaisance and medieval music for diversion mostly. this evening, we played a canon by matteo da perugia. the difference was that this piece was in medieval notation. this is what we sounded like after two or three attempts. this piece is a round, which means that the group is divided into 3.. the second choir starts playing at the beginning of the piece after the first choir has played eight beats, and the third choir starts at the beginning after the second choir has played 8 beats.. all the parts are played on tenor recorder. this is what music looked like in the early 1400's.

Tin-foil hats

2007-08-13T05:16:00.000-04:00

Tin-foil hats are essential protection from alien mind control!
Don Quixote is likely the smartest man that ever lived. He is the first to discover the secrets of the tin-foil hat. He played the fool to divert attention from himself, but in reality, he was a brilliant scientist! The tin-foil hat offers absolute protection from alien mind-control. They are also an impenetrable barrier to remote viewing and from anyone reading your thoughts. Guaranteed!!! read more....

windows annoyances

2007-08-10T08:41:00.000-04:00

my dell desktop is 10 months old, and part of my housekeeping is to verify that the windows xp core programs have not been violated.. so when i told windows to verify itself, it asked me to insert the original dell|windows install disk. it then had the nerve to tell me "Invalid CD"!!!... so i called dell support. and two hours later, we decided that the microsoft digital rights management people had locked down the software in such a way that i could no longer read my valid legal install disk. dell did not offer a solution.

i give up. i called apple and ordered an iMac. it will be here in mid september and by christmas, i'll be windows-free.

dazed and confused

2007-08-05T19:28:00.000-04:00

hola :)

i'm peter mitchell and i'm an addict.
reading my previous blog, i found the things that i'm addicted to are prayer and meditation, early music, a lot of geek stuff, and learning spanish..

i decided to switch from wordpress to blogger when upgrading wordpress on my own webspace got to be a chore, especially when blogger seemed to be so seamless compared to wordpress.

the dazed and confused tagline comes from my amazement at all the conflicting opinions in the blogsphere. but dazed and confused also validates a theory i learned a long time ago.

if you laid all the economists in the world end to end, they still wouldn't agree on anything.

stay tuned.