From Russia with bleeps
QUESTION Is the Tetris computer game based on an old folk song? TETRIS is an arcade puzzle game in which various shapes, each made of four squares, are falling down a well. When a solid line of squares is made from edge to edge, the line dissolves and all the pieces move down by one square. The challenge for players is to keep the well as empty as possible.
When russian scientist Alexey Pajitnov developed the first version (without sound) on computer in 1984, the name was a combination of tetra (Greek for four) and tennis (his favourite sport), inspired by Pentominos, an old puzzle board game.
Tetris didn’t need music to be popular as it spread over the soviet Union, but that changed when a deal was struck with Nintendo in 1988, as the company was working on its GameBoy hand-held gaming system — the most popular portable game system of its time.
The basic pleasure of putting blocks together to make something was an ideal pastime, so Tetris agreed exclusive rights for the game to be bundled with the GameBoy and launched with theme music to add to its appeal.
This sound that bounces around in the head is known to many Western gamers as Type-A, but its origins are russian: it’s a re-arrangement of a 19th- century folk tune Korobeiniki.
This translates as The Peddlers and was originally a poem written in 1861 by Nikolai Nekrasov. it was the first of his three great narrative poems on the theme of the russian peasantry that stand pre-eminent in his oeuvre and, after being published in the sovremennik magazine, quickly became popular as a song.
singers describe the romance between a peddler and peasant girl who meet each other in a rye field.
The lyrics contain optimism (‘i will, i will go out into the tall rye, i will wait there till the night comes, Once i see the dark-eyed lass, i will showcase all my goods’), passion (‘Bring your scarlet lips to me, sit closer to this fine lad’) and joy (‘straighten up now, oh tall rye, And keep their secret scrupulously!’), but ends in tragedy after the peddler is killed before he marries his love.
When the song was re-arranged in 1989 by the musician and sound designer Hirokazu Tanaka as Type-A, he used the happy first half of the love story to make a tune performed by piano.
Having worked with musical scores in various video games, he realised the increasing tempo was ideal, for as the Tetris game progresses, the pieces fall faster, so the new tune had an element of getting even faster and faster, a device used on several recordings of the song.
sung by the red Army Choir, Korobeiniki is the same tragic folk tune it began as, but over the years it’s been remixed in nearly every new version of Tetris.
Emilie Lamplough, Trowbridge, wilts.
QUESTION What exactly is an inch of rain? IT’s the amount of rainfall measured by a rain gauge. At its simplest, a rain gauge is any graduated cylinder, though it must have a uniform diameter for an accurate measurement. in more sophisticated gauges, the entrance is through a narrow funnel to avoid debris clogging the mechanism and undesirable evaporation in hot weather.
it doesn’t matter how wide the container is because as the volume of the container gets bigger, so does the area that collects the rain. Because of this, one inch of rainfall will be recorded consistently between cylinders of varying sizes.
rain gauges have been around for millennia. Their measurements help farmers make decisions about planting, harvesting, and irrigating crops. They also enable engineers to design effective storm drains, bridges and other structures.
Marcus white, Solihull, w. Mids.
QUESTION Why does Kentucky regard itself as a commonwealth rather than a state? COMMONWEALTH is an historical title certain U.s. states chose to use in their constitution. it originally meant a region governed by the people, not a monarch. england was a commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell from 1649 to 1660. During the American revolution (1765-83), the British colonies of massachusetts, Virginia and Pennsylvania declared themselves commonwealths, signalling they were no longer governed by the monarch, but were independent republics.
Kentucky at that time was part of Virginia; the separation came in 1788. Virginia had banned trading with the spanish colony of New Orleans, which controlled the mouth of the mississippi, but this trade was vital to the Kentucky economy. Trading through Virginia was a difficult route and prone to indian raids.
The new state seceded in 1792 and, when its constitution was drawn up, Kentucky chose to retain the n name commonwealth.
During the Civil War, Virginia se seceded from the Union to become a C Confederate state, but West Virginia se seceded from Virginia to remain in th the Union. it chose to discard the co commonwealth title and become in instead a state of the U.s.
T There was a deliberate antim monarchial sentiment in the use of the wo word commonwealth.
J John Adams used it when framing th the massachusetts constitution: ‘T ‘There is, however, a peculiar sense in wh which the words republic, commonwealth, popular state are used by english and French writers, who mean by them a democracy, a government in one centre and that centre a single assembly, chosen at stated periods by the people and invested with the whole sovereignty, the whole legislative, executive and judicial power to be included in a body or by committees as they shall think proper.’ (John Adams, life And Works, vol. 5, p. 454).
Tom winters, London SE5.
QUESTION What became of the linesman who gave England’s controversial third goal against West Germany in the 1966 World Cup? FURTHER to the earlier answer, Tofic Bahramov’s story is fascinating. However, as someone present at the game — indeed, standing behind the goalposts in question — my immediate reaction at the time was that the ball hadn’t crossed the line and the goal shouldn’t have been allowed.
Over the years, i’ve seen many replays of the incident including the recent 50th anniversary programmes on TV. All of these have confirmed my initial reaction that the linesman got it wrong.
Despite this, i believe england were the better team and deserved to win on that memorable day for British football.
Sam Jess, Holywood, Co. Down.
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