Dream of Catastrophic Winter Storm

Oct 2016

 

I had a dream which was interesting on several points.  It started as I was out on some urban street and suddenly noticed I was with this young attractive woman.  The odd thing about it, looking back at the dream, was that I do not recognize the woman, accept to say she has similar features to other women in my dreams that I also did not recognize from before.  BUT in the dream, I immediately recognized her as something of a Steady and Exclusive Girl Friend.  One of the first things I said to her was “hasn’t it been a long time since we made love?”   Now that would be a very forward and inappropriate thing to say, and most women might object to it.  But this woman accepted the statement, but I saw that she looked concerned and preoccupied about something, and apparently we were on good enough terms for me to ‘shift gears’ immediately and begin to commiserate with her for whatever she was worried about, AND she seemed to have assumed that I would do just that… there seemed to be a trust between us.  She asked me to come along and I followed her.  She took me to her Place – it was clap-trap building that seemed to have the structural integrity of a House of Cards, like a large make-shift patched-together structure in some Indian Slum.  We passed through a hallway that was barely more than a foot wide, and I had to duck my head to pass under diagonally placed boards buttressing up the ceiling.  We came to her room, which seemed smaller than a Nun’s Cell… barely large enough to hold a narrow cot, but at the end of the cot was TV Set. She sat on the cot and turned to position herself so that I could see the TV Screen.  It showed a Time Lapsed Satellite Image of a Storm crossing the North American Continent.   The Storm had come in from Southern California and Arizona and proceeded through Nevada and Utah, and then through Idaho and Western Washington and Montana and then into Canada where the storm curled North to East through Alberta and Saskatchewan.   The Clouds seemed to be rotating clockwise, which I found odd, as Cyclonic Storms in the Northern Hemisphere rotate counter-clockwise.   The girl looked at me sadly and told me that thousands of people would die.

 

The dream made me think.  I had read a few years back that the ‘unexpectedly severe storms’ in Europe and North America could have their cause in the Melting Arctic Icecap.  You see, when it was Just Ice up there at the North Pole, the Pure Whiteness of the Snow would reflect off the Light from the Sun, and so it remained frigidly cold, even during the Summer.  But now that the Snow and Ice have largely melted, there is now Dark and Energy-Absorbent Water in its Place, and so it is all Heating Up up there.  When it used to be Cold, there was a very Tight Circular Pattern of Wind Currents – the Wind would go around and around, always at gale force, but the winds would stay put in a kind of fixed pattern up there in the Arctic Circle.  But since the Warming, and the Unevenness of the Ice and Water Cover, now those Winds have become unpredictable, and their speed has diminished which also increases their instability – like a Toy Top that slows down – it begins to Wobble and then to Fall.   And because the Winds are now Moister as Warmer, making them more Low Pressure than before, they are Pulled downward into the Dryer Continental Air Masses, but Once Moving they take on a Momentum, and while they are Warmer than the Old Arctic Extremes, they are much Colder than the Air Masses down further in the Temperate Zones, where the Pressure Dynamic shifts and these Arctic Winds, by Relativity, become the High Pressure Systems, and so they are pulled even further South by the Mid Continental Lower Pressure Systems.

 

A few years ago there were terrible Storm Systems in both North America and Europe in which there was kind of ‘Double Whammy’ effect – low pressure storms coming off the Pacific into America, and of the Atlantic into Europe met with the Plunging Arctic Systems to create unprecedented ‘Super Storms’.   But what I saw on that Dream TV was a far more terrible, and I think I know the reason.  The Dream Storm may be a kind of a One-Two-Three Punch – 1^st the Arctic System plunges downward, 2^nd a Tropical Storm slams into Southern California and travels swiftly Northward.  As that Pacific Element of the Storm causes the Northerly Winds to Accelerate from Low to High Pressure, Another Low Pressure Storm comes in off the Gulf of Mexico and it also travels North, but slightly behind and to the South of the Pacific Element, so that when the Two Storm Element meet, the Pacific Element Curls downward and Winds Accelerate again as they are pulled into the Gulf Storm Element.

 

Such a Storm would be Bitterly Cold due to the Arctic Element, and the Cloud Swirl I saw on the Dream TV was hundreds of miles wide.  Between the Wind and the Snow, we could expect Most of the Power Lines to come down.  We could expect ALL of the roads to be closed.  Many people would simply freeze to death.  Many people would be desperate enough start fires in their homes to stay warm, only to die of carbon monoxide poisoning or they would lose control of the fires and die of smoke inhalation.  Think of a large Apartment Building, where if just One Unit caught fire or began emitting carbon monoxide gas, the whole building could be killed off.  Then there are the thousands of people who would attempt to flee the storm in their cars only to get stuck on the roads where they would die as soon as they ran out of gas.  Yes, it could really be bad.

 

If an Area that Large were to be impacted, the roads could not be cleared quickly enough or the power lines restored quickly enough, and every helicopter on the continent would not be enough for all the Air Lifting that would be necessary to save everybody.  Yes, it could really be bad.

 

Well, the Girl was demoralized by it all. She got up and languidly squeezed past me in the hallway (I had been watching from outside the doorway) and she took a left turn and walked down another hallway deeper into that dark ram-shackle building and was soon out of sight.  Now, in many of my dreams, when I meet new and fascinating woman and enjoy their company, and they should leave the room, well, I try to follow them and find them again, but it is always a Lost Cause.  I eventually learned that IN A DREAM when somebody Leaves The Room it is kind of like an Actor in a Play doing an “Exit Stage Left”, that is, the Character Ceases to Exist at that Point.  Well, this is the First Dream in which I finally Realized That, and did not attempt to follow… I had understood at some level that at that point she was simply ‘no-more’.  It is not that I was Lucid, but I had made it such a point to Instruct Myself to Not Continue making this Same Mistake over and over again and wasting so Much Dream Time attempting what was effectively Impossible, that the Suggestion finally ‘took’.   You know how we say that the Subconscious Mind can affect our Conscious thinking and behavior, well, perhaps the Same Kind of Thing works on the Inverse – that  Suggestions from the Conscious Mind can have an Impact on the Dream Mind’s decision making processes.

The Piccolo Bass, 4 String, 5 String, String Setups, Etc

I was delighted when I learned there was such a thing as the Piccolo Bass.  I play a number of stringed instruments, especially instruments in the Guitar Family.  But the Stringed Instruments that I can Play most expressively are the Basses (… but of course there are the Violins, but I’m always afraid that I will poke somebody’s eye out with those pointy little bows…).   The primary Reason accounting for this more-than-ordinary ‘Expressiveness’ in the Basses is that they have Way More Clearance between their Stings.  One can really get one’s fingers in There without fear of bumping into the wrong strings, and this really helps with regulating the Feel and Intensity of one’s Playing – one can go from a mere whisper by just gently rubbing the side of a string to the ‘bullet shot’ of hooking a finger under the string and giving it a good hard pull, and all without touching the Volume Knob.   That kind of Expressiveness needs a bit of ‘elbow room’.   With Guitars, well, the strings are so close together that one is tempted to always use Picks, and since it’s so difficult to isolate individual strings, well, nearly all playing is done in chords and intervals, which Sounds Great… when that is what you want, but sometimes wouldn’t we rather enjoy Finger Picking out some lovely little lilting melody or some subtle and intriguing Arpeggio?   So for some Songs, some Styles and some Sounds, well, the Guitar is simply Not exactly the Right Instrument, though we must all admit that a great many Guitar Players manage to do rather well against those Limitations.    But the Bass is not exactly perfect by any means either, is it?... and it’s kind of obvious what Its Biggest Problem is – it’s simply Too Low.  What good is having an Instrument with sufficient Clearance between the Strings to be Melodically Beautiful if all the Notes come out sounding like a distant thunder?   

But, let me start my Story -- there I was, practicing the Bass, doing the best I could, but knowing that nearly everything I could do on the Bass was too darn Low from where it ought to have been.   So I kept wondering what I could do about it… 

I was almost ready to buy a Seven String Guitar, so I could install just 4 Strings, leaving every other String Slot empty, and that would have given me Twice as much Clearance between Strings as any normal Electric Guitar.   But that seemed like a bit Too Much Clearance (Electric Guitar strings are spaced about 10mm apart, while Basses are 15mm or 16mm).  Then one day I got lucky when a Salesman at the local guitar shop had heard about something that he thought I would be interested in and he researched it out for me – he told me of existence of the Piccolo Bass.  Wow!... For me, the Piccolo Bass Idea represented an Instrument in the Bass & Guitar Family with close to Optimum Tonal Range AND with plenty of clearance between strings.  

The only Piccolo Basses I have heard of so far are the Short Scale (30”) 4 String Piccolos.  Their Strings are the SAME Notes as the 4 thickest Strings on the Guitar – E A D G.   I would suppose that Many a Musical Sceptic would suggest that a Piccolo Bass is “Just Like a Guitar, only Two Strings Less”.  So why not just get a guitar!?  Well, that Objection is certainly True Enough, if taken solely in view of its own tightly focused Logic.  With that being the case, well, if there is any justification for the Existence of the Piccolo Bass at all, it has to be because of its more Optimum String Spacing.   

The Piccolo Basses I have heard about are converted Fender (or Squire) Mustang 4-String Basses.  They come as regular ‘Low-Note’ Basses, and so you have to swap out the strings to make the ‘Piccolo Conversion’.  D’Addario sells  a Set of Strings for the Piccolo 4 String – the Skinny G (.020) string is a Plain Wire String (sounds Great!) and the other three strings are Round Wound (.052, .042, .032)– which is not so great if you like Flat Wound.  But if you don’t mind ordering strings singly, you can get Flat Wounds in .050, .040, and .032 (Ernie Ball and D’Addario sell them) – I strung my own Mustang Piccolo with Flats (Ernie Ball .050 and .040, and a D’Addario .032) and I am quite pleased with how it worked out.   

Oh, there is a kind of a Lucky Peculiarity with the Set of Strings that D’Addario sells for the Piccolo Bass – that while the String Set is designed to have the correct Tension on a 30 inch Scale (to be tuned to E A D G), the strings are actually “Long” Enough to be installed on a 34 inch Long Scale Bass… which is most Fender Basses.  But those Strings are REALLY Tight even on the shorter 30’ Scale, and so I would be afraid to tune them to E A D G on a Long Scale Bass – either the Strings would Snap or your Poor Finger Tips would go raw and bloody trying to pluck at the rigidly stiff things.  I read over the Famous D’Addario String Tension Chart PDF for several hours trying to see if I could identify any suitable strings for a Long Scale Piccolo Bass (tuned to B E A D G)… well the Deal Stoppers there are the two thinnest Strings, the D and G, as there are no Long Scale Strings about ‘a half notch’ lighter than the .032 and the .020P.  So if you wanted to Convert  Long Scale Bass to Piccolo duty it seems that one would have no choice but to drop the Tuning a full Note (two Frets) lower.   Such a Drop Tuning would give you a 4-String Long-Scale Piccolo Bass tuned to D G C F.  If you had a 5-String Bass, it would become an A D G C F.   The Splendid Coincidence about A D G C F Tuning is that a Standard Bass ALREADY has an A D and G Strings… you just have to move them from One Side of the Neck to the Other.  I already converted my 5-String Fender Jazz Bass – it works and sounds great.  

Oh, I sort of accidentally stumbled upon Something that maybe not everybody knows already.  You see, because I am now practicing with both a 4-String Short Scale E A D G Piccolo, and a 5-String Long Scale A D G C F Piccolo (two frets Lower than  a “E A D G”), I was a bit surprised when I found that I could jump between the two different Tunings and Scales with such ease, and I was unwilling to just suppose that it was because I was somehow ‘that good’.  You see, incidentally, I have been studying Math  (can’t play music All the Time), and it occurred to me to compare the Two Different Tunings and Scales with some precise Exponential Mathematics… and then a straight edge ruler just to Make Sure.   It turns out that while the Tuning of Each Piccolo Bass is one Full Note apart (two frets), the Fret Sizes for the SAME ACTUAL Notes are practically identical (for instance, the 12^th ‘Double Dot’ Fret on the 30” Scale Piccolo is a ‘G’, and that fret is virtually the same size as the ‘G’ Fret on the Long Scale Piccolo which is played two frets further down).   What we can Infer from that is that IF you plan to have both a Short Scale Piccolo and a Long Scale Piccolo, well, you shouldn’t worry that you may have to drop the Tuning of the Long Scale Bass down a couple of notches, since such tuning actually Preserves the Same Spacing between the ‘Fret Notes’ from One Bass to the Other… you just have to slide up or down the neck depending on which Piccolo you pick up to play.    

Oh, by the way, that Same Note-to-Fret close similarity exists for the other Common Guitar and Bass Scales – Using the Long Scale 34” Bass as our reference, the next Scale down is the 32” Medium Scale Bass (a Half Step or One Fret Higher),  then comes the 30” Short Scale Bass (2 Frets Higher), the 28 ½” Baritone Guitar Scale (3 Frets Higher), the new 27” Electric Baritone Guitar Scale (4 Frets Higher), and of course the Guitar at 25” which is 5 Frets or a ‘full String’ higher.  Theoretically you should be able to use the Same Strings on every one of those Scales, just tuning to the Higher Note made possible by the Shorter Scale (But on the Practical Level, Strings in the 25” ‘Guitar Scale come in a greater variety and are far more affordable).  

So, with all that being said, I am relatively Happy with my Piccolo Basses – the 5-String Jazz Bass and the Little 4-String Mustang Conversions,  But What If I Could have Anything I Want…and if it did not already Exist, I could just snap my fingers to make it magically appear ?   Well, such a Thought makes me wonder whether the Piccolo IDEA is really the best of All Possible Ideas, for an instrument intended to be played in its Intended Style?   Yes, the Piccolo Bass is a great deal better than Nothing.   BUT if I could design the Optimum Instrument for that ‘Kind of Thing’, well, and it would be on the same 25” Scale as ordinary Electric Guitars and it would use 5 regular scale Guitar Strings.  Well, I suppose there should be a 4-String Version for the people who find the Narrower 4-String Neck ‘Faster’ and more ‘User Friendly’.  The 4-String application would not require a wider neck to permit 16.6mm of Clearance between Strings, but a 5-String would need a Neck the same Width as a 5-String Bass.   Also, Such an Instrument could be tuned ‘One String’ or even ‘Two Strings’ higher than the Piccolo Bass.  It would certainly be more versatile in its tuning options and possibilities.   With the Wide String Spacing, such an Instrument would be Expressive in a Whole Different Way than the usual Electric Guitar.  The World could use an Instrument like that!   Just look at how the Music Industry works now… nobody wonders that a Lead Guitar Player is playing essentially the SAME Instrument as the guy playing Rhythm.  The Lead Guitar Player must necessarily be cramped inside the Limitations of his Instrument.  Really Creative and Expressive Music, when it IS done nowadays, well, it has to be done with all that Acoustic Stuff, because the Acoustic People have a larger choice of Instrumentation, but, well, then you lose the Electric Sound… and Everything you can DO with Electric Sound.   So, anyway, I think there is a Gap in the Potential for Electric Music, and that a 4 or 5-String  Instrument with Wide String Spacing but on the Same Scale as the good ol’ Standard  Guitar could jump into that Breach. Hmmm… what to call such an Instrument?   With the String Spacing of a Bass but being of the same size and appearance as a Guitar, well, such a Cross Breed could be called a ‘Bass-tar’ – wouldn’t That be a catchy enough Name?  

Well, to conclude… since Anything Better does not seem to Exist yet, I DO Hope the Piccolo Phenomena Catches On so that People can begin to see the Stylistic Possibilities for That Kind of Instrument.