The Null Device
2001/1/22
Ryan Lum of Love Spirals Downwards' new act call themselves Lovespirals, and are working on a new album. From some of the MP3s I've heard, it's one I'm eagerly awaiting (though it may not be out until 2002). Meanwhile, there are lots of MP3s of Love Spirals Downwards, Lum and Suzanne Perry's æthereal/dreampop/shoegazer act.
Authorities in devoutly Catholic Peru have found an ingenious means of deterring people from dumping rubbish in the streets of Lima: by painting images of Jesus Christ and the BVM on walls.
Today's Grouse site is a list of variously nefarious prank ideas, all of them utilising scientific principles:
A truck-mounted device spits a row of paint dots under computer control. Drive along the Interstate while printing out political diatribes. Make our highways look like a Newsgroup. Use high-pressure water sprays instead of paint for temporary, less illegal road gibberish. Can you be arrested for CLEANING little spots on the highway? Colored dyes would work well on packed snowy roads (a little carbon copier toner or fluorescene dye goes a long way.) Rent out ad space in fields near airports, then do your printing in seeds for variously colored crops.
The "Cyranoid" idea is quite thought-provoking as well.
Another possibly useful piece of software: JSynthLib, a GPLed synth patch librarian written in Java; believed to run under Windows, MacOS and Linux. It has support for a number of synths, though the Roland JP-8000 isn't one of them (yet). It also has an interesting-looking "cross-breeding" function.
If blog names were band names (via Pearls)
(The Null Device sounds like the name of a ketamine trance act from San Francisco or Vancouver or somewhere, possibly founded by dot-com staff. Though there is an industriogothic synthpop band by that name on mp3.com.)
More details on Bandai's Love By Email "virtual girlfriend" service, which operates through Japan's "i-Mode" mobile phone system:
Progress is measured on a chart that shows how many of the woman's 52 secrets the man has been able to uncover and what percentage of her heart he has won. At the end of the relationship, which can last from one to three months, a successful lover will be given an everlasting commitment of love. An insufficiently attentive suitor is dismissed as a creep.
Bandai had a similar service for women, named My Prince Charming, but it was unsuccessful, attracting only 1,000 subscribers in its first three days. By comparison, Love By Email has more than 30,000 subscribers.