Runescape

Prerequisite: none

Yup, I played Runescape back in 2006. My account has a combat level 90, total level 1220, and some 10 mil. gp in the bank. That is a lot of time spent (no life, hurhur). And moving away from childhood, there is simply not enough time. My commitment lies elsewhere. It has been almost ten years since I started, and some six years since I stopped playing regularly.

Occasionally I would skim the updates, and if something looks interesting I might log in. Sadly, I am not a child anymore and it takes much more to amuse me.

It sounds like the game is receiving lots of bashing recently. I think it is only a matter of growing up. Players have grown and grown out of the game, as a child would grow out children's clothes. Some things were great in childhood, such as Harry Potter. Heck, Harry Potter used to be the best thing evaaar. As a kid there was so much to marvel at. Then the novelty dies out. Only the nostalgia remains.

Will I still play it? No.
Is Runescape a lame game? No.
Did the enchantment wear off? Pretty much. Ya.

Having sacrificed so much time exploring a virtual world, what have I gained? Were my efforts wasted? Was the game worth it? Although I am not known for gaming, I know for a fact that many things had stayed with me.

1) Vocabulary

I boosted my vocabulary terrifically through playing Runescape, being a foreign English speaker. I know the ores from copper to gold (as well as the fictional ores). I know the fish from crayfish to swordfish. I know the trees from oak to yew. I know the folk from barbarian to knight. I know the creatures from goblin to dragon. What is mithril? What is a pike? Where are willows found? What does the apothecary do? What is the difference between a ghost and a revenant (besides that one is mightily stronger than the other)?

How else should I know everything from dagger to longsword, rapier to maul, mace to battleaxe, boots to vambraces? What is the difference between a platebody and a chainbody? A coif and a cowl? What is so distinct about the scimitar? Oh, scimitars..

Most players probably do not bother with the "examine" function, but I examined everything. The thistles on the grass. The ducklings in the river. The mushroom by a rock. The rock itself. I know the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite. A fern and a shrub. Wheat and grain. I could go on forever..

Ya, the kind of thing I do..

2) Technology

Never will I forget that Cu (copper) and Sn (tin) make bronze. Ever. Or that Fe (iron) and carbon (coal) make steel. Or that alloys with higher carbon (coal) content make sturdier metals. Or that impurities can exist in ores, and cause the iron bar you are smelting to fail. Imagine my delight when I came across these details in AP chemistry.

If you played Runescape, you know a thing or two about ore mining, bar smelting, spear fishing, gem cutting, leather tanning, flour milling, dairy churning, and possibly to your expense, scamming (not a technology, but ya).

3) Just.. things

What does it mean to "blow a raspberry"? What is a kebab? What are runes anyway? And of course there is plenty of nonsense logic as well.

And the things I may have encountered too soon for my age..

And the music. Although the MIDI is awful, the composition is very something. The modality really brings out the European medieval setting. It is nice to hear something else for a change that is not Ionian or Aeolian. I recognize some Lydian, Dorian, and Phrygian..

Just things.

I had gleaned all I could from the game. There is nothing more for me in that bubble. Headed back to reality ever since and called it an experience. 10,051,749 XP to be precise.

Really feeling this way (in real life) throughout high school life and towards university:

Maybe that is the most important thing I learned from Runescape. Got to embrace every waking moment. That XP is going to make a difference. So get out of that virtual world and get some real life XP.. and become some real life skill master. Unless you want to stay a noob.

Neumes

Recommended prerequisite: music theory

For most people Bach is the oldest composer on their repertoire, who lived somewhere between the 1600s into the 1700s. In the mainstream the oldest things out there are probably Vivaldi or Pachelbel. There is nothing wrong with that. It is understandable that fairly modern techniques are not directly transferrable to the Baroque music style.

But this post is not about Baroque music (which is another story to itself). What if I told you that before Bach, even before the Renaissance, their music was written with square notes?

These square notes are neumes. Notice that there are four staff lines instead of five.. and there are no definite measures or tempo. Is this notation outdated, antiquated, primitive, or what? No, this comes to the same issue as Baroque music: the style is simply different.

This notation was often used for plainchant sung in churches. More important to understand is the purpose of plainchant. It was not so much for public performance than for personal prayer. Those European cathedrals had very deep echoes, so sounds delayed, overlapped and bounced back. In that environment there was no need for precise rhythmic notation.

Another quirk about neumes: there is no specified starting pitch. You get to sing with whatever "key" you like. Notice that four staff lines just about spans one octave, which is the average vocal range.

Brilliant. How to sing it?

An Idiot's Guide to Square Notes tells you everything you need to know! In fact it explains better than I can. I like how it explains that you would not notate a symphony with neumes any more than you would a Gregorian chant with modern notation, because the styles require different approaches. The two notations were even invented by the same person. Hur hur.

For a feel of how it sounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqDIEjQfdNk

Why are neumes not getting much attention? Perhaps the religious background makes people wary? What I am more interested in is how this style of notation can change our mentalities towards music. Is there some potential we can rediscover from the freedom neumes provide?

G Flute

Recommended prerequisite: music theory, physics

Four months ago I made a G flute from a flagstick.
This calculator takes care of drilling details: http://11wall-west.com/~ph_kosel/flutomat.html. These are the measurements I used:

The holes I made are ugly.. punctured with a sewing needle then “dug” out with pencil and scissors. There is no mouthpiece. The end is just flat like a straw. It is almost the same way ancient people put six holes into a segment of reed from a riverbank.

The way woodwind works is the stream of air must split in half. The recorder is easiest to play since the design splits the air for you. The modern flute is a little harder since you must aim at the edge (or maybe not, I never played one). As for my straw-like flute, it is quite something else..

The sounding concept of my flat brim flute is pretty much like a ney, which I learned from here: http://www.neyzen.com/ney_metodu.html. The technique is veeeeery hard. You are somehow supposed to split your airstream on the flat brim. A subtle twitch in lip shape, ney angle, or tongue placement is enough to extinguish the sound. As you can see I only managed three notes (D, E, F#) after trying for three months:

By the way, there is another sounding technique which requires wedging the edge between your two front teeth and hissing like a viper.. This Persian method creates a unique tone, but no thanks. The Arabic/Turkish method I am using is difficult enough.

Really, during the first three months I only produced air and wispy harmonics. As you may or may not have known from A Cringeworthy Process, I a not one to give up so quickly. This is recently, my fourth month trying:

I achieved two extra notes by overblowing the D and E to get their perfect fifths A and B. The fingerings are the same, but the stronger breath makes the second harmonic (perfect fifth) ring. For some insight to how it works, refer to Harmonic Intervals and Resonance and Timbre and Overtones. I can manage overblown octaves as well, but my breath transition needs some attention first. It is generally not recommended that I learn so many notes before mastering the sound quality.. still working on it!

How was the first flute inspired? My guess is an observation of wind flowing through an empty log. But from this flutemaking experience I find that flat brimmed flutes are really hard to play. Even after making the flute, it takes three months' effort to produce a sound (perhaps even longer for the first flutist ever, since there are no preceding flutists to teach the first). Either ancient people had nothing better to do, or they were increeeeedibly smart. I think they actually were smart.

Five notes (D, E, F#, A, B) is enough to play a couple songs but let me work my intonation first. Then I might play you something decent..