MIDI for dummies

Here's some information I found on MIDI... and I know to be sceptical of information found on Wikipedia but this site seemed to make the most sense to me.

Arduino for dummies

If you're anything like me, this information on Arduino maybe helpful.

Looking at WWII... yet again

Every year I find myself researching World War II and its aftermath. I think my interest lies in the concept that American culture was radically altered as a result of the war. Life as it was known was flipped upside down and great efforts were made to make things "normal" again.

Some interesting information that came about from my research was the jargon of the US military. Here are common acronyms that were used during WWII that exemplify the state of confusion of the time.

• SNAFU - Situation Normal: All Fucked Up.
• SUSFU - Situation Unchanged: Still Fucked Up
• FUMTU - Fucked Up More Than Usual.
• FUBB - Fucked Up Beyond Belief.
• FUBIO - Fuck You Buddy, I'm Out; or Forget You, Bub, It's Over (polite form)
• TARFU - Things Are Really Fucked Up.
• TOFU - Things Ordinary: Fucked Up.
• GFU - General Fuck Up.
• SAMFU - Self Adjusting Military Fuck Up.
• BOHICA - Bend over, here it comes again.
• TUIFU - The Ultimate In Fuck Ups.
• FUBAR- Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition/Repair/Reason/Redemption.
• FUGAZI - Fucked Up, Got Ambushed, Zipped In; Refers to out-of-control situation such as a chaotic jungle warfare combat environment
• JANFU - Joint Army/Navy Fuck-Up; used by British troops in WWII.
• JAAFU or JAAFFU - Joint Army-Air Force Fuck-Up; the use of JANFU combined with a radical increase in joint-forces operations since 1989, has led to the rare but increasing use of JAAFU/JAAFFU.
• DILLIGAF/DILLIGAS - Do I Look Like I Give A Fuck/Shit? Interogative form of, "(It) don't mean nothing." Both often heard in Vietnam.
• TINS - This Is No Shit! Often seen in veterans' forums.
• MUBAR - Mash up beyond all recognition. Refers to being proper mash up.
• SMUBAR - Semi mash up beyond all recognition. Not quite MUBAR but well on the way.
• BOYC - Bitches, obey your commander! (Or "Balls on your chin")
• YUCATAN - You're Under Certain Annihilation Throw A Nuke!
• MMFD - Miles and Miles of Fucking Desert! British expression

Brain storming:

1. acronyms - saying without saying
2. state of urgency - again, based on survival

Thinking ahead

Currently I'm researching the work of Richard Neutra. His work, which is a direct reaction to the post war era, has brought upon questions of how the ongoing war has affected or will affect architecture in contemporary times. How I can relate this idea to my current research is still vague however I think it has promise.

Brain storming:
1. Responsive architecture
- how to build for protection
- protection = survival... survival architecture
- armageddon, a world without technology (?anti-electronics)

2. Warning systems
- remote detection - but of what?

3. Spawning a new culture (1950s today)
- "electro-burbia"

Installation Ideas

Here are a few ideas we had for the project in Montreal.

Proposed articulation by RPI students (Emily, Laura, Cory and Karen)

Darcy, Przemek and I wanted to work with this serpant like structure and add an interative aspect to it. To do so we propose that a series of capacitive contacts be attached to the floor as well as the extension pockets of the pneumatic wall system. The series of contacts on the floor will be activated when viewers walk over them, this will then trigger a relay that activates air pumps attached to the extension pockets. The result would be a system that reacts to the viewers within the space.

Darcy, Przemek and I also want to incorporate sound into the pneumatic system. To do so we propose that the microphone part of a "spy ear" (a tiny microphone that attach to headphones) be attached to the wall. The headphones will then be attached to the users and as the users pass through the space a certain amount of feed back noise will be created if they come too close to the wall.

Electronics for Artists - Chapter 9 (sensors)

This is a break down about sensors:

A sensor is a type of switch that can activate something.

Sensor types:
1. Heat
2. Light
3. Sound
4. Position
5. Movement
6. Direction of movement
7. Speed of movement

Terms:
1. WIRED OR: sensors (with switch outputs) connect with a signal giving sensor that operates a switch.

2. Open switch: there is no connection to the ciruit until something is detected.

3. Closed switch: there is no connection until something is detected (the connection is interupted).

PIRs (passive infrared):

- they have a typical range of 6m
- they can sense a large area
- sensor can be altered to sense a smaller area if lens is painted (test with paper before painting because it is irreversable)

- type 1: used for turning on lights and can have timers. They can increase power outputs.
- type 2: used for burglar alarms and are versitile because they can be hooked up to anything.

Temperature:

- variable resistance types:

- non-precision thermistors (temperature sensitive resistors)
- positive temperature coefficient: resistance increases with temperature.
- negative temperature coeffient: resistance decreases with temperature.

Light:

1. Light dependant resistors: changes resistance with amount of light falling on it.
2. Photovoltaic cell: produces voltage according to light seen.

Infrared light beam:

have a range of approximately 10m

types:
1. pulse (turns of and off quickly).
2. light sensor that detects a break in the beam.

LEDs are the best because they increase intensity and they have a narrow angle (which is easier to control).

note: incandescent lamp and sunlight produce infrared light that can interfere

Sound:

types of frequency:
1. audible (range of 20Hz to 16KHz)
2. infrasound (lower frequency)
3. ultrasound (higher frequency)

- sound can travel through both air and materials

mic types:

1. air vibration mics (regular mics)
2. piezoelectric sensors (contact mics)

vibration :

- found in car alarm systems
- operate on a pulse system and turn on and off depending on frequency of vibration
- contact mics can be used as a vibration sensor

Proximity and touch:

types:
1. PIRs
2. Ultrasonic radar
3. Infrared
4. Capacitive

-Capacitive sensor:
- can detect a small or large area
- a cheap and easy to use
- can be made from metal material (as long as grounded)
-operate through a reed switch

better late than never

I've been struggling to come up with a potential design concept with my devices for the past week. Because my knowledge with ciruits and electronics is so limited my biggest hurdle was figuring out what feasible connections could be made between the hair dryer, keyboard and camera. Last week however, I read up on sensors in Electronics for Artists and it allowed me to come up with possible designs.

This design incorporates the misting device and fan from the hair dryer as well as the circuit boards and speakers from the keyboard. I chose to eliminate the camera because it was fully manual and would prove difficult to integrate to the other objects.

Object of my Affection

Lady Schick Consolette - Beauty Salon

A portable hair dryer manufactured between 1940s and 1950s with a mist funtion and four heat settings, cool, warm, medium and hot.

What attracted me to the Consolette was not the object itself, it was that it was prime example of the mass manufacturing of consumer products during the post WWII era. However because my inital interest with the object was non-mechanical, I needed to research its history and perform a "vivisection" on the hair dryer in order to underdstand it as a machine. What I found was hair dryers are rather basic machines that consist of a motorized fan, heating coils and a point for air in/out take. During the vivisection of my hair dryer I learned mare about the construction of old hair dryers. In particular I learned first hand that old hair dryers used to be lined with asbestos to prevent the heating coils from melting the plastic casing. The vivisection of my machine also allowed to realized the potential this object has with reverse engineering. Although the technology is simple and dated, the air in/out take maybe effective as the motor for a pnuematic structure. I was also thinking the mist and multi-ranged heating setting of my machine may be able to trigger a humidity or temperature sensor.

Other obects of my affection:

Point and shoot camera

The vivsection of the point and shoot camera proved less interesting than the hair dryer. I noticed the camera, outside of the gears needed to wind the film or the button mechanism needed to take the picture, was just a lens and a compartment. The simplicity of this object was disappointing however the idea of such a simple object being able to capture images is interesting enough for me to pursue using it. I have yet to consider the potential for this machine however I can assume it would involve photographs.

Point and Shoot Vivisection

Keyboard

My last object is a childrens keyboard. Initially I did not want to work sound or music however after watching other students work on painos I began to grow an interst towards the contacts within those machines. My vivisection allowed me to see the abilities of contacts. Again, I'm not sure where I would like to take this preliminary research however I think it would be interesting to explore the potential with the contacts.

Keyboard Vivisection