The Music of the Microfiche

Why view records of your ancestors on microfiche when you can listen to them instead?

[via Boing Boing]

Baby Daddies Face the Music

As reported here, two lawyers have been granted a patent for genetic music—music "generated by decoding and transcribing genetic information within a DNA sequence." One of the suggested uses would have made the outcome of the Anna Nicole Smith paternity case so much more exciting.

An identity analyzer can be configured to provide an audible signal for a specific comparative result, for example, if the sample and the control differ, e.g., signaling an alarm in a security setting, or when they are the same, e.g., adding excitement to live television coverage of paternity determinations.

[Thanks again, Sally!]

Fiddle Notes

A violin acquired by an Ontario museum tells the story of its maker, Dennis O'Meara.

Inside a violin that he finished carving in 1877 in Lambton County, O'Meara penciled in numerous notes that offer clues to his life and hint about local living conditions at the time.

He wrote that "wild (passenger) pigeons were passing over in billions" as he carried the wood for the violin from the Col. Faithorn estate in present day Bright's Grove.

He cryptically mentions a revolution in 1930, which is also the year he died.

And, intriguingly, he invites "whoever takes this fiddle apart (to) see if you can find me." [Link]

A Melody in Your DNA

The web's most Practical Archivist Sally Jacobs tipped me off to an effort at UCLA to turn human genetic code into music. The goal at Gene2Music is to "convert genome-encoded protein sequences into musical notes in order to hear auditory protein patterns."

In addition to the primary goal, we also aim to use this conversion to help make protein sequences more approachable and tangible for the general public and children. The project also opens opportunities for visually impaired scientists to access protein sequences more readily.

If they turned my genetic code into music, I would hope it would sound like a Led Zeppelin tune. But it would probably sound like the I Dream of Jeannie theme.

The Philippines' Only Piper

Roy Espiritu lives in Manila, but descends from the Macgregors of Scotland. He spent £400 for a set of bagpipes six years ago, then discovered that none of his 87 million fellow Filipinos knew how to play. Fortunately, he was able to find a tutor online.

Roy, who has never been to Scotland, is so proud of his Highland roots that his son six year- old Cholo is already practising on the chanter.

He added: "To be honest, he doesn't really like my playing much. And my wife Cheryl - well let's just say she tolerates my playing." [Link]