2 for 1 Vacation
This past weekend we traveled back to Grove City college to show the campus off to my brother. It was an exciting and fast paced trip in which we saw most everyone who's still in the area and many people who aren't. First, a quick recap of the GCC trip, with some news on the campus for those of you who're interested:
- We hit lunch in the new and revised MAP cafeteria, which has been expanded and remodeled and looks really great. The food has not yet been improved, but allegedly that's coming soon...maybe by homecoming '07.
- This summer, Hicks dining hall is scheduled to be remodeled completely, and Freshman guys are living in Hicks now instead of Ketler along with Memorial, making Hicks the dorm to live in.
- Wolf Creek is back to a reasonable level of water, making creekings worth it again.
- The lacrosse team is now allowed to play on the main field, under the lights, with the turf. Sweet!
On the way home, our flight was overbooked, and volunteers were called for to give up their seats. We gave ours in exchange for 2 free tickets, and were booked for a Pittsburgh->DC->Denver flight later that evening.
In DC, 4 hours later, we faced the same situation, as United is the worst airline still in operation and apparently always overbooks their flights. We volunteered again, and were again given two free tickets, and arranged things so we didn't leave until 4:40pm the next day. We made a quick call to Charles Pierce and Mrs. Charles Pierce, and spent the surprise evening and next day with them. It was fantastic, and I'd like to publically thank them for their flexibility, and also for the socks.
Bottom line: 2 vacations for the price of one, seeing 75% of our friends in a single weekend, and 4 free plane tickets to anywhere in the US. SWEET.
In other news, here's something for you to play with - a webpage that plays MP3's at different (annoying) frequencies so you can see how badly all that loud music you listened to as a teenager has affected your hearing. I can still hear up to 17 kHz, but my friend Andy here at work can't hear more than 11. Try it out, and let me know if anyone can get them all. Coincidentally, my headphones die at 16k.
posted by RJ @ 2:37 PM
11 comments
11 Comments:
Same as Scott..
daang.
11kHz. Unreal.
Unrelated, isn't this actually 4 for 1 vacation (GC, Pierce, free ticket set 1, free ticket set 2)?
I was doing well until around 17k, but I'm not sure if I stopped hearing it, or my laptop speakers stopped playing it...
I heard until 19kHz and then I couldn't hear 20kHz
17kHz.
thats crazy.
I got 20kHz! Does that mean something?
So, its a cool idea, and I instantly pulled out my audiophile-wannabe headphones ('cans') to test this out, but I realized mid-test that unless we are all playing the sounds at the same volume (spl) then we really can't draw any meaningful comparisons from our individual results. Also, depending on the quality of your speaker hardware, frequencies beyond the reproducible range may be rendered as the maximum frequency of the hardware-- or more likely won't be audible at any volume.
I wish I had a good way to standardize our measurements, but I don't. I'm saving the audio cuts in case I think of something brilliant :) (Don't hold your breath)
What's volume have to do with the ability to hear the frequency? I understand you might hear it better at higher volumes, but eventually you can't hear it at all, right?
I was thinking about the hardware too, since my headphones stop playing the frequencies before my ears stop hearing them. J. Morgan is probably unjustly limited by bad speakers or a wimpy sound card. I mean, I definitely want speakers/sound card that can play up to 20 kHz....think of all the sound you're missing out on without it...
Sound waves are basically changes in air pressure. The frequency of a sound wave is a function of the wavelength (distance in time between two points of equal pressure (the second derivative needs to be equal too, but lets not split hairs)). The amplitude of the wave is the maximum pressure. When a wave strikes the eardrum, the bones in the ear transmit that pressure into the ear fluid, which moves the follicles and (somehow) makes an electrical impulse on the nervous system.
The way I see it, you could crank the frequency up arbitrarily high, but as long as the amplitude wasn't great enough the eardrum wouldn't be undulating enough to effect any sort of movement in my inner ear.
That said, IANAD. Any otologists in the room?
Also, inviolable, YANV.
Took me a second, Captain Tautology. :)
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