Scinortcele with Drow Nekops!

SPOKEN WORD WITH ELECTRONICS #53: A Broken Appliance Buys You a Room Full of Synthesizers (Tutorial)

How to turn a broken dishwasher into a synthesizer

Hi, everyone, welcome back to the show. This week we remember Bob Fass, who passed away on April 24th (the first night we recorded this current episode, on a three week cycle this week) – Fass was an radio innovator, turning a regular control booth into a soundboard for politics, yippie activism, and genuine bizarre antics, even said to influence WFMU's switch to freeform as a format. This episode is dedicated to Fass.

In a practical matter, our discussion this week describes a useful currency exchange system where broken appliances are turned into synthesizers. Our clothes washer's bearing broke a few years ago and I decided to instead sell the individual working parts (circuit boards, front panel, glass lid, cables, screws, rubber feet, etc) and ended up with more money than the new washer, along with thousands of dollars in extra money. So check in on our tutorial for a number of suggestions. You likely have many things in your home that can be parted out and sold, turned into Synth Coin.

This is even more advantageous for you now, as we're in a global components shortage and many of your broken appliances have lots of possible components and chips inside. It's environmentally beneficial, as well, as it keeps giant appliances out of the landfill. You can look forward to your appliance dying because you'll be able to sell it for parts.

Regarding turning a dishwasher into an actual synthesizer – this is also possible! – Most ovens and appliances maintain the same 19" rack standard. You can turn an oven into a synthesizer, for example. Or use the oven as an enclosure. An oven makes a great case – It even has a built in fan!

Trivia: If you were to build a $600 dishwasher, part by part, from the manufacturer, it would cost $4000. This is because individual parts are grossly overpriced and there's a huge market of people (and repairpersons) looking to buy knobs, boards, etc. See what sells before you junk your stuff. I've been doing this for decades – there are a few important seller rules (like accurately describing condition and if it is broken) – and you'll be surprised at how honesty often makes you more cash. And more cash means more synthesizers. At the very least, take the lid off and sell that. Most lids go for $200 or so, and that's a free eurorack module.

Talk to you in two weeks, cheers - Ethan

Check out the book, through April 2021: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1949932289/john-wilcock-new-york-years-the-complete-series

Episode 52, Conclusion: "Moth Words, Moth Pockets, and Acid Amendments" by Spoken Word with Electronics

Episode 52, John Wilcock Special, Pt 2: "Other Scenes, Andy Warhol, and Story Structure" by Spoken Word with Electronics

Episode 52, John Wilcock Special, Pt 1: "Smoking Some of Hunter S. Thompson's Favorite Weed" by Spoken Word with Electronics

SPOKEN WORD WITH ELECTRONICS #52: A Tribute to John Wilcock! (Kickstarter Special)

"Puff It, Swines!" A memory of smoking Hunter S. Thompson's favorite weed.

Hi, everyone, welcome back to the show. This week, we give tribute to John Wilcock, who was the subject of the properly titled John Wilcock comic here on Boing Boing for close to a decade. A collection of the book is on Kickstarter this month – get a copy! – and if you're clicking this due to the headline, you might be curious about what pot Hunter S Thompson seemed to enjoy more than any other bag. The answer: John Wilcock's pot!

Check us out this week on kickstarter at: http://www.ep.tc/kick

John was one of the earliest proponents of marijuana being legalized, and his credentials speak well to his taste in quality pot, too. He worked with Tom Forcade to publish National Weed in the 1970s, which became the better known High Times.

John visited my home for a week in 2010 and he arrived with the world's most perfect slender brown-paper rolled joints. We worked on the Wilcock comic for a week, and every time we smoked, it was intensely perfect. I would not call it brain-bashing pot, more specifically a very cognitive weed, with a perfect flavor (kind of a mint or cinnamon, common to very fresh good crop).

I'd known of John first through reading Hunter S Thompson's correspondence collections, there are a few letters to John in there, and apparently the pot John smoked had been consistently the same quality/strain of bud for decades. I suppose once you find your perfect blend, why fuss around for others?

When I asked about Hunter, John would chuckle, "Oh, he was always after me for as much of my pot as he could get." This is saying something, as Hunter clearly had access to tons of pot, everywhere, so why the focus on John's? John would extend the joint looking at it affectionately. Asking him if it was the same stuff, he nodded. It was extremely lucid weed, with a little pep, yet lightly calming. I was drinking at the time and it paired perfectly with bourbon and beer. Cigarettes, too. I've had a lot of pot and this stuff felt genuinely different. Lower THC content, so you could just devour puffs of it, and more focusing, too, at the same time. It was the kind of pot you want to write to, or work with, and we got the entire Wilcock book timeline established in less than a week. The quality of the actual rolled paper joint, too, felt like time travel in a way. Authentic "old guard" pot.

Smoking John's pot, it made sense why people like HST would seek it out over other strains of weed. When Hunter visited John's home demanding more of it, John happily obliged. As HST got up to leave, some other friends showed up. A funny recollection from Wilcock was the new visitors looked down at the half-smoked joint in the ashtray. Hunter, who made as good an exit as he did an entrance, bellowed "Puff it, swines!" – and out the door he went.

May you all have a good 4/20 and puff it, swines, to one and all!

Enjoy this week's show, a tribute to John Wilcock, our friend, and underground icon.

Thanks and have a good week, Ethan

Episode 51, Side B: "A Visit to Electronic Village" (Charlie Pickle, Pt 33) by Spoken Word with Electronics

Episode 51, Side A: "Turing Machine Music" (Eurorack Module Demo) by Spoken Word with Electronics

Episode 51, Discussion: "Alan Turing, Bank Note Symbiosis, and Turing Machines" by Spoken Word with Electronics

Would Alan Turing even WANT to be on a £50 Bank Note?

Hi, everyone, welcome back to the show. This week, we explore the wonderful world of Alan Turing, whose work in cryptography (i.e. code breaking) helped save the world in WW2. He then conceived the basic structure for computers and saw the future of artificial intelligence. He was celebrated in his lifetime by being condemned by the UK government for sex, spending the last year or two of his existence undergoing forced 'chemical castration' by way of experimental estrogen treatments.

The UK has done some good work to remedy the ugly errors of its past, directly addressing it in prepared statements with the bank note itself, which has some very cool details and design: https://twitter.com/tomwarren/status/1375036561843191813

But this week discusses a basic truth: Government Symbolism, especially its currency, is complicated. To be candid: after someone is abused, as Turing was, they might not want to be the face on their abuser's money. Or the errors of such violence should be on the bill itself. For example, in the margin of the bill, the words "Alan Turing (1912-1954)" are stated, and with ample empty space. Simply adding: "— with apology for his unkind treatment by the UK government", or something equally observant, would make the Fifty Pound note less propagandistic and really mean something.

The story of Alan Turing is a deep and interesting one, however, and his accomplishments far outshine his tragic ending. So we discuss the variations on this problem with our discussion this week, which also discusses how a Turing Machine works, which is a fun thing to learn.

Following that, for musical purposes, this week includes a demo of the eurorack version of The Turing Machine. It's an interesting interpretation. A normal Turing Machine edits a code of tape until it is a solved problem, and the eurorack interpretation gives you random notes until you lock in a sequence of sounds, solving the random generation into melodies. We use the Dead Man's Catch version in this week's demo.

Also, if you read the John Wilcock comic on Boing Boing over the last ten years, we have now completed a collection of the series and it is running on Kickstarter this month. Price of one copy will cost you only one Alan Turing, or less! You can view the campaign at this link, with my appreciation: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1949932289/john-wilcock-new-york-years-the-complete-series