• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

All Hail Taylor Swift, Person of the Year!

angrysoba said:
A tad hyperbolic. Universities have been handing out honorary degrees since forever. I really don’t see why an artist who has created some of the most well-regarded music since Michael Jackson getting a degree in fine art. When I was at university, students in the fine art department got a degree for perpetrating a hoax on some media organizations by pretending they had spent a grant on a holiday in Spain. Whereas Taylor Swift gets one for making actual art that is bought by hundreds of millions of people! Of course she should get a doctorate. Or did you complain when Jonny Cash got one? Or Elton John? Or Billy Joel?
Click to expand...

The suggestion that an Honorary PhD has anything to do with anything involved in this discussion just highlights the fact that the poster has no clue about what PhD education is about.

The only people who act like an honorary PhD is an any way comparable to educational PhD are the cranks like creationists. Neither Billy Joel, Taylor Swift, Elton John or Johnny Cash or the myriad of university alumnae who are granted honorary PhDs think it is the same. It's an honorary degree, so it's an honor.

As I said, you see the occasional crank (usually a creationist) who call themselves Dr and list PhD after their name who you find out have nothing but an honorary degree (and that's opposed to those with degrees from diploma mills). But no one in the PhD world, including those who give them out, think that honorary PhDs are equivalent to academic degrees.

Sheesh, I didn't look at the link when it was posted. If I had, I would not have continued to engage.
 
TomB said:
You make it out as if fights are a rare thing in rugby, yet there seems to be quite a few compilation videos youtube, as well as articles discussing fights and braws in rugby.
Click to expand...

Cool, YouTube video compilations.

Fights are rare in rugby. Penalties are tough, and given the number of games, actual fights are exceedingly rare.

Fights with officials or management are almost unknown.

I suspect you might be getting confused with rugby league.
 
pgwenthold said:
So I sit on a lot of PhD thesis committees, and have been to scores of PhD defenses. However, I have never been on a social science PhD thesis committee, and therefore have not been in the room for discussions about the "value of [the] research to the corpus of human knowledge." Basically, I don't know enough about the field to know what constitutes a valuable contribution.

And neither do you. What you have done here is no better than the idiot congresscritters that publish their annual "can you believe these projects are getting funded by the National Science Foundation! Chirp. Chirp." Because, when I see those lists, in the fields I know about, my answer is always, yeah, that makes sense, I can believe they have been funded.

And this situation is even worse, because there is no indication that there were any resources "wasted," so you don't even have that.

In the end, ultimately the objective of a PhD education is to increase the knowledge of the world. If, by using some aspect of the works of Taylor Swift, the student has been able to increase our knowledge about and understanding of the world, then they have accomplished the goal of a PhD. What value that contribution has to the world we can argue, but what contribution it has to the field in which the person works, that's going to take more expertise and knowledge about the field than I have. As such, I have to rely on my colleagues who do work within the field to make the assessment of whether the contribution is significant, and my ignorant opinions really don't matter.

Again, we aren't talking about how to best use public funding for research, we are talking about educational standards of an institution and a field of study. Saying, "it was based on Taylor Swift" is a lame attempt at, what, poisoning the well? At best. Temple University gave Bill Cosby a Ed.D. (Doctor of Education) for his thesis on the educational role of the Fat Albert cartoons. Yeah, because what he did made a contribution to the knowledge about education.

Do you have any legitimate complaints about the thesis in question as to why the work was not appropriate for a PhD? Have you read the thesis? Or an abstract? Or is this merely a dismissal of the value of any social science research?

PS Sorry for the rant, but damn this pisses me off
Click to expand...

I am sure doctorial dissertation on the Taylor Swift phenemenon are bing submitted as we speak.
And yes, study of somehting like Swift's huge popularity is worthy of study.
 
At my school crossing on Friday there were many pre-teens who had TS tickets for the Melbourne shows (I asked as they crossed). My young niece got a late ticket. I was sorry I didn’t even try to join the 20% of Australians who tried to get tickets. The crowd last night was the largest she has performed before, 96,000. It will be very similar got the last two Melbourne shows.

Anyway I’m settling down to watch a PPV of her show. Money well spent.
 
lionking said:
I was sorry I didn’t even try to join the 20% of Australians who tried to get tickets. The crowd last night was the largest she has performed before, 96,000. It will be very similar got the last two Melbourne shows.
Click to expand...

Played a solid three hours, I believe. I wouldn't have paid to be there, but it must have been spectacular.
 
The Atheist said:
Played a solid three hours, I believe. I wouldn't have paid to be there, but it must have been spectacular.
Click to expand...

...and probably deafening. If you have a decent audio system PPV is probably the way to go if you value your hearing. Plus the queues for the toilets and food are much shorter!

Just to be clear: This is not specific to Taylor Swift, but a general comment about the live shows of many male and female and non-binary artists of all ethnicities.
 
Ivor the Engineer said:
...and probably deafening. If you have a decent audio system PPV is probably the way to go if you value your hearing. Plus the queues for the toilets and food are much shorter!

Just to be clear: This is not specific to Taylor Swift, but a general comment about the live shows of many male and female and non-binary artists of all ethnicities.
Click to expand...

I'd imagine she'd be using passive cartoids so no, not deafening
 
Manger Douse said:
I'd imagine she'd be using passive cartoids so no, not deafening
Click to expand...

I presume you mean cardioid. Care to explain the point you are trying to make and how it relates to SPL?

ETA: I have found this on reddit. Prolonged exposure to SPL levels above 85dB can cause hearing damage.
 
Last edited:
Manger Douse said:
More, quieter speakers. That watch is picking up crowd noise
Click to expand...

So what if it is crowd noise? A person is almost certainly damaging his or her hearing being in an environment with a SPL repeatedly peaking that high.

Are you claiming that the hearing of people in the audience will not be damaged by spending 3 hours at a Taylor Swift concert (without hearing protection)?
 
Ivor the Engineer said:
So what if it is crowd noise? A person is almost certainly damaging his or her hearing being in an environment with a SPL repeatedly peaking that high.

Are you claiming that the hearing of people in the audience will not be damaged by spending 3 hours at a Taylor Swift concert (without hearing protection)?
Click to expand...

If Swift can make her fans shout loud and long enough to deafen people then she needs to be stopped right now.
 
Manger Douse said:
If Swift can make her fans shout loud and long enough to deafen people then she needs to be stopped right now.
Click to expand...

Are you claiming that the hearing of people in the audience will not be damaged by spending 3 hours at a Taylor Swift concert (without hearing protection)?
 
Manger Douse said:
Sounds like a positive claim you're making - let's see your evidence
Click to expand...

No, I made no such positive claim. Here is what I wrote:

"...and probably deafening. If you have a decent audio system PPV is probably the way to go if you value your hearing. Plus the queues for the toilets and food are much shorter!"

Learn to read and comprehend what people write. It helps you not come across as a childish **** just out to score points against those people whose opinion offends you. So I ask you again:

Are you claiming that the hearing of people in the audience will not be damaged by spending 3 hours at a Taylor Swift concert (without hearing protection)?

Yes or No?
 
Ivor the Engineer said:
No, I made no such positive claim. Here is what I wrote:

"...and probably deafening. If you have a decent audio system PPV is probably the way to go if you value your hearing. Plus the queues for the toilets and food are much shorter!"

Learn to read and comprehend what people write. It helps you not come across as a childish **** just out to score points against those people whose opinion offends you. So I ask you again:

Are you claiming that the hearing of people in the audience will not be damaged by spending 3 hours at a Taylor Swift concert (without hearing protection)?

Yes or No?
Click to expand...

Probably means you will almost certainly get hearing damage from a Taylor Swift concert yes/no?
 
Not that this is really needed for anyone with half a brain who has attended a pop/rock concert in the last 30 years, but here we go anyway:

https://www.smh.com.au/culture/musi...ot-a-friendship-bracelet-20240209-p5f3r1.html

The ‘essential’ accessory Swifties are raving about – and it’s not a friendship bracelet

Many Australian Swifties are making an effort to protect their hearing at the pop star’s long-awaited Eras Tour this month by wearing earplugs.

Diehard NSW Swiftie Rebecca Plumridge recently purchased a pair of Loop earplugs after seeing trending recommendations on TikTok from American fans.

“Everyone online was saying how loud the crowds and music were during the United States leg of The Eras Tour and that earplugs were an absolute must,” the Thornton-based fan said.

The 29-year-old already has existing hearing damage from previous Taylor Swift and One Direction stadium tours.
“I sometimes get really loud buzzing noises in my ears and I often have to ask people to repeat their questions,” she said. “This will be my third Taylor concert, so I really wanted to protect my ears.”

Plumridge is not alone. Earplug-related posts and videos have saturated social media platforms over the past six months, with music fans, festival attendees and influencers sharing their reviews and recommendations for different hearing protection brands.

<snip>
Click to expand...

https://www.torchonline.com/feature...-before-seeing-taylor-swift-at-the-eras-tour/

5 Things To Know Before Seeing Taylor Swift At “The Eras Tour”

<snip>

Bring Earplugs. Seriously.
A ton of people have suggested that concert-goers wear protective earplugs to The Eras Tour shows, and it’s easy to dismiss the idea. Of course, after paying hundreds of dollars to see Swift, attendees want to make sure they are enjoying the atmosphere to the fullest.

Regardless, people going to The Eras Tour should seriously consider wearing earplugs to the concert. It’s not necessarily to protect the wearer’s ears from the sound of Swift’s music — that sound level is about the same as other stadium concerts.

But not many other concerts have more than 70,000 people scream-singing lyrics at the top of their lungs for hours straight. Ever experienced ear pain because someone was screaming in your ear? That’s essentially what The Eras Tour can be, at times.

And yes, you’ll still be able to hear all of Swift’s stunning vocals while wearing ear protection.

<snip>
Click to expand...

https://www.earpros.com/blog/how-loud-are-concerts

How Loud Are Concerts in Decibels?

According to Hearnet, the average concert ranges between 110 dB and 120 dB. However, ‘how loud are concerts?’ is not a straightforward question, as there are many variables at play.

First, there are several different styles of music, and volume levels vary between them. So you’d be better off asking specifically, ‘how many decibels is a rock concert’ or ‘how loud is a classical concert’. Here are some examples of different music genres and their respective sound energy levels:

Church choruses/school choirs typically range from 80 dB to 90 dB.
Classical music concerts range from 70 dB in quieter passages to 90 dB in louder sections.
Rock concert decibel levels often exceed 120 dB.
Hip hop concerts are usually several decibels quieter than rock concerts, around 100-110 dB, because the instruments they use are electronic and not as loud as electric guitars or drums.

The concert environment can also play a significant role in how loud it is. Outdoor events in open-roofed arenas and stadiums record lower concert decibel levels because there are fewer solid surfaces for sound vibrations to reverberate off. As we’ve already established, rock concert decibel levels are the highest of all the music genres. But how loud is a rock concert outdoors versus indoors? Usually, about 30 dB lower at around 90 to 100 dB – which is much better news for your ears!
Click to expand...

A factor not mentioned above is that a lot of popular music (including Taylor Swift's) has its dynamic range compressed, meaning the average SPL level does not vary as much as at say, a classical music concert, where the performers don't have to compete with the audience singing along. This is bad as far as risk for more serious hearing damage because it means your ears never get much of a break from a significantly higher average SPL.
 
Manger Douse said:
Is that a yes or a no to almost certain deafness?
Click to expand...

I direct you do the Cambridge Dictionary entry for "deafening".

At no time have I made the claim of certain deafness.

It would have probably been best for you to just shut up after my last post, but please feel free to continue to make a fool of yourself in front of everybody.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom