http://www.rhci-online.net/radiogram/radiogram.htm

  https://github.com/GyanD/codexffmpeg/releases/tag/2023-03-05-git-912ac82a3c

RSID: <<2023-09-21T23:31Z MFSK-32 @ 9265000+1500>>


Welcome to program 323 of Shortwave Radiogram.

I'm Kim Andrew Elliott in Arlington, Virginia USA.

Here is the lineup for today's program, in MFSK modes as noted:

  1:43 MFSK32: Program preview (now)
  2:51 MFSK32: Airless bicycle tires near production*
  8:35 MFSK64: Louis Armstrong's 1965 visit to the GDR*
15:26 MFSK64: This week's images*
28:26 MFSK32: Closing announcements

* with image(s)


Please send reception reports to radiogram@verizon.net

And visit http://swradiogram.net

We're on X/Twitter now: @SWRadiogram


 

From New Atlas:

NASA-inspired airless bicycle tires are now available for
purchase

By Ben Coxworth
September 13, 2023

Two years ago, we heard how the Ohio-based Smart Tire Company was
developing shape memory airless bicycle tires. Well, the
resulting Metl tires can now be purchased via – you guessed it –
a Kickstarter campaign.

The never-go-flat tires were created in partnership with NASA,
which had already applied the same technology to tires for its
planetary rover vehicles ... after all, it would be pretty
difficult to fix a flat on the surface of the Moon or Mars. And
no, they're not literally airless. They're hollow – so they have
air in them – that air just isn't pressurized, nor is it required
for the tire to hold its shape.

At the heart of each Metl tire is a Slinky-like spring that runs
all the way around the tire. That spring is made of a shape
memory nickel-titanium alloy known as NiTinol, which is described
as being strong like titanium yet also stretchy like rubber.

Importantly, when NiTinol is placed under pressure, it initially
deforms but then goes back to its original shape. This
characteristic allows the Metl tire to gently compress and
rebound, providing a smooth ride just like a pneumatic tire.

The spring is encased in a poly-rubber material which forms the
tire's transparent sidewalls and replaceable tread. According to
the company, this setup incorporates only half as much rubber as
a regular tire. Additionally, while the tread may have to be
replaced roughly every 5,000 to 8,000 miles (8,047 to 12,875 km),
the main tire should reportedly last for the life of the bike.

For this commercial introduction of the technology, the Smart
Tire Company is offering a road/gravel tire in size choices of
700 x 32c, 35c and 38c. The 35c model is claimed to weigh 450
grams (16 oz), which is around the middle of the weight range for
comparable pneumatic tires.

And we're told that while this first version of the tire will be
of a fixed firmness, future models may allow users to increase
the firmness by pumping in more air. So they'll be
semi-pneumatic, but they will still never go completely flat.

Assuming the Metl tires reach production, a pledge of US$500 will
get you a set of two – getting them retreaded should cost about
$10. Complete aluminum or carbon fiber Metl-clad wheelsets are
also available for pledges of $1,300 and $2,300, respectively.
Potential backers should note, estimated delivery isn't until
next June.

Sources: Kickstarter, Smart Tire Company

https://newatlas.com/bicycles/metl-shape-memory-airless-bicycle-tire/

 

Image: The Metl road/gravel tire, pictured here without its
replaceable tread ...

Sending Pic:128x179C;





Shortwave Radiogram now changes to MFSK64 ...
 

RSID: <<2023-09-21T23:38Z MFSK-64 @ 9265000+1500>>

This is Shortwave Radiogram in MFSK64

Please send your reception report to radiogram@verizon.net
 

From Deutsche Welle:

How Louis Armstrong left his mark in East Germany

Elizabeth Grenier
September 18, 2023

In March 1965, Louis Armstrong came to East Germany for a series
of concerts. It was a tightly packed tour: The jazz superstar
performed 17 shows in nine days in five different cities of the
communist German Democratic Republic (GDR).

Around 45,000 East Germans saw him play live with his All Stars
band.

The political background behind Armstrong's concert series turned
it into an event that was both "outstanding and ambivalent," said
Paola Malavassi, co-curator of a new exhibition that takes the
historic event as a starting point. "I've Seen the Wall - Louis
Armstrong on Tour in the GDR 1965," is now on show at Das Minsk,
an art museum in the former East German city of Potsdam, right
outside Berlin.

GDR had ambivalent views on jazz music

The Berlin Wall had been built less than four years earlier by
the GDR; the satellite state of the Soviet Union was aiming to
stop the "brain drain" of educated and skilled workers from the
East to the West.

Amid Cold War propaganda, the GDR's ruling Socialist Unity Party
increasingly hardened its stance toward popular music throughout
the 1950s and 1960s. By the end of 1965, during its plenary
session, the party officially unveiled its hard line against all
cultural manifestations that were deemed to promote the West's
"nihilistic" and "pornographic" values.

Jazz was also viewed suspiciously. GDR leader Walter Ulbricht is
said to have described it as "the ape music of imperialism."

But the GDR authorities' attitude toward the music genre also
fluctuated from the 1950s to the 1970s, with some officials
recognizing its power as the "people's music" because of its
African American roots.

"Satchmo," as Armstrong was nicknamed, had been invited by the
Deutsche Künstler Agentur, the GDR state agency in charge of
determining which foreign musicians could perform in East
Germany, as well as which East German artists were allowed to
play abroad.

A symbol of 'friendship between peoples'

Politically-toned speeches were held upon Armstrong's arrival in
Berlin. The head of the GDR artists' agency, Ernst Zielke,
praised the musician's visit as a symbol of peace and socialism,
calling it a celebration of the working class and friendship
between peoples.

On the other hand, the United States was also keen to send jazz
musicians to Soviet countries, as "goodwill ambassadors."

The GDR had allowed the Armstrong concerts to take place in halls
with a capacity of 2,000 to 3,000 seats, but it had also assigned
the Stasi, East Germany's secret police, to surveil the
concertgoers, fearing riots.

The tour is remembered as having given a boost to the East German
jazz scene, with the music genre serving as a symbol of freedom,
as noted by jazz musician Jason Moran, co-curator of "I've Seen
the Wall," in a podcast released as part of the exhibition.

'I've seen the Wall'

The title of the exhibition refers to a statement made by
Armstrong at a press conference in East Berlin during the tour.

A West German journalist asked him to comment on the Berlin Wall
dividing the city. In his answer, Armstrong avoided the political
debate: "I've seen the Wall ... and I'm not worried about the
Wall ... I'm worried about the audience I'm going to play to
tomorrow night!"

However, he then added, "I can't say what I want to say, but if
you'll accept it, forget about all that other bulls***t."
A video installation by Jason Moran at the exhibition shows
people in suits sitting around Louis Armstrong, and him playing
the trumpet on a separate image. A video installation by Jason
Moran at the exhibition shows people in suits sitting around
Louis

The interpreter nervously chuckled, and did not translate
Armstrong's reference to self-censorship into German, simply
mentioning the singer's use of a "strong expression" along with
his call to concentrate on the music.

Zielke, the director of the GDR's artists agency, promptly closed
the topic at the press conference by stating: "Anyhow, it's
interesting that the only political question of this kind is not
from us, but from a Western outlet. We are delighted to note
this."

Solidarity with the US civil rights movement

Just as interestingly, even though they didn't refer to the GDR's
state of affairs, all previous questions by East German
journalists were equally political.

They were rather interested in finding out Armstrong's stance
toward the civil rights movement. Just as the influential trumpet
player was touring East Germany, the Selma to Montgomery marches
were taking place in the US. The non-violent protests, held to
demonstrate against the racial repression of African Americans,
had Martin Luther King Jr. as their figurehead.

A few months previously, in September 1964, King had given
speeches in West and East Berlin. In both parts of the divided
city, he advocated reconciliation; the pastor and social activist
also compared the divisions between African Americans and white
people in the US and those between Germans living in communist
and democratic systems.

King's emphasis on their common struggles was particularly moving
for East Berliners - but made US officials nervous. The GDR and
the Soviet Union often highlighted how racial violence in the US
was a sign of the failure of the American society; East Germans
were strong supporters of the civil rights movement.

'I do my little part'

Asked about the marches, Armstrong explained that his
contribution to the movement was rather to play everywhere in his
home country and to build connections with his white fans, even
in the racially segregated South. "I just do my little part,
which some of them [the activists] don't do. But I do," he said
at the East Berlin press conference.

By then, Satchmo was somewhat embittered of being accused by
fellow Black Americans of not doing enough for the civil rights
movement. Though the jazz icon mainly avoided politics, he did
famously criticize the government's lack of action in the Little
Rock Nine case in 1957, when nine Black students enrolled at a
formerly all-white school in Arkansas faced horrendous treatment
by those who were protesting against desegregation.

Many African American activists had maligned the jazz superstar
for not being vocal enough, but as co-curator Moran noted, they
came back over time and said, "Well, actually, Louis was most
profound in his activism." They had by then realized that there
are different ways people could manage to "get in the room to
spark change."

And for Moran, that's what Armstrong did. As one of the first
Black superstars in the US and internationally, Armstrong found
"his way inside rooms in a way that the person on the street
doesn't. And they do need each other as a community of activists
to spark a kind of change, possible change."

"I've Seen the Wall. Louis Armstrong on Tour in the GDR 1965" is
on view at Das Minsk from September 16, 2023, through February 4,
2024.

https://www.dw.com/en/how-louis-armstrong-left-his-mark-in-east-germany-in-1965/a-66817527
 

Image: Louis Armstrong in Leipzig in 1965 ...

Sending Pic:355x167;

This is Shortwave Radiogram in MFSK64

Please send your reception report to radiogram@verizon.net

 

This week's images ...
 

The rare pink diamonds of the Argyle deposit in Australia are now
believed to have formed during the breakup of an ancient
supercontinent about 1.3 billion years ago.
https://tinyurl.com/22z3n5gn ...

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A worker polishes cricket balls at a workshop in Meerut, Uttar
Pradesh, India, September 14. https://tinyurl.com/2ygnvm5o ...

Sending Pic:203x145C;









Sunset at Bahia Honda State Park in the Florida Keys.
https://tinyurl.com/276v376u ...

Sending Pic:107x230C;









Northern lights seen as far south as Shenandoah National Park,
Virginia, September 18. https://tinyurl.com/29buv5kg ...

Sending Pic:201x125C;









A neon sign in Houston. The 4.4 refers to the percent of alcohol
in the beer. https://tinyurl.com/24qda2hz ...

Sending Pic:213x104C;









Water lilies reflected in a pond at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in
Washington DC. https://tinyurl.com/ys79rhzh ...

Sending Pic:196x135C;









Foggy Muiryhall Street, Coatbridge, Scotland.
https://tinyurl.com/2bftsszp ...

Sending Pic:228x119C;









Our painting of the week is "September Simple" (2007) by
Mendelson Joe (Canadian, 1944-2023). https://tinyurl.com/2xpbyvmw
...

Sending Pic:210x158C;


 

Shortwave Radiogram returns to MFSK32 ...

 

RSID: <<2023-09-21T23:58Z MFSK-32 @ 9265000+1500>>

Here is a timeline of "data transmission via BC shortwave":

2013-03-16 - 2017-06-17   VoA Radiogram  000-220  USA (Continuation under private management as SWRG)
2013-08-31 - until now    KBC Radiogram           NL  (without count, earliest note in my chronicle)
2016-03-23 - 2017-01-14   DIGI DX         01- 44  UK  (Among other things also *.mid transferred)
2016-06-17 - 2019-01-01   IBC DIGITAL    001-134  I   (my own count)
2017-06-25 - until now    SWRG           001-316  USA (and further ongoing)
2017-11-?? - 2018-12-23   BSR Radiogram   01- 44  USA (Broad Spectrum Radio)
2018-07-25 - 2019-04-06   SSR Radiogram   01- 33  NL  (Slow Scan Radio)
2019-02-21 - 2023-08-03   TIAMS          001-222  CAN (This Is A Music Show)
2020-02-15 - until now    RNEI            01- 44  UK  (and further ongoing)
2020-03-07 - 2023-08-06   TIAEMS 03/2020-07/2023  CAN (This Is An Express Music Show)
2021-11-28 - until now    Pop Shop Radio          CAN (first find of a playlist in a spectrogram scan)
   
Projects with digital playlists or content: