Comments on: Japanese War Tubas

By: jiangjiang

jiangjiang — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:29:11 +0000

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By: sciencefan

sciencefan — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 20:13:36 +0000

Am I showing my age by mentioning the attempt to use of very low frequency sound as a weapon during WW I ? I think it was organ pipes attached to air pumps – a sort of reverse War Tuba – and designed to cause severe discomfort to the enemy (churning up vital organs etc). Not that I was there at the time, I hasten to add; I read about it many years ago.
I seem to remember that the first trial revealed that the designer had failed to appreciate that the sound would be propagated in all directions! I can’t remember now how they managed to turn the thing off.

By: wotsisnameinlondon

wotsisnameinlondon — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 22:27:00 +0000

38 Comments so far and not a single mention of the infamous Mukkinese Battle Horn. Spine Millington must be turning in his grave.

By: dormouse

dormouse — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 21:16:06 +0000

Going way OT:

Re: Girl Genius

Part of the ludicrously talented output of the great Phil Foglio whom I had the enormouse fortune to meet in Seattle many years ago. Finding his house was doddle – usually American streets are long and the numbers seem to go on forever. As I slowly walked along checking numbers I realised there was one house with a huge pair of cartoon cat eyes on the garage door…

Buck Godot, Zap Gun for Hire is also worth a look if you enjoy silly SF.

By: Dean Morrison

Dean Morrison — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 09:08:38 +0000

Perhaps we could use thes war tubas to finally sort out whether those expensive hi-fi cables work??

By: HarryR

HarryR — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 19:35:25 +0000

I believe that owls have one ear canal longer than the other to help them pinpoint rustling voles. And, you know, other rustling prey.

OT: I remember the Dungeness listening ears â€“ I went there birdwatching once. The lakes have Great Crested Newt and Medicinal Leech, which are both real rarities.

By: Robert Carnegie

Robert Carnegie — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 00:45:12 +0000

Specifically http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/cgi-bin/ggmain.cgi?date=20060524

Agatha has discovered that her mother is (1) Lucrezia and (2) the former secret Napoleon of her world, whose war-at-a-distance mysteriously stopped about eighteen years ago, and (3) an apparently disembodied spirit now possessing Agatha’s brain and trying to push Agatha out – that is, kill her.

So Agatha builds a… thing. A thing which will look ever more familiar as you look at the other pictures in this thread.

In fact, she sets about making a home movie with it. If that’s really what it is…

By: Needcoffee.com » Tubas...on the March!

Needcoffee.com » Tubas...on the March! — Sat, 03 Jun 2006 06:30:26 +0000

[...] I know what you’re thinking: exactly what I’m thinking, which is “What a great name for a band.” But these are instead acoustic radar devices. To get the full skinnee on them, check out the full post on Bad Science. And the full version of that picture would make a great album cover as well. So bonus. [...]

By: NelC

NelC — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 00:02:05 +0000

So that's what Kate Bush was really up to.

By: f:lux

f:lux — Wed, 31 May 2006 16:26:17 +0000

But Delster, I’m entirely with you. I was thinking of the bagpipe more as an offensive weapon – we may joke, but I was convinced they were developed for use in battle to frighten the enemy (though this could be a lingering trace of old ‘Carry On up the Khyber” that I haven’t yet managed to eliminate from my system). Bit like the battery of giant Japanese tubas in the wonderful photo at the outset. In a battle between bagpipes and war tubas, which would win in the scary stakes?

Am I lowering the tone or something? Thanks Robert, but Girl Genius looks like a blond Harry Potter with boobs to me. So no.

By: Robert Carnegie

Robert Carnegie — Wed, 31 May 2006 15:57:57 +0000

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/ isn’t quite science. It’s more fun.

By: Delster

Delster — Wed, 31 May 2006 14:32:01 +0000

f:lux,

your wrong about the scottish bagpipes being intended as a marching band…. they are in fact the worlds first example of an sound based weapon system, it’s a well known fact that scottish soldiers actually have to be deaf to join up and are therefore immune from the effects

By: f:lux

f:lux — Wed, 31 May 2006 10:17:38 +0000

Hello again, and thanks for the link John A – it mentions a ‘Sci-Art Collaboration with Sam Moore’ that might give me a way of appreciating synaesthesia without having to pop a tab. The origin of the question is a similar project to the above at SHOWstudio.com, where a photographer, a digi-artist and a synaesthete sound person are riffing around some photos of Balenciaga-wear. They haven’t finished yet but so far it’s all sounding a bit Jean-Michel Jarre and disappointing, so I wondered if they’re trying to achieve the impossible (or perhaps the tab is actually necessary? if so, I hope they give them out)

P.S. about the science wars marching band idea – I think the Scots invented that with bagpipes, didn’t they?

By: Jellytussle

Jellytussle — Tue, 30 May 2006 21:08:09 +0000

I once attended a zoology lecture where it was claimed that Hammerhead sharks have stereo smell. Apparently the left and right nostrils are widely separated , on either end of the “hammer” and so can detect an intensity gradient. I have never actually bothered to check this up. I imagine the practicalities of doing sensory physiology on a large shark would be challenging.

Other whispering galleries of note:
The dome of the Golgumbaz in Bijapur, Karnataka.
The kids science exhibit at Singapore airport.

By: Delster

Delster — Mon, 29 May 2006 07:56:46 +0000

f:lux,

if you think this is geeky just hang around a while

By: Ben Goldacre

Ben Goldacre — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:44:50 +0000

does that mean we can start a science wars marching band?

By: foggy

foggy — Sun, 28 May 2006 18:34:27 +0000

And I have Grade 7 French Horn.

Eat that, Mr Fuck Off Academic Ninja!

By: raygirvan

raygirvan — Sat, 27 May 2006 23:34:44 +0000

astronauts even after a short flight find themselves placing objects in mid-air and expecting them to stay put or to move gently in the direction they are pushed.

I recall this idea being explored in one of Asimov’s stories, The Singing Bell, where a suspect for a murder on the Moon misjudged the throwing of a precious object (hence casting doubt on his alibi to have been on Earth).

By: Robert Carnegie

Robert Carnegie — Sat, 27 May 2006 22:13:27 +0000

I once saw a TV programme, I think Magnus Pyke may have been involved, where a volunteer spent a week wearing an appliance which inverted the visual image for each eye. By then they were able to navigate and I think they had some trouble once it was taken off.

I hope it wasn’t lasting… I don’t remember if the story is known to be true that a video game designer crashed his real-life car into a tree because he expected it to disappear when the car touched it, or something like that.

I think it was fairly well attested, not unreasonably, that astronauts even after a short flight find themselves placing objects in mid-air and expecting them to stay put or to move gently in the direction they are pushed.

By: John A

John A — Sat, 27 May 2006 10:49:14 +0000

Not sure what your question is. If you are asking about participating in synesthesia research there are a few researchers out there. e.g.
http://www.psychol.ucl.ac.uk/jamie.ward/synaesthesia.htm

If you are asking how non-synesthetic people can experience synesthesia, LSD often does the trick.