Why Do Songs Get Stuck In Your Head

 Ever have a melody play over and over in your mind all day and you can’t get ride of it? I think most of us have had that experience many times over.

Here is an explanation of that phenomenon by Daniel Levitin, author of “This Is Your Brain On Music”:

You said that  “music sticks in the head,”  and in fact I’ve turned off the Stones but I can still hear Mick going  “oooh”  in my brain. Why do songs get lodged in there like that?

Maybe it’s meant to get stuck in your head. Having “music in the head” allows you to experiment with variations. A lot of people report that when a song gets stuck in their head, the tempo will change a little, or the notes will. So it could be a kind of a game for exercising the mind. When a song gets stuck, it’s not the whole thing; it’s usually about 20 seconds of it. That’s about the same length as auditory short-term memory. And the songs tend to be relatively simple ones. It’s more likely Rihanna that’s in there and not Stravinsky or Mahler.

ZAIA on Hong Kong TV September 13, 2008

tvb-jade.gif

ZAIA will be on television in Hong Kong Saturday September 13, 2008. A programme named “太陽劇團特約： 探索 ZAIA 的夢想世界” (translated as Cirque du Soleil presents “Exploring the ZAIA journey”) will be on TVB Jade, a Cantonese TV channel with highest audience in Hong Kong.   The programme will feature interviews with our Writer & Director Gilles Maheu, Make-up Designer Nathalie Gagné and some of the artists including ZAIA (Kaleen).  It will also include show footage and some location shots here at the Venetian.  However the program will be in Cantonese, for those who do not understand the language, I do hope that you enjoy the programme visually.

Continue reading “ZAIA on Hong Kong TV September 13, 2008” →

Church of England Apologizes to Charles Darwin

darwin.jpg

If you live outside the US you might not be aware what a big deal the religion vs. evolution debates are. It’s a very big deal, and a constant legal battle in our schools between fundamentalist Christian groups and science advocates.

I have a very close friend who I cannot even talk about evolution around because they get so upset. They don’t want to hear about it – and because they don’t want to hear about it they fully support not teaching evolution in schools. We base our beliefs and decisions on the information we have, don’t we?

Science loves to be proven wrong – because that means we are learning something new. Can we say the same for the church of yore?

ARTICLE ON CHURCH OF ENGLAND APOLOGY TO DARWIN

The Church of England on September 14, 2008 will officially apologise to Charles Darwin for misunderstanding his theory of evolution.

In a bizarre step, the Church will address its contrition directly to the Victorian scientist himself, even though he died 126 years ago.
Continue reading “Church of England Apologizes to Charles Darwin” →

How to call Hong Kong from Macau

Here’s how to call Hong Kong from Macau (and vice-versa)

Area Code – The international telephone country code for Macau is 853. From Hong Kong, dial 001/853 before the number. When dialing an international number from Macau, you must first dial 00, followed by the country code. However, when calling Hong Kong from Macau, you need only dial the prefix 01.

Skype for free video chat

skype_logo.png

I’ve finally downloaded Skype for free international video chat. So many of my friends use it and they all love it. I haven’t heard a single negative thing about Skype. I asked a friend how skype makes money – and they said that if you want you can purchase a permanent Skype number – which you can designate to forward to your different numbers as you travel around the world. That sounds like something I’ll probably do – but have also heard even those prices are VERY affordable.

Macau Patacas and Hong Kong Dollars

Thought I’d share a little practical info on the usage of Macau Patacas (MOP) and Hong Kong Dollars (HKD).

Both rates fluctuate a bit – but currently in 09/08 the Macau Pataca (MOP) is about  774 to 100 US dollars. Most of us just figure 8 to 1 and leave it at that. 100 HKD is worth 103 MOP.

Businesses in Macau will accept Hong Kong Dollars, but Hong Kong will not accept Macau Patacas (MOP). Unless you are making a large purchase many businesses do not give an exchange rate for HKD – so when shopping in Macau you will save some money by purchasing in Patacas instead of HKD. Most businesses have signs that say: 1 HKD = 1 MOP . In other words, no exchange.

Macau Patacas only have value in Macau – my understanding is you cannot change the money outside of the general area of Macau. So if you’re going to stock up on cash, better to do it in HKD for when you travel.

When going into China I have heard that they do not accept either MOP or HKD – so you have to exchange for Chinese currency.

I’ve made the mistake of trying to give Macau coinage in Hong Kong – and the retailers really scoff at it – as if you’ve presented them with bottlecaps or seashells.