Beethoven, Phone Home

I've been having some difficulty writing what I want to say as a review of the Utah Symphony "All Beethoven" season premier we attended last Saturday night. I am to write my impressions of the 9th symphony ("Ode to Joy") while Diahan will review the 4th piano concerto. We have entirely different takes on each.

As I was saying, it is not coming along very well. Rather than frustrate myself further, how about an indirect Beethoven post vis-a-vis the Voyager space probes?

It was during a college science class that I became acquainted with the Voyager program; and the best thing to come out of that class was the research I did to find . . . Beethoven.

Launched a few months after I was born in 1977, Voyagers 1 and 2 were initially designed for a five year mission to study Jupiter and Saturn. Having swimmingly accomplished their task, the probes then visited all the giant outer planets of our solar system and 48 of their moons.

Now leaving the solar system, the probes are exploring the boundary between the Sun's influence and interstellar space.

To get a little more detailed, Voyager 1 has passed through the Termination Shock into the Heliosheath. The Termination Shock, some 8.7 billion miles away (click on the picture to the left), is where the solar wind is abruptly slowed down by the pressure of the hydrogen and helium gas between the stars. "The heliosheath is the region of the heliosphere beyond the Termination Shock. Here the wind is slowed, compressed and made turbulent by its interaction with the interstellar medium (i.e. the hydrogen, helium and dust)."

Needless to say, it is boldly going where no man has gone before.

Should you be taking a 30+ year voyage beyond the solar system, what would you pack? "Leave the gun? Take the cannoli?"

If you were NASA, you would be sure to include a Golden Record - just in case you were to need to ask for directions somewhere in the intergalactic soup.

Can you imagine having the responsibility of compiling the data to be stored - and hopefully shared - on this 12 inch gold-plated copper phonograph?

What would you include to convey the essence of our earthly existence to an alien civilization? The Bible? A baby's laugh? Monet's Impression of a Sunrise? (Images were encoded in analog form, with instructions on the cover on how to read it.)

Just for fun, let's not have that question be hypothetical. I will put my top five items in the comments section. If your curiosity leads you there, feel free to put your top five suggestions for an intergalactic calling card as well.

If you were NASA, your list would include:

- 117 pictures explaining Earth

- Greetings in 54 different human languages and greetings from humpback whales

- A selection of sounds from Earth, including storms, volcanoes, trains, airplane and rocket take-offs and a mother kissing a child

- 90 minutes of music, including classical, tribal, rock & roll, ancient and unfortunately - country.

After reading of this extra terrestrial mix tape, I had to find out what made these music selections so special to merit "immortality" in space. As a result, I was introduced to one of Beethoven's most moving pieces: the String Quartet No. 13 in B flat, Opus 130, Cavatina movement.

It is no wonder that Beethoven said the Cavatina caused him more pain to write than anything else. Beethoven himself singled it out as the crowning achievement of his chamber output and of his entire late period (this includes the Missa Solemnis, the 9th Symphony, and all the late quartets).

Can you hear the deep pain within the unbroken melody? Is this not an agonized cry for relief, for happiness and peace that never comes? Imagine writing such heavenly music and not being able to HEAR it.

In closing, I have included the Beethoven Cavatina for your listening pleasure, enjoyment, experience. Turn the speakers up. Go to a happy place, because you are about to get sad.

* * * * * *

After listening to it a few moments ago, perhaps I should include it on my list as well.

NASA is pretty smart, after all.

My Darwin's Point

While on the subject of Darwin (see previous post), why don't we dig a little deeper, get a little more personal and ask, "what does that nook on your ear really do?"

Or, "why do I have extra teeth coming in that the dentist says I don't need?" And, "how do I benefit from making my arm hair stand on end?"

Surely these are thoughts all of us have had at some point when thinking about ourselves in the evolutionary scheme of things. And while some of us seem more closely related to primitive apes than others (you know who you are), all of us may just have an evolutionary crime scene  right inside us!

You've likely heard that the appendix is good for nothing - except for getting inflamed and thereby being removed. And you likely think I'm going to cite this as the first in a list of vestigial organs. But I'm not. I mention it as a red herring.

Some scientists now think the appendix does have a valid use today as a reservoir of beneficial bacteria, ever ready to refill your intestines after the unexpected "flushing" of the bowels. (Red herring aside, I just wanted to say "flushing" of the bowels. I love puns!)

A vestigial organ is a body part that once had a function but is now the equivalent of wings on an ostrich. Darwin pointed to these as the foundation of his theory on evolution - organs once necessary for survival but now completely useless.

Here is a by-no-means-exhaustive list of believed vestigial organs.

Goose Bumps

While technically more of a reflex than an anatomical structure, goose bumps still qualify. Goose bumps/pimples/flesh (watch for a future poll) occur when the tiny muscle at the base of the hair follicle contracts, causing the hair to stand straight.

Perhaps you recognize this reflex from your pet keets keets (get it? Parakeets - pair of keets). Feathered animals do this to create a layer of insulating warm air in cold weather, or to puff up the feather in self defense.

Wisdom Teeth

Wisdom teeth are common among primates - and dentists don't need to take theirs out. It is believed that our mouths get overcrowded because the homo sapiens' body size rapidly downsized.  And that our diets don't wear out our teeth nearly as bad as before. Too much Jell-O.

Tail Bone (coccyx)

Did you know that there have been over 100 babies born with with tails? Believed to originally have been a vestige of the mammalian tail, the coccyx now anchors your anus in place. So this is a case of an organ changing functions from the outdated to the very helpful.

Not only that, the coccyx usually is formed of four fused vertebrae - but not always. It is very common to find the coccyx with three to five vertebrae.

Darwin's Point

My mother used to cite a node on my ear as proof that I am her child. It now appears that the very feature she shares with me, we both share with our uncle monkey.

The Darwin's point is thought to be the vestige of a joint that allowed the top part of the ancestral ear to swivel or flop down over the ear.

If you are interested in pursuing a further study of vestigial organs, both in man and beast, you may want to consider the vomeronasal organ, hind leg bones in whales, men's nipples, or the blind fish Astyanax mexicanus.  All make for a very interesting read.

Conclusion

It is our joint personal belief that God and evolution are not mutually exclusive, but that the latter is a tool of the Former. Both body and spirit are vital to Man's eternal existence. But where the immutable spirit was born of God, the body is after His image. Therefore, we believe it is possible that God employed natural means to arrive at the form of Man, but not the culmination of Man, which is spirit and body.