Compared to the massive life and death issues people are facing, this is a tiny thing, for a tiny segment of the world. But with that caveat, it is still worth saying. In 2009, I was diagnosed with a very aggressive version of papillary thyroid cancer. I had to bail on my courses, and lost …
Continue reading “Academic advice from cancer for the COVID-19 epidemic: let it go”
KT Chang: Elephant Gym. Math rock! Chang has developed an interesting hybrid technique of tapping and melodic playing, and the band is happy to write around her bass lines (Elephant Gym is in fact a bass reference). Not everything is this busy or elaborate, but “Games” gives you an idea of her approach. I heard …
Continue reading “Some bass players I have recently been enjoying”
Yesterday, I got the results from my latest scan (we do them every six months or so), and the metastases in my lungs continue to get smaller: two examples are a met dropping from 15x23mm to 13x21mm and another down to 23x17mm down from 27x20mm. The report also says my gallbladder is “present and unremarkable.” …
Suddenly, it’s been two months since my last cancer blog. No news is good news! I had a CT scan on Friday which I’ll learn about in 2 weeks, and my tumour marker keeps going down. I had a heart ultrasound last week and my heart looks great. My favourite side-effect, weight loss, continues steadily. …
Continue reading “Medical News–not much of it is pretty good”
It’s all connected. Yesterday was the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. I don’t believe I had any relatives at Auschwitz, but members of my extended family did die in the Holocaust. They also died because of anti-semitic conscription during World War I in the Austro-Hungarian empire (in fact, this is the reason my mother’s …
I just responded to two questions about AI-composition startups from a student and thought I’d share them here as well. This is a placeholder for deeper thoughts. The questions: What are your thoughts on the uses of Amper music specifically as an AI generative software? A user can create their own personal track by determining the …
Continue reading “Some quick takes on AI-based music composition startups”
My New Year’s resolution is “hit record.” Very simply: it means that I will record a lot of my musical improvisations over the course of the year. I’m aiming for twice a week give or take, but I’m not going to be precious about it. I have ideas for what might happen after that, but …
