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January 31, 2010 |
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Rather Die
(1 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)
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You only get one chance to live or so they say The question is how far I go so I can stay Don't get me wrong I love my life as much as anyone But you can't love yourself if you don't love others too Them or us just doesn't happen every day But when we're fearful we lash out and lose our way But I take pride in being true to the very best of me So it's with a joyful heart that I say I'd rather die, I'd rather die today Than know I'd clung onto my life in such a way I know I'd die, I know I'd die today I'd rather die than be so cruel I'd rather die, I'd rather die today Better off dead than chasing demons like that away I'd rather die, I'd rather die today I'd rather die than be so cruel What is it you think of when you say your name Do you feel proud or do you hang your head in shame And did you try your very best to do no harm Or did you stamp your feet complaining life don't treat you fair? |
Week 6: First a disclaimer. I owe my life to the skill and dedication of our modern medical profession. I also have suffered horribly and needlessly as a result of their blinkered and often plain wrong understanding of health. The same applies to other people close to me and to many people I have met, many more I have read about. Anything you read here - read it in that context. This song more than anything makes me question my 'song a week' mission. I would simply love to spend a month playing around with it. It's sorta losely in a Lewis Taylor circa "Lost Album" style singing. Far less harmonies but the same idea that the melody carries the emotion and the singer does less expression. I really love "Rather Die" and want to play the drums live and record a real piano... Anyway, the lyrics... ...I read a couple of the fact sheets on the kinship circle site about animal testing for medical research. It's truly abhorrent. Then I read huntingdon's site (they are an animal testing company). They would have us believe that the animal rights people are outright lying about the conditions they keep the animals they're testing in... ...maybe... who should I believe? Instead I have decided to sidestep the whole issue. In principal, I do not believe my life or comfort is worth more than that of an animal. No doubt in a moment of desperation I would place myself above another creature but I'm not going to spend my whole life torturing animals on the offchance it *might* yield something that *might* help me live longer. I've seen people close to me suffer horribly from disease and have had far more than my fair share of misery myself for someone my age. Firstly, my hard won experience is that there is generally a better solution than anything a pharmaceutical company has or will ever come with. The reason these solutions are not popular is because they usually involve giving up some of the luxurious trappings of modern life - food being the prime example. Also, these solutions tend not to make any money for anyone in the way that drugs do. I fear the reader will believe all that if they want to, disbelieve it if not. The most convincing set of testimonials I saw was in this book. What I'm trying to say is there are generally better solutions than causing suffering of others in order to solve a problem. And even if there aren't it's up to us to look for them. When all is said and done I would rather leave a legacy like that than a long life and a chain of labs like Huntingdon. Here is the Diigo list. Not much in it this time. Just seems like two groups of people who say the other is flat lying. |
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January 23, 2010 |
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The Free Software Song
(4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...|
Join us now and share the software; You'll be free, hackers, you'll be free. x2 Hoarders may get piles of money, That is true, hackers, that is true. But they cannot help their neighbors; That's not good, hackers, that's not good. When we have enough free software At our call, hackers, at our call, We'll throw out those dirty licenses Ever more, hackers, ever more. You'll be free hackers, you'll be free. |
Welcome to "week" five of 52tochangetheworld! This week's song was originally written by free software activist Richard Stallman.
There's links to information about the original in the Diigo list The song is itself derived from a folk melody "Sadie Moma". Here is a bulgarian style version more akin to the tune the song was based on. It's in OGG format (think WMA but open source) so windows media player users may struggle... No video this week. I'm rubbish at them, have a rubbish camera and am better off spending the time doing a proper recording (for now:-). Meanwhile here is a video about my studio for the more technically minded among you. As you may know I'm a die hard linux user. I'll spend weeks fiddling with something complicated to avoid using a windows machine. Basically windows machines are no fun. Everything works... ...or doesn't... and it's totally out of your control. All you can do is phone up the company who provided the software/hardware and get put on hold listening to Carpenters songs in lo-fi GSM... I could go on all day about how different things are with linux but for me (with software and music too) licensing comes down to a philosophical question: Are you just trying to make vast amounts of money for yourself or are you trying to build something amazing for all of us (and of course make lots of money and have lots of fun along the way:-). I think you can guess which camp I'm in. If there is a founding father of the free software movement it's Richard Stallman. So using Ardour and Ecasound on Gentoo Linux to record a cover based on a folk song felt like something of a homage. From a musical point of view it was a joy to dust off the trumpet and the bongos:-). Pitch bend wheels rock! Thankyou to Tom Fotherby for the idea to cover this:-). |
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January 12, 2010 |
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Pigs
(2 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5) Loading ...|
Welcome to week four of 52tochangetheworld! This song is the first where I've actually researched a specific topic. I tried to broaden my knowledge base a bit in the process. Here ( Diigo - 52tochangetheworld - Pigs ) are some of the more interesting results of that exercise. You can read my comments as well hopefully. If you fancy joining Diigo (it is pretty awesome IMO:-) and chipping in this could turn into more of a discussion. Be sure to use the 'pigs' tag (case sensitive) for anything you share so it appears in this list. Alternatively leave a comment on this post or email me. I want to learn from you.
Researching for this song was a little shocking for me. I thought I was cynical enough but watching some of the videos of the conditions these poor animals are forced to live in - even the videos/descriptions by the meat industry themselves were beyond cruel - for once even I don't have words for something. It struck me as odd that we use the word 'pig' as a derisory term and yet 'humane' somehow is used positively. It is us humans who regularly commit inhumane acts such as these. So I walked a mile on piggy trotters and here's the result. Enjoy. |
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Just because we're so smart We don't have to be dull See it's cool here in the mud so we play We may have trotters for feet but we dream just like you You know at night we even sing to our babes We may have been bred, to be bacon and ham But that don't mean that we're not worthy of life So we'd appreciate a little discernment from you as to Where you stick your fork and your knife Who you callin' Pigs? You're gonna spoil our good name You gotta be kiddin me When you say humane You lock us in crates To give birth to our young We never even get to see the outside 200 of us in ten meters by twelve You wouldn't do this to the worst of our kind We may have been bred To be sausage and pork But that don't mean we should be tortured and killed Five months of hell then you slaughter our hides That's why I hope you burn yourself on your grill! |
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December 24, 2009 |
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Christmas is not just for Christmas
(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5) Loading ...|
Welcome to week three of 52tochangetheworld! This week finds me with a sore throat, worn out old guitar strings and almost no rehearsal time! Hopefully this cheerful song will still shine through... I haven't seen anyone use this guitar technique before for a whole song but I guess someone must have done right? Let me know with a comment on this post or an email if you have seen it 'cos I'm really curious. I reckon the harmonics sound a bit like Christmas bells:-). Anyway, I wasn't sure whether to make this song a Christmas card for my friends or week three of '52'. In the end I ran out of time and settled for both. Merry Christmas one and all and maybe we can bring a bit of Christmas spirit into every day of 2010! x |
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Decorations by the fireplace Presents under the tree Children laughing, dancing In their yuletide reverie All their stockings were full Now they're emptied all over the floor Board games on the table Carols on the radio It's warm inside still we decide We're playing in the snow It's December But we could do this any time of year Christmas is not just for Christmas We can give all year round Some old film on the TV That Grandma loves to see Aunts and Uncles Mum and Dad Everyone can be Together today Seems like everybody's here Bad jokes in crackers But we're laughing all the same Silly Christmas hats You have to wear one don't complain It's December But it could be anytime of year Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way, Oh what fun, our lives would be if we did this every day... |
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Christmas is not just for Christmas by Phoenix Imago (Rob Kay) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.
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December 17, 2009 |
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Last Human
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...| Welcome to week two of 52tochangetheworld! Did a nice slideshow for the video this week. It's at the end so listen to the whole song! For those of you who are interested I used ImageMagick on Gentoo Linux on my G3 ibook. Pretty awesome use of old technology if I do say so myself:-) As it happens the song is not unrelated to this. I had a sort of vision of the last human alive keeling over to die having left the lights turned on. (I have an odd sense of humour perhaps...) We impatiently burn away the earth's resources and we don't realise that nature is growing *for* us. It could do so much for us if we were only patient enough to let it. Don't get me wrong - I love technology. In fact I'm a bona-fide nerd... I just think it is more valuable when it encourages patience and altruism (think open source/linux) than shiny gadgets that claim they'll solve all your problems! Anyway, songwriting-wise this one reminds me pleasantly of Peter Gabriel. See what you think... | |
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Every day we tread the capitalist techno-mill A pseudo connection to the world for good or for ill Shiny plastic and metal gadgets entertain us still Circuits trained to instantaneously execute our will The last human left the light on And the flowers began to bloom once again This world is bigger and older than all of us and more majestic than any of our miscreations There's something you should slow down and see It matters to me, it matters to me We worship at the altar of bigger, faster, cheaper Economies get stronger while every day our bodies they grow weaker Toys are wonderful things but we teach our kids they should play nice Not tear apart our playpen with impatience, insecurity and vice We are stewards, not lords But together we are the earth People are effect, not cause Together we are the earth. |
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Last Human by Phoenix Imago (Rob Kay) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.
