sans pantaloons: June 2008

The Book Meme.

Julia has tagged me with this Book meme.

Here's how to play:
1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

The nearest book is one I'm using for reference. It is titled 'Propulsion Without Wheels' and was first printed in 1966. Written by E.R. Laithwaite D.Sc., Ph.D., C.Eng., F.I.E.E. Fel. I.E.E.E., the then Professor of Heavy Electrical Engineering at Imperial College, University of London.
This edition is a 1972 reprint.

E.R. Laithwaite, 1921-1997, is a personal hero, and one whom I consider a giant in Electrical Engineering upon whose shoulders we stand.

There are others who disagree.
To them I say; There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

The book is about the potential of the device known as the Linear Induction Motor, an example of which is televisored below.

The excerpt:

This being so, a linear single-phase machine with end springs will oscillate, continuously once started, provided the conditions for single-phase operation are fulfilled. As each spring reverses the velocity, so the driving force is automatically reversed. Since the conditions for back-to-back oscillation and for single-phase running (G > 1) are the same, a linear motor which will oscillate when connected for back-to-back operation will also run when connected as a single-phase machine, and vice-versa.

The Example:

Text link is here.

We Are.

Previously, on Sans Pantaloons: I have expounded the notion of division between reality and Blogging, and concluded that one lies wholly within the other.
The description I had clinging to the side of the Tandoori oven I call my mind, was this:

We can be what we want to be. Blogging allows us this departure from reality.

Today, reading between the lines, I had a thought.

The thought that materialised in my oven , through the mist of evaporating tears, was this:

We can be everything we are. With Blogging, whether or not we choose to acknowledge it, our souls are clearly on display to others.

And that, is probably why we do it.

Mix & Match.

Or Subtitle: Two Plus Two Equals Isosceles.

Except a crazy girl with a secret lover
Who keeps her satisfied
It's so nice to be insane
No one asks you to explain

Original graphic stolen from The Fee Feasible Prophecies.

Feeling The Peench!

I have crabs

on the brain.

Ah, the Popcorn!

Geo wants to know where the popcorn is. It is now popping here.

Cell Phone Popcorn, It Really Does Work!

Text Link is here.

James Houston video.

James Houston, a Glasgow School of Art student has produced this video using some old redundant computer hardware to reproduce a version of Radiohead's 'Nude' album track. His YouTube synopsis is recounted below:

-----------
Video by James Houston
jim@1030.co.uk

Digg this at:
http://digg.com/music/Radiohead_s_Nud...
Radiohead held an online contest to remix "Nude" from their album - "In Rainbows" This was quite a difficult task for everybody that entered, as Nude is in 6/8 timing, and 63bpm. Most music that's played in clubs is around 120bpm and usually 4/4 timing. It's pretty difficult to seamlessly mix a waltz beat into a DJ set.

This resulted in lots of generic entries consisting of a typical 4/4 beat, but with arbitrary clips from "Nude" thrown in so that they qualified for the contest.

Thom Yorke joked at the ridiculousness of it in an interview for NPR radio, hinting that they set the competition to find out how people would approach such a challenging task.

I decided to take the piss a bit, as the contest seemed to be in that spirit.

Based on the lyric (and alternate title) "Big Ideas: Don't get any" I grouped together a collection of old redundant hardware, and placed them in a situation where they're trying their best to do something that they're not exactly designed to do, and not quite getting there.

It doesn't sound great, as it's not supposed to.

Sinclair ZX Spectrum - Guitars (rhythm & lead)
Epson LX-81 Dot Matrix Printer - Drums
HP Scanjet 3c - Bass Guitar
Hard Drive array - Act as a collection of bad speakers - Vocals & FX

Thanks to Afrotech and Dr Roland Shregle (ganjatron)
-----------
It looks like James has written a program for the Spectrum to reproduce the guitars via the television speaker; this is what is loading from the cassette tape at the start of the video. The vocals are produced by a Hard Disk Drive speaker which is a collection of HDD head array voice coils wired in series to an audio amp. I assume the feed is either the CD track or a filtered version of the track. I assume the sounds from the printer and scanner are mixed in to produce the finished version.

It is brilliant that James has conceived and constructed this array of hardware to reproduce the track, but then to produce what I consider an excellent video is simply genius.

For Chris.

For Chris, who is wise in all things.

Caption Contest.

This picture stolen from The Fee Feasible Prophecies.

No offence or disrespect is meant to Mr. T, in fact we have much in common.

The Bowls Of The Earth.

The bowl is part of a now retired dinner set from the ultra exclusive store Woolworths, called the Antalya Stoneware Dinner Set .
Because of the interest in this bowl, I have decided to start a new trend. Because I'm trendy. I'm a trend-setter.

Yay!

Let There Be Soup.

This bright and overcast morning I made the soup recipe advised by Dick Small.
I didn't really adhere to the recipe very well. I added two potatoes, an onion and some pearl barley. I used half the complete Butternut Squash, diced half & blended half in the blender; like wise with a potato, the carrot, and half the onion.

The Butternut Squash has a texture similar to turnip/rutabaga and a sweet taste that reminds me of something I can't quite put my finger on. But nice. It is a teuch vegetable to dice by hand.

The veg was softened in olive oil prior to adding the pre-boiled and rinsed pearl barley, then I added some stock made with a stock cube.
Simmered for about two hours.

I made a mess, as per usual.

Garnish with garlic croutons and serve. It was okay, no post mortem required Scarlet.

I shall have some more right now.

For Cat.

Soup Update.

I was going to make some Butternut Squash soup to the recipe advised by Dick Small.

Alas, I did not manage to make it for lunch today, but did obtain a Butternut Squash from the supermarket for just under $2. It's fairly big so I will wait till the weekend and make a big pot of soup. If it tastes good, I will post another update.