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Recentemente ho riflettutto sul concetto di semplicità nella user experience (UX) . In generale: dai computer ai cartelli stradali, dai telefoni alle automobili. Di recente ne ha parlato il CEO di Twi tter Dick Costolo , sostenendo come in Twitter siano continuamente alla ricerca di funzioni da elim ... Post originale: pasqualeborriello.com/semplicita-nella-user-experience-ux
Sony RX1 User Report.
I hesitate to write about gear. Tools are tools and the bitter truth is that a great craftsman rises above his tools to create a masterpiece whereas most of us try to improve our abominations by buying better or faster hammers to hit the same nails at the same awkward angles.
The internet is fairly flooded with reviews of this tiny marvel, and it isn’t my intention to compete with those articles. If you’re looking for a full-scale review of every feature or a down-to-Earth accounting of the RX1’s strengths and weaknesses, I recommend starting here.
Instead, I’d like to provide you with a flavor of how I’ve used the camera over the last six months. In short, this is a user report. To save yourself a few thousand words: I love the thing. As we go through this article, you’ll see this is a purpose built camera. The RX1 is not for everyone, but we will get to that and on the way, I’ll share a handful of images that I made with the camera.
It should be obvious to anyone reading this that I write this independently and have absolutely no relationship with Sony (other than having exchanged a large pile of cash for this camera at a retail outlet).
Before we get to anything else, I want to clear the air about two things: Price and Features
The Price
First things first: the price. The $2800+ cost of this camera is the elephant in the room and, given I purchased the thing, you may consider me a poor critic. That in mind, I want to offer you three thoughts:
Consumer goods cost what they cost, in the absence of a competitor (the Fuji X100s being the only one worth mention) there is no comparison and you simply have to decide for yourself if you are willing to pay or not.
Normalize the price per sensor area for all 35mm f/2 lens and camera alternatives and you’ll find the RX1 is an amazing value.
You are paying for the ability to take photographs, plain and simple. Ask yourself, “what are these photographs worth to me?”
In my case, #3 is very important. I have used the RX1 to take hundreds of photographs of my family that are immensely important to me. Moreover, I have made photographs (many appearing on this page) that are moving or beautiful and only happened because I had the RX1 in my bag or my pocket. Yes, of course I could have made these or very similar photographs with another camera, but that is immaterial.
35mm by 24mm by 35mm f/2
The killer feature of this camera is simple: it is a wafer of silicon 35mm by 24mm paired to a brilliantly, ridiculously, undeniably sharp, contrasty and bokehlicious 35mm f/2 Carl Zeiss lens. Image quality is king here and all other things take a back seat. This means the following: image quality is as good or better than your DSLR, but battery life, focus speed, and responsiveness are likely not as good as your DSLR. I say likely because, if you have an entry-level DSLR, the RX1 is comparable on these dimensions. If you want to change lenses, if you want an integrated viewfinder, if you want blindingly fast phase-detect autofocus then shoot with a DSLR. If you want the absolute best image quality in the smallest size possible, you’ve got it in the RX1.
While we are on the subject of interchangeable lenses and viewfinders...
I have an interchangeable lens DSLR and I love the thing. It’s basically a medium format camera in a 35mm camera body. It’s a powerhouse and it is the first camera I reach for when the goal is photography. For a long time, however, I’ve found myself in situations where photography was not the first goal, but where I nevertheless wanted to have a camera. I’m around the table with friends or at the park with my son and the DSLR is too big, too bulky, too intimidating. It comes between you and life. In this realm, mirrorless, interchangeable lens cameras seem to be king, but they have a major flaw: they are, for all intents and purposes, just little DSLRs.
As I mentioned above, I have an interchangeable lens system, why would I want another, smaller one? Clearly, I am not alone in feeling this way, as the market has produced a number of what I would call “professional point and shoots.” Here we are talking about the Fuji X100/X100s, Sigma DPm-series and the RX100 and RX1.
Design is about making choices
When the Fuji X100 came out, I was intrigued. Here was a cheap(er), baby Leica M. Quiet, small, unobtrusive. Had I waited to buy until the X100s had come out, perhaps this would be a different report. Perhaps, but probably not. I remember thinking to myself as I was looking at the X100, “I wish there was a digital Rollei 35, something with a fixed 28mm or 35mm lens that would fit in a coat pocket or a small bag.” Now of course, there is.
So, for those of you who said, “I would buy the RX1 if it had interchangeable lenses or an integrated viewfinder or faster autofocus,” I say the following: This is a purpose built camera. You would not want it as an interchangeable system, it can’t compete with DSLR speed. A viewfinder would make the thing bigger and ruin the magic ratio of body to sensor size—further, there is a 3-inch LCD viewfinder on the back! Autofocus is super fast, you just don’t realize it because the bar has been raised impossibly high by ultra-sonic magnet focusing rings on professional DSLR lenses. There’s a fantastic balance at work here between image quality and size—great tools are about the total experience, not about one or the other specification.
In short, design is about making choices. I think Sony has made some good ones with the RX1.
In use
So I’ve just written 1,000 words of a user report without, you know, reporting on use. In many ways the images on the page are my user report. These photographs, more than my words, should give you a flavor of what the RX1 is about. But, for the sake of variety, I intend to tell you a bit about the how and the why of shooting with the RX1.
Snapshots
As a beginning enthusiast, I often sneered at the idea of a snapshot. As I’ve matured, I’ve come to appreciate what a pocket camera and a snapshot can offer. The RX1 is the ultimate photographer’s snapshot camera.
I’ll pause here to properly define snapshot as a photograph taken quickly with a handheld camera.
To quote Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” So it is with photography. Beautiful photographs happen at the decisive moment—and to paraphrase Henri Cartier-Bresson further—the world is newly made and falling to pieces every instant. I think it is no coincidence that each revolution in the steady march of photography from the tortuously slow chemistry of tin-type and daguerreotype through 120 and 35mm formats to the hyper-sensitive CMOS of today has engendered new categories and concepts of photography.
Photography is a reflexive, reactionary activity. I see beautiful light or the unusual in an every day event and my reaction is a desire to make a photograph. It’s a bit like breathing and has been since I was a kid.
Rather than sneer at snapshots, nowadays I seek them out; and when I seek them out, I do so with the Sony RX1 in my hand.
How I shoot with the RX1
Despite much bluster from commenters on other reviews as to the price point and the purpose-built nature of this camera (see above), the RX1 is incredibly flexible. Have a peek at some of the linked reviews and you’ll see handheld portraits, long exposures, images taken with off-camera flash, etc.
Yet, I mentioned earlier that I reach for the D800 when photography is the primary goal and so the RX1 has become for me a handheld camera—something I use almost exclusively at f/2 (people, objects, shallow DoF) or f/8 (landscapes in abundant light, abstracts). The Auto-ISO setting allows the camera to choose in the range from ISO 50 and 6400 to reach a proper exposure at a given aperture with a 1/80 s shutter speed. I have found this shutter speed ensures a sharp image every time (although photographers with more jittery grips may wish there was the ability to select a different default shutter speed). This strategy works because the RX1 has a delightfully clicky exposure compensation dial just under your right thumb—allowing for fine adjustment to the camera’s metering decision.
So then, if you find me out with the RX1, you’re likely to see me on aperture priority, f/2 and auto ISO. Indeed, many of the photographs on this page were taken in that mode (including lots of the landscape shots!).
Working within constraints.
The RX1 is a wonderful camera to have when you have to work within constraints. When I say this, I mean it is great for photography within two different classes of constraints: 1) physical constraints of time and space and 2) intellectual/artistic constraints.
To speak to the first, as I said earlier, many of the photographs on this page were made possible by having a camera with me at a time that I otherwise would not have been lugging around a camera. For example, some of the images from the Grand Canyon you see were made in a pinch on my way to a Christmas dinner with my family. I didn’t have the larger camera with me and I just had a minute to make the image. Truth be told, these images could have been made with my cell phone, but that I could wring such great image quality out of something not much larger than my cell phone is just gravy. Be it jacket pocket, small bag, bike bag, saddle bag, even fannie pack—you have space for this camera anywhere you go.
Earlier I alluded to the obtrusiveness of a large camera. If you want to travel lightly and make photographs without announcing your presence, it’s easier to use a smaller camera. Here the RX1 excels. Moreover, the camera’s leaf shutter is virtually silent, so you can snap away without announcing your intention. In every sense, this camera is meant to work within physical constraints.
I cut my photographic teeth on film and I will always have an affection for it. There is a sense that one is playing within the rules when he uses film. That same feeling is here in the RX1. I never thought I’d say this about a camera, but I often like the JPEG images this thing produces more than I like what I can push with a RAW. Don’t get me wrong, for a landscape or a cityscape, the RAW processed carefully is FAR, FAR better than a JPEG.
But when I am taking snapshots or photos of friends and family, I find the JPEGs the camera produces (I’m shooting in RAW + JPEG) so beautiful. The camera’s computer corrects for the lens distortion and provides the perfect balance of contrast and saturation. The JPEG engine can be further tweaked to increase the amount of contrast, saturation or dynamic range optimization (shadow boost) used in writing those files. Add in the ability to rapidly compensate exposure or activate various creative modes and you’ve got this feeling you’re shooting film again. Instant, ultra-sensitive and customizable film.
Pro Tip: Focusing
Almost all cameras come shipped with what I consider to be the worst of the worst focus configurations. Even the Nikon D800 came to my hands set to focus when the shutter button was halfway depressed. This mode will ruin almost any photograph. Why? Because it requires you to perform legerdemain to place the autofocus point, depress the shutter halfway, recompose and press the shutter fully. In addition to the chance of accidentally refocusing after composing or missing the shot—this method absolutely ensures that one must focus before every single photograph. Absolutely impossible for action or portraiture.
Sensibly, most professional or prosumer cameras come with an AF-ON button near where the shooter’s right thumb rests. This separates the task of focusing and exposing, allowing the photographer to quickly focus and to capture the image even if focus is slightly off at the focus point. For portraits, kids, action, etc the camera has to have a hair-trigger. It has to be responsive. Manufacturer’s: stop shipping your cameras with this ham-fisted autofocus arrangement.
Now, the RX1 does not have an AF-ON button, but it does have an AEL button whose function can be changed to “MF/AF Control Hold” in the menu. Further, other buttons on the rear of the camera can also be programmed to toggle between AF and MF modes. What this all means is that you can work around the RX1’s buttons to make it’s focus work like a DSLR’s. (For those of you who are RX1 shooters, set the front switch to MF, the right control wheel button to MF/AF Toggle and the AEL button to MF/AF Control Hold and voila!) The end result is that, when powered on the camera is in manual focus mode, but the autofocus can be activated by pressing AEL, no matter what, however, the shutter is tripped by the shutter release. Want to switch to AF mode? Just push a button and you’re back to the standard modality.
Carrying.
I keep mine in a small, neoprene pouch with a semi-hard LCD cover and a circular polarizing filter on the front—perfect for buttoning up and throwing into a bag on my way out of the house. I have a soft release screwed into the threaded shutter release and a custom, red twill strap to replace the horrible plastic strap Sony provided. I plan to gaffer tape the top and the orange ring around the lens. Who knows, I may find an old Voigtlander optical viewfinder in future as well.
Users are responsible for securing permission from the copyright holder for publication of any images. Contact communications@science.tamu.edu.
This is a possible scenario for the evolution of portable social graphs.
On-line (User) Experience is like air. This visual focuses on how the user extends his / her on-line assets to experiences. The user's assets are: identity, connections and data (uploaded or observed in user's behavior).
The assets are management through settings (Sharing Management) and allow to integrate with on-line experiences.
A few of the hundreds of original wire frames user interface designs, and user experience designs executed for corporations by Linda Lane
If you have any questions or would like to contribute to this archive, please visit www.underjams.art and contact me on Twitter DM or Telegram ♥
Thank you very much to Bunga for sending me these pullups for the archive!
user name / Jesse Garrido
photo title / Maiko
location of photo / Kyoto
time photo was taken / May 18th 2009
Heres information about central florida broadcast stations
Broadcast Tower,WFTT-TV is the Telefutura affiliate for Tampa Bay, owned by Univision and operated by Entravision, owners of WVEA-TV. The station, which broadcasts on UHF channel 50, is based at WVEA's studios on Hillsborough Avenue in Tampa, and transmits from Riverview. WFTT can be seen on cable throughout the Bay Area on Bright House channel 5, and on Comcast in Sarasota County on channel 23.
With the completion of the 442.550 repeater in Riverview at 805ft in January, the western pointing antenna on the 442.825 repeater caused a expected overlap that was unnecessary. Since 442.550 now blankets Hillsborough County, we have as of April 11th taken the antenna off the west leg of the Pebbledale tower site at 800ft and moved it to the east leg of the tower. What does mean for users? The tower has a 7 foot wide face, which creates a null that is created behind the antenna. This null used to face a huge portion of Polk County. By moving this antenna to the east, the null is now facing essentially Brandon/Riverview, where 442.550 is now located at 805ft. So far we have gotten incredible results from users in eastern Polk County. Some users in Sebring reporting almost full scale signal, and mobile users with hand helds on 27 at 5 watts can use 442.825 now. None of this was previously possible. So with this move, expect to hear more Polk, Osceola and I-4 corridor area users making it into the network.
A nother tower WVEA (channel 62) is Tampa Bay, Florida's first Spanish-language TV station, which had its start in the early-1980s as low-powered W50AC ch.50, which offered programming from the Spanish International Network (SIN), the forerunner of today's Univision. In 1988, to make way for new HSN flagship WBHS (now WFTT-TV), the station relocated to channel 61 and became W61BL. In the mid-1990s, the station was re-called "WVEA-LP". In 2000, WVEA's parent company, Entravision, acquired Sarasota English independent WBSV channel 62, with the intent of moving the transmitter from Venice to the antenna farm at Riverview. WBSV signed on May 3, 1991 as the Sarasota area's own independent station, designed to compete against WWSB and the other stations in the Tampa Bay and nearby Ft. Myers markets. Licensed to Venice, Florida the call letters stood for Bradenton, Sarasota, Venice, the three cities it primarily served. WBSV had a variety of syndicated and local programming, plus infomercials and home shopping programs. early on, they also had its own newscast. But, WBSV was eternally in red ink, and relied more on home shopping and infomercials to keep the station afloat....
And then,WTVT, channel 13, is a television station in Tampa, Florida. It is an owned and operated station of the Fox Broadcasting Company, a subsdiary of the News Corporation. WTVT's studios are located in Tampa, and its transmitter is located in Riverview, Florida.
Overall the WUSF (89.7 FM) is an NPR-member radio station licensed to Tampa, Florida, USA. The station is currently owned by the University of South Florida. WUSF signed on in 1963, seven years after USF's founding in 1956.
WOPX channel 56 is a television station based in Orlando, Florida, USA. An affiliate of the ION Television network, it transmits its analog signal on UHF channel 56 and its digital signal on UHF channel 48, both from a transmitter located near Holopaw. The station signed on the air in 1986.
WIWA (1160 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a Spanish language Christian format. Licensed to St. Cloud, Florida, USA, it serves the greater Orlando area. The station is currently owned by Centro De La Familia Cristiana Inc.
WAFZ-FM (92.1 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a Regional Mexican format. Licensed to Immokalee, Florida, USA, the station is currently owned by Glades Media Company LLC. WAFZ's programming is also heard on WAFZ AM 1490 in Immokalee.
WTVY or WTVY News 4 is a CBS-affiliated television station broadcasting on channel 4 in Dothan, Alabama, owned by Gray Television. The station's signal, originating from a transmitter in Holmes County, Florida, reaches large portions of Alabama, Georgia and Florida. WTVY is also the designated CBS affiliate for the Panama City, Florida market, where Gray also owns that city's NBC affiliate, WJHG-TV. In exchange, WJHG is available in Dothan on cable since Dothan does not have its own NBC affiliate. In fact, WTVY's transmitter is located within the Panama City market. WTVY-DT uses digital subchannels to operate MyNetworkTV affiliate My 4 and CW affiliate Dothan's CW.
WJED (91.1 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a Christian radio format. Licensed to Dogwood Lakes Estate, Florida, USA. The station is currently owned by Bethany Bible College.
WTVJ, channel 6, is the NBC owned-and-operated television station for South Florida, licensed to Miami. Its analog transmitter is located in Redland. The station's digital transmitter is located near Dolphin Stadium in north Miami-Dade County. Owned by NBC Universal, the station is sister to South Florida's Telemundo owned-and-operated station, WSCV. The two share studios at Peacock Plaza in Miramar.
WOIR (1430 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a Spanish News/Talk format. Licensed to Homestead, Florida, USA, the station serves the Miami area. The station is currently owned by Amanecer Christian Network, Inc..
WTLH is a Fox television affiliate licensed to Bainbridge, Georgia and serves the Tallahassee, Florida television market. It broadcasts its analog signal on UHF channel 49 and its digital signal on UHF channel 50. The station began operations on November 25, 1989. Its transmitter is located in Metcalf, Georgia. The Station is owned by CP Media, LLC. The station runs a duopoly with WFXU, The CW station in Tallahassee. WTLH programming is also seen on a low-powered, Class-A repeater, WBVJ-LP channel 35 in Valdosta.
WTXL-TV is the ABC affiliate station for Tallahassee, Florida, Thomasville, Georgia, and Valdosta, Georgia, broadcasting on channel 27. The station is owned by Calkins Media, Inc., a Pennsylvania-based mass media company that owns several small newspapers in Pennsylvania and two other television stations: WWSB in Sarasota and WAAY-TV in Huntsville, Alabama. It was previously owned by Media Ventures Management, and operated by the Sinclair Broadcast Group pursuant to an outsourcing agreement (See: [1]), the first of its kind in the United States. This agreement merged virtually all of WTXL-TV's operations with that of Sinclair's NBC affiliate WTWC. Denis LeClair, General Manager of WTXL-TV and WBXT-TV at the time, was made General Manager for WTXL, WBXT and WTWC under this agreement. He would be followed by Chris Butterick and then Bob Franklin. Eventually, Kim Urbuteit (who was fired in May, 2007) would be named General Manager of WTXL only as Bob Franklin (now in Mobile, AL) oversaw WTWC. Gary Wordlaw is the current General Manager of WTXL-TV.
WFSU is the callsign (or variations thereon) for public radio stations operated by Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. WFSU also operates 3 radio stations that serve northern Florida: * WFSU-FM 88.9 FM: Tallahassee-based news/talk/public affairs station carrying several NPR programs and overnight BBC World Service programming. Also heard on these low-powered repeaters: * 97.1 - Carrabelle * 106.1 - Marianna * 96.7 - Apalachicola * 93.7 - Downtown Tallahassee (necessary because the main WFSU transmitter must conform its signal to protect WTSU in Troy, Alabama) * WFSQ-FM 91.5 FM: Tallahassee-based classical music station. Also heard on WFSL-FM 90.7 in Thomasville, Georgia, and on low-powered 92.7 FM in the northeast portion of the city of Tallahassee. * WFSW-FM 89.1 FM: Panama City-based news/talk/public affairs station. Offers many of the same programs as WFSU. Also heard on low-powered 91.1 FM in the Port St. Joe area along the Gulf of Mexico, as well as 94.5 FM in Fort Walton Beach.
WESH is the NBC affiliate in Orlando, Florida. It is licensed to Daytona Beach, with studio facilities in Winter Park. It transmits its analog signal on VHF channel 2 and its digital signal on VHF channel 11, when viewed over the air PSIP will display 2.1 for WESH DT and 2.2 for WESH Weather Plus. It is currently owned by Hearst-Argyle Television along with the area's CW affiliate, WKCF. WESH's transmitter is located in Orange City, Florida. The tower is the tallest man-made structure in Florida, at 1,740 feet (530 m). The station also serves as the default NBC affiliate for the Gainesville market, and can be seen on the fringes of the Tampa Bay and Jacksonville markets. WESH was the first station in Orlando to carry an on-site RADAR facility, SuperDoppler 2 as opposed to relying on National Weather Service RADARs. It is installed on top of the tower located at the Winter Park broadcast studio. Today it also promotes a VIPIR 3D RADAR system, taking advantage of the fact that the RADARs at Melbourne, Tampa, Jacksonville and Miami can all reach Orlando, in addition to SuperDoppler 2. The primary news anchors at WESH are Martha Sugalski and Jim Payne....
WOMX is a radio station located in the Orlando, Florida area and broadcasts at 105.1. WOMX 105.1 plays the "Best MIX of the 80s, 90s and Today," though the station programming focuses mostly on rock and modern rock music from the 90's and 2000's. Every Friday from 5:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m., Mix 105.1 presents Friday Night 80's. The "Saturday Night Party MIX" airs every Saturday night from 7 p.m. to midnight. The "Saturday Night Party MIX" replaced the Orlando heritage show "Seventies Saturday Night" in 2005.
WOTF-TV Channel 43 is the TeleFutura station serving the Orlando/Daytona Beach/Melbourne, Florida television market. It is owned by Univision and managed by Entravision which owns Univision affiliate WVEN-TV 26 and radio station WNUE 98.1 FM and offers a Spanish language entertainment format featuring movies, dramas, comedy shows, and kids shows. The studios are located in Altamonte Springs which is also shared by WVEN.
WOFL, "Fox 35", is the Fox owned-and-operated television station serving the Orlando, Florida metropolitan area. It is licensed to Orlando, with studios located in Lake Mary. It broadcasts its analog signal on UHF channel 35, and its digital signal on UHF channel 22. Its transmitter is located in Bithlo, Florida. Its Digital TV transmitter has a power of 1,000 kW. Its Analog TV transmitter has a power of 2,570 kW. WOFL and sister station WTVT of the bordering Tampa market commonly share reporters and footage, as other station groups do.
WFTV channel 9 is a television station based in Orlando, Florida, affiliated with the ABC network. It transmits its analog signal on VHF channel 9 from a transmitter located in Bithlo, Florida, and its digital signal on UHF channel 39 from a transmitter located in Christmas, Florida. It is owned by Cox Enterprises along with independent station WRDQ TV 27. The primary news anchors at WFTV are Bob Opsahl and Martie Salt. They anchored the main afternoon newscasts from 1984 through 1994, when Ms. Salt transferred to WFTS, a TV station in Tampa (where she was known as "Martie Tucker"). She returned to anchor WFTV's news again with Opsahl in 2003. Opsahl is one of the longest-serving (at one station) local news anchors in Florida. Barbara West, a 20 year veteran at WFTV and the station's medical reporter is paired with Opsahl at 5:30. Marla Weech, a former anchor for WFTV, was paired up with Bob Opsahl during most of Salt's absence. Weech currently works for WKMG. Tom Terry is the "Chief Meteorologist". WFTV's Severe Weather Center 9 includes WFTV's own doppler weather radar station located at Joint Venture TV Tower Bithlo. Its radar has features that are...
WRBW-TV is the MyNetworkTV owned and operated station serving the Orlando/Daytona Beach/Melbourne, Florida television market. It is owned by the Fox Television Stations Group, along with Fox station WOFL Channel 35. Known on-air as "My65", the station offers sitcoms, cartoons, court shows, and talk/reality shows. Its transmitter is located in Christmas, Florida.
WNTF (1580 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a News Talk Information format. Licensed to Bithlo, Florida, USA, it serves the Orlando area. The station is currently owned by Rama Communications, Inc.
WBCC is an educational television station serving the Orlando television market. It broadcasts on UHF channel 68, with a digital signal on channel 30. It is one of the Orlando market's PBS member stations. WBCC's digital signal, on channel 30, offers programming from the University of Central Florida (channel 68.2) and BPS-TV from Brevard Public Schools (channel 68.3), in addition to WBCC's standard programming.
WRDQ, channel 27, is an independent television station in Orlando, Florida. Its analog transmitter is located in northeastern Osceola County. The station's digital transmitter is located in Christmas. Onwed by Cox Enterprises, WRDQ is sister to ABC affiliate WFTV. The two stations share studios on East South Street in downtown Orlando. WRDQ offers the Retro Television Network on its second digital subchannel. It can also be seen on Bright House digital channel 1028. Syndicated programming on WRDQ includes: South Park, Scrubs, Merv Griffin's Crosswords, Oprah, According to Jim, and George Lopez. The station can be considered an alternate ABC affiliate. As such, it may take on the responsibility of airing ABC programs whenever WFTV may not be able to do so as in a news-related emergency.
WXPX is a television station licensed to Bradenton, Florida. Operating on channel 66, it is an ION Television affiliate, owned and operated by ION Media Networks (formerly Paxson Communications), which has owned the station since its founding in 1994. Current programming on WXPX is virtually the same as other ION affiliates -- infomercials throughout the day and during the overnights, plus ION programming in the evenings. WXPX also shows Tampa Bay Lightning hockey, Orlando Magic basketball, some college football and Tampa Bay Rays baseball, though most of these games are in the evenings only, as WXPX tend to reserve non-prime-time hours for infomercials. Rays games air in high definition on WXPX in the 720p format, the same format as FSN Florida, the producers of the games (See: [1]). The only local programming on WXPX is i on Tampa (public affairs) and the aforementioned Rays and Magic games. The station once aired Miccosukee Magazine along with WPXM Miami and WPXP West Palm Beach, but no longer airs the program. (the latter two stations still do, along with WOPX Orlando) WXPX started in 1994 as WFCT, which featured infomercials at all hours under...
Wesh News Cast Bay News 9 Cast Weather Channel
Kristina
Abernathy
Stephanie
Abrams
Natalie
Allen
Tetiana
Anderson
Adam
Berg
Mike
Bettes
Vivian
Brown
Jim
Cantore
Jennifer
Carfagno
Kelly
Cass
Betty
Davis
Kristin
Dodd
Jorma
Duran
Dr Marcus
Eriksen
Paul
Goodloe
Ryan
Goswick
Rich
Johnson
Bill
Keneely
Danny
Lipford
Warren
Madden
Mark
Mancuso
Dr Anna
Marie
Julie
Martin
Jeff
Mielcarz
Jarod
Miller
Nicole
Mitchell
Samantha
Mohr
Jeff
Morrow
Carl
Parker
Kim
Perez
Sharon
Resultan
Kevin
Robinson
Marshall
Seese
Mike
Seidel
Alexandra
Steele
Heather
Tesch
Nick
Walker
Alex
Wallace
Dr Steve Lyons
Dr Greg Forbes
Dr Heidi Cullen
Stu Ostro
Aixa Diaz (NEWS ANCHORS
Jen Holloway
Al Ruechel
Leigh Moody
Erica Riggins
Rick Elmhorst
(METEOROLOGISTS)
Mike Clay
Juli Marquez
Josh Linker
Diane Kacmarik
Brian McClure
Alan Winfield
(NEWS REPORTERS
Jennifer Anderson
Dalia Dangerfield
Laurie Davison
Melissa Eichman
Samantha Hayes
Chuck Johnson
Troy Kinsey
Jason Lanning
Emily Maza
Carol Minn Vacca
Jonathan Petramala
Josh Rojas
Summer Smith
Kathryn Simmons
Melanie Snow
Melissa Sogegian
Anna Tataris
Ferdinand
Zogbaum
(EN ESPANOL
Lydia Guzmán
Roy De Jesús
Sandra Pinto
Jim Payne
Syan Rhodes
Martha Sugalski
Scott Walker
Eryka Washington
Weather:
Jason Brewer
Tony Mainolfi
Malachi Rodgers
Amy Sweezey
WESH.com Web Staff:
Jeff Cousins
Managing Editor
Jessica Seeley
Washington Reporters:
Sally Kidd
Nikole Killion
Laurie Kinney
Orlando Sentinel:
Roger Moore
Movie Critic
Sports:
Pat Clarke
Guy Rawlings
Reporters:
Danielle Bellini
Dan Billow
Greg Fox
Bob Kealing
Jeff Lennox
Craig Lucie
Dave McDaniel
Michelle Meredith
Claire Metz
Amanda Ober
Kendra Oestreich
Gail Paschall-Brown
Tim Trudell
Todd Wilson
Other Talent:
Jason Chepenik
Financial Analyst
Dr. Todd Husty
Dan McCarthy
Chopper 2 Pilot
Kimberly Williams
Traffic Reporter
Seen here on Wilmslow Road in Withington Village operating an X41 service to Manchester Piccadilly is this Sharston-based Dennis Trident with ALX400 bodywork. This vehicle was new as 612 to Stockport depot for the 192 route with sister (17)613. Both were fitted with dual purpose seating, which meant they could stand in on Mega Bus services. Of the two, only 17613 received magic bus treatment, but was painted back into corporate livery when it left the Manchester fleet, and is now at Kettering depot in the Midlands. That means at 17 years old 17612 is the oldest vehicle still in frontline service in Manchester.
Click here for more photos of 17612.
'Views in Camera, 2017'; Photographs taken around the Sheffield area in the last year, Part II - 223Mby MP4 video
** This is a 6min video so has to be downloaded to see the full version as only 3 minutes are shown in the Flickr interface.
** For non-Pro Flickr users, the download limit appears to be 3 minutes on download as well, and so there is a link here-
www.rail.tightfitz.com/Video/Views_in_Camera_-_II-conv.mp4
to obtain the full version for non-Pro users, right click the link and select 'Save Link As' to save the file to the desktop.
Well, the Xmas and New Year festivities are over, we managed just one day of snow, last Friday, the 29th December and since then, bad weather has arrived in the form of 'Storm Eleanor' prevails and we have had a couple of days of heavy rain and high winds, for the UK that is. As my end-of-year Flickr 'Xmas Card', this time around its the second part of the 'Views in Camera' piece, the last was uploaded on August 31st and the scene commenced at a cold and wet Woodhead Tunnel portal, last January, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/daohaiku/36942529635/
This, follow-up set, is an eclectic miscellany of shots taken between the end of August last year near, after the last video was finished and this one commences in an area just north-east of the centre of the city of Sheffield, close to the River Don in Neepsend, Shalesmoor and Millsands, commencing 3rd September, through to late October last year. The bulk of the 2nd half of the video was shot in the Millsands area of Sheffield on one late, sunny Sunday morning on 15th October and, like much of Sheffield, this area has seen a large down-turn in the once thriving heavy industries over the last 30 or so years. Some of these buildings are still in use, others have been re-used/purposed, and others demolished so this set of pictures is an attempt to grab a a record of what's left, before it goes forever. An earlier review of the desperate scene in Sheffield from the early 1980s to 1990s can be found in Adrian Wynn's great book on the subject, 'A View of Sheffield', published by Pickard Communications in 2007 and is highly recommended for a good view of what the changing scene was like in those days. In addition, Berris Conolly, another local photographer, has two books out, 'River Don, Seventeen Bridges' from views in 1989 & 2009 and 'Sheffield Photographs 1988-2008', published in 2008, see-
The video is in approximately 10 sections and is in chronological order of the 66 images taken and whilst there is some reference to the railways in this second video, most of the material is related, post the 1980s and 1990s changes, with what is still left to photograph from those times. As such this was series was prompted by the book indicated above, Adrian Wynn's book on Sheffield, from pictures taken in the late 1980s and early 1990s and theses provided a location for some of the shots here, to see for myself, how much things had changed over the past 30 years. I was thinking today, whilst gearing up to prepare this narrative, that Adrian has captured some very good historical records of the area which can be seen in the video; this not only being just a record but containing very pointed and stark political comment on those times.
1. Langsett Road. The very first shot can be found in Adrian's book with what was then, a boarded up derelict building next to the Masons Arms with the first of the three boards seen in his shot declaring- 'For Thou Can not Worship Both Money and The Lord. Evil Thatcher. Pension Snatcher' and on the third board, off to the right, 'For God's Sake, Vote Labour'. As the photograph shows here, the area to the right of the Mason's Arms has now been re-developed though the pub is still in the same style, if not in livery. Another obvious change in this, when compared to Adrian's shot in 1990, the 'wires are up', as the Sheffield SuperTram now plies this route along Langsett Road. The red brick section of the building on the right was where the first painted caption declared the choices between money and the Lord...
2. Burgoyne Road. These shots were taken whilst moving south-east along Langsett Road and this is another of the pictures which features in Adrian's book. The site is now bereft of the St. Bartholomew's Church which at the time of the 1989 picture was stood at the bottom of the road with, behind it then, the towering edifice of one of the Neepsend gas holders with folk atop the then popular 'Sheffield Ski Slope' visible. The church at that time was in the process of being demolished and so the gas holder was easy to see; since then, a year or so ago, that gasholder has now also been demolished and the Sheffield Ski Slope has also gone, gutted by fire a few years ago; the land is currently being considered for redevelopment into another sports facility. As a tribute to the old church, on the left at the side of the white Mercedes hatchback, stands the St. Bartholomew's Church centre.
3. Love Street. Moving towards the River Don and an area centred on one of Adrian's pictures taken on 'Love St', the street itself still extant and still with many old buildings around it, though from the look of some of them now; their time must be coming soon. The John & Matthew Woollens building can be seen in the third shot on the right, 'Bone Cutters' by all accounts but that went out of business as long ago as 1874 after which it became a Signage business run by one of the Woollens family, Edwin James, from Rotherham. The 2nd of the 3 'Love St' pictures shows the one most corresponding to Adrian's shot of the 'Cherry Flan' cafe which stood on the corner where the railings mark the edge of the car park. In his picture from 1992 and in this one, the still extant and thriving, Sheffield Workhouse, now called 'Mayfair Court', with many a flat up for sale within... also known as 'the Doss House' it was built in 1908 for single, down-and-out men... Also in the 2nd picture, some 'wag', has put up a poster for 'The Lady Boys' from Bangkok, appearing in Sheffield from time-to-time, this for two weeks at the end of November, 2015. To the left of the 'Lady Boys' sign is the land once occupied by the Britannia Works which were off to the left of the 'Cherry Flan' in Adrian's picture but the works are featured elsewhere in his book. The last shot of the 3, looks back along 'Lurve Street' and shows the 'new builds' which have gone up here-abouts behind the old 'Woollens Signs' building.
4. Well Meadow Street. Another series of shots prompted by one of Adrian's pictures, this time its the area around Well Meadow Street and this has changed, and is still changing, significantly. Adrian's picture in 1992, had its own pastel, colourful feal to it, taken in flat light and the 1st picture here, of a set of 9, reflects less of that feel but at least the buildings are being renovated and the view, apart from the 'yellow' roller door in the earlier picture, is pretty much the same; the roller door was at the bottom of the road where now palisade fence has been erected. Already on the lower right, some of the buildings have been let out with the area at the top of the street having been redeveloped into flats. The houses on the left which were actually derelict by 1992 with the windows boarded up, are finally being renovated; its good to see this happening where its still possible to retain the old history of the place. The second shot shows a closer view where the yellow roller door into the works of Samuel Peace & Sons Ltd. once stood, the area has now been opened out though the fence is a rather ugly replacement. The 3rd, 4th & 5th shots show the view up Well Meadow Street, which here runs parallel to Netherthorpe Road, and looks towards the new student accommodation near the large intersection at Western Bank and the University of Sheffield. The 6th shot looks back along the full length of the redevelopment with more graffiti'd hoardings up on the left, in preparation for more land to be given over to student accommodation and such like. In the 7th shot, the wooden canvasses erected around derelict land along Brownell Street, are an ideal location for the graffiti artists to have a field-day with their tagging and in some respects it does brighten up an otherwise glum area. The last 2 in the set of 9 at this location look back from the other side of the palisade fence seen earlier, and now on the site of the old Samuel Peace & Sons Ltd. Steel & File manufacturers; the University Arts Tower is in the background looking up Meadow Well Street once more. The final shot, to confirm where we are, with the presence of the camera, and me I guess, attracting some suspicion from the owners of the 'Hot Chilli' food establishment, who were clearly concerned about what was going on, until I explained what it was all about, and showed them, a copy of Adrian's 'A View of Sheffield', which resulted in them being highly interested in same picture from 1992. A link to more information about this important area and its conservation, can be found here-
www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/topic/7358-well-meadow-...
5. Cornish Street. In the same year, Adrian photographed the area closer to the River Don and the next 4 shots show the current scene along Cornish Street, Neepsend, it too not having changed much in layout since the earlier picture from 1992. There has however, been a good deal of 'tidying up' undertaken when compared to the derelict scene which pervaded many places in Sheffield in the 1980s and early 1990s. Serendipitously again, as walking along the street to find the same view as the earlier picture, and some 'interest' came along in the form of 'woman and child on bike', peddling along away from the river behind us, with the George Barnsley & Sons works, 'the world’s largest producer of files and cutting tools for the shoemaking industry', over on the right. Again, in Adrian's 1992 picture, the building was already in a sorry looking state with windows on the ground floor boarded up and the street and pavements looking worse than they do here. The house ahead of the cyclist at that time was also boarded up but now it has been re-opened and that area, right next to the river is looking, once more, to be on the up-and-up. The chimney stack in the background is now part of Cornish Place and from Wikipedia-
'...The building was formerly the factory of James Dixon & Sons, a Britannia metal, Sheffield plate and Cutlery manufacturer. In the late 1990s the disused building was cleaned and converted into apartments, it is regarded as the most impressive cutlery works that still stands in Sheffield[1] and rivals the cotton mills of Lancashire and the West Riding in terms of architectural quality and heritage. The most impressive parts of the building are the east and west ranges which have Grade II* listed status while the rest of the works have the lower Grade II rating. The 'Cornish' in the buildings name is thought to derive from the manufacture of Britannia metal which is made up of 93% tin which came from Cornwall...'
Moving around the corner and the state of the main building can be seen in the next 3 of the 4 pictures taken here. There are also further details about George Barnsley & Sons', here-
www.bcd-urbex.com/george-barnsley-sons-cornish-works-shef...
and here-
www.aworldinruins.co.uk/george-barnsley--sons
6. Bardwell Street. Not far away, and venturing closer to the railway in this part of the town, the next 5 pictures are centred around the Bardwell Street area and this road passes along under the MSLR's line form Sheffield Victoria, via Woodhead, to Manchester Piccadilly or, it did once! The first of the 5 pictures shows the well graffiti'd building which was once occupied by the Cannon Brewery and is now set to become ... more student accommodation; though the process seems a little slow. The next shot of the 5 reflects the one most closely resembling Adrian Wynn's shot, one of the oldest in his book and taken in 1982 and in his shot, being 1982, the Woodhead line is electric overheads are still present, complete with cables, but not for very much longer. Some of the buildings along Bardwell Street have also been demolished so it was difficult to get this shot exactly correct, the two camera lenses were also of somewhat differing focal length. The older picture was taken with at a wider focal length with the camera further along the road towards the railway over-bridge; this I didn't do as all the detail would then have been missed out due to the demolition of the buildings on the left in the present picture. There are still lots of identifiable features between 1982 and this, taken in October last year, 35 years apart, the arch of the MSLR's railway bridge being just visible at the end of the wall of the building on the right. The line formation is now of course overgrown with birch trees along its sides, but with the single line to Deepcar still present and in use, carrying the nightly steel train from the Aldwarke steelworks for rolling at Stocksbridge Works. Graffiti tag'ers have been out and about again, festooning the derelict parts of buildings with their bright artwork and with the 'House Skate Park', just around the corner near the black car, opposite the old Canon Brewery building, the Skating building also suitably decorated, see the shots in the end-of-last-year video, here-
www.flickr.com/photos/daohaiku/24276897661/
and the last of the 5 pictures in this series. The last two pictures of the 5 are taken from close to the indoor, 'House Skate Park' at the end of Bardwell Street and the line of the MSLR's Woodhead route can be clearly seen, being demarked by the line of tree-growth, marching up the 1-in-100 slope to the left and up towards Woodhead Tunnel. The panorama in the last of the 5 shots shows the end of Bardwell Street, now Road of course, in Neepsend with House Skate Park on the right, with its colourful outside adornments and yet more derelict buildings on the left. It seems devastating removal of old industry in and around Sheffield has left a nightmare of a problem for the planners to find a new use for, particularly the vast spaces of land these firms once used to occupy on the periphery of the town and closer to the centre, old Victorian buildings which also be dealt with, in one way or another; usually by demolition and re-use.
7. Burnaby Street. Another five shots taken on the bank up to Walkley and once more reflecting a shot taken by Adrian in his book 'A View of Sheffield - pictures from 1982-1992', this one taken in 1982 on Burnaby Street when much of this area was being re-developed on a grand scale to renew time-expired, and unwanted, 1960s housing. It took a while to try and get the angle exactly correct with respect to the 1982 which features, along with a single house being demolished in the centre foreground, the still extant U-shaped block of flats at Regent Court, painted white and right next to the River Loxley which flows into the River Don at Hillsborough. From the angle of the shadow of the northern-most, left, section of the 'U' shaped structure, I walked along the top of the bank until the angle matched and these 5 shots show the change in fortunes of the whole area since Adrian took his picture in 1982. The scene in the background of the 5 pictures looks over northwards towards Owlerton and Wadsley Bridge and the line of the Woodhead Route, the Stocksbridge Branch as it now exists. The 3rd and 4th of the five pictures is clearly getting closer but in Adrian's shot, the end of the U-shaped building has its 'top' facing the camera so clearly this shot isn't quite far enough along to the north. These pictures pan around to the north-east a little and reveal the hill rising to the Ski Slop area on the far right at Parkwood Springs but still the angle isn't quite right. The last of the shots, in my view, is just about spot-on. The end of the white Regent Court building is now facing directly towards the camera and at a realistically good angle down the bank towards the building; the re is even a somewhat similar house in the centre foreground, not in the process of being demolished, which doesn't look unlike the style of the one in the 1982 picture. This last picture was taken on the steps leading down to Hammerton Close from Lonsdale Lane withing spitting distance of Burnaby Street. The woodland in the left background of this picture are on the outliers of Beeley and Great Hollins Wood which runs on the north side of the Stocksbridge branch line through Middlewood and Oughtibridge and on through Wharncliffe Side to Deepcar and the exchange sidings at Ellen Wood which allows steel stock to be taken into the Samuel Fox steelworks at Stocksbridge.
8. Graffiti Millsands Area. Another derelict site on a fast-filling out area right next to the river at Millsands, a colourful extravaganza of graffiti tagging art which will be liked and hated in equal measure. This is a series of 18 shots taken at the derelict building site which sat amidst a plethora of old industrial businesses which were also festooned about the Sheffield area.. Here, this site was in and surrounded by- the Eclipse Patent Roof Glazing Works, the Don Confectionary Works, Millsands Forge & Rolling Mills, next to the river of course, and the Eclipse Lantern Works; Eclipse being, I guess the outfit that still makes hack saw blades. The artworks/tags here are set about a site which at this time during the middle of October, was still resplendent with Buddleia and other vegetation which, along with the still extant signage form past uses and the red brickwork, all conspired to make a garden scene with the paraphernalia of Sheffield's continued re-development, rising in the background. And this can be seen to good effect in the last shot in the series of 18 where a local heads towards the river with the old Eclipse Lantern Works behind her to the left and the Eclipse Glazing works off on the far left; the Lantern Works have now been partly taken over by car rental firm, EuropCar. I enjoyed photographing this area and liked the feel which was brought about by the combination of all the elements, old and new, constructed or natural and with the added bonus of reminders of past 'do's and dont's'...
9. The River Don Area. From the Graffiti on Bridge St. to the River at Millsands and yet more iconic buildings, with the odd hark back to the past once again, taken from Adrian Wynn's book. Almost the last picture in that book, taken looking towards the old Bridgehouses Goods depot, see-
www.disused-stations.org.uk/s/sheffield_bridgehouses/
west of the then closed Sheffield Victoria Station, is somewhat reflected in the 1st of the set of 18 pictures here, taken walking along the riverside and back. This first of 3, rendered in B/W, showing the Aizlewood Mill, with the Victoria Station site in the background, shows the changes in just over 30 years, the most noted changes being the closure of Victoria Station and the complete removal of the Bridgehouses Goods Depot, part of one of the goods depot buildings pokes into the picture of Adrian's, taken in 1986; the land on which the Goods Depot was located is still up for sale. The 2nd of the 3 shots shows a wider view along the river with, in turn, the Harlequin Public House, which the GCRS uses for their Sheffield meetings, the Aizlewood Mill and beyond that, the 'New Testament Church of God' building. At far left, the green bridge, installed when the Sheffield ring road was built, carries the now single line through the Victoria Station site, up to Deepcar; a set of arches which comprise the Wicker Arches, march off towards the right from the bridge. The last of the first three in the set of 18, is a close up of the old and new bridges, the older one carrying the lines to the north-west and just above this bridge deck is the northern portal of the Spittal Hill Tunnel, see-
www.flickr.com/photos/134774261@N07/33357890945
which carried 'Fiery Jack', the shunting locomotive with its 4 wagons between the Midland's Wicker Station, off to the right near the tall background building, and at this end, connecting with the MSLR's line to Manchester. The 1986 picture in Adrian Wynn's book, due to the complete lack of vegetation around the station site in those days, clearly shows the western portal of the tunnel, just under the Bridgehouses Goods building awning. After this, further views along the river from Nursery St., a close-up of the splendid Aizlewood Mill followed by Riverside House and then a view looking towards the railway bridge over the main road at Wicker. Following on from that, a short tour of the splendid structures which stand at the side of the River Don and the Upper Don Walk; the first showing the scene crossing Blonk St. bridge and looking towards Lady's Bridge and West Bar with the Exchange Brewery, occupied by the Tennant Brothers at one stage and with, in the 1960s and 1970s, that distinctive odour of fermenting hops, pervading the air in this area. Looking the other way, east towards Attercliffe and in the background on the arches, the Midland Main line passes over the River Don with the red-brick Victoria Hotel just beyond the white pedestrian bridge. A B/W rendition follows showing the scene looking past the Holiday Inn Express and the road up to the old Victoria Station site which is now blocked from view, taken in August 2017. Immediately following this shot, a very similar shot taken on my old Praktika film camera during the Sheffield Rag week 'goings on' in mid-September, 1968; the whole of the area then was open to view up to the Victoria Station site with Victoria Station Road running along the back beneath the series of black poster awnings; only the far left one having anything pasted on it... maybe 'SAVE OUR STATION'! The Effingham St gasometer is in the background and the square chimney close to the station site can be seen and this artifact is still in-situ today. The general state and mess the River Don was in at this time can be easily seen and its not clear to me whether it was a good idea wallowing around in the filth that was terms a river; much has changed since this time of course and now the River Don is 'clear as a bell'. The means of access, for those in the 'Rag Week Boat Race', can be seen and as I recall, this was my last picture here before heading off and delivering the goods, i.e. all the money I had collected for the 1968 Rag Week Magazine, full of useful venue information, advertising and to be frank, shear filth in terms of the cartoon jokes! Moving back along Castlegate now at the other side of the river and the splendid buildings on the eastern side of the river come into view, this glorious red/grey brick edifice at either side of Lady's Bridge was
Castle House but is now, partly, 'Cut Price Carpets' complete with 21st century appendage, a satellite dish; neglecting that, didn't the Victorians do well! The weir at Lady's Bridge is next, looking back towards the Victoria Station site and this one, for me, is very appealing in its colour and grandeur. Now on the opposite side of the river to earlier, some of the less impressive structures, still extant, one with square chimney, a soupçon of graffiti and green metal window frames. The 'New Testament Church of God Family Life Centre' now occupies a building not far from its rather impressive church, with two folk sat chatting over 'stuff' alongside the slowly flowing water of the Don; a beautiful scene. And, lastly is this almost final set, the camera now points once more across the river to the Aizlewood Mill on the right and the The Harlequin Freehouse on the left and under normal circumstance, that's where I would have headed next except there was a further shot I thought it worthwhile attempting to take to complete this second series of the 'Views in Camera'.
10. Rutland Road. Parkwood Springs. Unfortunately, the shot I had anticipated taking, from the site of the old Neepsend Engine Shed just off Rutland Road, which in the past had been easily accessible by walking across a piece of open ground, had now been completely taken over by a new-build industrial building and not only that, the space was all nicely palisaded off, the building occupying the whole of the space. This was just behind the camera in this final shot and, as luck would have it, on the other side of the road, 'there's a picture there', flashed straight into mind as a building on Botsford St., just a 'stones-throw' north of the M.S.L.R.'s now single line formation to Deepcar, was in view and with suitable brick-work, graffiti and blue van, probably makes a better picture than the rather mundane one I was thinking of showing just a set of rails disappearing towards the Sheffield Victoria site! Some heavy gradient filtering required in this one as the sun continued in full throttle and the shadows split the scene in half still, a worthy piece to end this 2nd of the 'Views in Camera' Video...
Although I have used as reference, 'A View of Sheffield, pictures 1982-1992' and this has been useful, there are many more images from this period in Adrian's book which speaks of the enormous changes which were taking places in Sheffield in the 1980s and 1990s and I can only recommend this for further viewing; the half dozen or so 'Then' pictures which I have used as reference, reflecting on a small portion of that 35 years ago vista.
A very Happy New Year to all interested views, many thanks for the comments and information provided over the last year, appreciate it all and am looking forward to a new, but maybe differently-accented, 2018...
E.& O.E.
So, below is the picture I shot, I went out in the snow today, but it stopped snowing! But would you believe it, Picnik has a snow feature :D Add some softening, some matting and some vignetting and I like it better, much more wintery :)
I love the snow, so much. This is the most snow we have had in years and we have another week of it forecast. Awesome.
Thats my mum and dog in the distance for your info.
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Patent US6506148 - Nervous system manipulation by electromagnetic fields from monitors
Publication number US6506148 B2
Publication type Grant
Application number US 09/872,528
Publication date Jan 14, 2003
Filing date Jun 1, 2001
Priority date Jun 1, 2001
Fee status Paid
Also published as US20020188164
Inventors Hendricus G. Loos
Original Assignee Hendricus G. Loos
Export Citation BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
Patent Citations (16), Non-Patent Citations (5), Referenced by (3), Classifications (6), Legal Events (3)
External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
Nervous system manipulation by electromagnetic fields from monitors
US 6506148 B2
Abstract
Physiological effects have been observed in a human subject in response to stimulation of the skin with weak electromagnetic fields that are pulsed with certain frequencies near ½ Hz or 2.4 Hz, such as to excite a sensory resonance. Many computer monitors and TV tubes, when displaying pulsed images, emit pulsed electromagnetic fields of sufficient amplitudes to cause such excitation. It is therefore possible to manipulate the nervous system of a subject by pulsing images displayed on a nearby computer monitor or TV set. For the latter, the image pulsing may be imbedded in the program material, or it may be overlaid by modulating a video stream, either as an RF signal or as a video signal. The image displayed on a computer monitor may be pulsed effectively by a simple computer program. For certain monitors, pulsed electromagnetic fields capable of exciting sensory resonances in nearby subjects may be generated even as the displayed images are pulsed with subliminal intensity.
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Claims(14)
I claim:
1. A method for manipulating the nervous system of a subject located near a monitor, the monitor emitting an electromagnetic field when displaying an image by virtue of the physical display process, the subject having a sensory resonance frequency, the method comprising:
creating a video signal for displaying an image on the monitor, the image having an intensity;
modulating the video signal for pulsing the image intensity with a frequency in the range 0.1 Hz to 15 Hz; and
setting the pulse frequency to the resonance frequency.
2. A computer program for manipulating the nervous system of a subject located near a monitor, the monitor emitting an electromagnetic field when displaying an image by virtue of the physical display process, the subject having cutaneous nerves that fire spontaneously and have spiking patterns, the computer program comprising:
a display routine for displaying an image on the monitor, the image having an intensity;
a pulse routine for pulsing the image intensity with a frequency in the range 0.1 Hz to 15 Hz; and
a frequency routine that can be internally controlled by the subject, for setting the frequency;
whereby the emitted electromagnetic field is pulsed, the cutaneous nerves are exposed to the pulsed electromagnetic field, and the spiking patterns of the nerves acquire a frequency modulation.
3. The computer program of claim 2, wherein the pulsing has an amplitude and the program further comprises an amplitude routine for control of the amplitude by the subject.
4. The computer program of claim 2, wherein the pulse routine comprises:
a timing procedure for timing the pulsing; and
an extrapolation procedure for improving the accuracy of the timing procedure.
5. The computer program of claim 2, further comprising a variability routine for introducing variability in the pulsing.
6. Hardware means for manipulating the nervous system of a subject located near a monitor, the monitor being responsive to a video stream and emitting an electromagnetic field when displaying an image by virtue of the physical display process, the image having an intensity, the subject having cutaneous nerves that fire spontaneously and have spiking patterns, the hardware means comprising:
pulse generator for generating voltage pulses;
means, responsive to the voltage pulses, for modulating the video stream to pulse the image intensity;
whereby the emitted electromagnetic field is pulsed, the cutaneous nerves are exposed to the pulsed electromagnetic field, and the spiking patterns of the nerves acquire a frequency modulation.
7. The hardware means of claim 6, wherein the video stream is a composite video signal that has a pseudo-dc level, and the means for modulating the video stream comprise means for pulsing the pseudo-dc level.
8. The hardware means of claim 6, wherein the video stream is a television broadcast signal, and the means for modulating the video stream comprise means for frequency wobbling of the television broadcast signal.
9. The hardware means of claim 6, wherein the monitor has a brightness adjustment terminal, and the means for modulating the video stream comprise a connection from the pulse generator to the brightness adjustment terminal.
10. A source of video stream for manipulating the nervous system of a subject located near a monitor, the monitor emitting an electromagnetic field when displaying an image by virtue of the physical display process, the subject having cutaneous nerves that fire spontaneously and have spiking patterns, the source of video stream comprising:
means for defining an image on the monitor, the image having an intensity; and
means for subliminally pulsing the image intensity with a frequency in the range 0.1 Hz to 15 Hz;
whereby the emitted electromagnetic field is pulsed, the cutaneous nerves are exposed to the pulsed electromagnetic field, and the spiking patterns of the nerves acquire a frequency modulation.
11. The source of video stream of claim 10 wherein the source is a recording medium that has recorded data, and the means for subliminally pulsing the image intensity comprise an attribute of the recorded data.
12. The source of video stream of claim 10 wherein the source is a computer program, and the means for subliminally pulsing the image intensity comprise a pulse routine.
13. The source of video stream of claim 10 wherein the source is a recording of a physical scene, and the means for subliminally pulsing the image intensity comprise:
pulse generator for generating voltage pulses;
light source for illuminating the scene, the light source having a power level; and
modulation means, responsive to the voltage pulses, for pulsing the power level.
14. The source of video stream of claim 10, wherein the source is a DVD, the video stream comprises a luminance signal and a chrominance signal, and the means for subliminal pulsing of the image intensity comprise means for pulsing the luminance signal.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to the stimulation of the human nervous system by an electromagnetic field applied externally to the body. A neurological effect of external electric fields has been mentioned by Wiener (1958), in a discussion of the bunching of brain waves through nonlinear interactions. The electric field was arranged to provide “a direct electrical driving of the brain”. Wiener describes the field as set up by a 10 Hz alternating voltage of 400 V applied in a room between ceiling and ground. Brennan (1992) describes in U.S. Pat. No. 5,169,380 an apparatus for alleviating disruptions in circadian rythms of a mammal, in which an alternating electric field is applied across the head of the subject by two electrodes placed a short distance from the skin.
A device involving a field electrode as well as a contact electrode is the “Graham Potentializer” mentioned by Hutchison (1991). This relaxation device uses motion, light and sound as well as an alternating electric field applied mainly to the head. The contact electrode is a metal bar in Ohmic contact with the bare feet of the subject, and the field electrode is a hemispherical metal headpiece placed several inches from the subject's head.
In these three electric stimulation methods the external electric field is applied predominantly to the head, so that electric currents are induced in the brain in the physical manner governed by electrodynamics. Such currents can be largely avoided by applying the field not to the head, but rather to skin areas away from the head. Certain cutaneous receptors may then be stimulated and they would provide a signal input into the brain along the natural pathways of afferent nerves. It has been found that, indeed, physiological effects can be induced in this manner by very weak electric fields, if they are pulsed with a frequency near ½ Hz. The observed effects include ptosis of the eyelids, relaxation, drowziness, the feeling of pressure at a centered spot on the lower edge of the brow, seeing moving patterns of dark purple and greenish yellow with the eyes closed, a tonic smile, a tense feeling in the stomach, sudden loose stool, and sexual excitement, depending on the precise frequency used, and the skin area to which the field is applied. The sharp frequency dependence suggests involvement of a resonance mechanism.
It has been found that the resonance can be excited not only by externally applied pulsed electric fields, as discussed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,782,874, 5,899,922, 6,081,744, and 6,167,304, but also by pulsed magnetic fields, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,935,054 and 6,238,333, by weak heat pulses applied to the skin, as discussed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,800,481 and 6,091,994, and by subliminal acoustic pulses, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,017,302. Since the resonance is excited through sensory pathways, it is called a sensory resonance. In addition to the resonance near ½ Hz, a sensory resonance has been found near 2.4 Hz. The latter is characterized by the slowing of certain cortical processes, as discussed in the '481, '922, '302, '744, '944, and '304 patents.
The excitation of sensory resonances through weak heat pulses applied to the skin provides a clue about what is going on neurologically. Cutaneous temperature-sensing receptors are known to fire spontaneously. These nerves spike somewhat randomly around an average rate that depends on skin temperature. Weak heat pulses delivered to the skin in periodic fashion will therefore cause a slight frequency modulation (fm) in the spike patterns generated by the nerves. Since stimulation through other sensory modalities results in similar physiological effects, it is believed that frequency modulation of spontaneous afferent neural spiking patterns occurs there as well.
It is instructive to apply this notion to the stimulation by weak electric field pulses administered to the skin. The externally generated fields induce electric current pulses in the underlying tissue, but the current density is much too small for firing an otherwise quiescent nerve. However, in experiments with adapting stretch receptors of the crayfish, Terzuolo and Bullock (1956) have observed that very small electric fields can suffice for modulating the firing of already active nerves. Such a modulation may occur in the electric field stimulation under discussion.
Further understanding may be gained by considering the electric charges that accumulate on the skin as a result of the induced tissue currents. Ignoring thermodynamics, one would expect the accumulated polarization charges to be confined strictly to the outer surface of the skin. But charge density is caused by a slight excess in positive or negative ions, and thermal motion distributes the ions through a thin layer. This implies that the externally applied electric field actually penetrates a short distance into the tissue, instead of stopping abruptly at the outer skin surface. In this manner a considerable fraction of the applied field may be brought to bear on some cutaneous nerve endings, so that a slight modulation of the type noted by Terzuolo and Bullock may indeed occur.
The mentioned physiological effects are observed only when the strength of the electric field on the skin lies in a certain range, called the effective intensity window. There also is a bulk effect, in that weaker fields suffice when the field is applied to a larger skin area. These effects are discussed in detail in the '922 patent.
Since the spontaneous spiking of the nerves is rather random and the frequency modulation induced by the pulsed field is very shallow, the signal to noise ratio (S/N) for the fm signal contained in the spike trains along the afferent nerves is so small as to make recovery of the fm signal from a single nerve fiber impossibile. But application of the field over a large skin area causes simultaneous stimulation of many cutaneous nerves, and the fm modulation is then coherent from nerve to nerve. Therefore, if the afferent signals are somehow summed in the brain, the fm modulations add while the spikes from different nerves mix and interlace. In this manner the S/N can be increased by appropriate neural processing. The matter is discussed in detail in the '874 patent. Another increase in sensitivity is due to involving a resonance mechanism, wherein considerable neural circuit oscillations can result from weak excitations.
An easily detectable physiological effect of an excited ½ Hz sensory resonance is ptosis of the eyelids. As discussed in the '922 patent, the ptosis test involves first closing the eyes about half way. Holding this eyelid position, the eyes are rolled upward, while giving up voluntary control of the eyelids. The eyelid position is then determined by the state of the autonomic nervous system. Furthermore, the pressure excerted on the eyeballs by the partially closed eyelids increases parasympathetic activity. The eyelid position thereby becomes somewhat labile, as manifested by a slight flutter. The labile state is sensitive to very small shifts in autonomic state. The ptosis influences the extent to which the pupil is hooded by the eyelid, and thus how much light is admitted to the eye. Hence, the depth of the ptosis is seen by the subject, and can be graded on a scale from 0 to 10.
In the initial stages of the excitation of the ½ Hz sensory resonance, a downward drift is detected in the ptosis frequency, defined as the stimulation frequency for which maximum ptosis is obtained. This drift is believed to be caused by changes in the chemical milieu of the resonating neural circuits. It is thought that the resonance causes perturbations of chemical concentrations somewhere in the brain, and that these perturbations spread by diffusion to nearby resonating circuits. This effect, called “chemical detuning”, can be so strong that ptosis is lost altogether when the stimulation frequency is kept constant in the initial stages of the excitation. Since the stimulation then falls somewhat out of tune, the resonance decreases in amplitude and chemical detuning eventually diminishes. This causes the ptosis frequency to shift back up, so that the stimulation is more in tune and the ptosis can develop again. As a result, for fixed stimulation frequencies in a certain range, the ptosis slowly cycles with a frequency of several minutes. The matter is discussed in the '302 patent.
The stimulation frequencies at which specific physiological effects occur depend somewhat on the autonomic nervous system state, and probably on the endocrine state as well.
Weak magnetic fields that are pulsed with a sensory resonance frequency can induce the same physiological effects as pulsed electric fields. Unlike the latter however, the magnetic fields penetrate biological tissue with nearly undiminished strength. Eddy currents in the tissue drive electric charges to the skin, where the charge distributions are subject to thermal smearing in much the same way as in electric field stimulation, so that the same physiological effects develop. Details are discussed in the '054 patent.
SUMMARY
Computer monotors and TV monitors can be made to emit weak low-frequency electromagnetic fields merely by pulsing the intensity of displayed images. Experiments have shown that the ½ Hz sensory resonance can be excited in this manner in a subject near the monitor. The 2.4 Hz sensory resonance can also be excited in this fashion. Hence, a TV monitor or computer monitor can be used to manipulate the nervous system of nearby people.
The implementations of the invention are adapted to the source of video stream that drives the monitor, be it a computer program, a TV broadcast, a video tape or a digital video disc (DVD).
For a computer monitor, the image pulses can be produced by a suitable computer program. The pulse frequency may be controlled through keyboard input, so that the subject can tune to an individual sensory resonance frequency. The pulse amplitude can be controlled as well in this manner. A program written in Visual Basic(R) is particularly suitable for use on computers that run the Windows 95(R) or Windows 98(R) operating system. The structure of such a program is described. Production of periodic pulses requires an accurate timing procedure. Such a procedure is constructed from the GetTimeCount function available in the Application Program Interface (API) of the Windows operating system, together with an extrapolation procedure that improves the timing accuracy.
Pulse variability can be introduced through software, for the purpose of thwarting habituation of the nervous system to the field stimulation, or when the precise resonance frequency is not known. The variability may be a pseudo-random variation within a narrow interval, or it can take the form of a frequency or amplitude sweep in time. The pulse variability may be under control of the subject.
The program that causes a monitor to display a pulsing image may be run on a remote computer that is connected to the user computer by a link; the latter may partly belong to a network, which may be the Internet.
For a TV monitor, the image pulsing may be inherent in the video stream as it flows from the video source, or else the stream may be modulated such as to overlay the pulsing. In the first case, a live TV broadcast can be arranged to have the feature imbedded simply by slightly pulsing the illumination of the scene that is being broadcast. This method can of course also be used in making movies and recording video tapes and DVDs.
Video tapes can be edited such as to overlay the pulsing by means of modulating hardware. A simple modulator is discussed wherein the luminance signal of composite video is pulsed without affecting the chroma signal. The same effect may be introduced at the consumer end, by modulating the video stream that is produced by the video source. A DVD can be edited through software, by introducing pulse-like variations in the digital RGB signals. Image intensity pulses can be overlaid onto the analog component video output of a DVD player by modulating the luminance signal component. Before entering the TV set, a television signal can be modulated such as to cause pulsing of the image intensity by means of a variable delay line that is connected to a pulse generator.
Certain monitors can emit electromagnetic field pulses that excite a sensory resonance in a nearby subject, through image pulses that are so weak as to be subliminal. This is unfortunate since it opens a way for mischievous application of the invention, whereby people are exposed unknowingly to manipulation of their nervous systems for someone else's purposes. Such application would be unethical and is of course not advocated. It is mentioned here in order to alert the public to the possibility of covert abuse that may occur while being online, or while watching TV, a video, or a DVD.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 illustrates the electromagnetic field that emanates from a monitor when the video signal is modulated such as to cause pulses in image intensity, and a nearby subject who is exposed to the field.
FIG. 2 shows a circuit for modulation of a composite video signal for the purpose of pulsing the image intensity.
FIG. 3 shows the circuit for a simple pulse generator.
FIG. 4 illustrates how a pulsed electromagnetic field can be generated with a computer monitor.
FIG. 5 shows a pulsed electromagnetic field that is generated by a television set through modulation of the RF signal input to the TV.
FIG. 6 outlines the structure of a computer program for producing a pulsed image.
FIG. 7 shows an extrapolation procedure introduced for improving timing accuracy of the program of FIG. 6.
FIG. 8 illustrates the action of the extrapolation procedure of FIG. 7.
FIG. 9 shows a subject exposed to a pulsed electromagnetic field emanating from a monitor which is responsive to a program running on a remote computer via a link that involves the Internet.
FIG. 10 shows the block diagram of a circuit for frequency wobbling of a TV signal for the purpose of pulsing the intensity of the image displayed on a TV monitor.
FIG. 11 depicts schematically a recording medium in the form of a video tape with recorded data, and the attribute of the signal that causes the intensity of the displayed image to be pulsed.
FIG. 12 illustrates how image pulsing can be embedded in a video signal by pulsing the illumination of the scene that is being recorded.
FIG. 13 shows a routine that introduces pulse variability into the computer program of FIG. 6.
FIG. 14 shows schematically how a CRT emits an electromagnetic field when the displayed image is pulsed.
FIG. 15 shows how the intensity of the image displayed on a monitor can be pulsed through the brightness control terminal of the monitor.
FIG. 16 illustrates the action of the polarization disc that serves as a model for grounded conductors in the back of a CRT screen.
FIG. 17 shows the circuit for overlaying image intensity pulses on a DVD output.
FIG. 18 shows measured data for pulsed electric fields emitted by two different CRT type monitors, and a comparison with theory.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Computer monitors and TV monitors emit electromagnetic fields. Part of the emission occurs at the low frequencies at which displayed images are changing. For instance, a rythmic pulsing of the intensity of an image causes electromagnetic field emission at the pulse frequency, with a strength proportional to the pulse amplitude. The field is briefly referred to as “screen emission”. In discussing this effect, any part or all what is displayed on the monitor screen is called an image. A monitor of the cathode ray tube (CRT) type has three electron beams, one for each of the basic colors red, green, and blue. The intensity of an image is here defined as
I=∫j dA, (1)
where the integral extends over the image, and
j=jr+jg+jb, (2)
jr, jg, and jb being the electric current densities in the red, green, and blue electron beams at the surface area dA of the image on the screen. The current densities are to be taken in the distributed electron beam model, where the discreteness of pixels and the raster motion of the beams are ignored, and the back of the monitor screen is thought to be irradiated by diffuse electron beams. The beam current densities are then functions of the coordinates x and y over the screen. The model is appropriate since we are interested in the electromagnetic field emision caused by image pulsing with the very low frequencies of sensory resonances, whereas the emissions with the much higher horizontal and vertical sweep frequencies are of no concern. For a CRT the intensity of an image is expressed in millamperes.
For a liquid crystal display (LCD), the current densities in the definition of image intensity are to be replaced by driving voltages, multiplied by the aperture ratio of the device. For an LCD, image intensities are thus expressed in volts.
It will be shown that for a CRT or LCD screen emissions are caused by fluctuations in image intensity. In composite video however, intensity as defined above is not a primary signal feature, but luminance Y is. For any pixel one has
Y=0.299R+0.587G+0.114B, (3)
where R, G, and B are the intensities of the pixel respectively in red, green and blue, normalized such as to range from 0 to 1. The definition (3) was provided by the Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE), in order to account for brightness differences at different colors, as perceived by the human visual system. In composite video the hue of the pixel is determined by the chroma signal or chrominance, which has the components R-Y and B-Y It follows that pulsing pixel luminance while keeping the hue fixed is equivalent to pulsing the pixel intensity, up to an amplitude factor. This fact will be relied upon when modulating a video stream such as to overlay image intensity pulses.
It turns out that the screen emission has a multipole expansion wherein both monopole and dipole contributions are proportional to the rate of change of the intensity I of (1). The higher order multipole contributions are proportional to the rate of change of moments of the current density j over the image, but since these contributions fall off rapidly with distance, they are not of practical importance in the present context. Pulsing the intensity of an image may involve different pulse amplitudes, frequencies, or phases for different parts of the image. Any or all of these features may be under subject control.
The question arises whether the screen emission can be strong enough to excite sensory resonances in people located at normal viewing distances from the monitor. This turns out to be the case, as shown by sensory resonance experiments and independently by measuring the strength of the emitted electric field pulses and comparing the results with the effective intensity window as explored in earlier work.
One-half Hertz sensory resonance experiments have been conducted with the subject positioned at least at normal viewing distance from a 15″ computer monitor that was driven by a computer program written in Visual Basic(R), version 6.0 (VB6). The program produces a pulsed image with uniform luminance and hue over the full screen, except for a few small control buttons and text boxes. In VB6, screen pixel colors are determined by integers R, G, and B, that range from 0 to 255, and set the contributions to the pixel color made by the basic colors red, green, and blue. For a CRT-type monitor, the pixel intensities for the primary colors may depend on the RGB values in a nonlinear manner that will be discussed. In the VB6 program the RGB values are modulated by small pulses ΔR, ΔG, ΔB, with a frequency that can be chosen by the subject or is swept in a predetermined manner. In the sensory resonance experiments mentioned above, the ratios ΔR/R, ΔG/G, and ΔB/B were always smaller than 0.02, so that the image pulses are quite weak. For certain frequencies near ½ Hz, the subject experienced physiological effects that are known to accompany the excitation of the ½ Hz sensory resonance as mentioned in the Background Section. Moreover, the measured field pulse amplitudes fall within the effective intensity window for the ½ Hz resonance, as explored in earlier experiments and discussed in the '874, '744, '922, and '304 patents. Other experiments have shown that the 2.4 Hz sensory resonance can be exited as well by screen emissions from monitors that display pulsed images.
These results confirm that, indeed, the nervous system of a subject can be manipulated through electromagnetic field pulses emitted by a nearby CRT or LCD monitor which displays images with pulsed intensity.
The various implementations of the invention are adapted to the different sources of video stream, such as video tape, DVD, a computer program, or a TV broadcast through free space or cable. In all of these implementations, the subject is exposed to the pulsed electromagnetic field that is generated by the monitor as the result of image intensity pulsing. Certain cutaneous nerves of the subject exhibit spontaneous spiking in patterns which, although rather random, contain sensory information at least in the form of average frequency. Some of these nerves have receptors that respond to the field stimulation by changing their average spiking frequency, so that the spiking patterns of these nerves acquire a frequency modulation, which is conveyed to the brain. The modulation can be particularly effective if it has a frequency at or near a sensory resonance frequency. Such frequencies are expected to lie in the range from 0.1 to 15 Hz.
An embodiment of the invention adapted to a VCR is shown in FIG. 1, where a subject 4 is exposed to a pulsed electric field 3 and a pulsed magnetic field 39 that are emitted by a monitor 2, labeled “MON”, as the result of pulsing the intensity of the displayed image. The image is here generated by a video casette recorder 1, labeled “VCR”, and the pulsing of the image intensity is obtained by modulating the composite video signal from the VCR output. This is done by a video modulator 5, labeled “VM”, which responds to the signal from the pulse generator 6, labeled “GEN”. The frequency and amplitude of the image pulses can be adjusted with the frequency control 7 and amplitude control 8. Frequency and amplitude adjustments can be made by the subject.
The circuit of the video modulator 5 of FIG. 1 is shown in FIG. 2, where the video amplifiers 11 and 12 process the composite video signal that enters at the input terminal 13. The level of the video signal is modulated slowly by injecting a small bias current at the inverting input 17 of the first amplifier 11. This current is caused by voltage pulses supplied at the modulation input 16, and can be adjusted through the potentiometer 15. Since the noninverting input of the amplifier is grounded, the inverting input 17 is kept essentially at ground potential, so that the bias current is is not influenced by the video signal. The inversion of the signal by the first amplifier 11 is undone by the second amplifier 12. The gains of the amplifiers are chosen such as to give a unity overall gain. A slowly varying current injected at the inverting input 17 causes a slow shift in the “pseudo-dc” level of the composite video signal, here defined as the short-term average of the signal. Since the pseudo-dc level of the chroma signal section determines the luminance, the latter is modulated by the injected current pulses. The chroma signal is not affected by the slow modulation of the pseudodc level, since that signal is determined by the amplitude and phase with respect to the color carrier which is locked to the color burst. The effect on the sync pulses and color bursts is of no consequence either if the injected current pulses are very small, as they are in practice. The modulated composite video signal, available at the output 14 in FIG. 2, will thus exhibit a modulated luminance, whereas the chroma signal is unchanged. In the light of the foregoing discussion about luminance and intensity, it follows that the modulator of FIG. 2 causes a pulsing of the image intensity I. It remains to give an example how the pulse signal at the modulation input 16 may be obtained. FIG. 3 shows a pulse generator that is suitable for this purpose, wherein the RC timer 21 (Intersil ICM7555) is hooked up for astable operation and produces a square wave voltage with a frequency that is determined by capacitor 22 and potentiometer 23. The timer 21 is powered by a battery 26, controlled by the switch 27. The square wave voltage at output 25 drives the LED 24, which may be used for monitoring of the pulse frequency, and also serves as power indicator. The pulse output may be rounded in ways that are well known in the art. In the setup of FIG. 1, the output of VCR 1 is connected to the video input 13 of FIG. 2, and the video output 14 is connected to the monitor 2 of FIG. 1.
In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the image intensity pulsing is caused by a computer program. As shown in FIG. 4, monitor 2, labeled “MON”, is connected to computer 31 labeled “COMPUTER”, which runs a program that produces an image on the monitor and causes the image intensity to be pulsed. The subject 4 can provide input to the computer through the keyboard 32 that is connected to the computer by the connection 33. This input may involve adjustments of the frequency or the amplitude or the variability of the image intensity pulses. In particular, the pulse frequency can be set to a sensory resonance frequency of the subject for the purpose of exciting the resonance.
The structure of a computer program for pulsing image intensity is shown in FIG. 6. The program may be written in Visual Basic(R) version 6.0 (VB6), which involves the graphics interface familiar from the Windows(R) operating system. The images appear as forms equipped with user controls such as command buttons and scroll bars, together with data displays such as text boxes. A compiled VB6 program is an executable file. When activated, the program declares variables and functions to be called from a dynamic link library (DLL) that is attached to the operating system; an initial form load is performed as well. The latter comprises setting the screen color as specified by integers R, G, and B in the range 0 to 255, as mentioned above. In FIG. 6, the initial setting of the screen color is labeled as 50. Another action of the form load routine is the computation 51 of the sine function at eight equally spaced points, I=0 to 7, around the unit circle. These values are needed when modulating the RGB numbers. Unfortunately, the sine function is distorted by the rounding to integer RGB values that occurs in the VB6 program. The image is chosen to fill as much of the screen area as possible, and it has spatially uniform luminance and hue.
The form appearing on the monitor displays a command button for starting and stopping the image pulsing, together with scroll bars 52 and 53 respectively for adjustment of the pulse frequency F and the pulse amplitude A. These pulses could be initiated by a system timer which is activated upon the elapse of a preset time interval. However, timers in VB6 are too inaccurate for the purpose of providing the eight RGB adjustment points in each pulse cycle. An improvement can be obtained by using the GetTickCount function that is available in the Application Program Interface (API) of Windows 95(R) and Windows 98(R). The GetTickCount function returns the system time that has elapsed since starting Windows, expressed in milliseconds. User activation of the start button 54 provides a tick count TN through request 55 and sets the timer interval to TT miliseconds, in step 56. TT was previously calculated in the frequency routine that is activated by changing the frequency, denoted as step 52.
Since VB6 is an event-driven program, the flow chart for the program falls into disjoint pieces. Upon setting the timer interval to TT in step 56, the timer runs in the background while the program may execute subroutines such as adjustment of pulse frequency or amplitude. Upon elapse of the timer interval TT, the timer subroutine 57 starts execution with request 58 for a tick count, and in 59 an upgrade is computed of the time TN for the next point at which the RGB values are to be adjusted. In step 59 the timer is turned off, to be reactivated later in step 67. Step 59 also resets the parameter CR which plays a role in the extrapolation procedure 61 and the condition 60. For ease of understanding at this point, it is best to pretend that the action of 61 is simply to get a tick count, and to consider the loop controled by condition 60 while keeping CR equal to zero. The loop would terminate when the tick count M reaches or exceeds the time TN for the next phase point, at which time the program should adjust the image intensity through steps 63-65. For now step 62 is to be ignored also, since it has to do with the actual extrapolation procedure 61. The increments to the screen colors R1, G1, and B1 at the new phase point are computed according to the sine function, applied with the amplitude A that was set by the user in step 53. The number I that labels the phase point is incremented by unity in step 65, but if this results in I=8 the value is reset to zero in 66. Finally, the timer is reactivated in step 67, initiating a new ⅛-cycle step in the periodic progression of RGB adjustments.
A program written in this way would exhibit a large jitter in the times at which the RGB values are changed. This is due to the lumpiness in the tick counts returned by the GetTickCount function. The lumpiness may be studied separately by running a simple loop with C=GetTickCount, followed by writing the result C to a file. Inspection shows that C has jumped every 14 or 15 milliseconds, between long stretches of constant values. Since for a ½ Hz image intensity modulation the ⅛-cycle phase points are 250 ms apart, the lumpiness of 14 or 15 ms in the tick count would cause considerable inaccuracy. The full extrapolation procedure 61 is introduced in order to diminish the jitter to acceptable levels. The procedure works by refining the heavy-line staircase function shown in FIG. 8, using the slope RR of a recent staircase step to accurately determine the loop count 89 at which the loop controled by 60 needs to be exited. Details of the extrapolation procedure are shown in FIG. 7 and illustrated in FIG. 8. The procedure starts at 70 with both flags off, and CR=0, because of the assignment in 59 or 62 in FIG. 6. A tick count M is obtained at 71, and the remaining time MR to the next phase point is computed in 72. Conditions 77 and 73 are not satisfied and therefore passed vertically in the flow chart, so that only the delay block 74 and the assignments 75 are executed. Condition 60 of FIG. 6 is checked and found to be satisfied, so that the extrapolation procedure is reentered. The process is repeated until the condition 73 is met when the remaining time MR jumps down through the 15 ms level, shown in FIG. 8 as the transition 83. The condition 73 then directs the logic flow to the assignments 76, in which the number DM labeled by 83 is computed, and FLG1 is set. The computation of DM is required for finding the slope RR of the straight-line element 85. One also needs the “Final LM” 86, which is the number of loops traversed from step 83 to the next downward step 84, here shown to cross the MR=0 axis. The final LM is determined after repeatedly incrementing LM through the side loop entered from the FLG1=1 condition 77, which is now satisfied since FLG1 was set in step 76. At the transition 84 the condition 78 is met, so that the assignments 79 are executed. This includes computation of the slope RR of the line element 85, setting FLG2, and resetting FLG1. From here on, the extrapolation procedure increments CR in steps of RR while skipping tick counts until condition 60 of FIG. 6 is violated, the loop is exited, and the RGB values are adjusted.
A delay block 74 is used in order to stretch the time required for traversing the extrapolation procedure. The block can be any computation intensive subroutine such as repeated calculations of tangent and arc tangent functions.
As shown in step 56 of FIG. 6, the timer interval TT is set to 4/10 of the time TA from one RGB adjustment point to the next. Since the timer runs in the background, this arrangement provides an opportunity for execution of other processes such as user adjustment of frequency or amplitude of the pulses.
The adjustment of the frequency and other pulse parameters of the image intensity modulation can be made internally, i.e., within the running program. Such internal control is to be distinguished from the external control provided, for instance, in screen savers. In the latter, the frequency of animation can be modified by the user, but only after having exited the screen saver program. Specifically, in Windows 95(R) or Windows 98(R), to change the animation frequency requires stopping the screen saver execution by moving the mouse, whereafter the frequency may be adjusted through the control panel. The requirement that the control be internal sets the present program apart from so-called banners as well.
The program may be run on a remote computer that is linked to the user computer, as illustrated in FIG. 9. Although the monitor 2, labeled “MON”, is connected to the computer 31′, labeled “COMPUTER”, the program that pulses the images on the monitor 2 runs on the remoter computer 90, labeled “REMOTE COMPUTER”, which is connected to computer 31′ through a link 91 which may in part belong to a network. The network may comprise the Internet 92.
The monitor of a television set emits an electromagnetic field in much the same way as a computer monitor. Hence, a TV may be used to produce screen emissions for the purpose of nervous system manipulation. FIG. 5 shows such an arrangement, where the pulsing of the image intensity is achieved by inducing a small slowly pulsing shift in the frequency of the RF signal that enters from the antenna. This process is here called “frequency wobbling” of the RF signal. In FM TV, a slight slow frequency wobble of the RF signal produces a pseudo-dc signal level fluctuation in the composite video signal, which in turn causes a slight intensity fluctuation of the image displayed on the monitor in the same manner as discussed above for the modulator of FIG. 2. The frequency wobbling is induced by the wobbler 44 of FIG. 5 labeled “RFM”, which is placed in the antenna line 43. The wobbler is driven by the pulse generator 6, labeled “GEN”. The subject can adjust the frequency and the amplitude of the wobble through the tuning control 7 and the amplitude control 41. FIG. 10 shows a block diagram of the frequency wobbler circuit that employs a variable delay line 94, labelled “VDL”. The delay is determined by the signal from pulse generator 6, labelled “GEN”. The frequency of the pulses can be adjusted with the tuning control 7. The amplitude of the pulses is determined by the unit 98, labelled “MD”, and can be adjusted with the amplitude control 41. Optionally, the input to the delay line may be routed through a preprocessor 93, labelled “PRP”, which may comprise a selective RF amplifier and down converter; a complimentary up conversion should then be performed on the delay line output by a postprocessor 95, labelled “POP”. The output 97 is to be connected to the antenna terminal of the TV set.
The action of the variable delay line 94 may be understood as follows. Let periodic pulses with period L be presented at the input. For a fixed delay the pulses would emerge at the output with the same period L. Actually, the time delay T is varied slowly, so that it increases approximately by LdT/dt between the emergence of consecutive pulses at the device output. The pulse period is thus increased approximately by
ΔL=LdT/dt. (4)
In terms of the frequency ∫, Eq. (4) implies approximately
Δ∫/∫=−dT/dt. (5)
For sinusoidal delay T(t) with amplitude b and frequency g, one has
Δ∫/∫=−2πgb cos (2πgt), (6)
which shows the frequency wobbling. The approximation is good for gb<<1, which is satisfied in practice. The relative frequency shift amplitude 2πgb that is required for effective image intensity pulses is very small compared to unity. For a pulse frequency g of the order of 1 Hz, the delay may have to be of the order of a millisecond. To accomodate such long delay values, the delay line may have to be implemented as a digital device. To do so is well within the present art. In that case it is natural to also choose digital implementations for the pulse generator 6 and the pulse amplitude controller 98, either as hardware or as software.
Pulse variability may be introduced for alleviating the need for precise tuning to a resonance frequency. This may be important when sensory resonance frequencies are not precisely known, because of the variation among individuals, or in order to cope with the frequency drift that results from chemical detuning that is discussed in the '874 patent. A field with suitably chosen pulse variability can then be more effective than a fixed frequency field that is out of tune. One may also control tremors and seizures, by interfering with the pathological oscillatory activity of neural circuits that occurs in these disorders. Electromagnetic fields with a pulse variability that results in a narrow spectrum of frequencies around the frequency of the pathological oscillatory activity may then evoke nerve signals that cause phase shifts which diminish or quench the oscillatory activity.
Pulse variability can be introduced as hardware in the manner described in the '304 patent. The variability may also be introduced in the computer program of FIG. 6, by setting FLG3 in step 68, and choosing the amplitude B of the frequency fluctuation. In the variability routine 46, shown in some detail in FIG. 13, FLG3 is detected in step 47, whereupon in steps 48 and 49 the pulse frequency F is modified pseudo randomly by a term proportional to B, every 4th cycle. Optionally, the amplitude of the image intensity pulsing may be modified as well, in similar fashion. Alternatively, the frequency and amplitude may be swept through an adjustable ramp, or according to any suitable schedule, in a manner known to those skilled in the art. The pulse variability may be applied to subliminal image intensity pulses.
When an image is displayed by a TV monitor in response to a TV broadcast, intensity pulses of the image may simply be imbedded in the program material. If the source of video signal is a recording medium, the means for pulsing the image intensity may comprise an attribute of recorded data. The pulsing may be subliminal. For the case of a video signal from a VCR, the pertinent data attribute is illustrated in FIG. 11, which shows a video signal record on part of a video tape 28. Depicted schematically are segments of the video signal in intervals belonging to lines in three image frames at different places along the tape. In each segment, the chroma signal 9 is shown, with its short-term average level 29 represented as a dashed line. The short-term average signal level, also called the pseudo-dc level, represents the luminance of the image pixels. Over each segment, the level is here constant because the image is for simplicity chosen as having a uniform luminance over the screen. However, the level is seen to vary from frame to frame, illustrating a luminance that pulses slowly over time. This is shown in the lower portion of the drawing, wherein the IRE level of the short-term chroma signal average is plotted versus time. The graph further shows a gradual decrease of pulse amplitude in time, illustrating that luminance pulse amplitude variations may also be an attribute of the recorded data on the video tape. As discussed, pulsing the luminance for fixed chrominance results in pulsing of the image intensity.
Data stream attributes that represent image intensity pulses on video tape or in TV signals may be created when producing a video rendition or making a moving picture of a scene, simply by pulsing the illumination of the scene. This is illustrated in FIG. 12, which shows a scene 19 that is recorded with a video camera 18, labelled “VR”. The scene is illuminated with a lamp 20, labelled “LAMP”, energized by an electric current through a cable 36. The current is modulated in pulsing fashion by a modulator 30, labeled “MOD”, which is driven by a pulse generator 6, labelled “GENERATOR”, that produces voltage pulses 35. Again, pulsing the luminance but not the chrominance amounts to pulsing the image intensity.
The brightness of monitors can usually be adjusted by a control, which may be addressable through a brightness adjustment terminal. If the control is of the analog type, the displayed image intensity may be pulsed as shown in FIG. 15, simply by a pulse generator 6, labeled “GEN”, that is connected to the brigthness adjustment terminal 88 of the monitor 2, labeled “MON”. Equivalent action can be provided for digital brightness controls, in ways that are well known in the art.
The analog component video signal from a DVD player may be modulated such as to overlay image intensity pulses in the manner illustrated in FIG. 17. Shown are a DVD player 102, labeled “DVD”, with analog component video output comprised of the luminance Y and chrominance C. The overlay is accomplished simply by shifting the luminance with a voltage pulse from generator 6, labeled “GENERATOR”. The generator output is applied to modulator 106, labeled “SHIFTER”. Since the luminance Y is pulsed without changing the chrominance C, the image intensity is pulsed. The frequency and amplitude of the image intensity pulses can be adjusted respectively with the tuner 7 and amplitude control 107. The modulator 105 has the same structure as the modulator of FIG. 2, and the pulse amplitude control 107 operates the potentiometer 15 of FIG. 2. The same procedure can be followed for editing a DVD such as to overlay image intensity pulses, by processing the modulated luminance signal through an analog-to-digital converter, and recording the resulting digital stream onto a DVD, after appropriate compression. Alternatively, the digital luminance data can be edited by electronic reading of the signal, decompression, altering the digital data by software, and recording the resulting digital signal after proper compression, all in a manner that is well known in the art.
The mechanism whereby a CRT-type monitor emits a pulsed electromagnetic field when pulsing the intensity of an image is illustrated in FIG. 14. The image is produced by an electron beam 10 which impinges upon the backside 88 of the screen, where the collisions excite phosphors that subsequently emit light. In the process, the electron beam deposits electrons 18 on the screen, and these electrons contribute to an electric field 3 labelled “E”. The electrons flow along the conductive backside 88 of the screen to the terminal 99 which is hooked up to the high-voltage supply 40, labelled “HV”. The circuit is completed by the ground connection of the supply, the video amplifier 87, labeled “VA”, and its connection to the cathodes of the CRT. The electron beams of the three electron guns are collectively shown as 10, and together the beams carry a current J. The electric current J flowing through the described circuit induces a magnetic field 39, labeled “B”. Actually, there are a multitude of circuits along which the electron beam current is returned to the CRT cathodes, since on a macroscopic scale the conductive back surface 88 of the screen provides a continuum of paths from the beam impact point to the high-voltage terminal 99. The magnetic fields induced by the currents along these paths partially cancel each other, and the resulting field depends on the location of the pixel that is addressed. Since the beams sweep over the screen through a raster of horizontal lines, the spectrum of the induced magnetic field contains strong peaks at the horizontal and vertical frequencies. However, the interest here is not in fields at those frequencies, but rather in emissions that result from an image pulsing with the very low frequencies appropriate to sensory resonances. For this purpose a diffuse electron current model suffices, in which the pixel discreteness and the raster motion of the electron beams are ignored, so that the beam current becomes diffuse and fills the cone subtended by the displayed image. The resulting low-frequency magnetic field depends on the temporal changes in the intensity distribution over the displayed image. Order-of-magnitude estimates show that the low-frequency magnetic field, although quite small, may be sufficient for the excitation of sensory resonances in subjects located at a normal viewing distance from the monitor.
The monitor also emits a low-frequency electric field at the image pulsing frequency. This field is due in part to the electrons 18 that are deposited on the screen by the electron beams 10. In the diffuse electron beam model, screen conditions are considered functions of the time t and of the Cartesian coordinates x and y over a flat CRT screen.
The screen electrons 18 that are dumped onto the back of the screen by the sum j(x,y,t) of the diffuse current distributions in the red, green, and blue electron beams cause a potential distribution V(x,y,t) which is influenced by the surface conductivity σ on the back of the screen and by capacitances. In the simple model where the screen has a capacitance distribution c(x,y) to ground and mutual capacitances between parts of the screen at different potentials are neglected, a potential distribution V(x,y,t) over the screen implies a surface charge density distribution
q=Vc(x,y), (7)
and gives rise to a current density vector along the screen,
j s=−σgrads V, (8)
where grads is the gradient along the screen surface. Conservation of electric charge implies
j=c{dot over (V)}−div s (σgrad s V), (9)
where the dot over the voltage denotes the time derivative, and divs is the divergence in the screen surface. The partial differential equation (9) requires a boundary condition for the solution V(x,y,t) to be unique. Such a condition is provided by setting the potential at the rim of the screen equal to the fixed anode voltage. This is a good approximation, since the resistance Rr between the screen rim and the anode terminal is chosen small in CRT design, in order to keep the voltage loss JRr to a minimum, and also to limit low-frequency emissions.
Something useful can be learned from special cases with simple solutions. As such, consider a circular CRT screen of radius R with uniform conductivity, showered in the back by a diffuse electron beam with a spatially uniform beam current density that is a constant plus a sinusoidal part with frequency ∫. Since the problem is linear, the voltage V due to the sinusoidal part of the beam current can be considered separately, with the boundary condition that V vanish at the rim of the circular screen. Eq. (9) then simplifies to
V″+V″/r−i2π∫cn V=−Jη/A, r≦R, (10)
where r is a radial coordinate along the screen with its derivative denoted by a prime, η=1/σ is the screen resistivity, A the screen area, J the sinusoidal part of the total beam current, and i=(−1), the imaginary unit. Our interest is in very low pulse frequencies ∫ that are suitable for excitation of sensory resonances. For those frequencies and for practical ranges for c and η, the dimensionless number 2π∫cAη is very much smaller than unity, so that it can be neglected in Eq. (10). The boundary value problem then has the simple solution V ( r ) = J η 4 π ( 1 - ( r / R ) 2 ) . ( 11 )
Figure US06506148-20030114-M00001
In deriving (11) we neglected the mutual capacitance between parts of the screen that are at different potentials. The resulting error in (10) is negligible for the same reason that the i2π∫cAη term in (10) can be neglected.
The potential distribution V(r) of (11) along the screen is of course accompanied by electric charges. The field lines emanating from these charges run mainly to conductors behind the screen that belong to the CRT structure and that are either grounded or connected to circuitry with a low impedance path to ground. In either case the mentioned conductors must be considered grounded in the analysis of charges and fields that result from the pulsed component J of the total electron beam current. The described electric field lines end up in electric charges that may be called polarization charges since they are the result of the polarization of the conductors and circuitry by the screen emission. To estimate the pulsed electric field, a model is chosen where the mentioned conductors are represented together as a grounded perfectly conductive disc of radius R, positioned a short distance δ behind the screen, as depicted in FIG. 16. Since the grounded conductive disc carries polarization charges, it is called the polarization disc. FIG. 16 shows the circular CRT screen 88 and the polarization disc 101, briefly called “plates”. For small distances δ, the capacitance density between the plates of opposite polarity is nearly equal to ε/δ, where ε is the permittivity of free space. The charge distributions on the screen and polarization disc are respectively εV(r)/δ+q0 and −εV(r)/δ+q0, where the εV(r)/δ terms denote opposing charge densities at the end of the dense field lines that run between the two plates. That the part q0 is needed as well will become clear in the sequel.
The charge distributions εV(r)/δ+q0 and −εV(r)/δ+q0 on the two plates have a dipole moment with the density D ( r ) = εV ( r ) = J ηε 4 π ( 1 - ( r / R ) 2 ) , ( 12 )
Figure US06506148-20030114-M00002
directed perpendicular to the screen. Note that the plate separation δ has dropped out. This means that the precise location of the polarization charges is not critical in the present model, and further that δ may be taken as small as desired. Taking δ to zero, one thus arrives at the mathematical model of pulsed dipoles distributed over the circular CRT screen. The field due to the charge distribution q0 will be calculated later.
The electric field induced by the distributed dipoles (12) can be calculated easily for points on the centerline of the screen, with the result E ( z ) = V ( 0 ) R { 2 ρ / R - R / ρ - 2 z / R } , ( 13 )
Figure US06506148-20030114-M00003
where V(0) is the pulse voltage (11) at the screen center, ρ the distance to the rim of the screen, and z the distance to the center of the screen. Note that V(0) pulses harmonically with frequency ∫, because in (11) the sinusoidal part J of the beam current varies in this manner.
The electric field (13) due to the dipole distribution causes a potential distribution V(r)/2 over the screen and a potential distribution of −V(r)/2 over the polarization disc, where V(r) is nonuniform as given by (11). But since the polarization disc is a perfect conductor it cannot support voltage gradients, and therefore cannot have the potential distribution −V(r)/2. Instead, the polarization disc is at ground potential. This is where the charge distribution q0(r) comes in; it must be such as to induce a potential distribution V(r)/2 over the polarization disc. Since the distance between polarization disc and screen vanishes in the mathematical model, the potential distribution V(r)/2 is induced over the screen as well. The total potential over the monitor screen thus becomes V(r) of (11), while the total potential distribution over the polarization disc becomes uniformly zero. Both these potential distributions are as physically required. The electric charges q0 are moved into position by polarization and are partly drawn from the earth through the ground connection of the CRT.
In our model the charge distribution q0 is located at the same place as the dipole distribution, viz., on the plane z=0 within the circle with radius R. At points on the center line of the screen, the electric field due to the monopole distribution q0 is calculated in the following manner. As discussed, the monopoles must be such that they cause a potential φ0 that is equal to V(r)/2 over the disc with radius R centered in the plane z=0. Although the charge distribution q0(r) is uniquely defined by this condition, it cannot be calculated easily in a straightforward manner. The difficulty is circumvented by using an intermediate result derived from Excercise 2 on page 191 of Kellogg (1953), where the charge distribution over a thin disc with uniform potential is given. By using this result one readily finds the potential φ*(z) on the axis of this disc as φ * ( z ) = 2 π V * β ( R 1 ) , ( 14 )
Figure US06506148-20030114-M00004
where β(R1) is the angle subtended by the disc radius R1, as viewed from the point z on the disc axis, and V* is the disc potential. The result is used here in an attempt to construct the potential φ0(z) for a disc with the nonuniform potential V(r)/2, by the ansatz of writing the field as due to a linear combination of abstract discs with various radii R1 and potentials, all centered in the plane z=0. In the ansatz the potential on the symmetry axis is written φ 0 ( z ) = α β ( R ) + b ∫ 0 R β ( R 1 ) W , ( 15 )
Figure US06506148-20030114-M00005
where W is chosen as the function 1−R1 2/R2, and the constants a and b are to be determined such that the potential over the plane z=0 is V(r)/2 for radii r ranging from 0 to R, with V(r) given by (11). Carrying out the integration in (15) gives
φ0(z)=αβ(R)−b{(1+z 2 /R 2)β(R)−|z|/R}. (16)
In order to find the potential over the disc r<R in the plane z=0, the function φ0(z) is expanded in powers of z/R for 0<z<R, whereafter the powers zn are replaced by rnPn(cosθ), where the Pn are Legendre polynomials, and (r,θ) are symmetric spherical coordinates centered at the screen center. This procedure amounts to a continuation of the potential from the z-axis into the half ball r0, in such a manner that the Laplace equation is satisfied. The method is discussed by Morse and Feshbach (1953). The “Laplace continuation” allows calculation of the potential φ0 along the surface of the disc r0, the parts (13) and (19) contribute about equally to the electric field over a practical range of distances z. When going behind the monitor where z is negative the monopole field flips sign so that the two parts nearly cancel each other, and the resulting field is very small. Therefore, in the back of the CRT, errors due to imperfections in the theory are relatively large. Moreover our model, which pretends that the polarization charges are all located on the polarization disc, fails to account for the electric field flux that escapes from the outer regions of the back of the screen to the earth or whatever conductors happen to be present in the vincinity of the CRT. This flaw has relatively more serious consequences in the back than in front of the monitor.
Screen emissions in front of a CRT can be cut dramatically by using a grounded conductive transparent shield that is placed over the screen or applied as a coating. Along the lines of our model, the shield amounts to a polarization disc in front of the screen, so that the latter is now sandwiched between to grounded discs. The screen has the pulsed potential distribution V(r) of (11), but no electric flux can escape. The model may be modified by choosing the polarization disc in the back somewhat smaller than the screen disc, by a fraction that serves as a free parameter. The fraction may then be determined from a fit to measured fields, by minimizing the relative standard deviation between experiment and theory.
In each of the electron beams of a CRT, the beam current is a nonlinear function of the driving voltage, i.e., the voltage between cathode and control grid. Since this function is needed in the normalization procedure, it was measured for the 15″ computer monitor that has been used in the ½ Hz sensory resonance experiments and the electric field measurements. Although the beam current density j can be determined, it is easier to measure the luminance, by reading a light meter that is brought right up to the monitor screen. With the RGB values in the VB6 program taken as the same integer K, the luminance of a uniform image is proportional to the image intensity I. The luminance of a uniform image was measured for various values of K. The results were fitted with
I=c 1 K γ, (20)
where c1 is a constant. The best fit, with 6.18% relative standard deviation, was obtained for γ=2.32.
Screen emissions also occur for liquid crystal displays (LCD). The pulsed electric fields may have considerable amplitude for LCDs that have their driving electrodes on opposite sides of the liquid crystal cell, for passive matrix as well as for active matrix design, such as thin film technology (TFT). For arrangements with in-plane switching (IPS) however, the driving electrodes are positioned in a single plane, so that the screen emission is very small. For arrangements other than IPS, the electric field is closely approximated by the frin
TWITTER users are being asked to #nameourpups as West Midlands Police turns to its social media followers to name a new litter of spaniels.
Nine Springer puppies – the force’s future search specialists – arrived safely at the Dog Unit’s Balsall Common base when mum Grace gave birth in the early hours December 8.
The three boys and six girls make up ‘O’ Litter which means all their names must begin with that letter – and followers of the @WMPolice Twitter feed are, for the first time, being asked what each should be called.
Suggestions using the hashtag #nameourpups must be tweeted in before December 28.
Breed Scheme Manager Dave Raymond, said: “These are the only spaniel pups born through our in-house breed and training scheme this year so it’s an exciting time for us…and we’d like Twitter users to join in the fun by helping come up with names.
“When it comes to naming puppies litters are like hurricanes: we go through the alphabet and each one must have a name beginning with that letter. And these little fellas, and girls, are O litter – so hopefully we’ll receive some novel, interesting O names that the pups can take through their police careers.
“The only other rule is that the name can’t be offensive or in anyway misinterpreted.”
Springer spaniels are trained by West Midlands Police as specialist search dogs – hunting for weapons, drugs, cash, stolen items or explosives – and the evidence they uncover is often crucial in securing court convictions.
The force runs the largest, most successful police dog breed scheme in the UK with more than 80 per cent of all dogs going through the training programme becoming operational. Any that don’t make the grade are sold as working dogs or given to good homes.
It’s also achieved Assured Breeder accreditation by the Kennel Club in recognition of its commitment to dog welfare.
Dave Raymond, added: “Brood bitches are selected for their exemplary search skills, stability, responsiveness and temperament…they have blood and eye tests to make sure they don’t pass on any hereditary conditions.
“Mum Grace was born into the breed scheme in August 2009. This is her second litter and, in line with Kennel Club guidelines, she’ll have no more than four in her lifetime and only one in any 12-month period. In between, she enjoys life at home with volunteers as a family pet.”
O Litter’s dad is West Midlands Police Dog Tom, a five-year-old explosives search specialist.
@algonquinoutfit : Sunrise: November 21, 2016 at 07:23AM Snow Showers/Wind today! With a high of: -2 and a low of:-6 t.co/K3bab3aMI8 (via Twitter twitter.com/algonquinoutfit/status/800655026788110336)
Users can access live streaming connections for all major sporting events through the Totalsportek network of websites. At this site, we've made sure that accessing streams is quick, easy, and clean. Visit our website right away to learn more about Totalsportek, your go-to source for the best live streaming of all the main sports, including cricket, Formula 1, boxing/UFC, and football.
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Aryz “Payback” y bonus en el paseo de Alberto Palacios 24.
Dos paredes medianeras se enfrentan, en ellas, la imaginación de Aryz ha plasmado dos obras diametralmente opuestas. En un lado, un guerrero griego, Ulises tal vez, con una flecha clavada en el corazón que pugna por arrancarse. Frente a él, un bodegón con jarra y vaso.
Paisaje Sur. Plan de Mejora del Paisaje Urbano en Usera y Villaverde
Artistas de vanguardia decoran las fachadas, muros y otras zonas con “graffitis” de diseño
Un experimento sociológico en Nueva York instaló dos coches en barrios muy diferentes de esta ciudad: el suburbial Bronx, y el bohemio y elegante Village. A ambos vehículos se les rompieron las ventanillas. El que se colocó en el Bronx, a las 24 horas había sido vandalizado y estaba destrozado. El del Village, lo mismo. “Cuando un espacio está degenerado, esa sensación se contagia, y se acelera la degradación”, concluye el concejal de Las Artes, Pedro Corral. Precisamente para evitar este efecto, se han elegido los distritos de Usera y Villaverde para la segunda experiencia de Mejora del Paisaje Urbano en la capital, un experimento que lleva el arte urbano más vanguardista a las zonas degradadas de los distritos periféricos. La idea es convertir lo que hasta ahora era un espacio abandonado –una tapia de un solar, una fachada, un muro medianero entre bloques...– en una referencia artística para los vecinos. Lo hacen contando con éstos, con artistas vinculados a los barrios y de renombre en el panorama del arte urbano. Con sus creaciones, dan una nueva vida a lugares que están abandonados, sin uso o que el tiempo ha deteriorado. Les dotan de una nueva personalidad, y en función del artista y de la inspiración del lugar, pueden llegar a transformar una plaza, un solar o una medianería sin aparente gracia en un rincón lleno de arte, y convertir las calles en auténticos museos al aire libre.
Este plan, desarrollado por la Dirección General de Patrimonio Cultural y Calidad del Paisaje Urbano del Ayuntamiento de Madrid, se enmarca en las líneas estratégicas encaminadas al fomento de la creatividad, la participación pública, la colaboración con los distritos y la difusión del paisaje urbano.
Paisaje Sur engloba un conjunto de actuaciones en Usera y Villaverde, tras el éxito del proyecto piloto en el distrito de Tetuán. Las acciones incluyen intervenciones sobre muros deteriorados, en plazas duras y la mejora y acondicionamiento de huertos urbanos. Participan artistas y colectivos, organizaciones ciudadanas, agentes culturales, económicos y sociales de los barrios, en coordinación con las Juntas Municipales de distrito. Los espacios y el tipo de intervenciones se han decidido tras analizar las necesidades de cada distrito así como los posibles ámbitos de actuación del proyecto. Además se ha contactado con el tejido asociativo y vecinal de los diferentes espacios a intervenir para involucrar a los vecinos en esta "puesta en valor" de sus barrios.
Entre las intervenciones, se encuentran murales realizados por creadores y colectivos de artistas radicados en el distrito. También se han acondicionado espacios o solares con huertos urbanos ya creados por los vecinos, con la intención de mejorar sus infraestructuras y dar apoyo a sus usuarios. Asimismo, se van a realizar acciones sobre plazas duras, mediante la creación de infraestructuras y espacios culturales portátiles demandados por los vecinos en plazas con poco uso para su gestión ciudadana. Se organizan, además, charlas con los vecinos para explicarles las acciones y se han nombrado coordinadores vecinales para que, como agentes sociales con conocimiento del contexto social y cultural, coordinen y difundan el proyecto dentro de cada uno de los barrios a través de visitas guiadas.
Estos proyectos se están llevando a cabo de la mano de Intermediae-Matadero Madrid, que han contado con Basurama, PEC, Todo por la Praxis, Zuloark, Las Ciento Volando, Jóvenes Creadores de Villaverde, Cruz Roja de Villaverde, Asociación Vecinal La Incolora de Villaverde, Servicio de Dinamización de Espacios Públicos de la Asociación La Rueca, Asociación de Vecinos Zofío de Usera, Sala Kubik Fabril y Espacio Oculto. Además han participado destacados artistas como LAGUNA, 3TTMAN, SUE, SPOCK y DOSJOTAS en el distrito de Usera; y LIQEN, ESCIF, SAM3, ARYZ y E1000 en el distrito de Villaverde.
Durante el año 2014, se han realizado doce de estas intervenciones en varias localizaciones diferentes
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URL: User Requirements with Lego, a methodology to elicit user requirements for online communication applications.
Developped at Università della Svizzera italiana.
Based on Lego Serious Play.
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Comiccon de Montréal 2014 :: They love Men at Work and Skull
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#BD et #cosplay au #Mtlcomiccon de #Montréal :: #skul #menatwork #streetart #comicsbook #people
Montréal Comiccon 2014 :: rétrospective en images !
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Go to the photoset for more like this one: www.flickr.com/photos/angusmcdiarmid/sets/72057594087388006/
Also, there's the Cameo website. Best screen in the country!