Archive for January, 2007

Multiple sources of power, charging:
One diode in series (positive in) to the source, so that power doesn’t leak out.
Solio is a commercial product:
http://www.powderfin.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=64&gclid=CNDT45vtiIoCFSbUgAodrA3dew
Charged monitor circuit.
Dangers involving batteries and capacitors (lithium ion batteries are not advisable for beginners).
MAXIM IC (charger) for polymers as well as ions.
High amperage rating for the lith batteries – if you short […]

pumped Hydro — the best solution that we have for excess energy storage
Biggest problem being addressed is the storage of energy
From leif: proposal from Laura Bush — program that creates merry-go-rounds to pump water in a reservoir?
Leif’s experiments (results):
The shake flashlight: 3 volt .01 milliamps
Angela and Megan:
Salad spinner (acts like a gear box) through greaing […]

On the trigger — set it to close to 0
There are x/y coordinates
Watch out for the corresponding measurements on the lead of the scope as well as the body.
Why is the oscilloscope useful? The multimeter updates so slowly that the scope allows for you to get better descriptions of your conditions.
Tabs next to the […]

Jef Raskin’s concept of Locus of Attention brings about some interesting points about studies that have been done on human cognitive limits. First of all, it was novel to me to think about attention spatially (as a field) rather than as a process or even as a discrete object (a chunk in the brain). The […]

Audio Editing:
Software– Audacity, Ableton Live, MAX/MSP
1. normalize the sound file first to take out peaks and clipping
2. use the select tool to highlight the section between 0 points (where the amplitude is flat - to avoid snaps or glitches in audio — instantaneous changes in amplitude)
3. copy and paste selected section into new […]

Field Recordings:
Alan Lomax
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Lomax
Association for Cultural Equity
http://www.culturalequity.org/index.html
1930’s — documentation of music around the world
Capturing phenomena as form of preservation - it was dying out (his perception).
Early use if recording technology - Dictaphone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictaphone
Ethnography -
Library of Congress - folk archive (his collection of recordings)
Pierre Schaeffer (sound collage) radio broadcaster in Paris
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Schaeffer
Sonorous object — disembodied sonic event — the […]

My first reaction to reading Pauline Oliveros’s writings was that the world would be a very different and beautiful place if more of her techniques were applied.
Perhaps, though, there would also be much less accomplished and achieved, since listening, like any other activity of concentrative and dedicated attention, requires time. The fact that most […]

I sat in my apartment at the kitchen table, first, listening far.  It was very late at night and thus the sounds of the house were pretty minimal.  The faintest sound I could hear were the sounds of traffic (cars and trucks) driving along the BQE by the subdivision of where we live.  I noticed […]