Browser compatibility testing

I want to recommend the excellent-looking Browsercam service to you. As they say:

Frequently web pages will look dramatically different depending on the configuration of the visitor's computer. Internet users utilize a broad range of operating systems, browsers, screen resolutions, and plug-ins...now with BrowserCam cross-platform compatibility checking is fast and easy.

1) See your web design on any browser on any operating system.
2) Check javascripts, DHTML, forms and other dynamic functionality on any platform. Not just yours.
3) Use our bank of testing machines remotely to test your website.

See the list of supported OS/browsers here.

Pretty good idea. You can subscribe to the service for as short a time as one day, too.

Never say.../Always say...

Suspicious things people say. Things that tell you there is something wrong, despite what the words seem to mean.

"It's harmless".
If it's really harmless, no-one would need to say that, would they? Do you hear, "Well, breathing oxygen's harmless enough"? So they really mean, "Whatever it is I am doing, I know there's something wrong with it but I'm not quite sure what, and besides I want to do it".

"I know what I'm doing".
Number one sign that someone DOESN'T know what they are doing. Otherwise, would they need to say it? Means, "It may look like everything is wrong with what I am doing, you may feel sure the outcome will be bad, but..." (but...you are right!)

"I am not mad".
I don't even need to comment on this one. I heard it a few times, and somehow never quite believed the speaker!

As for people who say "Never say...", they're not saying something positive. If you say to someone, "Don't kill me" (to take one of the less common examples) then, yes, the word 'don't' is there, but so is "kill me". Would it be better to think of something positive to say to them? "Send me flowers" - there's no killing in that one.

I am thinking a positive statement is a good one.

So, yes, maybe, "never say never".

But definitely always say always.

Guard dog

It's like a guard dog. He doesn't know if it's the postman or burglars. He was trained to be aggressive (probably by neglect more than by design).

But what when there's nothing to guard?

When someone comes close do the alarms keep going off even though there's no emergency? Do you fight back even though you want to let someone in?

It's possible to come back from that panic zone. Even though it seems impossible.

All those stories about sleeping princesses and roses and thorns and witches and magic and memory and happiness - we have them for a reason. So just believe in the impossible. Look at yourself and everything around you: how did it all get there? Look, and see for the first time, and ask how possible it was that we all could get this far - and you too. So are you still telling me there is such a thing as impossible?

There is, yes. And we are doing it every minute.

Talents

"Reading and writing before he was three, Saint-Saëns produced his first musical composition before he was four, began formal piano lessons at the age of seven and made his debut at ten, offering any one of Beethoven's thirty-two piano sonatas from memory as an encore"

Godowsky: The Pianists' Pianist, p. 21

And what do I know of him? "The Swan" and an aria from Samson and Delilah and not much else. What am I likely to play of his? Nothing, or nearly nothing. Yet there he was with all those skills.

I'm feeling he must be worth a closer look. Everyone is. I did it with pizza, I did it with Rachmaninov, and I will keep trying in case I miss something interesting.

There must be a lot of people with talents all over the world today. What are they up to? Are you one of them?

Control

"A critical, sober overseeing of one's work during the period of creation is unthinkable" - Josef Hofmann said that about composers, and he knew what he was talking about since he was himself very good with the old precision. But he still knew the point at which control means nothing any more. Control is for before; for checking the detail (if you are a pianist), or for deciding your parameters (for a composer). Then after that the only way you can 'control' your spirit is to let go.

I heard a prominent British composer say,"I never take a drink when I am composing". Yes, in case any mistakes happen!

Mistakes, mistakes, mustaooks, the things we weren't expecting - presents of genius.

Accept these gifts!

Hands grow back

Eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis, chronic itching, itchy skin - managing the symptoms and looking for effective treatment.

I am a pianist. You know that. But did you know I have had lots of problems with itchy skin (eczema, etc)? Did you know it affected my hands, and that of all the symptoms this affected me most - as you can imagine. Sometimes it was difficult to stretch an octave. So perhaps you can feel what that is like, and perhaps you can think about people you know who have similar problems. If you have children, it is important to find out about chronic symptoms like eczema (and asthma, and allergies) because in orthodox western medicine they are not understood, and to start treatment based on that is courting disaster in the long term. It is not a secret or a radical viewpoint that chronic conditions aren't understood; the doctor will probably say that himself. How strange that this does not stop him from attempting to treat you.

Well, here is the link to go to my two web pages about chronic itchy skin conditions like eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis.

Important: please read the pages. They are important for someone in your life, now or maybe later. I don't talk about anything I'm not qualified to talk about. It's just the story of my experience with eczema and all that; it's not a "radical cure" sort of offering. What was radical about it though was that I WANTED to get better. All the things wrong with me were supposed to be incurable - the best that could be done was to manage the symptoms, so I was told. But I kept looking. Read for yourself. And let me know if you would like to hear more - I have other experiences to show you. Perhaps it might help stop you getting into difficulties.

Those page links again:
Managing the symptoms of eczema and dermatitis
Are you well yet? Thinking about treatment