I need to get out more.....

[Dave Halliday]

>      Here's a very odd idea I just came up with: an idea for a 
>      non-repeating, non-deterministic, er, thing....

>     You know those office toys you can get, where there's a swinging 
>     pendulum which moves over a base containing magnets? Basically the 
>     magnets ensure that the pendulum never comes to rest; it's always 
>     being repelled or attracted by the various magnets.

>     And, you also know how the theremin works, by sensing proximity of the 
>     player's hands to the antennae?

>     So...you make a large version of the office toy. Say, get a room, place
>     magnets randomly over the floor, then string a pendulum from the 
>     ceiling. Then you build several theremin 'front ends', ie antennae and 
>     the pickup stage. Attach something to the end of the pendulum that 


I don't have the exact URL for it but Silicon Graphics Inc. has a 
really "interesting" project called LavaRand...

They generate very high-quality random numbers by training a video 
camera on several...  You guessed it... LAVA Lamps and using the
changing images to create random numbers.


It seems that computer generation of random numbers is very hard since
most number generators have to start with a "seed" number and once you
get that seed and get the algorithm, you can crack the number.


Netscape had a big security hole with this...


>     The idea is that you get non-repeating, non-deterministic control 
>     voltages from the antennae as they respond to the proximity of the 
>     pendulum. Maybe putting the antennae near each of the magnets would be 
>     a good place to start (make sure they don't get hit by the pendulum).

>     It would look and sound great for an installation piece...:)



That would actually look fantastic for a large piece.
Geeezzz! Just got it!

Have large ( 3" or so diameter ) painted PVC tubes suspended from the
ceiling - mount speakers in the tubes.  Have the tube angle change the 
sound coming from that speaker and invite people to walk through...



Interesting...
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