A collection of digital wonders and some other stuff
Here’s a neat little project that anyone can do: make battery powered magnetic LED “throwies” that can be thrown and stuck to any ferromagnetic surface in your neighbourhood.
A throwie is made from a 10mm diffused LED, a small lithium battery, and a rare-earth magnet all taped together. They cost about $1 to make and the batteries last about a week.
Instructables has a page of step-by-step instructions to make your own throwies.
Also, check out throwies in action.
The Song Tapper is a neat web application that can help identify a song that maybe stuck in your head, but maybe you don’t remember the name of it. The way it works is to just tap the spacebar to the rhythm of each syllable in the lyrics of the song you want to identify and then the server returns several possible names and artists. It’s fun and surprisingly accurate.
I’ve always possessed a fascination with optical illusions, subliminal messages, the unconscious mind, and cognitive psychology in general. I think that’s why I found the idea of messages in music when played backwards so fascinating.
Back in 1998 I went on a mission for the LDS church. I was serving in the most unlikely place of Salt Lake City, Utah. Using the line, “we were just in the neighbourhood” seemed a little disingenuous when the temple marked the skyline behind you. There are a lot of Mormons there so we had to be a little more creative.
There are, however, a lot of people that are not members of the church. One of my favorite things about my mission was meeting people from all walks of life and from every imaginable social and economic backgrounds. The diversity of people I met ranged from those that were on the verge of being homeless, to literal billionaires.
Regardless of background, we (as missionaries) wanted to get our message out and influence people in as positive a fashion as we could. One of the methods of sharing our beliefs was the use of cheesy promotional videos that protreyed value of the family/church/good morals, etc.
One specific movie that I showed to investigators of the church was the movie, “On The Way Home”.
It’s a quaint little movie about a family who goes through the pain of the loss of their daughter/sister and meet some sister missionaries who teach them about God’s plan, The Plan of Salvation™.
The interesting thing about this movie is a rumour that I heard from another missionary about it containing subliminal messages. I was pretty sure it was just one of those missionary urban legends, because OBVIOUSLY the church wouldn’t buy into subliminal messages, not to mention the fact that even if they are “positive” messages, it sure leaves a bad taste in ones mouth to think I was being used as a pawn to subconsciously brainwash people. (Not me! I was there to help people.)
“What kind of subliminal messages?” I probed. The other missionary explained to me that near the start of the movie, when one of the main characters is jogging home for his baptism there is a bike race and someone watching the race holds up a big cardboard sign that says, “don’t do drugs” which flashes across the screen says the words, “don’t do drugs” but it’s muffled and hard to make out on a conscious level—unless you are specifically looking listening for it. So while that message didn’t seem like something you would expect, I still wasn’t convinced.
The message I remember him telling me about most was (and there may be more, but it’s this one that I remember) during the sister missionaries discussion, as they are teaching the family a lesson, the soft lighting and relaxing music which are in themselves creating a very serene and peaceful environment suddenly appear bubbles floating around behind them.
What?
“Bubbles? What? Why?” I couldn’t imagine that this was actually true. Surely I would have noticed bubbles. What would be the point of bubbles anyway?
Well the explanation went something along the lines of, “bubbles are supposed to induce feelings of peace and tranquility. They remind people of their youth and are relaxing. People subconsciously see the bubbles and it makes them feel good. When they feel good about your message they are more likely to act on it.”
I had to see it to believe it. I will always remember the next house I showed that video to. They were a super family that had just moved in to Utah and seemed quite interested in learning more about the church. As we sat there watching the movie I could hardly believe my eyes as tiny little bubbles started floating up in the background. I looked over at the others watching the movie intently. They didn’t notice.
They did however decide to get baptized. I wouldn’t try to say that the movie was the reason for it, I mean come on, bubbles? But nevertheless there you have it. Subliminal messages in “On The Way Home”.
Update (October 2022): I found a copy of the film on Youtube. I’ve updated the part about a sign that says don’t do drugs to reflect that it’s actually the sound of someone’s voice saying “don’t do drugs”. It’s hard to make out and one can’t ignore the power of suggestion when trying to decide what you hear. The sound happens at 18:29.
As for the bubbles, I do see something, but now I think it might have been dust floating around in the room where the film was shot. See 16:50.
There may not be anti-drug sound bites or calming bubbles intentionally placed to remove our agency, but the movie is manipulative. The grieving family is promised that if they join the church, follow the church’s rules including 10% of income for the rest of their life, they can see their dead daughter again. I hate admitting it but I can’t help but miss the message of hope it provides. Watching it now still gives me tingles—but it’s so manipulative!
I haven’t talked specifically about backmasking here for a while, so I thought I would throw out some questions for discussion. What are your thoughts on:
Discuss.
After the show in Calgary on Tuesday I headed up to Drayton Valley for a quick visit with the cutest nephew in the whole world, Ryker. I’ve also said hello to my sister Jackie and her husband Glen, but oh man that baby is so cute—it’s all I can do to prevent myself from eating him up.
The next morning when he woke up, he even wanted to be held by me instead of his mom which apparently is EXTREMELY rare (it just goes to show how smart the kid is).
I also saw Anna’s new play in Edmonton yesterday; I’m sorry to say it was kind of brutal (I guess that’s community theatre for you), but I have no regrets.
I’ll be heading back to Lethbridge later today.
Being a part of the studio audience was a lot of fun. George is one of those rare people whose great TV personality is totally real. He is almost exactly the same one-on-one as he is in front of the nation.
I also enjoyed meeting some of the producers and even the director of Newsworld. The Hour is a great program, one that I never realized was as good as I’ve heard it to be. I’ll be watching more often in the future.
So how long is this show anyway? Um, about 22 minutes. Wait that’s a different “Hour” show.
Ok, enough cheese… I’m going to be on CBC Newsworld’s “The Hour” tonight at 6pm (MST).
For those of you that watched the show (if you came here after 6pm on Tuesday), I know what you came here to see, here it is, Jeff Milner’s backmasking page.
Perhaps you’ll find something interesting in the archives when you are done. Oh and remember, I’m looking for an internship, so if you know anyone that needs someone with great web, Photoshop, 3DS Max, Flash, and design skills, please send them my way.
Today I was featured in an article in this month’s issue of the Legend (the University of Lethbridge’s official publication). When I first came to the University I remember thinking, someday I’d like to be in the Legend. I wondered what I could do to get in there.
I’ve had a couple of roommates mentioned for their amazing swimming skills, but as my last semester was approaching I began to think it was never going to happen.
My perspective on things certainly has changed with all the media attention I’ve had lately, but it’s still fun to be in the paper and smile as I brag, “Hey, I’ve hit the pinnicle of fame! I’m in the Legend!”
If you’re wondering about how the announcing went… it started out a little rough and got better as the afternoon progressed. I was kind of nervous at first, just speaking into the mic and hearing my voice echo across the pool. The stands were pretty full and there were swimmers and officials all over the deck. I was sitting at a desk up in the stands. I welcomed everyone out and then I said, please stand for the playing of our national anthem.
And then it happened. Probably the most embarrassing thing possible. In my nervousness I didn’t even realize anything was wrong. I could hear my friend Vicki laughing from the pool deck and I had the sinking feeling she was laughing at me. The song played on. Then about 30 to 45 seconds into the song, Vicki walks out where I can see her and yells up to me, “Jeff that’s the American National anthem!” Could my face be any more red?
Apparently when queuing the music I rewound the tape on the wrong side. Now the decision had to be made, do I just play the rest of the song out and have the Canadian National Anthem play after, or do I stop it now and fast forward to the next song? I elected to stop the tape and just announce my mistake, “Oops, that was the American Anthem”. The people of laughed politely at my blunder but I was more worried that the meet would get started late because of my fumbling around with the tape player.
There I was trying to find the Canadian National Anthem on the tape meanwhile everyone else was just standing there, waiting for the music to play. Finally I realized I needed to flip the tape over and rewind it, and once that was on its way I used the moment to announce some of the money winners from the races yesterday.
I have to say, it was really embarrassing but things did pick up after that. I slaughtered quite a few names but by the end of the meet while I was still butchering their names, however, I just did it confidently and quickly so that most people probably didn’t notice hopefully didn’t care.
I’m glad I went; I had a good time. I’ll be doing the announcing for the finals again today.
A couple of years ago I came across a link on Waxy to a TV show pilot titled, “Heat Vision and Jack” produced by Ben stiller and staring Jack Black and Owen Wilson.
Jack Black stars as Jack Austin, an astronaut on the run from NASA after a solar accident makes him the smartest man in the universe. Owen Wilson plays his talking motorcycle. Produced by Stiller, who also appears in the introduction and as a strip club DJ.
It’s a classic in it’s own cheesy way, and now that I’ve found the link, if you’re a fan of Ben Stiller, Jack Black, or Own Wilson, then I think you’d better check out Heat Vision and Jack. (Approximately a 300mb torrent but well worth it)
