What is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a unique achievement of collaboration between nations. It was adopted and proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations On December 10, 1948. In many ways, it is one of the pillar of the United Nations which was founded 3 years before, at the end of the second World War in 1945.

Under Mrs Eleanor Roosevelt’s direction (the wife of American President Franklin Roosevelt), the Human Rights Commission wrote this special document. It declares the rights that everyone in the entire world should have. Today there are 192 member states of the UN, all of whom have signed on in agreement with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

You can find the full text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from the UN website.

The Simplified Version

The simplified version of these human rights for young people reads as follow:

1. We Are All Born Free & Equal.
2. Don’t Discriminate.
3. The Right to Life.
4. No Slavery.
5. No Torture.
6. You Have Rights No Matter Where You Go.
7. We’re All Equal Before the Law.
8. Your Human Rights Are Protected by Law.
9. No Unfair Detainment.
10. The Right to Trial.
11. We’re Always Innocent Till Proven Guilty.
12. The Right to Privacy. Nobody should try to harm our good name.
13. Freedom to Move.
14. The Right to Seek a Safe Place to Live.
15. Right to a Nationality.

This is the full text of the simplified version for young people.

Video of the Declaration

This is a beautiful video which features the full text of the universal declaration of human rights. Camille discovered it on the web and submitted for extra-credit.

If you also want to receive extra-credit, try to guess which program was used to make this video and write it as a comment below.

I posted this video here because making music with everyday object stretches the imagination and pushes boundaries. I also believe that the Phantom of the Opera is a classic which needs to be taught to the new generations. Finally, this is an ode to floppies which my students only have a faint memory of.

Explanations on how this video was made are a little tedious but can be decoded:

People have made floppy drives sing before, but this is my personal take on it.

Features two 3 1/2″ drives and two 5 1/4″ drives connected to a PIC18f14k50 microcontroller. It interfaces to any MIDI source via MIDI over USB. Straight MIDI would also be possible with an additional small circuit and some minor firmware changes. This initial version can respond to all 128 MIDI notes, and pitch bends +/- 2 semitones.

As it can produce only four simultaneous notes, and each drive has a different range and tonal characteristics, best results are obtained by arranging compositions by hand. However, it features two modes of operation: in one mode, MIDI channels 1 through 4 are played directly on floppy drives 1 through 4. In the other mode, all 16 MIDI channels are read, and notes are “intelligently” divvied out on a first-come, first-serve basis. “Note stealing” ensures that melody lines sound, but chords are often cut short. One or the other produces acceptable results for many unmodified MIDI files straight out of your favorite media player.

[Source: Boing Boing - Floppy drive organ plays toccata by Cory Doctrow - 9/2/2011]