Tell Me What it Was I Saw

Teo del Fuego · Post by **Teo del Fuego** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:58 am

2007, late at night. Radio antenna mast-like tower with vertically mounted white LEDs pulsing rapidly. Looked like nothing much until you turned your head away. The movement of your head while looking at this flickering array of lights caused an "image" to drag out from the mast. I know it had to do with retinal impression, or something like that. Its really hard to explain and the explanation does not, I swear, involve acid, mushrooms or that funny orange juice I drank down the street.

When a flashbulb goes off you can still see a flash for a few seconds later. It was this sorta of thing except the verticle LEDs were sequenced so that a word or two (one time a smiley face) were imaged as your head moved past the tower.

What the hell wuz that?

misfit · Post by **misfit** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:10 am

event happened 7 months ago, and your just now asking,"what did i see".....?.... alcohol induced hallucinations lasting 7 months,,, nice to have you back with us...............

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:50 am

That would be a pretty cool idea anyway.

BitterDan · Post by **BitterDan** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 12:24 pm

Word of the Day:
Flashback

Teo del Fuego · Post by **Teo del Fuego** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 2:53 pm

Arrrrgh, I KNEW you freaks would crawl out of the woodwork on this one, but SERIOUSLY, I googled this shit and cant find it. It was amazing I tells ya! It was on a side street (whichever one Barbie Death Camp was on) at about 2:30-ish.

You, too, will see it this year and give yourself the same old roadside sobriety test I gave myself. (Hmmm, lessse, this is my elbow....and this is my asshole, okay I can tell my asshole from my elbow, must be sober.)

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 7:10 pm

Teo del Fuego wrote:2007, late at night. Radio antenna mast-like tower with vertically mounted white LEDs pulsing rapidly. Looked like nothing much until you turned your head away. The movement of your head while looking at this flickering array of lights caused an "image" to drag out from the mast.

I remember those at a South of Market nightclub in the 80s. words only, I think.

Post by **mdmf007** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:24 am

Sounds cool though

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 6:45 am

http://www.globalideasbank.org/site/ban ... deaId=3973

This is the closest thing I could find.
Search engines suck.

I have heard of these in the man before.

Digital-Dragonfly · Post by **Digital-Dragonfly** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 7:02 am

I was not there to see it... but your discription sounds alot like "Persistence of Vision"
& it comes in several forms...

http://www.lazyboneuk.com/store/pro246.html

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2006/0 ... cts_5.html

and my favorite...
http://technabob.com/blog/2007/06/06/fa ... ning-leds/

or maybe It was a vision...

Imburningman · Post by **Imburningman** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 7:00 pm

Man, all of these stories I am reading on this board make me want to drop everything and head out to Black Rock tomorrow. :evil:

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:06 pm

LED light stick of some sort.

Jeremy Lutes, who did the Lily Pond installation in 2002, built some from scratch back in 1997 using red LEDs that cycled through a couple dozen iconic images, but he hasn't been involved in Burning Man since the Lily Pond got trashed.

chrispburn · Post by **chrispburn** » Sat Aug 23, 2008 10:36 pm

Yes, I know what you're talking about, and I don't know what it's called either.

I've seen LEDs programed in stationery set-ups as you described -- one year I remember seeing a tall vertical column of LEDs that would display the Mona Lisa if you turned your head quickly.

I've also seen some excecutions where the LEDs are moving, not your head. Some light toys for poi spinners -- even "Hokey Spokes" for your bike -- attaches to just one bike spoke and can display patterns or even words.

Remember a very simple installation a few years ago where pinwheels were rigged up to a framework of wires. During the day, it looked like some complex clothes line grid. At night, each pinwheel was programmed to display a thought provoking bit of text.

That is a characteristic of the LED that make it identifyable to me -- the weird flicker when you get a quick, moving glimpse. Try it on christmas lights - or even on the brake lights of an Escalade -- they have a very different look than most cars.

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Sat Aug 23, 2008 11:18 pm

LEDs don't flicker, unless they, well...flicker.
They respond very rapidly to power, which is why they can be used as a strobe.
DC powered LEDs have no flicker.
If the frequency is high enough on ac powered lights, it is usually not detectable.

Persistence of vision is how most of these things work.
I am not sure if there isn't something more involved in some of the hidden pictures.
I think there is a fast enough cycling that the flicker is not visible normally, due to persistence of vision.
But when you move your eyes fast enough, you stretch out the image.
I'm just guessing though.

Fluorescents can also be used as a strobe, though I don't think they react as fast as an LED.
I have machines that use the 60 cycle pattern from a tube for calibration.
I also have an adjustable black light strobe which can be run as slow as once every 2 seconds. You can see the arc begin.

chrispburn · Post by **chrispburn** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 10:41 pm

ok, flicker is the wrong word.

but try this the next time you see x-mas lights, or an Escalade (cadillac SUV, yuck).

if you whip your head really fast, while looking at it, you'll see what I'm talking about. There is a quality to the light that is, well, different.

of course don't try this while you're driving, or whip your head to quickly, unless you have a chiropracter handy.

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 11:36 pm

If they are running off AC, they will flicker at the speed of the power.
I think some CTSs are running elwire for a chmsl.
Elwire runs off a high voltage inverter, which I think is AC.
The flicker should not be easy to detect at higher frequencies though.

I can't imagine why an LED in a car would be using AC though.
If it flickers, it probably is though.

Tell Me What it Was I Saw

Tell Me What it Was I Saw

Re: Tell Me What it Was I Saw

I'm with you Teo