If a Tree Falls in an Empty Forest, Does it Make a Sound?

          Corresponding to the title, I open with what is a not as simple a question as it at first may seem.

"If a tree falls in an empty Forest, does it make a sound?" 

I have recounted this question then further debated the answer with many friends and family who all straight away answer yes of course it still makes a sound. Away from the belligerence in the quick reaction, it echos what I'm sure many people would see as none other than the obvious answer.

First let me explain that this question, although wasted on my and many subjects, is supposed to make you think and ponder the question, thus exercising the mind.

Many angles can be taken to try and answer this brain ache all of which I will touch on.

          Firstly lets look at it using physics and also definition. Personally I thought physics would prove my doubters correct and that it would make a sound as I was looking at it philosophically and touching on quantum mechanics and possibilities. But to my pleasant surprise, physics is also on my side.

The dictionary definition of sound using physics is - In layman's terms if no one was around to hear the vibrations caused by the falling tree thus turning them into sound then they would just remain vibrations in the air very quickly fading.

'the sensation produced by stimulation of the organs of hearing by vibrations transmitted through the air or other medium.'

An interesting way to further explain this is if you were to put a deaf person near the tree. Although they would feel the vibrations and it would cause an effect, it would still not become sound as there auditory system and hearing organs do not function and could not process the vibrations.

          The way my mind works my thoughts were more of, well do you really know? No, nobody really knows. It is presumed that the tree would make the "thud" but unless there, no one can ever be certain. Something that is called a 'super state'.

A super state is best described using the thought experiment of Schrodinger’s cat. To quickly describe this, in 1935 Schrodinger (an Austrian Physicist) came up with a thought experiment to try show the absurdities in quantum mechanics. You would place a cat in a large sealed box with some potentially radioactive particles linked up to a machine. This small machine could detect if one of these sub atomic particles decided to become radioactive. If it did (something of which there is a 50/50 chance of happening) then a hammer would break a vile of cyanide and the cat would die. If not then the cat would survive. The point of this is that as no one knows what has happened, the cat is both dead and alive. So it is in a super state. This video goes into more detail Schrodinger’s experiment.

So in conclusion, from every angle looked through the only possible answer in my opinion to the conundrum is that no the tree did not make a noise if nobody was there to hear it or in any respects even know whether the tree had even fallen.

The Streets and Me

Mike Skinner and his lyrics have been a huge influence to so many people on a global scale. As one of those people I feel it only right and logical to do my first music themed blog on a man who will be sadly missed as he leaves the music scene as The Streets for good.

I pondered doing a general, complete, potentially flattering summery of Mike Skinners persona the Streets but decided i couldn't beat this, http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/jan/02/mike-skinner-streets-interview-computers-blues - the guardians full length interview and compressed evaluation of all five albums and the ten years incorporating them. Having never interviewed him i decided instead to do it from my own relative angle and my own inner experiences.

When the first Streets album 'Original Pirate Material' was released in 2002 i would only have been 8 years old so it wasn't the sort of thing I happened on stumbling across in Primary school. In April 2004 the first single from the second album A Grand Don't Come for Free was released entitled Fit But You Know It. I vaguely remember hearing it but it wasn't until late July of the same year when the chart topping single 'Dry Your Eyes' was released that my ears were pricked and my attention grabbed. At that time as a young boy arriving at teenage life's door, musically I was what Mike would have called a 'normal person'.

"It wasn't until I got to the second album that I really felt like I hit the people that I was aiming to with the first album, and that was just 'normal people.' But actually the only way you can get to normal people is by… being big."

I then remember 'Fit But You Know It' being the first song I could recite every word to after having it on repeat whilst playing Fifa 2005 on my PlayStation 2. The next domino in line to accelerate my initial interest was an older friend who I knew and respected, on our journey to play Powerleagues every Wednesday night, he would play on cassette a mixture of all three Streets albums. This must have been 2006 as my strongest memories were laughing at quirky comments and phrases from 'War of the Sexes' such as,

"Your not playing hard to get, your playing at not getting a hard on yet" and "And remember not to get hammered either, because people who get hammered, don't get to nail!"

and schemes like the one from 'Can't Con An Honest John'.

It was around this time that I downloaded my first ever single for 99p, purchased from the 3store on my first camera, Internet phone. It was 'War of the Sexes'. This immediately got me banned from my phone once my dad cottoned onto the lyrics. After buying one of the original AAA battery powered MP3 players I had another friend download all three albums for my sneaky listening pleasure.

By this point the dominoes were at full speed and although not whole concepts or the full meaning of songs were clear to me, it was Skinners voice that grabbed my attention at that time. If only he had been my maths teacher. I would steal triple As in order to stay plugged in to my fuel for life as a teenager growing up in a lions den. Maybe my dad was correct in saying I had selective hearing as I zoned in and focused on certain words and phrases that applied to my situation at that time.

My First MP3 player

When musing with thoughts of flirting with a girl I would pull out my little MP3 and share with them the knowledge, "if she played with her hair shes probly keen"

As a very troubled school child I not only used Skinners lyrics to help me get away from all the teachers by running away to wire in under a stair well or on a lonely bench, but i had 'alot of anger pent up inside of me' so with clenched teeth and fists i would twist the lyrics to my own gratitude as an unnaturally violent person preparing for a fight.
I left school in May 2008 and matured very quickly as I adapted positively to life outside of the school environment. As I again went through a shock induced period of maturity after starting college in August I started to become very deep and coupled with feelings of very little self worth whilst wondering the meaning of life. A very wild illegal party opened my eyes to the way of the world and I couldn't take take life and attempted suicide. I changed my outlook on life yet even when surrounded by great conditions and what I thought was love I would become immersed in waves of depression and again to a more serious level attempted suicide. To get back to The Streets, some of these bouts of darkness curled in a ball under the covers were fed with piano mellow tracks as 'Dry Your Eyes' and 'Its too late'.

On the release of the fourth album entitled 'Everything Is Borrowed', I was beginning to try and move away from my problems. As 'Everything is Borrowed' hit the shelves it seemed Skinner had also moved on from his own problems and eleven tracks were filled with light tunes played by live instruments behind lyrics of homemade wisdom and quirky parables. The song which made the most immediate impact on me at that time I feel could have saved me being third time lucky. 'On the Edge of a Cliff' relates a fictional scenario where the protagonist is on the edge of a cliff and ready to jump when an old man passes by and whilst, passes on the profound wisdom,

"For billions of years since the outset of time, every single one of your ancestors survived, every single person on your mum and dads side, successfully looked after and passed on to you life"
This was also the first time an album hadn't received a parental guidance sticker so I bought it and played it monotonously in the car to everyones dismay.
       In 2009 I attended T in the Park, where Mike and co. were set to play on the sunny Sunday afternoon. I still believe this to be one if not the highlight of my life. Crushed up front row against an unforgiving steel barrier couldn't have been more pleasant. I shed a tear along with Mike during 'We Never Went To Church' and enjoyed an ecstasy filled set until he finished with 'Blinded by the Lights'.
       On the seventh of last month the long awaited and final Streets album 'Computers and Blues' was released. Filled with more wisdom on day to day life all themed on modern and advancing technology. I hoped it would contain some more gems of inspiration and wisdom of use to me and i wasn't disappointed. He has again pulled it off. Reviewed as an equal to his early albums you could ask me which I prefer, what is my favourite album? Well I simply don't have one. Each album is special to me and contains so many private memories and helped me through so much.

       I was present as Mike began possibly the last ever tour of the UK in Edinburgh at the HMV picture house. Emotional as it was, it was amazing to see him in action again. I hope to see him perform for the last time at T in the Park in July. Although sad its all over I am also contented that it ends now. He has helped me through so much and now I'm out the other side I am so grateful. He has inspired me in so many ways and now as I have my own band our main aim is to write, produce, edit, perform, absolutely everything involved in making a record and for Mike to be the first person in history to do so with Computers and Blues couldn't be more of an inspiration.

If a Lion Could Talk We Couldn't Understand it.

A well known philosophical idea states that if a lion could talk English we could not understand it. Many people disagree. But this statement is not as straightforward as you might expect. It is not talking literally about saying hello, good morning, to a lion, it is illustrating the significance of social circles.

To explain, turn on the radio to a chart show one Sunday afternoon. You could very likely hear something along the lines of,

"at number 1 this week is Lady Gaga with Born This Way after only releasing her single 2 days before the chart roundup. Text or Email the show at ..... or leave your comments on facebook. You can also tweet us with the hash tag of..."

Now we may very easily understand exactly what is being said but wake up Shakespeare, who was a great master of the English language and literature and he would struggle to understand a word of what was being said. So this explains my understanding of the saying "If a lion could talk, we could not understand it." Because the difference in day to day life and culture would be far too vast that the barrier would far supersede language alone.

How thick is your skin?

I have pondered the thought of having thick skin - the phrase used to describe someone who can take alot of abuse - for a long time now and come up with the conclusion that no one really has thick skin at all.
In fact as with most things in life how thick someones skin is, is really only the perception of somebody else, an onlooker or in most cases the disher out of the abuse.
     I have broke it down into 3 different category's in which i think everyone fits in.

Category 1 - This is the first stage of people, the paper thin skinned, the people who basically you wouldn't want to mess with. One wrong word and you risk a smack in the mouth. This category is made up of people who basically plain and simple cannot take any form of jive or insult and will take action towards anyone who does so.

Category 2 - The people in this category are basically the bullie victims. The people who every day walk into school and have insult and injury thrown at them. Now as i was saying about perception, if this person, sits and takes it, or whether they choose to try laugh it off, the harsh words affect them massively. But why are they not in category 2? Well the reason for this is because of perception. To everyone else they seem to have thick skin, because they sit and they take all the abuse given without a whisper until one day they come into school with a gun and shoot everyone who ever made them hurt, or cry when they got home. It can also include the general people who can admit that some things people say can affect them.

Category 3 - The thick skinned. ? This final category en captures all the people who would like to think they are thick skinned. The people who say and truly believe that nothing anyone says or does can affect them. Because i would have to find myself in that category. I'm confident in my self enough to let what most people say to me to wash over me harmlessly. But you see there is a part of every human somewhere that logs all those insults and jives and that is our subconscious. For example a professional football player at his best he thinks he can rival the best in the world but he is going through a rough patch and cannot find his form. Now he obviously is a very good player or he would not be a pro. But if a coach or more senior arrogant player in the team were to constantly bring him down every time he made a mistake or tried a trick and it didn't work do you think he would be as likely to try it the next time? No because subconsciously his confidence is down. No matter how much he believes in himself.

Or the words of a dying disappointed father to his multibillionare son. You see everyone on one level or another is affected by someone else. No one is immune. So remember that the next time you feel like saying a harsh word and bringing someone down.