Embracing Humanity: Truth in a Time of War

Fri, 09 May 2008 01:17:56 GMT

Embracing Humanity: Truth in a Time of War

Howard Zinn, playwright, activist and historian, is the author of the ground-breaking “A People’s History of the United States.” His influential writings and teaching give voice to factory workers, immigrant laborers, African Americans, Native Americans and the working poor. Zinn’s talk explores the notion of “just” wars with his usual candor and critical understanding.

Tags: politics, video

Music Reduced to Beautiful Math

Thu, 08 May 2008 11:56:48 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: "You can use these geometrical spaces to provide ways of visualizing musical pieces," Tymoczko told LiveScience. "These spaces give us a much better and comprehensive picture of the space of all possible chords."

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

It’s hard for anyone to say what music looks like, but a new mathematical approach sees classical music as cone-shaped and jazz as pyramid-like.

The connections between math and music are many, from the unproven Mozart effect (the idea that playing Mozart's music to children might improve their mathematical abilities) to the music of the spheres (the ancient belief that proportions in the movements of the planets could be viewed as a form of music). Now scientists have created a mathematical system for understanding music.

The team designed a geometrical technique for mapping out music in coordinate space. For music made of chords containing two notes, all musical possibilities take the shape of a Möbius strip, which basically looks like a twisted rubber band

The team found that the shape of possibilities using three-note chords is a three-dimensional ice cream cone, where types of chords, such as major chords and minor chords, are unique points on the cone.

Tags: music, math

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Embracing Humanity: Truth in a Time of War

Embracing Humanity: Truth in a Time of War

Music Reduced to Beautiful Math