Lydianthird's Blog

Early Days

lydianthird — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 21:11:49 +0000

The past few weeks had perplexed me to an extent. Despite having this solid idea in my mind, I was unsure on how to forge ahead. That’s when I stumbled upon a friends blog and found this rare interview of Bill Gates, from the 80′s, before Microsoft actually took off. It’s just amazing how the man had a vision of what the world would be like, a few decades later. To bring the vision to life he, had a magnanimous task ahead and beating all odds he managed to create his mighty empire. He changed the world according to his vision. That is something really hard to achieve.The strategies used by the founders of most successful companies in its early days are often the defining ones of their entire career.Looking back at the early days of a few successful start ups, gives a great deal of perspective and insight. And surprisingly, they all have things which are fairly common. Here’s the link for reference:
Interview Transcript

lydianthird — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 12:30:42 +0000

Wow! This one comes right after the Republic day. May God bless India and May the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats running her burn in hell!.

A very confusing phase in my life. I’m stuck between completing my applications to US Universities and coming up with a decent idea for a startup. Actually, I have one but I’m not sure if I should put my bet on it. I have one whole semester ahead to either complete the trivial formalities of college and lay low or, get geared up for something exciting and work relentlessly for it. Well if you have anything exciting in terms of ideas, you’re more than welcome to share it with me.

Much less than promised

lydianthird — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 09:00:18 +0000

Last time around, Congress was more or less a puppet in the coalition and so, it was understandable as to why it failed to execute the promised.But,this time,they are clearly dominating and are exempt of any pressures from the minions in the coalition.Lack of performance now simply shows that there was ,and still is, a lack of decisive leadership at the Center.One cannot deny Manmohan’s feat as an economist, but this is a different ball-game altogether.He doesn’t possess that dynamism,charisma and political clout that is essential here,nor does he have the ironclad will to take justly and timely decisions.His inability to tackle the recent curfew in J&K and the sluggish pace of CWG work are a reflection of it.

Full Article:
http://www.economist.com/node/16953189?story_id=16953189

http://www.economist.com/comment/649630#comment-649630

Neitzsche’s way or NOT his way

lydianthird — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 19:14:02 +0000

Friedrich Neitzsche, the revered German-philosopher, left us with a legacy of knowledge,of the kind that might abet us in forecasting the several,seemingly vexing,contingencies.Mankind has already witnessed how his doctrines, about man’s quest for power and supremacy, predicted the havoc, brought upon by the two World-Wars.
Yet another, of the contemplated prophecies derived from his works is that of “Atheism”,lack of belief in the existence of God,one,that has become the vogue of the educated,scientific mind, all, according to Neitzsche, an indirect consequence of belief in Morality.So far,so true.But, is this unsated, morally disposed, mind calling upon the advent of Nihilism and its various Avatars?, or, is it going to bend towards Cosmopolitanism?.Will the world see the dissolution of national boundaries and a unified combat against the egregious problems faced by humanity such as Terrorism,Poverty and Unemployment? or is it going to crumble in its own self-inflicted doom?.It has to choose its fate,which begs a question: Will it go Neitzsche’s way or NOT his way?.

An Evening with John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess

lydianthird — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:45:06 +0000

I’d like to recommend this album, called, “An Evening with John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess” to y’all.As the name indicates,the songs are composed and performed by John Petrucci(on guitars) and Jordan Rudess(on keys),who both are also a part of the band DreamTheater. The album was recorded during a live performance in 2000 and was initially available only in limited numbers.
But when guitar virtuoso Steve vai first heard it, he was so impressed by it, that, he decided to release it under his own label ‘Favored Nations’.
Both the artists,on the album, are immensely talented and go along well together, which makes the songs mentally stimulating and gives you “an unforgettable experience”.
Jordan Rudess’s playing is deep and delightful and sometimes seems as though there are multiple keyboardists on the record.Petrucci, sticks to his style influenced from Al di Meola and provides a wonderful accompaniment to Rudess.Their intense interplay makes this album very entertaining.You’ll savor the experience
Here’s the order in which you might want to hear:
1.From Within
2.Black Ice
3.Truth
4.State of Grace
5.Fife and Drum
6.Hang 11
7.The Rena Song
8.From here on listen in any order..three more songs for the record.

Ubuntu 9.04

lydianthird — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:58:35 +0000

Well, if you’ve upgraded to ubuntu 9.04 from 8.04 or earlier

and, get the following message whenever you try

sudo apt-get install

Couldn’t find package

You probably need to do the following:

1.remove ‘#’ from in front of lines starting with deb in the /etc/apt/sources.list

you can access it using: sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

2.If you’ve tried the above(and failed) then, do:

sudo apt-get install update

and then try to install the package again.

Modes

lydianthird — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:23:01 +0000

A short and comprehensive session on modes. For any sensual guitarist who wants to express a particular feeling or emotion with a wide spectrum of melodies ought to have a fine vocabulary just like a good orator ought to have a strong vocabulary in his/her language.So, modes are like the vocabulary to your language–music! If you need fluency you’ll need to learn the modes in all different positions,you’ll have to train your fingers to glide over various shapes quickly as you warm-up.

What are modes?

Well you may know of a major scale, say a C-Major(common for beginners) or an A major scale. The progression of notes from the root note(i.e, the first note of a Major scale always) to the last(or seventh note) and again back to the root follows a specific order of half and whole steps,which is WWHWWWH in case of a major scale. W=>whole step and H=>Half step. This is your mode of the first form.Now if you permute these 5 W’s and 2 H’s you get different modes depending on the position of W’s and H’s. So if you start from the sixth(sixth note) of a major scale and follow the order notes of C Major you get a different mode.

Example: The notes in C major are C D E F G A B C.

If you are at the sixth step which is the note A in this case and follow the same notes of C-major starting from (A B C D E F G A ) you get a mode called Aeolian mode.You can call it A Aeolian. So its nothing actually complex,but its just the note with which you start of a major scale determines the mode.Now again an important note: I just said that “the note with which you start from a major scale determines…” .I used major word there because my reference point here is a major scale with respect to which i decide what kind of mode it is. Its important to choose a reference point otherwise you’ll just be confused and lose some hair!.So the goal here is to go about it carefully make a bunch of patterns on a paper and you can follow it blindly later once you are sure that the data is correct.

How many modes are there?

There are seven standard(there’s no standard among the guitar community speaking frankly but we just make it up to avoid any confusion that might creep in) modes.

These are

1)Ionian-major

2)Dorian

3)Phrygian

4)Lydian

5)Mixolydian

6)Aeolian

7)Locrian

The modes are given in order as in if you start with the 3rd step of major an follow that formula i had used earlier you’ll get that Phrygian .Example you start on E of a c-major scale and complete an octave it’ll be you E Phrygian mode.

*Does the notes change from a C Ionian(major) to a C Aeolian modes?

Yes! the notes on a C ionian and a C aeolian are different

*So how am i gonna remember all notes in each scale or mode?

You don’t have to!.There’s a simple trick.Here’s it: If you start from A of a C major scale and go about the scale we get A Aeolian scale.See the beauty of it!. So if you know the C scale you know D-Dorian E-Phrygian F-Lydian G-Mixolydian and so on.just start on that particular note and complete an octave using the notes of a C major scale(remember we chose everything with respect to ionian scale) .For further clarification the notes of an A Aeolian would be A B C D E F G A.

The notes of D Dorian would be D E F G A B C D.

* So are you saying that C Ionian and A Aeolian are the same?

Yes Absolutely! and so are D Dorian E phrygian F lydian G mixolydian.

*Where do i go from here?

Well we just did it for C Major. Do it for all the twelve notes and you have your complete vocabulary of your language.The only thing that remains is your effort in learning them and then choosing which bunch of notes or which mode to use for what kind of expression.That’s your personal choice and it largely determines your creativity and artistic ability.

So, go ahead and explore the artist inside you!