That Filarmonica Spanish steel provided a great shave, although there was a bit of blood.
Friday, May 24, 2019
Thursday, May 23, 2019
For years, an urban legend circulated online and in documentaries purporting how part of a groundbreaking musical instrument — versions which are stored at a Bay Area university and other institutions — was dipped in LSD.
Now this supposed myth may turn out to be a reality. A long, strange trip, if you will.
Late last year, KPIX Television, Broadcast Operations Manager Eliot Curtis volunteered to fix a vintage “analog music modular instrument” owned by the music department at Cal State University East Bay.
The instrument — commonly known today as a synthesizer — was commissioned by two leading avant-garde musicians who taught in the music department in the ’60s. Cal State East Bay was then known as Cal State Hayward. The men who secured the funding were Professors Glenn Glasow and Robert Basart, two men were at the forefront of the burgeoning Bay Area modern music scene.
But the modular analog synthesizer device eventually fell out of favor, into disrepair and was stored in a cool, dark place for decades.
“It was in a closet in the corner of a classroom, which was a little sad because it was like a shipwreck,” remarked music composer and retired professor William R. Shannon, who remembers composing on the device when he was a student.
At one point, the device was likely augmented with additional modules, including a red-colored module on the top row. During his repair work, Curtis opened the module and saw something stuck under a knob.
“There was like a residue … a crust or a crystalline residue on it,” said Curtis.
He sprayed a cleaning solvent on it and started to push the dissolving crystal with his finger as he attempted to dislodge the residue and clean the area.
About 45 minutes later, Curtis began to feel a little strange. He described it as a weird, tingling sensation. He discovered this was the feeling of the beginnings of an LSD experience or trip.
The sensation lasted roughly nine hours.
Three individual chemical tests identified the substance as LSD. A well-known LSD researcher and expert who asked to remain anonymous told KPIX that LSD can remain potent for decades if kept in a cool, dark place.
It turns out this machine has deep roots to the west coast counterculture. It’s called a Buchla Model 100, and it was created by the late Don Buchla of Berkeley.
In 1966, some Buchla modules ended up on an old school bus purchased by LSD advocate Ken Kesey and his followers known as the Merry Pranksters.
During the last of Kesey’s acid tests — LSD-fueled parties — at Winterland on Halloween in 1966, electronic sounds, possibly from the Buchla, appeared to interrupt an interview of Kesey.
Buchla used LSD and was friends with Owsley Stanley, the genius behind the Grateful Dead’s sound system. Stanley, also known as Bear, was a masterful sound engineer and legendary hero of the counterculture. He was also famous for making the purest LSD to ever hit the street and kept such a low profile that not many photos of him exist.
After his strange trip, Curtis — wearing gloves — finished repairing the vintage Buchla. The instrument is now back at Cal State East Bay and ready for music students to explore.
The device has no keyboard. You play it by turning knobs and patching cords. It can move sound around a room. The students on hand were mesmerized. Some told us that they were blown away by its design and craftsmanship .
“This will open your mind, you know?” said CSUEB student Adam Hughes, laughing. “Sometimes I think the LSD will open your mind too.”
One final note: there will be no more trips with this Buchla. The instrument has been thoroughly cleaned of all LSD.
I guess you could call this whole experience a flashback! Groovy!
The Army is getting its first full brigade of souped-up Abrams tanks sooner than expected
Which is good.
The first full batch of M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams tanks (also known as the M1A2C) — likely around 87 for an Armored Brigade Combat Team — will be ready "sometime this summer."
The first full batch of M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams tanks (also known as the M1A2C) — likely around 87 for an Armored Brigade Combat Team — will be ready "sometime this summer."
Outfitted with system survivability enhancements and a new power system, the SEPv3 enhancements include improved main gun accuracy with "smart cannon" munitions programmable over data link and reinforced armor bolstered by a built-in jammer to counter radio-triggered improvised explosive devices.
As of February 2019, the SEPv3 upgrade also includes the Israeli-developed Trophy HV hard-kill active protection systems that uses radar to detect incoming missiles and rockets then fires tiny projectiles to intercept them.
China's Tariff List Advertises Its Trade War Weakness
I agree. It's like when you have to look at electricity usage there to find out how well or badly their industry is doing.
What’s even more revealing about China’s choices are the U.S.-made products that haven’t made any tariff list. They include civilian aircraft and their engines and parts, which had a 2018 export total of $17.73 billion. They include semiconductors and their components, which last year had China shipments that totaled several billion additional dollars. They include the equipment needed to manufacture and inspect semiconductors and their parts, which racked up at least $850 million in 2018 exports to China; devices for conducting chemical and physical analyses (with $912 million in China exports last year); laser equipment ($304 million), motor vehicles, auto parts, and plastics resins and polymers (which each produced billions in exports to China); and billions of dollars’ worth of other products that the Chinese either can’t (yet) make or can’t make in the amounts that they need—or that consist of goods preferred by Chinese consumers over their Made in China counterparts.
They are in a corner. They need us far more than we need them ( we need them not at all, in reality).
Trump's called this one correctly. Let's hope he can get enough support here to win, and not have his "allies" stab him in the back while he pursues this important goal.
What’s even more revealing about China’s choices are the U.S.-made products that haven’t made any tariff list. They include civilian aircraft and their engines and parts, which had a 2018 export total of $17.73 billion. They include semiconductors and their components, which last year had China shipments that totaled several billion additional dollars. They include the equipment needed to manufacture and inspect semiconductors and their parts, which racked up at least $850 million in 2018 exports to China; devices for conducting chemical and physical analyses (with $912 million in China exports last year); laser equipment ($304 million), motor vehicles, auto parts, and plastics resins and polymers (which each produced billions in exports to China); and billions of dollars’ worth of other products that the Chinese either can’t (yet) make or can’t make in the amounts that they need—or that consist of goods preferred by Chinese consumers over their Made in China counterparts.
They are in a corner. They need us far more than we need them ( we need them not at all, in reality).
Trump's called this one correctly. Let's hope he can get enough support here to win, and not have his "allies" stab him in the back while he pursues this important goal.
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