Guitar

I am become cliche. 10 weeks ago the local technical college Canberra Institute of Technology in Belconnen started up its 2nd term adult education courses. It's called Lake Night Learning and there's quite a few interesting courses to choose from. The college is somewhere over the back of the picture.

Anyway. Flavia noticed they have beginner's guitar lessons. I thought that sounded like fun. So Flavia organised everything and next thing the first lesson is a day away, and I'm asking "should I take a guitar along?" My brother has left an electric acoustic guitar here on permanent loan. But, it was way old when he bought it 20 years' ago second hand and it now gives the same noise a cat might if you shaved the cat, placed an electric hair-dryer in its rear and threw the ensemble in a swimming pool.

Week 2 saw self, mum, Flavia and the kids all traipsing around Canberra to find a guitar.

Here is the low-down. We tried Better Music which are based in Philip, on the south side. They had a pretty impressive selection, were friendly, and generally made an effort to explain what was going on to a rank beginner. I can't remember the assistant's name, but he really made an effort. It was the first shop. We were on a mission.

Pirana music was just down the road. We went there, and the difference was astounding. Basically some teenager looked me over, decided I wasn't worth it, pointed to one acoustic guitar and said something like for beginners they're all pretty much the same, this will do you. Rude staff makes for no sales in my view. Don't care how many trendy tee-shirts you can hang on the wall.

Finally, we drove to Pro Audio in Fyshwick. As we arrived I was thinking "it's very late, we'll not get anywhere here." so so wrong. Walked in and the shop owner comes over to show us everything. This one here, built by this group here, not a great guitar, good entry level. Left us alone. Came back have you heard this one that was hiding over there? No? Here, try it. Don't worry, just keep listening. People are packing up. He's coming and talking with us about how the guitars are made, which ones are actually mass produced which ones work better. Finally, we settled on one guitar which was about twice what we'd originally planned to pay. We happily bought the guitar. I completely recommend these guys!

Rotarix

Two days ago, Gabriel - our youngest 8 weeks - had his vaccination for Rotarvirus. The vaccine was Rotarix which is an oral form. The nurse said that he was the first to actually enjoy the taste of the vaccine.

For those who've not experienced the wonders of Rota, it provides a form of gastro-enteritis with extreme diarrhea and vomiting. Lovely. I put it only a single step below food-poisoning on the list of things never to have, and only because with food-poisoning I thought I might die, whereas with Rota I thought I'd like to. Remarkably, the symptoms (when Flavia and I both got it) lasted only a day or two, but since we didn't know when it would end, it felt like it would last forever.

I am a strong believer in vaccination, and have difficulty seeing the alternate viewpoint. More than 500,000 children under five years of age die from rotavirus infection each year.

Gabriel, despite his vaccine, is doing brilliantly. He has started goo-ing and generally trying to make his wishes known. Previous experience (older sister Lilly, 3 yrs in two weeks) suggests that this process is only going to get more forceful....

Nanotube radio

I am fascinated by things small, physicky, and as far ``out-there'' as possible. This seems to fit the bill beautifully:

From Scientific American online:

One of the first true nanoscale machines is a radio that can play songs such as Eric Clapton’s “Layla” and the theme from Star Wars.
A single nanotube in this device performs the function of multiple components in larger radios. The nanoapparatus may ultimately find uses in drug delivery devices, prosthetics or explosives detectors.

The radio waves essentially vibrate a cantilever, which induces electric voltage as an amplitude modulated (AM) receiver. (The cantilever is vibrated by the carrier, but due to the spring-like nature, it only moves fast enough to capture the underlying audio signal, in a similar way to very early crystal-radio apparatus.) Crystal radios (and it seems this one too) need a moderately large voltage to operate.

So lets add the next part: Orlando hospital pioneers latest deep-brain-stimulation device for Parkinson's patients which is putting high voltage (several 10's) of volts into specific points in the brain.

Similar to a cardiac pacemaker, the device delivers electrical stimulation to targeted areas within the brain, blocking the signals that cause the debilitating trembling.

Metal staples form two half-circles on the top of Michel's recently shaved head, where a lead consisting of four thin wires with electrodes is implanted in his brain. An extension connects to the lead and is threaded under the skin from the head, down the neck and into the upper chest. There, it connects to a neurostimulator, a programmable battery that delivers electrical pulses through the extension and to the brain.

Could we hope to see deep stimulation of tissue without the need for external connection? Could the "radio" be away to carry the voltage directly to the point of application rather than an external contact? It seems obvious that we should have radio controlled implantables of incredibly small size, but unless we can get the voltage in there too, the wireless implant is still a little way off.