The Apocalypse?

What’s on the cards?

“But of that day and hour knoweth no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only.”

The Last Judgement (the Apocalypse).
(Michelangelo, Roma, Capella Sistina)

What does our perception of music depend on?

The Washington Post Experiment or The Flop of the L’Enfant Plaza. (read the original article: "Pearls before Breakfast”, although it should be titled "Pearls before swine")

'Beware the barrenness of a busy life.' — Socrates

Stradivarius
violin

The following example illustrates the key factors in our perception of music and art in general.

A social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities was carried out at Washington subway station in the cold January morning a couple of years ago.

One of the greatest violinists of our days played incognito at the station exquisite Bach pieces (among other great composers’ works) for about an hour on a violin that costs 3.5 million dollars. Hardly anyone stopped, paid attention, or dropped a coin. Let alone recognizing him, while tickets to his concert usually cost 100$ on average.

What is the Meaning and Purpose of Life?

William Shakespeare.
(Chandos Portrait)

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,

To the last syllable of recorded time;

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing.
(W. Shakespeare, 'Macbeth'. Act v, scene 5)

There is  little to add really to this masterly definition of the futility of life. Indeed, two things inexorably invalidate any purpose and meaning life can have: ageing and death (not to mention diseases), so any quest for purpose of life is a total waste of time. Still, as self-aware beings the thinking humans have always pondered on this question. It hurts to accept that our life has no Meaning or Purpose at all, so we desperately try to at least build up an illusion. Throughout the history of mankind the belief in afterlife and eternal soul has arguably been the only source of hope that what we do in our lives signifies something, in other words, there must be someone somewhere who cares.  Being unable to see the bigger picture, all we can do is merely speculate why we have been dragged into this vale of tears.

Shoulder pain

This is how RSI builds up: by doing the same movements many times
whether you click or wave your arm around.

   The other day my mum’s friend complained of a dull but nagging pain in her right shoulder she’s had for ages and is seriously impairing quality of life for her, as well as her performance at work, which, in turn, is a source of constant friction with her boss. She blames it on working long hours on a computer (she is right-handed) as it hurts most when she is sitting at her desk, so she has to resort to painkillers (that are harmful to kidneys or stomach) almost every day.