[viewed the last 20 minutes of this program, very interesting. about the Schumann resonance and lighting, and 'the global electrical circuit'...]

NOVA: At the Edge of Space  (PBS science program)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/earth/edge-of-space.html

// transient luminous events (TLEs) - sprites, blue jets, elves

[video]  Earth's Global Electric Circuit - Atmospheric Electricity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7-0YRiln7E

Global electric circuit and lightning
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/lis/lis_4/

Earle R. Williams -- Research Overview  (see Fig. 1a)
http://web.mit.edu/earlerw/www/Research.html

Global electric circuit model to help
scientists understand electricity in the air
http://www.rdmag.com/news/2013/10/global-electric-circuit-model-help-scientists-understand-electricity-air

[quote] “The next step is to incorporate the distribution of thunderstorms,” Lucas said. “Currents generally travel upwards above thunderstorms distributed around the equator and return down over the poles, away from the thunderstorms. Part of the future work is going to be determining what influence those thunderstorms have on the global system.” [unquote]


--- crypto platforms ---

unknown if others relate to it this way, though i think DMX lighting systems (somewhat like MIDI for lights, fog machines, electronic billboards) has potential as a communications system beyond strobes and laser projections, LED light patterns and various colors and special effects (disco-ball to various atmospherics: water-like filters, shapes, etc.

DMX512 standard for lighting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMX512

what is quite interesting about the existing technology besides the potential for lasers, is fully automatic controlled lighting systems, robotic or remotely servo-driven, that can be coordinated and synced with other events. so, for instance, you could have 8 different LED lights around a perimeter that on cue could together reorient themselves and shine different colors on a central object, though that involves a lot of cable, infrastructure, and enough know-how to figure it out. and still, that could just involve entertainment versus using the same functionality to, say, change the way something appears via these potential influences.

instead of examining lighting as just a utility or as decoration, it also could open up or unlock other meaning or hidden structures or qualities or characteristics latent yet unexpressed or unhighlighted. the lighting of the 2oth century World's Fairs were notable for the art of light via electrical infrastructure which brought about a different awareness. and then this related to the Great White Way of electrification, electrical lights and electrical signage that changed the landscape and the way people relate to the city, home, nighttime, movement, etc.  three books offer insight into these dynamics in differing ways:

Electrifying America
Social Meanings of a New Technology, 1880-1940
http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/electrifying-america

American Genesis
A Century of Invention and Technological Enthusiasm, 1870-1970
http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/A/bo3627102.html

and at the infrastructural level...

Networks of Power
Electrification in Western Society, 1880-1930
Thomas Parker Hughes
http://books.google.com/books?id=g07Q9M4agp4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=networks+of+power&hl=en&sa=X&ei=P4qNUvH-Oci6kQeQroHgBw&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=networks%20of%20power&f=false

[reviews] http://www.amazon.com/Networks-Power-Electrification-1880-1930-Softshell/product-reviews/0801846145/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

context:  History of electric power transmission
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_electric_power_transmission


now what does this have to do with lighting gear usually related to DJ rigs and night clubs and entertainment venues... beyond that lighting technology, perhaps techniques have advanced over decades and now are a major form of expression - including of information - via active 'light signs' and even computerized, animated lighting technologies tied with LED diodes, in terms including: longevity, size, energy-efficiency, color-spectrum, economy, and inexpensive -in many scenarios-, mass manufacturing.

so the illuminated sign outside the store and the billboard have been transformed via LED lighting arrays that exist somewhere on the edge of beings screens, where the pixels are usually mapped to a visible array of lights, versus the microscopic pixels of higher resolution computer display screens. and yet these electronic signs and billboards as "communication" appear as a mundane functionality, versus a potential realm of exploration (i.e. Jenny Holzer) and thus this same boundary condition of use, the ordinary or standard approach versus other possibilities  also could be extended into lighting innovations beyond the realm fo signage, that also could function as a communications medium, for signal conveyance, yet not used this way in default configurations of cycling colors or lighting synchronized to music and thus providing sound-&-light atmosphere, as if lighting flashes within thunderstorm clouds, versus other kinds of signals beaming out of the fog, outside of the nightclub scene.

in other words, lighting systems as signage, communications platform, potentially signal systems for cryptographic content in the realm of the semaphore, symbolic comms, etc.
here are a few introductions to the technology available...

// notice array ~35 sec. (sectional control allows pixel mapping)

[video]  COLORbar™ SMD by CHAUVET® DJ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lLkFZGalCE

info:  COLORbar™ SMD
http://www.chauvetlighting.com/colorbar-smd.html

(basically, in a combined array using DMX and software, patterns could potentially be programmed onto the device as a display or communications medium, including abstract signs or other language variations, within an aesthetic context or as signage/semaphore)

[video] CHAUVET COLORbar SMD Overview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7i-TAa4mUU

(note: light patterns could be video captured by mobile phone, decrypted)

this is perhaps the most promising, most applicable to 7- and 16-segment display issues though in the dot-matrix approach, scaled to signage versus circuitboard component... again a massive array would be needed though definitely, if programmable, an 3|E animation and other calculations could occur, the larger the grid, more space for symbols and words, though that would be room and wall-sized and a huge investment to start, versus smaller scale...

Core™ 3x3  // units interconnect into grid array. pixel-mapping.
http://www.chauvetlighting.com/core-3x3.html

[video] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh28pV5uRls

{reference : pro-series Nexus™ 4x4 & LED video wall panels
http://www.chauvetlighting.com/nexus-4x4.html
http://www.chauvetlighting.com/mvp-ta8-curve.html
http://www.chauvetlighting.com/mvp-12.html


then there are 'lines' known as colortubes, by different manufacturers which could be used to create segmented alphanumeric characters or blocks, or vertical or horizontal arrays. in addition, this technology is potentially particularly well-suited to /\|\/ type dynamics...

[video]   American DJ LED Color Tube  // non-DMX, with remote
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUqkH4AGabA

[info] http://www.americandj.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ItemNumber=1837&MainId=2&Category=L.E.D.

[videos]  CHAUVET COLORTUBE 3.0 EQ LED // DMX controllable
http://www.chauvetlighting.com/colortube-30-eq.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq8IHSzkPE4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJUNMX_7Ahc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDzRwOH3_SM

[info] http://www.chauvetlighting.com/colortube-30-eq.html


// this appears the easiest approach if building a large pixel screen...

(really quite amazing, if it can be programmed at the pixel level)

[video]  American DJ Flash Panel 16
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g33dMySW6Jc

note: many DMX-LED lights have controllable brightness levels


-- other possibilities --

[video]  American DJ Matrix Beam LED // all metaphysics here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5UhRlCCRvg

[info] Matrix Beam LED
http://www.americandj.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ItemNumber=2144&MainId=2&Category=L.E.D.

// if it could be hacked, programmed for custom patterns...

MotionDrape™ LED by CHAUVET®
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0w2q8dIJHg

Chauvet Motion Drape LED Review/Demo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3238kKNPOhY=


// this is much more basic though of a symbolic dimension...
// like a stationary LED juggling ball, less functions and purpose.
// decorative. ambiance, yet what if designed as programmable,
// or raspberry-pi placed in similar scenario, open dev platform...

LED Color Ball
http://www.americandj.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ItemNumber=1836&MainId=2&Category=L.E.D.

[note: in Minneapolis there used to be a giant ball on a building downtown known as the 'weatherball' that changed color to indicate the weather forecast and could be seen for miles. thus when snow was imminent it would change color and people would know it would soon be snowing, etc. in this way a simple mundane orb could function as a signaling device via what color it is on, and what this may relate with. perhaps more could be done with this, such as adding an info-dimension or that it is a sensor system or a marker for geolocation or geocaching even, data point, whatever. what if it synced with a ring or keychain, etc. or went into mood ring territory based on proximity electrostatic charge, else like gunshot sensors, if sharp noise or yelling detected turns red. what is the potential... is it inert or does it tend towards interaction, is it a mirage as a crystal ball or may it involve key exchange, etc.]

Mr. Weatherball
http://forgottenminnesota.com/2012/03/170/

Weather beacon // see history: empire state bldg & coca-cola decoder
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_beacon

"A weather beacon is a beacon that indicates the local weather forecast in a code of colored or flashing lights. Often, a short poem or jingle accompanies the code to make it easier to remember."


-- further outward --

[video]  ADJ Laser Preview  // projection vs. aerial lasers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnLsG0Oa7yw

[video] American DJ Comscan LED // what if open patterns...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix8W-voBqPE
http://www.americandj.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ItemNumber=1929&MainId=2&Category=Lighting%20Products|Scanners

[video] full motion LED spot, remote controlled
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtHDres38r0

[video] American DJ - X Move LED 25R
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0i7Hwkj7lg

(example of potential use: modify for site-specific use, perhaps with UV or IR lighting, invisible to normal sight. someone goes into a space, instructed to take photo, and light illuminates dust pattern on wall that later shows up on photograph. else, takes photo in area of others, pattern lights up on clothing via matched wavelength thread, etc. perhaps unique sensor in camera and light to bound other observations. thus: secret communications, reading/writing. thus, what equipment can do this... leading to consideration of existing DJ technology as an innovative medium that could be explored for its potential as signage and for signaling in various abstraction, beyond only color, into patterns, icons, movement, animation, etc. quite a large canvas of possibilities to explore, beyond networked PCs)


--- high abstraction pattern-match ---

e.g. what if this sketched a pattern in fog that was recognizable
via pattern-analysis of video // likely would require lasers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IZ1va8azFM

e.g. say binary pattern or sequence via on/off, hi-lo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IZ1va8azFM

sweeper beam //  lighting system language... #X/V|
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E_bomUKOW8

American DJ Tri Gem LED // gears, rotational syncing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMWqNcIiQKE

the value would be in programmability, shaping output
to particular pattern-based if transformative parameters,
in terms of randomness or calculation or AI-behaviors...

Eclipse™ RGB // merges lasers & leds
http://www.chauvetlighting.com/eclipse-rgb.html

(haunted-house crypto, moving towards MIDI-animatronics.
defensive tactic... if they cannot locate the computer, then)

[videos] DMX fog machines
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CXKpC8Rl8Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIeLwT3ppCM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tSQHHQvxyk

Fog Bandit Presentation By Legal Entry Locksmiths 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2qApXHN4y8

(might as well go all the way....

Geyser™ RGB - color LED & fog
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQXFyo28Ndc

stage effect for symbolic encrypt/decrypt of binary crypto
in revue of security theater. soundtrack perfect.)


// and last but not least...

DMX bubble machine as the ultimate short-term RNG!!!
[video] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAxhXivVaTY

(what, you don't like soap? think of it, floating bubbles, light,
movement, captured on video, using pattern match engine
to search reflections and colors on bubbles surface, as if
hundreds of crystal balls a second, changing each moment
to the next via lighting and wind and inter-bubble relations)


--- artifact ---

CRYPTO bobblehead, "Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon"
http://www.amazon.com/Destroy-Humans-Furon-Wobbler-Bobble-head/dp/B0038T0VJK

related: PS3/X-box 360 console game, c.2008-9
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destroy_All_Humans!_Path_of_the_Furon


{educational fair-use of copyright, 2013}

arugula, shallot, leek