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: 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: Delster

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

f:lux,

if you think this is geeky just hang around a while

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.
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.

By: BobP

BobP — Fri, 26 May 2006 18:55:41 +0000

The guy in the last pic looks like Tommy Cooper to me …

By: BorisTheChemist

BorisTheChemist — Fri, 26 May 2006 10:55:54 +0000

Wow! Something that combines my two passions Science and Brass Playing.

I’m off to invent the british war trombone.

PS I have grade 8 trombone and still put it on my CV!

By: BlogBites. like sound bites. but without the sound.

BlogBites. like sound bites. but without the sound. — Fri, 26 May 2006 01:58:23 +0000

[...] Japanese War Tubas, only a few decades ago, were the very pinnacle of modern technology, and your best bet for locating an enemy in the distance, or in the dark (that’s Hirohito on the right). badscience » Japanese War Tubas [...]

By: Rage on Omnipotent » Blog Archive » Japanese war tubas

Rage on Omnipotent » Blog Archive » Japanese war tubas — Thu, 25 May 2006 20:47:01 +0000

[...] You have to love an article called Japanese War Tubas. But I don’t think it is bad science. Surely its excellent science, just superseded? [...]

By: keyrawn

keyrawn — Thu, 25 May 2006 09:57:28 +0000

The Germans frustrated users of sound locators by adjusting the engines in multiengined bombers so that they did not run synchronously. You could always tell a German bomber from one of ours by the variying engine sound. In the kids section of the Science Museum they had a pair of dshes at each end with patforms for a child to stand on at each focus. It was possible to have whispered conversations across the crowded noisy room.

By: FredM

FredM — Thu, 25 May 2006 08:14:47 +0000

There are a number of examples and variations of this phenomenon. The whispering gallery at St Paul’s is probably the most famous in the UK – a whisper can be heard over 40 metres away. The Great Ball Court at Chichen Itza in Mexico beats this by a factor of >3. A similar effect can also be heard in St Peter’s, Rome (a whisper in Michelangelo’s dome can be heard in the church). I’ve come across a few smaller scale examples in other buildings.

Incidentally, Jules Verne used the whispering gallery effect as part of a plot device in “Journey to the Centre of the Earth”.

By: raygirvan

raygirvan — Thu, 25 May 2006 00:16:30 +0000

Jodrell: acoustic radar devices In similar vein, check out this old blog post, mainly about Listening Ears.

By: Frank

Frank — Wed, 24 May 2006 19:56:39 +0000

I hate the “filter sweep” so beloved of dance djs. It’s so hackneyed. It’s the dance equivalent of a key change in the final chorus of a pop song.