Brock – Page 14 – Brock at Cliff Cottage

2022-07-232022-07-17

Prolog

Zero

Of course, I am hoping that readers will mistake Prolog for Prologue = an introduction to something. In addition, I have a further hope that the poster, displayed above, will induce a feeling of calmness in these same readers, so that they will be able to approach the real content of this weblog post with detachment, but not indifference. The main problem with the poster, is that almost everything about it, apart from its wording, and especially its signal red background, but also large sans-serif white lettering and the British crown, reinforce a feeling of danger!

Wikipedia tells us, Keep Calm and Carry On was a propaganda poster produced by the British government in 1939 in preparation for World War II. The poster was intended to raise the morale of the British public. Although 2.45 million copies were printed, the poster was only rarely publicly displayed and was little known until a copy was rediscovered in 2000 at Barter Books, a bookshop in Alnwick, a market town in Northumberland, in north-east England.

Some topics, toothaches in particular, or dentistry more generally, do not induce calmness. Instead, they increase the flow of adrenaline, and other forms of psychomotor agitation, resulting in psychological and physical restlessness. Thus, before confessing what this topic is really about, I want to reassure readers that it is a topic that can be fun, if approached correctly. Initially, I had thought of dividing the topic into multiple parts and publishing them at the rate of one part a day, over more than a week. The parts are still subdivided, but each reader will have to determine her/ his/ its etc. own consumption rate.

One

I am used to dealing with actors, people pretending to be someone else. In the process, these people have helped me developed my own acting talents. Some of the actors I had to deal with, had failed their auditions, often called court appearances or trials. One of the consequences of such a failure, could be imprisonment at the Norwegian low security prison where I was assigned as their teacher.

Other actors were youth in the final years of their compulsory education, at senior secondary school. They had to attend school, but some of them were better than others at presenting themselves in a positive light. Not that everyone sought positivity. In a Media and Communication English class, I once asked the pupils to write about something they wanted to accomplish in the future, and why they wanted to do so. The reply that created the most work, not just for myself, but for the student, the school principal, the school psychologist and others, was an essay that detailed how this person wanted to become a mass murderer. Afterwards, he claimed that this was a work of fiction.

I have experienced a lot of acting performances by students. The most problematic actors are those who pretend they understand a topic, when they have absolutely no idea about it. The role of the teacher is to channel student activity so that the student finds a route that suits her/ his personality, and is effective at helping the student learn new sets of knowledge and develop new skills. This route-finding skill is the primary talent needed to teach.

Two

This weblog post’s topic is programming, in a specific language. While numbers vary with the situation, perhaps ten percent of actors will delight in learning the programming language they are confronted with. A similar number, give or take, will not master anything. Those remaining in the middle will accept programming languages as a necessary evil in this internet age. Stated another way, a small percentage will find their own route without assistance, another small percentage will never find a route, while most people in the middle will struggle to varying degrees, but ultimately find a route, hopefully one that suits their personality.

The main difficulty in terms of learning to program, is that schools begin computer science studies assuming that students will want to learn to program the particular language being offered. Admittedly, some languages are fairly general, including some that are designed more for teaching/ learning, than for any more practical applications. Pascal, is probably the best example of such a language. However, my contention is that the first computing course a student takes should look at programming principles.

I was fortunate to read Bruce J. MacLennan’s, Principles of Programming Languages: Design, Evaluation and Implementation (1983). A second edition was published in 1987, and a third in 1999. There is not much difference between the three editions, and the same languages are discussed in all three: pseudo-code interpreters, Fortran, Algol-60, Pascal, Ada, Lisp, Smalltalk and Prolog. All the editions of this book explain that computer languages can have different purposes, and asks readers to examine the purpose of each programming language. Not everyone should learn the same one. Before they decide to learn programming, people should know what they want to do with that language, after they have learned its basics. Much of the time the answer is, learn a more appropriate language.

Three

The Prolog in the title of this post refers to the Prolog programming language. Fifty years ago, in 1972, Prolog was created by Alain Colmerauer (1941 – 2017), a French computer scientist, at Aix-Marseille University, based on the work of Robert Kowalski (1941 – ), an American-British computer scientist, at the time at the University of Edinburgh.

Prolog is a logic programming language associated with artificial intelligence and computational linguistics. That doesn’t say much. It might be more understandable to say that students typically learn Prolog by creating a program/ system that shows social relationships between people. Despite their reputation as rather awkward social creatures, even computer scientists have the capability of understanding some social markers: mother, father, daughter, son, at a minimum. Thus, even computer scientists can construct a system that will determine then show relationships between any two people. The system can be constructed slowly, so that initially only, say, four relationships are allowed. Outside of those four choices, people will be labelled as having no relationship. However, in subsequent iterations, the number of relationships can be expanded, almost indefinitely.

Prolog consists of three main components: 1) a knowledge base = a collection of facts and rules fully describing knowledge in the problem domain; 2) an interface engine, that chooses which facts and rules to apply when attempting to solve a user query; 3) a user interface, that takes in the user’s query in a readable form and passes it to the interface engine. Afterwards, it displays results to the user.

Four

Programming in Prolog, written by William F. Clocksin (1955 – ) & Christopher S. Mellish (1954 – ), is the most popular textbook about the language. Originally published in 1981, a revised (read: readable) second edition appeared in 1984. My copy has my name printed on the colophon page in capital letters in blue ink, considerably faded now, along with the date, 12 iii 1985.

It is not the only book about Prolog in my library. Among the thirteen others are: Dennis Merritt, Building Expert Systems in Prolog (1989); Kenneth Bowen, Prolog and Expert Systems (1991); Alain Colmerauer & Philippe Roussel, The Birth of Prolog (1992); Krzysztof R. Apt, From Logic Programming to Prolog (1997) and even an updated 5th edition of Clocksin and Mellish, subtitled Using the ISO Standard, (2003). Part of the reason for this large number, was my using of Prolog to teach expert systems.

Five

Expert systems are not particularly popular, now. In artificial intelligence, popularity contests are being won by machine learning tools. Yet, some people don’t have to be at either the height of fashion or the cutting edge of technological advances, and can appreciate older approaches.

Edward Feigenbaum (1936 – ) constructed some of the first expert systems. He established the Knowledge Systems Laboratory (KSL) at Stanford University. Long words are often strung together to describe his work. A favourite phrase is, “Knowledge representation for shareable engineering knowledge bases and systems.” This was often coded into the phrase expert system. He used it mainly in different fields of science, medicine and engineering. KSL was one of several related organizations at Stanford. Others were: Stanford Medical Informatics (SMI), the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab (SAIL), the Stanford Formal Reasoning Group (SFRG), the Stanford Logic Group, and the Stanford Center for Design Research (CDR). KSL ceased to exist in 2007.

The focus of Feigenbaum, and American institutions more generally, was on rules-based systems: Typically, these found their way into shells = computer programs that expose an underlying program’s (including operating system) services to a human user, produced by for-profit corporations, that would sit on top of Lisp, one of the programming languages commented on in two chapters of MacLennan’s book, and used extensively for artificial intelligence applications. Feigenbaum and his colleagures worked with several of these expert systems, including: ACME = Automated Classification of Medical Entities, that automates underlying cause-of-death coding rules; Dendral = a study of scientific hypothesis formation generally, but resulting in an expert system to help organic chemists identify unknown organic molecules, by analyzing their mass spectra, and combining this with an existing but growing chemical knowledgebase; and, Mycin = an early backward chaining expert system that identified infection related bacteria, recommend specific antibiotic treatments, with dosage proposals adjusted for patient’s mass/ weight. He also worked with SUMEX = Stanford University Medical Experimental Computer. Feigenbaum was a co-founder of two shell producing companies: IntelliCorp and Teknowledge. Shells are often used by experts lacking programming skills, but fully capable of constructing if-then rules.

Six

Prolog is frequently contrasted with Lisp, and offers a different approach for developing expert systems. Some users are fond of saying that Prolog has a focus on first-order logic. First-order is most appropriately translated as low-level, or even simple. The most important difference between the two languages, is that anyone with average intelligence should be able to understand, and work with Prolog. Much of the work done with Lisp involves higher-orders of logic, often requiring the insights of real logicians, with advanced mathematics in their backgrounds. An introductory logic course, gives sufficient insight for anyone to work with Prolog.

Prolog is also claimed to be a more European approach. This probably has something to do with the way teaching is organized. In Norway, for example, a (Danish) Royal decree from 1675 and still valid today, required all university students to undertake an Examen philosophicum, devised by advisor Peder Griffenfeld (from griffin, the legendary creature, plus field, but originally, Schumacher = shoemaker, 1635 – 1699). Under the Danish King, Christian V (1646 – 1699), he became the king’s foremost adviser and in reality Denmark’s (and Norway’s) actual ruler. In 1676 he fell into disfavour and was imprisoned. He was sentenced to death, for treason, but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He was a prisoner on Munkholmen, outside Trondheim, and about 55 km directly south-east of Cliff Cottage, for 18 years (1680–1698), and was released after 22 years of captivity.

Until the end of the 1980s, this exam involved an obligatory course in logic, including mathematical logic, along with other subjects. This means that almost every university student (at that time), no matter what they studied, had the necessary prerequisites to work with Prolog.

Seven

Expert systems often involve heuristics, an approach to problem solving using methods that are not expected to be optimal, perfect, or rational, but good enough/ satisfactory for reaching an approximate, immediate or short-term goal. George Pólya (1887-1985), who worked at Stanford 1940 – 1953, and beyond, took up this subject in How to Solve It (1945). He advised: 1) draw a picture, if one has difficulty understanding a problem; 2) work backwards, if one can’t find a solution, assuming there is one, and see what can be derived from it; 3) develop a concrete example, from an abstract problem; 4) solving a more general problem first – this involves the inventor’s paradox where a more ambitious plan may have a greater chance of success.

One list of areas where expert systems can be used, involve system control, in particular: 1) interpretation, making high-level conclusions/ descriptions based on raw data content; 2) prediction, proposing probable future consequences of given situations; 3) diagnosis, determining the origins/ consequences of events, especially in complex situations based on observable data/ symptoms; 4) design, configuring components to meet/ enhance performance goals, while meeting/ satisfying design constraints; 5) planning, sequencing actions to achieve a set of goals with start and run-time constraints; 6) monitoring, comparing observed with expected behaviour, and issuing warnings if excessive variations occur; 7) repair, prescribing and implementing remedies when expected values are exceeded.

Sometimes one comes across Prolog tutorials that begin with subjective knowledge/ considerations. Music is a good example. Unfortunately, it is not always easy to remember if one has labelled something as trash metal or punk, and this may have operational consequences. It is much easier to confirm that person X is person Y’s granddaughter, and that person Y is person X’s grandfather, especially if persons X and Y are members of your own family.

It is always hard to know which Prolog expert system implementation will impress readers most. Here are some choices: Bitcoinolog = configures bitcoin mining rigs for an optimal return on investment; CEED = Cloud-assisted Electronic Eye Doctor, for screening glaucoma (2019); Sudoku = solves sudoku problems; an unnamed system constructed by Singla to diagnose 32 different types of lung disease (2013), another for diabetes (2019); an unnamed system by Iqbal, Maniak, Doctor and Karyotis for automated fault detection and isolation in industrial processes (2019); an unnamed system by Eteng and Udese to diagnose Candidiasis (2020). These are just some of hundreds, if not thousands, many open source.

Eight

One of the challenges/ problems with expert systems is that the scope of its domain can be unknown. In other words, when a person starts using an implemented expert system, it can be unknown just how big or little the range of problems is that can be used successfully with it. There can also be challenges with system feedback. What looks like an answer, may be a default because the system has insufficient insights (read: rules) to process information. Expert systems do not rely on common sense, only on rules and logic. Systems are not always up to date, and do not learn from experience. This means that real living experts are needed to initiate and maintain systems. Frequently, an old system is an out of date system, that may do more harm than good.

This begs a question of responsibility/ liability in case the advice provided by a system is wrong. Consider the following choices: The user, the domain expert, the knowledge engineer, the programmer of the expert system or its shell, the company selling the software or providing it as an open-source product.

Infinity

Just before publication, I learned of the death of crime novelist Susie Steiner (1971 – 2022). I decided to mention her in this weblog post, when I read in her obituary that she had spotted a Keep Calm poster on the kitchen wall at a writing retreat in Devon. She was cheered by its message of stoicism and patience.

Speaking of kitchens, at one point my intention was to use Prolog to develop a nutritional expert system, that will ensure a balanced diet over a week long time frame, along with a varied menu for three meals a day. I still think that this would be a useful system. Unfortunately, I do not think that I am the right person to implement it, lacking both stoicism and patience, to complete the undertaking.

Reflecting on Susie, I am certain that a Prolog system could be made to help writers construct their novels, especially crime fiction. A knowledge base could keep track of the facts, as well as red herrings and other fish introduced to confuse the reader, and prevent them from solving the crime. Conversely, a Prolog system could also be built that would help readers deconstruct these works, and help them solve the crime and find textual inconsistencies.

Confessions

Readers should be delighted to hear that while writing this post I used my original Clocksin and Mellish book on a daily basis! Yes, it held my laptop open at an angle of about 145°, about 10° further open than without it. When writing on other topics, I also use other books for the same purpose. Note to self: ensure that your next laptop opens at least 180 degrees!
The writer should be dismayed about the length of this post. Patricia reminds me, repeatedly, that shorter is better. She felt last week’s post on Transition One was a more appropriate length. Transition One was written in the course of an hour, with a couple of additional proof-reading sessions. Writing Prolog took more than a year, with multiple writing sessions, each adding several paragraphs.

2022-07-162022-07-15

Transition One

Today’s rant: Since the reign of Ronald Reagan (1911 – 2004, US president 1981 – 1989), the United States (and other western countries) have prioritized the wellbeing of billionaires, to the detriment of those who find themselves on the lower rungs of the economic ladder. This means that these lower positioned people are frequently excluded from the economic/ environmental benefits of new developments. Among other things, they are last in line for electric vehicles. Until now …

The business model of Transition One, a French startup, is automotive electrical retrofit kits at the wholesale level. Wholesale contrasts with retail. Transition One supplies kits to garage/ mechanic partnered retailers, who in turn install the kits for consumers. Each kit is designed for a specific model of vehicle. Retrofitting involves modifying/ restoring/ replacing outmoded technology found in older systems. Electrical refers to a specific driveline configuration, one that avoids internal combustion engines. Automotive means that these modifications involve road vehicles.

Transition One has worked on developing six retrofit kits. Currently, kits are available for the following six models: Fiat 500 generation 1, Mini made after the BMW reboot, Renault Clio 3, Renault Kangoo, Renault Twingo 2 and Volkswagen Polo 4. These are all lower-priced vehicles, originally fitted with internal combustion engines. More models are planned. To be eligible for conversion a vehicle must be roadworthy, registered in France, be over 5 years old, and be one of the six models mentioned.

The kits consist of a motor providing 53 kW of power and 78 Nm of torque; batteries offering between 15 and 30 kWh, and provide at least 100 km of range, with a top speed of 110 km/h. An inverter/ charger is also provided (with a plug) that can operate at a maximum of 6 kW, and will take about five hours to charge a vehicle to 100%. The price of the kit and its installation is € 5 000 paid by the consumer, in addition the French government provides a grant of another € 5 000. The installation process is not performed by Transition One itself, but by certified partner mechanics, authorized by Transition One. The installation process is designed to be completed within four hours.

Retrofit kits will be certified by the responsible French authorities, and are in accord with French regulations. A retrofit is guaranteed for two years with unlimited mileage, while the batteries are guaranteed for five years or 100 000 km, whichever comes first.

At the same time that Transition One is soliciting vehicle buyers, it is also enticing local garages to enter into a partnership to retrofit vehicles. In other words, Transition One is a manufacturer of retrofit kits.

The retrofit process involves five steps at a partner garage. First, the vehicle is received and inspected to ensure that it will meet all requirements for roadworthiness after the retrofit. Second, all ICE components are removed and appropriately re-cycled. Third, the retrofit kit is installed. Fourth, the retrofitted vehicle is tested, to ensure that it meets all requirements. Fifth, the vehicle is delivered to its owner.

Hopefully, other companies will follow the spirit of Transition One, by offering kits for other vehicles in other markets.

2022-07-092022-07-10

Autotune

Autotune is to vocal music, what synthesizers are to instrumental music. Both push the boundaries of what is possible. Some people appreciate these possibilities, others don’t. In this weblog post, autotune will refer to a generic concept. Auto-tune is the name of a commercial product from Antares Audio Technologies, that has a dominant market share. It was invented and developed by Harold (Andy) Hildebrand (1950 – ) from 1996 and on.

After earning a Ph.D in electrical engineering, Hildebrand’s career involved working with geophysics and seismic data for Exxon. At one point, Exxon faced a dilemma. They were approaching the end of a seven-year Alaskan pipeline timeline, and needed to get oil flowing through the line in time, or lose a half-billion dollar tax write-off. Hildebrand was charged with fixing faulty seismic monitoring instrumentation, a task that involved advanced mathematics. The project ended successfully, from Exxon’s perspective.

In 1979, Hildebrand left Exxon for a startup, Landmark Graphics, which constructed a workstation for the creation of 3-D seismic maps. Landmark was bought out by Halliburton in 1989 for an alleged $525 million, and Hildebrand retired before the age of forty, a wealthy man.

As a youth, Hildebrand had worked as a musician, playing the flute. With his new found freedom, he decided to study composing. In this, he often used sampling synthesizers. From there it was a short way to developing Auto-tune, where his mathematical capabilities and musical interest proved to be a useful combination. A Wikipedia article provides further details.

One of the first singers to use auto-tune was Cher (1946 – ) on Believe (1998). A remastered version dates from 2021. The music video, from 1999, was made by Nigel Dick (1953 – ).

Believe was recorded at Metro Productions’ Dreamhouse Studio, located in Kingston upon Thames, England. Mark Taylor (1963 – ) and Brian Rawlings (1961 – ) produced the track using a Cubase VST Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), built into a Power Macintosh G3 computer. Instruments include a rack-based Clavia Nord and Oberheim Matrix 1000 synthesizers. Vocals were recorded on three TASCAM DA-88 digital audio recorders, with a Neumann U67 microphone

Despite initial claims that the vocal effects came from a vocoder, a device invented at Bell Labs by Homer Dudley (1896 – 1980) in 1938, that analyzes then synthesizes/ transforms human voice signals using compression, multiplexing = takes several signals and combines them into one, and encryption, it wasn’t used.

Auto-Tune pitch-correction software was actually used, but with extreme settings to create unnaturally rapid corrections, to remove portamento, the natural slide between pitches in singing. Later, it was widely imitated, becoming known as the Cher effect.

One of the complaints about both autotuning and synthesizers is that they are artificial. If by artificial one means electronic, one could question what part of the contemporary audio/ music recording industry isn’t artificial? In the past forty years I have listened to very few tracks that have an analogue component, as found on vinyl records or magnetic tapes. Today, almost everything musical becomes a digitized electrical signal. Voices and acoustic instruments use microphones to capture sounds. Electric guitars and related instruments use pickups. Both convert electrical signals to digital signals in an audio interface, which could be a stand alone unit outside or a hardware or software unit inside a computer. Synthesizers and other keyboard instruments, with variations, may simply send Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) data even more directly to a DAW.

Opinions are divided about Auto-tune. Time Magazine named it one of the 50 worst inventions. Dan Fletcher, wrote on 2010-05- 27: “It’s a technology that can make bad singers sound good and really bad singers … sound like robots.”

I disagree with Time. There is no reason why people should have to rely on their natural voices to produce music. It is like insisting people walk in order to move from place to place. People embrace technological improvements. Bicycles are a good example of how low cost technology can improve transport speed while reducing energy consumption. Think of autotune as technology providing a bicycle advantage for singers.

Correction. Advanced mathematics can be difficult. 1989 – 1950 is not 29, but 39. Thus, the age of Hildebrand’s retirement age has been corrected to under forty, from under thirty.

2022-07-022022-06-27

A Very Short Introduction

https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1243436474l/2930585.jpg — The cover of the non-free book, A Very Short Introduction to Everything (2003)

After more than 1.4 billion seconds/ 23 million minutes/ 380 000 hours/ 16 000 days/ 2 300 weeks/ 530 months/ 44 years of marriage, couples may find that those microseconds of conversational lulls, become more frequent. Trish and I have decided to do something about it. We are now reading the same books found in the A Very Short Introduction series, published by Oxford University Press.

Wikipedia describes the books in the series as: concise introductions to particular subjects, intended for a general audience but written by experts. Most are under 200 pages long. While authors may present personal viewpoints, the books are meant to be “balanced and complete” as well as thought provoking.

The series began in 1995, and over 700 titles have been published. Many works, including the first book published in the series # 001, Classics, by Mary Beard (1955 – ) and John Henderson (1948 – ), have not been revised. In contrast #086 Globalization, by Manfred Steger (1961 – ), is now in its 5th edition.

These are ebooks read on a Kobo reader. The first book we read together was #215 Deserts, by Nick Middleton (1960 – ). It was published in 2009, but showed no evidence of being exceptionally out of date. Currently, we are reading #444 Mountains by Martin F. Price (1957 – ), published in 2015 and #175 Documentary film by Patricia Aufderheide published in 2008. That is, Trish has finished reading Mountains, while Brock has just started it; Brock has finished reading Documumentary film, while Trish has just started it.

We use the list of titles found in the Wikipedia article, to find titles of mutual interest.

We do not finish all books started. The first failed reading was #248 Keynes, by Robert Skidelsky (1939 – ). It was about British economist John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946), but failed to hold our attention.

A Short Introduction to Everything, published in 2003, has a cover indicating that it is free. This does not appear to be the case. At Amazon, an ebook version is unavailable. A paperback version costs US$ 30.10 or more new/ US$ 3.65 or more used. In both cases, delivery charges also apply. Harish P, writing about the book on Goodreads, gives the book two stars and comments: ‘Everything’ is misleading. I was thinking that the book could be something like ‘A Short History About Everything’ by Bill Bryson. That’s not the case to be. ‘Everything’ here refers to the titles in the Very short Introduction series. The book is intended as a primer/curtain-raiser of the titles that constitute the series. The book is divided into 7 themes aka chapter, each concerning a certain aspect of life or Universe, at large. The titles relevant to the theme are featured with some interesting summary. Only complaint-why am I charged for the book, when it is a little more than a marketing material of Oxford University Press. Luckily, I borrowed it from a friend.

2022-06-252022-06-25

Ukraine

Short version: In 1994, Ukraine agreed to remove/ destroy nuclear weapons from/ in its territory, and to join the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. In return, Russia, Britain and USA agreed to provide Ukraine with security assurances. All parties agreed to respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine. France and China also provided Ukraine with similar, but lesser, assurances. Despite this Russia was able to re-annex Crimea in 2014, without anything more than a murmur of discontent, and attempted to annex the entire Ukraine in 2022, which has met a more violent and, from a Russian perspective, unexpected opposition.

Long version: On 1994-12-05, four parties signed what is known as the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances, containing a preamble and six paragraphs. It reads as follows:

The United States of America, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,

Welcoming the accession of Ukraine to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as non-nuclear-weapon State,

Taking into account the commitment of Ukraine to eliminate all nuclear weapons from its territory within a specified period of time,

Noting the changes in the world-wide security situation, including the end of the Cold War, which have brought about conditions for deep reductions in nuclear forces.

Confirm the following:

1. The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America reaffirm their commitment to Ukraine, in accordance with the principles of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, to respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine.

2. The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America reaffirm their obligation to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine, and that none of their weapons will ever be used against Ukraine except in self-defence or otherwise in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.

3. The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America reaffirm their commitment to Ukraine, in accordance with the principles of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, to refrain from economic coercion designed to subordinate to their own interest the exercise by Ukraine of the rights inherent in its sovereignty and thus to secure advantages of any kind.

4. The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America reaffirm their commitment to seek immediate United Nations Security Council action to provide assistance to Ukraine, as a non-nuclear-weapon State party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, if Ukraine should become a victim of an act of aggression or an object of a threat of aggression in which nuclear weapons are used.

5. The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America reaffirm, in the case of Ukraine, their commitment not to use nuclear weapons against any non-nuclear-weapon State party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, except in the case of an attack on themselves, their territories or dependent territories, their armed forces, or their allies, by such a State in association or alliance with a nuclear-weapon State.

6. Ukraine, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America will consult in the event a situation arises that raises a question concerning these commitments. — Memorandum on Security Assurances in Connection with Ukraine’s Accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.France and China’s commitments

[End of memorandum]

France gave Ukraine assurances similar to the Budapest Memorandum, but without the provisions found in paragraphs 4 and 6.

China’s pledge is dated 1994-12-04 and reads:

The Chinese Government welcomes the decision of Ukraine to destroy all nuclear weapons on its territory, and commends the approval by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on November 16 of Ukraine’s accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as a non-nuclear-weapon State. China fully understands the desire of Ukraine for security assurance. The Chinese Government has always maintained that under no circumstances will China use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon States or nuclear-weapon-free zones. This principled position also applies to Ukraine. The Chinese Government urges all other nuclear-weapon States to undertake the same commitment, so as to enhance the security of all non-nuclear-weapon States, including Ukraine.

The Chinese Government has constantly opposed the practice of exerting political, economic or other pressure in international relations. It maintains that disputes and differences should be settled peacefully through consultations on an equal footing. Abiding by the spirit of the Sino-Ukrainian joint communiqué of January 4, 1992 on the establishment of diplomatic relations, the Sino-Ukrainian joint communiqué of October 31, 1992 and the Sino-Ukrainian joint statement of September 6, 1994, China recognizes and respects the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and stands ready to further develop friendly and cooperative Sino-Ukraine relations on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.

[End of pledge]

The above documents were brought to my attention by Alasdair McLellan. It is clear from them that Russia, UK, USA, France and China have all agreed to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. Russian propaganda claims that the country it agreed to respect is not the same as today’s nazified (their term) Ukraine, invalidating the memorandum.

Crimea has a complex history. Simplified, it was Greek from 5th century BC to 47 BC; culturally Greek, politically Roman from 47 BC to 330 AD; Byzantine from 330 AD to 1204 AD; part of the Empire of Trebizond from 1204 AD to 1461 AD; part of the independent Principality of Theodoro from 1461 AD to 1475 AD. After that there was a great deal of turmoil with various groups asserting control over parts of the region, but with the Ottoman empire generally winning out until 1774, when the Ottoman Empire was defeated by Russia’s Catherine the Great (1729 – 1796). Crimea was annexed by Russia in 1783.

On 1954-02-19, the Crimean region was transferred to the Ukrainian SSR. Sixty years later, and following the Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity = Революція гідності, (Revoliutsiia hidnosti) = Maidan Revolution, Russia re-annexed Crimea on 2014-02-21. On 2014-03-24, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper at a G7 Nuclear Security Summit, at The Hague, requested a partial suspension of Russian membership from the G8 due to Russia’s breach of the Budapest Memorandum, stating that Ukraine had given up its nuclear weapons “on the basis of an explicit Russian assurance of its territorial integrity.” At that time, nothing much more happened in terms of opposition to Russia’s actions.

Eight years later on 2022-02-21 Russia officially recognised the two self-proclaimed separatist states in the Donbas, and openly sent troops into these territories. On 2022-02-24, Russia invaded Ukraine.

Consequences

At the moment the world is having to contend with a war, potentially with a duration lasting years, rather than months. There is also a threat of nuclear war, although it is difficult to know how real this threat is. It is also difficult to find out what is happening in this war due to disinformation. I find that the most valuable insights come from YouTube vlogger and Australian: Perun.

Young and not so young people are dying and being maimed on the battlefield, in relatively large numbers on both sides. War crimes are being committed. Ukrainian civilians are being killed, raped, intimidated, threatened. In addition to physical injuries there is also the trauma. People are having their possessions stolen, their homes, cultural heritage, public and commercial buildings destroyed, along with Ukraine’s infrastructure. Undoubtedly, the grain-producing fields are being poisoned with toxic chemicals from armaments. Millions of refugees are fleeing. Far too many lives are being destroyed.

In Russia, sanctions are having their effects. Basic foodstuffs are becoming increasingly difficult to find. An increasing shortage of parts are making white goods, aircraft and vehicles inoperable. There are inexplicable explosions in refineries, and other chemical plants.

Mined Black Sea ports, and a Russian imposed blockade on grain shipments, are leaving the poor of the world threatened with hunger. There are numerous sanctions being placed on Russia, by the European Union (EU), other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and others. Lithuania is now blocking goods subject to EU sanctions from using the Suwalki corridor, to Kaliningrad.

Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine have applied for membership in the EU, and the European Council has given candidate status to Moldova and Ukraine on 2022-06-23. Finland and Sweden have applied to join NATO. Both Georgia and Ukraine would like to join. The Moldova constitution states that Moldova is a neutral country, and thus it has not applied nor is eligible to apply for NATO membership.

Russia has become an unreliable provider of hydrocarbons to western countries. Fuel prices are rising. This means that other sources will have to be used. There is increased use of nuclear energy, as well as increased use of coal, especially in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. German industrialists are worried that industry production will fall, as the country may choose to heat houses, rather than provide electrical power to factories.

Currently, there is considerable talk about inflation. In the past has been caused by increased demand. The traditional cure, increased interest rates, encourages borrowers to reduce spending, in order to pay interest on their loans. This reduces demand. Now, however, inflation is not being caused by demand side challenges, but by problems with supply. After two years of Covid, and months of war, manufacturers are not able to provide the goods and services consumers want. By increasing interest rates, governments are using the wrong medicine, unfortunately. Increased interest rates will not solve the current problem with inflation.

North American and European governments have believed that globalization, and an increase in the world’s standard of living, would result in a democratization of the world. This has not happened. Instead, North American and European countries must undertake investments in their own regions, so that they are not subject to being exploited by other regions of the world. Judicious investments in production could solve many of the inflationary problems being experienced.

On a personal level

I have now vetoed the purchase of all new Russian made products. This is expressed in this way, so that we keep the 7 x 50 binoculars, that we have owned for more than forty years.

Before this latest war, Alasdair and I had considered buying a Discovery TX-500 amateur radio covering 160 to 6 meter bands, QRP = low power (10 W). At the time, it was priced at about NOK 10 000 at its Swedish distributor. It does not appear to be available, as this post is written. It is made by the Russian company, Lab 599. Instead, I bought a Red Pitaya from Alasdair, made in Slovania, for NOK 8 000. It is a simpler and less robust radio, but offers many other features for use as an electronic instrument. This sale has allowed Alasdair to buy an Elecraft KX3 radio, made in Watsonville, California, costing in excess of NOK 20 000. While the TX-500 is a good radio, it is inferior to a KX3.

On 2020-08-20, I wrote about the Zetta CM-1 EV, and even sent an email to the Russian manufacturer about obtaining such a vehicle. No reply was received. Rest assured, there will be no Russian or even Chinese EVs purchased for this household. Any future EV will be made in Europe. In fact, it has already been ordered, but details will not be released until it arrives!

There are almost 1.4 million Canadians of Ukrainian ancestry in Canada, of which 230 000 live in British Columbia. Vancouver and Odessa have been sister cities since 1944. In addition to current Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chrystia Freeland (1968 – ), other notable Canadians of Ukrainian ancestry include: musician Randy Bachman (1943 – ); austronaut/ neurologist Robert Bondar (1945 – ); painter/ writer William Kurelek (1927 – 1977); actor Seth Rogen (1982 – ); actor William Shatner (1931 – ); superman creator Joe Shuster (1914 – 1992); model Daria Werbowy (1983 – ) and an uncountable numbers of ice hockey players, including Wayne Gretzky (1961 – ).

Holy Eucharist Cathedral, Ukrainian Catholic church located at 501 – Fourth Avenue, New Westminster. Canada. Canada. There are almost 1.4 million Canadians of Ukrainian ancestry in Canada, of which 230 000 live in British Columbia.

Holy Eucharist Cathedral, owned by the Ukrainian Catholic church is located at 501 – Fourth Avenue, New Westminster. Canada. This is a six minute/ 500 meter walk away from my childhood home, on Ash Street, although the cathedral did not exist there at that time.

2022-06-162023-06-17

The Charm of Roxy Music

These are the Roxy Music sleeves. The first, top left, was released fifty years ago 1972-06-16.

This weblog post is being published on the fiftieth anniversary of Roxy Music‘s debut album, Roxy Music, released 1972-06-16. Wikipedia comments, “The opening track, “Re-Make/Re-Model”, has been labelled a postmodernist pastiche, featuring solos by each member of the band echoing various touchstones of Western music[.]”

It was Andrea, my boss, who introduced me to Roxy Music, at a party, in early 1973.

Bryan Ferry (1945 – ) lead singer of Roxy Music, had his origins in County Durham, at Washington. The world may never have heard of him if he had not lost his job as a ceramics teacher at a girls’ school, 1970-11, for playing too much music in the classroom. This encouraged him to start his own band, despite a lack of musical talent. Fortunately, he cooperated with others who did have talent.

Membership in the band was fluid for the first few years of its existence, but had stabilized by the time the first album was made with Bryan Ferry, Brian Eno (1948 – ), Andy Mackay (1946- ), Phil Manzanera (1951 – ), Paul Thompson (1951 – ) and Graham Simpson (1943 – 2012). Other musicians participated on some tracks.

One vague comment I remember hearing about Roxy Music, was that it was sax driven. This is undoubtedly a minority view. If one looks at almost any Roxy Music album sleeve, Avalon excepted, one will discover supporting evidence that it was sex driven. For those still in denial, sax probably refers to Andy Mackay, who played oboe and saxophone in the band. He was also the owner of a synth, an Electronic Music Studios (EMS) Voltage Controlled Studio, version #3 (VCS3).

The band’s greatest non-musician was Brian Eno, who was initially engaged as a technical advisor. His duties included operating the synthesizer and a Revox reel-to-reel tape machine. What impressed me the most, was Eno’s use of the EMS synth. My opinion, was that at least initially, Roxy Music was synth driven. It became less so, as Eno’s influence waned, and Ferry’s waxed, unfortunately.

The band signed with EG Mangement. However, since the music proposed for the first album was unexceptional, they almost rejected it. What changed their mind was the sleeve artwork. This debut album sleeve featured Kari-Ann Moller (1947 – ), who was born in Arendal, in south-east Norway to a Norwegian airman and a British mother who took her to live in Cornwall.. The artwork also involved fashion designer Antony Price (1945 – ), photographer Karl Stoecker, art director Nicholas Deville (1944 – ) and a public relations specialist Simon Puxley. Prior to this, Moller appeared in an episode of the German detective series Der Kommissar, Keiner hörte den Schuß (1969). Subsequently, Brian Duffy (1933 – 2010) photographed her, with legs and much of her torso airbrushed away, for the 1973 Pirelli calendar. She also appeared in a film, The Bitch (1979), along side Chris Jagger (1947 – ), with whom she is married.

There is an eclecticism in the music, with a lot of it having movie references, in the same way that Roxy itself relates to movie theatres. 2HB was a tribute to Humphrey Bogart (1899 – 1957), with the line “Here’s looking at you, kid” taken from Casablanca (1942). Chance Meeting references David Lean’s (1908 – 1991) Brief Encounter (1945). The Bob refers to the Battle of Britain (1968), with sound effects simulating gunfire.

The second album, For Your Pleasure (1973), shows Amanda Lear (1939 – ) walking her panther. These early sleeves actually folded out, so that the back turns out to be the left of a photograph, with Brian Ferry posing as the chauffeur of a purple Cadillac.

Stranded (1973), the third album, featured Marilyn Cole (1949 – ), the January 1972 Playmate of the Month, and 1973 Playmate of the Year. By this time Eno was no longer with the band. Eddie Jobson (1955 – ) was classically trained and an accomplished musician. He played keyboard and electric violin.

Country Life (1974) showed Constanze Karoli and Eveline Grunwald, two German women Ferry had allegedly met in a bar in Portugal, where Ferry had retreated to write lyrics for the album. They are said to have helped him translate a portion of the song Bitter-Sweet into German. This is probably the most controversial Roxy Music album sleeve, for the US market the album was issued with foliage but without models.

At the left of the bottom row is the cover for Siren (1975), that used Jerry Hall (1956 – ) to attract (male) purchasers. I confess to have purchased all five of these albums as LPs, disposing of them in the summer of 1980 before moving to Norway.

By the time Manifesto (1979) appeared, Roxy Music had lost much of its charm. The band consisted of Ferry, Manzanera, Mackay, and Thompson, along with Paul Carrack (1951 – , keyboards), Alan Spenner (1948 – 1991, bass), and Gary Tibbs (1958 – , bass). The album was not a success, critically or popularly. The sleeve seems to be a party scene, with no specific individual model in focus. Flesh & Blood (1980) had Peter Saville (1955 – ) responsible for the cover’s conception, but was photographed by Neil Kirk. The two models on the front sleeve (shown) are Aimee Stephenson (front) and Shelley Mann (behind). A third model, Roslyn Bolton, was shown on the back of the sleeve.

The final album Avalon (1982) featured a smoother sound. It was the band’s most successful studio album. The album sleeve has a photo of Bryan Ferry’s future wife, Lucy Helmore (1959 – 2018). This is undoubtedly the least sensual of all the sleeves. Surprisingly, this allowed listeners to focus more on the music, which received the best critical reviews of all the albums.

Roxy Music was a designer band, creating a specific style that dictated/ dominated their stage presence, music videos, album and single sleeve designs, as well as promotional materials including posters, handbills, cards and badges. One might even want to conclude that even the music, was designed rather than composed, arranged, performed and engineered. I no longer listen to Roxy Music, but I do listen to the music of Brian Eno.

Corrections were made on 2023-06-17 about Kari-Ann Moller. A Guardian article noted that despite her having lived in the United Kingdom for 74 years, she was asked to prove her right to live in Britain. When she returned to Britain from Madiera, 2023-03, she was issued a 3-month tourist visa.

2022-06-112022-06-11

Roy Grønneberg (1947 – 1997)

Roy Grønneberg is perhaps best known for his contributions to the design of the Shetland flag. This weblog post commemorates the 25th anniversary of his death. His body was found in Lerwick Harbour, in the Shetland Islands of Scotland, on Thursday morning, 1997-06-12. It was assumed that he slipped and fell into the sea at Albert Wharf, some time late on Wednesday evening, 1997-06-11.

Roy Grønneberg was born in Drammen, Norway, in 1947. He was the son of Annie Davina Elizabeth (née Spence) and Nils Clausen Grønneberg who had married in Lerwick in 1945. Grønneberg was born with cerebral palsy. In 1951, the family, consisting of the parents and four sons, moved back to Lerwick to give Roy the health care that he needed. After seven years treatment in Strathcathro Hospital, Aberdeen, he attended school in Edinburgh and Lerwick then took a job in the County Treasurer’s office in Lerwick. In the late 1960s he went to Aberdeen Commercial College, then worked in Aberdeen before returning to Shetland in 1973. From the late 1970s Grønneberg owned the Hjaltland Bookshop in Lerwick. He was a director and treasurer of the Shetland Publishing Company. After the bookshop failed, Grønneberg devoted his time to supporting charities such as Oxfam and to causes such as the peace movement. In 1989 he took a job at the Shetland Archives.

Grønneberg was a member of the Scottish Nationalist Party and had a passionate interest in politics as well as in Scottish and Scandinavian affairs. During the 1970s he began to be noted as a writer and activist contributing articles to various Shetland publications. His writing were such that he was appointment to the editorial committee of the Bulletin of Scottish Politics.

Grønneberg had an active interest in Shetland’s political future and in 1968 he successfully moved a resolution on Shetland autonomy at the Scottish National Party (SNP) conference. He was particularly interested in Shetland dialect and how it compared to Scandinavian languages and his papers include several drafts of dialect dictionaries. He authored several pamphlets and articles about Shetland history and politics. Grønneberg was a member of the Shetland Council for Social Service.

The Shetland flag, designed by Roy Grønneberg and Bill Adams in 1969.

Roy Grønneberg and Bill Adams, at the time both students in Aberdeen, decided that it would be a good idea for Shetland to have its own regional flag – not to displace the Union Jack but merely as a community flag to symbolise the islands’ unique history. They decided on the Scottish national colours, blue and white, and the cross that is common to all Scandinavian countries. The resulting white cross against a blue background symbolises Shetland’s links with both Scotland and Denmark.

In 1975, after Zetland County Council (ZCC) and Lerwick Town Council merged into Shetland Islands Council (SIC), Grønneberg wrote to the director of administration pointing out that the ZCC flag was no longer valid. He enclosed the design he and Bill Adams had designed in 1969. SIC responded by forming a five member flag committee chaired by Patrick Regan. After two meetings several designs had emerged, but nothing more happened .

In 1985, Shetland’s tourist officer, Maurice Mullay, visited Sweden as part of a promotional campaign. Asked if Shetland had a regional flag, he remembered the Grønneberg/Adams design. Its Scandinavian association appealed to his Swedish hosts. Two Swedish yachts visited Lerwick in summer 1975, using the Shetland flag as a courtesy flag from their mast-heads. Later that year the flag flew, with those of other islands, to mark Shetland’s participation in the inter-island games held on the Isle of Man.

Shetland’s fishers added urgency to the flag question. They saw a need for a regional flag. This was influenced by mainland fishers, who used the Scottish Saltire as their own regional flag flown from mastheads and painted on shelterdecks.

In 1985-12, SIC decided to hold a postal referendum to choose a design. This took time to organise, and involved relatively high costs to send ballots to 15 900 voters. However, the decision on a flag did not rest with the voting public, or the SIC, but with the Court of Lord Lyon. Many at the time were enthusiastic to get an approved flag, including Scottish Tourist Board chairman, Alan Devereux, who regarded the flag as a great marketing idea.

After almost forty years of unofficial use, the flag was formally granted status by the Lord Lyon King of Arms, the heraldic authority of Scotland, on 2005-02-01. The flag commemorates the 500th anniversary of the transfer of the islands from Norway, at the time in the Kalmar Union, to Scotland and the 500 years before that, as part of Norway.

Grønneberg’s writings included: Island Governments: The Experience of Autonomous Island Groups in Northern Europe in Relation to Shetland’s Political Future (1976), a 30 page book, published by Thulepint, and edited by Grønneberg that included contributions by Magnus Magnusson, T.M.Y. Manson, Tom Nairn, Danus Skene, Allan Massie, Jo Grimond , Grace Halcrow, Michael Spens, John Godfrey, James Irvine, Morag McGill and Neal Ascherson; Island Futures: Scottish Devolution and Shetland’s Constitutional Alternatives (1978), a 79 page book, published by Thuleprint, that explored constitutional options for Shetland in the context of Scotland’s first devolution debate and The Shetland Report prepared for Shetland Islands Council by the Nevis Institute. Contributors include Tom Nairn, Neal Ascherson, T. M. Y. Manson, Morag McGill, Allan Massie, Michael Spens, Shetland Islands Council and Jo Grimond MP. A call is made for a Commission to look into the islands’ special circumstances and consideration is given to a special status similar to the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands or the Faroes; Hjaltland: Map of Shetland in the Old Norse Language of the Sagas, a map of Shetland’s Norwegian place-names (1991); Jakobsen and Shetland (1981), a biography of the eminent nineteenth-century Faroease philologist Jakob Jakobsen, the first person to apply linguistic principles to research the Scandinavian origins of the Shetland Dialect. Jakobsen compiled a dictionary of the Norn language in Shetland. Gronneberg was instrumental in arranging for a reprint of Jakobsen’s dictionary, credited with helping to rescue the islands’ distinctive dialect from oblivion.

At the time of Grønneberg’s death, Shetland author John Graham, one of Grønneberg’s former teachers, said: ”I’m shattered and saddened by this news. Roy was an extremely likeable character, utterly dedicated to anything he undertook. What everybody admired about him was his courage.”

Grønneberg was unmarried and had lived alone in an apartment in Lerwick since the death of his mother, Annie, a few years before his own. Friends said he had recently been in poor health but remained doggedly independent, struggling up a steep lane every day for lunch at the Norwegian Fishermen’s Mission in Lerwick.

The dialect database that Grønneberg had compiled at the Shetland Archives is of immense value to scholars.

Note: I had wanted to use a photograph of Roy Grønneberg with this post, possibly with the other designer of the flag, Bill Adams. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find one. If anyone has a digital version of such a photo, I would appreciate a copy to append to this document.

2022-06-042022-06-05

Sequential

Dave Smith (1950 – 2022), educated in electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, bought a MiniMoog in 1972. In San Francisco, in 1974, he made a hardware sequencer = a hardware device or software program that can record, edit or play back music, using note and other performance information, for himself. Then he made three other sequences, and sold them under the name Sequential Circuits. These four analog sequencers could be used with Moog and ARP synthesizers. In 1975, Sequential Circuits went on to make an unknown number of digital hardware sequencers, and then programmers, similar, but slightly more advanced devices that, can change the settings and other characteristics of a synthesizer. By 1976, aided by John Scott Bowen, these had become the Model 800 Sequencer, and Model 700 Programmer.

In 1977, the Prophet-5 started life as a Prophet-10, a synthesizer with ten voices of polyphony. It was unstable and overheated. This, in turn, made it difficult to tune. To construct a viable product, half of the electronics were removed, resulting in five voices of polyphony. It was renamed the Prophet-5. This machine was jointly designed by Smith and Bowen, with Bowen responsible for the sound design. Later, he created most of the Sequential’s sounds and sequences, and much of the User Interface (UI). The Prophet-5 was the first fully programmable polyphonic synthesizer and the first musical instrument with an embedded microprocessor, and a programmable memory. This allowed users to store sounds and access them instantly. It eliminated the need for a synth to be reprogrammed after even minor experimentation with sound. The Prophet-5 was especially praised for its ability to produce a standard package of familiar sounds. Between 1978 and 1984, about 6 000 units were produced.

After this, additional products were made including the Prophet-600 released in 1982 with a musical instrument digital interface (MIDI). In 1987, Sequential faced financial difficultires. It was purchased by Yamaha, who shut it down in 1989.

Smith then began working for Korg on the Wavestation synthesizer. In 2002, he started Dave Smith Instruments. That same year it released the Evolver synthesizer. In 2008, it released the Prophet ’08, an affordable eight-voice analog synthesizer. In 2015, Yamaha returned the Sequential Circuits brand name to Smith. In 2018 Smith released the Prophet-X, which featured sample playback and digitally controlled oscillators. On the 40th anniversary of the Prophet-5, (2018-08-31) Dave Smith Instruments rebranded as Sequential. Despite the release of a newer version of the Prophet-5 on 2020-09-30, it was announced on 2021-04-27 that Sequential had been acquired by Focusrite, a British audio company known for its audio interfaces.

Finding a suitable Prophet

In the text below, prices are stated in Norwegian kroner (NOK). To aid in conversion 1 CAD = 7.46 NOK; 1 € = 10.12 NOK; 1 USD = 9.45 NOK on 2022-06-04, on the date of this post’s publication.

Selecting a suitable Prophet is dependent on a person’s intentions and wealth. Those with the economic means who want to acquire an investment with extreme growth potential, probably should have bought an original Prophet-5 at least twenty years ago. If they are content with an ostentatious machine to intimidate others, these machines still offer opportunities.

Those a few rungs below on the economic ladder, content with impressing others, may want to consider a model, currently being made, a Sequential Prophet-10 Rev-4 Synth is being produced. The company is now owned by Focusrite. The synth costs about NOK 45 000. Its specifications include the use of some dated, but genuine, components, along with modern replacements, retaining the sound of the original Prophet-5, but with ten voices.

Musicians who simply want the sounds of a Prophet synth can usually obtain these cheaply, by using a clone or a virtual instrument.

One clone is a Behringer Pro-1 (NOK 3 000), a fairly rudamentary synthesizer based on the sounds of a Prophet-5, but with a single voice. It has numerous specifications that only synth fanboys understand or care about. There are claims that Behringer released a sixteen voice Pro-16 in 2021. I have not been able to find any information about it.

In terms of virtual instruments, Bowen worked for Native Instruments, to develop their Pro 5 software synthesizer emulator, released in 1999. It was followed by the Pro 52 in 2000 and the Pro 53 in 2003. He also contributed to Creamware’s Prophet and Prophet Plus emulators in 2003. Arturia released the Prophet V, in 2006. There are also totally free virtual instruments that can do almost the same, but these usually come without any guarantees.

For those more interested in experimentation than reproducing a marketable sound product, attention is directed to the Notes and Volts YouTube channel.

Note: Dave Smith died 2022-05-31.

2022-05-282022-05-28

Good Design

A fence constructed out of split pales, at Vangshylla, Norway. Constructed by Jörg Mentzen. This is an example of appropriate design.

Good Design can be summarized in three words: Weniger, aber besser = Less, but better! Personally, I prefer the term, appropriate design. However, good design seems to be more common. Regardless, people can interpret such a phrase in different ways, so here are ten points to promote a better understanding of it. Good/ appropriate design:

is innovative – The possibilities for progression are not, by any means, exhausted. Technological development is always offering new opportunities for original designs. But imaginative design always develops in tandem with improving technology, and can never be an end in itself.
makes a product useful – A product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy not only functional, but also psychological and aesthetic criteria. Good design emphasizes the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could detract from it.
is aesthetic – The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products are used every day and have an effect on people and their well-being. Only well-executed objects can be beautiful.
makes a product understandable – It clarifies the product’s structure. Better still, it can make the product clearly express its function by making use of the user’s intuition. At best, it is self-explanatory.
is unobtrusive – Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their design should therefore be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user’s self-expression.
is honest – It does not make a product appear more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept.
is long-lasting – It avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years – even in today’s throwaway society.
is thorough down to the last detail – Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer.
is environmentally friendly – Design makes an important contribution to the preservation of the environment. It conserves resources and minimizes physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product.
is as little design as possible – Less is more. Simple as possible but not simpler. Good design elevates the essential functions of a product.

The ten principles, listed above, were developed in the 1970s, by Dieter Rams, born 1932-05-20. His ninetieth birthday was celebrated only eight days before the publication of this post, two days before World Goth Day #14, and the 100th anniversary of the birth of Otl Aicher. Yes, Dieter Rams was mentioned in that post. However, even I was able to appreciate that publishing three posts in a week was excessive, so this post on Rams had to wait! However, most of it was actually written before both of the others.

Like many people, Rams’ trajectory through life was not straight. In terms of career, he started his working life, like his influential grandfather, as a carpenter. Part of a carpenter’s training involves learning to deal with product that can be difficult to work with – wood. Some people feel that disobedient wooden components, need to be beaten into submission. Others learn that beating is not the correct approach, but that there are a few simple techniques that can persuade wood to perform as wanted. Trees have branches, that impact wood’s shape, texture and strength. Today, most wood is cut with saws, producing large quantities of both wood and sawdust. Many industrial processes depend on sawdust, an inferior product with mass but lacking strength. Despite that, I envisage a time in the future, where this waste will be reduced, as it becomes more economical to use laser cutters, if only because this would produce more of a stronger product.

Before saws became commonplace, other techniques had to be used. One approach is to split, rather than cut, wood. Locally, one of my neighbours, Jörg Mentzen, has recently installed a fence with split pales. Here the fence effectively keeps dogs and children on one side, and larger wildlife on the other. Smaller animals, such as snails, squirrels and birds, are allowed free passage. In terms of its production, there is very little waste. This fence is totally in the spirit of Dieter Rams.

Rams’ apprenticeship as a carpenter was interrupted in 1947, with studies in architecture and interior decoration at Wiesbaden School of Art. With his apprenticeship complete, he was able to return to school in 1948, finishing his studies in 1953. Of course, there are different ways of seeing these changes. Wikipedia, for example, wants to focus on his apprenticeship interrupting more academic studies.

After graduating, Rams began working for architect Otto Apel (1906 – 1966), in Frankfurt.

Rams is best known for his work at Braun. Max Braun (1890 – 1951) founded what later became an electrical appliance company in 1921. After his death, the company was taken over by his sons Erwin (1921-1992) and Artur (1925-2013). In 1967 they sold the company to The Gillette Company, which was subsequently taken over by Procter & Gamble in 2005.

In 1955, Rams started working for Braun as an architect and an interior designer. At some point, his role transitioned to that of industrial designer. In 1961, he became the chief design officer at Braun, a position he retained until 1995.

From 1957 Rams also worked as a furniture designer for the Otto Zapf (1931 – 2018) company, who joined with Danish entrepreneur Niels Vitsœ (1913 – 1995) in 1959 to form Vitsœ + Zapf. In 1969 this became Vitsœ. Rams designed the 606 Universal Shelving System, the 620 armchair and the 621 side table. They all show minimalist characteristics.

This collection belonging to the Vitsœ company, consists of Dieter Rams designs, many displayed on Vitsœ 606 Universal Shelving System units. In 2017, it went on display in New York, before being sent to the company’s new Royal Leamington Spa headquarters, in England. Other notable products shown here include a Vitsœ 620 chair, and a Braun SK 4/10 aka *Snow White’s Coffin* because of its white metal casing and transparent lid, a radio/ record player, designed by Dieter Rams and Hans Gugelot. Many of these pieces were originally collected by designer Tom Strong (1940 – ), who first came across Braun products when he was stationed in Germany with the US Army, in the 1960s. He donated these to Vitsœ. Photo: Vitsœ.

With respect to his house, Rams comments: “My house in Kronberg, bordering the Taunus woodlands, is part of a concentrated housing development that I had originally helped to plan. The house is built and furnished according to my own design and I have lived here with my wife since 1971. It goes without saying that we live with Vitsœ furniture systems. Firstly, because I have only ever designed furniture that I myself would like to have and secondly to get to know them during daily use to better recognise where they might be improved or developed further. In instances where the Vitsœ programme is not complete, I have selected furniture from other manufacturers that have been designed from a similar perspective, such as the bent wood 214 Thonet chairs around the table that we use for dining, or the Fritz Hansen stools at the breakfast bar between the kitchen and living area.”

The Rams’ house is described as an L-shaped bungalow, modest in size. A workshop is located below the main living area. Its only apparent extravagance is a small swimming pool. It is a listed property, meaning that the Hessen Office for the Preservation of Historical monuments, has decreed that the building is to be preserved in perpetuity, and cannot undergo significant changes. From my perspective, the house contains an excessive amount of white and cement, and too little wood. I find this surprising in a house designed by an architect, who first worked as a carpenter.

The house occupied by Dieter Rams and Ingeborg Kracht-Rams since 1971. Photo: Ingeborg Kracht-Rams.

2022-05-222022-05-22

Otl Aicher (1922 – 1991)

Otl Aicher designed Waldi, the first official Olympic Games mascot, who featured prominently in Munich in 1972,

Today, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Otto “Otl” Aicher, born in Ulm, Germany 1922-05-22 and who died 1991-09-01, in Rotis, Germany. In this weblog post, a chronology of events is presented, but with a focus on the 1972 Olympic Games in München = Munich.

Aicher opposed the Nazi movement, and refused to join the Hitler Youth. For this, he was arrested in 1937. This also resulted in his failing the abitur = college entrance examination in 1941, after which he was drafted into the German army. He deserted the army in 1945.

Following the end of World War II, he studied sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts, in Munich, in 1946 – 1947. In 1948 he opened a graphic design practice in Ulm. This was moved to Munich in 1967, then to Rotis in the Allgäu, in 1972, where he continued working until his death.

In 1952, he married Inge Scholl (1917 – 1998). She was a peace activist most of her adult life. Along with other members of her family, she was active in Weiße Rose = White Rose, a non-violent, intellectual resistance group in Nazi Germany. Her younger brother, Hans (1918 – 1943 ) and sister, Sophie ( 1921-1943) were both executed for their activities in the group, and her father, Robert Scholl (1891 – 1973) was imprisoned twice for his anti-Nazi activities. Her family also provided shelter to Aicher after he deserted from the German army. Among other books, she wrote, Students Against Tyranny: The Resistance of the White Rose, Munich, 1942–1943.

Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm (HfG) = Ulm School of Design, was founded in 1953, by Aicher, Inge Scholl and Max Bill ( 1908 – 1994), a Swiss architect, painter, typeface designer, industrial designer, graphic designer, and the school’s first director. These three also developed the theoretical underpinnings of the school’s curriculum, which was heavily influenced by the Bauhaus. In 1958 Aicher was a visiting professor at Yale. In 1959 he held a similar position in Rio de Janeiro. In 1968, funding ceased for the HfG in Ulm and it had to close.

Otl Aicher collaborated with Dieter Rams (1932 – ) and Hans Gugelot (1920-1965) product designers at Braun, on product branding as well as on designing radios and record players, where all three were actively involved in developing Braun’s signature design aesthetic.

In 1969, Aicher worked with Lufthansa, developing the company’s corporate identity, including a redesign of its logo, a crane (Grus grus) originally designed by Otto Firle (1889-1966) in 1918 for Deutsche Luft-Reederei, another airline. Aicher wanted to replace the crane, but this was such an ingrained part of the Lufthansa identity that its Board of Directors would not allow it. The Lufthansa wordmark used a san-serif Helvetica typeface, developed by Max Miedinger (1910 – 1980) and Eduard Hoffmann (1892 – 1980) in 1957.

Otl Aicher’s redesign of the Lufthansa crane logo with Helvetica wordmark from 1969.

In 1967, Aicher was in charge of visual design for the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, that complemented Günther Behnisch’s (1922 – 2010) architectural design for the Olympic stadium. Aicher consulted with Masaru Katsumie (1909 – 1983), who was responsible for design at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. While Katsumie was entrenched in Japanese design, he promoted Western/ Modernist design, through the 1954 Gropius and the Bauhaus exhibition at the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo; his 1957 translation of Herbert Read’s (1893 – 1968) Art & Industry (1934), and by writing Guddo Dezain = Good Design (1957).

https://www.brandemia.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Otl_Aicher_01.jpg — Otl Aicher in 1972

The Munich Olympic Games logo, Strahlenkranz = Halo, uses a garland to represent the sun as well as the five Olympic rings, merged in a spiral. Coordt von Mannstein (1937 – ) used mathematical calculations to rework Aicher’s design and to unify the garland and spiral elements in the final design.

Olimpiadi Monaco - Otl Aicher — The Munich Olympic Games halo logo, Strahlenkranz, designed by Otl Aicher.

Aicher designed the pictograms for the different sports, which are used worldwide today. Pictograms are important because they provide a visual interpretation of a sport, that is independent of language, so that athletes/ visitors to an Olympic village/ stadium could navigate the venues. Aicher’s pictograms use a series of grid systems and a specific bright colour palette, based on colours representative of the Alps. Mountains are represented in blue and white, while other elements use green, orange and silver. Red and black were not used. Colours identified services such as media, technical services, celebrity hospitality and public functions. Uniforms were colour-coordinated to these themes, so that Olympic staff of a particular department could be identified by their uniform colour. Otl Aicher’s pictograms can be found here.

For the Olympic designs, Aicher used Univers, a sans-serif typeface family designed by Adrian Frutiger (1928 – 2015) and released in 1957. Twenty-one sports posters were designed to advertise the sports at the games. These featured official design colours, the logo and “München 1972”. Posterization for the graphics on the posters involved separating the various tonal qualities from the images in a manual process and using the official Munich colours. The first of these posters was a poster of the Olympic stadium which became the official poster for these games.

For the first time in Olympic history, an official Olympic mascot was designed. This was Waldi, a dachschund.

Vancouver designers, Ben Hulse and Greg Durrell, are creating a comprehensive resource on Olympic Design, and have been engaged by the International Olympic Committee to create an Olympic Heritage Collection. Durrell notes that Munich is regarded as the best designed Games, with a really beautiful abstract logo. Elegance and simplicity have all but disappeared from Olympic logo design. More specifically, he states:”[I]t became very clear in the ’90s that as soon as [designers] get a computer, things just go crazy. There’s more colour, more texture, more elaborate shapes, more effects … I think we’re slowly starting to come off that a little bit, but it’s everywhere.”

Otl Aicher also developed the corporate image of media institutions, including ZDF, a German television channel, banks and reinsurers, including Westdeutsche Landesbank, Dresdner Bank, Sparkasse, Raiffeisenbank, and Bayerische Rück = reinsurance.

In 1972 Otl Aicher moved to Rotis in the Allgäu, where he founded the Rotis Institut für analoge Studien = The Rotis Institute for Analogue Studies, in 1984. Here, in 1988, he developed the Rotis typographical family. I find it interesting that before a rebranding in 2015, Scandinavian Airlines uses Rotis as the logotype, written in silver letters on aircraft bodies. Seattle’s Sound Transit, also uses it. Rotis was his last major design activity, before he was killed in an accident involving a motorbike, that fatally injured him while he was mowing his lawn.