├── oblique.dat ├── get ├── README.md └── oblique /oblique.dat: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mattreduce/oblique-fortunes/HEAD/oblique.dat -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /get: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | #!/usr/bin/env bash 2 | 3 | set -e 4 | 5 | successfully() { 6 | $* || (echo "failed" 1>&2 && exit 1) 7 | } 8 | 9 | echo "Installing fortune via Homebrew ..." 10 | successfully brew install fortune 11 | 12 | echo "Cloning oblique-fortunes ..." 13 | successfully git clone https://github.com/mattreduce/oblique-fortunes.git 14 | 15 | echo "Installing fortune files ..." 16 | successfully cd oblique-fortunes 17 | successfully cp oblique* $(brew --cellar)/fortune/**/share/games/fortunes/ 18 | 19 | echo "Adding fortune to ~/.bash_profile ..." 20 | echo " 21 | # added by oblique-fortunes 22 | if command fortune >/dev/null; then fortune oblique; fi 23 | " >> ~/.bash_profile 24 | successfully source ~/.bash_profile >/dev/null 25 | 26 | echo "Done." 27 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /README.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | # Oblique Fortunes 2 | 3 | Receive inspiration from Eno all day, whilst in the stark environs of the 4 | command line! 5 | 6 | ## Say what? 7 | 8 | This project contains [fortune][1] files comprised of Brian Eno's [Oblique 9 | Strategies][2]. 10 | 11 | 1. You must have the `fortune` program installed 12 | 2. Both files must live in a place `fortune` expects 13 | 3. You should make the call to `fortune` on "login" from a config file 14 | 15 | It will display a random Oblique Strategy before the prompt in new Terminal 16 | windows. 17 | 18 | ## Examples 19 | 20 | - "Turn it upside down" 21 | - "Accept advice" 22 | - "Not building a wall but making a brick" 23 | 24 | ## Instructions 25 | 26 | **OS X** 27 | 28 | "Don't be afraid of things because they're easy to do" 29 | 30 | ```bash 31 | bash < <(curl -sL https://raw.github.com/mattreduce/oblique-fortunes/master/get) 32 | ``` 33 | 34 | **DIY** 35 | 36 | ```bash 37 | brew install fortune 38 | git clone https://github.com/mattreduce/oblique-fortunes.git 39 | cd oblique-fortunes 40 | cp oblique* $(brew --cellar)/fortune/**/share/games/fortunes/ 41 | echo 'if command fortune >/dev/null; then fortune oblique; fi' >> ~/.bash_profile 42 | ``` 43 | 44 | ## Thanks 45 | 46 | To Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt for the Oblique Strategies. 47 | 48 | To @zeke for inspiration and providing [the strategies][3] in an easy to 49 | process format. 50 | 51 | To @thoughtbot for the `successfully()` function I use in `get`. 52 | 53 | [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortune_(Unix) 'Fortune (Unix)' 54 | [2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblique_Strategies 'Oblique Strategies' 55 | [3]: https://github.com/zeke/oblique-strategies 'zeke/oblique-strategies' 56 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /oblique: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | (Organic) machinery 2 | % 3 | A line has two sides 4 | % 5 | A very small object -Its centre 6 | % 7 | Abandon desire 8 | % 9 | Abandon normal instructions 10 | % 11 | Abandon normal instruments 12 | % 13 | Accept advice 14 | % 15 | Accretion 16 | % 17 | Adding on 18 | % 19 | Allow an easement (an easement is the abandonment of a stricture) 20 | % 21 | Always first steps 22 | % 23 | Always give yourself credit for having more than personality (given by Arto Lindsay) 24 | % 25 | Always the first steps 26 | % 27 | Are there sections? Consider transitions 28 | % 29 | Ask people to work against their better judgement 30 | % 31 | Ask your body 32 | % 33 | Assemble some of the elements in a group and treat the group 34 | % 35 | Assemble some of the instruments in a group and treat the group 36 | % 37 | Balance the consistency principle with the inconsistency principle 38 | % 39 | Be dirty 40 | % 41 | Be extravagant 42 | % 43 | Be less critical 44 | % 45 | Be less critical more often 46 | % 47 | Breathe more deeply 48 | % 49 | Bridges -build -burn 50 | % 51 | Cascades 52 | % 53 | Change ambiguities to specifics 54 | % 55 | Change instrument roles 56 | % 57 | Change nothing and continue consistently 58 | % 59 | Change nothing and continue with immaculate consistency 60 | % 61 | Change specifics to ambiguities 62 | % 63 | Children -speaking -singing 64 | % 65 | Children's voices -speaking -singing 66 | % 67 | Cluster analysis 68 | % 69 | Consider different fading systems 70 | % 71 | Consider transitions 72 | % 73 | Consult other sources -promising -unpromising 74 | % 75 | Convert a melodic element into a rhythmic element 76 | % 77 | Courage! 78 | % 79 | Cut a vital connection 80 | % 81 | Decorate, decorate 82 | % 83 | Define an area as 'safe' and use it as an anchor 84 | % 85 | Destroy -nothing -the most important thing 86 | % 87 | Destroy nothing; Destroy the most important thing 88 | % 89 | Discard an axiom 90 | % 91 | Disciplined self-indulgence 92 | % 93 | Disconnect from desire 94 | % 95 | Discover the recipes you are using and abandon them 96 | % 97 | Discover your formulas and abandon them 98 | % 99 | Display your talent 100 | % 101 | Distort time 102 | % 103 | Distorting time 104 | % 105 | Do nothing for as long as possible 106 | % 107 | Do something boring 108 | % 109 | Do something sudden, destructive and unpredictable 110 | % 111 | Do the last thing first 112 | % 113 | Do the washing up 114 | % 115 | Do the words need changing? 116 | % 117 | Do we need holes? 118 | % 119 | Don't avoid what is easy 120 | % 121 | Don't be afraid of things because they're easy to do 122 | % 123 | Don't be frightened of cliches 124 | % 125 | Don't be frightened to display your talents 126 | % 127 | Don't break the silence 128 | % 129 | Don't stress *on* thing more than another (sic) 130 | % 131 | Don't stress one thing more than another 132 | % 133 | Emphasise differences 134 | % 135 | Emphasise repetitions 136 | % 137 | Emphasise the flaws 138 | % 139 | Emphasize differences 140 | % 141 | Emphasize the flaws 142 | % 143 | Faced with a choice, do both (from Dieter Rot) 144 | % 145 | Faced with a choice, do both (given by Dieter Rot) 146 | % 147 | Feed the recording back out of the medium 148 | % 149 | Feedback recordings into an acoustic situation 150 | % 151 | Fill every beat with something 152 | % 153 | Find a safe part and use it as an anchor 154 | % 155 | From nothing to more than nothing 156 | % 157 | Get your neck massaged 158 | % 159 | Ghost echoes 160 | % 161 | Give the game away 162 | % 163 | Give way to your worst impulse 164 | % 165 | Go outside. Shut the door. 166 | % 167 | Go slowly all the way round the outside 168 | % 169 | Go to an extreme, come part way back 170 | % 171 | Go to an extreme, move back to a more comfortable place 172 | % 173 | Honor thy error as a hidden intention 174 | % 175 | How would someone else do it? 176 | % 177 | How would you have done it? 178 | % 179 | Humanise something free of error 180 | % 181 | Idiot glee (?) 182 | % 183 | Imagine the music as a moving chain or caterpillar 184 | % 185 | Imagine the music as a set of disconnected events 186 | % 187 | Imagine the piece as a set of disconnected events 188 | % 189 | In total darkness, or in a very large room, very quietly 190 | % 191 | Infinitesimal gradations 192 | % 193 | Intentions -credibility of -nobility of -humility of 194 | % 195 | Intentions -nobility of -humility of -credibility of 196 | % 197 | Into the impossible 198 | % 199 | Is it finished? 200 | % 201 | Is something missing? 202 | % 203 | Is the intonation correct? 204 | % 205 | Is the style right? 206 | % 207 | Is the tuning appropriate? 208 | % 209 | Is the tuning intonation correct? 210 | % 211 | Is there something missing? 212 | % 213 | It is quite possible (after all) 214 | % 215 | It is simply a matter or work 216 | % 217 | Just carry on 218 | % 219 | Left channel, right channel, centre channel 220 | % 221 | Listen in total darkness, or in a very large room, very quietly 222 | % 223 | Listen to the quiet voice 224 | % 225 | Look at a very small object, look at its centre 226 | % 227 | Look at the order in which you do things 228 | % 229 | Look closely at the most embarrassing details and amplify them 230 | % 231 | Lost in useless territory 232 | % 233 | Lowest common denominator 234 | % 235 | Lowest common denominator check -single beat -single note -single riff 236 | % 237 | Magnify the most difficult details 238 | % 239 | Make a blank valuable by putting it in an exquisite frame 240 | % 241 | Make a sudden, destructive unpredictable action; incorporate 242 | % 243 | Make an exhaustive list of everything you might do and do the last thing on the list 244 | % 245 | Make it more sensual 246 | % 247 | Make what's perfect more human 248 | % 249 | Mechanicalise something idiosyncratic 250 | % 251 | Move towards the unimportant 252 | % 253 | Mute and continue 254 | % 255 | Not building a wall but making a brick 256 | % 257 | Not building a wall; making a brick 258 | % 259 | Once the search has begun, something will be found 260 | % 261 | Once the search is in progress, something will be found 262 | % 263 | Only a part, not the whole 264 | % 265 | Only one element of each kind 266 | % 267 | Openly resist change 268 | % 269 | Overtly resist change 270 | % 271 | Pae White's non-blank graphic metacard 272 | % 273 | Put in earplugs 274 | % 275 | Question the heroic 276 | % 277 | Question the heroic approach 278 | % 279 | Remember .those quiet evenings 280 | % 281 | Remember quiet evenings 282 | % 283 | Remove a restriction 284 | % 285 | Remove ambiguities and convert to specifics 286 | % 287 | Remove specifics and convert to ambiguities 288 | % 289 | Repetition is a form of change 290 | % 291 | Retrace your steps 292 | % 293 | Revaluation (a warm feeling) 294 | % 295 | Reverse 296 | % 297 | Short circuit (example; a man eating peas with the idea that they will improve his virility shovels them straight into his lap) 298 | % 299 | Shut the door and listen from outside 300 | % 301 | Simple Subtraction 302 | % 303 | Simple subtraction 304 | % 305 | Simply a matter of work 306 | % 307 | Slow preparation, fast execution 308 | % 309 | Spectrum analysis 310 | % 311 | State the problem as clearly as possible 312 | % 313 | State the problem in words as clearly as possible 314 | % 315 | State the problem in words as simply as possible 316 | % 317 | Take a break 318 | % 319 | Take away the elements in order of apparent non-importance 320 | % 321 | Take away the important parts 322 | % 323 | Tape your mouth (given by Ritva Saarikko) 324 | % 325 | The inconsistency principle 326 | % 327 | The most easily forgotten thing is the most important 328 | % 329 | The most important thing is the thing most easily forgotten 330 | % 331 | The tape is now the music 332 | % 333 | Think - inside the work -outside the work 334 | % 335 | Think of the radio 336 | % 337 | Tidy up 338 | % 339 | Towards the insignificant 340 | % 341 | Trust in the you of now 342 | % 343 | Try faking it (from Stewart Brand) 344 | % 345 | Turn it upside down 346 | % 347 | Twist the spine 348 | % 349 | Use 'unqualified' people 350 | % 351 | Use an old idea 352 | % 353 | Use an unacceptable colour 354 | % 355 | Use cliches 356 | % 357 | Use fewer notes 358 | % 359 | Use filters 360 | % 361 | Use something nearby as a model 362 | % 363 | Use your own ideas 364 | % 365 | Voice your suspicions 366 | % 367 | Water 368 | % 369 | What are the sections sections of? Imagine a caterpillar moving 370 | % 371 | What are you really thinking about just now? 372 | % 373 | What are you really thinking about just now? Incorporate 374 | % 375 | What context would look right? 376 | % 377 | What is the reality of the situation? 378 | % 379 | What is the simplest solution? 380 | % 381 | What mistakes did you make last time? 382 | % 383 | What to increase? What to reduce? What to maintain? 384 | % 385 | What were you really thinking about just now? 386 | % 387 | What would your closest friend do? 388 | % 389 | What wouldn't you do? 390 | % 391 | When is it for? 392 | % 393 | Where is the edge? 394 | % 395 | Which parts can be grouped? 396 | % 397 | Work at a different speed 398 | % 399 | Would anybody want it? 400 | % 401 | Would anyone want it? 402 | % 403 | You are an engineer 404 | % 405 | You can only make one dot at a time 406 | % 407 | You don't have to be ashamed of using your own ideas 408 | % 409 | Your mistake was a hidden intention 410 | % 411 | 412 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------