Month: August 2018

  • Amorphis – Summer’s End

    Amorphis – Summer’s End

    I’m usually happy to hear what a few extra instruments can do to a metal song. It doesn’t matter if those instruments are physical or spawned from the digital innards of a synthesizer. What matters is how they are integrated with the rest of the orchestration. The solid riffing and drumming here is all laid upon a dreamy foundation, the perfect soundscape for the song’s eerie lyrics.

    True to the roots of the group’s name, Amorphis has gone through quite a number of musical transformations. The band has become a successful example when it comes to incorporating other instruments into the traditional metal repertoire.

    The melody hails from Amorphis’ Pasi Koskinen^ era, when they released a few progressive metal albums. The band has released many more albums after they changed to a new vocalist (Tomi Joutsen^) who brought a blast of fresh energy to the band’s music. This is surely not the last Amorphis song you’ll see around here.

    “In the morning mist by the waning moon
    through the woods she set on foot
    With a sacred blade cut the berries down
    Dug up the dreaded mandrake root

    [Chorus:]
    Tread my path to summer’s end
    This bequest I leave you she says
    You will see what could be evergreen
    Turn to copper and fade to gray

    By the standing stones
    Atropine eyes smiled at me
    Sitting in a sluggish vertigo
    Sands of time form another dream
    No love without sacrifice
    No lige springs without decay
    The final kiss is a wormy one
    In soils cold caress to rest we’ll lay”

    Unfortunately, I can’t find any way of purchasing the album digitally from any ethical shop (such as BandCamp^).

    YouTube (decent quality):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aXDr3a1utU^

    For Spotify Users (high quality):

    https://open.spotify.com/track/4j3x8hnOJvHwe89efGZRCo^

    For Deezer Users (high quality):

    https://www.deezer.com/track/11125946^

    [ax_meta lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/03297-AmorphisTuonela-Thumb.jpg’ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’Amorphis – Summer's End’ desc=’The solid riffing and drumming here is all laid upon a dreamy foundation, the perfect soundscape for the song's eerie lyrics.’]

  • Ants Take Care of Their Wounded

    Ants Take Care of Their Wounded

    It’s impressive how creatures with a (much) smaller brain than ours are capable of complex behaviors such as taking care of their wounded. Could it be that instinct is smarter than being smart?

    This is evolution at its best. As the main author of instinctual behavior refinement, evolution has given these ants an edge. Because they take care of their wounded, they could very well prevail should they get into a contest with other (ant) species:

    https://www.i4u.com/2018/02/127173/ants-rescue-their-warriors-licking-their-wounds^

    Here’s to more amazing finds about the ecosystem!

    …And to less cruelty^ towards^ it^

    [ax_meta lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/03020-AntsRescueWounded-Thumb.jpg’ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’Ants Take Care of Their Wounded’ desc=’Because they take care of their wounded, these ants could very well prevail should they get into a contest with other (ant) species.’]

  • Michael Mayer – Mind Games (feat. Ed Macfarlane)

    Michael Mayer – Mind Games (feat. Ed Macfarlane)

    Enough, enough, enough, enough, mind games.

    I couldn’t help writing that. It’s because I love how the song starts. And guess what: I love how it continues even more, otherwise why would I even type these words?

    Welcome to a musically playful exploration of a mentally complex topic. I feel that the vocals are spot on given the way the topic is approached (Ed does a great job of communicating a feeling of “this must end”). And when it comes to Michael Mayer’s music, I can only say that the way this song is layered and architected is highly entertaining. It’s almost as if two melodies are playing with each other. They’re very much alike and yet, with the use of (mostly) three simple chords, so different.

    I tried to find the lyrics for the song (there’s some interesting sentences in there), but only found results that are clearly somebody’s (very) broken interpretation of what Ed sings. I can probably write a better “translation”, but I think it’s the artists that should publish the lyrics if they wish to.

    Enough mind games!

    You can listen to the melody for free, in good quality, on BandCamp, which is one of the best websites when it comes to supporting artists. You can also purchase the song (or album) from this same location.

    https://michaelmayer.bandcamp.com/track/mind-games^

    YouTube (decent quality):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoTt4i9knCY^

    For Spotify Users (high quality):

    https://open.spotify.com/track/59FxcA9nXTJO7d88SlyZSJ^

    For Deezer Users (high quality):

    https://www.deezer.com/track/130937706^

    [ax_meta lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/03291-MichaelMayerAnd-Thumb.jpg’ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’Michael Mayer – Mind Games (feat. Ed Macfarlane)’ desc=’Welcome to a musically playful exploration of a mentally complex topic.’]

  • The Three Gates

    The Three Gates

    Before you speak, let your words pass through three gates. At the first gate, ask yourself ‘Is it true?’ At the second gate ask, ‘Is it necessary?’ At the third gate ask, ‘Is it kind?’

    This beautiful Sufi saying has been with me for several years now. I wanted to write a few words about it since quite some time ago. First of all, this is one of the best rules for life that I’ve ever encountered in any culture. I’d like to also paraphrase it as such:

    Before you take any action, let your thoughts pass through three gates. At the first gate, ask yourself ‘Is it an honest action?’ At the second gate ask, ‘Is it necessary?’ At the third gate ask, ‘Is it kind?

    Applying this throughout my life is, however, much more difficult than I could have ever imagined. I believe there’s a certain culture clash occurring here. I live in a culture where I need to stay competitive in order to make ends meet. In the same time, I have creative cravings that are incompatible with what society currently values (being a writer doesn’t pay much).

    But then I should at least be able to live by these words at home, right? Or at least in how I treat myself. Well, it’s not that simple actually. Being constantly submerged in a certain culture (and exposed to all the behaviors that culture comes with) makes this very difficult.

    I guess it’s time to invest in training my will and patience and my “cultural immune system”, whose duty is to filter out cultural elements that are preventing me from choosing my words and actions more wisely.

    [ax_meta lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/03015-ThreeGatesSufi-Thumb.jpg’ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’The Three Gates’ desc=’Before you speak, let your words pass through three gates. At the first gate, ask yourself 'Is it true?' At the second gate ask, 'Is it necessary?' At the third gate ask, 'Is it kind?'’]

  • Enigma – Gravity Of Love

    Enigma – Gravity Of Love

    From the mysterious whispers to the crashing choirs, from the delicate bells to the shattering strength of the vocal delivery, this is an amazing journey of a song. It’s not only a musical masterpiece, but a lyrical one as well. Few songs manage to convey a mystical experience as well as this one.

    It comes with a pretty daring video too. In this day and age, such images can easily be called sexually objectifying (towards women), but given that this is almost 20 years ago, I choose to value it for its challenging, somewhat anti-Christian symbolism. To be clear, I am not against any religion, but I do consider that challenging established norms can result in constructive intellectual experiences.

    This is one of the very few songs that I can call “100 out of 100”.

    “Turn around and smell what you don’t see
    Close your eyes … it is so clear
    Here’s the mirror, behind there is a screen
    On both ways you can get in

    Don’t think twice before you listen to your heart
    Follow the trace for a new start

    What you need and everything you’ll feel
    Is just a question of the deal
    In the eye of storm you’ll see a lonely dove
    The experience of survival is the key
    To the gravity of love

    “O Fortuna velut Luna”

    Woman:
    The path of excess leads
    to the tower of Wisdom

    Man:
    The path of excess leads
    to the tower of Wisdom

    Try to think about it
    That’s the chance to live your life
    And discover what it is
    What’s the gravity of love”

    Unfortunately, I can’t find any way of purchasing the album digitally from any ethical shop (such as BandCamp).

    YouTube (decent quality, MUST SEE):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSTV99Uy8hk^

    For Spotify Users (high quality):

    https://open.spotify.com/track/13iOPBvJOkIyqj3DtIEPe8^

    For Deezer Users (high quality):

    https://www.deezer.com/track/3130007^

    This Weekly Song entry has been brought from the FaceBook archive of Weekly Song^. This exploration was originally started through a FaceBook page, about 13 months prior to launching Mentatul. Slowly but surely, the entire FaceBook archive will be brought here.

    [ax_meta lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/03285-EnigmaScreenBehindThumb.jpg’ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’Enigma – Gravity Of Love’ desc=’From the mysterious whispers to the crashing choirs, from the delicate bells to the shattering strength of the vocal delivery, this is an amazing journey of a song.’]

  • My Wife Became a Mother in Sweden – Part 2 – Birthplan

    My Wife Became a Mother in Sweden – Part 2 – Birthplan

    This belongs to a series of 5 articles dealing with child birth and the medical system in Sweden – from both a man’s perspective but also from a woman’s perspective, thanks to direct input from my wife. The reasons for writing the series are presented on the start/summary page^ where all 5 articles are linked.

    Regarding the birth itself, Crina’s opinions changed quickly in Sweden. In our home country of Romania, C-sections are very popular. That is not surprising because C-sections are fast and can be scheduled at a doctor’s whim. There are even wealthy Romanian mothers and trend-setters who consider natural childbirth as something primitive. This is the society we came from and I’ll leave it at that.

    Sweden is at the completely opposite end of the spectrum. Here, if a mother asks for a C-section, it is not uncommon for the midwife to recommend some therapy sessions with a psychologist in order to address fears and misconceptions about natural childbirth. Luckily, Crina didn’t need that. She had renounced her fear of natural childbirth after her first few years of life here.

    After the first couple of appointments, midwives will begin to talk to parents about their birth plan. They want parents to envision and think about this as early as possible, so that all concerns can be addressed well before the time comes.

    The birth plan will be sent to the hospital where the woman gives birth, so that the midwives there are fully aware of what is the intended course of action, from the parents’ side, before the birth even begins! The birth plan is not only a very practical thing to do, but is also a powerful statement regarding the fact that the woman is entitled to have the birth she desires.

    The birth plan contains things such as:

    • how to set up the room where the event will take place (light intensity, music to play, emotional support props such as clothing, items with emotional meaning, pillows and blankets)
    • decisional frameworks, such as the very useful BRAIN^ (what are the Benefits, what are the Risks, are there any Alternatives, what does your Instinct tell you, what if you do Nothing)
    • what to do if the baby is late to come out (we considered natural birth-inducers such as raspberry leaf tea)
    • what if the baby is in the wrong position (this is not a valid reason for a C-section in Sweden: there are midwives who are trained in changing the baby’s position through massage)
    • what pain relief methods to use. We were particularly interested in natural pain relief, that is, not based on heavy drugs. Here is an excellent list of natural pain relief options^.
    • what to do after birth? For example, what to do with the placenta? Some mothers keep it^.

    When WinterKid was around 3 months old, we found out about hypnobirthing^. This method of childbirth consists of adopting and maintaining a state of calm throughout the birthing process. This allows the body to do what it can naturally do since forever, before humans started to interfere in the process and, worse of all, encourage interventions.

    Don’t get me wrong here, we’re vaccinated adults. We’re totally not against well-documented medical procedures. But even though C-sections and other interventions have saved lives, they’ve become over-used due to cultural bias. We connected very well with the message of a calm, natural birth, so we went on this route from the very beginning.

    Hypnobirthing is based on the undeniable fact that the human body is, in general, naturally equipped to deal with childbirth safely, and perhaps even painlessly. And speaking of painless, were you aware of birthgasms^?

    Crina started and completed an excellent hypnobirthing course by Australian Kathryn Clark^. The first chapter of her Hypnobirthing Home Study Course has amazing value even for those that don’t care about hypnobirthing. It tackles one of the most terrible cultural trends that is currently very popular in our so-called developed countries: the very fact that having a baby is handled as some sort of disease.

    In popular culture, childbirth is advertised as a horribly painful experience. Nowhere is it mentioned that perhaps a woman’s screams during child birth could be a pure manifestation of her primal instincts. Spoiler: they usually are, but more on that in Part 2 of this story.

    Crina listened (often together with me) to audio tapes containing visualization exercises. These harnessed the power of imagination with the purpose of removing negative thoughts and reaching a state of deep calm. In the book I mentioned above there’s also a very useful chapter for the mother’s birthing partner.

    Important: having a child is not a sickness. In several developed countries they support home birthing and they discourage the intervention in the natural process. Sweden is one of those countries. Here, there are no doctors present during childbirth unless warranted by a complication. It is just the mother and her offspring, usually the husband, and a midwife (sometimes two). There are, however, changes in how the mother is advised by the midwife throughout the birth process, depending on the hospital one chooses. We went to Information Evenings for two of the main hospitals here in Stockholm. At the large Southside Hospital, they were quite balanced in their approach, while at BB Stockholm, they seemed to be slightly biased towards natural childbirth (they try to refrain from interventions unless there are insurmountable difficulties).

    Because hypnobirthing taught us that the more one intervenes during childbirth the less control the body has, we decided to have the hospital in Danderyd as our first option. There is no guarantee that there is room for a mother to give birth at a given hospital, in which case she will have to go to another hospital. Danderyd actually has two maternity wards: a state-owned one and the privately-owned BB Stockholm (which we picked), located in the same building.

    Now let’s discuss the sensitive topic of interventions. The most important thing that we learned after attending our first and only birthing course in Stockholm (focused on hypnobirthing) was that it is risky (if not outright dangerous) to interfere with the body’s management of the birth. There is something called the cascade of interventions^). It often happens that the more humans interfere with the process of birth, the more chaotic it gets.

    There is proof that the child signals^ that the birth can begin. Therefore, when humans try to hurry this up through invasive procedures, there is a higher probability of things not going well, because the child is, of course, taken by surprise.

    When it comes to heavy anesthetics such as the epidural or spine injection, these heavily interfere with the body’s ability to trigger and direct waves and surges (aka contractions) with the right timing and intensity. They decrease in frequency and the mother also cannot feel how much to push. What doctors do then is to administer artificial oxytocin^ in order to speed up the waves and surges. That leaves the mother pretty much in the hand of chemicals and circumstances out of her control.

    Don’t get me wrong: it is very important that the mother can go ahead with the birthing, so these chemical remedies do have their uses. But because of the cultural influence I mentioned earlier, people today have become rather trigger-happy when it comes to interventions. I am happy to be able to base my “non-intervention statements” on the official stance of Sweden and several other developed countries when it comes to childbirth: let the body do what it does best and don’t mess with things if you don’t have to.

    Important: the female body is built to give birth. Special cases aside, most women are equipped to give birth naturally, sometimes painlessly. There are cases of even having an orgasm during childbirth. The most important thing during childbirth, by far, is for the woman to trust her body and to have next to her proper emotional and professional support.

    Another major plus for Sweden is that they suggest mothers to breastfeed rather than rely on dubious commercial products. During the autumn we attended a breastfeeding course. Much to our surprise, the instructor was none other than Erika, our first midwife. We were happy to meet each other again. She told us that her daughter had experienced some serious heart problems, which is why she had been on extended sick leave.

    The course was quite useful, given how important it is to breastfeed correctly from the very beginning. We knew that the first weeks of the baby’s life are critical for building healthy feeding habits. Both Crina and I wanted to be well-prepared for the challenge. Even if men can’t breastfeed, as partners, we can at least absorb as much information as we can.

    As our due date approached, we tried to not care about due dates. Studying natural birthing methods had taught us that the concept of being “overdue” is often applied wrongly. If the child takes its time to come out then it is perhaps for a reason and the woman shouldn’t be treated as some sort of product that has exceeded its shelf life. In Sweden, they wait up to 2 weeks for the birth to start before even considering to interfere.

    Throughout the 9 months we obviously talked to a lot of people about children. Friends, work colleagues, family, random people. I was slightly annoyed with the general tendency to warn parents about the upcoming child as if some sort of professional catastrophe is about to happen. This usually comes in the guise of various jokes, but through repetition, it transforms into a sort of nasty noise. I soon learned to block the transmission of such experiences. I often interrupted such people and told them that I choose to see things differently.

    Important: surround yourself and your family with positive energy. All parents around you want to share baby stories, but try to focus on the positive ones while you are withbaby and perhaps even after birth. Return the favor: tell a future parent only the best of what you experienced, build hope, build confidence!

    Winter arrived and we set up our home for Christmas. The first snow came and melted in a week or so, but Crina still managed to go together with WinterKid for a few walks through snow-chocked sidewalks.

    Because we had chosen a hospital that was in another area of Stockholm, we were slightly worried that traffic might be a problem when driving towards that location. The motorway towards the hospital is chocked during rush-hours (roughly 6 hours per day). We were discussing this on a Friday evening, during late January, when we were returning from a beautiful dinner in Uppsala, also located north of Stockholm. We had enjoyed some spicy African food in the company of some of our closest friends here in Sweden. Spicy food is rumored to induce labor. There was one week left until the due date.

    [ax_meta lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/03008-Miruna-Thumb.jpg’ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’My Wife Became a Mother in Sweden – Part 2 – Birthplan’ desc=’In Sweden, if a mother asks for a C-section, it is not uncommon for the midwife to recommend some therapy sessions with a psychologist.’]

  • Terry Oldfield – Be Still

    Terry Oldfield – Be Still

    This is calm, transliterated into sound. In just a few words, the song delivers a message that is more meaningful than entire libraries of human imagination. Mystic choirs lay upon gentle percussion while chasing the playful song of Terry Oldfield’s magical flute.

    You can listen to the melody for free, in good quality, on BandCamp, which is one of the best websites when it comes to supporting artists. You can also purchase the song (or album) from this same location. And in case you’re wondering, yes, I did purchase Terry Oldfield’s album :).

    https://terryoldfield.bandcamp.com/track/be-still^

    YouTube (decent quality):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6kjPIwHs8M^

    For Spotify Users (high quality):

    https://open.spotify.com/track/3sVqdn1swHyRjfmtZKJ00b^

    For Deezer Users (high quality):

    https://www.deezer.com/track/81719388^

    [ax_meta lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/03270-TerryOldfieldJourneySpace-Thumb.jpg’ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’Terry Oldfield – Be Still’ desc=’Mystic choirs lay upon gentle percussion while chasing the playful song of Terry Oldfield's magical flute.’]

  • Mentatul Switched to A2Hosting

    Mentatul Switched to A2Hosting

    After about 13 years with the same web hosting company (IX Web Hosting, over in the USA), it’s time to move on. IX has been purchased by the infamous EIG. I didn’t know exactly how infamous they are, but I did notice when the quality of service instantly decreased to a staggering degree. Not only was the migration of my websites handled in an unprofessional way, with stuff breaking all over the place, but support answering times had increased to more than 48 hours. Sometimes, I’ve waited for 4-5 days for them to answer my tickets.

    This led me to document myself a bit about Site5, the company which presumably had acquired IX. Well, guess what… Site5 is just a cover for a larger entity called EIG. In the experienced webmaster’s world, EIG are known to be among the worst hosting providers. It’s not that the performance is bad, but it’s definitely sub-par with the prices they ask while the answering times, professionalism and support staff attitude is also way below the competition.

    What’s truly wicked about EIG is their insidious and aggressive strategy of purchasing web hosting providers with a good name. They get their customers and unfortunately, many of these customers stay in the EIG world even if they try to switch to another provider, simply because EIG controls a HUGE number of brands (about 70 at the time of this writing).

    To see what all this is based on, please read this review of EIG:

    EIG Review

    Fortunately, this spring when the acquisition occurred, I just had about 4 months left in my contract. During the past week I’ve been busy migrating all my websites over to A2Hosting^, after a review of 2 other web hosts. The migration went fine and A2Hosting support staff & performance is way up there while the price I got for my first 2 years of hosting is really good. Even better, the site is now hosted in Europe.
    I wish A2Hosting stays away from EIG!

    [ax_meta lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/03317-MentatulChangingHosting-Thumb.jpg’ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’Mentatul Switched To A2Hosting’ desc=’Stay away from EIG web hosting.’]

  • Free Bleeding (Menstruation)

    Free Bleeding (Menstruation)

    Even though it’s obvious that such a practice exists, living with free bleeding in the “civilized” world (read: “taboo world” or “rigid culture world”) can be tricky. What is free menstruation you ask? Well, here’s an interesting read:

    https://helloclue.com/articles/culture/whats-all-fuss-about-free-bleeding-why-does-it-matter^

    Do I have an opinion about the practice? No! But I do have an opinion about people who make a fuss out of this: oh yes!

    It’s another person’s body and clothes. That person is allowed to do whatever they want as long as they are careful to not interfere with another’s property (and this covers hygiene too). So, as long as this is a private matter of the person, society cannot interfere. And just to be clear: if you see a blood stain between a woman’s legs and you don’t like it, look away. It’s not anybody’s right to dictate how other people dress or look.

    [ax_meta lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/03003-FreeMenstruation-Thumb.jpg’ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’Free Bleeding (Menstruation)’ desc=’Even though it's obvious that such a practice exists, living with free bleeding in the "civilized" world (read: "taboo world" or "rigid culture world") can be tricky.’]

  • Florence And The Machine – Leave My Body

    Florence And The Machine – Leave My Body

    This dreamy and melancholic song larva wastes no time metamorphosing into a bright, powerful flutter of sound, repeatedly crashing into the ground before lifting itself to the heavens. The vocals really stand out on this one; a fountain of light shining fearlessly in the face of life’s ultimate outcome.

    “I’m gonna be released from behind these lines
    And don’t care whether I live or die
    And I’m losing blood, I’m gonna leave my bones
    And I don’t want your heart it leaves me cold
    […]
    I’m gonna leave my body (Moving up to higher ground)
    I’m gonna lose my mind (History keeps pulling me down)
    Said I’m gonna leave my body (Moving up to higher ground)
    I’m gonna lose my mind (History keeps pulling me, pulling me down)
    I don’t need a husband, don’t need no wife
    And I don’t need the day, I don’t need the night, the night
    Don’t need the birds let them fly away
    And I don’t want the clouds, they never seem to stay
    I don’t want no future (Want your future)
    I don’t need no past (Need no past)
    One grand moment (One grand moment)
    Is all I ask”

    Unfortunately, I can’t find any way of purchasing the album digitally from any ethical shop (such as BandCamp).

    YouTube (decent quality):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2kYXbXPKYI^

    For Spotify Users (high quality):

    https://open.spotify.com/track/5Ew15rnMFzIytOKVQOQuk7^

    For Deezer Users (high quality):

    https://www.deezer.com/track/54067881^

    [ax_meta lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/03264-FlorenceCeremonials-Thumb.jpg’ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’Florence And The Machine – Leave My Body’ desc=’The vocals really stand out on this one; a fountain of light shining fearlessly in the face of life's ultimate outcome.’]