[26 October 2013]Japan Earthquake, Saudi Women Driving Ban|Flood News Daily

Morning Ladies and Gentlemen [b][u]Why it's apt - psycho-acoustically speaking - that Darth Vader wasn't called Barth Vaber Courtesy of the British Psychological Society Research Digest![/b][/u] By [url=http://www.bungie.net/7_Mr-Psychologist/en/View/Profile/index?mid=2357562]Mr Psychologist[/url] [quote] Why it's apt - psycho-acoustically speaking - that Darth Vader wasn't called Barth Vaber Courtesy of the British Psychological Society Research Digest! The relationship between the meaning of a word and the letter strings of which it is comprised is usually thought to be arbitrary. That is, the meaning of a word is dictated by convention and the emotional tone of the speaker. Strip these away and the sounds of the letter groupings themselves - known as phonemes - are generally considered meaningless. At least that's been a popular view for some time. But now a study has been published that challenges this account. Blake Myers-Schulz and his colleagues show that the shift in sound from some phonemes to others carries emotional meaning of its own, quite independent from word meanings or tone of voice. Human speech creates sound at different frequencies. Myers-Schulz and his team focused on the changes in certain frequency peaks in speech - known as formants - as nonsense words were spoken. Specifically, they divided nonsense words into those in which the first two formants went from low to high (e.g. bupaba, pafabi, mipaba) and those in which this sound shift was reversed, going high to low (e.g. dugada, tatoku, gadigu). They were matched on many other sound features, such as plosives, nasality, intonation and volume. Thirty-two adult participants were shown pairs of these nonsense words on a computer screen, one of which always went low to high, the other high to low (in terms of formant shifts). Together with the words, two pictures were shown, one positive, one negative (e.g. a cute puppy and a snarling dog). The participants' job was to allocate the two nonsense words to the two pictures in the way that seemed most appropriate. The key finding was that 80 per cent of the time, they matched the word that had the low-high sound shift with the positive picture and the high-to-low word with the negative picture. It was a similar story when 20 more adult participants performed the same task but with the words spoken by a computer programme rather than shown visually. In this case, they matched the low-to-high nonsense words with the positive pictures on 65 per cent of occasions - still far more often than you'd expect based on chance alone. The findings suggest that strings of phonemes (the sounds that comprise words) have an emotional quality of their own, quite separate from any word meaning or the tone or volume of an utterance. This emotional meaning is conveyed purely by the acoustic properties of the word as the sound frequencies change from one phoneme to the next. There could be intriguing real-life applications for this research in terms of marketing and PR because the implication is that some words convey positive emotion simply by virtue of their acoustic properties, above and beyond any literal word meaning. "Even in artistic contexts, such as film and literature, these acoustic principles could be applied to evoke a particular emotional subtext," the researchers said. "Indeed our data suggest that 'Darth Vader' is an acoustically more appropriate name for an intergalactic miscreant than 'Barth Vaber'." [/quote] For more from Mr Psychologist visit[url=http://www.bungie.net/7_Bungie-News-Corp/en/Groups/Detail?groupId=62058]Bungie New Corp[/url] [url=http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/26/us-usa-healthcare-obama-idUSBRE99P02S20131026]Obama promises Obamacare site[/url] is weeks away from being fixed. This after the site upon release was clogged with delays bugs etc. Iran, [url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2013/10/iran-guards-killed-pakistan-border-2013102655940218490.html]has hung Sixteen rebels[/url] in response to a border attack in Sistan va Baluchistan Province. This part of the country is bordering Pakistan another volatile country. In Saudia Arabia, [url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/10/saudi-women-defy-driving-ban-across-country-20131026132058544669.html]Saudi Women defy driving ban.[/url] This after a flurry of threats and warning to those attempting to defy the ban. In Canada the British Columbia Civil Liberties Union has [url=http://www.dailydot.com/politics/canada-nsa-bcclu-csec/]have filed a suit against the Communication Security Establishment Canada[/url], a federal organization for alleged spying. A [url=http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-10-25/75-magnitude-earthquake-hits-japan-tsunami-warning-issued-fukushima]7.3 Maginitude Earthquake has hit Japan.[/url] Now triggering Tsunami warning. Fukushima Plant workers have been evacuated. While Chris Hadfield, [url=http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/oct/26/chris-hadfield-astronaut-book-extract]has written a book. "An astronauts guide to living on Earth."[/url] With rising air pollution [url=http://qz.com/138906/to-clean-up-beijing-the-chinese-government-will-suck-its-western-regions-dry/]China is preparing to switch to Natural Gas to help create energy instead of Coal.[/url] A range of accusation and misuse of funds by Senators and Prime Minister's office, [url=http://blogs.calgaryherald.com/2013/10/24/timeline-canadas-senate-scandal/]these ranging from threats to backroom deals.[/url] This began over a Senate spending issue and the process of cover up is now biting the Prime Minister in the back. In Syria, [url=http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/26/us-syria-crisis-idUSBRE99P01V20131026]Kurdish fighters have siezed Syrian outpost from Islamist Rebels.[/url] While the issue has spilled over to Lebanon where 10 people died in recent clashes in the city of Tripoli. In Afghanistan [iurl=http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/26/us-afghanistan-gunfight-idUSBRE99P02J20131026]Gunfight leaves one dead[/url] after foreign soldiers clashed with Afghan security personnel. [url=http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/25/us-fukushima-workers-specialreport-idUSBRE99O04320131025]Fukushima:Low Pay, High Risks and Gangsters[/url] A special report on the companies behind the Fukushima clean up. [url=http://www.bbc.com/news/business-24684683]Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says that Japan will have a more assertive role against China.[/url] This after the Prime Minister told the Wall Street Journal that China was trying to change the status quo by force instead of rule by law. With tensions rising high from threats of shooting down drones that enter Japanese airspace and China claiming it will be considered an act of war. [url=http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24686257]No clear winner in Czech Election[/url] although Social Democrats are in the lead. While in China, a reporter who investigate money laundering etc of a construction company, [url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-24682523]has "confessed" over his alleged crimes due to him chasing money and fame.[/url] [url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/10/british-muslims-defiant-over-al-shabab-threat-2013102591313719196.html]British Muslims furious over Al-Shabab threat.[/url] This after Al-Shabab calls out for more "do-it yourself" attacks. [url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2013/10/interactive-price-passage-201310248556288870.html]The Price of Passage[/url] This is an interactive map of people who seek asylum in Europe. [url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/10/new-law-india-bans-sanitary-scavengers-2013102514214232684.html]A new law in India bans Sanitary Scavengers.[/url] People who dig through trash to find necessities after fear of these people developing debilitating conditions and medical ailments. In Sports: Soccer: Barclays Premier League: [url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24591400]Crystal Palace 0-2 Arsenal[/url] [url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24591399]Aston Villa 0-2 Everton[/url] [url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24591245]Liverpool 4-1 WestBrom[/url] [url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24591160]Man Utd 3-2 Stoke[/url] [url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24591159]Norwich 0-0 Cardiff[/url] NHL: [url=http://espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=400484392]Islanders 4-3 Penguins[/url] [url=http://espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=400484393]Maple Leafs 2-5 Blue Jackets[/url] [url=http://espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=400484394]Ducks 2-1 Senators[/url] [url=http://espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=400484397]Hurricanes 2-4 Avalanches[/url] [url=http://espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=400484396]Canucks 3-2 Blues[/url] [url=http://espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=400484395]Sabres 3-1 Panthers[/url] NBA: [url=http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=400491601]Pelicans 101-82 Magic[/url] [url=http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=400491605]BobCats 85-83 Knicks[/url] [url=http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=400491606]Nets 108-87 Heat[/url] [url=http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=400491602]Nuggets 89-94 Bulls[/url] [url=http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=400491603]Rockets 92-73 Grizzlies[/url] [url=http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=400491607]Raptors v Bucks Cancelled[/url] [url=http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=400491608]Pacers 98-77 Mavericks[/url] [url=http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=400491604]Jazz 106-111 Lakers[/url] [url=http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=400491609]Kings 110-100 Clippers[/url] That is all for today Updates incoming.