Introducing "Chillax"

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Introducing “Chillax”

“Rhythm is what you feel, melody is what you hear; together they make a song!!”

We can break down a song into its’ components in many different ways. We can say a song is made up of singing and music, or lyrics and notes, or melody and accompaniment, and so on so forth. Some purists might skin the hair and go as far as breaking down lyrics into intro, verse, chorus, bridge and a possible outro; and the same bunch of wisest lunatics will break down music into bass line, beat, chords, melody, hooks and riffs. The more you want to embroil yourselves, the more you may please yourselves. But what actually makes up a song?

Irrespective of the fact whether a song contains any singing at all or is it just instrumental, irrespective of its’ genre, like whether Rock, Pop, House, Trance, Hip-Hop, Opera and so on so forth, I personally dissect a song into two basic components; one that is heard and one that is felt. The one that is heard is the pulse of the song, the rhythm it is propagating, it is the vibrations your body feels when you hear that song. The other component is the melody that you actually hear, the music, the sound, the words or lack of them. “Chillax” is just a new way of defining their use in a production.

Yes my dear friends, today I present to you a new genre of music I lovingly christen “Chillax”!!

So a very obvious question now would be, “What is “Chillax” and how is it created?”

Well friends “Chillax” is based on a very simple psychological principle of providing release through internal strife and a process I name as “Shifting stereo field”.

I am sure this definition has confused you even more than explaining anything. But then I haven’t set a definition for “Chillax” as yet. Maybe I am just waiting to figure out better words.

However, even if I cannot provide you a perfect definition of it right now, I can still explain in detail the working principle behind “Chillax” and how it is created.

 How is “Chillax” created?

“Chillax” is created by a careful mixture of two techniques: internal strife and shifting stereo sound.

1. The internal strife within a “Chillax” production is created by creating a simple strife or non-conformity between the two components of a production; the Rhythm and the Melody. The Rhythm, as used in current context, refers to the pulse of the song and includes the sounds of drums (namely Kick), sub-bass and bass line. These are the components whose sound is more predominantly felt than heard (exceptions being some new bass line driven music like Dev and Cataracs’ “G6”, or Dizzee Rascals’ “Dance wiv me” where it is both heard and felt, but then neither of the two is a relaxing number). The melody refers to all other parts which are heard and identified clearly by their distinct musical sounds like hooks, riffs, melodies etc.

In case of “Chillax”, an internal strife is created between the Rhythm and Melody components by intentionally giving one of them a slow movement by using far spread and longer notes, while the other one is given a quicker feel by very short and closely spaced notes. This creates a sensory paradox in the sense that while our body and limbs may feel the pulse of the music to be fast or slow depending upon how the Rhythm has been defined, our brain (via auditory organs) will perceive the melody to be differently paced. This effect is created without altering the tempo in any way and can be created at any tempo. The result is a sound that alleviates stress and gives the listener a relaxed chilled feel, hence the title “Chillax”.

2. “Shifting Stereo Sound” is an effect which makes the listeners believe that the sound source has shifted around in a stereo fashion, from one end towards the other, that is, the sound started on one side and moved around to the other. The simple trick to create this effect is to create a sound in duplicate and then pan the two sounds midway around the opposite ends. However the trick is to delay one sound only by a minute fraction and make sure it is not panned as far away on the other side of the stereo file as the non-delayed sound is. So for example, if a sound is paned at 33 degrees to the left, its’ duplicate copy will have to be delayed by about 1-3 milliseconds and panned about 27 degrees to the left. The levels of the two sounds have to be the same or the delayed sound can be slightly quieter, but never the reverse. This will create an effect when sound will appear to be actually moving from one end of the stereo field to the other, as it will start early (or on time) at one end while its’ counterpart will be slightly slower, and while the first sound will finish, it will still continue by the delayed amount at the other end. This will sound like a shifting stereo field. For best effect, if one sound is shifted from left to right, make sure another one is shifted in revrerse.

 How does Chillax works?

“Chillax” works in two ways, depending upon which component is faster of the two.

1. If the Rhythm of the music is set to slow, the pulse or feel of the music will relax the tension in the body muscles sending them into a relaxed state while the fast melody of the song will excite the brain. The strife between a relaxed body and a hyper active brain will force the energy out of the brain and dissipate it through the body, thus relieving the brain of stress and rejuvenating body muscles with the rush of energy or hormones, thus relieving fatigue.

2. If the Rhythm is fast it will excite the body which would try to respond to the music, but the relaxing effect of a slow melody would calm down a stressed out brain. This internal conflict will force the body to push the excitement into the brain, thus pouring all the bodily energy into the brain, which in turn will act like a balloon put under stress. This would force the excessive energy through the brain, thus relaxing the body muscles and giving the person a feeling of content sleepiness.

While in first case the “Shifting Stereo Field” acts like an excitement module, in the second case the same “Shifting Stereo Field” creates an artificial feeling of a relaxing head massage as the sifting sounds excite one ear and follow it around the head and excite the other ear, after a delay.

So friends, this is the simplest way of defining and presenting “Chillax” to you guys. The concepts mentioned in this article have been used in all the five songs from my debut album “I’m Fine” so far. Hope you are enjoying them.

Fatal Urge Carefree Kiss,

Amanpreet Singh Rai

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Military Junta Of America - Issue and Solution

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Military Junta Of America - Issue and Solution

“If not stopped right away, America will become an un-official military dictatorship.”

Growing up in a democracy and currently living in another, like my fellow Indians, Aussies and Americans I have always regarded Ann Suu Kyi a protagonist of Democracy in the darkest corners. A shining light of unflinching commitment to her brothers and sisters in Myanmar (Burma) would be an apt description. Her struggles with the dictatorial diktats of the ruling regime, the Military Junta of Myanmar are not only well documented and well publicized, but also serve as an inspirational fuel to many others around the globe that are fighting tooth and nail to earn their democratic rights from their current regimes. But what has it got to do with America, the biggest democracy in the world, the epitome of freedom, the example for the rest of the world to follow?

Well, let us just take two things out of the current history of Myanmar for a just comparison for this discussion:

1. The Military Junta of Myanmar was always accused of violating human rights and picking up citizens to curb their voices, both by Ann Suu Kyi and also by the foreign media which always supported her, and very rightly so. The allegations always centred around the facts that the Military Junta used to pick up, detain and even prosecute anyone who raised his or her voice against the regime and/or its’ policies, so much so that the people in Burma actually lost their voice to dissent completely.

2. The current elected regime of Myanmar has been termed as a puppet government by Ann Suu Kyi and the elections were described to be rigged.

Now let us bring our attention back to the US setup and have a look at the new “National Defence Authorization Act 2012” and specifically scrutinize the implications of Section 1031 and Section 1032 contained in it. What is this Section really capable of through the words written in it?

Before that, let me just say a few words about the wording of the article which allows the military to identify anyone including American citizens as enemy combatants and give military Presidential consent to detain such persons indefinitely without a trial or crime. (Perhaps even without saying it, I have already proved how this Section compares to the much condemned actions of Military Junta of Myanmar). Now, if anything, this Section shows two things:

1. Firstly, it shows the self-created fear the strongest nation on this earth lives in today. I was born and brought up in India and have lived nearly 28 years of my life over there. India has suffered the worst form of terrorism for more than three decades now. India is situated next to both Pakistan and Afghanistan, but we still don’t have any act like this in India. This is because neither we are cowards, nor do we go out of our way to destroy other people’s homes. All I can say is, “Rather than being obsessively paranoid of own shadows, it is time to learn to live peacefully with others.” Mending fences that have been damaged by your actions is not only the first step towards salvation but also the first requirement to have a lasting peace.

2. Secondly, it goes to show how the current political setup is keen on protecting the interests of its’ premier businessmen. If the current societal actions like “Occupy Wall Street” are an indication of the simmering public discontent with Government policies and Businessmen apathy, I can only foresee even worse times to come. Such movements are going to become more omnipresent, stronger and badly needed. In such a situation, all I can see is this act being misused to curb such movements by cracking the military whip on those who lead such movements, a la US Ann Suu Kyis’. The reason invariable given would be, “Prevention of terrorist activities”. When there will be no trial, the question of proving innocence won’t even arise. Besides, it will easily be explained in media that the detained person was actively involved in destabilizing American society and has possible links with a foreign agency which are now being investigated.

So to sum it up:

1. The military will get sweeping powers in the form of being legally allowed to detain anyone it claims to be an enemy combatant, under Presidential orders. So just like Military Junta of Myanmar, American politicians will have an easy way to get rid of those who stand in their way or object to and question their decisions, raise their voice against the Government action and everything else you can possibly imagine and then leak in your pants.

2. The civilly elected Government will be just a face of the military authority. It will conduct the country to please the businessmen and the military will take care of those who will raise their voices. So in effect, the Democracy will deteriorate into a Military Dictatorship, its’ just that in case of US such a dictatorship will be to benefit a handful of businessmen and the politicians they support.

People blame Chinese Government of curbing voice of ordinary people and the whole world hails and honours those who raise their voice and suffer in China. That is exactly what I can foresee happening in America.

Yes, that’s right! From where I stand there are only two truths about the future that I can foresee:

1. Americans will only have one freedom; freedom to decide whether they want to work or not. Their choices will be countable on one finger. The reason I will explain below.

2. Americans will only have one right; the right to vote who amongst the available candidates is going to govern them.

Now as to why Americans won’t have a choice as to what work they want to do, let us look at what has happened so far. But before I explain that, let me make a statement:

“Businessmen are like sponges; you put them in an economy and they soak every penny out of it, just like sponge soaks water from a spill or pool.”

Most of America’s wealth is securely locked in the bank accounts of a handful of organizations that own most of the business in the US. The reason US work force is running out of choices for work is, US has reached that peak of development where businessmen will not invest any more money. There are two reasons for it:

1. The small business is already dead or is fast dying whereas big businessmen invest money to start a business only when they know their product will sell. They do so because starting a business means hiring workforce as well. And when you are investing so much in business you want your products to sell too so that the business generates income. Has the majority of American population got money to buy anything more from the market than what it needs? I don’t think American businessmen can set up a business in America and then depend on American consumer to sustain it anymore.

2. American businessmen cannot set up businesses in America to sell products overseas as they won’t be able to compete in prices with competitors from China, Korea, Thailand, India and other third world countries where labour is cheaper. They will have to move over their production houses to those third world countries to cut costs. So all the money that the American Businessmen have collected out of US economy is going to be invested overseas now. But the worst part is, what they have done is the US is exactly what they will do in those third world countries too. Now it is only the US whose money is stashed in those few accounts, then it will be the rest of the world as well.

If this is going to be the case then the sufferings of American people are only going to get worse and social actions like “Occupy Wall Street” are only going to get more frequent. The only escape for the businessmen and their political faces will be the misuse of the authority vested into the US Army via this Section of the “National Defence Authorization Act”. And when Americans won’t be able to stop their businessmen, who else on this earth will be? The boat Americans will find themselves in soon, the whole world will end up there ultimately, what with the same businessmen taking over the other free world economies.

So basically, if Americans don’t act now, we all are at the same risk. That is why we all are in this together.

But to stop this you need to have a social movement, and to safeguard social movements you need protection against such acts like the current “National Defence Authorization Act” with its’ Section 1031. So what is the solution to the problem that we have at our hands right now?

One word answer is, “Constitution”.

“Constitution” is the supreme authority of any nation. It is one instrument that creates the nation in the first place, and then creates the relevant authorities and empowers the same to run the nation efficiently. The Head of a State (President and/or Prime Minister), his council, legal system, Federal Parliament, Subordinate Parliaments, their Heads (Chief Minister/Premier), their councils, everything is either directly created by the “Constitution”, or is provided for a legal birth via its’ wording.

Even the most powerful man in a country, its’ head, The President or Prime Minister, his position as well as the powers conferred on that position, are all a “Constitutional” creation. In fact, the Constitution itself provides for the harshest remedy available in a country, that is the removal of the head via impeachment.

So the bottom line is, the Government cannot pass legislation or approve a section which is contrary to any provisions of the Constitution, even if it intends to empower The President. Such a legislation or its’ section is automatically legally invalid.

Nothing in the Constitution can be construed to imply that the Senate or Council can make a law and the President forced to approve it, which overrides any Constitutional provisions, howsoever such a law might be in the interests of the nation. If that were to be the intention of the Constitution, then there will be nothing stopping in this world for a Government to pass a legislation doing away with the Constitution itself, all in the name of national interest.

The constitution of America expressly provides in the Bill of Rights, a guaranteed Habeas Corpus, and clearly explains what constitutes treason. In such circumstances, no Government can pass a legislation which allows the Government or Military to detain any individual lawfully present on the land, whether a citizen or a resident or a visitor, without providing a due process of law. As long as there is no rebellion, even the President cannot legally authorize such an action. Nothing can be worse than being wronged by the law itself and having no remedy at all. It is not only constitutionally invalid, but it is also contrary to every principle of justice.

Thus Section 1031 is both constitutionally and legally invalid. So all Americans need is an honest lawyer who can do the needful and get the erring Section removed.

Fatal Urge Carefree Kiss,

Amanpreet Singh Rai

 

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Where They Seperate

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Where They Separate

“Capitalism and Communism are worlds apart but separated only by a thin line.”

Most of the people living in Capitalistic society get scared by the mere mention of the phrase, “Government take-over”. The first thing that pops up in their crania is “Communism”, which invariable translates into “Loss of freedom”. Now it is not completely untrue as in Communism you don’t have a choice about what you want to do, when you want to do it and how much you will get for doing whatever you do. But what people don’t realize is, doesn’t matter whether you are living in Capitalism or Communism, 60% of the population generally never has a choice. They have to do what is available to them and they only earn barely enough for their lives. And then another 35% only have better jobs. The only difference between the two forms of society for them is, in Communism you have to work even if you don’t want to.

However, I don’t support Communism, just like I don’t support pure Capitalism. I have my reasons which I have explained in various other write-ups I have done. If you read my write-ups you will know that I support “Equalism” which is Capitalistic to the extent that everyone is free to choose what they want to do, when they want to do and how much they want to get paid. However, you can get paid what you want to for your work but its’ total can only amount to a certain level, which is where it becomes Communistic, although unlike Communism, you can still earn way more than what many others will earn, simply because you are better, more talented, more hardworking or more enterprising then the rest. The Communistic cap on earnings to a Capitalistic set-up will make the society more equal in wealth distribution and opportunities more easily accessible to the majority of the population, which in Communism has no choice, and in Capitalism cannot avail them because they are beyond their reach.

Anyhow, this article is not about Equalism, Capitalism or Communism. It is more about how to differentiate what constitutes Capitalistic decision, what makes the same decision Communistic and what constitutes “Betrayal of national interests”. So let me explain it with a very simple example.

Suppose I want to set up an industrial unit manufacturing steel for car part industry. For this I will need pure Iron. I can buy Iron from an Iron ore processing unit which extracts Iron from mineral ore and then purifies to market it. Now that Iron extraction unit buys mineral ore from a distributor who is in turn supplied by a miner who controls the mining site. Based on this example, Communism, Capitalism and Betrayal of National interests can be differentiated as follows:

 1. Communism:

In Communism, the Steel manufacturing unit, the Car manufacturing units, the Iron ore processing units and the mines, everything is controlled and run by the government. Neither me, nor any other private individual can own any of it. All we will get is jobs in these units and get paid for our work like everybody else, because we all are equal.

 2. Capitalism:

In Capitalism, I have the freedom to own an industrial unit and run it as I please for whatever profit I want to make. I am free to switch over and own a car part manufacturing unit, or an ore processing unit, or own all of them provided I have capital to do so. This is the freedom in Capitalism.

 3. Betrayal of National Interests:

One thing you might have noticed under the above heading of “Capitalism” is that I didn’t mention “Mining site” in it. The reason is, the mineral wealth does not belong to any one individual but belongs to the entire community. There are two types of resources: Renewable (Like Sunlight, wind, rainfall etc) and non-renewable (Like fossil fuels, mineral ores etc). Both of these belong to the entire country or community, and not to one individual. (Do not confuse the issue with Middle East where the Sheikhs are the rulers by default and hence the Government within themselves and hence can claim the resources as theirs without anyone questioning them. But this cannot be the case in a Democracy.) Mineral wealth belongs to the nation and the Government in a democracy is not the owner of that wealth but just a caretaker. The public can change the Government any time via voting in elections. As such, the Government has got no right to sell those mineral sites to private organizations for cheap so that they can dig out the mineral wealth and make many times more money. That is underselling the national wealth for a private organization’s profit, which can be classified as nothing else but betrayal of national interests. More details are in my write-up on the same which can be accessed via the following link:

The Mining Betrayal – Economics Explained

 4. Equalism:

I know I didn’t mention it above that I will be discussing this point as well, but now that I have already gotten down and dirty with it, we may as well go through this muscle flexing exercise. In Equalism, the Government will control the mining sites as it should be doing in Capitalism as well but in Equalism, unlike Capitalism, everyone will be free to own a Steel manufacturing unit, a car parts manufacturing unit, an ore processing unit, either completely or as a share in them which will be no more than an investment of $1 Million. Unlike Communism, everyone will be free to earn as much profit from it as much they can as long as their earning are not more than 15times greater than the money the poorest in the society are getting as assistance from the Government every month. Everyone will be free to own what they want to but only one such thing. So if I own a steel manufacturing plant or a $1 Million share in it, I cannot own another business until I sell my share in the Steel manufacturing plant. There is freedom to do what I want to but just because I earn a lot more than others doesn’t mean I can buy out everything else in the market thus depriving others of an opportunity to succeed. And because everyone can own only one business, it means there are a lot more business opportunities in the market up for grabs, provided one is enterprising enough to seize the opportunity, work hard and succeed. The salary cap is big enough to make one’s living standards much better than most of the population as one can earn 15 times more than what the poorest get, while the employed can also earn as much as 10 times. At the same time the difference between 7-10 times and 15 times is not so huge that nobody else has the means or resources to own a business of their own and earn upto 15 times. The cap of one business along with the earning cap will make sure that no business organization will be huge enough so as to drain all the economy’s money into its’ account thus leaving the weaker sections of the society vulnerable to market diktats.

Another example:

Now since I am on fire, let us take another example. This time let me take the example of Public Transport.

 1. Communism:

Government owns and runs it. All profit goes into Government account. All loses are Government’s headache as providing this service is Government’s responsibility.

 2. Capitalism:

The Governments own the public transport and run it for profit or loss as Public Transport is Government responsibility. However, the Government can open up the Public Transport sector to Private operators giving them permission to bring their own buses, setting up their own business centers and offices, then hiring staff and running the services for profit after paying the Government a monthly or annual permit fees (Permit to operate a passenger transport vehicle) and fees to use public places like interchanges, bus terminals etc. This will mean that the Government will not only be not needed to spend and provide this service, but it will also be earning double profit; As tax from the profits earned by private operators plus the permit fees those operators will be paying to provide the services. The public will benefit not only because there will be competing services and hence better service, but they will still get the same number of jobs in this sector.

 3. Betrayal of national interests:

If the Government leases away the service to a private organization telling that organization to provide the service for it using the Government owned machinery, employing the same number of people which the Government will need to run the service on its’ own, and then pay the private organization money to run the service, it can be classified as nothing but betrayal of national interests. In this case the Government is suffering double loss. It is over spending as it is paying private organizations money for running what it can run on its’ own using same infrastructure and manpower (thus paying same salaries, benefits and expenses), but Government is also missing out on earning any profit which it would have in case the above mentioned example had been followed.

 4. Equalism:

The transport sector can be based on the example given under the heading “Capitalism” above but the business investment cap of $1 Million and one business per individual, along with the earning cap of 15 times will apply. This would mean that it won’t be just one or two companies who will own the entire Public Transport in a metropolitan area but many individuals who can afford to invest $1 Million can own a share of it.

 Conclusion:

The thin line that differentiates a Communistic and a Capitalistic decision is whether the decision curbs freedom that in no way affects national interests, or not. If the decision is taken in national interests as given in examples above, and does not curb individual freedom in any way, the decision is well within the reigns of Capitalistic set-up. Every Government takeover is not to curb freedom or convert to Communism. Remember, national interests are always more important than individual freedom, just like society is always more important than the individuals that make it.

Fatal Urge Carefree Kiss,

Amanpreet Singh Rai

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