Rubénerd!

My good friend and fellow Whole Wheat Radio alumni Annette Shacklett left a comment on Google Reader yesterday that I will now attempt to interpret! That was a lot of links.

Last night I dreamt I let Rubenerd cut my hair.

The scene... I go to a beauty salon in a giant hotel. Long bank of mirrors and hair cutting chairs. Ruben is with me and I know he has hair styling credentials. So rather than have one of the salon people cut my hair, I ask that we use their equipment and my friend Ruben cut my hair. They reluctantly agree.

Make sense of that. ;>)

The only other info I offer is that I've been cutting my own hair for over a year.

--Sparx

Oh my! I can honestly say I don't think I've ever been involved in a dream whereby I'm cutting someone's hair. I suppose seeing how my own hair looks most of the time is enough to instill enough fear into people that the last thing they would dream about me styling or brushing their hair, let alone cutting it!

Interestingly enough, my German grandpa on my dad's side of the family (who was easily the sweetest, kindest man in existence, though he died while I was still a little kid) worked as a hair dresser and barber when the family emigrated from Frankfurt to Sydney in the 1950s. Perhaps there's some genetic predisposition towards it, or maybe I inherited the look from him. "That Ruben fellow, he looks like a hair dresser!"

Clearly I'm not the artist she is! I love night photography, a 35 or 50mm lens with a tripod and long exposure times are just too much fun, even if I do need practise. But I digress.

As for the meaning, we all know how reliable and trustworthy horoscopes and fortune tellers are, so I decided to do a little research! According to the Dream Moods Dictionary (and they would know), this is what your subconscious is telling you when you dream about haircuts:

To dream that someone is giving you a haircut, suggests that you are experiencing a decreased sense of power. You feel you are being criticized unfairly. Alternatively, your dream haircut symbolizes a fresh start. You are shedding off some unwanted aspect of yourself.

So we can surmise that Annette is feeling a decreased sense of power, or she's having a fresh start. Perhaps it was the extension of the US PATRIOT act, I'm sure if enacted in my own country I'd be feeling an incredible decrease of power, as well as in increase in blood pressure. Hey, it kinda is.

But before we go too deep here, here's what it says about hairdressers in particular:

To dream that you are a hairdresser, suggests that you are imposing your ideas and opinions on others. Perhaps you need to work on your self-image and improve on your image. Alternatively, it refers to your attitude toward your own sexuality.

To dream that you are at the hairdresser, implies that you are looking to change your attitude. You are ready for change and move in a different direction.

Hmm, I feel like we're losing the trail here. Besides, Annette dreamed that I was the one butchering -- wait, cutting -- her hair, so that doesn't really help us. What does that say about salons?

To dream that you are at the salon, indicates your concerns with your looks. You may be overly conscious about your appearance and beauty. Perhaps you are trying too hard to impress others. The dream also suggests deception and cover-up of some situation. Alternatively, it may denote a new outlook toward life.

I've got to be honest here, I was expecting more mystical and psychological reasons behind these things than the more literal interpretations this site is offering.

According to their descriptions, Annette is a hopelessly powerless individual who overly imposes her beliefs on others and who is concerned about her looks. I can speak from experience that I've learned a substantial amount from reading her shared items over the years which means she isn't powerless at all, and the other two points are bunk as well.

Like all highly accurate horoscopes and dream readings though they offer several different interpretations just in case we're unsatisfied; its like a satisfaction guarantee. The other interpretation on offer here is Annette is having a fresh start, and a new outlook on life. For some reason I was in the dream helping her to forge that path as it were, which I have to admit sounds pretty good! I think I'll stick with that ;).

The illustrious, talented and super friendly Esther Golton in Alaska. Independent singer songwriter, hammer dulcimer player and flutist. Floutist? Fluteist? Flautist? Ah okay, the spell checker liked that last one.

I have Unfinished Houses and Aurora Borealis: A Conversation with Alaska's Northern Lights, signed and everything! ^______^ When was the last time you got that from a commercial, mainstream artist I ask you right now?!

Whole Wheat Radio and its mission of providing a grassroots, all-volunteer, donation supported website and webcast that competently and without mainstream advertising supports independent musicians and their craft is currently offline.

Having just checked this morning, the Whole Wheat Radio webcast and wiki are offline, with a message from its founder Jim Kloss. For those not familiar with the site this post might not make much sense, if I had more time I'd delve into what WWR is all about, for now consider this an "in" thing.

So here's what happened, I think

I've largely avoided Facebook for the last year or so because to me the site represents all that is wrong with my generation (The Zuck) and it depresses me, but I logged into it again this morning to find out what was going on.

I'm not entirely sure how all this went down, but as I understand from his explanation on the site, some listeners of the station formed a seperate Facebook group for wheatheads to converse that was outside the channel Jim had set up for the site. As a result, conversations and collaboration were occuring outside the official site which, as a collaborative wiki, has a dramatic effect on the effectiveness of the platform. Whole Wheat Radio only works if there are people collaborating and helping out on the site itself, and; to be blunt; a seperate group leeches off this.

From a personal perspective, I had no idea about this new group but, as Jim so rightly observes, I was added to it automatically. Having visited it, I noticed a link to "Leave the group" despite never agreeing to join it. If this is an issue with Facebook, there are grave ramifications. (UPDATE: Apparently it is, and I missed it. What I get for not being in the loop with the tech media for the last month).

Thinking out loud

I've always so deeply appreciated all the work and effort Jim has put into maintaining such an open, advertisement free and honest site over the years when many others in his position would have long ago sold out. It takes conviction and a well placed moral compass to do this.

As a result, I felt it was my obligation... no scratch that, it implies I was forced to... I felt compelled to help out. Sometimes I didn't agree with Jim's approach to the site, for example I was nervous when he deeply integrated Facebook and essentially began hosting discussions with them instead of on the local wiki; but I figured he had solid reasons for doing so, and I respected all the work he put into it that I had no problem whatsoever accomodating.

If you're reading this Jim, I deeply hope that whatever has happened and wherever your life is taking you right now, I hope you figure things out and are comfortable again soon. Above all else, I respect your position and admire your convictions. A lesser person would have let this (and other issues over the years) slide, taking the integrity and honesty of the site down with them.

*manhug*

That reminds me!

I was going to delete my current Facebook account and start fresh. All my previous records would still be there forever, but at least with a new account with a fake name (I'm think Ruben GrilledCheeseSandwich or something) then my contributions to their hive mind would be less valuable from now on. Plus, I'll only be adding friends like Jim to it instead of everyone I've ever met. More on that later.

Some sad news from Jim Kloss at Whole Wheat Radio HQ: Facebook has regressed again.

WWR Player Note: I thought this was coming but now it's confirmed. Facebook is removing the capability of putting things like the WWR Player on your Profile page. Expect everyone's WWR Player to disappear from their profile in coming days.

I long since stripped all my data out of Facebook and deleted all my applications when they rubbed me the wrong way for the last time, but I did keep the WWR player in the hopes it would generate some buzz.

Thanks for adding the Whole Wheat Radio Player Ruben. We both made compromises. I wrote the unbelievably contorted code to add a simple link to Facebook profiles and you logged onto FB. ;-) ---Jim

Sorry it didn't work out :(.

I haven't featured a Whole Wheat Radio artist for a few weeks, so here's my favourite for today! From their WWR artist page:

Dan McElrath is a graduate of the Furman University School of Music. He has performed for the past 30 years in venues across America covering a wide range of musical styles from gospel to contemporary jazz. Recently The Dan Mac Quintet has recorded CD's with vocalist Katie Strock (DanKa-2008), Vonnie Kaufman (So Nice-2008) and Cat Coward (Out of the Bag-2007) all of which can be found on iTunes. The band has just completed its first all original instrumental jazz CD of Alaskan themed jazz entitled "Ajazzkaâ".

I heard my first song of theirs a few days ago. It started as a classical rendition of Beethoven's Für Elise, only to morph into an upbeat jazzy tune of epic awesomeness. I'm using all the technical music jargen, you see.

Unfortunately they're not on CDBaby which; if you'll pardon the crappy pun; is a crying shame.

I like most of the music that plays on Whole Wheat Radio, but sometimes a song comes on that grabs my attention so much it deserves an opening sentence far better than this one! Today's such song was by the Kubatana Marimba Ensemble, that just happened to be the Artist of the Day.

Kubatana Marimba Ensemble plays a style of polyrhythmic, polyphonic music largely transcribed and arranged from songs played on Zimbabwean mbiras -- traditional instruments ("thumb pianos") of the Shona cultures of Zimbabwe. In the Shona language Kubatana roughly means "to come together and unite", an apt description of how and why the band was formed in the summer of 2004.

Originally comprised of four beginning and four more accomplished players, the group has continued to practice, progress, evolve and learn both from native Zimbabwean teachers as well as numerous American friends who have gone before them. The current membership of Kubatana is eight. In addition to playing on as many as seven marimbas (three sopranos, two tenors, a baritone, and a bass), Kubatana uses other instruments including gourd shakers, amplified mbiras, and African hand drums. The music is energizing and exhilarating and usually induces people to get up and dance!

My first instinct when I hear music like this is to rate it five stars, tag it as Ruben Bagus and check out CD Baby. Unfortunately they don't seem to have anything up on there, and their official website is fairly sparse. I've emailed them asking where I can get their stuff.

I also want their clothes! :D

As a final footnote, after this we were treated to an amazing blues tune with Luther Kent. Try getting that amount of variety on your Top 40 station!

The heading reads like the opening line of a terrible blues song.

You know that feeling you get when you realise something and your heart stops beating for a second? Or when you go to make a grilled cheese sandwich and you realise you don't have a cast iron frypan OR the right cheese? Argh!

This morning while casually checking my alpine email (sounds like I have imap servers in the Alps or something) I got a message from the Whole Wheat Radio servers:

Dear Ruben,
I am already aware my last name sounds like a furry animal that eats coffee fruit. You will not get any money from me in exchange for your silence on this, and shame on you for attempting it.
~ Derek Sivers

That's clearly the wrong message.

Dear Ruben Schade,
The WWR page User talk:Ruben Schade was changed or deleted on 05:30, May 20, 2010 by EJ On Duty.

I was made aware recently that accounts on WWR are deleted if there is no activity in a predetermined period of time (a month, is it?) but I was sure I'd logged in recently. Anyway I got the idea that my account was deleted, and along with that all the artists and songs I'd tagged and rated over the years! I nearly sprayed my overpriced Starbucks coffee all over my ThinkPad.

Fortunately my account wasn't deleted, just my old user page. PHEW! Turn the fire alarms off! Stand down red alert!

It's a really good idea

It turns out the reason why this happened is because Jim has implemented a new policy on the WWR wiki that demands people buy twelve new CDs from CD-Baby with WWR referral codes a month, otherwise electric shocks are sent from your computer's keyboard the next time you use it and send you into a cardiac arrest. Only when you've taken out your credit card and shown it to your webcam along with a signed statement that you'll buy CDs will the shocks stop and a sense of normality return.

I have two problems with this. Firstly, if you're convulsing on the floor, how are you supposed to buy CDs? Secondly, what if people are cheapskates and spend all their money on expensive Starbucks coffee that they spray on their laptops which necessitate replacing keyboards? Hey, that's the solution! Spray coffee on your keyboard and it'll disable the WWR personal doomsday device!

Jim is not impressed

It turns out the reason why this happened is because Jim has implemented a new policy on the WWR wiki that demands people use their real names. I've been using the name Rubenerd since I was a little kid because at the time I thought it was a really clever contraction (or portmanteau, or whatever it is) and even lent the terrible name to my site here, but I think using proper names is a great idea.

• It makes the site look more professional
• it encourages people to be more honest and friendly
• if people don't like it they could always call themselves James Bond or Chuck Peddle. Hey, that's cool, I could change my name to Chuck Peddle. "Jim Kloss, why can't I edit wiki pages on my KIM1 or PET?!"

I think I'll stop now.

In response to the continual antics of Zuckerberg and Co, today was the International Kill Your Facebook Day (or variations upon that theme).

Unfortunately, I have such tenuous link with so many people I still need my account, though today I took the opportunity to scrub it of all my information other than my name and a fake religion called "fake-account-ism". I'm still one of Zuckerbergs pawns, but at least I'm no good to the third parties that cut his cheques. Well, less good, at least now they'd have to trawl their database looking for items people think they deleted but were just stored somewhere else or with a different database flag.

Its a reality check

Reading books such as Hoodwinked you could be forgiven for thinking the people of my generation are more ethical and have more of a desire to good socially and for the environment than previous generations. I suppose Zuckerberg is a splash of cold water and a solid reality check on this view. There are people of every generation who's motivation is profit above people.

Here's hoping Diaspora or another similar project can do to Facebook what Facebook did to MySpace.

The Whole Wheat Factor

Of course I'm also a hypocrite, as Jim Kloss pointed out this morning my time:

Thanks for adding the Whole Wheat Radio Player Ruben. We both made compromises. I wrote the unbelievably contorted code to add a simple link to Facebook profiles and you logged onto FB. ;-) ---Jim

He's right, of course! In my defence, I figure the information from this widget is in the WWR community silo and not Facebook, and unlike most widget developers I trust Jim :).

For those who don't know, Whole Wheat Radio is an internet radio station and community wiki showcasing entirely independent music.

"So this song is by Erving Mills, who's name is also a sentence...
[ Esther chortling in the background ]
... like Tom Waits, or George Burns."

Continuing in our seven day Whole Wheat Radio Artist of the Day experiment here on Rubénerd.com, today's artist is the awesome jazz pianist and composer Michael Wolff.

I can describe Michael's jazzy tunes in one word: cool, suave, cool, awesome, sophisticated, cool, swish, cool, fun and cool. That was substantially more than one word. Then again so is "Michael Wolff", so we've come out ahead again. All is good with the world!

As with all Whole Wheat Radio artists you can request a show of his songs to be added to the webcast in real time as well as view his artist page where you can leave comments. He also has an official website where you can listen to a few tracks.

I keep trying to branch out of my music comfort zone and try new things, but Michael's style of music is still by far my favourite and he more than does the genre justice. He is just so friggen awesome to listen to! If you can get a more glowing endorsement from a computer nerd who knows nothing about music terminology than that, I haven't heard it!