scott von berg (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
scottobear) wrote2005-10-06 07:08 am
scottobear) wrote2005-10-06 07:08 am
7792 - all sorts of misc junk
good-ish vibes about the Deerfield place.. they're checking me out financially and socially and criminally, and I think I've passed any tests they might have.
Newt and I had a fun frolic for his b'day... nice, gentle evening, all told. A vid or two may be forthcoming, depending on how they turned out.
| You Are Apple Cider |
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| Spellsword 74% Combativeness, 43% Sneakiness, 88% Intellect, 19% Spirituality |
| Aggressive, but with the brains to back it up: You are a Spellsword! Score! You have a prestige class. A prestige class can only be taken after you’ve fulfilled certain requirements. This may mean that you're an exceptionally talented person, but it probably doesn't. Spellswords combine arcane might with combat know-how. They're much tougher than mages, like to wear armor, and can cast spells through their weapons. They're very, very, good at doing lots of damage to a single target very quickly, and while not quite as tough as most fighters, are still pretty hard to kill. You're both smart and aggressive, which means that you're probably pretty dangerous when pissed off. You also tend to be somewhat straightforward, which is nice, and don’t have much use for spirituality or mysticism. |
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My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:
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| Link: The RPG Class Test written by MFlowers on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the 32-Type Dating Test |
Also, a Terrasque? Whiskey Tango Hotel?
Saw my first episode of the new Nightstalker. - Not my thing. I'm going to have to watch old episodes of the original series now to see if my fondness for it is nostalgic or actually based on good stuff. I agree with jwz...This new show is a badly-written X-files.
Still processing this information:
Doug Wu called... he's a dad... Sired a child with illyana (a gay woman who initially dated Cathy Wu, but that didn't work out and Illlyana inherited Doug as a pal after his marriage to Cathy dissolved.)
It seems that Illyana wanted a kid and Doug is the biological father... the girl Kayla (sp?) will be raised in a household of four singles. She's seven days old at this point, and I hear that she's beautiful, and quite healthy. I think Doug'll be quite nurturing and give boundless love to his daughter.
I had no idea that Illyana was gay.. I somehow was under the impression that she was Doug's SO rather than POSSLQ... I suspect there's more of a family vibe there, all things considered, too.
Discovered some interesting things I didn't know... Doug's working as a caregiver for folks with cerebral palsy and the like, his household has no real internet access and they seem to frown on gaming (viewed as a colossal waste of otherwise useful energy) . It also seems that Doug is the primary breadwinner for the unit, with two of the members out of work
I talked to him for about an hour last night, and we caught up on things... we didn't know what sort of work the other was doing these days... oddly, I don't think we talked about comics once, even though he's pretty much the Ancient One to my Stephen Strange when it comes to TV/Comic book history and remembrances.
Night of the Living dead - in the form of a podcast/radio drama mp3
Moment of Lyric: mp3
Instrumental.
I'm beginning to dig Frigg. (Acoustic Nordic folk music with touches of American Appalachian and country & western music)
As soon as I get some more good mp3s, I'll share.
Dolphins sing 'Batman' theme
Scientists have taught dolphins to combine both rhythm and vocalizations to produce music, resulting in an extremely high-pitched, short version of the Batman theme song.
The findings, outlined in two studies, are the first time that nonhuman mammals have demonstrated they can recognize rhythms and reproduce them vocally.
"Humans are sensitive to rhythms embedded in sequences of sounds, but we typically consider this skill to be part of processing for language and music, cognitive domains that we consider to be uniquely human," says Professor Heidi Harley, lead author of both studies.
"Clearly, aspects of those domains are available to other species."
The studies will be presented at the joint meeting of the Acoustical Society of America and NOISE-CON 2005, which runs from 17 to 21 October in Minneapolis.
Learning to sing
Harley, who is associate professor of social sciences at the New College of Florida in Sarasota, says that both studies tested dolphins at Disney's Epcot Center in Florida.
The researchers first had an adult male bottlenose dolphin position itself in front of an underwater sound projector, called a hydrophone, that produced six different 14 kilohertz, 4 second rhythms.
The dolphin was rewarded for performing a certain behavior to each rhythm. For example, when rhythm 1 played, it waved its pectoral fin and when rhythm 2 played, it tossed a ball.
The various rhythms were played at different frequencies and tempos to ensure the dolphin was recognizing rhythms instead of just frequencies or sound durations.
Another adult male was trained to produce similar rhythms using a pneumatic switch, essentially a small, air-filled ball connected to a computer that then generated sounds whenever the dolphin pressed the switch.
"The dolphin was reinforced for producing a specific rhythm to a specific object," says Harley.
"For example, when we presented him with a Batman doll, he received a fish for producing a specific rhythm, in this case, a short sound and then a long one."
"If you recall the original Batman TV series musical intro you'll probably remember the way they sang 'Bat-maaaaaaaan'," she adds.
The dolphin spontaneously vocalized to the rhythms, so the researchers started to reward the male with fish whenever it matched its 'singing' to the rhythms.
By the end of the studies, the scientists could show an object, such as the Batman doll, which represented a certain rhythm-vocalization combo to the dolphin, and it would create the correct sounds both vocally and using the switch.
Batmaaaaaaan
Gordon Bauer, associate professor of psychology at the New College of Florida who did not work on the studies, says, "This is the first report, to my knowledge, of a nonhuman mammal's ability to discriminate rhythmic patterns."
But Bauer doubts that dolphins realize they are producing what people consider 'music'.
"I think music is a human construct," he says. "I doubt that it has pertinence to animals, although the elements of music, such as pitch, time, timbre, rhythm, etc, may be incorporated into animal communication."
Harley agrees, and hopes the everyday vocalizations of dolphins will be analyzed in terms of their rhythmic content.
In the near future, she and her team are planning to test the dolphins on their ability to recognize recordings of their own rhythms by having them associate their own sound creations with identifying objects similar to the Batman doll.
The findings, outlined in two studies, are the first time that nonhuman mammals have demonstrated they can recognize rhythms and reproduce them vocally.
"Humans are sensitive to rhythms embedded in sequences of sounds, but we typically consider this skill to be part of processing for language and music, cognitive domains that we consider to be uniquely human," says Professor Heidi Harley, lead author of both studies.
"Clearly, aspects of those domains are available to other species."
The studies will be presented at the joint meeting of the Acoustical Society of America and NOISE-CON 2005, which runs from 17 to 21 October in Minneapolis.
Learning to sing
Harley, who is associate professor of social sciences at the New College of Florida in Sarasota, says that both studies tested dolphins at Disney's Epcot Center in Florida.
The researchers first had an adult male bottlenose dolphin position itself in front of an underwater sound projector, called a hydrophone, that produced six different 14 kilohertz, 4 second rhythms.
The dolphin was rewarded for performing a certain behavior to each rhythm. For example, when rhythm 1 played, it waved its pectoral fin and when rhythm 2 played, it tossed a ball.
The various rhythms were played at different frequencies and tempos to ensure the dolphin was recognizing rhythms instead of just frequencies or sound durations.
Another adult male was trained to produce similar rhythms using a pneumatic switch, essentially a small, air-filled ball connected to a computer that then generated sounds whenever the dolphin pressed the switch.
"The dolphin was reinforced for producing a specific rhythm to a specific object," says Harley.
"For example, when we presented him with a Batman doll, he received a fish for producing a specific rhythm, in this case, a short sound and then a long one."
"If you recall the original Batman TV series musical intro you'll probably remember the way they sang 'Bat-maaaaaaaan'," she adds.
The dolphin spontaneously vocalized to the rhythms, so the researchers started to reward the male with fish whenever it matched its 'singing' to the rhythms.
By the end of the studies, the scientists could show an object, such as the Batman doll, which represented a certain rhythm-vocalization combo to the dolphin, and it would create the correct sounds both vocally and using the switch.
Batmaaaaaaan
Gordon Bauer, associate professor of psychology at the New College of Florida who did not work on the studies, says, "This is the first report, to my knowledge, of a nonhuman mammal's ability to discriminate rhythmic patterns."
But Bauer doubts that dolphins realize they are producing what people consider 'music'.
"I think music is a human construct," he says. "I doubt that it has pertinence to animals, although the elements of music, such as pitch, time, timbre, rhythm, etc, may be incorporated into animal communication."
Harley agrees, and hopes the everyday vocalizations of dolphins will be analyzed in terms of their rhythmic content.
In the near future, she and her team are planning to test the dolphins on their ability to recognize recordings of their own rhythms by having them associate their own sound creations with identifying objects similar to the Batman doll.
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3 years ago - mickey one,*many* palm doodles, mush, cpap, newt pics, cupboard, dead phone dream, bookstore, mk army idea, bro debt,
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That's not very nice at all!!
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div/un
Re: div/un
Re: div/un
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And apple cider is delicious cold, even in the middle of winter! What are those people talking about?
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They're loonies. I still love me some autumn.
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Unusual, but different. I was hoping for the "dead" one. Ho hum. :)
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I was a little dissapointed with the dead at 77 one. Thats too old. 65 would do me. *Shrugs*
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No death wish here. I'm just not worried about it.
I used to have a real fear of death (even to the point where it would keep me awake at night!) until I met someone who had some condition (I forget the name) where she could keal over at any time. She taught me that "you should treat death as a good close friend, because one day you'll both go on a long walk together." Odd as it sounds that did the trick.
The only downside is that it made me a little morbid (in a good way). :-)
As for 77, its a great innings but I'd rather not get to the point where I'm losing it. I've seen it happen with my own grandfolks before they died, and thats the one thing that really does bother me.
Besides, you can't have a morbid interest in death without enjoying life. :-)
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Say, mind if I add you to my friends list? Always after a good LJ to read and you seem like a fun person.
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And heres another icon... showing Scotto's cat Newt in his plans for World Domination. ;)
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Glad to help a fellow zombie-lover out!
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http://www.zombieastronaut.com/0012pick.html
have some bloodsuckers, to mix it up!
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Speaking of which, might have some interesting news on the zombie gaming front soon. Keep an eye on the old LJ over the next week or so. :-)
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I love your new YOU icon. Very mysterious looking.
POSSLQ?? (I'm socially inept)But new babies always bring new joy.
I listened to the Instrumental...it woke me up! I like it, I love any string instrument, add a little of the Country and wow, not bad at all.
Have a good day, mister.
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I'm glad you dug the tune, and hope you're having a great day, too!
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