Achy Breaky Earworm

[tfabris]

Today's Straight Dope is a very interesting one about earworms. Much was stuff we already knew (the "itch" concept, for example), but a couple of items amused me, including this one:

In the early 1980s Chicago parking garage bigwig Myron Warshauer used earworms as the basis of a patented "musical theme floor reminder system," in which a different well-known song plays in each floor's elevator lobby. When you come back hours later and can't remember what floor you parked on, all you have to do is pay attention to the tune that's (theoretically) still running through your head - the song titles are listed opposite the buttons in the elevators.

In other news, Brütal Legend is hilarious, we're going to see Alton Brown speak tonight, and OVFF is next weekend. Who's going?

VixyAndTony.com
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Comments

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Very kewl on the Alton! And, I (and Anne and Leslie) will be at OVFF.

OVFF

[coat-of-brown.livejournal.com]

my suitcase is being packed as soon as the laundry's done!
:)

[netpositive.livejournal.com]

Don't know if you've seen this project yet, but since you seem a bit of a guitar geek (of course I mean that in a good way)...

http://www.thechameleonguitar.com/Chameleon_Guitar/Home.html

"The Chameleon Guitar, developed at the MIT Media Lab, presents a unique combination of traditional acoustic values and digital abilities. This is a real hybrid machine; a computer reads acoustic information from a wooden heart (resonator) to create new sound experience. This is an academic research project, and not a commercial one; hopefully it will influence others to explore what lies between our physical world and computers..."

(Not that you know me, but I'll be at OVFF too, shyly watching everyone perform as usual. Call me Audience...)

[tfabris.livejournal.com]

Interesting idea. There are already many commercial attempts to simulate the sound of an acoustic guitar via electric means, most of them based on digital sound modeling, much like that one. What seems to make that one interesting is that they're starting with a small amount of resonating wood already, meaning that their source sound is somewhat closer to an acoustic guitar already, so it has the potential for sounding more natural than the current commercial offerings.

[tfabris.livejournal.com]

It's hard to tell how well the project is doing from the sound files they're offering at the web site. A couple of the sound files are promising but the overall quality of the performances and the recordings are low so it's hard to tell. Some of the sound files have the characteristic quack that is most common to piezoelectric pickups, and some sound like a tiny little wooden guitar body similar to a Martin Backpacker or a large Uke.

[hms42]

See you @ OVFF.