From Addy Dugdale in Gizmodo:

Today is National Inventor's Day, in honor of Thomas Edison, and Giz is going to celebrate it with some designs from the Work In Progress show by students at London's Royal College of Art. There are no less than four concept radios in the show, including this one by Mikael Silvanto, which melds a slide rule with an iPod-esque analog radio. The other three, including one which uses QR codes to hook up graffiti artists with pirate radio stations, are below.

Yuri Suzuki's design uses a Post-It pad to mark out the frequencies of pirate radio stations that caught her ear while living in North London. "My radio enables you to make notes about the radio station and mark its position," she says. "The radio looks like a memo pad, but underneath is a speaker; the pencil acts as the antenna that controls tuning and volume."

Yuri feels there is a connection between graffiti artists and pirate radio stations, as both are art forms that hack into public spaces. Her Future Pirate Radio lets you tune into pirate radio via QR codes. First, the graffiti artist stencils a QR code onto the wall, incorporating it into their work. Anyone who takes a picture of the graffiti will then be able to tune into the pirate radio station that inspired the artist via the internet.

Finally, Jochem Faudet's work consists of a pair of radios whose controls are grouped together in order to make it easier to use. Actually, it's rather complicated, so here's Jochem's own explanation:

"Radio 1: All the tuning and volume functions are grouped around the speaker. The On/Off switch and volume function is situated closest to the speaker. The AM/FM switch is situated at the end of the tuning circle, by flicking the switch down it points to the FM numbers situated on the outside of the circle or by flicking the switch up it points to AM numbers on the inside of the tuning semi-circle.

"Radio 2: The tuning function and volume function are separated from each other in this concept. To adjust the volume one has to turn the wheel with the integrated speaker, by sliding the AM/FM switch to FM it hides the frequencies of the AM and vice versa."

Following up on the Daily News story last week about a "Bermuda Triangle"-like couple of blocks around the Empire State Building in New York where some fancy new cars have trouble with their electronics and are repeatedly being towed away because they won't start, The New Yorker's Lizzie Widdicombe trolls the neighborhood with an Electrosmog meter to detect if there is a preponderance of radio waves emanating from all the transmitters atop the city's tallest building. The results: “I have a theory,” Michael Gati, a cabdriver for thirty years and co-tester of the airwaves for this story, said. “I think the building might block the antenna waves right underneath.” "An eye-of-the-storm scenario," Widdicombe writes.

From Elaine Jinks in Halifax Courier:

A fanatic stole nearly £15,000 from his partner – and spent it all on radios. Stephen Hudson, 56, of Rishworthian Court, Copley, Halifax, surrounded himself with the radios – putting his favourite one in the middle – and often had them all on at the same time, a court heard. Hudson forged his 71-year-old partner Elizabeth Whitehead's signature on cheques made out to himself. A total of £14,916 was taken from her account between 2004 and 2007, while she was a resident in Woodfield Grange Nursing Home, Woodfield Drive, Greet-land. John Bull, prosecuting, said Hudson had admitted to Mrs Whitehead's son he had taken the money and spent it all on radios. Police found about 50 wireless sets in his home. Mr Bull said: "He used the money to buy radios – two black bin liners with radios in them were produced." Hudson admitted three offences of forgery, three of using a false instrument and asked for a further 93 similar offences to be taken into consideration. Bradford Crown Court heard Hudson had suffered from an obsessive compulsive disorder for 30 years. It manifested itself in him buying radios....Hudson had suffered from an obsessive compulsive disorder for many years and often surrounded himself with radios, putting them all on at the same time. "There is a history of hiding radios and disposing of them," said Mr Gibson.

Eyebeam is now accepting applications for Summer 2008 Residencies. Residents receive a $5,000 stipend and 24/7 access to the Chelsea facility during their term. The application deadline for the Summer 2008 Residency season (which runs from July – November) is February 29, 2008. All applicants will be informed of their status by e-mail or phone by April 15, 2008. Before applying, please review the following material:
Complete Residency Description
http://www.eyebeam.org/production/production.php?page=aircall
FAQ for Applicants and Equipment Inventory
http://www.eyebeam.org/production/production.php?page=calls

From NPR's Morning Edition:

A new cell phone offers the smallest text-to-speech reading device ever built, a device especially useful for people with impaired vision. The phone and software come with a $2,000 price tag. If you have normal vision and can read, there are thousands of things you do every day without even thinking even about it, little problems you solve with just a glance — like knowing which coffee bag in a hotel is caffeinated or decaf. James Gashel is blind, but he can get his caffeine fix with help from his cell phone. "All you have to do is snap a picture of the bag, and it tells you," he says. The phone is loaded up with software developed by the company Gashel works for — K-NFB Reading Technology, a joint venture between Kurzweil Technologies and the National Federation of the Blind. Besides reading labels and telling a $20 from a $10, the phone can read pages of printed text. Reading machines have been around for decades — this company already makes a hand-held device. But this reader is the smallest yet — just 4 ounces and a few inches long. And it's in a high-end Nokia phone with features like an MP3 player, high-speed data connection and a GPS navigation system.

Congressman Jerrold Nadler, who represents parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan, has an op-ed column in today's The New York Times worrying about white space static next year when television frequencies move from analog to digital:

"Microsoft, Google and others are asking permission to use white spaces — free of charge — for millions of unregulated and unlicensed devices for personal networking systems that they would like to sell, including P.D.A.’s, wireless broadband devices and even toys. These devices could disrupt the new digital TV signals that government and industry have spent so much time and money to promote.In my district, which includes New York’s theater district, performers use wireless microphones on these “unused” frequencies, as do news crews conducting live interviews on the street. Every major sports franchise relies on these channels for in-game communications and sideline interviews. And in rural areas, white spaces are often used for broadband access. Unlicensed devices, like wireless laptops and remote-controlled toys, operating in the white spaces will probably cause havoc to TV viewers, theater goers and sports fans. They could potentially render digital television sets and the government-subsidized converter boxes inoperable. Low-income households, the elderly and people living in multifamily buildings who don’t have cable service and rely on antenna systems could be prevented from watching their favorite programs and from receiving important emergency information — nationwide, that’s 45 million to 60 million people," he writes.

Below is Marievel Knievel's remix of a video Joe Milutis shot of her performance at Tune(Out)))side at Wave Farm. "I synched up the live (pre-transmitter) audio I recorded at Tune(Out)))side this past summer with the video he took of my performance that day," she writes. Click below to watch YouTube video:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xybVQJNaXo&rel=1]

free103point9 is pleased to announce several public Radio Lab workshops providing participants with technical skills and historical/theoretical grounding pertinent to transmission media in hopes of fostering creative expression within and with the transmission spectrum. All workshops will have audio and video streamed live on the free103point9 website for those who cannot attend in person. More information: http://free103point9.org/radiolab/

The spring 2008 Radio Lab program is made possible, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and the Brooklyn Arts Council JPMorgan Chase Regrant Program. For more information about free103point9 and its programs in New York City and upstate New York please vist: www.free103point9.org


Grassroots Media Conference
Sunday, March 2, 2008. Hunter College, Manhattan

The NYC Grassroots Media Coalition is working to re-imagine issues of access to, control of, and power over our media system. On the occasion of the fifth-annual GRMC. free103point9 is pleased to present a Radio Lab workshop about using Open Source software to integrate telephony into radio, web and e-mail applications lead by Lee Azzarello and Ryan Holsopple. In addition, free103point9 will air live webstreams of many of the workshops at the NYC GRMC. Conference schedule and registration information: http://nycgrassrootsmedia.org
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Transmission Tools for Artists
Monday, March 10, 2008. 7-9 p.m. 338 Berry St., Brooklyn

Lead by Tom Roe and Sarah Halpern, this workshop will cover an introduction to transmission tools and practices, as well audio and video streaming applications. Artists intersted in informing their works with transmission tools and practices can get practical advice on how to use antennae, transmitters, and other devices. Free admission and live video web stream at www.free103point9.org.


What is Transmission Art?
Monday, April 14, 2008. 7-9 p.m. 338 Berry St., Brooklyn

Join Tianna Kennedy, Galen Joseph-Hunter, and Alice Planas for an introduction to the free103point9 Transmission Art Archive project. This archive will serve as a resource for practicing artists to identify their works within the context of an emerging community of Transmission Art and provide an extensive resource to artists, curators, students, and academics researching emerging practices in Media Art and Experimental Sound with respects to the topic of transmission. Free admission and live video web stream at www.free103point9.org.


Artist/Activist Seminars
Monday, May 12, 2008. 7-9 p.m. 338 Berry St., Brooklyn

Join reprentatives from free103point9, August Sound Coalition, The Change You Want to See Gallery, and others for a seminar focused on spectrum use for artistic and activist projects. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss independent project ideas and organize future support networks to assist in seeing their ideas to fruition. Free admission and live video web stream at www.free103point9.org.

A participatory online initiative toward defining the genre.

The winter months are a time for self-reflection: it is sometimes useful to pause and ask, "what does it all mean, anyway? Who am I, what is it that I am doing, and, for that matter, what motivates my activities," so that you might then face the spring with renewed purpose and vigor (at least until the e-mail piles up).

Well, here at free103point9, we're also taking a self-reflexive moment to consider such questions; only, 'we' are, for the most part, 'you,' and we need your help. As a reminder, free103point9 is a non-profit arts organization focused on establishing and cultivating the genre Transmission Arts. free103point9 activities support and promote artists exploring transmission mediums for creative expression. free103point9 defines "Transmission Arts" as a conceptual umbrella that unites a community of artists and audiences interested in transmission ideas and tools. This genre encompasses a diversity of practices and media working with the idea of transmission or the physical properties of the electromagnetic spectrum. Transmission art is generally a participatory live-art or time-based art, and often manifests as radio art, video art, light sculpture, installation, and performance.

New technologies constantly emerge as mediums for artistic practice and thus, bring forth a reconsideration of terms and redrawing of territories. RFID, WiFi, WiMAX, networked objects, reactive spaces, distributed actions, and psycho-geographic interventions are amongst a few contemporary artistic strategies and technologies that touch the borders of what once encompassed free103point9's scope for "Transmission Arts." Furthermore, there is always room for stretching non-technological conceptual definitions of "Transmission Arts.”

In light of such ongoing developments, free103point9 recognizes the need to engage a practice of inquiry that reaches beyond it's own organizational limits of understanding. We are inviting practitioners and supporters involved with transmission ideas and activities to expand or challenge our articulation of Transmission Arts. Please help us expand our practices and galvanize our community by taking a few minutes to share your experience with us. The project is outlined below.

Thank you for your time and your contributions to this exciting project!!
Congenially,
the free103point9 staff:
Galen Joseph-Hunter, Tianna Kennedy, Tom Roe, Lee Azzarello, and Sarah Halpern. Also Alice Planas, our wonderful volunteer whose efforts helped jumpstart this initiative.

P.S. A quick reminder that free103point9 is currently accepting applications for the AIRtime Residencies (deadline April 1, 2008) at Wave Farm. To apply http://www.free103point9.org/airtime/

Project Description: free103point9 Transmission Art Archive

free103point9 is in the process of building an archive identifying contemporary works within the genre of Transmission Arts.

This archive will serve as a resource for practicing artists to identify their works within the context of an emerging community of Transmission Art. Additionally this archive can aid the work of curators and scholars researching emerging practices in Media Art and Experimental Sound with respects to the topic of transmission. The Archive Project will be structured in two tiers:

1. The first tier will be a collection of primary source material contributed by and consisting of works from contemporary practicing artists, self-identified as working with topics related to transmission. We are inviting contemporary artists whose practice addresses transmission in form, content, or strategy to contribute examples of their work to this archive. Rather than wait for the definitions to be coined by theorists and historians, we ask that practicing artists self-identify with or challenge our existing notion of transmission with your work. Tell us about your work, how it relates to Transmission Arts, and how you respond to this term.

To submit your work for inclusion in free103point9's archive of Transmission Arts (contemporary artist and works), please submit the following text to archive@free103point9.org with a subject header (Transmission Works) by the deadline March 15, 2008:
• Artist statement and links/documentation to specific works with titles and description of works. (500 word max)
• A response to, or definition of, the term "Transmission Arts.” (500 word max) Historical works and artist cited as influences. (500 word max)

2. The second tier of this archive will seek contributions from artist, curators, writers, and researchers to reflect, critique, consider, and respond to specific issues and topics related to transmission. We are inviting artists, scholars or curators working with New Media, Sound, Performance, Inter-media, Conceptual Art, Video, Installation, Social Activism, or Collective Strategies to identify artists (historical or contemporary) relevant to a discussion of Transmission Arts and to interject and engage in a larger discussion on Transmission Arts as a genre.

To learn more about this conversation, please submit a short bio (300 word max) with a general inquiry to archive@free103point9.org subject heading (Transmission Arts Discussion) by March 15, 2008.

free103point9 will provide live video webcasts of many of the workshops at the fifth annual NYC Grassroots Media Conference. "Speaking Truth to Power: Media Justice in Our Communities" is this year's theme, with workshops, panels, an all-day film festival, an exhibition room featuring displays by local organizations, and do-it-yourself media making. free103point9 will coordinate multiple live video streams on this site from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sun., March 2 at Hunter College.

Expo is the hub and playground of the experimental music and sound art scene in the UK and beyond. Free and open, this unique platform mobilises a national network of artists and engages with communities from all backgrounds ­ placing sonic art and the people who make it in direct contact with the public. Expo steps out from traditional venues and into spaces that inspire artist and audience alike to reconsider their environments.

Annually relocating, Expo traverses the country and disperses into the locality it arrives in, scattering events, happenings and sounds across the towns and cities it visits, joining together place, people and art. In the spirit of open culture and accessibility Expo has developed a unique social community ethic amongst its many contributing artists and has encouraged highly creative approaches to the staging of new work.

After the success of last year¹s Expo Plymouth the focus now shifts to Expo Brighton for 4-6 July 2008. This weekend of performance, exhibition, presentation, discussion and broadcast will highlight the broadest possible range of approaches and thinking surrounding the sonic arts. We welcome and encourage submissions of all kinds to add to our wide ranging programme. As well as our regular annual call for submissions of all types of sound based work festival partners Radio Reverb and Sonic Arts Network are offering two commission awards for the creation of new work by UK-based artists. The deadline for submissions is the 14 March. For full details on how to submit, and commission proposal guidelines, please see: www.sonicartsnetwork.org

A new program debuts today (Thursdays, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.) on free103- point9 Online Radio from DJ Pause called "Ecotone Radio." An ecotone is the transitional area between two different ecosystems. Its the place where grassland becomes dune, jungle becomes desert, city becomes suburb. An ecotone can be a slow crossfade or a jagged splice. Ecotone radio seeks to explore the overlaps and disjunctions between competing musical ecosystems, the dialouges, wars, orgies, transmigrations, spats, group meditations, flash floods, reincarnations, and identity crisises that happen when different spheres of activity meet each other. Covering genres as broad as reggae, bassline, dub, dancehall, cosmic jazz, ragga, reggaeton, ragga-jungle, calypso, kwaito, dub-step, minimal, kuduro, electroacoustic, down-tempo, highlife, ambient, manzuma, hiplife, noise, hiphop, grime, breaks, bass, IDM, post punk, steppers, gnawa, bhangra, qawalli, free jazz, garage, soul jazz, soca, free improv, microhouse, two-step, cumbia, ghetto tech, kwela, hyphy, soul, breakcore, maghrebi, electro, and countless others that have yet to be imagined. We will use the zero-sum solution of the dj mixer to examine how musical ideas are mashed up and reinterperated through post-colonial cultural transmission, and geographic and sonic overlap.

Today's playlist:
"Fire Burn"- Churchical Chants of the Nyabingi
"Yayayay Yayayaya" Black Blood & Thembi(Biram Records 7")
"Can I Come Back For More?" Eddie Quansah(Island Records 7"
"Dancin' & Prancin'" Candido (SalSoul Records 7")
"Hot Mud" Afrique(Mainstream Records "7)
"Senegal"-Seven Roots (RKM Records 7")
"Nabali Misere" Comp. Mayulana Mayoni Orchestra(Zerbi Records 7")
"Samba/Falable Lewe" King Sunny Ade and His African Beats(Island LP)
"Indodo Yejazi Elimnyama" Amaswazi Emvelo, The Indestructable Beat of Soweto(Sanchie)
"Anye"-Shewandagne Hailu
"Pursuit" African Head Charge, Shrunken Head(On-U Sound double LP)
"Sibingelela Ufosatu" The Clover Choir, South African Trade Union Choirs(Rounder LP)
"That Haiku" Medium Medium, The Glitterhouse(JEM Records LP)
"Oya"Olutanji, Drums of Passion
"Jah Shall Reign" The Twinkle Brothers, Rasta Surface(Jah Shaka LP)
"Down For Jah Love" Judy Green(Dubwise 10")
"Free Up The Herb" African Simba(Reality Shock Records 10")
"Victory" Dandie Lion (Concious Sounds 10")
"Chill Out" Black Uhuru(Island Records LP)
"Zombie Zones" Dennis Bovell
"Making History" Linton Kwesi Johnson
"Try a Thing" White Mice(Intellec 7")
"Soundboy's Ashes Get Chopped Up and Snorted" Shackelton(Skull Disco 12")
"Nitemarz" Hijak(Tectonic 10")
"Skeng" The Bug featuring Skepta (Hyperdub 12")
"Lahore & Marsielle" Muslimgauze(Staaplaat CD)
"There 4 me" The Shape of Broad Minds, Craft of the Lost Art

From Southgate Amateur Radio Club:

Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney says that he never intended to demean Amateur radio in an exchange with a television reporter two years ago. This, as the debate over his comments flares anew on the ham bands and on hobby radio blogging websites nationwide....during a televised town meeting that aired on November 16 of 2005 on segment 2 of WCVB television's "When Disaster Strikes." The program featured public safety and volunteer organization officials from across Massachusetts.

Moderator Natalie Jacobson had asked Governor Romney questions about communications interoperability, and communication without commercial power. During the exchange Jacobson commented '...so you don't see yourself getting down to ham radio operators?...' The then governor replied: "No, we don't need to deal with ham radio operators. We have power systems that allow us to speak with one another and to manage our response."

Hams across Massachusetts and eventually across the nation only seemed to hear the words "we don't need to deal with ham radio operators" and reacted negatively.... The issue eventually died away only to reappear on the ham radio blogs in recent weeks as a result of Romney seeking the Republican party's nomination to run for the U.S. presidency. For example, in the Talk and Opinion area of QRZ.com there is a subject titled: "Do we want a President who hates ham radio?" Reading the ongoing discussion shows that few of those taking part have ever have seen or heard the show in question,

Amateur Radio Newsline's Don Wilbanks was the one who contacted Mitt Romney and asked him to explain. The Romney staff wrote back: "The exchange with Natalie Jacobsen was meant to imply that we need to strengthen our emergency response infrastructure, rather than demean the important role I recognize that Ham Radio Operators play around our country."

The entire segment of the program "When Disaster Strikes" can be seen at the WCVB website. The url is www.thebostonchannel.com/video/5334306/index.html

from Xeni Jardin in Boing Boing:

A decidedly non-mellow fellow who worked on an online jazz music show called "Mellow Down Easy" (*snort*) set fire to the radio station where he volunteered, because he was pissed that his song selections for the show were changed without his permission:

Paul Webster Feinstein, 24, has been charged with second-degree felony arson for the Jan. 5 fire that caused $300,000 damage to the studios of 91.7 FM KOOP. He faces from two to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine if convicted. Feinstein told investigators that he was "very unhappy" about the changes to his playlist, said Austin Fire Department Battalion Chief Greg Nye. The songs were intended for an Internet broadcast that occurs when the station is off the air.

From Daily Wireless:

The FCC’s 700 MHz spectrum auction saw a pair of bidding rounds that brought the total potential winning bids climb to just over $4.4 billion, after round six, and $6.1 billion after round eight. Highlights included continued interest in the regional grouping of C-Block licenses, a lack of new bids for the floundering national commercial-public safety D-Block license and the first withdrawal from the proceedings.

The auction closed Monday with $6.1 billion in Provisional Winning Bids. The 50-state, eight-license C band garnered $2.9 billion. The package of eight licenses remained the crown jewel of the event, says RCR wireless News, with one new bid during the earlier round five bid pushing the bidding to $2.15 billion.

The $2.9 billion for the “C Block” is more than half-way to the $4.6 billion reserve price that would trigger the open-access provision of the licenses. Google was a proponent of the open-access provision, and said it would bid at least that amount for the C Block.

“Our interpretation of the C Block activity suggests that there are only two bidders, most likely Google and Verizon Wireless, and we are a skeptical that either would move over to the D Block,” said analyst firm Stifel Nicolaus in a research note after round five. “It is also possible that there is only a single bidder for the C Block, increasing its bid each round, perhaps Google to trigger the reserve.”

The D band, which is allocated for public safety services, is lagging far behind with only $472 million bid so far. The reserve set by the FCC is $1.3 billion. A total of 62 MHz will be auctioned; 30 Mhz in the Lower 700MHz band, 32 Mhz in the Upper 700MHz band. RCR News and Blog Runner have more.

A Hong Kong court ruled last week that a pirate radio station called "Citizens' Radio" can stay on the air. From a Reuters account:

High Court judge Michael Hartmann dismissed a government request to extend (the) ban (on the station). "Their methods may make some people uncomfortable but it must be accepted that, right or wrong, they see themselves as acting to protect certain fundamental freedoms," Hartmann said. Hartmann added that court injunctions of this nature, tied to criminal proceedings, should only be granted "exceptionally and with great caution." "When fundamental freedoms are at issue ... this court bears special responsibilities," he added. A lower court ruling had seemingly ruled in Citizens' Radio favor, finding local radio laws to be "unconstitutional." But this judgment was later suspended, pending an appeal by the government to a higher court...."The government should immediately prepare to amend the (radio) laws ... rather than continue to tell lies and abuse its power to harm a small radio station," said one of the radio activists, maverick lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung.

From David Pescovitz in Boing Boing:

In 1857, Irish scientist John Tyndall recognized that sound waves could extinguish flames. Now, scientists hope that phenomena could lead to the development of new fire extinguishers that would be useful, say, in a spacecraft or terrestrially to avoid water damage from sprinklers. First though, they need to figure out why exactly sound can snuff fire. Most likely, the sound wave causes a drop in pressure that extinguishes the flame.

From Scientific American:

In 2004 Dmitriy Plaks and several of his fellow students at the University of West Georgia tested whether sound waves can douse fires in hopes of using sound to extinguish flames in a spacecraft. They placed a candle in a large topless chamber with three bass speakers attached to the walls. The candle was lit and the Canadian rock band Nickelback's "How You Remind Me" was pumped through the subwoofers. Within roughly 10 seconds, once the song hit a low note, the flame was out, according to results published in 2005 in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

From Richard Weir in New York Daily News:

In the shadow of the Empire State Building lies an “automotive Bermuda Triangle” - a five-block radius where vehicles mysteriously die. No one is sure what’s causing it, but all roads appear to lead to the looming giant in our midst - specifically, its Art Deco mast and 203-foot-long, antenna-laden spire. “We get about 10 to 15 cars stuck near there every day,” said Isaac Leviev, manager of Citywide Towing, the AAA’s exclusive roadside assistance provider from 42nd St. to the Battery. “You pull the car four or five blocks to the west or east and the car starts right up.”

Motorists like Russell Valeev, 25, learn about it the hard way. “The lights work, the horn works, everything. But it won’t start,” Valeev, a driver for Golden Touch Transportation said one recent evening as he sat in his 2005 Ford van with the hood propped open on E. 35th St., between Lexington and Park Aves. “It’s my job. No money.” The 102-story building, at Fifth Ave. between 33rd and 34th Sts., has been home to broadcast equipment since its opening in 1931, when RCA installed an experimental TV antenna.

Since the 9/11 attacks destroyed the twin towers, the building has regained its status as the leading transmission site for commercial broadcast outfits, with 13 TV and 19 FM stations mounting antennas on its spire. The Empire State Building Co., which refused to provide the Daily News a list of its antennas, denied it has created any “adverse impact” on automobiles. “If the claim were indeed true, the streets in the vicinity of the building would be constantly littered with disabled vehicles,” the building’s owner said.

According to many doormen in the area, they often are. “They park here on the block and when they come back and try to leave, they can’t start their cars,” said Martin Deda, a doorman at 16 Park Ave., which fronts E. 35th St. “I’ve seen a lot of cars get towed away,” said a doorman at 35 E. 35th St. who gave only his first name, Joseph. “I see it all the time, at least 10 times a week ... I call it the ‘Empire State Building Effect.’

Lasar's Letter on the FCC is constantly updating this page charting all the presidential candidates stands on various media issues. Interesting notes:

*The Democrats all support net neutrality; Ron Paul is against it; others have no opinion.

*John "Edwards says he will lift restrictions on Low Power FM radio, making it easier for applicants to get licenses."

*"Paul is strongly critical of the provisions of the Patriot Act that have been used to justify surveillance of the e-mail and phone calls of Americans, and has attempted to overturn the law."

Curiously not mentioned is Senator John McCain's co-sponsorship of LPFM bills. But this is the best site online we've seen comparing the various candidates positions on a variety of media issues that may inform your decision. Common Sense also has a comparison chart here, and Broadcasting & Cable have a Q&A here.

From Richard A. Lovett in National Geographic News

If sound could bend around objects in just the right way, submarines could evade sonar detection and large beams and columns wouldn't obstruct concert-hall acoustics. This type of acoustic invisibility is possible, according to physicists who hope to develop the theoretical sound-wave-bending materials.

The result would be a shell that acts as an acoustic cloak—something like an invisibility cloak, but for sound, not light. Sound waves would bend around a cloaked object and then continue on their original courses. It would appear as though they had passed directly through the shell, "as if nothing had been there at all," said Steven Cummer of Duke University, lead author of a new study.

After scientists in 2006 successfully built a two-dimensional invisibility cloak based on similar principles—including the development of a material that can bend light waves around objects it covers—some in the scientific community said the same trick with sound waves would be impossible.

Cummer took that as a challenge. "For a year I've been chipping away at this, deriving the properties of the shell we [would] need," he said. "In our latest work we've been able to show that there is a set of material properties that would do exactly to sound waves what that invisibility cloak does to electromagnetic waves," he said.

"It's theoretical," Cummer said. "But it looks like it ought to be doable." The key is a material in which sound waves travel at different speeds in different directions.