Turing Time!

This is interesting. There are comments showing up (very occasionally, since this is a pretty low-traffic blog) which specifically address the content of posts — and which are from fairly obvious spam sources. For example, on the “Playing For The Planet” page, I just got this:

19 Apr 2011, 8:34am
by Can I Get a Mortgage

Please post an update and pictures if possible after the next concert. Love the picture about the Sindhoor dance theater. Beautiful detail.

Have the spambots evolved to actually generate meaningful content relationships? Is there actually a human being named “Can I Get A Mortgage?”

21 Jan 2011, 10:08pm
Uncategorized:
by

leave a comment

  • Meta

  • SiteMeter

  • Brighter Planet

    Brighter Planet's 350 Challenge
  • About The Timing Of Things

    Later on this year I will be taking a trip to India. During that time I’m planning on having as close as possible to a climate-free mental environment.

    But I don’t want to miss a daily letter. So when I can, I’m writing two letters instead of one, thereby getting a bit of a jump on things.

    At the moment, I’m four days ahead. The letter that will appear here on January 25, for example, was sent a few minutes ago.

    This explains why the letters may seem to be responding to articles that are five or six days old. They are — but they’ve already been submitted much closer to the original date of publication.

    26 Oct 2010, 11:59pm
    Uncategorized:
    by

    leave a comment

  • Meta

  • SiteMeter

  • Brighter Planet

    Brighter Planet's 350 Challenge
  • By The Way…

    …I know it’s been a long time since I did any music posting. Once this harrowing election is over I’ve got some goodies I’ll be posting. Until then…GOTV!

    I’ve had a few successes…

    Here’s some photographic evidence of the actual impact of my letter-writing campaign:

    The New York Times:

    The Boston Globe:



    Two letters to the Medford Transcript:

    5 Feb 2010, 12:14pm
    Uncategorized:
    by

    1 comment

  • Meta

  • SiteMeter

  • Brighter Planet

    Brighter Planet's 350 Challenge
  • Preview of coming attractions

    I’ve got the daily letters on climate change up and running, and my New Years’ Resolution is now on its second month with no signs of flagging. Good for me.

    You can expect more in the “How to Practice” series; there is a lot left in the interview I did with Brian O’Neill long ago that can be brought up to date and published here.

    Arthur the Karela plant is growing, um, like a weed. Expect more pics of Arthur and his/its fellow Karelas in the weeks to come.

    More photoblogging. I don’t have much more to offer in the way of Jazz photos, but there are a lot (a LOT) of India images. I will also find some more goofy signs and typographical errors that deserve immortality.

    Random musical goodies, either stuff I’ve put up on Vimeo or Youtube myself, or some things I’ve found for your/my enjoyment.

    Some more musical history from me. I’ve been doing a lot of digitizing recently and there is some great stuff that I’ll be posting more often.

    About twelve years ago I started work on a book on learning processes in Indian music, and I got about 600 pages worth of material before I set the project aside (we bought a house, and I turned into a contractor for a while; then we had a child and I turned into a parent). Rather than let it sit forever, I’ve decided to pull selected sections, edit them a bit, and toss them up for your enjoyment. Please let me know what you think. I was going to call the book “Singing Imagination” (Khyal literally meaning “imagination” in Arabic), so that phrase will be seen from time to time in the tags.

    There will also be some more writing on education as I get things put in order in my office. Wait and see.