Before Class

I have mixed expectations about this upcoming experiment.  I think that, given the right participants, I could get some worthwhile reactions.  However, I feel that performing the test in public might ruin the following participants' tests.
I think most people will be briefly disturbed, with a select few turning that disturbed feeling into downright panic.
Then they can run away.  I won't stop them.
Should be fun.

Senses

I took a slightly unconventional look at this project...

We use the term "sense" for more than just our five physical senses.  We use the word to describe a "feeling" (also not technically a physical feeling... gosh this is hard.) at times, and sometimes even just a premonition.

My example: fear.  We say cats can "sense" fear, or that we have an overdeveloped "sense" of fear.

Well.....  What if we actually, literally had a fear sense?

Alright, I suppose I mean more of a "danger sense" more than a "fear sense".  Almost like Spiderman, I guess, only much less "omniscient."  The real-life danger sense could be fooled by a roller coaster, for instance.
... otherwise roller coasters wouldn't be fun anymore.  :P

Anyway, while I was researching this potential idea, I came across an article that said that extremely low-frequency notes (lower than the human ear can hear)  can bring on feelings of intense terror in people subjected to them.

I was hooked.  The human ear hears all the way down to 20hz.  After using a noise generator to create a series of 15hz, 18hz, and 20hz notes, I powered up my Pioneers and let the music roar.  I ran them through my home speaker system (pic 1) and my computer speaker subwoofer (pic 2) and waited to be terrified.

Alas, no such terrible feelings happened.  I pulled out the owner's manuals and discovered to my disappointment that neither speaker set has the frequency response to pull off notes any lower than about 20hz, because quite simply, why would a speaker designed to be heard by humans create sounds any lower than the human could hear?

This was disappointing.  I'm currently looking into speakers with lower frequency response, but no luck so far.

If I do find a cheap speaker system capable of playing lower notes, I'll be sure to post my experiments and experiences with it.

~TomBob

Pic 1: home speaker system (I have a pair of speakers)

Pic 2: computer speaker subwoofer.

Class Response

"Why" and "Because" were iffy for me in class today.

The answer to "Why" should ALSO be what follows "Because," if we are following english grammatical rules.  ... So I just treated it like jeopardy.  "Why" is the answer.  "Because" was the explanation.

Maybe I didn't listen closely enough.

But then again, maybe I'm too caught up with the rules of English.

Well if we're not following english grammatical rules, then I stinky with purple clearly Red Socks.

MONTAGE!!!

I have a number of blog posts to put online from my little non-net-capable netbook (Ironic, no?), so I decided to combine them all together into one honkin’ big post before posting it.

Post 1)  “INSPIRATION”

I visited a park.  Specifically Fort Benjamin Harrison park.

There’s a lot of history at Fort Ben.  Unfortunately, by design or by coincidence, the park has essentially no informational signs.  

We have just identified a problem.

The AVL has a solution!  Enhanced Reality.

Enhanced Reality is different than Virtual Reality because some of what you are seeing is real; just not all of it.  Typically, special glasses are used to project data on top of the “real world”.  This would be specially useful in places like Fort Ben, where conspicuous displays and plaques would ruin the area’s natural beauty.

Here are a few concept sketches I whipped up.

Forgive the crappy sketch.  This is what it looks like now.

Virtual "signs" are projected onto the user's glasses.  The signs are informative, yet unobtrusive.  Amazing!

That concludes post #1.  On to...

Post 2) “AWW, CRAP. I BROKE MY EYEBALLS.”

I broke my glasses.

This wouldn’t have been a problem until recently, because I used to be able to wear contacts all day with no problems.

However, recently I have developed an allergy to the plastic used in the contacts.  They become unbearable to wear after four or five hours, tops.  Sometimes I can’t even stand wearing them for thirty seconds.

Now, I’m pretty blind without my glasses.  I can’t read any further than about 9 inches in front of my face.  I’m waaay past being able to drive without them.  I can barely function in a social setting without them because I can’t see people’s faces.

So I had to go four days without them while they were getting new lenses.

It really was an eye-opening (har har) experience.

Before the use of eyeglasses was widespread, “visually impaired” people (such as myself) would have been practically helpless.  I had to rely on family members to drive me everywhere.  I couldn’t watch TV or play video games, and I could barely use a computer.  I read several novels and ran into a lot of walls.  

You wouldn’t think I’d run into walls, but while my left eye can read at 9 inches, my right eye can only read at about 6, so my depth perception gets wonky without vision correction.

I know the “sensory deprivation” assignment isn’t coming up for a while, but I figured this was certainly worth blogging about.

Hope you enjoyed post #2.  Now for...

Post 3) “SDRAWKCAB GNIKLAW” (oh, if only I could make this sideways, too.)

This was less of a big deal than I thought it would be.

I have always had good balance, so the whole “staying upright” part was easy as pie.  The navigation part was a little harder, but not too much.

It reminded me of when I took swimming lessons over a decade ago.  When doing the backstroke, you can’t see in front of you; you have to gauge your distance to the wall by looking backwards at a line of flags.

I wasn’t very good at it at the time.  I would ram headfirst into the wall when I thought I still had a dozen feet left.

But now that I have better depth perception (partly due to my wearing glasses...) I used fixed reference points behind me to determine where I was.

Looking backwards in seeing sideways to know where I am now.  Complicated.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog montage.  If I could put music to it, I would.

~TomBob

Reaction to class 2

Field trips are awesome.

Let's see... Where to begin?
Big huge screens, COLOR 3D imagers (still geeking out about that one), a plethora of 3D doodads and "THE CAVE"...
What more could anyone possibly ask for?

I guess the only real "response" to this is that it has all inspired me to begin writing a proposal for a possible independent study.  I've gotta get a move on it, though.  Deadlines coming up.

~TomBob