Comments on Limor Fried's Master's Thesis on Design Noir

http://www.ladyada.net/media/pub/thesis.pdf

Note that I have an undergrad degree in EECS (VI-3) and also a SB in
cognitive science (IX) from MIT. I have a masters in information and
computer sciences as well.

Although I generally abhor softies, Ms. Fried has enormous cred
because of her excellent EE work.

And I'm friendly towards celljammers, or TV-B-gone, they make a fine part of a
personal EW pod. A hat with IR LEDs hides your face from many
cameras.





Comments



Many "electrosensitives" have other presumably undiagnosed problems
(eg depression, chronic infections) which they mistakenly attribute to
EMF. I once knew a CalTech graduate who thought he had
hypersensitivity (ie allergies) to smog; in fact, he was getting
schizophrenic symptoms.

And of course, tapes *do* sound different than CDs, and some may have
gotten accustomed to this as "normal".

Asimov thought that one of the improvements in humans would be earlids
so we *could* close our ears. People don't seem to realize that
attention is a scarce (ergo precious) resource. Consider cube farms
with phones that ring for any outside call.

As a rural-raised American, I have a large personal space bubble. I
find that urbanoids have greatly reduced bubbles. One day I may have
to kill someone because they do not understand my bubble.

So McLuhan thought phones required answering? I realized some time
ago that I do not choose to be interrupted by machines. Although I
was once an email addict (before most readers had heard of the
internet) I now only check occasionally. Similarly with my snail mail
and phone messages. And I ignore jury notices by choice. (Though I
have a constitutional basis for doing so.) I've also wiped my
driver's licence magstrip. And have Faraday caged my cell phone at
times.

Fried's "Media Glasses" are cute, but really they should detect the TV
and then fire the TV-B-Gone off sequences. To help those without the
glasses.

I've often thought about a car-mounted microwave magnetron to disable
EMI sensitive devices eg someone's booming car stereo. Mount it in a
fiberglass pod on the roof. Add some supercaps or a big DC-AC
inverter. Also good for frying police radar guns. And clouding the
lenses and testicles of deserving people, such as roadblock attendees.
(Drive south of Needles and you know what I mean.)

Fried talks about controlling our environment. All behavior is about
controlling perception.

I'm a little surprised that Fried did not realize that TV exploits the
human visual system's fondness for motion/change. I often think of
this when mesmerized by a campfire, the original TV. We are all
descended from ancestors that liked campfires.

One thing I like (digressing) is the ability to use my public
surfaces, eg cars and T-shirts, to disrupt cultural thinking. Think
the US flag upside down, or the more modern FAIL over it. Think short
antisocial phrases. That perhaps the kids will ask mom about.

I also like the video/photo everything you see, the panopticon
concept, see Steve Mann, Cryptome.org, etc.

The technical "Theory of Operations" appendices detailing the devices are great,
although fluorescent is not spelled like flour. :-)

Very fine work.