2/4/12

How much has loudness grown since the Sixties?

Loudness: "A widely used "rule of thumb" for the loudness of a particular sound is that the sound must be increased in intensity by a factor of ten for the sound to be perceived as twice as loud. A common way of stating it is that it takes 10 violins to sound twice as loud as one violin. Another way to state the rule is to say that the loudness doubles for every 10 phon increase in the sound loudness level. Although this rule is widely used, it must be emphasized that it is an approximate general statement based upon a great deal of investigation of average human hearing but it is not to be taken as a hard and fast rule."

'via Blog this'

Decibel violence
Practiced in previews
At Loews Kips Bay
Leaves tender ears inert
Intrusive come-ons
For needlessly violent action films where
Loudness takes the place of  mind
Volume the place of thought
Clatter the place of subtlety
An aural bulldozer
Flattening human scale
Assaulting human imagination

We are well past acceptable degrees of
Tastelessness
This is a
A travesty
A sign of
Culture in free fall

Let us combat it
By saying NO to super action volume 
Ear splitting and injurious
Defeating normal speech

Softly but insistently
In writing and directly
Cease meddling with our being

Charles Sanders Peirce - Thinking in Threes

The People of the Web Need to Censure Russia and China

Russia and China Block U.N. Action on Syrian Crisis - NYTimes.com: "UNITED NATIONS — A United Nations Security Council effort to end the violence in Syria collapsed in acrimony and a veto by Russia and China on Saturday, hours after the Syrian military attacked the ravaged city of Homs in what opposition leaders described as the bloodiest government assault in the nearly 11-month-old uprising."

'via Blog this'

Let the censure come from us a billion strong
Relevant likes on Facebook
Relevant #censure hashtags on Twitter
These dictator-supporting countries have coasted along on their impunity
But we have the weapon now to make the NYT report that
A billion of us from everywhere
Censured, condemned, excoriated, slammed, rejected the retro acts of Russia and China
And got their attention
And made them reconsider
And made them reverse their slovenly political move
Unite people and have done with such cowardly actions




Charles Sanders Peirce - Thinking in Threes

In Maine The Choice Is Oil or Death

Maine Residents Struggle to Heat Their Homes - NYTimes.com:

"So Mr. Libby does what he can. Unlike many oil companies, he makes small deliveries and waves off most service fees. He sets up elaborate payment plans, hoping that obligations don’t melt away with the spring thaw. He accepts postdated checks. And he takes his medication.

When the customer named Robert Hartford called on the after-hours line that Saturday afternoon, asking for another delivery, Mr. Libby struggled to do what was right. He cannot bear the thought of people wanting for warmth, but his tendency to cut people a break is one reason Hometown Energy isn’t making much money, as his understanding partner keeps gently pointing out.

“I do have a heart,” Mr. Libby said. But he was already “on the hook” for the two earlier deliveries he had made to the couple’s home. What’s more, he didn’t know even know the Hartfords."

'via Blog this'

The dispersion of people in cold winter climes
Dependent on oil nearly broke deadly cold
Two months behind with more winter ahead
Sign of a world swiftly falling behind
The curve of the new

The vignette you're reading preambles the end
That cannot be avoided
Out of the pain and the death resurrection
Gather together for warmth
Together for life past the shell of dispersion
The grim isolation
Of rurality

A hard saying
Calling for facing hard truth
The challenge
The vision
The birth of the new

Putin Demonstrations Escalate Take Back Your Country

Tens of Thousands Protest in Moscow, Russia - NYTimes.com: "MOSCOW — Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters marched on Saturday through a city gripped by bitter, Arctic cold, in a third major effort by Russians opposed to Vladimir V. Putin’s return to the presidency."

'via Blog this'

The people are standing in the frigid air
For one reason only - the freedom they seek
Freedom from dictators freedom from fear
Freedom for growth and freedom for joy
Freedom to wake in the morning and see
The skies of our once-enslaved world start to clear



Charles Sanders Peirce - Thinking in Threes

The Bike Alternative Has its Limits

Living in an Automobile Culture:

"Bob Pickett wrote: The people shut inside those cocoons (autos) with the artificial air fanned on them and rigidly subject to traffic controls are to be pitied. They have access to so little of the outdoors, even though such access may have once been the impetus for owning an auto.

Cary Weitzman wrote: This makes me think of one of the more bizarre excuses people come up with for not commuting to work by bike instead of car, "What about all the car exhaust? I wouldn't want to be out there in the open with all those fumes." As if the air in cars is somehow magically purified by the act of being sucked in somewhere up near the front grille (near the exhaust of the car in front of them) and run through the air conditioning or heating system.

Bill Yoder wrote: My favorite excuse of my high school students for not having time to do their homework is "I have to go to work." When asked why they have to go to work, it's "I have to pay for my car." When asked why they have to have a car, it's "I have to get to work." It's hard to defeat such circular logic. Too many kids are hooked on cars at age 16, and live the remainder of their lives enslaved by the concept of "freedom of the road.""

'via Blog this'

But in a city bikes can be almost as intrusive as cars. It is perambulation that should concern us. Walkability. With that one thing we have made a global revolution. Cyber-communities are ecologically self-sufficient and largely vehicle free because everything is within walking distance.

Charles Sanders Peirce - Thinking in Threes

RECCMENDATION Richard Gordon Quantum Touch

The Slow as Molasses Press