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From the editorial “Communication Between Minds” by Fred Pohl [Worlds of Tomorrow, Nov 1965]

“Reading Vitus Droscher’s fascinating The Mysterious Senses of Animals (Dutton), when it occurred to us that an experiment Droscher had described could be construed as a proof of telepathy.   The experiments in question were performed by von Holst and Jechorek at the Max Planck Institute.  The subjects were two chickens, connected by a wire and an amplifier that carried a current from the brain of one chicken to the brain of the other, via stereotaxically implanted electrodes.  When the first chicken was exposed to the sight of a dog, the second chicken — completely out of sight and hearing, in another room — fluttered up the wall, squawking in alarm.   Not telepathy?”

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The modern day shaman — the serial start-up entrepreneur — carries around a fascinating collection of baubles and tools. The old school shrunken heads, shark’s teeth, eagle feathers, ointments and herbs are certainly no more fetishistic than today’s gadgets, cables, and protective sleeves.

This fascinating anthropology study belongs to Joi Ito, which I stumbled across by reading up about HTML5 on Hixie’s blog.
go to flickr page

**note, isn’t it kind of cool that we can emulate all the embedded objects related to the photo and then iframe them in Wordpress…!

Given the opportunity, I just couldn’t resist sending a little micro-chipped token of my affection to my favorite sub-miniaturized phantasm on Mars.  Aloha,  Perky Pat!  How’s the water at Lake Shalbatana?  Thanks to NASA, you too can send a Can-D gram to the red planet!   Don’t be Chew-Z, sign up today!

http://mars9.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/participate/sendyourname/index.cfm

I was talking with my friend Don about this cool book I am reading about the rocket scientist John Whiteside Parsons — Strange Angel — when the conversation somehow changed tracks to Leon Theremin, the enigmatic Soviet inventor.   This conversation prompted me to check out the recent biography by Albert Glinsky, Theremin: ETHER MUSIC AND ESPIONAGE, with an introduction by the late great Robert Moog… yes, that Bob Moog!  In his introduction, Moog mentioned that he wrote an article for Electronics World in 1960 that detailed his early work selling theremin kits by mail order.  Hmm, I thought…wonder what became of that article?  Turns out that someone scanned it for a website, which later vanished, but miraculously it was archived by the Wayback Machine!   Mr. Peabody and Simon, I know you’re out there watching out for us miserable earthlings, and I have to thank you, sincerely. Hope you will enjoy the scanned images of the article, which appeared in the January 1961 issue of Electronics World:
page 1 (288k jpg)
page 2 (472k jpg)
page 3 (400k jpg)
page 4 (342k jpg)
page 5 (135k jpg)

Now we can build our own authentic 1960-style theremins and aspire to the magnificent soundtrack of the original The Day The Earth Stood Still.

If you are interested in other kits, check out the amazing kit details by Art Harrison,  Theremin Enthusiasts Club, and the geeks at Theremin World.  If you are into the latest theremin music, check out Thereminvox.

Isn’t it about time we moved beyond the idiotic “central heating” concept and kicked our energy habit?   But how, you might ask, do we get this 100 quadrillion BTU monkey off our back?  The answer, as ridiculous as it sounds, is to simply build better homes, and used efficient heat exchange.   Really, that’s it!   In Germany they are already doing this, building passive heat homes, with highly efficient air flow heat exchangers, and hermetically sealed window and door edges.   The technology isn’t new, but it does rely on (a) good engineering, and (b) good construction techniques.

The American style of building — some sheets of Tyvek slapped on plywood and stud frames, thrown together by a couple of guys with nailguns — is NOT going to cut it!   What we do need is intelligent manufacture of super-efficient modular windows and doors, that can be mounted into highly insulated walls.   Why not put the laid-off crews of Republic Windows back to work, or even re-tool the auto-industry to build super-efficient home construction components, instead of gas-guzzling dinosaurs?   That’s what I proposed to Obama on his transition web blog…  not that the idea will ever get to him, but there’s no harm in trying!

For decades (yes, sadly decades) I have been advocating for a heat-exchanger attachement for refridgerators in American homes.  Doesn’t it strike you as INSANE that we pay to heat up the space inside our homes, then we pay AGAIN to chill down another space inside of our homes to store our food?   That has always been an insane idea to me!  Therefore, for anyone who lives in a climate where the temperature outside the home falls below the temperature inside the home, why not put a heat exchanger between the outside and the air pocket surrounding the fridge interior?  A temperature gauge can control when the vents open on the heat exchanger.  Therefore, when the outside temp drops to a cold enough level, the vent opens and automatically pre-cools the air pocket that exists between the fridge interior and its shell, thus saving energy when the freon compressor kicks in.   Duh!  Why not let the cold outside air cool off our fridge compartment, instead of heating it first then paying to cool it down again?  But then, that would be giving logic and energy-efficiency primacy over greed… and we can’t allow THAT to happen, can we?   Or can we!  Yes, we can!

So join me in pushing all of our alternative construction, transportation, & energy ideas to business, industry, finance, government, mom, pop, and Auntie Grizelda.  It’s a crap job, but somebody’s got to pick up the pieces of this “all war, all the time” disaster we call the U.S.A. and fix it.

The countdown has begun for tonight’s scheduled liftoff of the Shenzhou 7 mission, which includes the first EVA space-walk by Chinese Taikonauts.  The intrepid crew will be wearing Chinese made “Feitian” spacesuits, appropriately named for the flying genii figures that are one of the most pervasive art motifs in China since their introduction from Central Asia some 1,500 years ago.   Up up and away, Taikonoauts!   See you after a few whirls…

Although it is exciting to think about water and soil on Mars, and new horizons for human exploration of space, still we should bring our heads back out of the clouds and face facts: human civilization is a bloody mess! While people in the so-called “advanced” economies continue to suck energy likes pigs at the trough, and while “developing” nations such as China and India are racing to catch up like wild-eyed racecar drivers hyped up on dexadrine, untold billions of people are left starving at the margins… We are at the point of no return, and yet our so-called “leaders” can think of nothing better to do than rape, loot, and pillage whatever they can get their hands on. What is a thinking man or woman to do?

The only thing I can suggest is to ratchet down your own energy footprint, ride a bike, eat locally grown foods, and focus on two key tactics: creating pesticide free & bee friendly habitats, and implementing appropriate technology.

If the human race does nothing but blindly spin its wheels, we will very be soon left with no option but to become scavengers when the unsustainable mess comes tumbling down. Koyanisqaatsi, my friends.

These thoughts occurred to me when I saw an article on rocket stoves. These make a great deal of sense, because they can burn the smallest scraps of fuel and turn them into cooking energy with the lowest exchange of gases and smoke. The use of appropriate technology clearly should not be limited to people who must be resourceful to avoid starvation, and clearly cannot wait for the approval of idiots who continually drive their ridiculous gas-guzzling monsters to WalMart for 20 pound slabs of read meat.

Appropriate technologies need to be tested and used by all of us.

Reading the latest news about the haunted city hall of Middleborough, Massachusetts got me wondering about the state of the art for ghost busting. What self-respecting paranormal commando would be caught without and Electromagnetic Field detector, a decent digital recorder for Electronic Voice Phenomena, a camera for snapping Paranormal Orbs, a hand-held Infrared Thermometer, Geiger Counter, Night Vision Goggles, Barometer, Static Meter, Negative Ion Meter, and cryogenic storage device?

Well, I guess we’ve come a long way from holding hands in the dark! Madame Blavatsky should be proud.

After lengthy consideration, I finally shelled out for some recording gear, so that I could produce audio content. You can see the complete set up for Diamond Bay Radio in the photo above. The basic necessities are the digital audio interface (an M-Audio Mobile Pre, which I got on Ebay for $80) and a decent vocal microphone (a Shure PG-48, also purchased on Ebay for $15). Since the Shure came with an XLR to 1/4″ jack, I had to go to Cambridge Music and pick up a Whirlwind XLR to XLR cable.

The Mobile Pre just looked like a better piece of gear than the Fast Track, and generally cost less than the similar models from Edirol, Tascam, etc; and also was the only model that boasted Windows drivers going back to Windows 2000. As it turned out the drivers did work on my Fujitsu lifebook, running Win2K. Once I had the drivers installed, and figured out how to turn on the input device monitor in Audacity, I was up and running! In fact, Audacity is so totally amazing, I was ripping some background music and recording separate voice tracks for the intro in minutes!

As a result, I can proudly present the premiere podcast of Diamond Bay Radio! A short reading from the Life of Mayakovsy. Hope you like it!

** LINK **

For some reason September 2007 is Moon month, or is that an oxymoron? At MIT, the film In the Shadow of the Moon was launched with a free reception and discussion. Ten years in the making, this film promises some amazing high-resolution footage of the Apollo missions that we have never seen before!

Halfway through the month, Japan has launched a new lunar orbiter, Kaguya, named after a mythical Princess born on the Moon. Is it a coincidence that Kaguya is also one of the most ubiquitous mythical characters to be reincarnated in Japanese Manga? What great cultural cross-over branding! You’ve got the old timers who still think of Kaguya as an obi-belted Princess in a kimono, and you’ve got all the science fiction punks sketching Kaguya as a laser-sword wielding space opera star. Then, of course, you can net all the salary-man types hooked on Kaguya hentai stuff. On the other hand, this was probably just the name suggested by the boss’s secretary, who knows!

Meanwhile, the launch of China’s Chang’e 1 lunar orbiter is just around the corner.

If that is not enough, Google has just announced a $30,000,000 Lunar X Prize to the first private company that can successfully land a robot on the moon! Yes, you read those zeros correctly…so get out your slide-rule and your metal lathe kids, it’s time for you to earn your keep by sending a wise-cracking K-9 bot to luna.

Or is this all some kind of fiendish plot by those Mooninite freaks?

When you really need some original art, but don’t have time to browse at galleries and zine-fairs, why not get your fix at the nearest Art-0-mat? Made from reconditioned cigaret machines, Art-o-mats (and kindred bots) are serving up some fine eye-candy and poetry relief. Cool and refreshing, with no doormat-mouth aftertaste!For the info-trail curious (or Hansel and Gretel lovers) out there, I found this on the links section of Montreal’s distroboto, which was pointed to from the luckysoap blog of J. R. Carpenter, who spoke recently at the MediaInTransition5 conference. (More MIT5 video is posted at Philippe LeJeune’s videos without a blog.

Remember Mister Miracle and his incredible super-detection + power-enhancing device: Mother Box?

Well, now an erstwhile gadget maker has built a prototype for Mother Box! It combines a wireless detection card with a microcontroller that produces a small heartbeat-like vibration when a wireless signal is detected. ping - ping - ping ! You’re walking into a hotspot, Sister!

Imagine the possibilities of combining this with other frequency & radiation detectors. We could have a very useful Mother Box warning system, mounted neatly on the shoulder. Just far enough away from your skull, and just high enough to have a multi-directional clear space to listen on. As the inventor points out, people (”meat” sic) absorb signals, so a receiver above the shoulder like an epaulet might work best.

**LINK**