The Wobbulator

Make your own sci-fi soundtracks. Reminds me of the intro to The Outer Limits.

From the BBC c/o kottke.org.

"In the early 1960s, synthesizers did not exist. Instead the Radiophonic Workshop begged and borrowed as many test oscillators as possible from other BBC departments.

"The versatile 'wobbulator' was a sine-wave oscillator that could be frequency modulated. It consisted of a metal box with a few switches and one very large knob that could sweep the entire frequency range."

"Have a play with our simulation of the Wobbulator to create your own space-y sounds, then keep scrolling to find out how we built it using the Web Audio API."

Are you guys just incompetent, or what?

You tell 'em, Ms. Bartiromo.

Humbles other Bumbles

December 21

I guess it's too late to build an underground bunker or book passage to Pic de Bugarach to catch a departing flying saucer. But with my birthday the next day, I need to know.

Some believe the Mayan long count calendar, which "ends" December 21, 2012, predicts a twelveth planet named Niburu will collide with earth and destroy us all. Others predict an alignment of the sun, the earth, other planets and far off black holes, resulting in galactic cataclysm. Hollywood has already cashed in on the phenomenon with movies like 2012, Melancholia and Another Earth, to name a few.

Some people take this pretty seriously and have gone to great lengths to make their case in books and on the internet. Others do their best to debunk it all, and I mean all of it, like www.2012hoax.org.

Thank goodness for rational people like Neil Degrasse Tyson. A sense of humor helps.

Grief

Waking up this morning was hard, but then I found this photo of the Grief Monument at Rock Creek Cemetery by Augustus Saint-Gaudens on shorpy.com. It's the only thing that makes sense today.

Grief Monument ~ Augustus Saint-Gaudens

New York City Hand Drawn Map

Last year I posted about some really whimsical maps of Martha's Vineyard by watercolorist Preston MacAdoo.

Something quite different but just as intriguing and fun is this hand-drawn map of New York City by illustrator Jenni Sparks.

Thanks to Jason Kotkke.

New York City ~ Jenni Sparks

New York City close up ~ Jenni Sparks

Take Five

RIP, Dave Brubeck.

Ambient Gifs

I can almost hear them.