In Masaschusetts, license plates from 2005 are of the form xxxx yy. My license plate 1951 HZ is purely random. Recently, someone with a musical bent asked me:
"You're a thoughtful person. I'm sure your personalized license plate has some profound meaning. What subtle and amazing thing happens at a frequency of 1951 Hertz (HZ)?"
Ok, I need some help here. I've done my best to search the web for phenomenon that occur between 1900 and 2000 Hertz. Here's what I've found so far:
*It's a common form of audio tone remote control from the 1970s.
*It's a common frequency of frog mating calls.
*It's the frequency of the humpback whale grunt.
*It's the frequency of alveolar nasal consonants (such as when you say "mmmmm").
*It's a point in the audio spectrum used to analyze noise induced hearing loss.
Ok, so far, my profound license plate has me
1. walking into a swamp and asking some wayward frog to hop down to my place
2. getting the attention of a distracted humpback whale
3. having my nasal consonants misunderstood by folks who frequent rock concerts.
I welcome your help - my car needs a sublime story as to why 1951 HZ says something about me, the human condition, or the natural world. Comments welcome!
check this out.
ReplyDeletehttp://cgi.ebay.com/1951-Hertz-Rental-Car-Vacation-Package-Photo-Ad-/220540160435
1951 HZ was
ReplyDeletethe sound of it doing its thing.
the missing piece of the puzzle.
the identity of the man who was there.
the phone number of my Aunt Bessie.
all that remains of the frog.
all that we heard from the whale.
creeping down the road last week.
in a jam.
in a hurry.
late for dinner.
organizing a revolution.
breathing heavily in her ear.
lifting us with one hand.
an idea that you were playing with -
but gave up on in light of April
the cruellest month of Spring
the title
the author
the content
the plot
the man with a gun
the image of him jumping off
the year
a gravestone without flowers
the flood of memories
the virus that wiped out your hard drive
the hard drive home
the home you burned down as a statement
the gran cru you bought on eBay
heather zane's memorial to her father, hubert
stuck in an infinite loop
Shannon's entropy.
the end
HZ is the international language code of the Herero language in the Bantu family, spoken by the Herero people in Botswana and Nambia. The Herero suffered what is generally recognized as the first genocide in the 20th century in 1904, at the hands of the German colonial army.
ReplyDeleteThe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide came into effect on January 12, 1951. The Convention defined Genocide in international legal terms for the first time, and established a mechanism for punishing violators.
Clearly your "1951 HZ" is an homage to all victims of genocide historically, a commitment to see the those guilty of waging genocide brought to justice, and demonstrates your dedication to universal human rights.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herero_people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herero_and_Namaqua_Genocide
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_the_Prevention_and_Punishment_of_the_Crime_of_Genocide
There is an ASA-1951 standard definition of 1 Hz that was used in the original minimal audibility curve. My guess is that the cosmos, or the state of Massachusetts has made a serendipitously obtuse reference to the development of international technical standards.
ReplyDelete1951 HZ is simply an image that leads the reader to think of the infinite number of thoughts they will allow it to carry them to
ReplyDeleteIt was the name of your first Rock Band...
ReplyDelete