some serious music

  brings to mind's eye a ballet , perhaps in part miming instruments  speech and sounds.

     83.3 mb .aif

 

auto blog 9/14/2014

   I've  been thinking of calling it autofocus , or Dépannage - since I would be repairing the design flaws , transgressions of previous designers. I'm not really that keen on something exclusively french sounding: auto design is an opportunity for the internationally futuristic.

          .pdf

Two more excerpts from my uncle's masterwork

NATURE'S OWN CAMERAS AND THE PRESENCE OF THE PAST

    The  recording  of  vision  and  sound,  and  its  play-back  by  means  of  films, television, radio  and  records,  has  reached a  very  high  standard.

    In  our  just  pride  in  this  achievement  it  is  easy  to  dismiss  as  fantastic  the  idea  that  Nature,  whose  laws we  have  so  cleverly  applied  in  our  inventions,  may  herself  have  been  making  her  own  permanent  records  of  events  down  the  ages;  and  that  in  due  course  man  may  find  means  to  play  back  some  of  these  records  for  his  edification  and  entertainment.    One  would  then  be  witnessing  not  just  events  that  have  taken  place  during  the  motion  picture  era,  but  events  in  the  world's  history  going  back  many  centuries.    This  is  very  far  indeed  from  being  present  possibility,  but  we  can  at  least  recognize  its  potential.

    A  few  clues  are  already  to  hand  from  common  experience.    Simple  examples  of  transitory  picture  records  are  of  course  before us  every  day.    Light  causes  shadows  which  are  silhouettes  of  people  and  things.    The  sun  casts  small  images  of  itself  on  the  ground  below  trees  in  summer  because  of  the  "focussing"  effect  of  tiny  gaps  between  the  leaves.    This  "pin-hole  camera"  phenomenon  is  more  impressive  when  a  room  is  blacked  out  in  daylight  and  there  is  a  tiny  hole  in  the  blind:  the  scene  outside  is  now  reproduced  (upside  down)  on  a  vertical  surface  in  the  room.

    These  two  simple  examples  are  only  a  beginning:  there  must  be  many  natural  situations  where  light  passes  through  small  interspaces  between  rocks  and  stones  to  bring  about  the  "pin-hole  camera"  effect.    Clearly  Nature  has  been  making  her  transitory  pictures  (mostly  unseen  by  man)  since  the  dawn  of  time.

    In  the  realm  of  sound  Nature  has  a  way  of  producing  an  echo.    This  too  is  transitory,  but  it  is  a  simple  form  of  natural  sound  recording  and  play-back.

    Sometimes  Nature's  pictures  are  not  merely  transitory.    When  a  scrap  of  newspaper  is  left  lying  about  for  some  time  in  the  open  with  part  of  it  hidden  from  light,  e.g.  under  a  stone,  there  is  a  colour  differentiation  across  the  paper  showing  which  part  has  been  exposed  to  light  and  which  has  not.    In  this  way  a  simple  "silhouette"  is  permanently  recorded.    The  "picture"  has  been  taken,  developed  and  fixed.    What  happens  with  the  piece  of  newspaper  may  occur  with  many  natural  materials - in  varying  degree.    So  in  many  parts  of  the  world  there  may  be  permanent  pictures  made  by  Nature,  very  faint  but  there.

    Nature  may  be  doing  more  than  is  generally  recognized  in  the  way  of  "fixing"  her  records;  for  the  moment  let  us  jump  ahead  to  something  that  Nature  seems  to  do  that  we  at  the  moment  cannot  do,  namely  the  direct  recording  and  play-back  of  emotions.

    In  old  buildings,  particularly  old  churches,  sensitive  persons  detect  a  special  "atmosphere"  that  can  be  attributed  to  some  kind  of  natural  recording  of  the  feelings  of  those  who  used  the  building  in  long-past  days.    One  assumption  is  that  the  materials  constituting  the  walls  and  floors  of  the  buildings  have  been  able  to  record  emotions  in  the  past  and  for  our  benefit (through  suitably  sensitive  persons)  "play  back"  the  record.    How  Nature  could  do  this  is  beyond  our  comprehension,  but  it  is  possible  that  she  has  some  techniques  for  the  purpose -  in  which  case  we  are  not  obliged  to  look  for  supernatural  explanations.

    Now  to  consider  what  are  more  usually  called  "hauntings".    Some  claim  to  have  seen  strange  things  in  haunted  houses,  in  the  form  of  people  from  the  past  appearing  and  walking  about.    other  accounts  include  sound  and  emotions.    All  these  reports  are  open  to  dispute  and  many  dismiss  them  entirely (sometimes  because  they  are  too  disquieting)  but  if  there  is  anything  in  them  it  could  be  put  down  as  a  form  of  natural  recording  in  the  past  and  play-back  in  the  present.    And,  once  again,  one  does  not  necessarily  have  to  postulate  supernatural  causes.   

    We  may  now  come  to  the  most  remarkable  of  Nature's  recording  and  play-backs,  which  cannot  be  denied  since  the  evidence  is  present  in  all our  heads.    The  human  brain,  only  a  few  cubic  inches  in  volume,  is  a  marvelous  mechanism  which  records  sights,  sounds  and  emotions,  and  in  memory  we  have  the  play-back  up  to  fifty  years  or  more  after  the  event.    As  our  brains  are  the  unaided  work  of  Nature  we  should  not  underrate  her  general capacity  for  making  her  own  recordings  and  playing  therm  back.    She  obviously  has  some  techniques  that  are  quite  beyond  our  present  comprehension.

    Between  the  transitory  pictures  and  the  odd  scraps  of  faded  paper  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  human  brain  and  "hauntings"  on  the  other  there  is  a  great  gap.    It  may  be  filled  up  to  some  extent  when  we  know  more  of  the  photo-sensitivity  of  materials  other  than  those  we  use  in  photography  and  the  possibilities  of  purely  natural  processes  for  the  developing  and  fixing  of  such  impressions.    From  here  one  can  only  pass  to  speculation,  or  simply  questions.    Will  the  light  valve  ever  be  perfected  so  that  if  any  image  has  been  cast  and  fixed,  however  faint  and  small,  it  can  be  magnified  to  make  it  visible  to  the  human  eye?    Can  Nature  record  a  series  of  rapid  pictures  on  the  same  surface,  e.g.  of  rock  or  stone,  in  such  a  way  that  they  are  kept  separate,  so  that  they  may  in  due  course  be  sorted  out  into  a  motion  picture?    What  can  Nature  do  in  this  way  with  sound?    Can  man  ever  track  down  the  places  where  Nature's  records  have  been  made?    

    The  fruits  of  such  research  in  future  generations  might  be  rewarding  indeed.  It  would  be  interesting  for  example  to  see  on  a  television  screen,  as  an  eyewitness,  the  landing  of  William  the  Conqueror - obtained  from  rocks  on  the  Sussex  coast.    but  there  would  be  other  events  of  the  past  much  more  worth  seeing,  and  indeed  attending.

    Perhaps  Nature  has  in  some  manner  recorded  every  past  event  and  stands  ready  to  play  it  back?    If  so  we  are  just  as  surrounded  by  the  past  as  we  are  by  the  present.

_________________________________________________________

MY  FACE  BELONGS  TO  ME

    Some  have  good  reasons  for  wanting  their  pictures  in  the  papers  and  newsreels.    In  particular  those  in  "show  business"  profit  by  them.    Others  do  not  want  their  photographs  to  be  taken  and  used  in  this  way.

    The  decision  as  to  the  use  of  a  personal  photograph  should  rest  with  the  subject  of  it.    Therefore,  no  photograph  should  be  taken  and  publicly  used  without  the  permission  of  the  subject.    There  should  also  be  a  payment,  if  the  subject  desires,  because  a  man's  face  is  his  copyright  and  if  anyone  makes  money  out  of  it  he  should  have  his  proper  share - as  an  author  does  with  a  book  or  a  composer  with  his  music.    At  present  the  copyright  photograph  is  often  virtually  stolen.    If  the person  has  done  something  shameful  or  if  it  is  otherwise  in  the  public  interest  that  his  face  be  displayed  for  all  to  see  it  should  be  for  the  law  to  require  or  permit  this,  not  some  commercial  interest.

    The  result  of  adopting  this  policy  might  be  drastically  to  reduce  the  supply  of  personal  photographs  to  the  press  and  other  publicists,  and  would  naturally  be  strongly  resisted  by  them.    The  public,  however,  would  not  suffer  unreasonably  and  many  innocent  persons  would  be  spared  distress.    many  pictures  now  appearing  in  print  do  not  do  any  good  to  the  public.    one  kind  is  certain  pictures  of  accidents  and  disasters  and  their  victims.    Where  "horror'  pictures  do  give  enjoyment  it  may  well  be  of  the  unhealthy  kind  and  detrimental  in  the  long  run  to  those  who  devour  them.    Let  the  law,  not  the  publishers,  decide  what  is  decent  and  necessary.

    The  unbridled  public  use  of  personal  photographs  is  one  of  a  number  of  abuses  that  have  grown  large  in  our  times  for  lack  of  proper  control  when  they  were  young  enough  to  be  easily  suppressed.







   SUNDRY  THOUGHTS  AND  INNOVATIONS

            F.L.Barrow






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Motor mouth

  thought of starting  a car  design blog, I haven't had enough of them.

   Ether  radical or  conservative ; recently there have been combinations .

   Former cars were perhaps some things you wouldn't recognize on the street as an automobile , or something very similar to a model built by an established marque , not very popular.

    Recently there have been unprecedented  shapes , aesthetics , combination of lines and forces , also suspicious similarities to something already made today.Make no apologies ; I know I inspire major designers , manufacturers , just as they inspire me.

   Just isn't what they'd like to drive…what they'd like to build.

                    INF

Vertical Roads

                                                VERTICAL  ROADS

     The  floor  of  a  jungle  is  not  where  most of its  creatures live; they  use  the trees and vegetation  to  move  up  and  down  as  well  as  to  and  fro .  This makes  it easier  for them  to  keep out of   one  another's  way.

     Man,  on  the  other  hand.  is  still  very  much  "on  the  jungle  floor"  as  regards    his  travel  by  land,  and  we  certainly  have  difficulty  in  keeping  out  of  each  other's  way .Although  we  construct  fly-overs  and bridges   to  meet  special  problems  they  are  very  costly:  for  the most  part  we  have  to  make  do  with  "single-storey"  roads .   If  somehow  we  could  have  multi-storey  road  systems  without  undue  cost  that  would  relieve  congestion  of  traffic  and  at  the  same  time  cut  down  on  the land  area  that  has  to  be  surrendered  to  the  road  makers .

     The  monkey  in  the jungle  gives  us  a  clue  to  the possibilities  of  multi-storey  roads .   This  agile  animal  travels  among  the  trees  above  ground  level  by  a  process  of  "grasp  and  let  go"  .   No  doubt  he  could  do  the  same  if  provided  with  a  series  of  vertical  poles  driven  into  the  ground  and  spaced  according  to  his  reach;  and  if  he  had  two  lines  of  such  poles,  running  in  parallel  close  together,  he  would  no  doubt  find  it  a  help .   Furthermore,  a  tribe  of  monkeys  in  several  single  files,  one  above  the  other,  could  use  these  poles  together  for  mass  travel .

     It  is  not   necessary  to  try  this  out  with  a  lot  of  monkeys  to  conclude  that  we  could,  if  we  wished,  design  a  power-driver  (manned)  machine  to  progress  between  the  two  lines  of  poles  in  a  similar  manner  .  Our  machines  would  not  have  to  have  arms  and  hands  to  repeat  the  monkey's  technique  exactly:  it  would  be  simpler  mechanically (and  more  comfortable  for  the  driver)  to  have  caterpillar  tracks  along  each  side  of  the  machine  (in  the  direction  of  run)  which  made  contact  with  the  inner  sides  of  several  pairs  of  posts  at  a  time,  so  that  when  leaving  one  pair  of  posts  a  new  pair  would  be  engaged.  The  caterpillar  tracks  would  be  of  substantial  size,  round  and  flexible.  They  would  be  made  to  rotate,  at  the  will  of  the  driver,  so  that  the  vehicle  could  move  up  and  down  as  well  as  length-wise  between  the  poles,  thus  enabling  them  to  reach  different  levels,  e . g .  for  overtaking.

    To  help  in  visualizing  these  vertical  pole  roadways,  the  following  are  some  rough  tentative  dimensions:-  Spacing   between  lines  of  poles  (and  distance  between  outer  faces  of  the  caterpillar  tracks),  6feet.   Spacing  between  lines  of  poles  on  the  run,  4feet .   Length   of  caterpillar  tracks,  16feet.   Maximum  height  of  vehicles,  5feet.   Poles  to  be  embedded  in  the  ground  and  then  rise  from  10  to  50feet according  to  number  of  traffic  lanes  required.  Minimum  height  from  ground  to  underside  of  vehicles,  8feet  -  to  provide  a pedestrian  pathway  at  ground  level  (which  could  be  roofed).

     So  far  we  have  considered  only  one-way  traffic .   Two-way traffic  could  be  arranged  by  erecting  a  third  line  of  similar  poles  parallel  to  the  first  two,  offset  by  the  standard  distance  of  6feet .   More  than  two  traffic  lines,  as  seen  in  plan,  would  rarely  be  required  because  each  run  of  paired  poles  would  provide  for  a  number   of  superimposed  traffic  lanes.  A  total  width  of  20feet  of  ground  would  be  sufficient  for  6  or  more  traffic  lanes.

    The  new  vehicles  would  have  smooth  surfaces  top  and  bottom,  and  these  would  be  tapered  to  horizontal  wedge  form  at  front  and  rear  to  minimize  overtaking  hazards .

    A  system   of  "points"  would  allow  for  road  junctions,  and  for  cars  to  enter  the  pole-road  system .

     Multi-storey  roads  of  this  kind,  besides  accommodating  many  more  vehicles  than  single-storey  roads,  could  also  have  certain  advantages  as  regards  economy  and  flexibility  in  road  making.   The  natural  ground  surface  would  be  undisturbed  except  for  driving  in  the  poles  and  laying  the  pedestrians'  pathway.  The  slope  and  nature  of  the  ground  would  be  relatively  unimportant,  thus  simplifying  the  routing  of  roads  and  avoiding  cuttings  and embankments.   Pole  roads  could  be  readily  taken  up  and  re-positioned  for  new  routes,  and  the  capacity  of  any  given  roadway  could  be  increased  by  adding  height  to  poles  already  in  service .

   

   from  SUNDRY  THOUGHTS  AND  INNOVATIONS

            ^{------------------------------------------------------------}

              by 

     F . L .  Barrow

           

7/7/2014 engineering

 Finding what is right and then fixing it or making it stronger  intend of making more of what has the same problems as what appears to be wrong.

Max Gano

   I don't like Obit. buddy boards, especially if I sense the person's still alive , as I've noticed musicians often are.

   His son wrote some good things. I've noticed many good things , in fact I still want to hear him play guitar , make string arrangements to my songs , and even designed him a shirt.

  I wonder how he got into the Beatles so heavily, even I wanted to drum up funds to buy him a Telefunken microphone so that he could say: Isadora Duncan is a Telefunken - like who was it? Probably John Lennon in Let It Be . I can't watch it again nearwhile

   He did suggest a minimal recording studio with a mock control room window looking into a photo of a world class studio. I imagine instead of people making recordings investing in equipment rivaling Abbey Roads's; to make recordings any which way - no really do your sincere and utmost best - if we're licking each other's down belows we have to learn also to be polite, and then have stereo equipment as good as Abbey Road's , so we can hear our awfulness in all its utmost glory.

  What perhaps made him spectacular is the ability to experience the profound depths and extreme heights and reconcile the two to some consequence. Instantaneous Danté might make a great song, perhaps wearing tight jeans and involving all , or most of them : the italian phrases I know. I don't want him to know about that so I leave off here…

6/17/14 notes on audio engineering

  i hate ou in person , I love you when I'm alone.

   ( the language of insects , in sex , insects , in sex there is there what is there ) 

  Do insects have tongues I don't think so. 

  If every instrument with a pickup or generators is run direct it likely will lead to some semblance of a hermetic environment, especially as there's no naturalness in the reverberation. I disagree: wire and tubes , transformer coils are natural as are rooms containing air.

 It kind of leaves us to our own devices , doesn't it?"Sunk , living into the horror of my own being. I have been able to truly know myself , since I have been able to truly hate myself." Who is that quote from? A Belgian Symbolist I gather. If you know please tell me: I could look it up on the web , the problem being likened to a piano keyboard that produces different animal noises when each key is depressed. I know it might not seem fair to criticise the web so while using it; yet it was designed to be critiqued . One of the problems with The Web , FM Radio , christianity  is that it started out free and open and then someone came along and said: Now we will do this , and others followed suit in the manner of businessmen.

  What we need ; I require and I've heard sentiments that I'm not the only one, is the portal space without distractions.

  A place to hear one's self think. even if the experience is rather disturbing it might jostle loose something learned from within, freeing it in its proper , usable space. Sometimes , though, it's good to be uninterested in one's thoughts , or at least interested in some thing other than what one had decided was thought. It seems to be one goal of the construction of artificial reverberations to make the reverberation tangible , a thing. One has to be discreet , of course; probably one thing meant by the engineers who devised the discreet 4-channel format. I wanted a separate channel for each group member , or radically different textures seemingly behind each speaker, the listener then being able to create a suitable sound environment by moving about. I also am aware now why that hasn't happened very often. I've tried it sometimes people stated I didn't know how to mix a pop record: they are mostly mono with a little stereo like cake icing.

  How the web was good is that it brought to economic consciousness the experiential . We might experience decaying temples of ideas , or ourselves even what is decay even, the coastline was experienced by Koreans or Japanese long ago , yes , it isn't like we just discovered it? Unless a further state of decay qualifies something new.