http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/01/06/back-to-the-future/ Random samplings from a universe of ideas. Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:26:47 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/01/06/back-to-the-future/comment-page-1/#comment-9536 Music and Language | Cosmic Variance Wed, 21 Feb 2007 07:25:53 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/01/06/back-to-the-future/#comment-9536 [...] Diana Deutsch has done some research on “tone languages”, for example - languages where what sounds to English speakers like single word actually takes on several different and often unrelated meanings depending upon the pitch/tone at which it is spoken. The example of Mandarin is given (which makes me reflect quite a bit on the bizarre misunderstandings I had from time to time in my walkabout last year in Taiwan - I like to try the language a bit, even if there is an alternative… this sometimes gets me into trouble), and it leads to fascinating insights when you couple it to music. She discovered, for example, that the speakers of tone language have a vastly greater number of people who have perfect absolute pitch as compared to people who speak non-tone languages. There are links to her work from the radio program’s website. There are also links to her collections of audio files of musical illusions, which put me in mind of the optical illusions discussion I blogged about not so long ago, and associated links. [...] [...] Diana Deutsch has done some research on “tone languages”, for example – languages where what sounds to English speakers like single word actually takes on several different and often unrelated meanings depending upon the pitch/tone at which it is spoken. The example of Mandarin is given (which makes me reflect quite a bit on the bizarre misunderstandings I had from time to time in my walkabout last year in Taiwan – I like to try the language a bit, even if there is an alternative… this sometimes gets me into trouble), and it leads to fascinating insights when you couple it to music. She discovered, for example, that the speakers of tone language have a vastly greater number of people who have perfect absolute pitch as compared to people who speak non-tone languages. There are links to her work from the radio program’s website. There are also links to her collections of audio files of musical illusions, which put me in mind of the optical illusions discussion I blogged about not so long ago, and associated links. [...]

]]> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/01/06/back-to-the-future/comment-page-1/#comment-9535 JayH Log » Music and Language - Good to know Sun, 29 Oct 2006 08:48:45 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/01/06/back-to-the-future/#comment-9535 [...] Diana Deutsch has done some research on “tone languages”, for example - languages where what sounds to English speakers like single word actually takes on several different and often unrelated meanings depending upon the pitch/tone at which it is spoken. The example of Mandarin is given (which makes me reflect quite a bit on the bizarre misunderstandings I had from time to time in my walkabout last year in Taiwan - I like to try the language a bit, even if there is an alternative… this sometimes gets me into trouble), and it leads to fascinating insights when you couple it to music. She discovered, for example, that the speakers of tone language have a vastly greater number of people who have perfect absolute pitch as compared to people who speak non-tone languages. There are links to her work from the radio program’s website. There are also links to her collections of audio files of musical illusions, which put me in mind of the optical illusions discussion I blogged about not so long ago, and associated links. [...] [...] Diana Deutsch has done some research on “tone languages”, for example – languages where what sounds to English speakers like single word actually takes on several different and often unrelated meanings depending upon the pitch/tone at which it is spoken. The example of Mandarin is given (which makes me reflect quite a bit on the bizarre misunderstandings I had from time to time in my walkabout last year in Taiwan – I like to try the language a bit, even if there is an alternative… this sometimes gets me into trouble), and it leads to fascinating insights when you couple it to music. She discovered, for example, that the speakers of tone language have a vastly greater number of people who have perfect absolute pitch as compared to people who speak non-tone languages. There are links to her work from the radio program’s website. There are also links to her collections of audio files of musical illusions, which put me in mind of the optical illusions discussion I blogged about not so long ago, and associated links. [...]

]]> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/01/06/back-to-the-future/comment-page-1/#comment-9534 Tales From the Industry, VII | Cosmic Variance Thu, 18 May 2006 07:39:36 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/01/06/back-to-the-future/#comment-9534 [...] Just before I flew off to hide in Taiwan for a month, in December, Oliver and I dashed off a quick letter to the Magic Theatre, together with a draft of the first act of the play, entering it for consideration for one of those grants. I forgot all about it for several months. [...] [...] Just before I flew off to hide in Taiwan for a month, in December, Oliver and I dashed off a quick letter to the Magic Theatre, together with a draft of the first act of the play, entering it for consideration for one of those grants. I forgot all about it for several months. [...]

]]> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/01/06/back-to-the-future/comment-page-1/#comment-9527 Cookin’ | Cosmic Variance Thu, 02 Mar 2006 23:17:33 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/01/06/back-to-the-future/#comment-9527 [...] Serious blogs are apparently not supposed to be of the “what I had for dinner last night” variety. Do I care what people think a serious blog is supposed to be about? No! I can think of few things I care less about, in fact. So here is the ultimate “what I had for dinner last night” post. People asked for this, and so here it is….. (except it was not last night, but some nights ago.) It is the promised report on my noodle dish experiments, inspired by my wonderful Walkabout culinary experiences in Taiwan, described in several posts earlier (see e.g. here, here, here……) [...] [...] Serious blogs are apparently not supposed to be of the “what I had for dinner last night” variety. Do I care what people think a serious blog is supposed to be about? No! I can think of few things I care less about, in fact. So here is the ultimate “what I had for dinner last night” post. People asked for this, and so here it is….. (except it was not last night, but some nights ago.) It is the promised report on my noodle dish experiments, inspired by my wonderful Walkabout culinary experiences in Taiwan, described in several posts earlier (see e.g. here, here, here……) [...]

]]> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/01/06/back-to-the-future/comment-page-1/#comment-9526 The Search for Coffee | Cosmic Variance Sun, 26 Feb 2006 05:17:16 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/01/06/back-to-the-future/#comment-9526 [...] Saturday night, and I’m doing a bit of blogging after clearing weeds in the garden. Shouldn’t I be getting ready to go out on the town and live it up a bit? Perhaps. I’ll see how I feel in an hour or so. Let me tell you a bit more about my Taiwan wanderings. I’m cheating a bit by borrowing (heavily edited and abridged!) extracts from one of the other blogs I keep…this one being a real diary that lives on my laptop, which I started while on Walkabout as a means of clearing my head (the point of the trip), by essentially talking to myself. [...] [...] Saturday night, and I’m doing a bit of blogging after clearing weeds in the garden. Shouldn’t I be getting ready to go out on the town and live it up a bit? Perhaps. I’ll see how I feel in an hour or so. Let me tell you a bit more about my Taiwan wanderings. I’m cheating a bit by borrowing (heavily edited and abridged!) extracts from one of the other blogs I keep…this one being a real diary that lives on my laptop, which I started while on Walkabout as a means of clearing my head (the point of the trip), by essentially talking to myself. [...]

]]> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/01/06/back-to-the-future/comment-page-1/#comment-9533 A Good Sign | Cosmic Variance Fri, 24 Feb 2006 08:26:17 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/01/06/back-to-the-future/#comment-9533 [...] I went there (on Wednesday 4th January, during my Walkabout) to give a lecture (”Non-critical Strings and Matrix Models”) with more background material on the matters in the seminar I presented a week and a half before in Taipei (the one before I dashed for the bus to Tainan…). It was at the invitation of Chiang-Mei Chen. There I also met Otto Kong Cho-Wing. They are both high energy physicists, and I enjoyed my short visit. They were excellent hosts, and particularly gracious (and visibly happy to relocate) when, after we sat down to lunch at a Western-style restaurant they clearly thought I would prefer, I quietly suggested that I’d be very happy (hint! hint!) the Chinese-style one that they had briefly mentioned earlier. It was probably rude to have said anything, I know, but everyone got a much better meal out of it. [...] [...] I went there (on Wednesday 4th January, during my Walkabout) to give a lecture (”Non-critical Strings and Matrix Models”) with more background material on the matters in the seminar I presented a week and a half before in Taipei (the one before I dashed for the bus to Tainan…). It was at the invitation of Chiang-Mei Chen. There I also met Otto Kong Cho-Wing. They are both high energy physicists, and I enjoyed my short visit. They were excellent hosts, and particularly gracious (and visibly happy to relocate) when, after we sat down to lunch at a Western-style restaurant they clearly thought I would prefer, I quietly suggested that I’d be very happy (hint! hint!) the Chinese-style one that they had briefly mentioned earlier. It was probably rude to have said anything, I know, but everyone got a much better meal out of it. [...]

]]> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/01/06/back-to-the-future/comment-page-1/#comment-9532 Culinary Dreaming | Cosmic Variance Wed, 15 Feb 2006 06:01:15 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/01/06/back-to-the-future/#comment-9532 [...] That first meal was the first of several where I could really dig deep into the considerable and wonderful culinary depths of the culture. For the next 48 hours I’d not be just sampling things I could figure out how to order on my own…I’d have help (such as with that last meal) from a fellow food lover, my dear friend Huei-Shih Liao, who lives in the city. So I could discover the really advanced stuff, get things that aren’t even on the menu, and learn a lot about the food and history too. It was actually Huei-Shih I came to see in Tainan (having met her in Taipei back in 1997), and to meet her husband and young daughter. The fact that Tainan also happens to be a fantastic historic city with arguably the best food in Taiwan was just a lucky bonus. It was enough for me to see my old friend in her home country again. That was the highlight of the whole Walkabout actually. [...] [...] That first meal was the first of several where I could really dig deep into the considerable and wonderful culinary depths of the culture. For the next 48 hours I’d not be just sampling things I could figure out how to order on my own…I’d have help (such as with that last meal) from a fellow food lover, my dear friend Huei-Shih Liao, who lives in the city. So I could discover the really advanced stuff, get things that aren’t even on the menu, and learn a lot about the food and history too. It was actually Huei-Shih I came to see in Tainan (having met her in Taipei back in 1997), and to meet her husband and young daughter. The fact that Tainan also happens to be a fantastic historic city with arguably the best food in Taiwan was just a lucky bonus. It was enough for me to see my old friend in her home country again. That was the highlight of the whole Walkabout actually. [...]

]]> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/01/06/back-to-the-future/comment-page-1/#comment-9531 Tales From The Industry, IV | Cosmic Variance Mon, 06 Feb 2006 08:26:02 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/01/06/back-to-the-future/#comment-9531 [...] I was not working on my own, but collaborating with my friend the Los Angeles-based playwright (and my USC colleague from the school of theatre) Oliver Mayer, who I’ve mentioned in earlier posts (here and here for example). Well, it was an excellent experience. We had only a few weeks to exchange several drafts back and forth, as we were working to a deadline of the 8th December (I was going to go on Walkabout after that, and also, we were going to enter it into a competition with a deadline around that time….the latter was a long shot, given the notice we had to put something together…. I’ve no idea what happened with that). [...] [...] I was not working on my own, but collaborating with my friend the Los Angeles-based playwright (and my USC colleague from the school of theatre) Oliver Mayer, who I’ve mentioned in earlier posts (here and here for example). Well, it was an excellent experience. We had only a few weeks to exchange several drafts back and forth, as we were working to a deadline of the 8th December (I was going to go on Walkabout after that, and also, we were going to enter it into a competition with a deadline around that time….the latter was a long shot, given the notice we had to put something together…. I’ve no idea what happened with that). [...]

]]> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/01/06/back-to-the-future/comment-page-1/#comment-9530 More Tasty Morsels, or, Sorry PZ Myers! | Cosmic Variance Fri, 03 Feb 2006 21:06:56 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/01/06/back-to-the-future/#comment-9530 [...] Just so you don’t get into too much of a comfort zone with the wonderful tasty food I’ve been describing to you recently (see here and here and more to come) from my Walkabout, here’s a scene perhaps a bit less familiar (at least to the Western eye) from a street market in Tainan: [...] [...] Just so you don’t get into too much of a comfort zone with the wonderful tasty food I’ve been describing to you recently (see here and here and more to come) from my Walkabout, here’s a scene perhaps a bit less familiar (at least to the Western eye) from a street market in Tainan: [...]

]]> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/01/06/back-to-the-future/comment-page-1/#comment-9529 More Tasty Morsels, or, Sorry PZ Myers! | Cosmic Variance Fri, 03 Feb 2006 21:06:49 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/01/06/back-to-the-future/#comment-9529 [...] Just so you don’t get into too much of a comfort zone with the wonderful tasty food I’ve been describing to you recently (see here and here and more to come) from my Walkabout, here’s a scene perhaps a bit less familiar (at least to the Western eye) from a street market in Tainan: [...] [...] Just so you don’t get into too much of a comfort zone with the wonderful tasty food I’ve been describing to you recently (see here and here and more to come) from my Walkabout, here’s a scene perhaps a bit less familiar (at least to the Western eye) from a street market in Tainan: [...]

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