Sound

Strange that some of the most glorious sounds in the world should have come from a man – Beethoven – who in the end could hear no sound (except, perhaps, the awful cacophony of tinnitus).

This is the opposite of ill and at the same time the opposite of silence. Maybe it is also the opposite of something else, but I do not know.

I challenge you to draw a continuum with noise on one end (the right) and music on the other end (the left). What do you place exactly in the middle?

In the order of emotional content, I find sound more intense than either sight or touch. It seems to be where man has devoted so much creative effort to inspire others.

The sound of the loon might well be the most curious – if not the most thrilling – birdcall in nature.

Vaguely yodel-like, it is a comforting call...but it is also slightly frightening, slightly otherworldly.

The loon is the state bird of Minnesota. Its call is infinitely more interesting than the din of the other loons that Minnesota keeps in its legislature.

»That is exactly what I object to, Edmonia. If it did not sound harsh, I should say that I do not consider you a proper example for the young.«
This appeared to amuse her, which was the last thing he had anticipated. Her deep, thick laugh gushed out.
»Oh, they aren´t waiting for an example, « she replied.

You can't escape the sound of music anywhere these days. People can't seem to get on without their background noise.

Anybody remember silence?

Explorers for hundreds of years hoped they would discover the Northwest Passage – an all-water route leading from Europe to the Far East through the northern part of the Americas. Think how awkward that would be – an ocean channel more than 3,000 miles long, snaking across the U.S. and/or Canada, making North Dakota and Saskatchewan into ports. Just so a bunch of spice merchants would have it easy!

They thought they'd found the Northwest Passage when they sailed into Puget Sound.

»sound system«

tuner, amp, turntable, cdplayer, tapedeck, speakers.

or:

a well-designed (by chance or purpose) pattern of events, actions, impulses, equations, whathaveyou