The Crandall Surf Report 2.0
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Thursday, July 25, 2002
 

Last night NPR did their yearly theremin piece. Including myself I know a total of two thereminists in the world. Playing one with skill is something that is probably beyond me, but there are a few masters of the instrument. Take a look at thereminworld for more than you would like to know on the subject

http://www.thereminworld.com

Quite a few thereminists have pages with links to music ..

http://home.att.net/~theremin1/

and most of these folks seem to have either a Bob Moog theremin or something homemade. I have a modified Moog and am working on a tube box based on this design.

http://home.att.net/~theremin1/125/125.htm

Unfortunately none of this helps my lack of musicality.

Speaking of music I note that the Etymotic ER-6 headphones I ordered last week finally arrived. They do sound wonderful, but before you rush out and order a pair I should note that walking with them is unpleasant as they conduct the sound of your footsteps and even the sound of the earphone cable rubbing against your clothing. I am only going to use these for stationary use. They would be great for flying and do a much better job of isolating background noises than the Bose sound suppression headphones which cost twice as much and are lacking in fidelity.

http://www.etymotic.com/

About a hundred years ago a few people who were maladroit at calculating power to weight ratios considered steam powered aircraft. Over the years there have been a few interesting designs with the most successful utilizing catalyzed hydrogen peroxide - the most famous being the Bell Rocket Belt

http://www.howstuffworks.com/personal-jetpack2.htm

I saw one of these fly as a kid at the Montana State Fair. The most impressive memory was the amazing amount of noise. It turns out that a state fair in a rural state has as many livestock as humans and more than a few animals panicked.

So what about steam for more conventional aircraft? Doing something like that would probably take a boffin in the UK...

http://www.flysteam.co.uk/

The H2O2 engines are a bit more frightening and it takes something more on the order of an American to envoke strange applications. Rocket powered karts seem to border on insanity, which seems to be sufficient to attrack an Australian.

http://www.vintagekarts.com/Rockets/Rockets.htm

So perhaps a bit comedy. We seem to have blown through the Enron jokes, but CEO jokes haven't seem to have peaked yet. While we wait for good material, check out the supply of Enron jokes.

http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/blenronscandal.htm

Of course when you look at your investments laughter may not be the first emotion.

Finally -- you have to love the explaination.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Yale-Princeton-Hacking.html
7:51:23 PM    



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© Copyright 2003 Steve Crandall.
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