Comments on: Incident On A Parking Lot

By: Dan Klarmann

Dan Klarmann — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:03:19 +0000

Here’s a couple of snapshots from my phone showing the tower in question. I had biked over to Office Depot (and they didn’t have what I needed), and it caught my eye. Pardon the quality.

Standing in its shadow

Pigeons like it, too

By: Vicki Baker

Vicki Baker — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 04:03:28 +0000

I wonder if anyone has thought of using one of those automated phone call systems to do the call to prayer. The phone rings at 5 am and a recorded voice says “There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet.” Sort of like Dial-a-Prayer but in reverse.

By: Erich Vieth

Erich Vieth — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 03:23:13 +0000

See the second item on the list here: http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=2010

By: projektleiterin

projektleiterin — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 23:13:02 +0000

Well, I know how it is to hear the muezzin call for prayer in the morning and let me tell you, it ain’t fun. I remember dimly to have heard that some also use loudspeakers and recorded tapes, but I’m not quite sure about this.

By: Erich Vieth

Erich Vieth — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 21:34:06 +0000

There’s a Catholic church about 3 blocks from my house. The bells ring periodically and they are ugly, absolutely grungy and out-of-tune bells. It’s a blight on the ears and it’s been going on for years.

It was quite a surprise to me, then, to hear recently (at a neighborhood meeting) that those bells aren’t really bells. They don’t have functioning bells. Instead, they have an electronic sound system.

So now I’m wondering why a church would (in a world where sound recordings are a dime a dozen) decide to broadcast a recording of out-of-tune bells. I will continue my investigation.

On the one hand, I tempted to say that all religious organizations should keep their sounds inside of their own walls. Anything else is sonic graphitti. On the other hand, I do like to hear the sound of well-tuned church bells in the distance. I haven’t yet heard a call to prayer, but I’m open to the experience.

By: Alison

Alison — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 17:56:04 +0000

Well, if the community records its town meetings and broadcasts them on a cable channel, it would be easy enough to find out. Boring to watch, but if you record it you can fast forward. The building would have been permitted by the planning board, but the noise issue, if it violated any existing statues in town law, would have to be heard by the town council rather than the planning board. If the group that’s building abides by the law as it stands, then there’s nothing to complain about.