Lately I’ve been trying to expand the analog side of my life, after retracting into a digital shell during the hottest part of the NAZI TORTURE. I was functioning in OBEYING ALL ORDERS VERBATIM SIR! NAME RANK AND SERIAL NUMBER SIR! mode.
Now I’m trying to recapture the analog/digital proportion that I had before the TORTURE started, in three areas:
1. More varied neighborhood walks, paying more attention to details of Nature.
2. More varied diet. Since moving north in 1980 I’ve been missing okra. Started adding okra to everything, and it’s just as pleasant as it was 50 years ago. (Tried a few other food experiments but they weren’t satisfying.)
3. Before the TORTURE started, I was actively fiddling with electronic crap, and occasionally doing some real science. I’ve opened up the desk again and added a strong light, which makes a big difference for old eyes. I haven’t done any truly new experiments yet, just rewired some old ckts to get back in practice and regain the feeling of COMPLETION and MAKEFORCE.
This morning I was reading Lodge’s accounts of wireless experiments. He mentioned the well-known dynamo rule for magnets and current, and I realized I’d never actually DONE the experiment. I’ve read about it hundreds of times, and probably saw a non-moving filmstrip about it in college physics class. So let’s do it.
I connected a little solenoid across the center-zero microammeter in my breadboard setup. Then I rubbed a strong magnet (a bolt-finder tool) across the solenoid in both directions.
Sure enough, the current goes both ways when I rub the magnet both ways! Now I can believe what the books say.
Polistra's Mill 