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π List of musical works in unusual time signatures
This is a list of musical compositions or pieces of music that have unusual time signatures. "Unusual" is here defined to be any time signature other than simple time signatures with top numerals of 2, 3, or 4 and bottom numerals of 2, 4, or 8, and compound time signatures with top numerals of 6, 9, or 12 and bottom numerals 4, 8, or 16.
The conventions of musical notation typically allow for more than one written representation of a particular piece. The chosen time signature largely depends upon musical context, personal taste of the composer or transcriber, and the graphic layout on the written page. Frequently, published editions were written in a specific time signature to visually signify the tempo for slow movements in symphonies, sonatas, and concerti.
A perfectly consistent unusual metrical pattern may be notated in a more familiar time signature that does not correspond to it. For example, the Passacaglia from Britten's opera Peter Grimes consists of variations over a recurring bass line eleven beats in length but is notated in ordinary 4
4 time, with each variation lasting 2+3β4 bars, and therefore commencing each time one crotchet earlier in the bar than the preceding one.
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- "List of musical works in unusual time signatures" | 2024-05-01 | 15 Upvotes 6 Comments
π Gallery of animations that explain math ideas
Below is a mostly comprehensive gallery of all images β illustrations, diagrams and animations β that I have created for Wikipedia over the years, some of which have been selected as featured pictures, or even picture of the day. As you'll probably notice, they're mostly related to physics and mathematics, which are my main areas of interest.
If you have any comments, requests, suggestions or corrections, feel free to drop me a message on my talk page. But please, before making a suggestion, first take a look and see what sort of stuff I can do. Due to time, knowledge and complexity constraints, I cannot guarantee I'll be able to make a good illustration of any topic.
You can also follow me on tumblr for WIPs, current and failed projects and other creations.
If you appreciate my work, consider making a donation.
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- "Gallery of animations that explain math ideas" | 2015-01-04 | 79 Upvotes 1 Comments
π Doom released 20 years ago today
Doom may refer to:
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- "Doom released 20 years ago today" | 2013-12-10 | 256 Upvotes 108 Comments
π The Diolkos: an ancient Greek paved trackway enabling boats to be moved overland
The Diolkos (ΞίολκοΟ, from the Greek διά, dia "across" and α½Ξ»ΞΊΟΟ, holkos "portage machine") was a paved trackway near Corinth in Ancient Greece which enabled boats to be moved overland across the Isthmus of Corinth. The shortcut allowed ancient vessels to avoid the long and dangerous circumnavigation of the Peloponnese peninsula. The phrase "as fast as a Corinthian", penned by the comic playwright Aristophanes, indicates that the trackway was common knowledge and had acquired a reputation for swiftness.
The main function of the Diolkos was the transfer of goods, although in times of war it also became a preferred means of speeding up naval campaigns. The 6Β km (3.7Β mi) to 8.5Β km (5.3Β mi) long roadway was a rudimentary form of railway, and operated from c. 600Β BC until the middle of the 1st centuryΒ AD. The scale on which the Diolkos combined the two principles of the railway and the overland transport of ships remained unique in antiquity.
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- "Diolkos" | 2020-10-21 | 167 Upvotes 28 Comments
- "The Diolkos: an ancient Greek paved trackway enabling boats to be moved overland" | 2016-07-31 | 121 Upvotes 27 Comments
π Wikiid: Can Wikipedia make a Wikipedia page notable enough to avoid deletion?
User:Diikiw/Wiikid, formerly Wikiid, is an article that was created on the web site Wikipedia in 2008. It is notable in its attempt to become the first Wikipedia page to gain notoriety solely for the fact that it was a page on Wikipedia; this was intended to spark a debate as to whether or not Wikipedia could be considered a source notable enough to allow a pageβs permanent entry on the site. It can be looked at both as metahumor and as a piece of postmodern art.
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- "Wikiid: Can Wikipedia make a Wikipedia page notable enough to avoid deletion?" | 2009-03-16 | 40 Upvotes 27 Comments
π Getting to βPhilosophyβ
Clicking on the first link in the main text of a Wikipedia article, and then repeating the process for subsequent articles, would usually lead to the Philosophy article. As of February 2016, 97% of all articles in Wikipedia eventually led to the article Philosophy. The remaining articles lead to an article without any outgoing wikilinks, to pages that do not exist, or get stuck in loops. This has gone up from 94.52% in 2011.
There have been some theories on this phenomenon, with the most prevalent being the tendency for Wikipedia pages to move up a "classification chain." According to this theory, the Wikipedia Manual of Style guidelines on how to write the lead section of an article recommend that the article should start by defining the topic of the article, so that the first link of each page will naturally take the reader into a broader subject, eventually ending in wide-reaching pages such as Mathematics, Science, Language, and of course, Philosophy, nicknamed "the mother of all sciences".
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- "Wikipedia: 97% of all articles lead to Philosophy" | 2024-06-23 | 47 Upvotes 18 Comments
- "Getting to βPhilosophyβ" | 2015-10-25 | 101 Upvotes 77 Comments
π Pyrotherapy
Pyrotherapy (artificial fever) is a method of treatment by raising the body temperature or sustaining an elevated body temperature using a fever. In general, the body temperature was maintained at 41Β Β°C (105Β Β°F). Many diseases were treated by this method in the first half of the 20th century. In general, it was done by exposing the patient to hot baths, warm air, or (electric) blankets. The technique reached its peak of sophistication in the early 20th century with malariotherapy, in which Plasmodium vivax, a causative agent of malaria, was allowed to infect already ill patients in order to produce intense fever for therapeutic ends. The sophistication of this approach lay in using effective anti-malarial drugs to control the P. vivax infection, while maintaining the fever it causes to the detriment of other, ongoing, and then-incurable infections present in the patient, such as late-stage syphilis. This type of pyrotherapy was most famously used by psychiatrist Julius Wagner-Jauregg, who won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1927 for his elaboration of the procedure in treating neurosyphilitics.
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- "Pyrotherapy" | 2023-06-29 | 12 Upvotes 3 Comments
π Yo (App)
Yo is a social mobile application for iOS, Android, and formerly also Windows Phone. Initially, the application's only function was to send the user's friends the word "yo" as a text and audio notification, but it has since been updated to enable users to attach links and location to their "Yo"s.
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- "Yo (App)" | 2021-04-15 | 18 Upvotes 1 Comments
π Phillis Wheatley
Phillis Wheatley, also spelled Phyllis and Wheatly (c. 1753 β December 5, 1784) was the first African-American woman to publish a book of poetry. Born in West Africa, she was sold into slavery at the age of seven or eight and transported to North America. She was purchased by the Wheatley family of Boston, who taught her to read and write and encouraged her poetry when they saw her talent.
On a 1773 trip to London with her master's son, seeking publication of her work, she was aided in meeting prominent people who became patrons. The publication in London of her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral on September 1, 1773, brought her fame both in England and the American colonies. Figures such as George Washington praised her work. A few years later, African-American poet Jupiter Hammon praised her work in a poem of his own.
Wheatley was emancipated (set free) by the Wheatleys shortly after the publication of her book. She married in about 1778. Two of her children died as infants. After her husband was imprisoned for debt in 1784, Wheatley fell into working poverty and died of illness. Her last infant son died soon after.
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- "Phillis Wheatley" | 2018-10-29 | 50 Upvotes 4 Comments
π Bouba/Kiki Effect
The bouba/kiki effect is a non-arbitrary mapping between speech sounds and the visual shape of objects. It was first documented by Wolfgang KΓΆhler in 1929 using nonsense words. The effect has been observed in American university students, Tamil speakers in India, young children, and infants, and has also been shown to occur with familiar names. It is absent in individuals who are congenitally blind and reduced in autistic individuals. The effect was investigated using fMRI in 2018.
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- "Bouba/Kiki Effect" | 2024-06-16 | 257 Upvotes 170 Comments
- "Bouba/Kiki Effect" | 2021-07-19 | 238 Upvotes 94 Comments