I built a $40 theremin to annoy friends and learn circuitry fundamentals

There’s nothing spookier or more haunting than the soaring sounds of a theremin, an instrument that uses electromagnetic fields to produce various pitches when you move your hands around it. You’ve probably heard one in your favorite science fiction flick. It’s one of my favorite instruments of all time. I tend to gravitate towards the weirder things in life and the theremin is definitely one of the most bizarre instruments out there. That’s why I decided to put together a theremin on a breadboard. Not only did the high-pitched sounds annoy both my dog and husband (much to my wicked delight), but it also helped me better understand circuitry. If you’ve got little ones, this is a fantastic project to do with them. It’s easy to assemble and the price is surprisingly affordable. Read on to learn more. Like tinkering with your PC? You should pick up these 10 must-have items. Where the heck do you even get a breadboard theremin? I purchased the $39.95 Theremin Kit from MicroKits on a whim one evening. The price is reasonable, as it comes with all the bits and bobs you need. MicroKits is run by David Levi, an electrical engineer and toy designer who wants to inspire the next generation of engineers. I love finding affordable, accessible products and the small businesses that make it happen. The company also sells a tiny synthesizer that serves as a great introduction to analog sound synthesis. You can even hook the touchpad up to a couple of bananas... Continue reading at 'PC World'

[ PC World | 2023-02-24 17:00:00 UTC ]

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‘The City We Became’ turns New York’s boroughs into multiracial avatars

N.K. Jemisin’s science fiction novel wastes no time with preliminaries. It’s a ferocious parable of modern race relations. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-03-12 21:01:56 UTC ]
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‘The City We Became’ turns New York’s boroughs into multiracial avatars

N.K. Jemisin’s science fiction novel wastes no time with preliminaries. It’s a ferocious parable of modern race relations. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-03-12 21:01:56 UTC ]
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‘The City We Became’ turns New York’s boroughs into multiracial avatars

N.K. Jemisin’s science fiction novel wastes no time with preliminaries. It’s a ferocious parable of modern race relations. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-03-12 21:01:56 UTC ]
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Ever wonder what might have been? Here are some scenarios, courtesy of science fiction

‘The Man in the High Castle” and other alternative-history novels make us wonder. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-03-12 16:00:00 UTC ]
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Budget 2020: reading tax scrapped by Rishi Sunak

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has abolished VAT on e-books, dubbed the “reading tax”, alongside halting business rates on small businesses for a year. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-10 22:51:42 UTC ]
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5 Unapologetically Ambitious Women of SFF

These excellent science fiction and fantasy books about ambitious women prove that ambition doesn’t have to be a bad word. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-03-10 10:34:33 UTC ]
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Oliver Morton: Science Journalism and Humanity’s Fascination with the Moon

OLIVER MORTON’S The Moon is a masterpiece of science journalism that throws fresh light on its eponymous subject. Morton mines fields as diverse as aerospace science, history, astrobiology, mythology, geology, and science fiction in pursuit of lessons the Moon can teach us about space... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-03-06 20:00:57 UTC ]
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‘The Visual History of Science Fiction Fandom’ beautifully demonstrates the evolution of a genre

The book is a sumptuous scrapbook of photographs, magazine covers, artwork and hundreds of articles. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-03-04 17:19:27 UTC ]
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Seeds of Catastrophe: “The Rosewater Insurrection” and “The Rosewater Redemption”

THE WORMWOOD PLANT is ornamental and used as an ingredient in absinthe. The plant is enticing to smell and adamantly bitter to taste. It will refuse to leave your tongue even after you try to chase it away with sweeter flavors. It will stay with you, like a curse. The science fiction Wormwood... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-02-29 20:00:42 UTC ]
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TBJ Plus: Canes to honor zamboni driver/goalie; Epic Games tech behind Disney's Mandalorian; NC near top on Amazon list

EPIC IS THE WAY: "The Mandalorian" has proven to be a big hit for Disney and its streaming service, Disney+ – and a Cary company helps make the magic come to life on the screen. Epic Games is helping Lucasfilm produce what design, tech and science fiction site Gizmodo called "real-time digital... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal

[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2020-02-24 18:26:44 UTC ]
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It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s the Nebula Award finalists!

Congratulations to the finalists for the annual Nebula Awards! Presented by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, these awards have been celebrating writers working in the genres for the past fifty-five years. (Past recipients include N. K. Jemisin and Jeff VanderMeer.) This year’s... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-20 20:54:28 UTC ]
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New editions of six Stanisław Lem books place the sci-fi icon back in the spotlight.

This month, science fiction fans and Solaris lovers everywhere have cause to celebrate: six newly-illustrated editions of work by the late Polish author Stanisław Lem (1921-2006) are being published by The MIT Press. Lem’s influence on science fiction has been compared to that of authors like... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-20 16:57:37 UTC ]
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The L.A. Times announces its 2019 Book Prize finalists and a new award for science fiction.

It’s an exciting year for the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes! This will be its 40th year of celebrating the literary community. The Times announced their 2019 Book Prize finalists today; the winners will be announced at a ceremony in Los Angeles on April 17th. Additionally, bestselling crime... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-19 17:41:26 UTC ]
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Fan of sci-fi? Psychologists have you in their sights

Psychologists have stigmatised science fiction fans as losers who retreat into fantasy worlds. This is unfair. Continue reading at The Conversation

[ The Conversation | 2020-02-18 10:26:09 UTC ]
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Discovering a Love of Science Fiction and Fantasy and Recent Favorites

A reader new to science fiction and fantasy embraces the genre and explores some of the great new works of SFF on shelves now. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-02-17 11:40:18 UTC ]
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20 Must-Read Audiobooks Narrated by Black Women

20 of the best audiobooks narrated by black women, including fiction, classics, science fiction and fantasy, memoir, essays, and poetry. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-02-14 11:38:06 UTC ]
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See the weird, wonderful ads that made Americans love computers

‘Do You Compute?’ investigates how technology went from being written off as science fiction to something we engage with every day. In the years following the end of World War II, computers were just starting to make their way into the public consciousness. The intimidatingly technical devices... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2020-01-27 09:00:47 UTC ]
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Tracking Reality’s “Fuckedness Quotient”: An Interview with William Gibson

WILLIAM GIBSON NOTICES THINGS others miss. While his science fiction novels are often described as prescient, what defines Gibson’s body of work is the extraordinary refinement of his focus on the present. When everyone is talking about the features of the latest Silicon Valley gadget, he might... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-01-25 13:30:33 UTC ]
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Bixby was quiet in 2019, but don't sleep on Samsung's assistant

Decades of science fiction assured us all that, yes, one day we'd be able to control the immensely complex gadgetry around us with just our voices. It was right, mostly. The rise of the virtual assistant, built atop still other developments in cloud... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2020-01-23 16:30:00 UTC ]
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Christopher Tolkien, son and protector of 'Lord of the Rings' creator, dies

Christopher Tolkien helped edit and publish much of J.R.R. Tolkien's work after the science fiction and fantasy writer died in 1973. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-01-17 19:03:20 UTC ]
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