Hello and welcome to Thursdays Levy Letter. I hope youre having a good day, and I hope youll be able to join me tonight at half past six on BBC One for todays Look North. Well have all the days news and stories from around our part of the world, and also the detailed weather forecast. Theres been some talk that weve seen the last of the summer sun. Lets hope not, and lets hope the clouds part for this weekends Last Choir Standing event in Hull. Queen Victoria Square will be filled with choral music this Saturday with a mass singing workshop for the audience along with performances from local choirs. If youre interested, make sure youre near Hulls Big Screen, Queen Victoria Square, Hull on Saturday, August 9 at 3pm. The whole event is expected to last about 90 minutes, and all the seated tickets are sold out, but you can still go along to the square to enjoy the atmosphere and of course the music. Ill be there as the host, and I hope youll come down.
Thank you for all the texts, messages, and emails after yesterdays programme. We had a big response on our story about hospitals with pest problems, lots of opinions on that, and lots of people telling us about their experiences. Keep your messages coming in, we pay close attention to them all, and if you have something you want to say, or something you think we should know about, email in to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and tell us about it. Six Degrees Have you ever heard the theory that everybody is connected by six degrees of separation, or six steps? Well its a fascinating idea which suggests that any one person can be linked to anybody else by going through a line of just six acquaintances. Now researchers claim that the theory is true in the world of online messaging. By analysing 30 billion online messages sent in just one month of 2006, researchers discovered that on average, any two people were separated by just seven or fewer acquaintances. For the purpose of the study, people were considered to be acquaintances if theyd sent each other an online message, and it seems that if you want to reach somebody else, you probably know someone, who knows someone, who knows someone, who knows someone, who knows someone, who knows someone, who knows the person youre trying to reach! The idea first arose from experiments conducted with letters which had to be passed on to a named person in another city, only through personal acquaintances. The average number of times it was passed on was six before it reached its destination, although it has to be said that apparently only about 5% of the letters actually reached their destination, so its probably not a good alternative to the putting a letter in the post. But some very interesting research showing that it really is a small world. Synaesthesia I wont try to type that again, but its a word which means the mingling of senses in peoples experience. For example, some people are able to see colours or shapes connected to numbers or letters, and the famous artist David Hockney claims to be able to see colour when listening to music. Well new research has discovered that some people can hear sounds when looking at certain visual stimuli. The discovery came about after a student reported being able to hear sounds while looking at a screen saver on a computer with patterns of moving dots. It sounds so strange that its difficult to imagine what it must be like if you dont have that ability. Apparently its more common to see colours when listening to something, than the other way around. I wonder why that is. As I said, its such a strange thing that its difficult to really understand, and perhaps its something that you have that youve never really thought about or recognised. If you hear things when youre watching moving dots, then perhaps you might be one of the people for whom the senses cross over. Although if you hear chatting and music, you might have left the radio on in another room Weve had some very good photographs sent in recently, and if youve taken a picture of something unusual or interesting and youd like to see it on the programme, send it in to us and Ill have a look at it. You can put a hard copy in the post to our Look North newsroom in Hull, or email in an electronic version to [EMAIL PROTECTED] I look forward to seeing what youve captured. Well thats it from me for today. I hope you enjoy the rest of your afternoon, and join me tonight at half past six on BBC One for tonights Look North. Bye for now Peter Your email address will be held by the BBC and kept confidential, and will only be used in relation to this newsletter. You will be given the option to unsubscribe from this newsletter each time you receive it. Please visit the BBC's Privacy & Cookies Policy (www.bbc.co.uk/privacy) for more information And for the latest news and more where you live, go to: http://bbc.co.uk/humber and http://bbc.co.uk/lincolnshire ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the BBC Look North newsletter, go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/looknorthhull/newsletter/newsletter_index.shtml, enter your email address in the unsubscribe box. 1.94.4
