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

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…

1. 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.




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



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



4. 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.



5. 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

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?

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People who kill E-Toys

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

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

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The artist in me

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'