Encephalo Adjuster - NLC - Build notes - part 1

This is a 24 stage phase shifter

It uses LDRs (light dependant resistors)

Links

+ Wiki

+ BOM

The build looks like it can get crazy  with a huge number of LDRs ... twenty four.

I understand it has wide sweet spots and is an excellent sounding phaser. Should be fun to build .

Doesn't look like there are any hard to find parts.. apart from the 13700 op-amp which seems to be in short supply from some shops

''

 

There are 3 PCBs

 

..

 

The name of the module comes from a mind control device that appears in a few  of AE Van Vogt's Sci-Fi novels.

Van Vogt began publishing science fiction with “The Black Destroyer,” the first of four stories which became his novel The Voyage of the Space Beagle. 

His other major works include Slan, The Weapon Shops of Isher, and The World of ­Ā. (Null A) which is of course a NLC module.

+ NULL-A - mini synth - 2VCOs, 2 filters, etc - Build notes

Wikipedia link

The Voyage of the space beagle was first published in 1950, though most of this book was written much earlier and published separately:
- Chapters 1-6 appeared as "Black Destroyer" in the July 1939 edition of Astounding Science Fiction;
- Chapters 13-21 appeared as "Discord in Scarlet" in the December 1939 edition of Astounding Science Fiction;
- Chapters 22-28 appeared as "M33 in Andromeda" in the August 1943 edition of Astounding Science-Fiction.

There are eight TL074s and one LM 13700

 

 

+ Integrated circuits - packaging

Get the ICs on first.

Rest of the caps, resistors.

 

Trimmer - 100k

 

Trannies - BC587 & 547

schottky diodes

to be continued....,.

Encephalo Adjuster - NLC - Build notes - part 2 (Completion)

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You can find more NLC builds here.

http://djjondent.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/non-linear-circuits-ncl-index.html

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Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes

 

Flowers for Algernon - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Flowers_for_Algernon

Flowers for Algernon is the title of a science fiction short story and a novel by American writer Daniel Keyes. The short story, written in 1958 and first published in the April 1959 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1960.

 

In 1981, this book was banned from an AK high school because it described the sex act in explicit four-letter terms.

 

d it touches on ethical and moral themes such as the treatment of the mentally disabled 

 

Charly (marketed and stylized as CHAЯLY) is a 1968 American drama film, directed and produced by Ralph Nelson, and written by Stirling Silliphant. It was based on Flowers for Algernon,  

 

 Robertson was nominated for and won Best Actor at the 1969 Academy Awards.for his role in the film Charly.

Dan Simmons - Hyperion - introduction

Hyperion by Dan Simmons was published in 1989.

It has won Hugo (1990) & Locus awards, but  never received the attention of books like Herbert's "Dune" or  Asimov's "Foundation". 

Rumors are that it will soon be a movie.

Maybe this will give it the attention it deserves.

There are 4 books in the series:

Hyperion, Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, Rise of Endymion.

The structure of the novel and it's influences are interesting.

It's composed of a series of tales told by a group of 7 travelers .. kind of like Chaucer's "Cantebury Tales" and Boccaccio's "Decameron".

The title, Hyperion is taken from one of John Keat's (unfinished) poems "Hyperion" which used as a source, the Titan wars of Greek Mythology. 

The poet Keat's is really important. It's the name of one of the cities of the planet Hyperion and the second book "Fall of H" is a series of dreams of the poet.

There are 6 tales in the novel.

1. The Priest's tale

2. The Solder's tale

3. The Poet's tale.

4. The Scholar's tale

5. The Detective's tale.

6. The Consul's tale.

These travelers relate their interlocking tales while on a pilgrimage organized by the "Church of the final atonement" to the Time Tombs of Hyperion.

Each story relates to the the planet Hyperion and gives the opportunity to tell who they are and build

the Simmon's universe.

Their journey takes them to the evil creature known as the "Shrike".... The Lord of Pain.

Each pilgrim has their own unique reason for the journey and they all suspect they will probably never return.

The pilgrims are:

1. Father Lenar Hoyt - a Catholic Priest.

2. The Martian soldier Colonel Fedmahn Kassad (of Palestinian descent).

3. The poet Martin Silenus who was born on Earth (and wrote a book about Earth before it was destroyed).

4. Sol Weintraub, a Jewish professor, with his infant daughter Rachel.

5. The detective Brawne Lamia.

6. The Consul, Merin Aspic.

 

The story is set in the 29th  century.

Old Earth has been destroyed, and humanity has colonized the stars forming the "Hegemony of Man".

Mankind  is allied with the Technocore AIs. This alliance is not all that it seems and I suspect The Technocore doesn't have Mankind's best interests at heart.

The Technocore manages the "All Thing"  ...the connection between all humans. Through this connection, humans can vote on legislation, communicate with each other, and access information instantaneously......reminds me of the internet. Remember, this book was published in 1989.

On the extremity of "Colonized Space" live the "Ousters". These are modified humans (who are at war with the Hegemony of Man).

+ Hugo Awards Best Sci Fi Novels of the 1980's

+ Hugo Awards Best Sci Fi novels of the 1990's

+ Sci Fi links

Hugo Awards 2021

 Just announced

The Hugo awards for 2021

 

 Network Effect, Martha Wells (Tor.com) - best novel

This book is part of the Murderbot Diaries

The books in the series are:

+ All Systems Red (2017)

+ Artificial Condition (2018)

+ Rogue Protocol (2018)

+ Exit Strategy (2018)

+ The Future of Work: Compulsory (2018)

+ Network Effect (2020)

 + Fugitive Telemetry (2021)

------------------

A Murderbot short story, "The Future of Work: Compulsory", taking place before All Systems Red, was published in Wired in 2018.

 

https://www.wired.com/story/future-of-work-compulsory-martha-wells/

Nebula Award Winners - Best Sci Fi Novel - 2000's

2000 - 

Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear 

It won the Nebula Award in 2000 for Best Novel and the 2000 Endeavour Award. 

It was also nominated for the Hugo Award, Locus and Campbell Awards the same year.

Originally published: 31 August 1999

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2001 - 

The Quantum Rose by Catherine Asaro, 

Cover artist: Julie Bell

Publisher	Tor Books (2000)		and	Analog Science Fiction and Fact (1999)
Publication date	2000

 

2002 - American Gods by Neil Gaiman 

Hugo Award for Best Novel (2002), 

Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel (2002),  

Nebula Award for Best Novel (2002)

 

This was made into  TV series - Amazon

 

First Published: 19 June 2001

Publisher: William Morrow, Headline

 

 

 

 

 

2003 - The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon 

The story is told from the first person viewpoint of an autistic person.

 It won the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 2003, and was also an Arthur C. Clarke Award finalist.

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Publication Date: 2003

Binding: Hardcover

 

 

 

 

2004 - Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold

Series    World of the Five Gods
Genre    Fantasy
Publisher    Eos (HarperCollins)
Publication date
    September 23, 2003
Media type    Print (hardback & paperback) & E-book
Pages    456 (hardcover)
496 (paperback)
Awards    Hugo Award for Best Novel,
Nebula Award for Best Novel,
Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel (all 2004)

2005 – Camouflage by Joe Haldeman

Publication date
    2004
Media type    Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages    296

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2006 – Seeker by Jack McDevitt

Publisher    Ace Books
Publication date
    2005
Pages    368

 

 

 

 

 

 

2007 - The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon

Publisher    HarperCollins
Publication date
    May 1, 2007
Media type    Print (hardcover)
Pages    414 (first edition, hardcover)
Awards    Hugo Award for Best Novel (2008), 

Nebula Award for Best Novel (2008),
Sidewise Award for Alternate History (2007)

 

 

 

2008 - Powers by Ursula K. Le Guin 

Powers (2007) is the third book in the trilogy Annals of the Western Shore, 

sometimes called Chronicles of the Western Shore

Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

2009 - The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

published by Night Shade Books on September 1, 2009.

The Windup Girl is set in 23rd-century Thailand.

It covers global warming and biotechnology

 

 

+ Nebula Best Sci Fi Novel awards - 1960s

+ Nebula Awards SciFi Best Novel - 1970s

+ Nebula Awards - Best Novel -1980's  

+ Nebula Award winners - Best Novel - 1990s  

---------------

+ Hugo Awards Best Sci Fi novels of the 1950's
+ Hugo Awards Best sci fi novels of the 1960's
+ Hugo Awards Best Sci Fi novels of the 1970's
+ Hugo Awards Best Sci Fi Novels of the 1980's
+ Hugo Awards Best Sci Fi novels of the 1990's
+ Hugo awards Best sci fi novel of the 2000's (2000 - 2009)
+ Hugo Awards Best Sci Fi novels for the decade 2010-2019

 

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

The book originated as a short story of the same name, published in the August 1977 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact.

Just 34 pages long.

 The novel was published on January 15, 1985.  

Its 324 pages long.

 

Ender's Game was recognized as "best novel" by the 1985 Nebula Award^[3] and the 1986 Hugo Award[4

Its four sequels—Speaker for the Dead (1986), Xenocide (1991), Children of the Mind (1996), and Ender in Exile (2008)—follow Ender's subsequent travels to many different worlds in the galaxy. In addition, the later novella A War of Gifts (2007) and novel Ender's Shadow (1999), plus other novels in the Shadow saga, take place during the same time period as the original

 

 

In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers.  

--------------------------------------------

sci Fi Index

----------------------------------------------

Bottom of a Hole - Larry Niven

At the Bottom of a Hole", short story review
First published: Galaxy Science Fiction, December 1966.

 

Beware there are some spoilers in this piece. 

This is the third in a series of short stories by Niven about the first Martian explorations. 

It's not an independent story. It's good if you have read the previous ones in this trilogy - "How the Heroes Die"; & "Eye of an Octopus".

The story starts on April 20, 2112 

Humanity has explored The Moon (Luna), Mercury, Venus, Mars & the outer planets like Pluto.

 

There is a huge community living among the asteroid belt of Earth's solar system (Sol System). They seem to be mostly miners & call themselves "Belters". Born far from Earth, and living most of their lives in the depths of space between Mars & Jupiter, Belters are fiercely independent.

 

 

 

 

Earth is ruled by the UN (United Nations).  Mar's doesn't seem to hold much significance for Humanity. Man last visited the red planet about 70 years ago.

 

What struck me about Niven's world building was how close his vision is to that portrayed in the Sci Fi series, "The Expanse".

 

However, in "The Expanse", Mars is a superpower with influence equal to Earth, and the Belters are caught in between.

 

 + The Expanse - James S. A. Corey 

 

 The main character in this novelette (Muller) is a Belter, so it's useful to know a bit about them. 

 

The Belt possesses valuable ores, which are easy to extract due to the nonexistent gravity.

This region was originally under UN control, but is now independent.

Belters live among the asteroids and make their living by mining the ores. 

 

A few quotes from "Bottom of a Hole":

 

" Belters don't need houses. A Belter’s home is the inside of his pressure suit".

 

 "In the Belt smuggling is against the law, but it isn’t immoral. It’s like a flat- lander (man from Earth) forgetting to feed the parking meter. There’s no loss of self-respect. If you get caught you pay the fine and forget it.”

 

"Belters learn to avoid gravity wells. A man can get killed half a dozen ways coming too close to a hole. A good autopilot will get him safely around if, or program an in-and-out spin, or even land him at the bottom, God forbid".  "

This last quote is important. The title of the story is "Bottom of a Hole". 

It's kind of a murder mystery tale.

Muller is a smuggler, and a native of the Belt. He is heading towards Luna but finds himself having to visit

Mars in order to evade a government vessel that is chasing him. His ship is damaged on landing and he has to visit the old human settlement of Bubble Town.

He finds the settlement untouched for 70 years. It is strewn with corpses and he tries to unravel the mystery by reading the crew's old journals and doing some personal detective work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What bother's me about this story is why no one from Earth returned to rescue these early travelers.

Was there no communication from Earth mission control ?

 

Niven is really good for his Hard Sci Fi. even if modern day discoveries disprove some of scientific knowledge from the 1960s.

He goes into quite a lot of detail about all manner of things such as the Martian surface.

 

"The dust is like thick oil. The moment I stepped onto it I started to sink. I had to swim to where the crater rim slopes out like the shore of an island. It was hard work".

 

"It's meteor debris from vaporized rock. On Earth, dust this fine would be washed down to the sea by rain and turned to sedimentary rock, natural cement. On the Moon there would be vacuum cementing, .......But. here, there’s just enough “air" to be absorbed by the dust surface ... to prevent vacuum cementing . . . and not nearly enough to stop a meteorite. Result: it won’t cement"

 

 

 

 

Without spoiling too much of the story, Muller does piece together the murder mystery.

 

He also does meet the local Martian natives. A battle takes place.

 

------------------------------------

More by Larry Niven:

+ Becalmed in Hell - Larry Niven

+ Bottom of a Hole - Larry Niven

+ How the Heroes Die by Larry Niven 

+ Known Space - Part 1 & 2 - Reading order (Belters & Slower than light travel)

+ Known Space - Part 3 -  Reading order  - Years 2351 - 2650 AD (including the The Man - Kzin Wars) 

+ Known Space - Part 4 - Faster-Than-Light (2651 AD ...

+ Ringworld - Larry Niven   

+ Neutron Star - Larry Niven

+ The coldest Place - Larry Niven

+ The Eye of An Octopus - Larry Niven

+Wait It Out - Larry Niven

 

 

--------------------------------------------

sci Fi Index

----------------------------------------------  

Neutron Star - Larry Niven

 Neutron Star first appeared in the October 1966 issue (Issue 107, Vol 16, No 10) of Worlds of If. 

I love Larry Niven's works.

Ground breaking stuff for it's time. He attempted to base his stories on reality unlike much out there which is really more fantasy.

 

The story is set in the  Known Space universe.

 It won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story and ranked #30 in the LOCUS Magazine Readers Poll, All-time Best Novellette. 

 

The short adventure is just 14 pages long but it has some notable firsts.

It mentions a neutron star before their existence was widely known. 

The star is named BVS-1. It's featured in the novel Protector (1973), where it is named "Phssthpok's Star".

 

We also meet for the first time the Pierson Puppeteers.

These creatures appear throughout the "Known Space" novels.

These are an advanced alien race with two heads & 3 legs. They are highly manipulative with little empathy

for the suffering of other races. Described as cowardly or diplomatic, they will often turn their back on danger. 

 

"Puppeteers are foremost concerned with their own safety and the survival of their species and try to expose themselves to as little risk as possible.

They do not appear to be disturbed when required to make choices that result in the deaths of billions or trillions." (Wikipedia).

Thus they prefer to manipulate other species into doing their dangerous tasks for them.

The novella also for the first time introduces the General Products Hull for StarShips.

This hull is almost indestructable, and is advertised as being capable of "flying through the upper atmosphere of a star unscathed" (although the occupants many not live).

 

"General Products" is the Puppeteers mercantile empire through which they trade with other species.

 Neutron Star" is  the first time we meet Beowulf Shaeffer, the ex-pilot of many of Niven's Known Space stories.

He is from the planet "We Made It".

 He is a very important character appearing in many later novels.

 

--------------------------------------------

sci Fi Index

----------------------------------------------

The Hainish Cycle - Ursula K. Le Guin

The Left Hand of Darkness is the most famous book in the Hainish cycle - The LHOD was published in 1969.

 

The novel is set in the fictional Hainish universe and many readers describe it as part of the 'Hainish Cycle

although  Le Guin herself often discounted the idea of a "Hainish Cycle", writing on her website that "The thing is, they aren't a cycle or a saga. They do not form a coherent history. There are some clear connections among them, yes, but also some extremely murky ones.

 

The Hainish Cycle is also sometimes referred to as the Ekumen Cycle .

The Hainish Universe consists of different civilizations of human beings on planets orbiting a number of nearby stars. The idea is that humans did not evolve on earth.

 

 Hundreds of thousands of years ago, the people of the planet Hain colonized a large number of worlds including Earth, which they named Terra. Most of these planets were similar enough that humans from one world can pass as natives of another. 

 Hainish civilization eventually collapsed and the colony planets (including Earth) over time lost contact with one another and eventually forgot that other human worlds existed.

 

Ekumen (or the League of All Worlds,

Genly Ai in The Left Hand of Darkness explains that there are 83 planets in the Ekumen, with Gethen a candidate for becoming the 84th

The Hainish novels The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) and The Dispossessed (1974) have won literary awards, as have the novella The Word for World Is Forest (1972) and the short story "The Day Before the Revolution" (1974). 

 You don't necessarily need to read these books in any order.

I read the Left Hand of darkness first.

All the books are pretty stand alone. Left Hand of Darkness is a great place to start! ...

Order of publication

 Rocannon's World (1966), 

Planet of Exile (1966),

City of Illusions (1967)

The Left Hand of Darkness (1969)

The Word for World Is Forest (1972)

The Dispossessed (1974),

 

 

 

 

 

Hainish Reading Order by Ursula LeGuin:

1. Rocannon's World.
2. Planet of Exile.
3. City of Illusion.
4. The Word for World is Forest.
5. The Left Hand of Darkness.
6. The Dispossessed.
7. A Fisherman of the Inland Sea.
8. Four Ways to Forgiveness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ansible

An ansible is a category of fictional devices or technology capable of near-instantaneous or faster-than-light communication. It can send and receive messages to and from a corresponding device over any distance or obstacle whatsoever with no delay, even between star systems. As a name for such a device, the word "ansible" first appeared in a 1966 novel by Ursula K. Le Guin. Since that time, the term has been broadly used in the works of numerous science fiction authors, across a variety of settings and continuities.^[1]

 

^{The word was a contraction of "answerable", as the device would allow its users to receive answers to their messages in a reasonable amount of time,} 

 

 

 

 Sci Fi

 

My sci fi index. 

Synthesizers and Sci-Fi go hand in hand. 

Electronic music is about Futurism. 

Synths and drum machines represent a new future where science and technology 

hold the promise of a better world.

 

From special effects, to movie soundtracks they feed off each other. 

I owe programs such as "Dr Who" and movies like "Star Wars", “Forbidden Planet” and “The Day The Earth Stood Still” a great debt for introducing me to electronic sounds and music. Those early films and programs were enhanced by those synths and they in turn paved the way for commercial artists like David Bowie and Pink Floyd to expose the masses to electronic music.

 I'll update this post over time. .. The link can be found in the index to the right.

+  Asimov's (Isaac) Foundation
+ Asimov  - I, Robot -  - novels & Magazines
+ The Gods Themselves - Isaac Asimov

+ Dune - The Chronological order of the novels
+ Dune Universe Timeline
+ The Hamish Cycle - Ursula K. Le Guin
 

 

 

+ Hugo Awards Best Sci Fi novels of the 1950's
+ Hugo Awards Best sci fi novels of the 1960's
+ Hugo Awards Best Sci Fi novels of the 1970's
+ Hugo Awards Best Sci Fi Novels of the 1980's
+ Hugo Awards Best Sci Fi novels of the 1990's
+ Hugo awards Best sci fi novel of the 2000's (2000 - 2009)
+ Hugo Awards Best Sci Fi novels for the decade 2010-2019

 

 

 

+ Nebula Best Sci Fi Novel awards - 1960s

+ Nebula Awards SciFi Best Novel - 1970s

+ Nebula Awards - Best Novel -1980's 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

+ Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Mercy & Ancillary Sword review

+ Red, Blue & Green Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson  

+ Remembrance of Earth's Past - Cixin Liu (The 3 Body Problem) 

+ Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C. Clarke

+ Star Wars  

+ They'd Rather Be Right - The Forever Machine by Machine by Mark Clifton & Frank Riley (review)

+ The Gods Themselves - Isaac Asimov 

+ The Man in the High Castle - Phillip K Dick -

+ vorkoisgan saga reading order - Lois McMaster Bujold