Music: An Evelutionary Adaptation?

Characteristics of mankind that span space and time always interest me. So, this article, "Why we're so good at recognizing music" immediately piqued my interest.

"By the age of 5 we are all musical experts, so this stuff is clearly wired really deeply into us," said Levitin, an eerily youthful-looking 49, surrounded by the pianos, guitars and enormous 16-track mixers that make his lab look more like a recording studio.
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Not all of Levitin's idea have been easily accepted. He argues, for example, that music is an evolutionary adaptation: something that men developed as a way to demonstrate reproductive fitness. Music also helped social groups cohere. "Music has got to be useful for survival, or we would have gotten rid of it years ago," he said.

I've always held that humankind's musical ability is circumstantial "evidence" of some form of divine intervention in our evolution. Music is a physical way to connect spiritually with others and to our spiritual selves. There is a reason no other animal has musical ability, they have no souls. Anyone who has seen a baby respond to his mother's lullaby, watched a toddler dance, or heard a child sing is instantly reminded of something greater than himself. Music glues communities together by bonding the deepest part of a person, his spirit.

No Shoes, No Shirt, Cash....No Service

A Washington DC cafe has instituted a "no-cash" policy. In other words to eat there, one must have his debit/credit card ready. The story gets really scary to me when it reports that the National Restaurant Association sees this policy as the "leading edge of probably a long-term trend."

"So what?" you might say. What concerns me most is not people who don't have debit/credit cards but the fact that this is further proof of the decline of customer service in the supposed "service" industries. Did you notice how many times the owner used the word "I"? Did you see how she focused on being a cashless store was good for her? Where is the concern for the customer?

Also, I, for one, find cash more convenient than a debit card. When paying with cash, I've never had to remember my PIN or go through a whole litany of questions and comments. "Debit or credit?", "Cash back?", "Thank you, Mr. Bowman."

The Audacity of Bright House

Bright House cable just called me. At first I am thinking...WOW...this is great customer service. They are calling to apologize about the DVR FirmWare fiasco and give me an update on the status. This would be exceptional customer service.

But...no...it is the promotionals department trying to get me to add digital telephone service to my plan. Needless to say, I very politely told the lady that until my DVR was fixed I would not be adding anymore services and that, right now, Bright House had not inspired a lot of confidence from me. She was very polite and understnading and stopped her promotional sales pitch. She knew immediately that I wasn't going to be a sale and got off the phone.

Now...she didn't do anything to help me get my DVR fixed...that would have been going above and beyond and making a great Customer Service experience.

Christmas Card Picture Photoshopped

Here is a rare occurrence on my blog: pictures of my children. I have a two and half year old and a 19-month old. Needless to say, taking Christmas pictures with two toddlers is always an experience. Erin wanted to get pictures of the children in their Christmas pajamas in front of the Christmas tree. Getting the children set up to cooperate with each other and mom (the photographer) is an effort in futility. Noah thinks it is a game of "catch me" where he runs away laughing while I try to catch him. Mihaela loved taking the pictures and would try posing, until Noah got too close and sibling rivalry kicked it with personal space being invaded.

Anyway, after many attempts, we finally got a halfway decent picture. The only problem is that to get Noah to cooperate, he had to be holding the remote control:




Obviously we can't send that picture out with the Christmas cards. No problem I say, heroically posing with my hands on my hips and my chest out. See, I have been playing with Adobe Photoshop so that I can do really neat announcement slides at church. Photoshop is powerful. It can get rid of a remote control.

However, my p-shop sk1llz r the noob (i.e., I'm not that good with it yet). So, instead of really crisp photoshopped picture, we ended up with this:



I'm not all that happy with it. But Erin thinks it looks great and nobody will notice the disformed hand, the lack of boundary between bottom and carpet, and the different light shading on the carpet. Oh well...I'll get better with practice.

Beer for Celiacs

Anheuser-Busch introduces sorghum beer - Yahoo! News: "People with wheat allergies who have stayed away from beer now have a new option."

Personally, I can't stand the taste of beer...so I don't care. But, it is interesting to note that Anheuser-Busch worked with the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness in developing the product and that as celiac disease is moving out of the shadows, big companies are interested in targetting that specialized market.

Now...if we could just get some really good, cheap sandwich bread!!!