Yearly Archives: 2018

Faithless – God Is A DJ

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Few artists have managed to combine dance music with intelligent, challenging writing. This song is almost twenty years old but there’s nary a wrinkle on it. Good music doesn’t age with time, it gets better. This is a melody that evolves and offers a great deal of diversity. It’s not only an instrumental fea(s)t, but also a statement for the creative, transformative power of art.

“This is my church
This is where I heal my hurts
It’s in the world I’ve become
Contained in the hum
Between voice and drum
It’s in the change
The poetic justice of cause and effect
Respect, love, compassion

This is my church
This is where I heal my hurts
For tonight
God is a DJ”

YouTube (decent quality):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpoRLBf3dWU^

For Spotify Users (high quality):

https://open.spotify.com/track/3FuynuHO1FS78QWerDQmn8^

For Deezer Users (high quality):

http://www.deezer.com/track/15742776^

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Kids Start School Too Early

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A Stanford University study has shown that children who postponed kindergarten for up to one year showed dramatically higher levels of self-control. The study uses data from Denmark, where children have access to good pre-kindergarten (starting as early as 12-18 months).

The results of this study make perfect sense to me. It’s a confirmation of something I long believed to be true. I think that whatever parents can do to delay the institutionalization of their child (enrollment into the current industrialized educational system) will greatly help any young mind. I believe more studies like this will show up in the coming years. The sooner the better:

https://qz.com/546832/stanford-researchers-show-were-sending-many-children-to-school-way-too-early/

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Alexander – Truth

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It may start careless and airy, but this isn’t a happy travel song nor a Sunday family gathering tune. Listen carefully to what’s being said. Get down into it and enjoy the depth and range of the message. The music is rich. It flows and transforms gently, leaving plenty of room for a wide array of singing styles to grace our ears. Indeed, this melody is quite the feast when it comes to vocals.

The video is interesting to say the least. Perhaps even more challenging than the lyrics.

“The truth is that I never shook my shadow
Every day it’s trying to trick me into doing battle

[…]

And when the darkness come let it inside you
Your darkness is shining
My darkness is shining
Have faith in myself

Truth

I’ve seen a million numbered doors on the horizon
Now which is the future you choosin’ before you go dying
I’ll tell you ’bout a secret I’ve been undermin’
Every little lie in this world come from dividing
Say you’re my lover, say you’re my homie
Tilt my chin back slit my throat take a bath in my blood get to know me
All out of my secrets
All my enemies are turning into my teachers
Because, lights blinding, No way dividing
What’s yours or mine When everything’s shining”

YouTube (decent quality, interesting video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_62hfITLlU0^

For Spotify Users (high quality):

https://open.spotify.com/track/4R8rN5XAQSAhzunX84Gr1k^

For Deezer Users (high quality):

http://www.deezer.com/track/9816723^

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The Importance of Parasites

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Ah, parasites! Those pesky little critters that suck the life out of various other organisms. But guess what, they’re more important than most people think. According to a new study, anywhere between 10% to 30% of the world’s parasitic species might go extinct due to global warming by 2070. This might seriously (and negatively) disrupt the ecosystem via the domino effect:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/parasites-are-going-extinct-heres-why-thats-a-bad-thing-180964808/^

Probably this will add to the list of horrors^ that awaits us thanks to what we’ve done to the planet.

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Enigma – TNT For The Brain (Night Girl Remix)

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This song’s first 30 seconds are among the most beautiful beginnings for a mental journey I know of. It’s almost like it’s begging the listener to close their eyes and begin the trip. There are some very solid rhythms here and beware the wild guitar on the prowl.

The female element is present in all its mysterious sensuality, perhaps a bit over the top at times (although if the song is perceived through a mystical veil, this becomes a boon). Let your mind float on the echoes of Enigma.

YouTube (decent quality):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pml5rrOsLXY^

For Spotify Users (high quality):

http://open.spotify.com/track/5lkZM1BjJcMLxu9zJtmhxq^

For Deezer Users (high quality):

http://www.deezer.com/track/3168981^

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.

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The “No First Use” Nuclear Weapons Policy

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The title says it clearly enough. A “no first use” pledge might work much better than threats if we want to advert a nuclear war with, for example, North Korea. Given the size of the country’s army, even a conventional weapons conflict would have devastating consequences on the Korean peninsula. But a “no first use” pledge would probably prevent that as well, since it could include something like “no state will use nuclear weapons as long as its territorial integrity is preserved”. Here’s an article that describes all this in more detail:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/10/16/if-trump-wants-to-prevent-nuclear-war-with-north-korea-a-no-first-use-pledge-might-work-better-than-threats^

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Ephemeral Mists – Sacred Geometries

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Mystical choirs, check. Lush, satisfying electronica percussion, check. A wide array of tribal and symphonic instruments to enhance the atmosphere, check. A talented, inspired musician to put it all together, check. And that’s how we’re gifted with a solid and I do mean solid psybient song.

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 Ephemeral Mists’ album :).

https://mythicalrecords.bandcamp.com/track/sacred-geometries^

YouTube (decent quality):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmHepR7nXEU^

For Spotify Users (high quality):

https://open.spotify.com/track/19tQPbgIhek9sS7nguYJy0^

For Deezer Users (high quality):

http://www.deezer.com/track/73265615^

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Welcome to the Fascinating World of Product

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Software is becoming more important with every passing year. We now live in a world where processes across the economic and social spectrum can be scaled, optimized and improved through software. Sometimes it’s automation, at other times it’s reinterpreting and transforming entire workflows into something that can be done remotely and collaboratively via various centralized systems (applications, websites, etc.).

Software is also a very new concept in the world of engineering. Its completely immaterial nature makes it difficult to craft using known techniques and processes. Unfortunately, the vast majority of companies out there haven’t yet adapted to software. Sometimes even companies that think of themselves that they are doing software go about it in a completely mechanical way. They put everything underneath the umbrella term “IT” (Information Technology). There is a very important distinction between technology and correctly (profitably) applying that technology.

Good software product design is essential for economic success. However, like the rest of the software universe, product design is a very rapidly changing set of methodologies and practices. Many companies are far behind where they should be in order to produce quality software.

Here are three videos that quickly and painlessly explain some key concepts about product lifecycle. Keep in mind the words of renowned product specialist Marty Cagan: today, “product” is almost synonymous with “software product” because software has become so ubiquitous.

I consider these videos to be a game-changer for anybody involved in building products. No matter what your role is, you are the force that can bring this change in your workplace and help towards building better products.

In the first video, Marty Cagan talks about the root causes for product failure:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVbVEdF75PE^

And here, the same Marty Cagan talks about continuous innovation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6-cfEGFMOM^

Last but not least, here’s an overall description of the role of Product Owner in the Agile methodology:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=502ILHjX9EE^

And here’s a bonus, the 18 characteristics of a great product owner:

http://www.barryovereem.com/characteristics-of-a-great-product-owner/^

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Inspired Flight – It Always Takes

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The soothing chords the song starts with are a worthy companion for the singer’s gentle voice. But the artists wouldn’t leave it at that. The healthy percussion brings diversity to the melody. It’s a composition that flows, which is exactly what is needed for singing these wonderful lyrics:

“Keep your head up,
drown your days with dreams
of where you’re going
and who you want to be.

It’s gonna take a little time.
It always takes a lot of trying.
It takes, takes, takes a state of mind,
and always takes a little time.

Just do what you gotta do.
If it’s good for me it’s good for you.
Do what you gotta do,
do what you gotta do.

Face the great fears,
throw them to the birds.
Your expression
screams a thousand words.

It’s gonna take a little time.
It always takes a lot of trying.
It takes, takes, takes a state of mind,
and always takes a little time.”

These are some wise words right here; wise and beautiful. Under the guidance of such a kind voice, this song becomes a calm hymn for patience and perseverance.

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://inspiredflight.bandcamp.com/track/it-always-takes-2^

YouTube (decent quality):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs3Bk7YsX2A^

For Spotify Users (high quality):

https://open.spotify.com/track/3wmFORb2szFXGUN4NlyKSc^

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What Self Care Really Means

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We often hear that we “should take better care of ourselves”, like for some reason we’re missing out on life’s awesome hedonistic opportunities. I always felt that this way of thinking is incredibly superficial. This article explains very well what self-care really means:

https://thoughtcatalog.com/brianna-wiest/2017/11/this-is-what-self-care-really-means-because-its-not-all-salt-baths-and-chocolate-cake/^

I respect the fact that many people have difficult lives. But I also believe that a significant percentage of such people make their life more difficult by not integrating some practices that might make their passage through this existence much more pleasant. That’s slightly paradoxical because enjoying life has so little to do with micro-managing opportunities for enjoyment and everything to do with learning how to dance in your current circumstances.

As one of my favorite quotes says:

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass… It’s about learning to dance in the rain.”

– Viviane Greene

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