Our local newspaper includes Parade Magazine in its Sunday edition. I find it generally to be a waste of paper. (A judgment almost equally true of the whole paper, now that it has gone to a format that emphasizes pictures over words, but that's another blog post.) However, I ususally find Marilyn vos Savant's column interesting, and this week it was especially so.

Marilyn answers questions sent in by readers, and last Sunday featured two that have been high on my list of Questions I Wonder about but Have Been Too Lazy to Investigate.

The first one was why entertainers play their music at such a high volume, to which I would add churches, theaters, theme parks, skating rinks, and many other places. I had thought perhaps it was because the rest of the world is deaf, but here is her very interesting answer:

They’re trying to generate excitement, and a high level of decibels accomplishes that goal. Subjected to such intense sound, listeners’ bodies produce adrenaline, noradrenaline and more. These substances make the heart pound and give an impression of increased muscle strength. Not surprisingly, some people become psychologically addicted to this hormone rush, which is implicated in thrill-seeking behavior.

I'm not sure the churches would take that conclusion very kindly, but some might think it worth considering.

The other question concerns the number of people (specifically, Americans) killed in automobile accidents, as compared to wars. I've often wondered how the automobile-related death rate would stack up against other causes of death, not just wars, but crimes, illnesses, and the like. Here is the answer for war:

Since the start of the Revolution in 1775, about a million Americans have died in wars. And since Henry Ford introduced the mass-produced motorcar in 1913, more than 2.5 million Americans have met their deaths on the road.

Not the sort of statistic that makes me want to jump into the car and drive off. Nonetheless, we leave soon for choir rehearsal.... Which explains why people don't pay much attention to automotive risks: as yet there are few of us who have a reasonable alternative.
Posted by sursumcorda on Thursday, March 9, 2006 at 5:36 pm | Edit
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Interestingly enough, our own sound console person at church has noticed that the "corporate worship experience is heightened" by increasing the decibel level. It would be interesting to see if our pastors think this is good or bad in light of Ms.Savant's answer...

Posted by joyful on Friday, March 10, 2006 at 12:45 pm
Unfortunately our paper has recently replaced Parade Magazine with a similar one from USA Today. Both spend too much paper on celebrity news, but at least Parade had Marilyn vos Savant. We used to enjoy working out some of the problems she posed.

Posted by dstb on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 at 4:10 pm
I also enjoyed Marilyn vos Savant's column, and I think some comics, that was mostly the only good part of the Parade Magazine when I was growing up. I did think it was strange when I found out the picture of Marilyn vos Savant (and Dear Abby) were really old pictures -- I had assumed they were current. As for the sound levels, yeah, I imagine people would not be happy with this study, and I have wondered whether it is worth saying anything. I thought I would tell our sound guy about it, and see what he thinks.

Posted by jondaley on Thursday, March 16, 2006 at 8:05 am
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