R.I.P. GURU. Lyric of the Day – Look to the Sun by GURU; Form of Intellect

Posted on by Duncan Toms

MC GURU died yesterday, aged 43. Intelligent lyrics, an even, steady style, no shouting, he was one of my favourite rappers, if not my all time favourite. I was hoping for another Gang Starr album at some point but it wasn’t to be… unless Premier pulls something out. No doubt Solar has some hidden gems too. I remember seeing Gang Starr at Reading Festival in the early 90s – what a great rapper. Short guy! I didn’t dig all of his Jazzmatazz stuff but respected it all.

Here’s one I really liked, from Jazzmatazz Vol. 4:

Time to make a change
’cause nothing stays the same
With discipline we can win
and escape the pain
The spark will be within
then hearts will beat again
What we’ve been taught
must be forgot
it’s time to see again
Up from the bottom
we rise like the cream
They can’t fool us nowadays
we’re too wise for their schemes

One from Step in the Arena – Form of Intellect. Reminds me of our student house in Southsea. It was a big day when Steve got hold of the album we’d heard some of on Westwood’s Capital FM show by hooking up a crazy complex aerial to get the signal from London. Requesting Gang Starr in all the dance music clubs, hassling the DJs.

The guru, nursing you with a verse spilled
Don’t choke, and don’t turn blue in a frenzy
Premier’s severe, on the steel wheels he lends me
Spontaneous cuts, but not mainly just that
It’s the scratching format, exact with maddening accuracy
Craftily, on the side or in back of me
Nastily, as if his name was dick dastardly
Original so get it, yo the gang gets respect
The chain and the star is a symbol, of this form of intellect

See earlier post

Krishnamurti’s Book of Life – Nothing Is Necessary

Posted on by Duncan Toms

For the attainment of liberation, nothing is necessary. You cannot attain it through bargaining, through sacrifice, through elimination; it is not a thing that you can buy. If you do these things, you will get a thing of the marketplace, therefore not real. Truth cannot be bought, there is no means to truth; if there is a means, the end would not be truth, because means and end are one, they are not separate.

via Krishnamurti’s Book of Life ONLINE daily thoughts.

Heaven: We make it up

Posted on by Duncan Toms

The notion and imagination of heaven is constantly changing. The heaven we generally think is a recent very recent invention.

In reality, the heaven you think you’re headed to – a reunion with your relatives in the light – is a very recent invention, only a little older than Goldman Sachs. Most of the believers in heaven across history would find it unrecognisable. Miller’s book, Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination with the Afterlife, teases out the strange history of heaven – and shows it’s not what you think.

Heaven is constantly shifting shape because it is a history of subconscious human longings. Show me your heaven, and I’ll show you what’s lacking in your life. The desert-dwellers who wrote the Bible and the Koran lived in thirst – so their heavens were forever running with rivers and fountains and springs. African-American slaves believed they were headed for a heaven where “the first would be last, and the last would be first” – so they would be the free men dominating white slaves. Today’s Islamist suicide-bombers live in a society starved of sex, so their heaven is a 72-virgin gang-bang. Emily Dickinson wrote: ” ‘Heaven’ – is what I cannot Reach!/The Apple on the Tree/Provided it do hopeless – hang/That – ‘Heaven’ is – to Me!”

via Heaven: A fool’s paradise – Faith, Opinion – The Independent.

YouTube: A History

Posted on by Duncan Toms

Every minute, 24 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube!

…

February 2005: YouTube founders, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim begin work on a video sharing site – they all met at PayPal

April 2005: First video uploaded to YouTube – a video of Jawed at San Diego Zoo

November 2005: YouTube secures first round of funding with Sequoia Capital for $3.5m

December 2005: Official Launch (8m videos watched a day)

February 2006: 15m videos watched a day; 20,000 uploaded a day

May 2006: Mobile video uploads released

July 2006: 65,000 new videos uploaded every day, site passes 100m video views per day

August 2006: YouTube launches first advertising concepts – Participatory Video Ads (PVA) and Brand Channels

Autumn 2006: YouTube signs deal with three major music labels (Sony BMG, Warner, Universal)

October 2006: YouTube partners with first major network (CBS) Begins testing Content Id tool to protect copyrighted material

October 2006: YouTube partners with Audible Magic to create audio identification technology

October 2006: Google acquires YouTube for $1.65bn, says its revenues are “not material”

(Continued)

via YouTube: a history – Telegraph.

Goodbye old faithful (73/365)

Posted on by Duncan Toms


Goodbye old faithful (73/365), originally uploaded by :Duncan.

After nearly exactly almost certainly three years it’s time to say goodbye to the faithful Samsung NV11. It’s a good little camera and I still think the design is stunning. A little chipped, a little battered, I hope someone wants to buy it. I am very pleased with my new Panasonic Lumix TZ10.

Breathing consciously makes all the difference

Posted on by Duncan Toms

Breathe
Stretch
Stretch no more than if waking up and yawning
A natural stretch
A natural breath
No fancy postures needed
Breathe into any tightness
And as the breath leaves, notice any relaxation
Not only in ‘yoga’
But sitting at the desk
Watching the television
Breathing consciously makes all the difference

When there is love, the word duty disappears.

– Krishnamurti, Book Of Life, 13 April

Goldman Sachs denies betting against clients, but doesn’t deny being a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity

Posted on by Duncan Toms

The eight-page letter, signed by chief executive Lloyd Blankfein and president Gary Cohn, also contained a detailed defence of the $12.9bn (£8.5bn) payout which Goldman received from AIG after the failed insurance giant was bailed out by the US government.

The letter appears to be a detailed response to some of the allegations made nine months ago by Rolling Stone journalist Matt Taibbi. His article, which argued that Goldman had repeatedly profited by inflating unsustainable financial bubbles, received widespread coverage. It included the claim that the company was “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money”.

via Goldman Sachs denies ‘betting against clients’ | Business | guardian.co.uk.

Starting the day inwards

Posted on by Duncan Toms

After three weeks of getting up and going straight to work, I am welcoming the chance to have some space in the morning. Some space to stretch, some space to not immediately get busy, some space to relax and connect. To relax first thing in the morning… seems odd that I’d need to, having rested a whole night, but there it is: tension on waking. Sleep isn’t necessarily restful. So, instead of two hours of computers, video players, storage systems, this morning it’s been two hours of gentle stretches, sustained poses, relaxation and sitting quietly, gauging where I’m at today, the issues, short and long term, how I am feeling. Basically, being in touch and going in instead of out, to start the day.

Surely, love is not a thing of the mind; and because the things of the mind have filled our hearts, we have no love. The things of the mind are jealousy, envy, ambition, the desire to be somebody, to achieve success. These things of the mind fill your hearts, and then you say you love; but how can you love when you have all these confusing elements in you? When there is smoke, how can there be a pure flame?

– Krishnamurti, Book Of Life, 12 April