Space scientists find that solar wind becomes music in the right hands
By Robert Sanders, Media Relations | 20 April 2006
BERKELEY – The music of composer and musician Roberto Morales-Manzanares has been inspired by the sea, by wind and wave, by mathematical equations, and now – thanks to his collaboration with space scientists at the University of California, Berkeley – the breeze of electrons from the sun.
Morales, a doctoral student at UC Berkeley’s Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT), has made a name for himself in the computer music field, generating music using rules or algorithms seldom associated with music.
“We are surrounded by computers and technology, we’re being hit by media all the time, so you have to use it to create art,” he said. “I see technology as a traditional tool for composition like Bach used the pipe organ in his time.”
He was an obvious choice to work with physicists at UC Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory on a piece of software to convert data from a pair of NASA satellites comprising the Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory, or STEREO, into sound, a concept that has acquired the name “sonification.”
STEREO, scheduled for launch later this year, will provide a stereoscopic view of the sun and solar explosions called coronal mass ejections, which generate space storms that affect Earth. The IMPACT (In-situ Measurements of Particles and CME Transients) suite of instruments aboard STEREO, however, focuses, not on pretty pictures, but on the wind of electrons and ions from the sun, and the magnetic field of the sun.
Month: April 2006
bookmark_borderCondoms
From BBCNews:
Cardinal backs limited condom use
One of the Roman Catholic Church’s most distinguished cardinals has publicly backed the use of condoms among married couples to prevent Aids transmission.
Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini said that in couples where one had HIV/Aids, which could pass to the partner, the use of condoms was “a lesser evil”.
The Vatican says condoms should never be used, even to stop Aids spreading from one married partner to another.
The Church teaches that abstinence is the best way to tackle disease.
10 June 2005:
Pope rejects condoms for Africa
The spread of HIV and Aids in Africa should be tackled through fidelity and abstinence and not by condoms, Pope Benedict XVI has said.
Speaking to African bishops at the Vatican, the Pope described HIV/Aids in Africa as a “cruel epidemic”.
But he told them: “The traditional teaching of the church has proven to be the only failsafe way to prevent the spread of HIV/Aids.”
More than 60% of the world’s 40m people with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa.
In South Africa alone, 600-1,000 people are thought to die every day because of Aids.
My God is a god of love, of understanding, and of healing. The God of the Catholic Church is a God of rules, laws, and fear.
Jesus the Christ said there are but two main rules to follow. Love your neighbor and love your God. How does not supporting the use of condoms (in a disease racked region) following either one of those?
bookmark_borderNot as Whiny
Today was a better day but boy howdy did I have the nods! I finally gave up and took a nap.
Lorna went shopping at Kmart after work. Girls, is the price of bras freakin’ outrageous or what??? My gosh, $22 just for ONE! A pair of cargo shorts, complete with 6 pockets and containing a helluva lot more material, was only $8.99!
Okay, calmed down now.
Got 50 more words written today. Whoohoo. The g-force is amazing.
Tomorrow I will get more done. I will. Just you wait.
bookmark_borderBook Quiz
Now, this was weird. And soooo not me.
You’re Lolita!
by Vladimir Nabokov
Considered by most to be depraved and immoral, you are obsessed with sex. What really tantalizes you is that which deviates from societal standards in every way, though you admit that this probably isn’t the best and you’re not sure what causes this desire. Nonetheless, you’ve done some pretty nefarious things in your life, and probably gotten caught for them. The names have been changed, but the problems are real. Please stay away from children.
Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.
I took the quiz again since I was so disturbed by the answer (I changed one).
You’re Watership Down!
by Richard Adams
Though many think of you as a bit young, even childish, you’re actually incredibly deep and complex. You show people the need to rethink their assumptions, and confront them on everything from how they think to where they build their houses. You might be one of the greatest people of all time. You’d be recognized as such if you weren’t always talking about talking rabbits.
Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.
A little better.
My friend Winston is Orwell’s 1984 so I suppose I could have done worse. 😀
bookmark_borderWhiny Writer
I didn’t get any writing done today. Heck, I didn’t get much of anything done today.
You don’t realize how much your shoulder blade moves until it hurts to move it. The entire (relatively speaking) right upper back around the shoulder blade was in a cramp/spasm. I woke up with it. Whoopie.
I didn’t get much done because of it. I didn’t even play many games. Now that is sad.
Currently the burning/vibrating has shifted from my shoulder blade to my cervical spine. Now that I can deal with. No matter what I did today, I just could NOT get my arm comfortable.
It is early and yet I am about to go to bed. Perhaps I will wake up with everything back to normal but without Patrick Ewing Bobby Ewing/Patrick Duffy in my shower.
bookmark_borderErgonomics
Found this article today on Science Daily:
Forearm Supports Reduce Upper Body Pain Linked To Computer Use
Providing forearm support is an effective intervention to prevent musculoskeletal disorders of the upper body and aids in reducing upper body pain associated with computer work, according to a study in The British Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
Reported in the April 18 issue, the study shows that use of large arm boards significantly reduces neck and shoulder pain as well as hand, wrist and forearm pain. “Based on these outcomes, employers should consider providing employees who use computers with appropriate forearm support,” said lead author David Rempel, MD, MPH, director of the ergonomics program at San Francisco General Hospital and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
(snip)
Participants were randomized into four groups, each receiving a different intervention: ergonomics training, training plus a trackball, training plus forearm support, or training with both a trackball and forearm support. Outcome measures included weekly pain severity scores and diagnosis of a new musculoskeletal disorder in the upper extremities or the neck-shoulder region based on physical examination performed by a physician.
The trackball intervention had no effect on right upper extremity disorders. “The trackball was difficult for some participants to use,” said Rempel. “Employees with hand pain may want to try them, but they should stop if it is difficult to use.”
I am surprised at the results with the trackballs. I am a HUGE fan of them. I was not surprised with the forearm supports though. Perhaps this article will result in an influx of such devices and will drive the price down.
Last year I wrote an article for Vision: A Resource for Writers titled Alternative Keyboards. At the end of the article is a list of resources that you may find useful.
bookmark_borderWriting Progress. sorta
I decided to stop trying to fit the new direction (this is what, direction number 5?) into the existing manuscript. Instead, I sat down today and just started writing it. I’ll smerge them later, after the whole thing is done and I can see it in its entirety.
I wrote just over 600 words today. Not much, true, but it felt good to get physical with this story, get it out of my head. There’s so much jumbled crap in there right now that I had to keep pausing to slow it down. It wasn’t making any sense at all, even to me.
At any rate, I am writing again. Did I ever actually stop? I don’t know. Gotta think about that one. I wrote some poetry of sorts; tossed some ideas together for the next EDSToday article; scribbled a lot of (digital) notes about some story ideas; wrote some on SS…so no, I didn’t actually stop.
bookmark_borderConference Participation
At the GCLS Literary Convention in Atlanta June 8-11, I will participate in a panel for a workshop titled “The Other”.
“The Other†in Lesbian Literature
Even though lesbians are a minority group, we are also made up of a complex web of minorities within the group, for instance, by age, race, able-ness, trans/gender differences, and the way we address men and straight people in our writing. Come discuss what readers want to see and the ways that writers in lesbian genres can realistically portray the multitude of characters that make up our “Community.â€
Moderator: Amie M. Evans
Panel: Nann Dunne, Renee Bess, Paula Offutt, Lori L. Lake, Jane Vollbrecht
I feel honored that I was asked to participate. I just counted and there will be 65 writers of lesbian fiction and 8 editors of lesbian fiction in attendance. Can you believe there are that many writers? 65 writers who have been published, are going to be published, or are working toward being published in lesbian fiction. Wow.
As the time gets closer, I will ask for opinions on how you–either readers or writers–feel about disabled characters in fiction. In the meantime, take note of the people around you and what visible disabilities they may have. As you read a book, note if there are any disabled characters.
I look forward to our discussions, probably starting in early May, after the “Blogging Against Disablism Day“.
bookmark_borderWriting, Wheelchairs, and Wit
Yeah, I’ve been writing. Lorna and I have been talking about BG3 and we think we’ve come up with a better direction. I felt I had written a lot today, but when I did a word count, it was only 140 words! I am so frustrated! I need that word count to make me feel like I’ve done something, you know?
As I run BG3 through my brain, BG2 keeps coming to mind. The two books take place in almost the same time frame so on the one hand, I want to include the two characters from one in the scenes of the other.
Part of me is tempted to write both at once, just to see if it would work. I don’t know how that could be done though. Maybe notes on the chapter title/number line. Or two seperate documents. Hmm. Something else to think about.
**
I had the opportunity today to do some thinking. I had been writing and realized I had a headache. It’s been hot here so I kicked the dogs out and went outside too. But the sun was too bright and the birds too loud and I was too cranky. I came back in, let the dogs in, got a drink and parked myself in the living room. Jo was up on the couch so I backed up to it and tilted my chair back. I could reach down and pet her nose. At some point I decided my legs needed to be straightened out. I can’t reach the knob all that well so I flipped back the armrest and tried to reach it that way. Nope.
I straightened up and tried to flip the armrest back. Nope. While in tilt, the armrest has gravity in its favor. I could reach the bottom of the armrest but the weight was too much for the leverage point. Now, see, on the end of this armrest are the controls for the chair. Motion, tilt, etc. But, I can’t reach it. Do you see it now?
Yep, I was stuck. I wiggled about for a while trying to reach it but failed. I thought about pivoting off the chair but I was pretty far back in tilt so gravity was against me too. I looked at the clock. It was just before 4pm. Lorna should make it back to the post office soon.
The only thing in my favor was that I’d pulled the laptop’s table closer to me to hold my drink. Also on the table was the phone and, of course, the laptop. I called the post office and left a message for Lorna to call me when she got in. I could only reach the laptop keyboard with one hand so typing was out of the question, at least to get back to writing. I couldn’t hold the mouse that well on my stomach so even playing games would have been awkward. That and I really had to turn my head to see the screen. I just settled in and did some thinking. Thought about my writing. About BGCDA which is still scheduled to be published in Feb ’07. About my characters I have set up in the BG series. And about how to screw up their lives and then fix it.
Sophia came online and we chatted a little. To her credit, she didn’t laugh in her comments, although she said she wished she could. (I still had a headache).
The phone finally rang and it was Lorna. I asked her to come home as soon as she could. She complied, although it didn’t seem fast enough for me. 🙂 She came in the door and the dogs started barking like mad. As I winced, Lorna figured I had a headache so she kicked them all out again. She came back, standing there talking to me. I asked her to push the armrest down. Being the good girl she is, she did. Then I told her that I had been stuck there for about an hour.
As she made dinner, we discussed various ways for me to get out of that mess again. But other than attaching a string, there’s no way for me to do it.
The wheelchair was on and set to full outdoor speed. Tossing my sock or shirt so it hooked on the thing to bring it down would have resulted in the chair taking off across the room. (note to self: set it to indoor mode when indoors and turn it off when parked)
Don’t flip it back while in tilt to begin with! (duh)
Roll out of it onto the floor, perhaps using a dog or two as cushioning. (just kidding about the dog thing. maybe.)
We even discussed how to train Joella to flip it for me. We added it to the list.
Throughout all this (the getting stuck, the waiting, the funny conversation with Sophia, the explaining to Lorna what I’d done, etc) I was somewhat cheerful. I didn’t break out in tears or do something stupid like purposely dislocate my shoulder so I could reach the armrest. (I can do that, you know. gross but true!) It was good to feel….I don’t know. It was just good to feel positive despite the situation. A few months ago, that wouldn’t have happened.
Maybe, just maybe, I am not as insane/depressed as I was a few months ago and have been for many many years. Personally, I think it is the chair. I can get out and about. I can go places that haven’t even been mowed yet. I haven’t gotten stuck. Well, out in the yard, anyway. 😀
bookmark_borderNot Funny But Is
As my friend Elena said “Too close to real”.
Will Ferrell – Bush on Global Warming on Transbuddha
**
While you are there, check out:
Knorr – Bad Word on Transbuddha
’cause it is funny.