Talk:2792: Summer Solstice

2023-06-22T14:58:39Z

172.68.35.28: What If?

Related to [[1878: Earth Orbital Diagram]]? [[User:Purah126|Purah126]] ([[User talk:Purah126|talk]]) 00:32, 22 June 2023 (UTC)
:Great minds think alike*. Hadn't read down here when I leapt in and added that link (and made some other very minor tweaks). Or at least leapt in once I'd found it myself (not rembering its title or enough of its keywords), having had to trawl through [[:Category:Astronomy]] and visit almost all likely titles and several unlikely ones. Which was enjoyable, so not a problem. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.92|172.70.85.92]] 00:58, 22 June 2023 (UTC) ''* - fools never differ... :P''

I think there's a 3rd option for what the "fix" entails: eliminating Earth's axial tilt so it's always equinox (12 hour days almost everywhere, perpetual dawn at the poles). The title text specifies "on the equator", not "near" the equator. The only way for eclipses always "on" the equator is if the equator is always aligned with the ecliptic. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 02:06, 22 June 2023 (UTC)

I think that to make the solstices match the earliest sunrise/sunset might require straightening out the Earth's tilt as well. Making it a circular orbit I think actually makes the summer solstice even further from the latest sunset (but the winter solstice closer to latest sunrise). [https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/equation-of-time.html]. Oh but straightening the tilt would mean no more solstices at all, hm. Maybe what's required is an elliptical orbit but with the sun at the center rather than a focus. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.111.153|172.70.111.153]] 14:27, 22 June 2023 (UTC)

While we're at it, can we please make the year, lunar phase period, and day neat ratios of one another? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.44|172.69.247.44]] 13:52, 22 June 2023 (UTC)

Anyone have any What If? type insights about any unintended consequences of the proposed changes? Thinking more of the physical and natural rather than societal, but anything might be an interesting addition to the article. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.35.28|172.68.35.28]] 14:58, 22 June 2023 (UTC)

2788: Musical Scales

2023-06-13T14:18:40Z

172.68.35.28: tweaked the middle paragraph to clarify that pedantry is ok, but it's also ok to ignore in the name of big funny

{{comic
| number = 2788
| date = June 12, 2023
| title = Musical Scales
| image = musical_scales_2x.png
| imagesize = 326x222px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = In the Hall of the Mountain King was accidentally composed on log/log paper.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SEMI-LOG MOUNTAIN, Editted by an anonymous user who would like to go by the name HALRANDIR, thankyouverymuch, and another user who made edits while HALRANDIR made edits and didn't change this tag. Further tweaked by a LOGARITHMIC JELLYFISH- Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_notation#Modern_staff_notation standard Western musical notation], the horizontal position of a note indicates its relative temporal position in the piece, and the vertical position of a note denotes  its pitch; but the pitch is really a logarithm of the note's frequency (every octave/seven named notes/12 half steps equals a doubling of frequency), so it's a semi-log plot of sorts. The comic thus explores what a notation would look like if the horizontal axis behaved this way instead. Likewise, the vertical axis has been rendered linearly by frequency, with the normally equally-set lines on a normal musical staff stretching to compensate for the increasing jumps between pitches.

[[File:SimpleGifts.png|thumb|The nonstandard music notation depicted in the comic is the opening five measures of "{{w|Simple Gifts}}" ([https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Simple_Gifts_-_Pendyrus_Choir-cory_Band.ogg listen.])]]

[[Randall]] may have mistakenly assumed that the lines of a music stave represent a linear increase in pitch and thus an exponential increase in frequency. He has thus mapped them onto a logarithmic scale by doubling the space between each successive line of the stave - one space between the bottom two lines, then two spaces, then four, then eight. In fact, the lines and the spaces between them correspond to notes in the C Major scale, which have unequal gaps between them. It is also possible that he is aware of this inaccuracy and chose to ignore it in the name of humor.

The title text purports to explain how {{w|In the Hall of the Mountain King}}, which progressively increases in tempo/speed and intensity from an initially subtle start into a rapid hustle towards a series of crescendos at the end, was written on {{w|Log–log plot|log-log paper}}, that features nonlinear expansion in ''both'' its axes (in order to render various exponential graphs linear, often for the purposes of ease of understanding). Rather than these features being a deliberate composition decision, this says that they're only the result of how it was written down, or thenceforth read.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[The sheet music for "Simple Gifts" on a distorted staff.]
:[Caption below the panel]:
:When transcribing music, remember to put ''frequency'' on a log scale and ''time'' on a linear one, not the other way around.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Music]]

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Talk:2792: Summer Solstice

2788: Musical Scales