LED Torch-Lamp

I don’t know how many LED torch lamp I had bought altogether. (not mention Christmas lights :-D)

Here the photo of some torch lamp still I have. —– though, with my bad habit, as often I

disassemble them and utilized it for another purpose, many of them are no longer here.

In the left photo, top is a torch-lamp made by OSRAM using 5 ordinary ( 5mm white ) LEDs

powered by 3xAA battery which I bought 8 or 9 years ago. (but I discarded outer casing which was

too bulky )

The second in the photo was made by Ansman, which is using Hi-power Lumiled 1W LED

and 2 lithium battery = it’s mean powered by 6 volts (current was regulated by a resister) —–

quite bright but, as it use lithium battery, very expensive to run.

non

In the right photo, which I found at Tesco was also 1W torch, but using only 2 AA battery !

LED ( Light Emitting Diode ) is, as the name suggests, a kind of semiconductor diode.

To make a diode start to emit the light ( Photon was emitted) it is necessary to give the high-enough

electric energy = higher than so-called Forward Voltage which is for White LED about 3.5V, therefore

if it was powered by the ordinary battery, it is necessary to use minimum 3 batteries (1.5 x 3 = 4.5 V

—– then the LED will work until the voltage drop below 3.5V)

The Tesco torch-lamp which was powered by only 2 AA batteries mean, it is having an electronic

circuit called DC-DC converter which rises the voltage from 1.5 x 2 = 3 V to

more than 3.5 V. = And in fact this circuit can keep out-put voltage near constant 4V until the

battery become almost empty.

And this torch light is using hi-power 1W LED made by Cree. Even more surprise, this torch was

sold £5  (can you believe ?) = So, I bought 4 of them at once. 😀

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—– But funny story here was, as this torch lamp is able to drain the battery until it is completely

empty = on the end of the life, the internal pressure of the battery rise = battery become fatter =

stack inside of the chamber. (Really a hell to pull the stacked batteries out. :-D)  Battery maker

wanted to make their M-H battery having higher capacity (without using rare earth material)

therefore, the easiest way to achieve this is, to make the battery casing larger and thinner.

In the same time the manufacturer of the torch-lamp body wanted to save the material,

therefore made it to the minimum size, just enough to accommodates the standard AA battery.

= this is the situation, a trouble was waiting to happen  😀

—– Yet still, the reason why I bought 4 of them is to make a video-light kind of device.

= If I use only its light head and having separate battery box, it wouldn’t give any trouble.

( 4 W video-light with DC-DC converter which gives constant out-put, for £ 20 is a bargain ! )

Same as Tesco’s torch-lamp, photos above, this LED torche are also using only 2 batteries

= to say, second generation LED torch-lamp.

= It came from Lidl with £15 price and using Cree’s 3W LED.

3W mean, LED draw almost 1A current, hence it needs to use 2xD type battery and quite

solid aluminum structure with water proof O-ring. (pretty heavy though, it is blindingly bright,

and thanks to a built-in mirror the light can concentrate to narrow 5 degree = can see 50m away)

This one, photo left, was also from the Lidl. But this is a cheaper plastic version and a cost £3.

Yet still this is 2xAA battery type. In the photo you can see a LED and a Switch-mode DC-DC

converter circuit.  In the circuit-board, round black component is a coil to induce high voltage, and

together with 2 transistors (one oscillate and other is acting as a feed-back comparator to stabilize

the voltage) supply the power to a LED. (round aluminum block under the LED is a heat-sink).

When the battery is new and giving 3.2V, it supply 130mA 3.5V to LED and even the batteries are

nearly the end of life = 0.8Vx2, converter still give the same 3.5V though much reduced current,

10mA therefore the light out-put is not as bright as on the beginning (still usable).

(This LED is about 1/2 to 1/3 W —– 3.5Vx0.13A= 0,45W on the paper, but it seemed LED is not

a genuine Cree = cheaper copy ?) = Still, this one could be a best buy

= second generation LED torch for £3 !

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Yet still, the battle in a market is so fierce, a torch-lamp, photo right,  looks very ancient which

is using 3 LEDs was found to be also 2xD type which cost whopping  £1 only ! ! !

By using 3 standard LED, heat is not much a problem and 0.1W each x3, the light out-put is more

or less the same as the other one.  The circuit-board has only 2 component with 3 LEDs

—– in one glance,  I thought they are 1 transistor and a register though, they are in fact,

transistor-shaped 3 pin microchip and a coil in a shape of register.

= it was a proper switch-mode DC-DC converter.

With an atmost mean simplification it managed to make a £1 products. (Wittingly or unwittingly)

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  In comparison to those rather elaborated approach,

  the photo left is the opposite.

  It was made in a meanest way —– it’s using

  3xAAA batteries in the traditional manner but uses

  no soldering at all but just push-fit, relying only

  on the friction = Still, if it is only £1 and as long as

  it works, who bother. 

  While using 9 LEDs, it has a reasonable brightness.

  —– But, my intention to buy this was, again for

  different purpose 😀 —– somewhat properly made aluminum

body which got ON-OFF switch and 3xAAA battery holder = it can be used like a battery case or

handle of another device.  Hence, I bought 10 of them. 😀

( to make such parts from scratch, it needs to have a lots of work, and it couldn’t be £1 )

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Whether, to use it as a Torch-Lamp or utilize part of it, they are very useful tool.

= Torch-Lamp is not only looking for a lost coin under the bed. 😀

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LED Lighting in Photography

In most of the case and for most of the people, Photography starts when the subject

was found to be there. = Has found mean [It was seen] = it’s mean [There was a light]

= if it was in a total darkness, we couldn’t see = we don’t notice its existence,

hence no photography.

Though, more of the often, photographer need to take picture because the subject was still

known to be there = it could be a nocturnal animal or cave paintings —– when I needed to take

picture of French wine cellars, it was a challenge. = It has to be clearly visible in the photo, yet to be

seen as a deep dark cellar = what a contradiction especially all the bottles were covered

with black fluffy fungi. 😀

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Modern Hi-Tech Camera seemed to be able to see better than our eyes though, it’s light measuring

capability is still only down to EV-o or -1 or so but  Auto Focus doesn’t necessary work under such

dim light. (Hence, Focus-assist-light in the Flash-light or so-called Active Focus System using

projected LED light).

But when the photography has gone outside of “expected scenario” of the use of camera, such as

[Pinhole photo] or use another lens for higher close-up magnification, lords of troubles comes in.

Equivalent F-aperture of Pinhole = F-125 (think, keep stopping-down F-22 to 32, 45, 64, 90

then to 125) or F-250 is far beyond of what camera can handle.—– Or, use a lens in reverse to

have x5 magnification, the image become too dark to see in the view finder

= additional strong light become necessary.

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Thanks to the easiness to use LED, which doesn’t heat-up the subject like as Halogen-light does,

I’ve been using them as a focus-light or even to take picture. = Use one or some LED to make a

focus-light is very easy such as seen in the another post [Tiny Life] (link here) —– it is just a

matter to connect LED to a power, normally to the battery(s), normally series with

small register. (I’m going to write about those “Technical” details in the next post) but an

easiest way is to utilize ordinary LED Torch-Lamp or even a USB Keyboard light which you can

find in a Pound-shop.  🙂

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Here some sample demonstration (of simple adaptation or simple “mod” work 😀 )

This is a little adaptation of a 1W LED Torch-Lamp (This one need only 2xAA battery !

= I’ll talk about a significance of 2xAA battery in the next post) —– in order to mount the lamp

to a stand, a piece of C-channel was drilled and 1/4” screw was tapped.

Use it as a spot light or diffused light etc is just up to your imagination.

And this is a way to use USB light.  = USB sockets were fixed and soldered to a piece of

circuit-board and they were connected to an 4xAA battery holder which acts as a stand as well.

One light has only one LED hence used as a spot-light and other has line of 5 LEDs hence covering

it with tissue-paper, it can be used as a diffused-light.

—– USB light was designed to be used on USB socket though, as long as it was

connected to 5V it will light up. (4×1.5V battery may give, up to 6V on the beginning though,

it wouldn’t destroy the LED, and even if you connected wrong polarity, it wouldn’t destroy them

neither, simply it wouldn’t light up = connect other-way round to make it light)

USB connector has 4 pins, of which both outside pins are carrying 5V supply.  You may find which

is + with multiple-tester though,  in this LED light case, JUST Connect = if it’s light = It’s right. 😀

Female USB socket can be taken out from Multiple USB Port which you can buy from £1 shop

= it’s much cheaper than to buy socket itself.  😀

If you don’t have soldering-iron and such skill, just smash open the USB plug = you

may find 2 wires in the spiral tube = fix the spiral tube with wire or what-so-ever the

manner and connect each wire to the battery + and – = if it doesn’t light-up,

change polarity.

(If you want to place the USB light on the camera, best way is to use camera bracket and fix the

spiral tube to the bracket and the cables can be extended to the battery holder.

(1m, 2m of wire wouldn’t make noticeable change of the brightness of LED)

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If you are interested in = just try.

You may realized how easy it is, and fun to experiment with mini photo-studio !

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San-sai (山菜) = Edible Plants from Mountain

Early summer, lots of Japanese goes out field or mountain to gather edible plants.

They appreciates each plant’s distinctive tastes and the flavor which is unique to the season.

= Naturally, I receive my friends Email with those stories and photographs (Link here).  (He was few years

Younger member of the Alpine Club = In his older Posts, you may see that he is climbing snowy mountain

every week and skiing ! = That’s how Japanese is living with the Nature )

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—– those custom was behind of my Bracken story. = for me, as an ex-patriot, it is a sort of nostalgia to my

Japanese taste,  in the same time it is a resistance to the modern western culture “Vegetable comes

from Tesco”, —– but in fact, it often came from a farm other-side of the earth, 

and regardless the time of year.  (Still, I got tasteful great memory to eat full-ripen tomato in the

very middle of dizzyingly vast, red tomato field in a Canary Island which tomato is destined to

a shelf of super market in England.  A farmer stopped me to pick, and gave me the better one  😀 )

For a sake of convenience, it degrading the one’s only life to a life in statistical number.

To live in its moment mean = unique moment = unique to its year’s season. = not standardized

homogeneous pattern, which was mass produced and sold by a Supermarket.

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The stories from Japan is not a kind of surprising news = went so and so place and picked this and that plants then

enjoyed eating them as a Templa and so-on.

(In the photo left, underneath is Wasabia Japonica (that Wasabi /山葵 , comes with Sushi.

They grow in a very clean mountain stream).    And the Small Bamboo Shoots (Takenoko / 竹の子 ).

The big one on top is Aralia Cordata (Udo / 独活).

Right photo is also in the Araliaceae family, Eleutherococcus Sciaphylloides (Koshi-abura / こしあぶら) = may

be not in the west and its bitter taste may be too strong for other than to Japanese ). —– Yet, I noticed, this

Japanese tradition may have some displeasure to the western people which might be originated

from the difference of the natural environment in Japan, and their attitude toward the plants.

= In comparison to the England where only 20% of the land is mountainous,  Japan got their 80% is the mountain

= hence the area where those plants grow is huge and those plants are everywhere = human activities wouldn’t

affect so much (anyhow people wouldn’t go to the same area which got too much competition) and

the plant would recover by making side shoot.

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—– It may sound too funny though, only a week or two ago I discovered that I can use Google and Wikipedia

in Japanese. 😀

Because of my knowledges of the plants are all in Japanese, I didn’t necessary wrote the name of the plant in English

or in Latin before. —– But when I Googled and saw Wikipedia in Japanese, then found the English name, I noticed,

some of the plant which Japanese eat, are the garden plants in the west.

Like Foster, they are quite common in the gardens here, and in Japanese mountain they are everywhere.

= they are easy to distinguish and easy to cook such as to put into Miso soup though, the western people may not

feel comfortable to eat them as they make pretty flowers.

The Japanese “Udo” Aralia Cordata is now widely sold in England with a fancy name of “Aralia Cordata Sun King”

hence people never considered to eat as “Udo” like Japanese does.

There is a very firm idiosyncrasy

= plants in the garden is only for visual pleasure never for eating !

And they may not want to be seen as an hungry people. 😀

Kitchen garden might be only for a show-off of their rich folly and for a talking piece.

—– For a Japanese, nature is not just for looking at. They eat a lot from the nature as well

= literally living together.

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LIFE

A word [LIFE] having two meanings. Actual practice of Living and the abstract notion of it.

Actual practice of Living is existing there even without the one is aware of it. = I don’t think a smallest

life-form Virus has any awareness of that He (She ?) is existing as reproductive continuous life-form.

—– yet still that Life exists = no need to be aware.  (Without the awareness, all the necessary functions

are automatically carried out. )

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It seems, in any language a word representing Life,  seemed to contain always two aspects, hence in Hindu,

the word Zendaki also has two meanings. — Obviously, the meaning of actual Life came first and then

generalized abstracted meaning was invented later.

= It was the product of intelligence, or to say, it was a result of thinking.

To discover this abstract notion of Life, may seemed to be a victory of human intelligence which

opened the way to discover further truth in the human existence.  Abstract notion is the truth.

—– you may think as well.

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(I give you a bomb shell.)

Lord Buddha thought it, completely opposite.

That was why He denied the thinking.

All about the Buddhism teachings are to eliminate the thinking, and actually LIVE, in MUSHIN.

Living the LIFE without useless Thinking and to have the direct contact with the world in naked perception,

= We can have the contact with Dharma, —– not through Thinking.

= If any awareness of “ I’m doing” or “ I’m living” is there, it is not in Mindfulness nor in Mushin.

Even for sitting and meditating = it’s got to be in Mushin. (No-Mind, let alone thinking). So that,

Lord Buddha utterly ignored to answer to metaphysical questions.  Since, metaphysics are the products of

abstract thinking. = It is a delusion. = Buddhism doesn’t give a damn to it.

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Therefore, if anybody is believing that you can discover or able to reach supreme truth by

meditation is utterly wrong. —– You better stand up, and cut a lemon 😀

(You may get an answer for a pab quiz —– but it is nothing to do with Buddhism or Zen 😀 )

While Living in Mushin, as there is no Preconception imposed on the eyes, you can see what the Dharma is

showing to you. = You can see what the Dharma IS. —– This discovery is not a result of thinking but the

result of your clear eyes.  = You only see it while actually Living the LIFE !

What you saw and realized is the effect of [Direct Transmission]. (by-passing a thinking process)

This is the reason why Buddhism is using the actual Practice for its practice.

Because, through Practice, you can establish the channel to contact with Dharma.

The secret is, through Practice, the necessary mind-set was imprinted to the person’s

subconsciousness.  Without thinking, the Life would be controlled by the subconsciousness.

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So, the answer of the Buddhism is JUST LIVE. JUST DO IT = your subconscious knows better.

(When you just live = without useless Thinking, Ego or Greed = strangely you can find the best solution for

the Life, or even a help would suddenly appeared.

—– But, don’t expect it = expectation (greed) negates the virtue of the Dharma 😀 )

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Mindfulness again !

A word most frequently come-up on the Buddhism talking is the [Mindfulness]

= in another word it is a word and its notion is the most confusing and

misunderstood. (hence keep haunting the people 🙂 )

= Misunderstood from the tone of the word which force a person to think,

“I have to Mind to make it full” = trapped into such obsessed idea.

On contrary, Mindfulness is Just Doing the Subject away from any Thinking.

= Whole Mind and the Body was completely absorbed by the Subject.

It’s mean, even an awareness “I have to be in full of Mind” can not be there.

= You can not learn Mindfulness, but you have to learn the subject such as

Tea Making = after 10 years, when you can make a tea without any thinking,

almost automatic = this is THE  MINDFULNESS.  😀

( If a teacher says, “I can teach Mindfulness”, he (she) is a sham )

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Some time before, I’ve described the situation of Buddhism teaching with a metaphor,

“ The teacher who supposed to teach dancing, teach the step, hand movements etc,

without music, without knowing what the dance is”. = Almost like the blinds

touching an elephant and try to explain what the Elephant is. 🙂

Therefore, the unknown part, or the part what Zen teacher couldn’t clarify was left as a myth

of spirituality, and the structural explanation, such as the relation between the notion of

Self, Mindfulness, Mushin, Enlightenment and Nirvana were completely missing.

—– on top of this, sect to sect, they give their own wording, making the situation even worse.

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Contrarily to the popular MISconception, the Buddhism is one of the most

simple religion, or it may not even be a religion at all = just a way to live in a

particular MIND. ( AND, this particular mind is nothing special neither

= Mind of AS YOU ARE. 🙂 )

There are no special name of Divine figure to remember, there is no obligation to chant special

mantra, even no obligation to do something. —– But Just live your LIFE.

Only a confusing or difficult part is, to see this MIND. Or, to see WHO YOU ARE.

Yet, strangely, YOU are nobody else of YOU, hence your Mind is nothing else of YOUR MIND.

—– (That’s why, this is so difficult and so easy ! 😀 😀

And that’s why the scripture says, “ It is there as not there” 😀 😀 )

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To live Your Life as Your Own Life with 100% commitment is the Mindfulness.

In the moment, when me to curve wooden Spoon, I had to concentrate and completely being

“A Man Who curve the wood” = this is the Mindfulness on its MOMENT.

To be in the Mindfulness, there is no another mind to observe such mind.

= Because, JUST DOING IT is what 100% commitment meant.

To curve the wood, hand and the chisel is fused together which follows the grain of the wood

automatically. = this is the [Ichijo] and as there is nothing else but the action of curving

= no another thinking is there. = this is [Mushin]. As the wood is being curved, its shape

is keep changing and no-return. = this is what [LIVE in MOMENT] mean.

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As I wrote before the original word to describe Mindfulness in the Buddhism scripture

(in Pali) is Sati, and Chinese used a letter [念] Nien or Nen in Japanese for this translation.

This letter meant a sort of mind, deepest in the human psyche which form the base of the mind.

And I found in Japanese a word [覚悟] Kakugo seems to be the best suited to represent the

meaning.   This word can be used to describe a determination in the deepest psyche

in the subconscious level.

Hence the meaning is, a kind of mind to BE as {something / somebody} hence, if it

is YOU, a firm commitment to be YOU, or even an absolute commitment to curve a wood.

(No one can have any another mind while using sharp tool, otherwise end-up cutting fingers 😀 )

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So that, when we were absorbed in a subject, it’s a moment of Mindfulness. = so deeply absorbed,

as even an awareness which observing “ I’m doing this” is not there, = is Mindfulness

= Mindfulness has to be in Mushin ! —– In fact, it is so easy JUST DO IT.

—– ( Whether to be absorbed in such subject is fit to be IN YOUR LIFE or not. = This is a matter

related to one’s Karma. = Who you are ?   And I’ll talk about it in the another post. )

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Poppy = Impressionist’s photography / W-Pinhole Photo

As it is in the season, I’m seeing number of interesting photos of the Poppy in the Net.

One Photo-blogger Lemony showed her Poppy photo (link here) taken while intentionally

shaking the camera and created blurred image which I dubbed “Impressionist’s Photography”

and I promised her I’ll show my “Impressionist’s Photo” —– hence, here they are.

Isn’t this Impressionist, is this ?    Ha ha ha,    🙂

Those photos were taken by the Pinhole camera (Canon 5D Mk2)  but in this time it was by

two Pinholes of which the panel was fitted on front of the extension ring, therefore the

effective focal length was 84 mm.

With Two Pinholes, it produces off-positioned two images = similar to double exposure image,

or there used be a Double Image filter which used shallow prism = but such image can be made

by Photoshop much easily now. —– Still, I like those images, if the paintings of Impressionists

are still the painting, a photo of pinhole is still the photograph. (Why not ? )   😀

(What so ever, the best of all, two pinholes can make twice as many flowers instant.  😀  )

This photo was taken from the same position, but the Light Balance was set to Tungsten Light,

hence the color balance has shifted to blue. — (then,  contrast was increased and cropped)

= the image became even more like an Impressionist’s or an abstract painting.

This is an ordinary straight shot = as for a reference image. (Lens was Canon 70-200 F2.8 = set to

about 85 mm, and set to F4. —– ( This image looks like a Japanese Yamato-e Paintings.)

With the light balance set to Tungsten Light, it made the pale colored image more like a

Chinese panel painting.

Then, the same Poppies’ were taken by W-Pinhole. (not only the effect of the Pinhole, but

the wind shaken the flowers and made the image even more impressionistic  😀  )

(Under the wind, no flower stand still for 10 seconds, especially delicate Poppies )

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It seemed like the same situation, when people was bored by the too clean digital sound, they

started to go back Veiner or even Valve sound = when too clear sharp photo became too

ubiquitous, and easy to achieve, some went back to  B/W  Film Photography, some are even

trying to make their own print paper applying photo sensitive emulsion onto own material to

create textured fuzzy image (strangely, often fuzzy image seemed to have more connotations)

= there could be hundreds of the way to do photography.   (—– not only Pinhole   😀  )

This is the 84 mm W-Pinhole “lens” (?  😀 ) I’ve used.   Panel was a thin aluminum of a beer can

mounted on front of an extension ring.    Photo right is, with its “lens”  hood ! —– without lens,

it’s still need to have a Hood = you believe or not.  (Normally, a lens hood is to prevent a direct

sun hitting the lens = eliminates a ghost and halo.   Yet,  Pinhole without lens still needs to reduce

the light from the sky etc, which creates halo by scattering inside with diffraction. = Most of 

Pinhole Photographer doesn’t know this, as they think,  even the unnecessary halo is still the

character of the Pinhole photo  🙂  )  = Here,  seeing is believing.

Photo left is without Hood and the right, with hood = the difference is clear.    🙂

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Film Premier Show in Secret

A big film was shown as its Premier.   And it was performed in its iconic set-up.

So that, it is hard to say is this a film event or an art event ?  —- what so ever  it’s

an event to have very interesting, fun-full evening.  😀

————————————– (photo = simulation of the space craft landing)

As I’ve been asked to give technical advices and to assist with my electronical expertise,

and to show my art piece — strangely,  I was restricted by their Confidentiality Clause, hence

I can’t disclose the name of the film. (They says, Don’t tell to others until the event finished ! )

—– still you can get the ticket  from their web-site which I can’t  give its name neither  😀

Secrecy seems to be their secret of the success,  hence thousands of the guests are keep coming.

(Contradictorily,  they hand-out a printed program with excerpt from the Guardian News paper)

Now, month long show was ended, we are free to disclose the details and I can put more photos.

The Film was [Prometheuse] and the show was organised by [Secret Cinema] (link here).

The event was held in a secret location, still it is a conspicuous most event full event

= suddenly somebody got mad and the securities had to strain him ( according to the story

of the film = lots of happening etc. etc = to make a fun and unexpected experiences)  🙂

Go into a certain area, participants were given protective garment and taken to

the dark under world.  (This photo is for a lady who wanted to have it to copy and save  🙂 )

Then, discover such as an impressive installation of projected water vortex (video image was

created by  Doug Foster ), reflected on the water in a dark space, accompanied by the good sound

effects.  = Atmosphere is mesmerizing !   It was designed by my friend Francesco Pastori.  

(I’ve worked with Francesco in many projects together).

In the dark, luminous lines glow,  and with a head-light of a guide, you may find the confusing

multiple reflections. (Created by  Das Patterson)

Luminous tape in the dark was photographed, while camera was hand-held 5 second !

Or, go through spooky passages to discover yet more strange installations, inspired by the

concept of the film.  (Some are gone a bit too far from the story though, it’s not a problem  😉 )

Sound interactive LED lighting.

Or, Hydroponic agriculture system supposed provide the vegetables on the long voyage   😉

( Around here, Science lab’, Museum etc was produced and directed by Luke Harcourt )

And this is my Life Bottle, —– the Tissue culture to grow the life.  😀

(It is in the Science Lab —– don’t miss it, if you visit there  😀 )

When you are tired, the bay for an Hyper-Sleep was provided though, I haven’t tested whether

the sleep was automatically induced or not.  (or you can play Basket Ball instead )  🙂

To have a drink or two, many Bar or Restaurants are there.

A restaurant with live Piano (sound nice), or hundreds of real Lily flowers with its real smell  😉

Some Restaurants looks rather posh —– the guests may need to buy VIP tickets — ?

( As a poor Zennist, I have no idea how much the cost of VIP tickets are.  😀  )

Suddenly all the participants were assembled in a big room and the instruction was given.

The characters from the film were waking around etc. etc —– .  🙂

Then the clouds were lead to the another space to see the film in 3D !

( Though, as I said above, I can’t give the details of the  film = it was an impressive film   😀 )

( Now you know the Film though, it too late to go) 😉

It is amazing to see the good grown-ups having such unusual funs and enjoy the good time !

( To join them, you have to find more Info’ by yourself —- Guardian may have wrote about )

The event continues month long  = it’s mean I have to go-up there, time to time to change

the water in my bottle  😀 —– (By the way, I’m not payed ) = It was just for a FUN !

To have my own fun, I didn’t need to pay for them neither ! = it’s a secret to have a  smooth

uncomplicated life = Just respond to the situation without too much thinking or greed = this

is the way of the Zen Life, in its full of action.  🙂

When you live, there is no need to have an excuse or any justification = Just live as you have

happened to be in this world.   You didn’t chose. Still, you need to follow ! — What happened

was the situation given = You only got to do what you can do in your best = Hence no regret.  🙂

Cheers.

PS :  To the artists who’s work has been photographed here, can copy and use it free, if the one wish to do so.

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MEMS Microphne

I guess, the most of the readers may not understand what

this title means.  —– yet most of the people are using it

only without knowing = it is a microphone inside of

Mob-phone or Smart-phone.

= If you ever disassemble or happened to see inside of a broken

phone might have noticed a component which got a hole, right

behind of a hole on the phone’s outer shell. ——————————————- (Photo  Knowle’s MEMS Microphone )

—– In the past 10 years, the microphone has changed their round shape into square and the

principle how it works has completely changed.

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When I was in my junior school, I was a member of the Radio Club and we were in charge with the preparation

for a morning assembly or any event which use the PA system, and the control of the PA system as well.

(and often to repair them as long as we, together with the supervising teacher can manage )

Among the old disused equipment, I have seen Carbon Microphone and many

Crystal Microphones.  But the main Microphone on that time was the Dynamic Microphone.  

Then the teacher showed us latest procurement of Ribbon Microphone which can produce

much better sound quality.

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The granules of Carbon changes its conductivity under the pressure = hence put them

under a vibrating membrane can work as a microphone which needs no amplification hence

it is a cheapest kind in an audio system. ( Connect a carbon mic directory to a battery and a

magnetic head-phone in series and make a loop = it makes an audio communication system !

—– though, sound quality is not good at all, yet there wasn’t

anything else but Carbon-Mic even in a recording industry then.

—– The carbon granules absorb moisture, and a singer blows her breath to the mic, a recorded sound

deteriorates with its use !   So that, the top singer wanted to have a morning session, not in the afternoon 😀

(It’s from “History of Recording” kind of a book I read long time ago )

Carbon-Mic has been used in the Telephone system well into 60^th and I bought some of them in a second-hand

market (to see the inside and experiment with them 😀 )

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If you are a musician or dealing with sound systems must be familiar with Dynamic Microphone.

They are technically the same as an ordinary Speaker. = a coil was attached to a vibrating membrane or

speaker corn. —– the coil is placed between the magnet, so that, if it moves, with Electro-magnetic effect

= the changing electric signal will be created = this is a microphone.

But when electric signal was applied to the coil, it will be either attracted or repelled from the magnet hence

moves the corn according to the signal = this is a speaker.

—– So that, in my secondary school, once I connected the cables which goes to a speaker of a room of which

the teachers meeting was held, to a Microphone input and able to over-heard all the conversation.

( I didn’t disclose what I’ve heard and this is the first time me to revile the story 😀 )

(There is the matters in Impedance matching etc, but it worked and most of the case it works 😀 )

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In the old days, there was a Condenser Microphone in a Mob-phone. —– in any small devices, the Mic was

almost all ways a Condenser-Mic (commonly called Electoret Mic)  = Condenser Microphone was made of

a metal coated thin plastic film and the insulated metal base.   Two conductive plates facing each other having

an electric charge between them hence it was called Condenser. —– This electric charge changes if the

membrane vibrates with a sound, and this changing charge was amplified and used as a sound signal.

They are simple and small hence cheap therefore they were used everywhere despite of the sound quality is

not necessary good.

But since 2002 it was replaced by the MEMS Microphone made by Knowls (Google please)

( I saw a news, that their sale of Microphone reached to the 300 millions, since 2002. = Oh, Gosh ! )

= microscopic whisker suspended above base conductor, vibrates with sound wave, and this vibration was

converted into the electronic signal.  The cavity inside of Microphone should be designed to resonates with

the sound hence it works as a microphone.  If its whisker was made sensitive to magnetism, MEMS act as

a Compass, or when it detects the gravity it tells whether the device is upright or horizontal, like iPad does.

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Once the basic technology was established, MEMS devices infiltrated everywhere in the past 10 years or so.

Microscopic moving part was made by electro-etching (chemically dissolve and removes the material and

make a metal parts in a wanted shape ) or even carved by a Laser beam.

And the minute movement of this part (whisker) hence its change of the capacitive charge was detected and

converted into an electronic signal.

—– Can you imagine, in a so-called Motion Sensor such as in a Wii controller, microscopic whisker moves

with the movements and its movement was converted into an electronic signal to control the game.

Microns long whisker which was made of,  may be few thousands of atoms lined up, would be bent with its

flexibility, hence the electronic charge may change accordingly, and this change would be amplified,

—– but amplified to how many million times without noise. —– as they are commonly used everywhere

now, it mast be just reliable or even better than old technology though, still it is incredible to me.

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So, having an old rusted brain, I rather indulge an old memory, when I saw a small light bulb

connected straight to a Telephone’s Carbon-Microphone and battery, changed its brightness

when I pressed the center of the Microphone.  = It was a delightful amazing moment for a child !

How sweet and peaceful, in our old days were 😀 😀

___/\___

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Eating Bracken — Really ?

Eating raw fish such as in Sushi or Sashimi is now widely accepted

in the west. (And pretty well appreciated)

But they are only a tip of the iceberg in the “wired” Japanese menu.

A notorious fermented soya-bean = Nattou (納豆) might already been known to many

Japanese food connoisseur though, it is still not appreciated or in fact utterly rejected

by most of the westerners who feel it just rotten. 😀

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Fermentation in the food making process is a tricky business, hence its subtle technique is

unique to each culture and the products may only be consumed by the people in its culture.

One of the Japanese delicacy [Shio-kara / 塩辛] was made out of Squid or Fish-guts with

salt, kept in a jar long time, and made them decomposed and melt.  For some Japanese,

it is a mouth watering delicacy. (But may not be for your mouth 🙂 ) —– so, I thought,

this kind of cooking is unique only to Japanese though, I learned from Italian chef, they

make very special delicacy = keep the chopped rabbit meat in a sealed jar long time to

make them ferment and melt = it is the same idea.

And in Iceland, people makes very unique delicacy out of Shark meat, by keeping it long

time and made it half rotten. (then eat its ammonium smelled meat,

sound very yummy isn’t it :-D)

So, Japanese to accept [Rotten Milk products] such as Cheese, took long time

as its funny smell is nothing but a prohibitingly dirty smell to us.

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When bacteria decomposed the protein, generally we call its effect“Rotten”

though, if people find it is still useful, it was called “Fermentation” 😀

Strangely, our Taste-bud feel, somewhat decomposed protein (a kind of Amino-acid) tasty.

So that, a Soy-source was made out of decomposed (fermented) soy-bean protein.

And a Vietnamese Yokumani-source was a decomposed fish protein.

Even a beef has to be kept, about one month in a storage for its meat start to decompose

and become tender by the bacteria and its own enzyme.

And to make a good Palma-ham needs to have very delicate fermentation process = if it’s

gone too far, the meat is “rotten” and start to give a bad smell.

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But here I’m not showing fermented food, but just boiled Bracken. Yes, ubiquitous Bracken.

In the west, Bracken was classified to be a poisonous plant, but in Japan

everybody eat Bracken (Warabi / 蕨 ).

It may contain something = may be same extent of Spinach containing Oxalic Acid which

cause ulcer in the corner of the mouth if you eat a lot. ( Popeye must had one 😀 )

Unlike Spinach, eat 10 stems of Bracken once or twice a year wouldn’t cause any trouble.

As a matter of fact, non of the plant in the Fern family include Bracken has been used for

Herbal Medicine as they don’t have any potent chemical = despite of them on the Earth

hundreds of millions of years, they haven’t evolved to have even a flower, let alone a poison.

In the mountain shelter where I was a voluntary keeper, we collected 5 bin (80 cm tall) full

of Bracken to pickle in salt water, and served it to the guests all through the summer.

Naturally I eat as much amount everyday.  And a pickled Bracken was commonly sold at

shops as a local delicacy. —– In a kind of wisdom, traditionally it was boiled in ash water

though, I found it doesn’t need to be bothered.   (And I’m still here, live and kicking  😀 )

(A bitter tasted chemical seemed to be dissolved into brine or boiling water, and disappear)

Of cause, it has to be soft young shoot = the timing to get it would be crucial.

(This year, it came 2 weeks late though, colder region or mountain side may be even later)

Strangely, when I went to a park  (I wouldn’t say where, because in the strict term it might

be illegal = I never heard any English Nettle-Picker was ever prosecuted though,

I saw a news, Japanese was fined for picking Bracken = Racial matter ? )  where

I collect them every year,   I found somebody had already there. —– M m m ? ? ?

Did any Japanese come here ?   Or any English people started to eat them ?

To eat boiled  (5~7 Min’) Bracken, it has to be only with small amount of

Soy-source and Bonito fish shavings (Katsuo-bushi) to appreciate its

unique taste. (I think, they can be eaten just with Soy-source or even

with Mayonnaise but its taste might be too strong to settle with Bracken ) 

If you are interested in, you can try.

And enjoy natural taste of early summer. 🙂

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Green — Photos from Park

In japan this plant was called  Naruko-Yuri.  Naruko is a line of small wooden pieces hanged

from a long rope, similar to the Bamboo Bells, brown by the wind and hitting each other to

make noises.   The rope could be stretched across the rice-field to frighten off the birds.

Over a pond in the park, huge Willow tree has new leaves which is making messy reflection.

To look into the reflection —– in fact, often we are looking deep into our own mind.

The photo left was said to be a cousin of Asparagus hence their young shoot is edible, are they ?

And the center is a Goliath’s Stick (I’ve picked up this name long time ago though, it may be wrong.

Proper name is  Aralia Elata and in Japan we call them  Tara no Ki).  Their young shoots are

highly praised spring delicacy in Japan = (Ki no Me / Tara no Me).  In my theory, the Plants which

got a lots of thorns are normally edible.  In the same Aralia family, Udo is also edible but got thorn 

as well —- (otherwise plants need to have a poison for their own protection).  

The photo right is meant to be an answer to Ms Bente Haarstad (Link here) who showed

the Norwegian Nettle in her photo blog.  This is the English Nettle, hence they got the same

square stem and the stings, but it looks quite different from theirs. (not know the taste 🙂 )

———- So, the park can accommodate all walk of the life. 

———- Don’t think too much. Just enjoy the sun on this moment. 

(Since we didn’t have enough of it, on wet April  🙂 )

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