an motd script which reads lines from eno's oblique strategies

.motd.txt

Abandon normal instruments [1st ed.]
Accept advice [1st ed.]
Accretion [1st ed.]
A line has two sides [1st ed.]
Allow an easement (an easement is the abandonment of a stricture) [1st ed.]
Are there sections? Consider transitions [1st ed.]
Ask people to work against their better judgement [1st ed.]
Ask your body [1st ed.]
Assemble some of the instruments in a group and treat the group [1st ed.]
Balance the consistency principle with the inconsistency principle [1st ed.]
Be dirty [1st ed.]
Breathe more deeply [1st ed.]
Bridges -build -burn [1st ed.]
Cascades [1st ed.]
Change instrument roles [1st ed.]
Change nothing and continue with immaculate consistency [1st ed.]
Children's voices -speaking -singing [1st ed.]
Cluster analysis [1st ed.]
Consider different fading systems [1st ed.]
Consult other sources -promising -unpromising [1st ed.]
Convert a melodic element into a rhythmic element [1st ed.]
Courage! [1st ed.]
Cut a vital connection [1st ed.]
Decorate, decorate [1st ed.]
Define an area as 'safe' and use it as an anchor [1st ed.]
Destroy -nothing -the most important thing [1st ed.]
Discard an axiom [1st ed.]
Disconnect from desire [1st ed.]
Discover the recipes you are using and abandon them [1st ed.]
Distorting time [1st ed.]
Do nothing for as long as possible [1st ed.]
Don't be afraid of things because they're easy to do [1st ed.]
Don't be frightened of cliches [1st ed.]
Don't be frightened to display your talents [1st ed.]
Don't break the silence [1st ed.]
Don't stress one thing more than another [1st ed.]
Do something boring [1st ed.]
Do the washing up [1st ed.]
Do the words need changing? [1st ed.]
Do we need holes? [1st ed.]
Emphasise differences [1st ed.]
Emphasise repetitions [1st ed.]
Emphasise the flaws [1st ed.]
Faced with a choice, do both (given by Dieter Rot) [1st ed.]
Feedback recordings into an acoustic situation [1st ed.]
Fill every beat with something [1st ed.]
Get your neck massaged [1st ed.]
Ghost echoes [1st ed.]
Give the game away [1st ed.]
Give way to your worst impulse [1st ed.]
Go slowly all the way round the outside [1st ed.]
Honor thy error as a hidden intention [1st ed.]
How would you have done it? [1st ed.]
Humanise something free of error [1st ed.]
Imagine the music as a moving chain or caterpillar [1st ed.]
Imagine the music as a set of disconnected events [1st ed.]
Infinitesimal gradations [1st ed.]
Intentions -credibility of -nobility of -humility of [1st ed.]
Into the impossible [1st ed.]
Is it finished? [1st ed.]
Is there something missing? [1st ed.]
Is the tuning appropriate? [1st ed.]
Just carry on [1st ed.]
Left channel, right channel, centre channel [1st ed.]
Listen in total darkness, or in a very large room, very quietly [1st ed.]
Listen to the quiet voice [1st ed.]
Look at a very small object, look at its centre [1st ed.]
Look at the order in which you do things [1st ed.]
Look closely at the most embarrassing details and amplify them [1st ed.]
Lowest common denominator check -single beat -single note -single riff [1st ed.]
Make a blank valuable by putting it in an exquisite frame [1st ed.]
Make an exhaustive list of everything you might do and do the last thing on the list [1st ed.]
Make a sudden, destructive unpredictable action; incorporate [1st ed.]
Mechanicalise something idiosyncratic [1st ed.]
Mute and continue [1st ed.]
Only one element of each kind [1st ed.]
(Organic) machinery [1st ed.]
Overtly resist change [1st ed.]
Put in earplugs [1st ed.]
Remember .those quiet evenings [1st ed.]
Remove ambiguities and convert to specifics [1st ed.]
Remove specifics and convert to ambiguities [1st ed.]
Repetition is a form of change [1st ed.]
Reverse [1st ed.]
Short circuit (example; a man eating peas with the idea that they will improve his virility shovels them straight into his lap) [1st ed.]
Shut the door and listen from outside [1st ed.]
Simple subtraction [1st ed.]
Spectrum analysis [1st ed.]
Take a break [1st ed.]
Take away the elements in order of apparent non-importance [1st ed.]
Tape your mouth (given by Ritva Saarikko) [1st ed.]
The inconsistency principle [1st ed.]
The tape is now the music [1st ed.]
Think of the radio [1st ed.]
Tidy up [1st ed.]
Trust in the you of now [1st ed.]
Turn it upside down [1st ed.]
Twist the spine [1st ed.]
Use an old idea [1st ed.]
Use an unacceptable colour [1st ed.]
Use fewer notes [1st ed.]
Use filters [1st ed.]
Use 'unqualified' people [1st ed.]
Water [1st ed.]
What are you really thinking about just now? Incorporate [1st ed.]
What is the reality of the situation? [1st ed.]
What mistakes did you make last time? [1st ed.]
What would your closest friend do? [1st ed.]
What wouldn't you do? [1st ed.]
Work at a different speed [1st ed.]
You are an engineer [1st ed.]
You can only make one dot at a time [1st ed.]
You don't have to be ashamed of using your own ideas [1st ed.]
[blank white card] [1st ed.]
Abandon normal instruments [2nd ed.]
Accept advice [2nd ed.]
Accretion [2nd ed.]
A line has two sides [2nd ed.]
Allow an easement (an easement is the abandonment of a stricture) [2nd ed.]
Always first steps [2nd ed.]
Always give yourself credit for having more than personality (given by Arto Lindsay) [2nd ed.]
Are there sections? Consider transitions [2nd ed.]
Ask people to work against their better judgement [2nd ed.]
Ask your body [2nd ed.]
Assemble some of the instruments in a group and treat the group [2nd ed.]
A very small object -Its centre [2nd ed.]
Balance the consistency principle with the inconsistency principle [2nd ed.]
Be dirty [2nd ed.]
Be extravagant [2nd ed.]
Breathe more deeply [2nd ed.]
Bridges -build -burn [2nd ed.]
Cascades [2nd ed.]
Change instrument roles [2nd ed.]
Change nothing and continue with immaculate consistency [2nd ed.]
Children's voices -speaking -singing [2nd ed.]
Cluster analysis [2nd ed.]
Consider different fading systems [2nd ed.]
Consult other sources -promising -unpromising [2nd ed.]
Convert a melodic element into a rhythmic element [2nd ed.]
Courage! [2nd ed.]
Cut a vital connection [2nd ed.]
Decorate, decorate [2nd ed.]
Define an area as 'safe' and use it as an anchor [2nd ed.]
Destroy -nothing -the most important thing [2nd ed.]
Discard an axiom [2nd ed.]
Disciplined self-indulgence [2nd ed.]
Disconnect from desire [2nd ed.]
Discover the recipes you are using and abandon them [2nd ed.]
Distorting time [2nd ed.]
Do nothing for as long as possible [2nd ed.]
Don't be afraid of things because they're easy to do [2nd ed.]
Don't be frightened of cliches [2nd ed.]
Don't be frightened to display your talents [2nd ed.]
Don't break the silence [2nd ed.]
Don't stress *on* thing more than another (sic) [2nd ed.]
Do something boring [2nd ed.]
Do the washing up [2nd ed.]
Do the words need changing? [2nd ed.]
Do we need holes? [2nd ed.]
Emphasise differences [2nd ed.]
Emphasise repetitions [2nd ed.]
Emphasise the flaws [2nd ed.]
Faced with a choice, do both (given by Dieter Rot) [2nd ed.]
Feed the recording back out of the medium [2nd ed.]
Fill every beat with something [2nd ed.]
Get your neck massaged [2nd ed.]
Ghost echoes [2nd ed.]
Give the game away [2nd ed.]
Give way to your worst impulse [2nd ed.]
Go outside. Shut the door. [2nd ed.]
Go slowly all the way round the outside [2nd ed.]
Honor thy error as a hidden intention [2nd ed.]
How would you have done it? [2nd ed.]
Humanise something free of error [2nd ed.]
Idiot glee (?) [2nd ed.]
Imagine the piece as a set of disconnected events [2nd ed.]
Infinitesimal gradations [2nd ed.]
Intentions -credibility of -nobility of -humility of [2nd ed.]
In total darkness, or in a very large room, very quietly [2nd ed.]
Into the impossible [2nd ed.]
Is it finished? [2nd ed.]
Is the tuning intonation correct? [2nd ed.]
Is there something missing? [2nd ed.]
It is quite possible (after all) [2nd ed.]
Just carry on [2nd ed.]
Left channel, right channel, centre channel [2nd ed.]
Listen to the quiet voice [2nd ed.]
Look at the order in which you do things [2nd ed.]
Look closely at the most embarrassing details and amplify them [2nd ed.]
Lost in useless territory [2nd ed.]
Lowest common denominator [2nd ed.]
Make a blank valuable by putting it in an exquisite frame [2nd ed.]
Make an exhaustive list of everything you might do and do the last thing on the list [2nd ed.]
Make a sudden, destructive unpredictable action; incorporate [2nd ed.]
Mechanicalise something idiosyncratic [2nd ed.]
Mute and continue [2nd ed.]
Not building a wall but making a brick [2nd ed.]
Only one element of each kind [2nd ed.]
(Organic) machinery [2nd ed.]
Overtly resist change [2nd ed.]
Put in earplugs [2nd ed.]
Question the heroic approach [2nd ed.]
Remember .those quiet evenings [2nd ed.]
Remove ambiguities and convert to specifics [2nd ed.]
Remove specifics and convert to ambiguities [2nd ed.]
Repetition is a form of change [2nd ed.]
Revaluation (a warm feeling) [2nd ed.]
Reverse [2nd ed.]
Short circuit (example; a man eating peas with the idea that they will improve his virility shovels them straight into his lap) [2nd ed.]
Simple subtraction [2nd ed.]
Simply a matter of work [2nd ed.]
Spectrum analysis [2nd ed.]
State the problem in words as simply as possible [2nd ed.]
Take a break [2nd ed.]
Take away the elements in order of apparent non-importance [2nd ed.]
Tape your mouth (given by Ritva Saarikko) [2nd ed.]
The inconsistency principle [2nd ed.]
The most important thing is the thing most easily forgotten [2nd ed.]
The tape is now the music [2nd ed.]
Think of the radio [2nd ed.]
Tidy up [2nd ed.]
Towards the insignificant [2nd ed.]
Trust in the you of now [2nd ed.]
Turn it upside down [2nd ed.]
Twist the spine [2nd ed.]
Use an old idea [2nd ed.]
Use an unacceptable colour [2nd ed.]
Use fewer notes [2nd ed.]
Use filters [2nd ed.]
Use 'unqualified' people [2nd ed.]
Water [2nd ed.]
What are the sections sections of? Imagine a caterpillar moving [2nd ed.]
What are you really thinking about just now? [2nd ed.]
What is the reality of the situation? [2nd ed.]
What mistakes did you make last time? [2nd ed.]
What would your closest friend do? [2nd ed.]
What wouldn't you do? [2nd ed.]
What would your closest friend do? [2nd ed.]
Work at a different speed [2nd ed.]
You are an engineer [2nd ed.]
You can only make one dot at a time [2nd ed.]
You don't have to be ashamed of using your own ideas [2nd ed.]
[blank white card] [2nd ed.]
Abandon normal instruments [3rd ed.]
Accept advice [3rd ed.]
Accretion [3rd ed.]
A line has two sides [3rd ed.]
Allow an easement (an easement is the abandonment of a stricture) [3rd ed.]
Always first steps [3rd ed.]
Are there sections? Consider transitions [3rd ed.]
Ask people to work against their better judgement [3rd ed.]
Ask your body [3rd ed.]
Assemble some of the elements in a group and treat the group [3rd ed.]
Balance the consistency principle with the inconsistency principle [3rd ed.]
Be dirty [3rd ed.]
Be extravagant [3rd ed.]
Be less critical more often [3rd ed.]
Breathe more deeply [3rd ed.]
Bridges -build -burn [3rd ed.]
Cascades [3rd ed.]
Change instrument roles [3rd ed.]
Change nothing and continue with immaculate consistency [3rd ed.]
Children -speaking -singing [3rd ed.]
Cluster analysis [3rd ed.]
Consider different fading systems [3rd ed.]
Consult other sources -promising -unpromising [3rd ed.]
Courage! [3rd ed.]
Cut a vital connection [3rd ed.]
Decorate, decorate [3rd ed.]
Define an area as 'safe' and use it as an anchor [3rd ed.]
Destroy -nothing -the most important thing [3rd ed.]
Discard an axiom [3rd ed.]
Disciplined self-indulgence [3rd ed.]
Disconnect from desire [3rd ed.]
Discover the recipes you are using and abandon them [3rd ed.]
Distorting time [3rd ed.]
Do nothing for as long as possible [3rd ed.]
Don't be afraid of things because they're easy to do [3rd ed.]
Don't be frightened of cliches [3rd ed.]
Don't be frightened to display your talents [3rd ed.]
Don't break the silence [3rd ed.]
Don't stress one thing more than another [3rd ed.]
Do something boring [3rd ed.]
Do the words need changing? [3rd ed.]
Do we need holes? [3rd ed.]
Emphasise differences [3rd ed.]
Emphasise repetitions [3rd ed.]
Emphasise the flaws [3rd ed.]
Fill every beat with something [3rd ed.]
From nothing to more than nothing [3rd ed.]
Ghost echoes [3rd ed.]
Give the game away [3rd ed.]
Give way to your worst impulse [3rd ed.]
Go outside. Shut the door. [3rd ed.]
Go slowly all the way round the outside [3rd ed.]
Go to an extreme, move back to a more comfortable place [3rd ed.]
Honor thy error as a hidden intention [3rd ed.]
How would you have done it? [3rd ed.]
Humanise something free of error [3rd ed.]
Idiot glee (?) [3rd ed.]
Imagine the piece as a set of disconnected events [3rd ed.]
Infinitesimal gradations [3rd ed.]
Intentions -nobility of -humility of -credibility of [3rd ed.]
In total darkness, or in a very large room, very quietly [3rd ed.]
Into the impossible [3rd ed.]
Is it finished? [3rd ed.]
Is the intonation correct? [3rd ed.]
Is there something missing? [3rd ed.]
It is quite possible (after all) [3rd ed.]
Just carry on [3rd ed.]
Listen to the quiet voice [3rd ed.]
Look at the order in which you do things [3rd ed.]
Look closely at the most embarrassing details and amplify them [3rd ed.]
Lost in useless territory [3rd ed.]
Lowest common denominator [3rd ed.]
Make a blank valuable by putting it in an exquisite frame [3rd ed.]
Make an exhaustive list of everything you might do and do the last thing on the list [3rd ed.]
Make a sudden, destructive unpredictable action; incorporate [3rd ed.]
Mechanicalise something idiosyncratic [3rd ed.]
Mute and continue [3rd ed.]
Not building a wall but making a brick [3rd ed.]
Once the search is in progress, something will be found [3rd ed.]
Only a part, not the whole [3rd ed.]
Only one element of each kind [3rd ed.]
(Organic) machinery [3rd ed.]
Overtly resist change [3rd ed.]
Question the heroic approach [3rd ed.]
Remember .those quiet evenings [3rd ed.]
Remove ambiguities and convert to specifics [3rd ed.]
Remove specifics and convert to ambiguities [3rd ed.]
Repetition is a form of change [3rd ed.]
Retrace your steps [3rd ed.]
Revaluation (a warm feeling) [3rd ed.]
Reverse [3rd ed.]
Short circuit (example; a man eating peas with the idea that they will improve his virility shovels them straight into his lap) [3rd ed.]
Simple subtraction [3rd ed.]
Simply a matter of work [3rd ed.]
State the problem in words as clearly as possible [3rd ed.]
Take a break [3rd ed.]
Take away the elements in order of apparent non-importance [3rd ed.]
The inconsistency principle [3rd ed.]
The most important thing is the thing most easily forgotten [3rd ed.]
The tape is now the music [3rd ed.]
Think of the radio [3rd ed.]
Tidy up [3rd ed.]
Towards the insignificant [3rd ed.]
Trust in the you of now [3rd ed.]
Turn it upside down [3rd ed.]
Use an old idea [3rd ed.]
Use an unacceptable colour [3rd ed.]
Use fewer notes [3rd ed.]
Use filters [3rd ed.]
Use 'unqualified' people [3rd ed.]
Water [3rd ed.]
What are the sections sections of? Imagine a caterpillar moving [3rd ed.]
What are you really thinking about just now? [3rd ed.]
What is the reality of the situation? [3rd ed.]
What mistakes did you make last time? [3rd ed.]
What wouldn't you do? [3rd ed.]
What would your closest friend do? [3rd ed.]
Work at a different speed [3rd ed.]
Would anybody want it? [3rd ed.]
You are an engineer [3rd ed.]
You can only make one dot at a time [3rd ed.]
You don't have to be ashamed of using your own ideas [3rd ed.]
[blank white card] [3rd ed.]
Abandon desire [4th ed.]
Abandon normal instructions [4th ed.]
Accept advice [4th ed.]
Adding on [4th ed.]
A line has two sides [4th ed.]
Always the first steps [4th ed.]
Ask people to work against their better judgement [4th ed.]
Ask your body [4th ed.]
Be dirty [4th ed.]
Be extravagant [4th ed.]
Be less critical [4th ed.]
Breathe more deeply [4th ed.]
Bridges -build -burn [4th ed.]
Change ambiguities to specifics [4th ed.]
Change nothing and continue consistently [4th ed.]
Change specifics to ambiguities [4th ed.]
Consider transitions [4th ed.]
Courage! [4th ed.]
Cut a vital connection [4th ed.]
Decorate, decorate [4th ed.]
Destroy nothing; Destroy the most important thing [4th ed.]
Discard an axiom [4th ed.]
Disciplined self-indulgence [4th ed.]
Discover your formulas and abandon them [4th ed.]
Display your talent [4th ed.]
Distort time [4th ed.]
Do nothing for as long as possible [4th ed.]
Don't avoid what is easy [4th ed.]
Don't break the silence [4th ed.]
Don't stress one thing more than another [4th ed.]
Do something boring [4th ed.]
Do something sudden, destructive and unpredictable [4th ed.]
Do the last thing first [4th ed.]
Do the words need changing? [4th ed.]
Emphasize differences [4th ed.]
Emphasize the flaws [4th ed.]
Faced with a choice, do both (from Dieter Rot) [4th ed.]
Find a safe part and use it as an anchor [4th ed.]
Give the game away [4th ed.]
Give way to your worst impulse [4th ed.]
Go outside. Shut the door. [4th ed.]
Go to an extreme, come part way back [4th ed.]
How would someone else do it? [4th ed.]
How would you have done it? [4th ed.]
In total darkness, or in a very large room, very quietly [4th ed.]
Is it finished? [4th ed.]
Is something missing? [4th ed.]
Is the style right? [4th ed.]
It is simply a matter or work [4th ed.]
Just carry on [4th ed.]
Listen to the quiet voice [4th ed.]
Look at the order in which you do things [4th ed.]
Magnify the most difficult details [4th ed.]
Make it more sensual [4th ed.]
Make what's perfect more human [4th ed.]
Move towards the unimportant [4th ed.]
Not building a wall; making a brick [4th ed.]
Once the search has begun, something will be found [4th ed.]
Only a part, not the whole [4th ed.]
Only one element of each kind [4th ed.]
Openly resist change [4th ed.]
Pae White's non-blank graphic metacard [4th ed.]
Question the heroic [4th ed.]
Remember quiet evenings [4th ed.]
Remove a restriction [4th ed.]
Repetition is a form of change [4th ed.]
Retrace your steps [4th ed.]
Reverse [4th ed.]
Simple Subtraction [4th ed.]
Slow preparation, fast execution [4th ed.]
State the problem as clearly as possible [4th ed.]
Take a break [4th ed.]
Take away the important parts [4th ed.]
The inconsistency principle [4th ed.]
The most easily forgotten thing is the most important [4th ed.]
Think - inside the work -outside the work [4th ed.]
Tidy up [4th ed.]
Try faking it (from Stewart Brand) [4th ed.]
Turn it upside down [4th ed.]
Use an old idea [4th ed.]
Use cliches [4th ed.]
Use filters [4th ed.]
Use something nearby as a model [4th ed.]
Use 'unqualified' people [4th ed.]
Use your own ideas [4th ed.]
Voice your suspicions [4th ed.]
Water [4th ed.]
What context would look right? [4th ed.]
What is the simplest solution? [4th ed.]
What mistakes did you make last time? [4th ed.]
What to increase? What to reduce? What to maintain? [4th ed.]
What were you really thinking about just now? [4th ed.]
What wouldn't you do? [4th ed.]
What would your closest friend do? [4th ed.]
When is it for? [4th ed.]
Where is the edge? [4th ed.]
Which parts can be grouped? [4th ed.]
Work at a different speed [4th ed.]
Would anyone want it? [4th ed.]
Your mistake was a hidden intention [4th ed.]

motd.sh

function motd () {
    if [ -e ~/.motd.txt ]; then
        local rnd=1
        fn=~/.motd.txt
        lns=$(wc -l $fn | sed 's|[ ]*\([0-9]*\).*|\1|')
        if [ "$lns" = 0 ]; then
          rnd=1
        else
          rnd=$(( (RANDOM % (lns + 1)) + 1 ))
        fi
        sed -n ${rnd}p $fn
    fi
}