Masturbating, MacGyver and Maths

31 Jul Nuggets No comment

Here are a collection of nuggets and assorted side show oddities that have amused me over the last 24 hours, an might just brighten your day as well.

As far as attention grabbing introductory sentences for a news story go, the following is going to take a lot of beating (so to speak):

A TERRITORY man filmed himself speeding at 150km/h while masturbating at the wheel of his drug-laden car, a court heard.

Source: Northern Territory News

Yup, that little nugget made the front page of the Northern Territory News, along with an equally thought provoking headline, "Is this bloke a complete tosser?".

You want more? The prosecutor said in court that:

...the father-of-three told police he "had masturbated while driving'' just before he was stopped for speeding on the 130km/h stretch of the Stuart Hwy.

"(He) also video recorded himself masturbating while travelling at a speed of 150km/h.''

» Read the rest of the entry..

Explaining music through maths

31 Mar Music, Nuggets 3 comments

Maths has always been a big part of music, and I'm not just talking about 'math metal' (or prog rock or whatever label you want to give it). There's long been a school of thought that a number of musicians and composers have used both the "golden ratio" and the Fibonacci Sequence to compose music.

This Binary Universe, an experimental album by Brian Transeau (aka BT), includes a track entitled "1.618" in homage to the golden ratio. The track features musical versions of the ratio and the accompanying video displays various animated versions of the golden mean.

Pearl Drums positions the air vents on its Masters Premium models based on the golden ratio. The company claims that this arrangement improves bass response and has applied for a patent on this innovation.

Now follow me, as we look at how modern day songs can be dissected via maths.

Firstly, let's take a look at how Meatloaf's "Anything for Love" can be broken down in graphical format.

$Things I\'d do for love$