“Conservatism facilitates the greatest expression of human greed. It takes legislation in a society to promote adequate care for the destitute dispossessed and infirm as the human heart is  ultimately selfish. The UK Government is quickly dismantling legislation and all help so there will be little or no safety net. It will take billions to redress the damage done”  (Paul Stokes)

Hi,

We are all made from dust clouds in the firmament and that from stars-and then it goes on, the planets and so on….and of a Truth, the Universe was made from the unseen, so the unseen has made me………..!

Cheers…….

I find it tragic that the world’s Bee population is threatened with extinction unless something can be done about the death of complete hives.  They can apparently suddenly disappear, vacating the hive. Scientists are trying to solve the problem, and there seems to be several factors, but they cant find the main cause, though currently they think that pests parasite and other diseases may be the cause.

Einstein postulated that if the world Bee population were to die, that the worlds human populations would die. When you look at what they pollinate, everything in the food chain is threatened. Perhaps this should be more popular subject than Global Warming-it’s a more immediate threat. Further, it seems that as usual everything other than the most important issues are attended to. Should NASA be closed down until this issue be solved.  The truth is that many people do not believe the predictions of scientists, as it would possibly impinge on their own finances so there is no commitment.

Interestingly  Australia has banned all import of foreign Hives to protect against transfer of possible viruses etc to their populations.

When will this world act wisely and with responsibility-this is more serious than we can imagine?

Is music more powerful than Art?  Is there anything that music can achieve that Art cannot?

The link between Music and Art is Man.  Man creates both and there is no true meaningful Art or Music without Man, although a singing bird or a mountain range inspires us to use the terms of Art and Music interchangeably.  Perhaps there is truth in the Christian view that God created it all for our pleasure and enjoyment, and in that sense there would be a mind behind it all.

Take the case where a Man/Woman is in love.  They have certain feelings that surface which accompanying their experience of unity.  However, their feelings may change during a period of disagreement and they find themselves in a different place emotionally that day.  One of them may choose to listen to the radio which plays a piece of music which brings a sense of forgiveness into the situation.  Reconciliation follows directly as a result of the Music.  You hear of this type of encounter all too often.

In 1830  HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Auber” \o “Daniel Auber” Daniel Auber -  HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Muette_de_Portici” \o “La Muette de Portici” La Muette de Portici (opera — sparked the  HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_Revolution” \o “Belgian Revolution” Belgian Revolution) as an example of the power of music on a gathering of people.  Was it the message or the combination of music and message?  Music here moved a nation into revolution.

Similarly in Art there are examples where the influence has moved nations as in the violent riots of the depiction of the prophet Muhammad (2005-2006).

What is going on in these examples?  The influence of both is monumental and can affect the direction of civilizations!   The Arts have been a touchstone as in the depiction of Muhammad in the opera La Muette de Portici where the opera is loosely based on the historical uprising of  HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masaniello” \o “Masaniello” Masaniello against Spanish rule in  HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naples” \o “Naples” Naples in 1647.

Clearly the Arts act as a centerpiece or focus, engaging both the critical faculties of the mind and the creative/emotional responses of the brain.  The two together seem to unite in an explosive mix that is able to have far reaching effects.

Recently scientific evidence has emerged where cows that are played classical music produce more milk and also students played classical music have higher marks during exams.   It has also been found that some music lowers the blood pressure, some affects the frequency and amplitude of the brain waves measured by EEG, and some lowers breathing rate and affect the electrical resistance of the skin!

Combine some of these effects with an Opera that has political connotations or Art that informs the sub-conscious or haves some Psychosocial effect, and there can enormous implications or results in the environment or the history of Man.

This is a short excursion into a whole area which partly science is trying to unify with experience and that can be measured to some degree, but there are areas that science will not address as real that I believe that are just as real and measureable, being the whole areas of the supernatural and God in the unseen (other dimensions) realms.

Hi,

Linconshire training Jets have been grounded today due to Ash Cloud deposits in their engines.  They were RAF Typhoons.  The base in Coningsby are checking all their aircraft after four were found to have ash deposits!  I think we should have been more cautious about going to fly jets straight away-does finance or government/people pressure/company pressure take precedence over life?  We don’t scientifically know the risks we are taking yet.  The CAA have only 3-4 days worth of evidence, and that is not enough.  This event proves the problem is more serious than at first thought, and we need more time!

Hi All,

For those who have Asthma the Volcanic Ash cloud, I cant give advice except what I would do in the circumstances.  As I have it, I’m not going to worry too much, and make sure I have medication to hand.  I think there is more than enough to worry about theses days, and anxiety can bring on asthma attacks.

Looking at the distance for the UK from the Volcano on the maps, it’s a few hundred miles and I think the cloud will have dispersed a lot in the wind I think.  Obviously if the advice form medical sources is different, that is priority.

I suppose there is the faint possibility that some dust will end up in the lower atmosphere, but hey, we take in petrol and diesel fumes at a high concentration every day.  Personally I think that is a greater risk.

I heard a report from a vulcanologist today that this volcano is small compared to Mt St Helens eruption, so we can be assured that things wont get too out of hand!  If the earth puts ‘that one’ this way, we have to cope.  Even though we asthma sufferers have extra difficulties in this unusual situation, listening to latest information, I don’t think it is going to be too bad.

Stay cool

Cheers

Hi

Interesting about the Ash cloud.  Volcanic ash can kill bird’s-sad if this occurs!

I will write some music about this! In fact I wrote ‘Storm’ inspired by overhead Storm.

It’s an interesting source of inspiration for musicians.  Composers will be fascinated by the opportunity.

Hear the EP storm on www.downloadplatform.com/paul_stokes/ or purchase on www.itunes.com/paulstokes

Cheers

Paul

Hi,

I am disappointed as well as the Scientists with the news that the LHC is to close for modifications for a year at the end of 2011.  It is to address design issues.  Joints between the machines magnets must be strengthened to cope with the 14Tev the higher operating state.  As a musician and composer, this affects directly my ‘ inspiration source’ for the work that I am currently producing.  This is the exploration and interpretation of  particle collisions and fields through Music.  So far, I have been able to examine with two tracks, the effects of Fields and collisions.  I find want to interpret the collision and the resulting spin.  In a lecture at the Darlington Astronomy club the other day, it was said that some Gamma Ray particles have the equivalent energy of a tennis ball travelling at 100mph!  Imagine one sub-atomic particle having that much power/kick!  How can I replicate that with Music?  I have some idea’s.  I work out the idea’s sometimes a bit graphically, or imagine what the equivalent in music would be say-a spinning particle would have a known frequency or pitch.  Though the spinning particle might have a far higher frequency of spin than can be replicated by a note, you can down size the frequency and using a representative note-frequency, approximate all other spins to their relative frequencies.  Fields might be represented by held chords and so on…..further using Synths and orchestral arrangements etc to create the piece.  I hope this gives a little insight into the methods used at times for inspiration…..

Cheers….

Hi,

Scientists have captured what may be the fist specks of interstellar dust-the dust roams in the space of the Universe.  The satellite ‘Stardust’ landed back on earth in 2006, but scientists have only just released their results although they are not conclusive but likely.  To capture the dust, an arm was suspended with a special gel on a pad.  The microscopic particles were viewed under microscope called Aerogel.  Dr Westphal made the announcement.  The particle initially called ‘particle 30′ has been renamed ‘Orion’ by it’s finder in the aerogel.  To collect another speck would $300 million Dollars-so that’s what it’s worth!

Hi All,

Hope you have been ok in the big freeze?  During the heavy snow here in the UK recently, I came down from the studio and took a look out of the window and observed nature making music.  We have two telephone wires, one to our property and one to the next, connected to a telephone pole some 60 feet away.  Heavy snow lies -some 5-8 inches on the ground and the two telephone wires are covered with some one inch of snow.  The pole supports 14 phone lines radially and is the centre-point.  The temperature outside is -5 Deg C. The phone lines are very strong being made of Beryllium-copper and always have good tension even in cold weather.  There was also no wind at all.

As I was watching the snow, I saw significant movement of the 2 lines, and suddenly realized they were oscillating!  As I closely observed, I worked out that the frequency was about 1.5-2 Hz (Cycles per second)  I wondered what was the reason-and from my science background knew that they needed an ‘input’ force to create the oscillation.  As with the violin bow, that is the input energy/force.

Wondering where the input to generate the oscillation was coming from, I noticed that the boiler condensation and fumes were rising up exactly underneath the two lines-eureka!  The rise of the powerful energy in the ‘wind’ created by the plume of fumes was ‘stroking’ the lines causing them to resonate!  From my observations, nothing else was apparent to create the oscillation-not even a little Elf pushing the telegraph pole!

I immediately have thought about composing around this event to create a little piece.  Should I do this Electronically or with orchestra?  Should it be slow at the frequency of the oscillation-in which case not much of it can be heard, or do I use instrumentation to create the effect?  Oh well, life is a joy…

Cheers

Paul