Mark O'Connor and Ruby Jane - Fiddle Melancholia

This sweet little fiddle duet (at PopTech) is the best example I've ever heard to illustrate the sound of "just intonation".

With "just intonation", every note relates to every other note in an exact ratio: 1:2, 2:3. 4:5, etc. The brain does the math and identifies such notes as "musical". Fretless stringed instruments and wind instruments necessarily play "just" music. So also the untrained human voice (a child's nursery song). It is a characteristic of traditional music.

Modern (last few centuries) music has invented fretted instruments and keyboard instruments with "tempered intonation". The advantages are: one can play in any key without retuning the instrument, and more easily play with other instruments. The disadvantage is that any given note may be up to 3% variant from it's proper frequency in a given key. Since tempered instruments have an even difference of the 12th root of 2 between the 12 note intervals of an octave.

We've got used to this modern convenience, and seldom notice the slight dissonance between "just" and "tempered" instruments. But in such a case as this lovely bit of Americana, we are reminded how much such pure traditional music can move the heart.

old poems to new life - TED

This beautiful half hour concert at a recent TED conference will settle your spirit and please you muchly. Natalie Merchant put 6 years into searching out lovely old poems for children and presenting them in plainsong.

CBC - Being_Erica

CBC have just put pretty much all their TV online - and in HD. Here's a way to catch the best at a time of your convenience.

Being Erica. This show is surprising. It's a strange mixture of time-travelling sci-fi and the issues of Generation X. But the appeal is it's deep spirituality. The key idea of the series is to ask "what would it be like if you could return to the scene of your regrets in life?"

If like me, you missed it, I encourage you to take it in now that it's online. This links to the first episode of the TV series on CBC this last 2 years.

Video | Economist Conferences

The Economist sponsored a "Media Convergence Forum" in New York in October 2009, and here put online, 21 videos from that conference. The first one, "Future of Media" is a top notch panel discussion on changes and possibilities on topics of Music, News, Cable, Web and Citizenship. Other panels are about kids, social media, privacy, and marketing. A lot of demo videos also.

Bolivia Rising: Communitarian Socialism in Bolivia

Bolivia Rising is an excellent source of news on the encouraging democratic political reformation of Latin America. Various independent voices are here published in English. This essay is a good example - a summary of the present position, some few details on what peaceful revolution looks like ... what justice looks like! Roger Burbach is director of the Center for the Study of the Americas (CENSA)

Ambassador Eikenberry's Cables on U.S. Strategy in Afghanistan#p=1

These leaked secret documents from the US Afghan Ambassador reveal the folly of 8 years and the complete lack of civilian program to create stability. Click here for the back story.