All Clear, or All-Clear. This is a reminder of the Second World War when air raid warning systems alerted citizens to the dangers and then sounded the end of possible danger. We baby boomers remember these, too, as they were used for nuclear attack practices. The UK system was a discontinued in 1992.
There are still countries with All-Clear signals on their warning sirens. Canada is one of them. The others are Denmark, Singapore, Kuwait, some areas of the U.S., Afghanistan, and Israel.
The alert to danger was a rising and falling tone, and the All-Clear signal was a continuous tone. I found a study of alert systems in the U.S. and this is the range of sound:
"The signals available for use by siren technology normally fall between the 300 Hz to 1 000 Hz range (FEMA 1980), with the steady (or mid-range) frequencies surrounding 500 Hz or 600 Hz and dual frequencies at 460 Hz and 920 Hz. Some manufacturers discuss the benefits of signals with dual frequencies as better able to reach a wider listening audience."
So where does that put the sound in musical terms? Middle C is 264 Hz. A above Middle C is tuned to 440 Hz. So our range would be the octave from A# above Middle C to A# the next octave. You can read the chart to find it.
We are long past the distant nuclear threats. Present and personal are the dangers of floods, earthquakes, fires, shooters, and more.
There are many first world citizens who are "inconvenienced" by middle-of-the-night alerts for kidnapped/missing children or by a test alert on their phones. They will no longer have the luxury to the minor irritations that give rise to complaints and groans.These are the emotions of the uninvolved. That is on the cusp of being nostalgic.
The west coast heat dome of 2021, the fires and then the floods are signals that alert systems could sound frequently and apply to us - each and every one of us.
It seems likely to me when I consider my sense of climate change this year vs last year I have experienced a shift in social consciousness.Here it is:
Move over COVID And share the sofa - The crisis that has come to stay. Hum along the A# song to the lyrics of Greta's "Blah Blah Blah"
These two pictures are from 2010. They are graffiti on outdoor chess boards at the park behind the subway station at Bathurst and Bloom. I returned numerous times to take progressive pictures, but the progress was declining and these were the very best.
