BDSM Scientist

Get Your Thinking Caps on Boys and Girls and …JERK OFF

2008-02-24T13:58:00.000-08:00

Emotive Systems is causing quite a buzz at a recent computer gaming conference with its brain-reading headset to control interactive computer games. I’m actually jazzed about this—not from the standpoint of being able to play computer games, but of its potential in controlling sex and kink toys.

Emotive announced its concept in March 2007. Since then they did some development testing in Australia, and launched their consumer product in February 2008.

While they’re actual process is still proprietary, Emotive alludes to being able to read and interpret the wearer’s brain wave activity using Electro Encephalography (EEG) techniques. This is doubted by some citing that the signal strength of brain wave activity at the scalp surface can be swamped out by more prominent facial muscle nerve signals that are up to 15 times more powerful. Nonetheless, whether the headset is reading EEG’s or eyelid twitching, the wearer can eventually use either to control devices: game consoles or pussy shockers.

People have been exploring the use of EEG’s for controls for a long time. Certainly applications for aiding the handicapped is one of the noteworthy goals. Apart from the muscle signal overwhelm problem, there’s the massive problem of “just what do the EEG signals mean?”

Consider this: there are approximately 10^10th (i.e., 1 followed by lots of zeros) nerve cells in the brain. And their connections are truly complex. The brain isn’t just a big switchboard. There are subtle layers, interactions, and timings involved in processing perceptions, controlling movements, and forming thoughts. And even after 200 years of research, we’re just barely beginning to decipher what’s all involved. The EEG you get from the doctor is like trying to determine what’s going on inside a telephone exchange by standing outside holding a compass. Yes, you can get general trends, but it’s hard to find out what’s happening at a few critical neurons …if indeed thoughts and actions result from a few critical neurons.

Let me interject now a personal note. My interest in EEG’s started when the doctors gave me one when I was a kid. (They were checking to see if I had a brain tumor, which, fortunately, I didn’t have.) Since then, anything connected with the brain fascinated me: neurophysiology, cognitive science, EEG’s, etc.. I even built my own EEG as a high school science fair project.

All of this science and personal content aside, imagine what such a device can be used for …kink-wise that is. At the under $300 price tag for the headset and interface, it’s within the realm of an experimenter. We can only imagine the possibilities…

Controlling various toys for use on a partner—TENS units, vibrators, (and for the really ambitious and affluent) a robotic flogger/caner/single-tailer—all with the power of thought …or maybe an eye-twitch.

As a corollary of the above, this would be an ideal way for a handicapped top to get more enjoyment out of a scene.

As a second corollary, control multiple scenes with …”the power of thought”.

As another corollary, because we’re dealing with electronic interfaces they can be combined with computers for long-distance teledildonics over the internet. …and this can include or be included in the “multiples” corollary above.

Using it for masturbation purposes (after all, there are a lot of solo e-players out there). Rather than depending on pre-programmed e-stim, more variation in stimulations can be achieved through use of the headset. And these variations can be a function of your individual and spontaneous “heat (so to speak) of the moment” thoughts, actions, and feelings. And for you guys a modified Venus 2000 could also be controlled this way.

And the list can go on…

With all the possibilities of what it can do, however, can it be done safely? After all, you’re depending on layers of electronics between you and your partner (or between you and your genitals if you’re into the masturbation aspects of this) to do what you want it to and not to inflict bad pain or harm. At this point, I suggest you check out my paper, Computers in BDSM. Even something as simple as a “kill switch” can mean the difference between a fun time with a thought-controlled butt plug vs. getting your hemorrhoids painfully cauterized.

While that image bounces around in your mind, let me ask, “Given that it could be done safely, what kind of applications would you like to see using the brain-reading headset?” Put on your thinking caps boys and girls…

Cao-4-Now
Unc’

Blame Mr. Wizard

2008-02-17T21:54:00.000-08:00

It all began in a small, 5,000 watt station in… Sorry! Wrong “It all started…” speech!

Having done (and still doing BTW) a bit of the BDSM ‘Rubber Chicken Circuit’, perhaps I should tell a bit of from where I got my interest in science and technology and perhaps a bit of my presenting style.

Having ‘been around a while’ (and no snide remarks about Dino E-Play), most of you in counting back will realize that I actually was as a kid living in the tail-end of the radio era and the beginnings of the early television era, i.e., the 1950’s. Of particular interest to me was the Saturday radio kid shows and in 1953, when my family got its first television, the educational shows. Understand that for television this was before MTV, Bevis and Butthead, and the other ‘inspiring’(?) and ‘morally uplifting’(HAH!) shows of today. The TV industry was still trying to carve its cultural niche in society by saying it was an ‘educational force for good’. As a result there were shows like "Uncle Ned’s Flying Squadron” and “Dr. Daniel Q. Posen” teaching aviation and physics. Even the adventure stories like "Atom Squad” and "Captain Video” had ‘embedded’ lessons on atomic energy and space travel. All were the hot science topics of the day. Then there was Don Herbert (1917 – 2007).

Launching in 1951 Mr. Herbert had an extremely popular television show called “Mr. Wizard’s Science Secrets”. Its sponsor was The Cereal Institute which emphasized “…eat a hearty breakfast of fruit, cereal, milk, bread, and butter.”

Though coming from a theater and radio production background, he did get some practical technical training as a B-24 bomber pilot during WWII (check out Mr. Wizard Studios website). Nonetheless, every Saturday his program covered some physical science topic. One week it might be on electricity; another it’d be on combustion chemistry. The thing is that all the topics were presented in an easy-to-understand style with demonstrations and experiments that were drawn from everyday items: spark plugs, a doorbell, flour, kitchen cookware, etc. This was no school lecture hall with educational institution glassware and apparatus. It was science that a kid could sink his(er) teeth into. And it inspired the kids to do their own DIY experimentation—seeing as the setup and equipment wasn’t complex at all. And it certainly wasn’t like many a science teacher that presented the subject in a manner less interesting than pocket lint.

“Mr. Wizard” was my most favorite show. I watched it religiously every Saturday till I went to High School, and it gave me a way of understanding …really understanding… science that I still use today. Yes, there were other shows too—the space exploration lectures given by Dr. Wernher vonBraun on the Walt Disney show being a notable one, but Mr. Wizard imprinted me forever.

You’ll notice that in my lectures (unless you’re only there for the NGGE; see below) and my published experiments that I try (in my own—perhaps feeble—way) to carry on Mr. Wizard’s tradition. It was indeed sad for me to learn of his death in 2007—having almost reached his 90th birthday.

Thank you Mr. Wizard.

Cao-4-Now

Unc’

What would you want in a sex doll?

2008-02-09T15:05:00.000-08:00

Many universities and countries—Japan especially—have been working in the field of robotics. More specifically they’ve been working on producing robots that mimic human expression and actions (see http://www.roboticspot.com/en/spot/vernot.shtml?noticia=Tue-Oct-19-17:49:49-2004 as an example). The penultimate (or nearly so) is the “Actroid” (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actroid) that is a human size, robotic “doll” that can mimic human facial expressions. Now on a completely different, but related subject, there’ve been sex dolls. These aren’t the blow-up kind you find in adult book stores. These are the cast polymer, human-configured dolls running upwards of $1,300 or more (see http://www.realdoll.com/ and http://dir.salon.com/story/mwt/feature/2005/10/11/real_dolls/index.html). (BTW, they make them in “guy” shapes too.) There is, and always has been, a convergence between the two and having a real live sex robot—one that will look “right” (after all, a lot of the turn-on process is in the mind and the visual process), and will respond emotionally (and I guess there are “right” emotions too—like not saying, “Not tonight dear, I have a headache”) to enhance the sexual experience. This is, after all, a popular film and story theme.

OK, with that said, it’s time to …thrust… to the heart of this piece. With the possibility of achieving a real sex robot within our lifetime, and given that you do win the lottery to pay for it, what would YOU like to see in a sex robot? Would anatomical features—big boobs, a 12-inch dick, a heart-shaped ass, 6-pack abs, whatever—be important? If so, what? And if you would, why? Would emotional responses—walks on the beach, romantic dinners, serving you your pretzels and beer while kneeling naked before you, etc.—be just as important? If so, what and why again? Also with “moves”—that little ‘wiggle’ at orgasm(?), smells, the way they moan, getting nipple rings ‘just for you’—the woulds, whats, and whys. Finally, does it need to be a physical device or would some sort of virtual reality or cybersuit kind of thing work?

The reason I’m posing this topic is that there are a lot of folk working on such devices right now. They break out roughly into “geeks” and “marketers”. The “geeks” (and I’m proud to call myself one) know how to build such devices, but often they suffer from ‘their own idea of good features’-ism syndrome (read, they don’t get too many dates). Rent the movie “Weird Science” to see what I mean. The “marketers” on the other hand tend to think more of “…yes it’s a turkey, but if I pitch it just right, I can make a million on it.” So it’s probably a good time for a grassroots effort. At least we’ll be able to get OUR say before it gets dictated to us.

What I’m asking for right now is for free-form responses—short or long, brief or detailed, silly or serious. (Group dynamicists will recognize this as the brainstorming process.) This will then help me to formulate a more detailed, penetrating, in-depth Phase II survey that will focus on specific features. You can respond to this by either e-mailing me directly (at UncleAbdul@gmail.com – and all such communications will be held confidential unless otherwise authorized) or in this forum.

So, are you game?

Cao-4-Now
Unc’

P.S.: Here are some links to where elsewhere this article appears:

http://sfthecitadel.tribe.net/thread/36721abd-1ca6-4d97-9104-0c46d22be0e4
http://sfbdsm.tribe.net/thread/f654e87a-468e-42fe-a701-97228e77b23f
http://mastersandslavestpe.tribe.net/thread/8abfb7c8-d51a-41ec-8067-c5f7c0b16cdb
http://sextoys.tribe.net/thread/80dce87c-9f91-488f-ac2c-bd6a52c44e02
http://tribes.tribe.net/edgesinsouthbay/thread/ff3ce663-18e1-4b41-95e5-5c6a9c1ac7d7
http://electricalplay.tribe.net/thread/608e0e03-d8ff-4d55-991b-b8a0d018a2c7
http://societyofjanus.tribe.net/thread/2af7e610-5cf8-4496-bf62-4cfefcf3d44f
http://www.slashdong.com/
Frenzi mailing list
OdyForum mailing list
also check out:
http://tribes.tribe.net/d61a9f37-32df-40a9-ba9c-f10a6acd2770/thread/ef8910f0-24b9-472e-8ce0-e3c03b33023f

People who kill E-Toys

2008-02-06T18:24:00.000-08:00

This is prompted by actually running across such a person. I originally thought such folk were urban legends, but apparently there are people who in receiveing E-play actually either destroy or at least incapacitate the E-play toy used on them. And apparently some of them also have non-contact adverse effects on electric household appliances such as light bulbs, or electric clocks and watches.

Such people are fortunately extremely rare. In the 100 or so people I've personally done E-play with, I've only run across one. And when you factor in the nearly 1000 E-players I know, there's still only one ...that I know of. Thus the reason for this post.

What I'd like to hear from everyone is if you know of any such people from your personal experience or that of a trusted friend. If you can let me know of some of the details that you witnessed or experienced without giving actual names or incriminating details of course. The reason I'm asking is to try to get a rough handle on at least the number that may exist. Also I can start accumulating a catalog of observed effects. This would be helpful in a study on this subject. Once a rough number and/or a rough catalog of effects starts evolving which, in turn, helps suggest a more developed study(ies).

Please don't get me wrong. Certainly--like the person that sparked this post--are really nice folk. They are not maliciously or purposely trying to defeat E-Play. And certainly E-Play is not the only joy in my toy bag. Impact play is also one of my favorites, so if E-play won't work with a partner, then out comes the floggers and canes. There's always more than one way to have a good scene. And I'm not looking for ginny-pigs for experiments either. The field is too immature at present to suggest any meaningful experiment designs.

So I'd like to hear from others about this. This will help make E-Play better for everyone.

Cao-4-Now

Unc'

All Sorts of New Stuff and Technologies for E-Play

2008-01-16T21:09:00.000-08:00

The connection between Geeks, Sex, and BDSM (or the period-appropriate term then extant) has always been around from time immemorial. We have the ancient Egyptians having patients standing on electric torpedo fish as a treatment for leg cramps…

Ancient Egyptian Physician: That was your first fish treatment. Do your cramps feel better, or do you need more treatments?

Ancient Egyptian Patient: (wincing in pain, rubbing his calves, and looking terrified) NO, NO, Doc. One was enough. I guess (moan) you cured me.

Ancient Egyptian Physician: If you don’t have BLUE ANK, that’ll be 3 drachmas please. (secretly enjoying the process with sadistic glee)

The ancient Greek Philosophers, of course, did the first investigations of electrical phenomenon. This generally involved sulfur balls, amber rods, and cat fur. They also developed devices for charge storage (not really true capacitors yet), and they usually loved to—for fun…and in the interests of the pursuit of knowledge of course—shock their friends (and non-friends) in the butt with these devices. And it isn’t too far fetched to imagine them doing the same to their lovers’ pink parts in the privacy of their bedrooms or baths.

This continued throughout the ages in the same vein—i.e., as parlor entertainment—until the “Age of Reason”, when the study of electrical phenomenon was being subjected to more scientific investigation. But even still, the temptation to “shock and amaze” their friends (…well more shock actually) they zapped them …where else… in the butt. (They did have a capacitor by then.) This was strictly in the “interests of science” …that’s it…yes…SCIENCE. Even the monk, Nollet, took delight in shocking a circle of his fellow monks …to demonstrate the principles of current of course.

Then around the turn of the 20th century, there were all sorts of amazing new machines and technologies that genuinely made life easier. Nicola Tesla with just the stuff and inventions alone of his that people could understand made the modern world possible. (BTW – one of his inventions is now used in E-Play, i.e., the Violet Wand). And, after all, “electricity was life” then. It could cure gout, falling hair, venereal disease, and what was then called “female complaints.”

Tesla must have had a streak of kink in him though. In his work on high voltage machines, he’d sit under crackling 10 and 20 foot long electrical arcs and read the newspaper by their light—and all without getting fried in the process. He’d even invite his celebrity friends to do the same. Mark Twain wrote that when he tried, he enjoyed the experience, but had to ask where the bathroom was afterwards for he had to do a No. 2. Presumably the normally reserved Tesla smiled.

Now here it is—the 21st century, and the geek sex/kink connection is still there.

Take, for instance, SlashDong.com. These are geek folk that are seriously looking into and building teledildonics devices and other on-line sex stuff. They even hold national conventions and such. You might want to check them out. There have also been a couple of commercial attempts at doing web partner-to-partner sex through the use of e-stim.

The ultimate in full-body-experience cybersex would be the cybersuit. The full-blown virtual with tactile reality—i.e., you can actually smell the musk and feel your sex organ being stimulated—cybersuit has yet to be invented. But one that is well on the way is being developed by the adult industry company “Vivid Entertainment” (careful of the pop-ups if you click). It’s really a glorified set of computer-controlled e-stim pads in a body stocking, but the attempt is a good start. (For more info, see [1] and [2]. And of course see my fiction piece on my website.)

But wait… Unc’ is thinking far outside the box. “E-Stim, HA! Cybersuits, piffle!”

Available today from Edmund Scientific are two “combat” toys that pack a wallop (shock actually). One is the “Laser Shocking Guns”, which is a e-shock version of paintball. Each player is fitted with an active target and a light pistol. If your light pistol hits your opponent’s target, they get a shock through their pistol’s grip (and vice versa).

The other is the “Remote Controlled Shocking Tanks”, which are two remote controlled, light cannon tanks that it hit by an opponent delivers a shock to the handles of your remote controller joysticks.

As someone once commented when I wrote about it on Tribe, “…it’s an extension of the Jackass phenomenon.” But in reality it had some origin in an on-line, web-based, punishment-consequence game invented by a couple of German college students. And, of course, there’s the old fairground “Test Your Strength” game where a shock would be delivered to someone holding onto a grip until they couldn’t take it any more and let go.

But both of these new toys just beg to be kink-a-fied. The Laser Shocking Guns can be easily adapted so that the targets and a shocker are attached to a subbie. Then the top can do subbie hunting where you aim for the targets to shock your subbie. Of course, you can determine the “degrees of freedom” they’re allowed in their attempts to avoid being shocked. Ahh, the fun, the fun. Hours of enjoyment for everyone!

As for the Remote Controlled Shocking Tanks, this is easily adapted to the “Dueling Masters” scenario where the Masters control the tanks, but the shocks are instead delivered to their restrained subbies. Talk about “…trust your master to protect you…” or “Subbie, do you remember that you didn’t have my coffee ready this morning…” kind of things. The possibilities are endless.

But wait… there’s more…

Ever hear of the Theremin? It’s a musical instrument based on RF fields being controlled by a musician’s hands playing over its two antennas. (It was the background music for the film “Forbidden Planet”.) It was invented by the Russian, Lev Theremin, in the 1920’s and perfected by him in the US. (Lev, BTW, was tricked into going back to Russia and was then forced by the KGB to invent some pretty clever war technology and spy devices—including the infamous “US Great Seal Bug” device.)

At any rate, I’ve often wondered that this instrument could be connected to a subbie. Then, using a grounded Mylar flogger, you could have a scene where by the sweet sounds of the subbie’s moans would be augmented by strains of ethereal music.

And that’s not all…

Ever hear a singing Tesla coil? By proper modulation of a solid state Tesla coil, the crackling arc can also be a sound producer faithfully replicating musical notes or even the voice. (To see a vid of it, go to Zeusaphone.com or check out "Singing Tesla Coils" at YouTube.) While this can be a knock-your-socks-off demo in and of itself, I’m thinking that this can be adapted to our old friend, the Violet Wand. Imagine jaws dropping in the dungeon as you’re doing a “singing Violet Wand” scene. The technology is out there.

I hope that this little piece stimulates some creative juices in you oh gentle reader (or the not so gentle ones too). I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts, comments, fantasies, and contributions. Kink is creative and so are geeks—a natural combination.

(BTW, also check out The Geek Group.)

Computers in the scene

2008-01-01T15:20:00.000-08:00

While I have a more scholarly paper on this very topic on my website (that covers the techniques and safety aspects of such play), this one's more of a "Cliff Notes" version AND a mild lament.

Actual statistics notwithstanding (but why let facts get in the way of a good rant), we all 'know': Computers Rule. It seems that everybody and their brother-in-law has one--especially amongst kinksters. So why aren't they being used more in scenes?

True, there are the stereo-stim people that run .WAV files off their laptops, through sound cards, and into electrified butt plugs (brave and adventurous guys and gals these), but these are solo experimenters that are having fun but not at play parties. Nor am I talking about using computers to set up play dates and doing cyber-kink (...like ALT.com, etc.). What I'm talking about is actually using a computer as a toy in the scene.

So far, in all my years in the scene (...me and T-Rex... but that's a different story) I've only seen computers twice used as toys in the dungeon. The first was a guy who was giving his sweetie a flogging, but he was using his laptop as a CD-player to pipe music directly into her headphones as personal mood music. And the second was a recent role-play scene done by a couple where he was the lecherous IRS agent and she was the hapless taxpayer failing to submit her 3566's, 2801's, etc. The laptop in this case was a prop where he was 'reviewing her past returns.' The ...ahem... 'climax' was a mutually pleasurable 'accommodation.'

While both were fun to watch, are there any more direct uses of computers in the scene out there? ...like applying shocks and vibes and such? I'm developing a couple of ideas. Any other such experimenters out there? Share!

Cao-4-Now

Unc'

The artist in me

2008-01-01T15:02:00.000-08:00

When I was living in Russia, I had time to contemplate and let loose the artistic expression side of me. True, the only work that resulted was my book, Juice--Electricity for Pleasure and Pain, but I had lots of other projects for historical fiction novels that I started picking at ...completion of which, alas, awaits the leisure I'll secure when I retire not too long off. I often though of myself as "having the heart of a Pushkin, but the tongue of an ox."

As I give more and more presentations at BDSM events around the country, I get chances to see the artistic samplings and scenelets of others, and my artistic yearnings start bubbling. I particularly like those involving displays of what I call "raw or primal power."

Examples of what I mean...

Scenelets: watching a husky leatherman having his sweaty, naked, boy secured to a cross and giving him a good strapping with a razor strop while the boy is struggling to please his top and both of them so intently involved in each other -- watching a cloud of lesbians exquisitely torturing one of theirs each so involved in each other and their scene that the energy just builds and builds and builds -- watching a superb flogging between a male top and a female bottom so artistically done and exquisitely executed that they are in their own universe and the attention of that universe is focused in admiration on them -- or watching a D/s scene between a Mistress and her male slave who is so enraptured at her and is so intent to please her that just a mere gesture, pose, or a softly given command on her part controls his very being and the two of them immersing themselves in their scene.

Artistic: watching a performance with a renown leather top give a flogging to a boy while his photographic images are frontally projected onto the two of them such that the tails of the flogger become an organic, moving, changing pallet of color, light, and pain while choreographed rock music augments the performance -- at LiL-1, watching a performance of a group of leathermen in harnesses going through a stylized scene "dance" amidst smoke machines and loud rock music -- and at ImsL, a female performer slowly and artfully using, to the accompaniment of slow music, a straight razor to remove all the lathered shaving cream totally covering her nude body.

For me the elements of such performances that draw mine and others fascinations are the intensity and involvement of the participants and the employment or use (or at least the illusion thereof) of harnessing raw power in that performance.

Now, I've been thinking of how I might--if I so took a mind--do a uniquely Uncle Abdul artistic performance. Electricity springs to mind. (Daaah!) It is a natural force that simultaneously fascinates yet frightens people. (Actually I examine such psychology of people's interest in electricity in my book. This is the fear-fascination-trust triangle.) Electricity affects the so-called "lizard brain" of people, that's why it seems so raw and primal. The only trouble is that most electrical play can't be seen. Even the arcs of the Violet Wand are 'wimpy' compared to the arc produced in say a piece of electric switchgear. Electrical play can be felt by the participants, but it's not audience dramatic--hence, not in and of itself something that would hold an audience say as fire play might.

Enter, stage right, "The Flames of Sir Jag" (Google it). I was fortunate enough to recently see one of his performances held in San Francisco. It was spectacular. The audience was thrilled. I was so impressed that I've taken up a correspondence with him to share ideas. It also rekindled my artistic endeavors.

His performance is a choreographed blend of naked slave girls, fire play, flogging, music, and dramatic presentation all blended to great effect. What particularly impressed me--beyond the whole impact of the performance itself--was attention to the safety of the performers and audience. And the performers didn't need to be especially talented or trained. Just their natural responses were enough to produce the effect. I would highly recommend that you see it if you ever get an opportunity.

But back to "performance electricity." To do something powerfully visual, you need lots of sparks and arcs. (Other things can be done too, but I'm not ready to let that cat out of the bag yet.) Sparks and arcs inherently require lots of energy and hence are inherently dangerous.

I'm a great fan of Kenneth Strickfaden who did the dramatic electrical effects in the 1930's Frankenstein films. The only trouble is that his special effects gear depended on lots of electrical energy and required that the actors be in the right spot lest they get burnt. The safety of the audience was assured, but only because they were passively watching the film.

There are photos of Nicola Tesla reading his newspaper while illuminated by 6+ foot, artificially produced, lightning bolts. He was the first one to 'play' with extremely high voltage electricity. His tradition is being continued on with Dr. Megavolt. All such were dramatic and impressive displays, but at the same time they require high energy and great pains have to be observed for the safety of the performers and especially the audience.

My problem in tickling my particular artistic expression itch is to how to be dramatic, capture the sense of playing with and harnessing the raw, elemental forces of nature, yet be safe. Daunting task indeed! Fortunately this is an artistic and an engineering problem that I relish in. Got some workable results too.

Stay tuned.

Cao-4-Now

Unc'

The Myth of the Passionless Geek

2008-01-01T14:48:00.000-08:00

Yes, I've been around long enough to hear it all--about how engineers, scientists, programmers, whatever are all "supposed to be" generally "lacking" in being able to express emotion. We're "supposed to be" "introverted" or "lacking in social skills" or whatever. The labels they give us are "four eyes," (in the days of my 'uthe) "brain," "nerd," and nowadays, "geeks." And I won't even go into the psycho/social analysis of how the 'popular people' (read: jocks and prom queens) 'look down upon,' or 'pity,' or even seek to 'lord over' us. E-Blogger doesn't have enough bandwidth for me to launch into that rant. The thing is that we're not any of that, and, I freely admit, they're (i.e., the 'popular people' ) not either.

When I was a young man and an emerging engineer (my thanks to Russian Cosmonaut, Yuri Gigauran--but that's another story), part of my life plan was to find out about myself and other people. (In modern MBA-ese it would be called, "...getting laid is part of the business plan." ) The methodology I chose ...well... actually I stumbled onto was what was called (in those days) "Growth Groups." (I can see my contemporaries all wistfully nodding now.) But alas I had this nasty habit of asking questions, "...but why is it that way?," and the like. I sometimes wished (business plan, remember) that I could just "go with the flow" like the others and just "experience" and "be one with the... ya-de-ya-dah." But that was not meant for me. So I went to original sources. The psychologist, Abraham Maslov, with his "self-actualization" and his "hierarchy of needs" were some of the big things touted by my fellow Growth groupies back then, so I started reading his works. For me it was cracking open the Rossetta Stone ...the first of many as it turned out.

One of Maslov's works that especially influenced me was his "Psychology of Science." In it he stated that the primary factor in the motivation of a scientist (or allied profession) was curiosity--an emotional state. This was quite an eye-opener. And it made sense. How often did I notice in conversations with fellow engineers the enthusiasm in, the curiosity about, and willingness to share the things we were discussing. True, the context was mainly technological in nature and not sports or movie stars, but emotions were a key part of the interactions. The range of topics widened in my discussions with fellow Mensans, but again discussions were full of emotional involvement and sometimes even spirited.

One of the little side treks in my journey that pointed this out occurred when moving into an office at one place I worked. I was cleaning out a file cabinet, and I ran across a rather poignant poem penned by the previous occupant. Pushkin it wasn't, but it did convey what was in his heart rather well. For me, this pointed out that technologists are also emotional people too.

So called "linear thinker" technologists are perhaps more aware than others of the non-linearities, the discontinuities, and the blind canyons of curiosity-driven paths of discovery. So I had my ups and downs, but I expected that. (I often didn't like it, but I still expected that.) And in this journey I suddenly realized that others--i.e., non-technologists--had their own keys to their own passions. I could now more readily appreciate the passion that the high school jock cum professional baseball player seeks to perfect his(er) athletic prowess, or how a musician or artist or writer passionately struggles to convey the vision in their head to others. All of us have at least one good thing that we're good at and take pride (an emotion) in and will strive (an emotion) to do well. All can be appreciated for their unique passion. (And one nice, serendipitist result of this journey of self-discovery was that ...the business plan was being more successful.)

Now, yes, I have run into technologists that fit the passionless stereotype. Here the (gallows humor) joke of "'engineer' is a psychological syndrome" describes them, but, to be fair, I've also seen artists, athletes, etc. with similar hang-ups. But if anyone has seen a typical bunch of engineers or programmers working together on solving a problem, it's easy to catch their infectious enthusiasm. Passionless is not an apt descriptor here.

You'll never convince me of the myth of the passionless geek, but then I'm having too much fun ...discovering something new all the time, studying about electrical play, doing presentations, introducing young lovelies to electrical play, etc. Nonetheless I hope this little piece sets you to thinking.

Cao-4-Now

Unc'

NGGE

2008-01-01T14:42:00.000-08:00

A fellow (and contemporary) BDSM presenter (i.e., in the BDSM Rubber Chicken Circuit) once passed on a truism that was passed onto him from another presenter, towit: "...ya ever notice that the really well-attended presentations are the ones with an NGGW -- Naked Girl Gets Whipped." (Now none of that "...not me, man" stuff from you gentle readers--and the not-so-gentle ones too.) Well, I've found the same thing too in my presentations. The only thing is I now have to morph NGGW into NGGE -- Naked Girl (or Guy for the mens' groups) Gets Electrocuted.

Enjoy...

Cao-4-Now

Unc'

How Unc' Got His Start as a BDSM Scientist

2008-01-01T14:25:00.000-08:00

A lot of my friends know that I lived in Russia at the end of the last century. In reality the job I had there was an easy gig, so I had lots of time on my hands. One day shortly after I had finished the manuscript for my book, Juice, I started thinking about E-Play--particularly the commonly held belief (amongst some) of "...no electrical play above the waste." From my electrical engineering background, I knew that was a highly restrictive view not really within the bounds of how an electric current acts within a 3-dimensional conductor. Current kinda takes a more or less straight path from the source to the sink, but if the carriers--say the electrons--can't follow in an end-to-end, 'conga-line' fashion, they'll try to get there by going to the 'next lane over' (or above, below, whatever). In other words current tends to 'spread out' from the general straight path. (If you want to persue this further, may I suggest looking at the subject of solid state physical properties. EE's have to.) "But," I asked myself, "how can I show that?"

Then I remembered my electrical engineering student days. We did experiments in lab to study electric fields using a material called "Toledus Paper." This is an electrically conductive paper. By placing electrodes at different places on the paper, charging them with a battery, and then taking voltage measurements at different points on the paper. In this way, a map could be drawen showing the fields. It's all quite interesting experiment, but dull to conduct. (It's amazing what a thing like "getting a grade" will inspire.)

But, alas, no Toledus Paper did I have. "How," I asked myself, "could I duplicate this experiment and study different field paths resulting from different electrode placements." "Ah, how about a conductive liquid? ...like salt water?" This would also have the advantage that other people could also duplicate the same experiment and satisfy their own curiosity.

And so on with the experiment. I used a plastic food container, salt water, nails, clothespins, and batteries. I used an ordinary VOM and a ruled piece of paper to do the measurments. (I've always appreciated that some of the resourcefulness of the Russian people rubbed off on me.) The only thing left was performing the experiment, and I had lots of time to do that.

So much for the easy part. How the hell do I reduce all this raw data? Fortunately I owned a computer in Russia, and I was fluent in Excel. As a student I had been trained in relaxation reduction techniques--a mathematical numerical technique taking advantage of a computer to reduce and smooth-out spacially arranged data. And Excel made it so easy. (I wish I had had it in my student days. It would have saved me hours of Fortran programming.) And I had also had a course or two in HTML, so being able to do a web page of the results was easy too.

It was hard work, but I had lots of spare time and enthusiasm in the project. The rest was--as they say--history. (Actually it's at my website if you want to see it all laid out.)

Cao-4-Now

Unc'

Musings of a BDSM scientist, educator, and someone who's been around for a while (a.k.a., "Ol' Fart")

2008-01-01T08:31:00.000-08:00

I love it when two of my interests intersect. So, why not the intersection of science and BDSM?

It's not all far fetched. There are certainly play techniques such as Electrical Play, Fire Play, Spice Play, usv, usv that could benefit from the understanding and investigation of the physical principles that underlay the play. I know for others, it may not be sexy, but for me it's just as exciting as ...say... flogging some young lovely.

E-Play is one example of this--as you can see in such things as the experiments I feature in my website. But there are times when I think I am alone in this. (Not really, but it certainly seems so from time to time.) So besides sharing experiments, thoughts, and researches, I will also share the journey I undergo in following my drummer: the ups, the downs, the joys, the disappointments ...whatever. Who knows? Maybe this will encourage some, and bring others from their "geek closet."

And over the years, I've had many wonderful opportunities to share some of my knowledge with others (see Unc's Schedule). I go back to the days when to actually go to an 'out-of-your-locality' event was little heard of, but to actually be invited by such an event to present was a rarity indeed. I think I commented at the time that, "...it may be the start of an S/M 'Rubber Chicken Circuit' ". Little did I realize then that such things would not only be commonplace, but it would produce 'stars' such as Midori, Fifth Angel, and others. While I don't yet lay claim to such stardom (although truth be told that to my wicked delight some people would disagree) I don't yet have such a killer schedule that I identify my domicile as 'seat 21D on the red-eye to Dallas'. Nonetheless, over these many years I've developed some impressions, thoughts, helpful hints, and kevetches of being a nationally known presenter. And some may benefit in my sharing these also.

And you may have noticed my continued use of the phrase "for a long time". Well, that refers to the fact(oid) that I've been "in the scene"--i.e., start of my Society of Janus membership since 1980. Actually--like many of us--I've had the fantasies and did play experimentation much earlier, but lets just say for sake of argument that I started in 1980. Interestingly enough, I have BDSM contemporaries that have more years of seniority than I, but who are younger in age than me (lucky swine -- but I say that in a loving way). And like others of my age and seniority, I'm not immune from the "... why in MY day..." disease(?). Fortunately I like allying myself with the younger and less experienced members of the Community PLUS I have this uncanny memory of when I was that young and inexperienced that I actually think my observations and thoughts might be useful, interesting, or at least amusing. And NO wisecracks from you young whippersnappers... Why in MY day...

So, to these three ends, I dedicate this my blog. Gawd help us all!