Music is Fundamental

I would first like to apologize for not posting anything in over a month. I tend to have trouble with time. I have some ideas in the works, nothing fantastic so far but we'll see how it goes.

For now though, this was just too neat not to share:

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

It's the pentatonic scale, made up of five notes rather than the seven of the more common diatonic scale. It may not seem that impressive to someone who doesn't have much experience with music, but I know from experience that people generally don't learn music that quickly.

Also, as a fun side note, when I was younger I used to make up music and sing it to myself. I never wrote it out, just sang - composing as I went and forgetting it almost immediately. The vast majority of that music was in the pentatonic scale, not intentionally, but just because it sounded right.

Inanity

So this is very strange and entirely out of character, especially since I don't even watch reality TV, but the person in question is an old friend. If you are reading this before noon tomorrow (June 24) please go vote for my friend Vicki, who is trying to make it onto the next season of RuPaul's Drag Race.

He is a brilliant dancer and a wonderful person and has been passionate about drag for as long as I've known him. He actually worked to create a school sponsored drag show in high school ten years ago, which was really fairly revolutionary at the time.

A Week Late...

My condolences go out to the family, friends, and coworkers of Dr. Tiller.  I have little to say on the topic, except to fervently hope that the federal government recognizes this act of domestic terrorism for what it is and acts accordingly.

In other (happier) news, the President has proclaimed June "LGBT Pride Month."  This month marks the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, and same-sex marriage has officially been legalized in six states - Rhode Island is now the only New England holdout against marriage equality.  

Still, I'm not thrilled.  Personally, and perhaps this is superficial, I would really like to see a "Q" at the end of that LGBT.  I wouldn't be opposed to an "I" or an "A" either, although I can see how it begins to be unwieldy.  Queer, though, I think is important; it leaves room for ambiguity.

Wow

So after that horrible Roller Coaster thread, Feministing seems to be full of reasonable, positive discussions of kink and BDSM.  Considering the way that every other discussion over there has gone, I'm impressed.

I sure hope this trend continues.

More from Feministing

I like this, although I'm not entirely sure why she posted it under "Sexual Assault" rather than "Sex."  Simple, straightforward, and not a bad analogy.  I wonder how long it will take for the comment thread to devolve into viciousness and chaos.  Unfortunately, I'm almost 100% sure that's what is going to happen.