Loud music makes you drink more
People find alcohol sweeter in noisy environments, which might drown out our ability to judge how much we are drinking. Research conducted by Dr Lorenzo Stafford, a psychologist from the University of Portsmouth, was the first experimental study to find out how music can alter the taste of alcohol. The research built on earlier research which found that people drank more alcohol and faster if loud music was playing. In Dr Stafford’s study, participants had to rate a selection of drinks varying in alcohol content on the basis of alcohol strength, sweetness, and bitterness. They were given one of four different levels of distraction, from no distraction to loud club-type music playing at the same time as reading a news report. The study found that drinks were rated significantly sweeter overall when participants were listening to music alone.
http://medicalxpress.com/print243170541.html
Newborn babies cry with accent
German researchers say babies begin to pick up the nuances of their parents' accents while still in the womb. The findings suggest that unborn babies are influenced by the sound of the first language that penetrates the womb. The French newborns cried with a rising accent while the German babies' cries had a falling inflection. It was already known that foetuses could memorise sounds from the outside world in the last three months of pregnancy and were particularly sensitive to the contour of the melody in both music and human voices.
http://factlets.info/babyaccents
Pirate Bay to launch Music Bay
The Pirate Bay is about to launch a new project titled “The Music Bay.” A few years ago, The Pirate Bay registered a domain name, themusicbay.org. At the time, there were plans to create the most efficient music sharing system ever built, but these were put aside as other projects needed more attention. Now there are rumors that The Music Bay domain may be put to use. "The music industry can't even imagine what we're planning to roll out in the coming months. For years they've complained bitterly about piracy, but if they ever had a reason to be scared it is now,” a Pirate Bay insider told TorrentFreak.
http://torrentfreak.com/the-music-bay-pirate-bay-110122/
Elvis Costello joins boycott of Israel
It is after considerable contemplation that I have arrived at the decision that I must withdraw from two performances scheduled in Israel. Some will regard [my arguments] unknowable without personal experience but if these subjects are actually too grave and complex to be addressed in a concert, then it is also quite impossible to simply look the other way. One lives in hope that music is more than mere noise, filling up idle time, whether intending to elate or lament. Then there are occasions when merely having your name added to a concert schedule may be interpreted as a political act that resonates more than anything that might be sung and it may be assumed that one has no mind for the suffering of the innocent.
http://www.elviscostello.com/news/it-is-after-cosiderable-contemplation/44
"The wall between you and the violence"
In a capital that pulses with the sounds of war, Mogadishu's Radio Xurmo was an oasis. Haunting Somali love songs and melodic nationalist tunes that evoked Somalia's lost glory filled the airwaves. "Now, the songs have vanished," said news anchor Yasmin Mayo Mohammed. The hard-line Islamist militia, Hezb-i-Islami, ordered stations in Mogadishu to stop playing music, declaring it un-Islamic. Radio Xurmo complied; the Islamists have killed Somali journalists for less cause. In Somalia's oral culture, music has shaped society for centuries. Singers crooned about family values, ancient rituals, and past empires. Collectively, music helped forge a national identity in a region dominated by clans. "It is a source of oxygen, as important to us as the water we drink," said Mohamed Hassan Haad, a senior figure in the powerful Hawiye clan. "It makes you feel life is still okay," said hotel waiter Mohammed Aden Ahmed. "It is the wall between you and the violence."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/04/AR2010050405123.html
Tags
- LOL (169)
- USA (111)
- WTF (82)
- Internet (56)
- Iran (54)
- IranElection (45)
- Capitalism (38)
- Cool (35)
- Human Rights (35)
- Israel (35)
- View all 1911 tags »
