I've Been Wondering: The 2020 General Questions thread

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  • Ethne AlbaEthne Alba Shipmate
    Isn’t it sad?

    Please thank the kid for investigations
  • Golden KeyGolden Key Shipmate
    I think I still have a Walkman.
  • Ethne AlbaEthne Alba Shipmate
    As do I @Golden Key !
  • I've still got a Walkman which I use for some audio books - the diaries of Samuel Pepys and others I inherited from my Papa, plus a Discman.
  • RicardusRicardus Shipmate
    In the eighteenth and nineteenth century, lots of Anglican churches had a 'west gallery band', with fiddles and flutes and so on, to accompany the metrical psalm.

    My very simplistic understanding of liturgical history is that the Victorians pushed the instrumentalists out in favour of organs. But some church organs predate the eighteenth century. So would a church only have a gallery band if it didn't have an organ, or could the two co-exist?
  • EigonEigon Shipmate
    The plot of Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy is about a west gallery band being ousted by a new organist - one of his early, more cheerful novels.
  • DooneDoone Shipmate
    I know, from reading the diaries of some 18th / 19th century vicars, that it wasn’t unusual for incumbents to be at loggerheads with their music bands and/or churchwardens or, indeed, many of their parishioners. A good read is the Rev. Skinner’s diary of his time as Rector of Camerton Church in Somerset. Gives an excellent insight into life in a coal mining village, where Methodism was making inroads into the fabric of traditional Anglicanism.
  • MooMoo Kerygmania Host
    The Way of All Flesh refers to a band being ousted in favor of an organ. The band members moved on to provide music in a chapel.
  • Many West Gallery musicians were seen as being ungodly - they had a reputation for licentiousness in some places and were almost universally regarded as "difficult". The Band, sometimes called a quire, was made up of instrumentalists and singers: usually an oboe (hautboy), tenor oboe (a cor anglais) and bassoon; larger parishes might have a couple of viols, 'cello and a bass. In larger towns the players were music teachers or professional players, frequently working in theatres (another reason for their doubtful
    reputation); in villages the players were amateurs with the sort of job that enabled them to practise, such as schoolmasters, publicans, shepherds, etc, and they tended to be literate, so independent minded.

    Once of the reasons for the enthusiastic adoption of the organ was that it meant the parson only had to deal with one stroppy musician! But even when churches acquired an organ at first it was in addition to the Band, partly because early English organs didn't have pedals.
  • Golden KeyGolden Key Shipmate
    TheOrganist--

    What sort of organ are you talking about in your last paragraph, please? Pipe organs? Pump organs? Something smallish and portable?

    Would that have been easier for a church to get than a piano, harpsichord, etc.? I understand the problem of not being loud enough. I'm just thinking that an organ (of whatever kind) would probably be more expensive and harder to get, and church finances tend to be extremely tight.

    Thx.
  • What do you mean by a "pump organ"?

    What I was referring to would have been a small mechanical (tracker) organ with pipes supplied by air from a wind chest, air coming from a person pumping the bellows - something a bit like this.

    All organs like this were, in theory at least, portable: today they're sometimes called chamber organs. The portative organ you sometimes see in pictures being carried more-or-less died out in the early 1500s.

    Forte Pianos were expensive, heavy, didn't stay in tune and didn't produce much noise. Harpsichords were expensive and, again, not ultra portable or loud.

    Yes, organs were expensive but you only needed to make the big financial outlay once, because most organists of the day did their own tuning, and in any case people were far less fussy about tuning than today.

  • Did they ever have issues with the bellows/blower bag? Because we had a pipe organ, and that (to the tune of 40,000 $) is what did us in. I know it's an earlier time, but I'm wondering if there might not have been similar expensive bits.
  • PriscillaPriscilla Shipmate
    The vicar at odds with the band/worship group? Nothing has really changed.....
  • North East QuineNorth East Quine Shipmate
    edited May 2020
    From my church's records - 1754. "The minister acquainted the Sessions that is most of the Congregation were ignorant of Church Music and those who attempted to sing in divine service did it in a very disagreeable and inharmonious manner and as Three of the parts in which the Church Tunes were set, were entirely lost, none attempting to sing any but the Tenor part..."

    It seems that, in the absence of a band / worship group, the minister was at odds with the entire congregation.
  • CathscatsCathscats Shipmate
    Still, they did try to sing the tune, which in those days was usually set in the tenor, rather than the soprano part, IIRC.
  • North East QuineNorth East Quine Shipmate
    edited May 2020
    Round about the same time, the 1750s, the minister at St Machars was trying to improve the standard of church music. One disgruntled congregant paid small boys and street urchins to sing loudly, badly, and at varying speeds during the service to thwart the minister's efforts.
  • CathscatsCathscats Shipmate
    Ha! People were so gloriously bolshy then!
  • DooneDoone Shipmate
    Indeed, the idea that most people were very serious and pious churchgoers in the past is totally wrong from what I’ve read!
  • Did they ever have issues with the bellows/blower bag? Because we had a pipe organ, and that (to the tune of 40,000 $) is what did us in. I know it's an earlier time, but I'm wondering if there might not have been similar expensive bits.

    When a traditional organ has problems with the "bellows" it is usually that the leather has cracked through the atmosphere being too dry - heating churches to suit a modern generation is a real issue for organs. The solution is usually two part: first, remove the wind chest(s) (bellows/ wind reservoir(s)) and replace the leathers; second to install a good humidifier.

    The reason why replacing the leathers is so expensive is that the wind chest(s) is usually buried right in the middle of an organ so most (sometimes all) of it has to be dismantled to do the work.

    You're in the USA so you may have another problem. Many US organ builders routinely used the schwimmer system to reduce the size of wind chests. The downside of a schwimmer is that if the atmosphere is dry enough to crack the leathers it is likely that the schwimmer will also be warped and/or cracked.
  • The pipe organ is gone, alas. We could not afford to do the repair work on it, and then (God help us) a sociopath took aim at the church leadership, splitting the congregation and resulting in the building being given to someone who had other views for it. I don't like to think of it, what they did to the organ...
  • MooMoo Kerygmania Host
    I heard an interesting story about how a small church in the southern US arranged for air for its organ. Like many small rural buildings, it was built on brick pillars three or four feet high, with dirt underneath.

    On the underside of the building, they installed an electrical outlet and then put a vacuum cleaner down there with a hose connecting its outflow to the organ. For practical reasons they could not position the vacuum cleaner so that they could reach the switch, so someone had to reach down to plug in the vacuum every time they wanted air for the organ.
  • HedgehogHedgehog Shipmate
    They could attach one of those "clapper" switches to the outlet, so that electricity would only go on after somebody clapped over it.

    Of course, it would keep going off and on if it were a happy-clappy congregation......
  • Hi. Has anyone ever used one of those battery-powered spinning scrubbers? This is one example.

    I think having one would make it much easier for me to keep up with various cleaning. Any experience among Shipmates? Pluses, minuses, things to be aware of?

    Thx.
  • PuzzlerPuzzler Shipmate
    Your link showed it is currently unavailable. Have you read the reviews? Many say it does not last. Maybe another manufacturer does something better, as it looks a great idea.
  • Right. I was just using that as an example. Plus I usually don't link to a product purchase page; was unsure about doing that; but when that one came up as one of my search hits, I thought it might be acceptable. Clorox makes another kind, to be used with its cleaning products. And there are many others. Plus there are all sorts of cleaning tools to attach to cordless drills. (I don't have a drill, but the tools are fascinating.) But I think the long handle on the non-drill models would make it easier to clean the bathtub.

    Anyway, thx for your input! :) Just thought someone here might have personal experience.

  • North East QuineNorth East Quine Shipmate
    edited June 2020
    I have a much smaller one. Mine is more like a giant electric toothbrush with four different heads. It doesn't have a long handle.

    I use it for awkward areas rather than large areas. I think Ive had mine for a couple of years and I would recommend it.
  • LydaLyda Shipmate
    Does anyone know how European chain bracelets are designated by chain width? My problem is that I was given a bracelet with two wide-holed beads and a charm all of which fit the bracelet. I wanted to add some more, but the ones I ordered were too narrow for the chain although they were advertised as being for these kinds of bracelets. I'm trying not to do unnecessary brick store shopping.

    Ideas? :confused:
  • MooMoo Kerygmania Host
    I keep coming across references to 5G. Would someone please explain what it is.
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host, 8th Day Host
    5th generation mobile/cell phone network.
  • BroJames wrote: »
    5th generation mobile/cell phone network.

    It is expected to provide much faster speeds but, and this is the snag, uses quite a wide chunk of spectrum to do so resulting in not many people being able to use a given mast at once before the speed drops off as it is split between them. It is expected to see most use for internet enabled devices like smart meters rather than replacing 4G in mobile internet uses.
  • Re 5G:

    Plus there's evidently fear about it, and conspiracy theories--even that the corona virus has been (purposely?) spread that way.

    No, I don't believe that.
  • Does anyone know why you get random bits of music bubbling up in your mind? I don't mean stuff you've heard, but things that arise apparently out of nowhere. Currently I've got Paper Lace, and bits of Fiddler on the Roof echoing around. It feels a bit like a waking dream.
  • Does anyone know why you get random bits of music bubbling up in your mind? I don't mean stuff you've heard, but things that arise apparently out of nowhere. Currently I've got Paper Lace, and bits of Fiddler on the Roof echoing around. It feels a bit like a waking dream.

    Memories are often connected in odd ways. If you listen to the radio while doing other things then you can find what you were listening to is then brought back by doing the activity again. Tastes and scents can similarly trigger, or it can be non-sensory, and just thoughts have become associated.
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host, 8th Day Host
    For me I can sometimes trace it back to a word or a phrase I’ve heard which makes me think of a line from a song.
  • Can't find any links here. I don't have the radio on, or even the tv, yet these things bubble up seemingly out of nowhere. That is to say, they are things I already knew, so were stored in my mind somewhere, but I haven't been conscious of them for years.
  • HedgehogHedgehog Shipmate
    I often wake up with a song in my head. I assume my sleeping brain, in its dream state, settled on it. Today it was "The Girl From Ipanema."
  • Hedgehog wrote: »
    I often wake up with a song in my head. I assume my sleeping brain, in its dream state, settled on it. Today it was "The Girl From Ipanema."
    That must have been a fun dream. :lol:

    I think I often read a word or phrase which subconsciously causes a song to "bubble up" into my conscious.
  • It a rare occasion that I don’t have a song running through my head. Often I don’t know where they come from, but my current ear worm can be traced directly to the Ship. Every time I see the title of the “Our Lady of the Baseball Bat” thread, this song from “Hadestown” starts up again in my head.

  • I suspect the brain gets bored and wants a sound track. Anything will do...
  • Any dream will do?
  • Wesley JWesley J Shipmate
    Hedgehog wrote: »
    They could attach one of those "clapper" switches to the outlet, so that electricity would only go on after somebody clapped over it.

    Of course, it would keep going off and on if it were a happy-clappy congregation......
    Sorry for the late answer (he said gleefully), but that reminds me of one of comedian Ross Noble's more infamous skits: it was about a man with epilepsy, trapped in a flamenco dance joint, where they had such 'clappers' installed for the lights...! An unending loop of torture. :smile:

    Carry on.
  • SparrowSparrow Shipmate
    I've had Abba's "Fernando" going through my head all day.

  • Any idea what sparked it off?
  • maybe hearing the drums?
  • I always used to have music as an inner accompaniment to my life and it is somewhat bitter sweet reading these experiences from others.

    About ten years ago a medical ‘something’ happened and I lost that .... well what is it?
    Is it an Ability?
    Experience?
    Soundtrack I like!
    Earworm is a word I would have used in the past.

    It just doesn’t happen any more

  • oh dear, I'm sorry. Would you like my hyperosmia instead?
  • Another question. Why are surgeons "Mr" rather than "Dr"? And what do you call a female surgeon?
  • If I remember rightly - and I could well be wrong - surgeons were assumed to have Master's rather than Bachelor's degrees and the Mr is (or was) actually Master. And I think you'd just call the female surgeon by the title of her choice.
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host, 8th Day Host
    edited July 2020
    Originally Dr. was reserved for physicians who saw themselves as a cut above ( :smile: ) mere sawbones surgeons. Surgeons, in turn saw themselves as superior to apothecaries,

    In time surgeons took the title of Mr. ms a title of honour, rather than ‘mere Mr. not a physician’.

    I don’t know what the answer is for female surgeons.

    (Cross-posted with Bene Gesserit)
  • Try this for a full explanation (which will only prove more confusing)... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1119265/#:~:text=Surgeons had become so pleased,had no wish to be.
This discussion has been closed.