Saturday, May 20, 2017
Metrology Day 1
Polistra always marks World Metrology Day. This year her theme is BASELINES. Human perception is never absolute. We measure everything ... light, sound, income, mood, health ... by comparison to a slowly adapting baseline.
Instrumental measurement works the same way. You have to know where the baseline or ground point is, and you have to specify whether your measurement is a delta from baseline or a calibrated absolute.
= = = = =
Back in 2011 I wrote about the 1937 syndicated radio series Komedy Kingdom. I've put the series back into my bedtime playlist, and the show has a new flavor. Obviously the recordings didn't change, but the BASELINE changed, therefore my PERCEPTION changed.
In 2011 the Komedy aspect of the show was most salient. The music was excellent but the Komedy seemed flat compared to the precisely timed wordplay of Fibber & Molly or Burns & Allen.
This year the Kingdom aspect is more salient. I hadn't noticed it before. In the intro to the first episode, Elvia lays out the concept explicitly:
Hello, you merry subjects! A royal welcome to the Komedy Kingdom. Your only passport is a smile, and the only thing you must leave outside the boundary is a case of the blues.
In later episodes the 'conceit' got weaker but the overture made the point every week with the line
Throw away your troubles, cast aside the blues....
As delta from today's baseline, the Kingdom is a virtual enclave, a hidden valley where even non-elites can feel like citizens.
= = = = =
Of course today's comedy is INFINITELY more precise and exact than any non-enlightened 1930s humor.
Today's comedy is AS FOLLOWS, VERBATIM, WITH NO DEVIATION PERMITTED.
This year the Kingdom aspect is more salient. I hadn't noticed it before. In the intro to the first episode, Elvia lays out the concept explicitly:
Hello, you merry subjects! A royal welcome to the Komedy Kingdom. Your only passport is a smile, and the only thing you must leave outside the boundary is a case of the blues.
In later episodes the 'conceit' got weaker but the overture made the point every week with the line
Throw away your troubles, cast aside the blues....
As delta from today's baseline, the Kingdom is a virtual enclave, a hidden valley where even non-elites can feel like citizens.
= = = = =
Of course today's comedy is INFINITELY more precise and exact than any non-enlightened 1930s humor.
Today's comedy is AS FOLLOWS, VERBATIM, WITH NO DEVIATION PERMITTED.
Labels: #DeplorableLivesMatter, Metrology
¶ 1:15 AM
