Midwinter calling, day 16
Morse & Music
Jane is sketching like crazy to copy pictures from my compact camera, and occasionally she take a new picture of me when I work, where I have to pose a bit so it's clearer what I'm trying to do. She loves my idea of a logbook, because this is not only important to me and us, it is this worlds history that is created and given a new path. It should be documented, and it give her something to do, that only she can do well enough, and Kari gets to help with the text because she is the best writer. It is also a good opportunity to evaluate and test my dip pens, and try different inks and tips to try and find a good combination. One difference between me and Jane is that she wants more flexible tips to be able to vary the line width with pressure, while I want a stiffer tip with a constant width, and I prefer two different pencils for different widths. And different colours. It's basically the difference between wanting an artistic feel vs a consistent line for drawings and pure documentation. Exactly how any mass production of 'cheap' pens might happen, is a problem for the future. If it is to replace a goose feather, it needs to be good and should be luxurious since it will cost far more. Which a fountain pen with ebony feed and gold tip would be. But producing something good enough? Future problem. We need to buy more paper, ink and so on. I thought we had a good stock, as we basically bought all the paper the craftsman had in stock last time, and we had plenty of ink. At this rate, it will be used up in a month or two.
Since I don't want to tie up my camera and phone for Janes work, I have transferred pictures to Toms' mobile phone. They will make a book for the Tosra gathering, and they are working on a series that will become the Ackerek and Academy's history. Then it will be a separate book for radio, electronics, etc. Jane is glad I'd already taken pictures and made notes before she came to us, and her work becomes easier after I've improvised a variant of Camera Obscura with a camera lens that uses the mobile phone as a projector. It is not bright, but it is a projected image to sketch from before getting artistic, and in the dark room it works quite well. Since it is a mobile phone, Jane use it to also play music while she works.
Jane love that this work, combined with her paintings, should make her name known and that her work most likely will survive far into the future, perhaps referred to as something like one of Midgård's famous Renaissance painters. I understand that it appeals to her. Jane have studied the masters, and here she might be counted as one of them, and it's obvious that she really want to be seen as one of the greatest, and the one who introduced so much here, but I also understand that she thinks it is wrong to be known for the techniques they developed; it feels like stealing their honour. I feel the same for heck of a lot technical stuff, which is one reason I keep Midgård names for a lot of things, units and more. Not only because it is practical, but many things are named after their discoverer.
Finally, it was some of the Sejic pictures that got Kari out of her contemplations about the world. So many sexy sketches and interesting clothes. After I gave my okay, Jane also showed Alith some pictures and I'm not that surprised that Alith almost started drooling over decorated armour pictures, and loved those beautiful pictures of warrior women that can look so realistic, even though some armour or weapons would be idiotic.
Jane likes my lathe because it makes my workshop more Midgård, and after a thorough explanation she now knows how important a lathe is for creating more advanced machines. Ciara is just happy and fascinated, while Kari and Alith respect the lathe and are happy. Bodil is fascinated, and wants to try using it. The rest avoid my workshop if they can. It does not matter if the lathe is running or not, and neither Elvira nor Caecilia clean my workshop as they usually do, but I'm not forcing them to. Yet. Caecilia avoids staying in my workshop, which is quite a contrast to before.
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Kari really makes an effort to learn how to operate the radio, how to say things and end the transmission. To make it easier for everyone, I improvise a wooden panel with extra controls which is a decent copy of the Radio's front panel, and I connect one of the finished morse keys and add a buzzer on the inside. So she and others can practice a bit without actually transmitting, and so Kari have to operate the controls so she gets some experience and feeling for practical operation. I will build a better training unit in the future, because it's likely I have to train someone or several. When it comes to radio, it does not help Jane that she is from Midgård because she has never used radio in this way, and she don't know morse code. She didn't even get the SOS signal right, and she was annoyed that I had a disapproving face. Like it was my fault. How hard is it to remember; three short, three long, three short. Pause. Repeat. Making the correct durations and intervals is far less important than getting the pattern right. It is a deliberately simple and distinct signal.
Ciara did a good job with counting runes, I have used that information to make a morse alphabet adapted to the language, where the most used rune slash letter gets a dot, the second most dash, and so on. The runic alphabet has 32 characters, but two runes were much less used because they are too similar to another and its likely to be the same sound in many dialects, so I combined them so the code only had to deal with 30 symbols. All combinations from one dot or dash, to four dots or dashes, is 30 combinations. Five characters are used for numbers according to the same pattern as regular morse code, where 1 is a dot followed by four dashes, then more dots to 5 which are five dots, then 6 starts with a dash followed by four dots to 0 which is five dashes. Combinations of six dots and dashes are for punctuation and some special characters, and I've tried to use distinct combination for certain more used symbols, like punctuation mark, comma, question mark, exclamation marks, plus, minus, slash, and I've added a few others that may be useful like ^ and #. I have made a simple Huffman coding tree root similar to a flow chart, where a dot means left and dash right so it should be easier to find which symbol is meant, even if visual learning of morse is a really bad idea. I have a tablet computer and mobiles, so with the computer's help and audio editing software I will make audio files so we can use the Farnsworth and Koch method to learn to recognize morse code, which means full speed but longer between letters and fewer combination in the beginning.
Hummm.... Instead of morse code maybe I should call it Norse code.
Geez, a nerd joke in a language that only Jane could possibly understand. Still...
It would have been nice to test the transmission range. It would work with fixed transmission times to be able to get an update around every sunset and sunrise because those are the times that are easiest to follow without clocks and should generally give good signal conditions at this frequency. In the beginning I'll probably have teach two people in navigation technology so they can determine where they are on a map, and then send them away with my merchant ships and make regular transmissions every night from the mansion so they can record in the logbook what they heard, even thought they can't answer. Although there will be a couple more radios built, and I will build them with Iselin.
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It has been a long time since I and Alith talked through and discussed how the mansion could be attack and we both have tried to think of security and I've also thought about alarm systems etc. The best security features are the iron bar security windows and the security doors that I added from the start, but every small improvement help. The new interior doors between the entrance and the great hall add to the protection, even though they partly have fairly large glass panes and lack full iron reinforcement and a full iron frame the security doors have. But they are strong thick wooden doors that are well attached to the walls, and have a discreet locking mechanism that hook the doors together and have bolts locking up and down when the handle is moved, which makes them harder to force open.
I have solved how I can easily alarm the basement doors or something. I only need to close an electrical contact, so it is quite ridiculously simple in most cases, and I can do normally open or normally closed with a small relay or just amplify a signal to be sent to the alarm receivers. But Alith and Gunhild really wanted me to try to figure out some warning system for my bedrooms outside balcony, which was embarrassingly difficult as I simply thought too high tech. I was thinking of some kind of motion sensor. Heat. Radio waves. Vibration. Capacitive feedback. Sonar. Mercury sensor. Everything felt too difficult or impractical, and many of those solutions have problems in weather like rain or snow.
But the balcony deck are made of planks and since they're not pegged together like the floor inside, they flex a little. It's not much and I don't really notice it walking on them, but even a few millimeters are enough, and that flex will basically not happen by itself unless there is lots of snow on them. So I will install a couple of contacts on some planks, and if they move, an electrical signal is lost or made. If the balcony door is properly secured and locked, the signal is sent to the alarm. That door will always be properly secured and locked as long as no one is out there, so if someone is moving out there with the door locked they have climbed up, which is rude and unfriendly.
I expect that there will be false alarms, but it is not difficult to construct the contacts so they are reasonably protected from rain, snow, ice and wind on the decks underside. I'm more worried about corrosion, spiders and insects, but it's high up from the ground and out in the open so should be less of a problem. Being awoken by a false alarms at night will suck, because I will install a hidden alarm bell over by the door as well, but it feels better to be woken up immediately and get a warning before Alith & Co comes rushing in with drawn weapons and wakes me up that way. It's not really worse than the morning alarm clock I've lived with for work, and the good news is that the alarm will not be waking me up every working day morning.
There will be a similar solution at the main entrance, the wings 'kitchen door' and the pavilion door. The issue is that the they have stone surfaces instead of wood that flex. So those entrances get a wooden grille like a foot scraper a few centimeters high that tries to be alarmed in a similar way with contacts and flexing surfaces, but signals to a small bell in the guards day room. There will after all be guest and visitors that shouldn't lead to a full alarm. All these doors will probably have a small red surface-mounted LED hidden in some kind of artwork above the door so it lights up if someone hides outside when it is locked. If the alarm bell has been switched off, the light should still light up as a reminder and warn of hidden danger in a blind spot before opening the door.
I made the mistake of not installing enough signal wires from the wing to the guards day room, so the guards will get the same alarm from both exterior wing doors. I will tell the staff to not unlock if the art work glows, and instead tell the guards if they are not already on their way or is actively clearing it. The guards will also do regular weekly tests of the functions as part of their chores. The artwork above the doors might be a raven with an eye that can shine, and I might add similar artwork ravens without a shining eyes on the outside. It is not a bad idea if people make some kind of connection to Odin's ravens watching them.
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Since I gave the musical instruments to Caecilia, she and Jane have music sessions where Caecilia is dead set on learning to play Midgård music, and she just spend a lot of time listening to the same song she wants to learn as she practice, and partly as Jane sketch in the dark room. Caecilia's problem is that there are so many songs and pieces she likes, and she don't understand the lyric. When they have a proper music session, Jane tries notes and short segments and tries to create sheet music for their favourite songs and write down the lyrics. Gunhild loves to participate when they practice, and she is pretty good with a flute, and Hillevi occasionally joins them playing drums. Alith may be good at a lot, but she just don't have a talent for music. Ciara accompanies them quite often even though she rarely plays, but she is hardly alone in just listening.
A note book is something that Caecilia and several others finds very interesting and it is a fascinating concept. A written language for music. I have already introduced so many concepts and written so many books, so why not one a book from Jane that describe music? But it's good that Jane can do it, because I can't read sheet music. My musicality is limited to clinking on a piano and trying until I have found the right notes and can play a simpler song. I can not read notes, although I can open an audio file and analyze what tone or tones are heard. It's been a long long time since I took guitar lessons so it's all forgotten, and it was never something I really enjoyed. Basic music education in Swedish primary school didn't lead to anything either. It might be a huge reason why Sweden export so much music, but it just wasn't for me. What I can help with is translating words or lyrics that Jane is unsure of into something that works in Norse, or at least explain it well enough that Caecilia can figure out something that sounds better when sung. Jane basically write down songs in English, to be translated in the future, but translation doesn't always work, or have weird concepts that doesn't translate, so they also make their own lyrics for a lot of songs.
Lindsey's 'Shadows' is one of the songs they practice, just like Ji Pyeongkyeon 'Sad Romance', and The Corrs 'No good for me', although Jane and Caecilia changed the lyrics when they translated, and I have no issue with them taking liberties with lyrics or certain parts of the songs. The Corrs are generally popular with many in the mansion, and they also work on 'Only when I sleep', and 'Heaven knows'. Era and Enya are other favourites. When Gunhild joins them playing flute and with Jane on drums, it honestly sounds good. The drums are a bit awkward and I have suggested building frame and a foot pedal to make it more drum set like. Jane loves that idea and she wants to try to get hold of or make something like big cymbals. Why am I not really surprised that Jane prefer hitting things and making a lot of noise?
Usually Caecilia or Jane sings, but I have to admit that Caecilia sings far better and with more control than Jane. When Ciara joins in on the tambourine during Rolling Stones 'Paint it black', it honestly rocks. Queen's 'We will rock you' works well, although the acoustic ending will be different. 'Hijo de la luna' fits perfectly with the musical instruments they have, and lets Gunhild steal the show. I have the instrumental version, so I haven't even bothered mentioning that the lyrics is quite tragic. Gunhild also loves Dana Dragomir's pan flute version of 'Mio min mio'.
During a break, we listen to Dragonforce's 'Cry for eternity' which makes me think of Iselin. The performance impresses Caecilia. Even though she doesn't like the music, she likes the way it sounds and appreciates their skill. Delain's 'Breathe on me' starts up, and it is with emotion that Jane sings along while emphasizing certain sentences and words more than others, and we both understand that it is some kind of revenge for the La Bouche incident. I just reply that if Jane wants me to 'Breathe on her', she knows where I am, and I give her a wink while I look her in the eyes with a playful smile. In the way she closes her eyes and holds back an 'Argh' as she leave the room, I count that as a win.
I should get back to work, but I also feel bad that I have basically completely pushed aside lessons in reading and writing, but building helps, and the others in the household still hold lessons in it as well as math. Eh, screw work, tonight I want to play some Risk.