Bit-52s--> a true robot band plays rock lobster.

The Bit-52's consist of:

Fred's Vocals - TI99/4a computer, speech synthesizer and terminal emulator ii module
Kate and Cindy's Vocals - Two HP Scanjet 3C scanners, UBunto and sjetplay written by NuGanjaTron
The Guitar, Keyboard, Cow Bell, Cymbal and Tambourine are all controlled by various types of push/pull solenoinds for a total of 23. The Solenoids are powered by four ULN2803 darlington drivers and everything is controlled by two PIC16F84A microcontrollers.
(straight from the description on YouTube.)


I'm going to go figure out what a solenoid is.  In high school a boy who i was NUTS about (I never did tell him!) and I would hang out and try to make music together.  He suggested we call our band The Solenoids. I was too embarrassed to ask him what a solenoid was.  We didn't get much further than driving around listening to the b52s, eating onion rings in a diner shaped like a flying saucer, and designing an ad for a drummer.....

Mennonite land

Joe and I went to our friends Bob and Jenny's wedding in Waterloo last weekend and left early Saturday to St. Jacob's Market.  For those of you who have not been, it's a HUGE farmer's market and flea market near Kitchener/Waterloo, where most of the old order Mennonite's of Ontario live.  Many of the vendors at the market are run by Mennonites. We bought back bacon sandwiches and maple syrup. 


Across the street from the huge market there is a big consignment antique store the size of a small arena. Joe and I bought a huge, pull-down Ontario school map form the 50s for 30$.  The colours of the map are bright and saturated pastels and almost neon-y colours.  I'll post of photo soon.  We're planning to hang it in our living room.

We also saw these two racist figurines. I almost didn't post these seeing as they're so weird and racist. Take note that the first figurine says "You-R-Next". I believe they're from the 1930s.  The second one has a tag that reads "Black woman on toilet, salt and pepper".  EEK!