Magnetofunky - Transcripts

Tune Up

Episode Transcript. Length - 35:11

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Magnetofunky No. 129. It's Saturday during Pride Weekend, 2019.-

[intro theme]

Hey. Larry here. Yeah this week I made more sparkless progress on the Benitez test board and checked out my first van for the moveable feast. Anyway, while I'm waiting for a few more submissions I went through the recommended stacks at Reverbnation for a few pieces of eclectic mood music...

[song] - 00:52

Ok, that was Icona Pop"s I Love It remixed by Mad Candy, the EDM duo of Charly Zoo and Kai Cortes, Dj/Producers/Song Writers & singers down in Miami. A mad house of heavy nasty drops and sweet melodies. A new cut too.

This is a laid back (and often explicit - you bet your ass) weekly international podzine of extremely eclectic music and progressive politics, with a focus on energy independence for the 99%. My podpages are 1223studios.com/mfunky.h and facebook.com/1223Studios.

[Grid Theory] - 05:57

One Van Down

In Grid Theory,

Currently engrossed in the van search for my floating art studio/research lab, wherein last week I checked out my first prospect, a Ford Econoline 250. I had it inspected, and the result was that buying and fixing it up well enough to pass a DMV short arm inspection would blow out my budget for the round of maintenance that's gotta go into whatever ride I get, but anyway, as I looked it over (the body was in great shape after all), I was struck by the view of the cargo space from the rear doors. The Econoline has 256 cu.ft. of total volume, but standing there I realized that it was too small for even my utilitarian needs. I have no bulky furniture; my bed is a very comfortable camp cot and sleeping bag, I have a bunch of milk crates and one of those plastic dresser things you get at Target, very stripped down, very little excess, and still I'll need a small storage locker for a third to half of my stuff. I got kinda depressed then cause this throws me back to my first decision, what van to get.

The choices in vehicles boils down to SUV, Minivan or full size cargo van. SUV's are too damn small for me, Minivans, mainly what I call the 'dust busters' like the Honda Element or Odyssey, Toyota Sienna, Ford Aerostar, Dodge Grand Caravan or the Chrysler Town & Country, all have great gas mileage, but they all top out at 146 cu.ft. max, just enough room to sleep in, plus anybody walking past seeing a blanket hanging behind the front seats knows somebody's living in it, not good if you're going for stealth in the city. I wasted a day reconsidering the Odyssey and the Sienna, but in the end I need elbow room, and a real safety partition behind the front seats, which would look the wrong kind of funky in a minivan.

Yeah, I left off the Chevy Astro/GMC Safari, which I call mini cargo vans, because they only top out at 170 cu.ft. and don't get that much better highway mileage than a regular Econoline or a Chevy Express.

Anyway, I'm determined to get a big van regardless, but I might be forced to squeeze into a Chevy Astro cause there's more them on Craigslist than a decent Express van-- [bell]

Ok, -----

[Back To The Stage] - 09:40

Ok, Back to The Stage, continuing the fresh Eclectic Beat and Flow with No Sleep - Vox Eagle, hailing from the Rocky mountains of Colorado serving up psychedelic electronic pop soul, then it's it's MONSTARAGE - Lorine Chia, Cameroonian-born, Atlanta-based singer/ rapper/ songwriter. Check out her EP Sweet Noise, produced by Rami Beatz (of Kid Cudi, Big Sean, Juicy J fame).

We wrap with another number from the new Dark Nouveau compilation from Metropolis Records - You.My.Treasure - Dead Leaf Echo, the music/art collective over in Brooklyn. I think it fits...

[songs] - 10:35; 13:40; 17:25

["Geeknotes"] - 20:15

Geeknotes: 07/01 - The Plastic Crisis, Hillside Club, Berkeley, 07/02 - Socialist Night School - Gentrification and the Capital City, East Bay Community Space, Oakland, 07/03 - Pack the Court for Prop C, 400 McAllister St, SF, 07/04 - Candles for Assange Independence Action, Mission Dolores Park, SF...

Hey, Geeknotes!

Saturday morning the 29th, Pride weekend, where the first set of Democratic Thunderdome debates are done, that I didn't watch beause it's pretty much work out the kinks dress rehearsal for the official campaign season that shouldn't even start for another six months, but did prove one thing - Chuck Asshole Todd isn't even qualified to announce arrivals and departures at an airport.

Meanwhile, the pro-life red hats who got no problem with torturing brown babies in Trump Camps and yawn at drowned migrants can continue to kiss my red white black and blue ass, and if you don't like us calling them death camps, how about 'Andersonville' (yeah, look it up).

Meanwhile, I'm done waiting on Robert Mueller to save the Constitution, because his performance at his upcoming hearing will demonstrate conclusively that he was, and always has been, just another Republican.

Anyway, amidst too many other atrocities to cover, let's let's run the dates:

06/30 - Int'l Asteroid Day

07/01 - The Plastic Crisis, 7 PM – 9 PM, Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St, Berkeley

Hosted by Ecology Center. Executive Director Martin Bourque, Program Manger Minna Toloui, and Store Manager Sandra Kozma-Kennedy will be sharing important updates, tips, and next steps in dealing with the plastic crisis.

Get a SNEAK PEAK at parts of the upcoming film The Story of Plastic with filmmaker Stiv Wilson.

07/02 - Socialist Night School - Gentrification and the Capital City, East Bay Community Space, 507 55th street, Oakland

Hosted by East Bay Democratic Socialists of America

Who or what is driving gentrification? How has gentrification played out in Oakland in particular? And what can be done to address the crises of displacement and homelessness caused by gentrification?

Socialist Night School is a rolling open course that provides opportunities for East Bay DSA members to ground their political work in the rich theoretical and historical traditions of the socialist left.

07/03 - Pack the Court for Prop C, 9 AM – 4 PM, 400 McAllister St, SF

Three business organizations (Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, CA Business Roundtable & the CA Business Properties Association) representing big corporations such as Chevron, Albertsons & Sutter Health, have filed suit to invalidate Prop C - the bill that can help thousands exit homelessness by providing housing, homelessness prevention, mental health services + shelter.

A court date set for our case and is scheduled for Wed, July 3 at 400 McAllister — time TBD. Come out with us to Pack the Court in support of Prop C!

07/04 - Independence Day

07/04 - Candles for Assange Independence Action, 1 PM – 3 PM, Mission Dolores Park, 19th & Dolores St, SF

Hosted by Bay Action Committee to Free Julian Assange

A part of a WORLDWIDE - ALL 7 Continent, 15 Country, 29 City #Candles4Assange Vigil to STOP the WAR on JOURNALISM! Bring candles (we'll have flameless for safety) light, peace and love.

Feel free to fly your flags upside down, and stay for the show: "Treasure Island" - part of LaborFest. A Toxic Tale of Corporate Corsairs, Swashbuckling Swindlers, and Big Buck Buccaneers on the Bay!

presented by The San Francisco Mime Troupe

If you have promos, pluggers, gig info, an art opening, etc, send me an email. The address is [email protected]. And bands, artists and poets - download links, no attachments, please, and no promises...

[Grid Practice] - 26:50

Benitez-8 Baseline

Ok, In Grid Practice,

The Benitez-8 project board needed a tune up, once I checked all the battery switch connections and determined that there wasn't a short; the cutoff switch didn't cut power from the 'A' side battery to the load taps, so the easiest fix was to install one of the brass DPDT switches from the Benitez-7.

With that done, I repeated the power test, now with the under-1KHz fixed frequency circuit, and got a steady but very slow discharge from 'A' and a very slow charge in the 'B' battery, with between 11.6 - 11.9V DC from the load taps. Still no sparks in the spark gap.

I hooked the analog ammeter up to the power meter, and got what looked like 40 - 50mA of current. I'm not sure if the modules I'm getting (or any boost converter) can bump 50mA to 5A, if that's accurate, but since I have a baseline now I decided to see about changing the frequency to compare charge rates. For this, you just need to change the capacitor, so the frequency and duty cycle caculator said swapping out the 10 for a 1 nanofarad cap adjusts the frequency to 13KHz, and putting in a .0004 microfarad (400 picofarad) cap bumps it up to 31KHz.

So, a late trip to AL Lasher's scored me a couple 390 picofarad caps, which puts the frequency at 32KHz, and while there I asked the guy about analog ammeters with a better spread and we went to the back room where he showed me a vintage analog DC milliamp meter that covers .02 to 1000 milliamps. This tech is slightly older than I am, but solidly built, made of bakelite.

Anyway, that's where I stopped last night, but the board is tuned up, I can chart three different fixed frequencies in a Coefficient of Performance test, and I can save the duty cycle testing for the second Benitez-8 circuit. Definite progress, even without sparks...

[One More Tune] - 30:09

Ok, for this week's One More Tune, we close outwith The Professional [EDM.com Exclusive] - Kudlow, an Electronica / Alt R&B artist in Nashville, with no bio but a nice groove that's just slightly nor worksafe, but you're not at work, are you...

[song] - 30:34

Well, OK.

[Closing] - 33:45

Hey, this show is a 1223studios joint.

I'm on iTunes, Internet Archive, Google Play, Spotify, PlayerFM, Stitcher, Tunein, Listen Notes, Podknife and Mixcloud. Episode notes are on the podpages, and you can download the MP3 directly. Send email to [email protected].

If you like the show, tell your friends, and, cheers to the SCROTUS, for confirming for now the sacred principle that red hat racist politicians (and the Dems in Baltimore) have the right to pick their voters, that is what power politics is all about...

Show themes "Rocket Power" & "Spy Glass" by NY musician and composer Kevin MacLeod. Some additional audio from freesound.org.

Next episode is set for Friday, July 5th.

I'm Larry, trying hard to stay chill at my garrett in the Mission, and this is Magnetofunky, from San Francisco, where we go through, not into, the darkness.