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15 Months Later Episode Transcript. Length - 46:40 
Magnetofunky No. 188. It's Monday, June 28th, 2021. [intro theme] Yeah. Larry here. It came sooner than I expected, but finally, 15 months later, the pandemic isn't done, but the Shelter In Place order has been lifted, you can legitimately see the bottoms of peoples' faces again. Anyway, I'm going over another bike/electricity topic - secondary power generation. Meanwhile, the music is another set of newly submitted tunes this month... [song] - 01:17 Ok, that was Summer Is Ours, the new single by Rob Garza of Thievery Corporation in collaboration with critically-hailed Minneapolis band Enemy Planes, released on June 11 through Garza's indie label and production house Magnetic Moon Records with a presence in both Los Angeles and San Francisco. Nice... This is a laid back (and often explicit - you bet your ass, but not this time) underground international podzine and personal journal of extremely eclectic music and progressive politics, with a focus on energy independence for the 99%. My podpage is 1223studios.com/mfunky.h. The Twitter is @Magnetofunky. [Grid Theory] - 05:40 Dynamo Discord In Grid Theory, Before getting into the segment, here's the current elevator pitch for the show: My focus on energy independence began with a need for a backup power system for people who live in an SRO or are too low income to ever afford a Tesla Powerwall, something that would keep small appliances like a little dorm fridge going three days into a blackout. I first looked at devices like the Bedini Motor, and even built my own to test its overunity properties, and discovered that it does work, but it's not a perpetual power system, it's a lead-acid battery rejuvenator - something you can buy... I then discovered that an earlier invention in many ways inspired the overunity concept - a battery switching system developed and patented over 100 years ago by Carlos F Benitez, a civil engineer in Guadalajara MX. I modified his 1918 patent using conventionally available parts and equipment and made a 100W 12V battery-operated self-charging phantom solar power plant that splits the positive and runs two separate loads, a power loop using a 2A boost-buck converter (imitation 20w solar panel) through a 10A solar charge controller to the charging battery, and an open circuit output to an 8A boost-buck converter (imitation 100W solar panel) to a 12V outlet and 150W power inverter. The system runs small AC appliances like my laptop and a dremel for sculpture work, while one battery charges the other. A switch flips the batteries between run and charging states. It's not a pure Benitez system copy so I don't claim perpetual power, though it does produce a Coefficient of Performance consistently over 1.1 up to 3. I use it because it extends the time I can run my 12V batteries before recharging. It can also theoretically be scaled up to a 1000W emergency grid-tied power backup system. I converted the power plant into a mobile off grid system with an added 60W solar panel, and because I'm planning to go nomad on a bike, the very nature of the show is changing to less about the personal grid and more about bikepacking, camping, mobile sculpture and seeing the West Coast up close, and not spending most of my Social Security on rent in SF. Yeah, scares the hell outta me, but I'm doing it... So, continuing in the weeds of where bike touring and electricity intersect, I'm going over the area of power aside from my folding solar panel which is used maybe a couple days a week for the power plant batteries. My other few devices - smartphones, an older point and shoot camera, a rapid AA/AAA charger, etc. - I'd rather charge with secondary power I can deploy everyday. The choice here boils down to two options: a dynamo generator system on the bike or a power bank/USB external battery. I've been riding bikes almost 50 years, and was never a fan of those bottle dynamos grinding against a wheel. But, we're in the 21st Century, so I took a look at what the state of the art is now and we have chain drives, hub generators, rim drives, and somewhat improved bottle dynamos with USB power systems that are capable of charging a phone while you ride (but without a battery between the generator and the phone you shouldn't try to use the phone while charging because you only get juice while riding at a minimum 9 to 15mph). The extra hardware to me is just more stuff to get in the way or break on the road, and they're expensive; the cheapest bottle generators are $30-50, and the hub and rim drives are like $200, just to run head and tail lights and charge one smartphone. Well, I don't plan to ride after dusk or before dawn, and I'm perfectly happy to use my battery-operated lights on the rare occasions when I do--[bell] Ok, so much for the dynamos... I'll look at the power banks in a bit... [Back To The Stage] - 11:06 Now, Back to The Stage, continuing the spread of newly submitted and suggested tunes this month, this set is a veritable sandwich of hard shifting eclecticness. First up, Sky Full Of Diamonds, the new single from the dark, emotive, and technologically sleek album BLACK HALO by Hybrid, the seminal British electronic duo of Mike and Charlotte Truman. It dropped on June 9 via Distinctive Records, with an uptempo remix by one of Hospital Records biggest acts, Metrik... [song] - 11:45 Next up we shift to dark electronica with Reinvention of Pain - Mildreda, the brainchild of Belgian Jan Dewulf. This single is a taste of their riveting forthcoming debut physical album "I Was Never Really There" on Dependent Records, due to drop Aug. 20th... [song] - 15:03 Ok, we pivot back to alt-pop/electronic artist SALT ASHES (real name: Veiga Sanchez), with her new dark dance single Too Many Times. Her previous feature was back in ep. 172 with Cut You With A Kiss; this tune hit my inbox last Wed. Cool video... [song] - 20:40 We shift now to psychedelic dub funk. Carlos Ortiz from the Nashville underground band Negra featured last episode sent me a link to the Bandcamp page of his indie record label No Sabes. I checked it out and pulled this tune from his 2018 project Omnipower Beat Lab. This tune from the EP is Threshold... [song] - 24:25 Al right, we wrap up with Blossoming superstar in the making, UK pop singer Allegra with her third single, the self-empowerment anthem “Used to Miss You” on Radikal Records, backed by a collaboration with one of the hottest names in dance and pop music, R3HAB, currently ranked at #12 on the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs. The tune and video dropped a couple weeks ago... [song] - 29:06 ["Geeknotes"] - 31:42 Geeknotes: 15 Months Later... Hey, Geeknotes! 3/17/2020 to 6/15/2021 - almost exactly 15 months behind a face mask here in SF, but now the Shelter-In-Place order has been lifted, I can carry a mask in my pocket while walking outside, sporting the full non-hipster beard I started this month (in an effort to not waste water shaving while on walkabout), and I expect N95 dust masks to be available again for when I get back to the marble stone I'm carving; the non-surgical masks I have left are just fine for carving the alabaster piece I'm working on now... As far as political complaning, well, nothing has really changed in two weeks - the red hats are still acting like brownshirts, threatening violence over their manufactured outrage at the teaching of actual American history, the non-stolen election, the killer cop unions that treat criticism as defunding, and whatever else will keep the treasonous right wing cult base stroking their guns going into the midterms. Meanwhile Nancy Pelosi ain't worried at all about the GQP retaking Congress (and yeah, that includes the Insurrection select committee she could have set up months ago, that even now is just words and not an actual thing), she's as eager for recess as the Jan. 6th Gang, so right now why should I give a damn? Oh, lastly, this ain't enough for a 'Deep End' segment, but how come the Corp. Media has so little coverage of the Chinese Zhurong ('choorong') rover and the new Tiangong space station? Are they waiting for something to blow up or malfunction, only want to report negative stories for us to laugh at or be concerned over; wouldn't be the first time... Ok, if you like, or hate the show, go to ratethispodcast.com/mfunky. And, if you have non-Zoom promos, pluggers, gig info, an art opening, etc, send me an email. The address is [email protected]. And bands, artists and poets - download links, no attachments, please, and no promises... [Grid Practice] - 34:50 Power Banks Ok, In Grid Practice, Continuing the look at secondary power generation on the bike tour... A better and more convenient bang for the buck to charge a phone while running it is to use the most important part of the dynamo systems, the external battery, in this case in the form of a portable power bank. These come in two forms: non-solar banks that you charge by plugging into an outlet for a few hours, and solar banks that you either clip onto the bike or hang off a backpack. The solar models come in one panel, or four fold panels, and the prices run between $40 and $80 depending on the battery size - anywhere from 10000mAh up to 30000mAh. I don't really trust models advertized as 90K or 100K... With these I prefer a proven brand name like Anker. I really like their Solar PowerCore: avg price $60 for the 20000mAh single panel unit, more than enough to charge my phone while using it to navigate during the day. The hardware turns out to be relatively simple - the non-solar power banks have handlebar mounts; the solar banks have a strap or a place to hook onto a backpack. I also found a mount that lets you set the solar bank on a table or attach to a wall. What I didn't find was a way to mount one onto a helmet like an action cam... Anyway, one other piece of kit to go here would be the USB rapid charger for AA and AAA NiMH batteries, something that would fill up four batteries in say, three hours. Something like that is good if you did run head and tail lights in the daytime, which to me is more suited for riding in cities instead of on a country road. There are plenty of those devices available for around $10 - 20... Ok, one last thing on the cargo frame - I realized when I said 1/2 a cubic foot for a stone I was imagining a footprint too big for the cargo shelf. I considered the largest stone I currently have - 15x6.5x5.5". I don't plan to carry a stone that big, so I re-purposed an 18x24 piece of cardboard to eyeball a better size and came to a 12x6" footprint, with no more than 8" of height, roughly a shoebox in the center. The long way gives me a 6" buffer all around, but cross way gives me 9x18" at both ends, much better to practice fitting cargo around. Cool... [One More Tune] - 38:19 Ok, for this week's One More Tune, we close out with a number you can test your speakers with - The Event - My Wall, the Nashville doom trio (Pancho, Pantera and Charly) that's among the roster of bands at Carlos Ortiz' label No Sabes. The piece is an expression of stress and hopelessness amidst a widespread disaster wherein poor masses suffer as rich elites escape. The 12" EP dropped on Feb. 5th... [song] - 38:58 The music bed this time is Towards the Blue Horizon by Renowned Norwegian ambient / electronic artist Erik Wøllo, from the new album NORTH STAR, melodic soundscapes evolved from layers of sustained guitars inspiring infinite space and a minimal essence, released June 18 on Projekt Records... Well, OK. [Closing] - 44:39 Hey, this show is a 1223studios joint. I'm on almost all the popular podcast platforms, the latest being Apple Podcast Connect. You can also say "Alexa, ask AnyPod to play Magnetofunky". Show notes are on the podpage. Send email to [email protected]. If you like the show, tell your friends, and: A couple days ago I got a notice from City Hall asking if I wanted to work the dumbass recall election that won't throw Gavin Newsome out of office, but is another way to waste taxpayer money courtesy of the local GQP insurrectionists. They don't even have a date for it, but I'm hoping for before the end of Sept., not in November when I want to be damn near ready to ride. I got a couple weeks to decide, so we'll see... Show themes "Rocket Power" & "Spy Glass" by NY musician and composer Kevin MacLeod. Some additional audio from freesound.org. Next episode is set for sometime after the 4th of July. We'll see how many fireworks-related wildfires happen between now and then... I'm Larry, trying hard to stay chill at my garrett in the Mission, and this is Magnetofunky, from San Francisco, where we are still slogging through, but no longer into, the darkness. |
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