Books

[scotchandcigar]

Over the years, my ears have done a good job of dampening loud noises, as described here:

The acoustic reflex, one of the body’s most intriguing reflexes, is located inside the middle ear. Two tiny muscles, the stapedius and the tensor tympani, automatically tighten in response to loud noises. The amount of sound energy that reaches the inner ear is decreased by this tightening action. To put it another way, the ear has a built-in volume control that turns on in milliseconds.

So most of my (objectively) excellent hearing is intact. In contrast, many members of the community band I play in have hearing loss. The effects range from having a hard time hearing the director speaking, to playing overly loud all the time. One of our clarinet players, who is in his mid-70s, can't play softly, because he can hardly hear himself. When we play music marked pp (pianissimo), p (piano), or mp (mezzo piano), he's playing mp, mf (mezzo forte), and f (forte). Sitting next to him (or in front of him) is not fun.

 

[sadchild]

^interesting

 

[JHDK]

Some people in the world have to like walk a mile down to a river and then carry a bucket on their head back to their mud hut in order to have any sort of water for the day.....

I wish I had it as easy as those people.

When I plug my Kindle in to charge, the light turns from orange to green before it's 100% charged. I will see a green light, take it off the charger and it'll only be at like 98%. That's so freaking annoying. So like some sort of caveman I've now been forced to make sure that every 3-4 months, when I have to charge the Kindle, I do it before I go to bed so I don't get angry at the false green light.

I guess there is a silver lining to this story......Being forced to persevere through this inhumanity makes me feel closer to my father. I can finally, fully understand and relate to his stories about having to eat rats to avoid starving to death in the concentration camp.