≈Ö≈ Engineer • Artist • Musician …living the Mystery ≈Ö≈ 🇺🇸
Joined October 2012
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Rick Rubin on the single most important skill for any artist:
This clip reminded me of a film called ‘The Five Obstructions’ which is a proof of limitations enhancing a creative project and no limits as an obstruction in itself.
The Five Obstructions (2003) was about filmmaker Lars von Trier challenging Jørgen Leth, his mentor, to remake Leth’s 1967 short film, ‘The Perfect Human’, five times. Leth made the remakes, while von Trier set the challenges.
The 5 remakes:
1.Cuba: Leth had to film in Cuba, use no set, and make every shot no longer than 12 frames.
2.Bombay: He had to shoot in the most miserable place he could imagine—he chose Bombay’s red-light district—while hiding the setting from the audience. Leth also had to play the man himself.
3.Complete freedom: This was Jørgen Leth’s unrestricted version. Von Trier told him he could make it any way he wanted. The lack of rules was intended as the toughest challenge: restrictions can give an artist a clear problem to solve, while total freedom leaves every creative choice open.
4.Cartoon: Leth had to remake it as an animated film, a form neither director particularly liked.
5.Von Trier takes over: Lars von Trier made the final version, but Leth received the directing credit and read a voice-over written for him.
The key idea is that Leth’s “anything goes” third remake was not a reward. Von Trier treated no limits as an obstruction in itself—perhaps the hardest one—because Leth had no rules to push against.
The single most important skill for any artist:
- Know how you feel, even when everyone around you disagrees
- If the room says A and it sounds like B to you, call it B
- Limiting your choices forces better problem solving (ex: only use red and green)
- Infinite options do not lead to better work, constraints do
- Your job is not to be right for everyone, it is to show how you see it
- Compromising your taste for commercial approval defeats the entire purpose
@RickRubin on @hubermanlab
🎼 The major chord lives inside every single standing wave in the universe. This complements my recent post about harmonics within polyphonic overtone singing.
🎰 Casinos use the major chord with the ding, ding, ding, ding of the slot machines because of the suggestive effect this tonality has on people psychologically.
Slot machine sounds are deliberately designed to be upbeat, celebratory, and positive—often using major keys (commonly C major in older/traditional machines) because they evoke happiness, excitement, and resolution, which can psychologically reinforce winning feelings and encourage continued play. 🎶
xitter.cf/craigtpotter/status/20…
All instruments produce a series of overtones—higher harmonic frequencies that are integer multiples of the fundamental pitch—which combine to create each instrument’s unique timbre or characteristic quality of tone.
Polyphonic overtone refers to a vocal technique where a single singer produces multiple distinct pitches at once by emphasizing and isolating specific overtones above a fundamental drone tone.
An overtone is a higher harmonic frequency that naturally vibrates along with the main (fundamental) tone.
Harmonically, it is a whole-number multiple of the fundamental frequency—like the second overtone at twice the frequency, the third at three times, etc.—which shapes the sound’s character without being the primary note.
People also ‘vibrate’ at certain frequencies, which is variable—in a range—yet continuous. And some people are just more polyphonic than others.
Depending on your ‘vibration’ at any given moment, others will be more or less harmonious with you. Just like in music, others you interact with will be consonant and/or dissonant—or both—depending on your combined frequencies. This also applies to groups of people of 3 or more.
The best way to learn is to get uncomfortable.
"Professional musicians waste no time doing things they're comfortable doing."
Cal Newport says that the best way to learn is to get uncomfortable:
"Professional musicians waste no time doing things they're comfortable doing."
"Every time they spend practicing, it's almost entirely in a state of, 'I'm not comfortable with this, but if I focus as hard as I can, maybe I'm going to pull this off.'"
"In flow, you lose track of time. When you're practicing like that professional guitar player, you know every second that passes by because it's incredibly difficult."
"It's the failures that actually trigger the plasticity, it's the discomfort that cues that conditions are different now."
"Flow is the feeling of performance. It's the performance state, not the practicing getting better state."
@hubermanlab
A managed care company president was given a ticket for a performance of Schubert's "Unfinished Symphony." Since he was unable to go, he passed the invitation to one of his managed care reviewers. The next morning, the president asked the reviewer how he had enjoyed it, and he was handed a memorandum, which read as follows:
MEMORANDUM:
1. For a considerable period, the oboe players had nothing to do. Their number should be reduced, and their work spread over the whole orchestra, thus avoiding peaks of inactivity.
2. All twelve violins were playing identical notes. This seems unnecessary duplication, and the staff in this section should be drastically cut. If a large volume of sound is required, this could be obtained through use of an amplifier.
3. Much effort was involved in playing the 16th notes. This seems an excessive refinement, and it is recommended that all notes should be rounded up to the nearest 8th note. If this were done, it would be possible to use paraprofessionals instead of experienced musicians.
4. No useful purpose is served by repeating with horns the passage that has already been handled by the strings. If all such redundant passages were eliminated, the concert could be reduced from two hours to twenty minutes.
5. This symphony has two movements. If Schubert did not achieve his musical goals by the end of the first movement, then he should have stopped there. The second movement is unnecessary and should be cut.
In light of the above, one can only conclude that had Schubert given attention to these matters, his symphony would probably have been finished by now.
Yeah, some of you cats… 🎶
The Sideman's By-Laws (A Guide To The Outside)
1. Never recommend anyone who plays better than you.
2. Always suck up (leaders, bartenders, bride and/or groom, management, etc.)
3. If you don't know it, play harmony.
4. Double book, then choose.
5. Always assume the leader knows nothing.
6. Always degrade types of music you can't play or know nothing about.
7. Always bring your own cards, and solicit during breaks.
8. Never play requests (especially if you know it)
9. Never smile.
10. Always complain.
11. Save all high notes for warming up and after the engagement.
12. Never show up sooner than 30 seconds before an engagement (1 min. if you have equipment to set up)
13. Never leave a book in order. Whenever possible, write on music in ink.
14. Always play Trane or Parker licks during foxtrots, tangos, waltzes, or anything in D minor.
15. Always open spit valves over music.
16. If the leader is not sure of a tune, always use substitution changes over his vocals or solos.
17. Always worship dead jazz greats.
18. Be negative about anything connected with the job.
19. Always bring drinks back to the band stand.
20. When a break is over, always disappear. If this is not possible, make a phone call.
21. If you're backing up an act, talk when not playing. If it's a comic, don't laugh.
22. Always bum a ride.
23. Always wait until someone else is buying before you get thirsty.
24. Never bring your own cigarettes to an engagement.
25. Avoid tipping at all cost. (waitresses, coatroom, valet, etc.)
26. Always ask, "when does the band eat," or "where's our table?"
27. Remember, it's not your gig. Mingle with guests and enjoy yourself.
Cars and buses superseded other forms of transportation decades ago, and perpetrated by the auto (GM) and highway industry. And trains, once a primary mode of transportation, were displaced by trucks. Also, people used to walk a lot more in the past. This documentary from 1996 was revealing of all this subterfuge.
‘Taken for a Ride’ - The U.S. History of the Assault on Public Transport in the Last Century -
youtu.be/p-I8GDklsN4?si…
“Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too self-full to seek other than itself.”
~ Kabir (1440-1518)
True wisdom stays humble, human, and open-hearted.
🎶 “Without music, life would be
a mistake.”
— Friedrich Nietzsche
Interesting…. and here I thought Nietzsche was a nihilist. 🤔
- Friedrich Nietzsche's line from his 1888 work "Twilight of the Idols," where he posits music as indispensable to meaningful life, reflecting his broader views on art as a Dionysian force countering rational nihilism.
[📸 This portrait depicts Nietzsche in contemplative repose, evoking his late-life health struggles and philosophical introspection.]
“Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!”- Monty Python
Here’s a prescient short story of a dystopian future, written in October 1961 in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
“Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut
Plot overview: Set in 2081 America, the government enforces absolute equality “every which way” by handicapping anyone with above-average abilities. Strong people wear heavy weights, beautiful people wear ugly masks, and intelligent people have disruptive noises blasted into their ears via devices.
The story follows George and Hazel Bergeron watching a ballet on TV where the dancers are weighed down and masked to prevent excellence. Their son Harrison, exceptionally gifted in every way, escapes custody, declares himself emperor, sheds his handicaps, and briefly inspires a ballerina and musicians to perform at their true potential—before the Handicapper General shoots him dead, restoring “equality.”
Vonnegut satirizes extreme egalitarianism taken to its logical extreme. The story critiques the idea that true equality requires forcibly leveling everyone down to the lowest common denominator rather than allowing natural differences to exist.
It highlights how such enforced uniformity destroys beauty, talent, individuality, and human achievement, ultimately creating mediocrity and oppression in the name of fairness. The subtle irony is that this “equality” benefits no one and crushes the human spirit.
Seem familiar?
The Age of Mediocrity
C.S. Lewis warned that a culture obsessed with equality would eventually destroy excellence.
Today we’re watching it happen in real time.
Civilizations, however, are not sustained by comfort. They are sustained by standards. They survive because they recognize excellence, reward it, and encourage others to pursue it.
If that instinct disappears, something else inevitably takes its place.
A society that fears excellence eventually stops producing it.
A society that stops producing excellence eventually stops producing competence.
And a society that loses competence does not remain prosperous, free, or stable for very long.
At that point the leveling is complete but not because everyone rose together.
It is because everything worth rising toward was pulled down.
open.substack.com/pub/michae……
"Trust those who seek the truth but doubt those who say they have found it." ~ André Gide
“Croyez ceux qui cherchent la vérité, doutez de ceux qui la trouvent.”
French writer and Nobel Prize winner in Literature.
André Gide’s philosophy centered on individual authenticity, personal freedom, and the tension between inner desires and societal (or moral) constraints.
He explored self-realization through his works, often challenging conventional morality while emphasizing sincere self-examination and living true to one’s nature—without rigid dogma.
He valued intellectual and moral humility, skepticism toward absolutes, and ongoing self-inquiry over fixed certainties.
Epistemological humility*: genuine seekers stay open, curious, and revisable, fostering growth and honesty. Those claiming possession of absolute truth often reveal arrogance, rigidity, or ego, closing off further discovery and dialogue.
*Epistemological humility: (also called epistemic humility) is the intellectual virtue of recognizing that human knowledge is inherently limited, provisional, and fallible.
It involves acknowledging that our understanding of the world is incomplete, shaped by personal perspectives, biases, and contexts, and always open to revision in light of new evidence or insights.
This mindset fosters openness, curiosity, and a willingness to question certainties rather than clinging to them, serving as an antidote to dogmatism and overconfidence in philosophy, science, and everyday reasoning.
Ha! My Karma just ran over your Dogma!
I haven’t owned a car for years. I’ve been put off by them for quite a while now –beastly things, but it’s mostly because of the other drivers.
I just bought an electric car last Fall, my 1st EV. It’s everything this guy, who is a journalist for the Evening Standard, talks about in this video below, and more, much more…
My car? A 2026 Tesla Model Y Premium AWD Long-Range. The best car I have ever owned and probably the last car I will ever own.
Having been a Sci-Fi fan from an early age, it’s exciting to experience the future beyond reading about it for decades. It’s a robot and a car! My robot, and it has a ‘brain’!
And it has Grok onboard who you can talk with hands-free and who can route you anywhere including stops along the way, find a restaurant, or interesting locales and sites to visit in a region you are passing through …and have philosophical conversations with about life, the universe and everything. Shucks, if it only had Douglas Adam’s voice and wit! And the conversational reasoning of a Star Trek Enterprise computer system.
I do wish it had force field capabilities like a Star Trek shields-up thing, anti-gravity, and the ability to fly. Hopefully that will happen someday soon.
Hmmm… an Optimus Spock co-pilot would be cool. Or an R2D2 unit.
I absolutely love love love how quiet it is! The fact that it has Full-Self-Driving capability (supervised for now and unsupervised coming soon) is beyond amazing tech compared to other cars.
My son, who flies $30 million dollar Apache helicopters, drove it only ~10 miles in FSD mode, was truly excited about how well it drove itself about autonomously and the experience of being hands free —and he loves to drive and be in control of a precision machine! His experience was only the tip of the iceberg of what it can do I told him.
With autonomous FSD driving activated, so far my car has avoided killing or injuring at least 3 deer, 2 foxes, and other small animals on country roads where it is pitch black at night. It literally ‘sees’ these creatures seconds before I do and starts braking, even coming to a full stop to wait for other deer or animals to cross the road who are still on the side of the road.
It’s avoided some stupid human driving behaviors as well from a few non-attentive nimrods, besides the usual road hazards.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Independent journals and 3rd parties are giving the Model Y the highest ratings.
Here are a few of many:
- Model Y achieves a 5-Star Overall Vehicle Score from NHTSA
- Consumer Reports names Model Y the best EV for 2026
- Auto Plus, the car magazine with the biggest audience in France (by far), awards the reliability crown to Tesla in 2026 (See attached photo in comments)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Top safety ratings:
Tesla Model Y
- United States NHTSA (NCAP) 5-Star Overall
- United States IIHS —> TOP SAFETY PICK+
- European Union / Europe Euro NCAP 5 stars
- Australia ANCAP 5 stars
- New Zealand ANCAP — 5 stars
I have a mobile charger that came with the car. I plug it into a regular grounded 3-prong outlet while it is parked at home. The cost is less than half the cost of gas and without the hassles and smells of gas stations. And almost all can be controlled by the Tesla app.
Super-Charger stations are nearly everywhere and super-fast, clean, quiet, and near food services and bathrooms. I typically read or catch up on messages and such while it charges.
Maintenance is negligible.
And the world is catching up gradually to this innovation and concept. One insurance company, Lemonade, is now offering discounted insurance for when you use full-self-driving mode. 50% off your insurance cost because it’s that much safer than a human driver. With the data from over 8 billion autonomous FSD miles driven it has been statistically measured and proven.
That’s the reality as I know it and experience it!
Today, and the future, look brilliant…🚀
@elonmusk
@Tesla
@WilliamShatner
