Pastor Jackson,
I really enjoyed the post about the theatre organs. I visited theatreorgans.com where they had a very good explanation of the venerable Hammond B3 organ. When reading about how the draw bars created the many different sounds - flute, oboe, clarinet, etc., it was expressed in terms of the shape of the waveform. Since I know so little about musical instruments, I had always assumed that most instruments produced something close to pure sine waves.
The wind instruments actually generate square waves, triangular waves, sawtooth or any number of other types or possibly, some combinations. The explanation of the tone wheels, draw bars and the generation of odd harmonics struck a chord with me (pardon the bad pun). In engineering parlance, that is called Fourier Analysis. The idea is that any waveform that is not a pure sine wave can be expressed mathematically in terms of a progression of sine waves and their multiples, or harmonics.
I often marvel at this allegedly old technology and the craftsmanship involved in making it. I understand that a harpsichord is more like a guitar where strings are plucked rather than an acoustic piano where the strings are hit with hammers. Yet the sound of the harpsichord is so unique.
I do not often engage in complicated arguments with atheists, agnostics, and evolutionists. The wonders of creation are so numerous that they cannot be counted. When you post on Ichabod what the soil creatures do to make the soil rich, I cannot help but be awed by this process.
Another part of the creation are the laws of physical science. I have spent my entire working life dealing with this in some way or another. Yet, many do not see our Creator's hand in the numerous physics and engineering books that can only express that which was created in such an orderly and consistent manner.
In Christ,
Randall Schultz
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In music we try to reproduce the singing of birds - the Goldfinch Concerto for flute is wonderful to hear, over and over.
In architecture we try to copy the grand design of the Creator.
The cooperation of all the elements of nature is an on-going spectacle. Planting 16 roses and covering the ground with mulch seems to have drawn more songbirds to the yard.
The mulch itself is Hungarian goulash for birds. Anything can be moving under the fragments of wood and paper. I was amused to find one patch of newsprint obviously torn up by a beak. Moisture plus rotting organic matter means that something alive will be just under that layer, or just under one fragment of it.
Starlings are known for strolling along the ground and spotting a creature to eat. They also devour weed seeds. Grackles seem to dig deeper for grubs. When I find a fat, white grub while digging, I put it on a stump to be seen and eaten.
A bird-friendly yard attracts an appreciative crowd that coos and twitters when I come out to feed them or work on the plants.
Humans try to keep treasure to themselves, although they do talk loudly about good eating places. Birds tweet to their flocks that they found something. The more food, the louder the chatter, the more that arrive. The social birds - like sparrows, starlings, and doves - will gather in noisy flocks. They do not eat everything, but leave some for others.
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| This cat found some pollen. |