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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>…</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Jebadiah Moore<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [ExI] sound archive<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>…</span>Not to detract from your main point (which I think is an interesting idea), but I'm pretty sure those lighters didn't go away<span style='color:#1F497D'>…</span>I've never heard of the brand Rossignol (which Google thinks is a winter gear manufacturer)--perhaps you mean Ronson<span style='color:#1F497D'>…<o:p></o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Ronson it is, thanks. I was going on very old memories, and I did remember the fluid Ronsonol, confused it with Rossignol the ski manufacturer.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>…</span>More to the point, there are a number of sound archives out there, although I don't know of any (and couldn't quickly find) any with the specific purpose you stated<span style='color:#1F497D'>…-</span>- Jebadiah Moore<span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Do let me get to the specifics that caused me to think of the idea. When one fires up an Apple computer, there is a chord as played on a guitar, which always sounded familiar to me, but I could not place it. Not being a guitarist, but somewhat of a music hipster, I thought it a diminished 7<sup>th</sup> chord in F, or possibly an F minor 7<sup>th</sup>, but I could be mistaken. Yesterday I heard that chord on the radio, which was immediately followed by the comment: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>It’s been a hard day’s night<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>And I’ve been working like a dog…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>And so forth, then I remembered where I had heard that chord, so very many years ago in my own misspent youth.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Question: if I had the chord and could reproduce it on a guitar or could get reasonably close, how can we conceive a google-like device to get from the sound to text describing it? If I knew the song, I could easily google a YouTube of the chord, but if all I have is the chord, or the tune without any lyrics, I need a googly tool to get to the song. I could imagine reducing a rhythm to a googlable form, but not really a chord or a tune.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Regarding our current efforts at scanning and OCRing old books to get these into ASCII text, this is all admirable indeed. What I am proposing is an audio version of preservation of the past. The sound of a Ronson lighter, the buzz of an icicle on the cooling fan of an antiquated refrigerator, these are the kinds of things that defy efforts at reduction to ASCII files. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>By still further extension, could we not attempt to somehow preserve extinct smells? While doing genealogical research, I found a family who still heated their home with coal. That gives the home a distinctive, not unpleasant smell. How many here have smelled a home heated by coal? Is there any way to create a googlish device that can get us from a smell to a descriptive text or website?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>These sensations will soon be lost forever to humanity, as was the wisdom in the library of Alexandria in the fire. If we can figure out how to google a smell or a sound, we may save these sensations. Otherwise the fires of Alexandria burn brightly and tragically.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><br><a href="http://blog.jebdm.net"></a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></div></div></body></html>