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nedwharton

@nedwharton@journa.host

Retired Senior Producer at
NPR for Weekend Edition, where I crafted music features and directed the show. I love to bike, travel the world, speak French.

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nedwharton, to zerowaste
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This is so disturbing https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/04/22/stop-recycling-plastic-earth-day/

nedwharton, to random
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I know this is peak but tears streaked down my face when sang at the

StillIRise1963, to random
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I'm watching some of the dumbest people in America on TV in Iowa.

nedwharton,
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@StillIRise1963

johncarlosbaez, (edited ) to random
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My friends are learning about my current obsession with tuning systems, and starting to ask interesting questions I don't know the answers to.

Last night Michael Fourman asked: if harmonies coming from simple fractions are so natural, do any bird or whale songs feature such harmonies?

It turns out an Australian bird called the pied butcherbird has long been a favorite of many composers! Jean-Michel Maujean figured out the frequency ratios that appear in the songs of this bird. He found the 4 most common ratios are close to

0.607, 0.745, 0.815, and 1.34

He notes that

0.607 is close to going down a major sixth (3/5),
0.745 is close to going down a perfect fourth (3/4),
0.815 is kinda close to going down a major third (4/5),
1.34 is close to going up a perfect fourth (4/3).

His work looks good - but he shouldn't have bothered comparing the ratios to 12-tone or 18-tone equal temperament. Equal temperament is a system developed for keyboard instruments in the late 1700s. It would be amazing if the birds used this!

Maujean also has a nice review of the literature on harmonies in bird songs, so I should dig into it:

• Jean-Michel Maujean, Analysing Intonation of the Pied Butcherbird, https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses_hons/1526/

But I get the feeling that most birds don't sing with frequency ratios that are simple fractions. What's up with these other birds?

nedwharton,
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@johncarlosbaez no doubt you know this book?

nedwharton,
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@johncarlosbaez yes, amazing book that does indeed go deep. Author is also known as the composer David Soldier. Here’s a recent article about him: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/04/03/david-sulzer-profile-neuroscience-music

JamesGleick, to random
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When the Washington Post (@cristianolima) says “Mastodon did not return a request for comment,” what do you suppose they mean?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/07/24/twitter-rival-mastodon-rife-with-child-abuse-material-study-finds/

nedwharton,
@nedwharton@journa.host avatar

@JamesGleick @cristianolima I was wondering the same thing. Seems like saying “We reached out to The Internet for comment and they did not respond”

nedwharton, to random
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