What color is Middle “C”? Musical Pitch Related to Color

I purchased a program called Absolute Pitch which plays notes at random and assigns colors to help you learn to experience the unique “C”-ness of the “C” note in an atonal context. In the version I paid for Absolute Pitch 2.22 the test part isn’t working, but I’m hoping the programmer gets back to me soon with a fix. The Absolute Pitch does a great job in terms of choosing the most distinct 12 color pitches, but shouldn’t “Middle C” be yellow, sun colored?

As far as colors go, I’ve seen others assigned to the notes.

Is any one color “correct” for a particular note, or is this an individual choice? What I want to see is a translation of  audio frequencies to visual frequencies. If found this low resolution map which looks interesting, but I don’t want to use black and grey as colors. Middle C is 261.626 hertz and

The wavelength of each band of color in the visible spectrum (measured in nanometers, nm) can be halved repeatedly until the rate of its vibration falls within the octaves of the audible spectrum (measured in Hertz, Hz), giving a table of musical notes that correspond to each color (see Figure 2).

Eric L. Wagner of wagneric.com has an interesting analysis with a chart:

Light is a part of the electromagnetic spectrum, higher in frequency than radio waves, but below X-rays. Wavelengths we can see are between approximately 380nm and 780nm. Curiously, the spectrum of visible light, between ultraviolet and infrared, is almost exactly an octave, with the visible edge of ultraviolet having double the frequency (and half the wavelength) of the visible edge of infrared. … 

Corresponding light-spectrum harmonics were computed from equal temperament musical pitches, using a reference of A440 and a half-step frequency ratio of 21/12. Given the speed of light, C = 299792458 meters/second, and λ=C/F, wavelengths were computed for each frequency. The 780.75nm “F” falls outside of the 380-780nm range but I added it for interest. Note that exactly 12 pitches fit within the range. The light spectrum “C” is 41 octaves above middle-C

F — 349.228231 Hz ~ 383.980501 THz ~ 780.749171 nm
F# — 369.994423 Hz ~ 406.813170 THz ~ 736.929087 nm
G — 391.995436 Hz ~ 431.003540 THz ~ 695.568436 nm
G# — 415.304698 Hz ~ 456.632344 THz ~ 656.529179 nm
A — 440.000000 Hz ~ 483.785116 THz ~ 619.681028 nm
Bflat — 466.163762 Hz ~ 512.552476 THz ~ 584.901004 nm
B — 493.883301 Hz ~ 543.030432 THz ~ 552.073033 nm
C — 523.251131 Hz ~ 575.320702 THz ~ 521.087555 nm
C# — 554.365262 Hz ~ 609.531052 THz ~ 491.841158 nm
D — 587.329536 Hz ~ 645.775654 THz ~ 464.236235 nm
Eflat — 622.253967 Hz ~ 684.175473 THz ~ 438.180657 nm
E — 659.255114 Hz ~ 724.858663 THz ~ 413.587466 nm
F — 698.456463 Hz ~ 767.961002 THz ~ 390.374586 nm

My eye has trouble telling the difference between the different reds, greens and purples in this chart above. Anyway, when I take the visible spectrum and use a ruler in a graphics program and put Middle C exactly in the middle, I get this color, a mix of sun and green grass.

The Real Middle “C”

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Mile-long secret tunnel in central London for sale

A stuffy, noisy mile-long secret Cold War tunnel is up for sale in London, asking price $7.4 million — it’s only five minutes’ walk from my office, too, connecting up Chancery Lane with the Thames. It’s only got two lifts, which means you couldn’t possibly get fire-code approval to run it as a hotel or club, but there’s all kinds of intriguing possibilities (e.g. ball pit) for this much subterranean volume.

… During the cold war, the British government instructed its telephone department, which later became BT, to set up a secret communications system based on the latest technology that would be able to survive a nuclear attack.

It was the beginning of the busiest period for the tunnels, with almost 200 workers spending their days and nights underground to route up to two million calls a week across the 6,600 phone lines. In 1963, the hot line established between Moscow and Washington after the Cuban missile crisis ran through the London tunnels.

The buzzing complex soon became known as “underground town,” with its own recreation room complete with dartboards and billiard tables, a movie theater and two dining halls. Workers often spent the night in sleeping rooms … – boing

Roger Miller – King of the Road

youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhApYxZisBI]

I have an odd recurring day dream where for some reason I’m the only musician left on Earth and the only songs that get passed on are the ones I have learned. As a result, I can play and sing hundreds of songs from memory.

My current quest, as you know if you follow this blog, is to acquire perfect “absolute” pitch.

As part of that, right now I’m working on internalizing one octave of a piano keyboard. My goal is to be able to “play” a paper version of a piano keyboard from Middle C down one octave and sing the correct notes.

To help learn the intervals, I’ve also been using certain songs. Besides being one of the best songs ever written, King of the Road is interesting because it contains every note, the entire major scale, in one octave. So does the “Do Re Me Fa So La Ti Do” song, but King of the Road is much more fun to sing.

The version above (and the Dean Martin version and the combo Roger Miller Dean Martin version ) his first vocal note is A#/Bb, but if you transpose it up to C and sing it in that key, you’d sing every white key on a piano keyboard from Middle C down an octave. I’m still looking for a version in C. Here is one that starts in G#/Ab.

The closest to C I’ve found is this: FretKiller from Long Island, New York has a version that starts in B, up a 1/2 step from the Roger Miller version:

Hmm. Not sure what the problem is. This video plays fine on youtube, but when embedded, it says the video is no longer available.

P.S. In my version I sing the corrected “Bang-Gor” Maine, not “Bang-er” Maine the way it was written because Bang-Gor is the way the people of the city of Bangor pronounce it.

Police Eying Wal-Mart Trample Video

At 5:03 a.m. Friday, customers surged toward a Long Island Wal-Mart store’s entrance. A 34-year-old temporary employee was killed when a “throng of shoppers . . . physically broke down the doors, knocking him to the ground,” according to a statement from Nassau County officials. He was declared dead at a hospital at 6:03 a.m. – latimes

Police were reviewing video from surveillance cameras in an attempt to identify who trampled to death a Wal-Mart worker after a crowd of post-Thanksgiving shoppers burst through the doors at a suburban store and knocked him down.

Criminal charges were possible, but identifying individual shoppers in Friday’s video may prove difficult, said Detective Lt. Michael Fleming, a Nassau County police spokesman.

Other workers were trampled as they tried to rescue the man, and customers stepped over him and became irate when officials said the store was closing because of the death, police and witnesses said.

At least four other people, including a woman who was eight months pregnant, were taken to hospitals for observation or minor injuries. The store in Valley Stream on Long Island closed for several hours before reopening.

Police said about 2,000 people were gathered outside the Wal-Mart doors before its 5 a.m. opening at a mall about 20 miles east of Manhattan. The impatient crowd knocked the employee, identified by police as Jdimytai Damour, to the ground as he opened the doors, leaving a metal portion of the frame crumpled like an accordion.

“This crowd was out of control,” Fleming said. He described the scene as “utter chaos,” and said the store didn’t have enough security. … Kimberly Cribbs, who witnessed the stampede, said shoppers were acting like “savages.”

“When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling `I’ve been on line since yesterday morning,”‘ she said. “They kept shopping.”  … – cbsnews

DVD’s priced as low as $1.88 were flying off the shelves, while Wal-Mart employees stood at the entrance handing out 20″ Symphonic flat screen TVs that were on sale for $68.97. -cnn

Advertising, it works.

Fake Traffic Stops On YouTube Lead To Wis. Arrests

Two men are accused of outfitting a 1997 Lincoln with red and blue flashing lights, using it to make fake traffic stops … and then posting video of themselves doing it on YouTube. An anonymous tip led Monroe County sheriff’s detectives to the online video last Thursday.

On Monday, charges of being party to false imprisonment, impersonating an officer and disorderly conduct were filed against 20-year-old Cody Hobson and 21-year-old Ronald Lyons, both of Sparta.

According to a criminal complaint, two motorists were stopped Nov. 18, but the men didn’t make contact with either driver, and a third stop was attempted. During one stop, one of the men remarked that, “No matter how many times we do this, this (expletive) never gets old.”

Hobson and Lyons were freed on $5,000 signature bonds. They are due back in court next Monday. … – cbs

I wonder if they’ll nail these guys next:

Man arrested for attempted bible thumping

Authorities say a street preacher almost hit several runners with a Bible during a holiday race in Clearwater.

Police say 48-year-old Mark Alan Sutto was delivering a street sermon when he interfered with the Turkey Trot 10K on Thursday by shouting at runners, getting in their way and waving a large Bible in their path.

An arrest report says Sutto refused to stop disturbing the run, even after several warnings. He was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.

He remained in jail Saturday on $150 bail. – mftb

There was another attack by a man using a bible last month in New Zealand.

Mr Hawkins says the six candidates were fielding audience questions when “all of a sudden this guy came to the front and he didn’t stop at the microphone”. “He got up on the stage and put the bible above his head and threw it down at me.” – stuff

And a guy named John A. S. once had a dream of being beaten to death by a bible.

Indian allegations alarm Pakistan

A claim of responsibility for this week’s attacks was made by a previously unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen – a reference to a mainly Muslim region of India.

According to a statement leaked to Indian newspapers, the one alleged militant captured alive, named as Azam Amir Qasab, said the Mumbai militants had received training from an Islamist group once backed by Pakistani intelligence, Lashkar-e-Toiba.

Pakistan banned the group in 2002 at US insistence. – bbc

Ajai Sahni, the executive director of the Institute for Conflict Management in Delhi … react to the terrorist attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai and discuss the claims of Pakistani involvement in them.

Some related links:

Mumbai attacks: Are they British?

• Mumbai’s chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said two “British-born Pakistanis” were among eight gunmen captured alive during bloody shoot-outs with soldiers.

Taj Mahal hotel owner: We had warning (cnn)

Indians claim terrorists took orders from Pakistan

Armed Teams Sowed Chaos With Precision

Terrorists at Taj fired from everywhere: commando

Commandos battle well-trained, ruthless gunmen

Police find explosives at Taj hotel

Was computer expert aged 36 the mastermind?

• One possible mastermind and Simi member is Abdul Subhan Qureshi, a 36-year-old computer engineer suspected of being behind multiple bombings in Delhi, Jaipur, Bangalore and Ahmedabad earlier this year. Qureshi, also known as Tauqeer, is from Mumbai and his expertise with internet security could have played a vital part in pulling off such an ambitious plot, said Mr Neill. “He is an IT whizz-kid so it is quite possible he is the person investigators will be concentrating on. … Simi has declared jihad on India, the aim of which is to establish Dar-ul-Islam (land of Islam) by forcefully converting everyone to Islam.

India’s day of reckoning – World – smh.com.au

• In May the Lashkar-e-Toiba head, Abdul Subhan Qureshi, threatened to attack tourist sites unless the Government withdrew its support for the United States, and it has claimed responsibility for the recent bombings in Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Delhi.

Here is 21 year old Azam Amir Qasab, the lone terrorist captured who told officials at the hospital, “We had been instructed to kill to the last death.”

Indian Intelligence is good at getting the truth. Hopefully they’ll know more than the people who instructed this filth know by the time they are done with him. The game is complicated with many potential players internationally. This may not escalate, but keep your eye on the ball. Both India and Pakistan have nuclear weapons. In the event of a nuclear war India would “win” but such a war would be horrible beyond anything in recorded human history. I don’t think it will come to that, but some on the fringe believe India faced a nuclear war prior to known history. The terrorists could certainly be radical Islamist terrorists as it seems, but those who seek real peace should keep an eye on the possibility that India and Pakistan are being “played” by war profiteers pulling the terrorist’s strings.

Here is some background:

Pakistan warns that US-India nuclear deal could lead to new arms race

• India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947, and though a peace process has stabilised relations since 2004, they remain deeply distrustful of each other.

Securing Pakistan’s Nukes

• The U.S. is spending $100 million to secure Pakistan’s nukes.  … Pakistan has about 60 operational nuclear weapons, upon which the U.S. has been spending an average of 16.7 million dollars per year.

More Nukes to Pakistan?

• Pakistan is by far the country in which terrorists are the most likely to get their hands on nuclear arms, either by capturing them, having them slipped to them by cooperative elements in the military or intelligence services, or by overthrowing the failing government.

Should the UK sell arms to India and Pakistan? (2002)

• India already has a £1bn order with British Aerospace for Hawk trainer jets and is now asking the MoD about the purchase of Sea Harriers, fully-fledged combat jets.

Nuclear war would do little damage in U.S. (2002)

• A nuclear war between Pakistan and India could dwarf any catastrophe in world history, killing up to 12 million people in South Asia, but the radioactive fallout likely would not harm Americans half a world away. In fact, because of the combined effects of distance, dispersion and dilution, the increased amount of radiation in U.S. air would be barely measurable, health experts say. … Still, a Pakistan-India nuclear exchange would set a new standard for human horror: A Pentagon intelligence report estimates that the dead could total 9 million to 12 million, based on population centers that could be targeted.

Bush: U.S. to Sell F-16s to Pakistan (2005)

• President Bush rewarded a key ally in the war on terrorism Friday by authorizing the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, a move that reversed 15 years of policy begun under his father and that India warned would destabilize the volatile region.

US ready to sell advanced arms to India: Pentagon (2006)

• “It is our goal to help meet India’s needs in the defense realm, and to provide important capabilities and technologies that India seeks. We are on a path to accomplish this,” the Pentagon said in Washington.

How India’s New Nuke Deal Might Set Off an Arms Race (2008)

• … some observers worry the United States has just helped spark a new arms race.

Bush: India a jobs opportunity

• An estimated 80 percent of Indians live on less than $2 a day, but India’s middle class has swelled to more than 300 million — a number larger than the entire U.S. population — and India’s exploding economy has created millions of jobs. The country’s outsourcing industry alone is expected to bring in $22 billion in revenue this fiscal year, much of that generated by U.S. companies.

Discovery: Alien of the Deep

Shell Oil Company accidentally films a sea monster at a depth of 2.5km.

National Geographic news 24/11/08, reported the discovery of a previously unseen species of squid. The odd, “elbowed” squid was filmed 11/11/07, at a depth of 2.5 kilometres by the Shell Oil Company who were using an ROV (Remotely operated vehicle) in the Gulf of Mexico.

The squid appears to be a relative of “Magnapinna” squid – or “Bigfin” squid – first discovered in 2001, sightings of which are extremely rare – no adult samples have yet been scientifically examined.

There is something truly fascinating about these secretive creatures.

Wild! If only we could get a shot this clear of bigfoot or some aliens.

Are Modern Humans in Evolution’s Fast Lane?

“We are more different genetically from people living 5,000 years ago than they were different from Neanderthals.”

John Hawks -University of Wisconsin anthropologist

In a fascinating discovery that counters a common theory that human evolution has slowed to a crawl or even stopped in modern humans, a study examining data from an international genomics project describes the past 40,000 years as a time of supercharged evolutionary change, driven by exponential population growth and cultural shifts.

The findings may lead to a very broad rethinking of human evolution, especially in the view that modern culture has essentially relaxed the need for physical genetic changes in humans to improve survival.

The Door to Hell is in Turkmenistan

The Gates of Hell,  Darvaza Turkmenistan

Derweze underground is naturally rich in natural gas. In 1971, during a drilling, geologists accidentally found an underground cavern filled with natural gas. The ground on which the drilling rig was placed collapsed, leaving a large gaping hole exposed with a diameter of about 50-100 meters. To avoid poisonous gases coming out of the hole, it was decided to let the gases burn. As of 2008, gases in the underground cavern are still burning without interruption. Locals have named the cavern The Door to Hell.

Okay, obviously I was wrong about hell. It does exist, and all you non believers can go to h..  Turkmenistan.