Outside event #3 Noise Bridge

"Noise Bridge is a hacker space in the same spirit as the European clubs like Metalab of Vienna, CBase of Berlin, MAMA of Zagreb, ASCII of Amsterdam. Many other clubs of a similar stripe can be found on Hacklabs. It would not be out of the question to consider Noise Bridge to be a possible San Francisco Chaostreff. Noise Bridge is a hacker space that shares a Dorkbot-like ethic and indeed many of the members of Noise Bridge are long time Dorkbotters.
Noise Bridge is a space for sharing, creation, collaboration, research, development, mentoring and of course learning.
The group as whole has an interest in programming, hardware hacking, chemistry, mathematics, photography, security, robotics, all kinds of art and of course technology.
It is a place for mentoring and asking questions."-(http://www.arcanology.com/2008/01/15/new-bay-area-hacking-space-forming-now/)

So I got invited to this by one of the founding members and saw a really nice space filled with hackers that seemed very organized. I felt like I was in a lab filled with mad scientist. It was one of their first meetings in a new space so it was more of a meet and greet than anything but I brought some bits of technology with me to see if I could learn anything about how to get it to work. I was informed that there was going to be a soldering workshop in the future that would help me wire together some of the different elements I already have like leds and solar panels. I was very inspired by the group that was there and look forward to attending more of their events and getting more involved.

Outside event #1 SF micro controllers meeting @ Carl Pisaturo's studio

I had met Carl during a dork bot meeting in mid September where we discussed robots being used in performance and he gave me his business card. A couple weeks later I gave him a call to see if there was anything I could help him with and he said the SF micro controllers meeting was going to take place that night. I rushed over and was not disappointed. A few people had brought in some very light weight robot legs they were working on. One guy had hacked into a simple lcd screen to get it to display pixilated alien invaders. Another guy had built a battery powered lamborguini. Two of my favorite things that I saw were the TV be gone which uses infrared to turn off TV's and motion activated leds using infrared. That night I met a couple mad scientists charters, one of which ended up inviting me to my next outside event.

Monument to the Goddess

"Joseph Campbell in The Power of Myth, a 1988 interview with Bill Moyers,[2] links the image of the Earth or Mother Goddess to symbols of fertility and reproduction.[3] For example, Campbell states that, "There have been systems of religion where the mother is the prime parent, the source... We talk of Mother Earth. And in Egypt you have the Mother Heavens, the Goddess Nut, who is represented as the whole heavenly sphere".[4] Campbell continues by stating that the correlation between fertility and the Goddess found its roots in agriculture:
Bill Moyers: But what happened along the way to this reverence that in primitive societies was directed to the Goddess figure, the Great Goddess, the mother earth- what happened to that?
Joseph Campbell: Well that was associated primarily with agriculture and the agricultural societies. It has to do with the earth. The human woman gives birth just as the earth gives birth to the plants...so woman magic and earth magic are the same. They are related. And the personification of the energy that gives birth to forms and nourishes forms is properly female. It is in the agricultural world of ancient Mesopotamia, the Egyptian Nile, and in the earlier planting-culture systems that the Goddess is the dominant mythic form.[5]"-Wikipedia

• Synopsis- Monument to the Goddess is a monumental architectural installation that reacts to it's inhabitants sound, movement, temperature, and odor.

• Background - The idea for this monument has been growing in my mind over the last few years. On a trip to Las Vegas in 2004 I saw Jeremy Railton's Freemont Experience. It's one of the largest led screens in the world and I was impressed but I wondered how much better it would be if the visuals could move around you in all directions. Two of my very good friends are studying earthen architecture at the CalEarth institute where they create livable dome housing out of mostly earth. I love the idea of using earth but I had never seen a full sphere built with the super adobe technique. On a beach near Pismo, CA I had a vision of a goddess. She was so powerful and and had so much energy I felt compelled to try and show others what I saw. I did a screen printed version of her for a print exchange but knew that it had to be three dimensional and somehow involve energy. After a while i decided the best way to represent her would be as a glass sculpture with neon, plasma, and glow in the dark glass.

• Project Description - The sphere would be hallow and made out of mostly earth using the super adobe construction technique. The sphere will have at least a fifty foot radius and will be half underground and half above ground. The interior would be a coated with a giant l.e.d sphere screen with a glass floor. There will be a goddess sculpture in the middle will be constructed out of glass and all of her different bodily systems will be made of glass as well and filled with different types of electrically charged gases and liquids. A lazer projection system will be built inside of her head that will project out sacred geometry, focusing on metatron's cube which contains all of the plutonic solids. There will be sensors throughout this environment that will track peoples movements, temperature, volume, and odor. If there aren't any inhabitants within the space nothing will happen but the more people move and make noise and heat the more will start to happen. This challenges traditional monuments in which the viewer is expected to pose their family in front of and take a picture for the family photo album.

"The "motion sensing" feature on most lights (and security systems) is a passive system that detects infrared energy. These sensors are therefore known as PIR (passive infrared) detectors or pyroelectric sensors. In order to make a sensor that can detect a human being, you need to make the sensor sensitive to the temperature of a human body. Humans, having a skin temperature of about 93 degrees F, radiate infrared energy with a wavelength between 9 and 10 micrometers. Therefore, the sensors are typically sensitive in the range of 8 to 12 micrometers. Eventually if the people are active enough images will begin to fly completely around them. located near Lake Eufaula in Oklahoma due to the fact that my mother's side of the family owns land in that location."-Howstuffworks.com

• Benefits - The audience for this monument is humanity. I want to try and bring together amazing minds to work on a project that will make humanity proud. The audience is anyone who feels the urge to seek out the goddess. They will walk away feeling apart of the experience rather than just a participant.
There are many different ways to create a motion sensor. For example:

• Detailed timeline and steps to implementing the project- I have given myself at least ten years to get this project going and another ten to complete it. Right now I am going to school full time and trying to network with as many people as possible. First there will need to be sponsors/investors that want to help get this project started. The structure itself is relatively simple and could be finished in four to six months and should cost no more than $300,000. Installing the l.e.d screen will be the next step and could become very expensive. Indoor LED screens for the internal use: from 10 000 to 30 000 USD per square meter (http://www.screens.ru/eng/prices.htm). To make the screen interactive you need infrared l.e.d.s. 5mm IR LED Emitters (20-Pack)=$3.99 (http://www.hacknmod.com/store/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=61) Creating the goddess will require an enormous amount of glass and would take a team of skilled professionals at least three months to complete. Pyrex™ Tubing - Heavy Wall - 44.4 mm - 1 Case $180.00 (www.glass-supply.com)

Reactable

Outside event #2 SF Decompression

So I moved to San Francisco which is the original home of the Burning Man festival and a little while after the actual festival was over the local burners put on a great event called decompression. I went in search of the most interesting and cutting edge art and entertainment and found a few interesting things. The S.W.A.R.M. project was there with their robotic orbs and the Flaming Lotus Girls brought out a piece of their giant fire installation, Mutopia. These were great but I had already seen them so I wasn't surprised. Then I went into the twenty one and up area and found what I was looking for, The Wheel of Mashup. The video below is a great demonstration and provides more information than was given at the event but it was also the first time it was shown in public. It was a very interesting looking set up and the crowd seemed to be thoroughly entertained.